Savings Archives

A recent study found that it would take $1 million for someone to be willing to give up TV for the rest of their lives.   Read more»

The holiday season is just around the corner and you should be creating a holiday spending plan now.   This is often the time when the budget that has been working fine for people all year gets completely blown, resulting in a pile of debt for the new year. According to the National Retail Federation, people will spend $474.5 billion this holiday season, an increase of 4% over last year.   Here are 10 basic steps you can take to help avoid holiday debt: Read more»

Putting off for tomorrow what you can do today could end up hurting your wallet. According to University of Calgary professor Piers Steel in a study published earlier this year in Psychological Bulletin, a peer-reviewed journal by the American Psychological Association, more than one in four Americans consider themselves chronic procrastinators, while only 5% felt this way in 1978.   Read more»

The wedding industry has done a wonderful job of manipulating couples into believing that their wedding day is the one day of their lives when no expense should be spared. Buying into this can mean the difference between having a healthy nest egg or beginning married life in debt and with money issues hounding you from Day 1.Unfortunately, many couples choose the latter: 75% of people getting married either never set up a wedding budget or don't stick to the plan they develop.   Read more»

People in the Midwest are the most conscious about building their nest eggs, while Southerners lag the national averages in saving and investing, according to a new survey by the brokerage A.G. Edwards.   Read more»

For some people, getting personal finances in order is more grueling than wandering the desert for 40 years.To ensure that your money works for you and not for the bank, here are 10 banking moves that you should make immediately:   Read more»

Has your father, or another blood relative, ever asked you to trade securities on behalf of his or her individual retirement account?If so -- and you earned even as little as a $1 commission -- the transaction is considered prohibited under federal tax laws.   Read more»

No one would choose to postpone retirement for several years just to pay off 401(k) fees.   Many people, though, unwittingly are doing just that. "People understand that 401(k)s cost money, but they never translate it into how much money that really is," says Christian Weller, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research and educational institute. "And these fees are steadily eating away at their retirement." Read more»

Whenever something of value changes hands, the Internal Revenue Service is usually going to want its cut.   But if you plan ahead and employ tax-smart strategies, you can make sure more of your wealth goes to your nephew Steve than to Uncle Sam.     Although many people would rather share their wealth with family while they're alive, the IRS often makes this a tall task -- but not impossible.   The Gift of Gifting   Read more»