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You are here: Home / Archives for Twila VanLeer

Twila VanLeer

About Twila VanLeer

Journalist/writer for more than 50 years. Pulitzer Prize nominee, 1983 for coverage of the first permanent artificial heart. More than 50 national, regional, local awards for news writing. Main writer for a memorial book for Deseret News' 150 th anniversary and for a book recounting the 1997 re-enactment of the pioneer trek from Omaha to Salt Lake City. Co-writer and editor of "True Valor," a book on the history of the artificial heart. Author of the book, Life Is Just A Bowl Of Kumquats, a wonderful story of a house wife and her trials with raising a large family.

Make Saving A Priority

August 5, 2018 By Twila VanLeer

Make Saving  A Priority
The answer is to find a balance that allows you to save money without hating your life to do it.

Sometimes it seems that saving part of your income is simply depriving yourself of things that would make your life better now for the benefit of an unknown future. The answer is to find a balance that allows you to save money without hating your life to do it.

To prime your “savings pump” consider these painless ways to pinch pennies without feeling the pinch:

Make your own coffee. Even if you use the best beans and the best brewing equipment, you’ll save over restaurant or coffee shop offerings.

Brown-bag it. You could easily save $25 per month taking your lunch to work . Double the benefit by using your lunch time to take a walk. Just avoid the fast food spots. It’s cheaper than joining a gym.

Stock up. When items you routinely use are on sale, buy some for storage. For instance, if your favorite apple juice, which regularly sells for $2.29 per bottle, is on sale for $1.50, you save 34 percent. Use the savings to look for other bargains. Watch for sales at the grocery where you most often shop

Spend some time in the produce aisles. The stated weight on many bagged items, such as potatoes, carrots, onions, apples, oranges, etc., cannot always be exact. It must weigh as much as the label states, but some may have a little more because of the inexact nature of packing items. You could end up with a bonus of a half pound or more if you take the time to weigh bags. Savings of 25 percent are not at all uncommon.

Install a water filter rather than paying a bundle for “designer” water. The environment will thank you. It takes 18 million barrels of oil and up to 130 billion gallons of fresh water a year to make the plastic bottles in which your water is purchased. And often there is little difference between the water you buy and the water that comes from your tap.

Herbs and spices are almost always cheaper at a health food store or drugstore than at the grocery. Compare items such cumin, coriander and curry, etc. to see where the best prices are.

Coupons are good if you use them for items you usually buy anyway and if they are cheaper with the coupon than the house brand.

Avoid pre-prepared and “convenience” foods that cost more than what you can make from scratch. What comes from your kitchen is far more likely to be healthy, as well.

Negotiate. If you can do the haggling bit, do it. You may save hundreds of dollars on big-ticket items such as cars, etc. Often, credit card companies are amenable to bargaining regarding annual fees, discounts and other breaks.

Quit eating out unless the occasion is a big one. There are big savings to be realized by eating at home. If you are stressed from a hard day at work, establish a policy that everyone helps with the cooking. Keep meals simple.

Use unit pricing to make good shopping decisions. Most stores post unit prices with their grocery items and you can use them to see if you are making the best choices. For instance, against all logic, two small boxes of baking soda may be cheaper, on a per-ounce basis, for one large one. It pays to look.

Use coupon codes whenever possible. Valuechecks.net has a selection of personal checks that are designed to save you money when you use their coupon codes. These cheap checks can save you money on every check order.

Filed Under: Grocery Shopping, Personal Finance, Saving Money, Spending Habits

Review Your Home-Insurance Risks

August 2, 2018 By Twila VanLeer

Review Your Home-Insurance Risks
Water damage is a more likely scenario than other emergencies that can cause damage.
Failure to update your home protection strategies could cost you as much as $10,000. A survey by Chubb recently found that although 90 percent of the included homeowners felt they were doing a good job of protecting their homes, some 64 percent had failed to update their home protection in the last year.

While most owners are concerned about fires, burglaries and other crises, they fail to realize that they can be damaged by water, the survey suggested. In fact, water damage is a more likely scenario than other emergencies that can cause damage.

About 20 percent of those queried said they install pipe insulation, and less than half check their appliance hoses regularly. Only 40 percent said they regularly maintain water heaters.

The best remedy is to talk with an insurance agent about the best coverage for your specific circumstances.

The average claim for water damage between 2012 and 2016 was nearly $10,000. That average includes some very devastating damage in some cases and makes it a very good
idea to assess your insurance coverage.

Most homeowner policies cover damage related to accidental overflow of water or steam from plumbing, heating and air conditioning as frozen pipes. Damage from a general flood is generally excluded unless you specifically pay for it. Knowing that your home is located in a recognized flood plain should be incentive for looking into specific protection.

To prevent water damage, be aware of where the main water valve in your home is located so if an emergency arises, you won’t waste time locating it. Turn off the main valve if you are leaving home to vacation or for other reasons.

Regular home inspections are wise and a safety check by a plumber every year could save money in the long run. Some insurance companies will give you a discount is you can show that you are taking these steps to protect your property. Technology is available to monitor plumbing for leaks.

Filed Under: Homes, Insurance, Life, Saving Money

Lowest Air Fare? Try August 28

July 30, 2018 By Twila VanLeer

Lowest Air Fare
Always compare prices when anticipating air travel. You may have a favored discount carrier, but it may not always be the cheapest.
If you are looking for the lowest possible air fare during the always-busy summer vacation season, the experts have already done the home work for you: Aug. 28 will be the day when it will be cheapest to fly within the U.S.

