Personal Finance

All Personal Finance Articles

Newest first · Page 262

A person's hands hold fanned-out US hundred-dollar bills, prominently featured against a dark blue background. Surrounding elements include multiple stacks of silver coins, blue, green, red, and yellow financial bar charts and pie charts, a faint world map overlay, a circular icon depicting a bank building with Roman numeral III, and another circular icon showing intertwined Euro, Dollar, and Yen currency symbols.

This $250,000 Income Portfolio Pays a $20,000 Annual Dividend

A $20,000 annual income stream requires roughly $571,000 at a 3.5% yield, $333,000 at 6%, or $250,000 at 8%. The question is what you give up to get there. What a $20,000 Income Goal…

Drew Wood · 5 months ago

A man in a dark suit, light blue patterned shirt, and a green and gold striped tie clutches his head with both hands, his eyes squeezed shut and mouth open in a pained expression. Behind him to the left, a dark convertible luxury car is parked in front of a large, cream-colored Mediterranean-style house with a tiled roof and palm trees. The overall mood is one of stress and overwhelming financial burden.

The $1,000 Monthly Car Payment Costing This Young Couple $8 Million in Wealth

At 21 years old, Bridger and his 20-year-old wife are eight months into their marriage, earning $55,000 combined, and carrying $36,000 in car debt across two vehicles at $500 per month each. When they…

Austin Smith · 5 months ago

A young woman with dark hair holds a baby in her left arm while reviewing white papers held in her right hand. The baby, dressed in white, looks to the left. The woman wears a light blue short-sleeved top, and a blurred bookshelf filled with books is visible in the background.

Dave Ramsey’s Counterintuitive Advice to Guilty Parents: Stop Saving for Your Kids Now

A 30-year-old single mother called into The Ramsey Show carrying $74,000 in debt and a question about opening a 529 for her 4-year-old son. Dave Ramsey’s answer reframed everything she thought she was doing…

Austin Smith · 5 months ago

Happy young couple planning budget, reading good news in email, refund or mortgage approval, smiling woman and man looking at laptop screen, checking finances, sitting at table at home together

Young, Married, With a Baby on the Way: Dave Ramsey’s Blunt Answer on Motorcycles vs. Homes

Jordan is 20 years old, married, with a baby on the way, earning $70,000 a year. He got a larger-than-expected tax return and wanted to know whether buying a motorcycle before a house was…

Austin Smith · 5 months ago

A close-up shot of two individuals seated at a white desk, engaged in a discussion while looking at documents. The person on the left, wearing a blue suit and white shirt, holds a white paper and gestures with their left hand. The person on the right, wearing a light-colored shirt, has their hands resting on the desk near a black tablet and a clipboard with papers. A white calculator is also visible on the left side of the desk.

Can You Use Whole Life Insurance to Create Generational Wealth?

Tyler called into The Clark Howard Podcast after someone told him that overfunded whole life insurance was a “no-brainer” for building generational wealth. Howard’s response: The cart is before the horse, and the math…

Carl Sullivan · 5 months ago

3 Big Advantages of a 15-Year Mortgage

Buying a house is a complex process full of important decisions, one of the most significant being your mortgage. Choosing the right mortgage term can have a major impact on your finances in the…

Marc Guberti · 5 months ago

A light-skinned woman with dark hair tied back, wearing a black shirt, looks visibly stressed and upset while holding a bill in her right hand and speaking on a blue smartphone held to her left ear with her left hand. Her brow is furrowed, and her mouth is open as if in exasperation. A silver laptop is open on the dark wooden table in front of her, and several stacks of white papers are scattered around. A window with white frames is blurred in the bright background, letting in soft light.

The $1,200 Question That Reveals If You’re Budgeting for Your Family or Your Ex-Spouse’s Reaction

A stepmom named Leslie called The Ramsey Show with a question that sounds like a $1,200 decision but is really about something much harder: how much space should a difficult ex-spouse get inside your…

Austin Smith · 5 months ago

A woman with dark hair tied back stands at a gas station, looking concerned with one hand on her head. She holds Euro banknotes in her other hand. A black car is partially visible to the left with a fuel nozzle inserted into its tank, while multiple colored fuel nozzles hang on a pump to the right. The background shows trees under a white canopy.

