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Even a minor Social Security misstep can rob your nest egg of tens of thousands of dollars in retirement benefits. So, it pays to understand how the system works and how to maximize your Social Security checks. The following are some of the biggest and most costly mistakes you could make when navigating Social Security — and how to avoid making them.
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Customers are bit less satisfied with their gas utilities than in the past, but some companies continue to earn impressive marks, according to J.D. Power’s latest annual U.S. Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study. J.D. Power polled more than 8,800 customers nationwide about 59 gas utility companies. In order of importance, survey respondents were asked to rate the companies based on…
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Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Live and Invest Overseas. Jimmy Buffett found his island escape when he relocated to sunny, sand-fringed Key West, Florida, from Nashville, Tennessee, in the early ’70s. He’d been trying to make it in Nashville’s music scene, but with his unique style that wasn’t quite country and wasn’t quite rock, he didn’t have much success. But…
You probably want a better credit score next year. If any of these things apply to you, it could mean a serious boost to your FICO® Score.
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The FICO credit scoring model is by far the most widely used in the United States, and while the exact formula is a well-guarded secret, we know the basic categories and their respective weights. This gives us enough to figure out some strategies that can increase your credit score. Here are four that you could put to work in 2024.
There’s no magic formula when it comes to the most powerful ways of building your credit score. The best path to a higher FICO® Score is a combination of paying your bills on time and reducing the amounts you owe. These two categories account for 35% and 30%, respectively, of the FICO scoring formula.
In other words, if you have existing loans, such as a mortgage, auto loan, or personal loan, the simple act of paying them on time every month throughout 2024 could raise your credit score all by itself. The same idea applies if you have credit card debt and gradually pay it off in 2024.
You don’t necessarily need to pay a big chunk of your credit card debt off in 2024 to boost your credit score. The simple act of consolidating it could have a big impact.
Let’s say you use a personal loan to consolidate existing debts. First, installment loans are generally considered more favorably by the FICO scoring formula. Plus, all your credit cards will have a zero balance after you consolidate, and a low usage percentage on revolving credit accounts can certainly boost your score.
On the other hand, let’s say you open another credit card with a 0% intro APR balance transfer offer, which is the other major method of credit card consolidation. Just like with a personal loan, your existing accounts will all have a $0 balance, and your overall revolving credit utilization will be lower than before.
Two other categories of the FICO scoring formula I haven’t mentioned yet are new credit, and the length of your credit history, which account for a combined 25% of your FICO® Score.
Applying for and opening new credit accounts can hurt your score in both of these categories. The “length of credit history” category considers time-related factors, such as the ages of your individual accounts and the average ages of all of your accounts. Clearly, opening new accounts will make some metrics move in the wrong direction.
The new credit category considers newly opened accounts, but also considers credit inquiries — that is the times you’ve applied for credit, regardless of whether you opened a new account. Credit inquiries from the past 12 months are considered and can have a negative impact on your score.
If you don’t apply for any new credit in 2024 and don’t open any new accounts, it could be a positive catalyst for your score.
This is more of an outside-the-box way to boost your credit score. The “amounts you owe” category — among other things — considers your revolving credit utilization, and using a lower percentage of your available credit is generally better.
The obvious way to improve this metric is to pay off some of your credit card debt. But there’s another way — asking for higher credit limits on your existing credit cards.
Think of it this way. If you owe $1,000 on a credit card with a $4,000 limit, you’re using 25% of your available credit. If your credit card limit is increased to $5,000, you’re only using 20%, even though you still have the same balance. Many credit card issuers will increase your limit without a credit inquiry, and the worst they can do is say no.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of the ways you could boost your credit score, and obviously, not all of these will apply to everyone. For example, if you’re planning to buy a home in 2024, you can’t adhere to the “don’t apply for any new credit” part.
However, the key takeaway is that while the FICO scoring system is rather complex, there are many different ways you could potentially boost your score if you know how it works. Which of these strategies could you implement in 2024 to increase your credit score?
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Supporting local teams can be tough when money is tight. Read on for ways to show support while meeting your savings goals.
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When my daughter started playing travel soccer this year, I knew it was going to be a more intense — and more expensive — experience than recreational soccer. Not only does my daughter attend roughly three hours of practice each week, but between regular games, tournaments, and special events, it feels like I’ve spent the better part of September and October on a soccer field.
