April, 2009

Money 911

Your Money Questions Answered

In case you didn’t catch this morning’s Money 911 on Today, here’s the video. In it, we touch on whether now is a good time for first-time homebuyers to buy a house – the answer was a resounding YES! – and how to negotiate your child’s financial aid package.

Reaching A Goal

I’ve been talking for many, many (many) years now about running a marathon.  How many? About 15.  I was training for the New York City Marathon with a friend and had even completed a 20-mile training run when I got pregnant with my first.  I was able to run for the first five months of the pregnancy, but the marathon was out.

Over the years, I have talked about trying again.  I’ve signed up.  I’ve started training.  For one reason or another — it’s difficult to get those really long training runs in when you have kids, my confidence was shot, I was tired! — I never made it.  More…

Let’s Talk Money

This morning’s Money 911 hit on it all:  The debt versus savings debate, those credit card companies that are lowering your spending limits and raising your interest rates, and negotiating your college’s financial aid package. Watch it below:

Helpful Organizations

People often ask me for useful independent resources. Here are some organizations – government, business, and non-profit – that can help with everything from managing debt to saving for college or retirement. They’re organized by topic and type of organization, and links are provided for all sites. Scroll down after the jump and have a look – you never know when one of these will come in handy! More…

Blogroll of Interesting Sites

Here are a variety of news and opinion sites that offer information and provocative discussion about the world we live in. Whether you (or I) always agree with their points of view, it’s always stimulating to get new ideas.  The full list is after the break.
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A Budget Breakdown

More and more people are budgeting these days, and I’ve been getting lots of questions about where your money should be going each month – in other words, how much you should be spending on each area of your budget, from housing to entertainment to everything in between. The pie chart below – which we used on Oprah’s Debt Diet – outlines all the details:

Tips for New Parents

I was on Today this morning with some financial advice for surviving your baby’s first year as part of a segment with Mary Ann Zoellner and Alicia Ybarbo, authors of Today’s Moms, and Joy Bauer, Today’s nutritionist.  Check out the video below, as well as the behind-the-scenes picture after the jump!

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More About Making Home Affordable

On my post about the Making Home Affordable loan modifications, CMPIPE commented:  ”This site tells you if you may qualify, however, the mortgage lender can chose to not allow the modification – correct?” 

Yes, that is correct.  The site outlines the stipulations to make you eligible to apply for a loan modification from your lender; however, the program is voluntary and there is a chance your servicer isn’t participating (many are, though – and there are financial incentives for them to do so.  You can find a frequently-updated list of servicers who have signed on here.) More…

Women and Work

When I was pregnant with my first, an older relative asked me when I was planning to stop working.  Not if I was planning to stop working.  But when.  And when I told him I had no intention of stopping — in what may have been a snippy tone as I was put off by the question — he was surprised.   We were coming from totally different places.  Me, from one of working in a job I was really enjoying (I was at Smart Money at the time).  Him from watching every other young woman he knew — even some with law degrees and MBAs — quit work as they entered motherhood.   More…

Money 911

Today’s Money 911

Here’s the latest video, from our weekly segment this morning.  In it, we touch on loan modifications (which I just posted about here), where to stash your savings, and debt consolidation.