**This post contains affiliate links.** Let’s talk about debt consolidation. My first thought when I hear that phrase is a smarmy infomercial on late night TV and guy in a bad toupee trying to sell me something that looks sketchy as all get out. In reality, it can be an amazing tool to help you…
**This post contains affiliate links.** I stepped up my side hustling game 100% when I was paying off my student loans. I’ve actually had a substantial chunk of debt twice. When I was finishing up my first set of Master’s degrees, the 2008 recession hit and it really hit my family pretty hard. I was…
Folks, I have tried a lot of different tactics to get my financial life in order, some with little difficulty but big payouts (like setting up a budget at the beginning or continually tracking my net worth), others with questionable payouts (no spend months, buying meat in dollar stores, mystery shopping). At the end of the…
Most of us would rather be saving rather than spending any spare cash we have each month paying down debt, but it can often feel like you are swimming against the tide and won’t get to a position where you can concentrate on creating some meaningful wealth. It’s time to take a positive outlook and…
Do you sometimes feel you’re falling short of your own standards and expectations when it comes to managing your finances? Everyone — at sometime in their lives has felt that way. But if you have a healthy account balance or if you understand your overdraft properly, it’s possible to not only cope with these challenges,…
Just the other day I was talking about how amazing it is to be on top of your finances, but the path to that success is definitely a bumpy one at times. I remember a really bad week a few years ago. I was still paying off my student loans, so a lot of my…
I’ve been working with a pretty awesome 22-year-old assistant the last few weeks on my newest show and I kind of constantly see myself a decade ago reflected in her. We got to talking about IRAs for a minute the other day and she sort of laughed at the notion of having one and all…
Hey guys, check out this guest post from my pal Lauren, an up and coming personal finance writer eager to start her own blog soon. As a current college student, I have seen too many of my peers constantly struggling with money in college. Though I don’t have perfect financial habits myself, I think I…
When it comes to debt, it seems that men and women typically are on equal footing. It is estimated that almost the same amount of women and men are filing for insolvency. The reasons, however, appear to be quite different. Men’s insolvency issues seem to be directly related to unemployment and business failures. Women, on…
Though the current average retirement age is 62, retirement culture is swiftly changing. Today’s college graduates may not be able to retire until 75. If you’re a decade or more away from retirement, that could mean your retirement is pushed back closer to your early seventies. The good news here is that this gives you…
Recently, I read another blogger’s money story – and I always find them pretty fascinating! I mean, it’s a big part of why we blog about what we blog about and our own outlooks on money and life. Several years ago, I wrote my debt story. I was finishing up paying off $30,00 in student…
Refinancing is a term that has always made me leery. I’m not sure why, but to me it has a snake oil peddler/smarmy car salesman sound to it. Maybe it’s the ridiculous booming voice on so many of the commercials I’ve heard. But one thing I’ve learned as a personal finance blogger – a lot…
It’s never too early to think about retirement. It will come one day and those who even save a small amount while they are in their 20s are likely to have a much more comfortable and satisfying time than those that spend all their income as they go along. The Social Security System was never…
So I really like reading Mr. Money Mustache’s blog even though sometimes I think he’s insane. That being said, I’ve even met him and his wife at FinCon and they seem extremely content with their super frugal lives. They maximize a lot of healthy life choices, which save them a ton of money, and don’t…
After about two weeks of running, I started to learn the secret lesson that was the strongest tie to personal finance. It’s all in your mind. I’m not saying that there are times when my body is actually just done – my lungs can’t handle another second or my legs are too much like lead…
Being in debt is just the worst feeling. Even when you’re in denial and still racking up the balances on your loans and credit cards, there’s that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as the bills arrive. When you come to your senses and start tackling that debt, it can seem just too…
Hey there brokeGIRLrich readers, check out this guest post from my pal Sushil from Inspiration Fund – he knows a lot more about the stress the real estate bubble caused then I do and if any of you are still trying to claw your way back out of the ruins, he’s got some empathy and…
Destroying debt is something that is constant. It’s not a one-and-done type of problem. If you’ve tackled paying off your debt, that is a huge milestone and you should be proud of your hard work. However, experience has shown us just how quickly we can slide back down the slippery debt slope. Good habits are…
There are two chores I REALLY hate doing and one of them is definitely the dishes. It feels futile. Hopeless and overwhelming. Inevitably, as soon as I finish washing them, I’m thirsty. And I want some milk. And now a glass is dirty again. Sweet baby Jesus, when will it ever end?!?!!? Not gonna lie.…
I don’t know if any of you are familiar with Melanie over at Dear Debt, but she writes a lot about (surprise) debt, a subject still near and dear to my heart, since it’s shaped my entire view of money. She has a great guest post series featuring people writing their own Dear Debt letters…
Throughout my twenties, I had one really bad money “habit” – school. Education was held up to some crazy standard in my house as long as I could remember. If I didn’t get straight A’s, I would be grounded for the following marking period. There was no discussion of if I would go to college…
Sending in that last debt payment is an incredible feeling! I skipped away from the mailbox. I splurged with a legitimate “I earned this” feeling on my next trip to the grocery store (and buy splurged I mean I bought two items I’d be staring down for months and just kept telling myself they were…
To get rid of debt, you need a budget that actually puts you in the black each month, so that you can contribute that extra money to paying down your debt. Sometimes it looks completely hopeless, but if you’re ready to buckle down and get rid of that debt, here’s a list of several areas…
Struggling with debt? Here are a few methods to help get your Pete under control and on his way to the curb. 1.) Snowballer – this is Dave Ramsey’s extremely popular method of ranking all of your debts from highest to lowest, start with the lowest one and direct all the extra cash you can find…
Here’s the lowdown. Debt is owing more than you have. Simple as that. There are people who say some debt is good debt (like mortgages and student loans – things most people are likely to use to get ahead in life) and there are some people who say all debt is bad debt. Either way,…