Student loans to get through college can only be taken out during the current school year. That can leave graduates with four more more separate loans to repay.

Managing multiple loans can be tricky, but there are a few things to know about them that can make it easier:

Know who your student loan servicer is

Student loans can come from a bank or the federal government, and the loans can be outsourced to a bank or servicing firm. Whoever your student loan servicer is, that’s who you’ll deal with if you have questions and where you’ll be sending payments to. It won’t necessarily be the same financial institution where you took out the original loan.

You might have multiple loan servicers if your financial aid package is made up of different types of loans and is a mix of federal and private loans.

Paying federal student loans

Federal loans can be spread among a few loan services that you’ll have to keep track of and make sure you don’t miss any payments to.

If you apply for income-driven repayment plans, you’ll need to contact each loan servicer. Each may have a different deadline for the paperwork, which requires an income certification each year.

To find out who is the loan servicer for your federal student loans, or the status of any federal loans you have, use the National Student Loan Data System to retrieve your loan information.

Private loans

Private loans don’t have income-driven repayment plans, but they may have other options such as deferment or forbearance so that you don’t default on the loan.

Whatever types of student loans you have, expect the loan servicer to keep you informed of loan terms, repayment options and if the loan servicer is being changed because the loan is sold to another servicing company. Your new loan servicer should also contact you.

Consolidating loans

If you don’t want to deal with multiple loan servicers, you can consolidate or refinance your loans.

Federal loans can be consolidated with a Direct Consolidation Loan that still allows you to have the flexible repayment plans that federal loans offer. Private student loans can be consolidated through a larger private loan to replace the other loans.

If you have a combination of federal and private loans, you may want to keep your federal loans because they offer smaller monthly minimum payments, giving you more money to pay off your private loans quicker.

If you want to consolidate or refinance your student loans, be sure to shop for the best loan at the lowest interest rate.

Dealing With Student Loans Through Multiple Loan Servicers is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Before you leave school, also make sure you know the answers to the following questions. Good news: We’re giving you them (or at least telling how to find them on your own).

1. What Kind of Loans Do I Have?

You either have private student loans or federal loans. You can look up your federal loans using the National Student Loan Data System (NLDS). You should have the paperwork from your lender or student loan servicer (private and federal) from when you took out the loan. Private loans generally come from traditional banking institutions, while federal loans are issued by the government. Common federal loans include Direct subsidized loans, Direct unsubsidized loans and Perkins loans.

2. Whom Do I Owe?

You can find this information in the resources referenced above. Your financial aid office should have information on file as well, since they receive the money. If you haven’t gone through student loan exit counseling at school, you need to before you graduate. They’ll explain whom to pay, and it’s the perfect time to ask any questions. Once you know who’s managing your loans, set up an online account to access all your information.

3. What Are My Repayment Options?

This depends on the type of loans you have. Private student loan repayment tends to follow a typical installment loan repayment structure, in which you make monthly payments for a fixed loan term. Federal student loans offer more options. The default play is called standard repayment: fixed monthly payments for 10 years. If you want a lower monthly payment when you start out, you can change your repayment plan at any time for free, though the change may not take effect immediately. If you want to enroll in an income-driven repayment plan, graduated repayment or extended repayment, be sure to request a new plan through your student loan servicer as soon as you can. You can learn more about student loan repayment options here.

4. How Much Are My Monthly Payments?

For loans with a set repayment term, the payment will be the same every month if you have a fixed-interest rate (as all federal loans do), or your monthly payment amount will change if you have a variable-interest rate (as some private loans do). Monthly payments through income-driven plans will depend on how much money you make. You should be able to get this information from your lender or servicer.

5. When’s My First Payment Due?

Federal student loans generally have a grace period of six months, meaning your first payment comes due six months after you graduate, leave school or drop below half-time enrollment. Some grace periods are nine months. If you have a private lender, you may not have a grace period — find out as soon as possible.

6. How Do I Pay?

You’ll start hearing from your lender or servicer soon if you haven’t already. Like most bills, you can go the old-school route of sending a check, or you can pay online. Keep in mind you don’t have to wait till your grace period ends to make a payment, and you can also enroll in automatic payments to make sure you don’t miss any. On that note: You don’t want to miss any student loan payments, because it will damage your credit, and your credit score plays a role in how much you pay for other credit products, as well as renting a home or buying a cellphone. You can keep tabs on how your student loans are affecting your credit by getting two free credit scores every month on Credit.com. If you’re thinking about getting a credit card after college, here are a few good options for new grads.

7. What’s My Interest Rate?

This should be in your loan paperwork and in your online account. Make sure you know if it’s a fixed- or variable-interest rate.

