Learn what’s behind an advisor’s credentials and why it matters. imtmphoto / Shutterstock.com
Type in ‘fee-only financial advisor’ in a Google search and you’ll see pages of financial advisors. Most with a dizzying array of credentials beside their names. The question is which professional designations truly mean something? If you know me from my weekly TV series, “MoneyTrack” that ran on PBS stations, you probably know that one of my biggest criticisms of the financial services industry…
Working with a travel agent might seem like a no-brainer. But there’s more to the story. Here’s what you need to know. [[{“value”:”
Image source: Getty Images
Now that summer is getting closer, you may be in the process of planning your big vacation for the year. And in that regard, you have options. You could do your planning on your own, or you could turn to a travel agent for help.
TravelAge West recently cited a survey by IBS Software showing that travel agent use is on the rise. And 38% of millennials and Gen Zers are opting to use travel agents as opposed to booking their vacations digitally.
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You may be inclined to use a travel agent for your next vacation. But should you?
Travel agents have the potential to help you save money. For example, a travel agent might manage to snag you a more favorable room rate at a hotel they have a relationship with. They might also manage to score you a credit you can use on your next cruise for things like drinks.
Plus, when you use the services of a travel agent, they’re the ones in charge of worrying about all the details. They can also, in some cases, help you map out an itinerary that helps you make the most of your destination. And they might know things about your destination that you don’t, allowing you to get off the beaten path and enjoy a meaningful trip.
The best part about using a travel agent? Generally, their services are free. Because of this, you might assume that using a travel agent is really a no-brainer. But there could be some hidden drawbacks.
In many situations, it makes sense to use a travel agent. But there are some drawbacks to be aware of.
For one thing, booking a trip through a travel agent might cost you more if that agent steers you toward a more expensive property. They may be more inclined to do this if it results in a larger commission for them.
So for example, let’s say you’re traveling to Aruba and are looking at a resort that normally costs $450 a night. Your travel agent may be able to get you in at $400 a night, which seems like a great deal. But there may be another comparable resort down the road that only charges $375 a night to begin with. Your travel agent, however, may not recommend that resort if it results in a lower commission for them.
Also, you may have been banking credit card reward points for an upcoming trip. But a travel agent may not be able to help you redeem those points. In that case, rather than getting a portion of your trip for free, you’re paying out of pocket in full.
Finally, some travel agents are more responsive than others. If you get stuck with someone who’s not so great at getting back to you, you may find that using a travel agent is an overwhelmingly frustrating experience.
If you’re taking a pretty straightforward trip and are visiting a destination you’ve been to before, then you may decide to book your plans solo, especially if you have credit card rewards you want to cash in. Remember, too, that you may be able to eke out some savings during your trip by using a travel rewards credit card when dining out or booking activities.
On the other hand, if you’re traveling someplace new and you don’t want to stress over the details, then it could be wise to use a travel agent. You may want to get recommendations so you don’t get stuck with someone who’s tough to reach.
Also, if you decide to use a travel agent, be clear about your budget from the start. If you can’t swing more than $4,000 for your vacation, say so. That way, your travel agent hopefully won’t push you to book plans that are beyond what you can afford.
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Have you noticed higher price tags when buying chocolate at the grocery store? You’re not imagining a price increase. Find out why cocoa prices are rising. [[{“value”:”
Image source: Getty Images
If you have a solid stash of chocolate left over from the Easter Bunny, you may want to hold on to it for a while. The cost of cocoa, a key ingredient in chocolate products, has exceeded prior pricing records. You should expect to pay more for your favorite sweet treats if you’re a chocoholic. Find out more about this news so you can adjust your budget accordingly.
Cocoa prices have continued to climb in 2024. On March 26, 2024, the cost of cocoa hit a record level. Futures for May deliveries reached an all-time high of $10,030 per metric ton.
According to NPR, cocoa prices have more than doubled in the last three months and more than tripled in the past year. If you’ve noticed higher-than-normal prices when browsing the candy aisle, you’re not imagining the higher numbers you saw.
If you plan to purchase more chocolate soon, consider how your checking account balance will be impacted. Otherwise, you may exceed your budget.
So, why are you paying more for chocolate these days? A lack of supply. Extreme weather conditions have impacted the supply of cocoa. The majority of the world’s cocoa beans are grown in West Africa, and extreme weather has resulted in harsh growing conditions.
Heavy rains, flooding, and dry seasons with high winds have impacted the cocoa supply. This has led to increases in cocoa prices. If extreme weather conditions continue, consumers will likely feel a financial impact when buying this delicious treat.
If you’re a big fan of chocolate and are feeling down about the high price tags you’re seeing, here are a few tips to help you save money without giving up on your preferred sweet treat.
It’s best to pay attention to sales. It’s wise to stock up when your favorite retailers have your go-to chocolate products on sale at a discount. You might spend more money to stock up, but you won’t have to repurchase more chocolate for a while.
