#but the private student loans and credit cards I think I can take care of this year

[himblebo]

All I want in 2025 is to be able to move out

[missmentelle]

Tips for cutting off toxic, manipulative, and abusive parents?

I recently wrote a guide to escaping from a toxic household if you are currently living with your parents, but to summarize, cutting them off basically boils down to two things: financial independence and emotional resolve. 

When you are cutting your parents out of your life permanently, the most important thing to do is to get yourself into a position where you no longer need them for anything financially. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be debt-free or living a middle class lifestyle - you just need to be able to pay for all of your rent and expenses every month without any assistance from them. If you are still in school, you need to secure a way to pay for your remaining tuition - like a scholarship, needs-based financial aid or student loan - and make sure that you don’t need your parents’ signatures on anything to get that money. Needing any kind of money or material support from your parents gives them leverage over you; it’s something that they can hold over your head to maintain control of you. So long as you rely on them for room and board, tuition or financial support, cutting them off is not going to be a realistic option for you - once they have no financial hold over you anymore, they have no weapon to wield against you. 

Achieving financial independence is something that is obviously easier said than done, but as someone who has been financially independent since age 19 (not because my parents are abusive, but because they are flat broke) and financed two degrees by myself, there are a couple of tips that you can use to get there as quickly as possible:

Start saving money in a place where they can’t get it. Make sure that you have a bank account in your name only, so that your parents cannot take money out of your account or tell how much you have. 

Start building your credit. You will not have an “oops, mom, I’m short on rent this month, can you send me $200?” lifeline that your peers have. Your “in case of emergency” plan is your credit card. Get a basic credit card - even if it’s a “secured” card that makes you keep $500 in your bank account to get it - and start building your credit. Make one purchase with the card per month and pay it off right away to avoid interest. Be responsible with your card, and build a good credit score as quickly as you can - this will make it much easier for you to rent apartments, get loans and buy a house later down the line. 

Get a budgeting app or spreadsheet and learn to use it. Make sure you know exactly how much you earn, how much you spend, how much you’re saving, and how much money you need to have in order to be financially independent. Knowing where your money is going is an essential part of the process. 

If you’re in school, try to graduate on time. Make sure you are taking a full course load if you can, and make sure that you are taking the correct courses for graduation. Delaying graduation often means delaying your independence. 

Ask for help when you need it. If you are in school, ask your financial aid office or student advisor for information about scholarships, bursaries and grants. If you’re working, ask your boss about professional development and career advancement opportunities. 

Take on odd jobs if you need to. I have worked many odd jobs to keep myself afloat and build my savings - you can see if anyone needs babysitting, tutoring, help with yard work, dog walking, etc. I’ve done paid freelancing writing, taught English online, delivered flyers and taken on part-time jobs; sometimes you have to grind a little bit to give yourself a cushion of savings. 

Minimize your spending. It goes without saying, but it’s easier to be financially independent if you find ways to live on less money. Find roommates or rent a room in someone’s home instead of finding your own apartment. Try to minimize your subscription services and make sure you’re not paying for subscriptions you no longer use. Learn to cook and make as many meals at home as possible. 

The other important component of cutting off manipulative and abusive parents is to gather up your emotional resolve and commit to cutting them out of your life. Toxic and manipulative parents will use every tactic in the book to try to get back into your life - you know your parents best, but expect that they might beg, lie, threaten, make false promises, make appeals for sympathy, or use other underhanded tactics to try to regain control of you. They may drag other people that you care about into the situation and have those people plead on their behalf. Some do whatever they can to get you to drop your guard and let them in again. Start thinking about that possibility now, so that you can prepare for anything they might throw at you. Remember:

Don’t panic if your parents call the cops or report you missing. If you are an adult, you cannot be forced to go home to your parents, even if your parents report you missing. If law enforcement contacts you, answer their questions, explain that your parents are controlling, let them know that you don’t want any help and tell them that you don’t want your personal information released to your parents. Your family will only be told that you were located safe and that your case is closed. 

Lock down your social media and online presence. Block your parents from your phone, and make sure that they are blocked from all of your social media accounts so that they cannot get information on you. It may be a good idea to set your accounts to private for a while or change your handles and profile pictures so that they cannot find you. 

Prepare yourself for the possibility that you might have to cut off other family members too. When you cut off your parents, brace yourself for the possibility that other members of your family that you were on good terms with - aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc - may take your parents’ side, or may reach out to encourage you to forgive your parents “for the sake of the family” or “to keep the peace”. Being free of your parents sometimes means cutting ties with family members who won’t respect your decision. 

Remember the reasons that you decided to cut them off in the first place. Sometimes when you’ve been away from an abuser for a while, you will start to forget the abuse and become nostalgic for the good times that you had with that person. You might even decide that you “overreacted” by cutting them off and consider give them a second chance. Tread carefully with this. Remind yourself of the reasons you left.

The first few months after you leave may be difficult. Your parents may fight back against your decision as hard as they possibly can, and you may find that you have a lot of grieving to do - not because you miss your parents, necessarily, but because you have to come to terms with the fact that you will never have the loving and healthy relationship with your parents that you may have wanted. You will get through it. Seek out support from therapists or from other people who have cut off their parents. Focus on forming new, healthy relationships with the people in your life. Build a life free from abuse, a life that makes you happy and fulfilled. Stay strong, stay focused. Remember that you deserved better than your parents were willing to give.  Best of luck to you.  MM

[mindmusicspirit]

Sick, tired and broke...

While it took the coronavirus to get people to genuinely realise this : our healthcare system is trash when it truly doesn’t have to be.

That technically feels like the end of my Ted talk, but I’ll go into some slightly repetitive data about it, because what I ultimately discovered is that this healthcare system is costing the most financially and humanely for Millenials.

Let’s start out with 2019 when 137 million Americans faced financial hardship due to medical costs. Scary part is, regardless of age, high healthcare bills are the number one reason people would consider taking money out of their retirement accounts or filing for bankruptcy, while 66.5% of all personal bankruptcies are tied to medical issues. ( CNBC).

According to the NYTimes, Americans borrowed $88 billion in 2018 in order to pay for their healthcare. If we’re borrowing $88 billion to pay for healthcare, imagine the profit that these healthcare companies are enjoying!

Why is healthcare so expensive? The best answer I could find is due to a “free” market and lack of regulation by our government as well as a lack of transparency when it comes to medical billing. According to Public Health Policy Professor Marty Makary of John Hopkins, the healthcare marketplace is “irrational”-- though I prefer the term uncontrolled-- where price gouging has become the norm. Heart surgery at one hospital may cost $44,000 while the same surgery will cost $500K at another facility, and the kicker here is, despite the disparity in price, there is no marked difference between the quality of care in the different facilities (CNBC).

As for lack of transparency for medical billing, I can personally attest to that ( though clearly I’m not a unique case). Last year I was hospitalized at Tulane University Medical for Diabetic Ketoacidosis, brought on by food poisoning, and I received 3 seperate bills for that one stay. One bill was about $350, the second bill was for $2200 , and the third bill was for $14.99 with no thorough explanation about what I was being billed for ( no general explanation provided either). The bills were just medical coding with no legend of what the coding represented, leaving me angry and confused. How does one hospital stay, at one facility come with 3 seperate bills? Sad thing is, I had health insurance, and seeing as health insurance comes with deductibles and out of pocket limits, I figured those hospital bills hit that, at the very least. Apparently it did not for reasons not even the health insurance reps could explain to me. How do I spend $2500 out of pocket, when my limit is $1500, and you’re telling me that that $2500 doesn't count toward my out of pocket? A clear lack of transparency in not just medical billing, but health insurance as well.

The general high cost of medical care is another reason we’re just out here remaining sick and in debt: The average hospital stay in the US costs about $5220 per day, whereas in Australia where the nation's wealth is comparable to the US, it’s about $765 per day. It is not even hospital stays that are the initial causes/starting causes of medical debt either: 65% of medical debt started out with either diagnostic testing or a doctor’s visit followed by Lab fees, ER visits, drug prescription costs and outpatient services (SingleCare.com). Why would something/someone whose job it is to cure or heal you be what brings you into debt? Even more so, why does something as primary and preliminary such as diagnostic testing or seeing the doctor be the main cause of medical debt? We’re in debt before we can even know what’s ailing us? Drug prescriptions are no different either. About a month and a half ago I lost insulin vials and needed to get replacement vials from the pharmacy: I’ve never actually lost insulin before in my twenty years as a diabetic, so you think that my pristine record would count for something. It didn't. Health insurance was not going to cover it, and the cost of one vial was going to be $900. Keep in mind, one vial will last me about two weeks. Maybe three if I make sure to not eat. $900 is more than my half of rent to put that cost into perspective relative to my monthly bills, and it was only going to last me half the month. If prescription costs are that drastic, I can only imagine the average cost of the diagnostic or doctors visit that affect the 65% that fall into debt because of it.

In addition to costing us financially, high medical care and medical costs affect our quality of life and ability to accumulate wealth, especially Millennials. According to a 2016 study published by Health Affairs, Millennials carry the most medical debt in the US as well as incur it more frequently: the article focused more on the fact that the debt starts at the age of 27 once the medical care/insurance for young adults under their parents insurance ends at age 26. The age group that ended up accumulating the most debt was also age 27 ( PBS.org) The Millenial age group also accounts for 35% of the overall population, so that could be another reason why we hold the most medical debt as well ( Single Care).

Quality of life is also affected in that Americans are foregoing medical treatment or medical visits due to cost. In fact, 21% of Americans had to do that in 2016 alone. That is 21% of people not getting the necessary healing treatment they need, or living in the dark of what’s ailing them.

32% have postponed medical care due to cost. When I hear “postpone”, I assume that the only reason they end up getting medical care is because their ailment got worse or to a point where they couldn’t avoid not getting the medical care that they needed.

40% of adults ages 18-64 have relied on at home remedies or over the counter drugs instead of going to the doctor due to medical cost ( Singlecare.org)

I have fallen into all 3 categories: In fact, once , in order to avoid a hospital visit, I treated my own onset of ketoacidosis. For those of you not sure what that entails, it basically includes taking my insulin through my veins as opposed to subcutaneously ( injecting my arm or stomach) while avoiding any liquids or food, including water for at least 24 hours. The reason you have to do that is because your body’s acid level is falling to a dangerous level so it won’t react to insulin being delivered into your fat stores or beneath the skin: It has to be delivered directly to your bloodstream to have an effect. This acidity level will also cause your blood sugar to rise to dangerous levels, and potentially even lead to a heart attack if not treated in a timely manner.The low acidity level is also why the body won’t tolerate any food or liquid, as it tries to purge every possible foreigner from the body in order to normalize its pH level. Imagine not being able to drink water without violently vomiting it up. So there I was at home, a young twenty year old, injecting insulin into my veins, every hour for at least twenty four hours, until my body was on the mend again. I had to be my own doctor in order to avoid a $2k-$3k plus bill that I knew I couldn’t afford. Was it risky? Yes. But, I was forced to be concerned not only for my life but for my financial well being simultaneously. Sad fact of the matter is, I’m confident that I’m not the only type 1 diabetic with a story like that, and I’m not the first to have to weigh my life versus my finances.

In order to pay for medical costs:

53% work out payment plans with their provider. That’s probably the best option, although it ends up being one more bill to add to the list at the end of the month. I’m still paying off that $2500 hospital bill I previously mentioned.

37% have had to borrow money from family or friends

34% have increased their credit card debt

70% say they cut back spending on food, clothing, or other basic household items.

41% say they took an extra job or worked more hours.

59% say they used up most or all of their savings.

35% say they have been unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat, or housing. (Singlecare.org)

The statistics at the bottom are exceptionally high and staggering. 70% have to cut back on basic household items/comforts in order to pay medical bills: Is it really a succesful or efficient healthcare system if you have to choose between food or medicine?

In addition to our quality of life/quality of health being impacted, I mentioned our ability to accumulate wealth, which for Millenials have proven more difficult than prior generations: According to Caroline Ratcliffe, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who studies asset building and poverty, wealth is stagnating for younger generations compared to their parents and grandparents. For people under 40 years old: their wealth has only inched up compared to their parents in the 1980’s, and many factors affect that: Credit cards ( see prior posted article on credit card debt), Student loans ( future article) and of course medical debt:

When one in six Americans have past due medical bills on their credit report, it affects their ability to secure a good interest rate on a home or auto loan. ( PBS.org) We’re constantly told how real estate is one of the best ways to accumulate wealth, yet these unnecessary and predatory forms of debt make it harder for us to do so. A lot of these past due bills average about $600(CNBC), but when most of us have credit card bills, monthly living expenses, student loans, and living paycheck to paycheck, how easy is it to pay $600, realistically?

The additional injury to injury ( because we’re long past insults to injury), is the fact that medical care is slated to become even more expensive. It’s expected to hit $6 trillion by year 2027, and it’s already 2020!

When individuals, the federal and state government, and private business seem to share an equal balance of overall medical expenditures ( be it through medicare, the cost of employee covered insurance etc etc), why then would medical costs go up?

It goes back to the beginning of the article, where we pointed out how unchecked the healthcare industry is. Despite the fancy words and round about explanations we may get from lobbyists and those in healthcare, in addition to being gaslit by them that rising costs are unavoidable, it most certainly is avoidable.

Don't forget, compared to other countries that have comparable wealth to us, everything is more expensive here in the US, and there doesn’t seem to be a disparity in the actual quality of care. For example, the total health spending per capita is 84.8% more expensive in the US than in Canada.

In America, they perform 322 C-sections for every 1000 live births, which average a cost of $16,000. In the UK, it’s 264 C-sections per 1000 live births with an average cost of $6k.

An MRI averages about $1115 in America, yet averages to about $215 in Australia. (Singlecare.com).

These countries are comparable in wealth to us, so is affordable and universal health care really that far fetched or radical of an idea in America? Especially when it’s driving such a staggering amount of people into debt? The answer is NO. Based on the medical cost and quality in other countries, not only is it possible, but easy to make it affordable and universal. There are so many different models that are currently working that we can choose from to emulate even.

Health insurance, healthcare and pharmaceutical companies need to be governed or regulated here in the US. Otherwise, the health care system is just another player in the systemic debt traps that seem to be set for the poorer masses, and it’s a problem that’s only projected to get worse, especially for Millenials. It’s grossly affecting our overall quality of life and ability to generate wealth. These statistics show that while the sick get sicker and entrapped by debt, the healthcare industry and those at the top will benefit the most financially from our plight. This current system is neither logical, nor sustainable for the masses, the greater good, or for the economy.

What ever happened to the Hippocratic oath to do no harm?

