Author Archives: Jay Butchko
More Than Half of Americans Cannot Afford Necessities
On paper, it looks like the economy is doing great, but your lived experience tells you otherwise. You are not the only person who is struggling financially, even though the social media influencers and multilevel marketers who stand to make money off of your loneliness and insecurity would like you to think that you… Read More »
Student Loan Collections Represent a New Nightmare for Social Security Beneficiaries
Americans of all ages are staring down a long future of financial insecurity, and we did not get here overnight. Student loan payments may not be the biggest financial burden in terms of dollars and cents, but they are a pain point because of the unrealized dream that borrowing money for college would lead… Read More »
Beware of Dealership Cloning
On Memorial Day weekend, car dealerships turn up the charm and roll back prices as much as their budgets will allow. These days, cars are so expensive that, even if you trade in your old car and use the proceeds for a down payment on the new one, you will probably have to finance… Read More »
Brace Yourself for the Housing Assistance Cuts
You might not have noticed it amidst all the other cuts to federal programs that we took for granted, but the White House has proposed eliminating the Section 8 housing voucher program. In response, many cities have stopped accepting new applications for Section 8 housing vouchers. Eliminating Section 8 would not single handedly create… Read More »
How to Land on Your Feet After One Late Payment
This seems to happen every year. You start out the summer with big plans for being productive and frugal, but then a major expense comes out of nowhere and leaves you wondering how you will ever be able to make ends meet until the end of August, when there are five days per week… Read More »
How Bad Is It If You Only Make Minimum Payments on Your Credit Cards?
These days, you have to take good news where you can find it. If you have paid all of your bills this month, you should celebrate, even if your celebration cannot be anything that costs money, because by the time you have paid all your bills, your bank account balance is in the single… Read More »
Philadelphia Is Not Doing So Badly When It Comes to Consumer Debt
If you had any money, you might gather your friends for a weekend of fun in a city where the weather is warmer at this time of year than it is in Philadelphia. You might sip sweet tea in Atlanta or watch the restaurant staff in San Antonio mash the avocados and squeeze oranges… Read More »
Financial Stress Turns Up the Heat in the Summer
Now that we are years into financial long COVID, financial stress is a year-round ordeal, but certain one time per year expenses only make things worse. You have long since given up on buying holiday gifts, traveling during your children’s spring break, and preparing a feast for Thanksgiving. You have been supplementing your income… Read More »
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Overdraft Fees
It is a common plot point in movies with everyman protagonists and in motivational stories by personal finance influencers. Just when the protagonist thinks his day cannot get worse, he goes to withdraw money from an ATM or check his bank account balance online and finds out that his bank account is overdrawn, meaning… Read More »
When Does Delayed Vehicle Ownership Paperwork Become Used Car Fraud?
Buying a car is a marathon, not a sprint, even if it is not your first vehicle purchase. You spend hours going back and forth with chatty salespeople at the dealership about minute features of the car that might increase or decrease the sale price by a few dollars, until the financial department finally… Read More »
