Money Tips Network
Optimizing Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
Over the last few months, I’ve written articles about our efforts to optimize our dishwashing techniques and our laundry techniques to save both money and time.
Since these are routines that we do pretty much every day, figuring out how to do them just a little faster and a little cheaper ends up paying enormous dividends over time. Trimming just five minutes a day from our daily routine is nice, but when you can do the same with lots of different household routines, it ends up being huge. The same thing is true with shaving a quarter or two in expenses from those routines — it ends up being a lot of money over time.
Are Radar Detectors Legal and How Do They Work?
Would you drive above the speed limit if you knew you wouldn’t get caught? For many, investing in a radar detector allows them to do just that — even though we obviously don’t recommend speeding. The cop detector industry is expected to be valued at $20.6 billion by 2023, so as you can imagine, there […]
The post Are Radar Detectors Legal and How Do They Work? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Ask the Readers: What Do You Do for Fun While You're Stuck at Home?
It is strongly recommended (and in some places mandated) that we all stay home as much as possible to avoid unknowingly spreading COVID-19.
Questions About Building Skills, Building Routines, Emergency Funds, Stocks and More
What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Lost my job. Now what?
2. Skill building during time off
3. Contributing to Roth IRA early?
4. Why are stocks crashing?
5. Free educational resources
6. Net worth calculation of debts
7. Simplest meals
8. Saving fresh vegetables
Women’s Guide to Navigating Unfair Auto Repair Prices
For women, the topic of pay inequality has another side. You may have heard of the pink tax, which is the practice of charging more for products that are marketed towards women. It’s a relatively innocent name for the fundamentally discriminatory phenomena of gender being unnecessarily impressed on products like laxatives, calculators, or identical hotel travel kits.
Laid Off? Here’s How to Apply for Unemployment Insurance
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of millions across the country — and many are now having to scramble for rent. According to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, nearly one in five households have already experienced a layoff or reduction in work hours due to the coronavirus.
Is Now a Good Time to Invest?
With U.S. and international stocks in flux thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s easy to assume that investing your money right now isn’t the brightest idea. However, as with any recession, certified financial planners say there are still solid opportunities to invest some cash — as long as you’re confident you won’t need it in the short-term. (For short-term needs, set aside an emergency fund in a high-interest savings account).
How to File a Diminished Value Claim After an Accident
Most car owners know that their fancy new wheels will start depreciating the minute they drive off the dealer’s lot. If your new car sustains damage in an accident, its value will plummet even further. Luckily, there are a few ways to avoid losing as much money when this happens.
If another motorist damages your vehicle in an accident, you don’t have to accept a settlement that only pays for repairs without considering vehicle depreciation. In most states, you can file a diminished value claim when you’re not at fault for an accident. Diminished value claims help you recoup your car value, money that you cannot make when you resell it, due to its collision history. Learn what diminished value claims are, how to file one and how to get the best settlement.
Guide to Landlord Insurance
If you rent out your home, condo, apartment or another property to others — congratulations, you’re a landlord! With that comes the responsibility of landlord insurance. If something were to happen to that property, or to someone while at that property, you could be liable — and your regular homeowners policy will not cover you.
Your investment property has value that you’ll need to protect because your tenants’ renters insurance covers only their belongings. Anything from a wind storm that knocks out the gutters to a lawsuit from someone who falls on your icy sidewalk could cost you thousands of dollars if you don’t have rental property insurance.
What Is Comprehensive Insurance and Do I Need It?
If you’re shopping for auto insurance, you might wonder what type of coverage you need. Most car insurance policies include a set of basic coverages that are required by your state and are important for every driver to have. However, certain coverages are optional — one being comprehensive car insurance. Since it’s optional, you might be tempted to skip it and save some money, but don’t be too hasty because comprehensive coverage might be something you need.
So what is comprehensive insurance, how does it differ from collision coverage and how do you know if it’s something you need?
Building a Daily Routine for Keeping Sane and Surviving Financially
Like many of you all across the world, my family and I are spending almost all of our time at home, practicing social distancing, trying to keep ourselves healthy and trying to not go too stir crazy. Of course, along with that comes a lot of financial and professional worry. For many families, finances and future employment are incredibly stressful right now, and that makes this unusual time even more exceptional.
