How to Buy a Retirement Home With a Reverse Mortgage

Before launching into this kind of mortgage, ask yourself how long you'll stay in the home and if you can cover the fees.

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The Best Energy Stocks to Buy for 2016

Bargain-hunting investors have plenty of choices in the energy sector, which is expected to see a turnaround.

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Questions About Qualified Dividends, Board Games for Kids, Mint, Google Security, and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Qualified dividends
2. Finding a second job
3. 401(k) and early retirement
4. EE bonds?
5. Interesting lunch routine
6. Mint syncing
7. Borrowing money to make money
8. Board games for children
9. Tool for early retirement date
10. What is “tax loss harvesting”?
11. Long term stock market collapse
12. Is Google Docs secure?

December is my least favorite month of the year. Yes, Christmas is a lot of fun and it’s part of December, but I don’t like December because it is the month full of the shortest days of the year. The two weeks from December 14th to December 28th include the fifteen days with the least amount of daylight.

I’m mildly affected by seasonal affective disorder, which means that during December I feel tired a lot of the time. I fight it by going outside as much as I can and taking vitamin D and so on, but I still feel exhausted during much of December.

The nice part for me is that Christmas signifies the start of six consecutive months of gradually longer days. Sure, there are a couple more months of winter after that, but then spring starts appearing and I almost can’t stand to stay inside for a while.

But, for now, I need to tackle December, and I’ll tackle it one day at a time.

Q1: Qualified dividends

What are qualified dividends? What are non-qualified dividends? What’s the difference?
– Kevin

Dividends are simply small payments that companies pay out to each of their shareholders, usually on a quarterly basis. Usually, they pay out a tiny amount – a few cents, usually – per share, meaning that if you own, say, 20 shares in a company that pays out a dividend of $0.05 each quarter, you’re going to be earning $1 in dividends every three months. Dividends are considered income and you have to pay taxes on them just like other forms of income.

Qualified dividends are just dividends that meet specific criteria so that they’re taxed at a lower tax rate. For qualified dividends, the long term capital gains rate is used rather than the ordinary rate. For anyone who is in the 25% tax bracket or higher, it’s going to be a noticeable difference.

The big factor that turns an ordinary dividend into a qualified dividend is how long you’ve been holding the shares. In general, if you’ve held the shares for six months or longer, the dividends will be qualified, and there are a few situations where somewhat shorter periods will also qualify.

In general, if you just buy and hold stocks or index funds or other mutual funds, you’ll mostly be receiving qualified dividends, which means you’ll be paying a lower tax rate on that income than you do on your normal income.

Q2: Finding a second job

I have a very steady job where I work eight hours a day, five days a week like clockwork. It’s a job where you can kind of mentally check out all day long and just do the work, but it’s not real stressful or anything. All good – I don’t want to lose that job.

Most weekends though I don’t do much of anything during the day. I usually just get up around 9 and play videogames until the evening when I do something with friends.

I want to start a second job during the day on weekends but I am doubtful I can find anything that makes more than minimum wage which doesn’t feel worth it.

Basically I just want to convert those hours into income without too much stress.
– Jim

There are a lot of things you can do with those hours to earn more income. As you mentioned, a second job is definitely one way to earn some income, but typically part time jobs earn minimum wage or just a little more. That money is useful but it’s often not life changing.

Another avenue is to use the weekends to train for better pay at your current job by taking classes or getting certifications. I don’t know what it is that you currently do, but if there are any reasonable avenues for advancement, you could put the pieces in place for advancement on the weekends.

Yet another avenue is to start a little side gig of your own. Look at the skills you have and ask yourself if there’s anything you could do in your spare time to earn money. You can do anything from starting a small lawn care business to launching a Youtube channel and hundreds of options in between. The catch here is that the income is usually pretty slow at the start and builds up slowly over time – it’s not going to convert time to money immediately like a second job will.

Any of those options would be a great way to spend your spare hours on the weekends.

Q3: 401(k) and early retirement

With a 401(k) you have to be 60 before you can start taking withdrawals from it without a big tax penalty. What do you do if you have a lot of money in your 401(k) but you want to retire earlier than that? Are you forced to work until 60 if your 401(k) is where most of your savings are?
– Annie

There are actually a number of things you can do if most of your money is stowed away in a 401(k) and you want to retire before the magical age of 59 1/2 (which is when you can start taking penalty-free withdrawals).

The most popular route is to use rule 72(t), which allows people to start taking “substantially equal periodic payments” at an earlier age. To do this, you have to agree to start taking annual payments from your 401(k) at a set amount (the government provides a formula) until age 59 1/2. You can’t change the amount or stop the payments until you reach that age, and the amount isn’t large, but it is something.

Another avenue is to do a series of rollovers to convert your 401(k) into some other form of investment vehicle. This is a process that many investment firms will help you with. You may end up facing some taxes during this conversion process, but after the conversion your money will be in something much more flexible, like a Roth IRA.

Of course, you can always treat 401(k) money as “old money,” meaning that you live on other resources until 59 1/2 and then start tapping the 401(k). That’s more or less the plan that Sarah and I are following.

Q4: EE bonds?

Do you think it is a good idea to buy EE series savings bonds? The government guarantees the value will double in 20 years so I did the math on that and it looks like that is a guaranteed 3.5% annual return if you sit on it for 20 years. Good deal or not?
– Daniel

It’s not a bad deal. That’s probably enough to beat inflation over the next twenty years, which is better than you’ll get in your savings account.

What’s the drawback? It’s extremely rare to find a 20 year period where you will do worse than a EE bond by investing in the stock market instead. If you’re looking at a 20 year time frame, the stock market is a pretty solid investment over the last 150 years or so.

There’s also the drawback that if you cash in the bond early, it’s going to provide a terrible return for you. Right now, the bond is offering a 0.1% annual rate of return. What happens with an EE bond is that at the 20 year mark, they adjust the value so that it’s worth twice the face value. Let’s say you buy $10,000 worth of EE bonds. At the 20 year mark, they’ll be worth double their face value – $20,000 – but at the 19 year mark, they’re only worth $10,192. That’s not a very good return on your money. You have to lock in your money for 20 years to make those bonds decent.

If you wanted to buy some EE bonds and put them in your safe deposit box for 20 years, it’s not a terrible thing to do with your money, but there are probably other options that are more flexible and offer better returns. In other words, EEs are a good choice and strictly better than some options (like a long-term CD right now) but probably not as good as others.

Q5: Interesting lunch routine

Just wanted to share with you my lunch routine. I make my lunches for work once every four weeks and make 20 of them at once. I basically make two or three variations on the same meal and will make a different set each month.

So what I do is I get out 20 freezer containers and in each one I assemble an individual lunch. Let’s say I am making red beans and rice and varying it a few times. I will make a ton of beans, like starting with two pounds of dry beans, and also a ton of rice, remembering that I will be making 20 servings of each. Then I will add sausage to some of the containers and maybe a chicken wing to some of the containers.

Once they are all done I freeze them all then I just grab one each morning before I leave for work. It thaws at work and heats up in the microwave.

The meals are usually really cheap and way less than $1 each. It just takes an hour or two on a weekend once a month and it makes you a month of lunches for like $15.
– Keith

This is a really good idea. It creates some cheap and convenient lunches. These meals are going to be way more hearty and tasty than most frozen lunches and probably a lot cheaper to boot.

We do a similar thing in our own home by making full family meals in advance and freezing them, usually making a bunch of copies at once. We make slow cooker meals and full pans of lasagna and freeze several of each so we can easily pull them out for full family meals as we need them.

One good tip that you might want to try is using your extra ingredients to make your own dinner on the day you make these. For instance, you could take the leftover red beans and rice and maybe use that mix to stuff some green peppers for supper, or maybe you could mix in some okra. The goal would be to just make it a hearty variation on the simple lunches you’ve made so you can also have a dinner or two, too.

This is the kind of frugality that I love. It saves money, it saves time over the long haul, and it also produces some very tasty meals.

Q6: Mint syncing

I have been using mint for a few years now and I’m getting really frustrated with it. When it works it is amazing but it seems like every other week one of my accounts will stop syncing with mint and I have to futz around with it. Sometimes accounts just don’t sync at all. Is there a trick to making account syncing work or is Mint just awful?
– Dan

No, there isn’t a trick, but that doesn’t mean Mint is awful.

