Tips to Save Money on Valentine’s Day and Year-Round
I recently participated on a panel for a Twitter chat titled How to Spend Valentine’s Day on a Budget, sponsored by Experian. Below are some tips that I shared in response to the questions:...
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Four Common Scams and How to Avoid Them
I recently attended a seminar called Identifying and Avoiding Scams. The speaker, a bank fraud specialist, described three key steps: know the types of scams that are out there, learn the identifying characteristics of...
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Undercover “Barbservations” from a “Free Dinner” Seminar
According to the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), free meal seminarsconducted by people with questionable credentials to sell legal and/or investment products to older adults create a “perfect storm” for investment fraud. Ever...
2020 Tax Season: What You Need to Know
Tax season begins this year on Monday, January 27, 2020. This is the first day that the IRS will start accepting and processing 2019 tax year forms. The Military Families Learning Network personal finance...
Freezing Your Credit: Five Key Things to Know
In 2017, after the Equifax hack affected over 145 million people, I froze my credit. At that time, I remember thinking that I was “done” and would never have to unfreeze it because I...
Fifteen 2019 Personal Finance Events, Facts, and Trends
Irecently co-authored a journal article in the Journal of Financial Planning and conducted a webinar for the Military Families Learning Network titled 2019 Personal Finance Year in Review. Both discussed recent events, facts, and...
Don’t Set Resolutions- Create Good Habits
It’s Resolution Time- At the start of each year, some people set New Year’s resolutions and there is a lot of media coverage about them. Common resolutions are healthier eating, increased physical activity, saving...
The SECURE Act: What You Need to Know
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was enacted as part of a year-end budget appropriations bill that passed the U.S. Senate on December 19, 2019. It was subsequently signed by...
Trends in Personal Finance: 2019
I recently attended a webinarabout 2019 trends in personal finance sponsored by Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) and presented a webinar of my own. Below are five 2019 statistics and trends that caught my...
My Take-Aways from the 2019 NJCFE Symposium
I recently attended the 2019 New Jersey Coalition for Financial Education (NJCFE) Symposium. Below are some key take-aways about personal finance topics and financial education: ¨ Financial author Beth Kobliner recommended that parents have...
My Take-Aways from the 2019 AFCPE Symposium
I recently attended the 2019 Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education Symposium. Below are some key take-aways about personal finance topics and financial education: ¨ FINRA has a useful online calculator to determine...
A Personal Finance Gratitude List
On Thanksgiving Day, people express gratitude for good things in their lives including family members, friends, financial security, and good health. It is also a great time to reflect on positive trends in the...
What is a Stock Market Index?
Earlier this week, I taught my Rutgers Personal Finance class about stocks, stock indexes, and index funds. You have probably heard the Dow Jones Industrial Average (a.k.a., “the Dow”) index reported during evening news...