Money Management

Need something last-minute for Easter? Read on to see how Costco can come to your rescue. [[{“value”:”

A lot of people are shocked to learn that Easter Sunday falls out at the tail end of March this year, as opposed to sometime in April. So if the holiday has totally snuck up on you, you’re in good company.

At the same time, you may have a busy week ahead with limited time to gather items for an Easter basket to put together yourself. And you may not have the patience to make your own basket, either.

That’s where Costco comes in. Not only might you find plenty of Easter gifts at your local warehouse club store, but you can choose from a number of gift baskets online. That way, if there’s no Costco store close by, you’re not out of luck. Here are some of the items Costco has on offer for Easter right now.

1. Hebert Classic Gourmet Easter Basket

Putting together your own Easter basket can be a time-consuming process, as well as a costly one. Why not let Costco handle that for you?

Costco is selling an adorable basket for $39.99 online that includes an Easter bunny toy, various chocolates, jelly beans, and Peeps. Considering that Amazon is selling a single chocolate bunny for $6.99, Costco’s bundle reads like a really good deal.

2. Easter Bunny Bucket of Sweets Gift Basket

If you’re on a bit more of a budget, Costco is selling another Easter basket for $29.99. This one is a bit less chocolate-heavy than the basket above, but it’s definitely not shy on sweets. It features lollipops, gummy bears, fruit chews, and more. And it comes in a festive bucket your recipient can reuse.

3. Mrs. Prindables Easter Caramel Apples and Confection Tray

Who says Easter sweets can’t be a touch healthy? If you’d rather introduce a bit of nutrition into your Easter gift, consider this basket of caramel apples. Sure, they may have way more sugar than unadulterated apples, but they’re apples nonetheless. And you’ll get a mix of apples with coatings that include white and milk chocolate. At a cost of $39.99, you’re looking at spending less than you would on a site like Harry & David, which is known for its fruit-centered gifts.

4. Ghirardelli Happy Easter Chocolate and Cookie Gift Basket

Lo and behold, it’s yet another sweet-oriented gift basket from Costco. But at the $29.99 price point, it’s a bit more budget-friendly. Plus, if you know the Ghirardelli name, you can feel confident that you’re getting quality chocolate. This bundle features the brand’s famous squares, as well as chocolate chip cookies.

5. Hickory Farms Easter Charcuterie Gift Set

Looking for an Easter gift for a non-child recipient? This gift set could be perfect. It features grown-up treats like smoked gouda, mixed nuts, and summer sausage. It also comes with a cutting board that your recipient can use again and again, as well as a cleaver. You’ll get the entire bundle for $49.99.

Any of these baskets could make a fabulous gift. But don’t wait — the holiday will be here soon, so if you want your Easter basket delivered on time, break out your credit card and order it ASAP.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Maurie Backman has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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It’s early days in my search for a house to buy. Learn some of the deal breakers I’ve encountered so far. [[{“value”:”

It’s officially time. After two years of paying off debt, saving money, and wishing for four walls and a roof to call my own, I’m now house hunting, complete with pre-approval from mortgage lenders.

I don’t have a huge budget for buying a home — mortgage rates around 7% mean I can no longer buy as much house as I could have in 2021, when rates hovered around 3%. Since I want to keep my predictable housing costs (such as monthly mortgage payments) below 25% of my income, that limits what I can spend. So I’m being extremely choosy about what I can and can’t live with — and afford.

Here are three major deal breakers I’ve encountered so far — and why it’s important to decide what yours are before you start house hunting, too.

1. Big expensive repairs

I’ve looked at a few houses so far that seemed suspiciously cheap based on their MLS entries. But all became clear once I actually visited the houses in person. Kudos to seller’s agents who fairly price a home, but my aversion to immediately putting a ton of money into major repairs has taken these houses off my list.

So far, I’ve seen houses that needed a new roof, new siding (preferably vinyl — this is a wet and harsh climate), and replacements for 70-year-old windows. I also looked at one that had two-prong electrical outlets throughout, which would need to be replaced with three-prong outlets (and in some areas of the house, they would need to be grounded outlets as well).

