Debt

42% of parents have paid off an adult child's debt

Geoff Williams Dec 14th 2009 @ 3:45PM EST Filed Under: Debt, Personal loans

If you're a parent and have grown kids, have you ever paid off a debt of theirs?

That's a question that GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media recently posed to 1,004 adults in a survey for CreditCards.com. Two out of five adults, or 42%, said that they had paid off a debt for a grown child at some point.

Auto loans topped out the most likely to be paid (40%), with medical debt close behind (37%) and utilities (31%) following. Credit cards were next (30%), followed by student loans (29%) and the mortgage (11%). The entire story can be found here.

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Podcast: Tips for Gen Xers and Yers on saving for retirement

Lan N. Nguyen Dec 14th 2009 @ 3:30PM EST Filed Under: Debt, Saving Money, Retirement advice

WalletPop's Lan Nguyen chats with Frank Armstrong -- founder of Investors Solutions and author of several books including "Save Your Retirement" (FT Press) -- on what Gen Xers and Gen Yers need to do to have a happy retirement.

Open a 401(k), but only if your company matches and the cost isn't too high. Otherwise, open your own 401(k) or IRA. Most importantly, pay down credit card debt and "rights-size" your life.

Could sitcoms help you get out of debt?

Gina Roberts-Grey Dec 14th 2009 @ 2:00PM EST Filed Under: Budgets, Credit, Debt

Pop culture is poised on the precipice of a mid-season replacement lineup as networks get ready to roll out their latest offerings, hoping millions will tune into their channels. Many will watch in the hopes of sharpening their punch line delivery skills or getting a hearty chuckle.

But few viewers realize that the laughable and lovable characters we welcome into our homes once a week can actually teach us some valuable lessons about managing money and protecting our credit.

Whether they're fiscally frugal or free-spending, here's some practical advice from a few classic characters.

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It's starting to look a lot like cash, er, Christmas...

Geoff Williams Dec 12th 2009 @ 12:00PM EST Filed Under: Debt, Credit cards

So who's planning on just spending cash this Christmas and cutting up their credit cards or putting them in a drawer? Raise your hand.

Anyone?

Well, according to a recent MSNBC.com story, that's what a lot of people are doing this holiday season.

While the story is well-written and a generally good read, I'm not sure their subhead "Fed up, some consumers are paying with cash instead of plastic" is breaking news any longer. But there were some nuggets of interesting takeaway information, namely:

According to Consumer Reports, 13.5 million people -- 6% of consumers -- are still carrying debt from last year's Christmas shopping season.
And that number, I suspect, would be even higher if it weren't for this salient fact: Outstanding debt has fallen for 13 straight months, according to the Federal Reserve. The nation's consumers owed $975.2 billion in credit card debt in September 2008; now we collectively owe $888.1 billion. Whatever you think of that number, it is an improvement.

Continue reading It's starting to look a lot like cash, er, Christmas...

Layaway your vacation home? Give me a break!

Ann Brenoff Dec 11th 2009 @ 5:30PM EST Filed Under: Budgets, Debt, Home, Real Estate

Whatever happened to the idea that if you can't afford something, you don't buy it? Didn't living above our means get us into this recessionary mess in the first place? No, I'm not an anti-credit card fanatic; I just believe in paying them off each month. What I don't believe in is layaway. If you can't afford it today, why do you think you can afford it piecemeal or at all?

So this item got my ire: We are now being encouraged to use an installment payment plan to pay for our vacations. The writer in Realty Times says: Retailers are doing it, so why not vacation rental owners? Easy answer dude: Buying a washing machine may be a necessary expense and one you have to make on layaway. But taking a vacation, and I like to get away as much as the next guy, just isn't. Vacations are luxuries and in these times, luxuries are what we give up first.

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Is skipping Christmas to save money a good idea?

Geoff Williams Dec 11th 2009 @ 4:00PM EST Filed Under: Debt

If you skipped Christmas this year, think of the money you would save.

That's the premise of an interesting story running right now on Forbes.com titled "How Much Money You'd Save by Skipping Christmas." The writer, Kate Adams, concludes that the average family would save $1,000, or $2,000 if they customarily traveled somewhere for the holidays, and then she offers several ideas on how you might invest that money.

It's an interesting, worthwhile financial exercise, adding up what you spend on the holidays and how you could invest it if you didn't, and I'm sure quite a few families this year are asking themselves that question: Should we skip Christmas this year?

