Money Management

Not a Prime member, but want free shipping? You may need to spend more to get it. Find out what you need to know before you place your next order. 

Many Amazon Shoppers become Prime members to take advantage of Prime-exclusive deals and savings events, and free shipping. But it costs $14.99 per month or $139 annually to join.

Until recently, non-Prime shoppers could score free shipping when spending at least $25 on eligible purchases. But that’s changed for some Amazon users. The online retailer recently increased the minimum free shipping from $25 to $35 for some non-Prime shoppers.

You may need to spend more to score free shipping

Unless you’re an Amazon Prime member, you may need to spend more money to get free shipping. The popular retailer is testing out a higher minimum spend requirement in some markets, impacting some users who aren’t Prime members.

Amazon has increased the minimum spend for free shipping for many non-Prime shoppers. Instead of spending at least $25 on eligible purchases, some users must now spend at least $35. Otherwise, they can expect to pay shipping costs at checkout.

While this isn’t a significant difference, the change could impact your checking account balance. Every extra charge, including shipping costs, affects your finances. It’s worth noting that some users may still see a minimum spend threshold of $25. But for others, it will now be higher.

If this change impacts you, you’ll need to decide if it’s worthwhile to join Prime to get free shipping on eligible purchases. If you prefer not to pay the hefty monthly or yearly membership costs, you can still get free shipping by being strategic when you shop.

If you plan your shopping trips accordingly and ensure you always have at least $35 worth of eligible items in your cart, you won’t have to worry about being charged shipping fees. If you keep an ongoing shopping list or add items to your cart for later, reaching this new, higher threshold may be easier to achieve.

But this new change could be frustrating news for shoppers who prefer to shop at Amazon frequently. It could be challenging to hit the minimum spend requirement if you tend to place frequent, less costly orders. If you’re not a Prime member, you’ll need to consider how this change will impact your wallet and shopping habits.

Is Amazon Prime worth the cost?

The new higher minimum spend requirement for free shipping may have you wondering whether it’s time to become an Amazon Prime member and whether the membership fee is worth it. As a member, you’ll get quite a few valuable perks.

Here’s a breakdown of a few benefits that Prime members enjoy:

Free two-day shipping on eligible purchasesFree same-day shipping on eligible ZIP codesUnlimited TV and video streaming through Prime VideoAccess to 100 million ad-free songs through Amazon MusicDownload a new Kindle book for free each month through Amazon First ReadsPrime-exclusive pricing at Whole Foods

This list is just a sampling of benefits available to Amazon Prime members. Before paying the annual membership fee, be sure to review your budget.

You should also consider how often you shop online and whether the deals found on Amazon Prime can help you keep more money in your pocket. A membership may not be worth it if you’re not a big shopper or if you don’t buy many items sold on Amazon.

But you may want to consider joining if you can afford the membership fee and will get good use out of the perks offered. For additional financial tips, check out our personal finance resources.

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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. Natasha Gabrielle has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Costco adds new products to its lineup all the time. Read on to see what questions you should run through before buying one. 

If you’ve ever roamed the Costco aisles before, you may be aware that part of the fun of the shopping experience is coming across new products. Like other retailers, Costco is known to introduce new products into its mix, from groceries to apparel to toys. And seeing new things on the shelves might tempt you to try something new — particularly in the food department.

In many cases, there’s nothing wrong with branching out and trying something new. But before you do, you may want to run through these questions.

1. Can I afford it?

Buying a new snack at a regular supermarket might mean spending an extra $3. Buying a new snack at Costco might mean spending an extra $10 or $15 because you’re generally picking up a bulk pack of it. And that’s a larger outlay at a time when grocery prices are still up 3.6% on an annual basis, according to the Consumer Price Index.

If money has been tight in your household, you may want to consider holding off on trying new products at Costco that aren’t necessities for your family. You wouldn’t want an extra $10 charge here or $15 charge there to be the thing that makes it so you can’t pay off your credit card bill in full.

2. Have I tried it first?

Many of the new products you may be tempted to buy at Costco are likely to be of the food variety. But when you’re talking about a food item you’ve never tried before, buying in bulk can be a risky move.

It’s one thing to buy a small box of a new cereal at your local supermarket and try it out. If you don’t like it at all, you’re potentially wasting six or eight servings. But if you buy a new cereal at Costco that you wind up hating, you’re potentially talking about dumping 24 servings. That’s a lot of food waste — and a lot of wasted money.

The nice thing about Costco is that the store commonly samples new items. But it doesn’t sample everything on its shelves, so if you don’t get a chance to try a new food item via a free sample, you may want to buy it in a smaller size at your local supermarket first.

3. Will I use it up before it goes bad?

If you’re buying new socks or a new game for your child at Costco, then clearly you don’t have to worry about an expiration date. But when you’re buying a new food item at Costco, you should absolutely make sure you’ll be able to finish eating the item in question before it goes bad. Otherwise, you’ll be throwing your money away.

