Most parents want to set up a college fund for their kids. The challenge is knowing how and when to start. What’s the right age, how much should you save, and which savings plan is best?
The process can be overwhelming, but rest assured, BALANCE is ready to help. Check out these effective tips to get your college savings plan on track: Continue reading
A typical July includes vacations, travel, shopping, weddings and beaches. Budgets? Not really.
But the year’s halfway point provides a great opportunity to take a close look at your financial health and goals. Continue reading
There are many important financial milestones for consumers. To help prepare for a positive financial future—without sacrificing fun—we take a realistic approach to managing finances. We’ll cover SMART goals, getting financially organized, building a budget, controlling expenses, wiping out debt, and much more! Continue reading
Most parents have already heard the bad news: a college education has never been more expensive. Many, in fact, are still paying off their own student debt and would like their children to avoid that burden. The good news is that there’s a lot parents can do to help their children and make the costs of college more manageable. Continue reading
Sticking to your new year’s resolution is often a time-consuming proposition. Want to get fit? Be ready to spend hours at the gym. Considering a side hustle? Goodbye, weekends.
But if your resolution is to save more, there’s one quick way to start: Open a high-yield online savings account. You can do this at many banks in less than 15 minutes, and you’ll earn at least 20 times more interest than you would in a traditional savings account. Continue reading
A new FICO credit score, launching in 2019, could be good news for consumers who don’t quite have the credit scores they need to qualify for a financial product or for the terms they were hoping for.
The UltraFICO score is an opt-in credit model that uses information from your checking, savings or money market accounts to supplement data already in your credit report. The information being considered includes how much you have in savings, how long the accounts have been open and how active they are. It’s meant to boost your existing FICO score, which ranges from 300 to 850. Continue reading
With a swipe here and a swipe there, it can be easy to live your life on plastic and pile up debt. You’re not alone: U.S. households carried credit card balances that totaled $815 billion in debt in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Sticking to a budget, spending wisely and focusing on your financial goals can help you use your money for the things that are most important to you — without taking on the burden of credit card debt. Here are three strategies to help you avoid the debt trap. Continue reading
1. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Saving tends to be easier when you have a certain purpose in mind: Saving for your first house, your retirement at a certain age, a child’s college education, or even a trip around the world. The important thing is for your goals to be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound, or SMART. Continue reading
Does saving money seem impossible? You’re not alone. Reportedly, more than half of Americans have less than $1,000 to their name.
While it’s hard to imagine keeping extra cash when you live paycheck-to-paycheck, there is hope. If you take a big-picture view of your spending habits, you’ll be surprised at the savings opportunities you might find.
Here are three reasons that may be preventing you from building a stronger financial future: Continue reading
We care about your financial wellness! That’s why we’ve partnered with industry-leading, BALANCE, to provide you with free access to expertly-crafted financial education and resources to help with your fiscal matters. BALANCE can assist with confidential, no-cost financial counseling services to help you develop a sensible budget managing spending and debt. For all your financial life stage changes and more, we—in partnership with BALANCE—are here to help. Continue reading
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