financial difficulties

Ohana, multi-family living, “boomerang children”. No matter what you call it, extended families living under one roof or on one property can be a cultural norm or a way to cope with the financial difficulties that many are facing. Many say it’s “Easier said than done.” They are correct. There are many issues to work [...]

If you pay estimated taxes, you may find yourself facing a tax debt when you come to fill in your tax return. As estimated tax payments are predominantly based on your income for the previous tax year, you can easily be crippled with a tax bill that is more than you anticipated if your income [...]

We’ve briefly touched on the topic of paying income taxes on eBay sales in the past, but a lot of people are unsure as to whether additional income in general needs to be reported to the IRS. By additional income, I’m referring to anything that’s not part of your usual pay packet, which can include [...]

You need some cash, you have a credit card, and the logical solution seems to be to get a cash advance using your credit card. You can pay it back later, right? The truth is that cash advances are not a good idea in most instances. Yes, there are times when it seems like a [...]

An FHA home loan is a mortgage loan fully insured through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and issued by FHA-approved lenders, such as a mortgage company, bank, savings and loan association, etc. An FHA loan has several key advantages over a traditional loan: Photo by Jamoker via Flickr Lower down payment. An FHA loan usually [...]

I have a secret desire to be a professional financial planner one day (well, now it’s not so secret anymore). Of course, this would take me in a completely direction from my current career. Because of this desire, I jumped at the chance to interview Ciaran McKeever of Chance Favors who is a Certified Financial [...]

In addition to starting a 529 college savings plan for our son, I also have been looking at alternatives if my wife and I couldn’t reach our savings goal. These alternatives may come in handy if we run into some unforeseen financial difficulties. Aside from the usual financial aids (e.g., scholarships, grants, work-study, student loans, [...]