Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial advice, gathered from around the web:
Research your fund's fees
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Financial rules made to be broken
Financial planners are increasingly advising their clients that some once sacrosanct financial rules should occasionally be broken, said Casey Bond at HuffPost. Getting married, for instance, doesn't necessitate a merging of finances. It's now "common for marriage to happen later in life after couples have spent years building their financial lives independently." The advice to "pay off your mortgage as fast as possible" is also outdated. Mortgage rates remain historically low, and many investments generate returns above 8 percent, so you should focus on making on-time payments and seeking out higher returns. Using your age to determine your asset allocation between stocks and bonds is another obsolete rule of thumb. Instead of following a strict approach to investing, talk to an adviser about "how you can tailor your portfolio to your personal risk tolerance and goals."
Building an emergency fund
"Should I pay off my debt or save for emergencies first?" asked Anna Bahney at CNN. The best approach is generally to pay off the debt as fast as possible, especially when credit card interest rates are surging toward 20 percent. But life is rarely straightforward, and financial planners say that credit cards aren't "a safe fallback." So you should pay off your debt and save at the same time, "bit by bit." Begin by getting a handle on your fixed expenses. Whatever amount remains should determine just how much you can split between your debt and emergency fund. To really expedite the process, consider also taking on a second job or side gig until your debt is gone.
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warmingUnder the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
September 14 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
The pros and cons of noncompete agreementsThe Explainer The FTC wants to ban companies from binding their employees with noncompete agreements. Who would this benefit, and who would it hurt?
-
What experts are saying about the economy's surprise contractionThe Explainer The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web
-
The death of cities was greatly exaggeratedThe Explainer Why the pandemic predictions about urban flight were wrong
-
The housing crisis is hereThe Explainer As the pandemic takes its toll, renters face eviction even as buyers are bidding higher
-
How to be an ally to marginalized coworkersThe Explainer Show up for your colleagues by showing that you see them and their struggles
-
What the stock market knowsThe Explainer Publicly traded companies are going to wallop small businesses
-
Can the government save small businesses?The Explainer Many are fighting for a fair share of the coronavirus rescue package
-
How the oil crash could turn into a much bigger economic shockThe Explainer This could be a huge problem for the entire economy