8. How Can I Make Repaying My Loans Easier?

If you have multiple federal student loans, which most borrowers do, you can consider consolidating them. With a federal Direct consolidation loan, you can qualify for certain loan forgiveness and loan repayment options (though you may not have to consolidate to qualify), and you’ll only have to make one monthly payment, rather than several to multiple servicers.

You could also consider refinancing multiple loans with a private lender, but know that you’ll be giving up many of the benefits that come with federal loans if you do this. There is no federal refinancing option. You can also enroll in automatic payments to make your life a little easier — just be sure to check that it goes through every month and that your bank account has enough money to cover the bill.

9. How Can I Make My Loans More Affordable?

Among the benefits previously noted, enrolling in automatic payments usually gets you a 0.25% discount on your interest rate. Private loan refinancing could also help you save money if you have good credit and can qualify for a lower interest rate. Additionally, changing your repayment plan to a longer term or an income-driven plan can lower your monthly payments.

There’s another way to look at loan affordability: long-term savings. For example, all the interest your loan accrued while you were in school will be added to the principal once your grace period expires, meaning you’ll have to pay interest on interest. You can avoid this by paying off the interest before your first loan payment comes due. You can also pay more than your minimum payment each month, which can help you pay off your loans early.

Student loans can be complicated, so reach out to your student loan servicer if you have questions. Conversely, if you’re having issues with your student loan servicer, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

More from Credit.com

• The Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards of 2017
• The Best Low-Interest Credit Cards in America
• The Best Business Credit Cards of 2017

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

9 Questions to Ask About Student Loans Before You Graduate is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

There’s also another reliable way to pay for it — hit up your parents.

The average cost for an in-state public college for the 2015-16 academic year averaged $24,061, and was $47,831 at private colleges, according to a survey by College Data.

Graduates may eventually cover those expenses with future earnings, but that’s years after leaving college and doesn’t help at all before starting school.

For parents who are generous enough to pay for some or all of their children’s college education, it can require some sacrifices. And I’m not just talking about taking out a loan, dipping into a retirement account or taking out some equity in your home.

Cutting vices

Some families have to make life changes to be able to afford college. These can go well beyond stopping smoking or not going out for coffee every weekday. Getting rid of your vices makes sense for more than monetary reasons, but some pleasures in life are worth keeping, even if your kid has to get a college loan or two.

Liberty Bank of Chicago recently put together a graphic (at the bottom of this post) that lists simple vices that can be cut to help struggling families save for college. The bank based the total savings amount for each item on putting the money in a savings account for 18 years that earned 3 percent interest.

It’s interesting to see how much can be saved by not doing something for 18 years — all of your child’s life. 

Cutting some vices sound like smart moves — stopping smoking can save $115,000 in New York, where cigarettes are expensive, but $62,000 elsewhere. But other cutbacks could leave you with little to do in your spare time.

No more vacations, beer or ballgames

Here are the top activities it suggests cutting, from the most money saved to the least:

• Vacation
• Cigarettes
• Dining out
• Sporting events
• Coffee
• Buying lunch
• Beer
• Wine
• Manicures
• Golfing
• Movie tickets

Not paying for annual vacations for 18 years could be enough savings to pay for two kids to attend private college. For one year.

After that, you’d have to give up dining out for dinner, Starbucks, not taking the family to any sporting events to pay  for three more years of private school for one of your kids.

For the other kid, your family would need to stop buying lunch out, drinking beer and wine, and not having manicures.

That would leave your family with money to spend on such joys as golfing and going out to the movies. That doesn’t sound like too much fun.

If you only have one child or your kids are OK going to a public college, then your costs would drop in half. That would give your family a few more “vices” to pick up again, such as drinking beer and wine and going to a few baseball games a year.

The ultimate lesson here? Maybe going to a private college isn’t such a great idea. Or if they are, find other ways to pay for it such as by working an extra job or taking out a loan so that some of the daily joys in life don’t have to be taken away.

If those aren’t aren’t viable, tell your child to do well in math or sports so they can get some sort of scholarship.

What it Costs to Give Up Your Life to Send Your Kids to College is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Most of the money to be paid by Wells Fargo through the order by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau goes to the CFPB with a $3.6 million penalty. The bank must provide $410,000 in relief to borrowers.

The federal agency found that the bank failed to provide important payment information to consumers, charged illegal fees, and failed to update inaccurate credit report information.

How Wells Fargo erred

The consent order includes a number of things Wells Fargo must do, starting with providing at least $410,000 to compensate consumers for illegal late fees.

