Articles on Personal Finance

Hoopde for sale. Starting price - $500. Winning bid - $226,521.

I love stories like this. It gives me hope that one day, something “worthless” sitting in my garage will instantly fill up my daughters’ college funds. In this case, the seemingly

The Lowdown On Layaway

Layaway never completely disappeared from the retail landscape but it’s become more prominent with promotions by some national chains and locally-owned shops. Instead of paying for

Will A Dental Discount Plan Save You Money?

Those of us without traditional dental insurance may have been tempted to buy a dental “discount” plan. On paper, it looks good. In practicality, it could save you some, or more

Not the sort of person who ...

Wise Bread is stuffed almost to bursting with suggestions on how to live large on a small budget. But certain suggestions trigger a particular kind of negative reaction:—w

Why Couples Fight Over Money and What to Do About It

There is no denying that financial matters lay at the root of many – if not most – couples’ problems. While some openly communicate about the issues at hand, more couples yet don’t

What will you do when gas drops below $1.50 a gallon?

Several months ago, I wrote an article asking what you would do when gas prices skyrocketed. Now, the price of gasoline is in freefall. It’s already dipped below $2/gallon in some

Funding your 401(k) when you're in debt

If there are two pieces of financial advice that get hammered more often than any others, they're "Get out of debt" and "Put enough in your 401(k) to get any corporate match." Wi

Best Money Tips: Electile Dysfuntion

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup. This week's posts share why being nice saves you money, how to save on dining out, how much to put into your retirement savings,

How (and Why) to Start an Investment Club

Would you like to be on the same financial page with a group of people? Meet regularly with like-minded and fun individuals, and collectively learn about and discuss new financial

New rate set for series I savings bonds

Every six months, the Treasury sets a new fixed rate for series I savings bonds. After tracking close to the rate on the Treasury's other inflation-indexed bonds during the Clinto

Post Divorce Finances: 7 Steps to Rebuilding Your Financial House

Severing a conjoined life and combined finances as a result of divorce is painful through and through. The jump to a single income lifestyle paves the way to feeling the cash crunc

Why invest in the stock market?

The conventional reason for investing in the stock market--perhaps offered with a bit less confidence now that we're in the midst of a stock market crash--is, "It offers higher ret

Five calls you can make now to save hundreds to thousands of dollars

In the current economic climate, everyone is trying to save a buck. I know some families that have budgets so tight that there is no room for saving, but I think it is possible for

Sexually Transmitted Debt: Eewww!

You can contract more than just disease by sleeping with the wrong person…watch out for sexually transmitted debt, which can creep into your sex life while you remain blissfully un

Why I (Heart) My High Deductible Health Insurance Plan

I was a born and raised HMO baby. Health insurance had always meant plopping down a $15 co-pay at each appointment and letting my insurer pay the rest. Since insurance was a bene

The whole sorry mess in one picture

How much money is there in the economy to borrow? Well, if you don't have foreigners lending you large amounts of money, and you don't have central banks creating large amounts of

Is your credit score suffering without your knowledge?

Credit card companies are tricky little jerks during the best of times. But now, with a lousy economic forecast and limited access to funds that can be loaned to consumers, banks a

When will the bailouts stop? A summary of 2008 stimulus packages and bailouts in the United States

2008 will probably go down in history as the year of bailouts, crashes, and meltdowns. Here is a quick run down of all the laws and bills congress pushed through with lightning spe

Invest some of this cheap energy

I've tried to avoid predicting energy prices, except to say that they'll be volatile. I'm not a bit surprised to see oil and gasoline prices dropping by half in the past few month

Looking On The Bright Side: How to Find A Silver Lining In The Current Financial Crisis

While this might be the biggest economic disaster of our generation, it might not be the big bad wolf that we all think it is. Quite the contrary, this little financial lesson migh