Here’s the problem. Mint’s syncing relies on the accounts of financial providers to continue to work in a certain way. Whenever providers make any change to the functionality of their account, Mint’s syncing with that account breaks until either Mint fixes it or the account provider rolls back their change.

Now, the problem is that there are LOTS of financial institutions out there. Let’s say Mint works with 5,000 financial institutions, and let’s say that on average each one makes an account change once a year. That means, like it or not, Mint’s syncing with about 14 financial institutions breaks every day. (The number is likely much higher than that, as I’m betting they sync with more than 5,000 institutions and the average institution changes more than once a year.)

In other words, Mint ends up spending a lot of time playing “financial institution Whack-a-Mole,” jumping from broken thing to broken thing and fixing it.

To me, the fact that Mint works at all is pretty impressive. Yes, sometimes an account is going to stop syncing, but it’s usually the bank’s fault, not Mint, and they’re usually fairly quick at fixing it when they can.

Q7: Borrowing money to make money

I found this video that explains economics in 30 minutes and found it really interesting and insightful. During the part where the video touches on personal finance, it recommends that people only borrow money for things that make them money like borrowing money for a car to get to work, and never borrowing money for things that don’t make money like most crap you would put on a credit card. You’re pretty anti-debt but does that seem like a good idea to you?
– Carrie

If you’re going to go into debt at all, going into debt for something that is going to help you to earn money is one of the few things that’s ever worth considering (along with very basic human needs like food, clothing, and shelter – and not because you spent your money on other stuff or are buying an expensive version of those things).

That’s why I’m usually on board with student loans. I’m also usually on board with car loans, especially for one’s first car as people often need work transportation before they’re in a good enough financial state to just buy a car outright.

I watched that video and some of what they’re talking about is actually small business loans, which are a different ball of wax. Small business loans often make sense, but you need to very carefully wall off the business from your personal finances.

Q8: Board games for children

I’ve seen several posts from the simple dollar regarding games. We also love playing games, and are looking for additional games that we can play as a family. I have a 7 year old, 4 year old, and a 2 year old. Do you have any recommendations?
– Carrie

For your situation, almost any game made by HABA is a good choice. HABA is a company that makes wonderful games for families with younger children. We’ve owned several of their titles over the years and some of them are still popular with our children who are about three years older than your own.

Our family’s favorite HABA title is Animal Upon Animal, which is a game in which you stack these wonderfully painted wooden animals on top of each other without the stack falling over. It’s reminiscent of a colorful version of Jenga with a variety of shapes in the pieces.

Monza is a car-racing game with multi-colored dice. This one is kind of like Candy Land except that you roll dice for the colors and the children actually get to choose which paths they take on the board rather than just following a single path.

Another good HABA game is Orchard, which is a cooperative game that is actually a great way to get a 7 year old and a 2 year old to play together. It’s a little more expensive than the others, but the pieces are incredibly well made and absolutely gorgeous.

Q9: Tool for early retirement date

You should really check out this tool:

http://ift.tt/1Nxoo3I

It shows you based on your financial situation right now and what you are doing with your money when you will be able to retire.
– Ed

That’s a pretty sweet tool. According to that tool, Sarah and I should be able to retire right about the time we planned on retiring – twelve years from now, when our children are all freshly out the door.

Like a lot of well-designed financial tools, it’s pretty interesting to start plugging in numbers and changing assumptions to see what happens. What will my financial future look like if I start doing X? What if I changed it to Y? How will things work if I saved $50 a week ($2,600 a year)? What about $100 a week – or more?

It starts to give you a clear picture of what you really need to do to retire early – or even just to retire on time with a reasonable level of comfort.

Q10: What is “tax loss harvesting”?

Can you explain this idea to me in “Simple” terms? I see the phrase come up sometimes when I am reading financial stuff but whenever I look up that term I end up really confused.
– Jim

Let’s imagine you bought an investment of some kind – real estate, stocks, whatever – two years ago for $20,000. Today, that investment is only worth $18,000 – it lost $2,000 of value in the last two years. If you sell it today, you will have lost $2,000.

That’s not a good thing, of course, but it does have a silver lining. If you sell it, your taxable income on your income taxes will go down by $2,000. If you’re in the 25% tax bracket, that means that you’ll actually pay $500 less in taxes. It makes the sting of the loss quite a bit less than before.

Now, there are some limitations on it. You can only reduce your normal income by $3,000 a year due to tax loss harvesting – if you lost more than $3,000, you’re out of luck. However, you can offset capital gains as much as you’d like. Let’s say you have a dog of an investment that lost $10,000 since you bought it. Ouch. However, another investment – say, a good piece of real estate – gained $10,000 since you bought it. If you sell them both at the same time, your total capital gains will be $0. No taxes at all. Now, you can reinvest all of that money into something else that will ideally earn you more money. You can read a ton of details in this article, which I think is written in pretty good layman’s terms.

Basically, tax loss harvesting is a way to make the sting out of losing money on an investment a little less painful than before.

Q11: Long term stock market collapse

What makes you so confident that the stock market won’t completely collapse in the future? If “past performance is no indication of future returns,” what’s exactly keeping this house of cards afloat? Companies have stock market valuations that are beyond all reason.
– Martin

I think that individual stocks will most definitely collapse in the future. Individual stocks often become overvalued because of hype and there’s always a correction when that happens.

I also don’t think that a complete stock market collapse is impossible, but I think that if it does happen, no investments are going to be worth anything as the United States will be collapsing as a whole. Your land ownership is probably worthless, too. Your money will be about as good as kindling. However, I think that this kind of scenario is very unlikely to happen in our lifetimes. I don’t think any nation with as many trade agreements in place and natural resources in the ground as we have would be able to collapse like that.

I think that the stock market will continue generally going up because of human ingenuity. Humans are very good at developing better and better solutions to life’s problems and coming up with more and more useful ideas. Over time, that makes us more and more efficient as workers and helps us to develop more and better products. The result of that is that the stock market as a whole – which represents the financial health of a lot of businesses at once – will continue to grow and thrive. There are always new markets and new frontiers and new ideas.

Q12: Is Google Docs secure?

Do you think Google Docs is secure? Would you keep important documents there?
– Carla

That’s a tricky question. I feel secure putting most of my creative work on there while saving offline backups. I wouldn’t feel secure putting things like passwords and such on there.

For me, a big part of the equation is making sure that Google Docs is secure. I do that by having a really long password with a bunch of characters in it and using 2 Step Verification. While it’s never a guarantee, I do feel like my account is pretty secure using those methods.

Do I trust Google with this data? Well, as I said, I’m okay with having my creative work on there, but I’m not going to keep passwords and personal data on there. I try to keep that stuff out of the cloud as much as I can.

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

The post Questions About Qualified Dividends, Board Games for Kids, Mint, Google Security, and More! appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Want to Book a Hotel at 60% Off? This Year’s Hottest Cyber Monday Hotel Deals

I’m a budget traveler with a serious love for hotels.

After spending many years surfing couches and staying in shared hostel dorms, I get really excited to spend the night in a hotel room. Especially a nice one.

My budget, though, is quite the opposite; it prefers I opt for a tent or a hostel.

One thing my budget and I can both agree on? Cyber Monday hotel deals.

Each year, I eagerly await the release of these discounted prices, as they mean I get to live out my hotel dreams — while paying much less than I normally would.

If you’re like me and looking forward to some hotel getaways in the next year, here are 10 hotel chains offering Cyber Monday deals.

1. Best Western Cyber Monday Deals

When booking and staying at a Best Western between now and Feb. 7, 2016, you’ll receive at at least 10% off the “best value” rate at 1,200 participating North American hotels.

Best Western Rewards members who register here will receive 500 bonus points with every qualified stay — and an additional 1,000 points if they use the Best Western mobile app to make their booking.

Free room redemptions start at 8,000 points per night, so 1,500 points isn’t a bad start.

Stacking deals when booking a hotel…  Love it.

2. Choice Hotels Cyber Monday Deals

So it’s not a Cyber Monday sale, per se, but Choice Hotels is still running a pretty great promotion.