Now, because I knew my daughter would be joining a travel team, I made a point to boost my savings account balance over the summer to cover the expenses I knew we’d face. But I know that for a lot of parents, youth sports can be a burden.
The Aspen Institute reports that the average family spends $883 per year on a primary sport for a child. So if you have multiple kids playing multiple sports, you might be looking at a much higher outlay.
Of course, there’s a reason youth sports are so expensive. Not only are there uniforms to buy, but there are coaches and referees to pay and, in some cases, spaces to rent. So local teams tend to rely heavily on the financial support of parents.
If money is tight in your world, or if you’re trying to meet a goal like paying off credit cards, then you might only be willing to spend so much on a youth sports team. But if you don’t have a lot of money in the bank to spend, here’s what you can do instead.
My daughter’s soccer team runs several fundraisers during the soccer season, as well as the off-season, to raise funds for the team. Those funds are used to offset everyone’s costs. Our team’s fundraisers have included a weekly football pool, raffles, and snack stands at games that the parents manage while the kids play.
If you’re limited on funds, instead of handing over more money, take charge of more fundraisers. Come up with an idea and advertise the heck out of it so you’re able to drum up cash that doesn’t have to come out of your wallet. It can be a car wash, a bake sale, or anything you feel will appeal to people in your neighborhood.
Local businesses rely on the support of their communities to stay afloat. As such, many are willing to support local teams financially.
If your team needs funds, reach out to businesses in your neighborhood and see if any are willing to sponsor expenses like uniforms or tournaments. A local business might also be willing to donate goods that help your team.
For example, you might find a bakery in town that’s willing to donate cupcakes and cookies for a snack booth fundraiser. If you don’t have to pay for your inventory, anything you earn by selling is pure profit.
Supporting local sports teams isn’t easy. Neither is shuttling kids around to games, practices, and tournaments, but as parents, that’s just what we do.
But you don’t have to thwart your financial goals to show support for your kids’ local teams. Instead, find creative ways to drum up that cash elsewhere.
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How do the rich spend their money on homes, cars, and more? Keep reading — the truth might surprise you.
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When you picture a wealthy American, what comes to mind? Many people picture the wealthy as those who live in palatial mansions, drive exotic sports cars and luxury sedans, and flash their “black cards” when they pay for things.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In most outwardly visible ways, the typical millionaire doesn’t really act like a millionaire. Here’s a look at three lies about the wealthy you should stop believing.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that most millionaires own the homes they live in. In fact, 90% of them own their primary residence, and in many cases, the equity they’ve built in their homes is a big reason why they are millionaires.
However, don’t think the typical millionaire’s home looks like the mansions you’ve probably seen associated with wealthy people on TV. According to Ramsey Solutions’ National Study of Millionaires, 6 out of 10 live in homes worth less than $500,000.
There’s a good reason for this. Despite what you might have been told by your real estate agent, your primary home is not an investment. It’s certainly an asset, and for many people, owning a home can be preferable to renting. But it’s not likely to produce returns like the stock market or rental properties can over time.
When you hear the words “millionaire” and “car,” you probably think of brands like BMW or Cadillac. So, you might be surprised to learn that you’re more likely to find millionaires driving Toyotas and Fords than either of these. The most popular vehicle among high-income households in the United States is the Ford F-150.
Simply put, vehicles are depreciating assets. And millionaires tend to get (and stay) wealthy by focusing their financial resources on assets that are likely to go up in value over time. That’s why more than 85% of people who drive luxury auto brands are not actually millionaires.
There are several high-end credit card products that are marketed toward wealthy Americans, and others that are simply designed to make the cardholder look wealthy. The Centurion Card by American Express is the most glaring example, as the “black card” is well known for being used by celebrities and the ultra-wealthy.
However, you might be surprised how debt-adverse millionaires are, especially when it comes to credit cards. Overall, 56% of active U.S. credit card accounts have a balance. But nearly three-fourths of millionaires have never carried a credit card balance.
Credit cards can certainly be a valuable financial tool that allows you to build your credit score, earn rewards, and gain financial flexibility. But only if you’re paying the balance in full each month — not paying 20% or more in interest.
Some of the most pervasive myths about how the wealthy live have to do with spending money. On the other hand, the way you get to be a millionaire or multi-millionaire is to accumulate money, not spend it. And that’s what these three truths about millionaires show us.
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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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