Retirement planning and saving for other future events like post-secondary education and travel requires a strong financial plan and a basic understanding of investing in the stock market. This can include employer-sponsored retirement accounts or setting up automated investment payments that occur on predictable time intervals.   #1 Employer-Sponsored Retirement … [Read more...]

A financial crisis can take on many forms and unfortunately they have a tendency to arrive without any warning! Do you have any funds available to enable you to survive financially if a crisis occurs? Financial disasters may arrive in the form of redundancy, illness, sickness or a crisis could occur when your car breaks down, the roof starts to leak or a business goes under. … [Read more...]

Even as we begin our studies, each of us already has various kinds of study skills. Our learning drive emanates from different sources and so does our outlook towards our studies. Nonetheless, despite where we come from we need to take several things into consideration with regards to our studies. In order for us to succeed in our studies and future lives, we require good … [Read more...]

Savvy investors have long planned for rainy days in their financial strategies. Indeed, ranging back to the rather crude method of leaving a wad of bills in a pillowcase for safekeeping, to the more sophisticated practices of modern business pros, setting aside capital for a tough financial period has always been a sound tactic. However, ensuring your financial well-being is … [Read more...]

Debt is undoubtedly a stressful experience, but dying from it? According to an analysis of more than 8,000 Americans, losing at least 75 percent of overall net worth meant they were 50 percent more at risk of dying over the next two decades! The study, titled “Association of a Negative Wealth Shock with All-Cause Mortality in Middle-aged and Older Adults in the United … [Read more...]

Developments in the payment technology market have already had an incredible impact on the world around us. Our day to day lives and the actions that we complete every day have been transformed by inventions such as the credit card with its magnetic strip, contactless payment which allows us to complete a transaction without inputting our PIN for each purchase, and the … [Read more...]

Most of us have at some point dreamt of winning the lottery. Or, even wondered what we’d do if someone long lost relative died and left us a lot of money. We’ve all daydreamed about how we’d spend it, made imaginary shopping lists and thought about who we’d share our good fortune with. For the most part, these dreams have probably been fantasy, we’re generally predisposed … [Read more...]

Managing money should be straightforward, but it’s a major headache for a lot of people. The basic calculation of incomings minus outgoings sounds like a simple piece of math, but it becomes a lot more complicated when you try to work out exactly what your outgoings are, and why it is that you’re short at the end of the month when on paper it says you should have a healthy … [Read more...]

Excelsior!  That's Latin, by the way, often translated as "ever upward" or "on to new heights."  Sounds like something cliche straight out of graduation. You've climbed one ladder only to discover the base of another, "still higher" one--entering the workforce.   This can be a dishearteningly long process in which many students feel forced into settling for jobs outside … [Read more...]

It is easy to find great advice on how to prepare for urgent expenses in advance. The problem is when they happen before you have time to get prepared. Some urgent expenses you just can’t ignore.   #1 Medical and Dental Emergencies Medical emergencies are chief among the expenses you have to attend to immediately. While doctors and medical facilities will usually bill … [Read more...]