Money Management

Having a baby inspired me to get life insurance. But read on to see why I didn’t increase my coverage after having two more. 

Having a baby inspired me and my husband to make a few important financial moves. We boosted our savings, opened up a 529 plan as a college fund, and put a term life insurance policy in place.

A few years later, we welcomed twin girls into our family. And once again, we went through the motions of trying to boost our savings (it was a little harder this time around since we were also paying for child care for our son) and opening 529 plans to save for college.

But one thing we didn’t do after the birth of our daughters was increase our life insurance coverage. Here’s why.

When you already have the coverage you need

You’ll generally hear that it’s a good idea to secure enough life insurance to replace your salary 10 times over at a minimum. We made a point to do that for my husband. But we bought less life insurance for me for one big reason.

My husband and I worked out our finances so that we’re able to cover our essential expenses on his income alone. We use my income for things like savings, activities and programs for our kids, family activities and trips, and extras like streaming services and takeout meals when we’re too tired or busy to cook.

We limited ourselves to being able to get by on my husband’s salary for essential bills for a few reasons. First, because I’m self-employed, my income is variable to begin with. So it’s hard to count on it for actual bills.

And while my workload has become more steady in recent years, at the time when I had my son and then my daughters, it wasn’t as stable and consistent. So we figured we’d better make sure we could cover our basic expenses on my husband’s pay alone.

Also, while I’ve worked since having kids, we didn’t know how I’d feel about being a stay-at-home mom or not. And we wanted that to be an option in the event that we decided it was the right choice for our family.

In the end, it was an option I never exercised, and I’ve worked full-time since having all of my children. But knowing it was there gave me peace of mind.

Because of this, we opted not to increase my life insurance even once our expenses grew in the form of having more kids. We decided that the coverage we had was adequate for our needs and that there was no sense in going through the process of applying for more.

Should you boost your life insurance coverage after kids?

Sometimes, having more kids means taking on more expenses. If you’re doing something like moving to a larger home and taking on a mortgage loan that’s $300,000 higher, then yes, you may want to up your life insurance coverage after having more children.

But in our case, we didn’t take on a new mortgage — we stayed put. And while we took on some extra bills in the course of having two more children (think diapers galore), we were comfortable with the amount of coverage we had based on those expenses.

If you’re not sure what to do about life insurance after expanding your family, think about how that change is impacting your household’s finances. Also, see how much coverage you already have.

You may decide that you’re happy with your existing life insurance. But if you’re suddenly spending thousands more each year on expenses by virtue of growing your family, and you’re also adding to your household debt in a very big way, then it may not be a bad idea to shop around for life insurance quotes and see what it’ll cost you to boost your coverage.

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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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Overspending on a home could leave you miserable. Read on to see why it pays to be cautious when purchasing a home. 

When my friend Jane (not her real name) and her husband set out to buy a home five years ago, they weren’t dealing with the same challenging housing market conditions buyers are grappling with now. These days, housing inventory is sorely limited, and the average mortgage rate for a 30-year loan is 7.12%, according to Freddie Mac. When Jane and her husband were looking, there were more homes to choose from and it was a lot less expensive to put a mortgage loan in place.

Jane and her husband set a budget for buying their home. But when they stumbled upon a property they fell in love with, they were quick to disregard it and spend a few hundred thousand dollars above the original number they’d landed on.

Initially, Jane made a point to call her decision a smart one. But she’s since changed her tune in a very big way.

When you wind up “house poor” and miserable

Jane’s logic in stretching her budget to buy her home was simple. The way she saw it, it’s important to be happy with your home because you live there every day. Having a really nice kitchen instead of one that’s just okay, for example, can improve your quality of life because you’re using it all the time.

But the problem is this: Jane doesn’t really get to enjoy her life in general because money is so tight and she’s constantly worried about it. She spends so much on mortgage payments, property taxes, and maintenance that she and her husband have little money left over to travel, socialize, and do the things they enjoy.

Also, because their housing payments are so expensive, they can’t outsource all of their maintenance. But since it’s a larger home, it means they’re constantly spending their free time doing work on it to keep it in decent condition. So not only are they missing out on the things they want, they’re missing out on precious downtime.

Set a home-buying budget and stick to it

When you’re looking at homes to buy and find one that wows you, it’s easy enough to get emotionally attached to the idea of owning it — so much so that you might put the financial implications on the back burner. But it’s really important to run some numbers ahead of your home search to figure out how much you can afford to spend on a home, and then stick to the limit you set.

As a general rule, you should aim to keep your monthly housing costs to 30% of your take-home pay or less. And you should include recurring, predictable expenses like homeowners insurance and property taxes in that calculation.

What if you can’t find a suitable home based on the budget you’ve set? It’s simple — continue to rent until you’re able to afford to spend more or home prices come down. They’re still pretty high these days thanks to a lack of inventory.

You might think it’s worth sacrificing different things to be able to afford a nicer home. And that logic might hold to some degree. You may, for example, be willing to drive a less expensive car to allow for a monthly mortgage payment that’s $200 higher. And that’s fine.

