Money Tips Network

By now you’ve probably heard of The Points Guy, an individual who turned maximizing credit card rewards into a fabulous jet setting lifestyle, ultimately spawning a lucrative cottage industry aimed at helping others do the same.

With the assistance of sites like The Points Guy, RewardExpert, UpgradedPoints, and others, the stories of globetrotters enjoying lavish trips around the world entirely on rewards points have become the stuff of legend.

In such an era, it was perhaps only a matter of time before credit card issuers began revising the way such programs work — and it appears that reckoning may soon be here.

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.

1. Dale Carnegie on conquering fear

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

I’m an introvert. While I don’t exactly have social anxiety, my natural tendency in a group of people I don’t know well is to clam up and not say too much.

What exactly is it that I’m afraid of, though? Am I afraid that they’ll think negative thoughts about me? Am I afraid that they’ll judge me? Perhaps. But if I think about virtually every social situation I’ve ever been in, I rarely have a negative thought about anyone there unless they’re being intentionally rude or standoffish… and the truth is that me sitting quietly in the corner might very well look standoffish.

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker shared some thoughts on why many ultrarich people aren't satisfied with their wealth.

There seem to be two reasons.

While credit cards have been considered mainstream for as long as I can remember, personal loans don’t always receive the same respect. Many people think it’s totally normal to run up balances on credit cards, yet they balk at the prospect of taking out a personal loan. That’s crazy when you think about it, especially since the average credit card interest rate is now over 17%.

While borrowing money is never ideal, you can save a ton of money on interest if you do some research upfront and take time to compare your options. It’s true that credit cards are a smart solution in a lot of cases, but it’s also possible that a personal loan could leave you better off in the end.

I participate in a couple of online book clubs with a number of old friends (and friends of friends) who have been spread all over the country. In these clubs, we read a book a month and discuss them in an online forum with the understanding that we are exploring ideas and not necessarily trying to defend what we personally believe, but trying to understand the ideas better. Often, the discussions go far astray from the book itself, which is great.

Anyway, a question was recently posted to one of my book clubs that has left me thinking quite a bit lately:

Two recent credit announcements are attracting the attention of consumers and financial institutions alike. That’s because for many years, your credit scores were 100% reliant on the information in your credit reports as reported by your current and former lenders. That’s not necessarily the case any longer — at least not for consumers who choose to allow unprecedented access to their bank account information.

Let me be one of the first to introduce you to both UltraFICO and Experian Boost.

What Is UltraFICO?

UltraFICO is a new credit score first announced in a joint press release from FICO, Experian, and Finicity late in 2018. The free offering gives you the option to have your deposit account data possibly considered in your credit score.

The government shutdown is over. Government workers have returned to their jobs and backpay should be arriving soon (if it hasn’t already). Things are back to normal… for now.

However, it’s the “for now” part that should leave many people concerned going forward.

In truth, the last month has been an incredibly valuable moment for learning for all of us. It’s exposed some difficult truths about our government, but more than that, it’s also exposed the fragile nature of the financial and professional lives of many, many Americans. Hundreds of thousands of government employees and many more contractors have seen their lives thrown into chaos when they previously perceived their employment as incredibly stable.

This experience has provided all of us with a great opportunity to step back and look at the reality of our own financial and professional worlds. It’s pointed at a few things we should all keep in mind as we move forward.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Thoughts on caring for parents
2. Wedding question, part one
3. Wedding question, part two
4. Starbucks Visa
5. Books on home buying
6. Frugal running shoes
7. Roth IRA contribution question
8. Roth IRA or bigger e-fund?
9. Unwanted Christmas toys

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed at the end of 2017 will have a big impact on this year’s tax filing season — including some big changes to so-called “above the line” deductions that can lower your tax bill.

Most common tax deductions, such as those for charitable donations or mortgage interest, are only available to filers who itemize — and, generally, it’s only worth itemizing if you can write off more than the standard deduction. Because the new tax law nearly doubled the standard deduction — raising it to $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly — nearly 30 million more taxpayers won’t find it beneficial to itemize this year. A married couple, for example, would need to have made more than $24,000 in mortgage interest payments, donations, and other deductible expenses to make itemizing them worthwhile.