Tag Archives: personal finance

Quick Answer: For most short, affordable, refundable domestic trips within the U.S., standalone travel insurance is often unnecessary, since existing protections, federal airline refund rules for airline caused cancellations, your regular health insurance, and travel benefits already included with many travel credit cards, cover much of the same risk. Travel insurance becomes genuinely worth considering when a trip involves significant …

Quick Answer: The most common mistakes first time homebuyers make include confusing mortgage pre qualification with true pre approval, underestimating the total cash needed beyond the down payment, draining savings entirely to maximize the down payment, skipping the home inspection, and forgetting to budget for property taxes, insurance, and maintenance on top of the mortgage payment. Most of these mistakes …

Quick Answer: Yes, for most people, switching to a high yield savings account is worth it. Traditional savings accounts at major banks commonly pay well under 1 percent APY, while high yield savings accounts, typically offered by online banks and credit unions, commonly pay in the range of 4 to 5 percent APY. On a $10,000 balance, that difference can …

Term life insurance provides coverage for a set period, typically 10 to 30 years, at a significantly lower premium, and pays a death benefit only if you die during that term. Whole life insurance provides coverage for your entire life as long as premiums are paid, costs considerably more, and builds a cash value component you can borrow against. For …

Quick Answer: Most insurance experts recommend carrying liability coverage well above your state’s legal minimum, often expressed as 100/300/100, meaning $100,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $300,000 per accident, and $100,000 in property damage coverage. State minimums, which are often as low as 25/50/25, are frequently not enough to cover a serious accident, which means the difference could come …

Quick Answer: The best credit cards for beginners with no credit history are usually secured credit cards, student credit cards, or credit builder cards, since these are specifically designed to approve applicants without an existing credit score. Secured cards require a refundable security deposit that typically becomes your credit limit, student cards are available to enrolled students without requiring prior …

Quick Answer: A credit score is a three digit number, typically ranging from 300 to 850, that lenders use to estimate how likely you are to repay borrowed money. It is calculated from information in your credit report, weighted across five main factors: payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and credit mix. Payment history and how …