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More Americans are retiring earlier than you might think

While it’s highly recommended that we use a financial advisor when we start to grow our investment portfolio, there are a lot of things you can do before you ever speak to a financial advisor to grow and maintain your investment portfolio. Investing, like everything else in life, has no guarantees, and even the hottest stock or the best tip may not always perform the way we would like.

The American Institute of CPA’s (AICPA) recently published a list of personal finance trends that we should all be concerned about. These trends highlight the fact that almost 63 percent of Americans today are unable to pass a basic financial literacy test.

Here are the troubling trends, as well as some tips on how to avoid them:

Most nonprofit organizations today offer a variety of planned giving options that supporters can take advantage of. If you’re committed to supporting an organization into perpetuity, planned giving provides you with the option to do so.

*This content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. The information provided is not written or intended as tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for purposes of avoiding any Federal tax penalties.

More than 60 million Americans had their identities stolen in 2018, a significant increase from 2015, where more than 15 million consumers were affected. With identity theft numbers on the rise, it certainly doesn’t appear likely that scammers are going away anytime soon.

Zombie debt is old debt that is typically written off as bad debt by the original creditor and then later sold to collection agencies for pennies on the dollar. Most of the debt sold is years old and cannot legally be collected, though many consumers are unaware of the statute of limitations for legal collection of this debt.

There are many ways that we support our favorite charitable causes. However, one of the most beneficial ways to support a favorite charity now and into perpetuity is through planned giving.

Most consumers typically have both a credit card and a debit card. Of course, the biggest difference between the two is that a debit card will immediately take money out of your bank account when used, unlike a credit card, which will pay for the purchase and later add the amount of the transaction to your monthly statement.

But are there any other differences between the two?