Every Day Finances

With Interest Rates Rising, You Might Want To Consider …..

Welcome to 2019!

I hope you had a great holiday and are looking forward to another year beginning.

2018 was a challenging year. The Federal reserve raised interests rates four times – yikes! The stock market lost all of it’s gains for the year. What does that mean to you? Rising interest can mean larger monthly payments. Stock market loses could mean less money for retirement. Let’s talk about what rising interest rates means to your wallet.

Mortgages / Home Equity Lines

Do you have a fixed or variable interest rate on your mortgage? If you have a variable rate, that could mean your interest rate could go up. For an adjustable rate first mortgages, they typically change at a certain point (see you mortgage documents), but most home equity lines of credit change as interest rates change. High interest rates means larger payment is due. This might be the time to modify to refinance to a fixed rate.

Credit Cards

Most credit cards typically have variable interest rates. High interest means a larger minimum payment is due. If you carry a balance from month to month, you may want to transfer your debt to a zero or lower interest rate credit card while you are paying down your debt.

You never know what is going to happen, so you need to be prepared for whatever life throws at you. Be proactive and your debt paid off, so that interest rate hikes won’t hurt your finances.

Sticking To A Budget In The New Year

Happy New Year and welcome to 2018!

The reality of January has arrived, bills from the holidays are coming in, it’s cold outside and you have set your 2018 goals. If one of your goals is to budget your money, then here are some tips that might help you stay on track.

Check out this great article by the Daily Worth about budgeting.

You May Want To Do This Before The Year Ends

I hope you enjoyed your holidays. Now back to finances.

You may want to consider these steps and do them in this calendar year:

If you pay estimated taxes, consider making your January payment before Dec 31.
If possible, you can prepay your January installment of your real estate taxes before Dec 31. This may be difficult to do if your taxes are escrowed in your mortgage payment. You will need to check with your tax assessor to details in your city / town.

These two steps may work to your advantage with your income tax. Always check with your tax preparer about your individual situation.

Vacation Insurance

With vacation season underway, are you covered if something happens?

According to Wallet Hub, 1 in 6 Americans have an illness or natural disaster happen to them. Are you covered so that you don’t lose you hard earned money? Of these 1 in 6, only 22% have insurance to cover their travel costs and expenses.

Some credit cards offer you coverage for lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, trip cancellations and even death sometimes. All credit cards are different and you need to check your individual card for what your offers you. If you are covered, they offer you reimbursements. That means that you pay upfront. Do you have that money? And they come with restrictions. Remember my Microsoft Surface Pro experience from last fall?

We have one credit card that we always use to rent a car. It gives us coverage so that we can decline the optional rental car company insurances and feel comfortable. We have another credit card that gives us the travel protection of lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, etc. We have done the research for us and you should too.

You should think about what you may need and find out if you are covered with the credit card you already have. Typically, if you don’t charge the trip to that specific credit card, you don’t have the coverage. Then check with your personal insurance, such as auto insurance for rental car coverage, home owners / renter’s for loss of property, etc. Then look into travel insurance, if you need or want more or additional coverage.

You should do this process for your health insurance as well. Most insurance policies don’t cover you when you travel outside the US. All of this pre-planning could offer you the needed assistance in your time of need. So do your research and make the choices that are right for you.

Happy Travels!

Can You Really Save Money With Your Insurance?

You see the TV ads that save your can save money with your insurance. But can you?

I have always been told that if you bundle your insurance – say car and homeowners or car and renters – you can save money. This study breaks it down by state on how much you could possibly save. Read more

For more tips, visit my website.

Cheap and Fun Halloween Costumes

Do you want to celebrate Halloween and be frugal?

One year I wore an old pair of pants and top (any color) will do. I took out my glue gun and glued leaves all over the clothing – I was a pile of leaves! Creative and low cost.

Here are some other costume ideas, that could save you money.

For more tips, please visit my website.

It’s Time To Update Your Health Insurance

It’s that time of year again for open enrollment for medical insurance. For Medicare you have until December 7 to make any changes to your secondary insurance and/or prescription coverage until December 15.

To enroll and/or make changes to your Affordable Care Act health insurance, you have from November 1 to December 22 in Connecticut. Check your individual state for your specific deadlines.

