How to switch Banks in 5 steps. Hate the service – or the interest rate- that you are getting at your bank? Here’s how to find a better institution.
12 Ways to Avoid Paying Bank Fees:
Bank fees can drain your reserves, but you can avoid them. Check out cheaper alternatives and ways of minimizing this aggravating cost.
The 10 Most Supportive States for Black-Owned Businesses. African-Americans account for 13% of the U.S. population, yet only 7% of U.S. businesses are Black-owned. Recent events have led to a nationwide push to support Black-owned businesses, so we wanted to find out which states support a thriving environment for Black-owned businesses. However, businesses don’t grow in a vacuum. Having a college degree can be beneficial, but not absolutely necessary. Here are the states and their rankings of the number of Black-owned businesses in the U.S.
10. Florida
9. North Carolina
8. Massachusetts
7.New Jersey
6.Texas
5. Virginia
4. California (tie) w/ Virginia
3. New York
2. Georgia
1. Maryland is the state with the most Black-owned businesses
Use FINRA’s fund analyzer. Just a 1 percent annual fee on investments can cost you thousands by the time you retire. Visit finra.org to check the fees in your mutual funds and compare the costs.
Buy fractional shares of stock. Stocks like Amazon can cost around $2,500 per share, but firms such as Fidelity and no-commission apps like Robinhood and M1 Finance let you buy fractional shares. You could invest $250 (10 percent) or even $25 (1 percent) and still get the same growth.
…As well as no foreign-transaction fees. Currency conversion or cash-withdrawal fees can be shockingly high. Travelers should get a credit card that doesn’t charge you a fee for swiping overseas. Navy Federal Credit Union allows debt overseas without conversion fees – you will pay ATM fees.
Check your credit card for additional benefits… Some cards offer surprising rewards, like credits for TSA PreCheck, roadside assistance, free museum entry and complimentary subscriptions to premium offerings from Lyft and DoorDash.
Airless baggage! For less that $30, you can buy a set of zip-up compression bags that allow you to squeeze more clothes into your carry-on and bypass costly checked baggage.
Watch TV a la carte. Consider canceling cable or streamings subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) and buy only what you need. For instance, if you pay for full cable but mostly watch HBO, drop cable and pay separately for HBO. With so many of them free, you might find you were paying hundreds per year for little-used services.
Create a target savings rate. Diverting 10 percent of monthly income to savings and 10 percent to retirement investments is a good rule of thumb. Once you’ve achieved your targets, you don’t have to worry about your smaller splurges.