Money Management

Searching for a job can be stressful. Check out 12 tips that may help you feel more in control while looking for your next landing spot. 

As the No. 1 job site for hand-screened remote jobs, FlexJobs is in a position to know the types of things that capture an employer’s attention. It also recognizes the issues that may cause an employer to toss your resume to the side. Recently, FlexJobs shared its top 12 tips for job seekers with The Ascent. Here’s what they are.

1. Update your resume

If it’s been a while since you polished your resume, it may be time to update it by adding any new skills and experiences that may be missing.

Before sending your resume out, ask someone you trust to look it over and offer their honest opinion. Are there things you should cut or anything you’re missing? Is it neat and easy to read? Would they want to hire you if they received your resume?

Finally, customize your resume to align with each job you apply for. Let’s say you’re applying for a remote position. Highlight everything about your past experience that lends itself to working remotely. For example, you may point out the organizational skills it took to master one job or the self-motivation you showed in another.

2. Clean up social media

Recruiters and hiring managers regularly check social media to better understand who you are and what you offer. If there are photos of a drunken trip to Cancun or nasty comments about an ex-partner, get rid of those. Going forward, you may want to consider how anything you post to social media will reflect on you the next time you want a promotion or meet your significant other’s family.

3. Solidify your professional brand

To create your own “brand,” find a way to highlight your skills and experiences. That may mean setting up a social media account dedicated to your professional accomplishments. Think you don’t have enough experience to share? You do. Even if you’re just starting out, you’ve certainly picked up skills that employers can use.

Talk about what you’ve learned on the job. Repost articles about what’s going on in your field. Ask open-ended questions that inspire others to engage. For example, if you’re in banking, ask followers to share the most challenging customer service experience they’ve ever dealt with.

4. Find a mentor

The perfect mentor is someone a few years ahead of you on the career ladder. Meet with them on a regular basis for guidance on career-related questions. Ask for tips on handling your job search.

Where do you find a mentor? It may be someone you’ve worked with in the past or someone you meet through a professional organization. For example, if you’re looking for a job dealing with life insurance, google professional organizations for that industry.

Whether you meet in person or virtually, those connections can be important.

5. Grow your network

Step out of your comfort zone by attending in-person or virtual career fairs, joining a professional organization, or reaching out to others in your field. The idea is to build a solid and well-nurtured network that you can turn to any time career issues arise.

6. Spruce up your skills

No matter how good you are at your job, there’s always room for growth. Search through job descriptions to learn what employers in your field are looking for. If your education and skills don’t match, take steps to acquire the skills employers seek. It may be as simple as taking a weekend course or online class.

7. Organize your home office

If you’re working from home, now is the perfect time to clean your office and purge it of unneeded items. While you’re at it, clear out the digital clutter. Get rid of unimportant files and programs so your computer will run more efficiently.

Studies show that a clean and organized space promotes feelings of calm and helps you focus.

8. Clearly define what you want

Figure out what you want in a job. For example, do you want to work remotely 100% of the time, be in an office full-time, or a hybrid of the two? Do you want a flexible schedule or set work hours? Are you an introvert who would prefer a behind-the-scenes job, or do you want to be out front dealing with the public?

Having a clear picture of what you want helps you focus your energy on the jobs that are likely to make you happiest.

9. Target specific companies

Once you know what you want, target the type of companies that will be a good logistical and cultural fit for you. One way to get started is by using LinkedIn. Look up a company you admire and can see yourself working for. Then, look for the “similar pages” section on the right side to help you find other companies that may appeal to you.

10. Follow up with employers

It’s easy to shy away from following up once you’ve sent a job application. As awkward as it may feel, checking in is expected and may be just what you need to get your resume in front of a hiring manager. If you haven’t heard anything in a week or two, reach out to ensure your application was submitted successfully and to ask if the employer has any questions.

11. Practice interviewing skills

Ask a friend or family member to participate in a mock interview. They ask you common interview questions, and you practice giving direct answers. The more you practice, the easier it will become.

12. Prioritize mental and physical health

Searching for a job can take a toll. It’s easy to feel down or stressed. As you look for a job this year, make a resolution to keep your spirits up and focus on your health. You can do that by setting aside time to do things you enjoy. And remember to reward yourself for any successes, no matter how small they may seem.

