No-Brainer Benefits to Take Advantage of at Work + MORE

We’ve all been anxiously awaiting to find out what the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) will mean for all of us in terms of health insurance prices. And finally, there is some news to pay attention to, in the form of actual prices released by the nation’s largest state…

If your job offers benefits, they will most likely automatically kick in at a certain time. For some benefits, though, you need to voluntarily take action to fully take advantage of them. Today I talk about three no-brainer benefits that you should take full advantage of.
1) 401k match
Many employers offer a 401k match up to a certain percentage…

This post is from staff writer April Dykman. Before I became a full-time freelancer, I worked in the communications department at a large non-profit. The organization hosted several events every year, from small local workshops to huge statewide conferences, and we always needed to fill some holes in the event schedule…

As our parents age, more and more of us are becoming family caregivers — and often filling the role with little preparation or planning. Nobody wants to think about their parents being unable to care for themselves — so often, we simply don’t…

For the eight years that I’ve been writing FMF, I’ve used Typepad’s service for the site. They include both the content management system (how I publish posts and control the site’s design) as well as the hosting (how readers see/access the site on the web). It was a great beginning blogging service since it was very easy and my technical experience was zero…

When you begin claiming business expenses, it’s important to understand the difference between an immediate expense, which is fully deductible in the year that you incur it, and a depreciable expense, which is deducted over time.
With regular business expenses, you can claim the full amount in the year the expense happened…

Happy Memorial Day!
This week most of us have enjoyed a long weekend. While Memorial Day is sure to conjure images of great deals, backyard barbecues and fun times at the lake, it is important to remember why we celebrate. Let’s remember all of the service men and women who sacrificed everything for our freedom…

When your personal finances begin to turn around, the ramifications in your life go far, far beyond merely having money in your checking account.
When your car breaks down, it’s not a life-shattering crisis. You just take the money out of your savings account and cover it.
You aren’t in absolute fear of your boss calling you in to lay you off…

Paper towels have become a must-have item in many kitchens throughout Canada, the US, Europe and Australia. They have proven to be very useful for cleaning up spills, absorbing oils and grease and generally helping out with the cleaning around the home and office. Their main advantage is their ease of use – they are disposable; they don’t need to be rinsed out after use, they don’t need laundering and don’t get smelly…

This week’s question comes from a reader who’s afraid her golden years are about to get tarnished:What is with the “Windfall Elimination Provision”?  We have an appointment with the Social Security office in our area and they want bank statements, assets and more. Do they have the right to ask for this information? My husband is 66 and has been receiving Social Security since age 62…

Some people prefer credit cards that offer travel rewards, but others still prefer to receive cash back from their spending. And while some credit cards compete with each other to offer the highest rates of cash back on all purchases, others feature bonus categories of spending that allow cardholders to earn more than the nominal 1% cash back…

Every week I get asked whether someone should pay off their debt first or save instead, and every week I pretty much say the same thing: Go with whichever one makes you feel better.
You really can’t go wrong doing either, so – to me – it’s more about what will keep you motivated to get the job done over the nitty gritty details of one being 1/2 a percent higher in interest than the other (or whatever the case may be)…

Now that we’re almost halfway through the year, it’s a good time to conduct a mid-year checkup on your finances and figure out whether or not you need to tweak your budget.
Here’s how to evaluate how you’re doing — and what you need to do next:
Review Your Progress
Have you been making progress so far this year? Check your net worth for a snapshot of where you’re at…