Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Liz Weston

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Preparing your home for the winter. Also in the news: Understanding the “kiddie tax”, why your chances of retiring early could be determined by your personality, and how to defeat the urge to binge shop.Education savings

Tips for Preparing Your Home for Winter
Don’t let your money go up in chimney smoke.

Understanding the ‘Kiddie Tax’
Those generous gifts could be generating taxable income.

Retiring Early May Come Down to Your “Financial Personality”
Are you a “protector” or a “pleaser”?

How to Defeat the Urge to Binge Shop
You might want to star by leaving your wallet at home.

Is Saving the Key to Happiness?
Money can’t buy you love, but saving it might just make you happy.

Holiday triage: How to get ready when you’re not

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Christmas shopping woman holding giftsThanksgiving is so late this year that I’ve been drifting along in a lovely bubble of denial. Even my Jewish friends’ preparations for Hanukkah haven’t been enough to alert me that Christmas isn’t far off.

Today a TV crew from a local Chinese-language stopped by to record some tips for enjoying the holidays without creating debt. The key, I said, is planning. So now’s the time to take my own advice.

Holiday season is a busy and expensive time, one that for us includes entertaining, travel, several family birthdays and a bucketload of presents. So here’s what I’ll be doing this weekend to prepare:

Finishing the spreadsheet. I use an Excel spreadsheet to list who will be getting presents and a target spending amount for each person. The spreadsheet also includes an estimate of what we’ll spend on travel (airfare, hotel, gas, food), entertaining (drinks, food, centerpieces), decorations (tree and lights) and holiday tips for the people who make our lives easier (cleaning lady, gardeners, hair stylist and so on). I total everything up, gasp, and start making adjustments so that our spending won’t leave us with huge bills in January.

Going on a treasure hunt. I buy gifts throughout the year and stash them in convenient hidey-holes throughout the house. I’ll dig them out and add them in the appropriate cells on the spreadsheet so I don’t wind up buying duplicate gifts.

Cashing in. I’m not a huge fan of gift cards as gifts, but I love using them to buy real gifts. I also have a rewards credit card program that allows me to use points to get Visa gift cards that, again, can be used to buy gifts or given in lieu of cash as a holiday tip. My daughter and I will also take our coin jar down to the nearest Coinstar to get a fee-free Amazon.com gift card. (Coinstar also offers gift certificates to iTunes, Starbucks and a bunch of other retailers.)

Stocking up. I like to take advantage of holiday sales to buy an extra turkey (to freeze and use later), stock up on baking supplies and lay in a fresh supply of crackers, dips and other nibblies for drop-in guests. This is also a great time of year to double dinner recipes and freeze half for those days that are just too frantic to cook.

I plan to finish this weekend in much better shape for the holidays. How about you? What needs to get done now for you to be ready?

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: How to avoid charity scams. Also in the news: Money lessons from retirees, money-saving tips for travelers, and how a grandparents’ gift for college could ruin a student’s financial aid.

4 Ways to Avoid Charity Scams
Protecting your empathy from being preyed upon.

5 Financial Lessons from Retirees
Voices of experience.

3 Smart Money-Saving Tips For Your Travels
More money for souvenirs!

Grandparents’ 529 College Distributions Can Be a Ticking Time Bomb
A loving gesture which could ruin a student’s financial aid.

Laid Off? 5 Tips To Get Back On Your Feet
How not to become complacent during a layoff.

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Saving money while expecting a baby. Also in the news: How to finance your closing costs, teaching your kids about money, and financial tips for adults going back to school.

9 Ways to Save Money When You’re Expecting a Baby
One for every month!

How to Finance Your Mortgage Closing Costs
Little known ways to absorb your closing costs.

5 ways to teach kids about money that work
Letting them make mistakes can be a valuable lesson.

Financial tips for adults returning to college
FAFSA’s aren’t just for kids.

Financial Frenemies: Who Makes You Overspend?
When friends can be bad influences on your wallet.

Investing in stocks: what you need to know

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Dear Liz: I currently have a 401(k) and an IRA, but want something more. A longtime CPA, who is very close to our family, recommended that I buy some stocks, but I’m unsure how to go about this.

Answer: When you’re investing, it’s important to be diversified. That means you should spread your money among different types of investments so you don’t have all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

You’d need hundreds of thousands of dollars to be properly diversified with individual stocks. When you’re just starting out, it’s a lot smarter to buy mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that invest in a wide variety of stocks. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, for example, invests in more than 3,600 companies and has an ultra-low expense ratio of just 0.05%.

The fees you pay for your investments are important, since high expenses can dramatically reduce your total returns. Funds that try to beat the market, rather than match it, often engage in a lot of trading that drives up costs. Funds sold through full-service brokerages can carry high expenses as well.

So look for a discount brokerage that allows you to invest with minimal fees and commissions. Or consider one of the new breed of online advisors, such as Betterment or Wealthfront, that offers a low-cost basket of investments that are selected, monitored and rebalanced using sophisticated technology.

Beware debt reduction offers

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Dear Liz: What is your opinion of debt reduction programs? I am constantly receiving mail from various companies, and I was wondering if they are legit. They claim they can reduce my debt, which sounds promising, but I am hesitant to get involved with them.

Answer: You’ve got good instincts.

Many of the companies sending out these solicitations say they can settle your debt for pennies on the dollar. What they often fail to mention is that the debt settlement process can result in your being sued by your creditors and having your credit trashed. That’s assuming they try to settle your debt at all, rather than just disappearing with any money you pay them in advance.

If you’re struggling with too much debt, you should make two appointments: one with a legitimate credit counselor (visit the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at http://www.nfcc.org for referrals) to see whether you qualify for a debt management program to repay your credit card debt, and another with a bankruptcy attorney (check the National Assn. of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys at http://www.nacba.org for referrals) to see whether a bankruptcy filing might be appropriate for your situation.