Money Management

Sam’s Club is offering a huge discount on annual memberships, but it won’t last long. Find out more and see how you can sign up. [[{“value”:”

Warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club are known for their low prices, so they’re great for saving money. The tradeoff is that you need to pay an annual membership fee to join. But right now, you could get a Sam’s Club membership much cheaper than normal.

It’s currently offering an annual Club membership for $14, over 70% off the regular price of $50. A Plus membership is also available at a sizable discount: $50, compared to a regular price of $110. These offers won’t last long — they’re valid through April 30, 2024 — so here are all the details.

How to get a discounted Sam’s Club membership

If you want to join Sam’s Club at the discounted price, you can do so online. Visit Join Like a VIP on the Sam’s Club website and choose the type of membership you want. Fill out the form with the required information, pay the membership fee, and you’ll have your one-year membership.

This offer is only valid for new Sam’s Club members. You can’t get it if you’re a current member, or if you were a Sam’s Club member within the last six months.

Keep in mind that Sam’s Club memberships auto-renew. After one year, you’ll be charged the regular membership fee on the credit card or debit card you have saved as your payment method. If you want to avoid this, you can cancel the auto-renew feature at any time.

What’s the difference between a Club and Plus membership?

A Club membership is the standard Sam’s Club membership option. It gets you into warehouses during the normal hours. With it, you can shop at Sam’s Club and take advantage of those low prices. This membership is a perfectly fine, affordable option.

A Plus membership is basically the VIP option. It costs more, but it includes lots of extra perks, starting with early access to Sam’s Club. At select locations, a Plus membership allows you to do early shopping, typically starting at 8 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. (hours vary by location). It’s helpful if you’re an early bird and want to beat the crowds.

Here are more benefits of a Sam’s Club Plus membership:

2% Sam’s Cash on qualifying in-club purchases, up to a maximum of $500 in Sam’s Cash per 12-month membership periodFree shipping on most items online and in the Sam’s Club appFree curbside pickup — you can order, pay, and park, and Sam’s Club will even load your car for youPharmacy savings with over 600 generics starting at $4Optical savings with 20% off a complete pair of eyeglasses and free shipping on contactsSame-day delivery for an $8 fee if you order by 1 p.m. (you can also get same-day delivery with a Club membership, but there’s a $12 fee)

The right time to sign up for Sam’s Club

If you’ve been thinking of getting a Sam’s Club membership, it’s a good idea to join by April 30. Sam’s Club has run a few membership discounts already this year, but nothing this low. If you get a $14 Club membership, you’re barely paying more than $1 a month to shop at Sam’s Club. You could easily save over $14 in a single trip just from the deals its warehouses offer.

It’s also worth mentioning that Sam’s Club has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Decide it’s not for you? You can cancel your membership for a full refund. Signed up for a Plus membership but not using the extra benefits? You can downgrade to a Club membership and get the difference refunded. It’s effectively risk free, and right now, it’s also as affordable as warehouse club memberships get.

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Read on for the best investment advice that this personal finance writer ever received — and it’s not “how to pick stocks.” [[{“value”:”

When I look back on my life (so far) of saving and investing for retirement, of being a homeowner and a small business owner, I’m incredibly grateful. I get to work with fun, brilliant, talented, hilarious people. I also get paid to work from home and think big thoughts about the global economy.

And I’ve learned a little something from every job I’ve had, every book and blog I’ve read, and every financial experience I’ve had along the way. Here are a few of the best bits of investing advice that I’ve received throughout my career in personal finance and my life as an everyday investor.

1. “Don’t try to pick stocks”

One of my first jobs early in my career had a nice financial wellness benefit for employees. We got a free annual meeting with a financial advisor. This was a good chance to get professional help with our 401(k)s and IRAs, see how we were investing, and talk about retirement planning. (This was a really useful benefit, and more companies should do this!)

At the time, I was still in my early 20s, so retirement was a long way away. But the financial advisor said something that has stayed with me all these years: “You’re going to make your biggest money on the job. Not by picking stocks.”

That’s right: the financial advisor didn’t tell me to go out and buy individual stocks or “memecoins” (which thankfully didn’t exist in those days). He said to just keep investing in the broad stock market through the S&P 500 index and other diversified index funds.

Most people who are not professional investors but who have other valuable career skills, are going to make more money by focusing on their actual careers, not by day trading and picking stocks. Instead of trying to beat the stock market, instead of trying to outwit millions of other investors who have more money and time than you do, most people should invest that effort into their careers. Try to get pay raises and promotions. Learn new skills and get new certifications. Start a side hustle to make extra cash.