Americans Are Driving More but Using 4% Less Gas Than Pre-Pandemic. Here’s What That Means for Your Wallet

Americans are driving more miles than ever before, yet pulling up to the pump and spending less on gas than they did five years ago. That counterintuitive reality deserves a close look, because understanding…

Joel South · 5 months ago

A diverse older couple sits at a table, focused on financial planning. The man, with a grey beard and glasses, wears a grey sweater and points to a paper he holds. The woman, with short grey hair and a blue shirt, points to documents on the table while looking at a laptop screen. A white mug is visible next to the laptop, suggesting a home office or personal finance setting.

The QLAC: The 401(k) Investment That Delays Your RMDs Until Age 85 and Why More Retirees Are Using It

A 73-year-old with $1.5 million in a traditional 401(k) faces a forced withdrawal of roughly $56,600 this year. The IRS Uniform Lifetime Table assigns a distribution period of 26.5 at age 73, meaning the…

David Beren · 5 months ago

A person with dark hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a white lab coat, sits at a dark, reflective desk, facing away from the viewer. They are looking at a document binder on the left and typing on a silver laptop on the right, which displays financial charts and data. A blue mug sits next to the laptop. In the background, a large window reveals a blurred cityscape with tall buildings under an overcast sky.

Why Cardiologists Are Pulling Money Out of Their 401(k)s During Market Downturns While Most Investors Hold On

Between retirement and Social Security, high earners quietly land in lower tax brackets than they saw during their working years, and a market downturn turns that window into something worth serious money. Most investors…

David Beren · 5 months ago

Joyful diverse Brazilian senior staff workers of supermarket chain smiling at camera with table and uniforms. African American older employee and a caucasian person laughing together

How Much Could Working Part-Time Reduce Your Social Security Checks?

Collecting Social Security doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re ready to give up working forever. Many people retire and claim benefits with the plan to still work at least part of the time. This desire…

Christy Bieber · 5 months ago

Overhead shot of a person sitting on a light-colored floor, holding an open, empty wallet with both hands. Surrounding them on the floor are several financial papers, a black smartphone, a brown notebook with a pen, a calculator, and a stack of credit cards.

How Can a Couple Making $250K Per Year Be Broke?

It sounds nearly impossible on paper: a couple with a $250,000 annual income somehow is still running a $5,000 monthly deficit. Tracy called into The Ramsey Show recently looking for help. Someone embezzled roughly…

Carl Sullivan · 5 months ago

The burden of taxes and the importance of proper planning ease the financial burden.

When It Doesn’t Make Sense to Move to Low-Fee Funds

Cynthia from Missouri asked a question that probably crosses the mind of every investor who has ever looked at their fund’s expense ratio and winced. She told Wes Moss on a recent episode of…

Carl Sullivan · 5 months ago

A disheveled business man holds up a cardboard sign with the words Dear Boss I Quit

The “Quit Your Job” Portfolio Pays $85,000 From $1.25 Million

An $85,000 annual income sits right at the edge of what a $1.25 million portfolio can realistically deliver, but only if you’re willing to accept the tradeoffs that come with a 6.8% blended yield.…

Drew Wood · 5 months ago

A man with short dark hair and glasses wears a light blue button-up shirt and sits at a white desk. He is looking down at a stack of papers in front of him, holding one document in his hands. A silver laptop, a black mug, and a white smartphone displaying a calculator are also on the desk. In the background, there's a large window, green potted plants, and part of a yellow sofa with a patterned cushion.

Dave Ramsey Breaks Down the $8,000 Mistake: 68 Months to Break Even on an ARM

A first-time homeowner called into The Ramsey Show on April 6 with a gut feeling he had made a mistake. He had just refinanced his home the same day he called, swapping a 15-year…

Austin Smith · 5 months ago