Money Management

There’s no rush to get a state-issued identification card that meets REAL ID rules. 

The United States government will eventually mandate that Americans present REAL ID–compliant identification when boarding federally regulated commercial aircrafts and entering certain federal facilities. But the REAL ID deadline continues to be delayed, giving Americans more time to comply with the changes. The deadline has been extended from May 2023 to May 2025. Find out how this news could help you keep more money in your pocket.

What is the REAL ID Act?

The REAL ID Act is a 2005 initiative to set minimum security standards for identification used for federal purposes. State-issued licenses and identification cards must meet these minimum security requirements. Once REAL ID rules are enforced, Americans must present a state-issued REAL ID or another federally approved form of identification when entering some federal facilities and when boarding a commercial aircraft. So this law will have an impact on travel in the future.

The REAL ID deadline has been delayed until May 2025

The Department of Homeland Security was planning to require Americans to have REAL ID-compliant identification ready to use beginning on May 3, 2023. However, the deadline has been extended again. The new deadline is May 7, 2025. That means you don’t need to stress about making sure you have a compliant form of identification available — at least for now.

Americans will be able to keep more money in their pockets

This news could be a financial win for many. That’s because many states charge extra to get a state-issued driver’s license or identification card that is REAL ID-approved. These costs vary depending on where you live.

You could save anywhere from a few dollars to $30 or more by not having to pay extra for a REAL ID–compliant driver’s license or identification card at this time. It’s worth noting that some states don’t impose an additional fee for a compliant ID — so be sure to check with your state to learn about these costs.

Another option is to apply for a U.S. passport card or U.S. passport book, which can be presented instead of a state-issued REAL ID card. However, they come with an added cost and may not make sense for you to obtain if you don’t plan to travel outside the United States soon.

First-time adult passport book applicants must pay $130 plus an additional $35 acceptance fee. First-time adult passport card applicants must pay $30 and an additional acceptance fee of $35. That means you could save between $65 to $165 if you hold off on getting a passport card or passport book until closer to the new deadline.

Don’t wait to plan for this upcoming expense

While it’s still early, it’s not a bad idea to figure out a plan for when the REAL ID Act is enforced. If you need to get a new state-issued identification card or will get a passport card or passport book, you should budget for the additional cost that you may need to pay.

If your state doesn’t charge extra fees, that’s excellent news. If you’ll need to pay more to comply, it’s not too early to set aside some extra funds in your savings account for these expenses. High-yield savings accounts are great places to store extra cash for upcoming expenses because you can earn interest as your money sits in your account. When 2025 rolls around, you’ll be glad you took the time to prepare financially. Check out our personal finance guide for additional money-related resources.

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Will your state continue to pay extra SNAP benefits? 

Emergency food benefits mean SNAP households in certain states can receive extra cash. It’s one of the lesser-known provisions of the government’s COVID-19 public health emergency and it allows states to pay out additional money in the form of food benefits.

We don’t know how long the public health emergency will continue. But we do know that more than half the U.S. states have opted to continue making extra SNAP payments through January 2023. Read on to find out which ones, and how the emergency program works.

What are emergency food benefits?

SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to give it its full name, helps millions of low-income families keep food on the table. Early on in the pandemic, the government introduced a system of emergency allotments to ease the pressure on both families and program administrators.

Normally, SNAP benefits are calculated by taking the maximum entitlement for that household size and making deductions for income and related factors. The emergency allocations mean families can receive the maximum amount for their household size. If a household is already entitled to the maximum payment, it can get at least an extra $95 each month. The maximum monthly SNAP benefit for a family of four in 2023 is $939. That extra cash translates to more money in the bank to cover other essentials such as rent and utility bills.

Which states will pay emergency food benefits in January?

According to the USDA, the following states will continue to pay emergency food benefits in January:

AlabamaCaliforniaColoradoDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiIllinoisKansasLouisianaMaineMarylandMichiganNew JerseyNew MexicoNorth CarolinaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaTexasUtahVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsin

There is a lot of uncertainty around the emergency allotment payments right now. On the one hand, the government has not officially extended the public health emergency beyond January 11. On the other, it has said it will give 60 days notice before any termination. Given that we’re now in January, we can assume the health emergency will be in place until at least the start of March. At this point, many assume it will continue until April but we don’t know for sure.

How to make your SNAP benefits go further

SNAP benefits are designed to help families pay for essential food items such as cereals, fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat, and other items. The benefit amount has increased in recent years, due to inflation and a change in how it gets calculated. Even so, it isn’t easy to feed a family on benefits, especially if you don’t have a lot of time to cook.

