Money Tips Network

The other day, I went through a local grocery store flyer and marked items as either being “healthy” or “unhealthy.” I was curious as to whether items on sale were items that provided good long-term nutrition for people or not.

Of course, the first problem is defining what “healthy” and “unhealthy” means. Part of the challenge that people have when figuring out what foods are “good” for them and “bad” for them is that there is so much contrasting information out there.

For example, what’s better for you, skim milk or whole milk? There are reasonable arguments on both sides of that coin. In truth, it has a lot to do with what makes up the rest of your diet.

Does something have to be organic or treated in certain ways in order to be “healthy” and provide “good nutrition”? What about GMOs? You’re simply opening the door to endless arguments that simply aren’t resolvable in any satisfying way.

Markie writes in:

My biggest struggle with personal finance is the numbers. I am terrible at math. When I look at percentages and stuff, I just want to lock down and tune out.

This is actually a pretty common thing. One of the brightest people I know – an amazing writer who is a creator of endless good ideas – struggles with the math needed to balance her checkbook. She has endless skills in many areas of life, but math just stumps her.

While I can’t possibly address every math question, I do regularly hear about percentages and interest rates from readers. So, here’s a basic explanation of how percentages and interest rates work.

Let’s say you see a credit card offer with a 19.9% interest rate. What does that actually mean in terms of dollars and cents?

It can be difficult to have financial conversations with your parents as they get older. Maybe your family never really talked about money, or maybe your parents don’t want to discuss their financial life because they feel like they’d be giving up part of their independence. Whatever the reason, it can make talking about money — and offering financial help — difficult.

One thing that can make offering assistance easier is helping in ways that don’t involve giving your parents money, housing, or other big things they might feel uncomfortable accepting. From helping them find discounts to offering technical assistance, here are seven easy ways you can help your parents save money.

Bone health is something we all must consider long before we become seniors. Most people reach their maximum bone mass between ages 25 and 30. By age 40, we begin to lose bone mass. The loss of bone mass leads to osteoporosis — a condition that makes bones more brittle and susceptible to breaks. The good news is we can stave off bone loss with healthy lifestyle choices including nutrition and exercise. (See also: Great Ways to Get Calcium)

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on insurance that will save you big, people who can save you time, money and stress, and getting started with investing.

Top 5 Articles

Looking Ahead: Five Types of Insurance That Save You Big in the Long Run — Life insurance and health insurance can save you money in the long run. [Free Money Wisdom]

I'm considering using dividend investing as a key part of my retirement plan. But I must admit that I don't know much about it. Today I'll share what I've learned so far on my journey into dividend investing.

The Concept

From what I understand, proponents of dividend investing tout it as working as follows:

• Buy stocks of good quality companies that pay decent dividends (which would be 3% to 5% these days.)
• Earn income generated from the dividend payments.
• Get some growth on the value of the stocks paying the dividends.

So to make this a bit more tangible, let's take the following example:

This article comes from Christine Bilger from the Quicken Loans Zing! blog.

You know what’s expensive? Wedding photography. You know what’s even more expensive? Videography.

I’m not going to deny that I had more than a little sticker shock when I started looking for a wedding photographer. Unfortunately, I also really want a videographer – which isn’t in the budget. Unless I win the lottery or locate a long-lost wealthy relative between now and July, I’m definitely not having a videographer at my wedding.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Cash out of pension?
2. Store credit card as coupon?
3. Stomaching stock market fluctuation
4. Emergency supply question
5. Food while unemployed
6. 4% for retirement?
7. Spousal Social Security question
8. Family vacation on the cheap
9. Volunteer work

This article is from J.D. Roth, who founded Get Rich Slowly in 2006. J.D. recently appeared on the Microblogger podcast, where he talked about taking control of his financial life, moving from debt to wealth.

In January, I accompanied Kim to an appointment with Paul, her investment adviser from Edward Jones. Paul’s brother was my best friend in grade school and junior high, and we have many mutual friends. I sat and listened while Kim and Paul talked about her investments and how she ought to invest for retirement. I didn’t participate much, though, because this is Kim’s money, and I didn’t feel like it was right for me to take an active role.