Pay extra on student loans

The Squared Away blog has a good resource to show the benefit of paying extra on student loan debt. "Paying down debt is just another form of saving, and larger loan payments significantly shorten the time it takes to pay it off, while reducing the total interest paid." For example: "Paying $96.66 per month on a $5,000 student loan with 6 percent interest eliminates it in five years. An extra $50 every month – a couple of nights out – knocks two years off the payment time." Learn more at: http://squaredawayblog.bc.edu/squared-away/paying-extra-on-college-debt-has-wallop/

Scam Gram

Check out the latest scams at the Consumer Action "Scam Gram"
Windows 10 scam
Phoney iphone fix
Beware the Craig's List kooks
It includes more examples of scams and "Tips to keep you safe." If you think you are immune from scams... think again and review this list.
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50872/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1327634

Having trouble making ends meet? You're not alone

Almost one in five Americans struggle to make ends meet. The good news is that in most cases spending can be controlled. Watch this video to learn more. http://www.finra.org/investors/video-making-ends-meet?utm_source=MM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Investor%5FNews%5F072315%5FFINAL#sthash.LItKzIXx.dpuf

Check out the FINRA.org website for more financial information.

Almost one in five Americans struggle to make ends meet. The good news is that in most cases spending can be controlled. Watch our video to learn more. - See more at: http://www.finra.org/investors/video-making-ends-meet?utm_source=MM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Investor%5FNews%5F072315%5FFINAL#sthash.LItKzIXx.dpuf

Almost one in five Americans struggle to make ends meet. The good news is that in most cases spending can be controlled. Watch our video to learn more. - See more at: http://www.finra.org/investors/video-making-ends-meet?utm_source=MM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Investor%5FNews%5F072315%5FFINAL#sthash.LItKzIXx.dpuf

Indexed Universal Life Insurance

The insurance industry is always inventing new products to try to sell more insurance or insurance + investment products that charge higher commissions than basic term or whole life insurance. Indexed universal life is one of these new complicated products.

See:

http://www.hcplive.com/physicians-money-digest/personal-finance/Dahle-5-Reasons-Not-To-Buy-IUL-Insurance

http://wiki.fool.com/Pros_and_Cons_of_Indexed_Universal_Life_Insurance

http://www.ehow.com/info_7736124_pros-indexed-universal-life-insurance.html

Keep it simple. Buy basic term life insurance to cover your insurance needs and invest separately; again, keep the investments simple and straightforward (i.e. low cost, no-load index mutual funds).

The more complicated the product, the higher the commission to the sales person which is why the financial industry heavily promotes their more complicated products. Life insurance sales people cannot make a living by selling what consumers need- basic term insurance.

In general, consumers are better off with plain vanilla financial/insurance products.