MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 11/29/19

الجمعة، 29 نوفمبر 2019

6 Easy Ways to Outsmart Porch Pirates and Protect Your Holiday Packages

The porch pirates got me good one holiday season.

I arrived home after a long day at work to find two empty packages on my front stoop. The thermal sweatshirt that was supposed to be a Christmas gift for my dad? Gone. The pricy face cream I bought for myself? Gone. And the townhouse I was living in, which was on a residential street, didn’t have security cameras.

There were plenty of places to tuck the packages out of sight, but the delivery person was either too busy or had done so only to be foiled later by the thieves.

That was years ago. Now I can simply install a smart lock on my front door and have Amazon or Walmart deliver items directly to my living room. Thieves can’t steal your packages if there’s nothing on your doormat to yoink.

But what if you’re trying to receive packages and deliveries without allowing our e-commerce big brothers to let themselves in on a regular basis?

6 Ways to Stop Porch Pirates Once and for All

In a 2017 report, insuranceQuotes estimated that 25.9 million Americans had a holiday package stolen from their front porch or doorstep that year. And across the United States, 36% of consumers have reported having a package stolen at least once, at an average cost of $109.

Don’t want to be a part of that very sad group of people? Try one or more of these methods to deter package thieves when you’re doing your online holiday shopping.

1. Make Delivery Requests

Some online ordering systems allow you to make delivery requests, like putting the package in a secure area. Making a request doesn’t guarantee that it will be met, but you may be surprised at how attentive delivery people are when dropping off your goods. “Leave on basement steps” or “upstairs neighbor can sign” are simple instructions that can help ensure your package gets to you.

If you happen to run into your regular local USPS, UPS or FedEx carrier, you may be able to make requests in person. But keep in mind that your neighborhood delivery person may have the best intel on which bushes are ideal for concealing packages.

2. Work With a Neighbor

If you know your neighbors — come on, go meet your neighbors — you can work together to thwart package theft. If you have alternating or overlapping schedules, swiping a package off their stoop — for good, not evil — means you can make sure it gets into their hands after dinner or whenever they get home.

3. Get Packages Delivered to Your Workplace

Not every employer will welcome your holiday shipments with open arms, so check with your office manager to see if they’d mind signing for packages you don’t want to risk having delivered at home.

Hauling items home can be cumbersome later, but if you want eyes on a package ASAP, your workplace may be your best bet.

4. Pay for a Package Receipt Service

This isn’t the cheapest option, but it may be the most secure. Some businesses offer to receive packages for customers for a small fee.

I once lived around the corner from a dry cleaner that always had a line at the counter. Why so popular? Not only did it offer quick cleaning services, but you could pick up your dry cleaning and your packages in the same trip — and the hours were convenient, too.

5. Get Your Stuff Delivered to an Amazon Locker

It’s not quite as convenient as home delivery or the corner store, but if you’d rather have your Amazon package delivered to a secure location, add an Amazon Locker location to your account.

Amazon will deliver the package to the locker and when it’s ready for pickup, you’ll receive an email with a six-digit code to pick up the package from the self-service kiosk.

Lockers are located in stores, apartment buildings and malls across the United States, which offers you convenient times to pick up packages on in the evenings or on weekends.

And if you’re a Prime member, you get to use the lockers for free.

6. Watch Your Tracking Info Like a Hawk

Ah, the beauty of technology. I can see the exact moment my package went from a warehouse plane to another warehouse and onto a truck. And I can see the moment it finally lands at my home. Tracking services may not prevent you from losing packages to theft, but the available tools can help you stay up to date on its path and estimated arrival so you can plan accordingly.

Frequently, you can sign up for text or email updates on your package’s journey, and if you miss a delivery you need to sign for, you can sometimes have the package rerouted to a shipping service center, like the UPS Store, so the delivery person doesn’t spend three days knocking on your door.

Pro Tip

If you have the Ring doorbell camera, sign up for reports on the Neighbors App, where you can share info about package thieves if they hit your area.

The postal service even offers Informed Delivery, which sends you images of small pieces of mail that are on their way to your mailbox that day.

