Getting accepted to an academic program can be one of the most exciting events in a student’s academic career. However, this excitement is often followed by panic. Many students and their families become overwhelmed by applying for financial aid, taking out loans, and cutting costs to afford a college education. Student debt is something that can plague individuals and their families long after graduation, but doing extensive research before borrowing can help. Here are a few things that borrowers should know about student debt before they sign on the dotted line.

Traditional approaches to eliminating debt tend to create a black-and-white view of money matters—reduce spending so you can increase debt payments.

It may seem counterintuitive, but investing while you’re managing and paying off loans can help you eliminate debt. How? By increasing the earnings you have available to make payments.

If you’re in the market for a car, you have the option to buy or lease it if you aren’t paying cash outright for the car. 

Many people are opposed to leasing and will only buy cars and vice versa, but how do you know which one is right for you.

Here’s everything you must know about the difference between buying and leasing a car.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), we are stressed out.

The latest Stress in America report from the APA, published in 2018, found that over half of millennials (born between 1980 and 1994) and members of Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2015) feel stressed out, with just under half of baby boomers and older adults feeling the same.

Money, work, and health concerns are America’s main stressors, and mental health crises are prevalent outcomes of high stress.

The report clearly states one thing—stress is a certainty, and you’re going to get your turn with it sooner or later. Here’s a list of 10 things to avoid when stress rears its ugly head.

There are tons of online tax tools. Why go through the trouble of finding and hiring a tax planner?

Because a tax planner could save you millions over your lifetime, along with other benefits. Here’s what you need to know about tax pros.

What is a tax planner?

They are accounting professionals — certified public accountants (CPAs) or tax attorneys — who work with clients over a long period. A tax planner’s primary goal is to ensure that the client is prepared for the next filing season and pays the minimum taxes legally possible.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have only been around for about 25 years.

Nevertheless, they can be a productive part of a diversified portfolio, and they have certain distinct advantages over other types of funds and/or traded assets.

What are they?

ETFs are grouped collections of securities. Like a mutual fund, an ETF pools money from a number of investors into a single fund that purchases a diversified selection of bonds, equities, and other assets with a certain investment goal in mind (income or speculation, for example).

If you own a home and have paid your mortgage down a bit, you may have some equity in your home. Equity is the difference between your home’s value and the outstanding mortgage. In other words, it’s your investment in the property. 

At first glance, it may feel like your equity is tied up in your home since homes aren’t liquid. You probably think you have to move to get the difference between your home’s value and your mortgage. But there are ways to get your equity out while allowing you to stay in the home. 

Here’s what you must know.

You hear credit cards are bad so you don’t use them, right? What if we told you they could be good when used in the right context? What if you could build an even better credit score if you had reward credit cards as a personal finance tool? 

It’s true, reward credit cards can be a great way to build and keep a good credit score. Even better, they pay you rewards just for spending money. But you have to know how to find the right card and how to use them right so you don’t get in over your head in debt.

It takes credit to build credit, but if no one will give you credit without a credit score, what do you do?

It’s not as hard as you think to build credit from scratch. Before we show you how to build credit, though, we’ll explain what credit is and why it’s important.

No one particularly wants to live on a tight budget, but there are times when we need to rein in our spending and pay better attention to where the money is going.

But, you can still live well on a tight budget. There are ways to live your best life while spending less.