When you join its Choice Privileges program, you’ll earn 4,000 points — and if you stay at one of its 5,500 hotels before Dec. 11, 2015, you’ll earn an additional 4,000 points.

That means you’ll have 8,000 points, which is enough for a free night at more than 1,500 locations.

Kind of like a buy one, get one deal, right?

3. Destination Hotels Cyber Monday Deals

Planning a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras? How about a ski trip to Vail?

From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, Destination Hotels is offering 25-50% off rooms at 11 different properties in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Englewood, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Leesburg, Virginia; New Orleans, Louisiana; San Diego, California; San Jose, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Stevenson, Washington; Stowe, Vermont; Tarrytown, New York; Tempe, Arizona; and Vail, Colorado.

Your travel dates must be between Dec. 2015 and Apr. 2016. For more details, click here.

4. Distinctive Inns Cyber Monday Deals

Dream of taking a romantic getaway in New England? Check out this Cyber Monday sale from Distinctive Inns.

This collection of luxury B&Bs and country inns in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont is offering as much as 50% off its nightly rates.

5. Hilton Cyber Monday Deals

Starting on Cyber Monday, Hilton Hotels will be running its 72-Hour Cyber Sale, which saves you up to 30% off all brands — except Home2 and Hampton, which are 20% off, and Hilton Grand Vacations, which isn’t discounted.

Only properties in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean are participating, and travel must be completed between Dec. 20, 2015 and Feb. 29, 2016.

6. Howard Johnson Cyber Monday Deals

Putting its own spin on things is good ol’ HoJo.

Instead of Cyber Monday, it’s hosting “Orange Wednesday” just a few days after; during this sale, you can book stays for 60% off at 19 properties in the U.S. and Canada.

Be warned: Only the first three people to book will receive the discounted rate. If you see a hotel you want to stay at, make sure you call it directly just after midnight EST on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. Stays must be completed by Mar. 2, 2016.

7. IHG Cyber Monday Deals

The Penny Hoarder is headquartered in Florida, and as a New Yorker, let me tell you: Winter here is not winter.

If you want to escape real winter, IHG’s Holiday Inn Club Vacations brand is offering 25% off the Best Flex rate at resorts in Orlando, Panama City, Marco Island and Cape Canaveral — all in Florida.

The promotion runs between Nov. 30 and Dec. 31, 2015 and applies to stays between Dec. 2, 2015 and Feb. 29, 2016.

8. Marriott Cyber Monday Deals

When making a booking between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can save up to 25% off at more than 2,000 participating Marriott properties in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean and Latin America.

If you’re a member of Marriott Rewards — which is free to join — you’ll receive an additional 5% off, as well as free in-room Wi-fi. Use promotion code “39B” when booking at Marriott.com.

Participating brands include Marriott Hotels, Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites. Discounts are only available for stays between Dec. 11, 2015 and Jan. 17, 2016.

9. Red Roof Cyber Monday Deals

Red Roof’s Cyber Monday sale is simple: Receive up to 30% off all bookings made at redroof.com. The offer is valid for stays between Dec. 1, 2015 and Mar. 31, 2016.

Red Roof recently launched Red Roof PLUS+, an upgraded extension of its brand — and sales apply to these 36 properties, as well.

Bonus: You can bring Fido along, since pets stay free!

10. Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Cyber Monday Deals

SPG’s Cyber Monday sale runs from Nov. 23 through Dec. 6, with discounts of up to 25% at more than 1,000 locations — and as much as 50% at certain locations. Stays through Sep. 6, 2016 are eligible for the promotion.

Even better, SPG members receive an additional 5% discount. Not a member yet? It’s free to join.

I don’t know about you, but some of these Cyber Monday hotel deals are looking pretty good to me and my budget.

Your Turn: Do you have any travel plans coming up?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

This post originally appeared on our special Cyber Monday site.

The post Want to Book a Hotel at 60% Off? This Year’s Hottest Cyber Monday Hotel Deals appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Is an HSA Missing From Your Retirement Savings Strategy?

A health savings account is only for medical expenses right? Not according to some experts.


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5 Salary Negotiation Mistakes That Cost You Money

Letting an employer base your salary on your last job's wages may cause you to miss out on a big salary boost.


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How to Shop Cyber Monday Like a Pro

These 6 biggest Cyber Monday sales will let you shop and save with confidence.

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Is the Force With the New Star Wars Credit Card?

Find out if you should add it to your wallet, or avoid it like Darth Vader. 

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How El Nino Will Impact Food Prices and Food Stocks

Weather patterns make coffee, rice and palm oil possible short-term buys. But watch out for a possible La Nina.

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5 Tips for Running an Awesome Meeting

Holding a meeting when you don't really need one is the No. 1 way to frustrate your employees.


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5 Steps to Plan Your Retirement

Your life expectancy and lifestyle play a role in how much you need to save.

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Use These 7 Online Shopping Portals on Cyber Monday for Double and Triple Rewards

If you’re going to spend money this season, make sure you do it in a smart way: Get your budget in place, create a list and learn all the deal-stacking secrets.

And, if you shop on Cyber Monday, don’t overlook the power of online shopping portals.

An excellent tool any time of year, shopping portals are particularly useful during the holiday season, when you might make more online purchases than usual.

Here’s how it works: Visit a shopping portal, log in and visit your favorite retailer’s website through the portal’s link.

Because they referred you, the portal earns a percentage of whatever you spend with the retailer.

And here’s where it gets good: The portal then passes part of those earnings back to you.

In other words, everybody wins!

If you decide to go this route, here’s an expert tip, one we’ve learned from spending lots of time using shopping portals…

To make sure you get the benefit of going through the portal, empty your cart from the online store you plan to visit, clear your cache and disable ad blockers before visiting the portal.

Once you complete your purchase, record the amount you spent and rewards you should receive — just in case it doesn’t automatically reward you.

Each shopping portal works a little differently. Some give your earnings to charity, while others give you cash or points. We’ve rounded up our seven favorite portals and shared them below:

1. Giving Assistant

Giving Assistant might be our favorite — it lets you earn cash back while also giving to those less fortunate.

For every qualifying purchase you make at more than 1,000 participating retailers, Giving Assistant donates a meal to a needy family.

That’s in addition to the cash-back rewards you also get — which are often quite generous.

Plus, it only takes a few days to get paid, while many other sites can take months.

Best of all? They’ll give you $5 just for signing up!

And on Cyber Monday, they’re offering more ways to give back: For every Amazon purchase you make, they’ll donate 2% to your favorite organization.

How’s that for feel-good shopping?

2. iGive

Have a favorite charity?

iGive allows you to support one of 37,000 organizations while shopping at 1,700 retailers, each of which will donate a percentage of your purchase to the charity of your choice.

The average amount is 3%, though some retailers increase their donations during the holiday season.

Similar to the AmazonSmile program, which donates 0.5% of each Amazon purchase, iGive contributes 0.8%. So if that percentage matters to you, iGive could be a better choice!

From November 7-20, earn extra donations for referring friends to iGive.

For each friend who installs the iGive button (and keeps it until February 15, 2016), the charity of your choice receives a $5 bonus.

3. Ebates

If you want to use something simple, Ebates is probably your best bet — the portal offers cash back at more than 1,700 stores.

Every three months, they send your money via check or Paypal for the previous quarter’s earnings.

More than 20 Ebates retailers have already confirmed they will offer double cash back on Cyber Monday. If the past is any indication, hundreds more will likely increase their incentives, as well.

Best of all? They’re offering a $10 bonus just for signing up!

4. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is much more than a shopping portal — you can earn rewards for taking surveys and watching video clips and lots of other activities.

But it’s also a great place to start your holiday shopping.

You earn Swag Bucks (SBs) for every dollar you spend, redeemable for gift cards from major retailers like Amazon and Walmart.

On Cyber Monday, Swagbucks is offering an extra bonus: triple SBs at 40 different stores.

5. Travel Portals

Miles and points junkies should check out shopping portals offered by major airlines like Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American, British Airways, Delta, Southwest and United.

Chase’s Ultimate Rewards (UR) program also has a useful portal that allows you to transfer UR points at a 1:1 ratio to 11 different airline and hotel partners.

6. Upromise

Upromise puts a smart spin on cash back.

