Money Tips Network

In a recent attempt to get our kids to consume some vegetables, we offered them the bribe — I mean, incentive — of a brand-new toy if they each ate a carrot with dinner every night for several weeks. After the carrot challenge ended and the boys were delighted with their new toys, we faced the problem of both kids declaring that they would never eat another carrot again as long as they lived. So much for fostering an appreciation for carrots.

This is the central paradox of incentivizing good behavior. You may be able to get your children to do what you want them to for a short time, but will it ultimately result in changed habits? 

Here's what you need to know about paying your kids for good grades, so you can decide the best way to encourage them to succeed. 

If a fire races through your apartment complex or a storm damages your rental house, your landlord’s property insurance will cover the building itself, but you’ll have to pay for your belongings out of pocket. If a guest sustains an injury in your home, the property owner’s liability coverage won’t pay your legal costs. That’s why you need renters insurance. The good news is that renters insurance isn’t expensive in most locations.

Find the Best Renter Insurance

Enter your ZIP code below and be sure to click at least 2-3 companies to find the very best rate.

Please Note: The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business and Capital One® Spark® Miles Select for Business is currently unavailable through our site.

Freedom Mortgage is one of the leading lenders for VA loans in the U.S., but it also offers a variety of loan products for everyone from first time homebuyers to those in search of jumbo loans. Headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, Freedom Mortgage has been serving the United States mortgage community for 30 years. Following its recent acquisition of J.G. Wentworth Home Lending, Freedom Mortgage now employs over 5,400 employees who work together to service over $6 billion in mortgage loans.

Freedom is a great lender for those in search of government-backed loans with flexible qualification requirements. It may also be a good fit for those looking for conventional and jumbo mortgage options.

Freedom Mortgage at a glance

Lender

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertainty and brevity of life has been called back into focus. Many people are considering life insurance or rethinking their current policy all together. The life insurance industry is one of several industries that’s facing a large surge in demand in the shadow of the novel coronavirus, suggesting that health care professionals and general consumers are currently thinking about their finances in case of death.

Find the Best Life Insurance

Enter your ZIP code below and be sure to click at least 2-3 companies to find the very best rate.

Join our Tweetchat this Thursday at 12:00 pm Pacific for lively conversation and a chance to win one of two $10 Amazon GCs! Use #WBChat to participate.

This week's topic: Frugal Things To Do At Home!

All cars are not equal. We turn to consumer experts to find out which automobiles have the best gas mileage and safety features and which vehicles are best for families or have the highest resale value. But consumers often overlook one important factor that might squeeze their wallets down the road: the cost to insure their dream vehicle.

Compare Affordable Car Insurance Rates

Save money on auto coverage with our simple comparison tool.

For many of us, recent events have come as a massive shock. Personal health concerns, loss of loved ones, loss of jobs, and uncertainty about many other jobs have turned a lot of people’s worlds upside down and, for many, it’s been a clear indicator of how valuable an emergency fund can be.

An emergency fund is a really simple concept: it’s just a pool of money you have set aside for life emergencies. You can decide for yourself what constitutes such an emergency, but generally, such emergencies include things like a job loss, a sudden illness, or any other major out-of-the-blue expense.

Most of the time, emergency funds are stored in savings accounts, usually at a local bank or credit union. It’s often a good idea to have such an account accessible when you need it, but not incredibly convenient at all times because that raises the temptation of withdrawing money for non-emergency uses.

So, how can you get an emergency fund started?

There are a lot of people all over the world that are suddenly adjusting to working from home. It can be a major shift from working in an office or even from working at a library or cafe, as some do. It’s a major change, shifting from an environment with lots of coworkers and a frequently-present boss to working in an environment where you’re by yourself most of the time with occasional contact with coworkers and supervisors via phone calls, videoconferences and other forms of digital communication.

I’ve been working from home for twelve years and, along the way, I’ve learned a lot of things about how to do it effectively. What follows is something of a “beginner’s guide” to working from home, collecting together much of what I’ve learned over the years.

Let’s dig in.

Designate a “start time” and a “stop time.”

It’s absolutely vital that you have borders on your work time at home, for a whole bunch of reasons.