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Plan Well, Retire Well 2016

Student Loan Repayment… You have options!

Yesterday my colleagues and I completed our third webinar about student loan repayment in the last three years. I thought it be helpful to include some of the important tips we covered during our webinar. Especially for those who have young adults who are going off to college soon, are in college...
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#FirstSevenJobs: Major Changes for Teens and Young Adults

What started out as a fun hashtag, #FirstSevenJobs, has led to a discussion about our country's major shift in employment trends for teens and young adults. While many of us list jobs starting in our teens (babysitting, lawn mowing, cooking hamburgers, etc.), in 2014 only one in four teens had...
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Save Money on Your Car Loan!

Did you buy a car or truck in the past year? Twenty-four percent of adults surveyed did, according to the latest Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households. We tend to buy a lot of cars over our lifetimes. How we go about purchasing these vehicles matter. Car loans are the third largest...
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What's the Payback Time for Home Energy Improvements?

After months of cold winter days, and paying to heat my home, I'm ready in the spring for new ways to make my home more energy efficient! This time of the year is also when many homeowners like myself scramble to put home improvement plans into action, especially those plans that require hiring...
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Don't Get Stuck by the Financial Ghosts of Christmas Past!

2016 is here! It's in full swing and most people have the best intentions to start something new, but what about financially? Sure we want to lose weight, read more, or visit more of the world, but when do we ever set up new financial resolutions? If you're stuck in 2015's financial ghost of...
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Scam-Grams! Watch out!

Everyday someone falls victim to a scam or fraud. With the help of technology, scams happen more often each day. Recently a member of my family fell into a scam. She went to look for some help online with her printer, searched online for the phone number and called asking for help. After 45 minutes...
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Why the Next Four Weeks are Critical to Filing Your Taxes

Death and Taxes- two things we can't avoid. I don't know about you but I really hate filing taxes. It is so much paperwork and time consuming, even when my paperwork is organized. I usually put it off until later, much, much later. What I have been reading lately about identity...
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ANNOUNCING: Our New Curriculum

As University of Illinois Extension educators, we do financial education outreach in a variety of ways. Obviously we blog, and we also teach people in person. In our "free" time we also create new educational materials and curriculum. For the past three years, we've been working to create, revise...
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Make Saving Money FUN!

Spending money is fun. When you buy something – like a new outfit, or furniture for your house, or a new car – you get to show it to your friends, wear it or use it for a special event. The fun goes on and on! Saving money is not typically this much fun. Well, people and organizations concerned...
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Not Your Grandfather's Tax Filing System

In the old days, I use to run around town looking for the right tax forms, go through several erasers completing the forms, and then madly race to the post office to mail my tax return by the due date. When I lived in Tucson, one post office stayed open until midnight for procrastinating filers;...
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Do You Have a Savings Account?

Do you remember when you started your first savings account? I know I must have been pretty young when I first deposited money because I didn't quite understand how a savings account worked, and I was disappointed when I couldn't "withdraw" my Buffalo Nickel that I had deposited. That...
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Holiday Spending Tips

The holidays are coming up… and with it is the ability to overspend. Whether you're shopping for a few or many, having a plan for the holidays can help. Below are my top 3 holiday spending tips! 1. Use a budget within a budget. Although this seems tedious, having a budget within a budget will help...
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