Starting a Career Archives

Buying a Car

Marriage, Parenthood, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Owning a car can be a significant expense that eats into your bank account each month. Aside from the upfront purchase, you also have to worry about long-term expenses associated with maintenance, gasoline, and insurance coverage. Worry not – there are many strategies you can adopt to minimize costs. Below, we discuss the best time to buy a car, money-saving features, and more. With these tips and tricks, you can avoid paying too much, while staying on the road with a car that meets your needs.

Managing Debt

Marriage, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Debt can be sneaky. Balances on loans and credit cards that accrue interest can force you to pay more than you anticipated, eat away at your monthly cash flow, and make it difficult to save for the future. And since debt lowers your total net worth, it can make achieving big-picture goals, like buying a house or car, more difficult. However, debt is practically inevitable in today’s financial landscape.

Student Loan Guide

Saving for College, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

The cost of education continues to skyrocket, and there are no signs of prices leveling off anytime soon. A traditional four-year degree program leaves many students swimming in debt, and the price tag of pursuing an advanced degree makes the cost even harder to handle. Your choices about student loans begin even before you enter school, so understanding the process and making smart decisions now will impact how you deal with financial obligations after you graduate. Picking the right school and program, choosing the right loan, optimizing your repayment and consolidation, and taking advantage of assistance programs can all help to reduce your overall exposure.

How to Raise Your Credit Score

Marriage, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Credit score is a central component to personal financial success. Having a clean credit report and high credit score opens the door to plenty of opportunities like qualifying for great rates on credit cards, better rental housing options, lower interest mortgages, insurance discounts, and more. If you lack strong credit right now, it’s possible to improve. It takes consistency and financial prudence, but the sooner you start addressing problems with your credit, the better you’ll position yourself for the future.

Credit Card Basics

Marriage, Parenthood, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Credit cards are quite a controversial topic. Millions of consumers use credit cards for most of their purchases, yet critics claim they encourage overspending and lead to vicious debt cycles. The key to using credit cards to understand how they work. To that end, the guide below teaches you the basics of credit cards and what to avoid.

Guide to Employee Benefits

Changing Jobs, Healthcare, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

We all aim to find work that fulfills us, but you can’t deny that healthy wages and strong benefits packages influence your job decision. After all, you want to earn your money’s worth for the knowledge and skills you bring to the table. To help you out, we’ve prepared a guide to employee benefits. Refer to this guide when you’re next on the job hunt to identify opportunities with the pay and benefits you desire.

Best Banking Practices

Marriage, Parenthood, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Banking isn’t easy. You have thousands of institutions from which you can choose. Getting the most out of your banking can take some work. Follow these best practices to keep your money safe and make banking an easier experience.

Maximizing Your Tax Benefits

Marriage, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Tax season is a stressful time of year. Until your return is complete, you can never be sure whether or not you owe the IRS money. Strategizing your tax strategy ahead of time will do a lot to alleviate this worry. Read on to learn more about maximizing your tax benefits through smart planning.

Building an Emergency Fund

Investing, Marriage, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Many Americans go into debt as a result of unexpected expenses each year. Enter: the emergency fund, the hidden hero of your financial plan. An emergency fund is your financial safety net, a supply of funds saved to protect you from debt in the face of an unexpected financial crisis. By starting an emergency fund, you can take important steps to prepare for the financial burdens that come your way when you least expect them.

Tax Basics

Marriage, Starting a Career / By Gabriel Kaplan

Tax season is a high risk, high reward time of year. Unfortunately, if you – like many – find yourself perplexed by borderline unintelligible tax codes, you may fall victim to penalties and legal repercussions from the IRS. Having a firm grasp of the tax code at all levels of government, on the other hand, can save you hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars via deductions and credits.