You have the option to request a check, but we recommend using their college savings program instead.

With each purchase made at more than 850 stores, they deposit 5% back into a 529 savings plan for you or your child. How cool is that?

And, if you have other family members who want to show support, they can shop through the portal, too.

If you shop on Tuesdays through December 22, you can earn double cash back (10%) at certain retailers — triple (15%) if you pay with the Upromise MasterCard.

7. Cashback Monitor

Overwhelmed by all the options? Cashback Monitor can help.

This site offers an overview of the different cash back and travel rewards available at each retailer.

Simply type the name of the store into the search bar, and you can see which portal offers the best rewards.

Check out these online shopping portals and pick your favorite before Cyber Monday and the holiday rush.

They’re our favorite way to give back or get back — or both — with just a few clicks!

Your Turn: Which shopping portal will you use on Cyber Monday?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

This post originally appeared on our special Cyber Monday site.

The post Use These 7 Online Shopping Portals on Cyber Monday for Double and Triple Rewards appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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How Bloggers Can Make Money on Instagram: Advice From the Experts

By Holly Reisem Hanna When Instagram first came on the scene in 2010, I didn’t understand how bloggers could benefit from the platform. Unlike other social networks, its main focus was on the image with text and hashtags being secondary. In fact, the only place you’re allowed to have a link is in your profile. […]

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'12 Days of Christmas' items top $34K, up 0.6 percent

 PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lords a-leaping is the U.S. economy slow to recover!The cost of 10 lords a-leaping increased 3 percent over last year, but nine of the other 12 gifts listed in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" stayed the same price as last year, according to the 32nd annual PNC Wealth Management Christmas Price Index released Monday. [...]

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New Clothes for the Whole Family: Get 40% Off Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy on Cyber Monday

If you’re shopping for clothes for the whole family this Cyber Monday, Gap’s family of stores has the best deals ready for you.

For the first time ever, Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic are offering the same Cyber Monday deal: 40% off everything — no exceptions.

“BESTCYBER” is the only code you need at all three stores on Cyber Monday.

Gap will also honor the discount at its physical locations.

Three Stores, One Cart

The best part about this company-wide discount is you can toggle back and forth between the three stores and put all your purchases in one cart.

The bummer news is it sounds like Athleta won’t be a part of this special promotion, so you’ll have to get your athleisure fix either at full price or somewhere else.

Get Free Shipping from and More From Gap, Inc.

As usual, shipping is free for purchases over $50. You don’t need a code for this offer — it’ll automatically be adjusted in your order.

Have a Discover card? Earn 10% cash back on top of the 40% off by shopping through the Discover Deals portal.

If you don’t have a Discover card, try shopping through Swagbucks to earn 8% cash back — check Cashbackholic for more up-to-the-minute cash back info.

Your Turn: What are you hoping to snag from Gap, Old Navy, or Banana Republic today?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster in Washington, DC.

The post New Clothes for the Whole Family: Get 40% Off Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy on Cyber Monday appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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How Woolies will get its mojo back

WOOLWORTHS is pinning its hopes on one key new strategy as it fights to win back more money from your weekly shop.

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The {Ultimate} Guide to Saving Money: 67 Money Saving Tips That Can Turn Into REAL Money

Everybody talks about saving money.

That’s a great idea – in theory.

But implementing the mechanics of it are another story.

To help you out, I’ve assembled a list of 67 money saving tips – some of them my own ideas, others provided by other bloggers.

Using just a few of these tips can turn into real money – like thousands of dollars each year.

In fact, by my rough calculations, I tallied that by using all of these money saving tips you should be able to add over $9,743 to your pocket.

Pick up the ones that will work well for you, and have at it!

1. Take Advantage of Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” For Travel

This one is from Tom Nitzsche at ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions. Tom books most of his travel through Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” feature.

With the help of a forum at BiddingForTravel.com he discovered bidding strategies and has saved an average of 60% vs. hotel direct rates, including 4-star hotels for as little as $45 a night and rented cars for as little as $9 a day.

2. Ask Yourself Did I need it yesterday?

Lena Gott at What Mommy Does recommends Five Words That Will Save You Thousands Every Year. The five words are “Did I need it yesterday?”. Think of it as a filtering question to keep you from spending money you don’t really need to.

3. Pay Yourself First

We’ve all heard this before, but Natalie Bacon The Finance Girl takes it a step further, recommending that you do it with your savings. You do this simply by setting up an automatic transfer from your paycheck to a designated account, so that the money will go into savings without you ever realizing that the money is missing.

4. Follow Through on Cash-back Rebates

Rebates are available with a lot of products, but especially with big-ticket purchases. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get lazy when it comes time to redeem those rebates. But don’t – you’re leaving easy money on the table if you do.

Make it a practice to redeem any rebates immediately after purchase. Usually, waiting just a few days is all it takes to forget about it completely.

5. Cook at Home

Kate Horrell recommends learning how to cook, then cooking at home as often as possible. The more meals that you could eat at home, the more you will save on restaurant meals. But the key is learning how to cook delicious meals, so that you won’t even want to go out to eat in the first place.

6. Get a Free Checking Account

Now that free checking is no longer automatic, many people just throw their hands up and accept a paid checking account as a fact of life. But it isn’t. Many credit unions offer free checking once you become a member.

A few banks do as well.

One example is TD Bank’s Convenience Checking account. You get free checking as long as you maintain a $100 minimum daily balance. If you now pay $10 per month for your checking account, this simple move will save you $120 per year.

7. Create a Compelling Savings Goal

Scott Maderer at Christian Stewardship Coaching recommends having a REASON to save. “You have to find your why, then set up systems to control behavior or you’ll never really save”, says Scott.

Create a valid reason to save, and you’ll probably have no trouble doing so going forward.

Need some financial goal examples? Here’s a comprehensive list of short-term goals and long-term goals.

8. Cut Back on Your Cable TV Service

Eliminating cable TV is a common money-saving suggestion. But it can backfire. Cable TV is an at-home source of entertainment, and it will keep you from seeking more expensive forms of entertainment outside the home.

So rather than eliminating your cable service entirely, cut back to the minimum service available.

Depending upon what kind of plan you have, the savings can be substantial.

9. Pay Your Credit Card Balances in Full Each Month

Nothing complicated here, but with most credit cards no interest is due as long as you pay within the grace period. By paying off your balance at the end of each month, you avoid adding interest expense to virtually everything you purchase with the card.

10. Cap Your Christmas Gift Giving

Depending upon how you celebrate Christmas, it could be a major annual expense. But Rosemarie Groner of The Busy Budgeter recommends celebrating an alternative Christmas, and has written an article to describe it, $10 Christmas.

It involves changing the familiar gifts-for-everyone holiday routine over to doing a family event or trip, or a secret Santa gift exchange, or doing a favor – instead of giving a gift to everyone in your universe.

11. Buy a Refurbished Computer

Instead of buying a brand-new computer – which can easily cost over $1,000 – instead consider buying a refurbished computer. You can pick one up for a fraction of the cost of a new computer.

It’s a perfect way to save money if you are looking for a second computer, or to buy a starter computer for one of your children.

12. Increase Your Insurance Deductibles

This is one of the best ways to save money on all kinds of insurance – health, homeowners, auto – you name it. And there’s a way to do this without increasing your risk. Simply make sure that you have enough additional money in your emergency fund to cover the higher deductible in the event that it’s needed.

For example, if you raise your car insurance from $500 to $1,000, you won’t be increasing your risk at all by adding an extra $1,000 to your emergency fund. Your deductible will be covered, and your premium will decrease.

13. Reduce Your Internet Speed

This depends upon what it is you use your Internet for. If you use it for business, and you work out of your home, it’s obviously not recommended.

But if you only use it for surfing, shopping, and social media, you can save a few dollars a month by reducing Internet speed. How much you can say will depend upon your carrier, and the kinds of plans that they offer.

14. Question All Price Increases

This tip comes from David Rubenstein’s post 13 Financial Habits That Can Change Your Life For the Better. David recommends questioning all price increases, regardless of the source. He’s had success doing this with his cable company, but admits that you may have to threaten to cancel service.

If you do that with enough services, you can save a nice chunk of money every year, and largely reverse the automatic price increase mechanism that so many providers use.