Let’s say you’re tempted to buy a bulk pack of spinach because it’s far cheaper per ounce at Costco than at the regular grocery store. If your family only normally eats spinach once a week, that may not be a good buy for you. And while you can tell yourself that you’ll force everyone in your household to eat spinach after making your bulk purchase, your kids might protest to the point where you give in.

Also keep in mind that even things like household cleaners have a limited shelf life. They may not expire the same way food does, but over time, they have the potential to lose their potency. So think about the products you use normally. If you polish your furniture very infrequently, you may not want to spring for a giant bottle of furniture cleaner.

If you don’t ever give new products a try, whether at Costco or another store, you won’t know if they’re a good fit for you. But there’s a particular risk in trying new things at Costco because of the size and hit to your personal finances. So a generally good bet may be to try a smaller version of the item you’re considering first, and then move forward with a bulk purchase if your initial purchase winds up working out well.

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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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The house I’m buying has a roof that’s not in great shape, which made it challenging to buy homeowners insurance. Here’s what I did. 

We are currently in the process of buying a home. The house is a fixer-upper that needs some renovations. And one of the things it needs is a new roof.

We were aware of this going in and we made our offer on the home accordingly. But, what we didn’t know is that we would face an added challenge when it came to getting homeowners insurance coverage. Here’s why.

Home insurers have certain minimum requirements when buying coverage

In order to be able to close on our home loan, we needed to have insurance for the home that we’re buying. We obviously would have wanted coverage even if it wasn’t required since we can’t afford to risk losing the house and being out the money if something went wrong after purchase.

The problem we ran into, however, is that insurance companies generally don’t want to provide insurance for a home with a bad roof. In fact, insurers have a number of requirements with regard to:

The age of the roof. Generally, insurers will be reluctant to provide coverage if the roof is more than 15 to 20 years old. The roof’s condition: My roof is not in great shape. There are several active leaks. Insurers want to be sure a roof is actually functional because otherwise there’s a huge risk of structural damage to the home. Whether the roof has been inspected. Many insurers said they would cover our house, with its 20-year-old roof, only if we paid for a roof inspection showing there were no problems. Obviously, we could not do that since there are problems.

We had several insurers who agreed to provide coverage only if we would accept an actual cash value policy. That meant that if a problem developed, we would be covered only for the depreciated cost of the old roof rather than what it would cost to replace it.

Since we’re going to put a new roof on after closing, this wouldn’t have been a huge problem for us, but it was an issue for the mortgage lender that wanted replacement value coverage.

Here’s how we solved the problem

To resolve the problem, we ended up buying high-risk insurance. We found a company that would provide the coverage we needed — albeit at a higher cost. We’re paying around 50% more for insurance than we would have if we had a newer roof on the house.

We’re OK with this because we plan to replace the roof as soon as we officially own the home. But, it means we’ll have to budget for extra home insurance costs for the first few months until we get the necessary permits and approvals and complete the project.

If you are planning on buying a home that needs some remodeling, you should be aware you could run into this issue as well. Home insurers generally do not want to cover properties if there are health and safety issues. Fortunately, there are solutions — you just may have to shop around for a high-risk insurer and be willing to accept higher costs on a temporary basis.

If the home is a good deal despite the remodeling costs and the added insurance expenses, this may well be worth it. Just be sure to consider the impact on your personal finances, do the math, and factor in all the costs of your remodeling before you move forward.

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There are many homeowners insurance companies to choose from. We’ve researched dozens of options and short-listed our favorites here. Looking for a green build discount or easy bundle policies? Want an easy-to-use interface? Read our free expert review and get a quote today.

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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Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program can take the guesswork out of frequent purchases. Read on to learn why one writer says thanks, but no thanks. 

Amazon has become a go-to shopping destination for me for a few reasons. For one, I hate battling crowds of people to shop in physical stores. And for another, the convenience of having items delivered to my door is hard to resist.

But despite how much money I’ve spent on Amazon purchases (I placed 105 orders in 2022), and how much I’ve become a part of the Amazon ecosystem (I have both a Prime membership and the Prime Visa card), I’ve resisted signing up for one of Amazon’s flagship programs. That’s right — I don’t use Subscribe & Save.

What is Subscribe & Save?

Amazon Subscribe & Save lets shoppers set up subscriptions to the products they buy often — Amazon says hundreds of thousands of items are available for the service. When you pick a product, you can decide how often it’s sent to you, as well as the quantity each time. The per-item price for Subscribe & Save is 5% less than just buying normally, and if you receive five or more items to one address in an auto-delivery, you’ll save 15%. And anyone can take advantage, so you don’t have to be a Prime member.

You’re not locked into these products or the particular quantity/delivery schedule you set up. You’re allowed to change them, or cancel, or skip deliveries if you feel like it. You just have to remember to do so ahead of time by going to the “Manage Your Subscriptions” section of Amazon’s website. I have a busy life, and adding the task of reviewing automatic orders (and subsequently canceling/changing them) to my to-do list just isn’t appealing to me. I’d rather forgo Subscribe & Save altogether.

