I'm quoted in this article:
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/how-credit-cards-take-a-bite-out-of-gas-prices.php
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Monday, September 11, 2017
Countdown to Financial Fitness: Don't Let Fake Charities Take Advantage of Your Co...
Countdown to Financial Fitness: Don't Let Fake Charities Take Advantage of Your Co...: My heart goes out to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. I lived in Houston for 10 years, and I recognize a lot of the locations that flooded....
Don't Let Fake Charities Take Advantage of Your Compassion
My heart goes out to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. I lived in
Houston for 10 years, and I recognize a lot of the locations that flooded. Many
people lost everything they own.
And as I write this post, Hurricane Irma is wreaking havoc.
Fortunately whenever disaster strikes, others jump in to help. We
open our checkbooks and donate to the organizations on the ground providing
relief. Some of us even volunteer our labor. There are many wonderful
organizations that offer life-saving assistance to people and animals affected
by a disaster, and they could not do their good work without the generosity of donors
and volunteers.
But just as the looters crawl out of their holes to take advantage
of fellow human beings and businesses when they're down, fake charities and
"disaster funds" pop up to part sympathetic donors from their money,
with no intention of giving it to the intended recipients. Disasters seem to
bring out the best, and unfortunately, the worst in people.
You want to help. But how do you ensure your hard-earned dollars
and goods really go to the people who need them?
First of all, choose organizations you are familiar with, or
research the charity on sites such as Guidestar, Charity Navigator, or the
Better Business Bureau. Google the name of the organization for reported scams
and complaints. Verify on the IRS website that your donation is tax deductible.
Many fake charities will come up with names that sound like real,
respected charitable organizations. Be suspicious if the person asking for
money uses high pressure tactics, dodges your questions, or refuses a site
visit. Legitimate charities are happy to provide you with all the information
you request.
When you do your research, pay attention to what percentage of
contributions collected goes to fundraising, salaries, and administrative
costs. If you're solicited by a paid fundraiser, ask how much of your donation
that person, or the agency employing the fundraiser, will receive. I resent
making a "donation" that pads the salary of someone who earns more
than I do.
Avoid making a donation in cash, and never send a wire transfer.
For tax and record-keeping purposes, it's best to write a check made out to the
charitable organization (not to an individual!) or pay by credit card through
the charity's secure website.
People who have lost everything need clothing, linens, diapers, toiletries,
bottled water, food, pet supplies, etc., so you may choose to donate goods
instead of money. Just make sure your donation is really wanted by checking the
organization's website for its wish list. If you're far away from the disaster
site, unless there's a clear infrastructure for transporting and distributing donations-in-kind
to the victims, it might be more effective for you to make a monetary donation.
Then the charity can purchase the needed items locally from a vendor who can
use the business. I'm still haunted by photos showing trash piles of goods donated
to disaster victims in Haiti, going to waste while the Haitians continued to
suffer.
You may be tempted to rush to the devastated location and
volunteer your services. Again, check with the relief organization coordinating
the response to see what skills are needed and wait to be deployed. Having too
many inexperienced volunteers descend on a disaster site can strain resources
and divert first responders from tending to the original victims.
During a high-profile event like 9/11 or a major hurricane, even
the legitimate charities may receive more donations than they need to handle
that particular disaster. When this happens, the excess contributions may be
funneled to other programs or placed in reserve to help with future disasters. So
be aware that your donation may not be used exactly how you thought it would
be. But if you've sent it to a legitimate, efficient charity, you can rest
assured it will go to aid someone in need.
What charities do you believe do the best job with disaster
response? I'd love to hear your comments.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Countdown to Financial Fitness: Local Transportation
Countdown to Financial Fitness: Local Transportation: Most cruise lines do not usually provide a lot of information for passengers to get around on their own in the ports of call. The shore exc...
Local Transportation
Most cruise lines do not usually provide a lot of information for
passengers to get around on their own in the ports of call. The shore excursion
business is too lucrative.
Sometimes you can research options in advance. Sometimes you'll
discover them by accident.
For example, we just returned from a Baltic cruise, where we had a
stop in Copenhagen. The last time we were there (over 15 years ago), the cruise
ship docked within walking distance of many attractions. Now there is a new
cruise port out in the middle of nowhere. For those not booked on a high-priced
excursion, the cruise line was charging $18 for a shuttle from the port to the
downtown area.
Standing on the upper deck, surveying our surroundings, trying to
decide what to do for the day, we noticed what looked like a public bus stop just outside
the cruise port. A city bus pulled up; people got off and on.
When we disembarked the ship, we walked past the solicitous taxi drivers,
Hop On Hop Off bus sales people, and the now-loading ship's shuttle to visit a
small Tourist Information office, where we asked about the local bus service.
