498 - Why You Need to Understand Interest Rates

Monday 24 February 2020
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In this episode, we look at the APR on our credit cards and loans.  Quotes: "More than 40% of Gen Z, around 30% of Millennials and Gen X, and almost 40% of Baby Boomers say they don’t know what the interest rate on their credit card is, according to a new survey by Stash, a micro-investing and banking app. But it’s not like folks don’t need to know because they’re paying off their bill in full each month and not triggering any interest charges: Americans paid $113 billion in credit card interest last year, up 12% from 2017, and up a whopping 49% from five years ago when the national average was just $76.3 billion, according to MagnifyMoney, a financial product comparison website." Takeaways: 1. A higher APR or Annual Percentage Rate leads to paying more overtime. This seems basic but is often underestimated. 2. If you aren't extremely careful, you can get into a situation where you are never able to get out of the debt (student loans). 3. Higher APR means less gets paid on the principle which means carry

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