One of the biggest arguments in paying down credit card debt centers around the order that you should use when paying off your credit cards. Most personal finance experts agree that you should use a specific method of debt payment. This method of debt pay down involves ordering your debts, and then figuring out how much you can pay on top of the minimum. Then, you take that amount of money, and apply it to one credit card.

Photo: Shawanziea

If you have a credit card with a minimum payment of $25, and you can afford to pay an extra $200 a month, your payment on that card becomes $225. You keep paying the minimum on all your other credit cards. During this time. Once your card is paid off, you move on another card, transferring the entire amount ($225 in our example) on top of the next minimum.

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EVER since the sovereign-debt crisis erupted a year ago bond markets have repeatedly tested the resolve of European leaders to avoid government defaults. On each occasion euro-zone members have done something—but not quite enough to quell the crisis. This year looks like following the same pattern.

In early January investors sold off bonds issued by vulnerable euro-zone countries like Portugal, on the region’s periphery, and Belgium, closer to the core. In response Germany, the euro area’s reluctant paymaster, put its weight behind another initiative. A “grand bargain”, which is due to be struck at a summit in March, is supposed to bolster the support available for rescues. In return the euro zone will embrace more Germanic discipline.

Hopes had been rising that the grand bargain would live up to its name. Spreads o

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I’ve been blogging professionally since 2007, but you don’t need to have a profitable site to learn the basics of blogging success.  Even if you are just a hobbyist with a passion for connecting with your readers, you can benefit from these basic personal finance truths – all reinforced by your blog.

Photo: Kristina B

1.  You Have to Start Somewhere

One of the biggest excuses I hear for people reluctant to start blogging is that they don’t want to write when there is no one reading.  Even if you have an audience of two, however, it’s worth it to begin right away.  The same principle can be applied to most any personal finance goal.  You have to begin saving for retirement with just a penny.  Debt repayment begins with that initial on-time payment.

Lesson tip:  Just as every personal finance journey begins with the first step, so will a blog.  Your first post sets the stage for the momentum you need to be a “blogger.”  It’s best to start now, before you put it off any longer.

2.  Your style is deeply personal, and only your decisions count

Once you begin blogging, you’ll hear all kinds of advice from other bloggers on how to do it “right.”  Your blogging platform (WordPress vs. Blogger), the ad network you cho

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WHEN the federal government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two teetering mortgage-finance agencies, in September 2008 it was meant to be temporary. Yet their surreal existence as shareholder-owned prisoners of the state looks likely to drag on for years.

Nobody is happy with the status quo. The federal government routinely guarantees 85% or more of newly issued residential mortgages, primarily through Fannie, Freddie, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). But withdrawing that support is impossible while the housing market is so fragile. The Treasury is scheduled to release a proposal for overhauling America’s housing-finance system as early as next week. But rather than resolve the status of Fannie and Freddie, it is likely to lay out several options, none of which is likely to become law any time soon. <

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Well, it’s happened again. The financial dialogue has shifted from fear of deflation in the summer of 2010 to renewed inflation warnings as we greet 2011. And it’s no wonder. Prices for everything from food and clothing to gasoline and electricity are rising very quickly and inflation is one of the major factors that can put your retirement at risk.

Photo: Watching frogs boi

Rising commodity prices have led to what is being called the Food Crisis of 2011. Riots have broken out in many parts of the globe as citizens demand that their governments take action to curb the accelerating cost of feeding a family. Here in North America, a trip to the grocery store is weighing a lot heavier on our budgets these days as well. Gov

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