Money Management

You don’t have to spend a fortune to show Dad you care. Read on for 10 Amazon bargains that will cost you $25 or less. 

You want to celebrate Dad but are watching your budget. That’s okay. Your father won’t care how much you spend. In fact, he probably won’t even care if he receives a gift as long as he knows you’re thinking of him.

Still, if you want to present him with something, Amazon has some pretty sweet deals for $25 or less. Here are 10 of them.

1. “Yoda Best Dad” t-shirt

If your father is a huge Star Wars fan, he’ll likely get a kick out of this “Yoda Best Dad” t-shirt. Available in nine colors, it features the legendary Jedi Master himself, lightsaber in hand. Let your father know that everything he’s done for you — from taking out a mortgage to sitting through school programs — makes him your hero.

Amazon price: $22.99

2. Whiskey glass “sippy cup”

If Dad’s favorite thing to sip is whiskey, this glass is sure to make him smile. The 12-ounce glass has the words “Daddy’s Sippy Cup” printed on the front.

Amazon price: $11.99

3. Stainless steel keychain

This keychain consists of a ring and two metal tags, one slightly larger than the other. On the larger tag, the seller will print a photo of your father (with whomever you choose), and on the other, you can add a message. Personalization is free.

Amazon price: $13.99, plus 10% off digital coupon

4. Burt’s Bees gift tin

It’s not just mothers who like to pamper themselves. This tin includes the classics: Original beeswax lip balm, cuticle cream, hand salve, Res-Q ointment, hand repair cream, and foot cream.

Amazon price: $20

5. Personalized leather wallet

This wallet presents another opportunity to personalize a gift for Dad. The seller will engrave a photo and text on the wallet, both provided by you. For the best results, the seller asks that you provide a high-definition photo if possible.

Amazon price: $21.99, plus 10% off digital coupon

6. Ball cap for brand new dads

This washed cotton, adjustable baseball cap reads “Dad Est. 2023.” It’s a nice way for the new father in your life to tell the world that he’s joined the Dad club. Available in black with white 3D stitching.

Amazon price: $15.99, plus 10% off digital coupon

7. Step dad bracelet

The special stepfather in your life is sure to be touched by this men’s bracelet, made of 8mm natural tiger eye stone and black agate. It comes with a card that says it all: “Stepdad. Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad. Thank you for loving me as your own. Thank you for being my dad. You didn’t have to be.”

Who knows? Next time your stepfather has to pull out a credit card to cover the cost of something you need, he might just remember how much you care about him.

Amazon price: $14.99

8. Multi-tool pen

The gift may be for your father, but anyone would be thrilled to receive this multi-functional instrument. It comes in two colors and includes:

Ballpoint penStylusFlat-head screwdriverPhillips-head screwdriverBubble level4-scale ruler

Amazon price: $12.99, plus 10% off digital coupon

9. Stainless steel guitar picks for step dad

If your stepfather is a musician, we can’t think of anything he’d like more than this guitar pick. Made of stainless steel, you don’t have to worry about it fading or rusting. Engraved on the pick are the following words: “I couldn’t pick a better Step Dad.”

Amazon price: $7.98

10. Super hero t-shirt

We’re all familiar with the Batman logo. This shirt features the same shape, but instead of the word “BATMAN,” it says “DADMAN.” This is the perfect gift for the father who’s still a kid at heart.

Amazon price: Starting at $17.88

It’s rarely easy to find exactly what you want for your father, but as these gifts show, you don’t have to drain your bank account to remind Dad that he’s important to you.

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

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Many financial experts warn about lifestyle creep, but Sethi believes there’s nothing wrong with it. Read on to find out why. 

Many financial experts issue stark warnings about lifestyle creep. That’s what happens when your lifestyle expands as your income does, so you end up increasing your outflows as you earn more money.

Lifestyle creep can make it harder to build up a big bank account balance in some circumstances. But is it always a bad thing? Not according to financial expert Ramit Sethi. Here’s what he had to say about lifestyle creep.

Sethi’s position on lifestyle creep may not be what you’d expect

On Twitter, Sethi shared his opinion on increasing spending as your income goes up. He explained that when you increase your spending on certain expenses, like housing costs, it’s hard to ever downgrade again. This is the very definition of lifestyle creep, where your minimum expectations and spending needs expand with your income and it becomes hard to go back to cheaper versions once these new costs become necessities.

But, unlike many experts, Sethi doesn’t necessarily think this is a bad thing. “Nothin wrong with a little lifestyle creep!” Sethi tweeted. “My philosophy: Choose which is important to me, then be sure when I start spending, I have enough to never go back,” he explained.

Should you increase your spending or bank your raises?

