Budget Archives - Page 3 of 120 - Making Sense Of Cents

Cut The Cord And Save Over $1,000 Every Year

November 29, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 25 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Cut The Cord And Save Over $1,000 Every Year #getridofcable #moneysavingtips #cutthecord A few years ago we cut the cord and got rid of cable, and we haven't missed it one bit.

We don't even have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or anything else. In fact, we haven't even turned on our TV since September (or maybe it was August?!).

Out of all of the ways you can watch TV shows and movies, cable is definitely the most expensive option out there. And, according to USA Today, the average monthly cable bill in 2017 was $100.98. That cost will only continue to rise.

If you have cable right now, then you are likely spending $1,200 a year in cable. That’s a crazy amount of money! Just think of what else you could be doing with that money.

I know of many people who spend much more than this as well, and I even had someone recently tell me that they spend over $300 a MONTH on their cable bill. While that may seem crazy to you, I have heard of many people who pay this much money and more for cable. [Read more…]

The Future Of Banking – A Look At Regions’ Innovative New Bank Branches

November 29, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

This post is brought to you by Regions Bank, a member of FDIC. While this post is sponsored, all of the opinions expressed here are my own.

As a personal finance blogger, I’ve seen the ways technology is helping more and more people manage their finances in more user friendly ways. And when it comes to banking, it’s great that you can just pick up your phone to check your balance, deposit checks, pay your bills, and more.

But with so many of our day to day tasks happening online these days, there are some times when I still want a little more human interaction, especially since I work online. Also, living on a sailboat means that if you are out sailing, then you might go a few days without seeing a single other person other than the person you’re sailing with.

This is why I really still value in-person communication– it’s just helps so you don’t go crazy, haha! [Read more…]

The importance of lifetime income and annuities

November 29, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

The following is a sponsored post in collaboration with TIAA.

TIAA is a different kind of financial services company. They help people in the academic, research, medical and governmental fields meet their financial goals.. As a leading financial services provider, they serve over 15,000 institutions and 5 million individuals.

It makes sense that TIAA is a founding member of the Alliance for Lifetime Income, a nonprofit dedicated to educating Americans on the importance of lifetime income.

Lifetime income can be an important factor in having a well-thought out retirement plan. TIAA offers annuities because they believe everyone deserves to have retirement savings they won’t outlive. [Read more…]

Need Some Quick Cash? 10 Ways How To Make Money Fast

November 19, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 21 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Need Some Quick Cash? 10 Ways How To Make Money Fast #howtomakemoneyfast Sometimes unexpected expenses come up and you have to find ways to make money fast. Maybe you have an unexpected home repair, something broke on your car, you forgot about a bill, or something else.

Perhaps you need to learn how to make extra money in the next 24 hours or by the end of the week.

No matter how small your timeframe is, there's probably something you can do to quickly earn at least a little bit of money.

While I think that everyone should have an emergency fund, there are still times when you need to find ways to make quick cash.

After all, things come up and sometimes you may not have the cash on hand that you need. Or, maybe you just don't want to dip into your savings and would like to learn how to make money fast instead.

Whatever your reasoning is, there are plenty of ways to make money fast. [Read more…]

Learn more about the TIAA Difference Maker 100 Program

November 19, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Learn more about the TIAA Difference Maker 100 Program

The following is a sponsored post in collaboration with TIAA.

TIAA is a leading financial services provider for those in the nonprofit, academic, research, medical, and governmental fields, with over 15,000 institutions and 5 million individuals served.

They are a different kind of financial services company, helping people in these fields meet their financial goals through their global and diversified financial services. TIAA continues the legacy built by Andrew Carnegie, who helped create TIAA in 1918 to ensure teachers could actually retire.

Yes, in 1918! [Read more…]

Black Friday 2018 Doesn’t Have To Be The Start Of Holiday Debt

November 12, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 10 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Black Friday 2018 Doesn’t Have To Be The Start Of Holiday Debt #blackfriday #howtosavemoney It’s almost Black Friday 2018, which will start the largest shopping season of the year. And, the average person will spend around $900 on gifts this holiday season.

That amount doesn't even account for other holiday spending, such as travel costs, food, get togethers, decorations, and more. And while the holidays are a great time to spend with your family and friends, all of that unplanned spending can easily add debt if you aren’t prepared.

In fact, according to a survey done by MagnifyMoney, American consumers took on an average $1,000 worth of debt in 2017 holiday spending, and that number has grown in the past few years.

Putting your holiday spending on a credit card is a major problem because of the interest and finance charges you will rack up if you can’t pay your credit card off when the bill comes. That will hurt your credit score, your credit history, your debt to income ratio, and more. [Read more…]

12 Strategies I Used To Avoid Getting Buried in Student Loan Debt

November 9, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today, I have a great guest post from Matt from Method To Your Money. Here are the strategies he used to graduate (nearly) debt-free from college.

12 Strategies I Used To Avoid Getting Buried in Student Loan Debt #payoffstudentloans #studentloans #debtfreejourney #moneysavingtips If you’re getting ready to attend college, or if you’ve got kids who are preparing to go off to school, student loans can sometimes feel like a forgone conclusion.

In fact, over 70% of graduates leave school with significant student loan debt. That’s 44 million people who owe $1.5 TRILLION dollars, or around $37,000 per person!!

It’s all a bit INSANE!!

But what if I told you that I have found a way to avoid being one of those indebted graduates, a series of strategies to avoid the anchor of student loans and to start your career off on the right foot? A method that I’m already starting to instill in my children so that when they go to college, they’ll be fully prepared to CRUSH it both in the classroom and with their bank accounts.

My family was firmly entrenched in the middle class. My dad is a pastor and my is mom a nurse. Growing up, money was not a limitless resource and my parents always made decisions with finances in mind. [Read more…]

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