Alpha Consumer
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Dream Lists for Extra Cash
Continue reading… 4 CommentsThis morning, I participated in a "Mind over Money" panel on Channel 9 in Washington, where I answered calls about life insurance, identity theft, and child support. In addition to those bread-and-butter topics of personal finance, I also got my favorite kind of question: one that focuses on the opportunities that money can bring us. A 57-year-old woman who recently accepted a $20,000 buyout at work wanted to know what she should do with the money.
First, I asked her about her retirement savings. Did she have enough built up to pay for her living expenses? She did. This $20,000, she explained, was just extra.
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Vote: How Is the Economy Affecting You?
Continue reading… 4 CommentsThe verdict is in: Americans are worried about the economy. The latest evidence comes from an AARP nationwide survey that asked respondents ages 45 and over about how they have responded to the slowdown. Most participants said that the economy is in bad shape and that they have changed their own behavior to adapt. Among the findings:
- More than 1 in 4 respondents said they are having trouble paying their mortgage or rent.
- About a third said they stopped putting money into their retirement accounts.
- About a quarter said they postponed plans to retire.
Now it's your turn: vote in the poll below.
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6 Ways to Save Money on Vacation
Continue reading… 8 CommentsEven though I knew my vacation to Belize last week wouldn't be cheap, I tried to keep it from getting out of hand with money-saving travel techniques I've developed by trial and error. (Spending a dinner's worth of money on ATM fees isn't the kind of thing you easily forget.) Here are my top six frugal tips that won't interfere with any vacation fun:
• Rent. If you're going somewhere for more than a couple of days, look into renting an apartment instead of staying at a hotel. (Websites for specific destinations can be easily found through Internet searches.) When you have a kitchen, you can make breakfast and sometimes lunch and dinner on your own, which easily adds up to over $40 a day.
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Surviving a Layoff
Continue reading… 2 CommentsI am the kind of person who needs a back-up plan. That's why I'm a big fan of emergency funds and tend to make (probably overly) safe investments with my short-term savings.
So I was eager to read the National Foundation for Credit Counseling's ideas for surviving a layoff, a worst-case scenario that many people are worrying about now. Some of the suggestions include:
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Eat Better for Less
Continue reading… 2 CommentsI recently chatted with Fred Grandy at Retirement Living TV about how to save money at the grocery story. (Fred, a vegan, even makes his own hummus.) You can view the video below.
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Money Tips for New Moms
Continue reading… 5 CommentsAngie Wynne, author of Baby Cheapskate, guest blogs about saving money while preparing for the big day:
Have you heard the statistic that parents spend $10,000 on their kid during the first year alone? Get started early with these five tips from Baby Cheapskate, and cut that amount by thousands:
• Focus on the essentials. Fill your registry with practical items. Think car seats, bottles, a breast pump, a crib, etc. Diapers may not be as cute as a tiny pink dress, but you'll be glad to have them (and people will give you clothes anyway). Try to resist filling in the gaps until all the gifts are in. When you shop for gear, look for open-box items to save around 30 percent. When buying online, always check for a coupon code (do a Web search for the name of the store and "coupon"). Remember to consider the cost of shipping.
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A Pop Quiz on Your Spending
Continue reading… 3 CommentsToday's guest post is from Mike, creator of the blog Living the Cheap Life:
To begin with, I'd like to offer a big thanks to Kim for giving me the opportunity to write this guest post. My name is Mike, and I'm a cheapskate. I'm also the blogmaster over at Living the Cheap Life, where I discuss strategies for living frugally with the ultimate goal of financial freedom.
The disgustingly simple exercise I'm about to discuss will put you in the frame of mind to become a black belt cheapskate. Even if that's not your goal (it should be), the exercise will still improve your financial health and make you more conscious of your spending.
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A Grad Student's Spending—and Saving—Habits
Continue reading… 1 CommentAfter I asked readers to share their own spending diaries, Veronica, a 24-year-old graduate student in Brooklyn, N.Y. (her last name is omitted to protect her privacy), offered to keep track of her expenditures. I was curious to learn about people's different saving strategies, and her diary did not disappoint. As you can see below, Veronica used a combination of comparison shopping, packing her lunches, and close relationships (you can't split a hot dog with a stranger, after all) to keep her spending in check. Veronica's diary:
Sunday
- 2 p.m.: $8 Pathmark (two Lean Cuisine pizzas, one double-stuffed Oreos, and bananas)
- 2:30 p.m.: $12 Key Foods (four boxes of pasta, four cans of tuna, and four boxes of frozen vegetables)
- 3 p.m.: $5.54 Associated Supermarket (half-gallon fruit punch, half-gallon lemonade, and half-gallon 2-percent milk)
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It's Hard to Stick With Stocks
Continue reading… 5 CommentsGBlogger from Can I Get Rich on Salary writes today's guest post:
I often wonder whether I'm being stupid. This is prompted by my long history of being stupid. But it's also human nature. We all have moments of self-doubt.
A 24-year-old reader named Kathy expressed this in a comment on my blog:
I worry that I am stupid for faithfully throwing money into my 401(k) plan only to see it decline by 10 percent because I put into stocks because I'm young and that's supposedly what young people should do. Is that typical for someone my age to worry about?
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5 Ways to Stop Wasting Food
Continue reading… 8 CommentsWhile I'm on vacation this week, other bloggers will be writing guest posts. Here is the first one, from Jonathan Bloom, who blogs at WastedFood.com.
