South Africa
How This Couple Reached Financial Freedom Before 40 And Live On A Sailboat
Do you want to reach financial freedom and live your dream life? In my Extraordinary Series here on Making Sense of Cents, I like to feature people who are doing things a little differently. Today, I have a great interview with Fleur and Ronald. In only eight years, they were able to reach financial freedom and now […]
The post How This Couple Reached Financial Freedom Before 40 And Live On A Sailboat appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.
How to use credit cards wisely: A definitive guide
It’s back to basics month at Get Rich Slowly! Today, we’re going to take a l-o-n-g look at how to use credit cards wisely. Believe it or not, credit cards can be a useful tool — so long as you don’t fall into debt.
For a long time, I thought credit cards were evil. Starting in college, I abused credit cards. As a result, I ended up deep in debt. Those two decades of debt sucked, and they led me to believe that credit cards were dangerous.
Well, credit cards are dangerous — but they’re not evil. Credit cards are a tool. Like any other tool, credit cards can be used to build or to destroy. Just as you’d treat a chainsaw with respect, you need to be careful with credit to avoid hurting yourself. If you use credit cards wisely, they can actually give you a financial edge!
Because this is a long article, I’ve create a table of contents so that you can jump to the section you need. (Or, you can read the entire thing, of course.)
Table of Contents
- How credit cards work
- Why use a credit card?
- Essential credit card skills
- How to use credit cards wisely
- How to choose a credit card
- How to dispute credit card charges
- How to cancel a credit card
Survey of Consumer Finances. The latest study, from 2016, found that:
- 43.9% of American families have credit card debt, and
- the average amount owed is $5700.
Clearly, lots of Americans continue to struggle to use credit cards wisely.
That said, not everybody who uses credit cards goes into debt. In fact, the Survey of Consumer Finances shows that over half of Americans use credit cards without going into debt. They treat them as a convenience.
True story: Last year, I went into a bank to apply for a new travel credit card. During the half-hour process, I chatted with the banker. “We banks don’t like people like you,” he told me. “I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but you pay your bill every month. We don’t make any money on you. Fortunately, 90% of people who use credit cards suck with money!” He told me banks are willing to lose money on the handful of folks who use credit cards wisely because they make so much money on the people who abuse them.
The True Cost of Living on a Sailboat (3 Real-Life Budget Breakdowns)
We interviewed 3 people who have made sailing their lifestyle. Each spends anywhere from $820 to $8,840 per month living at sea.We interviewed 3 people who have made sailing their lifestyle. Each spends anywhere from $820 to $8,840 per month living at sea.
The post The True Cost of Living on a Sailboat (3 Real-Life Budget Breakdowns) appeared first on Money Under 30.
Recognizing economic seasons: Recovery and growth
(Since April is Financial Literacy Month, a number of articles will be devoted to more educational topics. This is Part II in a four-part series about how understanding economic cycles could inform your financial decisions. Part I is Understanding economic cycles: An introduction. Part III is The fall and winter seasons of the economic cycle. Part IV is How to profit from economic cycles.)
In Part I of this series, the introductory post about economic cycles, we discussed the fact that the economy, while growing over the long term, moves in up-and-down cycles and that each cycle can be broken down into four phases that mirror the four seasons of nature. In this section, we will explore what we identified as the spring and summer seasons of the economic cycle by considering two fictional crop farmers (Farmer Fred and Farmer Claude) whose livelihoods depend on how well they manage their work each season.
Farmer Fred is a successful farmer; but his neighbor, Claude, less so. (We’ll just call him Farmer Clod.) But let’s dive into the seasons and see what each does that causes them to be successful or not. Nature programs always begin with the newness of spring, so why don’t we start there?
The Top 11 Investors of All Time
Everyone is naturally interested in finding the investment fund or strategy that consistently produces the best annual returns. But while the performance of funds tends to ebb and flow, often with changes in direction of the financial markets, thereâs a small, elite group of individuals who have enjoyed almost supernatural investment success. Below is my […]
The post The Top 11 Investors of All Time appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.
A South Africa Preserve Hits the Market for $40 Million
Magic Valley in South Africa’s E. Cape is a rare opportunity to own an amazing conservation effort replete fitted with uncompromising luxury.
The post A South Africa Preserve Hits the Market for $40 Million appeared first on RealtyBizNews: Real Estate Marketing & Beyond.