You might have pumpkins on your porch, but it’s already time to make room for the year-end holidays in your budget. “I was at Costco the other day, and I already saw Christmas trees, [so] we need to be thinking about it right now,” says Nick Givogri, a California-based regional executive for investment service Merrill Edge. Here’s how to get started. Work backward Your past holiday spending is the best indicator of what you’ll spend this season, says Robert P. Finley,…

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Would buying a nice gift for a wedding or birthday strain your finances for the month? How about an unexpected expense, like a car repair — could you handle it easily, with some difficulty, or not at all? Do you usually have money left at the end of the month? In a fresh approach to helping consumers understand their money, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has developed a quiz to measure financial well-being. Answering 10 simple questions yields a score between 0 and…

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A typical student loan horror story goes something like this: You’re a millennial with crippling, six-figure debt; you’re underemployed; and you’re on the brink of default and living in your parents’ basement. But while that’s the case for some student loan borrowers, it doesn’t have to be the case for you. Here are seven ways to minimize and manage your debt — and avoid those worst-case scenarios. 1. Exhaust federal student aid first Scary stat: 47% of private loan borrowers took out less…

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Sometimes the dark side is too strong to resist, urging you to splurge on that second, even more perfect pair of brown boots or upgrade to a more stylish pair of wireless headphones. But the fleeting satisfaction you get from succumbing to these seductive I-didn’t-know-I-needed-it-until-just-now purchases can fade to a sense of financial failure when you get your credit card statement. Overspending is like looking for love in all of the wrong places. No matter how many boots you have,…

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Popular budgeting advice like the 50/30/20 rule — which allots a set percentage of income to necessities, wants and needs — is meaningless for people whose paychecks go up and down. Freelancers, the self-employed, and those who depend on tips or commissions can have a great-paying month or a bad one, and that leaves them vulnerable. A Federal Reserve report released in May found that nearly a third of U.S. adults had irregular incomes in 2016 — and 40% of those struggled…

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  Wells Fargo said Thursday it may have opened as many as 3.5 million unauthorized accounts, a sharp increase from the 2.1 million it previously announced as part of a $185 million settlement in September 2016. That could mean many more consumers are eligible for refunds and credits. The bank has agreed to pay out another $2.8 million, according to a Wells Fargo news release. This is in addition to more than $3 million in payments announced after the first review. The increased…

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Chances are good that the Equifax data breach affects you. What do you do next? The short answers: Consider a credit freeze. Scrutinize your credit statements. And check your credit reports from all three credit bureaus. Equifax says hackers used a website application vulnerability to access the personal information of about 143 million U.S. consumers, or more than half of the country’s adult population. Credit bureaus such as Equifax are an especially sensitive target because they handle detailed financial records, and it’s nearly impossible for…

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The average American saves less than 5% of his or her disposable income. Many financial advisors say that isn’t enough to ensure a comfortable retirement. The personal saving rate, calculated by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, has hovered around 5% for the past few years. By the end of June, the rate had dipped to 3.8%, the bureau reported. » MORE: NerdWallet’s best savings accounts Carrie Houchins-Witt, a certified financial planner in Coralville, Iowa, encourages her clients to save 10% to…

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BRAVE NEW BANK This NerdWallet series delves into what’s new in retail banking and what’s in it for you. We explore some of the surprising things in store for products, tech and security and look at how they’ll affect consumers. In 1960, Life magazine described a new Wells Fargo branch in San Francisco as having “such striking architecture that it is now a local tourist attraction.” It was one of many “glass-and-metal palaces” that transformed the public’s perception of banks “from…

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Your neighbor pulls up in a sweet new ride. Your co-worker announces she’s taking yet another trip abroad. Your best friend upgrades to a bigger house in a better area of town. You’re pretty sure these people don’t make a lot more than you do. So how are they able to spend that kind of money? Maybe they’re up to their ears in debt, or they’re trust fund babies, or they’ll never be able to retire. Or maybe they’ve figured…

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