Page 5 - Ask Chuck News Today

I work in the technology sector and am worried about getting laid off. Can you help me be prepared?

I would love to treat my family to a vacation, but we just can’t afford it unless we put it all on a credit card and pay it out over the coming months. Seems worth it to us. We need a break.

I am 25, live in a hot housing market, and feel squeezed by rising rents. I can't see any way that I could ever buy a home! I need a plan and some hope.

I work and live with those who buy whatever they want, whenever they want. I find myself constantly influenced to join their spending sprees! Can you give me any tips that I can implement to control my spending immediately?

I am a baby boomer with lots of friends and a healthy community at church, but I see loneliness as a major problem for so many of my friends, our kids, and our grandkids. How do you think this trend will impact the economy in the future?

We have a budget, but the cost of groceries and eating out is ridiculous! Something has to change. What can we do? We are exceeding our food budget every single week.

I would like to eliminate our high interest credit card debt. What are your thoughts on taking out a HELOC to pay it off?

Our finances are stretched so thin that I am stressed out all the time. We live on a budget, but my husband and I both need some hope that it will not always be this way.

With the threat of this banking crisis, we are looking for options in which to place our funds. We have enough cash to exceed the FDIC limit for couples with a joint account ($500,000). We have heard that credit unions are safer than banks. Is that true?

This banking crisis has me nervous. How bad is it? Should we trust our small regional banks? Where should we put our money?