# Beginner Guides
Do Parents and Family Need Insurance When They Come to the U.S.? How Do You Buy It?
When parents come to the U.S., travel insurance included with a credit card can help with flight, baggage, and trip expenses, but the real costs to watch out for are U.S. emergency...
When Is the Best Time to Pay a U.S. Credit Card? Statement Balance, Due Date, and Closing Date Explained
For most people who use credit cards normally, the answer is actually very simple: paying off your Statement Balance before the Due Date is enough. Usually there’s no need to pay o...
The Path to Financial Freedom: How Should You Use Retirement Accounts When You Need Money Fast, Face a Serious Illness, or Retire?
This article is very important because financial freedom does not end once you put money into the account. When it’s time to actually use that money, the taxes, restrictions, and r...
Path to Financial Freedom: A Must-Read for Middle- and High-Income Earners! Tax-Saving Tips for Contributing More to Roth
For most high-income households, Backdoor Roth IRA and Mega Backdoor Roth are both Roth strategies well worth understanding. They aren’t universal solutions, but when used correctl...
SoFi Bank and Investing Account: Limited-Time $475 Signup Bonus, Stackable with $200 from Cashback Portals!
SoFi’s signup bonus has increased to $475, which should be the highest ever! The bonus is fairly easy to earn, and you can now stack it with cashback portal rewards too. Opening th...
The Road to Financial Freedom: Portfolio Rebalancing in U.S. Investing — Should You Sell When Stocks Have Risen Too Much?
This article explains a concept that is very important in long-term investing but often overlooked by beginners: rebalancing. Simply put, rebalancing is not about predicting the ma...
Path to Financial Freedom: How to Choose Between U.S. Index Funds VOO, VTI, QQQ, VT, and SGOV?
Now that we have these accounts that can help us save on taxes while also allowing us to invest, and the money inside them keeps growing, how do we choose a suitable product that w...
Financial Freedom Roadmap: How Much Do You Need in the U.S. to Be Free?
If the U.S. financial freedom roadmap is about how an ordinary family should get started, then this article is about where the finish line probably is—and how different families ca...
Rakuten (formerly Ebates) Guide: Record-High $50 / 5,000-Point Bonus, Ends September 30
Sign up for a Rakuten account now, and if you spend $50 at another merchant through Rakuten, you can earn $50 cash back. This is one of the highest sign-up bonuses we’ve seen! If y...
Roadmap to Financial Freedom in the U.S.: How Should a Typical Family Start Managing Money?
This article lays out the master roadmap for the “American Financial Freedom Toolbox” series and ties together the articles we’ve published so far. It doesn’t go deep into the deta...
A Complete Guide to HSA (Health Savings Account): One of the Best Tax-Advantaged Accounts in the US
For many people working in the United States, if their employer offers an HSA-eligible HDHP, an HSA is likely one of the most valuable employee benefits to take advantage of. It ca...