Money Management

Saving money has never been easier. Find out why price comparison apps are a frugal shopper’s best friend. 

Couponing was all the rage years ago, and people spent a lot of time and effort tracking down the best deals and saving tons of money on their everyday purchases.

Thankfully, we frugal shoppers no longer need to hunt for coupons when looking for a good deal. Price comparison apps and websites have made shopping much simpler, keeping our personal finances on track — without hours of coupon clipping.

Here are five ways price comparison apps are better than coupons.

1. They’re updated in real time

Many of us have felt the sting of having a coupon rejected because it expired or wasn’t applicable to the specific product we were trying to buy. But you won’t have the same problem with price comparison apps.

You can set alerts in many price comparison apps, like BuyVia, for item prices that fall below a specified amount, so you’ll know where and when to buy it at the price you want to pay. Not only will you save money, but you’ll ensure that you don’t bust your budget since you can set strict limits for what you want to pay for items.

Sorry coupons, you can’t compete with that.

2. You don’t have to plan ahead

Clipping coupons requires a lot of planning. You need to know what you want to buy, where you will buy it, and when it will be on sale. Not so with price comparison apps.

You could, theoretically, show up to a store not knowing what’s on sale and use the barcode scanner that many of them — including BuyVia, ShopSavvy, and Price.com — have built into the app.

Many price comparison apps will let you know what other stores are selling the same item and which one is selling it for cheaper. No pre-planning is required.

3. The apps are always with you

My wife doesn’t get angry very often, but accidentally leaving a coupon at home that she intended to take to the store definitely triggers her. After all, a $5 coupon on the countertop does little good when you get to the register.

Considering that most of us take our phones everywhere we go, price comparison apps are always with us, ready to be used.

4. You can get cash back

One of the best things about comparison apps versus coupons is that many offer cash back. Some apps allow you to redeem the cash as gift cards, send it to PayPal, or use the rewards at retail locations.

You’ll have to make a purchase through a price comparison app, like Price.com, to receive the cash back deal, but doing so can help you easily save some money. Sure, some coupons may have cash back deals, but using an app makes earning the reward much easier and more convenient.

5. Apps have access to more deals than coupons do

You can’t comb through all the available coupons out there. Even if you can spend a lot of time looking for the best coupons at the stores where you shop, you’re bound to miss a great deal every now and then.

Price comparison apps, by comparison, do all the work for you, so you never miss a good deal. For example, Price.com’s app says you can research thousands of stores in seconds to find the cheapest price.

Smart shopping is efficient shopping

I’m one of those people who can spend way too much time researching what I want to buy and trying to get the best deal possible. That’s why these comparison apps can be an excellent tool for frugal shoppers.

Whether you’re looking for the best deal or want to keep your spending within a strict budget, these apps are an easy way to save money without needing to sift through the junk drawer to find the scissors.

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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.Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short December 2023 $67.50 puts on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Holiday travel costs add up really quickly. Here are five tips that can help you reach your destination without breaking the bank. 

I’ll be home for Christmas this year, but for more than a decade, I spent the holidays in sunny Florida with my extended family. The break from normalcy was great, but it sometimes came with a pretty hefty price tag — and all I had to pay for was air travel. If you need to book hotels or rental cars too, you could easily spend a few thousand dollars.

Unless you’re a multi-millionaire, holiday travel is probably pretty hard on your budget. But with the right strategy, you can make sure you pay as little as possible. Here are five of my best tips for saving on your holiday travel this year.

1. Be flexible

Flexibility is the most important thing when it comes to finding great travel deals. If you need to leave from a certain airport on a certain day on a specific airline, your options are going to be very limited and you’ll probably pay a lot. But when you can be flexible with your plans, you give yourself a lot more choices. Some of those are bound to be more affordable than others.

I don’t live near any major airports, so when I would travel to Florida, I would often check all the airports within a few hours’ drive to see what rates they offered. Then, I’d go with the one that had the best deal. Same with airlines.

I also traveled on Christmas Day many times. You’ll often find fewer people flying on this day because they want to be with their families. If you don’t mind celebrating a day late, you could save quite a bit compared to those traveling right before or right after the holiday.

2. Look into vacation packages

For those who need to book a place to stay as well, a vacation package could be a more affordable option for you than booking a flight and hotel separately. Sites like Costco Travel enable you to search vacation packages in popular destinations that could help you save on purchases you were going to make anyway.

For example, a quick search for vacation packages in Orlando turns up several results including flights, hotels, and theme park tickets. If you find something you like, you can book it all at once and save yourself a bunch of time filling out online forms too.

3. Steer clear of those cookies

A lot of airlines and hotels track your search history online using cookies. If they see you eyeing a flight or a hotel for a specific day, they might never show you a more affordable price than what you saw the first time you looked, even if they’re showing a cheaper price to someone else for that same flight or hotel.

You can get around this by deleting your cookies or using an incognito browser when searching for travel deals. This takes cookies out of the equation, so you always see the current best price.

4. Use travel rewards cards

If you’ve been saving travel rewards all year, now is a great time to use them. You can put unused miles towards flights or hotels, but be wary of blackout dates. You could run into these around the holidays since they’re popular travel times. It’s still worth checking, though.

