How to Reduce Car Expenses
Having a car is a big expense right now. The price of gas has skyrocketed in recent months, with the national average for one gallon of regular gas reaching $4.39 on May 29, according to AAA, a 38.9% increase from the same date last year. On top of that, higher interest rates, car prices and […]
How To Avoid Travel Fees Quietly Inflating Your Vacation Costs
With summer travel season around the corner, chances are your next getaway is already on your mind. But if you’ve been waiting for airfare prices to finally drop, you’re not imagining things — they haven’t. Airfares were up 21% year over year as of April, according to the Consumer Price Index, and that’s before you’ve […]
How to Plan a Medical Tourism Trip and the Best Resources
Every year, millions of Americans travel internationally for medical tourism, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The practice of visiting another country to receive healthcare — including cosmetic and reproductive treatments — that isn’t available or is less expensive abroad has received heightened attention as some share their journeys on social media. This comes […]
How To Get Out of an Upside-Down Car Loan
As car prices and interest rates climb, a growing share of Americans owe more on their car than it’s actually worth — a situation referred to as an “upside-down” or “underwater” car loan. In the final quarter of 2025, roughly 30% of trade-ins came with negative equity, according to car shopping site Edmunds. The average […]
How to Find Your VantageScore 4.0 Credit Score
Mortgage lenders have long used three key FICO scores — 2, 4 and 5 — to determine home loan eligibility. Now, there are a couple of new score models on the block that could make it easier for people with certain types of debt or limited credit history to get a mortgage. Lenders can now […]
3 Ways To Stay Ahead
It starts with an emergency: surprise medical bills, new car tires, a home repair that couldn’t wait. Before long, what felt like a temporary fix turns into ballooning debt. According to a recent Bankrate survey, 41% of credit card debtors say their debt came primarily from emergency/unexpected expenses, and 61% of them have been carrying […]
Codie Sanchez Shares How To Buy an Existing Business
Becoming an entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily mean starting a new business from scratch. You can also acquire existing businesses, for which there is no shortage. According to a CNBC analysis of a 2023 report from the Exit Planning Institute, 58% of boomers who are business owners say they planned to sell their businesses within the next […]
Bare-Bones Budget: How To Create One
There are many situations where you may find yourself needing to tighten your budget, whether it’s because you were just laid off or, on a brighter note, you’re preparing to make a big purchase. Insert: A bare-minimum budget. A bare-minimum budget (aka a bare-bones budget) is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a budget that […]
Debt Relief vs. Bankruptcy: How To Choose
If you’ve been juggling minimum loan payments for months, you may be starting to realize the debt isn’t going away on its own. At that point, two options usually come into focus: debt relief and bankruptcy. While both can offer a way forward, they work very differently, and choosing the wrong one could mean more […]
Dealer vs. Bank vs. Online Lenders Explained
If this is your first time getting a car loan, you probably have a million questions: “Should I get a loan from the dealer?” “Are online lenders legit?” — and everything in between. There are actually three main ways to get a car loan: dealer financing, banks and credit unions (aka traditional lenders) and online […]