References:

137 Million Americans are struggling with medical debt. Here’s what to know if you need some relief.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/10/americans-are-drowning-in-medical-debt-what-to-know-if-you-need-help.html

2020 Medical Debt Statistics

https://www.singlecare.com/blog/medical-debt-statistics/

Millennials rack up the most Medical Debt and most frequently.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/millennials-rack-up-the-most-medical-debt-and-more-frequently

Americans borrowed $88 billion to pay for healthcare last year, survey finds

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/health/americans-health-care-debt-borrowing.html

Survey: 79

million Americans have problems with Medical Bills or debt.

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/survey-79-million-americans-have-problems-medical-bills-or-debt

[richincolor]

We’re excited to be part of the Permanent Record Blog Tour!

Title: Permanent Record Author: Mary H.K. Choi Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Pages: 400 Release Date: September 3, 2019 Review Copy: Digital ARC via Netgalley

Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, which Rainbow Rowell called “smart and funny,” comes an unforgettable new romance about how social media influences relationships every day.

On paper, college dropout Pablo Rind doesn’t have a whole lot going for him. His graveyard shift at a twenty-four-hour deli in Brooklyn is a struggle. Plus, he’s up to his eyeballs in credit card debt. Never mind the state of his student loans.

Pop juggernaut Leanna Smart has enough social media followers to populate whole continents. The brand is unstoppable. She graduated from child stardom to become an international icon and her adult life is a queasy blur of private planes, step-and-repeats, aspirational hotel rooms, and strangers screaming for her just to notice them.

When Leanna and Pablo meet at 5:00 a.m. at the bodega in the dead of winter, it’s absurd to think they’d be A Thing. But as they discover who they are, who they want to be, and how to defy the deafening expectations of everyone else, Lee and Pab turn to each other. Which, of course, is when things get properly complicated.

Review: Life for Pablo is definitely taking a troubling turn. They guy has a lot going on in his life and he’s making choices that continue to multiply and exacerbate those problems. When Pablo looks at his bills and tries to think about what he’s going to do with his life, he pushes everything away and decides not to decide. He’s basically stuck and doesn’t know how to get out of his own trap. He uses his charm in an attempt to save himself over and over again when he’s not just blowing people off and treating them horribly. Some readers may not like him spite of the wattage of his charm.

His central plan is avoidance or distraction. This is true with debts, decisions, and in relationships. I felt for the guy though. At one point he ponders about how unfit young people are to make life changing decisions like college majors. Brains aren’t even completely developed when most people are starting college and choosing their life path. Young people are asked to make huge decisions with lifetime ramifications when some of them are simply not ready yet. Pab cannot figure things out and in the meantime his looming debt is just making every single thing more stressful.

The kid is bright though and his word play and repartee had me laughing even in the midst of his often cringey decision making. The conversations between Leanna and Pablo are especially entertaining. Leanna can also make some sketchy decisions and both of them managed to show their humanity and individuality. They’re coming of age in a bumbling sort of way which makes the whole story more endearing than annoying for me. Pab is also talented when it comes to making and choosing snacks. I definitely wanted to give some of those a try.

I really appreciated the look into Pab and his relationships with his parents. His mother is Korean and his father is Pakistani. They live their lives in two very different ways, but they both want good things for their children. Pab thinks he knows what his parents think and why, but there have been misunderstandings between them for a long time. His little brother is also a lot of fun. He adds yet another interesting perspective. He is quite precocious and enterprising. The two siblings really care for each other and that relationship was a highlight for me even though it wasn’t a huge part of the story.

Though much of this story is outside my lived experience, the book was very relatable as Pab questions his future and gets bogged down in mistakes. Even his failure to simply ask for guidance or help was almost too realistic for me. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit.

Recommendation: Get it as soon as you can especially if you enjoy your contemporary novels  with a bit of romance, a dash of social media drama, friendship and family complications, and interesting snack ideas. Pab and Leanna will likely inspire laughter as well as introspection.

Blog Tour Schedule

August 26th – Vicky Who Reads

August 27th – Adventures of a Book Junkie

August 28th – Utopia State of Mind

August 29th – Read by Tiffany

August 30th – Rich in Color

August 31st – Your Tita Kate

September 2nd – Books on Pointe

September 3rd – Andi’s ABCs

September 4th – Book Scents

September 5th – Twirling Pages

September 6th – Bookshelves & Paperbacks

September 9th – YA Bibliophile

September 10th – Mary Had A Little Book Blog

September 11th – Chasing Faerytales

September 12th – Nicole’s Novel Reads

September 13th – Mel to the Any

Mary H.K. Choi is a writer for The New York Times, GQ, Wired, and The Atlantic. She has written comics for Marvel and DC, as well as a collection of essays called Oh, Never Mind. Her debut novel Emergency Contact was a New York Times bestseller. She is the host of Hey, Cool Job!, a podcast about jobs and Hey, Cool Life!, a podcast about mental health and creativity. Mary grew up in Hong Kong and Texas and now lives in New York. Follow her on Twitter @ChoitotheWorld.

[apolonia102812-newsletter]

3 Reasons New Grads Would Need Life Insurance: Do They Apply to You?

“Should I get life insurance?” is a common question many of us ask when enrolling in work benefits, especially if it’s the first time.

The answer is that it depends, but for many new graduates entering the workforce, life insurance is important to consider. If you are a new grad and your employer offers subsidized life insurance, definitely take advantage of it. It’s free (or almost free) coverage that can provide financial support for those who have been investing in your future, should something unexpected happen to you.

However, life insurance coverage through work is often only a few times your annual salary and may not be enough to cover your needs.

Here are a few scenarios where getting a basic term life policy of your own makes sense:

1. You Want to Avoid Saddling Your Parents with Student Debt

If you have a private student loan and your parents were co-signers on that loan, they may get stuck paying off your debt if you unexpectedly pass away. No one likes to think about that happening — and hopefully you have a long, full life ahead of you — but term life insurance can help make sure parents won’t be burdened by unexpected debt if something happens to their adult children. Many federal student loans are forgiven if the graduate passes away, but private loans don’t follow the same protocol. So check on any student loan debt obligations that might fall to your parents, and consider getting some term life insurance so they can pay off that debt if you’re no longer around to do so.

You can get a small life insurance policy through Ladder to cover what you need now, and the best part is that you can increase or decrease your coverage as your financial needs change. Paid down your loans in half the time you expected? Drop your coverage by half with just a few taps in the app and watch your premium go down by the same amount.

2. You are Responsible for the Financial Security of Others

Coming out of college and grad school, many graduates have a lot of credit card debt, in addition to student debt. If you have a spouse or children to provide for, aging parents to care for, or a mortgage you are paying down, it’s important to make sure your dependents can be financially self-sufficient if something happens to you. Being able to maintain a consistent standard of living and being with the community can make a huge difference when your family is recovering from a tragic event. Look at the life insurance coverage you get from work and see if you need additional coverage to make sure your loved ones would have enough financial support.

An additional benefit of independent/additional life coverage? As long as you are within the term of the policy, it can stay with you no matter where you go, providing a financial safety net. If you leave a job, get laid off, or take time between jobs to travel, the life insurance you had through work will no longer be in effect. But if you have additional life insurance that you own independently, you can rest easy during these lulls knowing there’s a financial safety net for your people.

3. You Realize Getting Life Insurance Early is a Smart Financial Move

The beauty of term life insurance is the price stays fixed once you get a policy. So if you get a policy when you are young and super healthy, your rates will be lower than if you wait until you are in the throes of “adulting” (spouse, kids, house, mortgage). Furthermore, if you develop a chronic illness or disability in later years and have not gotten life insurance before that happens, your premiums may be much more expensive. You may even be uninsurable when you try to get life insurance, which is not ideal when you have a family who depends on you financially.

If you get a policy while in your twenties, your monthly premiums can be much more affordable and budget-friendly because you are likely young and healthy. And you’ll still be paying the same low price 20–30 years from now, depending on the term you choose. For many people, they find their monthly insurance premiums are equivalent to the cost of buying a few cups of specialty coffee a month. So imagine the cost savings you can rack up over time, if you lock in a low rate when you are younger, versus paying a pretty penny if you wait until you are older.

At the end of the day, deciding whether or not you need a basic term life insurance policy comes down to how much debt you need to cover, how much financial support you want your loved ones to have if something happens to you, and the financial legacy you want to create.

Credits: Liana Corwin

Date: June 9, 2021

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-reasons-grads-life-insurance-151426037.html

[politicsaccordingtohistory]

The Apparent Wisdom of Bernie Sanders

Well, this probably should have been a direct message to @politijohn, but they took out their comment section. Hoo-rah. Well, might as well say my thoughts.

On January 8th of Current Year + 4 (or 2019), President hopeful Bernie Sanders had tweeted the following:

There's no crisis at the border. President Trump, you want to talk about crises?

-30 million Americans have no health insurance

-Climate change threatens our planet

-Half of older Americans have no retirement savings

-40 million are dealing with outrageous student debt

Well, let's start with the obvious. The Left has been going on about "illegal immigrants internment camps" for the last several months, so by the rhetoric of your own side you're wrong: you DO think there's a crisis at the border. Not to mention the situation that happened on November 26th, when South American migrants rushed the border wall despite the fact that they were being processed for entry anyway.

These people had pushed women and children to the front to use as physical and emotional shields. Nothing moves people's hearts and not their heads like the headline "Children tear gassed at the border." Moreover, let's say we stopped protecting our border. Let the economic migrants in. Do you think those numbers you provided will go down? Or up? "75 million children dealing with student loan debt, nearly half undocumented." Got the right kind of ring to it, eh?

Mentioning student debt, let's talk about that next. College is useless. If everyone has a degree, they become fundamentally useless. But an employer will look at an applicant funny if they didn't get a college degree. Yes, if you're poor and don't want to rack up student loan debt you'll never pay off, you'll be locked out of some jobs that are completely unattached to the high school level "required courses" you had to take to get a bachelor's degree.

Yes I dropped out of college. I have a wife I need to provide for. I have retirement that needs funding (the sooner one starts the better). I have time intensive hobbies; animation, game design, writing, drawing. I refuse to have a debt that's more than a thousand times what I make in a month and grows at the rate of 20%. You want good schooling, go to trade school. It's what I'm going to do once I have some time for it.

Also, college is expensive because the government will pay tuition for a percentage of students. It's why the price has increased a hundred fold over the past 30 years.

Speaking of things that can only be blamed on the choice of the individual, retirement. I'm poor as balls. Because I don't use credit cards, I spend months scraping together funds for something like a game console. But I take $50 out of my biweekly check and set it away in a 401k. I also work Lyft, and half my monthly earnings from that go into a Roth IRA. Now I just keep stashing for the next 40 years and I'll retire on time to a sizeable nest egg.

Besides, Mr. Sanders and @politijohn, the government already tried to fix this problem with Social Security. Which I pay into every month. And will never see a penny of, as that social program is crumbling away over the next ten, twenty years. So thanks for that.

Health insurance. Oh boy the things I have to say about health insurance. Why doesn't the government allow private companies into the health market? Did you know you can't look up how much an x-ray will set you back? An ultrasound? A blood test? Why can't we open it up to a wider market? Competition, more efficient and cheaper products, and I can look around at the prices of everything.

I can make the fucking payments to a place of medical practice, my wife's health is the most important thing to me. I've taken her to a small office already this year, when she was nearly bed ridden because of the stress her job placed on her. I could handle the cost, cause I save up money. I am not a child and the state is not my fucking mother.

And then we come to climate change. That's the one I feel most shaky about. Yeah, I think that the Earth is going through a greenhouse phase. The release of excess carbon into the atmosphere causing uv rays to become trapped makes decent sense to me. On the other hand, consensus is not science. I don't care what percentage of scientists agree, science is a pursuit of reality and not a democracy. And the government regulations that put the boot to the head of every small business owner, oof. Not to mention the yellow vest protests in France. You know, cause the leader of France decided to up the taxes on the poor- I mean, increase the tax on gas that will definitely end with people using other, more eco-friendly means of transportation. Definitely.

[patriotsnet]

What Do Republicans Believe About Education

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-do-republicans-believe-about-education/

What Do Republicans Believe About Education

Energy Issues And The Environment

Majority Of Republicans Believe Education Is BAD For America

There have always been clashes between the parties on the issues of energy and the environment. Democrats believe in restricting drilling for oil or other avenues of fossil fuels to protect the environment while Republicans favor expanded drilling to produce more energy at a lower cost to consumers. Democrats will push and support with tax dollars alternative energy solutions while the Republicans favor allowing the market to decide which forms of energy are practical.

Where Do Democrats And Republicans Stand On The Issue Of Healthcare

The chasm between the parties approach to providing healthcare to Americans couldnt be more vast. Simply put, Democrats have had some form of healthcare reform on their agenda for nearly a century. Republicans not so much. They feel that the status quo is just fine. At the core is a philosophical disagreement about the role of government. Democrats believe that government should be responsible for the people in some ways, and Republicans believe that the less government, the better. In the current climate, this boils down to Democrats wanting to retain, improve, and expand the ACA, and Republicans working overtime to repeal it with no replacement.

How Far Apart Are Democrats And Republicans On School Reform

Reddit

Americans are more polarized than at any point in recent history.; On issue after issueabortion, the Affordable Care Act, or just about anything else Democrats stand on one side and Republicans stand on the other. It can be difficult for leaders to build consensus around policy when the two sides each have their own base of support.; But is the public so divided over school issues?;;;;;

Last year, Education Next conducted a poll asking Americans about 17 education issues.; On eight of these issues, there is no evidence that parties differ.; Democrats are no more or less supportive than Republicans when it comes to universal vouchers, vouchers for students in failing schools, tax credits for donations to scholarship programs for private schools, higher pay for teachers in hard to staff subjects, higher pay for teachers in hard to staff schools, and awarding tenure on the basis of student performance.;

There are differences on other issuesincreasing spending, raising teacher pay, government funded universal preschool, government funded preschool for low income families, charter schools, vouchers for low-income families, merit pay, tenure, and Common Corebut these differences hardly pit the parties in opposing corners of the ring.; In only one case does the majority from one party oppose the majority from the other.; Nearly three-fourths of Democrats favor more spending on public schools, and 54 percent of Republicans oppose it.;;;;;;;;;

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Federal Government In Education

The Republican Party believes in doing away entirely with federal loans. College tuition, and its consequential debt, is rising uncontrollably. At this point, it is rising far above the rate of inflation. College debt in America, as of 2012, had exceeded the amount of credit card debt. Republicans believe federal loans exacerbate this problem by their lack of transparency, and the fact that they are often more expensive than private loans. For these reasons, republicans believe that the federal government should no longer issue student loans. Greater private sector participation in loans would drive tuition costs down. The party believes that the federal government should, however, serve as an insurance guarantor for private sector loans.

