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The Key to Financial Stability: A Brief Guide to Understanding Credit Reports What is a Credit Report? A credit report is a comprehensive summary of your credit history. A credit report contains a detailed record of your money or credit borrowing and repayment, and it is compiled by credit bureaus, also known as credit reporting agencies. A credit report includes a credit score, which is a three-digit […] Posted in: General Finance4 min read
If I had a million dollars Setting your Sights on Retirement – Five things you can do to bring it into focus Do you remember the Barenaked Ladies song, If I had a Million Dollars? Tongue in cheek, they sing about all the things they would do if they had a million dollars. It was released when I was in my […] Posted in: Family Matters, Investing, Pension2.5 min read
American Bandstand’s Top 10 with a Twist Many of you may recall watching American Bandstand, where they regularly reviewed the top ten pop music songs during a specific time period. You may also recall the rush of seeing and listening to superstars such as the Beatles, ABBA, and Jefferson Airplane perform live on television. Today we want to introduce anyone hoping to […] Posted in: Family Matters, Insurance, Investing, Pension2.5 min read
Part 4 – Budgeting SUCCESS – Tips, Tools, and Resources In this four-part budgeting series, I used tools to track my income and spending, I’ve estimated income and expenses, I’ve compared the results to my estimates, and I have learned more about where my money comes from and where it goes. How did this go for me? It went well but not without some challenges. […] Posted in: Guest Blog3 min read
Part 3 – Creating my Budget To create your budget, you’ll need to know how much money you expect to receive next month, how much you think you will need for expenses, and how you will prioritize your spending. As I review my Expense Tracker and Income Tracker from last month, I think about the upcoming month and consider whether: any […] Posted in: Guest Blog1.5 min read
Part 2 – Balancing my budget needs vs. wants In my last blog post, I explained how I needed to review my income and expenses to get a complete picture of my finances. I tracked my income and expenses for a full month so I could see how much was coming in and how much was going out. Am I managing my money effectively? […] Posted in: Guest Blog2 min read