Category Archives: WAHM Finance and Business Tips

04/23/12

Group Benefits

It’s open enrollment time for us, and I love this time of year! (DORK!) Getting to organize the upcoming benefit year for our family brings me peace of mind and security. 

 

I recently did our family’s open enrollment online, choosing health care and dental options, long-term disability and life insurance, and for the first time for us—both a Flexible Spending Account for Medical and Flexible Spending Account for Dependent Care (ie, Max’s preschool).  All of this will help reduce our monthly after-tax pay, which means less money each year to old Uncle Sam.  That makes me happy :)

 

Here is some information I wrote recently for my Money Matters column in Kentucky Living magazine.  Hope it helps others going through open enrollment.  Can you feel the excitement in the air!?

 

Group Benefits

As an incentive to employees, most employers offer group benefits to eligible employees.  Commonplace are benefits such as health, dental and vision, life, disability, and long term care insurance, retirement plans, stock options, health savings accounts, and flexible spending accounts.  Here are some things to consider regarding your groups’ benefits:

 

Do your own research:

These decisions will have a great impact on your family’s everyday life (such as health insurance) and your family’s future (such as retirement).  Therefore, it’s prudent to devote time, effort, and research before you enroll in any benefit.  Ask your employer questions.   Read over the pamphlets, discuss with your financial or tax advisor, and do some research online.  Consider attending open enrollement info sessions if offered by the provider, free of charge.  Visit the provider’s website for details of benefits, financial calculators, FAQs, and other tools to navigate the process.

 

Review other options:

Many times, purchasing  insurance through a group policy can be cost effective and especially helpful to those with pre-existing conditions.  However, don’t just assume this to be the case.  Compare what is offered with your group to individual life, disability, or long term care insurance you could obtain outside the company.  Even if it’s not cheaper, it may provide more flexibility, options, and continuity than your group benefits.

 

Follow up:

Be your own advocate. Monitor your benefits throughout the year, rather than only during open enrollment.  Major life changes such as a birth of a child, divorce, or marriage, usually mean the employee may make changes to benefits mid-year.  Write down notes during the current benefit year of changes you’d like to make come next open enrollment.

04/23/12

Checking your credit score

You’ve seen the (annoying) commercials, urging you to “Get your free credit report today!”

 

Though advertised campaigns and not public service announcements, I encourage readers to indeed, review your credit report for free online.

 

Recently, I checked mine out, assuming to find nothing but on time payments and business as usual. However, I was devastated to discover a charge from a credit agency of $70. It was tearing my credit score apart. I did not recognize the company, the charge, nor had I received any types of notices or information from them about this alleged outstanding balance.  Yet I was being penalized–greatly!

 

I followed the dispute process to have it removed, as I encourage readers to do if they feel there is unfair information on your report. (Note that I had to dispute it with all three major credit agencies separately.)  They also informed me that it may take 30-90 days for your credit report to update this information–even if it was fraudulent or found to be incorrect.  Thus, if I would have applied for any type of loan during this time period, my credit score would have reeked havoc on the terms of such loan.

 

You can check out your credit online at www.annualcreditreport.com.  The law provides one free credit report annually.  This is the only website endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission for receiving your free annual credit report, provided by the law. 

 

Since the reports given by all three major credit agencies are usually very similar, consider checking your report quarterly, each time from a different agency.  There are also other situations that may allow you to receive more than one free credit report annually.  These are outlined on each of the major three credit agencies websites:  Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.

 

Be cautious however, of sites that want you to purchase your credit score. More importantly is reviewing the information on your report to find any errors or omissions (as I did) that affect your golden score.

04/16/12

Saving for college just got even better!

So, I am a big fan of Upromise.  I’ve written about it before (click here to read about the program and how it helps parents save for college).

 

Since I found out about the program a few months ago, I have earned over $70 for Max’s college fund.  All by buying things online and through the Upromise website, that I would be buying anyway.

 

As an example: we are doing construction on our home and I used the program to purchase all our building supplies at Lowes.com.  Lowes contributed 5% of my purchase amount to Max’s 529 plan.  It’s ridiculously easy!  Free money.

