3 ‘Normal’ Money Habits That Could Ruin You Financially — What to Do Instead

Sarah Li Cain   Mon, July 7, 2025  GOBankingRates

Everyone makes mistakes. But some have more dire consequences than others. While the occasional dinner out or spending money on lattes (is this still a big deal?) may set you back a bit financially, it’s not the end of the world.

There are some money habits though, that if not kept in check, could ruin your financial future. Here are three of them, and what habits you can replace them with instead.

3 Reasons Retired Boomers Shouldn’t Give Their Kids a Living Inheritance (And 2 Reasons They Should)

May 22, 2025  By Sean Bryant

If you’ve generated a significant amount of wealth during your lifetime, you might be starting to think about what will happen to it once you are gone. You could donate it to a worthy cause or you could pass it down to your kids. But what if you want to go ahead and give them some of your wealth now, before you pass?

With the Great Wealth Transfer underway, it’s expected that by 2045, roughly $84 trillion will be passed down from the silent generation and baby boomers to their kids. And a lot of this will be done as a living inheritance.

Don’t Buy Groceries on Saturday or Sunday — Here’s Why

Crystal Mayer   Thu, July 3, 2025   GOBankingRates

If you work a regular 9-to-5 job, then grocery shopping during the middle of the week can be tricky. This means that just like millions of other people, you will be stuck fighting the crowds on the weekends to ensure that your kitchen is fully stocked for the days ahead — and it could also end up being a fight with your food budget.

Research shows, however, that if you can squeeze in a midweek grocery shopping trip, your wallet and your sanity may be greatly rewarded. With that in mind, here are the worst days of the week to buy your groceries.

There's 1 Reason Rich Athletes Go Broke

Cam Newton says there's 1 reason rich athletes go broke and he no longer makes $20M/year in 2025 — here's why

Moneywise   Tue, July 1, 2025

At the height of his career, Cam Newton, former NFL MVP and Carolina Panthers quarterback, says he earned roughly $20 million a year. However, in a recent video on his YouTube channel, Newton confessed he was making online content “to keep the lights on.”

Newton’s candid admission pulls back the curtain on a common struggle retired athletes face: managing money once the big paychecks stop.

Woman Swindled Out Of Thousands Of Dollars In Airline Scam

Unfortunately, these cons are common

Tamara Gane  Updated Sun, June 22, 2025

Family vacations are exciting, but they can also present an opportunity for scam artists. Just ask a mom named Haylee who booked 11 flights on American Airlines for an upcoming cruise.

She explained in a recent TikTok video that both her daughter and niece are on the autism spectrum. She called the airline to check to see if accommodations like early boarding were available to make their travel day easier.

Hawaii Store Owner Duped By Fake $100 Made With Real $1 Bill — how to spot forgeries linked to this technique

Christy Bieber  Tue, July 1, 2025  Moneywise

Kevin Costello, owner of Siam Imports, had a bad experience recently receiving payment with cash. A customer came into his store and paid with a fake $100 bill, but it turned out that the bill was actually a legitimate bill made into a counterfeit — and he failed to catch it.

"I had a couple other girls in here at the same time, so I didn’t really closely look at the $100, which if I would have did that I could [have] probably prevented it,” Costello said.  One reason he didn't identify the issue on the spot: The counterfeit $100 was made using a clever technique thieves are favoring recently.

Fort Worth Teacher, 28, Loses $32K After Scammers Tricked Him Into Sharing His Personal Banking Information

Cory Santos  Sun, June 29, 2025  Moneywise

After spending years saving money in the hopes of starting a family, Russell Leahy and his wife are now forced to live paycheck to paycheck.  Leahy, a 28-year-old teacher from Fort Worth, Texas, recently lost $32,000 to scammers who tricked him into revealing sensitive financial information.

"It was my entire life savings," Leahy told WFAA. "I had literally never felt like the wind had been taken out of my sails before. I'd never really felt like I was going to pass out before, but it really felt like the end of the world for me."

How Much Should You Share With Your Kids About Your Finances? Experts Weigh In

Nicole Spector   Wed, June 25, 2025   GOBankingRates

Most of us were raised without any formal education in personal finance. This alone can hold us back. But for many of us, it’s worse than that — we didn’t have much of an understanding of what was going on with money in our own homes while we were growing up. Maybe we sensed, or were told, that the money situation at home was “bad” or “good” or “stressful.” But that’s not education — that’s emotion.

Now, as parents, we want our children to have it better than we did. That means equipping them with the right tools to navigate the world of personal finance when they’re older. So what, exactly, should we share with our kids about our finances?

7 Unforeseen Financial Obligations You Take On When You Retire

John Csiszar  Mon, May 13, 2024

Once you retire, you want your financial life to be as uneventful as possible. If you’re like most retirees, you’ll be living on a combination of investment income and Social Security benefits, and that income will be relatively fixed and predictable.

This means that unexpected financial obligations can cause serious distress, as it might be hard to find a way to pay for them without going into debt. To avoid falling into this situation, it’s best to plan ahead and build a bigger emergency fund before you retire so that none of these expenses send you into a financial tailspin.

Read the Fine Print  - Buyer Beware!!

Maurie Backman  Mon, June 23, 2025   Moneywise

Georgia roofer is out $12,000 after State Farm approved homeowner's claim — then refused to pay out in full

When Cumming, Georgia, homeowner Venkat Garikapati's roof sustained heavy wind damage in 2021, he filed a claim with his home insurance company, State Farm, to have it fixed.

However, State Farm only approved the replacement of 38 shingles and estimated the cost at $1,422.15 — less than Garikapati's $2,500 deductible — and closed the claim without paying, according to Atlanta News First. But Garikapati's roofer, David Garner, disputed the insurance company's assessment.