Crime And Capital Punishment

Republicans generally believe in harsher penalties when someone has committed a crime, including for selling illegal drugs. They also generally favor capital punishment and back a system with many layers to ensure the proper punishment has been meted out. Democrats are more progressive in their views, believing that crimes do not involve violence, such as selling drugs, should have lighter penalties and rehabilitation. They are also against capital punishment in any form.

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Do The Republicans Even Believe In Democracy Anymore

They pay lip service to it, but they actively try to undermine its institutions.

By Michael Tomasky

Contributing Opinion Writer

A number of observers, myself included, have written pieces in recent years arguing that the Republican Party is no longer simply trying to compete with and defeat the Democratic Party on a level playing field. Today, rather than simply playing the game, the Republicans are simultaneously trying to rig the games rules so that they never lose.

The aggressive gerrymandering, which the Supreme Court just declared to be a matter beyond its purview; the voter suppression schemes; the dubious proposals that havent gone anywhere yet like trying to award presidential electoral votes by congressional district rather than by state, a scheme that Republicans in five states considered after the 2012 election and that is still discussed: These are not ideas aimed at invigorating democracy. They are hatched and executed for the express purpose of essentially fixing elections.

We have been brought up to believe that American political parties are the same that they are similar creatures with similar traits and similar ways of behaving. Political science spent decades teaching us this. The idea that one party has become so radically different from the other, despite mountains of evidence, is a tough sell.

Or is there?

So were not there right now. But we may well be on the way, and its abundantly clear who wants to take us there.

For Teachers The Agenda Includes Bonuses And Tax Credits

To reward teachers who are highly effective, Republican lawmakers have proposed directing $50 million of the states $13.5 billion public education budget toward bonuses. They believe it is the biggest step the state can take to directly increase teacher pay set by local districts.

They deserve it, said Sen. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument and a bill sponsor. The reality is all teachers deserve more pay, but the teachers who are doing a great job are the first ones we should be getting more pay to.

Teacher pay is determined by local school districts, and bonuses offer the state a way to add more dollars to their compensation. Lundeen said 47% of Colorados public school teachers are currently rated as highly effective. Senate Democrats defeated legislation to this effect a year ago.

Republicans are also eager to draw more top-notch teachers into Colorados struggling schools through financial incentives included in a separate bill sponsored by Sen. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, and Rep. Bri Buentello, D-Pueblo.

The state, Priola said, should at a minimum hold them harmless financially for doing the right thing and using their excellent skills to teach the kids that really need help closing the achievement gap.

Every teacher across this state invests in their students, not only with their time and with their energy and with their heart and their soul, but those teachers also spend dollars, Lundeen said. They pay for supplies to support the students in their classroom.

Read Also: How Many Republicans Are In The 116th Congress

Shift To Community Colleges And Technical Institutions

The first step is to acknowledge the need for change when the status quo is not working. New systems of learning are needed to compete with traditional four-year colleges: expanded community colleges and technical institutions, private training schools,online universities, life-long learning, and work-based learning in the private sector. New models for acquiring advanced skills will be ever more important in the rapidly changing economy of the 21st century, especially in science, technology,engineering, and math. Public policy should address all these challenges and to make accessible to everyone the emerging alternatives, with their lower cost degrees, to traditional college attendance.

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Republicans and Democrats Explained! What is the Difference?

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Rep. Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee, said there was no excuse for underfunding schools at a time when the state budget was sitting on a roughly $2 billion projected surplus.

“We have the money,” Goyke said. “We have the money to make the investments we need.”

As part of the GOP proposal, Republicans would also set aside $350 million in Wisconsin’s budget stabilization fund, commonly referred to as the state’s “rainy day fund.” While Republicans indicated that the funding could eventually go toward schools, there would be no limits on how a future governor and Legislature could spend the money.

“The money’s going to stay there,” said Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville. “It’s a safe place to put it.”

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Senator Jim Inhofe Republican Of Oklahoma

Incoming chairman of the Senate committee on the environment and public works

Inhofe is the poster boy for Republican climate change denialism, not only for his stridency on the issue but because he is the once and future leader of the key Senate committee on environmental policy. Inhofe will be able to lead the committee for two years before running up against term limits . This time around, Inhofes committee is expected to focus on transportation and infrastructure bills.

But it seems likely that Inhofe will devote some energy to blocking the regulation of carbon emissions. We think this because on 12 November he told the Washington Post: As we enter a new Congress, I will do everything in my power to rein in and shed light on the EPAs unchecked regulations.

Inhofe has climate change the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people, has said God, not humans, controls the weather, and has denied climate change in many other ways.

Gop Education Budget Would Spend $14b Less Than Evers On Schools

Thursday, May 27, 2021, 5:30pm

Republicans who run the Legislature’s budget committee parted dramatically with Gov. Tony Evers Thursday, passing a K-12 education budget that would spend $1.4 billion less than the governor asked for.

The roughly $150 million they would spend, which includes $128 million in state tax funding,;is hundreds of millions less than the increase they supported just two years ago, and it comes at a time when state government’s budget is as flush as it’s been in decades.

It also comes at a time when Wisconsin schools are receiving more federal funding than ever before through three coronavirus relief packages, a total of $2.6 billion that Republicans say reduces the need to spend state funds on schools.

“We would be so remiss if we did not account for that money as we move forward,” said Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc. “To me, this is a no-brainer.”

At the same time, the GOP education plan raised the prospect that Wisconsin might not qualify for the federal funds.;That’s because one of the conditions of receiving the federal money is that states maintain the amount they spend on education as a percentage of their overall budgets. As of Thursday, the budget crafted by Wisconsin Republicans would fall short.

“You’re not going to get it,” Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-West Point, told Republicans. “One side of the aisle is not being honest here.”

In largely setting aside the governor’s proposal, Republicans rejected key pillars of Evers’ education budget.

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In Favour Of A Constitutional Monarchy

Not inherently undemocratic: Opponents of the republican movement argue that the current system is still democratic as the Government and MPs of Parliament are elected by universal suffrage and as the Crown acts only on the advice of the Parliament, the people still hold power. Monarchy only refers to how the head of state is chosen and not how the Government is chosen. It is only undemocratic if the monarchy holds meaningful power, which it currently does not as government rests with Parliament.

Safeguards the constitutional rights of the individual: The British constitutional system sets limits on Parliament and separates the executive from direct control over the police and courts. Constitutionalists argue that this is because contracts with the monarch such as the Magna Carta, the , the Act of Settlement and the Acts of Union place obligations on the state and confirm its citizens as sovereign beings. These obligations are re-affirmed at every monarch’s coronation. These obligations, whilst at the same time placing limits on the power of the judiciary and the police, also confirm those rights which are intrinsically part of British and especially English culture. Examples are Common Law, the particular status of ancient practices, jury trials, legal precedent, protection against non-judicial seizure and the right to protest.

What Is A Republican Republican Definition

April 11, 2014 By RepublicanViews.org

This article fully answers what a Republican is and gives the definition of a Republican in a fair, unbiased, and well-researched way. To start the article we list out the definition of a Republican, then we cover the Republican Partys core beliefs, then we list out the Republican Partys beliefs on all the major issues.

The Definition of a Republican:;a member of the Republican party of the U.S.

Source Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Also Check: When Did The Republican And Democratic Parties Switch Ideologies

History Of The Democratic Party

The party can trace its roots all the way back to Thomas Jefferson when they were known as Jeffersons Republicans and they strongly opposed the Federalist Party and their nationalist views. The Democrats adopted the donkey as their symbol due to Andrew Jackson who was publicly nicknamed jackass because of his popular position of let the people rule. The Democratic National Committee was officially created in 1848. During the civil war a rift grew within the party between those who supported slavery and those who opposed it. This deep division led to the creation of a new Democratic party, the one we now know today.

What Is Critical Race Theory And Why Do Republicans Want To Ban It In Schools

The latest front in the culture wars over how U.S. students should learn history and civics is the concept of critical race theory, an intellectual tool set for examining systemic racism. With roots in academia, the framework has become a flash point as Republican officials across the country seek to prevent it from being taught in schools.

In reality, there is no consensus on whether or how much critical race theory informs schools heightened focus on race. Most teachers do not use the term critical race theory with students, and they generally do not ask them to read the work of legal scholars who use that framework.

Some lessons and anti-racism efforts, however, reflect foundational themes of critical race theory, particularly that racism in the United States is systemic. The New York Timess landmark 1619 Project, which addresses slaverys role in shaping the nation, also has an associated school curriculum.

At least five Republican-led state legislatures have passed bans on critical race theory or related topics in recent months, and conservatives in roughly nine other states are pressing for similar measures. Some teachers have said they worry that the legislation will have a chilling effect on robust conversations, or could even put their jobs at risk, at a time when the nation is embroiled in a reckoning on race relations.

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America Should Deport Illegal Immigrants

Republicans believe that illegal immigrants, no matter the reason they are in this country, should be forcibly removed from the U.S. Although illegal immigrants are often motivated to come to the U.S. by companies who hire them, Republicans generally believe that the focus of the law should be on the illegal immigrants and not on the corporations that hire them.

Likely Voters Want Continued Government Funding For Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programs Rutgers Researcher Finds

ASU Democrats vs Republicans: Federal Standards & Initiatives

Democrats and Republicans disagree on many policies but not on sex education for teenagers, a Rutgers-led national survey finds.

The study, published in the journal;Sex Education,;surveyed close to 1,000 likely voters who identified as Democrats or Republicans. The findings show a strong majority of them support sex education within schools and the continued funding by the government for teenage pregnancy prevention programs that include information about both abstinence and contraception.

“Sex education remains a vital component to reducing unintended teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among young people as well as providing young people with the information and skills they need to build healthy relationships,” said professor Leslie M. Kantor, chair of the department of urban-global public health at the;Rutgers School of Public Health. Recent attempts by the government to shift funding away from evidence-based pregnancy prevention programs and back to abstinence-only-until- marriage-approaches are out of alignment with what likely voters want.

“Planned Parenthoods mission includes providing sex education programs and resources that teach teens to make healthy, informed choices,” said Nicole Levitz, Director of Digital Products at;Planned Parenthood Federation of America;and a co-author of the study. “This study validates that most likely voters want comprehensive sex education for middle and high school students.

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No Federal College Loans; Just Insure Private Loans

Federal student aid is on an unsustainable path, and efforts should be taken to provide families with greater transparency and the information they need to make prudent choices about a student’s future: completion rates, repayment rates, future earnings,and other factors that may affect their decisions. The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loans; however, it should serve as an insurance guarantor for the private sector as they offer loans to students.Private sector participation in student financing should be welcomed. Any regulation that drives tuition costs higher must be reevaluated to balance its worth against its negative impact on students and their parents.

The Founders Studied History

The Founders studied the history of governments. They were very interested in what they read about the government of the Roman Republic. It was located in what is now the country of Italy. The Roman Republic existed more than 2,000 years before our nation began.

The Founders liked what they read about the Roman Republic. They learned some important ideas from their study of the government of ancient Rome. They used some of these ideas when they created our government.

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[babaleshy]

Something I May Need to Stop Doing...

I'll be venting in this post, but this is about the desire to move out of a desperate want for change right now even though such a move is not meant to be.

On occasion, I go onto zillow's website and check out houses around Pittsburgh out of curiosity just to see what houses are going for what price in what kind of condition. I've noticed something incredibly enticing: there are some houses going for under $100,000 and are technically livable. It's just got flaking/chipping paint, may need new rugs, and other general clean-ups. The only "major" thing I wanna do to any of these houses falling under this criteria is the fact that I feel more comfortable with a tin roof.

These houses that I find are within city limits, most of these houses I've shown an interest in are close to sidewalks. This means if I were to move into one of these houses, then I'd have a chance to properly commute!

Ah, but why exactly am I making this post? What is it that I'm venting about? And what did I mean earlier when I said "not meant to be?"

Back in 2014 (autumn, specifically), my husband and I had to move out of our apartment in downtown Pittsburgh to my parents' farm in Ohio. Two reasons made us do this: one was the skyrocketing rent prices when HUD sold our building, causing rent to go from $539/mo to $720/mo. My husband worked at a casino, and was making $10/hr, so when rent prices went up like mad, we really began to struggle to survive. The other thing was bedbugs. The building manager laughed at our discomfort and said, "What do you expect me to do about it? Where would everyone go for the building to be treated?" Like, you're a shit manager if you haven't come up with those contingency plans.

Paying $720/mo for a bedbug-infested apartment (bedbugs are fucking hard to get rid of) and living in a constant state of itchy breakout made us decide it was time to move in with my parents. Because we literally could not afford to live anywhere else, and our student loan debt fucked up our credit scores, so we couldn't even get a house (and we were looking for one at the time!).

We used to think living on this farm was temporary until reality set in, that there is absolutely no possible way for us to make it on our own now. My husband has ADHD and anxiety and is still struggling to practice to get his driver's license (it's hard when my dad is a major source of my husband's stress; my dad's an asshole and gets worse by the year), and I'm Autistic, so I can't hold down a regular job, and nothing else is hiring.

In terms of getting a job for me at all, either I'd have to go to school for my special interest for the job (ecology, entomology, and/or paleontology) or I'd rather work in a library.

Welp, college is far too expensive for me to pay out of pocket, and my already existing student loan debt is barring me from getting any sort of financial aid to go back to school at all. As far as the library is concerned? Remember when I said my husband is currently struggling to practice for his license? (He doesn't get much practice because my dad is a stressful asshole that makes my husband have a horrible headache and anxiety after he drives). We have 2 vehicles, one my mom uses to get to work, and the other my dad uses to take my husband to work as well as do errands in like grocery shopping and shit like that.

I can't get a ride.

Can't ride a bicycle, either. It's definitely not safe (I live in America, if you couldn't tell). My parents' farm is deep within one of the back roads with one of the properties on this road being an oil rig. The oil workers drive like assholes, not caring what animal they hit, speeding through here. There are dirtbikes and four-wheelers that speed through here, too. There's no room for 2 vehicles to pass one another, and nothing but pure fucking hill the moment you step off the side of the road. I literally cannot bike here.

But let's pretend I got onto one of the main roads on either end of our road. It's even worse! And STILL no room for bicyclists! This goes for fucking miles until you reach a residential area! Except for a nearby little village-town that has the closest library branch. It's the village my husband grew up in, but there's a lot of sketchy turns, corners, and again, no room for bicycles. This includes main roads.

With all this in mind, I actually considered the possibility of moving to that village, because the village itself is actually safe enough to bike ride in. The problem is: I'm not guaranteed to get a job at the library at all. I tried getting a job as a library clerk at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, got interviewed and everything, and didn't get the job for whatever reason. In fact, I'm not guaranteed a job at all at any library branch, regardless of the neighborhood. So moving to such an area depending on the chance of being hired there is not worth it.