15. Buy Your Next Cell Phone Through Amazon.com

You probably use Amazon.com for a lot of your purchases. But you can also use them to purchase your next cell phone. They offer virtually all of the top phones, that can be used with the major carriers.

But you can get them at a substantial discount over what you will pay to the major cell phone providers.

16. Improve Your FICO Score and Lower Your Interest Rates

This advice has so many applications, including saving money. After all, a better credit score translates to lower interest rates on all kinds of loans, including car loans and credit cards.

In addition, the better your FICO score is, the more opportunities you will have to refinance high interest rate debt into lower interest rate loans.

Set a course to increase your credit score by at least 50 points for the next 12 months – it will be well worth the invested time.

17. Target Student Loans With Your Pay Raises

Jeffrey Trull of Student Loan Hero recommends that you apply 50% of every pay raise you get towards repaying student loan debt, or any other debt if you have no student loans.

“When you get a raise, it’s easy to absorb 100% of the extra money into your normal budget”, says David.

“But if you’re already getting by or are comfortable on your current salary, taking just half of your raise and paying off student loan debt is reasonable and manageable for many borrowers. And of course, you still get to enjoy the other 50% of your raise!”

18. Pay Your Insurance Bills Annually

Most insurance companies give you several options when it comes to making payments. They can be monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually. The more frequent the payments, the lower they are, which is easier on your budget.

However, they typically charge a few dollars extra for each payment, compared to what you would pay if you pay the entire bill on an annual basis. You can find yourself saving $60 or more by paying an insurance bill an annual basis, and eliminating the monthly service charges.

19. Cancel Memberships You Don’t Use, or Hardly Use

Do some serious soul-searching here – do you have any memberships that you either don’t use, or use only infrequently? If you do, getting rid of them is one of the easiest ways to save money.

Cutting an unused gym membership is high on this list. Many people decide to join a gym either on a dare or as a New Year’s resolution, use the service a few times then never come back. This is a complete waste of money, and one you can eliminate by terminating the service.

20. Shop with eBates

Look into eBates and you may find yourself saving money on purchases you never imagined. eBates is a website that helps you to earn cash back on your online purchases. You’re going to buy online anyway, so give eBates a try – it’s completely free to use.

21. No Spending Days

Jeff at Sustainable Life Blog recommends adding as many “no spending days” to your calendar as possible. A no spending day is a day where you don’t spend any money at all (other than required payments).

It means not going to the grocery store, not going to the mall, and not going on recreational shopping sprees. Several no spending days per month can literally save you hundreds of dollars on unnecessary spending.

22. Don’t Celebrate Holidays on the Actual Holiday

Kirk Chisholm of Innovative Wealth recommends celebrating holidays on some day other than the actual holiday. He said that Valentine’s Day is a prime example. On February 14th, the price of cards, gifts, flowers, and restaurant meals go up.

But by celebrating a couple of days before, or a couple of days after, you can save a lot of money.

23. Take Advantage of Health Savings Accounts

Coach Chad Carson strongly suggests using a Health Savings Account (HSAs) with a qualifying health insurance plan. “A contribution to an HSA is fully deductible, which saves you taxes now,” says Chad.

“But what few people realize is that you can invest the HSA funds and not spend them now. Instead you can save receipts for medical expenses and get reimbursed many years later. The growth in the meantime is all TAX FREE, just like an IRA or 401k.”

That’s some good advice!

24. Get Cheaper Cell Phone Service

John Schmoll at Frugal Rules suggests cutting your high cost cell phone bill by switching your service over to a different carrier. “The average monthly cell phone bill is $150 with the top carriers,” says John.

“You don’t need to spend that much, especially if you’re on WiFi most of the time! We recently left for a no-contract carrier and are saving $100 per month on what we had previously been paying with Verizon.”

It could work for you too.

25. Move Your Credit Card Balances to a 0% Card

There are plenty of credit card companies that are issuing 0% balance transfers. If you can qualify for one, you can eliminate interest on your current card for the length of the 0% period.

If you’re currently paying 14% on $10,000 in credit card debt, and can move the entire balance over to a 0% balance transfer card, you will save $1,400 in one year by making the switch.

26. Automate Your IRA Contributions

Robert Farrington recommends automating contributions to your IRA account. Most employers will allow you to make direct deposits into several accounts. Make one to your IRA, and your account will grow steadily without your ever seeing the money leave your paycheck.

27. Rent Movies Though Redbox

Redbox has thousands of kiosks all across the country, and probably several in your neighborhood. You can rent movies there for a dollar and change, which is even less expensive than many of the online rental services.

You can also use it to find movies that are not available from other sources. It’s like Blockbuster, but without the stores and without the high prices.

28. Prioritize – and Cut – Your Expenses

Joseph Hogue recommends prioritizing your expenses to help you cut them. He recommends listing your expenses by most important to least important – without listing the monthly cost. “The ones at the bottom will be first on the chopping block if you need to save money,” he says.

“When people list out the monthly cost of each expense, a lot of frivolous spending stays on the budget because, it’s ‘just a few bucks a month, no big deal’. But the problem is that the ‘little things’ can add up to big spending. Taking a first look without the cheap miscellany makes it easier to save all the money you can.”

29. Talk to Your Spouse Before Making a Major Spending Decision

Elle Martinez of Couple Money recommends talking with your spouse or making major purchases. The idea is to “update one another on purchases you’re thinking about,” she says. “Having that second opinion has been wonderful – not only do we stay on track for our goals, but we’re communicating more and that’s great in a marriage.”

30. Control the Biggest Expenses

Julie Rains at Investing to Thrive recommends that you control your major fixed expenses. “Don’t buy the biggest and baddest big thing for which the bank will lend you money,” she advises.

“Be careful about the amount you pay for your home and your car and big ticket items like private-school tuition, boats, bicycles, and more…Put a lid of the big items and it’s very likely you’ll have money available for discretionary spending (like groceries), charitable giving, and retirement savings.”

Makes perfect sense!

31. Get Rid of Your Landline Telephone

Are you one of the last remaining holdouts on this transition? Unless you use your landline telephone for business purposes, it’s almost certainly time to get rid of it. In an age of cell phones with unlimited talk and text, a landline telephone is mostly a blatant waste of money.

And as the number of traditional landline phones declines, the plans are only getting more expensive. For most people, this is one of the easiest ways to save money.

32. Marry Someone With Compatible Money Goals

Kara Stevens recommends marrying a partner that is financially compatible with your life’s vision. If you’re both on the same page when it comes to money, it will be easier to accomplish all things financial.

33. Pay Small Car Insurance Claims Out of Pocket

Chris Long from Longevity Insurance Brokers explains that if an auto insurance claim is small – particularly if it’s less than your deductible – take care of it without involving the insurance company. If it is less than the deductible, the insurance company isn’t going to pay anything anyway. But they will likely raise your premium as a result.

You may even find that it’s your advantage to pay out-of-pocket even if damages exceed your deductible. You have to make that determination based on the amount that your insurance is likely to increase as a result of the claim.

34. Get Rid of Cell Phone Insurance Plans

Never assume that getting insurance for your cell phone is the right thing to do. If you crunch the numbers, you’re very likely to find that having the insurance will actually cost you more money in the event of a loss than doing without it. This is particularly true of higher end cell phones.

Calculate the cost of the coverage over the term of your contract, and add in an amount for the deductible. If that amount is comparable to the cost of replacing your phone, you can save money by doing without it, and taking the chance that you will never need to replace the phone.

35. Buy – Don’t Rent – Your Cable Modem

Jim Wang recommends you buy your cable modem rather than renting it from your cable company. This will not only give you ownership of your modem, but will also eliminate the monthly rental fee that you are currently paying your cable TV provider.

It is very likely that the cost of the modem will be recovered within the first year of ownership, as a result of the rental payments you will not need to make. He refers to this as the Upgrade & Save Strategy.

36. Avoid Paid Extended Warranties

Extended warranties can make you feel better about a major purchase, but they don’t usually save you money. Not only are they relatively expensive to purchase, but they often have a long list of exclusions in the fine print that will invalidate the coverage under common circumstances.