It’s the rare soul who enjoys job hunting. Still, the better you prepare, the more likely it is that you’ll land a fulfilling position.

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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.Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Dana George has positions in Target. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Target. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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A combination of factors are in play, helping to drop monthly mortgage payments. Keep reading to learn where and why payments are dropping. 

If you’ve just received a job transfer or must move for some other reason, it may be a wee bit easier to afford a house this year than it was last year. Now, to be clear: Housing prices and interest rates remain challenging in most markets. However, there are signs that both are softening.

Where monthly mortgage payments are dropping fastest tends to be in areas where they rose most dramatically. Here, we’re going to look at where the housing market appears to be coming back to Earth and examine why it’s happening.

Where monthly payments are inching toward normal

According to Redfin, since October 2022, the monthly median house payment has dropped by 7%. The most significant drops have been in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Oakland.

Monthly payments ultimately come down to the amount a buyer pays for a property. Here, RE/MAX provides an illustration of how much median prices dropped in major markets between December 2021 and December 2022:

Impact of a price drop

Granted, if you’re on a budget, the difference between paying $430,000 and $415,000 may seem negligible. But here’s what it means in terms of monthly payment, even if interest rates remained the same.

Let’s say you put 20% down and the interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.7%.

Paying $430,000 for the property would require a down payment of $86,000, leaving you with $344,000 to finance. Principal and interest payments on the house would run $2,220 per month, and you would pay a total of $455,112 in interest over the life of the loan.Paying $415,000 instead would require a down payment of $83,000, and leave you with $332,000 to finance. Principal and interest payments would now run $2,142, and you would pay a total of $439,236 in interest by the time the loan is paid in full.

The slight softening in price would save you nearly $16,000 in interest.

Add a drop in interest rate

To be sure, there have been no dramatic drops in housing prices, although interest rates have inched down over the past few months. Since hitting their recent peak in May 2022, interest rates have fallen ever so slowly. Again, an interest rate reduction of 1% may not seem like anything to write home about, but it can make all the difference in a monthly mortgage payment, particularly when coupled with a slightly lower home price.

Here’s the difference in monthly payments after a reduction in both price and interest rate:

By paying $15,000 less for a home and snagging an interest rate 1% lower, the buyer will save roughly $300 per month and more than $95,000 in total interest.

Two more factors

At least two other factors have crept into play. They are:

1. Inventory

Home sales are driven by supply and demand. Red-hot sales were due, in part, to high demand and low inventory. That appears to be turning around, at least in some markets. These examples compare a month’s supply of inventory in December 2021 to a month’s supply in December 2022.

Salt Lake City, Utah: Inventory increased by 532.3% year over year.Raleigh, North Carolina: Inventory increased by 530%.Nashville, Tennessee: Inventory jumped by 377.1%.

2. Days on market

For months, homes scarcely had time to hit the market before they were sold. Today, they are lingering a bit longer. For example:

Tampa, Florida: In December 2021, the average home in Tampa was on the market for 20 days. By December 2022, it had stretched to 55 days.Bozeman, Montana: The average home was snapped up in 31 days in 2021. By the end of 2022, it was 75 days.Denver, Colorado: Days on market more than doubled in one year, from 21 days to 44 days.

There’s no getting around reality. Homes are still more expensive than they were prior to COVID-19 and monthly payments remain too high for many households to manage. Still, if we’re looking for the subtle signs of a cooling market, slightly lower mortgage payments fit the bill.

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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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Life insurance helps care for those left behind. Keep reading to learn what happens when someone dies without insurance. 

Approximately 1 in 4 Americans have no life insurance coverage. There’s certainly no judgment here. After all, for a household living paycheck to paycheck, life insurance may feel like a luxury they simply cannot afford. Some folks may also assume they don’t need life insurance because they don’t have anyone in particular to name as a beneficiary.

This begs a question, though: What happens when someone dies without life insurance?

Who covers burial costs?

Depending on the state in which a person is buried, the average 2023 funeral costs from $6,700 to $15,000. Cremation with a service and viewing averages just shy of $7,000. Unless that person leaves funds to cover burial or cremation expenses, their family or friends will have to come up with the money.