Such a village is actually rather unfriendly, and that goes for a lot of communities here on this side of Ohio. You'd think this was one of the southern states from its people and what flags they fly.

So why not Pittsburgh? Why not move there if we could?

Well, I thought about it. It has all the perks I could expect such as public transportation, somewhat safer bicycling areas to commute to school and work, and more importantly: THINGS TO DO.

Living in the middle of nowhere blows when you want to, on your own without relying on someone to drive you, go and do something, such as buying fabric or art supplies for future projects, or going to the library, or anything, really! Yeah, I do want to garden, but I don't have the means to do that on a damn farm (long, frustrating story that made me stop believing my parents' promises).

Not to mention, I still have friends in Pittsburgh, If I wanna see them, they don't have to drive an hour and 45 minutes (and that's if they have a car) to visit. I got 2 friends here in the area, and they're busy with their work's demanding schedules. When we do hang out, Cards Against Humanity, Uno, and D&D can only do so much until it gets old and boring and you wanna do something else that isn't hanging out at a dead mall. There is truly nothing to do here. Pittsburgh has the museums, libraries, parks, and far more interesting establishments to lurk in.

So again: why not Pittsburgh?

Because that city has changed and is still changing compared to when I was last there. My regular watering hole (The Beehive) is no more. There are neighborhoods being gentrified (meaning I'm not guaranteed to keep my home even if I pay it off). Businesses are closing, meaning people will be losing their jobs, and some of the other places hiring (like libraries) are not guaranteed to hire me, especially when I haven't had a job since 2010.

There's also my cat to consider; she gets stressed at the sound of a lawn-mower (I don't blame her). She wouldn't be able to handle the sounds of the city. Unless we found a place not too close to downtown, such a move is a no-go.

I've daydreamed about living in Pittsburgh again. I'm homesick for Pittsburgh. I've realized only recently that that city was my home. Not this farm, not even the house I grew up in. I felt like a person who didn't have to rely on people for rides and such. It's the only place where I've truly lived on my own and enjoyed it.

I've actually considered moving out of this country and found that even more impossible. No matter which country you pick, no matter what language you learn, not only do you have to pay for your things to be shipped, for your plane ticket for a one-way trip, or whatever you need to become a citizen there, you still have to pay at least $2,000 to revoke your American citizenship or else you will be forced to pay American taxes despite never setting foot on American soil ever again.

Thanks to capitalism, America has made it fucking impossible for the average person to leave for good. If you are born here, you are financially enslaved here unless you're wealthy enough to leave.

So... What's the plan?

Well, for now: not much. The pandemic has set plans back a bit, but my parents have a lien on the house thanks to my private student loans my mom was bullied and forced into co-signing for. She... I guess?... is almost done paying them off? I don't know. My parents don't like communicating need-to-know info with me and then get mad when I don't absorb it through osmosis. Once the lien is taken off the house, mom wants to move north to be near her sister, and she said she'll try finding a farm for sale near Kent State so it'll be an easier commute (be it by bicycle or by car). My intention is to enroll there to be able to get a job as an ecologist (focus in entomology, specializing in arachnology) with a minor in paleontology.

Once I've gotten that all taken care of (as well as my husband going back to school for what he wants), we move to the pacific northwest, mainly just north of Seattle somewhere.

I hate Ohio. I hate running into people I've gone to school with that I try to avoid (more like I see them, but they don't recognize me? At least I hope not?). I hate this place so much. I hate this climate, being near people I don't want just randomly showing the fuck up. And what's the use of living near family when they don't want to bother visiting you? I hate hearing my mom tell me so-and-so that I obviously want nothing to do with told her to tell me they said hi. I'm tired of fearing I'll run into someone that abused me in the past because now they're back in the fucking area again apparently.

I've got my fingers crossed that something is gonna give and college to some level (community college?) will be free for residents or something. It'll give me a chance to go back to school for something close to what I wanna do so I can maybe get a job? Completing something at a community college would at least make it easier for me to get enrolled at a university.

My husband and I picked Seattle (or close to Seattle) for its climate. It's (usually) not blistering hot every goddamn year, and it's not horribly cold thanks to the mountain range (I'm quite cold-intolerant). We both enjoy overcast weather and rain. We'd rather take our chances with volcanoes than earthquakes or hurricanes in areas where these things are guaranteed to happen yet nobody ruling these areas wants to invest in infrastructure that helps stand a chance against them. Seattle also has a nice combination of city and wilderness side-by-side. Not much of that with Pittsburgh.

If I was forced to only move to Pittsburgh and no other city, I wouldn't mind, especially since I'm more familiar with Pittsburgh than I am with anything in my current local area (because I had to travel on foot instead of relying on a car to get to places!). Fuck, my mom wouldn't even let me do anything by myself out of the yard when we lived in the village I grew up in because she was a paranoid fuck and by the time I JUST STARTED gaining independence for having a bike and bicycling to the post office everyday, we moved to this farm.

Oh, this isn't a roof over my head I should be thankful for. My parents got screwed. Our water is full of iron and calcium that no filter can fix, so we constantly have plumbing problems, the post and internet connections are questionable at best, we get ant infestations from 2 species EVERY YEAR, all for a farm my mom wanted for horses she always wanted and eventually got but has little next to no energy to spend the time she wants with them and she refuses to admit her age has a lot to do with it on top of her working so she sits in the living room on THREE DIFFERENT DEVICES sucking up bandwidth to religiously watch every fucking livestream of a country singer she likes (and complains if she's missing it for any reason!), scroll through Facebook, and play a fucking shitty app game!

Our internet out here? The physical equipment is outdated (copper wires instead of fiber-optic cables) because the fucking company doesn't wanna spend the money to upgrade it.

So instead, we're stuck here, with my husband losing his sanity bit by bit by the day at his shitty retail job (every other available job offering would be worse in this area) and I sit here and hope that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I could start gardening soon.

I miss Pittsburgh. I really do. But despite all of its benefits it would give me and my husband if we moved back, I don't think it will happen.

In the off-chance that we don't move north, that my dad's assholery intensifies and he decides to remain here (he has to legally agree to sell this house in order for my mom to move north; dad's reasons keep fucking changing), Pittsburgh is a nice back-up plan. Pitt University actually has the major I'd want to go back to school for, as well as what my husband wants to go back to school for, and we'd already be familiar with the city and what to expect of it. However, we're aiming higher, and hoping to move to the pacific northwest, instead.

But I think to avoid losing my sanity, I should stop daydreaming about a future that may never be.

Fingers crossed!

[shivalikbank]

What Are the Benefits of Direct Deposit and Automatic Payments?

https://shivalikbank.com/deposits/fixed-deposits/

Now is a particularly good time to consider automating many areas of your finances. With direct deposit of your paychecks and automatic payment of your bills, you don’t need to worry about mail delays and shuttered bank branches. You can access the money faster, avoid missing deadlines that could hurt your credit score and you may even qualify for discounts and other perks. And automating your savings and investments can prevent you from trying to time the market and make it easier to reach your financial goals. Here are nine benefits of direct deposit and automatic payments:

Read: Americans’ Savings Drop to Lowest Point in Years

You’ll Get Paid Faster Wherever You Are

If you don’t already have your paychecks deposited directly into your bank account, now is the time to make the change. You’ll get the money no matter where you are — even if you’re working remotely or traveling — and you’ll know exactly when it will arrive. You usually need to provide your employer with your bank account number and your bank’s routing number, and sometimes a voided check. You can (or may have to) sign up for direct deposit of other payments, such as your Social Security benefits, pension payouts, military retirement pay and unemployment benefits.

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Your Tax Refund (and Stimulus Payments) Will Arrive Faster

The fastest way to get your tax refund is to file your return electronically and have your refund deposited directly into your bank account — the money will generally arrive within 21 days, according to the IRS. You can input your bank’s routing number and your account number directly onto your Form 1040, or submit Form 8888 if you want to split your refund among up to three accounts or use it to buy savings bonds. See the IRS factsheet for more information. The IRS also uses any direct deposit information from your last tax return on file when making stimulus payments.

Find: The 6 Most Important Tax Deductions You Need to Claim

You Won’t Miss Bill-Pay Deadlines, Which Can Help Your Credit Score

Having your regular bills paid automatically from your bank account simplifies your monthly financial tasks. It also helps you avoid missing payment deadlines that could result in late fees and hurt your credit score (your payment history is the most important factor in your credit score — see “What’s In Your Credit Score” at MyFico.com). “By making regular on-time payments, you can boost your credit score and further demonstrate your credit history to future lenders,” said Jon Giles, head of home equity lending at TD Bank.

More: 30 Things You Do That Can Mess Up Your Credit Score

It’s easy to set up automatic payments for your fixed bills, such as a mortgage or car loan. Be careful when setting up autopay for variable payments, such as credit card bills, if you may not always have enough money in that bank account to pay the full bill. “With variable payments, you can opt to automatically pay the minimum balance every month as not to incur a late fee, but then pay the full amount if your budget enables it,” said Ana Gonzalez Ribeiro, an accredited financial counselor with Rise Up Financial Coaching in Bronx, New York.

See: Tips To Keep Your Finances in Order Without Sacrificing What You Want

You May Get Discounts on Your Car Loan, Home Equity Loan and Other Debt

You’re not the only one to benefit from automatic payments. “Banks like it because it means that they’re more likely to get paid on time,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree. “With any lender, it’s a good idea to ask if they offer any perks for signing up for autopay.”

For example, TD Bank offers home equity loan borrowers a discount when they sign up to make ACH payments (electronic payments) from a TD account, Giles said. “It gives qualified borrowers the opportunity to ensure they make payments on time while saving on a monthly basis,” he said.

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Video: Your Spouse’s Work History can Help Your Social Security Benefits (Money Talks News)

Your Spouse’s Work History can Help Your Social Security Benefits

Schulz said that some banks reduce the interest rate on personal loans by 0.25% when you pay via automatic deductions from a checking or savings account, or they may offer a special benefit for making 12 or more consecutive monthly payments in full and on time. “Autopay can make sure that happens,” he said. Check your bank statements regularly to make sure the correct amount is being debited.

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You’ll Get a Break on Student Loan Interest

Signing up for automatic payments can also give you a break from your student loans. For example, students who enroll in auto debit for Sallie Mae’s private student loans can qualify for a 0.25 percentage point interest rate discount/reduction, said Ashley Boucher of Sallie Mae. “To qualify, customers should log into their account, either on their mobile app or on the website, and they’ll be prompted to enter their bank account information,” she said. You need to be up to date with your loan payments to qualify for the discount.

Most reputable private lenders offer an autopay discount of at least 0.25 percentage points, said Andrew Pentis of StudentLoanHero.com, an educational resource for student loan borrowers. “So, if you qualify for a private student loan at 5.00%, for example, enrolling in autopay can lower your rate to 4.75%,” he said.

Read: 10 Small Changes To Stay On Track With Your Savings Goals

You May Get a Discount on Your Car, Home or Renters Insurance Premiums

Some insurance companies offer discounts for setting up automatic payments from a checking account, credit card or debit card, said Loretta Worters of the Insurance Information Institute. The specifics vary by insurer, but it may be a one-time discount of $50 to $100, she said. And paying your other bills automatically can also help your insurance premiums — you’ll be less likely to miss deadlines that could hurt your credit score, and your credit score can affect your insurance premiums in most states.

See: Take Advantage of These 15 Commonly Missed Tax Deductions

You’ll Make Saving a Priority

If you have a 401(k) at work, you know how the automatic contributions make it easy to save. “Automatic contributions make saving more convenient and can help keep individuals on track with their financial goals, without needing a reminder,” said Mike Kinane, head of consumer deposits, products and payments for TD Bank. “Auto contributions are a good way to ‘set it and forget it’ as well as reduce the temptation to spend the funds elsewhere.”

You can also set up automatic contributions into your IRA, emergency fund or other accounts. “It’s a great way to continuously add to your nest egg or emergency fund without having to think about it every month,” Ribeiro said. “You will also habitually adapt to working with the money you have left over and force yourself to work around the money you are saving. This will come in handy by preventing you from overspending or perhaps by helping you stick to a budget if that is your goal.”

Find Out: 17 Clever Ways To Save More for Retirement

It Can Help You Reach Your Financial Goals

“I guide my clients by taking a goals-based approach,” said Matt Fleming, senior financial advisor with Vanguard Personal Advisor Services. “To begin, I work with them to determine what they are saving for, how much they’ll need, and their target date. Whether they are saving for retirement, college or their next vacation, I develop a personalized financial plan designed to achieve their goals. But what’s the point of a plan if you don’t stick to it? That’s where automatic investing comes in. An automatic investment plan simplifies the investing process, easily aligns with a monthly budget and eliminates the temptation to direct funds elsewhere. Consistent contributions will help you reach your goals faster, and automatic investing helps ensure you stick to your plan.”

Also, investing a fixed amount every month or quarter — called dollar-cost averaging — helps you avoid trying to time the market. Rather than getting scared and selling when prices drop — or waiting too long to invest — your fixed investment will buy more shares when the price is low.

More: What Is a Certified Financial Planner and Do You Need One?

Signing up for automatic investments may also reduce the minimum investing requirement for some mutual funds and (often combined with paperless statements) may help you avoid some fees.

It Makes It Easy To Pay For Subscriptions — but Sometimes Too Easy

“I would be careful of automatically paying for subscriptions, video streaming services and gym memberships,” Ribeiro said. “These are services that you really have to make sure you are using on a regular basis. Here, I would first be extra careful of adding any extra services to my household expenses. Carefully consider the service you are interested in and try it out for a couple of months before deciding to have the service long-term and adding it as an automatic payment. It’s too easy to forget you are paying for it and you are not even using it.”

Read: Which Streaming Services Give You the Most for Your Money?

Review your bank and credit card statements every few months and make sure the subscriptions are still worth the money. A few small charges every month can add up to hundreds of dollars over the year — and dropping a few subscriptions can be an easy way to cut back on your spending.

if you want to open fixed deposite visite on this site-https://shivalikbank.com/deposits/fixed-deposits/

[thebeaconbrown]

I will never understand why all these middle income people think they're more like millionaires and billionaires when the only difference between them and poor people is 3-6months of lost wages.

I've got a friend like this that worked since she was sixteen and spent very little and didn't go to college except one year so doesnt have massive college debt. She always saved up her income tax money.

Real exemplary Bootstrap American. No disabilities, able to handle the emotional labor of retail and hospitality work. Got herself a good job as a casino dealer making 19-23 an hour after tips.

She's laid off right now without pay because of this virus. I know a few years ago she had 10k saved up. So let's say just for shirts and giggles shes got another 10k saved up by now

That's 20k. So say this virus takes a year to clear up. Shes gotta stretch that 20k for a year. That's less than 10/hr.