Many popular name-brand chocolate snacks are delicious. But that doesn’t mean that other brands aren’t tasty. Buying generic chocolate brands instead of name-brand ones could help you reduce your spending.
If you’re set on a particular chocolate product, buying in bulk could offer savings. Many shoppers with warehouse club memberships buy bulk sweets and other snack favorites to keep more money in the bank.
Whether you’re heading to the store for more chocolate or other essentials, you need to consider your finances. It’s never a good idea to spend beyond your means.
If you overspend and accumulate costly credit card debt, it can be challenging to get out of debt quickly. Setting and sticking to a budget is the best approach. If you’re new to budgeting, using one of the best budgeting apps may be helpful.
You can monitor your spending and set spending limits to stay on track. Budgeting can also help you reduce spending to have more money to prioritize your personal finance goals.
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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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Eager to leave money to loved ones? Read on to learn about an awesome account that could make it possible to do just that. [[{“value”:”
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When you have children, it’s natural to want the best for them. And you might also have the goal of setting them up financially even once you’re no longer around to offer that kind of support.
Recent data from Empower finds that 67% of families say they want to leave an inheritance to loved ones. And if that’s a goal of yours, there’s one retirement account in particular it pays to focus on.
The nice thing about traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs) is that the funds you contribute go in tax-free, saving you money upfront. With a Roth IRA, there’s no tax break on the money you put in. However, unlike traditional IRAs, you’re not taxed on Roth IRA withdrawals. And investment gains in a Roth IRA are tax-free. With a traditional IRA, those gains are only deferred, so you pay taxes eventually — specifically, when you take withdrawals.
Another key difference between a traditional and Roth IRA is that with the latter, you’re not forced to take required minimum distributions, or RMDs. RMDs are designed to get you to spend down a lot of your tax-advantaged savings in your lifetime.
See, the IRS doesn’t necessarily want its tax-advantaged retirement plans to serve as a vehicle for the well-off to pass wealth down to their heirs. As such, it imposes RMDs on savers so they remove funds from their accounts on a yearly basis once they reach a certain age.
But Roth IRAs don’t impose RMDs. If you don’t end up needing all of your savings in retirement, you can reserve some, or even all, of that nest egg for your children. And the nice thing is that because Roth IRA income is tax-free for retirees, your heirs will have the option to take that money tax-free as well.
All told, a Roth IRA could serve as a great savings tool that allows you to build a retirement nest egg and arrange for some of that money to be left behind for the people you care about the most. But the rules of inherited Roth IRAs can be a bit complex. And there may also be an alternative means of setting up an inheritance that’s more financially advantageous to you and your children.
So for that reason, it’s a good idea to consult an estate-planning attorney if you know for certain that you want to leave an inheritance behind. A professional in that realm can walk you and your children through your options and help you arrive at the best solution.
For example, an attorney might advise you to consider a living trust for your children as a means of passing along wealth. Or, they might suggest a combination of accounts.
An attorney can also make sure that your children know what to do with an inherited Roth IRA when the time comes to use it. That alone might give you more peace of mind.
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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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Having a seller agree to your offer for their home is only the beginning. Keep reading for what comes next in the home-buying process. [[{“value”:”
Image source: Getty Images
It finally happened. After touring homes for sale and worrying that you might not find anything worth buying (been there), you fell in love with a house. So you had your real estate agent craft the perfect offer, and the seller accepted. Congratulations! Here’s what happens now.
Some states require lawyer involvement when a piece of real estate is bought or sold. Yes, this will represent an extra cost to you as the buyer, but it helps to think of it as an extra layer of protection. Your attorney will review your purchase contract, ensure your interests and finances are protected in the transaction, and make sure no outstanding liens remain on the home you’re buying — you want a clean title.
It’ll be on you to find that attorney, but the odds are good your real estate agent will have suggestions for good local options. Local is important, because you want someone who is well versed in local laws and has a good grasp of how everything works in your market.
I hope you didn’t waive the home inspection to get your offer accepted! Ideally not — which means it’s time to get a home inspector to comb through your future property and look for potential problems. Your real estate agent might have suggestions for you here, too, but I highly recommend doing your own research. Take to the internet and look for reviews of any home inspection company you’re considering using.
Ideally, you want to see reviews noting that the inspector did a thorough job and was reassuring. Having a house inspected is nerve-wracking — it might have looked great when you toured it and made the offer, but you never know if mold could be lurking in the attic or if the electrical system is built on knob and tube wiring.
In this competitive housing market, it’s likely that you got pre-approval for a mortgage before you started house hunting — doing so would’ve given you an edge over fellow wannabe homeowners who didn’t. Once you’re satisfied with the results of your home inspection and ready to follow through with the purchase, it’s time to formally apply and get your official mortgage rate. Your mortgage lender will probably need additional items from you, such as updated pay stubs or bank statements.