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Debt Diet Part 5: Making men, women and money get along at the holidays

Gina Roberts-Grey Dec 10th 2009 @ 4:00PM EST Filed Under: Credit, Debt, Economizer

Experts tout talking about money as one of the best ways to avoid financial miscommunication in a relationship. But what if you and your honey aren't really hearing what the other has to say? Or even worse, what if you two speak a completely different money language?

Having the "money talk" is essential to keeping your Debt Diet on track. It's also (believe it or not) one of the cornerstones of a good relationship. That's why, with just two weeks left in the holiday shopping season, it's important to make sure you and your mate aren't just talking, but that you're truly listening to what each of you has to say about money. Otherwise, you're likely to blow your budget -- and your partner's likely to blow their top -- while you're scooping up gifts this weekend.

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Should we break up big banks?

Martha C. White Dec 5th 2009 @ 5:00PM EST Filed Under: Banks, Debt, Insurance, Recession

Ever since the news got out that the U.K. plans to force some of its large, bailout-receiving banks to sell off some operations and become smaller, there's been plenty of speculation on this side of the pond that we might do the same thing.

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, threw down the gauntlet when he said recently that banks considered "too big to fail" should be broken up to make the economy more stable. (Fisher's full speech on the topic is here if you're interested.) A committee in the House of Representatives is pushing for new legislation that would go even further and let the government break up other kinds of companies -- not just banks -- it deemed a threat.

It's a very satisfying idea: Banks that get too big to handle should be forced to downsize. Only trouble is, a lot of economists think it won't address the problem. "The problem is, the really emotionally satisfying things that we could do all create more harm than good," said Douglas Elliott, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. On the subject of breaking up banks dubbed too big to fail, Elliot told WalletPop, "It would hurt the economy, which ends up hitting the average person."

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Debt Diet Part 4: Respect your money

Gina Roberts-Grey Dec 4th 2009 @ 3:00PM EST Filed Under: Credit, Debt, Economizer

The way you treat your money and your budget, experts say, can play a big role in being fiscally sound. Especially when you're on a "Debt Diet" and trying to not exceed your financial calories this weekend.

Where you balance your checkbook and keep your cash can help you stick to your Debt Diet and help ensure you don't ring in the new year with a financial hangover.

Here are a few ways to make sure you're making the most of your money. And able to stick to your "Diet" this weekend.

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How much debt is too much? Depends!

Zac Bissonnette Dec 3rd 2009 @ 6:00PM EST Filed Under: Debt

To be fair, looking for bad advice in US News & World Report is a lot like trying to find something beautiful in the Louvre.

It's just too easy. Last week, I took US News to task for advising parents on taking out student loans when they can't afford their own mortgage payments.

This week, Rick Newman, the magazine's chief business correspondent, offers this horrible, horrible, horrible piece of advice: "The average debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, is 125% today. Economists roughly consider a 100% DTI ratio to be "normal" or healthy. So if you owed a combined $125,000 on your mortgage, car loans and other obligations and earned $100,000 in take-home pay, you'd want to pay down your debt by $25,000, or 20%, to be in the safe zone."

Continue reading How much debt is too much? Depends!

Tips for applying for a new credit card

Lita Epstein Dec 3rd 2009 @ 2:30PM EST Filed Under: Credit, Debt, Credit cards

While many shoppers are planning to use cash or a debit card this holiday season, some will still find they need to apply for new credit. I know many at Wallet Pop will tell you that you should just spend less, but just in case you do decide to apply for credit, do it wisely. You also may find it harder to get.

"Shopping and applying for cards isn't as easy as it used to be," Bill Hardekopf, CEO of Lowcards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook, told me by e-mail interview. "Consumers should now expect higher rates and lower credit limits. Approval is no longer a sure thing."

If you still want to apply for a new credit card, here are a few tips to think about first:

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12-step help for shopaholics

Gina Roberts-Grey Dec 3rd 2009 @ 1:30PM EST Filed Under: Budgets, Credit, Debt

It's pretty common knowledge that alcoholics, gamblers and drug addicts have support groups and 12-step programs to keep them on the wagon. But did you know there are similar groups for compulsive spenders, debt addicts and shopaholics?

Debtors Anonymous, a support organization patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous, uses a 12-step program to help people -- first name only -- stop abusing their credit cards and kick their free-spending ways.

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