Money Management

Costco is a great place to shop. But read on to see why these things aren’t worth spending money on. 

The beauty of shopping at Costco is getting to scoop up loads of different items in bulk — and spend less on them in the process. But you may want to steer clear of these items in the course of your Costco shopping. Buying them could mean throwing your money away.

1. Condiments

Condiments are a welcome addition to many meals. Because of this, it’s common for condiments to sit out for longer periods of time. And that’s apt to lead to spoilage.

That’s why you’re better off buying condiments in smaller quantities, as opposed to the larger bottles Costco sells. As an example, Costco sells a three-pack of Heinz ketchup in 44-ounce bottles. That could result in a lot of ketchup going to waste when it turns.

2. Flour

It’s common to buy flour in five-pound increments. At Costco, you might need to commit to a 25-pound bag of flour. And that could prove problematic for a few reasons.

First of all, flour doesn’t last forever. And if you want yours to last, you’ll need to put it into an airtight container. That’s not an easy thing to do when you have to store 25 pounds’ worth at once.

Of course, if you’re a small business owner who runs a bakery, then by all means, get your flour from Costco. You might go through a 25-pound bag in a single day. But if you’re a regular baker who only whips up the occasional batch of cookies or cake, then you’re better off buying a smaller amount of flour at a time.

3. Olive oil

Like flour, olive oil doesn’t last forever. Over time, it can start to turn. And if you want it at its freshest, you’re best off using it within a few months after opening a bottle of it.

If you’re looking to save money on olive oil by purchasing it at Costco, you may be inclined to scoop up Kirkland’s version. But in doing so, you may be committing to a two-pack of three-liter bottles. That’s a lot of olive oil to go through.

4. Pain relievers

You might get a headache from time to time, or need something to take the edge off when your muscles feel strained. Buying pain relief medication at Costco might seem like a good idea. But those pills don’t last forever. And you may end up throwing out a large chunk of your haul if you buy them in bulk.

As an example, Costco sells a two-pack of Kirkland brand ibuprofen that contains 1,000 pills in total. A standard dose is two pills, which means you’d need to take 500 doses to use your bottles in full before they expire. Even if you get two years to do so, that’s still a lot of medication to take.

5. Shampoo

Shampoo is the sort of thing you probably use often. But some hair care experts recommend changing your shampoo every few months. If you buy a massive bottle of shampoo at Costco, it could end up taking you a year to go through it, depending on how often you wash your hair and how much hair you have.

Case in point: Costco sells Kirkland shampoo in 33.8-ounce bottles. That’s perhaps not a ton of shampoo for someone with long hair who washes it daily. But if you have short hair and only wash yours twice a week, it’s a different story.

Shopping at Costco and taking advantage of bulk deals often allows you to rack up a lower credit card tab than what you’d pay by purchasing smaller quantities at a regular supermarket. But some items really shouldn’t be purchased in bulk. And because all of these fall into that category, you probably shouldn’t buy them at Costco.

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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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It’s important to have emergency savings at all times. Read on for tips on how to rebuild. 

An estimated 67% of Americans don’t have enough cash in the bank to cover an unplanned $400 expense, according to a recent SecureSave survey. So if your savings account balance is pretty minimal, you’re in good company.

But what if you actually had a solid emergency fund, only you were forced to spend that money when life didn’t go your way?

Maybe you had $12,000 in the bank, only you lost your job and had to keep pulling from your savings to cover your rent or mortgage payments while you were unemployed. Or maybe you had $6,000 in savings, but it all got eaten up by one surprise home repair.

Perhaps you had a nice emergency fund a year ago, but over the past 12 months, you’ve been forced to dip into your savings every few weeks to cope with inflation. If so, it’s easy to see why your cash reserves may have been whittled down.

If your emergency fund has run out of money, it’s clearly not an ideal situation. So your best bet is to try to rebuild your savings as soon as you can. Here’s how.

