Any Apple product: it makes sense to buy the extended warranty. Their stuff is great, but when something does go afoul they replace/fix it no questions asked as long as you have AppleCare. Plus, they give you until the original warranty expires to buy the AppleCare. I fully plan on buying one for my iphone (bought in happier economic times) the day before the warranty expires.
I haven't had problems with telemarketing calls since I got on the Do Not Call list. I do still get some calls but they are from charities or companies I've had business with. For those I simply politely ask them to remove me from their calling list. That works easily almost every time. Years ago I would get a few calls every day but after the DNC list I might get 1-2 calls a month. Caller ID is also good to avoid phone solicitation.
I don't like telemarketing at all. But I don't think the people doing it are evil nor deserving of verbal abuse. It won't accomplish anything good to be rude to telemarketers.
When our grandson was born 2 years ago Nov. 7th, and the day he was born we bought him his first Savings Bond. He gets them for birthdays, Christmas and sometimes "just because". We still get him toys, clothes, etc, but we wanted to start an investment for him. I have gotten several friend's doing this now for their grandchildren also. My grandson's mom and dad are thrilled with these!! I also have his 2 uncle's doing this for him also. I just cannot get his other grandma on-board--would rather buy him more toys and junk instead of doing this.
Extended warranties are offered for a reason. It's a way for companies to make money. Somebody has calulated the risk of possible failures and assigned a dollar figure to cover the risk. Just like a casino, extended warranty companies are not in business because the pay their customers.
Their is no such thing as bumper to bumper coverage either, the fine print is stategecally written by skilled lawyers who sole purpose is to create loop holes for the company to get out of paying on a claim.
Not to mention most items come with a manufacturers warranty, and dealing directly with the manufacturer will usually get better results anyway.
Consumer Reports has done a few studies of the worth of extended warranties. When LCD tvs first came out, they recommended an extended warranty, saying that the technology was unknown enough to warrant it. Now they no longer recommend that.
I bought the extended warranty on my laptop when I was in law school, because I knew the typical situation for a laptop does not imagine that you carry it on your back to school in a backpack, and then move it from room to room 4-5 times a day. It was just barely worth it--I probably got $200-$300 in repairs done on it, including a motherboard replacement--and that was probably about the cost of the additional warranty.
Now I would not do that, because I could spare the $1000 to self-insure and replace the laptop if it failed. At that the time, being without the laptop would have been a serious inconvenience and I could not have easily afforded a replacement. I also knew I was going to use the warranty, and I did. Still I'm not sure if it was the best decision.
The general rule seems to be, don't insure if you can safely self-insure. For consumer goods, the most you can be out is the cost of the purchase. How many goods should we be buying that we can't afford to replace outright if they fail in a typical 1-3 years window? A car and a house are about it. I insure my home (renters insurance) and my car, and I make sure to buy liability coverage to cover possible costs beyond replacement costs. If you can't afford to replace your laptop, you may have to question whether you can really afford to buy it in the first place.
I bought an extended warranty on a laptop when I was in grad school because I couldn't afford to replace it if it died. Sure enough, a $700 part busted right before the warranty was up.
I realize that rarely happens, but the warranty also bought me a few years to replace the computer -- meaning I can now buy something cheaper with more power.
Still, I'd only get the warranty on "can't live without" items like a laptop.
We had a financial planner who called us day and night. We told him to quit calling, asked nicely and then got rude. We were on the DNC registry. We could not get him to stop. Finally one day as hubby came in the house from work, he called yet again. Hubby went into the best spiel ever------"Oh, my god, my wife just cleaned me out today. I went to the bank, she cleaned out all the accounts. I just got home and she took all the furniture. I am destroyed." He never called back again!!
I have been married for 26 years now, and knew nothing about cooking when we were first married. Both my mom and mom in-law taught me this one. It has worked every time. I have even done this in chili and sloppy joes. So, give it a try all you will be wasting is a potato if it does not work for you. BUT, I know it will!!
It may be practical in this situation, but probably not many. I haven't bought one in quite some time. I'd rather put the cost of an extended warranty in my "lemon fund" and self warranty. If the item fails, I only have to argue with myself. If it doesn't, I'm dollars ahead.
Does this mean putting yourself into more debt? I think so. In this economic climate I see no sense in it. Are these new home buyers guaranteed that they will keep their jobs. I think not. I would be very cautious about using this, what I call "hand out".
My question is that after all these changes to the program do the first people who used it still have to repay the money? Or is that considered a different program? If so feeling a bit gypped here.
last time, I answered, said "just a minute please," and laid the phone down and continued eating dinner--didn't hang up, just left him waiting. That ended that persistant telemarketer who'd left a dozen messages on my phone that day. He never called back.
