The Sun's Financial Diary

This past weekend, my wife and I were talking out on our patio and the topic of retirement came up. Again. The retirement subject comes up quite often in our house. We like to talk about getting to retirement and what we’re going to do to fill all those days even though we’re still a [...]

Whether you’re strapped for cash or not, making the most of all your resources simply makes good fiscal sense. After all, unless you’ve got one of those elusive money trees planted in your backyard, chances are pretty darn good you want to get the most for every red cent you spend. If that’s the case, [...]

When I got a free Experian PLUS score from American Express this time last year, I thought it was a one-time thing, like other free one-time offers I got from other places. Now, it looks like I am wrong on that. Yesterday, I received an email from AMEX, which informed me that I can get [...]

Each year thousands of individuals are left owing the IRS taxes they cannot pay when they complete their tax return. If you are facing severe financial hardship (e.g. prolonged unemployment, bankruptcy), you have a few feasible options: either you request an IRS Installment Agreement (IRS Payment Plan), pay your taxes with a credit card, or [...]

Ever feel like you’re running in place, getting nowhere, when it comes to your finances? If you’re not honoring your previous financial choices, you likely are or, even worse, getting farther and farther behind. Stop sabotaging yourself and your finances and get back on the track of moving financially and emotionally forward by doing the [...]

Dollars are an especially precious thing nowadays.  Everybody’s looking to hang on to what they have.  If you’re one of those people who are lucky enough to have a little of it leftover at the end of the month, you want to make sure that you do the right thing with it.  Folks who are [...]

Home and Garden Television (HGTV) has a lot of shows that could easily fill the normal viewer with “home envy.” One of these programs is “House Hunters.” “House Hunters” is a show about people who are searching the perfect new home or condo to purchase. One of the major reasons why people seem to want [...]

I opened a 9-month No Penalty CD account with Ally Bank last July. Though I could withdraw after only 6 days without having to pay any penalty, I kept the money in the account because Ally Bank has been slowly, but steadily, cutting rates since then and the rate I got back then was pretty good. [...]