The key to achieving long term financial success is to balance your investments and business expenses with your income to ensure that you’re operating within your means. You may need to invest in a variety of products, services, tools and technologies to help your business grow, but these investments should always be made with a sound budget in mind. The current tools and processes you use may need evaluating too, as there may be better, more cost-effective ways to achieve the same results. Your products and services of choice also need to assist in your business’s growth, otherwise, they ma ..read more

Most people don’t think about car insurance until they have to and then it can be a huge shock to learn that rates went up. To help you prepare, here is some valuable information that can help you plan for car insurance costs and changes in premium rates. Keep reading to find some tips on keeping your premiums as low as possible and protect yourself from unexpected insurance expenses. 1.  Always Get Multiple Car Insurance Quotes Even if you’re already signed on with a company like USAA car insurance or State Farm, it’s always prudent to keep an eye out for changes in rates. By s ..read more

Top 5 Methods for Bankruptcy Prevention Something urgent came up.  Someone got sick.  Something broke down. Someone lost their job.  Someone encouraged you to buy those new shoes you had to have! Then $100 of credit card debt turned into $500, and $500 turned into $1,000.  Before you knew it, your family was thousands of dollars in debt trying to recover from unforeseen circumstances.  These are often just a few of the reasons that lead people to the hard decision to file for bankruptcy.  But what if these things could have been faced head on and bankruptcy avoid ..read more

Evading and Escaping the Credit Card Trap When used responsibly, credit cards can be very convenient and useful financial management tools. The various perks, including travel rewards, are hard to ignore; and the cash back rewards are truly free money! Credit cards also offer excellent security and protection against fraud. While debit cards also have measures in place to deal with fraudulent charges, the benefit of using a credit card is that you will not be fighting to get your own money back when a charge is disputed. Credit cards are also a powerful tool in building your credit score, wh ..read more

Have you ever noticed how frequently you receive credit card offers? They may come in the mail, through email, or when you make a purchase with online retailers.  Often, these solicitations will say that you are pre-approved and that your purchase would be worth so much more, either in savings or rewards, if you open a new credit card. If managing your debt, enhancing your financial situation or improving your credit score are part of your goals for the year, some of these offers might sound like a great idea.  You also may hear a lot of opinions from friends and family who believe h ..read more

Have you seen your credit score recently and been less than thrilled with your report? Potential lenders use this score, along with your credit history, to determine your future ability to repay the credit they consider extending you. The first step to improve your credit score is to understand the five factors that contribute to the score calculation.  Your Payment History – 35% Making payments timely is the largest factor in determining your score. Paying at least the minimum amount on your credit cards/loans by each due date allows for a more favorable history. It can be challenging to ..read more

Have you been getting bombarded with emails about credit reports?  Emails with subject lines like “instant credit report” or “your credit report may have changed” are trying to sell you a product that you can get for free. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 gives you the right to get a free credit report every year from each of the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The only official website to obtain these free reports is annualcreditreport.com.  What happens after you pull the free credit reports? How do you know what it all means? One ..read more

At CCCSMD, our goal is to help you overcome financial hurdles by teaching you how to manage income, credit, and debt. By teaching our clients how to do this on their own, we know you’ll prosper independently with the skills you need to succeed. With more than 5-decades of financial advising experience, our team of professionals has seen and heard it all. Using webinars, we share this knowledge in the hopes it will help you become financially stable. Interested in knowing a little more about our webinars and how they work? Here are some of the benefits you can expect when you join a CCCSMD work ..read more

Enjoying the Savings Journey, One Dollar at a Time I used to get very discouraged with my savings account. As soon as I managed to save $100, some emergency would come up that depleted the balance to zero again.  I knew I wanted to save 3-6 months of living expenses, which was much more than $100, but getting there seemed impossible.  It took many wasted years and lots of visits to financial rock bottom before I got a handle on saving money.  I learned that I needed to make savings a priority, make it automatic and make it intentional.  What I also learned was that I had to ..read more

Debt Management Plans vs. Bankruptcy vs. Debt Consolidation vs. Debt Settlement When you carry high levels of consumer debt, it takes an emotional toll on your life.  The worry that looms over you about your ability to pay your creditors timely can be overwhelming, especially if you are living paycheck to paycheck or recently experienced a hardship – such as loss of a spouse, a reduction in income or another financial setback -.  Having more debt than you can handle has more consequences than just increased stress.  If you miss your monthly payments, your credit score will start ..read more