I have a 30 yr. mortgage at 5.875, I am adding about $300 a month to principal to pay off faster. How much more will I save by refinancing to a 15 year mortgage at 4.50?
Antiques are a discretionary item, and sales currently are low due to the declining economy.Many professional show dealers have quit the business entirely. EBay bids are running low on all but certain fashionista items--pre-WWII authentic ad signage and thermometers, or high-quality furniture. If an item is not in near-perfect condition, or has been noticeably repaired or "restored", its value may be reduced by as much as 90%, depending on the age of the item and whether it is one-of-a-kind or mass-produced. Keep in mind that book value is achieved only in stores with a repeat clientele, and that you often will be selling to other dealers, who will want a dealer discount so they can mark up for their profit and overhead.
If you do decide to sell, target online sales for certain times--collectible tools for Father's Day, vintage kitchen items for Mother's Day, and red-hot collectibles for pre-Christmas and tax refund time. Best transient market time is the first weekend of the month, with the weekend after the 15th as a secondary market period.
Sharks do abound in these waters. Be careful and update your burglar alarms and homeowners insurance.
I have some drawings, paintings, and art supplies in a climate controlled storage unit that costs me $15 a month, hoping for the day I have an art studio where I can use them.
I have a big enough apartment now that I could put them in here, but they are very messy.
I won't give up on my future, so right now I consider it worth it.
They've been in there a few years now.
Old art school drawings can be valuable fodder for new paintings.
I have some drawings, paintings, and art supplies in a climate controlled storage unit that costs me $15 a month, hoping for the day I have an art studio where I can use them.
I have a big enough apartment now that I could put them in here, but they are very messy.
I won't give up on my future, so right now I consider it worth it.
They've been in there a few years now.
Old art school drawings can be valuable fodder for new paintings.
I have a more efficient way to solve this. Our cell phones are on the DNC list and have been for years. We have had two landlines, both end up bombarded with telemarketing calls starting the day they hook it up. The cable companies sell the number before they hook it up.
Our cell phones were being bombarded with telemarketing calls even though we were on the DNC list and would tell these people they needed to stop calling, take us off their list etc.
So I started only answering numbers I know or are in my cell phone address book. I put just about every number that might need to call me in the phone. Doctor's office, utilities and such. If it doesn't come up in caller ID then they probably have no business calling me. If I don't recognize a number I will google it to see if it is someone I might actually need to call back. Otherwise I hit quiet or ignore. I also shut down voice mail. This prevents market research and political calls from plugging up my voice mail box. If I see someone I know called me I call them right back anyways.
We did the same thing with the landline. If we didn't recognize the number we didn't answer it. Our newer landline used to belong to a woman who owed everyone in the world money. We would get ten calls a day rotating through Victoria's Secret credit cards, GE Money cards and a bunch of others. Since these were collection calls they ignored the DNC list. Even after we gave them this person's new address and phone number they kept calling. We found this person's new one with a simple Google search.
Your under no obligation at all to answer a telemarketing call. Most phones have a mute button to shut off the ringer for that call.
We, a young professional couple, bought a 117-year-old house in July of 2008. No $8,000 tax credit.
If we had one, we could make green improvements to our house...insulation, efficient windows, attic ventilation, coat of paint, roof repairs, woodstove.
Right back into the local economy.
Are we being punished or something? Buying our house didn't even allow us to itemize tax deductions last year.
this is informative...i am currently doing posts on bonds on my blog and when i do savings bonds, i will link to this post. Nothing better than a blogger's personal opinion over those wall street people
For me I just feel like I got lied to thats all. I felt that from the time the bill passed till its end date was fairly small that it was an emergency effort. The point being... if you were saving up an amount and are less than 8k from your goal point, buy before Dec 1st. This opportunity wont come again. But it did. I wasn't going to get up to my goal on my own before December, but It was worth it considering the 8k. So I bought. Now its been extended and I look at how I could have put 20% down instead of 10% and that would have made it safer, and more responsible, but I acted quickly to beat the deadline. I'm not complaining about the deal that I got, I'm complaining about being urged to act quickly when they would have been fine with me acting slowly. I didn't want it the first time, but I'd be a fool to turn down free money. I didn't want it this time either, when it makes even less sense. I still have to pay for it.
Due to this economic climate, I had been affected by downsizing. As part of my "healing" process, I started to cut-back on spending, and also sell most of my stuff to get rid of clutter and unnecessary attachments.
I am also spending more time with people rather than things. Very liberating indeed.
Any Apple product: it makes sense to buy the extended warranty. Their stuff is great, but when something does go afoul they replace/fix it no questions asked as long as you have AppleCare. Plus, they give you until the original warranty expires to buy the AppleCare. I fully plan on buying one for my iphone (bought in happier economic times) the day before the warranty expires.