Having the rate information in writing will allow you to formally decide on mortgage terms, if you were going back and forth between options like a 30-year fixed or adjustable-rate mortgage. And you’ll be given the chance to lock your mortgage rate, so it won’t change between application and closing, which means you’ll find out how much your monthly payments will be.
If you’re selling a home and buying a new one at the same time, you might elect to use the same insurance company for your new policy (not a bad idea to shop around anyway, though — you might save money).
But if you’re going from renter to homeowner, it pays to take the time to dig in to research how much insurance you’ll need for your new home. From there, you can collect quotes from home insurers to see which will give you the best deal for the right amount of coverage. Consider bundling with your auto insurance for more savings.
It might be a bit soon to start packing, but it’s not too soon to plan. Make a moving budget (and pad it by $500 — moving always costs more than you think it will) and start opening closets and seeing what you can get rid of before you move. Decide how you’ll be moving, because you have options: moving truck, trailer, cargo container, friend’s station wagon?
Consider hiring movers, and perhaps calling around to local companies to see about prices. Hiring professionals will increase the cost of your move, but the extra credit card charge can be worth it to save your back and your sanity.
OK, this last one is extremely important. Resist the urge to go on a shopping spree and finance some new furniture for your sweet new digs. Don’t open a new credit card so you can take advantage of a 0% APR offer and upgrade that scratched up glass top stove. And definitely don’t quit your job.
Leave your finances exactly as they are while your mortgage is with the underwriters and being set in stone. Don’t make any changes until after closing, when the house is legally yours. Taking on new debt or making a big change to your finances could make you a riskier borrower, which might mean losing out on that mortgage you worked so hard to get.
Having an offer accepted is incredibly exciting, especially if you’ve been waiting a long time to become a homeowner. But it’s really only the beginning — as you’ve just read, there’s so much more to do before that house is officially your home.
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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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Two years of high inflation has soured Americans’ view of the economy. Read on to find out how to improve your financial situation. [[{“value”:”
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America has thankfully avoided a recession that once seemed all but inevitable. But two years of rising inflation and aggressive interest rate cuts that have driven up the price of debt has taken its toll on many Americans.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 31% of Americans say that economic conditions are “poor,” and an additional 41% say that they’re “only fair.” This is in stark contrast to the remaining group of Americans who label the economy as excellent or good.
Here’s why a majority of Americans don’t have a favorable view of the economy and what you can do to help get your personal finances back on track.
There are many individual reasons why people feel bad about the economy, Pew found, including someone’s political leanings or socioeconomic status. But of the 72% of respondents who said the economy isn’t doing well, their top three reasons for feeling this way were because of:
High inflationHigh cost of livingLack of well-paying jobs/low wages
While inflation has cooled, it’s understandable why so many people are still concerned about it. Inflation is growing at a slower pace — 2.8% in February, using the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge — but the rise in prices over the past few years has made everything more expensive.
Consider some of the cost-of-living increases recently:
Americans now spend an average of $779 per month on food, up 13%.The average selling price of a house increased nearly 24% over the past three years to $417,700.The average transaction price for a new car is $47,244, up 14% from three years ago.
So, that’s the bad news, but the good news is that there are a few steps you can take to help improve your personal finances.
Getting yourself out of a financial hole is difficult, but there are some practical ways to make incremental improvements. Here are a few ways to start moving in the right direction.
Most experts recommend having a minimum of $1,000 of cash in an emergency fund to help cover unexpected costs like a car repair, medical bill, or house repair. If you can’t reach that amount, try to put as much as you can spare into a savings account every month. The more you have saved, the less you’ll rely on credit cards or other loans to help cover unplanned expenses.
These can be tricky if you’re already in debt, but they can also help you catch up on payments. Many balance transfer cards offer a 0% promotional rate on balance transfers for a year or more. Signing up for a balance transfer card could help you lower your interest rate while you work to pay off debt.
When you’re in a difficult financial situation, having an extra set of eyes on the problem is helpful. A financial advisor can help you devise a plan to pay off debt, create a budget, and get your finances in order. The National Association of Financial Advisors’ website can help you find fiduciaries who are legally obligated to work in your best interest.
I know what it’s like to have stubborn credit card debt, and I recently picked up additional freelancing work to pay it off. About half of Americans have a side hustle, and there are lots of great work platforms to help you get started. While they won’t make you rich, the average side hustle generates about $9,720 annually.
If you’ve been in your position for a while and your responsibilities have increased, it may be a good time to ask for a raise. Some estimates put the success rate of receiving a bump in pay after asking at 70%.
Not all of the above suggestions may apply to your individual situation. But the thing to remember is that doing one or two of them could be a small step in the right direction. Identifying what you can control when unexpected financial circumstances happen will help you know which steps can help you get back on track.
This credit card is not just good – it’s so exceptional that our experts use it personally. It features a lengthy 0% intro APR period, a cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee! Click here to read our full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes.
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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