Credit Union Blog

“Where does it all go?” is a question asked by many working Americans who seem hard-pressed to save any money toward emergencies and retirement. However, the answer may be steaming in our hands each morning.

The coronavirus situation has created a number of new challenges for our society. Among other things, many people are now facing the reality of a reduced household cash flow. If you're accustomed to operating with a set budget for your monthly expenses, you've no doubt seen how it affects your efforts to make ends meet, but if you've never really put it down on paper, now may be the time to get started. While it might seem like a daunting task at first, once you have a budget in place you'll find how it makes everything easier, and maybe even wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Big credit card corporations spend an enormous amount of time and energy marketing their products in ways that seem cost-effective to consumers. Offers such as promotional discounts, rewards, zero-interest balance transfers, and even cash-back appear to be an excellent way to gain a benefit. But too often, everyday people get tripped up and have a monthly balance you can’t quite pay off. It’s important for consumers to be wary of rising credit card debt that may result from your excitement about taking advantage of perks.

Consumers can almost tell what time of year and month it is by the seasonal sales advertisements. We live in an age where there are literally “shopping holidays” such as Black Friday. We all know that one occurs the day after Thanksgiving, and the savings can be huge. Other industries also promote certain times to buy. Real estate tends to be hot during the summer months because families often want their children to start fresh at the beginning of the school year.

Dealerships are one of the last strongholds of pure price negotiation. Negotiating a price on a new truck, however, isn't like deciding on a price with a private seller; the dynamic of negotiating at a dealership is much different. A truck salesperson deals with hundreds of negotiations every year and they really know their stuff, while the average person shopping for a new truck only does so once every several years. 

The American Pet Products Association (APPA) has released new annual industry-wide spending figures, which exceeded the previous year's spending by more than $3 billion. Americans are showing love for their pets as never before.

What are the favorite vehicles among young adults aged 22 to 37 (millennials) these days? Online insurance marketplace QuoteWizard wanted to know the answer, so it surveyed millennials in all 50 states.

A recent Nationwide Retirement Institute survey finds nearly two in five retirees (37 percent) admit they did not consider how taxes would affect their retirement income when planning for retirement. As a result, they may have lost the opportunity to save an additional six years' worth of income in retirement.