If you’re willing to make a bigger investment, home security systems like the Ring can also let you monitor your front door — and the police department can use the footage to track down the porch pirates.

If the worst-case scenario happens, detailed tracking information and video can help make a case to your credit card company, which may reimburse you for lost or stolen packages, or it could help you get a replacement item from the retailer.

Lisa Rowan is a former senior writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Spread Holiday Cheer Without Overspending. 7 Ways to Save on Gifts

Buying holiday gifts for all your loved ones can add a bunch of financial stress to what’s supposed to be a joyous time of year.

The commercialism of the season encourages you to buy-buy-buy, meaning many of us overspend or even go into debt. Your gifts might put a smile on someone’s face — but at what cost?

Rethink some of your holiday shopping plans if you’re trying to survive Christmas on a budget. Here are seven tactics you can use to spend less.

7 Gift-Giving Strategies to Celebrate Christmas on a Budget

1. Shop with cash.

Embrace a cash envelope budget for holiday spending. Figure out how much you feel comfortable spending on gifts this year, and withdraw that amount from your bank account. Then pay for gifts only with that cash. Once the money’s gone, that’s it. Leave your debit and credit cards at home if you think you’ll be tempted to swipe. You’ll be forced to be strategic about what you buy but thankful that you don’t go over budget.

2. Limit your Christmas list.

Be selective about who you buy presents for. Maybe you get something for your parents but skip giving gifts for your siblings. Let your loved ones know you’re doing Christmas on a budget this year. If you want to minimize some of the awkwardness of not having something to exchange, you could get a box of holiday cards, write a sweet personal message inside and tape a candy cane to the envelope.

3. Get in on group giving to whittle down your Christmas shopping list.

This can be done a few different ways. You can select one gift to give a group of people — like a family board game for your nieces and nephews — rather than buying everyone individual gifts. You could participate in a Secret Santa or similar gift exchange with a nominal spending threshold. Or you can get a group to chip in on a bigger purchase. For example, if you want to buy a gift for your child’s teacher, get a bunch of parents to contribute a few bucks to get something nice.

4. Try the four gift rule.

If you tend to overspend on your kids, take a more lean approach to giving this year. Instead of checking everything off your children’s wish lists, buy only four things — something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. Your kids will still get a variety of presents (and probably extra things from the grandparents, too) and you won’t be swimming in credit card charges come Dec. 25.

5. Shop second-hand.

A gift doesn’t have to be brand new to be new to the recipient. Think vintage clothing for your fashion-forward friend or gently-loved toys for your toddler who won’t even know they’re preowned. A recent survey by the second-hand selling app Mercari found three in five Americans said they’re comfortable receiving something second-hand as a gift. One thing about second-hand treasures: You don’t even have to buy anything. Regift unused items you have at home or check to see if there’s anything interesting up for grabs from your local Buy Nothing Group.

These dos and don’ts to holiday shopping at a thrift store will help you select the perfect used gift.

6. Make your own gifts.

There’s a DIY Christmas gift (or DIY stocking stuffer) for every skill level. Add hot cocoa mix to Mason jars for an easy way to do Christmas on a budget. Knit a scarf if you’re an experienced crafter. Though you’ll still spend money on supplies, you’ll likely pay less than store-bought equivalents. And homemade presents show the thought you put into the gift — and it’s the thought that counts.

7. Rethink the “experience” gift.

Opting for experiences rather than material items has grown in popularity, but concert tickets or theme park passes are no easier on the wallet. Instead, reflect on your skill set to see what you could offer up family and friends that can’t be wrapped and tied with a bow. Redo your best friend’s resume or host a one-on-one cooking class for your brother.

Nicole Dow is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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Overcoming Unintentional Shopping

Last year on Black Friday, I made this agreement with myself that I was going to utterly ignore it (aside from a bit of investigating that I felt I needed to do for an article or two that I was writing). I wasn’t going to buy anything. I wasn’t going to go out shopping. Rather, I was going to spend the day playing some games with my kids, working on a homemade gift for the holidays, and getting some reading in.

At three different times during the day, I found myself looking at Black Friday sales. I actually took note of it at the time, thinking it would make for an interesting post someday.