I haven't had problems with telemarketing calls since I got on the Do Not Call list. I do still get some calls but they are from charities or companies I've had business with. For those I simply politely ask them to remove me from their calling list. That works easily almost every time. Years ago I would get a few calls every day but after the DNC list I might get 1-2 calls a month. Caller ID is also good to avoid phone solicitation.
I don't like telemarketing at all. But I don't think the people doing it are evil nor deserving of verbal abuse. It won't accomplish anything good to be rude to telemarketers.
On higher priced items I believe they are. I got the extended warranty for my computer just in case.
When our grandson was born 2 years ago Nov. 7th, and the day he was born we bought him his first Savings Bond. He gets them for birthdays, Christmas and sometimes "just because". We still get him toys, clothes, etc, but we wanted to start an investment for him. I have gotten several friend's doing this now for their grandchildren also. My grandson's mom and dad are thrilled with these!! I also have his 2 uncle's doing this for him also. I just cannot get his other grandma on-board--would rather buy him more toys and junk instead of doing this.
Extended warranties are offered for a reason. It's a way for companies to make money. Somebody has calulated the risk of possible failures and assigned a dollar figure to cover the risk. Just like a casino, extended warranty companies are not in business because the pay their customers.
Their is no such thing as bumper to bumper coverage either, the fine print is stategecally written by skilled lawyers who sole purpose is to create loop holes for the company to get out of paying on a claim.
Not to mention most items come with a manufacturers warranty, and dealing directly with the manufacturer will usually get better results anyway.
Just my two cents
Consumer Reports has done a few studies of the worth of extended warranties. When LCD tvs first came out, they recommended an extended warranty, saying that the technology was unknown enough to warrant it. Now they no longer recommend that.
I bought the extended warranty on my laptop when I was in law school, because I knew the typical situation for a laptop does not imagine that you carry it on your back to school in a backpack, and then move it from room to room 4-5 times a day. It was just barely worth it--I probably got $200-$300 in repairs done on it, including a motherboard replacement--and that was probably about the cost of the additional warranty.
Now I would not do that, because I could spare the $1000 to self-insure and replace the laptop if it failed. At that the time, being without the laptop would have been a serious inconvenience and I could not have easily afforded a replacement. I also knew I was going to use the warranty, and I did. Still I'm not sure if it was the best decision.
The general rule seems to be, don't insure if you can safely self-insure. For consumer goods, the most you can be out is the cost of the purchase. How many goods should we be buying that we can't afford to replace outright if they fail in a typical 1-3 years window? A car and a house are about it. I insure my home (renters insurance) and my car, and I make sure to buy liability coverage to cover possible costs beyond replacement costs. If you can't afford to replace your laptop, you may have to question whether you can really afford to buy it in the first place.
I bought an extended warranty on a laptop when I was in grad school because I couldn't afford to replace it if it died. Sure enough, a $700 part busted right before the warranty was up.
I realize that rarely happens, but the warranty also bought me a few years to replace the computer -- meaning I can now buy something cheaper with more power.
Still, I'd only get the warranty on "can't live without" items like a laptop.
for posting this on Reddit lotkrotan. It was a great piece and I hope this article did your original post justice.
We had a financial planner who called us day and night. We told him to quit calling, asked nicely and then got rude. We were on the DNC registry. We could not get him to stop. Finally one day as hubby came in the house from work, he called yet again. Hubby went into the best spiel ever------"Oh, my god, my wife just cleaned me out today. I went to the bank, she cleaned out all the accounts. I just got home and she took all the furniture. I am destroyed." He never called back again!!
I have been married for 26 years now, and knew nothing about cooking when we were first married. Both my mom and mom in-law taught me this one. It has worked every time. I have even done this in chili and sloppy joes. So, give it a try all you will be wasting is a potato if it does not work for you. BUT, I know it will!!
Totally. Building up a fund to cover repairs or other problems is a much better solution in almost all cases.
Sierra Black - embracing the wild heart of parenting at www.childwild.com
It may be practical in this situation, but probably not many. I haven't bought one in quite some time. I'd rather put the cost of an extended warranty in my "lemon fund" and self warranty. If the item fails, I only have to argue with myself. If it doesn't, I'm dollars ahead.
Does this mean putting yourself into more debt? I think so. In this economic climate I see no sense in it. Are these new home buyers guaranteed that they will keep their jobs. I think not. I would be very cautious about using this, what I call "hand out".
My question is that after all these changes to the program do the first people who used it still have to repay the money? Or is that considered a different program? If so feeling a bit gypped here.
last time, I answered, said "just a minute please," and laid the phone down and continued eating dinner--didn't hang up, just left him waiting. That ended that persistant telemarketer who'd left a dozen messages on my phone that day. He never called back.