And if you have an airline credit card, don’t forget to check out its other perks. You might get to check bags for free, for example. Even if this only saves you $50, it’s still extra money you’ll have in your pocket when you reach your destination.

5. Think outside the box

Flying might seem like your best option if you’re going somewhere far away this holiday, but that’s not always the case. You might prefer to drive or you could look into buses, trains, or taxis too. I know, that’s a lot of options to consider, but you don’t have to compare them all yourself.

Rome2Rio is a site that does all the mapping for you. All you have to do is enter your starting destination and your ending destination, even if they’re on different continents. The site will then tell you all the various ways you could get there, along with estimated times and costs. Once you find one you like, you just follow the links to book everything.

The winter holidays are only a few weeks away, so it’s probably best to start looking at your options right now if you want to score a great deal. You don’t have to try all the tips above. Just pick out a few you think could work for you and see what kind of savings they add up to.

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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.Kailey Hagen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Self-employed savers can open SEP IRAs with high limits. Find out why some may prefer to stick with Roth IRAs instead. 

Being able to contribute more to a retirement account isn’t everything. Clarity is important, too. I recently teed myself up to lose over $11,000 in retirement money to capital gains taxes. Reason: it was unclear to me how much I could save by investing for retirement through an IRA instead of a regular taxable brokerage account.

Recently, I looked into opening a SEP IRA, which is like a traditional IRA but comes with higher contribution limits. It’s also exclusive to self-employed individuals and small business owners. I use a Roth IRA right now, and after comparing the two, I’m sticking with my Roth.

I’m not switching from a Roth IRA to a SEP IRA for three reasons. Here’s what they are.

1. Roth IRAs are simple

Roth IRAs are clear and predictable. You contribute post-tax dollars, and you’re taxed nothing on withdrawals post-retirement. What you get is what you see in your brokerage account.

But SEP IRAs are more complicated. You contribute pre-tax dollars, which is nice, but when you withdraw, you are taxed a variable amount. You won’t know how much you’ll earn until the dust settles, your income is calculated, and you’re left with less than you might’ve thought.

There are ways to lower your tax burden post-retirement, but I don’t want to deal with that. I want to know exactly how much I’m getting at a glance, and that’s something only a Roth IRA can provide.

2. My inflation-adjusted income will be higher in retirement

Roth IRAs are well suited to long-term savers who believe they’ll retire in a higher income tax bracket. That’s because you pay taxes on your Roth IRA contributions now, but you’re spared from paying taxes in a higher bracket later.

SEP IRAs are the opposite: You pay no taxes on contributions, but your withdrawals are taxed like income. If you’re in a much higher tax bracket post-retirement, you could be on the hook for quite a bit of cash.

I’m an optimist. While anything is possible forty years from now — I could very well be eating leftover pizza out of a cardboard box — I’d rather bet on my success. That’s a big reason why I’m putting my money in a Roth instead of a traditional or SEP IRA.

3. I won’t exceed my Roth contribution limits

Roth IRAs offer lower contribution limits than SEP IRAs do. As of 2024, you can contribute up to $7,000 in a Roth (or $8,000 if you’re over age 50). For an IRA, that’s standard.

Meanwhile, in 2024, you can contribute up to 25% of an employee’s compensation or $69,000, whichever is less, to a SEP IRA. (Self-employed persons count as employees for the sake of calculating limits, though the calculation is a bit more complicated and may effectively reduce the amount they can contribute.)

In 2024, I’ve got a lot going on. Chances are, I won’t be exceeding my Roth IRA $7,000 annual contribution limit. Should that change, I’d consider opening up a SEP IRA as well.

Opening both a Roth IRA and a SEP IRA

Despite my stance, I like both Roth and SEP IRAs; they have clear pros and cons. In some cases, it might be worth opening one of each to boost your contribution limits. After all, employer contributions to a SEP IRA don’t impact your personal traditional or Roth IRA limits.

For example, say my Roth IRA contribution limit is $7,000 in 2024. As a self-employed individual, I open a SEP IRA with a maximum contribution limit of $10,000. Between the two, I can contribute up to $17,000 total. Contributing to my Roth doesn’t shrink my SEP limits.

I’ll be sticking with my Roth IRA for the reasons mentioned above. But I’d consider opening a SEP IRA as well if my income exceeds expectations and I have more to contribute in 2024. Luckily, it’s easy to get started. Some of the best IRA brokers offer both Roth and SEP IRAs.

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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.
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Many home buyers are using financial gifts to afford their homes. Read on to find out where they’re getting the money from. 

If you’re in the market for a home right now, it’ll come as no surprise that it’s pretty rough out there. Home prices are up 27.7% over the past three years, pushing the median home price transaction to a staggering $431,000.

Mortgage interest rates have added to the pain for potential home buyers, as rates soared over the past few years as the Federal Reserve raised interest rate hikes to cool inflation. This has been exacerbated by a low inventory of homes.

The result? Home affordability is at a 40-year low. This is leading many new home buyers to lean on family and friends to help them buy their homes. According to Zillow, nearly 40% of buyers receive a financial gift to put toward a home purchase — up from just one-third before the pandemic.

Home buyers may need help for a while

The latest data shows home prices rose 3.9% between September 2022 and September 2023. Home prices have remained stubbornly high, partly because many homeowners don’t want to sell their homes and take on a much higher rate to buy a new one.

And there isn’t any consensus on what will happen with home prices in 2024. Some experts expect prices to rise, while others anticipate a price decrease.

There has been a glimmer of hope on the interest rate front, as rates have retreated slightly as the Federal Reserve has paused its federal funds rate hikes. Some industry experts, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, think mortgage rates will fall to 5.5% by the end of next year.

How to make a home as affordable as possible

Whether or not you receive money from family to help you with a down payment, you can do a few things to prepare yourself to buy a home:

Pay down your debt: Eliminating (or at least reducing) your credit card debt or other loan balances will help improve your credit score and make it easier to afford your mortgage payments. Lenders like to see you use less than 36% of your available credit, so aim for at least that goal.Consider an FHA loan: Coming up with a 20% down payment is more difficult than ever, which makes a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan even more attractive. If you have a credit score of 580 or above, you’ll only need a down payment of 3.5%.Shop around for the best lender: Just as you’ll shop around for the best house, considering multiple mortgage lenders will help you find the best one. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a better interest rate or lower your costs for mortgage points by shopping around, but it’s to get better loan terms by comparing lenders.

Taking small steps toward saving money and getting your finances ready for a home purchase will help you slowly move closer to your goal. Remember that while waiting to buy a home may not be fun, it’s likely better than rushing into the process. A stunning 78% of homeowners who bought in 2022 regret their purchase.

The above suggestions can help you achieve your goal of buying a home. But if you still need some extra help — and a financial gift from the family isn’t in the cards — you may want to consider moving to a cheaper city.

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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.
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Holiday gifts don’t have to cost a fortune. Read on to see how this writer spent less than $100 on a family of five. 

Generally speaking, I do my best to be generous with the people in my life. But let’s be real — the gift-giving season can be overwhelming. In addition to family and friends, I have to think about my children’s teachers, coaches, and activity leaders. That’s a lot of gifts to give out — and a lot of money to spend.

Thankfully, I make it a priority to stash money in my savings account for the holidays year-round. So I do have some leeway when it comes to buying gifts.

At the same time, my siblings and I make a point to not go overboard on gifts for each other’s families. The way we see it, we love getting together for the holidays and spending time together, and the gifts are really secondary. So as sort of a rule, we only exchange one item, and we aim to keep it moderately priced so no one feels pressured to spend beyond their means.

With that in mind, I decided to turn to Costco to purchase gifts for my sister, brother-in-law, and three nieces. And I pulled off that haul for $85 (plus tax).

A nice assortment of gifts

My sister and her family live in an apartment without much storage. As such, they don’t want numerous or overly large gifts because they don’t have a place to put them. That’s why I tried to focus on gifts for my sister and brother-in-law that wouldn’t take up a lot of space.

For my brother-in-law, I settled on a hot sauce gift set from Costco for $18.99. It has a nice variety of flavors, and once the set is used up, it’s gone, so he won’t have to worry about where to store it.

For my sister, I spent $29.99 on a “chocuterie” set. It features a nice board and assorted chocolates. Since my sister does like to host, I figured the serving tray would be a good gift for her to hang onto — and it shouldn’t take up a ton of space.

Meanwhile, my three nieces are eight years old and under, which means they’re pretty easy to shop for. This year, Costco had Squishmallows for $11.99. I scooped up three of them for my nieces and I’m confident they’ll be thrilled. So all told, that was about $36.

When we take that $36 and add $19 for the hot sauce collection and $30 for the chocolate board, it’s $85. But even with tax, I still managed to buy gifts for my sister’s entire family and come away with a credit card tab of under $100.

Spend what you’re comfortable with

I can admit that I didn’t specifically set a budget for buying gifts for my sister and her family. Instead, I had a general idea of what I wanted to spend — and it was more than $85. However, it just so happened to work out that I was able to find great picks for that price point.

If money is tight in your world, though, then you should set a specific budget and pledge not to go over it — especially if you’re buying gifts for close family. Chances are, your sibling or parent would feel downright awful if you were to bust your budget in the course of buying them presents. So you’re better off sticking to a number you’re comfortable with.

Now. I can admit that I didn’t really shop around in the course of buying the gifts above because they amounted to much less than what I was expecting to spend. But again, if you’re on a budget, shop around — even when you have access to a store like Costco that’s known for its low prices. You never know when one retailer might have a given item priced for a few dollars less.

All told, I’m happy with my Costco gift haul, and I hope my sister’s family will be, too. But if not, the nice thing about Costco is that you can return unwanted purchases without a hassle. And that’s one final thing to keep in mind.

Retailers tend to have reasonably flexible return policies during the holidays, but it’s always good to read the fine print first. That way, if a gift you’re giving doesn’t quite work out, your recipient won’t be stuck with something they don’t want or can’t use.

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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.Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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