Author: Ashley Donohoe

I remember first googling investing in my 20s and feeling overwhelmed. Sure, I was excited about finally making enough income to get started. But I felt clueless about what to invest in, what account I needed, or whether I was risking too much money. Once I gained some experience with an IRA, though, I realized investing doesn’t require knowing everything right now. Here’s a beginner’s guide to investing that I wish I had back in the day. What Is Investing? Investing involves putting money into assets that you expect to either grow in value over time or provide you with…

Trying something new without paying a dime. It sounds like a great way to see if you like a new streaming site, grocery delivery service, or even physical things like magazines and makeup. But like many things, “free” isn’t always exactly that. Unfortunately, you have to sort through potential catches before you hit the “sign up” button and potentially put your money at risk. Companies may use questionable tactics or count on you forgetting to cancel that trial. They still need to make profits somehow. So, you should understand the common free trial traps and how you can avoid them.…

Like me, you’ve probably paid for something that you later regretted or figured out later on that you could have gotten an item cheaper elsewhere. While it used to be harder to pull off, at least in a convenient way, our “refund economy” now makes it much less painful to get your money back. Sometimes, you don’t even have to give up the purchase for at least a partial refund. To get your money back on just about everything, you’ve just got to know your options and follow the rules. Let’s look at how this all works and how businesses…

With the average mortgage payment being about $2,000, you might dream of no longer having to hand your lender a big chunk of your income each month. And then you’ve got the hundreds of thousands of interest you might pay by the time everything’s over. But before you start throwing more money at your mortgage, don’t assume that paying it off early is a great money move. The reality can be much different. Not only could you miss out on earning more money elsewhere, but you might not get the relief you expected. Let’s look at the tradeoffs so you…

Whether you’re looking for a credit card, furniture, or even a new car, you’ll often come across 0% APR offers. Since these financing deals don’t require paying interest for a certain period of time, they seem like an easy way to borrow money for free. But are they too good to be true? While a 0% APR offer could save you money and reduce your financial stress when used wisely, the risks might cost you more, affect your spending, and even hurt your credit score. So, get the whole truth about 0% APR offers so you don’t make a borrowing…