OK, quick quiz:
Which purchase is likely to yield food waste?
a) Discount club—the 30-pack of hot dogs.
b) Supermarket—that bag of washed, cut spinach.
c) Organic grocer—the chayote squash you've always wanted to try.
d) All of the above. -
How to Squelch 4 Big Money Wasters
Continue reading… 13 CommentsI recently chatted with Amy Bordoni, a writer and blogger in the Chicago area. (Disclosure: She is also the sister of my colleague Liz Wolgemuth, author of the Inside Job blog.) As the mother of two young sons, Bordoni said that she has noticed that her family ends up wasting a lot of money on little things that add up over time. "Although we rarely eat out, shop secondhand, strive to be energy-conscious, and avoid developing a Starbucks habit, we still waste a lot of money that could be saved because we are disorganized," she told me. Here are four of her big money wasters—and how she conquered them.
• Overdraft fees. Bordoni and her husband usually pay bills online and write checks without keeping a record of the money going out, so they end up overdrawing their account at least once a month, with a $39 fee each time. When she got frustrated and called the bank to figure out her options, she found that she could open a new credit card account with the bank and have overdraft protection for just $10 each time it is used. "A big 'savings,' especially for a couple with uneven cash flow...and no intention to ever get into Quicken," she says.
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Congratulations, Basic Financial!
Continue reading… 2 CommentsBiff from Basic Financial won the first Alpha Consumer Challenge. Congratulations, Biff! He said he would use a $1,000 windfall to save more money:
The first thing I would do is buy a decent bicycle so that I could bike to work (on non-rainy days), since I live only 6 miles from work. This would cut down on my gas costs, especially if I start now. I would also convert a dog pen we have into a greenhouse to grow my own veggies and sell the rest at the local farmers market down the street. I would also probably put between $400 to $500 into our emergency fund.
Since he blogs anonymously, he is opting not to have his photo and full name featured here, but he will receive a copy of Curtis Arnold's How You Can Profit from Credit Cards. Stay tuned for the next challenge, coming soon.
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Beware the Latest Credit Card Scam
Continue reading… 11 CommentsIf you get a call from your credit card company informing you that your account has been flagged because of suspicious activity, be skeptical.
A current scam works like this: A fraudster, claiming to be from the security department of a credit card company, tells the consumer he is checking unusual account activity. He may even offer a badge number. Then, he tells the consumer that a fake purchase, such as an $800 television from Best Buy, has been made on the card.
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Saving Too Much for Retirement
Continue reading… 7 CommentsDear Alpha Consumer,
I contribute 10 percent of my income to my 401(k), which turns out to be around $14,000 a year. But if I get a raise next year and that 10 percent exceeds the $15,500 annual limit for contributions for people under 50, then what will happen? Will someone tell me that I've reached the annual limit, or will I get the money back in some way? Is there a way to contribute exactly $15,500?
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Audio: Couples and Money
Continue reading… 1 CommentOver the weekend, I spoke with WTOP about couples and financial management. We talked about what each spouse should know about money and how to start those conversations. Listen now, download in
iTunes, or subscribe to the 
RSS feed. -
Podcast: Why We Shop
Continue reading… 0 CommentsConsumer psychologist Kit Yarrow recently spoke to me on the Alpha Consumer podcast about what shopping means to us, beyond the ability to buy material goods. She explains how it can define us, how to get control of overspending, and what makes generation Y different.
You can also hear the Alpha Consumer Tip of the Week on how to eat on a budget. Listen now,
download in iTunes, or subscribe to the RSS feed. -
Reporter's Query: Leaving a Legacy
Continue reading… 0 CommentsFor an upcoming story, I am looking for parents who have decided to give money to their children well before dying. For example, some parents contribute to a mortgage or set up charitable donations in their kids' names. If you would be willing to share your story, please E-mail me at alphaconsumer@usnews.com.
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Vote on the Alpha Consumer Challenge Winner
Continue reading… 2 CommentsAlmost 50 people submitted responses to the first Alpha Consumer Challenge, making my job of choosing the top three difficult. Answers to the question—What would you do with $1,000?—ranged from the practical, such as buying a new toilet, to the pleasurable, such as taking a trip to the tropics.
It wasn't easy, but here are my top three choices. Now, it's your turn to vote on the winner, who will get his or her name and photo posted on the blog and also receive a copy of Curtis Arnold's How You Can Profit from Credit Cards. Voting will stay open until Thursday, and the winner will be announced Friday.
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The $1,000 Debate
Continue reading… 0 CommentsI asked each blogger who participated in last week's debate over how to spend $1,000 to comment on each other's approaches, which were quite different. J.D. Roth said he would save the money to put toward his larger financial goals, such as a trip to London and new car. Farnoosh Torabi said that if her job didn't prohibit it, she would invest in the stock market, but otherwise she is going to use it on future splurges, such as summer beach weekends. Meanwhile, Boston Gal said she would save almost all of it.
Here is what they had to say about each other's choices:
J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly on Boston Gal's approach:
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Weekly Blog Roundup
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThis week's Carnival of Personal Finance has great advice on everything from shopping at garage sales to controlling impulse purchases. My favorite post—from the blog But Why Doesn't It Grow on Trees?—is on what the writer's mother taught her about money management, including making her own bread and avoiding soda.