Here are some ways to maximize your SNAP cash:

See if you can double up: Programs like Double Up Food Bucks will match every SNAP dollar you spend on fruit and vegetables in participating farmers markets and stores. Find out if there’s a project in your state and get two-for-one on your produce purchases.Maximize cash back: Just because you’re paying with an EBT card doesn’t mean you can’t earn rewards on your spending. Many cash back apps let you scan your receipts after you’ve shopped, no matter how you pay.Look for deals: Bear in mind that special offers and coupons only translate to savings if they’re for items you were already planning to buy. Better still, hunt out deals on higher-cost products you need such as laundry detergent or meat.Cut down on meat: Many families have cut back on their meat consumption in recent years. It doesn’t have to be for every meal, but if you can substitute it for lower-cost proteins such as beans a couple of times a week, it will help your bottom line.Always shop with a list: A grocery list can save you time and money. It means you’ll have to go to the store less often and also makes it easier to only buy the things you need. If you use a cash back app, your list will help you remember what’s on offer.

Bottom line

Emergency food benefits have been a huge help to families during the worst of the pandemic and the subsequent issues with inflation and soaring costs. Unfortunately, they won’t last forever. If you live in a state that’s still paying the emergency allotments, think about how you’ll manage without them. If you can make a plan now, it may make things easier down the line.

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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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Consider your buying timeline to decide. 

If you’ve been renting for a while and are hoping to eventually buy a home of your own, you might be feeling some despair about the state of the housing market. The supply of homes remains low, prices are up across the board, and to add insult to injury, interest rates climbed over the course of 2022. Even if you can find a home in your price range and get your offer accepted, you’ll be paying much more for a mortgage.

If you’re resigned to waiting out the market, and plan to keep putting money aside for a down payment, I get it. I’m in the same boat. While I originally had hopes to buy in 2023, I had a good hard look at my finances and decided that for the sake of them, it’s better to wait until 2024 or beyond. So I decided to renovate my rental in the time being.

Here’s what I did

I started meeting with a financial planner in early 2022, and his advice was the splash of cold water I needed to rethink my 2023 home-buying plans. I pay less in rent than I will for a mortgage payment, and when I renewed my lease for a second year, my landlord didn’t raise my rent (I do anticipate a bump when I renew for the third year, however). So it makes a lot of financial sense for me to stay here and do what I can to make it comfortable.

I took down the glass shower doors (and instead hung a custom shower curtain that I painted myself), bought a large tapestry sized to fit my bedroom wall, and I hung up a lot of wall art. I did make a more permanent change to my home office, however.

Most of my apartment’s walls have dark wood paneling. This is easily one of the worst things about being a renter — I never would have bought a home with wood paneling, but renters often can’t be choosers, at least not at my price point or in my city of old rental homes. So I painted over the wood paneling in one of the spare bedrooms.

It immediately transformed the space, and along with purchases I made in 2022, changing the room this way significantly improved my work and home life. Having a beautiful space to work from can make you more productive and therefore more financially successful. Should you take the plunge on renovating your rental, too? Let’s consider some pros and cons.

Pros to renovating as a renter

Making your living space more comfortable can be a serious win for your mental health, and this affects absolutely every other part of your life. It’s easy for renters to feel as if we’ll never truly have a real home — I’m familiar with this feeling, as I’ve moved 10 times in just the last 10 years. And if homeownership is feeling out of reach for you due to the costs, personalizing a rental might be the shot you get to feel at home.

If homeownership is a possibility but you need more time to save money, improve your credit, or otherwise prepare, making some changes to your rental can make waiting less of a hardship. This is especially true if you don’t pay a lot in rent and can swing the expenses of fixes like new kitchen cabinet hardware, painting, custom furniture, or even a new large appliance (to replace the too-small refrigerator or ancient stove in your rental). However, there could be some drawbacks to renovating.

Cons to renovating as a renter

It’s written into many lease agreements that tenants must leave a home or apartment the way they found it, and if you made a lot of permanent or semi-permanent changes, that could present a hardship. Say you hung peel-and-stick wallpaper in your bedroom and are now moving out. You’ll either have to remove it, or throw yourself on the mercy of your landlord.

If you made the space friendlier and more appealing to future tenants, you may not lose your security deposit, but this will of course depend on your landlord. And if you bought a piece of furniture custom-sized to your rental’s living room, it may not fit in the living room of your next home, whether that’s a house you’re buying or yet another rental. So you could be forced to sell it at a loss on what you paid for it.

Should you renovate?

No one can answer this question but you, but I personally am in favor of doing what you can to make a rental more of a home in this most difficult of housing markets. Consider your timeline to decide whether to nest in your rental. Did you just sign a new lease with intent to stay a good long while? It might be a good move to renovate, especially if you spend a lot of time at home (say, if you’re a remote worker). But if your lease is expiring in a few months, and you’ve managed to get an offer on a home accepted, you have likely missed the boat on renovating, and should save that money and creative energy for your new home, you lucky duck.

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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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