Fri, July 10, 2009
Although I’m not a true “foodie,” I do enjoy a good meal. I enjoy saving money, too. Restaurant Week enables me to do both simultaneously. Now in its ninth year in Boston, Restaurant Week offers an opportunity for locals to sample the offerings of pricey restaurants at a discount. Moreover, there are Restaurant Weeks in other cities. Read the full article
Tue, June 23, 2009
Although early summer in the Boston area has been unseasonably cool, it probably won’t stay that way. Coupled with some of the highest electrical rates in the nation, warm weather provides plenty of motivation for energy conservation. Here are some suggestions for cutting your electric bill during the summer. Read the full article
Wed, June 17, 2009
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its report today on changes in New England region prices for May 2009. Read the full article
Wed, June 10, 2009
Here’s the test of whether you're a true contrarian: would you buy a Chrysler today? Read the full article
Tue, May 19, 2009
May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month. You won’t be getting any “Happy Disability Insurance Awareness Month” cards, though, because Hallmark™ hasn't caught up to this yet. Read the full article
Wed, May 06, 2009
College graduation season, which lasts for several weeks, is upon us here in the Boston area. According to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), graduating seniors with educational debts carry an average debt load on the order of $20,000. More and more, college students are beginning their working lives with fairly heavy debt loads. It's more important than ever for newly-minted grads to hit the ground running with a plan for their finances.
Read the full article
Sat, April 11, 2009
With the economy in a funk, consumers are becoming more cost-conscious. In response, retail businesses seem to be offering more discounts. Recently I discovered a neat resource for people who like saving money but who'd also like to be able to have a meal at a nice restaurant. Read the full article
Mon, March 02, 2009
With short-term Treasuries yielding fractions of a percent, people who need safe investments find they're getting very little for their money. What are the best options for low-risk cash investments right now? Read the full article
Thu, February 26, 2009
Many employers offer Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) that can be used to pay for healthcare expenses not covered by health insurance. If you participate in one, the money that you have withheld in the account has use-it-or-lose-it status. In some plans, the deadline for spending funds contributed in 2008 was 12-31-08, but many plans have taken advantage of an IRS provision that allows prior-year FSA funds to be used up to 2.5 months after yearend. The deadline this year is March 16th (the 15th is a Sunday).
FSA funds can be used to pay for co-payments, deductibles, or other expenses not covered by your health insurance. In addition to prescription drugs, the IRS has ruled that FSA funds can be used for certain over-the-counter medications.
A number of online over-the-counter drug vendors provide information at their sites regarding which medicines qualify as FSA-reimbursable expenses. Medications for acne, cold medications, pain relievers, and a wide variety of other items can be purchased to use up remaining funds in your account (the IRS frowns on “stockpiling,” though, so don’t buy thirty bottles of Beano®). Be sure to maintain receipts showing the items purchased so that you can substantiate the eligibility of your expenses.
Any funds not used by the deadline are lost to you, so if you’re not sure when your FSA’s deadline is and you have money left from last year's funds, check to be certain.
Read the full article
Thu, December 25, 2008
Christians traditionally celebrate the birth of Christ by giving gifts. I’ve never been able to determine whether this custom originated because of the gifts the wise men brought to the infant Jesus or because Christ’s incarnation was a gift to the world. In either case, I’m taking a break from financial matters in this post to give a gift to my readers: one of my favorite recipes. Read the full article
Wed, December 03, 2008
Sometimes, a well-meaning gift giver just doesn't know enough about a recipient’s needs to select “the perfect gift.” A gift card or gift certificate seems like a nice solution in that situation, but what if the retailer that issued the card subsequently goes bankrupt? In the present economic climate, it seems likely that a few retailers will go bankrupt in the next few months. Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind as you consider giving a gift card. Read the full article
Fri, November 14, 2008
I've written several posts on the asset protection limits available to consumers who have invested in a variety of financial assets. With all the changes and adjustments that have taken place in the last few months in the financial landscape, I thought it might be helpful to provide a single article summarizing the insurance /protections currently available to investors. Read the full article
Wed, October 08, 2008
Today's WSJ notes that Fidelity, Vanguard, and T. Rowe Price Group have signed up for the Treasury Dept's guaranty fund for money market funds that were held prior to September 19th. Now all the major mutual fund families with large money market funds appear to be participating in the fund (Charles Schwab is also on the list).
Investors wondering about their accounts should check their fund's web site; participating funds seem to be announcing their participation fairly prominently. You may also want to confirm that the specific fund that you own is covered; for example, Schwab's U.S. Dollar Liquid Assets Fund is not included because it's not a U.S.-based money fund.
The guaranty fund will be in effect for at least three months and the Treasury dept. has the option to extend the coverage for a year. I decided to add this post because the blog is still getting a lot of traffic from people with questions about whether their mutual funds or money market funds are insured, and this information might be helpful to them. People with questions might also want to try the Treasury's FAQ page on the money-market guaranty fund.
See a related post here: How Can I Tell If My Money Market Fund Is Safe?
Postscript added 3-3-09: The current termination date for the money market fund guaranty program is April 30, 2009. The Secretary of the Treasury may extend the program to September 18, 2009. Read the full article
Thu, October 02, 2008
Having discussed why having an emergency fund is a good idea and how big an emergency fund needs to be, I’d now like to talk about investments suitable for an emergency fund. Read the full article
Wed, October 01, 2008
Congress voted down the Troubled Assets Relief Program ("TARP") legislation, much to the chagrin of the financial markets. At the moment, the markets continue to be in distress, despite a "dead cat bounce" in stocks today. What should you be doing in terms of your household finances? Read the full article
Fri, September 19, 2008
This Monday, something very unusual happened: a money market fund began trading its shares at 97 cents, instead of a dollar.
Reserve Primary Money Fund (RPFXX) was forced to write down three quarters of a billion dollars of Lehman Brothers debt as a consequence of the Lehman bankruptcy. Even though the debt may eventually be partially paid through the bankruptcy process, as a current obligation the debt has no value. Thus the fund’s share value had to drop, forcing the fund to “break the buck.” On Monday and Tuesday, investors in the fund pulled out $27 billion in response.
FT Alphaville reports that one of Putnam Investments’ institutional money market funds has decided to close and liquidate itself, not because it needs to “break the buck” now, but because of concern that a future run on the fund might force a fire sale of its assets.
Money market funds are normally thought of as stable places to put cash, but even money market funds are not guaranteed not to lose money. How can you judge how safe your money market funds are?
Read the full article
Thu, September 04, 2008
Most financial planners advise their clients to have money set aside in an emergency fund. Occasionally my clients ask me why they need to keep money on hand for emergencies.
If you’re like most Americans, once you’ve paid your credit card bills, mortgage, and your other bills, there’s not much left of your paycheck. If you’re someone who lives far below his or her means (by this, I mean that you have two or three thousand dollars a month or more left unspent from your income every month) you have the capacity to cover many typical unexpected expenses, like the sudden failure of your heating system in the middle of winter. If that's your situation, you’re in a position to cover emergency expenses from your cash flow – unless the emergency happened to be the loss of your job, in which case you’d still be in trouble.
The fact is, though, that few households have large amounts of cash flow that go unused from month to month. Read the full article
Mon, August 25, 2008
Although I’ve been slow to notice it, I’m now certain that it’s true: our food is shrinking.
More precisely, the companies that sell food and consumables are putting their goods into smaller packages and hoping that we won’t notice. Read the full article
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