For some reason, a big pile of money can make people reckless. Anton27 / Shutterstock.com
Some taxpayers dread what they might owe at tax time while others are so excited that they spend their refund before it hits their bank account. There are a lot of smart uses for a tax refund — but sadly, just as many terrible ones. Following are some of the worst ways to use that money.
Health care becomes more important as we age, and these states are best suited to meet such needs. michaeljung / Shutterstock.com
The older we get, the more important health care becomes. So it makes sense that the states with the best health care look better and better as retirement approaches. Recently, WalletHub ranked all 50 states according to the quality of health care they offer. In compiling its rankings, WalletHub looked at more than a dozen factors, including: Following are the states that WalletHub says offer…
These cities might be worth considering.
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According to a recent report by Redfin, one in four Americans are looking to move to save money. With the cost of housing becoming increasingly expensive in some of the most popular cities in the U.S., many people are looking for more affordable places to live. So, where exactly are people moving? Let’s take a look at the most popular destinations for relocators.
It should come as no surprise that Sun Belt cities like Las Vegas, Miami, Tampa, and Phoenix were among the most popular destinations for relocators at the end of 2022. These cities offer plenty of sunshine and lower living costs than their coastal counterparts. These cities also have a lower average home cost, making mortgage payments much more affordable.
The report also found that Sacramento was the No. 1 destination for those looking to relocate, followed by Las Vegas and then Miami. Here are the top 10 metros home buyers are moving to:
The same report also shed light on which places home buyers were moving away from. Not surprisingly, the cities people are leaving have the highest standard of living and highest average home costs. Since mortgage interest rates are almost double what they were a year ago, adding $1,000 more to a mortgage payment for the same home, it’s no surprise people are moving away from expensive areas.
With the exception of three cities, seven out of the top 10 are along the coasts, with San Francisco at the top of this list, followed by Los Angeles and then New York City. Cities not on the coasts include Chicago, Denver, and Detroit, which are large northern job centers.
The ranking of places home buyers are moving away from is based on net outflow — a measure of how many more people are looking to leave a metro than move in — so it’s clear that these cities have become too expensive for some potential home buyers. The study also shows which cities people have been moving to. For example, the top destinations for those moving out of the San Francisco area are Sacramento and Seattle. Here are the top 10 cities people are moving away from.
It’s no secret that high housing costs have been driving relocation decisions across U.S. metros over the past several years. The result is that record numbers of people, many of them first-time home buyers, are flocking toward more affordable Sun Belt cities like Las Vegas, Miami, Tampa, and Phoenix. Skyrocketing housing prices and higher costs of living have pushed many potential home buyers away from larger metropolitan areas such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. The top cities people are moving to have a lower cost of living, more affordable housing, and tend to be in areas with a better climate.
Buying a home is a big decision, but it doesn’t have to be a stressful one. Here are a few tips:
It is important to understand the other expenses of homeownership before taking the plunge.Educate yourself on the home-buying process. Start by reading books or articles (like this one!) on the subject, and then talk to friends or family who have recently bought homes. There’s a lot to know, and the more you know, the better off you’ll be.Expanding the area you are looking at can also give you more housing types to choose from and maybe the chance to save money.Get your finances in order by getting pre-approved for a mortgage, so you know how much house you can afford.You’ll also want to be saving up for a down payment, as well as any other costs associated with buying a home (closing costs, moving costs, etc.).
The housing market is always changing, and prices may continue to be volatile in the future. Doing your research and getting prepared will help you pull the trigger on a home purchase when the right opportunity presents itself.
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Here are the financial rules of thumb you need to know.
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It’s a smart idea to do a financial checkup every so often, and one of the biggest parts should be to ensure you have enough money set aside for the future. In this article, we’ll explore how much money you should have saved for retirement by age 30, how much you should have saved for emergencies, and what to do if you’re not where you should be.
First off, there is no perfect answer here, as every situation is different. For example, if you have a pension plan at work, or significant non-retirement assets in the bank, you might not need as much in designated retirement accounts as someone who doesn’t have those things.
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With that in mind, the most common rule of thumb used by financial planners is that you should have one year’s salary saved in retirement accounts by the time you’re 30. So, if you make $75,000 per year, that’s the benchmark to use.
