Money Management

Could these tips help make your homeownership dreams come true? 

For many people, saving up a down payment is the biggest obstacle to becoming a homeowner. Most lenders require at least some money down. And the ideal is to put down 20% of your home’s value so you can avoid having to incur the added cost of private mortgage insurance. This is a fee that protects mortgage lenders from losses in loans with small down payments, and which you foot the bill for.

It can be hard to come up with so much money when you are already paying rent for the place you currently live. But finance expert Dave Ramsey has some tips to help make the process easier. Here are his suggestions, along with some advice on which suggestions you should follow.

Here’s how Ramsey says to save up for a down payment while renting

Ramsey offers eight suggestions for how you can save up the money you need to buy a home when you’re currently renting. Here’s what they are:

Create and live on a budget. Ramsey says budgeting is “how you make any money goals happen — like saving for a down payment.”Repay your debt. Ramsey recommends paying off your debts before moving forward with homeownership. This includes car loans. “Be patient and keep renting until you’ve paid off 100% of your debt and saved a full emergency fund,” he suggests.Find a roommate to help with the bills: Having someone else paying part of your rent and utilities could give you a lot more money to save.Relocate to somewhere that costs less: “Consider the worthy sacrifice of leaving the razzle-dazzle to live in an area with cheaper rent,” Ramsey advises. By lowering housing costs, that frees up more money to save for your future mortgage.Reduce unnecessary spending: Ramsey suggests looking carefully at your budget to find cuts such as dining out less often and taking staycations instead of traveling.Sell unwanted items: If you have items in your home you aren’t using, it’s a no brainer to turn them into cash you can use for your down payment.Bring in extra income: Finally, Ramsey recommends picking up a side hustle. “If you really want to hit the gas on your down payment savings, pick up another job on the side.”

Should you follow these tips?

Ramsey is absolutely spot-on with some of his suggestions. You want to live on a budget when saving for a down payment, and you should aim to cut discretionary spending. The sacrifices you’re making will be temporary and are for a good goal, so it should be easy to cut back on fun spending for a while. Bringing in extra income is also a great option.

Some of his other suggestions, though, may not be right for everyone. While you definitely want to pay off high-interest debt before becoming a homeowner, you don’t necessarily need to be entirely debt free. If you have a low interest car loan and you’re trying to prioritize buying a home, diverting money to paying it down may not make any sense.

Moving can also be expensive, so it’s only worth relocating if it’s going to take you a long time to save up your home down payment.

For the most part, though, it’s worth considering Ramsey’s advice and doing what you can to make your homeownership dreams a reality.

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Conventional wisdom says no, but it’s not always on the mark. 

If you’ve found a new job, but your old employer wants to keep you around, it may make you a counter offer. This can put you in a difficult situation. You’ve probably already gotten used to the idea of moving on, but suddenly, the choice isn’t so cut and dry.

Having two companies competing for your services is a good problem to have. But it’s also stressful to choose, especially knowing that your decision will have a huge impact on your career and your personal finances. While the traditional advice is that you should never accept a counter offer, it’s not a situation with a one-size-fits-all answer.

The arguments against taking a counter offer

The conventional wisdom on counter offers is that accepting one is a bad move. There’s no shortage of horror stories about employees who took a counter offer and quickly regretted the decision. Here are the most common reasons why you shouldn’t accept a counter offer:

Your employer may see you as disloyal. Fair or not, there’s a chance your employer sees you as someone with one foot out the door going forward.It could be difficult to get promoted. If your employer isn’t sure you’re there to stay, they could be reluctant to give you more responsibilities.Future raises might be hard to come by. Just because management was willing to open up the checkbook for a counter offer doesn’t mean they’ll do that in the future. In fact, they could use that counter offer as an excuse not to give you another raise.It may be a short-term move to find your replacement. In a worst-case scenario, your employer could use a counter offer to keep you around temporarily until it finds someone else.Pay isn’t the only factor to consider. If you were frustrated or dissatisfied with your job, the same problems will still be there, even if you’re making more money.

These are all valid points you should think about when weighing a counter offer. Not every employer will react negatively, but plenty of people who accepted counter offers have dealt with these issues.

A bump in pay is nice, especially if your previous employer is now offering more than the new one. However, it’s important to think long term. More money in your bank account now doesn’t mean much if you’re not able to get promotions going forward, or if your employer lets you go in three months after it has had more time to find your replacement.

Every situation, and employer, is different

It wouldn’t be fair to mention counter offer horror stories without also talking about the other side of things. There are also employees who accepted counter offers, stayed at their jobs, and have been happy with their decisions. Experiences aren’t universally negative.

This isn’t the norm, but it can happen. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help figure out what to do:

Are there other issues besides pay? Salary is important, but there’s more to your career satisfaction than that alone.If so, is your employer willing to address them? For example, if you have a long commute, a counter offer may need to include at least some remote work days for it to be worthwhile.Does your employer have plans for your career? It may be worth considering a counter offer if your employer has clear plans for your future there, like new roles and responsibilities for you to assume.

Should you accept a counter offer?

In most cases, employees are better off declining a counter offer if they’ve found a new job. There are definite risks to sticking around after you’ve said you’re going to leave. And if you have several issues, a counter offer probably isn’t going to fix all of them.