 

In April, Upromise made it even easier to utilize their program by having all participating stores offer 5% contribution on all purchases, every day.  (Contribution rates used to vary from store to store and could be as small as 1%).  With 5% now being the minimum percentage contributed, it’s even easier to accumulate savings.

 

Some stores offer even more than 5%, and sometimes stores will run “specials” in which they temporarily increase their contribution rate. 

 

You can also use the program to pay down college loans with SallieMae (not just save for college) though we decided to use the program for Max.

 

It’s free money, people!!  You can sign up easily at their website and find more information, including their FAQs about how the program works. 

 

 

Join Upromise 728x90

02/22/12

Upromise: A great way to save for college

This week, we opened up a 529 plan for Max’s college.  In lieu of gifts, we collected money from friends and family at his first birthday party.  We are also contributing monthly from our bank account—very easy to set up!

 

Being a financial planner, I thought I knew all there was to know about 529 plans.  BUT, I learned about something very exciting while doing a little research this week. 

 

I discovered the Upromise program, and I love it!  Basically, it is a company (sponsored by our dear friends at Sallie Mae) that helps parents, family, and friends save for college every time they shop online, or use the Upromise card at accepted retailers.

 

We already have a card we love and use for rewards (the Wells Fargo card that pays back 1% of what we spend directly to the principal on our mortgage).  So, I did not sign up for another credit card through the Upromise program.  But the credit card is only one aspect of the savings program.  The other aspect is easy to participate in!

 

Here’s how it works. 

- You link your 529 account to your Upromise account. (Easy!)

- When you shop online, visit www.Upromise.com first.  From there, select the store you’d like to shop at.   A new window will appear with the store’s website.  Shop from there, and a certain percentage of what you spend will be earned for your 529 savings account.

 

It is basically a rewards program in which companies like Wal-mart, Babies R Us, Target (along with many, many others) reward you for shopping through the Upromise program.

 

I did it for the first time yesterday, and it was very smooth and easy.  We needed a new car seat, and I finally found the one I wanted from Wal-Mart.  So I went to the Upromise website, logged in, then clicked on Wal-Mart.   A new window opened, I went through the process of purchasing what I needed, and 5% of the total cost will be contributed to Max’s 529 account.

 

It was that easy! Upromise is the smart way to save for college!

 

You can also invite friends and family to participate.  For example, my mom signed up with max’s number.  So if she purchases anything online through the program, a portion of HER purchased will also go to Max’s fund…. you see how this works………

 

The financial planner in me is so excited!! This is a great and easy opportunity to earn FREE money for college for anyone that shops online, anyway.

 

I was very impressed with the stores they have agreements with.  Not limited at all!  Stores such as Target, Wal-mart, Apple, Dell, Gap, The Children’s Place, Lowes, etc. etc.

 

As I mentioned, there is also a credit card they offer for additional bonuses.  We opted out of that.  But if you are looking for a good rewards program credit card, this sounds like a good idea.

 

For more information, visit their website by clicking on the banner below:


Join Upromise!

02/14/12

College Fund for 1st Birthday Party

For Max’s first birthday party, we asked our guests for no gifts!  After all, he’s only one year old, and is fortunate to have plenty of toys, clothes, books, and gadgets that any kid can hope for.

Instead, we told friends and family that if they wanted to do something, they could bring lose change or dollar bills to contribute to his college fund.  (With all of daddy’s student loans, we better get started early!!)

 

I wrote this poem and included it as an insert in the guests’ invitations.  I also printed it on a photo and placed it near a bucket for the change at his party.  Some friends brought change and others gave money.  He also got a few checks (our friends and family were tooooo generous!!)

 

I plan to do this for future parties as well.  It’s a great way to teach our children about money—-that they don’t always need more “stuff” and that things like college and saving for your future are so important and necessary.


Join Upromise 728x90

12/28/11

Checking your Credit Score

You’ve seen the commercials, urging you to “Get your free credit report today!”

