Paycheck advance products, often referred to as “earned wage” products, give consumers access to their paycheck early when they’re in a pinch. Offered through employers or as direct-to-consumer loans, these products can be free but many come with costly fees. To combat misunderstandings around these loans, the Consumer Financial Protection…

Retirement accounts are protected from creditors and lawsuits most of the time, but not all the time. You should know the circumstances when an IRA or other retirement account might be vulnerable. In general, qualified retirement accounts are protected from creditors, whether or not bankruptcy is declared, by the federal…

Mortgage rates this week have held steady for the most part. Rates for 30-year mortgages average 6.78% as of July 25, Freddie Mac reported. This is up only slightly from last week’s 6.77%. Last year, rates were in a similar place, averaging 6.81%. “Mortgage rates essentially remained flat from last…

When considering retirement, many pre-retirees and recent retirees focus on the vacation part, making plans to travel and pursue interests and hobbies. You might also be looking forward to the initial honeymoon phase of retirement, when you don’t have to wake to an alarm clock, quickly wolf down breakfast, and…

Our goal here at Credible Operations, Inc., NMLS Number 1681276, referred to as “Credible” below, is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances. Although we do promote products from our partner lenders who compensate us for our services, all opinions are our own. The…

An increasingly popular way to avoid probate and other estate planning issues is the transfer on death or payable on death account. There can be more to these accounts, which I’ll refer to as TODs, than many people realize. Most financial institutions now have a specific form that is completed…

Before converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, residents of states with income taxes should review how their states will treat the transactions. Under federal tax law, the owner of a traditional IRA can roll over some or all of the account to a Roth IRA. The amount rolled…

There’s good and bad news for mortgage rates this week. The good news is rates have continued their slow downward trend, averaging 6.87% on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, Freddie Mac reported. Although this is promising, lowering interest rates is far from the norm. Last week, 30-year mortgages had average rates of…

National debts have increased by a substantial amount in the last 20 years, but none by as much as student loans. Since 2003, student loan debt has increased by 430%, according to a study by the Kaplan Group. Although student loan debts have stabilized in the last few years, levels…

I’ve been the host of The Retirement Answer Man podcast for over ten years now. I try not to overshare my life on the show because the podcast isn’t about me. It’s about you and rocking retirement! Nonetheless, I have dropped snippets about our Colorado relocation journey over the past…