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Saving for retirement can be a daunting task and it’s hard to do it without a road map. Maxing out your employer-sponsored plan (such as your 401(k) account) can be a great starting point. But there’s more than one way to pad your retirement accounts. If you’re looking for creative ways to boost your savings, here are some ideas that you can begin to implement. Read More...
SEPP stands for substantially equal periodic payment. Setting up a series of substantially equal payments is a little-known maneuver that can enable you to withdraw money from your retirement accounts before age 59 1/2 – without paying an early withdrawal penalty. Often an SEPP comes as a result of a lay-off. Want to learn more? You’re in the right place. Read More...
We seem to have a fascination with the net worth of celebrities, but the wealthy aren’t the only ones whose net worth is of interest. It’s a good idea to know your own net worth so you can assess the state of your assets and liabilities and figure out how to increase your financial stability. Calculating your net worth doesn’t require an accounting degree. Let us walk you through it. Read More...
Knowing that you should save for retirement and actually doing it are two different things. If you never got around to building a nest egg, you run the risk of going broke in retirement. That could be a problem if you have a lot of unpaid debt and financial obligations. But luckily, there are ways to stay afloat when you run out of savings. Here are three ways to cope when you come up short. Read More...
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Editor's Picks
Aug 31, 2015 The rising cost of tuition and fees at US colleges has rendered college unaffordable for many families. The average US college student now…
Aug 12, 2015 Most teenagers dream about the day the get their driver’s license and are able to take their first car out for a spin by themselves. For…
Apr 01, 2016 If you’re young and you're looking to purchase a new home to live in, maybe you should consider turning your first home into an investment…
Oct 21, 2015 Across the country, real estate markets are much healthier than they were a few short years ago, when a housing bubble precipitated a much…
Jan 28, 2016 Negotiating a loan with a friend or family member can be a great alternative to high-interest forms of consumer credit. Formalizing that…
Data Articles and Studies
Though the U.S. doesn’t rank as the happiest country in the world (that honor goes to Denmark) Americans report high levels of life satisfaction. The U.S. ranked 13th in a recent World Happiness Report that looked at 156 countries. But how do individual counties within the U.S. stack up in the happiness stakes? Let’s take a look. Read More...
Women in the U.S. tech industry have long faced major disparities in both employment and pay. Last year, SmartAsset’s analysis of Census Bureau data found that women hold less than 26% of tech jobs in the U.S. and on average earn just 85% of what men in those positions earn. We further found that in many top tech cities, the numbers are worse. In San Francisco, for example, just 21% of tech workers were women. Read More...
Big-city living comes with quite a few perks. Grocery stores and shopping centers are often in walking distance and there are usually plenty of restaurants, bars and activities close by. But when you live in a city with a high cost of living, you have less purchasing power. You might spend a lot more on housing, food and healthcare than you would if you lived somewhere else. Read More...
Videos
Patrice Washington says she is an accidental personal finance blogger. Regardless, it’s a role she seems born to play, and one she’s certainly making the most of! Patrice is now much more than a personal finance blogger, she is a personal finance educator, author and advocate. You can see, hear and read Patrice pretty much everywhere from the Steve Harvey TV and radio show to her own books on personal finance. We caught up with Patrice in New Orleans for this edition of SmartAsset Talks. Read More...
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