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Eight Holiday Savings Tips

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Save more for the holidays. Shop online —wisely

Faced with the fallout from a lingering bad economy, many online merchants are offering deep discounts on the most-wanted holiday gift items, often throwing in free shipping with low or no spending threshholds. The holiday promotions began before the masks were off the Halloween trick-or-treaters. Lands End was one of the first, with a $40-off deal on orders of at least $100 and free shipping if the tab goes over $50.

Nearly 93 percent of online retailers say they will offer free shipping at some point through December, says the National Retail Federation. A good number of the merchants say the promotions will be more tempting than last year. Shoppers put off by the sense of a very slow move toward a robust economy will want some special deals to prod them into digging into their pocketbooks, experts say. The Federation says it expects the average shopper this season to do about 36 percent of his buying online. Last year, the figure was 32.7 percent.

Some online retailers such as Walmart, are offering not only expanded free shipping for those who purchase at least $45 in goods, and they have online-only bargains that can’t be found in stores. A spokesman for Bradsdeals.com predicts all-time low prices on televisions, computers, cameras and tablet computers.

In what has become a well-entrenched custom, the holiday online shopping frenzy is expected to launch on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, with more to come on the following Cyber Monday.

Shoppers can multiply their holiday shopping benefits by following these tips from the experts:

MONITOR DAILY DEALS

Sites such as Groupon.com, Eversave.com, Living Social.com and PlumDistrict.com offer half-off buys from a variety of online dealers. For example, Groupon recently offered a $40 Body Shop certificate for $20.

KNOW RETURN POLICIES

Not all online merchants allow to return an item in-store. Find out up-front and save the hassle.
COMPARE PRICES: Begin your shopping with a Web search of the particular product you have in mind or consult a comparison site such as Bizrate.com or PriceGrabber.com

READ PRODUCT RATINGS

One of the great advantages of online shopping is being able to access websites that include customer ratings of products.

AVOID SHOPPING CHARGES

Many retailers recognize shipping costs as one of the deterrents to online shopping. They offer ways to get around them. Amazon.com offers free “SuperSaver” shipping on orders over $25, although the deal doesn’t apply to all products. Some of the free-shipping offers are tied to a spending minimum . Freeshipping.org can be a guide. Some online dealers offer a buy-online, pick-up-in-the-store option, eliminating the shipping charge.

USE COUPON CODES

Among websites that can give you information about money-saving coupons are RetailMeNot and Coupon Cabin. Some sites will accept more than one coupon code per order. For the best savings, compare coupon offers between a couple of sites. There are many combinations, so do the math.

GO SOCIAL

Many major online merchants are offering more money-saving offers via Facebook and Twitter. Get on the “Like” or “Follow ” lists of your favorite retailers.

GET CASH BACK

Ebates.com, ShopatHome.com and FatWallet.com and other cash-back websites earn a small commission for referring shoppers to online merchants. They then share that commission with shoppers who buy. Start with one of these Web pages and then click on the merchant with whom you would like to shop. Not every merchant works with a cash-back site, but many do.

Distribution of Wealth Between Young, Old is Growing

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The recession that keeps dragging along has had a serious effect on the difference in what older Americans have accumulated and what younger Americans are expected to end up with over time. A relative dearth of work opportunities for young adults, coupled with housing and college debt, has doubled the disparity since 2005, Census figures show. And the gap is nearly five times what was evident a quarter century ago, after adjusting for inflation.

Older Generation May Be Better Off

It is expected that older people who have accumulated over a lifetime, would be better off than those who are just starting down the economic trail. But the current figures show the gap growing wider at an escalated pace. The Census figures were prepared for a special congressional committee that is working to find where they can cut $1.2 trillion out of federal budgets over a 10-year period. The figures tend to pit the benefits paid to older Americans in the form of Social Security and Medicare against programs that benefit those at the younger end of the scale, such as education and assistance for the poor. The debate is narrowing down to whether some of the money allocated to the elderly might be better spent at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Net Worth Of Younger Generation

The current economic downturn has hit younger Americans particularly hard. Many of them are paying for higher education and many are accumulating debt while they wait for the job market to regain its equilibrium. Many are paying for homes, sometimes for homes that are worth less now than when they bought them during the housing boom that preceded the economic slide. The Census figures show that the median net worth of households headed by someone 65 or older was $170,494 — 40 percent more than in 1984. The median net worth for households headed by younger people was $3,662, down by 68 percent compared to a quarter-century ago, according to the Pew Research Center. The older folks often have paid off their mortgages and built up more savings than their younger peers. In 2009, households headed by someone under 35 saw their median net worth reduced by 27 percent, largely due to credit card debt and student loans. It was the largest hit in any age group. Those in the 35-44 age category saw a 10 percent dip.

In all, 37 percent of younger-age households have a net worth of zero or less. That’s nearly double the figure posted in 1984. Among households headed by a person 65 or older, the percentage of those labeled at zero net worth has hovered nearly unchanged at 8 percent. While the young face the highest unemployment rate since World War II, older Americans are staying on their jobs longer.