How the hell is she supposed to live like that? That's half her normal income, nevermind any expensive medical expenses she might have to pay for. That's her without health insurance cause she got laid off, without visin or dental insurance.

And she has an abnormal amount of savings. Not all of us have been able to save our money since age 16. We had other family members to take care of, we had medical emergencies, credit card bills, student loan payments, high interest rates because our credit scores are low. We have rents that keep getting higher, we have unexpected car maintenance issues. We live paycheck to paycheck because everything is always due every single month. Theres bill that only charges you for half a year. Rent due 12 times a year, car note due 12 times a year, car insurance due 12 times a year, electricity due 12 times a year, cell phone bill due 12 times a year.

None of those things is something we can do without in this day and age. Especially in a city like mine with nearly worthless public transit options. You know how much just those things cost me each month? 1236. You know how much I make a month? 1416.08

This doesn't count things like food, toiletries, gas, pleasure activities. This is just enough to keep a rough over my head, have lights, and get to where I need to go.

And I make almost 14 an hour! You may be wondering how that adds up to 354.02 a week. The answer to that is the humongous amount of health insurance taken out of my pretax income. Yeah. Health insurance that comes out every check but that I still have to pay copays on for the doctor. For prescriptions.

The whole system is set up for people to fail. And the sooner people that are "living within their means" realize that those at the top have been underpaying them as long as they've been underpaying those of us at the bottom. That healthcare shouldn't be privatized, that pharmaceutical companies shouldnt be allowed to charge 3000 times the price it costs to make a drug and then patent that drug for 10yrs, that they shouldnt have to work 40hrs a week just to barely have a living with a bit of savings in this age of technological advancement, that everything they've been told they have to earn is there's by birthright...the sooner we can change this country and this world for the better.

People on disability shouldn't get a stimulus check, theirs should be donated to repaying all the money they've mooched off taxpayers.

This is not the first time I’ve gotten a message like this. I always find it curious. Because if you have this attitude you are either invincible, rich, or a fool.

I used to be in this tech nerd community and there was this older fella who slowly revealed himself to be a super right wing asshat. He complained about immigrants mooching, black people mooching, poor people mooching… everybody was mooching his taxes. Meanwhile, he was 65 and working hard. Paying his own way. Doing things proper like a good American. 

He was no damn moocher, that’s for sure.

Then he got sick.

He could not work anymore.

Lost his medical insurance.

His savings ran out in about 3 months.

And he became a fellow moocher.

He had to sign up for Medicare and disability.

But then he realized that wasn’t enough to live on. Boy, was he mad. ALL CAPS POSTS about how he can’t afford rent. He can’t afford food. He started posting links to his Paypal asking people to donate. He got furious at people because no one would give him money. Called us all bad people for not helping him in his time of need. He had to move to a smaller place. Sell a lot of his tech.

He was so very angry.

“I WORKED HARD.”

“I DID THINGS THE PROPER WAY.”

“I DESERVE MORE THAN THOSE MOOCHERS!”

Even after his experience, he viewed himself as different than other people trapped in the safety net. He deserved more because he had a bootstrap attitude. It didn’t occur to him that a lot of people on welfare or disability probably worked hard too. That he was no more or less deserving than them. It was sad to see his experience didn’t instill any empathy.

He’s a lost cause. But maybe you aren’t. Maybe you should think about how long you could last before you’d have to mooch. Are you set for life? If you were in an accident and unable to work ever again, would you be able to live comfortably and manage your expenses? Think about that. And think about the fact that disability pays less than minimum wage. Could you live your life on $750 per month? What changes would you have to make to accomplish that? Use your imagination and really try to put yourself in those shoes.

$1200 is not a windfall for me. It is maybe 4 months of having slightly less financial anxiety. That anxiety is a part of my life. It is inescapable and I have conceded it will always be there. It is the dread of seeing $14 in my bank account towards the end of the month and hoping I didn’t forget about an automatic payment. It’s the fear of looking in my freezer and wondering if two bags of frozen chicken nuggets are enough to last until I get my next payment. 

But now I am getting $1200 and for a few months maybe I don’t have to feel some of that anxiety. I can reallocate that anxiety to the world being on fire and worrying about my dad getting sick.

But you want me to send it back?

What’s even sadder about your attitude is you are focusing on the wrong people. I’m not a moocher. I’m an insignificant financial speck in the grand scheme. I’m probably a percentage of a penny on your tax bill. But then you look at companies like Amazon who used loopholes to pay no taxes. They also got cities to subsidize offices and warehouses. So not only did they not pay taxes, we paid them for the honor of giving people low wage jobs with poor benefits and dubious working conditions. 

What about our F-35 fighter jet program? For years they didn’t even work properly and they still haven’t even been used for anything and they will probably rarely be utilized because of drones. But we will spend a trillion dollars on them anyway. 

What about oil subsidies? About $20 billion of our tax dollars goes to the fossil fuel industry every year. An industry that has never struggled to turn a profit. Just look at pictures of Dubai and ask yourself why we are giving them subsidies. 

We give corporations billions upon billions of dollars even though they are making record profits. And then we find out they were operating so close to the edge that they can’t even last a month without us giving them billions more. 

But my $750 per month makes me the moocher.

Sure.

[periodsalary39-blog]

6 Reasons Why You Must Never Provide Money To Friends Or Household

6 Reasons You Ought To Never Ever Lend Cash To Pals Or Family

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Content

Do You Need To Borrow Money?

Determining Whether You Need To Be Loaning Money

Do You Really Need To Invest The Money Whatsoever?

Do You Need To Borrow Money?

As long as you have great credit as well as excellent reasons to borrow money, a bank will usually be more than satisfied to prolong a loan to you. It'll feature a clear payment strategy and also interest rates that aren't too expensive in the grand plan of things. From credit cards to long-term home loan financing, UK credit consumers trust different financing alternatives to achieve their cash goals.

Choosing Whether You Ought To Be Loaning Cash

When health care expenses strain your home budget plan, your economic expert can assist you figure out your options. Often, when a company trades on credit terms, cash flow can be extended as suppliers require to be paid in advance of obtaining settlement from consumers. And also when a company is experiencing fast growth, this can become a lot more of a problem, suggesting that constant loaning is required to make sure that sufficient cash is available in any way times to satisfy day-to-day commitments.

Which app gives loan instantly?

To apply for an instant cash loan with NIRA, you must be an Indian citizen and between 21-65 years of age. You will also need to have a college degree, be working for a minimum of 6 months and earn a salary of Rs 20k or above per month. You do not need a CIBIL score to apply for a quick cash loan through NIRA.

Do You Truly Need To Spend The Money Whatsoever?

In the past, many nations have taken and also examined cutting-edge and brand-new principles and also means to boost economic gains from trading companions. The ability of the country to utilize its resources to increase its wide range is not at all negative. The loans additionally allow loan providers to alter prices at established times in the future. Refusing to pay upgraded interest rates would certainly indicate councils are forced to pay back the loan completely.

They can make minimal repayments or be supplied one more three-month payment vacation. Individuals receiving assistance ought to not have their bank card suspended. Oftentimes lendings were taken to assist repay other financial debt; 13% of participants needed the money to help with home loan repayments or rent, 11% to assist pay off charge card and 4% to settle a short-term lending institution. As long as you're considering the borrowing as a short-term remedy, you can not go wrong with a bank card. Used correctly, they'll aid you reconstruct your credit score while likewise letting you borrow money to make purchases.

Good Money Loaning Versus Bad Money Borrowing

Customers looking for loans can determine the actual rate of interest paid to loan providers based upon their promoted rates by using the Passion Calculator.

It is very important to understand the difference between APR and also APY.

In the 2015 and also 2017 records of World Financial institution, a variety of African nations have huge financial debts not just with China but additionally with other creditor nations.

For more information concerning or to do estimations including APR, please check out the APR Calculator.

Higher rate of interest of concerning 55% from the private sectors motivated Africa to go to China for car loans, which is around only 17%.

The rate typically released by financial institutions for saving accounts, cash market accounts, and also CDs is the yearly percentage yield, or APY.

Also, when you obtain from a loved one, you commonly can obtain 100% of the required amount as well as delight in lower rates of interest (or no passion in any way). If the circumstance goes south, the most unfavorable component of borrowing from a person you recognize is that your personal partnership could be damaged permanently. Just use online, giving details of your earnings as well as expenditures, submit your application, inspect your email and also get money in your bank account!

It depends on you to gauge the price of numerous borrowing alternatives, before making credit commitments. On the internet resources make it feasible to contrast different offering alternatives, recognizing the most efficient, cost effective means to borrow money.

Among a number of prominent locations to borrow money, on the internet credit opportunities give fast money, without delays. If you're facing a financial crisis, or see a capital shortage in advance, solve your immediate financing requires with a leading loan provider today. Charge card companies and on the internet loan providers supply locations to borrow money.

You can utilize them to buy anything from your food purchasing to brand-new autos-- but beware, the interest rates are commonly fairly high. If you do not assume you'll have the ability to repay the sum total you've borrowed within a couple of months (preferably one month) after that you may be much better off borrowing money from an additional source. While lenders suggest focus on the high APR is a misrepresentation as the cash is not offered over a year, doubters state the loans target one of the most financially prone, whose financial debts can easily snowball out of hand. In March, a record by the Workplace of Fair Trading found payday loan providers make the majority of their cash from missed repayment costs and also interest built up.

A supervisor's loan account permits you to pay on your own beyond your normal wage by obtaining cash to pay back at the end of the fiscal year through dividends. Consumers looking to take a ₤ 5,000 individual loan repayable over a 24-month period can consider Tesco Financial institution, which offers the most affordable APR of 3.4%. Both its Telephone Personal Loan as well as Online Personal Loan supply this APR as well as the total quantity repayable on these car loans is ₤ 5,176.32. This kind of credit is a bit harder to obtain than the previous 2 that we have actually talked about in this overview.

If you need to borrow money, it is best to stay clear of payday advance loan, doorstep lending institutions as well as shylock, which will cost you a great deal of money. Lendings from cooperative credit union are more affordable, easy as well as safe to access, and also there are no surprise costs or fines. The market is inundated with lots of alternatives for credit, from payday advance, guarantor lendings, charge card, overdrafts to borrowing cash from loved ones, however just how do you know what is the most effective item for you? Each product has its own advantages and disadvantages as well as what is right for you will certainly depend entirely on your situations. Nonetheless, if you need to borrow money promptly as well as securely, why not attempt our all new option to your credit needs-- The Polar Credit Line.

There are various other means to obtain cash money, as well as they all include their negatives and positives. Review our kinds of credit short article to exercise which choice is best for you. If you're thinking about obtaining a payday loan, we appropriate suggest you read our short article concerning them here, as the significant rate of interest these firms bill can establish you off on a financial obligation spiral terrifyingly quick. There was a time when you had to go to a financial institution or credit union to take out a personal loan.

How can I make $200 in one day?

mPokket is one of the most popular platforms for instant personal loans to college students. Students need to download the app and submit photos of their student ID and Aadhaar card. They can request any amount of loan, starting at Rs. 500, and get it instantly into their bank account or Paytm wallet.

Along with on-line financial institutions, you can reach out to a peer-to-peer loan provider (P2P). Obviously individual loan rates of interest can frequently be fairly high contrasted to safe loans. Make certain to check the details of the loan before you obtain it also. Clearly this applies to any type of kind of loan, however individual finances often have very early payment fees, which are not ideal if you locate yourself in a setting to repay your financial obligation entirely. The main benefit of obtaining a loan from a good friend or relative is that your "lending institution" is more probable to be adaptable about payment arrangements.

[angelodbvu737-blog]

Consumer Protection For Debt - New Debt Relief Options You May Not Know About

The option to consolidate debt can often be one of the quickest and most convenient services to the stress of trying to settle many financial institutions. You might feel overwhelmed attempting to juggle shop cards, charge card, car financing packages, student loans and overdrafts. You might be missing payment due dates and incurring charges and interest. The scenario might be getting out of hand and becoming worse each month.

Financial obligation combination can stop this.

But just what is included when you combine financial obligation and how do you know if it is for you? Below are some of the most typical concerns individuals ask when they're thinking about debt consolidation.

Do I need to be a house owner to consolidate debt?

Not at all. It is possible to combine financial obligation even if you don't own a residential or commercial property. There are lots of exceptional unsecured loans out there that will permit you to borrow what you need without using your home as security.

Nevertheless, there are some instances when being a house owner would assist you to combine financial obligation. There is a legal borrowing limit of A 25,000 on unsecured loans (depending on your private situations), so house owners that need more than this might need to withdraw equity from their house or use it as security for a debt combination loan. One benefit of the latter is the amount of cash loaned is often much larger than with unsecured loans - in some circumstances approximately A 75,000. And typically the rates of interest is lower than with unsecured financial obligation combination loans too.

Can it lower my month-to-month payments if I consolidate financial obligation?

Debt debt consolidation loans normally carry a lower rates of interest compared to lots of other kinds of credit. If you consolidate financial obligation by securing a low-interest loan to settle your lenders, you will be entrusted to one simple lower regular monthly payment to your new loan company.

For example, let's say you have A 9,280 of financial obligation spread throughout five various charge card and store cards and are being charged normally high APRs. Your regular monthly payment might be between A 400-A 450 and you could be having a hard time to manage each month without any end in sight. If you chose to combine debt and acquire a 5-year loan with an APR of (for instance) 7.9%, you might decrease your month-to-month payment to a more manageable A 190 and see a debt-free future ahead of you.

Are there any drawbacks?

Debt combination is a valuable tool if you are pacific national funding debt consolidation serious about handling your debts. The option to consolidate financial obligation is not for everybody though. If you use your house as security on a financial obligation consolidation loan and fall behind with the payments, your home could be repossessed. If you clear your financial obligations with a debt consolidation loan the temptation exists to start using credit cards, shop cards and other loans as additional spending money once again.

Will my lenders stop bothering me?

When you consolidate financial obligation your creditors will be paid completely so there will be no requirement for them to contact you. Unlike juggling extra payments to many loan providers who desire their money and can be unpleasant up until they get it, financial obligation combination can provide a fast path to getting them off your back at last and stop them contacting you. When you roll all of your financial obligations into one debt combination loan, you will just get communications from your loan provider.

If you're feeling stressed out and dissatisfied by the habits of your lenders and do not feel able to deal with them effectively, taking the step to combine debt could be the best one for you.

Will my credit ranking be affected if I consolidate financial obligation?

As long as you maintain your payments on your financial obligation combination loan and take care how you utilize credit in the future, your credit ranking will not be affected. You might even look forward to it enhancing with time as you pay more of your loan off.