To get their refund for such fees, students shouldn’t have to do anything. The refunds include payments for the bank failing to disclose its payment allocation practices across multiple loans in a borrower’s account, as well as for not informing consumers that they could instruct the bank to allocate payments in a different way.

Refunds will also happen for illegal fees that were charged because the bank didn’t combine partial payments made in the same billing cycle, and for fees improperly charged when borrowers made a payment on the last day of the grace period.

Misinformation on partial payments

As any borrower can do with a loan, a partial payment can be made — though they’ll likely have to pay a late fee. Still, a partial payment will help a borrower avoid some interest charges, and is better than no payment at all.

For students with multiple loans from a bank, a partial payment can satisfy at least one loan payment in an account, meaning they’d be late for other loans but not the one where the partial payment was made.

Wells Fargo’s billing statements made misrepresentations to borrowers that could have led to an increase in the cost of the loan, according to the CFPB.

It incorrectly told borrowers that paying less than the full amount due in a billing cycle wouldn’t satisfy any obligation on an account. In reality, partial payments on accounts with multiple loans may satisfy at least one loan payment in an account.

This information, the CFPB says, could have deterred borrowers from making partial payments that would have helped at least one of the loans in their account, allowing them to avoid some late fees or delinquency.

Illegal student loan late fees

Even for borrowers who made timely payments on their student loans, Wells Fargo charged certain consumers late fees, the CFPB says.

The bank charged illegal late fees to certain consumers who made payments on the last day of their grace periods, and to certain students who elected to pay their monthly amount due through multiple partial payments instead of one single payment.

Inaccurate credit reporting

The CFPB said that Wells Fargo also didn’t update and correct inaccurate, negative information reported to credit reporting companies about borrowers who made partial payments or overpayments.

Such errors could damage a consumer’s ability to access credit or make borrowing more expensive.

What Wells Fargo must do

The CFPB ordered several steps that Wells Fargo must take to deal with its illegal student loan servicing practices.

Along with paying a fine and refunding consumers, it must allocate partial payments in a way that satisfies the amount due for as many of the loans as possible, unless the borrower directs otherwise. This can help reduce the number of delinquent loans in an account, as wells as the number of late fees.

Federal student loan servicers are already under a similar and new federal policy guidance to handle partial payments.

The bank is also required to improve its billing statements so that disclosures are made to explain how the bank allocates payments and how borrowers can direct payments to any of the loans in their student loan account.

Wells Fargo is also required to remove any negative student loan information that has been inaccurately or incompletely provided to a consumer reporting company.

Widespread student loan problems

Last year the CFPB issued a report about widespread servicing failures reported by student loan borrowers, adding to the problems that one in four student loan borrowers have by being in default or struggling to pay their loans.

Student loans make up the nation’s second largest consumer debt market, with 40 million federal and private student loan borrowers who collectively owe about $1.3 trillion.

Wells Fargo is a private lender, doing business in student loans as Educational Financial Services. It originates and services private student loans to 1.3 million customers in all 50 states.

Last year the CFPB found that more than 8 million borrowers are in default on more than $110 billion in student loans, which the CFPB says may be driven by breakdowns in student loan servicing.

Private student loans account for $100 billion of all outstanding student loans. While that’s a small portion of the market, the consumer agency found that they are generally used by borrowers with high levels of debt who also have federal loans.

What to Do if You Got Illegal Student Loan Service from Wells Fargo is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

After talking to financial experts and others who have either experienced or seen other people make the worst financial mistakes of their lives, we compiled the following list of 25 of them. Many are common after graduating from college and starting a financial life on your own, but they can still happen to anyone at any age.

We should also note that these worst financial mistakes aren’t listed in any order. We’ll leave measuring their importance to you:

25 Worst Financial Mistakes

1. Not going to college

The average starting salary for a high school graduate is about $28,000. That figure almost doubles to $48,127 for college graduates in the class of 2014 with bachelor’s degrees, according to a salary survey by National Association of Colleges and Employers. Starting your working life by being that far behind in pay is one of the worst financial mistakes you can make.

2. Not paying off student loans fast

The average student loan debt for a college graduate is $28,400, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.

For a college grad who is earning some real money after four or more years of living like a student, it can be tempting to spend much of their new income before paying off debt. That’s one of the worst financial mistakes a graduate can make, says Alfred Poor, a college speaker and author of books about problems young people are having in the workplace.

“If college graduates tighten their belts and lower their expectations, and live like they only have the high school diploma, they will rapidly pay off their average $27,000 in student loans,” Poor says. “If they spend their whole salary on a more comfortable lifestyle, they could be struggling to pay off that debt for decades, and end up paying much more in interest.”