If you are coverage is through your employer, fall is typically the time to make changes as well. Please check with your individual state or company for possible changes to the deadline date.

If you want some general questions to think about to compare your options, here are some that you can consider when making your health insurance selection that is best for you:

1.   What type of insurance is this?
2.   What is the monthly premium cost and how much am I responsible for paying?
3.   Are there subsidies available for us?
4.   Do I have out of network coverage?
5.   How much are the deductibles for both in and out of network care?
6.   How much do I have to pay to see a healthcare provider?
7.   Do I have medical coverage out of state and out of the country?
8.   Will I be able to use my current doctors?
9.   What additional benefits are included (prescriptions, dental, vision, etc.)?
10.   Are preventative visits (physicals, routine tests etc.) covered without a deductible?
11.   What is the procedure for going to a specialist and/or the emergency room?
12.   How are disputed claims handled?

Ask these and more questions to make sure you have all the information to make the most informed choice for you and your family. Mark your calendar today to do this during your open enrollment each and every year as medical plans changes and so do your needs. If you miss the open enrollment period, you can only make changes if you have a life changing event.

How Financially Savvy is Your State?

October is National Financial Planning month!

According to Wallet Hub, 2 out of 5 US adults grade themselves as a “C” or worse on their personal finance knowledge. To see the report and find out where your state stands, click here.

It’s never too late to learn about personal finances. Start by reading something each and every day. Check out my newsletter past issues and sign up to receive, Money Choices it in your inbox.

Take Time To Protect Your Identify Now

Well it happened again – this time EquiFax! This is not the first time nor will it be the last security breach.

Here are some suggestions that you may want to take to help to protect your identity:

• Personally, I am not a fan of doing banking on my phone, so I don’t have these apps. But I do have many texts (one for each transaction) and this way, I can catch anything immediately. I will be adding my credit cards to this process.

• In addition, I use two-step authentication for all my accounts. Having a code either texted or phoned to me to use to access my account.

• Check your credit report. I am a firm believer of this and now even more so. If you need reminders to check your credit for free three times per year, sign up for my newsletter here and you will get email reminders to check your credit every four months.

• Monitor your accounts. I typically check in a couple of times a month, both my bank and credit card accounts just to look for anything that I don’t recognize. If you don’t want to do this, make sure you reconcile your accounts monthly.

• You may want to set up credit monitoring service and/or freeze your credit report. You can check out my article on Credit Freeze here.

• Change your passwords regularly.They shouldn’t be easy to guess (use a combination of upper and lower case letters, number and symbols) and don’t you use the same password. Each account should have its’ own individual one.

Take the time now to protect your identity. It’s much easier to do this proactively than to deal with the turmoil of identity theft later.

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Fact Checking Charities

Fact Checking Charities

My heart breaks with all the information and photos from hurricane Harvey and now Irma. We all want to help and these people need our help. but you want to give where your money will do the best and not go to scammers. If you choose to give, and I’m sure you do, make sure your money goes to those in need through a charity that you have researched.

Unfortunately, it’s fairly easy to set up a charity, and fundraisers can legally keep most of the money donated to the cause. Not to mention the scammers who are out there to take your money. Before you donate, find out whether the charity is legitimate. You should also find out how your money will be spent.

You can start your research at www.Give.org (associated with the Better Business Bureau). This organization researches charitable organizations to find out how they use the funds they receive.

Here are some tips to help in your research:
• Find out if the charitable organization has a 501(c) status (IRS code for non-profit organizations). Non-profits have stricter requirements, and your donation will be deductible on your tax return.

• Find about how much of each dollar is being used for the cause versus administration costs. The more administrative costs, the less of each dollar is being used for those in need. Look for the lowest administrative costs.

• For cash donations, request a receipt to use as documentation on your tax returns. All donations over $500 will require additional paperwork, so speak with your tax preparer ahead of time.

• When donating non-cash items such as food, clothing, furniture, etc, you will need an itemized list of the items you donated and the total value. Most charities will ask you to value your own items.
Make sure you get a receipt for your donations with the charity’s information on it.

Do your research and chose the organization(s) wisely. This is a great way to help out others who are less fortunate than you during this hurricane season.

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