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Dec 29, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk |Darren Smith |Atm Usa |Laurie Maddalena
If your New Year’s resolutions involve money, you’re not alone. According to one report, nearly half of Americans are making finance-related resolutions, and a lot of them are ones you’ve heard before. They want to save more, spend less, make a budget or finally get out of credit card debt and improve their credit score. While there’s nothing wrong with these financial goals, they’re not the only goals out there.
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Dec 21, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk |Anthony Hernandez |Hayley Harrison
Ever since I started working at a credit union, I’ve been surprised at how and where financial lessons turn up. When you write about finances for a living, you tend to find financial lessons in pretty much everything, from Universal monster movies to Netflix miniseries. Truth be told, I was actually hoping to come up with some financial lessons from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”When I watched the movie this year, though, two aspects of the movie stood out to me more than the others.
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Dec 19, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk |Joman Kwong |Mark Bugalski |Jackie Brown
For most people, January is a time to prepare for the year ahead. The most popular way to do that is by making New Year’s resolutions, but people also like to prepare by cleaning their homes, scheduling medical appointments and even taking advantage of post-holiday sales. If you really want to own the new year, though, you’ll also want to make sure your finances are prepared for the year ahead. This might sound like a complicated, tedious process, but it’s really not.
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Nov 28, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk |Kristen Jason |Jenni Speth |Angela Prestil
Most people think of vacations as exclusively summertime activities, but if you’ve ever taken a vacation in the winter months you know how much fun it can be. Some people like taking winter vacations to escape the cold, while others embrace the snow and use their skis, snowboards and skates. The problem with winter vacations is that they can be expensive—traveling to warmer areas isn’t cheap, and popular wintertime destinations like Vail and Aspen can be even more expensive.
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Nov 7, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk |Mark Arnold |Nanci Wilson |Lauren Culp
The winter holidays are supposed to be a time of relaxation and hanging out with friends and family, but let’s be honest—the weeks leading up to the holidays can be stressful. This is due in no small part to the fact that holidays are expensive. According to one study, the American shopper spent about $1,455 during the 2022 holiday season, and thanks to inflation, that amount is likely to increase.
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Oct 17, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk |Molly Irelan |Albert Howard |Randall Smith
If you’re worried about being scammed, it’s not because you’re paranoid. Scammers are the zombie apocalypse of the financial world. They’re relentless, they seem to be everywhere, and even if you think you’ve taken every precaution, you still have to be on your guard. Scammers aren’t some unstoppable force, though. You can take several steps to protect yourself against them, and one of the most important steps is to learn about some of the most common scams. That’s where this blog comes in.
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Oct 5, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk |Sydney Isabelle Mayer |Pete Hilger |Ogie Sheehy
Let’s face it, applying for an auto loan can be a nerve-wracking experience. You’re letting a complete stranger review your finances, and decide whether you can get the cash you need for purchasing a new car. Even if you are approved, you’ll be putting yourself in debt and having to pay it off for years to come. It’s probably impossible to completely get rid of those butterflies that start fluttering in your stomach when you meet with an auto lending advisor to discuss financing.
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Aug 24, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk
When you start the financial goal-setting process and list everything you’d like to do, you might be amazed at all the potential goals that will take five years or less to accomplish. These are known as short term financial goals, and they can include:A down payment for a carAn online classA plane ticketA new video game systemDinner at a high-end restaurantA seminarThe only problem is that while having this many goals you’d like to achieve can be empowering, it can also be overwhelming.
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Aug 17, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk
When you buy a house, you’re not just getting a nice place to call your own. You’re also buying one of the few assets that tends to increase in value the longer you own it. Even better, you can access that value, or at least part of it, by tapping into your home’s equity. The equity in your home is the difference between your home’s current market value and what you owe on the house.
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Aug 10, 2023 | 
cuinsight.com | Chris Gottschalk
In the past, we’ve talked about financial concepts that might be a bit tricky to understand, like a personal loan or an escrow account. With both of those accounts, though, you at least had some idea of what they were—one was a loan and one was an account. A HELOC, on the other hand, gives you no clue what it’s about. It’s obviously an acronym, but what does it stand for? High Explosive Legal Obligations Contract, or Hey Everyone, Let’s Open Champagne?
