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Find the Best Interest Rates on Savings Accounts
Are you looking for a place to park your savings that will earn a respectable rate of interest, such as 6 or 7 percent? You can stop looking. Nothing close to that exists in this economy. Readily available are savings accounts with 0.5 annual …Read more.
Pet Health Insurance? Get Real!
If you have pets, you know that animals come with unavoidable expenses. But the day-to-day expenses to own a healthy pet are a drop in the food dish compared with what you'll spend if you decide your pets deserve the latest and greatest medical …Read more.
This Desperate Situation Requires Drastic Measures
Dear Mary: I've been reading your Debt-Proof Living newsletter and blog for some time now. The problem I continually run into is where to begin. I don't have enough money to pay all my bills each month. So how do I begin to save money? My bills come …Read more.
How To Trick Yourself Into a Big Savings Account
Now and then, a great reader tip washes up on my desk that causes me to wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?" It makes so much sense: Think of your paycheck as 100 percent savings. Then, as you must, transfer into your checking account …Read more.
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House Rules for a Boomerang Kid
Dear Mary: I am the parent of a 25-year-old man, who is moving home with few possessions and an unbelievable amount of debt. My husband and I don't know how to guide or support him through this period. We do not plan to assist him outright with money, but what steps should we take so we know he is heading in the right direction financially? -- Laura P., e-mail
Dear Laura: I suggest you create a list of house rules that, if he moves back, he must follow. Failure to do so means he must leave. Rule 1: He must go through credit counseling with a reputable organization (find the closest one to you at www.nfcc.org) that offers a debt-management program. Rule 2: He has to enroll in that debt-management program. Rule 3: No credit cards, no debit card. One ATM card only. Rule 4: All adult children must pay room and board. These four rules will force him to live a cash lifestyle and get him onto a debt-repayment path that is being monitored and managed by someone other than his parents. Finally, I would make it very clear that you are not going to bail him out with any loans, advances or other forms of aid. As a mom, I know this is going to be harder for you than for him to stick to the house rules. But that will be the key to success. Dear Mary: In your column "Important Papers To Grab in a Disaster," you mentioned readers should invest in fireproof and heatproof safes for their important documents. Also, make sure your safe is equipped to keep interior temperatures that will protect its contents. The unit I own will keep temperatures lower than 350 degrees, which will protect paper documents, but not home inventory videotapes. -- Chad L., e-mail Dear Chad: Thanks for the specific information on home safes. Readers can find safes at home improvement centers, as well as office supply stores. By the way, one reader wrote to say that her financial situation does not allow her to purchase a safe at this time, so she keeps her important papers in a zip-lock freezer bag and stores it in the freezer. She was told that the inside of a freezer nearly always survives a house fire. Do you have a question for Mary? E-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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