No Subscribe & Save for me

While I’m sure Subscribe & Save comes in handy for a lot of Amazon shoppers, here’s why it’s not for me.

I don’t always use products at the same rate

Subscribe & Save offers shoppers the chance to schedule deliveries of some items on a regular cadence. I’m sure this is fantastic for those who know how often they need a fresh delivery of paper towels, diapers, coffee, and beyond. But I just don’t go through items on a predictable schedule, and depending on the deals I find out in the world beyond Amazon, I sometimes buy things from my local grocery store or big-box store instead and forgo the Amazon order.

I don’t like automatic charges on my credit card

Despite turning my finances around and breaking out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, I’m still not comfortable with my money moving around on its own. It’s for this reason that I haven’t automated my savings contributions and I don’t use autopay for bills unless it’s absolutely required (looking at you, insurance company that has my car and renters policies). I also don’t like automatic credit card charges, especially when they’re for amounts that aren’t predictable.

I’d prefer to check prices myself

Finally, I’ve decided against Subscribe & Save because prices can and do fluctuate, and I might end up with a charge on my credit card for more than I expected. I’ll note that Amazon sends a price email to Subscribe & Save users about a week before their scheduled delivery, and that will tell you if your items have changed in price, but emails are easily lost in my busy inbox, and when I know I’m running out of something I buy frequently, that’s when I take the time to check prices. And again, I might find a lower price at one of my other haunts — saving money often takes precedence over the convenience Subscribe & Save could offer.

If the internet is any indication, a lot of people like Amazon Subscribe & Save. I understand how not having to think about placing an order for something you use frequently can be a big timesaver for a lot of people, but it’s just not a fit for my life and my personal finances. And that’s perfectly fine — not every service is right for everyone.

If you’re an Amazon shopper, you might want to take Subscribe & Save for a spin. Just watch out for price fluctuations, and if you’re not using up a certain product at the rate you expect, hop into your account and change the frequency of deliveries or cancel them altogether.

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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. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Investing can be a great way to grow your money, but not all opportunities are equal. Here’s why you should avoid all-or-nothing investing. 

The S&P 500 index’s returns, which track the performance of 500 of the largest companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, are up an impressive 14% over the past year but have been flat over the past month. Temporary market pullbacks like this may cause some investors to look for new ways to quickly earn money.

And that temptation to find unconventional approaches to investing can be very risky when investors stumble across opportunities that may seem great at first but end up being huge mistakes. Here’s why investors should avoid all-or-nothing investments.

What is all-or-nothing investing?

All-or-nothing investments are also referred to as binary options and involve buying securities with an entirely yes or no proposition, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In other words, you either potentially make far more than your initial investment or make nothing at all.

The SEC says on its website that an all-or-nothing investment may involve buying a $50 binary option contract that promises a 50% return if a particular stock price exceeds $5 per share. If the stock price doesn’t go above $5 by the time the option expires, you lose all the money you’ve invested.

This is in contrast to most traditional stock-purchasing strategies, where you select a stock in your brokerage account and wait for the stock price to increase over time. If the stock price falls below the amount you bought it for, you only lose money when you sell — and you only lose all of your money if the stock goes to $0.

It’s also worth mentioning that all-or-nothing investing differs from placing an all-or-none order through your online broker. An all-or-none order is when you place an order to buy a specific number of shares at a set price, and they have to be all purchased at the same time or not at all, according to Charles Schwab.

Why all-or-nothing investing is a bad idea

The first reason why buying binary options is a bad idea is because you can easily lose all of your money. In this sense, all-or-nothing investing is like gambling. You place a bet, and if you lose, you’re out all the money you put in.

Additionally, the SEC warns investors that some binary options may not comply with federal securities laws, meaning that someone could be selling you unregistered securities or selling stocks through an unregistered exchange.

Even worse, the SEC says that the biggest risk of all-or-nothing investments is that many binary options operators are trying to scam you. A few warning signs include offering investments that are said to be risk-free, someone asking for your personal information, or the seller pretending to be your friend to convince you to invest more money.

Because many of these binary options operators are set up outside of the U.S., getting your money back is nearly impossible if you’re scammed.

A better way to invest

Like any get-rich-quick scheme, all-or-nothing investing doesn’t work, and many are just scams.

If you’re interested in investing, there are straightforward ways to make money. Legendary investor Warren Buffett recommends that the average investor put their money into an S&P 500 index fund. The S&P 500 has a historical rate of return of about 10% over the long term — think decades, not just a few years — and investors don’t have to know anything about buying and selling stocks to benefit from it.

Owning a low-cost index fund is an easy way to invest, as these funds don’t charge high fees, you don’t have to pick any stocks yourself, and they can even be purchased through some free stock trading apps. If you’re just getting started with investing and need some guidance, check out some free information about the best online brokers for beginners.

Just remember that, like most things in life, if an investment seems too good to be true, it probably is.

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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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