I have a 30 yr. mortgage at 5.875, I am adding about $300 a month to principal to pay off faster. How much more will I save by refinancing to a 15 year mortgage at 4.50?
Jean
Antiques are a discretionary item, and sales currently are low due to the declining economy.Many professional show dealers have quit the business entirely. EBay bids are running low on all but certain fashionista items--pre-WWII authentic ad signage and thermometers, or high-quality furniture. If an item is not in near-perfect condition, or has been noticeably repaired or "restored", its value may be reduced by as much as 90%, depending on the age of the item and whether it is one-of-a-kind or mass-produced. Keep in mind that book value is achieved only in stores with a repeat clientele, and that you often will be selling to other dealers, who will want a dealer discount so they can mark up for their profit and overhead.
If you do decide to sell, target online sales for certain times--collectible tools for Father's Day, vintage kitchen items for Mother's Day, and red-hot collectibles for pre-Christmas and tax refund time. Best transient market time is the first weekend of the month, with the weekend after the 15th as a secondary market period.
Sharks do abound in these waters. Be careful and update your burglar alarms and homeowners insurance.
I have some drawings, paintings, and art supplies in a climate controlled storage unit that costs me $15 a month, hoping for the day I have an art studio where I can use them.
I have a big enough apartment now that I could put them in here, but they are very messy.
I won't give up on my future, so right now I consider it worth it.
They've been in there a few years now.
Old art school drawings can be valuable fodder for new paintings.
I have some drawings, paintings, and art supplies in a climate controlled storage unit that costs me $15 a month, hoping for the day I have an art studio where I can use them.
I have a big enough apartment now that I could put them in here, but they are very messy.
I won't give up on my future, so right now I consider it worth it.
They've been in there a few years now.
Old art school drawings can be valuable fodder for new paintings.
I have a more efficient way to solve this. Our cell phones are on the DNC list and have been for years. We have had two landlines, both end up bombarded with telemarketing calls starting the day they hook it up. The cable companies sell the number before they hook it up.
Our cell phones were being bombarded with telemarketing calls even though we were on the DNC list and would tell these people they needed to stop calling, take us off their list etc.
So I started only answering numbers I know or are in my cell phone address book. I put just about every number that might need to call me in the phone. Doctor's office, utilities and such. If it doesn't come up in caller ID then they probably have no business calling me. If I don't recognize a number I will google it to see if it is someone I might actually need to call back. Otherwise I hit quiet or ignore. I also shut down voice mail. This prevents market research and political calls from plugging up my voice mail box. If I see someone I know called me I call them right back anyways.
We did the same thing with the landline. If we didn't recognize the number we didn't answer it. Our newer landline used to belong to a woman who owed everyone in the world money. We would get ten calls a day rotating through Victoria's Secret credit cards, GE Money cards and a bunch of others. Since these were collection calls they ignored the DNC list. Even after we gave them this person's new address and phone number they kept calling. We found this person's new one with a simple Google search.
Your under no obligation at all to answer a telemarketing call. Most phones have a mute button to shut off the ringer for that call.
Boil your water then cover the pot with a kitchen towel to keep bugs out and let it sit overnight.
We, a young professional couple, bought a 117-year-old house in July of 2008. No $8,000 tax credit.
If we had one, we could make green improvements to our house...insulation, efficient windows, attic ventilation, coat of paint, roof repairs, woodstove.
Right back into the local economy.
Are we being punished or something? Buying our house didn't even allow us to itemize tax deductions last year.
this is informative...i am currently doing posts on bonds on my blog and when i do savings bonds, i will link to this post. Nothing better than a blogger's personal opinion over those wall street people
For me I just feel like I got lied to thats all. I felt that from the time the bill passed till its end date was fairly small that it was an emergency effort. The point being... if you were saving up an amount and are less than 8k from your goal point, buy before Dec 1st. This opportunity wont come again. But it did. I wasn't going to get up to my goal on my own before December, but It was worth it considering the 8k. So I bought. Now its been extended and I look at how I could have put 20% down instead of 10% and that would have made it safer, and more responsible, but I acted quickly to beat the deadline. I'm not complaining about the deal that I got, I'm complaining about being urged to act quickly when they would have been fine with me acting slowly. I didn't want it the first time, but I'd be a fool to turn down free money. I didn't want it this time either, when it makes even less sense. I still have to pay for it.
Due to this economic climate, I had been affected by downsizing. As part of my "healing" process, I started to cut-back on spending, and also sell most of my stuff to get rid of clutter and unnecessary attachments.
I am also spending more time with people rather than things. Very liberating indeed.