3. Paying off student loans too quickly

Paying off student loans quickly can also have a downside, says Steven Fox, a financial planner in San Diego with NextGenFinancialPlanning.com. If they use all of their extra income paying off student loans, they could be in financial trouble if they don’t put some in an emergency fund and lose their job or get in a car accident and have unexpected medical expenses, Fox says.

“They should really think about whether they should pay off their student loans as fast as they possibly can once they get their first job if it means that they’re doing so at the expense of not saving or investing anything,” he says. “Ending up with zero debt is good, but ending up with zero savings is very bad.”

An emergency could lead to borrowing money at a higher rate than what they were paying on student loans, says Fox, who reminds graduates that student loan interest is tax deductible for up to $2,500 for individuals making $80,000 or less without having to itemize.

4. Using max credit card limit

“Just because a bank offers you a credit card that allows you to spend money doesn’t mean you should,” Fox says.

This goes for all debt, he says. Being approved for a $20,000 auto loan doesn’t mean your budget for a car is $20,000.

“That money needs to be repaid,” Fox says, “and you are paying a very high cost to borrow it at this stage in life. Spending should be determined by a well thought out budget, not by the size of the line of credit.”

5. Living beyond your means with credit

Building an expensive lifestyle for yourself early in life is possible with credit cards, and is one of the worst financial mistakes anyone can make, says Matt Becker, a fee-only financial planner and founder of Mom and Dad Money.

“That debt will make it a lot harder to pursue exciting opportunities later on, and may even force you to stay in a job you hate just so you can make the payments,” Becker says.

6. Not having health insurance

Young people may think they’re invincible, but unexpected tragedies like a car accident can happen, causing a large financial setback early in life and leading to financial mistakes, Fox says.

Health insurance options for college-age students include staying on their parents’ health insurance until age 26, signing up for their school’s health program, or buying low-cost catastrophic coverage from commercial carriers.

7. Choosing money over mission

We all want to make money, and it’s hard to tell someone to turn down a bigger paycheck, Becker says.

“But you will find much more fulfillment from a job with a mission you believe in than one that simply pays a lot,” he says. “Make sure you’re paid what you’re worth, but don’t forget to make your work meaningful.”

8. Waiting to invest

After spending your first paycheck on something fun, set aside part of your next paycheck for investing, Becker recommends.

“The sooner you start investing, the sooner you’ll be able to say goodbye to that job forever,” he says. “And if your employer offers a 401(k) match, contribute at least enough to get that full match. That’s free money!”

9. Paying credit card bill late

Not making credit card payments on time can be one of the worst financial mistakes anyone can make, says Peter Creedon, chief executive officer at Crystal Brook Advisors.

Credit card companies can bump up interest rates to as high as 36 percent to late-paying customers, Creedon says. Pay your credit card bills in full each month to avoid interest charges.

10. Consolidating credit card balances

Know how your credit card company is going to categorize how your credit card balance consolidation is rolled over, otherwise you might be in for one of the worst financial mistakes ever, Creedon recommends.

“Some companies consider it a cash advance and assessed a slightly higher interest rate and put the amount behind the cards’ balance so the amount takes longer to pay off,” he says.

Develop a cash reserve of at least three months so you won’t have to take on more credit card debt, he says. “Become the bank and pay yourself instead of paying everyone else,” Creedon says.

11. Not asking your parents to cosign a loan

Many young people don’t have a long enough credit history to qualify for a car loan or first home purchase on their own, leading to one of the bigger financial mistakes, says Danna Jacobs, founding partner at Legacy Care Wealth.

Financially strong, mature young professionals with good relationships with their parents should avoid one of the worst financial mistakes in life by not asking their parents to cosign a loan because they want to maintain their independence, Jacobs says. Without their parents as cosigners, they’re missing out on an opportunity, she says, noting that only “financially strong, mature, young professionals” should do this.

12. Not asking for a raise early

Not asking for a raise, promotion or increased responsibility because you only have a short tenure at a firm is one of the worst financial mistakes you can make, Jacobs says.

“You may not get it this time, but when coupled with strong performance, it can increase the rate at which you would be bumped up to the next level,” she says.

13. Not recognizing investment bubbles

Figuring out when to enter and exit the stock market is something even experts have difficulty doing. Guy Smith, a marketing consultant in San Jose, Calif., says among the worst financial mistakes to make, his was not recognizing investment bubbles and therefore cheating himself out of an early retirement.

“I remember the Christmas before the (tech) bubble burst, my Uncle Bob said he had sold all his stock,” Smith says. “He being a savvy businessman, I wanted to know why he bailed. His advice was simple: ‘When you see a lot of people doing a stupid thing, run the other way.’ Had I exited when Uncle Bob did, I would have had $100,000 in cash in my pocket.”

