Financial Literacy Archives - Page 3 of 3

How biased are your information sources?

As a personal finance author and advocate, I do my best to create useful content based on unbiased information. I’m able to do this because I don’t take compensation to promote products and services offered by others so I’m free to “tell it like it is.” A benefit of being financially independent.

A financial services company or advisor that advertises or sells specific investments or brands, may have an inherent bias and conflict of interest. In other words, if an advisor is compensated to push specific products or services, then they are biased. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are getting ‘bad’ advice, but you may not be getting the ‘best’ options.

When it comes to media sources, even financial media, there are different degrees of bias. If you are interested in expanding your media literacy by learning more about news and information biases and how to ensure you’re getting the most impartial information, then please read on.

Are your investments outperforming the market?

How do you know if your investment portfolio is performing better (or worse) than the market?

The answer is your investment alpha.

Alpha is a measure of an investment’s performance compared to a benchmark, like a market index.

If your investments are not meeting or exceeding your benchmark(s) over a time period, then you may need to reevaluate your investments and strategy.

As referenced in my book Making Big Money Decisions, investing in underperforming assets generates considerable opportunity costs and suppresses wealth accumulation. Use the content in this post to ensure you’re getting the best return on your invested money.

By reading this post, you will learn why alpha is a key performance indicator for managing your investment portfolio, and how to calculate and use it to optimize your investment strategy.*

You don’t need a budget to manage spending

60% of people don’t use budgets to manage spending, according to the 2017 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey from The National Foundation for Credit Counseling. While that number may be surprising, what is more shocking is that this number has not changed much since the 2007 survey. For all the advances in technology, including spreadsheets and online budgeting software, people’s habits related to managing money and tracking spending have not really changed that much over the last decade. Continue reading “You don’t need a budget to manage spending”

Don’t pay to manage your credit score

I was asked earlier this week what’s the best way to check a credit score? There are a few ways to get your credit score, but check to see what your credit card company offers first. Many credit card issuers now provide cardholders with their credit score as a free benefit. The card issuer I use provides my FICO® score, score history, key factors affecting my score, and suggestions on how to improve my score. Continue reading “Don’t pay to manage your credit score”

Have we declared our financial independence?

Financial literacy (a.k.a. FinLit) is the education and understanding of various financial areas, such as saving, spending, investing, insurance, budgeting, retirement and tax planning. The positive impacts of financial education on people are clear, as are the negative impacts to those that lack FinLit.

Continue reading “Have we declared our financial independence?”