But what you don’t want to do is take on a home you really can’t afford in the first place. You might think that home will bring you happiness, but the financial stress that ensues might easily wipe it all out.

All told, Jane clearly regrets her decision despite defending it at first. And she’s stuck in her home because she doesn’t want to give up her affordable mortgage rate. But once rates come down, she’s planning to sell. So clearly, she’s learned her lesson.

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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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Can you ever have too much pumpkin spice? Check out these seasonal selections new at Sam’s Club right now. 

The Season of Pumpkin Spice is upon us, and, as in years past, there seems to be more pumpkin-inspired treats to try than ever before. While your finances certainly wouldn’t appreciate you buying them all, there may be a few pumpkiny creations worth a try.

For instance, Sam’s Club has already started offering some of its pumpkin-spiced selections for the season, including a few new items that are already a hit with shoppers. Take a look.

1. Member’s Mark Pumpkin Empanadas

If you’re only going to try one pumpkin-inspired Sam’s Club item this season, maybe it should be this one. These gourd-eous snacks aren’t very healthy (don’t look at the nutrition label if you can’t handle the truth!), but reviewers seem to think they’re downright delicious. They recommend convection baking (air frying) for the best crust.

Price: $12.68 (20 pieces, $0.63/ea)

2. Starbucks Pumpkin Spice coffee

Arguably the most frenzy-inducing of the seasonal pumpkin spice items, this coffee blend will cost you nearly as much per cup at Starbucks as you’ll spend on the bag at Sam’s Club. Quality-wise, this isn’t going to be quite as good as something freshly ground at the cafe, but it has overall positive reviews and is infinitely better for your savings account.

Price: $19.98 (35 ounces, $0.57/oz)

3. Pumpkin & Spice Glade Plug-ins

Scent is pretty powerful — both in good ways and bad — and the right scents can get you ready for the season. Plug-ins are a popular way to add some subtle fragrance to your home, and this Pumpkin & Spice scent from Glade has good reviews for its pleasing aroma.

Price: $12.98 (2 warmers and 6 refills)

4. Member’s Mark Pumpkin Spice Pecans

Pairing pumpkin spice and pecans is nearly a seasonal overload. The pecans in this creation are buried under a coating of pumpkin-spice-flavored white chocolate, making it more a sweet snack than a salty one. Either way, Sam’s Club shoppers are enjoying this seasonal treat (though a few do point out the high calorie count).

Price: $9.98 (17 ounces, $0.59/oz)

5. Pumpkin-flavored pumpkins

Alright, so they’re not actually called “pumpkin-flavored pumpkins.” They’re just, you know, regular pumpkins. Like, the vegetable. In all this pumpkin spice frenzy, I think the regular, OG pumpkin often gets forgotten. But no matter what other pumpkin-based oddities hit the shelves this season, remember that the gold-fleshed standard is there alongside them.

Price: $6.98 each

Pace yourself on the pumpkin

Chances are good you’re tempted by at least one or two of these goodies. And, of course, Sam’s Club isn’t the only place packed with pumpkin products this time of year.

But you need to remember that you can’t have them all.

Trying even just this small number of items would cost you more than $60 — and that’s before you start in on the seasonal favorites popping up elsewhere. In no time at all, your pumpkin-padded credit card bill will be as full as your fridge.

The key to anything in life is moderation. Pick a few particularly pumpkiny delicacies to try — and leave the rest for next season.

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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.Brittney Myers has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Starbucks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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It’s important to have money saved up in case any unexpected expenses strike. Read on for a few moves to try. 

You should have an emergency fund in a high-yield savings account. In an ideal world, this fund would contain enough money to cover three to six months of living expenses. For many people, this can seem like a fantasy, though. In fact, Pew Research found almost 60% of Americans admit they are unprepared for a financial emergency.

The sad reality is, you’re really financially vulnerable if you don’t have some money saved — especially given that about six in 10 households told Pew that they’d experienced a financial shock recently. You could end up in credit card debt, or worse, if you find yourself experiencing a problem such as an illness, job loss, or large unexpected repair expense.

If you don’t want a surprise expense or drop in income to turn into a major crisis, consider trying out one of these three ways to save up an emergency fund as quickly as possible.

1. Save your windfalls

When you are trying to save money for emergencies, pocketing any “extra” cash that comes your way can help you get your rainy-day fund up to the level where it needs to be. These windfalls can come from lots of different sources.

For example, the average tax refund was $2,903 in 2023 as of the week ending March 24, 2023. If you get a similar-sized refund and put it directly into a savings account earmarked for emergencies, you’ll be well on your way to being able to cover three to six months of expenses if something goes wrong.

If you get a bonus at work, holiday money, or even save $20 on a product you always buy because you use a coupon, the money from those windfalls should go immediately into your special emergency savings fund if your goal is to bulk up this account ASAP.

