This guest post was written by Go Banking Rates, bringing you informative personal finance content and helpful tools, as well as the best interest rates on financial services nationwide. Follow them on Twitter at @GoBankingRates.

One of the biggest perks offered by many employers is the retirement plan match. Often, when you deposit money into your account, your company will contribute a percentage as well (up to about six percent of salary in most cases). That means if you’re not taking advantage of your employer 401(k) match, you’re essentially accepting a voluntary pay cut. Or, to look at it from another perspective, you are giving up a guaranteed return on your contributions.

Unfortunately, plenty of workers that were happily contributing to their retirement savings plan on a regular basis are no longer earning that match. A Read the rest of this entry

Salvaging My Credit - Tips on Budgeting

Salvaging My Credit
The Dollar Stretcher Blog
Written by: Gary Foreman

I quit paying ALL of my CREDIT CARDS ACCOUNTS because I may have to file bankruptcy???!!! BUT I have several charge offs on my credit now!! What should I do? Pay the collection agency which I heard, was NOT the way to go!! Does a collection agency report to the credit report paid in full if you try and pay off the balance owed?? Or should I just file bankruptcy? PLEASE HELP!!!! Thank you!!!
B.




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What’s It Costing You?
The Dollar Stretcher Blog
by Gary Foreman
gary @stretcher.com

One of my favorite quotes comes from Henry Ford. “Thinking is the hardest work there is. That’s why so few engage in it.” Old Mr. Ford was an interesting man. He made some very good decisions (produce an affordable car for the average man, use an assembly line with interchangeable parts) and some very bad ones (sticking to old designs too long). That makes him a perfect person to help us understand an economic concept called “opportunity cost.”

What is opportunity cost? It’s a theory that states something that we already know. Sometimes you have two or more alternatives, but you can only choose one. To put it in a more scholarly way its choosing between mutually exclusive choices.

For example, suppose you were shopping for a new car. You’ve narrowed it down to a minivan and SUV. Both about the same price. You have to choose between the two. You cannot have both.

After test rides you decide to choose the minivan. That’s your opportunity. The ability to choose the van. The cost is the loss of the SUV.

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