If you want to learn a little more about personal finance, you might consider signing up for free seminars from the National Association of Personal Finance Advisors (NAPFA). This is a 12-month course, with a single one-hour seminar held each month over the Internet. You will have to RSVP for each session that you want to attend. Each is taught by a certified financial planner. Here are the planned topics for the seminars:

August 7, 2009 –       Money 101: Knowing the Basics

September 4, 2009 – Kids & Money

October 2, 2009 –      What is Financial Planning?

November 6, 2009 –   Protecting What You Have

December 4, 2009 –    Investments: The Basics

January 8, 2010 –        Investments: Advanced Concepts

February 5, 2010 –       Managing Your 401(k)

March 5, 2010 –            Leaving a Legacy

April 2, 2010 –               Women and Money

May 6, 2010 –                Financial Planning and Small Business Owners

June 4, 2010 –               Your Retirement

July 1, 2010 –                 Financial Windfalls

You Need a Budget has put together a contest for moms who budget. I am a mom, and I do budget (loosely), but I’m really not that into running a “tight ship”, as the contest states. But you might do well in this contest. All you have to do is share your creative budgeting techniques, and you could win. Some of the prizes being offered include:

• A trip to the spa at the Four Seasons in Dallas.
• Personal finance gift package.
• YNAB gift packages.

The contest started yesterday, and you have until August 3, 2009, to fill out the entry. you get extra entries for social media (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc.). The grand prize (Four Seasons) is awarded after voting from America. If you are a man with a female partner, have her sign up (or do it in her name).

My creative budget technique? I enter credit card transactions in my check register. That way, when I don’t spend more than I have. When the statement comes, I write the check for the entire amount, knowing the money is there. I don’t pay interest on my credit card, and I get the reward points.

Numerous stories are popping up around the personal finance blogosphere with regard to the fact that Chase is raising the minimum payment on its credit cards. Last month, I wrote a post about things are about to get ugly for consumers in terms of their credit card accounts. So it was no surprise when that post (although a month old) saw this recent comment from a reader, Lisa:

Yesterday (6-25-2009) I got a notice saying my “minimum” monthly payment was going from 2% to 5%. That means my payment of $345.00 will start to be $810.00 in August. I will not be able to afford that. Mind you, I always pay my bills, don’t get late payment charges and the last time I checked, my credit score was like 797. Yes! I’m having financial troubles and am just barely holding on. This will send me over the edge - especially if my other credit cards follow this one. … HELP!

This is probably a common refrain across the nation right now. And, sadly, this new rule is aimed exactly at folks like Lisa. Chase will keep your minimum payment at 2%, if you agree to allow the company to raise your interest rate. The most common recipients of this change to credit card terms are those with low introductory rates of between 2.9% and 5.9%. You can see where this is going. The higher interest rate means Chase gets more money, and allowing you to keep the lower minimum means that you make payments for longer — meaning Chase gets more money. The way I see it (and every situation is different), there are three options here:

Option #1: Suck it up and make the new minimum payment

If you don’t agree to the higher interest rate (and keeping the current minimum payment), you will have to make the new payment. Since you have about a month, now is the time to do some serious surgery on your personal finances. Look over your budget and see where you can make cuts. This may include cuts to entertainment, cell phones, eating out and other negotiable expenses. (Note: Your housing payment, especially if you have a mortgage, is not negotiable. Always make sure this is paid.) Figure out which expenses you can cut and get it so you can make the new minimum payment. It’s not pleasant, but in the long run, you will save money in interest and pay off your debt faster.

Unfortunately, many people do not have the option to cut back so dramatically. The current economic conditions mean that some folks, due to cutbacks or layoffs at work, do not have the ability absorb an increase of the magnitude proposed. In such cases, you might go with:

Option #2: New loan

In some cases, it might be wise to get a new loan to cover the amount of what you owe. Pay off the credit card, and move on. Of course, you still have a loan. You might try switching to a different credit card with an introductory rate of between 0% and 3.99%. You could also consider getting a debt consolidation loan from somewhere. If you have reasonably good credit, you might be able to get a personal loan with an interest rate of between 7% and 12% from your bank or credit union. (While this is higher than your intro rate, it is likely to be a lower rate than what the credit card will offer you in exchange for keeping the minimum low.)