What types of debt can be consolidated?

Shop cards, credit cards, brochure accounts, auto loan, purchase agreements, trainee loans, gas, and electricity list are unlimited. Whatever you owe, there's a very good possibility you can effectively consolidate debt to control and handle everything.

[debtfreeinthree]

How Refinancing Your Student Loans Can Save You Thousands

Sometimes people ask me what’s the biggest mistake I made when I was paying off my student loans. I tell them, “I didn’t refinance my student loans.”

Honestly, I didn’t even know I could refinance my student loans. Companies like SoFi, CommonBond and Earnest were barely around when I graduated from college and refinancing wasn’t as widespread as it is today.

Now, SoFi has ads during the Super Bowl. Even so, many of my friends aren’t aware that it’s an option, even though it could save them thousands of dollars.

Even so, many of my friends aren’t aware that it’s an option, even though it could save them thousands of dollars. Refinancing can save you thousands of dollars, especially if you have high-interest rate loans. Generally, if you’re paying more than 4-5% on your student loans, then you should see what your refinancing options are.

What Does Refinancing Mean?

When you refinance your loan, you’re selling the rights to your loan usually to a new company in exchange for a lower interest rate or lower monthly payments. Most of the time, people refinance so they can save money by paying less interest overall.

Not sure if you’ll benefit from refinancing? Check out this calculator from Student Loan Hero that will show you if you’ll save money on refinancing – and how much.

For example, if you have a balance of $35,000 on a 10-year term (with 10 years left) at an interest rate of 6.8%, you’ll save more than $3,000 total if you refinance with today’s rates. If you think that’s a small difference, consider this: you could go to Europe on $3,000, pay for a major repair on your car or start a new business. The money you save by refinancing could speed up a lot of things you want to do.

If you think that’s a small difference, consider this: you could go to Europe on $3,000, pay for a major repair on your car or start a new business. The money you save by refinancing could speed up a lot of things you want to do.

Go here to see the best student loan refinance companies!

Am I Eligible?

Unfortunately, refinancing your student loans is tricky. Student loans are an unsecured loan, which means there’s no physical collateral behind them, unlike a mortgage or car loan. If you have a car loan and stop making payments, the bank can repossess your car and recoup their investment. But if you stop making payments on your student loans, no one can take away your degree.

That’s why companies that offer student loan refinancing have to be very careful about who they accept as customers. They can’t afford to have people default on their loans.

They’re usually looking for two things:

High income

High credit score

You can’t change your income overnight, but you can change your credit score pretty quickly. Your credit score is a numerical grade that tells a lender how reliable you are. It’s how they determine if you’re good enough to lend money to. It doesn’t matter if you have an amazing job or a BMW; if you don’t have a great credit score, you’re not getting a loan.

For the most part, you need a credit score between 650-700 to qualify for a loan. Credit scores range between 300 and 850. The closer you are to the 800-club, the more likely you are to qualify for a student loan refinance and get the best interest rate.

Not sure what your credit score is? You can find it for free through sites like Credit Karma. I check my score using my Mint app and through my Capital One bank account. Check to see if your bank will give you a free look at your credit score. Each credit score is weighted differently, so don’t be surprised if you see a slight difference in your scores when checking different sites.

Go here to see the best student loan refinance companies!

What If I Have a Low Credit Score?

If you have a low credit score and want to refinance your student loans, don’t worry! Hope is not lost. You can raise your credit score in just a few months and be ready to refinance.

First, get a copy of your credit report. A credit report shows every credit account you’ve ever had and all the gory details, like if you’ve paid on time, if you’ve used too much of your balance or if you’ve opened too many accounts in the last six months. All that information goes into your credit score, which I’ll explain further down.

You can check your credit report for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only place to get free access to your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. It will show any negative marks you have, which could explain a low credit score. I recommend checking your credit report every four months.

Once, I checked my credit report and found a medical bill that had been sent to collections. I called my doctor’s office, telling them I had never gotten the bill (I had just moved across the country) and that I would pay it in full if they would take it out of collections. It was a scary moment – seeing that red flag. Thankfully, just a couple phone calls later and it was removed from my report. Phew! But the experience taught me how important it is to check your credit report often, especially if you’re applying for a loan or refinance.

A credit score can not only get you a great deal on a loan, it can also help you find an apartment or get a job. Yep, some jobs will take a look at your credit score before they hire you, especially if you’re going to be responsible for handling large sums of money. Having a bad score can disqualify you, even if they don’t tell you why. Your landlord will also usually check your credit score before approving your application. If you don’t have a good enough score, you’ll be denied or have to get a cosigner.

Go here to see the best student loan refinance companies!

How Can I Increase My Credit Score?

Increasing your credit score is fairly simple. That’s because your score is determined by the following factors:

Payment history (aka paying on time): 35%

If you pay on time, every month, your score will increase. Companies want to see you’re reliable and can handle making payments. I like to set up autopay so I never forget to pay. You can also use reminders in your phone’s calendar to double check that your payment went through. Mint also has a bill pay feature that notifies you when your bill is due. You don’t even have to pay all of your balance – just paying on time is enough!

Amount owed: 30%

The amount you owe affects a third of your score. But it’s not about the total amount you owe, it’s how much of your available credit do you utilize. For example, if you have a credit card with a $5,000 credit limit and you have a current balance of $4,000, you’re utilizing 80% of the balance. That’s way too high. Credit bureaus like to see an overall utilization of 35% or less. This figure mostly only pertains to credit cards, so if you have any cards, check the balance to make sure you’re not using too much of it at one time.

Length of credit history: 15%

The longer your credit history is, the higher your score will be. A long credit history looks good to credit bureaus and lenders because it gives them a better sense of what kind of customer you’ll be. You can’t really do anything about this part, except to always keep your oldest accounts around if possible. If you have a credit card you opened 10 years ago, use it once a month to keep it current. Closing your oldest accounts will drag down your average age and hurt your score.

Credit mix: 10%

Credit bureaus like to see that consumers have a mix of credit on their history, including credit cards, mortgages and other types of loans. However, you should never open a loan just so you’ll get a different type of credit reported. Opening new loans to improve your score is a terrible idea. Just ignore this part.

New credit: 10%

If you have any recent inquiries, they’ll account for 10% of your credit score. Every time you apply for a new account, it sends a hard inquiry to your credit report where it will affect your score for the next year. Opening a lot of cards (or trying to) is an easy way to get denied. If you’re trying to increase your score, don’t open any new cards unless you don’t have a card at all. When I get denied for a credit card, it’s usually because I have too many recent inquiries.

Go here to see the best student loan refinance companies!

What Are the Risks of Refinancing?

Because the federal government doesn’t refinance student loans, you have to go through a private company if you refinance. When you refinance federal student loans, you lose all the protections that come with them, including deferment, forbearance and the slew of income-based plans that you can fall back on.

Deferment and forbearance options might be available with your new loan, but it’s something you have to ask for when you’re considering a refinance. For example, SoFi offers to suspend your student loan payments for three months while they enroll you in a “career strategy” program to help you find a new job. However, you can qualify for up to 12 months of forbearance if you have federal loans. The interest will still accrue, but you won’t have to worry about payments.

This is just one example of what you’re giving up if you refinance. Worried about losing your job and not being able to make your payments? Consider this: at most, it takes 2.5 months to find a new gig. If you’re in an entry-level gig, it takes even less time. So the odds of you needing more than three month’s worth of forbearance is unlikely. Plus, if you have a fully-stocked emergency fund, you’ll be in an even better position.

Another benefit to federal loans is that they have so many repayment options you can use if you’re having trouble with your monthly bill. Most refinancing companies don’t have those generous types of repayment plans. Again, you can ask about this when you’re looking to refinance.

One huge disadvantage to refinancing is losing access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which is the federal program that forgives your student loan balance after 10 years of payments. It only applies to those working in the public sector, including government and non-profit jobs. If you think you’re going to be eligible for this program, then hold off on refinancing.

Go here to see the best student loan refinance companies!

What to Know Before You Refinance

When you’re comparing the interest rates for refinance offers, you’ll see two figures: variable APR and fixed APR. What does that mean? A variable APR is an interest rate that fluctuates as the market changes. If you sign up for a variable-rate loan, your interest rate will fluctuate within a certain range.

Usually, the starting APR for a variable-rate loan is lower than a fixed-rate loan, which attracts lots of people. However, you have to be prepared to make higher payments if the market changes over time. Find out what your maximum payment could be before you decide on a variable-rate loan and if you’re not comfortable with it, then choose a fixed-rate loan instead.

A fixed-rate loan is one where the interest stays the same over the life of the loan. No matter what happens in the economy, your interest rate will stay the same.

Another thing that I found surprising was that you can apply for a student loan refinance in less than 10 minutes! I know the reason most of you avoid refinancing is because you think it’s a long and complicated process, but it really isn’t. The questions are simple, like what’s your income and how much do you have in student loans. You’ll quickly find out if you’re approved and for how much.

A rep from a refinance lender also told me recently that his company is willing to take on borrowers earning at least $24,000. I was shocked! Most of the time, you hear that refinance is only for high-income customers. But that’s not true.

Go here to see the best student loan refinance companies!

The Best Student Loan Refinance Companies

LenderFixed APR RangeVariable APR RangeMinimum Credit ScoreAverage SavingsHow to Apply jQuery(document).ready(function() { jQuery('#table_14240268').DataTable( {"destroy": true,"bPaginate": true,"bLengthChange": true,"bFilter": true,"bSort": true,"bInfo": true,"bStateSave": true,"bAutoWidth": true,"sPaginationType": "full_numbers",} ); }); LendKey3.25% - 7.26%2.67% - 6.31%680$15,270Apply Here SoFi3.35% - 6.74%2.79% - 6.72%Good or Excellent Score$22,359Apply Here CommonBond3.35% - 6.74%2.79% - 6.72%660$24,046Apply Here Laurel Road3.95% - 6.99%2.99% - 6.42%660$20,200Apply Here Earnest3.20% - 6.39%2.65% - 6.19%660$21,810Apply Here Citizens Bank 3.74% - 8.24% 2.78% - 8.03680$137 a monthApply Here

My Favorite Picks

 I recently spoke with a representative from LendKey, which is a company that helps match student loan refinance applicants with banks and credit unions. He told me that they frequently approve borrowers with low income, sometimes as low as $24,000. 

Most people assume that you need a high salary in order to qualify for refinancing, but LendKey is different. If you’re worried that you don’t make enough to refinance, try applying to LendKey.

 SoFi is one of the most popular student loan refinancing companies – and for good reason. They have amazing benefits for customers, like job placement and wealth management services.

However, I have heard that it’s hard to get accepted unless you have a high income, so don’t get discouraged if you apply and are rejected.

Other Student Loan RefinanceCompanies

Citizens Bank

Savings of $137 a month

Credit score needed: 680

Fixed APR range:  3.74% – 8.24%

Earnest

Average savings: $21,810

Credit score needed: 660

Fxied APR range: 3.20% – 6.39%

Should You Refinance?

Refinancing is a personal decision. I can’t recommend that everyone refinance their student loans, because the protections of federal loans are impossible to match.

But if you’re paying a lot in interest, have a steady job and a high salary, then refinancing is probably a safe option. Anyone with a variable income or who’s relied on income-based repayment should stick to their current loans, even if it means paying more in interest overall. It’s not worth defaulting just to save a few bucks.

Refinancing isn’t free. Some companies charge origination fees, which is the fee you pay to the new lender for processing the loan, while others will also charge you money if you repay your loan ahead of time. Before you refinance, compare all the fees and interest rates to find the best option. Each refinancing company is different, so make sure to compare all your options thoroughly before you sign up.

Go here to see the best student loan refinance companies!

What If I Get Denied?

If you get denied, the company should usually provide a reason why. If it’s your credit score, then you know what you have to work on. If it’s your income, then you might consider trying to find another job.

However, one trick that works for some people is to not refinance all their student loans at once. For example, if you have $70,000 in loans and earn $50,000 a year, you might not be able to refinance all $70,000. Instead, try refinancing a smaller chunk, like $25,000. Pick the loans with the highest interest rate and refinance those, since you’ll see the biggest savings. When your income increases, you can try refinancing the rest of your loans.

It doesn’t hurt to apply to more than one. Some people even end up refinancing their loans multiple times to get the best interest rate.

Have you refinanced your student loans? What was your experience like? Or what’s stopping you from making the leap? Share in the comments!

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How Refinancing Your Student Loans Can Save You Thousands was originally published on Debt Free After Three

[mozgoderina]

Some say bypassing a higher education is smarter than paying for a degree (Washington Post)

Across the region and around the country, parents are kissing their college-bound kids -- and potentially up to $200,000 in tuition, room and board -- goodbye.

Especially in the supremely well-educated Washington area, this is expected. It's a rite of passage, part of an orderly progression toward success.

Or is it . . . herd mentality?

Hear this, high achievers: If you crunch the numbers, some experts say, college is a bad investment.

"You've been fooled into thinking there's no other way for my kid to get a job . . . or learn critical thinking or make social connections," hedge fund manager James Altucher says.

Altucher, president of Formula Capital, says he sees people making bad investment decisions all the time -- and one of them is paying for college.

College is overrated, he says: In most cases, what you get out of it is not worth the money, and there are cheaper and better ways to get an education. Altucher says he's not planning to send his two daughters to college.

"My plan is to encourage them to pursue a dream, at least initially," Altucher, 42, says. "Travel or do something creative or start a business. . . . Whether they succeed or fail, it'll be an interesting life experience. They'll meet people, they'll learn the value of money."

Certainly, you'd be forgiven for thinking this argument reeks of elitism. After all, Altucher is an Ivy Leaguer. He's rolling in dough. Easy for him to pooh-pooh the status quo.

But, it turns out, his anti-college ideas stem from personal experience. After his first year at Cornell University, Altucher says his parents lost money and couldn't afford tuition. So he paid his own way, working 60 hours a week delivering pizza and tutoring, on top of his course load.

He left Cornell thousands of dollars in debt. He also left with a degree in computer science. But it took failing at several investment schemes, losing large sums of money and then studying the stock market on his own -- analyzing Warren Buffett's decisions so closely he ended up writing a book about him -- for Altucher to learn enough about the financial world to survive in it. He thinks he would have been better off getting the real-world lessons earlier, rather than thrashing himself to pay for school and shouldering so much debt.

It's cold comfort, but the loans put him in good company: Hundreds of billions of dollars of national student-loan debt has now overtaken American credit-card debt, the Wall Street Journal recently reported, using numbers compiled by FinAid.org, a Web site for college financial aid information.

"There's a billion other things you could do with your money," Altucher says. One option: Invest the money you'd spend on tuition in Treasury bills for your child's retirement. According to Altucher, $200,000 earning 5 percent a year over 50 years would amount to $2.8 million.