Our family’s solution has been to try to adopt some daily routines to keep us all sane, to stabilize our financial state as much as we can, and to preserve our health and relationships. Let’s dig into this a little bit.
Citi® Double Cash Card Review
From a generous cash back reward structure to a lengthy N/A intro APR period, the offers great appeal with no annual fee. For people who don’t want to handle multiple rewards cards, this 2% cash back card offers a simple way to get rewards on every purchase without any stipulations. You won’t have to sign up for promotions or deal with rotating bonus categories to earn your rewards. However, the perks of this card extend beyond cash back. If Citi senses potentially fraudulent activity, you’ll receive alerts and won’t be held responsible for any unauthorized purchases made with the card.
What we like about Citi® Double Cash Card
A short list of useful coronavirus resources
Believe it or not, the current coronavirus crisis is affecting Get Rich Slowly too. Things are slow around here. Traffic is down. Revenue is down. Production is down. Plus, I have a big deadline at the end of the month. My project for Audible and The Great Courses is due on March 31st.
So, just like the rest of the world, we're going to press “pause” for a couple of weeks. I will return next Wednesday with my annual birthday article, but you'll have to scroll down to see it. I'm going to pin this post to the top of the front page.
Timeless Principles to Use Through Thick and Thin
Over the past few days, as my own family has settled into social distancing with Sarah and the kids all home from school and all of us spending a lot of time together at home, and watching the news of illness and stock market crashes, I’ve been looking for wisdom in the words of people who have made it through similar trying times. What worked for them? How did they get through it?
I wanted to share some of those with you today.
“Our necessities never equal our wants.” – Benjamin Franklin
If there’s a lesson that we all will learn in the coming days, it’s that the things we need are a whole lot less than the things we think we need.
The truth is that in the best of times, the fulfillment of many of our wants and desires become indistinguishable from fulfilling needs. We lose track of what we want as opposed to what we need and lump them all together into one pool.
What’s Happening to Interest Rates and Why Does It Matter?
On Sunday, the Federal Reserve announced it would slash interest rates by one percentage point down to 0%-0.25% as a rare emergency action against the financial instability caused by the COVID-19, or coronavirus, pandemic. This follows the previous March 3 decision to cut the rate by half a percentage point.
Trump Suspends Student Loan Payments for Two Months — But You Have to Ask
Recently President Trump announced he will waive the interest on student debt held by federal agencies “until further notice” in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Shortly thereafter, he suspended student loan payments for 60 days as well. While interest will be automatically waived, you will need to contact your loan servicer in order to request forbearance, or to suspend your payments.
Pres. Trump announced that all federal student loan payments have been suspended without penalty "for at least 60 days"https://t.co/Qrx3PJ9ywG pic.twitter.com/BpXiy3ITsw
Modern coin collecting fun but useless for preserving wealth
A lot of “collectible” coins really aren't that collectible. If you're looking to preserve wealth, consider the four qualities that make coins valuable …
(This article was originally posted on November 29, 2006, and has been updated.)
The US Mint over the past twenty years or so has revitalized interest in coins and coin collecting with the numerous special series that have come out.
How Much Car Insurance Do You Need?
One of the biggest questions you’ll have about your car is, “how much car insurance do I need?” Finding the answer isn’t always easy. Every state has specific minimum amounts that you need to get your car on the road, but is the minimum enough?
We’ll take a look at the different kinds of car insurance to help you determine the best car insurance coverage for you at a price that won’t break the bank.
What is a CLUE report?
If you’ve ever purchased insurance, you know how costly it can be. Insurance companies provide rates that are personalized for each customer, based on a number of factors. But do you know exactly how insurance companies determine your rate?
Most people are aware that certain factors, like their age and state of residence, are used to calculate their premium. However, you might not know that insurance companies also consider your CLUE report to set your rate and assess your level of risk. In this article, we’ll explain the ins and outs of the CLUE report and help you understand how it affects your insurance premium.
Find the Best Home Insurance
Enter your ZIP code below and be sure to click at least 2-3 companies to find the very best rate.
Spring Cleaning Your Finances: Highlights From Our Chat With Leslie Tayne
Financial literacy speaker, author, and blogger Leslie Tayne joined us for our #WBChat on March 19th to share insights on how to spring clean your finances. Our #TayneYourDebt #WBChat featured wonderful tips to help our chatters clean up your finances this spring.
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