Don’t wait to move the money over when you end up with extra, as you might find yourself spending it on something else. The minute the windfall is deposited in your bank account, you should transfer it to emergency savings ASAP.

2. Consider a side hustle

Bringing in extra income is a great way to get more money into your emergency fund quickly. In fact, you could commit to working an extra job for a limited time until you’ve managed to grow your emergency fund to the desired amount.

The average side hustle brings in around $483 per month from workers. If you can consistently make that much (or more) each month, you’ll have your emergency fund in no time.

In fact, with average personal monthly expenses in the U.S. coming in at $3,405, you’d need about a $10,215 emergency fund if you spend what most people do. With your side hustle, you could save up that much in around a year and a half — or less if you’re saving your windfalls and bringing in extra income with your side hustle.

3. Make some huge (temporary) spending cuts

Finally, you can go through your budget and slash everything non-essential, focusing all of your efforts specifically in saving for emergencies. This isn’t usually a good idea over the long term since it’s hard to stick to a bare-bones budget, but can be worth doing when you need to grow your emergency savings ASAP.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the mean consumer unit spends $3,639 each year on food away from home, while also spending another $583 on alcoholic beverages. If you gave up dining out and drinking out temporarily, you could save about $4,222 that you could divert to emergency savings.

You could also make other cuts to spending by:

Switching to a cheaper store for groceries, such as buying some items at Dollar Tree or Costco instead of the grocery store.Taking advantage of free entertainment. Check out Facebook marketplace to learn about free events in your area and attend them rather than paying to go to the movies or a bar.Tracking spending for 30 or more days to see where you’re overdoing it and making modifications to that spending category.

If you combined the money you save from spending costs with extra income from your side hustle and windfalls like your tax refund, you’d have no trouble getting your emergency fund filled up in no time.

While working more and giving things up may not sound like fun, you’ll be glad that you made the sacrifices when an inevitable emergency comes along.

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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.Christy Bieber 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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Costco sells mattresses at uber-low prices and from reputable brands. Learn why Costco mattresses are a good value. 

Most of us will spend at least one-third of our lives laying down on a mattress in bed. That’s why buying a cheap mattress just to save a buck often doesn’t bode well for most people, as what you save in upfront costs, you may eventually pay for in poor sleep, physical discomfort, and visits to a chiropractor.

In this sense, Costco mattresses present an interesting middle ground between low price and high quality. The warehouse retailer sells a variety of foam mattresses from big name brands such as Sealy, Tempur-Pedic, and Novaform, for prices that will make you look twice. Often the prices are so low you might get suspicious — are Costco mattresses really worth it, you might think, or are they a bad night’s sleep waiting to happen?

In general, yes, Costco mattresses are a hidden gem at the warehouse. Let’s take a look at why buying a mattress at Costco could help your personal finances — and your sleep.

1. Excellent quality

Costco mattresses frequently rank high for quality and price on numerous third-party sites, like Wirecutter. In fact, Wirecutter recently named Costco’s flagship mattress, Novafoam, as its top pick for mattresses under $1,000 after testing roughly 100 mattresses from different brands.

Personally, I haven’t tested a Costco mattress, but I also haven’t found any recurring themes or complaints on Costco’s website. Instead, many one-star reviews on Costco.com express subjective opinions, like different expectations of comfort, but very few say the quality is low or the materials are weak. The majority of reviews are overwhelmingly positive, both on Costco.com and other sites like Reddit.

2. Competitive prices

No surprise here — it’s hard to beat Costco’s prices on foam and memory foam mattresses. Just for comparison, here’s how Costco’s most popular memory foam mattress, the Novaform ComfortGrande, stacks up against popular brands for a queen-sized mattress.

In addition to low prices, Costco will often run promotions that will discount its mattresses even further. For instance, for its Labor Day sale, Costco gave buyers a $200 to $300 Shop Card if they purchased certain Tempur-Pedic mattresses in store or online. Some of its NovaForm mattresses also qualify for Costco Direct discounts, meaning you could save money by buying two or more mattresses at the same time online.

3. Generous return policy

Mattresses fall under Costco’s 100% satisfaction guaranteed return policy. That means, you can return your mattress to Costco at any time for a full refund, regardless of your reasons. Some users on Reddit claimed they’ve returned mattresses after several years of use.

This gives you some much-needed time to test out the mattress before committing for the long term — something that could give you peace of mind as you buy one. Just make sure not to abuse Costco’s generous return policy, since it may ban members that do.

Wait for the best deals to buy a Costco mattress

Costco frequently sells mattresses at a discount, especially around holidays like Labor Day and Black Friday. You can often get $150 to $300 off a mattress, sometimes as a discount off the sticker price, other times as a Costco Shop Card.

All in all, Costco mattresses are a great value, combining quality and low prices. You could save even more by buying your mattress with a Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi, which will earn 2% back on mattress purchases. Pair it with a Costco Executive membership and you can earn 4% back on your mattress purchases — one of the highest cash back values for mattress purchases I’ve seen.

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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.Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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