It’s not uncommon to put some serious money into a house initially — my colleague Christy Bieber recently purchased a house that needs a ton of work, and I am thrilled for her. But I could absolutely not see myself doing the same. She’s got a lot more experience as a buyer and a homeowner than I do, and her budget is different from mine.

Paying for a new roof or windows as soon as I buy would capsize my finances, so I’m hoping to buy something that is more updated and move-in ready. (In my price range, this likely means a smaller home — which is perfectly fine for a household of one human and three cats.)

2. Proximity to neighbors

The location of a home is one of those qualities you can’t change. One of the first houses I looked at was nice, and I could’ve been happy there if not for one major problem. There are apartment buildings very close by — from the home’s driveway to the parking area for the apartments, there was a distance of less than 50 feet.

Renting an apartment is a good way to save money. But part of why I’m buying a house is to escape the pitfalls of renting — such as transient neighbors who may not be easy to live near due to noise and habits. I also don’t want to listen to cars coming and going at all hours of the day and night, and there’s a greater chance of that living near an apartment complex with multiple residents and their guests.

3. No garage

A lack of an enclosed space to park a car might not be a deal breaker for everyone, but it certainly is for me. I live in a part of the country that gets serious winters, and frequently 100 inches or more of snow per year. I work remotely now and no longer have to drive in the snow if I don’t want to (spoiler alert: I never want to). But having my car in a covered place means it will be safe and out of the elements.

The car is 15 years old this year, and I made my last payment on it almost a decade ago. I’d be happy to drive it forever, so I’ve put serious money into maintenance. Some of the more recent repairs I’ve had to make have been due to old parts wearing out, and I suspect that the car being out in snow, ice, and road salt is accelerating its deterioration. I’m hopeful that keeping it in a garage will give it more staying power — and perhaps keep me from needing to pay for new coil springs or bushings ever again.

What should you focus on when you’re house hunting?

It’s a good idea to focus first on the unchangeable qualities of a house. If you dislike the neighborhood, that’s not something you can change for any amount of money. It’s also difficult and expensive to change the size of a home — the cost of building an addition makes it impractical for many people. Consider how much natural light a home gets, as you won’t be able to change its orientation.

Your unique needs and wants should also be top of mind when you’re house hunting. Love to cook? Prioritize a large and well-appointed kitchen. Have three children and want everyone to have their own bedroom? Consider houses with enough space for a big family. Sit down and make a list of your preferred features and deal breakers, so you can share them with your real estate agent. Their job is helping you find the house that’s right for you, so don’t be shy.

The right house for you is out there — and I hope the right one for me is, too.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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A tax refund isn’t free money. Keep reading to learn why one writer wasn’t too upset that she owed Uncle Sam this year. [[{“value”:”

Ah, tax season — when millions of your fellow Americans sit down to frantically calculate how much they owe in taxes so they can see if they overpaid, underpaid, or somehow broke even. It’s a fair bet that many Americans are excited at the prospect of having overpaid, because it means they’ll get a refund. The majority of us do — according to IRS data, almost 63% of taxpayers received a refund on their 2022 taxes.

I actually was owed a small refund on my 2022 taxes, but due to my employment situation, I didn’t end up receiving it back. Rather than using tax software to file my own return, I happily pay an accountant. And he generally rolls a small refund like mine (about $400 for 2022) into the next year’s taxes for his self-employed clients. For 2023, however, I owed Uncle Sam. This didn’t bother me in the slightest, though — and here’s why.

A higher tax bill wasn’t a surprise

In full disclosure, my 2023 tax bill came to almost $2,700 more than I paid in quarterly installments. I’m a full-time freelancer, so my clients don’t take taxes out of what they pay me. Instead, I keep track of my earnings and let my accountant know, so he can calculate an estimated quarterly tax payment for me to send to both the IRS and my state’s taxation office.

My estimates were based on 2022 earnings, but since I made more in 2023, they came up short. Plus, I also earned almost $1,900 in interest on the money I had in a high-yield savings account, adding to my tax bill.

It didn’t surprise me in the least to learn from my accountant that I owed extra taxes, and thankfully, my tax-planning activity saved this bill from being a hardship. I take a flat percentage off the top of every dollar I earn, and I keep it in my savings account until it’s time to make my quarterly payments. Since I save a higher percentage than I strictly need to, I had the extra money ready to go, and once I heard from my accountant about my finished tax return, I made the payments. No muss, no fuss.

I don’t like giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan

You might wonder why I wasn’t annoyed by this turn of events, and the answer is simple. When you receive a tax refund, it means you overpaid your taxes for the year. The refund is simply the IRS returning your own money to you. It’s not “free money,” it was yours all along. And if you’d had access to it during the year, you might have been able to do some good with it.

Let’s say you receive the average refund for 2023 (according to the IRS, that number is $3,182 as of March 1, 2024). What could more than $3,000 do for you? It could have formed part of an emergency fund that could have saved you from paying interest on a credit card when you had an unexpected trip to the auto mechanic last year. Maybe you could’ve added it to your IRA and let it grow for the future. Or maybe you could have afforded a nicer vacation than the one you took.

Ultimately, I got to earn interest on the $2,700 extra I paid. My high-yield savings account is currently earning an APY of 4.35%, so $2,700 could earn me about $117 over a year if the rate stayed the same. Granted, I’d still have to pay part of that $117 to the IRS, since savings account interest is taxed as regular income. But I’d get to keep the majority of it. The IRS wouldn’t have paid me interest.

What can you do to shrink your tax refund?

Have I convinced you that a tax refund isn’t something to strive for? (And lest you think I’m alone in this attitude, my colleague Maurie Backman rarely gets a refund and is pleased as punch about it.)

If you want to receive more of your hard-earned income during the year, you’ll just need to adjust your tax withholding. You can play with the IRS’s withholding estimator, and then get in touch with your employer’s human resources department to update your W-4 form.

If you’re self-employed, it might be a bit harder to come up with an accurate estimate for payments, especially if your income varies. In this case, I recommend doing what I do, and saving more than you think you’ll need for taxes. If you come up short and owe money, you’ll have it ready to go — and if you’ve had it in a savings account, you might even have earned some interest on it along the way.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Banks lower interest rates on savings accounts all the time. Find out why. [[{“value”:”

Hey, wait a minute. You’ve been swindled! It says so right there, in big, bold letters: “We have emailed you to let you know we’ve cut your savings account rate by 0.25%. Peace, love, please don’t leave our business, bye.” What’s that about? Feels like you’ve been hacked.

Believe it or not, banks change savings rates all the time. Unlike certificates of deposit (CD) rates, savings account rates are variable. Banks are ultimately responsible for rates — some are just plain better than others — but mostly, banks change rates for the same reasons.

The biggest reason banks change interest rates is Federal Reserve action, followed by profitability and competition. Read on to dig deeper into why your bank is tweaking your rates. Bad policy aside, there’s probably a method to its madness.

The Federal Reserve is hacking your rates

The Federal Reserve is the U.S. government entity responsible for keeping inflation reasonable. It does that by raising or lowering interest rates, which it can do and has been doing for quite some time. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed cranked up rates faster than ever before, from 0.25% in March 2022 to 5.5% in July 2023.

The bad news: Your loans got more expensive. The good news: Savings accounts got way more profitable. Banks have been raising savings account interest rates for some time. According to the FDIC, the average savings account rate has risen 700% from March 2022 to today.

Talk about a big move! To cap it all off, the Federal Reserve has led many people to believe it’ll begin lowering rates later this year, prompting some banks to send those pesky rate-drop emails to customers. Phooey. The good times can’t last forever, it seems.

Feel like locking in a good interest rate? Consider opening up a CD. It’ll lock in your interest rate, most often for six months to five years. The catch is, you can’t withdraw your money early without paying an early withdrawal penalty (a fate best avoided).

Profitability and competition

Though the Federal Reserve has massive influence over interest rates — including the interest rate on your savings account – banks still have a lot of leeway over how much interest they offer. The highest-yielding bank accounts offer more than 10 times what competitors do.

Why do some banks offer higher rates? Profitability is a big part of it. The cheaper it is to operate a bank, the better rates it can offer. Online banks typically have the advantage. They’re cheaper to operate than brick-and-mortar alternatives are.

Another factor is competition. When you’re losing customers to rivals with better savings account rates, you’re more likely to bite the bullet and keep rates high. Again, online banks seem to be winning these battles more often than not.