Smith also didn’t act on the housing bubble. He bought a rental home in Florida for $100,000 that doubled in value seven years later. His long-term strategy for the house was to own a home paid for by someone else, so he held on to it. The value dropped and he didn’t sell at the peak for a $100,000 profit.

14. Buying new

Everything depreciates, especially cars, says Rick Sellano, owner of the writing service My Ink Shines. Buying new is one of the worst financial mistakes anyone can make, Sellano says.

He recommends buying used cars with low mileage, gently used furniture and other used items to save money throughout your life.

15. Focusing only on the present

Among the worst financial mistakes to make in life, focusing exclusively on the present is the worst, says John Vespasian, the author of seven books about rational living.

“If you fail to think long-term, you will render yourself blind to the best opportunities,” Vespasian says. “You will waste your money on foolish purchases. You will destroy your motivation to learn complex subjects. And you will surround yourself with the kind of people who are also incapable of thinking long-term.”

“People who focus exclusively on the short term tend to make incredibly stupid financial decisions,” he says. “In doing so, they subject themselves to high stress and anxiety that could have been easily avoided. A man who lacks a long-term perspective in his life will never be able to save money consistently, nor to spend it wisely.”

“Our society places a disproportionate emphasis on purchase that delivery little or zero long-term value. Few people take the trouble to acquire the discipline to think in terms of a lifetime. If you can see yourself living to become 100 years old, and realize what that means in terms of financial foresight, you will avoid making foolish financial mistakes.”

16. Focusing on monthly car payment

A common sales tactic at car dealerships is to get buyers to a monthly payment they’re comfortable with. Many buyers go in with a set amount they’d like to pay every month, and are happy to share that figure with the salesperson, says Jeannine Fallon, executive director of corporate communications at Edmunds.com. That can lead to one of the worst financial mistakes they can make as a car shopper, according to Edmunds.com.

“When you do that, you’re not actually talking about the total price of the car,” says Edmunds.com senior consumer advice editor Phil Reed. “You also need to take into consideration the interest rate, as well as the length of the loan.”

The dealer may suggest a longer loan so the car fits in your budget, but a longer loan also means you pay more in interest.

17. Not having renter’s insurance

Focusing on the present, however, can be important. Not having renter’s insurance was one of the worst financial mistakes that Eric Narcisco, CEO of EffectiveCoverage.com, made when he was young.

“After college, when I was living in an apartment in Jersey City, I came home from work one day to find everything I owned lost to a fire that my neighbor had started,” Narcisco says. “I didn’t have much at the time, but since I was just out of college I didn’t have much money to replace those things, either.

“I had convinced myself that I didn’t need renters insurance because I didn’t own anything to speak of. If a policy had been in force, I would have been able to replace all of those things quickly and move on with my life instead of spending years in the process just to get back to where I had already been.”

18. Not saving for retirement early

Layton Cox, a financial advisor at My Pathway in Tucson, AZ, says one of the worst financial mistakes someone can make is not saving for retirement earlier in life. It’s the top regret and one of the many financial mistakes Cox says he hears from people over age 45.

Saving $2,400 annually at age 25 with an 8 percent return will result in more than $52,000 saved at age 65 — 20 times what was originally saved, he says.

Waiting just 10 years longer to “get your life together” will grow that same $2,400 to a little more than $24,000 at age 65. That’s half of what you would’ve saved at age 25, but still 10 times what was originally saved.

“The problem is, most people don’t save for retirement until they are in their late 30s to early 40s,” Cox says. “In their 20s, they save for a downpayment, vacation, or they are too busy paying off student loan debt. In their early 30s, they are saving for a bigger house or children’s education.

“It’s not until the kids are about to leave the house that most Americans save for retirement. This ruins their chance of benefiting from compounding interest.”

19. Taking on more risk than you can afford

As Bernard Kliban once wrote, “Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head,” which is good advice for investors in terms of risk, says Jim Pearce, CIO of Baton Investing in Falls Church, VA.

Don’t trade options, buy penny stocks, or speculate in commodities unless you really can afford to lose every penny, Pearce says of financial mistakes to make when investing.

“Too many investors try to play ‘catch up ball’ by engaging in reckless investing that usually ends up in a wreck, putting them even further behind the eight ball,” he says.

20. Mimic other investors

This is partly in contrast to #13, but mimicking someone else’s investment strategy can be one of the biggest financial mistakes of your life, Pearce says.

“For some reason most people seem to think that anyone else’s judgment is better than their own, so there is a tendency to blindly duplicate what another person tells you they are doing in the market,” he says.

