The Financial Beat

With the cost of a college education increasing at a staggering rate, anytime you can get totally free money for college, that’s a good thing.  I want to share with you a free service that gives you free money for your child’s (or your own) college education. Read the rest of this entry »

This article addresses an investment strategy known as a CD Ladder. With the uncertainty in today’s economy, many investors are taking a second look at certificates of deposit as a part of their investment and/or retirement portfolios.  Certificates of deposit (CDs) offer the advantages of guaranteed interest rates, guaranteed return of principal, and the security of FDIC insurance.

On the flip side, the disadvantages of certificates of deposit include relatively low interest rates and not having access to your money until the CD matures.  These disadvantages compound one another when you consider that to get higher returns on certificates of deposit, you have to invest in longer terms…typically 5 years.

There is, however, a strategy that allows you to enjoy the advantages of certificates of deposit, while minimizing the disadvantages of certificates of deposit.  The strategy is called a CD Ladder. Read the rest of this entry »

How much do you know about how your credit cards work?  Seventy-eight percent of U.S. households have at least one credit card, and the average American carries a balance of $3,000 in credit card debt.  In commemoration of Financial Literacy Month, the Associated Press has published this short quiz to test how much you know about the credit cards in your wallet. Read the rest of this entry »

Getting a free credit report is easier than ever before.  Your credit report is one of the most vital pieces of information about you, and it is important to make sure the information in your credit report is accurate.  Not only does it affect whether or not you can borrow money, and what interest rate you will pay, your credit report is also used by Read the rest of this entry »

Investment diversification has long been one of the standard pieces of advice we hear from investment advisors.  It’s the age-old adage of “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”  It’s too easy to forget this principle during a booming stock market or real estate market, when everything is going up in value.  But given the collapse of stock prices and real estate prices in late 2008 and early 2009, it’s a good time to remind ourselves of the soundness of a strategy of investment diversification. Read the rest of this entry »

Life insurance is a key component of a sound financial plan, but it is one of those topics that is difficult for most of us.  We know we need life insurance, but it’s an uncomfortable subject to think about or talk about.  On top of that, it’s hard to know how much life insurance we really need.  As a result, too many people have no life insurance at all, or they are vastly under-insured.

I recently read a statistic that the average American has life insurance equal to Read the rest of this entry »