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Tag: Personal Finance

  • Intuit Close to Buying Credit Karma

    Intuit Close to Buying Credit Karma

    Credit Karma, the popular credit and finance service, is on the verge of being bought by Intuit.

    According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, Intuit is planning to purchase Credit Karma for roughly $7 billion in a cash and stock deal. Intuit is already the king of tax preparation and accounting software, and the addition of Credit Karma would help round out the company’s personal finance services.

    The deal would allow Credit Karma to operate as a standalone business, with its current CEO continuing to run things. Combining forces would help the two companies better serve their customers, both in the data they have and the personalized recommendations that can be made based on that data, as well as the combination of services each company offers.

    If the deal is successful, it would be the largest acquisition in Intuit’s 37-year history.

  • Saving Energy To Save The Economy?

    Saving Energy To Save The Economy?

    Getting energy usage under control is something we all need to work on. Climate change is one motivating factor, but there are also other economic factors for using less energy. High energy bills cause an economic drag for everyone – when some people can’t pay their bills it can actually dampen economic growth for all of us. Electricity is something we need for survival at this point in human history, and it’s up to all of us to use it wisely.

    Energy And The Economy

    It may seem that more energy usage would be better for the economy, but that isn’t necessarily true. Every year 3 in 20 households get a disconnection notice, and that can easily snowball into late fees and still more money problems including evictions and foreclosures. Electricity is necessary – we use it to cook and keep our food fresh, to heat our bathing water and dish water, and to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. In fact, 63% of electricity usage is for necessities, while only 37% is for luxuries throughout the United States. More than 1 in 5 Americans has gone without basic necessities to pay for electricity, and all these hard times amount to an increasing drag on the economy, slowing down economic growth.

    Simple Ways To Save

    Most people look at their power bill as something they don’t have any control over, but that is just simply not the case. There are plenty of electronics in your home right now that are plugged in that haven’t been used in who knows how long, and they are all pulling what is called a ‘phantom load’ – that is electricity is flowing to an unused device. Simply unplugging these things can save you a significant amount of money each year. In the U.S.:

    • 86% have not tried unplugging an unused printer
    • 60% don’t shut down computers
    • 55% have not sealed windows and doors
    • 50% aren’t using energy efficient light bulbs
    • 71% of homes have no LED lighting
    • 82% of homes still use incandescent light bulbs

    Just replacing all your incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs could save you $180 a year. Washing laundry in cold water only could save you $60 a year. Boiling water in a kettle instead of on the stovetop could save you $12 per year. Turning down your thermostat a few degrees could save you 10% of your power bill. Turning off computers and unplugging all your unused electronics could save you upwards of $850 a year.

    Tech Can Also Help You Save Electricity

    Even in the office we need to be mindful of power use. Smart plugs and power strips can detect when devices aren’t being used or have reached a full charge and can cut off the phantom power supply to those devices. There are also apps that can monitor your power usage through a device installed on the breaker box to give you an idea of just how much power you are using for many of those rarely-used electronics. Even if you plug all your rarely-used electronics into a power strip and shut it off when you aren’t using them you can save a significant amount of energy.

    Other Ways To Save Power

    Alternative energy is getting more affordable, and it can be a great way to save on your power bill. There are also deregulated markets where you can choose your power provider to negotiate lower power rates. Learn more about cutting down on energy usage from this infographic.

    Lower My Energy Rates
    Lower My Energy Rates

  • Personal Finance Essentials [Infographic]

    While I believe truly healthy financial functioning is a myth for most people in this economy, there are certain things we can do to make our lives easier. While unplanned expenses like car repairs, medical bills, and other emergency costs can spell disaster for any budget, certain expenditures should be examined more closely to see where valuable cuts can be made.

    I think for most people food and entertainment are some of the most ripe areas for trimming the fat (no pun intended). Think about it, how often do you pick up a coffee or a snack? Do spend money on alcohol at the bar? These habits will make you poor in a hurry. Not that it’s not okay to enjoy them from time to time, but when they become habits, a larger and larger portion of your income will end up being pissed away.

    Entertainment is the same way. If you constantly go on road trips, take flights out of town, and escape for weekend getaways, the bills will start to add up. This next infographic from Lifetuner.org gives us some starting points to reference where are problem spending areas might be.

    Again, I think these figures are very idealistic depending on your income/debt ratio, but it’s something to strive for. Many people struggle with excessive credit card debt and enormous educational repayments, so that throws this whole picture into disarray.

    Take a look at what they came up with and see if there’s any spending you can cut to make your monthly payments more manageable. Living paycheck to paycheck is unfortunate and doesn’t leave you any lead way, but if you can manage to save a little, unplanned expenses wont be such a catastrophe.

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  • Credit Score Myths Debunked [Infographic]

    Credit Score Myths Debunked [Infographic]

    Looking to increase your credit score? Of course you are or you wouldn’t be reading this article. Buying power is an important part of credit health and surprise, it all depends on your credit score. What is a credit score?

    A credit score is a complex calculation of figures based on how much money you take in, how much money you owe, your behavior on how you’ve handled financial obligations in the past, and a likelihood that you are able to repay the money you want to barrow. It’s not a simple equation and there’s a lot of misinformation out there on how to achieve good credit health.

    Hopefully this infographic will help set us straight and reveal some of the major credit myths that exist out there. Getting on the track to better credit health is not easy, but it looks like there’s some easy thing we can all do right away to increase our scores. Take a look: