Money Management

Costco offers many ways to make up your membership fee. Here’s one that doesn’t even require shopping at Costco! [[{“value”:”

There are a lot of ways to save money at Costco. Indeed, it’s actually pretty easy to earn your Costco membership fee back in deals and discounts. You don’t even need to shop there every week.

In fact, you don’t need to shop with Costco at all. You can make back the membership fee simply by shopping the brands in Costco Next.

A shopping portal for big discounts

Costco Next is essentially a shopping portal. Inside, you’ll find dozens of popular — and niche — brands, from NordicWare to Anker to Nomatic. Clicking a brand’s “Shop Now” link takes you to a dedicated Costco Next shopping page on its retail website offering discounts for Costco members.

For instance, say you need a new travel backpack. You can just sign into your Costco account, then click on Nomatic’s link in the Costco Next portal. You’ll be taken to a special area on Nomatic’s website where you’ll find, from what I can tell, all of the same products available on the regular Nomatic site. Well, except for the fact that items listed are up to 25% off.

You can save your membership fee in one buy

The discounts you find will certainly vary from brand to brand, or even product to product. But all of the stuff I’ve explored so far has been at least worth the time it takes to log into my Costco account — and, often, much, much more.

For example, remember that travel pack you need? The Nomatic Navigator Travel Backpack (32L) is listed at $399.99 if you go to nomatic.com. If you buy it through Costco Next, you’ll pay just $299.99.

For those who don’t want to do the math, that’s $100 in savings. A Gold Star Costco membership costs just $60 a year. So even if you never use your Costco membership for anything else, you’re ahead of the game by $40 by getting a membership to shop Costco Next.

Caveat: they’re not Costco’s monkeys

One thing to keep in mind when you’re shopping through Costco Next is that Costco’s only part in any transaction is getting you that discount. Once you click the link, you’re dealing with the other retailer from that point on.

Costco gave you discounted tickets, but it’s not Costco’s circus, and those aren’t Costco’s monkeys.

You are buying from the retailer directly. It handles the purchase and ships your goods. If you have a customer service issue? You need to contact the retailer, not Costco.

And yes, the same thing goes for returns and refunds, too. This means Costco’s famously awesome return policy doesn’t apply to any purchases you make through Costco Next. You’ll need to read up on each partner’s return policy before making a purchase.

A Costco perk for people who don’t like Costco?

If you’re already a Costco fan, you’ll probably see Costco Next as another great perk of your membership that (hopefully) already pays for itself with lots of budget savings.

But maybe you don’t live near a Costco. Maybe you don’t shop in bulk. You may not see as much use of the typical Costco benefits. Costco Next may be more your bag, since you can shop online, get great discounts, and you never have to go near a Costco.

Either way, if you haven’t checked out Costo Next yet, do a little poking around. You never know what deals you’ll find.

Top credit card to use at Costco (and everywhere else!)

If you’re shopping with a debit card, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. These versatile credit cards offer huge rewards everywhere, including Costco, and are rated the best cards of 2024 by our experts because they offer hefty sign-up bonuses and outstanding cash rewards. Plus, you’ll save on credit card interest because all of these recommendations include a competitive 0% interest period.

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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 positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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While most Americans are still working on their savings, it is possible to have too much in your account. Learn how you can tell it’s time to change course. [[{“value”:”

The Motley Food Ascent conducted a survey in July 2023 showing that the typical American has $1,200 in their savings account. I quote that statistic only to make this point: Most of us don’t have as much savings as we’d like, but we’re working on it. If that’s the boat you’re in, don’t be discouraged. At some point, you’re likely to have more than enough — even if it takes a while to get there.

But what is “more than enough”? How will you know when you’ve saved enough money and it’s time to change strategies? Here’s how to tell.

Your emergency fund is set

The rule of thumb is to have enough money tucked away in a savings account to cover between three and six months’ worth of bills. Whether it’s an illness, job loss, or a major household repair, an emergency fund should carry you through until you’re back on your feet.

However, once your emergency fund is set, it’s time to consider putting any additional money to work for you. You definitely have options. While there are risks associated with investing the funds, the rewards have historically been high. However, if you aren’t up for any risk-taking right now, money market accounts (MMA) are FDIC-insured and currently offer great rates.

You’re carrying high-interest debt

If your emergency fund is set, there’s no reason to keep building savings until you’ve paid off high-interest debt. Let’s say you put money into an MMA or a high-yield savings account earning 5% interest, but still carry a credit card balance with an interest rate of 20%. No matter how you slice it, you’re losing money each month.

You should divert any money you would have added to your savings to pay off debt. Once the debt is out of the way, you can focus on growing your money.

You don’t have any immediate plans for the money

Let’s say your savings goals are as follows:

Have enough money put away to cover an emergency situationSave enough to pay for a dream vacation in three yearsSquirrel away enough to throw a 50th-anniversary party for your parents in five yearsSave enough to help pay any medical expenses you may face when you retire in 15 years

Since you have time to save for the last three goals, there’s no reason to allow the funds to sit around in a traditional account. For example, you can look for the highest rate you can find on certificates of deposit (CDs) and stagger the CDs so their terms expire before it’s time to cover the cost of each goal.

You’ve exceeded FDIC limits

If you’ve exceeded the limit of $250,000 per depositor per account insured by the FDIC, congratulations are in order! Now it’s time to take any funds beyond that FDIC limit and find another way to make it grow. If you’re determined to avoid risks, opt for a CD, MMA, or high-yield savings account. If you’re comfortable with a measure of risk, speak with a financial advisor about investing in the market. Whichever path you choose, you’ll know that your money is hard at work for you.

You’re keeping money in the wrong account

And finally, if your funds are deposited in a traditional savings account, you’re losing money. Most savings accounts earn little to no interest and don’t keep pace with inflation. Any money you have put away today will be worth less next year due to inflation. However, the problem is nothing new.

Throughout American history, there have only been a handful of times when there has been no inflation. Unless a bank paid a great interest rate on its traditional savings account, savings simply could not keep up with inflation. This may help explain why investing became so popular among those with money to spare.

Today, if your savings are sitting in a traditional account, there’s good news: You can move it to a better account. For example, a high-yield savings account offered by an online bank currently earns a much higher interest rate, your money is safe, and you can access it when needed.

No matter how much money you have in your savings account, you know you have too much if it’s not earning you more than enough to keep up with inflation.

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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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Struggling to give your savings a lift? Read on for an easy move that might yield great results. [[{“value”:”

If it seems like no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to find money to add to your savings account these days, you’re not alone. In a recent survey by Zety, 20% of Americans say they’ve struggled to contribute money to their savings over the past 12 months. And a big reason boils down to lingering inflation.

Although inflation cooled off considerably in 2023 compared to the previous year, living costs have remained stubbornly high. These days, most people are spending more money on essentials like utilities, groceries, and home-related expenses. Unsurprisingly, it’s impacting their ability to save.

If you’ve been unable to add any money to your savings in the past year, that’s potentially problematic. First of all, if you’re trying to complete your emergency fund, the sooner you’re able to do so, the sooner you’re protected from unplanned expenses. Also, even though the economy is strong, you never know when your company may be forced to downsize. Having a complete emergency fund buys you financial protection in the event of a layoff.

Also, right now, savings accounts are paying generously thanks to the interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve implemented to help slow inflation. So if you haven’t added money to your savings in the past year, you’ve missed out on the chance to earn more interest while rates are high.

For these reasons, it’s important to try to break out of your current cycle. And one simple move could be your ticket to doing just that.

It pays to put the process on autopilot

Many people approach the process of saving money as follows: They spend what they need to during the month, and at the end of the month, whatever portion of their paycheck hasn’t been spent, goes into savings.

It’s not a bad system if you’re someone who manages to actually add money to savings regularly. But if you haven’t put so much as a dollar into your savings in the past year, then clearly, it’s a system that isn’t working well for you.

A better system may be to automate savings account contributions at the start of each month, before you’ve spent your entire paycheck. That way, you’re pretty much forcing yourself to add to your savings and make do with your remaining funds.

Let’s say your current paycheck after taxes and deductions comes to $2,500. You might end up spending it in its entirety month after month, thwarting your savings efforts. But if you set up an automatic transfer so $200 of that leaves your checking account at the start of the month and lands in your savings account, you’re forcing yourself to save $2,400 throughout the year.

You can start small and work your way up

Of course, if you’ve spent your entire paycheck month after month over the past year, you may not be in a position to part with $200 a month. But in that case, part with less.

Start off with an automatic transfer of $50 this month and see how that goes. If it goes well, increase that amount to $60 or $75 next month, and keep boosting that contribution amount until you’re really on track to meeting your goal.

It’s easy to see why saving money might be difficult these days. But it’s important to have those savings for when you need them. It’s also a really good time to have money in the bank, because today’s attractive interest rates won’t stick around forever. So if your current system hasn’t been allowing you to save money, try automating things and seeing if that helps.

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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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Your business needs a small business checking account — trust me on this. But if you don’t, read this article to find out why. [[{“value”:”

Owning a small business can be really challenging — especially if you’re still in the “wearing a lot of hats” phase, which some businesses never leave. I understand; as a freelance writer, I’m in the same boat. I wear all kinds of hats and do my own books and accounting. There’s not a lot to it, but it still has to be done.

One of the smartest moves I have ever made in my decades of small business ownership was getting a small business checking account, even though I was a solopreneur. A lot of solos I know don’t bother, they just use their personal accounts for everything and spare themselves the minimal monthly fees.

There’s a lot of value in having a dedicated small business account, or even a set of them, though. Here are my top reasons that everyone with a small business should invest in a single small business checking account, at minimum.

1. Access to small business services

You may not think you’ll ever need small business services through your bank, but what happens if you do and you can’t access them because you’ve never had a small business account? Well, that’s what happened to a lot of people during 2020 and 2021, when the Paycheck Protection Program was in full swing. Companies that never needed a small business loan before were struggling and even going under for lack of income.

But here’s the real kick in the pants: If they didn’t have access to small business services through their bank, they also couldn’t access PPP loan money very easily. I was distressed when I saw how many of my fellow writers weren’t able to get a hand when they needed it because they didn’t qualify as small businesses through their banks. They could apply, of course, but they had to do it through other channels and risk being put on the back burner.

I got my funds almost immediately, in the very first round of distributions, because I had a small business relationship with my bank in the form of small business checking — and I will never not have a small business checking account going forward.

2. Simplifying your bookkeeping

If you’re a solopreneur, you’re probably also doing a lot of your own accounting, or at least your bookkeeping. If you don’t collect sales tax, it’s not super complicated. One way to make this job a lot easier on yourself is to have a small business checking account.

Not only can you use the small business checking to bring all your income through one door, so at the end of the year you only have one account to scour for income that you might not have gotten a form from a client about, but you only have one outgoing fund, too. Some people have two small business checking accounts for this — an accounts payable and an accounts receivable. But if you don’t have a ton of transactions, just one is plenty.

Either way, with small business checking, you can pay your vendors, and yes, even the IRS, out of your small business account, and not have to worry about your personal account accidentally being overdrawn if you make an accounting error while shuffling between both sides of your life.

3. Establishing business legitimacy

Look, we all want to be taken seriously in our business pursuits — and there are certainly ways to look more legitimate. Uniforms for our staff members, fancy business cards, and even a really well put together digital presence are vital, but the appearance of legitimacy a business checking account can provide cannot be overstated.

With a business checking account and business checks, every paper payment (and some electronic ones) says, “I am a regular, normal business, I am not just a person hiding in the bushes pretending to work.” As shallow as it is to say the appearance of legitimacy matters as much to your business as actually being a legitimate business does, it’s true.

These days, it’s hard to know who is for real and who isn’t — scammers are everywhere. But with a dedicated business checking account, people can contact your bank, check that your account is real, and further build up your reputation when they discover that yes, you are the genuine article. Word does get around.

Sometimes, the little things (ac)count

Having a business checking account is a way to simplify your accounting, to give yourself more legitimacy, and, yes, even provide access to business services you may have never considered you might need.

If you don’t have one already, ask your current bank about its offerings, or check out our list of the best business checking accounts for your small business. While some may come with fees, where present, they are often very minimal.

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This credit card is not just good – it’s so exceptional that our experts use it personally. It features a 0% intro APR for 15 months, a cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee!

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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.Discover Financial Services is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Kristi Waterworth has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Discover Financial Services. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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