Most major purchases will be repaired by the manufacturer within the first year anyway, and it’s likely that any repair expense you encounter later will cost no more than price of the warranty.

37. Share Your Living Space

Elizabeth Colegrove at Reluctant Landlord recommends reducing your housing expense by renting out a room in your house. The income from that rental will reduce your monthly housing expense.

Also, if you are living in an area that is popular with tourists and travelers, check out Airbnb. It’s an online service that allows you to rent out part or all of your home to travelers, and can provide a nice extra income.

38. Buy Used Cars

Jacob Wade at I Heart Budgets recommends buying used cars, rather than new ones.

“The average new car loses about 60% of it’s value within the first 5 years. According to USA Today, the average new car costs about $33,000. After 5 years, that car is worth $13,200,” says Jacob.

“If you buy used, you can pick up that 5-year old car for almost $20,000 off. Do this every 10 years, and invest the $20,000 saved at 7% (in low cost index funds, of course), and you’ll have $29,500 after 10 years, $87,300 after 20 years, and $201,300 after 30 years.”

Do we have to say any more?

39. Invest Up to the Employer Match on Your 401(k)

An employer matching contribution on a 401(k) plan is like getting free money. If you’re not participating your company plan, you are virtually giving out free money. Contribute to your plan as much as it will take to max out the match.

If the company will pay a 50% match up to a 6% contribution by you, then make the 6% contribution each year. The company will match it with 3%. That’s a 50% return on your money – don’t let that get away!

40. Borrow Books and Movies from the Library

Steve Chou of My Wife Quit Her Job recommends using the local library as much as possible to get books, movies, music, and even e-books. You can save quite a bit of money this way if you have young children, who are in constant need of entertainment. “Our kids absolutely devour books and our library lets us check out up to 100 books at a time,” says Steve.

41. Ask Controlling Questions When You Spend Money

Todd Tresidder at Financial Mentor recommends that you ask two questions before each purchase:

1. Is this taking me toward my goals or away from my goals?
2. Is this getting me the highest and best value for my money?

“When you ask these two questions you’ll align your spending with your deepest values and goals,” says Todd, “which will automatically reduce how much you spend without any discipline or deprivation because you’re going toward what you want most.”

42. Buy Term and Invest the Difference

Term life insurance isn’t just cheaper than a whole life – it’s MUCH cheaper. We could be talking as much as 90% cheaper. If you can pay $500 for a term life insurance policy, rather than $5,000 for whole life, you’d save $4,500 per year.

Imagine what that will do to your investment portfolio if you decide to invest it, rather than putting it into a whole life policy?

43. Impose a Waiting Period for Major Purchases

Nick Loper at Side Hustle Nation recommends that you impose a waiting period for major purchases. “One of the most effective ways I have to curb impulse spending is called The 30-day Waiting Period,” says Nick.

“I see some item I’d like to buy. Instead of purchasing it right away, I set a calendar reminder for 30 days out that says, ‘Hey, remember that item you wanted? You should totally get it now.’ But now a month has passed and my attitude toward said item may have changed.”

You’ll probably side against a lot of purchases if you have enough time to think about it.

44. Embrace the Fine Art of Brown Bagging Your Lunch

A lot of people buy lunch out every workday. Even if you are buying lunch at fast food restaurants at “only” $6, that’s still $30 a week, and around $1,500 per year. But cut that in half – by bringing lunch from home – and you can save $750 per year.

45. Save Up Your Loose Change

Jessica Garbarino at Every Single Dollar recommends saving of your loose change. “Put all your loose change in a jar or cup,” she advises. “It’s an easy way to save for something without even thinking about it. When I was growing up, this was how our family of nine was able to pay to go to the Minnesota State Fair – parking, admission, food, and rides. We even came home with extra money!”

You could do the same, and it wouldn’t hurt a bit.

46. Quit Smoking!

Let’s say cigarettes are $6 a pack – that’s just a rough guess, hey, I’m not a smoker! But if you smoke a pack a day, that’s almost $2,200 a year. Quitting will not only save you that kind of money, but it will also improve your health and probably extend your lifespan. This means your life insurance premiums will also go down. This is because life insurance on a smoker is much more expensive than that for a non-smoker.

47. Buy Generic Medicines Whenever Possible

The difference in price between name brand medications and generics can be huge. Sometimes the cost of generics are even less than the copayments on a prescription drug plan. But going with generics is even more important you don’t have a prescription drug plan.

Ask your doctor to recommend a generic medication for any prescription. If you forget, ask the pharmacist to make a substitution, it’s the prescription permits it.

48. Never Assume that Buying Online is Always Cheaper

It’s often assumed that merchandise is cheaper when you purchase it online. That is true most of the time, but never assume that it’s always the case. Look for the best price you can find online, and then see what’s available from merchants in your area.

Always remember as well that you have to factor shipping into the cost of any item you purchase online. Sometimes buying local is actually less expensive.

49. Change the Air Filter in Your Furnace Regularly

It’s generally recommended that the air filter in your furnace is changed on a regular basis. But it’s also very easy to forget doing this. If you fail to do so, and the filter becomes clogged, air will have difficulty passing through the filter into the unit, forcing it to work harder and run longer. That will increase your heating (or electricity for air conditioning), often substantially. The filter can be changed out for a few dollars, resulting in big savings.

50. Become a Regular Thrift Shopper

If you add shopping trips to thrift stores once or twice a month, it’s likely that you’ll come up with needed items at deep discounts. Shopping in thrift stores has to be something of a habit. That’s because it’s generally not possible to go to a thrift store looking for something specific.

You should become a periodic shopper, that way you will find needed items as you go. And don’t be surprised if you’re saving $.90 on the dollar on the items that you do buy.

51. Buy Offseason

Whenever stores stock up for the upcoming season, prices will be at their peak. But if you can buy off-season, you can usually take advantage of closeout sales. For example, since very few people buy bathing suits in August or September, you’ll find the prices to be much lower than what they are in May and June.

52. Always Sell What You No Longer Need

Most people throw out items that they no longer need, and do so without much thought. But instead of throwing out those items, try selling them first. If it’s something that’s small and has a high dollar value, try to sell it on eBay. If it is a larger item, try selling on Craigslist. The idea is to try and get at least some money on everything that you are planning on getting rid of.

53. Make Having a Garage Sale an Annual Event (at a Minimum)

Having periodic garage sales will not only help you clear the clutter out of your home, but will also give you an opportunity to make some money in the process. Plan on having one or two sales per year, and whatever doesn’t sell, you can try to sell on either eBay or Craigslist.

54. Use the Mall for Window Shopping Only

It can be fun to shop at the mall, but it’s also ridiculously expensive. Retailers pay higher rents to be in the mall, and they will pass those costs on to you in the process. So use the mall only as a place to go window shopping, but make your actual purchases in non-mall stores.

55. Barter Services with Family, Friends, Neighbors and Co-workers

This is best explained as an example. Let’s say you have young children, and you need babysitting on occasion. Your neighbor – who is a perfectly suitable babysitter – has a small business, and needs help with bookkeeping. Since you have an accounting background, you can do her bookkeeping, and she can babysit your children. You both get what you want, and no money changes hands.

Work out similar arrangements with other people, and you can save thousands of dollars each year.

56. Buy Fuel Efficient Cars – No Matter How Cheap Gas Is

It’s common for people to drop their guard and buy gas guzzling premium vehicles when the price of gasoline is low. But when gas prices rise, you face two problems:

1. You’re stuck paying high prices to keep your tank filled, and
2. The value of your gas guzzler drops, while the price of fuel efficient subcompacts rises

No matter how low gas prices are, when you buy your next car, pretend that gas prices are at $5 a gallon. You can’t go wrong with that strategy.

57. Buy a Second Refrigerator – and Buy it Second Hand

One of the best ways to save money on your grocery bill is by buying in bulk and buying what items are on sale. But that will do you little good if you have nowhere to store perishable foods.

For that reason, you should have a second refrigerator or freezer to store the overflow. And when you buy one, buy it secondhand to save even more money.

58. Invest in No Load Funds Only

If a fund returns 10% in a year, but you have to pay a 2% load to buy into the fund, your actual return is just 8%. If there is a back load, you’ll pay twice. But by investing only in no load funds, you’ll eliminate loads, and improve your investment returns. That’s about saving money on your investments.

