Understanding the Psychology of Spending can Save You Money

As a recent article published here on Accumulating Money has demonstrated, there are several reasons why people spend more money than they earn, and all of us, no matter who we are, have spent more than we should have at some point in our lives. While saving money does take discipline and willpower, it may also be beneficial to think about your moods and behaviors that cause you to spend money in the first place. When we plan to save money, we usually think of the specific objects on which we ar...

Who Should Have a Health Savings Account?

Before we answer the question, "who should have a health savings account?" , this matter of health insurance needs to be clearly understood by one and all. Health care today is one of the most important expense items in every individual’s payouts next only to mortgage payments. US Treasury Department has defined HSA in simple words. HSA is a special account where in individuals can provide for current medical expenses while at the same time save for future medical expenses. In other words HSA...

Jumping Through Hoops for Reward Checking

You've probably heard about reward checking by now, and maybe even wondered how a bank can advertise extremely high interest rates of 4% or 5% on checking accounts. Reward checking offers customers an above-average yield and often ATM fee rebates – if they jump through various hoops the bank sets up. Is jumping through these hoops worth the extra interest? The Challenges to Earning the Higher Interest Rates The exact challenges or hoops you'll be expected to jump through to qualify for the...

Credit Card Insurance: Smart Choice or Not?

As we all know, credit card companies are notorious for nickeling and diming us with fees and add-on services. This is especially true now that the credit card reform is in full effect… since they can no longer hike our APR out of the blue, they’re seeking other avenues to make their money. Besides credit monitoring subscriptions, the most common add-on for them to peddle is credit card insurance. Should you buy it or not? What are the benefits? Well here’s a brief overview of the typical be...

There are plenty of calculators out there so I won’t bother with that, but the question to how much you need to save for retirement needs to be in your thought process. Saving for retirement is difficult when it matters most. Many people reading this are in there 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. The earlier you start to save the more you benefit from compounding interest. If you start saving around five thousand dollars a year and put it into an index fund returning about 8% in your early twenties, you wi...

The Visa Signature line was first launched over a decade ago, originally touted as a premium credit card tier for the affluent. However today, this tier is being offered on an increasing number of mid-level, average cards. Furthermore, many banks are switching their existing cardmembers over to the Signature level whether the customer wants it or not. Why is this happening? Is the Visa Signature truly better than Platinum? What makes it different? You've probably seen those frequent (...

How Can Going Green Save You Money?

The earth is becoming the biggest witness of man’s destructive ways and unhealthy lifestyle. Not only is it the witness, but the poor and defenceless victim of all of man’s wanton practices. The good thing is, there are many countries and individuals that see the great need to save the earth. This is now popularly termed as “going green.” Going green is not at all difficult. It consists of simply going through some practices and, even simple sacrifices, which would not largely alter one’s...

5 Tactics to Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster

There is no secret to paying off your mortgage faster; while you may be disappointed to learn this, it is actually a good thing because you don’t have to follow a strange budget or download any special account keeping software to own your home sooner. Instead, you can use these five simple tactics which almost anyone can achieve, regardless of their loan size, their lender or their property goals. 1 – Understand how your mortgage repayments work You can’t beat a system if you don’t unders...

How Does Debt Affect People?

This is a common question for anyone who is thinking about borrowing money. The reason for this is that debt can have a major impact on a the life of a person. It can determine whether or not someone succeeds in life or struggles all the way through it. Debt is the amount of money any person owes. They go into debt when they borrow money in the present while promising to pay it off in the future. There are a couple of different variations of debt, and they affect people in different ways. Hav...

Money Leaks: Slow Ways to Become Broke

There are of course huge ways to waste money, but then there are small wastes, which are referred to as leaks. Sometimes the leaks are so small, you may not even notice them, but they do add up and can end up being a huge chunk of money that could be better spent somewhere else. In this post, I am going to highlight some leaky ways you could be leaking money without you realizing it. Clunkers: Not only is buying a brand new way too expensive car a huge waste of money, but on the other hand, ...

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