That leads to two problems: (1) they may be lying and only telling you that to impress you, and (2) even if they really are doing that, they may have no idea why they are doing it, either (or doing the same thing you are, and copying someone else).

21. Investing with a friend

Investing in a friend’s or family member’s business opportunity is one of the worst financial mistakes anyone can make, Pearce says. “It’s human nature to want to help the people you care about, but giving them your hard-earned money to capitalize their high-risk business venture isn’t the best way to do it,” he says.

Instead, offer to provide them with a low/no-rent housing situation (if you have the space) so they can live on very little income until their business gets going, or hook them up with someone else who really is in the business of in investing in high risk ventures, Pearce recommends.

22. Pyramiding profits

When an investment is going good we tend to think it will go on forever, so we sink even more money into it, Pearce says. This is sort of like betting double or nothing until you inevitably lose. Instead, set a limit on how much money you are willing to risk on any one thing and stick to it, which could help avoid this and other financial mistakes.

23. Allowing money drains

It’s OK to reward yourself with the occasional night out on the town or well-earned vacation, Pearce says. Those sorts of things don’t help your balance sheet, but provide psychic wealth.

“However, engaging in potentially costly behaviors such as gambling, substance abuse, or simply buying things you don’t really need create ‘money drains’ that rob you of the opportunity cost of putting that cash to better use in something that has value and can sustain you later in life when you really need it,” he says of financial mistakes.

24. Not paying taxes

One of the worst financial mistakes someone can make is not paying income taxes, says Nicole Erwin, a licensed tax professional at Tax Defense Network.

“What many people of all ages fail to realize is the significance of creating or ignoring issues with the IRS,” Erwin says. “If you choose not to file your returns, for instance, a series of undesirable events are sure to follow.”

First, the IRS may file a Substitute for Return (SFR). This allows them to use whatever previous tax information they have on you (no matter how inaccurate) coupled with information provided by your employers to file your return.. This substitute can work to your disadvantage by creating a tax liability that could have been avoided if you’d simply filed accurately, on time, she says..

“If you do wind up with a tax debt and you don’t pay it, you’re really asking for trouble, Erwin says. The IRS can place a lien against you, destroying your credit, or garnish your wages or bank account. If the debt persists, the IRS can even seize your property and assets. And while these are all serious actions, the worst is yet to come.”

“The problem with unpaid tax debts is they tend to become inflated in a short period of time,” she says. “The amount you originally owed quickly mutates with the addition of penalties and interest. What you end up with is a staggering tax bill which has destroyed your credit and haunts you for years.

“By the time you realize just how big of a mistake you made, you’re not young anymore — and you’re in a conceivably worse position to do anything about it. None of this has to happen, of course. If you have a tax debt, consult with a licensed tax professional who can ensure your youth is spent on more entertaining pursuits.”

25. Not having a personal financial advisor

Just as everyone needs a family physician, a financial practitioner is needed every bit as much, recommends Rob Drury, executive director of the Association of Christian Financial Advisors. Without one, you could be headed to other financial mistakes.

“A financial advisor’s job is absolutely identical to the doctor’s; he assesses wellness, diagnoses illness, prescribes cures, and designs wellness programs,” Drury says. “He simply performs these functions in the financial realm rather than the medical.

“Employing a qualified advisor and being accountable will prevent one from committing most financial mistakes. Most basic planning functions can be performed at little or no cost.”

That’s our list of the worst financial mistakes to make at any age. What are some of the worst financial mistakes you’ve made?

25 Worst Financial Mistakes Anyone Can Make is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Only half of college alumni think their university education was worth the cost, but a lot fewer think it’s worthwhile when taking on a lot of student loan debt, according to a new survey.

The national Gallup-Purdue Index found that in the face of mounting debt, 50 percent of alumni “strongly agree” that their college education was worth the cost. Graduates of public universities agreed with that the most at 52 percent, followed by 47 percent at private nonprofit universities. Only 26 percent of graduates of private for-profit universities agreed, possibly because they were more likely to take on higher levels of student loan debt.

The survey found that 63 percent of alumni who graduated from 2006-15 used student loans, with the median loan at $30,000.

“Given that higher education has become one of the largest financial investments a person will make over their lifetime, it’s a bit alarming that only half of all graduates strongly agree their education was worth the cost,” said Brandon Busteed, Gallup’s executive director for education and workforce development, in a statement. “Clearly, we all need to work harder on improving quality and reducing cost as much as possible.”

Postponing other things after college

Nearly half of recent graduates who incurred any amount of student loan debt reported postponing further training or postgraduate education because of those loans. A third or more have delayed purchasing a house or a car because of debt, and nearly one in five have put off starting their own business. Each of these figures rises significantly among those with a debt burden of $25,001 or higher.

