Jean Chatzky
Jean Chatzky
Jean Sherman Chatzkyis an American financial journalist, author and motivational speaker. Chatzky has given personal financial advice on various TV shows. She is the financial editor for NBC's Today Show...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth7 November 1964
CountryUnited States of America
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Automate your savings so that you have money taken directly from each paycheck and deposited into a 401(k) or other workplace retirement account. If that's not an option, automatically have money transferred out of checking into savings each time you get paid.
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I give out similar advice all the time: Take a month to write down where your money is going. By the end, you'll have a road map that tells you where you can cut back.
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No purchase is so urgent, no bargain so rare, that you don't have time to research it thoroughly, despite what they might have you believe. This applies, in particular, to infomercials that urge you to 'Call now, while supplies last,' or 'Call in the next 10 minutes for a free gift.'
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Secured cards can be helpful credit rebuilding tools for two reasons. First, because of the collateral, you can get them at a time when you're not likely to be approved for nonsecured cards. And as long as you maintain an on-time payment history, they can help you start to build a recent credit history that's fairly pristine.
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Taking a shuttle or even paying for a taxi to a rental office that's a few miles away from the airport can mean a lower rate - 50 percent lower is common - for the same car, from the same company, for the same length of time. Many companies run free shuttles from some of the major airports.
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By the time most people file for bankruptcy, their credit is already trashed, they have a high debt-to-income ratio - a key indicator lenders look at - and they've likely defaulted on more than a few accounts.
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If salary is your most important consideration, make sure you don't take too much time off beyond the allotted 12-14 weeks of maternity leave - and certainly don't leave altogether.
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Every minute you spend looking through clutter, wondering where you put this or that, being unable to focus because you're not organized costs you: time you could have spent with family or friends, time you could have been productive around the house, time you could have been making money.
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At the time of my second marriage, my husband was in his early 50s, I was in my mid-40s, and we each had two kids. We maintained our individual accounts and opened one for the house. We each kick the same percentage of our incomes into the house account and have a joint credit card. But we pay for our children separately.
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Embrace your fire - even in hard times. A down economy can actually be a great time to start a business.
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Couples that do save have stronger, more stable, less stressful unions. In other words, you don't want to be fighting about saving; you just want to be saving, period.
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Generally, there are three rules when it comes to borrowing money: You need to have good credit, proof of income and cash for a down payment. Most people have the first two, but it's the third that trips them up. And nowhere does that come into play more than the mortgage market.
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There's a laundry list of reasons why not to borrow from your 401(k). While the money is on loan, it's not working for you - and if you leave your job, you'll have to pay it back in 60 days or treat it as a taxable withdrawal.
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If your appraisal comes back too low - you don't have at least 10% equity for a conforming loan or 20% for a jumbo loan - you might not be able to refinance at all, at least with a loan that's packaged and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That means you may have to pay a much higher rate.