Where you live and where you are going are factors that may affect the fare. But just for instance, fares between Los Angeles and Rapid City, S. Dak. are expected to be $400, during the Aug. 28-Sept. 4 period, compared with anticipated fares of $530 in the Aug. 14-21week. So if Mount Rushmore is on your bucket list of places to see, remember that.

The peak summer travel season began June 23 and will end Aug. 28, with some good fares still on the agenda past that date.

Good deals on fares to Europe, including popular places such as London, Paris and Rome, have been plentiful this year. But if you can wait until around Sept. 10 to visit one of these hot spots, the fares will be even more conducive, the air travel experts advise.

Fares from New York to London, for instance, are being predicted at $638 for the week of Aug. 14-21; $506 for the following week and only $396 for the Sept. 11-18 week.

Always when anticipating air travel, compare prices. You may have a favored discount carrier, but it may not always be the cheapest. You won’t know unless you do the homework.

Historically, some days of the week have offered lower fares than others. U.S. flights are generally lower on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. For trans-Atlantic flights, weekdays tend to have better deals than weekends. Plan accordingly.

If you want to get the most for your money, you may have to sacrifice a little. A connecting flight rather than non-stop, for instance. If you are taking a carry-on instead of a large suitcase, you’ll save.

If you can plan your travel around the fringes of predictable peak seasons, you’ll probably find fare deals that make it worthwhile.

Filed Under: Finance, Travel

Hackers Targeting Bitcoins

July 27, 2018 By Twila VanLeer

Hackers Targeting Bitcoins
Hackers make use of the victims’ processing power, because that is what they need to “mine” virtual currencies
Hackers seem to find a way to commit fraud with every new technology that comes along. Now it’s bitcoin, a virtual currency that is increasing in popularity.

Malicious hardware has been showing up on people’s handsets, TVs and smart fridges to facilitate their “crypto-jacking.” The effects for both individuals and companies has been severe. Depending on the severity of the attack, it may seem the losses are too small to be noticed, but over a period of weeks or months, the loss can be great.

Some companies see a huge increase in their power bills as the hackers do their thing, according to Threat Intelligence Group Manager for Checkpoint, a watchdog organization.

Hackers make use of the victims’ processing power, because that is what they need to “mine” virtual currencies. Computers make the complex calculations that verify a running ledger of all transactions in virtual currencies around the world. Besides installing malicious software, the fraudsters also can work through a web browser, latching onto the victim’s computer processing power to mine

digital currencies while the user is on the site. When the victim switches, the mining ends.

Industry experts first identified crypto-jacking as a threat in 2017, when virtual currency prices were rushing to record highs.

At that time, the price of bitcoin, the most widely used of the virtual currencies, increased six-fold from September to December. It has continued to increase.

The hackers were ready. The first big instance of this type of theft was in September, centered on Coinhive, a legitimate business that allowed website owners to make money by allowing customers to mine their v-currency instead of relying on advertising income. The frauds were almost first in line to use the service.

Monero is their favorite target, according to industry researchers. They estimate that more than 5 percent of Monero is mined through crypto-jacking, with losses of more than $150 million dollars and that doesn’t take into account mining that occurs through browsers. The thieves try to infect as many devices as possible, a method dubbed “Spray and Pray.”

The level of sophistication among the hackers increases with each new wrinkle in virtual currency and victims are reacting by adding protections to their equipment.

Filed Under: Bitcoin, Business, Cryptocurrency, Fraud, Technology

Keep Your Emergency Fund Intact

July 22, 2018 By Twila VanLeer

Emergency Fund
Your ultimate goal should be to have three to six months of savings as a cushion against money emergencies
Smart personal finance management always includes an emergency fund to tide you over an unexpected expense. So whether you are rebuilding after just such an emergency (medical expense, car or home repairs or other sudden cash drain) or just starting a fund, there are some practical ideas to keep you on track.

Savings is, like any other use of your income, a state of mind. The rule here is to pay yourself first. Don’t resolve to put whatever is left after expenses are met into a savings account. Make it the top priority. Developing that habit goes a long way toward helping you to resist the temptation to delay starting and maintaining a savings cache.

The amount you commit to an emergency fund is not as important as your commitment to do it faithfully. Include savings as an integral part of your family budget. Set up an automatic deposit that will put savings into your account a few days after your paycheck is deposited.

Whenever you have a little windfall – tax refund, gift, overtime pay, etc. – put it into savings. Each time you pay off a debt or receive a raise, think of savings first.

When you are job hunting, give preference to employers who can offer the best benefits such as health insurance, matching retirement savings plans or travel reimbursement. Each perk that comes with the job saves you the money it would have cost you and helps build your savings.

Put your emergency savings into a separate account. Look for an account that offers interest, if possible.

If you experience a financial emergency, of course use the money you have set aside for these occasions. Just don’t delay to begin building it again as soon as possible.

Your ultimate goal should be to have three to six months of savings as a cushion against money emergencies, including the loss of your job.

Filed Under: Emergency Fund, Money Management, Personal Finance, Saving Money

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Personal Finance Articles

  • Make Saving A Priority
  • Review Your Home-Insurance Risks
  • Lowest Air Fare? Try August 28
  • Hackers Targeting Bitcoins
  • Keep Your Emergency Fund Intact

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