Let’s say those left behind refuse to pay for a funeral. Arrangements must still be made to deal with the body. It’s up to the executor of the decedent’s estate to determine what those arrangements will be. If there is no executor named and no one steps up to take on the role of executor, the probate court will appoint someone. Typically, the court will go with the least expensive option, cremation with no lasting headstone or marker.

What happens to unpaid debts?

What happens to unpaid debts depends on two factors: If anyone else signed loan papers and where the decedent lived. Here are circumstances under which someone else will be responsible for paying debts after the death of a loved one.

If there was a joint account owner. Let’s say someone buys a boat with a friend or purchases a home with a spouse or partner. Since there’s a joint account owner, that person is responsible for paying the debt on their own.If there’s a cosigner. Imagine that the decedent was working toward increasing their credit score and, in the process, asked a parent to cosign on a loan. That cosigner is on the hook for paying the loan.The decedent resided in a specific state. If the person who died was married and lived in a state in which spouses share responsibility for specific marital debts, the surviving spouse would be responsible for debt repayment. Other states hold parents and spouses responsible for certain necessary costs, such as healthcare.

Who may be contacted

If there are outstanding debts, the family can expect to receive calls from debt collectors. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the law protects people from debt collectors who are abusive, unfair, or use deceptive practices. Here’s who debt collectors are allowed to contact under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA):

SpouseParent, if the deceased was a minor childGuardianExecutor (if there is one)Estate administratorAnyone with the power to pay debts using assets from the decedent’s estate

Stand firm

Unless a person is a joint account owner, cosigner, or lives in a state that requires them to cover specific debts, they should never agree to pay debt held by the decedent. They are not legally bound to bow to pressure from debt collectors. They’re not even required to speak with a collection agency.

The first time a debt collector calls, the call recipient should take down their name and contact information. If they don’t want to hear from them again, they need to mail a letter saying that they do not want to be contacted again. They should make a copy for their files and send the original by certified mail. If they pay for a “return receipt,” they will have proof the debt collector received the letter.

Debt breakdown

Here, we provide a rundown of what happens to specific types of debt.

Credit card debt

If there is money in the estate, the credit card company will attempt to recover outstanding debt from those funds. If there is no estate, no will, and no assets, the debt will die with the debtor unless there is a joint account owner. In that case, the joint account holder is responsible.

Let’s say the decedent allowed someone to be an authorized user. That person was not a joint account owner and is not responsible for paying the debt.

Car loan debt

If the decedent left a car behind with a loan remaining, the family has a few options:

Allow the lender to repossess it.Sell the car and pay off the outstanding loan.Keep the vehicle and continue to pay what is owed.

If they decide to keep the vehicle, they will probably need to qualify as a borrower or apply for a new loan.

Medical debt

Medical bills are not forgiven when a person dies. If the amount owed is small, the provider may declare it uncollectible and close the account. If the decedent left a large outstanding balance, the provider may work to collect what is owed from the estate.

If the person who died was a minor, the parent is responsible for the bill.

The bottom line on dying without life insurance

There are circumstances under which dying without life insurance could work out. Let’s say a person is unmarried, has no dependents, carries no joint debt, and has enough money stashed away to cover funeral costs. The people they leave behind may not need death benefits to get by.

For those concerned about leaving their loved ones with a financial mess to untangle, it pays to shop for the least expensive term life policy available.

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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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Paying off purchases over time with a “buy now, pay later” plan isn’t always a great idea. Read on to see why. 

If you’ve ever signed up for a “buy now, pay later” plan, or BNPL plan, you’re not alone. As of 2022, 50% of consumers had used a BNPL plan, according to The Ascent research. And 39% of those who hadn’t used a BNPL plan to date said they’d be at least somewhat likely to use one over the following six months.

It’s easy to see why so many people find BNPL plans appealing. Unlike credit cards, where you accrue interest the moment you don’t pay a bill in full, you don’t automatically rack up interest with a BNPL plan. In fact, a big draw of these plans is that you won’t spend a dime extra on your purchases as long as you stick to your repayment schedule, which usually has you paying off a given item in 12 weeks or less.

But there’s a big problem with BNPL plans consumers should know about. And the sooner you recognize it, the more likely you might be to steer clear of a major trap.