1. Spend very carefully

When you’re looking at pretty much no emergency cash reserves, it’s time to start making spending cuts — even if that means having to sacrifice some enjoyment for a few months.

When you’re doing fine on savings, there’s nothing wrong with treating yourself to a store-bought coffee every day, or buying lunch twice a week even though making it at home costs much less. But when you’re looking at no money in savings to fall back on, it’s time to slash expenses like that until your savings are looking more robust.

2. Boost your income with a second job

If you work a full-time job that’s fairly demanding, the last thing you might want is to spend your limited downtime working some more. You don’t need to commit to a side hustle indefinitely. But if you’ve depleted your emergency fund, a second job could be your ticket to replenishing it in short order.

Think about some of the gigs you might be able to handle. If your normal working hours are unpredictable, you may want to stick to something like driving for a rideshare service, where you can set your own schedule and work as many or as few hours per week as you can manage.

3. Try to automate the process

Having no emergency fund can be scary. If that’s the situation you’re in, it’s really important to stay on track with your efforts to rebuild. And in this regard, what you may want to do is set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings so money moves over as each paycheck arrives.

That transfer can be as small as $20. But either way, you’ll know you at least have some money hitting your savings every month as you try your best to ramp up even more.

When you worked hard to build an emergency fund only to have that money run out on you, it can be very frustrating. But it’s important to do your best to replenish your savings so you’re not forced into debt the next time an unplanned bill comes your way.

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It’s important to steadily fund your IRA. Read on to see why. 

The whole purpose of saving in an IRA account is to build up a nest egg for retirement. And the reason you’re better off putting your money into an IRA instead of a savings account is that with an IRA, you get a tax break on your money.

Traditional IRA contributions go in tax-free, and investment gains are deferred until you take withdrawals (meaning, you don’t pay taxes the year you make those gains — you put those taxes off until you start withdrawing the money in retirement). Meanwhile, Roth IRA contributions are taxable, but then investment gains are tax-free, as are withdrawals.

And speaking of investment gains, you might grow your money a lot more by investing it in stocks and other assets in an IRA than just leaving it to collect interest in a savings account. And you’ll be apt to appreciate that extra money once your career comes to an end and you’re no longer bringing home a paycheck from a job.

But there may come a point when you decide to stop putting money into your IRA. Maybe you’ve had to hit pause on contributions due to inflation. Or maybe you’re trying to buy a house, so you’re putting all of your money toward a down payment until that happens.

It’s not so unusual to stop contributing to an IRA for a limited period of time. But if you stop funding your account altogether, you could end up very unhappy once retirement rolls around.

Don’t set yourself up to struggle in retirement

Many people become extremely reliant on their retirement savings once their careers end. But if you stop contributing to your IRA midway through your career, you might end up with a nest egg that falls short of meeting your needs.

Let’s say you’ve been steadily funding your IRA to the tune of $300 a month and have saved $50,000 by age 40. The stock market has, over the past 50 years, delivered an average annual 10% return (before inflation), as measured by the performance of the S&P 500 index.

If you were to leave your $50,000 balance invested through age 65 at 10%, you’d grow it into about $542,000. And that’s a nice amount of money.

On the other hand, let’s say you were to continue putting $300 a month into your IRA, while generating that same 10% average yearly return. By age 65, you’d have about $896,000. That’s an extra $354,000 to spend during retirement.

And remember, for some people, retirement could end up lasting 25 years or longer. So having that extra money could spell the difference between being able to live comfortably throughout your senior years or having to worry about covering your bills.

Make your IRA a priority

It’s okay to scale back or even completely stop your IRA contributions to deal with a short-term crisis or need, such as the loss of a job or an expensive home renovation you need to pump money into. But as a general rule, it’s a good idea to keep funding your IRA year after year.