Few families have that kind of money lying around. But if you can give your child $10,000 or so to start his own business, Altucher says, your child will reap practical lessons never taught in a classroom. Later, when he's more mature and focused, college might be more meaningful.

* * *

The hefty price tag of a college degree has some experts worried that its benefits are fading.

"I think it makes less sense for more families than it did five years ago," says Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University who has been studying education issues. "It's become more and more problematic about whether people should be going to college."

That applies not just to astronomically priced private schools but to state schools as well, where tuitions have spiked. Student loans can postpone the pain of paying, but they come due when many young adults are at their most financially vulnerable, and default rates are high. Even community colleges, while helping some to keep costs down, prompt many to take out loans -- which can land them in severe credit trouble.

According to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 31 percent of loans made to community college students are in default. (The same report found that 25 percent of all government student loans default.) Default on a student loan and face dire consequences, beyond a bad credit record -- which can tarnish hopes of getting a car, an apartment or even a job: Uncle Sam can claim your tax refunds and wages.

Now, take a key argument in favor of getting a four-year degree, the one that says on average, those with one earn more than those without it. Education Department numbers support this: In 2008, the median annual earnings of young adults with bachelor's degrees was $46,000; it was $30,000 for those with high school diplomas or equivalencies. This means that, for those with a bachelor's degree, the middle range of earnings was about 53 percent more than for those holding only a high school diploma.

But a lot of college graduates fall outside the middle range -- and many stand to make considerably less.

"If you major in accounting or engineering, you're pretty likely to get a return on your investment," Vedder says. "If you're majoring in anthropology or social work or education, the rate on return is going to be a good deal lower, on average.

"I've talked to some of my own students who've graduated and who are working in grocery stores or Wal-Mart," he says. "The fellow who cut my tree down had a master's degree and was an honors grad."

The unemployment rate among those with bachelor's degrees is at an all-time high. In 1970, when the overall unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, unemployment among college graduates was negligible, at 1.2 percent, Vedder says, citing figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But this year, with the national rate of unemployment at 9.6 percent, unemployment for college graduates has risen to 4.9 percent -- more than half the rate of the general population. The bonus for those with degrees is "less pronounced than it used to be," Vedder says.

"The return on investment is clearly lower today than it was five years ago," he says. "The gains for going to college have leveled off."

Before hackles are raised about boiling the salutary effects of higher education down to its cost, there are obvious disclaimers: Education is a priceless thing. Many high-school graduates are not ready for independence and adult responsibilities, and college provides a safe place for them to grow up -- for a fee.

But what about the lessons offered by the success stories that have unspooled along a different path? Dropouts are the toast of the dot-com world. To the non-degreed billionaires' club headed by Microsoft's Bill Gates (Harvard's most famous quitter) and Apple's Steve Jobs (left Oregon's Reed College after a single semester), add: Michael Dell (founder of Dell Computers, University of Texas dropout), Microsoft co-founder and Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen (quit Washington State University) and Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle Systems, gave up on the University of Illinois).

Success sans sheepskin isn't only for the technology set.

David Geffen, co-founder of DreamWorks, bowed out of several schools, including the University of Texas.

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder dropped out of the University of Maryland.

Barry Gossett, chief executive of Baltimore's Acton Mobile Industries, builders of temporary trailers, also left Maryland without a degree. (No hard feelings, apparently: In 2007, he donated $10 million to the school.)

Perhaps these are unique individuals in whom a driving entrepreneurial spirit outstripped the plodding pace of book learning.

Or perhaps they point to a new model.

"There's nothing you can't do on your own," Altucher says. A provocative idea -- and a liberating one. Even if it's not entirely true.

But you don't have to agree with Altucher to concede that the debt-stress many graduates or their parents -- or both -- are left with after tossing off the cap and gown works against the merits of the degree.

Even if a kid doesn't party his way through college, chances are he or his family has plowed a boatload of money into a few memorable classes and a lot of boredom.

On top of that, you don't know how big a boatload it'll be. For many college students, four years of anticipated tuition payments grows to five years or six -- or more. Government statistics show just 57 percent of full-time college students get their bachelor's degrees in six or fewer years.

And the rest . . . don't.

* * *

In her youth, Toni Reinhart, 55, owner of Comfort Keepers Reston, a licensed home-care agency in Northern Virginia, abandoned hopes of completing a business degree at George Mason University. There was that C in accounting, and then trigonometry. . . .

"My problem was not being able to put the time in to learn things I wasn't interested in," she says.

Has dropping out held her back?

"Oh sure," says Reinhart, a self-described late-bloomer. "But maybe that's good. Maybe it held me back from things I shouldn't have been doing anyway."

Now she manages 56 employees and in recent years hit the million-dollar mark in gross revenue.

"I understand the case for finishing, because you've proven you can stick with something," she says. "But wouldn't it be nice if we did have another path that didn't put people in debt for . . . $100,000? Isn't there another way to instill those kinds of lessons in people that would be cheaper?"

Nelson Cortez, 20, wishes there were. The Napa resident starts his third year this month at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He's received state grants and works 15 hours a week while school is in session, but with the loans he's taken out, he estimates he's already about $25,000 in debt. This is why, when the California Board of Regents last year announced a 32 percent increase in fees, he joined protests that galvanized students around the state -- and set off similar protests around the country.

Cortez helped shut down the Santa Cruz campus and traveled to the District to rally outside the U.S. Capitol. (On Oct. 2, students will demonstrate on the Mall for affordable education as part of the One Nation march, organized by civil rights and youth groups and unions.)

"Rent was due yesterday, and I was $20 short, and I'm running around the house looking for $20," Cortez says. His money problems have caused him to question whether he's made the right decision: "Am I going to be able to afford it, should I take a semester off? . . . I do have in the back of my mind, would it be better not to have those loans and just work?"

According to the Education Department, between 1997-98 and 2007-08, prices for undergraduate tuition, room and board at public institutions of higher education rose by 30 percent, and prices at private institutions rose by 23 percent -- after adjustments for inflation. "The reason colleges have been getting away with raising their fees so much is that loans allow parents to tough it out," Vedder says.

Federal government moves, such as tuition tax credits, allow those paying college costs to subtract a certain amount from their tax bills. But it does little to alleviate the financial burden, Vedder says, adding that it gives colleges an excuse to raise costs further.

* * *

The cost of college is putting the financial screws to an entire generation, say student activists.

"I think it's absolutely despicable that students are asked to pay that much," says Lindsay McCluskey, president of the United States Student Association. "In terms of public education, you can't even call that public when students are taking out an average of $25,000 to complete college and then are paying off student loan debt until they're 50 or 60 years old."

A recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she majored in anthropology, McCluskey is paying down a $20,000 student loan. She thinks it will probably take her a decade to dig out of that hole -- while the balance is accumulating interest -- because she can't afford to make more than the minimum monthly payments.

"For my generation," McCluskey, 23, says, "that loan debt is taking the place of the house we could be buying or a number of other investments we could be making in our lives. The loan debt just sucks a lot of that out."

Now consider Jeremiah Stone, 25. The graduate of Rockville's Thomas S. Wootton High School is living in Paris, pursuing a drool-worthy international career as a chef. After high school, he took a job as a barback in a Houston's Restaurant, worked up to kitchen assistant, took a nine-month cooking course at the French Culinary Institute in New York and finally landed in France, where he has freelanced as a chef throughout the country. Eventually he hopes to open his own restaurant in New York.

"People I meet for the first time, they're always saying, 'Oh, if I had another career, I'd be a pastry chef instead of becoming a lawyer,' " Stone says. In the eyes of some of his friends, he says, he's become emblematic of simply doing what you love. In his case, it turns out that not following the herd was the best investment of all.

  Source: Washington Post / Sarah Kaufman. Link: Bypassing a higher education Illustration: Tim Lahan. Moderator: ART HuNTER.

[ipaydayloans]

Loans for people with bad credit

"How I Got $2,500 Per Month in Personal Loans,"

"How to Make $5,000 In Personal Loans in One Season," and

"How Can I Get Away With Paying $4,000 a Month for a Credit Card?"

Here's what it looks like:

Here are some good personal finance tips for young people:

1. If you don't have too much money or too little, use some of those easy-to-understand personal finance books (I am a big fan of Robert Greene's "Mortgage for Beginners," especially page 13 of that book) in your class or home.

2. Ask your parents for any financial aid (if you don't have that, ask for that at the school you attended). They can give you tips (but I've heard of many families that don't even receive money for scholarships or other extracurricular programs).

3. Don't miss out. Try to go for an internship (and get a good job) for a while after high school, and get a full-ride college credit (the best part) when you are ready.

4. Make sure that everyone has a great home with nice, beautiful view, and has access to clean water. Remember:"I was born in one of the worst neighborhoods in Minneapolis where we got our garbage dropped, and everyone in it gets free health care if they want… We have people that live in the streets where they get attacked every day, so our kids can hear loud screaming and fighting between dogs." (p. 28)

5. Use your credit history as a "roadmap" or a "way to the money" for your future:"So if you take every single thing you can from your credit history, just from that one point, we should be able to get you around in 10 years as a householder for $6,000 or $7,000 a year. I don't know whether I should be happy with the information I have. I think we should be getting rid of this data base. I want to live in a free society. I want to stop having to worry about the consequences when I do stupid things."

6. Always remember that people always make mistakes. (Also see Robert Greene)

7. The good news is: There are so many things you can do to make it pay off for you when

There are some very good credit-risk tools for homeowners.

First, you should get a good credit score and know your credit history. In addition, when you have an auto or real estate loan, make sure that you have written down your payments so you can update your credit record at any time. And, if you rent or sell your home, it's never a bad idea to do so on a regular basis. It's also a good idea to use a third-party agency to file monthly statements about your finances.

The second and third-best credit-risk tools are two- or three-day bank statement reminders. These are a good option if you have credit-related worries, and to make sure that you don't run out of money. You can also add financial statements to your calendar by searching for "My financials" or your financial advisor's address. A financial statement may be helpful if you have a small household or if you have a mortgage.

Then, you should start checking with your credit bureau to make sure that your monthly payments have gone on right, even if you've had an emergency. This article or section is about the playable unit.

A special unit used as a special unit in the anime Final Fantasy X: A New Beginning.

Contents show]

Background Information Edit loans for people with bad credit.

This unit was originally released as a Final Fantasy XV-exclusive reward for a free version, meaning that it has not been released in the mainline game since, despite being present during the game's events; instead, it could only be obtained by earning the special unit in the story minigame "Nostalgia of the Final Fantasy XV Era." When it was released in a limited quantity in North America for the Final Fantasy XV Collector's Edition, the unit was renamed the "Tidal Surge"

Its first promotional image featured a character with the unit with a red-yellow-green base with white sleeves. This was the base color of the standard version.

While the regular version has a special appearance, the special version has its original art with the game's original art, making it one of the rarendliest units of the game. If it is unlocked by killing a Dark Shiva, it cannot be opened by the regular version.

Strategy Edit

The basic attack is a single blow that takes advantage of its high defense, coupled with Quick Riposte's ability.[1] The ability is most useful against boss monsters.

We love taking a step back and taking a look at the personal finance options for people in bad credit:

People in the highest risk category have the lowest levels of credit. The reason is that those are the people who have the most trouble keeping up with their bills -- like losing their jobs or getting sued for a loan they didn't apply for and never made payments on. So if you're in debt, you're in the highest risk category.

You're on your own

This is very important, folks. This is all you know -- your own mistakes, your mistakes and what you can do to mitigate the risks you feel. You want to avoid getting caught without the credit repair business plan.

So before the credit repair business plan -- which the CRA will require you to file after you've been turned down or before you get your credit file checked -- you should take some time and figure out what you want and whether there are any options out there. If there are options out there, there are plenty of people willing to help you out.

Before you buy or buy or don't buy anything, it's important to find out what it takes to fix credit.

If you want to buy credit for money, you can get credit in a few different ways. For example, credit is still allowed when you have another credit card: if you can afford it and you're able to pay the balance at the time it goes into effect (which happens frequently), credit is even more flexible loans for people with bad credit.

You can buy your life insurance in a number of ways. You can buy private medical insurance, and your bank is going to cover these at full face value. There's the option of buying a credit card (or an annuity) yourself -- but remember if you do, the credit card's credit report will take an extra couple months to check. You never really know what your credit rating is going to be until you sign up for it.

You can sign up for mortgage loan insurance at low rates -- at just 4%, say, 6% for 30-year fixed mortgage with a down payment of 1% and interest of 1%, a $500 mortgage is considered an excellent rate for low-income families. That rate has increased recently.

If you want to invest in your own business, you can get credit for doing so at low rates, which is generally $500 to less than $1,000 per line of credit over a 10-year period, or you can do something

The following is an expanded list of individual financial tools, used by millions of people globally, that can help people improve their credit score. These tools include credit scoring tools, credit monitoring and debt reporting tools, private loan lenders and online lenders, and online brokers of various interest rate products.

The Personal Loans that make Your Credit Score Better

While personal debt has long been the backbone of America's credit history (especially for the first-time homeowners), more recent trends suggest credit-fueled credit is beginning to overshadow home ownership. Although Americans are still primarily consumers, household income is trending up in the home equity and debt categories, in part because of the rise in homeownership over the last two decades, and in part due to the fact that many are having children.

The reason you may have bad credit is that you may have defaulted on loan payments because of credit problems you've been facing for a long period of time. You may have had to close down your credit line because you ran up debt costs due to an unfortunate financial mishap you experienced. The bottom line: as interest rates rise -- especially for consumers and young people -- these defaults can lead to a major credit-related chargeback on the credit card or the payment due date.

The Best Money Back Guarantee

What is most common to have credit problems in the United States right now? When you run into trouble to collect money from your loan company, credit card company or other lending source and you have to repay the loan, you may not feel it's worth it to get a loan modification. Or, if you are getting a good rate (and your credit score is improving), you may decide loans for people with bad credit that it's not worth a significant penalty.

If your bank offers a money back guarantee that you are 100% sure will help you, the fact that you can only obtain a loan modification from the company which did the loan modification, and which you did not have to repay before, may be enough to win.

One way to assess the worth of a job posting is to compare the potential rewards from a credit card. When you receive a good loan, you may think you need to pay off the balance first. As you accumulate more debt in the future as a result, a bad credit history may reduce or stop that potential reward to a "good" or "bad" rating. (Source: CreditBankingInfo.com by Darlene Lutz.)

Some people don't make enough money to buy things that they care about and other people get rich by paying to hold assets in risky securities and investing them to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, a majority of people with good credit are not able to get access to this kind of credit, so when it comes to purchasing a home, you want to avoid high-income families.