If you’re curious, the guidelines for older age milestones are:
Three times your salary by age 40Six times your salary by age 50Eight times your salary by age 6010 times your salary by age 67 (or whenever you actually retire)
In reality, Americans don’t have this much saved, on average. According to data from Empower Retirement, the average 401(k) balance for someone in the 30-35 age group is $33,135. And the average person at retirement age (65-70) has $185,858 — far less than 10 times the average salary.
Retirement savings is just one piece of the puzzle. The other big type of savings you should have is emergency savings — that is, money set aside to cover unexpected expenses or to give you some financial breathing room if you happen to lose your job.
There aren’t too many age-based guidelines out there, but most financial planners recommend a target of six months’ worth of expenses set aside in an emergency fund. When you include fixed expenses (mortgage/rent, car payments, etc) as well as variable essential costs (utilities, gas, groceries), this can be an intimidating number.
You don’t have to get there right away, but an emergency fund is critical. After all, what good is retirement savings if you might have to use some of it when you have an unexpected expense come up? Even a $1,000 emergency fund will put you in better shape than the majority of Americans and should allow you to cover most unforeseen expenses without borrowing money.
I’m a firm believer that automating savings is the single best way to set yourself up for success. If you have a 401(k) plan or similar retirement plan at work, this is easy. If your retirement savings isn’t where it should be, you could increase your contribution rate by a percentage point or two. If you don’t, consider setting up an automatic transfer into an IRA.
For emergency savings, the first step is to create a separate savings account for your emergency fund if you haven’t done so already. Once you have done that, decide on an amount you can comfortably afford to contribute from each paycheck and set up an automatic recurring transfer.
Finally, if you don’t have as much saved for retirement and emergencies as you “should,” don’t panic — especially if you’re in your 20s or 30s. Making some changes in your savings habits now can get you back on track faster than you might think.
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Credit cards could help you get by while you look for a new job, if you’re careful about how you use them.
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When you’re unemployed, managing your money well becomes more important than ever. Ideally, you’ll receive enough in unemployment benefits to get by, or you’ll have an emergency fund you can use to pay your living expenses until you find a new job.
But if your savings start to run low, you might need to use credit cards to cover your bills. Under normal circumstances, it’s best to pay your credit card bill in full to avoid debt and interest charges. That’s not always an option during unemployment, though. If you can’t pay in full, you’ll need to carry a balance from month to month.
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Even though this is a difficult situation, there are some smart things you can do to keep debt and fees to a minimum. Here are a few tips that can help if you’re relying on credit cards during unemployment.
If you know you’ll need to carry a credit card balance, the best option is to apply for a 0% APR credit card. This type of card has an introductory APR of 0% on new purchases. For as long as the intro period lasts, the card issuer won’t charge you any interest. You only need to make the minimum payment every month.
Many of the top 0% APR credit cards offer intro periods of 15 months or longer. That means you’ll have plenty of time to finance purchases without racking up expensive interest charges.
You might be wondering if you can get a credit card while unemployed. The answer is yes, provided you have some form of income. This doesn’t need to be income from a job. You can include any money you can reasonably expect to access, such as unemployment benefits, a spouse’s income, or child support, to give a few examples.
You don’t want to take on any more debt than necessary. To keep your burden to a minimum, reduce your expenses as much as possible. Steps to take here include:
Stop going out for dinner or drinks. Stick to low- or no-cost activities for the time being.Get rid of streaming services and other subscriptions. There are several free streaming services you can use as a replacement.Cut your grocery spending. Look for recipes with inexpensive ingredients, and start using coupon apps.
It’s never fun to get super strict about your spending. But the goal here is to make your money last and to add as little credit card debt as possible. Keep in mind that this is a temporary measure, and you’ll be able to loosen up once you have a new job.
Even if you can’t pay your credit cards in full, make at least the minimum payments on time. A missed payment means the card issuer can charge you a late fee. If it’s the first time this happens, you can likely contact your card issuer and get that fee waived. However, card issuers typically only do this for you once.
What if you can’t make your card’s minimum payment? Call the card issuer at the number on the back of your card and ask about hardship programs. The credit card company may be able to work with you and lower your payments or temporarily defer them.
