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To avoid becoming a rags-to-riches-to-rags-again statistic, consider these tips on...

I’ve been a homeowner for 24 of the last 25 years. Based on this, you might think I’m an advocate of homeownership over renting. That’s not the case. The older I get, the more I appreciate there’s no correct answer in the perennial “is it better to rent or buy?” debate. Sometimes buying a home makes the most sense. Sometimes renting is the smarter choice.

In an editorial in the June 2007 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Knight Kiplinger wrote, “It often costs less to rent. The annual cost of owning a property, be it a house or a condo, is usually greater than the cost of renting, after taxes.” I agree.

Today, let’s look at a handful of ways to evaluate the rent versus buy decision from a financial perspective.

The world of credit scoring is, by nature, an ever-evolving one. FICO scores were first introduced to lenders in the United States nearly 30 years ago, in 1989. A little over a decade ago, in 2006, the three major credit reporting agencies (CRAs) themselves – Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian – created the VantageScore credit score.

FICO and VantageScore represent the two most common brands of credit scoring systems. Each brand has numerous generations of their credit scoring models (think 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc.). When it comes to FICO, in particular, there are also a number of credit score variants such as mortgage scores, auto scores, and bankcard scores. Between all of the different FICO and VantageScore scoring models, you have several dozen different credit scores commercially available.

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One of the great things about credit cards is that consumers typically don't have to pay for the convenience of using them at the point of sale.

Cleansing milk is a gentle formula face wash that can cleanse the skin without irritating or stripping it of its natural oils.

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This week's topic: Having a Frugal Mother's Day!

One podcast I really enjoy listening to is the Jocko Podcast, which is hosted by Jocko Willink, a former NAVY Seal. The focus of the podcast is on leadership and personal discipline – how to handle big challenges and getting through hard times.

As with most podcasts, I don’t listen to Jocko to agree with everything he has to say and parrot his ideas. The same is true with most websites I visit and books I read and so on. Instead, I listen to extract one or two core ideas I can build on in my own life.

One idea that has stuck with me for a long time is the idea of “good”:

We often assume as we get older that money matters become more simple, and in many cases, this is true. You may be done worrying about saving for the future, and may be free of many of the expenses you had when you were younger.