Another possibility is to use P2P lending, such as Prosper or Lending Club to help you lower your payments. In any case, though, I would think twice (or thrice) about using a home equity loan to secure your credit card payment. Do that last.

Option #3: Debt settlement or bankruptcy

If nothing seems to be working at all, you can reach for the final tool of desperation in these cases: Debt settlement or bankruptcy. You can usually reach settlement for unsecured debt, allowing you to pay less than you currently owe on your credit card. As an extreme last resort, bankruptcy can help lower your payments to something affordable (even though in recent years bankruptcy laws rarely allow you to walk away). In both cases, your credit will be shot, so it is not a decision to be taken lightly.

What will you do if your credit card minimum is raised?

image source: daylife

Disclaimer: I am not a financial professional. Any information you get from this site is not intended as advice. It is likely to be incomplete, and it may not apply to your individual circumstance. Do your own research, consider your situation and/or consult a professional before making money decisions.

There is a wealth of good personal finance reading out there in the blogosphere. Some of it is good common sense, and some of it is thought-provoking. Here are some of the things that caught my eye this week:

• Ten Things You Should Do When You Get Laid Off from Consumerism Commentary.
• Why Everybody Needs A Side Hustle from Frugal Dad.
• Be Successful by Learning Delayed Gratification from Bargaineering.
• Should There Be Mandatory Personal Finance Classes in High Schools? from Bible Money Matters.
• Find a Bank That Works For You from Green Panda Treehouse.
• Poor Money Choices Ruined My Parents’ Life from Lazy Man and Money.
• Best Free Events to Enjoy Almost Anywhere from Gather Little by Little.
• Things You Own End Up Owning You from My Two Dollars.
• 12 Common IRA Mistakes To Avoid from Good Financial Cents.
• 8 Ways A Recession Can Benefit You In The Long Run from Saving Advice.
• CDs vs. Bond Funds from The Oblivious Investor.
• Do You Keep Money Secrets From Your Spouse? from Free From Broke.
• 7 Tips for Talking to your Fiancé About Money from Mrs. Micah.

I’ve finally decided to joing the club: Weekly personal finance reading that I liked (in no particular order) especially this week. I hope it’s useful to you. Feel free to share your favorites in the comments.

• Tempted To Spend? Remove The Source of The Temptation at Bible Money Matters.
• On Spending Consciously at Cash Money Life.
• When Spending the Money is Worth the Cost at My Two Dollars.
• 10 Smart Student Credit Card Rules at Bargaineering.
• An Age-Based Plan For Teaching Kids About Money at Frugal Dad.
• Choosing a Withdrawal Rate for Your Retirement Assets at Good Financial Cents.
• How To Improve Your Productivity When Working From Home at Moolanomy.
• Confessions Of A Recovering Spendaholic at Free From Broke.
• How the Foot-In-The-Door Technique Costs You Money at The Simple Dollar.

“…and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

That was pretty much the most entertaining part of last night’s “Unbroke” even on ABC. Samuel L. Jackson getting everyone to scream their defiance about being broke. I did like it on two levels — well, beyond the sheer entertainment value, of course:

1. It encouraged us to wake up to the problem and take responsibility.
2. The encouragement to take action and fix it.

I think that was the point of the whole special. However, I’m with SuburbanDollar on this one. He pointed out, on Twitter (#unbroketv) that Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall on Hope was better. While I don’t always agree with Dave Ramsey, he was all about the straight talk, and no patronizing. But, whatever it takes, I guess. As long as we as a society can overcome the inertia and do something about our collectively poor financial habits. At any rate, I only had one major beef: The focus on individual stocks.

For the love of heaven, what about index funds?

