Student loan debt is one of the hottest topics over the last few years. Large media outlets have been having a heyday profiling individuals with massive amounts of student loans and poor future prospects brought about partially from a slow economy and partially from a poor choice in career-to-debt ratio. I can relate to these […]
Articles by Amanda
Small Business Healthcare Tax Credits
Posted byIn 2012, Small Businesses accounted for the employment of 52% of people in the United States. This means that small businesses drive a lot of the American economy. Because small businesses often have fewer resources than large corporations, there are lots of tax breaks and other help through associations such as the Small Business Association […]
I have been fortunate thus far in employment. All three of my post-college jobs have provided me with healthcare insurance, and two of the three employers have even picked up the entire tab on the premium for me (family members were extra). Other than having to take on disaster healthcare plans to bide my time […]
On September 1, 2010, my new husband and I declared ourselves to be non-mortgage, debt-free from our $25,000 of consumer and student loan debt mostly leftover from debt accumulation during our single years. It was momentous, it was awe-inspiring, and then it was just life as usual. Except that we didn’t quite know what debt-free, […]
I must admit, I’ve always thought I would live abroad as an adult. The first time I left the country was for a six-week student exchange in Spain. This was an eye-opening experience for a kid just coming off of the farm, and it led me to want to do even more exotic travel. I […]
I have mentioned previously the financial benefits to not maintaining an escrow account. Basically, instead of paying a few extra hundred dollars per month for insurance and property taxes to a bank, you can pay your own savings account this money and reap a small amount of interest on it (with today’s abysmal interest rates, […]
If you reference Obamacare and 2014 in the same sentence, prepare to get a plethora of comments from the group you are speaking with. This is because many additional provisions of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (typically referred to as “Obamacareâ€) go into effect in that year. Some people are happy […]
One thing that my husband and I did not do much of after purchasing our first home together in 2009 is survey the property for any security weaknesses and address them. We know that we do not want to purchase a security system, but there are still frugal alternatives that we can do in order […]
I recently caught up on my magazine reading for the first quarter of 2013. In doing so, I discovered a Businessweek article on a very distressing financial matter in Cyprus, one that we should all be concerned about (and particularly the savers among us). The Cyprus bailout is a good reminder for all of us […]
Are You Interested in Mystery Shopping?
Posted byMy friend Helen introduced me to Mystery Shopping about two years ago. I had heard about it, and was very curious (if not a little skeptical) about its potential in my money-saving toolbox. She mentioned in a conversation that she had not paid for an oil change in over three years. Boy did that pique […]