59. Invest in Index-based Funds Whenever Possible

You can save even more money on your investments by putting your money into index-based funds. These funds have lower, lower investment expenses – and lower capital gains taxes – because they don’t trade as frequently as actively managed funds do. They change their stock portfolios only when the underlying index changes, and that doesn’t happen very often.

60. Minimize Your TV Viewing

When we watch TV, we think we’re doing it to be entertained. But the reality is that were being sold. That’s what advertising is all about. In a single half-hour TV program, you’ll watch eight minutes of commercials. Each one is an attempt to get you to spend your money on something that you wouldn’t otherwise buy. The process is very subliminal, but it’s also highly effective. The more time you spend watching TV, the more money you are likely to spend. That makes a strong financial case for spending as little time as possible watching.

61. Grow Your Own Food

Growing your own food enables you to eat organic food, without having to pay the premium prices that grocery stores charge. Unless you live on a farm, you won’t be able to grow all or even most of the food you eat. But you can save a substantial amount of money if you can produce at least 10%. For example, if you spend about $8,000 per year on food, you can save $800 by growing 10% of it yourself.

A relatively small patch your backyard is all the land that you will need. And if you live in a condominium or apartment, look into growing food at a local community garden. The food will be healthier, and you can save some money.

62. Buy Used Video Games

Most gamers play a game only until they master it – then it goes into storage for “later”. But as a rule games aren’t cheap, so look to buy them secondhand for a savings of 50% or more. You can do this through Gamestop, which has hundreds of stores across the country. Not only can you buy the games there for less than retail price, but you may be able to get some money selling your games to the company as well.

63. Payoff a Debt – Then Another…

One of the very best money-saving tips is paying off debt. If you owe $2,000 on a credit card, and pay a $40 per month minimum, you can save $40 per month – permanently – by paying off the debt. Payoff your smallest debt as soon as you can, and then go for the next smallest. You’ll save money with each debt that you eliminate.

64. Participate in Referral Programs at Work – It’s Easy Money

There is a very good chance that your employer has some kind of referral program in place. It could involve referring new customers, new employees, or even making valuable suggestions. Find out what they offer, and then participate whenever and wherever you can. If they pay $100 for a referral, try to make as many as you can in the course of the year – it’s easy money, and it can add up.

65. Buy Generic Brands Wherever Possible

If you’re addicted to name brand items, you’re spending a lot of money that you don’t need to. This is commonly when it comes to buying food, but it can also apply to other purchases, such as clothing, toys, and recreational equipment. Buy brand names only for very special – and limited – items. And buy generic for everything else.

66. Always Grocery Shop With a List

By using a grocery list when you shop, you’ll not only be aware of exactly what you need to buy, but you’ll also know what you don’t need to buy. That can be even more important. Not being sure if you need something can turn you into an impulse shopper. That will always cost you more. Make a list, and follow it religiously. You’ll almost certainly find your grocery bills going down as a result.

67. Cook Enough for at Least Two Meals

Many people go to fast food restaurants on those nights were they just don’t feel like cooking. But you can work around this by cooking at least enough for two meals when you do cook. That will provide you with quick meals that you can warm up in short order, rather than taking a run to a restaurant.

Not only will that save you money on restaurant meals, but it’s also likely that it’s less expensive when you cook in bulk. That’s a way to save money on two fronts.

Like I said at the beginning of this long-list post, if you implement just a few of these tips, you’ll save thousands of dollars every year. That’s worth changing a few habits – don’t you think?

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12 Must-Have Browser Extensions for Scoring Big Deals on Cyber Monday

Whereas many people shop on Black Friday for the experience, Cyber Monday is more of a purist’s shopping day: It’s about the deals, and the deals only.

You’ve probably made sure your computer and Internet connection are up to the task, but what about your web browser?

Did you know there are a whole slew of FREE tools that can help you browse — and let’s be honest, shop — more securely and efficiently? They’re called browser extensions (think of them like apps for Chrome, Firefox and Safari), and they can do everything from find the best price to count down the minutes until a sale starts.

Here are 12 browser extensions to keep you secure, sane and on budget this Cyber Monday.

Browser Extensions to Keep You More Secure

With cyber attacks and stolen identities proliferating in the news, it’s important to take your security seriously while shopping online. These browser extensions should help.

1. LastPass

Smart Cyber Monday shoppers have their information saved on their favorite websites so they won’t miss out on any hot deals… But that does mean a lot of login info to remember.

Stop using your pet’s name for every password (thereby leaving your billing information vulnerable), and, instead, use LastPass to create and save strong passwords for each retailer.

2. SiteJabber

So you’ve spotted an awesome deal online — but you’ve never heard of the website. How do you know if it’s safe to give it your credit card information?

SiteJabber to the rescue. Using an easy red-yellow-green light system, it quickly shows you a website’s trustworthiness and level of customer service, based on reviews from their 700,000 users.

3. HTTPS Everywhere

In case you didn’t know, you’re only supposed to shop at sites that start with “https://”; the “s” stands for secure. Sometimes, though, sites have both secure and unsecure versions — and who are we to keep track?

HTTPS Everywhere ensures you’re on the secure version of every site, which helps protect you against surveillance and account hijacking.

4. Panic Button

You’re shopping for a watch for your husband. You have a million tabs open while you decide on the perfect style and best price. Then, all of a sudden, he walks in. Ah! What do you do?

Instead of freaking out and spilling your coffee all over the keyboard, just press the Panic Button. It hides all of your tabs with a single click — and best of all, saves them for easy shopping once he leaves the room.

Browser Extensions to Keep You Organized

The key to a successful holiday shopping season isn’t insider knowledge or crazy couponing; it’s staying organized.

We found a bunch of browser extensions that will keep you sane on Cyber Monday — or, really, any time of the year.

5. The Great Suspender

Speaking of all those tabs, are they taking up valuable memory and slowing down your computer? The Great Suspender unloads, suspends or parks your unused tabs — essentially putting them to sleep while you’re not using them — which will keep your computer up to speed on the big day.

Though this specific app is only available in Chrome, Firefox users can try Suspend Tab.

6. Cool Clock

Want to check a site every hour for new deals? Know of a deal that’s going live at a specific time? Don’t rely on your memory; use Cool Clock to set alarms, countdowns or hourly notifications. In Firefox, use Simple Timer.

7. Smile Always

Have you heard of AmazonSmile before? It’s a program that allows you to donate .5% of your eligible Amazon purchases to the charity of your choice. Only problem? You have to remember to sign in through the special portal, and nobody has time for that — especially on Cyber Monday.

The Smile Always extension automatically redirects regular Amazon pages through the portal, allowing you to effortlessly support your favorite cause. For Firefox users, there’s Smile Redirect; for Safari, AlwaysSmile.

8. Better History

You found the perfect price on a new KitchenAid… Only, you can’t remember what site it was on. It happens to the best of us.

Better History presents a comprehensive way to search through your history — and it also allows for easy deletion, in case you don’t want your kids seeing what presents you were looking at. Norwell History Tools is a similar extension for Firefox, as is Fetching.io for Safari.

9. StandApp

Unlike Black Monday when you’re out fighting the crowds, Cyber Monday involves a lot of sitting and waiting. Though the anticipation might get your blood pumping, all that sitting isn’t good for your health.

StandApp is a great everyday extension that reminds you to stand up for two minutes every 20 minutes. Non-Chrome users can download similar apps for Mac or iPhone, or simply set a timer.

Browser Extensions for Saving Money

The whole point of Cyber Monday shopping is saving money, right? If you’re nodding your head, these three browser extensions are not-to-be missed.

10. Piggy

If you only download browser extension, make it this one. When you’re ready to check out, all you have to do is click on the Piggy button, and it finds and applies the coupon code that saves you the most money. Even better, you’ll also earn cash-back rewards at more than 1,400 stores.

11. Coupons at Checkout

If you want a little more control over your coupon codes, try Coupons at Checkout. When it comes time to complete your purchase, the coupon code box turns red if the extension has found available coupons. Once you click in the box, it displays them for easy picking.