You may be tempted to stop contributing to that account if you’ve managed to accumulate a nice balance by a certain age. But there’s really no such thing as having too much retirement income, so the more money you’re able to put into your IRA, the better.

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Looking for your first credit card? Read on for some features to be mindful of. 

If you made it through college without using a credit card, that’s potentially a good thing. More than 67% of college students have a credit card in their name, according to a 2022 U.S. News & World Report survey. But 46% of college students with credit cards have debt.

Meanwhile, now that you’ve graduated from college and either have your first job or are on your way to getting one, you may be ready to apply for your first credit card. Believe it or not, using a credit card could actually help you build credit. The key is to aim to pay your bills on time and in full every month, though.

Here are some points to keep in mind as you try to find the best credit card out of college.

1. Look at the rewards program

The nice thing about charging expenses on a credit card is that you get to collect reward points and cash back on your purchases, from big ones to everyday items like groceries. Compare different programs so you can ideally sign up for a credit card where you’re most likely to earn extra rewards and cash back.

Some credit cards, for example, give you 3% cash back on gas purchases. But if you’re moving to a city and won’t have a car, that perk won’t do you much good. Aim for a rewards program that aligns well with your anticipated spending.

2. Look at the interest rate

Any time you fail to pay a credit card bill in full, your balance gets carried forward and you begin to rack up interest on your debt. That’s why it’s important to be mindful of your credit card’s interest rate, or APR. The higher it is, the more money any amount of debt is going to cost you.

3. Pay attention to fees

From annual fees to foreign transaction fees, credit card users are routinely hit with fees for the privilege of being able to swipe their cards. Your goal should be to keep those fees to a minimum, or to only pay a fee when you’ll be getting something in return.

As an example, it’s somewhat common for travel reward credit cards to charge an annual fee. This isn’t always the case, but it often is.

If you’re charged a $95 annual fee, but in exchange, you’ll be able to save a lot on travel and score extra cash back, then your fee might more than pay for itself in the course of a year. But you shouldn’t pay a fee for a credit card you expect to swipe minimally, or one whose rewards program most likely won’t make it easy for you to recoup your money.

It’s a good idea to apply for one credit card at a time, especially when you’re first starting out. And so it’s important to choose the right one to kick off adulthood. Follow these tips, and with any luck, you’ll wind up happy with your choice — especially as those reward points start to accrue in your favor.

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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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A major bank needs to pay up after shorting women on wages. Read on to learn more. 

It’s hardly a secret that women are statistically likely to be paid less money than their male counterparts. And that gender pay gap can have a world of repercussions.

When women earn less, they tend to save less. Not only does that translate into lower savings account balances, but it can also mean lower retirement plan balances — and less long-term financial security.

Meanwhile, breaking into the predominantly male banking industry has long been a challenge for women. But getting hired at a major bank doesn’t necessarily mean getting paid a fair wage, as one class action settlement clearly highlights.

A major bank is paying the price

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $215 million to settle a long-standing class action lawsuit that accused the bank of underpaying women. An estimated 2,800 female employees were part of the lawsuit.

Not only will Goldman Sachs be paying the employees it wronged, but it’s also pledged to hire an independent expert to conduct an analysis on its performance evaluation processes, as well as its processes for promotions. The goal is clearly to prevent a scenario where it discriminates against a specific class of employee — whether intentionally or not.

Female workers need to stand up for themselves

The fact that Goldman Sachs was not allowed to get away with underpaying women is a good thing. Hopefully, the millions of dollars the banking giant is now shelling out will serve as a wake-up call for other institutions to reassess their compensation practices.

But the reality is that women can’t just rely on their employers to pay them an equitable wage. Rather, they have to take matters into their own hands.

If you’re a female employee, it’s extremely important to know what salary you’re worth. And to that end, it pays to research salary data using sites like Glassdoor to see how your wages stack up. In fact, in doing that digging, try to get data at the local level, since it’s conceivable that if you work in Missouri, you might earn less than someone with a similar role who lives in New York City.

