I know you’re sick of all this penny-pinching savings advice, sick of learning how to use a bank account, sick of Mark lecturing on how saving $10 a week gives you $520 at the end of the year.  If so, you might just love today’s article, a little story about a girl named Jane, who is […]

I want to preface this by saying that I am in the banking industry, I work for a credit union, and have also worked for a bank.  With that out of the way, this series will be about different products banks and credit unions offer, the advantages and disadvantages of those particular products, and what […]

Eve, from HomeBizBlogger.com wrote an article that interested me, and I offered to help her out based on her article and some minor additional information.  You can get up to speed on the article here.
Eve has been gracious enough to provide some personal income information so that I could do a more complete “If I were […]

“Mark, I have 6 credit cards and can’t stop spending on them, what should I do?” -J
Well, here are 5 steps to free yourself from the credit card trap.  Designed with your situation in mind.

Cut up ALL of the cards except one that gets put anywhere but your wallet- This has the lovely effect of stopping […]

“Can we afford this?”
One question that is a good one to ask when both people know the answer already, and it is a bad one to ask if one or both people do not.  Money is a dangerous tool when handled incorrectly by a relationship, and this will not be the last time I talk […]

This is a request for help that was recently posted on the finance forums, and what I would do in this situation.  I am not a licensed financial advisor, and my solution is just one of many available to Jonothan
“Hello my name is Jonothan and I am in a huge debt at 21. It all started when I couldn’t finish […]

“Sweetie, we really need that new couch”
My wife does a good job of convincing me that we need things that we really don’t.  When she said that to me, I already had a couch, and was all set to go buy her the slip cover of her dreams.  She wanted a new one though, and […]

Getting your net worth to zero implies paying off debts, things like cars, credit cards, student loans, etc.  Basically, half of increasing net worth involves decreasing these drains on it.  It will also make you money, in some cases even a better return than most stock investors get.
 Consider a typical credit card.  There is a […]

Since I’m starting anew on this site about putting your family in the best financial position possible, I should warn you that your first goal should be nothing.  Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing.
I’m talking about your net worth here, this is one that is scary to calculate if you love your credit cards.  Visa, Mastercard, and […]