Some little things that may make a difference in the number. 740 is the new 720. If you want to refinance or buy a home or pass muster with a lender, a landlord, an insurer or even a possible employer, it will help to have a credit score of 740 or better. While the median [...]

Why not plan to lighten your financial burden? Positive moves to counteract negative cash flow. In its most recent Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York put aggregate U.S. consumer debt at $11.4 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2010. Divide that by the Census Bureau’s estimate of [...]

Two-thirds of us have no financial plan. 64% of Americans have no financial strategy at all. That’s right – no plan whatsoever to build wealth or keep it. That finding comes from the 2009 National Consumer Survey on Personal Finance conducted by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (The survey collected data from [...]

Financial advisers are noticing a shift. A development few have noticed. The recession that started in 2007 quietly brought an economic shift to millions of American families – the woman of the house became the primary wage earner. In June 2010, Labor Department data showed that nearly 22% of American men aged 25-65 were unemployed. [...]

There are other risks we sometimes don’t think about. When an investor or financial advisor thinks about diversification, it is generally with market risk in mind. It’s worth remembering that there are other potential risks to your money – and diversification can be valuable in helping you cope with them. Business risk. Even today, there [...]