Top 10 Personal Finance Articles of the Month — August 2018

Budgeting

How To Budget: Why The 50/30/20 Rule Will Be Your Ultimate Budget Plan — The Land of Milk and Money

If you’ve never taken the time to create an honest-to-goodness budget before, understanding the popular 50/30/20 rule can be a great way to get started. However, even if you know the basics of said rule, you may still seek some more guidance and clarification on some of its principals and best practices. Luckily the “Money Bee” has created this in-depth guide to help walk you through the process of creating a budget that works for you.

10 Amazing Benefits of Budgeting Your Money — Kelan Kline, The Savvy Couple

For most people, budgets are like diets: no fun. That said, while sticking to a budget may not always be easy, the benefits can far outweigh the sacrifices. As Kelan explains, there are many ways that having a budget in place can help you lead a better financial life.

Tighten Your Budget: 5 Achievable Ways to Save More and Spend Less — Kyle Burbank, Money@30

Regardless of how great your budget is when you first start, there’s a strong chance that it will change over time as both your priorities and financial realities evolve. Along the same lines, you may find that there are cuts you can make in some areas and reroute the money toward larger goals and passions. With that in mind, Kyle shares five relatively-painless tips for tightening your budget.

Traveling

4 Smart Ways to Manage Your Money So You Can Actually Relax on Vacation — Carson Kohler, The Penny Hoarder

Transitioning from budgeting to travel, it’s easy to forget that the former can have a large impact on the latter. While vacationers surely want to forget their troubles while away and enjoy their trip, that’s not always possible if you have debts and other financial issues that will follow you wherever you go. To help you avoid these nagging problems and truly relax on your vacation, Carson offers four tips for managing your money before departure.

Make These 5 Money Moves Before You Travel Abroad — Holly Johnson, Wisebread

Heading overseas and visiting new countries is certainly exciting. Sadly it can also be extremely frustrating or downright disastrous if you don’t prepare ahead of time. Holly notes that these preparations should also include a few financial moves that can help ensure things go smoothly while abroad and even save you money along the way.

When to Buy Travel Insurance — Alicia Adamczyk, TwoCents

Have you ever been booking a trip on a travel site and been greeted by a pop-up asking you if you’d like to purchase insurance for your trip? If so, you probably declined but may have had a lingering thought in the back of your mind wondering if you’d made a mistake. To help, Alicia takes a closer look at the travel insurance industry, what to know about these policies, and a few tips for buying if you choose.

Personal Finance Tips

Remote Work 101 – Increase Happiness with Increased Flexibility — The Frugal Wallet

Speaking of travel, you may have considered what it might be like to have a job that didn’t require you to be in a certain location at a certain time. This level of flexibility is becoming more and more common thanks to numerous technologies that allow for remote work. Take a deeper dive into the topic of remote work — including tips on how to score a job with remote capabilities — in this article from The Frugal Wallet.

5 Ways to Keep Money from Destroying Your Marriage — Bobby Hoyt, Millennial Money Man

It’s no secret that one of the top instigators of arguments between couples is money. However it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, for his piece, Bobby shares five tips that can help couples get on the same page when it comes to finance and stop the money fights before they happen.

Skip the Points – Maximize Cash Back Card Rewards — Bad Budget

Despite all the warnings out there regarding the dangers of credit cards, when used correctly, credit cards can actually save you money. This is especially true when you use the right cards in order to maximize your cash back earnings. Moreover, while cards that offer points or miles may be popular, there may be some bigger benefits to dealing in direct cash back instead. The fine folks at Bad Budget explain more on why cash back can be better than points when it comes to credit card rewards.

21 Apps to Help Sell Your Junk & Stuff Online — Makenzi Wood, Wallet Hacks

Previously, getting rid of items you no longer had a use for was an all-day affair that typically involved setting up a garage sale, making a haul to Goodwill, or just throwing these possessions away along with any profit you might have garnered. These days, thanks to numerous apps on the market, the process of selling your “junk” has been made much simpler. Makenzi gives an overview of each of these various apps that prove once again that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

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Thanks for checking out my top 10 personal finance articles published last month and congratulations to all of the bloggers who made the list. To find more of these great articles on a daily basis, be sure to follow me on Twitter @jondyer9 and of course visit DyerNews.com.