Money Tips Network

Here’s a semester-by-semester glance at money moves to make and milestones not to miss. Photo: Francisco Osorio

While there are steps you can take to ease your student loan debt at any age, you may actually have the most control over it while you’re still in school. Here’s a semester-by-semester glance at money moves you should make and milestones not to miss.

This post is by staff writer Honey Smith.

Recently, I’ve been posting on job-related topics like networking strategies and job tenure. Because my current position entails working with college students, I’ve been asked on numerous occasions to talk to various undergraduate groups about getting into graduate school. In fact, I’m giving one such presentation next week.

Many of the things I cover in such presentations are also broadly applicable to any situation where you are competing against a number of other applicants for a position. This includes job-hunting. I’ve also taught entire units on job-hunting in upper division business writing courses at the university level. Much of the advice that I give is pretty standard:

• Research the position and the company

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This week's topic: Thanksgiving! Learn about saving on on food, travel expenses, decorations, and more!

Got clutter? Follow these steps to reclaim your home this weekend. Photo: distelfliege

When your home is a cluttered wreck, it can be hard to summon the motivation to tackle the chores you’ve been putting off and to toss or organize your scattered possessions. To make matters worse, you’re crunched for time and it’s tough to get anything done around the house, no matter how hard you try.

I never seem to have enough time, so I completely understand your frustration. But sooner or later — maybe after you trip on an errant toy or lose an important file — you’ll hit your breaking point. When you’ve had enough, it’s time to do something about it.

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Lawyers get a bad rap.

From films such as My Cousin Vinny to TV shows such as Ally McBeal, you get the idea that lawyers don't know half the time what they're doing.

You’re standing at the grocery store looking at a large selection of wines. You know you want a red wine to go well with your pasta meal this evening. One is $5.99 per bottle. Another is $19.99 per bottle and has a little tag bragging about the score it received in some wine magazine. Which one is likely to bring you more enjoyment?

Believe it or not, the difference between the wines amounts to a complete coin flip. Professional wine judges, when faced with duplicate blind taste tests, fail to accurately repeat their grading of wines. From this study, with my own emphasis added:

Insurance is essentially a form of protection for the things you value most. Photo: Jenny Downing

Insurance is a form of protection for the things you value most in life. It helps you manage risk by promising to assume some or all of the financial burden caused by unexpected events such as fire, accidents, illness, or death. But not everyone has the same insurance needs. As you accumulate more of value in your life — a car, a home, a child — there’s more you need or want to protect.

This article is by staff writer Kristin Wong.

I get frustrated when people don’t understand what it means to be frugal. A few criticisms of frugality I’ve come across:

• Frugality is a waste of time.

• Frugality distracts you from earning more money.

• Frugal people deny themselves of any enjoyment.

I’ve already written in detail about how these arguments are silly. They might apply to being cheap, but they don’t apply to being frugal.

The point of being frugal

My two favorite splurges are dining out and travel. Over the past few months, I’ve splurged quite a bit. One night, driving home from dinner with a friend, a little voice in my head said: