Your plane tickets are booked, your itinerary is set, and you’re almost ready to go – to another country! Traveling the world is exciting and on many of bucket lists. But aside from experiencing different food, language and customs, you’ll also face financial changes. Here are five essential things you need to do before your big trip. Alert Your Financial Institution Your financial institution goes to great lengths to keep your account safe. This includes flagging transactions that occur out of your home country. This means that if you’re using your card abroad, the transaction may be declined. While this…

Summer vacation is a quintessentially American innovation. Kids have months on end free from school and are eager to make the most of it. On one hand, it’s great to spend more time with them. On the other, how do you keep them entertained without breaking the bank? Fortunately, there are a few ways to have the kind of summer break that builds memories without building debt. You can use these months to teach your children valuable lessons about financial responsibility, spend quality time together as a family and save (or make!) a little money along the way. Try activities…

Along with the blossoming flowers, the blazing sunshine and the tinkling bell of the ice cream truck come ideas and plans for celebrating Mother’s Day. Our moms are always there for us, as a sounding board, a virtual treasure trove of advice and to dote on us when we need a little pampering. Mother’s Day, then, is when we show them how much we appreciate all they do for us throughout the year. However, between purchasing the perfect gift, buying mom flowers and dining out, Mother’s Day costs can quickly add up to a small fortune. How do you keep…

Having a lot of clutter around is known to cause stress. And some of the easiest clutter to accumulate is paper from statements, bills, receipts, agreements and more. Fortunately, it’s easy to go paperless. Here are reasons why you should go paperless and four steps to achieve a paperless lifestyle. Benefits of Paperless Living You’re helping the environment! Fiserv estimates that if every American household viewed and paid bills online, it could reduce solid waste by more than 800,000 tons a year and save about 18.5 million trees. You don’t have to worry about sensitive information in the mailbox or…

Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” What’s left unsaid is that many times, it’s the friendship you can’t afford! In fact, some friends can be a serious drain on your savings. If you recognize these kinds of people in your life, it can be difficult to know what to do. Giving up a friend is never easy, but neither is the reckless financial habits some of them can encourage. Here are a few examples of financially dangerous friends and how to handle…