When exiting high school and entering college, many items come to mind and one of them is an internship. Many colleges and universities require internships but often they are questioned. The main question people ask is are they worth it, and rightly so. With the way professionals progress and jobs are obtained, an internship may not be necessary. Regardless, this article will go over the high points of internships, which can help you decide if an internship is worth it. Paid v.s. Unpaid Internships One of the first decisions you’ll have to make is to obtain a paid or unpaid internship. While e ..read more

Need to find more money in your budget? The best place to start is with your monthly expenses. It’s often much easier to lower your expenses than add income. A few small tweaks can help you save hundreds on everything from groceries to insurance. It may take more legwork to cut down big ticket items, such as a house, but working on these items can often yield a bigger boost to your budget. Here are ways you can lower your bills and save on your monthly expenses: Housing Housing is likely one of your most costly bills each month. Lowering your monthly housing payment is a heavier lift but can r ..read more

I’m sure you’ve heard this term before – Annual Percentage Rate (APR), if you haven’t then you probably don’t have any bills, credit cards, or have previously purchased a large item. If you have and you’re not sure what the bloody acronym means, join the club of many teenagers who are not entirely sure themselves. Annual Percentage Rate, or APR, is what you’re charged for any amount that is not paid before interest is accrued. Many people confuse APR with a standard interest rate and it’s not the same thing, entirely. An interest rate is part of the APR but it’s not the APR, there are many fac ..read more

Stocks and bonds are two ways that you can start investing your money. When you’re starting out, investing can be intimidating. The thought of putting your hard earned money out there, not knowing what will happen, and (often as a teenager) not knowing how things really work, can leave you feeling uneasy. It’s important to have an understanding of the basics of stocks and bonds if you want to start investing. What are Stocks? You can think of stocks as little tiny pieces of a company. When you buy stock, you are actually buying a small piece of ownership of that company, which is oft ..read more

The underground economy of unreported income, consisting of all wages earned from working cash jobs or “under the table” that is not reported to the government and taxed. How big do you think it is in the United States? Investopedia reports this underground economy estimated at up to a whopping $2.46 trillion – 11% to 12% of the entire country’s GDP (gross domestic product). [1] You’ll have to take these numbers with a grain of salt because they’re hard to report accurately… you know, because it’s unreported income. Either way, it’s huge. Anyways, you want to know if i ..read more

What is an automatic investment plan? An automatic investment plan is when you put your money on autopilot with investments. Usually you’ll place some startup cash and some sort of continued deposit, like from your weekly check. An automatic investment plan is a pivotal part of any portfolio if you’re serious about building long term wealth. If you don’t want to automate your finances, that’s ok. It’s not for everyone. However, you will have to put aside a few hours per month at least to manage your money. Even if you want to control your money, you should still setup that automatic investmen ..read more

Your credit limit is the available spending power that you have on a given credit account. Think of it as an “allowance” that your bank gives you to spend on the card. The difference between this and the allowance you may have got from your parents when you were younger is that you have to pay this back, plus some. Bummer, right? So is having a higher credit limit good or bad? In general, it’s a good thing and can benefit your credit. But, like all things in life, there are also drawbacks for every positive. Benefits of Having a Higher Credit Limit There are many benefits to credit limit incre ..read more

The 52 Week Money Challenge, sometimes referred to as the “52 Week Savings Challenge” or the “1 Year Money Saving Challenge”, is a savings plan where you put away money corresponding with the week number of the year. There are 52 weeks in a year, so the first week you’d save a dollar, the second week you’d save two, and so on.  There are many variations of this challenge, so it’s important that you learn about it to see what maximizes your saving potential and works for you. A Creative Way to Save Money Saving money is hard. It’s so easy to get in the habit of justifying unnecessary purch ..read more

Saving for retirement at a young age is a good idea. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Time is the (not so) secret ingredient to successful investing. But where do you begin? What type of 401k retirement plan is the right one for you? What is a 401k? Most commonly you’ll hear “401k” when talking about retirement plans. 401k plans are just that – retirement investment accounts. Many employers offer these plans as employee benefits, and some even offer 401k company matching (That’s right, FREE MONEY!… kind of). You’ll invest money automatically in the form of direct deposits, referred to ..read more

A car lease takeover, lease swapping, lease assumption, or lease transfer, is a way for someone to take over someone else’s car lease before the time is up. It may seem like taking over someone else’s lease is a good move but there are things to stay aware of during the process. Should You Assume a Lease? When you assume a car lease, you’re taking over all monthly payments and ownership of the vehicle. You will become the responsible party to handle everything related to the car moving forward. You want to make sure you know the entire contract that the person before you signed and be aware of ..read more