For example, many students are forced to apply for loans on credit scores that may give a false impression about their ability, such as an 8 or 9 on a 1040 or a 3.38 on a 1040 plus some small increases for extra debtors. The same applies to loans they have taken out since they started graduate school at a level where they can get credit and earn income.

As you can see from the table, when you see what types of family financial status are the best predictors of debt, you might find that the family that is less wealthy or the one with a smaller income will get a cheaper loan. But you don't want to be that family!

We hope this guide will help you understand what your ideal credit score means and help you make the financial decisions for your future that should make you richer and make paying your bills easier.

If you have taken the Freedom of Information Act or a lawsuit (although the latter two are much easier), why not take the free credit score test that provides an objective estimate of your credit score and an in-depth interview with your loan officer? The score gives you a good idea of your potential future credit score. FORT COLLINS — There has been a lot of talk over the past couple of days about a proposal to use taxpayer money to restore the historic downtown Fort Collins Union Station which used to be Fort Collins Union Station.

There is no need to do that on the surface. Since you are using money of taxpayers, to restore the historic part to what should be, if not a great historic downtown, then I think they should provide an incentive to use your money to fund something that would revitalize the rest of downtown.

But the reality is that it's simply time for the city to look at what the potential of this kind of revitalization will look like in its entirety, then to go from there. The city needs to look at how that downtown will look, be viewed. How well should it be designed and function from what's around it?

You've got to figure out how the city is going

[onlinemarketinghelp]

How Much Should You Have In A 529 Plan By Age http://bit.ly/2V71kBP

The 529 College Savings Plan is one of the best ways to save for college. But most people aren't taking full advantage of them. And I'm not going to lie - I'm one of them.

The idea of a 529 College Savings Plan is great: you can contribute money into an account and it will grow tax free to someday pay for your child's education. And you can contribute a lot of money too (up to $300,000 in most states). That's not where the trouble arises.

The real trouble comes from rising tuition costs and how much every "college savings calculator" says you need to save for your child's education. According to The College Board, the average cost of a public 4-year college in 2018-2019 was $10,230 for in-state tuition. The average cost for a private college was $34,920.

When you start plugging those numbers into the college savings calculator, suddenly you're supposed to start saving over $500 per month for your child. Then, add that into your own savings for retirement, and you're not going to have anything left for yourself each month!

So let's dive in and see how much you should have in a 529 plan.​

As a parent, you should also have solid term life insurance to protect your family. Beyond saving for college, this is a must for taking care of your children. Get a quote from Ethos is minutes here >>

Quick Navigation

Follow The Order Of Operations For Saving For College

How Much You Really Need To Save In A 529 Plan

529 College Savings Plan Guidelines

Where To Open A 529 Plan

Recommendations To Help Save For College

Follow The Order Of Operations For Saving For College

That single amount gives me sticker shock each month when I think about saving for my child's college education. But it's also an important reminder of why everyone should follow the Order of Operations For Saving For Your Kid's College.

The key phrase is Y.E.S.:

(Y) YOU: You have to make sure your own financial house is in order before you try to save for your child's college. If you can't make rent, or buy groceries, there are bigger issues to fix first. However, the YOU bucket also includes saving for your own retirement and making sure you have an emergency fund. I've said this hundreds of times - you can't get a loan for retirement. Make sure you save for yourself first.

(E) Education Savings Accounts:​ If you've saved for yourself, next you can save for your child in Education Savings Accounts, like the 529 Plan. 

(S) Savings: After contributing some amount to the 529 plan or other education savings account, it's smart to save in a traditional savings account as well, in case there are other expenses you want to help your child with that don't qualify as education expenses.​

How Much You Really Need To Save In A 529 Plan

​Part 2 of that "scary" number that you need to save each month for your child's college is that number is based on saving 100% of their college costs. As a parent, you don't need to pay for 100% of their school. Or, maybe you'll pay for 100% of their public in-state tuition, and the rest is up to them. Or maybe you'll just have a target savings number, and the rest is up to them.

It's simply important to remember that you don't have to save and pay for all their college. It's THEIR college - not yours. Plus, there are tons of ways for them to find help paying for school, from finding scholarships, to getting student loans. 

Here's our guide on how to pay for college.

So, instead of stressing out about saving $500 per month​, I'm going to make the following assumptions and save based on that:

I'm going to save for an in-state college that currently costs $10,200 per year

I will contribute to all 4 years of college

I will pay 50% of the projected college costs

I'm done contributing to the 529 plan when my child is 18 (sorry, but you're out of the house now!)

I expect college costs to continue to increase by 4% per year

I expect to get 6% per year return on my investments in my 529 plan

With these assumptions, you should be saving about $96 per month for your child's college, or $1,151 per year. Let's see how that breaks down.

However, if you're on the high end, and want to contribute to pay 100% of your child's education expenses at a 4 year private college, I included that in the chart below too (for reference it means contributing $630 per month).​

How Much You Should Have In Your 529 At Different Ages

Age

Low End

High End

1

$1,189

$7,816

2

$2,451

$16,144

3

$3,791

$24,923

4

$5,213

$34,276

5

$6,723

$44,206

6

$8,327

$54,749

7

$10,029

$65,941

8

$11,836

$77,824

9

$13,755

$90,440

10

$15,792

$103,834

11

$17,955

$118,054

12

$20,251

$133,151

13

$22,689

$149,179

14

$25,277

$166,196

15

$28,025

$184,263

16

$30,942

$203,444

17

$34,039

$223,807

18

$37,328

$245,427

Fidelity also has a great free calculator that allows you to determine how much your need specifically for your situation. They leverage many of the same assumptions we do above, and agree that you don't need to save 100% of your child's college education expenses. Check out their college savings calculator here.

529 College Savings Plan Guidelines

From the results, we can conclude that the goal for most people saving for college should be to have between $37,328 and $245,427 saved in the account. This is a huge range, no doubt. But remember what "low end" and "high end" mean.

The low end amount is for someone that wants to help their child pay for a public 4-year school. The high end amount is for someone that wants to fully pay for a 4-year private education for their child. ​

Parents should also remember that, even when saving for private school, many students who attend private schools get discounted tuition, or receive scholarships to offset the "real" tuition price. So, even that high end number might not make sense when saving for college.

In this scenario, the low end 529 plan will be able to pay out between $9,600 and $10,000 per year, for each of the 4 years of school. Given that the college costs will rise, that should be about 50% of a 4-year public school tuition in 18 years.

Where To Open A 529 Plan

What many people don't realize is that you can invest in almost any state 529 plan. For some people, it can make sense to use your own state's plan to take advantage of the tax deduction - but not all states offer tax deductions on contributions (notably California).

If the state doesn't matter, the next things to look at are performance and ease of saving. For performance, you want good performance for low fees. For ease of savings, we look at whether the plan can be connected to savings programs like College Backer.

SavingForCollege.com ranks the best plans every year, and you can find the 529 plan rankings here. What plan you choose depends on the state you're in.

We also have a full list of the best places to open a 529 account here.

Recommendations To Help Save For College

Even saving just $100 per month can seem like daunting task. I know it is for me. However, when it comes to saving for college, here are some simple tricks that can help:

1. Save all of your child's birthday and holiday money. In many families, kids receive money from their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and more. I would estimate that the average kid receives at least $200 per year in gift money. If you saved that, you're 20% of the way to fulfilling their annual 529 contribution.

A great way to do this is to use a service like College Backer.

2. Look at Upromise by Sallie Mae. This is a free service that is designed to help families pay for college by simply doing their normal shopping. Upromise offers cash back rewards for linking a credit or debit card and using that card at participating retailers. You can earn anywhere from 1% to 25% back at different retailers. Upromise says that some members are earning at least $1,000 per year - that's almost everything you need to fully fund a 529 plan. UPromise is easy to sign up for - check it out here.

3. Focus on earning more money. Instead of looking at where to cut in your budget, ask yourself, how can you add $100 in income to your budget? I'm a firm believer that anyone can earn an additional $100 per month, and what a better way to put that extra $100 to use than by funding a 529 plan for your child? If you don't know where to start, check out our list of over 50 ways to earn extra money on the side.

The post How Much Should You Have In A 529 Plan By Age appeared first on The College Investor.

from The College Investor

The 529 College Savings Plan is one of the best ways to save for college. But most people aren't taking full advantage of them. And I'm not going to lie - I'm one of them.

The idea of a 529 College Savings Plan is great: you can contribute money into an account and it will grow tax free to someday pay for your child's education. And you can contribute a lot of money too (up to $300,000 in most states). That's not where the trouble arises.

The real trouble comes from rising tuition costs and how much every "college savings calculator" says you need to save for your child's education. According to The College Board, the average cost of a public 4-year college in 2018-2019 was $10,230 for in-state tuition. The average cost for a private college was $34,920.

When you start plugging those numbers into the college savings calculator, suddenly you're supposed to start saving over $500 per month for your child. Then, add that into your own savings for retirement, and you're not going to have anything left for yourself each month!

So let's dive in and see how much you should have in a 529 plan.​

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Quick Navigation

Follow The Order Of Operations For Saving For College

How Much You Really Need To Save In A 529 Plan

529 College Savings Plan Guidelines

Where To Open A 529 Plan

Recommendations To Help Save For College

Follow The Order Of Operations For Saving For College

That single amount gives me sticker shock each month when I think about saving for my child's college education. But it's also an important reminder of why everyone should follow the Order of Operations For Saving For Your Kid's College.

The key phrase is Y.E.S.:

(Y) YOU: You have to make sure your own financial house is in order before you try to save for your child's college. If you can't make rent, or buy groceries, there are bigger issues to fix first. However, the YOU bucket also includes saving for your own retirement and making sure you have an emergency fund. I've said this hundreds of times - you can't get a loan for retirement. Make sure you save for yourself first.

(E) Education Savings Accounts:​ If you've saved for yourself, next you can save for your child in Education Savings Accounts, like the 529 Plan. 

(S) Savings: After contributing some amount to the 529 plan or other education savings account, it's smart to save in a traditional savings account as well, in case there are other expenses you want to help your child with that don't qualify as education expenses.​

How Much You Really Need To Save In A 529 Plan

​Part 2 of that "scary" number that you need to save each month for your child's college is that number is based on saving 100% of their college costs. As a parent, you don't need to pay for 100% of their school. Or, maybe you'll pay for 100% of their public in-state tuition, and the rest is up to them. Or maybe you'll just have a target savings number, and the rest is up to them.

It's simply important to remember that you don't have to save and pay for all their college. It's THEIR college - not yours. Plus, there are tons of ways for them to find help paying for school, from finding scholarships, to getting student loans. 

Here's our guide on how to pay for college.

So, instead of stressing out about saving $500 per month​, I'm going to make the following assumptions and save based on that:

I'm going to save for an in-state college that currently costs $10,200 per year

I will contribute to all 4 years of college

I will pay 50% of the projected college costs

I'm done contributing to the 529 plan when my child is 18 (sorry, but you're out of the house now!)

I expect college costs to continue to increase by 4% per year

I expect to get 6% per year return on my investments in my 529 plan

With these assumptions, you should be saving about $96 per month for your child's college, or $1,151 per year. Let's see how that breaks down.

However, if you're on the high end, and want to contribute to pay 100% of your child's education expenses at a 4 year private college, I included that in the chart below too (for reference it means contributing $630 per month).​

How Much You Should Have In Your 529 At Different Ages

Age

Low End

High End

1

$1,189

$7,816

2

$2,451

$16,144

3

$3,791

$24,923

4

$5,213

$34,276

5

$6,723

$44,206

6

$8,327

$54,749

7

$10,029

$65,941

8

$11,836

$77,824

9

$13,755

$90,440

10

$15,792

$103,834

11

$17,955

$118,054

12

$20,251

$133,151

13

$22,689

$149,179

14

$25,277

$166,196

15

$28,025

$184,263

16

$30,942

$203,444

17

$34,039

$223,807

18

$37,328

$245,427

Fidelity also has a great free calculator that allows you to determine how much your need specifically for your situation. They leverage many of the same assumptions we do above, and agree that you don't need to save 100% of your child's college education expenses. Check out their college savings calculator here.

529 College Savings Plan Guidelines

From the results, we can conclude that the goal for most people saving for college should be to have between $37,328 and $245,427 saved in the account. This is a huge range, no doubt. But remember what "low end" and "high end" mean.

The low end amount is for someone that wants to help their child pay for a public 4-year school. The high end amount is for someone that wants to fully pay for a 4-year private education for their child. ​

Parents should also remember that, even when saving for private school, many students who attend private schools get discounted tuition, or receive scholarships to offset the "real" tuition price. So, even that high end number might not make sense when saving for college.

In this scenario, the low end 529 plan will be able to pay out between $9,600 and $10,000 per year, for each of the 4 years of school. Given that the college costs will rise, that should be about 50% of a 4-year public school tuition in 18 years.

Where To Open A 529 Plan

What many people don't realize is that you can invest in almost any state 529 plan. For some people, it can make sense to use your own state's plan to take advantage of the tax deduction - but not all states offer tax deductions on contributions (notably California).

If the state doesn't matter, the next things to look at are performance and ease of saving. For performance, you want good performance for low fees. For ease of savings, we look at whether the plan can be connected to savings programs like College Backer.

SavingForCollege.com ranks the best plans every year, and you can find the 529 plan rankings here. What plan you choose depends on the state you're in.

We also have a full list of the best places to open a 529 account here.

Recommendations To Help Save For College

Even saving just $100 per month can seem like daunting task. I know it is for me. However, when it comes to saving for college, here are some simple tricks that can help:

1. Save all of your child's birthday and holiday money. In many families, kids receive money from their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and more. I would estimate that the average kid receives at least $200 per year in gift money. If you saved that, you're 20% of the way to fulfilling their annual 529 contribution.

A great way to do this is to use a service like College Backer.

2. Look at Upromise by Sallie Mae. This is a free service that is designed to help families pay for college by simply doing their normal shopping. Upromise offers cash back rewards for linking a credit or debit card and using that card at participating retailers. You can earn anywhere from 1% to 25% back at different retailers. Upromise says that some members are earning at least $1,000 per year - that's almost everything you need to fully fund a 529 plan. UPromise is easy to sign up for - check it out here.

3. Focus on earning more money. Instead of looking at where to cut in your budget, ask yourself, how can you add $100 in income to your budget? I'm a firm believer that anyone can earn an additional $100 per month, and what a better way to put that extra $100 to use than by funding a 529 plan for your child? If you don't know where to start, check out our list of over 50 ways to earn extra money on the side.

The post How Much Should You Have In A 529 Plan By Age appeared first on The College Investor.

http://bit.ly/30aGYvl May 09, 2019 at 10:15AM http://bit.ly/2urGOzc