It’s a sign you need to walk away

One big misconception about BNPL plans is that they’re perfect for people who can’t afford their purchases in full. To be clear, they do allow you to buy things you can’t afford to pay for in full. But when you have a non-essential item you can’t pay for outright based on money in your checking or savings account, guess what? You shouldn’t be financing that purchase. Instead, you should be walking away and postponing that purchase until you have the money — all of the money — needed to cover it.

To put it another way, you might think that it’s no big deal to buy something with a BNPL plan because if you stick to your payments, it won’t cost you anything in interest. But that’s a pretty big “if.”

If you can’t afford a given purchase at the time you’re buying it, you risk falling behind on your BNPL plan payments. And if that happens, you risk consequences like interest, fees, and credit score damage, since your delinquent payments will be reported to the credit bureaus the same way late credit card payments are commonly reported.

Emergencies are a different story

If you have a purchase you need to make in a pinch that can’t be put off, such as replacing an essential household appliance that stopped working out of the blue, then you may want to consider using a BNPL plan instead of a credit card to finance it, provided you think you can keep up with your payments under your agreement. But you shouldn’t look at BNPL plans as an opportunity to buy something non-essential you can’t otherwise afford.

Even if, in that situation, you do manage to keep up with your BNPL plan payments, you might be putting yourself at risk of falling behind on another bill. So generally speaking, your best bet is really to save up ahead of time for the things you want and resist the temptation to finance purchases that fall into that category.

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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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Your Rich BFF Vivian Tu doesn’t believe in couples fully combining finances, for a few important reasons. Keep reading to see why. 

Former Wall Street trader and financial content creator Vivian Tu (who goes by the handle Your Rich BFF) recently shared her opinion about joint bank accounts in a YouTube short. Many people combine finances with their spouse when they get married, and some end up with only one bank account between them, meaning all the money they each earn (and spend) flows in and out of that account.

While this certainly sounds convenient, especially when it comes to paying joint bills that may cost more than each person can afford on their own (like a mortgage payment), Vivian Tu isn’t a fan — and she has good reasons.

Joint bank accounts can create shame around spending

The first point that Tu makes in her video (which is in response to a Wall Street Journal article that summarized a study that found that couples with just one joint account were happier) is one regarding emotions and money. Namely, the couples in the study were more mindful of avoiding “frivolous” purchases because both partners had access to the account and could see what was spent and where.

Tu points out that money shouldn’t be tied up with shame and guilt. You deserve to be able to spend your money in any way you want or need to. If you’re in a relationship with someone who has a very different attitude toward money (maybe you’re more of a natural saver, while they like to spend more freely), having just one bank account between you could end up being a source of conflict. Many couples fight about money (a 2021 Fidelity study found that 1 in 5 rated money as their greatest relationship challenge), so it pays to avoid this opportunity for marital strife.

Giving up financial independence can be dangerous

The other reason Tu gives for disliking joint accounts is one I very much agree with. If both members of a couple are keeping their money together, it’s much easier for one person to cut off the other’s access, by way of, say, physically taking away their debit card or changing the login information for the account. A loved one depriving you of access to money is a major sign of financial abuse, and women are particularly susceptible. We are already paid less than men, and far too often, financial advice for women amounts to “stop spending money on shoes and purses,” rather than “here is how to invest for retirement, buy a home, and live comfortably.”

A loss of financial independence is dangerous for anyone, but it’s a sad fact that a higher proportion of women have experienced this. If you’re a woman and you’ve given up your job to raise children, don’t have a bank account of your own, and find yourself being abused (physically, emotionally, or otherwise), you are often stuck. Tu notes that she receives many messages from women in abusive relationships who can’t escape because they have no access to money.

Is there another way?

Thankfully, if you get married, no one will automatically issue you and your spouse a single bank account to share. You have options, and it’s extremely important for couples to discuss finances and make a plan together.

Tu recommends that each person has their own bank account, and you share a third account with the other person. You can pay your own personal bills and buy whatever you want using your personal account, and each deposit money for your shared bills into the joint account. This way, the bills are covered, and if the relationship sours, each person is protected financially by still having sole access to their own money. Along the way, you should also communicate about spending and saving, and about your shared (and individual) goals. That’s what a financially healthy partnership looks like — both people have agency and can work together toward common goals.

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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 no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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