So, how did that happen?

The first time, I was reading social media and I noticed that a person I knew was posting about an item on deep discount, and I clicked through to check it out. I didn’t buy anything.

The second time, a friend texted me about three separate items that he thought I might be interested in. I clicked through the links without a second thought. I didn’t buy anything.

The third time, my wife and I were quietly talking about Christmas gifts for people and she started looking for a few items on her phone, with me looking over her shoulder. I believe my wife bought one item as a gift.

This isn’t to say that my goal was some kind of failure. During the day, I never went directly to seek out sales on anything, online or off. Rather, I came to those sales through secondary influences: social media, a friend sharing things he thought I’d like, my wife wanting to find good holiday gifts for our kids.

Social media got me to a Black Friday sale, even though I wasn’t intending to shop.

A friend got me to a Black Friday sale, even though I wasn’t intending to shop.

My wife did the same.

In each of those cases, I didn’t have any intent to do any shopping. I sat down to see what a few distant friends were up to on Thanksgiving and the day after, and yet that got rerouted into a shopping experience. I read a message from a friend, and that got routed into a shopping experience. Even sitting down with my wife on the couch for a bit, as innocuous as that was, got routed into a shopping experience.

The point is this: we’re often led in subtle and unintentional ways to situations where we can spend money on things we might want, and it happens more often than we realize. I didn’t really leave the house all day long last year aside from going on a rural walk, and I never picked up a device once with the intent of shopping online, but I wound up checking out at least three different retailers.

And, truth be told, I probably would have forgotten those visits had I not made note of them, and there’s a good chance I would have made at least one purchase if I wasn’t being extra aware of my choice to avoid Black Friday entirely.

They would have been forgotten visits and possibly forgotten purchases.

Here’s the take-home message from this: we’re often subtly influenced to buy, particularly in online settings, even when we don’t really intend to be shopping, and often those encounters are forgotten quickly thereafter, even if we make a small purchase. We’re tempted by products to the point that we’re actually in the store considering a purchase — and sometimes we even make a purchase – when we’re not planning to do so at all, and we often forget about it shortly thereafter.

What’s the harm in that? We’re often left with a little remnant of the temptation that took us there in the first place. We thought enough about the item to take action, to visit that online shop or to step into that convenience store, and even if we didn’t make a purchase, that doesn’t change the fact that we were tempted into going there.

Even if we have the best of intentions, we can still find ourselves falling into unintentional shopping, tempted into spending money when we’re not even really thinking about it. It’s easy to see how we can be tempted into it online, but it can happen when we’re anywhere.

We’re strolling by a vending machine and feel a bit thirsty so we slip a couple of dollars in the machine.

We have to stop for gas and need to go to the bathroom, but then we spy something when we’re in the convenience store and swipe our card to get it.

We’re going somewhere with a friend but they need to make a “quick stop” for something.

Those are instances of unintentional shopping, and whenever you’re shopping, particularly without any intention at all, there’s a chance that you’re spending money on something that you really don’t need or even want at all.

The easiest thing to do to avoid this is to simply avoid all instances of unintentional shopping, but that’s a lot easier said than done. If you’re on a road trip and you stop for gas, it’s pretty silly to not go into the gas station to use the bathroom because of a chance that you might buy something. It’s pretty nonsensical to never read a message from a friend because they might be sending you a link to an online store.

So, what can you do instead?

First, be aware of it. If you’re not intending to shop for anything right now, then that means if you go into a shop, it’s pretty silly to buy anything, even if it looks cool. That item you just saw would have never been on your radar at all if you hadn’t just unintentionally went shopping, so it’s completely unnecessary to buy it.

For me, I try to keep the purpose of what I’m doing in mind. If I’m browsing social media, I’m trying to keep up with some friends, not buy something. If I’m reading a text, I’m communicating with a friend, not buying something. If I’m going into a convenience store, I’m using the bathroom, not buying something. My intent is not to buy, so I’m not going to buy.

Second, just don’t click through. If someone sends you a link to an online store, don’t click through. If you see a link to an online store on social media, don’t click through. There’s no worthwhile reason to do so. Just keep moving along.