Recent graduates with a debt burden of $25,001 or more are almost twice as likely to strongly agree that their education was worth the cost if they recall supportive relationships with professors and mentors. And recent graduates with high debt are also less likely to put off continuing their education or starting a business because of student loans if they strongly agree they had supportive relationships in college.

“We’ve said before that it’s not where you go to college but how you go to college that matters,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels said in a statement. “Students get out what they put in, and they can get an excellent education at a wide variety of institutions across the country. As the study shows, their experience is determined much more by the relationships they build with mentors and the success they are able to achieve via their work on campus or abroad.”

Relationships improve value

Recent graduates who strongly agree with any of three items measuring supportive relationships with professors or mentors were almost twice as likely to strongly agree that their education was worth the cost. These relationships hold even when controlling for personality characteristics and other variables, such as student loan debt and employment status, that could also be related to graduates’ perceptions that college was worth it.

If recent graduates strongly agree that they had any of three experiential learning opportunities — an internship related to their studies, active involvement in extracurricular activities or a project that took a semester or more to complete — their likelihood to strongly agree that their education was worth the cost increases 1.5 times.

The current GPI results reaffirm the importance to undergraduates of supportive relationships with professors and mentors. If employed graduates strongly agreed that they had professors who cared about them, they had at least one professor who made them excited about learning and they had a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams, their odds of being emotionally engaged at work nearly double.

The results from the initial GPI national survey were released in May 2014. Besides the findings about student engagement with faculty mentors, the index also reported there is no difference in workplace engagement or a college graduate’s well-being if they attended a public or private not-for-profit institution, a highly selective institution, or a top 100-ranked school in U.S. News & World Report. It also outlined the relationship between the level of student debt and a graduate’s well-being and entrepreneurial experience.

Is College Worth the Cost? is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Predicting if and when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates is a fool’s game, though plenty of people try doing it.

The recent inaction by the Fed to hold interest rates where they are may prolong global uncertainty, though it’s a global uncertainty that has been around since the last time the Fed raised interest rates in 2006. Its main interest rate has remained practically zero since then.

The Washington Post reported that some Fed officials expect interest rates to be raised sometime this year — which leaves only four months. Its top officials are scheduled to meet twice more in 2015: October and December.

3 ways to beat the Fed

If interest rates do rise this year, there are some financial habits worth starting now in preparation for the rise. Here are three:

Repay student loans

This may be difficult for college students, many of whom have student loans, but limiting debt and paying loans before graduation will help avoid inflated balances and reduce monthly payments after graduation, according to Scott Smith, president of Seattle-based CreditRepair.com.

Early repayment will free up income for post-grad purposes. It will also reduce a borrower’s credit utilization ratio, an important factor in keeping a credit score as high as possible.

Higher credit scores will help qualify you for lower interest rate loans, which will ultimately offset any future interest rate hikes by the Fed, Smith says.

Don’t carry credit card balances

Credit cards can help build a credit score if used properly. If you’re carrying a monthly balance, it could hurt your credit score, as could making late payments.

An interest rate hike will ultimately cause credit card rates to increase, affecting people with large credit card debt.

When applying for a credit card, consider annual fees, your ability to repay and all service charges, Smith recommends.

Practicing discipline with a credit card is important, as is paying all of your bills on time. By doing this, an interest rate hike will have very little effect on credit card users.

Savings accounts finally win

The best part about the Fed raising interest rates is that savings account will finally see a rate hike in interest rates.

Saving is difficult, so starting the habit of saving now before interest rates rise will make it a lot easier when you’re earning more money on your savings.

This article by Aaron Crowe first appeared on CashSmarter.com and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.

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3 Financial Habits to Start Before Fed Raises Interest Rates is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

And that’s probably the first real piece of advice for eliminating personal debt. It is a long road. And if it is a carefully thought out road, it can still be an enjoyable, stress-free one.

For a lot of folks, they’ve been carrying debt longer than any relationships in their lives; even longer than spouses or kids. So break out of the mind-set of living in a hamster wheel, and start doing something positive to begin breaking it down. Here are five steps to eliminating debt:

Think in Time

Whenever you’re about to lay down $10 on your third XXL skinny latte for the day (or any expense that’s border lining on indulgent), ask yourself – how much time will it take to earn this back? And don’t just quantify your purchases by your hourly wage, hold them up to what you make after taxes. If you’re honest with yourself, you will likely spend less on frivolous, excessive purchases.

Another cost to think about when you’re factoring time > money is your daily interest rate. How much interest are you currently paying on all of your debt? Divide it by days in the month and consider it, too, when you plan to purchase something you may not really need that much.

