Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Liz Weston

Friday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: How your credit card can help you save on summer travel. Also in the news: 7 steps to save on hardwood flooring costs, how not to be a knucklehead on Venmo, and how to boost your benefits at work.

How Your Credit Card Can Help You Save on Summer Travel
Using credit card rewards to pay for vacation.

7 Steps to Save on Hardwood Flooring Costs
How to keep your budget grounded.

How Not to Be a Knucklehead on Venmo
Don’t make things uncomfortable.

Boosting your benefits
Don’t leave money on the table.

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: One couple’s journey from debt to $1.5 million in savings. Also in the news: What to buy and skip in July, Whole Foods joins Amazon’s Prime Day, and how the lawsuits against student loan service Navient could affect you.

One Couple’s Journey From Debt to $1.5 Million in Savings
Communication is key.

What to Buy (and Skip) in July
Making the most of midsummer sales.

Prime Day Alert: 10% Back at Whole Foods with Amazon Prime Visa
Whole Foods joins the Prime Day excitement.

How the lawsuits against student loan servicer Navient could affect you
Four states are currently suing the student loan giant.

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Credit cards can give you a break on back-to-school purchases. Also in the news: How credit card perks can be your ticket to a cheaper vacation, 3 questions to help grow your retirement savings, and a nonprofit that will give you $1000 if you take personal finance classes.

Credit Cards Can Give You a Break on Back-to-School Purchases
Easing the pain of fall’s big expenses.

Credit Card Perks Can Be Your Ticket to a Cheaper Vacation
Saving on fun.

3 Questions to Help Grow Your Retirement Savings
Give your retirement a boost.

This nonprofit will give you $1,000 if you take a few personal finance classes
Giving Millennials a head start.

How to profit from someone else’s financial mistake

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Most of us have wasted money on ill-considered purchases or stuff we really couldn’t afford. As we get more financially savvy, that happens less often. But we can still profit from other people’s bad choices.

People who prize the latest and greatest, for example, quickly need to upgrade to the next shiny thing. That leaves plenty of lightly used cars and electronics for sale at a discount.

People who can’t look beyond cosmetic damage also provide buying opportunities for those who can, since surface flaws can ding price without hurting functionality. Then there are the “d’oh” mistakes: the stuff that didn’t fit or turned out to be the wrong shade of robin’s egg blue. That stuff gets returned so it can be discounted and snapped up by frugal buyers.

In my latest for the Associated Press, three ways to profit from others’ mistakes.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: The benefits of a just-for-debt credit card. Also in the news: July’s stock market outlook, bogus organic fruit, and how long it takes your credit score to recover from a drastic drop.

Just-for-Debt Credit Card: It Has One Job
Use this card for only one thing.

Stock Market Outlook: A Market That Giveth and Taketh Away
Buckle your seat belts.

$6 Million in Bogus Organic Fruit Sold to U.S., Costa Rican Report Finds
Bogus pineapples fill the shelves.

How Long It Takes Your Credit Score to Recover from a Drastic Drop
Be prepared to wait.

Q&A: The future is bleak for charitable deductions, early retirees’ healthcare costs

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Dear Liz: When I sat down with my accountant in March to do my 2017 taxes, he said next year I will take the standard deduction. Are my contributions to charity still deductible if I take the standard deduction?

Answer: No. Charitable contributions are an itemized deduction. If you don’t itemize your deductions, you won’t get the tax break.

Congress nearly doubled the standard deduction as part of its tax reform. For married couples, the standard deduction is now $24,000, up from $12,700. The state and local tax deduction was capped at $10,000. As a result, the proportion of taxpayers who will itemize their deductions is expected to drop from about 30% to 10% or less.