Financial counseling is performed by financial counseling professionals, often employees of a nonprofit organization organized to assist clients in financial difficulty on a one-to-one basis. Clients are helped to resolve problems that impact their financial well-being, to make decisions that have financial implications for life now and in the future, to improve their financial management, to handle difficult transitions, and to improve functioning in the consumer market and/or legal systems by handling financial or consumer collections and other dilemmas. Financial counseling utilizes information and skills to assist clients in changing behaviors in resource management, consumption, lifestyle, and communication in order to obtain and maintain increased financial security. (more…)

As you enter adulthood, you will experience many changes and are facing with financial responsibility. You may go to college, start a new career, get married, have children, or move to a new city. These new life situations will affect your financial planning. Your personal values also influence your financial decisions. (more…)

Economic factors across the country and around the world can affect personal finances. They play a role in day-to-day financial planning and decision making for most people. Economics is the study of the decisions that go into making, distributing, and using goods and services. The economy consists of the ways in which people make, distribute, and use their goods and services. To understand economics and the economy, you need to be aware of the market forces, financial institutions, global influences, and economic conditions that affect global as well as personal decisions. (more…)

It’s always wise to carefully evaluate all of your options before making a financial decision. That’s especially true when it comes to bankruptcy because of the long-term consequences, and there are many options that people consider including reverse mortgages. What exactly is a reverse mortgage and is it a good idea for paying off your debt? (more…)

Finding a mutual fund that’s a good fit for you can seem a daunting process. After all, there are literally thousands of these things floating around. And if you pick up a financial magazine in hopes of sorting through this mess, you’re bombarded by a ton of fund advertisements, all touting that particular fund family’s great returns and often including pictures of the fund managers, arms crossed and looking fiercely insightful. (Why fund companies think how their managers look is somehow enticing to investors remains a mystery to me.) (more…)