It’s absolutely understandable why so many experts warn against lifestyle creep. If you purchase a larger house or a fancier car or start spending more on clothing just because your income has gone up, your increased income isn’t going to improve your finances long term. It won’t make it easier to live within your means or accomplish other important financial goals because you’re simply expanding your essential expenses to eat up that extra cash.

But, Sethi is also right that sometimes lifestyle creep isn’t a bad thing. The reality is, your income may go up many times during your lifetime. And as it does, you deserve to use some of that money to improve your standard of living. That’s part of why you should increase your income, and it can also help you stay motivated.

Sure, you could live like a college student forever in a cheap apartment eating basic meals and dressing in thrift store clothing — but if those things don’t make you happy and you can afford to do better, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use your money as a tool to improve your life now.

The key, of course, is to make sure that your lifestyle creep isn’t jeopardizing your future. That’s why Sethi advises picking particular categories to splurge on that actually matter to you and making sure your spending is sustainable — rather than just upping your spending on everything as your income goes up.

Steps to build sustainable spending habits

If you’re not sure how to do this, taking these steps could help you make it happen:

Figure out how much your increased spending is actually going to cost. For example, if you want to move to a bigger apartment, research how much the rents would be for your desired space. If you can rent your chosen apartment for $200 more per month, for example, then you’d be looking at an extra $2,400 per year.See if you can fit this new spending into your budget while still saving enough and covering essential expenses. You should make sure that you’re saving about 20% of your income and that all of your fixed expenses are covered first. If you add in your new “splurge” spending to your budget and can still afford to do all the other things you need, then the “lifestyle creep” upgrade you’re considering is probably fine.Commit to avoiding consumer debt. If you have to borrow in order to finance your expanded lifestyle, you are not in a position to allow that lifestyle creep to happen.

If you are putting enough money into a brokerage account for your future, aren’t financing your lifestyle with consumer debt, and are making conscious choices about what areas of your lifestyle you want to improve as your income grows, then you are likely making good choices. You shouldn’t feel guilty about lifestyle creep in this situation, since the money you make is meant to help you live your best life both now and later.

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You don’t have to maintain your own home if you don’t like doing so. You just need to make sure you can afford to pay someone to do it for you. Read on to learn more. 

When you buy a home, you take on a lot. Not only are you required to keep up with ongoing mortgage payments, but you need to perform all of the work and maintenance needed to keep your home in good shape.

According to a recent Angi survey, 59% of male homeowners said they find home improvements and maintenance enjoyable. But what if you’re part of the 41% who don’t feel that way?

If you fall into that category, I can relate. I’ve owned my current home for about 14 years, and while I’m okay with doing light maintenance myself, I refuse to spend every other weekend tackling home projects. Not only do I not find that work particularly fun, but I’m not very handy.

My husband, unlike me, is handy. But he’s also busy. He works full-time, volunteers for our community, and has parenting responsibilities to uphold. And that just doesn’t leave a lot of time for maintenance, even though he actually does enjoy some of that work.

If you’re in the camp of not particularly liking home maintenance, or not having the capacity to handle it, you should know that it’s perfectly okay to outsource most or even all of it if you so choose. The key, however, is to make sure that’s something you can afford.

When you’re not a fan of maintenance work

My husband and I knew we’d face a lot of expenses upon buying our house. That’s why we made a point to go in with a solid amount of cash in our savings account. And while we try to reserve our emergency fund for home repairs, and not routine maintenance, if need be, we could dip into our savings to pay for upkeep, too.

Now I will say that before we had kids, my husband and I did a lot more of our own maintenance ourselves. We mowed our own grass and did a lot of our own landscaping, and we painted and sealed our deck every year without help.

Since having kids, we’re left with less time to do all of those things plus work full time. So we intentionally leave ourselves room in our budget to pay to outsource a lot of our maintenance tasks.

Pad your savings and budget carefully

If you’re buying a home and you know that you don’t have the time or patience to maintain your home yourself, make sure to come in with a decent amount of savings and make room in your budget to pay someone to do the work you don’t want to handle. In many cases, paying for outside help is worth it. But you don’t want to get into debt because of it.

Our lawn service, for example, charges us $30 a week to mow our lawn and backyard. It would easily take my husband 60 minutes to do that, if not more. And it would probably take me 90 minutes or more, because I’m slower and less efficient.

Meanwhile, as someone who’s self-employed, I can earn a lot more than $30 doing 90 minutes of work. So I can justify that cost. And while my husband is on salary and doesn’t earn extra money for putting in more time at work, he finds his job rewarding. So I’d rather he have that extra time every week to build his skills than spend it pushing a lawn mower around — something he does not happen to find particularly fun or rewarding.

The point here is that it’s really okay to pay other people to maintain your home for you, and in many cases, it can even make financial sense. Just make sure it’s something you can afford so you don’t run into financial problems.