It’s actually a pretty useful habit to build. If you see a link on social media and it’s not truly important to you in any way, just don’t click it. The same is true if a friend sends you a link or if you get a link in your email. Just. Don’t. Click.

Third, don’t take the means to easily spend money with you. If you aren’t going with the intent to spend, don’t take money with you. Don’t take credit cards with you. Leave that stuff at home in a secure place.

That way, if you do find yourself unintentionally shopping, you don’t have the means with which to buy anything anyway, so it becomes a moot point.

Fourth, pare down your social media. Stop following companies and retailers. Stop following “influencers.” Instead, stick just to people you know well. Anything beyond that circle is just throwing junk at you anyway.

Over the last year or two, I’ve eliminated all but two social media platforms from my non-professional life and the things I’m following on there have been drastically cut back. This has resulted in a big cutback in terms of the time I spend on social media and certainly the number of links of all kinds I’ve clicked through and products I’ve been exposed to.

Finally, don’t share e-commerce links yourself. Don’t tell friends about big sales. Don’t share the latest products. Doing so encourages your friends to share things like that back with you.

The only time you should share things to buy with people is if they’re requesting it. Otherwise, keep those product suggestions to yourself. This gradually and subtly nudges your friends to do the same, meaning there are less opportunities for you to unintentionally shop online.

Unintentional shopping brings almost no value into your life while bringing a hefty financial cost along for the ride. You can’t completely stop it, but it’s pretty easy to slow it to a crawl, and your wallet will thank you.

The post Overcoming Unintentional Shopping appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Dear Penny: I Just Got a Balance Transfer Offer. Is It Too Good to Be True?

Dear R.,

Banks want you to pay attention to that dazzling low APR and ignore all the bank-speak.

Consider that credit card agreements average nearly 5,000 words. They require a reading level about two grades above that of the average American. Banks make a lot of money because most people will focus on the 1.9% introductory APR and ignore the other 5,000 words.

So I applaud your skepticism and urge you to look at any credit card offer through that “is this too good to be true?” lens.

With a balance transfer credit card, you transfer your debt from one or more cards onto a card with a low introductory rate, sometimes zero percent. Lots of people successfully use balance transfer cards to get out of debt faster and save on interest.

But by offering you a balance transfer card, your bank is trying to lure you away from your current card companies. You’re paying a lot of interest to those companies. Your bank wants the pleasure of charging you all that interest, and they’re willing to fight for it. So they give you a temporary low interest offer in hopes that you’ll still have debt when those nine months are up.

To determine whether you want to play this game, you’ll need to be on the lookout for a few things in all that banking mumbo-jumbo.

The first thing to look for is the fees. You’ll typically pay a fee of 3% to 5% of the amount you transfer. That means if the balances you’re transferring total $5,000 and you have a 3% fee, you’re starting with $5,150. Many balance transfer cards charge an annual fee on top of that.

Still, these are typically pretty straightforward. And considering that at the higher end, credit card APRs are often over 20%, you stand to save a lot of money on interest as long as the fees are reasonable.

Where banks really get sneaky is with all the APRs.

That 1.9% rate you mention probably only applies to the transferred balances. There’s probably a way higher APR that applies to any new purchases you charge to the card.

Also look for the regular APR, i.e., the interest you’ll be charged once those nine months are over. Many people find that the regular APR on their balance transfer card is a couple points higher than the APRs on their existing cards.

Many agreements also state that the bank can cancel your promotional APR if you make late payments or miss them altogether.

Because of all the baiting and switching surrounding APRs, I suggest pursuing a balance transfer card only if you can budget enough each month to wipe out your debt completely during the promo period. You also need to solemnly swear that you will not make additional purchases on this card.

If you do decide to go this route, I recommend shopping around before you take up this offer. Nine months is a relatively short promo period — many cards offer between 12 and 21 months, and a longer low-interest period gives you more breathing room to nix this debt. Bonus points if you can qualify for a zero-interest promotion.

But if you know that you won’t be able to pay off your debt during the introductory period, a debt consolidation loan may be a better option. Sure, you’ll pay more than 1.9% interest, but you’ll get the simplicity of a fixed monthly payment and you won’t have to juggle multiple APRs.

