Ben Edwards's Blog: Money Smart Life, page 5
January 6, 2015
4 Keys to a Better Life This Year
Do you have a good life? Maybe compared to some, yes. Perhaps compared to others, no.
A lot of it depends on your perspective and how you measure your life.
Last year I had a good life but sadly didn’t realize it until I was abducted by a UFO and held prisoner in an alien dungeon. Okay, there were no UFO’s or aliens involved in my life catalyst, just a health scare.
But it did open my eyes to how I was measuring my life and the things I was taking for granted.
So whether you think your life is aw...
December 29, 2014
7 Ways to Lower Your Car Insurance Rates
Car insurance is one of those necessary evils in life. No one wants to pay for it, but then no one wants to be without it either. And no matter what you think about it, it’s required by state law so you must have it. But just becauseyou havetohave itdoesn’t mean you can’tmake it asinexpensive as possible.
Like most other types of insurance this recurring cost pops up on a regular basis so cutting its costs means you’ll be saving money every time your policy is renewed. We’ve talked in the past...
December 22, 2014
5 Tips for Staying Happy at Work
No one likes his or her joball the time. Even if you have what you consider a “dream job,” chances are that there are some days that you just aren’t giving 100 percent, or days that you just don’t want to do the job. If you start to dwell on these downsides, you will eventually have a hard time sticking it out at work.
Happiness in your work is one of the things that can help you relieve stress, and feel better about life in general. As a result, it makes sense to do what you can to be mostly...
December 17, 2014
15 Career Lessons from a Soccer Dad
Career tips are easy to come by but not always easy to follow. Here are some I’ve learned over the last several months from a motley crew of 8 year old boys – if they can do it, so can you!
It all began last summer when I ran the tryouts for my son’s youth soccer team. As part of my mission to live with no regrets I had agreed to be an assistant coach for his team in the upcoming Fall season. Little did I know what I was getting myself into!
As I threw myself into this new role it ended up turn...
December 1, 2014
The Money Habits You Develop in Your 20s Will Help OR Hurt You For the Rest of Your Life
Have you ever heard the saying as the twig is bent, so grows the tree? That’s kind of how it is when itcomes to money andfinances. The money habits youdevelope inyour 20s will help or hurt you for the rest of your life. What’s more, you have a very large degree of control over howit all turns out.
Like so many other decisions that you make early in life, the choices that you make when it comes to money in your 20s will have a huge impact on the rest of your life. Since financial situations dev...
November 10, 2014
How to Improve Your Credit Score by Focusing on Payment History and Reducing Credit Card Debt
One of the things that many consumers are obsessed with today is a better credit score. After all, your credit score influences more than whether or not you qualify for a mortgage, or whether you get the best interest rate on an auto loan. Your credit score can also impact the insurance premium you pay, or what happens when you sign up for cell phone service.
There are all sorts of “tricks” out there for improving your credit score, but really it just boils down to a couple of basics:
Manage yo...
November 3, 2014
How to Avoid Double Closing When Buying a House and Selling Another
If you’ve ever been involved in a real estate transaction before, you’re probably familiar with the term double closing.That’s an arrangement where you buy a new home on the very same day that you sell your old one. In a perfect world, you close on your old house in the morning, and then on the new house in the afternoon.
Sometimes that arrangement actually works. Other times it’s enormously stressful. If you’ve ever beeninvolved inthe stressful kind of double closing, then you know why it’s s...
October 27, 2014
How it’s Never Too Late to Start Saving for Retirement
People who haven’t saved money for retirement often avoid even starting out of fear that their efforts now will be too little and too late to make a difference.
In truth, it’s never too late to start saving for retirement.
Even if the moneyyou save will be inadequate to provide a full retirement, it still has enormous potential to improve your life when your retirement years come. Here’s how:
1. Any Retirement Savings is Better than Nothing
Think about the times in your life when you didn’t have...
October 20, 2014
The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Get Out of Debt
One of the financial issues that seems to plague many consumers is debt. Getting out of debt can be a long, difficult road – especially if you have a lot of debt to get rid of. Before you try to pay off your debt, though, it’s important to understand that the single most important thing you can do is tostop debt spending.
Are You Really Changing Your Money Habits?
It’s a popular thing to power through your debt reduction. A dramatic debt reduction, by which you live like a pauper for a few mont...
October 13, 2014
How to Use Peer-to-Peer Sites to Borrow Money from Friends and Family After a Layoff
Borrowing is never recommended after a layoff. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
There are a lot of not-so-smart ways to borrow money, particularly when you are in desperate need of funds.
Title loans certainly come to mind. But there’s a high risk of losing your car in the process, not the least of which because you don’t have a job to repay the loan.
You can also turn to credit cards. After all, you can use the credit lines without having to qualify based on your income or cred...
