Investing 16
34 Things You Shouldn’t Buy at Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s
Worst of the Warehouse
Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s Wholesale Club make items a bargain by selling them in bulk, but the savings don’t always add up. Sometimes, shoppers are actually better off buying the small size. The following items are just a few of the warehouse-club wares worth avoiding.
10 Items That Will Change Your Mind About Generic Brands
Not too many years ago, cutting expenses by buying a generic brand brought with it an air of compromise, settling for a slightly inferior product rather than brand quality. Today, retailer brands now compete with national brands in quality while still delivering steep savings.
Although not every generic brand meets or exceeds product standards set by national brands, there’s an ever-increasing number of generics that come out the clear winner. We checked out store brands competing with national favorites to see if the generic brands are always worth the savings.
20 Home Improvements That Cost Less Than $1,000
You don’t have to spend big bucks to increase your home’s value. In fact, lower-cost home improvement projects, such as a garage door replacement or installing stone veneer siding, tend to return a greater value than more upscale projects. It’s a tip home remodelers learn right away.
If you want to spruce up your home but have a limited budget, there are plenty of inexpensive projects that offer a big payback — and the sooner you do them, the better.
Click through to see 20 ways you can renovate your home for less.
USE These 13 Expert Tips to Boost Your Social Security Checks
If you have focused all your planning energy on your 401(k), you may be missing a key piece of the retirement puzzle: Social Security.
You can influence your eventual payout from this safe, dull old-age safety net to a surprising degree by making some adjustments and changes in your planning.
Now is the time to get started pumping up your Social Security checks, even if you’ve got decades to go before retirement.
Here are some ways to do just that!
15 Big Cities from USA Where Prices Dropped Off Astonishingly
Believe it or not, housing is actually becoming more affordable in a variety of major cities across the U.S., despite the fact that home prices in America are on the rise as a whole. In these cities, aspiring homeowners might now be able to purchase homes they couldn’t afford the previous year.
We compared the change in the home median list value of the 200 most populous U.S. cities over the past year, two years and three years to determine the major cities where home prices are plummeting.
Retirees Are Wasting More Than $8000/Year on These 10 Things
>
Trim these expenses to save more in retirement
With a lot of discussion about how to have enough for a comfortable retirement revolving around stock markets, bond yields and 401k accounts, it’s easy to overlook one of the simplest tools for ensuring that your nest egg doesn’t crack early: good old-fashioned budgeting.
A new survey polled more than 1,000 Americans on their spending habits and revealed that retirees can save an additional $8,000 a year if they cut certain expenses from their budget.
Click ahead to see them!
This Is How You Could Spend Your Tax Refund
P IS FOR PRACTICAL
Hotly anticipating your tax refund? Before you splurge on that Jacuzzi you’ve always wanted or pile items into your virtual shopping cart, do yourself a favor: Hit pause, and consider finding a practical use for your money. What’s practical, of course, is relative to your circumstance, but mull over these ways to spend your check from Uncle Sam.
25 Credit Card Mistakes You’re Probably Making
Here’s what to avoid
Credit cards are rather important items in our financial lives. About 70% of us have at least one credit card, according to Federal Reserve data, and with about 250 million adults in the U.S. recently, that amounts to more than 175 million card-carrying Americans.
It’s no surprise, then, that we’re likely to make mistakes regarding our credit card use now and then. Since such mistakes can be costly, here’s a look at a bunch of common ones. See which ones apply to you.
10 Essential Things to Know Before You Buy a New Car
Buying a new or used car can be an intimidating experience. Many car salespeople may pressure you to leave the lot with a purchased vehicle, so it’s crucial you’re armed with information about the cars you are interested in, the budget you can afford, and the value of your trade-in—if you have one. With these details, you have all the tools you need to negotiate properly.
Here are 10 tips and strategies for making sure you get the best-quality vehicle at the lowest price.