“I recently graduated college, and have been living at my parents’ house for the past few months while I get settled into my new job. I am hoping to move out into my own apartment soon, but am worried that I can’t afford it. How do I know what I can afford to spend monthly on rent and bills?”
-Victoria, New York
Living at home — as so many recent grads are these days — gives you a great opportunity to build a savings cushion. But you’re right, before you move into your own place, you need to understand what it will actually cost you to live there.
Generally, I like a budget to break down like this:
35% Housing — this is not just the rent or the mortgage, More…
Today on Money 911, we tackled your most pressing financial questions. How can you get yourself off of a mortgage? What is the best way to ease your student loan payments? How does a Roth IRA work? If you missed the segment, watch the video for the answers to these questions and more.
HOW: While most five-year-olds dream of being astronauts or ballerinas, Rachel Kruse, president of Organicville Foods, dreamed of bottling salad dressings. (Really!) A third-generation vegetarian and entrepreneur, Kruse knew that her grandmother’s homemade, vegan dressings were delicious. She also knew she couldn’t buy anything like them. “When you go to the grocery store, you can buy lots of organic vegetables to make nutritious salads, but when you get to the dressings aisle, you’re out of luck,” Kruse says. “Most salad dressings are made with eggs, and when you can find a vegan dressing, it isn’t organic, or it’s made with low quality oils and lots of added sugars, which defeats the purpose of buying the organic produce.” More…
“I received a letter about my APR going up from 14.72% to 18.99% on my credit card, and was given the option to ‘opt out’ of the rate increase. I understand that by opting out, the APR will remain the same until the card expiration date, and then at that time the account will close. I seldom use the card, and have been paying down the balance on a monthly basis with a bit over the minimum payment. Does closing an account at a ‘customer’s request’ hurt a credit score? Currently, my credit score is 775, and I don’t want to do anything to hurt that.”
-Kerry, New Jersey
Your credit score is partially calculated using something called your debt-to-credit ratio (also known as your utilization ratio) – it accounts for about a third of your credit score. When you close an account, you lower the amount of credit you have available to you. That will generally lower your credit score — the question is by how much. Your ratio works to your best advantage when you’re using only 1/3 or less of your available credit.
So, to answer your question, think of your available credit as a pie. Is this card a big slice of the credit you have available, or is it a small, “I’ll pass on the whipped cream” sliver? For example, if you have $10,000 in available credit, and this card equals $8,000 of that, that’s a big piece of pie – you may want to re-think letting that account close. But if it’s only a small piece of your available credit, it may be worthwhile to pay off the card at the lower rate by the time it expires, and take the inevitable (but small) hit on your score. More…
On this Wednesday’s edition of Money 911, we answered some of your common financial questions. When you have some extra cash, what is the best way to invest it? How can you make paying back your student loans more manageable? For the answers to these questions and more, check out the video below.
I joined the MSNBC Morning Joe panel today to talk about this morning’s Senate vote on the health care reform bill. If you missed it, check out the video below.
WHAT:Serena & Lily; an upscale linens and homewares company.
WHERE: Sausalito, CA
WHEN: 2004
HOW: When her first son was born in 2000, Lily Kanter, an 18 year veteran of the corporate world, decided to trade in her board meetings for baby bottles. Shopping for her newborn, Kanter struggled to find high-end furniture for the nursery. “There was nothing in the Bay area that was done with well edited taste,” she describes. Soon after, Kanter and her husband capitalized on the void in the market and opened Mill Valley Baby & Kids Company, a baby and home furnishings shop.
At that same time, Serena Dugan, an experienced freelance decorative painter, More…
“I am 56, my husband is 54. We would like to retire in the next 5-10 years. We want to find a financial or retirement advisor in our area but don’t know how to begin to find someone. What’s the best way to go about this, and what qualities should I be looking for?”
-Susan, Maryland
Often times the best way to start looking for a financial or retirement advisor is as easy as picking up the phone and calling a close friend or family member. “Start by asking your friends, family and colleagues which advisor they trust and use,” suggests retirement expert and author of “Retire in a Weekend,” Bill Losey.
What’s the best way to generate income from your rental property? What are the rules for filling out tax exemption forms? Watch the video below for the answers to these questions and more. Do you have a money situation you need help with? Click here to tell us about it.
Every holiday season I do a segment on “Today” to show viewers some of this year’s hottest gifts—and lower priced alternatives to fit almost any budget (miss the segment? You can check it out here). I love doing this segment, but there’s just one problem: there are always too many great gifts and not enough time (or space on the set!) to show them all. Here are some of the gifts that we loved, but didn’t quite make it into the segment:
“I recently graduated college, and have been living at my parents’ house for the past few months while I get settled into my new job. I am hoping to move out into my own apartment soon, but am worried that I can’t afford it. How do I know what I can afford to spend monthly on rent and bills?”
WHO: Rachel Kruse
“I received a letter about my APR going up from 14.72% to 18.99% on my credit card, and was given the option to ‘opt out’ of the rate increase. I understand that by opting out, the APR will remain the same until the card expiration date, and then at that time the account will close. I seldom use the card, and have been paying down the balance on a monthly basis with a bit over the minimum payment. Does closing an account at a ‘customer’s request’ hurt a credit score? Currently, my credit score is 775, and I don’t want to do anything to hurt that.” 
WHO: 
“I am 56, my husband is 54. We would like to retire in the next 5-10 years. We want to find a financial or retirement advisor in our area but don’t know how to begin to find someone. What’s the best way to go about this, and what qualities should I be looking for?”
The gift: 
