Financial Product and Service Reviews Archives

How to lower your auto and home insurance premiums

Do you know how much your auto and/or home insurance premiums increased last year?

Insurance premium rates have been one of the fastest growing line items in most household budgets for years, far outpacing inflation for other expenses. In 2024 alone, the typical policyholder premium increased by:

17% to more than $2,100 per year on average in the U.S. for auto insurance; and
10% to more than $2,600 per year on average nationally for home insurance

These substantial increases, on top of other living expense increases, have squeezed family finances even tighter. In some cases, to the point where individuals and families have been forced to drop coverage altogether. Despite these growing costs, insuring your assets is critical to protecting yourself from potentially large financial losses, and in most cases are required to operate a motor vehicle and own a home.

While you may understand the importance of insurance for managing financial risks, you may not have realized there are ways to lower your premiums and potentially save a lot of money.

If you are interested in learning more about insurance costs and savings opportunities, as well as how to calculate the financial impacts of your buying decisions, please read on.

Do you know if your vehicle has been recalled?

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “recall” as it relates to your vehicle then you’re either fortunate or uninformed (or both). A recall means that the vehicle manufacturer recognizes there is a problem with one of its vehicles that could jeopardize your safety and must fix the problem at no cost to you. Although a manufacturer is required to notify you of any recalls, sometimes those notices don’t get to you. There’s a good chance you’ve been impacted by the massive recall of nearly 50 million Takata airbags; a recall that impacted vehicles made by 19 different automakers with the airbags installed in cars with model years 2002 through 2015. Continue reading “Do you know if your vehicle has been recalled?”

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”

How to maximize the money you make from payments

Individuals can use similar methods employed by businesses to monetize payments made to vendors. For individuals that diligently optimize payments the results can generate hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars in extra cash with the same level of budgeted spending. Continue reading “How to maximize the money you make from payments”

Great sites for staying up-to-date on money matters

If you read my prior post on developing financial know-how, then you’ll know that keeping up to date on personal finance news and information is one of the steps in the advancement cycle. The great thing is that in this age of online subscription services you can select topics that matter to you and have the information delivered directly to you. I have a few different information services that feed updates on personal finance to my email and Twitter accounts. These feeds provide information on a range of topics and are particularly useful if you are nearing a significant life goal like starting or changing careers, or deciding when and where to retire. I receive feeds from a number of different sources, including those specific to industries or technologies I’m following for investing purposes. It’s easy to get overloaded and overwhelmed with all of the different sources, so I recommend getting started with a few that allow you to better understand how to financially plan for life events, stay on top of your money, and comparison shop products and services.

Continue reading “Great sites for staying up-to-date on money matters”