The agent gave us a free map that showed where the various bus lines went. He advised
us a two-hour ticket cost 20 DKK, slightly over three U.S. dollars. He was able
to sell us the tickets and accepted credit cards, USD, or Euros as well as
Danish kroner. So we took the public bus right into the center of town, for a
fraction of what the cruise line's shuttle bus would have cost us.
We had a similar experience in Stockholm, where we'd embarked on the
cruise two weeks earlier. At the airport, we discovered Flygbussarna, the
airport bus that takes you directly to the Central Station for 110 SEK (about
$15 USD). We found out you can buy tickets online for 99 SEK (just over $12
USD), so we took advantage of that savings.
At the Central Station, we learned we could catch the Number 1 bus
(a couple other lines go there as well) to the Frihamnen cruise port. Tickets are
sold in a magazine store inside the railway station, kind of like a tabac in France. A single ride costs 30
SEK (reduced to 20 SEK for over age 65 or under age 20). Since our cruise ship had
an overnight stay in Stockholm before we set sail, we opted for the 24-hour
ticket (120 SEK regular, 80 SEK reduced--around $10 each). This enabled us to
check in, stow our baggage, and then go back out to explore the city. We
even went out again the next morning, took a tour of Parliament, and got
back on a bus headed for the cruise port before our tickets turned into
pumpkins.
It's about a 10-minute walk from the Frihamnen bus stop to the cruise port
check-in area, so if you're mobility-challenged or have a lot of luggage,
changing buses and schlepping your bags that far might not appeal to you. If
there are several people in your party, the cost of a taxi might be less
prohibitive (about $100-150 from the international airport to the cruise port; most likely a
lot less from Central Station).
But for able-bodied budget travelers like us, the bus adventure
suited us just fine. We can find lots better ways to spend our savings.
What money-saving travel tips can you share? I'd love to hear your
comments.
Monday, July 10, 2017
Countdown to Financial Fitness: Know Your Tolerance for Risk
Countdown to Financial Fitness: Know Your Tolerance for Risk: You've paid down debt, built an emergency fund, and now you've finally saved up some money to invest. But before you hand your hard...
Know Your Tolerance for Risk
You've paid down debt, built an emergency fund, and now
you've finally saved up some money to invest. But before you hand your
hard-earned dollars to a broker, determine your tolerance for risk.
You can find sample "risk tolerance" questionnaires
on the internet. It's almost like a personality test. If you work with a
financial planner or investment counselor, he or she will most likely have you
take such a quiz, or at least ask you similar questions before setting you up
with a suitable investment plan.
Besides your age, income, assets, expenses, and plans for
your money, you will be asked questions like, "What percentage of your
investment are you prepared to lose?" and "How important is it for you
to keep up with inflation?" "Can you stomach putting some, or all, of
your principal at risk?" Some quizzes ask you what synonym for
"risk" comes to mind. Danger? Opportunity? Thrill? You might be given
scenarios to choose from: an investment that would never go down more than 10%
but would only gain a maximum of 5% versus an investment with the potential of
returning 30% but could lose 30% or more. Or you might see a question like,
would you prefer Door Number 1—$1000 as a sure thing—or Door Number 2, with a
25% chance to win $10,000?
It's important to understand how you react to risk before
choosing an investment. If an investment constantly keeps you awake at night,
it might not be appropriate for your portfolio. If you have to check your
account balance hourly and rush to sell your stock the first time its price
goes down, investing in the stock market might not be the right choice for you.
The stock market goes up and down, and if you get euphoric and buy when it's up
and panic-sell when it's down, you will lose money.
The younger you are, the more risk you can handle with
long-term investments, such as a retirement fund, provided you have the courage
to stay invested despite market fluctuations. Historically, the stock market
has yielded better returns than bonds or cash equivalents. Downturns actually
provide opportunity to grow your wealth by purchasing more shares of stock or a
mutual fund at a discount—if you stick to a plan of investing regularly. (You can do
this automatically by reinvesting dividends and capital gains, i.e.,
dollar-cost averaging.)
What some risk-averse investors don't realize is that, by
not investing in stocks or more aggressive mutual funds, by keeping all their
money in cash accounts where the principal is secure but growth is almost
non-existent, their nest egg may not keep up with inflation. And despite their
cautious approach, they still won't have enough money to live on in retirement.
So they are accepting risk whether they like it or not.
The closer you get to retirement, to the time when you will
begin living off your assets, the more conservative you'll want to become with
your investment allocation. Like with your emergency fund, you'll no longer
have time to weather a major downturn, and if you have to start withdrawing the
money, you'll be locking in losses.
Risk and reward go hand in hand. Aggressive investors are willing
to risk losing a chunk of money in exchange for the prospect of greater reward.
Conservative investors prefer to preserve their principal, but in exchange for
that security, they must accept more modest returns.
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