Like The Oblivious Investor, I’m enamored of index funds. They are low cost, don’t require management on my part, and, historically, over the long haul, they always grow. Unfortunately, no mention was made of them. And it wouldn’t have been hard to slip it in while they were talking about what an index is, or showing stock certificates of failed companies. In fact, I was struck by the incongruity of the fact that the show was talking about how the stock market goes up over time, and emphasizing the importance of individual stocks, while highlighting failed companies whose stock ended up being worthless — no matter how long you held on to it. It was the perfect opportunity to mention index-related investments.

“Funds” were sort of alluded to in a 401k segment that kind of went on too long and didn’t really offer any terribly useful information. They could have mentioned, briefly, a Roth option on the 401k, mentioned index funds at that point, or even talked a little bit about IRAs. Oh well. I guess on a basic level (which was what they were going for), the 401k is what people are most concerned about. And they did a decent enough job of trying to overcome the panic gripping many folks.

In the end, it was an entertaining hour, and it did cover some much-needed basics. Now comes the hard part: Actually getting back to the basics and putting sound money principles into action. I’m not sure that Unbroke will actually accomplish that. Although I will be interested to see what ratings the celeb-studded event did accomplish…

What did you think about Unbroke?

Tonight there is going to be a special on ABC, at 9 pm Eastern, called “Un-Broke”. The special is meant to help all of us learn what we should know about money. MainStreet.com is trying to spearhead a Twitter watch with the hashtag #unbroketv. I plan to participate (@MMarquit), but I’ll be at my parents, so who knows how that will go.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this commercial from E*Trade promoting the special. I’m still not sick of the babies…

Happy Friday!

Over at Gather Little By Little, Stew asked his kids some questions about money, and shared their answers. I thought it was such a fun idea that I brought my son in and asked him 10 questions about money, just to see what he would say. My son is six, and it will be fun to see how his answers compare to Stew’s kids’. Of course, I worry that he’s done a better job of teaching his kids about money…

1. What is money? It’s dollar.
2. How do we get money? From the bank.
3. What do we use money for? Buying stuff.
4. How much money does mommy and daddy have? $1,000.
5. What is a person called who has lots of money? A bank.
6. What is a person called who doesn’t have much money? Me.
7. What is something good to spend money on? Buying food.
8. What is something not good to spend money on? I can’t think anything.
9. What should you do if you didn’t have enough money to buy something? Get more from the bank.
10. What would you like to save your money up for? A toy backhoe.

My favorite answer is #6. Classic.

Clearly, I need to do a better job of teaching my son about where money comes from, and what he needs to do to earn it. It doesn’t just magically appear from the bank. He understands that I give him an allowance, and he does save up money, but clearly we’re missing a few steps.

Do you know what your kids think about money?

image source: Miranda Marquit

I’ve been a little lax with my carnival participation lately, but I did take part in the last Carnival of Pecuniary Delights, held at Almost Frugal. My post on whether or not we’d be happier paying more taxes was included. Some of the other entries in this week’s carnival that I especially enjoyed include:

• 1,001 ways to save money from Moolanomy.
• 5 ways to overcome the urge to splurge from Bible Money Matters.
• Getting the best home mortgage rate from The Digerati Life.

Also, in the interest of shameless self promotion, I thought I’d share two posts that went up recently on other sites I contribute to:

1. How the Credit CARD Act of 2009 affects you on Personal Dividends.
2. An overview of the Amero currency at Bankling.

Last week was rather interesting, financially, and I’m sure this week will be as well. Actually, for my personal finances, I know this coming week will be interesting. Our sprinkler system is scheduled to be finished, and we’ll have to pay the remainder of what we owe the landscaper!

It’s been a reasonably big week for me in terms of personal finance carnival participation. I’ve participated in:

• Carnival of Personal Finance on Weakonomics.
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights at Money Ning.
• Carnival of Cashflow Consciousness at Money Energy.

Also, I was rather flattered to be included in the round up at Your Money Relationship.

Carnivals are a great way to look for some of the best personal finance articles from around the Web. I strongly encourage you to get as much good info as possible to aid you as you map out your financial future.

image source: joiseyshowaa via Flickr.