12. InvisibleHand

Like its name suggests, InvisibleHand works in the background while you’re shopping, only appearing when it’s found a cheaper price on the item you’re looking at. Bonus feature: When you Google a product, it also shows you the lowest real-time prices.

Get ready for Cyber Monday by installing (and familiarizing yourself with!) these browser extensions now. We’re certain they’ll help you make the most of this digital shopping holiday.

Your Turn: Do you have a favorite browser extension? Any you planning on using any of these on Cyber Monday?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

This post originally ran on our Cyber Monday blog.

The post 12 Must-Have Browser Extensions for Scoring Big Deals on Cyber Monday appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Dick Smith shares take a dive

IF YOU have shares in Dick Smith, this is going to hurt. The retailer’s stock is now the second worst performing on the ASX.

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1Q74jns

Cyber Monday Deal-Stacking: Here’s Your Step-by-Step Guide

Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, turns the Black Friday shopping frenzy into a weekend-long affair.

Just as with the in-store deals on Black Friday, shop your favorite retailers online for limited-time discounts on November 30.

But even Cyber Monday deals can be better with some clever deal-stacking! We’d be remiss to let you go shopping without a few extra tips for saving the most money.

On top of already-enticing store discounts, save more money with coupons, rebates, free shipping and cash back on your online shopping.

Follow these steps to turn your Cyber Monday deals into savings only a true Penny Hoarder could achieve.

1. Decide What You Want to Buy

Start with knowing what’s worth buying on Cyber Monday. The online-only deals are often a way for smaller retailers, who can’t compete with the likes of Wal-Mart and Best Buy on Black Friday, to get in the game.

Get your electronics and small gadget purchases out of the way on Black Friday. The deals tend to be better then.

Save purchases of toys, clothing and travel for Cyber Monday. This is a great holiday for thrifty fashionistas!

2. Make a List — and Stick to It

Make a list before you start shopping.

Ads coming at you from all angles combined with the simplicity of clicking from store to store make overspending way too easy online.

Creating a shopping list gives you a game plan to follow so you can ignore distractions, stay on track and keep your spending under control.

Download our Holiday Shopping Worksheet to keep your shopping list, holiday budget and coupons organized in one place!

3. Find Deals and Compare Prices

Once you have your list, make sure you know the best place to buy everything on it. Planning ahead is key to getting the best deal.

Compare Prices

Before choosing a store, use PriceGrabber.com to compare prices on the items on your list.

The site will allow you to see a list of online retailers that carry an item. Prices are side-by-side, so you can quickly pick out which has the best offer.

Find Deals

Deals are tough to follow any time of the year — that’s why we love deal aggregators.

Follow our Cyber Monday Deals Site to keep track of deals throughout the day on November 30.

Also, check out these sites that keep an eye on daily deal companies like Groupon and LivingSocial, so you can see the best deals in one place:

• TikTakTo
• OneSpout
• YipIt
• Dealery
• Dealupa
• Blue Kangaroo

4. Choose the Best Way to Pay

When you’re ready to check out, choose your method of payment carefully. It could be a valuable decision.

Store Credit Cards

This can factor into which store is the best deal for the items on your list. What kind of bonuses or rewards will you get if you pay with a store’s branded credit card?

Store credit cards can come with drawbacks — high interest rates, limited use — but here are a three Credit.com says are worth picking up before you begin holiday shopping:

Kohl’s Charge Card

You won’t collect points per purchase with this card, but you’ll get at least 12 coupons for discounts of 15-30% every year.

Best Buy Credit Card

Choose between 5% cash back or promotional financing. Also receive free shipping on orders of $35 or more, plus exclusive discounts, special sales and members-only events.

Walmart Credit Card

While you’ll get no rewards and unremarkable discounts, this card can be useful if you’re working to build or fix your credit.

It’s one of the easiest store credit cards to be approved for, and comes with perks like receiving a free monthly FICO score and cash withdrawals in store with no fees or interest.

Discounted Gift Cards

Planning ahead can help you save tons of money shopping on Cyber Monday, because you can get your hands on some discounted gift cards.

Once you know what you want to buy and where you’ll buy it, visit Raise to purchase a gift card for that store. Sellers typically unload cards they got as gifts or ones they’re not interested in anymore, so you’ll pay less than the value of the card — an automatic discount on anything you buy with it!

If you’re a big shopper, you can load up on cards from popular stores like Target, Best Buy or Amazon. Keep them organized with Gyft, so they’re easily accessible when you’re ready to pay.

Use CostShredder to find which sites offer the best deal on gift cards for the store you want to shop.

Rewards Credit Card

Do you have a cash-back credit card? If you budget well and pay off your balance each month, these can be a smart way to earn rewards for things you’re going to buy anyway.

Compare the rewards you can earn by shopping on Cyber Monday with your cash-back credit card to savings from other payment methods. The credit card could be a better deal overall.

Or, maybe you’ve been trying to save points for a trip or other bonuses. Cyber Monday shopping could be the push you need!

If you don’t already have a card, we always recommend the Barclay Rewards MasterCard, because they offer 1% cash back on all purchases. But some credit cards can be more attractive at different times throughout the year because of rotating bonuses.

With the Chase Freedom card, for example, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent from October 1 to December 31 in these categories:

• Amazon.com
• Zappos.com
• Audible.com
• Diapers.com
• Discover
• Department Stores
• Clothing Stores

Stretch Your Money Further

If you pay with a credit or debit card, make your purchase do double duty by connecting the card with an auto-savings app — our favorite is Acorns.

When you make a purchase with a card connected to the app, Acorns will automatically round up to the next dollar and deposit the “digital change” into your Acorns account.

Then they invest the money into super-simple portfolios to help your money grow. It’s a cool way to make a little extra money while you shop — you probably won’t miss that loose change anyway, so why not put it to work?

5. Shop Through a Cash-Back Website

Anytime you shop online, you should take advantage of cash-back sites! Earn back some of the money you spend at every site — you’ll either earn direct cash or points to redeem for gift cards to top retailers.

Here are our favorite cash-back sites:

• Ebates
• Swagbucks
• Ibotta

Even better, through Cashbackholic and CostShredder, you can find which rebate site is offering the best cash back for the store you’re shopping at.

As a bonus, after the shopping frenzy dies down, you can “recycle” your savings by using the gift cards you earn through these sites to purchase more items on your holiday gift list.

3. Look for Coupons

In addition to Cyber Monday discounts and killer rebates, you might be able to save even more by stacking coupons on top of deals.

Many coupons exclude items that are already discounted, or can’t be used with any other deals or specials. Make sure you read the fine print before you start shopping.

When you find a coupon that can be used regardless of other discounts, apply it at checkout to make Cyber Monday deals even better.

Deal aggregators often list coupons and rebates that can be stacked on top of deals. And you can find your own coupons through these sites:

• RetailMeNot
• Coupons.com
• Valpak.com
• Groupon.com

6. Don’t Pay for Shipping

Online shopping can offer some killer deals — until you get hit with shipping costs. Tack on an extra $5 or $10 to get an item to your door, and you could negate everything you’ve just saved!

To avoid this extra expense, check out these 17 stores that offer free shipping — including some retail giants like Target, Dell and Nordstrom.

Also remember: If you buy individual small items on Amazon — fewer than 8 ounces, smaller than 9 x 6 x 2 inches and less than $10 — you can get free shipping, even without a Prime membership.

7. Use a Rebate App

One last step!

Once your shopping is done, open your Ibotta and Checkout51 apps to find additional rebates for anything you purchased.

These apps are popular for the incredible savings they offer on groceries, but you can find deals on other retail items, as well. Check for cash back on your Cyber Monday purchases, and remember to enter the items when they arrive.

Create Your Holiday Shopping Plan

You’re all set! Now that you know the steps to take for the best Cyber Monday deals, get organized.

Download our Holiday Shopping Worksheet to get started planning your budget now.

Your Turn: Do you know of an awesome Cyber Monday deal? Share it in the comments!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We would have shared them with you anyway, but a true “penny hoarder” would be a fool not to take the company’s money.

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a Staff Writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Writer’s Digest and more. She’ll probably spend Cyber Monday week working on an elusive novel and eating ALL the leftover green bean casserole.

This post originally ran on our Cyber Monday blog.

The post Cyber Monday Deal-Stacking: Here’s Your Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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