2. “Your income will go up”

When my wife and I bought our first house in our late twenties, we were ecstatic; we loved the house, it was in a perfect neighborhood, and it had lots of character and features that outshone the rest of the homes that we had toured. But this was not a “starter home” for us; it was a bit of a stretch financially. The mortgage payment ended up being $400 more than we were paying for renting an apartment.

Sometimes that happens; you don’t always end up buying the house that perfectly fits your initial budget. But even though we loved the house and had great credit and were not taking excessive risks with our monthly budget, I was still concerned: “Can we really afford this house?” But our real estate agent said something reassuring that I’ve always remembered: “You’re young, and you’re upwardly mobile. Your income will go up.”

It turns out that we lived in that house for 17 years, and we raised two babies there, and we never missed a mortgage payment. Not everyone has such a good experience buying a home during times of high prices and housing shortages. We were incredibly fortunate, and we live in a part of the U.S. that has lower housing costs than a lot of big cities.

Our real estate agent was right! We went on to make more money over the years, and our debt became more affordable compared to when we were young and relatively “house poor.” Debt can be good. It helps you afford a better life than you could have without that mortgage, auto loan, or credit card bill — and over time, over the long run of their working years, most people can afford their debt.

3. “Just keep buying”

People often have questions about investing in the stock market, like “when is the right time to buy stocks?” or “how much money should I invest in stocks?” These questions are misguided. The truth is, research shows that even when the stock market is at all-time highs, even when stocks feel “expensive,” most long-term investors should just keep buying.

There’s a great book by this exact title (Just Keep Buying) by finance blogger Nick Maggiulli, COO of Ritholtz Wealth Management. This is one of the best investment books I’ve ever read, because it shows (based on data analysis and historic investment performance) exactly why “timing the market” doesn’t work.

When you buy stocks, yes, there’s a chance the price will go down and you’ll lose money. But by not buying stocks in an appropriate way for your long-term investment goals, you can lose even more money by missing out on gains.

Instead of worrying about “when” to invest, just keep on investing, month after month, year after year, in a diversified portfolio of ETFs. Don’t try to time the market, don’t worry about highs or lows in stock prices — let the long lifespan of your time horizon grow your money for you.

Check out Nick Maggiulli’s blog (ofdollarsanddata.com) for more great insights about how to invest.

Bottom line

These three bits of investing advice might sound simple, but lots of people need to hear them. Investing is a complex, long-term endeavor. Most day traders lose money, and most individual stocks don’t beat the market. But if you’re lucky, over the course of your working life, you’re going to hopefully increase your income and your investment portfolio.

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Instead of cutting back on restaurant spending, I’ve reassessed my spending priorities and made cuts in other areas instead. Find out why here. [[{“value”:”

Dining out is one of my biggest expenses, outside of fixed costs like my mortgage. I like to try out different restaurants, and because I’m pretty busy with work and kids, I also order a lot of takeout. And I’m not alone in doing this. According to data collected by US Foods, the average American dines out three times monthly and orders delivery more than four times a month.

In the past, I’ve become frustrated by the fact that a good amount of money comes out of my bank account each month to cover restaurant bills and food delivery. And when that’s happened, I’ve tried to make budget cuts and limit the amount of eating out I do.

This has never worked for long, though — I always revert back to my old habits. So, rather than continuing to try to cut my spending on food away from home, I took a different approach instead. Here’s what I did.

I accepted that dining out is one of my money priorities

Rather than continuing to fight against my nature and try to cut spending on dining out, I decided that I was going to accept that this spending was important to me. Since I’d tried in the past to cut back and not been able to sustain my spending reductions, it seemed that eating out is a habit that would be really hard to break. And perhaps, it is a habit I don’t want to break.

So, since this is something that I realized matters to me, I made it one of my money priorities. Dining out doesn’t take precedence over saving in a brokerage account for retirement, and it is also not more important than having a fully funded emergency fund or avoiding credit card debt. But it is still an important money goal for me to have enough to eat out whenever I want, since it brings joy to my life and makes things easier in a lot of ways.

The reality is, it is absolutely OK to accept that some frivolous or unnecessary spending can be a money goal. Whether that’s saving up for a vacation or a fancy car, or nice shoes or season tickets to a sporting event, you can and should have money priorities that you work toward, and sacrifice for. It’s fine to have money goals that exist for the sole purpose of helping you enjoy life, rather than increasing your net worth.