One of the dangers of credit cards is that most of them have high interest rates. However, these vary from card to card. To keep interest charges as low as possible, pay as much as you can on cards with higher APRs. If you need to carry a balance, do it on whichever of your cards has the lowest APR.
For example, if you were able to get a 0% APR credit card, put your spending on that first. You’re better off carrying a balance on a card charging 0% interest than a card charging 20%.
If you have rewards credit cards, see how you can use those rewards to save money, either on regular expenses or your credit card bill. This is easy with cash back cards, because you can use your cash back as a statement credit, reducing how much you owe.
It’s trickier with travel credit cards, but you may still have options. For example, some travel cards let you redeem your points for gift cards. You could potentially use your points for a gift card with Kroger, Target, or Instacart, and then use it to buy groceries. There are also travel cards that let you use your points for cash back. You usually don’t get as much value for your rewards this way, but that’s not important in an emergency.
Being able to borrow money using credit cards could help you keep your bills paid while unemployed. Once you’ve found a new job, just make sure to pay off your credit card debt as quickly as possible so it doesn’t keep costing you interest.
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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.Lyle Daly has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Target. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
This is the queue that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend…
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Making your way through airport security is a multistage process. The first part is that long, snaking queue reminiscent of theme parks — or the DMV. You wind your way through the ropes for what seems like (or may literally be) hours. It’s not until you make it through that line that you get to the second line leading to the actual screening.
As you wend your way through the queue, you may notice a stream of folks being escorted to the front of the line. Those folks likely have CLEAR, a program designed to quickly and easily verify your identity.
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What you may not realize is that some of those CLEAR users may have just signed up minutes ago. And if you have a credit card, you can sign up right at the airport, too. But should you?
There are a few good reasons to sign up for CLEAR while you’re at the airport. For one thing, even with the time it takes to sign up, you could get through the line much faster than simply waiting it out.
The other main pro? A free trial.
In my experience, at least, signing up at the airport may score you a two-week free trial of the program. This is enough time to give CLEAR a try not just on your departing flight, but also coming back, so long as your trip is less than a couple weeks. If you decide to keep CLEAR, great. If not, you can cancel in a few clicks in the mobile app or online.
The actual process of signing up for CLEAR is surprisingly simple. A helpful CLEAR worker can assist you with answering a few questions and providing basic information, such as your name and address.
Then, you provide biometrics. You’ll need to input your fingerprints and complete an eye scan. This is how you’ll verify your identity each time you use a CLEAR kiosk going forward.
Finally, it’s time to pay. Even with a free trial, of course, you’ll need to provide payment details. You can use just about any credit card, though a rewards card is certainly ideal. Even better, if you have certain travel rewards credit cards, you could get a statement credit to cover all or part of the cost.
Signing up for CLEAR at the airport has a few downsides to mention. First off, while the sign-up process is quick, it isn’t instantaneous. So you’ll need to make sure you have at least five minutes or so to get through the process.
Secondly, the time crunch means you probably won’t be taking the time to read all the fine print. This can be especially important to folks who like to read through privacy notices completely before agreeing. If you’d rather have the time to read through everything at your leisure, then signing up right before your flight may not be ideal.
There are also a few things to consider whether you’re signing up at the airport or at home. For example, CLEAR isn’t everywhere yet. While you can make use of the service at a lot of major international airports in the U.S., smaller airports won’t have the kiosks yet. This may mean you can use CLEAR on some parts of your trip, but not all of them.
And, of course, there’s the biometrics. If you’re not comfortable giving a third-party company access to your fingerprints and retinal scans, CLEAR is definitely not for you.
If you don’t have a credit card that reimburses the cost, CLEAR can be fairly expensive. With a frequent flyer program discount, you’re looking at $179 a year for just one person. Without the discount, it’s over $200. If you get a family account, you can add family members for $60 each.
For those who fly frequently — and for credit cardholders with credits — CLEAR can be well worth the cost thanks to the time you can save. Even if you have TSA PreCheck, CLEAR can potentially save you quite a bit of time in busy airports and during peak travel times.
For sporadic travelers or those with multiple family members who fly together, however, it may not be worth the cost. That said, if you can score the free trial by signing up before your flight, it could be worth giving it a shot. If nothing else, you may shave some time off the wait for this trip. Just don’t forget to cancel if it’s not for 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.Brittney Myers has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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