Steadfast Finances

 Personal Finance         No comments

When you are riddled with debt and struggling to pay it down dramatically month to month, maintaining a positive balance in the checking account can be difficult at times. You find yourself overpaying on a credit card only to overdraw your bank account a week or two later. However, there are a few easy ways that you can better many your expenses so that you can pay down your debt in the amounts that you want, without overspending and putting your bank account in the red.

 Consumer Education,Personal Finance         2 comments

Have you ever been in a situation where you find something you really want to buy but cannot afford it just yet? If it were the old days, you probably will save up for it first then go back and buy it as soon as you racked up enough cash. But that’s not the way things happen anymore. Now, many people given that same situation will pay for it using a credit card instantly, thinking they have at least a month to save for it.

 Credit Cards,Debt Reduction,Personal Finance         1 comment

Anyone who has been managing their finances for anytime knows that credit cards make consumer debt that much easier. It’s a simple fact that if you have the option to go into debt without truly knowing the harsh reality of having to dig yourself out of debt, you are likely to do just that – go into debt. It’s easy to get caught up in possessions and think that your life will be better with more stuff, even if you can’t afford it. Yet, credit cards offer many benefits that make them attractive.

 Personal Finance         Comments Off

Your credit report can say a lot about you to a future creditor, landlord or even employer. There are many online tools that allow you to monitor and fix your credit to make sure that what your credit report is saying about you is accurate and up to date. Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting [...]

 Consumer Education,Economy,Financial Crisis         3 comments

Fascinating interview from NPR’s Deep Reads with Raghu Rajan, University of Chicago professor, former chief economist for the IMF, and author of Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, and the cold shoulders he received after predicting the financial crisis in 2005 at a conference where the main objective was to praise [...]

 Banking,Investing 101,Lessons Learned,Peer to Peer Lending         24 comments

~ ~ ~ April 2011 Update: Shutting Down My Lending Club Investments over Q&A Change ~ ~ ~   My Lending Club investment portfolio is continuing to look fairly impressive as we close the books on 2010. Summary Net Annual Return is up to 15.64% NAR. My highest observed NAR was 15.69%, but as of today, I’m [...]

 Banking,Infographics & Chartology         No comments

Excellent infographic by the Financial Highway blog on how credit card companies make their money off of folks like you and I. And in case you thought the only way they made money was just off of the interest rates they charge on your total balance — think again! [click to enlarge infographic] Via: Credit [...]

 Budgeting,Credit Cards,Debt Reduction         8 comments

I drafted this article after spending two weeks of discussions with an old friend who finally acknowledged her debt was beginning to influence her behavior. By creating a budget and drawing up a plan to aggressively pay down her debt within 15 to 18 months, she now claims she can finally set down the guilt [...]

 Administration,Bargain Hunting,Saving Money         7 comments

With my least favorite holiday behind us and my favorite holiday around three weeks away, I think it’s time to start discussing some new and clever ways to save a few bucks on Christmas gifts. I’m all about bargain hunting, but loath shopping, so I’ve been looking for novel ways to have the deals come [...]

 Banking,Consumer Education,Credit Cards         18 comments

I’m convinced that the current administration will fail to significantly alter the regulatory framework that governs the investment banking community, as well as the fee based business model practiced by the institutional mega-banks. Regardless of the new regulations that will be drafted, or the old regulations that might be reinstated, the best and brightest business [...]

 Credit Cards,ETFs,Index Funds         5 comments

Charles Schwab wants to get into the index fund and ETF business. Badly! In doing so, Schwab has created a series of funds to undercut the industry leader — Vanguard — by offering the lowest expense ratio ETFs and index funds on the market. With an expense ratio as low as 0.08%, these funds even [...]

 Consumer Education,Credit Cards,Risk Management         4 comments

Have you ever wanted to buy that certain something from the Internet, but hesitated because you were fearful of having your credit card number stolen? How about that post transaction anxiety you felt after giving away your credit card information over the phone? Are you 100 percent certain the person on the other end of [...]