Personal Finance

The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform, Why We Need It and What it Will Take

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In this week’s column, Fred Siegmund reviews “The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform, Why We Need It and What it Will Take” by Bruce Bartlett. In the opening sentences of the Introduction, author Bruce Bartlett tells readers the Federal tax code needs regular attention like a garden needs weeding. Even though the present weedy tangle [...]

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If You Own a House and Aren’t Refinancing, Do It Now

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It’s a great time to be in the market for a house or to be a homeowner. It’s not because the housing market is heating up or because prices are rising (two things I think aren’t and shouldn’t be related). No, it’s because the cost to get a mortgage and pay a monthly payment is [...]

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Meet Budgetable, the Love Child of Mint and Groupon

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If you’ve been following Automatic Finances, then you’ve gotten onboard with using account aggregators like Yodlee’s MoneyCenter and Mint to connect all of your bank accounts, set your budget and track your spending. And you’ve probably, over the past couple of years, signed up to receive daily deals from sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, who [...]

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These Debt Collectors Picked The Wrong Woman to Mess With

It’s a short post, but something I just had to share with you. From ABC News: In a twist of irony, a West Virginia woman is trying to collect money from a collection agency. Diana Mey, of Wheeling, W. Va., won the largest judgment ever against an abusive debt collection company — more than $10 [...]

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Day 7: Create a Budget

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Budgeting. Even the word screams BORING, right? Well, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but it is crucial to hitting your financial goals. If you assign a value to every dollar you bring in in a month (from fixed costs to flux costs to savings), you’ve given yourself a path to success. So [...]

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Day 5: Realize Your Expected Income

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There’s two pieces to personal finance success: what you bring in and what you spend. The most important (and extremely simple) equation for personal finance success is what you bring in – what you spend. If that number is positive, your net worth is growing. If it isn’t, you’re going in the wrong direction. On [...]

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Day 3: Find Your Net Worth

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It’s time for Day 3 in the posting of Automatic Finances: 17 Days to Your Financial Freedom. See the previous posts here: Introduction, Day 1 and Day 2. ****************************** After everything you’ve done to organize your finances, it’s time to take a look at where you stand. Whatever your situation – whether your net worth [...]

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