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 Aside from the fortunate few with several thousands of dollars in their wallets, most of us cannot buy a car upfront. Both leasing and taking out auto loans are efficient ways to purchase automobiles without having to fork over an entire life’s savings.
So which one is right for you? Consult our guide on Leasing vs. Loans to find out!
Leasing
Advantages
There are many advantages to leasing a car. With good credit, upfront payments are low and monthly payments are cheaper than monthly auto loan payments. As most cars are under warranty for three years, your leased vehicle will be covered for mechanical damages for the duration of its Edmunds.com-recommended three-year lease. What this means: low down payments, low monthly payments, and low maintenance costs. Hooray!
Lease enthusiasts also enjoy the ability of driving three cars in the span of time others typically drive just one. In addition to enjoying the cache of a brand new car every few years, leasers are less likely to need major repairs.
Disadvantages
As you already know with renting vs. home owning, renting is more affordable on the short (Read More....)
 Providing your kids with a sound financial education is one of the most important steps you can take to promote a better future for them throughout their adult lives. A financial education will provide kids with the tools they need to make better spending and saving decisions. A key aspect of a solid financial education involves providing kids with money management tools and teaching them how to use those tools responsibly.
Checking and Savings Accounts
Many parents will open a savings account for their children very early on in life with birthday and holiday money. They may contribute to this account on their own as well. However, once kids are old enough, they can start working around the house to earn an allowance. When kids are old enough to work at a job outside the house, parents should help kids open a checking account at the bank.
With regular oversight and attention to these accounts, parents can teach children to save a portion of their paychecks (Read More....)
 “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion,” once remarked Jack Kerouac. Perhaps Kerouac had the stock market in mind when he made this observation…we don’t know. But if he did, he would’ve likely perceived a stern warning from recent volatility index readings and investor complacency. The volatility index measures investor expectations of stock market volatility over the next 30 days. Generally, a volatility index reading below 15 has been a good time to sell. For example, in April 2011 the volatility index dropped below 15…presaging a swift 20 percent decline in the S&P 500. The first quarter of 2012 concluded last week. If you can believe it, the stock market, as represented by the S&P 500, is off to its best start in 14 years. Year-to-date it’s up 12 percent.
But while everyone was yielding to the popular opinion (Read More....)
 Perhaps the best advice ever written about debt came from the British novelist Charles Dickens, who had one character advise another that a happy life depends on making sure that outgoing funds never exceed incoming ones. Well over a century later, that guidance remains as relevant as ever.
Understand your income and expenses
A first step in avoiding the debt trap is to understand three things about your finances: your monthly spendable income, your required expenses, and your discretionary expenses. Young people often start out spending beyond their means because they have underestimated their true spendable income. Due to a variety of taxes, the amount each of us has to spend is significantly less than the sum we think of as being our disposable income.
An individual’s net income must stretch far enough to pay for essential items things such as rent, food, and clothing. Whatever is left over is available for either discretionary spending or saving. The amount “left over,” however, is not a constant even if net income remains unchanged. This is because required expenses (Read More....)
 In this economy, families all across the nation are searching for ways to lower their spending. Instead of removing things from their budget, there are other ways to reduce their monthly expenses. Consider these three tips to help you lower your spending.
1. Cook at home
Some research suggested that nearly half of all families are accustomed to eating out more than three times a week. Initially, it does not seem too expensive to eat out, especially at fast-food restaurants, but the monthly totals can equal hundreds of dollars. In this economy, even just one-hundred dollars is a lot of money.
Additionally, some people state that cooking at home can become expensive, as well. However, with smart shopping, ingredients can be purchased at a fraction of the cost of eating out.
Moreover, along with saving money, eating at home is a great way for a family to spend time together. Dads can use their BBQ smokers to make some great food for the (Read More....)
 Today we have a guest post from a reader named Vincenzo that I think that you are really going to enjoy. Vincenzo has some very insightful tips on Forex trading and on how to get out of debt that many of you will find useful....
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Can Forex Trading Save You From Debt?
In this very unstable economy, many of us are enduring the pains of debt. With the unemployment rate at record highs and so many foreclosures, it seems almost like debt is some sort of financial fad right now… because “everybody’s doing it”.
So, what can we do to get out of debt? Well, of course we have the options that all of us are well familiar with by now: bankruptcy, debt consolidation, settling with creditors, and so on.
For those in the specific circumstance where you have money in reserve and are trying to pay your debt down as quickly as possible before that reserve is depleted, there is another rather unique approach to debt – foreign exchange (forex) trading.
This is a good (Read More....)
 For millions of Americans who want to get out of debt, the smooth advertisements of the "debt settlement" companies are a little too hard to resist. They promise to settle your debt for pennies on the dollar. They promise to get you out from under credit card bills that you can’t pay. But do they get the job done?
Well, for the most part, no.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently announced that an extensive investigation found rampant fraud, abuse and misrepresentation in the debt settlement industry.
The following is a quote from a GAO report to a Senate committee about what the investigation discovered....
While we determined that some companies gave (Read More....)
 What should you do once you get out of debt? The truth is that many people resume old financial habits after they successfully get out of debt. That would be bad enough during normal times, but considering the fact the we are headed for another Great Depression, it is imperative to fundamentally change how you manage and spend your money after you do get out of debt.
So what should your financial priorities be in 2010?
Well, "Dr. Doom" Marc Faber, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash, is warning that some incredibly difficult economic times are coming and he is advising investors to buy farmland and gold.
Why?
Well, because in the hard times ahead, food will be an incredibly valuable resource. Owning farmland will put you in a very good position (Read More....)
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