But that’s not enough. You should also try to gather wage data from fellow employees whose roles are similar to yours. If you and a male colleague have held the same position for two years and have the same level of experience, but your male colleague is earning $5,000 more than you are, that’s the sort of thing you have every right to bring up to your employer.

And if you’re worried about retaliation from your employer for snooping on salary info, fear not. Under the National Labor Relations Act, you have every right to discuss wages with your fellow employees, and it’s unlawful for your employer to punish or retaliate against you in any way for having those conversations.

Of course, getting your colleagues to open up about their wages isn’t a given. But if you are able to get that information, don’t hesitate to use it to your benefit if need be.

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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 Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Costco has millions of faithful members. Here, insiders share their tips for making the most of your Costco experience. 

There’s nothing like being an insider. Costco employees see it all, from members who return half-dead houseplants to how the retailer adds secret price codes to discounted items. Here, we’ve gathered insider secrets from around the web, each generously shared by a Costco employee.

1. Don’t have a Visa Card? That’s okay

There’s a lot to like about Costco, but one thing that bugs the daylights out of some people is that Visa is the only credit card the retailer accepts. Let’s say you limit the number of credit cards in your wallet and don’t happen to carry a Visa. One insider tip reminds shoppers who want to use another credit card to shop online whenever possible. Costco.com will accept any card, including MasterCard and American Express.

2. Some price stickers indicate a deeper discount

Most prices in the warehouse store end in $._9 (for example, $2.39 or $2.99). When you find a price that ends in $.00, $.88, or $.97, it means it’s on sale. Normally, these are items that have either been returned or have damaged packaging. In either case, it’s a good way to leave a little extra in your bank account. Before putting it in your cart, though, give the item in question a quick once-over to make sure it’s otherwise in good shape.

3. Kirkland products are not always the best choice

According to one Costco employee, some Kirkland Signature™ products live up to the hype. For example, the quality of Kirkland bacon and maple syrup can’t be beat. On the other hand, it may be best to leave Kirkland dishwasher gel packs on the shelf. It may take a little comparison shopping to figure out which brand offers you the biggest bang for your buck.

4. Wade into the heart of the store

The best deals are almost always found deep in the heart of the store. One helpful employee suggests starting at the center of the store and working your way to the back. That’s where you’re most likely to find the best deals. You may want to be careful about purchasing items from the front of the store, because those products tend to have the highest markups.

5. Want to buy soda? Check your local supermarket first

While there’s nothing wrong with soda prices at Costco, you’re likely to find a better deal at a local grocery store. That’s because grocery stores often use soda as a loss leader. In other words, they sell it below cost to draw customers into the store. Buying soda in bulk when your local market offers it at a discount will likely save you money.

6. Spring for an executive membership

Insider.com spoke with a longtime Costco employee who suggested signing up for an executive membership. While it’s twice the cost of a standard gold star membership, an executive membership offers 2% back on most purchases, including the tire shop, pharmacy, optical, and hearing-aid services. An executive cardholder can receive as much as $1,000 back on qualified purchases.

Tip: Springing for an executive membership only makes sense if you spend $3,000 per year or more at Costco. If you’re an occasional shopper, you’re better off sticking with a basic membership.

7. Stock up on products marked with an asterisk

If you see an asterisk on the upper-right corner of a price sticker, it means Costco will not be restocking that item. If it’s something you enjoy, you may want to stock up while you can.

Finally, several Costco employees implore members not to tear through the spare boxes found at the front of many Costco locations. Take what you need, but leave the rest as neat as you found them. That way, employees won’t have to take time to gather boxes that have been strewn about.

There are few things better in life than getting the inside scoop from someone who knows the lay of the land. And money saving tips are especially welcomed.

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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.American Express is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Dana George has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale, Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2025 $370 calls on Mastercard and short January 2025 $380 calls on Mastercard. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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