Suzie and I are visiting family and enjoying the Victorian grandeur of the coastal towns of southern England, in particular near Brighton where my brother-in-law recently purchased his first home. He’s been expressing nervousness about the new experience of having a mortgage. While chatting during the evening I’ve tried to soothe his mind with a version of this, I admit, slightly left-field argument. It seemed to help him and I thought I’d share my thoughts.
When my wife Suzie retired in June last year,

Credit cards certainly help drive our economy and drive some people into financial ruin. 
As I stated more than once, my philosophy of personal finance is simply save first, spend the rest but never carry a credit card balance. 
My American Express card was recently cancelled by Amx. It was a business card and they said since I no longer ran a business I couldn’t keep it. Even though I had the card since 1986, I had to apply for a new one which I did and was approved virtually instantly.

Our earliest days as independent fledgling adults, working our first job, living in our own place, are hard to forget. I still recall my first apartments in surprising detail. As I now watch my daughter live through her own such experiences, these memories are flooding back.
Mine are mostly happy, as I lived and worked through the first part of my lifetime happiness smile curve. There were a few rare exceptions. Buying my first car was one of them.

American credit card debt just broke the trillion dollar level.  Taking on  debt, “ bad” debt, credit cards , auto loans and similar, is a like attending a raucous party ,  taking in too much alcohol , etc.
The aftermath , paying off high interest loans, is like the worst hangover, ever. It can take decades to recover from it.
Often,  too much alcohol can kill you, quickly or long term, * alas , debt can kill you,

My grandson is a senior in college. He has taken some student loans for which the financial resources exist (529 plan) to pay them in full upon graduation. My question is this:
From the perspective of building a strong credit history, should he pay the loans in full after the grace period, or should he make payments for a period of time, say a year or two, before paying them in full?
Note, that any money leftover in the 529 plan will be either transferred to a Roth IRA when feasible,

LIKE MANY AMERICANS, Sally found herself caught in a whirlwind of unexpected expenses and mounting credit card debt. It wasn’t lavish vacations or shopping sprees. Rather, it was veterinary bills for her aging dogs.
I conducted a credit-card debt-reduction workshop for Sally. Here’s a glimpse at her finances:

Her Mastercard balance was $12,970 at a hefty 17% interest rate.
Despite that, she had an exceptional credit score of 820.
She also had a $26,000 emergency fund.

My question is which would be better to use to pay down debt a 401k withdrawal (sell stocks) which would raise taxes (SS) at years end significantly a 0% credit card balance transfer (cost 3-5% annually) or a 9.3% home equity loan that hopefully the interest rate goes down next year.  I enjoy reading all your stories about finances and life. thank you.

WHAT WAS MY DAD thinking when he asked me to help him and my mom with their finances? Did he expect me to give him money? Maybe.
Up until that moment, my dad handled the family finances. Both he and Mom were retired, though my mom still worked occasionally as an adjunct professor. My mom assumed things were okay, though I had my suspicions.
One day, I saw a credit card bill that showed a large outstanding balance,

SPENDING ISN’T something I like to do. It doesn’t bring me lasting joy. I prefer just to buy what I need.
For many folks, spending involves borrowing. If spending is your thing, incurring interest charges on credit card debt and car loans probably isn’t a big deal. But to me, borrowing to buy something means I’m overspending. If I can’t afford to pay cash, I shouldn’t buy it.
Borrowing has been the downfall of many.

I HATE BEING IN DEBT. It makes me feel anxious and uncertain, as though my finances are out of my control. If I don’t pay all my bills in full every month, I feel trapped, and I’m endlessly restless until I get free.
I understand that other people manage their finances quite differently, and are happy to pay their bills in installments. Not me.
Years ago, I made a small bet on a minor thing.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD one of those debates where you come up with the winning argument—hours later, long after everybody has gone home?
Among the many financial topics that cause confusion, extra-principal payments on a mortgage deserve a special mention. For decades, I feel like I’ve been trying to stamp out the nonsense that’s spouted on this topic, and I think I finally have the answer. Maybe.
The chief reason for all the confusion is a mortgage’s shifting mix of principal and interest.

I’VE KNOWN AT LEAST half-a-dozen folks who regularly carried five-figure credit card balances. In fact, I was once friends with a woman who had $100,000 in card debt—not just a staggering sum, but also a warning sign about her spending habits that I should have heeded far earlier than I did.
Folks who flock to HumbleDollar tend to be financially disciplined, so this sort of behavior will no doubt spark tut-tutting among some readers.

IF YOU’RE IN THE market for a home and a mortgage, this is a tough time, with shrinking inventory, lofty home prices and interest rates that feel overwhelming. I know all about this—because I’m a mortgage broker.
For many, today’s housing and mortgage market mean putting their homebuying dreams on hold. What if you go ahead, despite 30-year fixed-rate mortgages above 7%? I advocate controlling what you can. One of the variables that you can influence—and which can help save a tremendous amount of money—is your credit score.

THE HOUSE I GREW UP in was built in 1950 by my father, with some assistance from his best friend Joe, who was a master homebuilder by profession. After his work day as an accountant for a local hardware and lumber chain, my dad would head over to the job site and labor into the night.
My mom also provided some sweat equity, painting and even swinging a hammer at times. I was born in 1962,

AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED in The Wall Street Journal told the story of Americans in their 30s who are spending heavily and piling on debt as we leave the pandemic behind.

One family with an income of $80,000 in Lincoln, Nebraska—where the cost of living is low, with housing costs 22% below the national average—had $20,000 in credit card debt and $160,000 in student loans.

They used stimulus checks to work down their credit card debt.