Just remember that banks make a lot of money because people don’t know what they’re signing up for. Don’t be one of those people. Approach future credit cards and loans with the same scrutiny you’re bringing to this offer, and you’ll do just fine.

Robin Hartill is a senior editor at The Penny Hoarder and the voice behind Dear Penny. Send your questions about credit cards to AskPenny@thepennyhoarder.com.

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Can my husband give me a property tax-free?

My husband owns an investment property worth around £200,000. Can he transfer it to me without paying stamp duty or capital gains tax?

Patrick Connolly Fri, 11/29/2019 - 00:54

From

JH/via email

A transfer of an asset between spouses, or civil partners is treated as a ‘no gain, no loss’ disposal. This means that your husband won’t have to pay CGT on his ‘disposal’ to you and you won’t have to pay stamp duty on your acquisition from him.

However, for CGT purposes, you will be deemed to have acquired the property at the same cost that your husband originally bought it for. This will be taken into account if you dispose of the property in the future when working out any potential CGT liability that you may have.

It is important to note that transfers between spouses are only treated in this way if the spouses are living together at some point during the tax year in which the transfer takes place.

Patrick Connoly, certified financial planner at Chase de Vere

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Account switching: challenger banks hot on the high street’s heels

Over six million people have switched their current account since 2013. So is it time you changed banks?

Stephen Little Fri, 11/29/2019 - 00:22

Nationwide, HSBC, NatWest and Monzo attracted the most current account switchers between April and July this year, according to the latest data from Bacs, which administers the Current Account Switch Service.

Nationwide was the clear winner with 26,466 current account customers joining.

One reason may be its FlexDirect account, which offers 5% interest on balances up to £2,500. This offer lasts for one year and when it ends the rate drops to 1%. Agreed overdrafts are free for the first year but you’ll need to pay in at least £1,000 a month.

HSBC, which includes figures from its subsidiaries First Direct and M&S Bank, had a net increase of 15,782 current account customers.

The HSBC Advance Account has a generous switching bonus of £175, but you must pay in a minimum of £1,750 to keep it open.

It is also linked to a regular savings account, which pays an interest rate of 2.75%.

With the First Direct 1st Account you will get a £50 bonus if you switch. To qualify, you’ll need to transfer via the Current Account Switching Service, transfer your direct debits and deposit at least £1,000 in the first three months.

If you open an M&S Bank Current Account you will get a £100 M&S gift card plus an additional £80 after 12 months if you choose to switch.

NatWest had a total of 15,735 current account switchers between April and June, marking a reversal of fortune from last year. This is likely down to its switching bonus – £150 and 2% back on household bills. You have to pay in a minimum of £1,500 each month. If you want to take advantage of the switching bonus you will have to get in quick as the offer ends on 6 December.

Challenger banks are also proving to be increasingly popular with people looking to switch current accounts.

Monzo Bank had an increase of 13,453 people switching to its current account, while Starling Bank gained 6,686 new customers. Both banks offer the best rates for spending and cash withdrawals abroad, while Starling Bank offers 0.5% interest on current account balances.

Both also come with a slew of in-app third party financial products, although it is best to shop around before deciding to take advantage of them.

Halifax had the most customers leaving between April and June, with 12,058 people switching. It was followed by Barclays (10,988) and RBS (10,440).

Despite 8,110 customers leaving TSB, it offers the second highest paying current account, at 3%. You’ll need to pay in at least £500 a month, register for internet banking, and opt in for online bank statements and paperless correspondence to get this headline rate.

Featured product

Nationwide FlexDirect Current Account

This account comes with 5% interest on balances up to £2,500 and a free overdraft for the first year. Note, however, that the interest rate drops to just 1% after 12 months.

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How you can gift a games console now… or a cruise later

Imagine handing over a beautifully wrapped Christmas present to an excited child. Picture the delight on their face as they wrestle off the ribbon, rip off the paper only to reveal… an empty box

Rachel Rickard… Fri, 11/29/2019 - 00:08

At this time of year lots of financial experts do the rounds telling us to spend less on presents and invest in our loved one’s futures instead.