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Did you ever think a yacht loan could be a tax deduction? Check out these surprising tax deductions. 

There are a lot of gray areas in the U.S. tax code. For example, what exactly qualifies as a medical expense? Some medical costs are straightforward, but others aren’t quite so obvious. The same can be said for certain education expenses and business deductions.

Because much of the tax code is at least somewhat open to interpretation, people have come up with some creative tax deductions. Here are four examples of things people have claimed as deductions on their tax returns that have actually been allowed by the IRS.

1. A tax-deductible yacht loan

If you take out a loan to buy a luxury yacht, it might seem like a stretch to try and deduct the interest you pay on the loan.

However, the IRS allows taxpayers who itemize to deduct the interest on as much as $750,000 as qualified personal residence debt. This includes debt on second homes (which many boats qualify as), and it doesn’t need to be a mortgage loan. Many boats qualify, and many boat dealers go so far as to use the deductibility of boat loan interest as a selling point. Specifically, a boat meets the IRS’s definition of a “second home” if it has a kitchen, somewhere to sleep, and a toilet. And many Americans have successfully deducted thousands of dollars in boat loan interest.

2. A tax-deductible swimming pool

The IRS allows taxpayers who itemize to deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of their adjusted gross income (AGI). The intention of this deduction is to provide financial relief to families with large and often unexpected medical costs, but some taxpayers have become quite creative with it.

Perhaps the most creative use of this deduction (and a very lucrative one) is to deduct the entire cost of a backyard swimming pool. One taxpayer whose physician recommended frequent swimming as a remedy for arthritis deducted the cost of a new swimming pool as a medical expense. The IRS challenged the deduction — and it was upheld by the court.

3. Luxury exercise equipment

To be clear, a gym membership almost never qualifies as a deductible medical expense. But what about in-home exercise equipment? Think of luxury fitness equipment like Peloton bikes. Equipment like this can be rather expensive, so a tax deduction can obviously lessen the burden. If a doctor recommends cycling as treatment for a chronic condition, in-home exercise equipment can potentially be a deductible cost.

You might face an uphill battle though. The IRS says medical expenses must be for a specific illness or condition, which can be tricky to show. A doctor’s prescription (yes, they can prescribe an exercise bike) is a good thing to have as well.

However, it isn’t just a medical expense that could be used here. A Peloton or other exercise equipment can be a business deduction if you’re a personal trainer or if you are in another line of work that generally requires you to stay in shape.

4. Installing an elevator in your house

You might be noticing a theme with outside-the-box medical expenses. And another one you may not have thought of is the cost to install an elevator in your home. While this may sound like a luxury item (and it typically is), it can also allow a person with mobility issues access to the upper level(s) of their home.

According to Lifeway Mobility, home elevators typically cost between $28,000 and $35,000. But if you can deduct the amount that exceeds 7.5% of your AGI, it can certainly be a big tax break that can help make the elevator more affordable.

To successfully deduct an elevator, a doctor’s certification of your mobility issues and the benefits of an elevator should be obtained. And in cases like this (and the pool in the previous example), it’s important to mention that the added value to your home cannot be deducted. For example, if the elevator cost $30,000 but increased the fair market value of your home by $10,000, you’d have a $20,000 expense that is potentially deductible.

Not an exhaustive list

As mentioned, there is quite a bit of gray area in the U.S. tax code, so this is just a sample of some of the outside-the-box deductions people have come up with (and have gotten away with).

Just a word of caution: If you have a legitimate tax break that sounds like it could be on this list, it can be a good idea to use it when you file your tax return, but be prepared to document and defend the deduction if and when the IRS asks.

Finally, I can’t stress this point enough, but if you’re claiming anything that isn’t a straightforward tax deduction, it’s a great idea to seek the advice of an accountant or experienced tax professional, who can offer personalized guidance for your situation.

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Banks could face higher fees for FDIC insurance. Read on to see how that might affect your savings. 

A string of recent bank failures has left many consumers with money in savings on edge. And it’s left many experts wondering whether the current FDIC insurance cap is really enough to protect consumers.

Right now, depositors are protected for up to $250,000 per banking institution. Joint depositors at the same bank can double that limit to $500,000.

But FDIC insurance comes at a cost — to banks, that is. And now, the FDIC board has approved a proposal to increase the fees banks pay to put that protection for consumers in place.

Your bank could start paying more

The FDIC recently had to pay out $15.8 billion to make consumers whole after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed earlier this year. To compensate, the FDIC has proposed having banks that have more than $5 billion in uninsured deposits pay a higher fee for FDIC insurance.

