Money Tips Network

Having my own business, and an eventually successful one at that, has changed my life — but it hasn’t changed it much. I was forced into frugality by necessity in 2001, a few years after I graduated from college and was growing deeper into debt. I needed to fix my finances for the sake of my future, so I started spending less than I was earning, got a new job, saved money on rent, used a budget, and entered the most frugal phase of my life.

I got rid of my car, opting for the bus and the train to get to and from work. I relied a little on my roommates for transportation, too. My share of the rent, with three other people in a three bedroom apartment, was about $350. This was my life for about a year. I hadn’t started earning any money from my side business yet, but I was earning enough from my day job that I could move out, live without a roommate, and have a car again.

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Discover Bank is an online bank that is part of Discover Financial Services, Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill.-based company with a widely diverse array of financial tools.

Discover Financial Group traces its history back to the mid-1980s and Sears’ launch of the Discover Card, where it was a unit of Sears’ Dean Witter group. From that start, Discover grew to be the third largest credit card brand in the U.S., and also offers money management tools through its Discover Bank.

First among the advantages Discover Bank claims over its competition is its online structure. Since it is an online bank, Discover Bank isn’t saddled with the overhead costs of traditional brick-and-mortar institutions. The bank doesn’t pay for the leather chairs and marble counters found at typical downtown or neighborhood bank branches, and their high-interest savings accounts and other high-interest tools offer rates that often surpass the national average as a result.

New Year’s resolutions have become so cliché that the process of making them has become a joke. People settle for mundane goals for the year like “losing weight,” “quitting smoking,” and “getting out of debt.” These are great goals, of course, but most who think about these only when the calendar changes soon forget their plans, continue their lives as before, and lament their failure when they reflect as next year approaches.

You may have heard “ABC: Always Be Closing.” But what about: “Always Be Creative?” Or: “Always Be Charming?” Pick a few of these and level up …

Some time ago, I read this article on Cracked (fair warning: strong language and not really safe for work) talked about six harsh truths that will make you a better person. (It's since been updated for 2019.)

And harsh, it is. I don't necessarily agree that we are nothing more than our value to other people. But as far as learning new skills, it's spot on.

Sometimes history is obvious at the time; other times, key turning points become clear only in retrospect. The better people are able to recognize when such a change has occurred, the more sound their financial decisions they will be.

2008 stands out as the year that a financial crisis gripped the world; but looking back, 2006 was the actual peak for housing prices, and 2005 the peak for mortgage rates. Recognizing those peaks at the time, that is, before the crisis hit and the downward trends in housing prices and interest rates accelerated, would have helped people make better decisions about home-buying, investments, and personal finances in general.

The last time I shared my personal goals and plans with Consumerism Commentary readers was at the very beginning of 2011. I went so far to declare that 2011 would be the year that everything changes, a subtle homage to a television program called Torchwood. Anyway, I was right; in 2011, my life changed, but not as dramatically as one might expect with the events that transpired throughout the year.

This post comes from Aaron Brandt at our partner site Quizzle.com

It’s time to face facts. It is now December. It is going to snow. And you need to be prepared to dig your way out of whatever icy mayhem this winter offers. Sure, you can toil away in the elements with a shovel, or you can upgrade to a snow blower and handle feet upon feet of snow with ease. This helpful guide will have you tossing snow like a pro in no time.

There’s no good time for a company to have a financial security breach, but it’s hard to find a worse time to have one than the start of the holiday shopping season. Target confirmed that as many as 40 million credit and debit card holders may have been affected for purchases made between November 27th and December 15th of this year.

Members of my family had made purchases at Target over the past few weeks, and have had their cards replaced. It’s an inconvenience to need to reset subscription payments and update credit card information in numerous places.