Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Pennsylvania Personal Finance Classes Get Enthusiastic Response From Students
Some high school students tie themselves in knots to get good grades in multiple challenging classes so that they can get acceptance to colleges where admissions are competitive or, even better, get scholarships to their dream colleges. The students who are just ready for high school to be over so that they can get… Read More »
This Summer Is Not the Time for a Debt Repayment Avalanche
Even if your work is not subject to seasonal fluctuations, it seems like the most financially stressful time of the year. The heat seems to make the drag, so those minutes you spend sitting in your car after arriving home from your second job, too tired to go upstairs to your apartment, seem even… Read More »
Freelancers vs. Credit Card Debt
When people make impulse purchases, it is not because they aren’t aware that the money in their bank accounts would be better spent on other things. They know perfectly well how many hours of gig work it would take to cover the cost of those shoes or that Grubhub meal for the family. Most… Read More »
Debt Relief Charity Erases 20 Million Medical Bills
Medical debt has been stressing people out since much simpler times. Even in 2018, when we weren’t always on the brink of the next outbreak of measles or mpox, and when no one had ever heard of COVID-19, people dreading opening their mailboxes or looking at the notifications on their phones, because it was… Read More »
Possible Defenses That You Can Use in Credit Card Debt Lawsuits
Credit card debt lawsuits do not happen overnight. Instead, they are the culmination of debts that have built up over the course of several years. In some cases, you worried about the debt every day and tried to find ways to pay it, until you eventually gave up and just watched with trepidation as… Read More »
How to Avoid Shady Home Improvement Contractors
Journalists have been saying for decades, and perhaps even for centuries, that people in industrialized societies are suffering from a crisis of meaningful work. Home improvement contractors do not have this problem. Anyone who can repair drywall, fix a leaky faucet, or correct faulty electrical wiring gets a hero’s welcome from everyone except DIY… Read More »
Understanding the Earned Income Tax Credit
You know you are rich if taxes are the biggest financial burden you must bear. For the rest of us, income tax refunds are the only financial relief we get. Throughout the year, our paychecks get eaten up by the fees charged by the debit cards onto which our employers load our pay because… Read More »
How to Stop Debt From Ruining Your Marriage
Saying that money is the number one cause of divorce is like saying that money is the root of all evil; too many contradictory and, in some cases, mutually exclusive things are within the category of “money.” Some marriages fall apart because the spouses are dishonest with each other about their finances. In other… Read More »
Retirees and Credit Card Debt
Much of the content about credit card debt focuses on working age people who feel the pressure to engage in consumerism and who charge purchases on their credit cards in the hope, no matter how remote, that their income will increase to the point where they can pay down the debt more quickly than… Read More »
Credit Card Debt Relief for Broke Chumps
You can tell how privileged someone is by the advice they give you. The people who tell you to get up at 5:00 in the morning and go on a walk before taking a shower and getting dressed for work do not work from 8:00 a.m. until midnight like you do. The ones that… Read More »