 

Though advertised campaigns and not public service announcements, I encourage readers to indeed, review your credit report for free online.

 

Recently, I checked mine out, assuming to find nothing but on time payments and business as usual. However, I was devastated to discover a charge from a credit agency of $70. It was tearing my credit score apart. I did not recognize the company, the charge, nor had I received any types of notices or information from them about this alleged outstanding balance.

 

I followed the dispute process to have it removed, as I encourage readers to do if they feel there is unfair information on your report.

 

You can check out your credit online at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. The law provides one free credit report annually. However, this is for each of the three major credit agencies. Since they are usually very similar, consider checking your report quarterly, each time from a different agency.

 

Be cautious however, of sites that want you to purchase your credit score. More importantly, is reviewing the information on your report to find any errors or ommissions (as I did) that affect your golden score.

 

Read more about:  Retirement & Getting out of Debt

12/7/11

Price of Kentucky Colleges

Paying for higher education can be daunting.  As I wrote in a piece recently regarding student loan repayment, the overall, long-term costs of an education must be consider by students carefully. College tuition is increasing on average much faster than normal inflation, causing a hurdle for those that are considering even in-state tuition.  

 

In our state, not all colleges are created equally—and neither are their price tags.  Here’s a comparison of the price of some of the Bluegrass’ top public colleges and universities for the 2010-2011 academic year:

 

University of Kentucky:   $4,305
University of Louisville: $4,212
Western Kentucky University:  $3,780
Nothern Kentucky University:  $3,564
Eastern Kentucky University:  $3,312
Morehead State University:  $3,246
Murray State:  $2,988

 

All data is for a full time undergraduate student, in state tuition, for one semester.  This includes tuition only (no room and board).

 

FinAid, a website dedicated to providing students and parents with information on financial aid, estimates that tuition will continue to increase at a rate nearly twice of inflation.   According to FinAid “During any 17-year period from 1958 to 2001, the average annual tuition inflation rate was between 6% and 9%…..For a baby born today, this means that college costs will be more than three times current rates when the child matriculates in college.”

 

Even though the cost of college education is increasing drastically, many would argue that the benefits associated with earning such a degree have not.  Thus, each individual should do their own cost-benefit analysis to determine what type of degree (Bachelor’s, Associates, Technical) and what type of college (private, public, in-state) is appropriate for their situation. 

 

The amount of student loans outstanding in this country could decrease, simply by high school graduates taking an honest and realistic evaluation of their potential future income, and planning college accordingly. 

 

Any of these above mentioned schools will provide the education one needs to be almost any profession— a teacher, an attorney, a doctor.  Yet, their price tags vary drastically, and that is something that all parents and students must take into consideration when making college plans.

 

 

11/9/11

Who is Checking my Credit?

 

 

There’s a lot of talk (and commercials) about consumer credit scores. Knowing one’s score has become a common objective of consumers, brought to the fore front by tightening credit and availability of loans.

 
But besides knowing how to check your own credit score and what composes that individual magic number, is knowing who will view, evaluate, and rely on such a score to make important decisions.  And you might be surprised to learn,  it’s not just lenders anymore.

 

 Credit checking has gone beyond credit and lending to include other industries such as insurance companies, landlords, and even employers.

 
Insurance companies may review your score as part of their underwriting process to determine premium rates on auto and home insurance.  Lower score could mean higher rates.  You should ask your agent at time of application if your credit is an underwriting factor.

 
Landlords, just like lenders, rely on a tenant to pay in full and on time.  A credit report is a good indicator of a tenant’s capability to do so. 

 

Even employers have joined the credit checking bandwagon.  Especially as the job market has tightened, employers may review the credit report of a potential employee as a sign of responsibility, or lack thereof.   In certain industries (such as investment brokers) a credit check is mandatory prior to employment.

 

The law entitles consumers to one free credit report annually, from each of the major credit bureaus.  Review yours to ensure there is no false or inaccurate information.  Be weary of companies that make you pay to see your credit score.  Simply reviewing the report’s accuracy is the most important.