moneygeek

You’ve been feeling cramped in your current living situation and are now prequalified for an impressive home loan amount. But before you put in an offer on your dream home, ask yourself whether you can really afford that much house. “Most buyers will qualify for more than what they want...

Once you've decided to buy a home, your next move is crucial. Sadly, it doesn't yet involve browsing online real estate listings or visiting open houses ‘til you drop. "The first call shouldn't be to a realtor," says Jim Sahnger, a mortgage loan originator with Schaffer...

Homeownership is a major milestone for many, but make a misstep and you could hurt your chances of securing your slice of the American dream — or worse, leave your finances in shambles. Keep these six things in mind before you jump into the homebuying process. No. 1: You need a hefty...

It takes a lifetime of working and saving to build a nest egg to fund your retirement. Yet it’s that nest egg that makes you so tempting to fraudsters. Older adults are “seen as having more money,” says Gerri Walsh, senior vice president of the Financial Industry Regulatory...

New research suggests that age-related neurological changes can make it difficult for older adults to detect suspicious behavior and other warning signs that people may be untrustworthy, potentially putting elders at higher risk for financial fraud.   In new studies involving people age 60 and...

This spring has not been kind to Uber. In early May of this year, Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman  (D-Ore.) asked the city to subpoena Uber in a probe of its software tool “Greyball,” which has allegedly allowed Uber to escape city regulators nationwide. Undercover city...

A bill to permit e-contracts in auto financing in California has alarmed consumer advocates and attorneys representing victims of unethical auto sales. “E-contracts allow fraud on a scale I’ve never seen,” says San Diego attorney Hal Rosner, who represents hundreds of car buyers...

You’re settling down, have some money saved and are ready to become a homeowner. Congrats! Buying your first home may be one of the biggest financial decisions of your life, so you’ll want to avoid these common first-time homebuyer mistakes: 1. Overestimating What You Can Afford Many...

David Ehrenberg has seen it all. As the founder and CEO of Early Growth Financial Services, a Silicon Valley-based firm that serves 18 percent of the country’s privately funded venture capital-backed startups, he knows that entrepreneurs inevitably make mistakes. But in the uber-competitive...

It took University of Indianapolis graduate Joy Hernandez-Butler a couple of years to realize that the company servicing her student loans, Navient Solutions, Inc., was not the ally she thought it was. In 2012, she reached out for an income-based repayment plan to save money, but she was met by...

If you’re a millennial, you belong to a group that’s far more likely to share your lifestyle habits on social media than any others. But before you post that new great shot of you skydiving, partying, or zip-lining through the jungle, consider whether you want to share it with your...

Buying a new or used car is not just about chasing the best price. You should also look closely at the terms of the loan, especially if you’re getting the loan from the car dealer. Remember: The dealer wants to sell the car, so you may have more negotiating power than you think, even when it...

If you're a self-employed millennial, you have plenty of company. Millennials make up 45 percent of all U.S. freelance workers, according to a 2016 survey by Edelman Intelligence that was commissioned by Upwork and the Freelancers Union. That's more than 24 million millennials for whom,...

Has crushing student debt really put the dream of home ownership out of reach for most millennials? Not according to University of Michigan economics professor Susan Dynarski. In a paper for the Brookings Institute last year, Dynarski found that as millennial grads pay off their college debt, they...