Education Articles

Affordable Sustainability, Part 3: Making Your Home More Efficient

Is your home as efficient as it could be? Drafty windows. Leaky faucets. Inefficient light bulbs. Energy-sapping appliances and electronics. Just a few causes of decreased energy efficiency and higher utility bills. But by exercising a little due diligence, those problems can be tempered significantly. Making your home more efficient can seem li...

Start Saving Now for Your Child’s Education

It should come as no surprise that college tuition costs are rising, but the extent to which these costs are outpacing inflation can be alarming. In the past 30 years, the  average cost of tuition  at public four-year institutions has more than tripled. And this doesn’t even account for costs of housing, books, meals, etc. If the trend continues...

Are Extended Vehicle Warranties Worth the Cost?

To buy or not to buy an extended vehicle warranty? That is the question—and a quandary that pits  extra expense against peace of mind . Are you willing to roll the dice and hope for minimal repairs after the factory warranty expires? Or do you purchase coverage you might never need and rest easy knowing that many types of maintenance will be...

What to Do About Those Annoying Robocalls

Like any cyber virus out there, robocalls have found a way to evolve. Early on, they were easy to detect and ignore—the calls came from an area code you didn’t recognize. But the scam has become far more sophisticated with the rise of  Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)  dialing and  call “spoofing”  (faking a phone number). It’s become...

How To Pick the Right Student Loan

College isn’t getting any cheaper. And worse, with so much competition for scholarships, funding is far from a sure thing (no matter how qualified you are). Even college-bound students who do receive funding typically discover it’s not enough to cover the cost of a degree. But don’t let this sway your decision whether you attend college. Between...

Your Personal RV Buying Guide

Are you craving the open road? Recreational vehicles, which come in many shapes and sizes, are a popular choice to hit the road. Depending on your tastes and budget, the options range from practical yet stylish to truly luxury-class accommodations. But buying an RV is a big decision—if your largest assets are the house and car, this purchase lan...

Time to Rethink Your Savings Strategy

If you’re like many Americans, chances are you put saving on your back burner the past couple years. The personal savings rate, which measures the percentage of your disposable income that you save, has historically averaged 8.45% from 1959 until now. For obvious reasons, that rate soared to 33% during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020...

5 Ways It Pays to Have Your Own Insurance Agent

There are seemingly endless ways today to achieve instant gratification with a few mouse clicks. Shopping has become so streamlined that you hardly need to leave the house anymore. With so many e-commerce stores offering free shipping and next-day delivery, the shopping and buying process has become ridiculously easy. How about insurance? Surely...

A Parent's Guide to In-Game Purchases

You've probably heard the horror stories. A 7-year-old in the United States spent  $6,000 buying virtual dinosaurs , an 8-year-old in the United Kingdom spent  £1,000 on virtual doughnuts , and a 15-year-old in Belgium spent  €37,000 buying virtual money . Many games, especially mobile games, are referred to as  free-to-play . This can be...

Is a Personal Loan Right for Me?

Personal loan . It’s such a general term that can theoretically be interpreted many different ways. For instance, back in the day, people would simply write “IOU” on a piece of scratch paper, a veritable handshake promise that you’ll eventually pay your buddy the 20 bucks you borrowed. A college student living on ramen noodles may get a small...