financial know-how Archives - DIYmoneytrack.com

2024 Year in Review

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous 2025.

Thank you for continuing to support my efforts to increase personal financial proficiency and well-being.

I believe strongly in the financial and emotional value of the content I produce and it gives me great pleasure when I hear and see it helping others.

I created DIYmoneytrack.com to support the content in my books, obtain feedback from readers about new content, and connect with other DIY financiers.

I’m delighted to report that my mission continues to gain traction.

How to protect your credit reports

In my prior post on protecting yourself from cybercriminals, I shared steps you can take to stay ahead of fraudsters trying to use your personal data against you and steal your identity. While all of those actions should be used to protect yourself, there is one action I recommend you consider implementing now:

Create a fraud alert or freeze access to your credit reports.

How to minimize fees to maximize your big money returns

As referenced in my new book Making Big Money Decisions and recent blog posts, transaction fees can take a big bite out of your returns. The good news is that the costs for holding investment funds and selling a house in the USA continue to decline, allowing you to keep more of your money. Since these investments are usually large, even small differences in the fees you pay can add up to significant amounts of money. If you are interested in finding out more about these transactions costs and tips for ensuring you are paying the lowest fees, then please read on.

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”

Buying a vehicle? Check the TCO

If you are in the market for a new or used vehicle, then it is important to do some homework before you settle on make and model. Here are a few things to consider before you pull the trigger on buying that new or used vehicle: Continue reading “Buying a vehicle? Check the TCO”

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”

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?”

How to donate your money more wisely

Caution: This article contains graphic images that may help some people make more informed decisions about donating money.

Ever wonder how much of the money you give to a charitable cause actually finds its way into the hands of the people that need it? Well, you can find that information and most anything else you want to know about a specific charity by using independent organizations that rate the quality of charitable organizations. Two of the more well-known organizations are Charity Navigator and CharityWatch. Both have very useful websites and information to help evaluate charities. Continue reading “How to donate your money more wisely”

3 questions every parent and child should answer before choosing a college

If you’ve been reading my recent articles you may sense a theme (or an obsession) with figuring out the costs and benefits of going to college. There are clearly benefits of going to college, but it is a ‘big money decision’ and should only be made with the appropriate level of due diligence.

While the decision about which school is the “best fit” is somewhat subjective, the cost of obtaining a diploma and how to pay for it should be viewed more objectively. Continue reading “3 questions every parent and child should answer before choosing a college”