I set up my spending to accommodate this priority

Since I accepted dining out was something I wanted to prioritize, I opted to make cuts to other expenses, so I could have plenty of money available to spend on restaurants and food delivery.

For example, I don’t really care about clothing, so I slashed my clothing budget drastically and now I devote almost no money to buying new clothes or shoes. I’ll only buy what I must when my current stuff wears out. I also decided not to spend money on entertainment like going to movies or concerts, since I end up never enjoying those things anyway. One little-used streaming service ended up going on the chopping block, too.

By taking these steps, I freed up enough money that I feel much more comfortable eating out whenever I want (within reason, of course). I’ve been better able to keep my spending within my means using this approach, and I also don’t feel like I’m really sacrificing. I’m happy to spend less on items I don’t care as much about, in order to splurge on some great meals.

If you have something fun in your life that you love to do, finding a way to afford it without jeopardizing your really important goals is absolutely worth it — and often doable. So, consider what type of spending makes you the happiest and see what you can cut in your budget to devote more of your money to it, so you can spend on it guilt free.

This could make a huge difference in your happiness and actually make it easier to accomplish all your financial goals over time. You’ll no longer find yourself fighting your nature, failing, and going over budget.

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It’s important to review your investments as retirement gets closer. Read on to learn more. [[{“value”:”

If you’re about a year away from retirement, you may be starting to count down the weeks until you end your time in the workforce and enjoy the freedom of not having to report to a boss. But it’s really important to make sure that the investments you own are suitable for someone who’s on the cusp of retirement. So with that in mind, here’s an important move to make in your brokerage account when that milestone is near.

Do a risk and diversification assessment

The money you have invested in a brokerage account may not constitute your sole retirement asset. You might also have savings, an IRA, or other income you plan to use during your senior years.

But if you have a brokerage account portfolio that’s earmarked for retirement, you’ll want to do two things when you’re about a year out:

Make sure you’re not taking on undue riskMake sure your holdings are well diversified

So let’s talk through each point. Stocks, by nature, are risky. But contrary to what you may have heard, you shouldn’t rush to dump all of your stocks ahead of retirement. Maintaining a stock portfolio as a senior is a good way to let your nest egg continue to generate a nice return.

In fact, the stock market’s average return over the past 50 years has been 10%. So even if you only have a portion of your assets in stocks as a retiree, that portion of your portfolio might grow at a pace that compensates for slower growth from your less risky investments.

But to be clear, it can be a smart idea to scale back on stocks if retirement is close so that they don’t comprise more than roughly 60% of your portfolio. That could mean replacing some stocks in your brokerage account with shares of a bond ETF, which could lower your exposure to risk.

Diversification and how to accomplish it

If you’re holding onto stocks whose future is questionable, you may want to unload some ahead of retirement and replace them with shares from companies that are more established. For example, smaller companies can be a riskier prospect than their larger counterparts (though not always). If you have a number of small-cap stocks in your portfolio, you may want to do some shifting before retirement kicks off.

When diversifying, it’s important to have a range of stocks in your brokerage account so that if a given segment of the market tanks, your portfolio doesn’t automatically take a dive.

Remember, once you retire, you may start liquidating the stocks you own for cash to live on. So it’s important to have access to a wide range of stocks.

If your portfolio isn’t as diversified as you feel it should be after doing your review, shift assets around now, while the market is in a decent place. You may also want to consider adding some S&P 500 ETFs to your portfolio if you feel you need more diversification.

Your investments need your attention

You’ve no doubt worked hard to build an investment portfolio that could serve as a nice income source for you in retirement. But now, it’s time to make sure that portfolio is set up to work for you once your career comes to an end. Make these moves if you’re retiring in a year. They could make it so you’re able to approach that milestone with more confidence.

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You don’t need a large living space to make good use of a Costco membership. Read on to learn more. [[{“value”:”

A basic membership at Costco costs $60 a year, while an Executive membership costs $120 but gives you 2% cash back on your purchases. Whichever membership you choose, it can be more than worth the money when you consider the savings you might reap by being able to purchase groceries and household items in bulk.

But the ability to bring home bulk items from Costco hinges on having a place to store them. And if you live in a city, you may not have a lot of storage space at home.

Of course, this isn’t a given. Not every city is like New York, for example, where a 400-square-foot studio is considered a generous-sized home.

But generally speaking, city dwellers tend to have less room to store things at home than those in suburban and rural areas. So that begs the question — is a Costco membership worth it if you live in a city? And the answer might be a resounding yes, depending on what you plan to use your membership for.

