Personal Finance

According to the just-released latest quarterly household debt and credit report by the NY Fed, Americans' debt rose to a new record high in the fourth quarter on the back of an increase in virtually every form of debt: from mortgage, to auto, student and credit card debt (although HELOCs posted a tiny decline). With interest rates on household credit rapidly rising, and with no savings to fall back on, this is a recipe for disaster.

Do you have what it takes to pay off your debts and become comfortable financially or perhaps even rich, even VERY rich? You probably do but don't know exactly what to do or think your situation is just too dire to possibly turn around. Read the following articles for some encouragement, financial advice and ideas on how to make considerably more income, pay off your debts and possibly even become that millionaire you've always wanted to be but didn't know how to accomplish.

Robo-advisors are all the rage right now and many passive investors are choosing to invest with them. Who exactly are they? Well, this article explains exactly who they are, and how you can use them.

The first rule of personal finance is never carry a credit card balance. It’s another one of those simple to understand yet difficult to execute money management concepts for a large swath of the population.

Your credit card bills may not be keeping you up at night yet, but if you analyze your financial situation, you may find that you are closer to the edge than you think. Here are 5 warning signs that you have way too much debt:

Households should be encouraged to maintain at least a small buffer of liquid savings, even if the cash in that buffer is not being used to pay down high-interest debt. Here's why.

...Should you pay off your mortgage early either by paying extra dollars toward your loan's principal balance or by paying off the rest of your mortgage in one giant payment if you had the opportunity to do so or are there times when not paying off your mortgage early actually makes sense? Not surprisingly, it depends on a host of factors. Here is what you should look at when determining whether paying off your mortgage early is the best choice.

This post provides a visualization of data* from our new True Cost of Living Tool to illustrate how the living conditions of the working class stack up across the country. It’s kind of a big deal because it lets you drill down to a specific city and search through layers of relevant information to understand exactly how much money it takes to live in any given area.

Side gigs are not exactly second jobs, because they come with a lot more flexibility and leave you in control of your hours and commitment but they can still be invaluable sources of income when you're really in a pinch. If you're ready to start bringing in some extra money, quickly, here are some great places to start.

A budget is a basic necessity, even if you do it just once, to understand where your money is flowing yet most people spend money as quickly as it comes in - like sand flowing through their fingers - [so this article takes a]...look at the latest spending breakdown of Americans to see where most of our money is going.