Social Security accounts for 55 percent of the annual income for the older-age households. The payments are indexed to inflation, so have not lost relative value. Young people, on the other hand, have seen increases far in excess of inflation in such items as college tuition. At the same time, college aid has dwindled. While Pell Grants to needy students have increased somewhat, they cover a smaller portion of higher education costs.

If the current trends continue, experts say, the rising generations may be the first in America for whom the long-held expectation that each generation will do better than the one before will not come to fruition.

Free Mortgage Calculator Widget

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If you have a personal finance blog or your site is about helping people improve their financial situation, then you might enjoy using this finance widget on your web site. Buying a new home and getting a mortgage can be a daunting process. Some people are scared that they won’t be able to afford the monthly payments. This calculator will show you what your payments would be on a loan based on the interest rate and the length of time of the loan.


Instructions for installing this widget are easy. Just click the get free calculator and then copy and paste the text onto your web site. If you run a WordPress site, just simply add the code to a widget text block.

Please leave any comments or suggestions for improvements and we will try to implement them. Enjoy this free mortgage calculator for your blog or web site.

Christmas Shoppers Leaving Credit Cards at Home

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With the Christmas shopping season in full bloom, more Americans say they are doing the job without resorting to credit cards. A poll conducted by Marist College in New York indicated that overall, 56 percent of the shoppers say they will not use their plastic this year. Another 26 percent indicated they will pick up part of their presents using a card and  9 percent said they will not resort to credit at all.

Income level is a factor. Those who earn less—under $50,000— said they wouldn’t use their cards. Only 47 percent of those whose incomes tops $50,000 said they would not buy gifts with a credit card. That translates into age groups as well. The younger the demographic, the  less likely they are to resort to credit buying—likely because they have less “wiggle room” for debt. Seventy percent of those in the survey who were in the 19-29 year age group said they were not likely to use a card; 57 percent in the 30-44 year age group; 56 percent in the 45-59 bracket; and 48 percent in the 60-plus category.

Will You Buy Christmas Presents Online?

The Marist pollsters said they found more shoppers this year inclined toward making purchases online. Eleven percent said they would wrap up all their Christmas shopping  online; 42 percent that they would make some online purchases and 47 percent that online wouldn’t be an option for them. Those poll results compare with a similar survey in 2007, when 58 percent of the respondents said they would not make online purchases at all; 37 percent said they would use the online approach for some of their purchases and 4 percent that they would spend their time at the computer instead of in the stores.

How Much Will You Spend This Christmas?

When it came to the amount they plan to spend on Christmas this season, 57 percent of those who responded to the Marist poll  planned to spend the same as last year, despite the ongoing economic pressures spawned by a long-lasting downswing. Forty percent said they will spend less and only 9 percent that they were opening their wallets wider.  Again, the age groups seemed to reflect the effects of the recession.

Forty-three percent of the women surveyed said they are likely to spend less this year, and they tend to be more prone to shopping than their male counterparts, 37 percent of whom said they are likely to spend less during the annual gift-buying frenzy.

Credit Card Benefits For Christmas Shopping

In favor of using credit cards for shopping are people who make purchases and the merchant goes out of business. Credit card users were the only ones able to get refund for defective merchandise. If you plan to use your credit cards for shopping, make sure you check your budget.

Changes in Refinancing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Loans

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A recently announced (Oct. 24, 2011) new federal refinance program may offer a solution for as many as 1 million distressed home owners. Changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) were made in an effort to attract more eligible borrowers who can benefit from refinancing their home mortgage. The new, more lenient requirements will be available to homeowners who are current on their payments, regardless of how much their property values have dropped.  Those who have failed to maintain a good payment record will not be eligible.

Eligibility Requirements

  • The mortgage must be owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.
  •  The mortgage must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on or before May 31, 2009.
  •  The mortgage cannot have been refinanced under HARP previously unless it is a Fannie Mae loan that was refinanced under HARP from March-May, 2009.
  • The current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio must be greater than 80%.
  • The borrower must be current on the mortgage at the time of the refinance, with no late payment in the past six months and no more than one late payment in the past 12 months.

Being “underwater” keeps millions of Americans from benefiting from record-low mortgage interest rates. The term refers to homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth, often because of falling values that are beyond their control. One in four homeowners with a mortgage falls into the “underwater” category. That’s more than 11 million people and their frustrations add to the current drag on the housing market in particular and the broader economy in general.

On average, underwater mortgage payers are stuck with a 5.7 percent rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, according to CoreLogic and the Associated Press. A drop to today’s average rate of 4.11 percent on the same mortgage would save the purchaser of a $250,000 home more than $200 per month. That could put tens of billions of dollars into consumer spending, economists say, a worthwhile kick for the lagging economy.

For many Americans, a few hundred dollars per month is the difference between paying their mortgages and walking away from the property.

The new government plan, with full details still to be announced, would reduce refinancing fees and provide guarantees calculated to put lenders more at ease when issuing loans.  It would encourage shorter-term mortgages and apply to borrowers who are only slightly above water.

While by no means the sole answer to the nation’s economic woes, this partial relief for many underwater homeowners is a positive step in the right direction.