Costco sells more than just food and household essentials

Many people think of Costco as a place to buy milk, eggs, meat, and toilet paper in bulk. But Costco’s offerings extend well beyond these and similar items.

If you walk around a Costco warehouse, you’ll see everything from a clothing aisle to a toy aisle to a beauty aisle. Costco also carries a wide variety of electronics, household appliances, and more. So all told, even if you don’t buy a single grocery item at Costco, a membership could still very much end up being worth it.

Let’s say you pay $60 for a basic Costco membership and only shop there once during the year. If your sole Costco purchase is a laptop you manage to save $200 on, guess what? You’ve just paid for your membership and then some.

Similarly, if you’re someone who likes to travel, it could be worth joining Costco for the travel packages alone. A Costco vacation package to the Caribbean, for example, might cost you $2,500 for a week’s stay. Booking a comparable package on your own or even with an outside travel agent might cost you $3,000.

So in that case, it’s pretty easy to justify the expense of a Costco membership. And it doesn’t matter where you live — everyone could use a vacation.

A membership could be worth it even if you never set foot in the store

If you live in a city, limited storage space may not be your only impediment to joining Costco. You might also have a hard time actually getting to a Costco store if you’re someone without a car.

But the reality is that you can benefit from a Costco membership even if you never so much as enter a store. Not only does Costco.com carry a wide range of products you can order to have shipped to your door (often for free), but you can easily book your travel online. So all told, a membership could pay even if you never see what a Costco warehouse looks like in person.

You may be inclined to think that a Costco membership is more suitable for people who live outside of cities. But there’s much to be gained by joining Costco even if you live in a tiny apartment with no storage space whatsoever.

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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.Maurie Backman 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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Renting a home can be burdensome when you’re single. Read on for ways to lower your costs. [[{“value”:”

Being single can be a challenge from a financial standpoint. When you don’t have someone to split the bills with, covering your costs can be tough. This especially applies in the context of housing, which is many people’s largest monthly expense.

Data from Zillow finds that renting a home alone results in a “singles tax” of $7,110 per year on average. To put it another way, couples who rent a home together save $14,220 a year on average.

Of course, it doesn’t make sense to couple up for the express purpose of saving money on rent. It’s one thing to move in with a romantic partner because you’re there emotionally. It’s not a great idea to go out and settle for a partner, so you’re not paying the rent alone.

But still, it’s not easy having to bear the singles tax as a renter. So it pays to do what you can to save yourself some money. Here are some options to consider.

1. Be willing to give up some amenities

Your preference in finding a rental may be to live in an apartment building with a gym, elevator, and doorman. But if you can’t easily afford a rental with those perks, you may need to talk yourself into giving them up.

The more money you spend on housing, the less you’ll have available for other things that could enhance your quality of life. So if giving up perks like the ones just mentioned allows you to shave $300 a month off of your rent, it may be worth it so you can free up that money for not just savings, but also, social plans.

2. Consider a neighborhood that’s less desirable as long as it’s safe

When you’re single and live alone, it’s important to feel safe in your neighborhood. So moving to an area with a high crime rate to save money on rent really isn’t a great option to explore.

That said, you may be able to spend less on rent by moving to a neighborhood with fewer amenities than what you’re used to now. Maybe your current home puts you within walking distance of 23 restaurants, two different parks, and numerous bus stops. A home in a different neighborhood might limit you to two cafes and leave you with a 12-minute walk to the nearest bus stop. But if that saves you hundreds of dollars a month in rent, it may be worth it.

3. Try saving money outside of rent

You can potentially save money on rent by giving up amenities and moving someplace less convenient to where you might prefer to be. But making those moves could also negatively affect your quality of life. So rather than focus on saving money on rent, what you may want to do instead is resign yourself to paying a premium for rent — but try to save money in other ways.

For example, if you pay up for a centrally located apartment, you may be able to get by without a car. That could save you many hundreds of dollars a month. Or, if you live in a building with a nice roof deck, you may decide that instead of spending your evenings inside watching cable, you’ll unload that expense and instead spend more time reading on a lounge chair.

Take a look at your budget and see what non-essentials you’re spending money on now. If you can cut some of those, it frees up extra money you can put toward a more comfortable home.

It’s unfortunate that being single could mean bearing the burden of costly rent without relief. But there are steps you can take to ease that burden and avoid perpetual financial stress.

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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.Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Zillow Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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