Sometimes it's hard to think about making those IRA contributions and taking the time out to understand IRA contribution limits because, well, retirement seems so far off. But the U.S. tax structure has several incentives that make both Roth and traditional IRAs worth the look. It also pays to make sure you know about deductions relating to your income level, so we'll deal with that here as well.

IRA contribution limits

For the 2016 tax year, the contribution limits on IRA contributions are:

So, you've decided to enact some savings strategies.

You've banned takeout, swapped all venti fat-free lattes for the trusty Mr. Coffee at home, staged the yard sale, cut the cable, dropped the landline, raised your insurance deductibles, brown bagged every single lunch for months, and ... plan to limit the A/C all sweatin'-summer long.

[This is the second installment in a series examining repaying student loans. Part I was a best practices guide for repaying student loans.]

Pay As You Earn (PAYE) was introduced in December 2012 and has been widely touted as one of the best options for those struggling to pay back their student loans. Why is this? PAYE is an income-driven payment plan for federal student loans that caps the monthly payment amount at 10 percent of your discretionary income.

The U.S. Department of Education considers discretionary income to be "the difference between your income and 150 percent of the poverty guideline for your family size and state of residence." So let's do some math using the following assumptions:

Everyone's inner-optimist is a loud-mouth.

“Yes, you deserve a gigantic increase in pay.”

It's that time of year when you hear about your bonus and raise.

Want to start a fight? Announce that you'll be shopping on Thanksgiving Day.

A whole bunch of folks will likely sigh and mourn the once-was-sacred Thanksgiving dinner with family. Why, they'll ask, would anyone want to shop on this day? Why would anyone force retail clerks into manning their posts even though they'd rather be home melting marshmallows atop sweet-potato casseroles?

One such pearl-clutcher, hearing that Macy's would open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, suggested to a Chicago-area newspaper that an obituary was needed. "I think this death needs to be acknowledged," she said. "It is the death of Thanksgiving."<

Post-secondary education has never been more important. Personal finance writer Liz Weston notes that “a college degree today is what a high school diploma was 60 years ago,” i.e., the bare minimum for remaining in the middle class.

Whether a teaching degree or HVAC certification, it's going to make a difference in your child's life. The big question is how to pay for that training.

Making college more affordable

Lately, life has been a little hectic. I have a full schedule of work. I'm trying to plan a surprise party. I'm working on three different passion projects. My laundry needs to be washed. Hell, I need to be washed. It's noon and I haven't even showered.

I don't mind a packed schedule, and I've learned to better manage my time. But for those moments when a lack of time gets the better of me, and my stress level rises, I've noticed something unsettling: I have a really careless attitude about money.

In short, I've been stress spending. Some of it is emotional, and some of it is spending out of convenience. Here are a few examples of my recent stress spending:

In the past few months, I've had a noteworthy number of conversations about the trend toward frugality. More of my friends seem interested in finding ways to save, I can't throw a rock at the Internet without hitting a money-saving "hack," and, during a job interview, I had a lengthy discussion about how "personal finance is now trendy."

Get Rich Slowly reader and money blogger Mrs. PoP noticed it too, and wrote about it on her blog:

"Recently I've begun to notice something a bit unusual. An interest in personal finance seems to be becoming more common, and dare I say, trendy… Maybe I'm just drawn to [friends'] comments because of our own interest in personal finance. But maybe, there's also a chance that personal finance -- in a non-gimmicky way -- is actually starting to be 'cool'." Continue reading...

More about...Uncategorized

When I opened my current checking account a few years ago, I thought the rate was great. Now I'm seeing banks with even higher rates and I'm ready to rethink my banking decision. Of course, interest rates aren't the only reason to switch banks; but there are institutions with numbers that are pretty tempting, and CIT Bank has caught my attention.

CIT background

By way of background, CIT Group was founded in 1908 and currently focuses a lot of its energy on business loans and small-business clients. In 2009, CIT Group filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but CIT Bank was not part of that bankruptcy. Still, experts indicate that CIT is a safe bank, and further, CIT Bank is FDIC-insured for up to $250,000 per account.

High-interest savings accounts

High-interest rates seem to be CIT's biggest draw; and with a minimum deposit of just $100, their rates are accessible to most everyone. Premium rates are available for those who maintain a daily balance of $25,000 or more too. I especially like the fact that CIT compounds interest daily, but also that deposits and withdrawals can be done easily by linking to an existing account at another bank. And what about fees? There are no monthly maintenance fees. Good job!

Lifestyle inflation gets a bad rap, and understandably so. It's so darn tempting and so many of us seem to have a serious problem controlling it. But inherently, lifestyle inflation isn't a bad thing. Lots of Get Rich Slowly readers have made this point, and I agree: if your finances are in order, what's wrong with treating yourself to a little luxurious lifestyle upgrade?

In fact, I'd like to argue that lifestyle inflation can be done responsibly.

I live below my means, but I'm not eating beans every night, either. As I've gotten older and my finances have evolved, I've admittedly engaged in a little more lifestyle inflation. But I've always been careful and mindful of it. Here's how I feel I've handled my lifestyle inflation responsibly.