Gamify your Personal Debt

Track your expenses and pay attention to victories, no matter large or small. Give a small percentage of the debt you’ve been able to pay off back to yourself.

Cut the Right Corners

Whenever you receive money or break a larger bill at the store, take that change and save it up monthly to put toward your debt. You’d be surprised how much you can put toward rent without every really noticing it was missing.

Be Tomorrow You, Today

Mind-set is 99.99% of getting through debt – and a good outlook that’s framed by the realization that debt isn’t a physical constraint, but a mental one can go a long way.

When you’re carrying a burden in your mind, it’s easier to see life as half-glass-empty. Whereas if your outlook were more positive, you may be more likely to see opportunities as they present themselves and be open to change.

It’s easier to manage risk and reward when you’ve got a clear head, so put a plan in place for those bad credit personal loans you’re paying off and then forget about it. Paying your debt down can be automatic while you get on with your life.

Find a Partner (or a competitor!)

Fans of CBS’ popular Dexter series will know that every serial killer loves a little competition to keep things interesting. Well, in this debt-slasher epic – you’ll probably have more motivation to cut costs and stay on task if you have someone around who’s doing the same thing.

Having someone to talk to along your debt-killing spree will also inspire you to get creative and try new ways to cut costs and stretch your existing budget.

Look at your debt for what it is; real life Tetris, nothing more. It needn’t rob you of life’s joys, and it certainly need not weigh you down. Consolidate, plan, and move on!

5 Easy Steps to Eliminating Personal Debt is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Like many college students, Jeremy Kalgreen had student loan debt and wanted to be free of it. “I hate being in debt,” he says. But unlike many students, he found a creative way to both pay off his debt and launch what turned out to be a lucrative part-time business that morphed into something more.

The T-shirts Kalgreen designed allowed him to pay off student loan debt, about $15,000 worth, well ahead of schedule. And in the process, he learned some valuable lessons that can benefit new grads.

Here’s how it happened. Each summer, Kalgreen says, he tries to learn a new skill. (Lesson No. 1: Try new things.) One summer he tried learning how to silk screen T-shirts. But he wasn’t very good at it, he says. An art student who was studying photography at the time, he did enjoy designing the shirts, but not actually making them.

He heard about a website — Spreadshirt.com — where he could upload his designs and they print the shirts for him. He decided to create a few for his personal wardrobe. But the day he went to place his order, his car broke down and he couldn’t afford the $90 or so it would take to purchase them.

“There was an option to make my designs public,” he recalls. “I wasn’t planning to do that but I thought maybe someone would want a T-shirt.” His only thought at the time was that it would be cool to sell enough so that he could purchase a few for himself.

Almost immediately he got a trickle of orders. It wasn’t a lot, but in a relatively short period of time he was making around $300 a month. Then some bloggers saw his science-themed designs and mentioned them on their blogs. Soon the orders started really coming in.

His first order of business? Paying off his student loans.

“The first thing I did was funnel all the money I was making to clear out what I owed,” he says. (Lesson No. 2: Ditch the debt.) Fortunately it wasn’t a fad. “It stayed stable, and I made enough money to quit my day job school at the photo lab and delivering pizza.”

His T-shirt business, WearScience.com, is what he now does full time.

It’s important to note that Kalgreen took a cautious approach to his finances right from the beginning. He kept his standard of living very low even after he graduated from college in 2005. “I was still living the life of a college art student with a couple of roommates,” he says. (Lesson No. 3: Live like a student for as long as you can.) He knew sales could drop at any moment and he didn’t want to find himself back in debt if they did. It took him roughly two years to pay off the loans, but that was significantly faster than if he had followed the standard 10-year repayment schedule. (You can see how your student loans are affecting your credit by getting your credit scores for free on Credit.com.)

He also believes the fact that he wasn’t good at silk screening worked to his advantage, because it forced him to look into other options. He got lucky: he stumbled on a business opportunity that didn’t require him to invest a lot of money upfront on equipment, a website shopping cart, inventory etc. (Lesson No. 4: Keep costs down.) “If I had to do the traditional business model I would have gone bankrupt,” he says.

With his business well established, Kalgreen now has a house (and mortgage) and family. But the lessons he learned while starting his business have served him well. He’s managed to save and invest, and turn his passion into a career.

Image: Jeremy Kalgreen

Related Articles

• 5 Steps to Reduce Your Debt: Do-It-Yourself Debt Reduction
• How Student Loans Can Impact Your Credit
• A Credit Guide for College Graduates

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

This article by Gerri Detweiler was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.

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I Sold T-Shirts to Pay Off My Student Loan Debt is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.