That being said, only you know your employer and your work environment, and not all counter offers are created equal. If it seems like your employer just wants to throw some money at you to keep you around during a busy period, then it’s clearly not in your best interest to stay.

On the other hand, maybe your boss has talked to you, discussed what you’re looking for, and came up with a counter offer that you’d be happy with. That type of situation is when accepting a counter offer could make sense.

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Could this potentially help you save on your pet’s care? 

My dog Molly is a beloved family member, and she’s also a huge budget-buster. I did not sign up for pet insurance on her when she was young, and she is now 16 with a number of pre-existing conditions, including a repaired mitral valve problem in her heart.

Since I don’t have pet insurance, I have to pay out of pocket for all of her care. And as she’s getting up there in age, in recent years, this was costing quite a bit because she would have neck and joint issues and I was regularly at the vet getting her checked out and buying medications when her issues would flare up.

With the big costs I was incurring, I decided to try an alternative approach — and it’s saved me a ton of money.

This move helped to slash my vet bills

For Molly, it is easy to tell when her neck or joints start bothering her. With her neck, she stops being able to shake off and when her joints bother her, she walks gingerly on her front paws.

These symptoms showed up a few times and we went to the vet, had a full exam, and were sent home with a handful of meds. She’d end up having to be on the medications for a while, and I wasn’t sure how much they were really doing since they weren’t addressing the underlying issues causing her to be uncomfortable.

Fortunately, my husband is a chiropractor and he recognized that maybe she could be treated in a different way — with chiropractic care. We ended up finding a veterinary chiropractor in our town who could see her. He was able to adjust her and she could shake off right away afterwards, instead of being on medication for weeks at a time.

The cost of this chiropractic visit was a fraction of the amount I would spend to take her to the vet, pay for the exam, and pay for the medications they were putting her on. She also didn’t get scared of the chiropractor like she did the regular vet. She’d run to him, instead of hiding under the chair.

Not only did we start taking her to the chiropractor whenever her issues would creep up, but we decided we’d take her in periodically to get adjusted to try to stop the problems from happening in the first place. And fortunately, this has worked out well. She goes in periodically and hasn’t had any kind of joint flare-up in more than six months.

Consider all your options for veterinary care

As my situation shows, it’s a good idea to research all of your options if your pet is having issues, as there may be multiple treatment paths you could take — some of which may be less expensive and more effective than others.

If you do want to consider alternative treatments and you have pet insurance, though, you’ll need to find out if your insurance covers them. Many plans do, but just be sure to read the fine print or plan for out-of-pocket costs if needed so your animal companion doesn’t send you into debt.

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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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Don’t miss out on the chance to benefit from those savings. 

Many retailers have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and recent bout of rampant inflation. And Bed Bath & Beyond is one of them.

The home goods giant recently acknowledged that its days of operations may be limited. And the retail chain could be just weeks away from having to file for bankruptcy.

Now, bankruptcy can mean different things in the corporate world. In some cases, it can mean the company at hand is restructuring and reorganizing its debts. In that situation, the goal of a bankruptcy filing is to keep the company in operation but help it get to a better financial place.

But some bankruptcies are of the liquidation variety. In those situations, a given company winds down operations and attempts to sell off its inventory so it can pay off creditors and then cease operations entirely.

Right now, we don’t know which path Bed Bath & Beyond is headed down. But if you’ve been sitting on a stash of the retailer’s famous 20% off coupons, you may want to use them up sooner rather than later.

Is a favorite store of yours about to shut down for good?

We don’t know what the future has in store for Bed Bath & Beyond. But consumers may have to brace for a complete liquidation.

In that scenario, Bed Bath & Beyond might cease to honor its 20% off coupons after a period of time. During a liquidation, inventory tends to be discounted substantially. And at a time when Bed Bath & Beyond is offering goods at 50%, 60%, or 70% off, it may not want to let customers score an additional 20% discount on top of that.

Even if Bed Bath & Beyond opts not to liquidate, but rather, reorganize its debts and stay in business, it might still decide that it will no longer honor expired coupons in an effort to save money or drum up more revenue. So either way, there’s a chance that once the company moves forward with a bankruptcy filing, the days of cashing in a 20% off coupon past its expiration date will be numbered.

Shop soon, but shop carefully

If you tend to rely on Bed Bath & Beyond for different household items and essentials, you may want to use up your coupon collection before that’s no longer an option. But that doesn’t mean you should embark on an unfiltered shopping spree without putting thought into the things you really need.

Even if you’re able to save 20% on a host of items at Bed Bath & Beyond, if that total tab leaves you with credit card debt you’re forced to carry forward, that won’t be a good situation. So instead, make a list of household essentials you truly need, and then map out a budget so you can prioritize them.

Now that said, before you rush to buy items at Bed Bath & Beyond so you can use up your coupons, you may want to see what sort of bankruptcy filing the retail giant pursues. If it’s a liquidation, then it could pay to hold off on shopping for a bit and wait for massive deals to hit.

Even if Bed Bath & Beyond doesn’t honor its 20% off coupons during a liquidation sale, the savings you can reap might well exceed that threshold. For example, let’s say you want to replace some pots and pans, and right now, you’re looking at spending $100. Saving 20% will bring your total down to $80, which is certainly a nice discount. But if Bed Bath & Beyond liquidates, it might slash the price of those pots and pans to $50. At that point, even if you can’t use your coupons, you’ll still come out ahead financially.

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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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