Personal Financial Advice from a former Certified Financial Planner
If you are still paying ATM fees, it’s time to find a new bank. Too many customers have gotten used to paying ATM fees, but there is no reason for it. Good banks, credit unions, and financial institutions all have multiple options to use ATMs for free, including, in some …
Update: You can easily get a free IRA account almost anywhere these days. If you are paying a custodial or maintenance fee, consider switching IRA custodians. Free IRA Companies: Fidelity Charles Schwab E-Trade SoFi Betterment Ameritrade Vanguard And tons of banks… If you do still have an annual IRA fee… …
More fraud happens in this country every year than you can possibly imagine. Technically, of course, it isn’t actually fraud because of the cheater’s loophole: disclosure. Disclosure is what makes every scam legitimate in the eyes of the law. As long as the company cheating you tells you they are cheating …
Recently, I had a very nice family vacation. Now, I travel on occasion for business, and often when we travel we setup via the same system. The rental companies don’t really bother with the tricks, because they have a blanket contract with the company. This time, however, the family and …
After facing the biggest customer backlash in recent memory over its decision to implement a $5 per month use fee for customers using a Bank of America debit card, the banking giant has reversed course and announced that it will not charge the $5 debit card fee starting next year. …
It turns out that not all of the big national banks will be using overt money grabbing fees to boost their revenues like Bank of America is by charging a $5 fee to use your debit card even once per month. Wells Fargo and Chase Bank have both announced that …
Lot of people have been getting notifications from their bank or credit union about overdraft protection for debit cards. These notifications sound urgent and tell you that unless you respond that your financial institution will have to turn off overdraft protection on your debit card soon. While it sounds like …
Today’s inspiration comes courtesy of All Financial Matters (a solid blog with good hard numbers data) who notes that a Money Magazine article called “The Mole” discusses how just because a financial advisor says he puts his clients first doesn’t mean he does. Really? Did I miss something? If it …
Being a smart consumer, or smart investor, or smart anything really is all about knowledge. Understanding the world you are playing in just makes good sense. I can spot most finance scams by reading the title. The reason? I’ve spent plenty of time reading the fine print and have grown …