Education Articles

Loose Change Stack-Up

A fun, educational game for your kids The Loose Change Stack-Up is a fun, easy activity to teach your kids how to count change as well as the value of earning money. Teaching kids at an early age how to count and earn money will help set them up for success later in life by building a financial foundation of knowledge. This activity is great for...

10 Financial New Year’s Resolutions

Hard to believe, but the time has come to make—or to start making good on—your annual New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps you’ve already gotten to work on eating healthier, organizing your garage, or learning a new language (congratulazioni!). How about getting your “financial house” in order? If you haven’t developed a definitive plan for the new...

7 Savvy Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund

In the late 1960s, Stanford University conducted a now-classic psychology study called the Marshmallow Test. In it, children were offered a choice between eating one marshmallow immediately or two marshmallows if they could wait a few minutes. You can watch kids deal with this agonizing dilemma here . Resisting an immediate reward for a greater...

P2P Payment Systems: What You Need To Know

Peer-to-peer (P2P) payment systems have dramatically changed the way we handle our money. It’s so easy to send money with just a few taps on your phone. But be sure to keep your money safe by following the tips outlined in this article. First popularized by PayPal, the world of P2P payment systems has exploded. A NerdWallet survey found that...

Plan For Retirement, Especially In Your 20s

If you’re in your 20s, retirement may seem too far off to worry about. Besides, you probably have more immediate concerns, like student loans, car loans, and credit card debt. And if you’re in your 30s or 40s, you may be more focused on buying a house and raising children than on retirement planning. But the sooner you get into the habit of savi...

After Recent Decline, CDs Rebound

With the highest rates in years, CDs are well worth a look. Not only are SELCO’s certificate rates among the best anywhere, if our rates rise within 30 days, we'll automatically increase yours. Rewind to the early 1980s. The United States was feeling the sting of two full-blown recessions . Inflation rates hovered around 10–13% and interest rate...

Signs You Might Be Living Beyond Your Means

In an age of plastic spending and mobile payments, living within  your means can easily slide into living  beyond  your means. And many of us fall into this trap without realizing it. Getting out of this trap can be “easier said than done,” said Nick Manley, Financial Advisor for SELCO Investment & Retirement Services. “Living within your means...

What To Know About ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’

They’re so easy to use, they almost seem too good to be true. Is there a catch? With Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, you can walk away with that expensive exercise bike, entertainment system, sectional sofa, or anything else that catches your eye, even if you can’t cover the costs in the moment. And in return, retailers can make more sales b...

Looking to Consolidate Debt? Try a HELOC.

What would you rather have—several hundred dollars in monthly payments spread across all your credit cards or one smaller payment over a set number of years? If you’re a homeowner, a home equity line of credit (HELOC) may be what you need to reel in that pesky debt. Aside from being fun to say, a HELOC (hee-lock) can be more than just a means of...

Crypto May Be Hot, But These Investment Options Are Safer

If you haven’t heard, cryptocurrency is the flavor of the month in the investment world. More than 20 million Americans own some form of  cryptocurrency . With Bitcoin leading the way, the  global market capitalization  of crypto is hovering around $2 trillion. El Salvador became the first country to  adopt Bitcoin as legal tender . Crypto was...