Cara Reynolds – SUM180 Community Manager

As a business owner, saving for taxes was a real challenge. When the end of the year rolled around I was caught off guard by my tax bill. My intention was to add to my retirement but never had the luxury of “left over” cash after the tax bill was paid. Finally after 10 years I have found the trick that prepares me for the end of the year and…[Read more]

As a business owner, saving for taxes was a real challenge. When the end of the year rolled around I was caught off guard by my tax bill. My intention was to add to my retirement but never had the luxury of “left over” cash after the tax bill was paid. Finally after 10 years I have found the trick that prepares me for the end of the year and…[Read more]

For many years the day after Christmas left me feeling drained and disappointed — way too many gifts of fleeting value. Several years ago in an effort to combine gifting with a lifelong lesson, we gave our children the gift of stock. We chose stocks related to each of our children’s interests. For our son, we purchased sports and ent…[Read more]

With one college age child and two headed that way, I am always on the lookout for ways to manage the enormous tuition burden. My goal was to find ways to ease the burden without a lot of time and with guaranteed success. I discovered Tuition Payment Plan – a plan that spreads the payment of yearly tuition over 10 months with NO FEE. The plan d…[Read more]

With advice from this site and my Sum 180 plan I secured two 0% credit cards and have successfully transferred higher fee balances to these cards. I now have about 50% of my outstanding debt on 0% cards and 50% on higher interest rate cards. How do I allocate my monthly payments? Do I pay the higher rate cards now or do I pay the 0% cards off…[Read more]

Everyone has those expenses that are the same each month – a YMCA membership, a Netflix bill, the cable bill. Reviewing how you are paying these bills can give you some ideas about where you can save money.

When I was working through my SUM 180 interview, I made a list of all my recurring bills. I had set some up to pay on a credit card, some…[Read more]

When I first heard about SUM 180, I was intrigued. The basic idea was great – get a financial check up and talk with an adviser. I certainly needed to tidy up my retirement accounts and tune up my daily spending habits. That part was a no-brainer.

What really got me to create an account and discuss my finances with a stranger was the fact that…[Read more]

As I continue on my Sum180 journey, I treat cutting monthly bills and debt as a game and each and every time there is a winner and a loser. I have already posted about winning by securing two 0% interest rate cards and this week I won by cutting my AT&T U-Verse bill by more than $100.

First, how did our cable, internet and phone bill get so…[Read more]

If you saw my earlier post, I did not have much luck lowering interest rates on my current cards. Meanwhile, I continued to receive 0% interest offers weekly. I started collecting them with the idea that I would see if I could get some credit at 0%. Last week I set aside time to compare offers and make calls. I chose the two cards with the longest…[Read more]