I’ve already received emails suggesting investing in gold on behalf of family and friends rather than buying them jewellery, or saving money for a child’s university years rather than giving them presents they’ll likely discard by new year.

But even though many of us know that saving or investing for loved ones is a prudent thing to do, it is hard to do in practice.

It is hard to give up the joy on someone’s face as they open a gift you’ve bought them.

I am not seriously suggesting we all gift empty boxes containing scraps of paper saying ‘Happy Christmas! I’ve set up a pension for you!’ But even so, there are few young people who would act as grateful on hearing you’ve invested for them as upon handing them a wrapped gift.

It is also hard to give up something tangible for something abstract.

There is an old experiment that psychologists do to measure children’s self-restraint.

They tell young participants they can either have a marshmallow now, or two in an hour – and see which one they choose.

Many children struggle to find the self-restraint to opt for two later. But at least in this experiment they can comprehend and visualise what they will gain in the long term for the short-term sacrifice.

Gifting investments for the future does not have this advantage. It is the equivalent of giving up one marshmallow now for an unspecified number of marshmallows to be received in an uncertain amount of time later on.

So I’ve been thinking: what if we made the trade off more equal, by giving up something concrete for something else just as tangible?

I tried it out, and the results are stark. Instead of giving someone a games console this Christmas, you could pay for their rent and living costs for a month at university – or a luxury holiday in retirement.

This is calculated on the cost of a Nintendo Switch (cost around £299 with one game), and investing for a 13-year-old for 10 years in a Junior Isa (which would make around £440 at 4%),or in a pension to age 68 (which has the added benefit of tax relief from the government and would make around £3,230).

Similarly, you could buy a four-year-old a Juno My Baby Elephant (one of the most popular gifts for young children this year) for £89.99 – or give them £1,384 to spend in retirement if you put the cost in a pension instead.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t give presents at all – where would be the fun in that. But just holding a little back for later can make a huge difference to your recipient’s future. Fifty pounds becomes £100 when invested for 18 years (assuming returns above inflation of 4%). Imagine how this would build up if you did it every year.

You may not necessarily be around for them to thank you, but you can be sure they will be grateful for your foresight. Maybe true selflessness comes from giving up their gratitude.

And with the Scroogiest column I’ve ever written out of the way, it only remains for me to wish a merry Christmas to you all.

Email editor@moneywise.co.uk

Twitter @rachel_spike

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HSBC and Santander to refund millions to customers after breaking overdraft rules

The competition watchdog says both banks broke rules requiring them to contact customers before they go overdrawn

Stephen Little Fri, 11/29/2019 - 10:11

HSBC and Santander have agreed to refund hundreds of thousands of customers after they broke bank overdraft rules.

The competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), says that both banks broke a legal order that requires them to send text alerts to customers before they go into unauthorised overdrafts.

HSBC broke the rules twice and is refunding £8 million to 115,000 customers.

Santander broke the order six times and has agreed to issued a refund, but it has not yet worked out how many customers were affected or how much they will be paid.

The CMA says the breaches first occurred in February 2018. The refunds will cover all fees incurred by customers who went into unarranged overdrafts and did not receive a text alert.

Since 2018 banks have been required to send text messages to customers when they go overdrawn to help them avoid paying unnecessary charges.

HSBC says it will be contacting customers who incurred overdraft charges to refund them.

An HSBC spokesperson says: “We apologise to those customers who for different reasons did not receive an alert. We will continue contacting customers who incurred overdraft charges as a result of these issues to apologise and provide a refund.”

Santander says it “working to identify and refund all affected customers as quickly as possible”.

A spokesperson from Santander says: “We are very sorry that some customers in certain circumstances were not sent the required overdraft alerts. The introduction of these alerts is a move we welcomed and believe is a real support to customers.

“We have carried out a detailed review to understand why the errors happened and have taken steps to fix the issues.”

The CMA it is also directing HSBC and Santander to do an independent check of their compliance with the order between February 2018 and December 2019.

Earlier this year, Nationwide Building Society agreed to refund £6 million to its customers after it failed to send them correct text warnings.

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