Financial Education

Helpful, easy-to-understand articles to guide your financial wellness journey at every stage.

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Try This: Take a Staycation

Staycations are gaining in popularity and for good reason. You can avoid fuel, airfare, and hotel costs, have an opportunity to really explore and learn about the place in which you live,finally finish some of those projects you've been meaning to work on, and still have the power to cut ties with work for the week in order to feel completely refreshed when you head back.

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Personal Finance

Thrifty Thursday: DIY Beauty Products

It's so easy to overspend on beauty and hygiene products. It seems like there's a lotion and potion for just about every possible part of your body and then some. Plus, just when we think we've got the hottest product, the wonderful world of advertising throws a 'new and improved,' even pricier one at us.

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Personal Finance

Student Life: The Ins + Outs of the Parent PLUS Loan

We all know school costs a great deal, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any cheaper. All too often, your child fills out scholarship after scholarship and takes out the maximum amount of Federal Direct Loans*, and it still isn’t enough! One option to fill the gap in funding is to look into the Parent PLUS loan. The PLUS loan can be used to pay tuition and any eligible school expenses, minus any other aid your child receives. This is also a loan that is backed and funded by the Department of Education.

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Student Loans

Money Monday: 25 Ways to Improve Your Finances

Exercise. Eat healthier. Take up a hobby. Strengthen relationships. These common resolutions are all good and well, and keeping them general might work for some, but you might just find it easier to stick to them if you create small steps within each goal. For example, under Eat healthier, maybe your top three goals starting out could be: eat leafy greens every day, cut out soda, and drink one glass of water with breakfast. Before you know it, you'll be able to build on each goal and feel satisfied in having completed the bigger picture!

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Personal Finance

Quick Money Tip: Cut Subscriptions

Good mail days are the best. For many of us, that means collecting the day's mail to discover no bills in sight. For others, maybe it's finally receiving that long-awaited package or a belated birthday gift. And there's nothing quite like spotting that brightly-colored, plastic-wrapped cover - the latest issue of your favorite magazine subscription - on a good mail day.

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Personal Finance

How-Tuesday: How to Prepare Your Home for Summer

We always hear about preparing our home for the colder months - to prevent higher heating costs, frozen pipes, and other cold-weather tragedies, but it's equally important to prepare your home for the heat in order to save money and stress from potential seasonal-related damages and extra energy costs. If you're living in the Midwest, here are a few things you'll want to get in order over the next couple of weeks.

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Personal Finance

Dear 3Rivers: How Can I Give a Special Wedding Gift Without Breaking the Bank?

It's easy to feel like if you don't get the flashiest wedding gift possible, your offering won't be as memorable or as appreciated as the rest. That's completely not true. If you can't afford to purchase one of the items the couple has requested in their registries, you've still got plenty options that will wow them.

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Personal Finance

Thrifty Thursday: Make-Ahead Freezer Meals

Freezer meal recipes are taking over the wonderful world of Pinterest and lifestyle blogs - for good reason. Making meals that you can freeze and heat up later saves you not only time, but a lot of money, too. Most make-ahead recipes only cost a few dollars to prepare!

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Personal Finance