https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog Credit cards, loans, insurance and investing, explained with the arithmetic shown. en-us Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/roth-vs-traditional-explained https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/roth-vs-traditional-explained Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Investing If your tax rate is the same now as in retirement, Roth and traditional accounts produce exactly the same amount. Here is the proof, and the four things that break the tie. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/dollar-cost-averaging-explained https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/dollar-cost-averaging-explained Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Investing Investing a fixed amount at regular intervals gives you an average cost below the average price. That is not a slogan; it is a property of averages, and here is the worked example. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/building-an-emergency-fund https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/building-an-emergency-fund Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Insurance Every insurance policy you hold leaves a gap you have agreed to cover, plus one risk almost nothing insures. Cash is what fills both. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/term-vs-whole-life-insurance https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/term-vs-whole-life-insurance Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Insurance Whole life costs many times what term costs for the same death benefit. The difference buys two things bundled together, and whether you want them bundled is the actual question. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/deductible-coinsurance-out-of-pocket-maximum https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/deductible-coinsurance-out-of-pocket-maximum Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Insurance Health plans have four cost terms that people routinely confuse. Only one of them tells you the worst case, and it is not the deductible. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/secured-vs-unsecured-loans https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/secured-vs-unsecured-loans Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Personal Loans Secured borrowing is cheaper because you have handed the lender something to take. That trade is worth making sometimes, and it is worth understanding every time. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/debt-to-income-ratio-explained https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/debt-to-income-ratio-explained Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Personal Loans Your DTI is the number a lender uses to judge whether you can absorb another payment. It is simple to calculate, and there is no single threshold, despite what you may have read. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-extra-loan-payments-work https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-extra-loan-payments-work Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Personal Loans An extra payment aimed at principal removes every future interest charge that principal would have generated. On a 30-year loan the effect is larger than most people expect. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/credit-utilisation-explained https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/credit-utilisation-explained Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Credit Cards Utilisation is one of the largest factors in your credit score, and almost everything commonly said about the 30% threshold is made up. Here is what the mechanism actually is. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/avalanche-vs-snowball-debt-payoff https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/avalanche-vs-snowball-debt-payoff Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Credit Cards One method is mathematically optimal and the other is easier to stick with. Here is what the difference is actually worth in dollars, which turns out to be less than the argument suggests. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-balance-transfers-actually-work https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-balance-transfers-actually-work Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Credit Cards A 0% balance transfer is not free money. There is a fee charged up front and a deadline that decides whether the whole exercise saved you anything. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/compound-interest-explained https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/compound-interest-explained Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Investing Compound growth is quoted so often that it has stopped meaning anything. Working through the actual arithmetic is the fastest way to make it concrete again. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/retirement-contribution-limits-2026 https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/retirement-contribution-limits-2026 Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Investing The IRS raised both the 401(k) and IRA limits for 2026, and added a higher catch-up band for people aged 60 to 63. Here are the figures. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-investment-fees-compound https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-investment-fees-compound Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Investing Investment fees are quoted in fractions of a percent, which makes them feel trivial. The SEC publishes an example showing exactly how untrivial they are over twenty years. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/what-insurance-is-actually-for https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/what-insurance-is-actually-for Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Insurance Insurance is a tool for transferring risks you could not survive. Applied to risks you could absorb, it is simply an expensive way to buy certainty. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/choosing-an-insurance-deductible https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/choosing-an-insurance-deductible Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Insurance A higher deductible lowers your premium. Whether that is a good deal depends almost entirely on one thing: whether you could actually pay the deductible tomorrow. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-loan-amortisation-works https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-loan-amortisation-works Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Personal Loans Your loan payment stays the same every month, but what it buys changes completely. Understanding the split explains why overpaying early is worth so much more than overpaying late. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/apr-vs-interest-rate-explained https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/apr-vs-interest-rate-explained Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Personal Loans Two loans can advertise the same interest rate and cost meaningfully different amounts. The APR is the number designed to expose that difference. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/what-actually-affects-your-credit-score https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/what-actually-affects-your-credit-score Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Credit Cards There is no single credit score, and the percentage breakdowns you see quoted everywhere are not published by the regulators. Here is what the CFPB actually says. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/credit-card-grace-period-explained https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/credit-card-grace-period-explained Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Credit Cards The grace period is the reason a credit card can cost nothing to use. It is also easy to lose without noticing, and getting it back takes longer than most people expect. https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-credit-card-interest-is-calculated https://myfinanceblogs.com/blog/how-credit-card-interest-is-calculated Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Credit Cards Your card does not charge you once a month at the APR on the front of the statement. It charges you daily, on a balance that moves every day. Here is the arithmetic.