The proposal seeks to charge banks 0.125% a year for two years on all uninsured deposits beyond the $5 billion mark. JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., would pay about $1.5 billion in added fees as part of this proposal. All told, an estimated 113 banks would be subject to the new rules.

You might pay more, too

The FDIC expects its new rules to take effect at the start of 2024. But as a consumer, you might see your banking costs increase before then.

To be clear, it’s banks that pay for FDIC insurance, not individual consumers. But as someone who uses a bank, you might be paying the FDIC’s added fees indirectly in the form of higher banking fees — things like overdraft charges, inactivity fees, and fees for not meeting a minimum balance requirement.

Banks might also go to other measures to recoup some of the money they’ll soon have to shell out. You may find that you’re not looking at as competitive an interest rate on your savings account. Or, you may find that it takes longer to reach a customer service representative as banks conserve costs by cutting headcount.

To be clear, we don’t know what steps banks will take to make up for the higher fees they’re looking at. But consumers should expect to be impacted in some way.

Will the $250,000 FDIC insurance limit be increased?

That proposal is still in the works. But if that limit does increase, there’s a good chance consumers will wind up paying for it indirectly as well. Of course, in exchange, consumers with larger amounts of money in savings will get added protection, so there’s that upside.

For now, though, consumers with more than $250,000 in cash can protect themselves by simply spreading out their money across multiple FDIC-insured banks. Thankfully, that $250,000 limit renews, so to speak, once you bank at a new institution. So if you’ve maxed out your FDIC insurance by depositing $250,000 at one bank but have another $100,000 in cash, you can protect it by putting it in a different bank that’s FDIC-insured as 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.JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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U.S. adults are as worried about banks in 2023 as they were in 2008. Read on to learn what that means for you. 

If banks are starting to make you nervous, then you’re not alone. In fact, according to a Gallup poll, you wouldn’t even be a minority.

Around 48% of U.S. adults answered that they were either “very worried” (19%) or “moderately worried” (29%) about the money they’ve deposited in banks and other financial institutions. That leaves around 30% of Americans feeling “not too worried,” with 20% feeling “not worried at all.”

Americans haven’t been this worried about the banking system since the financial crisis of 2008. In fact, Gallup conducted a survey in that year — just after Lehman Brothers closed its doors — and found that 45% of U.S. adults were worried about banks, while 41% said they were not too worried or not worried at all.

The survey was conducted between April 3 and April 25, a month after the failure of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank, but just before the failure of First Republic on May 1. But it also listed some interesting demographics that may just shed light on which Americans are feeling the most anxious about their money.

Who’s more worried about banks: Republicans or Democrats?

Easy: Republicans.

Around 55% of Republicans answered that they were very worried (21%) or moderately worried (34%) about the safety of their money. This was slightly higher than the sentiment of Independents (51%), but below that of Democrats: 36% were worried, with 13% feeling very worried and 23% feeling moderately so.

As Gallup pointed out, this was the exact opposite of the same survey conducted in 2008, when Republican President W. Bush was still in office. At that time, 55% of Democrats were very or moderately worried, compared to 34% of Republicans. And if that’s not enough to suggest the power of political beliefs, Gallup also pointed out that Republicans became increasingly more worried about banks (42%) in December 2008 after the election of Barack Obama, while Democratic respondents became slightly less anxious (45%).

Who’s more worried about banks: High- or low-income earners?

Low-income earners (those with annual household incomes below $40,000) are also among the most worried about the current banking situation. Roughly 50% of low-income respondents answered that they were very worried (23%) or moderately worried (27%) about the money in their banks.

High-income households, however, were less anxious. Only 10% of high-income respondents answered that they were”very worried about banks, while 30% said they were moderately worried, 35% said they weren’t too worried, and 25% said they weren’t worried at all.

So should you be worried about putting money in banks?

Most Americans have nothing to worry about. Bank deposits are insured by the FDIC for up to $250,000 per depositor at each FDIC-insured financial institution with the following popular bank products falling under the insured categories:

Checking accountHigh-yield savings accountCertificate of deposit (CD)Money market accounts

What if you have more than $250,000 in bank deposits? Even so, you still don’t have reason to panic. For one, the FDIC will insure $250,000 deposits per bank. So a simple way to increase your security is to separate your money among numerous banks. A deposit of $500,000, for example, could be split between two FDIC-insured financial institutions, while a deposit of $600,000 could be split between three.

But if you jointly own a bank account with someone else, you might not have to move your money at all. The FDIC insures up to $250,000 per depositor. A bank account owned by two people, then, would enjoy FDIC insurance of up to $500,000.

All things considered, I can understand why people are worried about their money: It’s traumatizing to witness the collapse of three mid-size banks. But truth be told, most banks are safe. As long as your deposits are FDIC-insured, that money will be returned to you, even if your bank collapses.

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