Four popular budgeting strategies

What is the 70-20-10 budget?

The 70-20-10 budget rule dictates that people should spend 70% of their income on needs, 20% on savings, and 10% on wants. It's a new take on the 50-30-20 budget, which claims people should aim to spend 50% of their income on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% on savings. Learn more about this budgeting strategy by reading this article.

Should you pay off debt or invest?

Some experts say you should put aside 20% of each paycheck and use that money for future goals, such as saving, investing, and paying off debt. But which should you prioritize first? It all depends on where you are in your financial journey. This article outlines the steps you should take depending on what your finances look like right now. Read it here.

How to get out of debt

This article provides a few helpful tips for getting out of debt, such as learning more about the debt itself and asking for better interest rates. It also explains the popular "debt snowball" and "debt avalanche" methods for getting out of debt. Curious to learn more? Read the full article here.

Financial rules that many FIRE followers live by include guidelines around tax efficiency and more

Many FIRE proponents follow specific financial rules, like the 4% rule, in order to achieve FIRE. They also take steps to create an efficient tax strategy and take advantage of compound interest.

How to save money with 'loud budgeting'

"Loud budgeting" is when you announce to your friends that something—a restaurant, an activity, and so on—is too expensive and you can't afford it. The term, which opposes the social pressure of keeping up wealthy appearances, was coined by comedian Lukas Battle in 2024 as a joke, but it caught on with TikTokers amid inflation.

Try to balance the budget

This interactive calculator challenges users to rebalance the federal budget by adjusting taxes and spending. Try your hand at weighing difficult trade-offs that shape long-term deficits, debt growth, and the sustainability of US public finances.

How couples today manage their finances

In relationships, shared bank accounts used to be the default. Not anymore. Many couples maintain separate finances for practical reasons or to retain greater independence, though many couples experience trust issues as a result. This article checks in on the status of relationship finances and highlights, among other insights, how attitudes toward money are often determined by family history.

Should you use ChatGPT for budgeting?

Some people using AI to help them budget—but is it a good idea? In this article, a personal finance editor explains what happened when they tried to use ChatGPT to help them create a budget. Read the article here.

A certificate of deposit (CD) strategy guide

Popular CD investment strategies include the ladder, barbell, and bullet methods. These strategies can help you get the most out of investing in CDs.

Learn how budget airlines provide customer savings

No-frills airlines, like Frontier and Spirit, are popular for providing customers with a much cheaper alternative to flying. However, many budget airlines rely on baggage charges and extra fees, which can sometimes make it just as expensive as flying on a mainstream airline.

Six bills experts say you shouldn't put on autopay

Autopay has plenty of benefits, such as helping to avoid late fees and streamlining your bill paying process. But some experts say there are a few types of bills that you shouldn't autopay, especially if you're not confident you can pay these bills in full each term. The list includes utility bills and annual subscriptions. Read the full list here.

Watch a breakdown of tax breaks most Americans don't know about

Programs like healthcare savings accounts or flexible spending accounts are tax-free accounts that are designed to help lower healthcare costs. However, many Americans don't use them and don't understand how they work.

The typical US household could lower its household costs by 6.4% by using coupons

The study looked at coupons for food, household items, entertainment, and clothing, as well as other expected expenses. The grocery store category offered the largest amount of savings at around $316 annually.

There are four main types of IRAs to choose from

Those types are traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE. While all IRAs can help you save for retirement, each type has its own tax advantages and eligibility requirements, such as employment type or income level.

The federal budget process begins nearly a year before funds are spent

Creating the federal budget starts months in advance. This resource explains each stage, showing how the president proposes priorities, Congress reshapes and approves funding, and federal agencies implement the final budget.

Active investors try to 'beat' the stock market's performance

There are two primary types of investment strategies that professional investors use: active investing and passive investing. While active investors try to "beat" the stock market's performance, passive investors have a bit more faith in the system.

There are three main ways to start investing in the bond market

Invest in the boind market through a brokerage, mutual fund or ETF, or the US government. Each has different steps and terms to follow, from starting rates to opening specific accounts. Some bonds are relatively easy to purchase, but the process differs depending on the type of bond you want.

Learn more about the four main market structures

In modern economic theory, there are four main market structures. Under each market structure, firms (or businesses) have differing levels of competition and reach different levels of price efficiency based on the consumer's willingness to pay for a product or service.

Managing too many credit cards can be costly if they have annual fees

However, canceling cards must be strategic if it becomes necessary, as it can negatively impact your credit score. Before canceling, experts suggest asking if it's possible to downgrade to a no-annual-fee version in order to keep the account open, thus preventing potential hits to your credit score.

A third of Americans don't have the cash they need to cover a $500 emergency

That's according to a 2023 Federal Reserve survey. So what does the average American in this camp do when, say, their car breaks down? This video compares six of the most common ways Americans get money when they don't have it. As it turns out, some of them opt for payday loans, which this video argues are predatory.

There are monthly dividend ETFs that pay you to hold them

Traditional dividend stocks and funds pay out quarterly, or four times a year. A select group of stocks and funds pay out monthly, putting cash in investors’ hands 12 times a year. These monthly dividend funds are popular because their regular payouts can help keep budgets on track.

The most common types of bankruptcy filings are Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13

However, there are actually six types in practice today. These less-common options can be lifelines for foreign businesses operating in the US, local governments, and farms and fisheries.

Pros and cons of mutual funds

Depending on your personal investment goals and strategy, different funds can carry different risks and rewards for your portfolio. However, there are some pros and cons that stay consistent across funds, like easy portfolio diversification.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

Are you a digital hoarder? There are four types, actually

Digital hoarding: the phenomenon where people accumulate excessive digital clutter, like thousands of emails, hundreds of open browser tabs, and unused apps on their devices. This behavior has been associated with increased stress levels and potential negative impacts on mental well-being. Are you a digital hoarder? Find out the four types here.

Eliminating distractions is essential to improving one's attention span

Setting a baseline, removing distractions, establishing focus rituals, taking breaks, and finding purpose in your task are five science-backed practices that can help address a short attention span. Bestselling author Daniel Pink breaks down how to approach each part of the plan and introduce these habits to your life today.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Three Ebola species are responsible for most large outbreaks of the disease, yet the only approved Ebola vaccine is known to work against just one of them.