This Hack Could Save You Over $5,100 in Credit Card Interest and Get You Out of Debt 4 Years Faster
Image source: The Motley Fool/Upsplash Paying off debt is the most popular financial resolution going into 2025, according to Motley Fool Money’s recent survey. It’s a valuable goal that can drastically improve your financial well-being, but it can also be challenging. This is especially true if you have high-interest credit card debt that’s constantly growing. […]
3 Ways You Can Still Buy a Home Even With Zero Down
Image source: Getty Images When I was a Realtor, buying a home with little to nothing down was a big trend. It was also a good way for people to get into their first house without having to touch their savings accounts, which are there so they can stay in their first house long-term. Those […]
3 Key Social Security Changes Coming in 2025 Besides the 2.5% COLA
The Social Security program undergoes revisions each year to account for changes in wages and prices across the economy. Often, benefits are the largest source of income for retired workers, so understanding the changes could be the difference between prudent financial planning and costly mistakes. Most readers probably know Social Security payments receive annual cost-of-living […]
Want the Max $5,108 Social Security Benefit? Here’s the Salary You Need
Nobody expects their Social Security benefits to provide a posh lifestyle in retirement. However, a handful of people are collecting surprisingly big payments from the government-run entitlement program. Next year’s maximum monthly payment is a hefty $5,108, or full-year income of $61,296. That’s not bad, particularly when combined with other sources of retirement income. The […]
4 Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Mistakes You Cannot Afford to Make This Year
It’s hard to believe, but we’re just a few weeks away from 2025, and that means the clock is ticking on 2024 required minimum distributions (RMDs). They’re required annual withdrawals most workers 73 and older have to take from their accounts so Uncle Sam can finally get his tax cut of those savings. Those who […]
10+ Cities Where Buying a Home Makes No Financial Sense
Image source: Upsplash/The Motley Fool The economic fallout of COVID-19 continues to haunt American house hunters. In 2021, while most of us were still wearing masks in public and looking out for our elderly neighbors, home prices became scorchingly hot. Prices rose faster in 2021 than ever before, and the typical home suddenly gained $50,000 […]
What Can You Buy With Your Home Equity?
Image source: The Motley Fool/Upsplash So, you bought your home before the pandemic, or maybe you just had a remarkable down payment and now you’ve got a ton of equity in your home. Sure, you can sit on it and wait for it to grow like a lot of people do, but that’s not all […]
3 Huge Social Security Changes Taking Effect in January 2025
Social Security is a lifeline for millions of older adults, and even small changes to the program can have a direct impact on your monthly budget. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) may be the most anticipated change taking effect in 2025, with Social Security recipients set to see a 2.5% raise next year. That will add […]
Changes to Social Security We Might See in Trump’s Presidency
Four more years, four years later. President-elect Donald Trump is about to do what only one other person in history (Grover Cleveland) has done before him: become president for a second time after being previously voted out of office. Social Security didn’t exist during Cleveland’s administration. However, the federal program is important today to nearly […]
Here’s the Average Social Security Benefit at Ages 62 and 70
For most Americans, a monthly Social Security check isn’t a luxury. Rather, it’s a foundational source of income that retirees would struggle to make do without. For the last 23 years, national pollster Gallup has conducted an annual survey to decipher how reliant retirees are doing on the income they receive from Social Security. Gallup […]
