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Applying the KISS approach to personal finance

Personal finance is often made complicated. With terms like 401K, IRA, ETF, debt to income ratio, FICO scores and on and on, it can quickly seem a daunting topic to understand.

It doesn't need to be complicated.
It shouldn't be complicated.

This lens will use the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) method to make personal finance understandable and help you achieve financial success!

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7 Steps to getting out of debt

A step by step guide to how I did it, and you can too!

People accumulate debt for a number of reasons. Some are unavoidable such as a health crisis or loss of work from disability. But often, the root cause is a learned behavior of living beyond one's means. Spending more than you earn is a surefire way to a life of debt. It's also the most prominent reason.

This is what happened to me.

The good news is that getting out of debt and learning to avoid it in the future are attainable goals if you follow some simple principles. The principals of debt management are simple, but the process can be difficult at first due to the discipline and persistence required. That's the hard part, but these 7 steps should help you get out of debt and keep you on the road to a debt free life.

Read the full article here.

New Money Magnet Quiz

Life Insurance: How much do I need?

Just how much life insurance should you have?

Buying life insurance can be a hassle, but it's that ounce of prevention that makes the lives of your loved ones at least a little bit smoother if you should happen to pass away.

While there is no easy formula for determining exactly how much life insurance a person needs, there are a host of online calculators and a number of things to consider that help you arrive at the magic figure.

Here's an article that highlights some of those considerations and helps determine how much insurance you should have.

Read it here.

Life Insurance: What kind should I buy?

The second question regarding life insurance...

This is one area where those pesky financial terms often come in to muddy the waters. There are many different types of life insurance: Term Life, Whole Life, Variable Life, Universal Life, and Universal Variable Life.

Do you know the difference?

Do you know which is right for you?

Again, there is no hard fast rule or easy answer, but this article should help clear things up while giving you a good start at least on where to go and what you should be thinking about.

Learn it here.

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5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score.

How to boost your credit score for FREE

Some of these are not exotic solutions and probably aren't all that shocking when it comes down to it, but some are more gray than black and white. For example, paying your bills on time is essential, and makes sense. But should you avoid credit altogether, or is some debt a good thing? Do you know which lines of credit you should pay down first? How about which credit cards you should never have?

Read about it here

New MadMoney with Jim Kramer

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The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Simple Debt-Free Finance Highlights

A Simple Approach to Getting Out of Debt & Into Wealth

The journey of a father of 2 and his wife from debt to wealth on a single income.

Simple Debt-Free Finance: Offering info and opinions on all things financial and money related, online and from an average Joe. I live in the great northeastern United States, with my wife and two kids. We live on a single income, so money is often tight but we still manage to make ends meet with enough left over for savings
Free $25 ING Referrals: Open an ING Direct high yield orange savings account with an initial deposit of at least $250, you will receive a $25 bonus that's like getting 10% return on your money!
Tronix country: a bad deal.: I've been hearing this radio ad of late, on my lunch break mostly. You're approved for a new New Dell or HP desktop computer for ONLY $29.99 a week for 12 months! Bad credit or no credit! rebuild your credit! The ad goes on to promise a Super fast computer and you even get a new printer or television...
A Simple Secret to Successful Investing.: People complicate investing with various concepts, philosophies and principals. But when you strip away all of these layers of complexity, you are left with one cardinal principal of successful investing:
Bottom Line Secrets Magazine, a Scam?: I recently received a sample issue of the Bottom Line Personal magazine. The tag line states: Bottom Line makes you Healthier, Wealthier, Wiser...
5 Credit Card Pitfalls to Avoid. | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Things weren't exactly friendly with most credit card issuers and card holders before the crunch. Just check out the list of punitive tactics available to them:
Why Now is the Time to Consolidate Your Student Loans (and Get an Interest Rate as Low as 3.6%)! | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Since July 1, 2008 you can consolidate your Stafford and PLUS Loans and save up to 3% on the interest rate. Here are some of the details...
10 Things About Funds Investors Should Know About. | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Whether you invest in mutual funds, index funds or exchange-traded funds and whether those funds are held in your 401(k), IRA or 403(b) there are a lot of factors to consider when choosing the right fund.
6 Tips for Spotting an Investment Scam. | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Investment Fraud. It can take away in a single day what it took you a lifetime to create and save. Can you spot a scam from a legitimate investment opportunity?
REVIEW: Stock Investing For Dummies, by Paul Mladjenovic | Simple Debt-Free Finance: What I like about this book is that the author doesn't try to sell stock investing to the reader, but covers the basics like the difference between investing and speculating.
How I Sold My House In a Down Market. | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Selling a home in a down market is not about getting top dollar - it's about getting the buyer. Fewer people are buying homes in a down market, here's how to get your buyer...
Save Money with Free Software. | Simple Debt-Free Finance: There are free software applications that provide similar functionality to many high-priced versions in the stores. In many cases, they're just plain better than their high price counterparts.
REVIEW: Getting Started in Stocks by Alvin D Hall (the Professor of Wall Street). | Simple Debt-Free Finance: This is a review of the Alvin D Hall's book: Getting Started in Stocks. As the title suggests, this book is all about the basics of investing in the stock market. The topics are laid out in a logical progression in such a way as to present an encyclopedic amount of knowledge in an easily digested ...
Are American Eagle Gold Coins from Blanchard and Company a Scam? | Simple Debt-Free Finance: I've been hearing a radio ad for Gold American Eagle Coins from Blanchard and Company on my way home from work for the past 2 months now...
Can You Live on One Income? | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Is it possible for families to go from two incomes to one? Absolutely! My wife and I are living proof. With some planning, forethought and financial literacy you can too!
How to Invest in Real Estate Without Buying Property | Simple Debt-Free Finance: For those who want some real estate exposure without the hassle of finding, maintaining and selling the physical piece of property, they should investigate REITs.
5 Reasons Why a Home is (Still) a Great Investment. | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Few people would have argued that buying a home was a bad investment during 2005-2006, but now I see more people arguing that owning a home is a poor investment, but is it accurate?
REVIEW: The Automatic Millionaire, By David Bach "A Powerful One-Step Plan To Live and Finish Rich" | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Do you want to live rich and retire richer? Rich enough to do what you want to do when you want to do it? Rich enough to stop worrying about money? Rich enough to make a difference and help others?
10 Questions to Ask Your Realtor Before Listing Your House. | Simple Debt-Free Finance: Here is a list of the 10 biggest points to consider when interviewing your prospective realtor.
5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score.: I recently checked my credit rating with AnnualCreditReport.com, and found that I have improved my credit score by 237 points without actively trying to do so! How did I do it? Read on%u2026.
REVIEW: AnnualCreditReport.com: I pulled my credit report to check my credit score from each of the 3 credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. I used AnnualCreditReport.com and lo and behold, what to my wondering eyes should appear but the fact that I rebuilt my Experian score from 636 to 873 in 4 years! It probably took less than 4 years, but I hadn't checked in that long.

gkaplan

by gkaplan

I hope to use Squidoo lenses to focus (pun intended) my diverse interests. I hope you enjoy this lens too!

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