If my bank cuts my rates, should I switch banks?

Not necessarily. There are good reasons to stick with banks that offer low interest rates.

Big legacy banks have attracted plenty of customers in recent years, leaning on stellar safety records. Sometimes, it’s worth settling for a lower savings account interest rate in exchange for peace of mind. It just so happens, the safest banks are often (but not always) the largest.

That said, you can totally switch banks. Low interest rates, poor customer service, and a lack of features are all good reasons to switch. Keep in mind, there isn’t a bank on the planet that can 100% guarantee that your rate won’t change in 2024; treat such claims with caution.

What will happen to interest rates in 2024?

Excellent question, couldn’t have phrased it better myself. The short answer is, it’s up to your bank. Banks are ultimately responsible for setting their own rates.

The long answer is, rates will probably fall. The Federal Reserve has paused rate hikes, and it’s signaled it will lower interest rates later this year. It might not happen, but it’s likely. If the Federal Reserve does lower rates, many banks will follow suit. That will shrink the interest rates offered for their savings accounts.

So the next time you find an email titled, “We lowered your rates, now live with it,” feel free to tell the email you know why it’s there, and you’re only a teensy bit mad about it.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Cole Tretheway has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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We all make mistakes. Read on to see when the IRS might let you off the hook as far as penalties go. [[{“value”:”

Taxes are due this year on April 15. But if you’re late with your tax return and owe money to the IRS, serious penalties could apply. Similarly, if you owe money to the IRS for 2023 and you don’t make your tax payment by April 15, you could be penalized for being late.

Both the failure-to-file and late payment penalties have the potential to cost you a lot. The former will cost you 5% of your unpaid tax debt for each month or partial month your return is late, up to 25% of that total. Meanwhile, the late payment penalty (also known as a failure-to-pay penalty) will cost you 0.5% per month or partial month your payment is late, up to 25%.

But if it’s your first time incurring one of these penalties, the IRS may be willing to go easy on you via a process known as first-time abatement. Here’s how it works and how to qualify.

When you get a second chance

Under some circumstances, the IRS will agree to waive a penalty for being late with your tax return or for paying your tax bill late. But you’ll need to meet certain criteria.

Specifically, you’ll need a good tax compliance history, which the IRS defines as:

You filed your tax return for the past three years before the tax year in which you incurred a penaltyYou didn’t receive any penalties during the three years prior to when you’re asking for first-time abatement

So here’s how this might work. Let’s say you submit your 2023 tax return late in 2024, and as a result, you’re hit with a failure-to-file penalty. If you didn’t incur any penalties for tax returns related to 2020, 2021, and 2022, and you filed all of those returns on time, you may be eligible for first-time abatement for your 2023 tax return.

How to apply for first-time abatement

The IRS isn’t going to somehow access your bank account and remove funds from it to collect its penalties. Rather, it’s going to notify you in writing that you’ve incurred a penalty and give you instructions on how to pay it.

That notice will generally have a phone number on it that you can call for further information. That’s also the phone number you can call to request first-time abatement.

Otherwise, you can fill out Form 843 and mail it to the IRS. You should also know that if your request for first-time abatement is denied, you have the right to appeal that decision.

In rare cases, the IRS might offer tax abatement proactively to a broad group of filers. For example, the agency announced earlier this year that it would waive $1 billion in late payment penalties for filers who didn’t pay on time in 2020 and 2021. But usually, you need to be the one to request abatement.

How to avoid a tax penalty in the first place

The fact that the IRS will sometimes let you off the hook penalty-wise is a good thing. But there are also steps you can take to avoid being penalized in the first place.

First, you can avoid the failure-to-file penalty by submitting your taxes on time or requesting an extension by the filing deadline. So this year, for example, if you don’t think you’ll be done with your taxes by April 15, just request an extension by then, and you’ll get six more months to plug numbers into tax software and file your return (however, be mindful that you won’t get extra time to pay your tax bill).

To avoid a late payment penalty, aim to set some money aside in your savings account during the year in case you end up having to write the IRS a check in April. This is an especially important thing to do if you’re self-employed and don’t have taxes deducted from your earnings regularly.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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