The Buffalo News - MoneySmart http://www.buffalonews.com Latest stories from The Buffalo News en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 22:29:49 -0400 Tue, 21 May 2013 22:29:49 -0400 <![CDATA[ Do 0% credit card offers mean free money? ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130519/BUSINESS01/130518963/1006
Open that new plastic, buy now and get 0 percent until August 2014? Yes, you’re not imagining things. Credit card experts say we’re seeing the best promotions for plastic ever since the Great Recession.

“It was free money to me in some sense,” said Donald Grimes, an economist at the University of Michigan.

Grimes jumped at a 0 percent deal that runs 18 months to buy an Apple laptop. But he plans to pay off the purchase before an 18 percent annual percentage rate kicks in, retroactively on this deal, if the purchase is not paid off in 18 months.

“I’ve played that game, and I know how to do it,” Grimes said.

The latest run of 0 percent offers – including 0 percent financing deals at stores and 0 percent introductory-rate major credit cards – is one more sign that the worst is over for the economy.

“The economy is definitely coming back, and the credit card industry is definitely making a bet on that,” said Tim Chen, CEO of NerdWallet.com, which compares everything from credit cards to checking accounts to airline fees.

More jobs mean more people can pay their credit card bills. Credit card issuers are able to offer 0 percent rates to a significant group of consumers now because the expectation is that interest rates will remain low and the unemployment rate won’t climb dramatically through the end of 2014. If that’s correct, economists say, it would be a while before rates increase appreciatively.

Banks also have so much in additional reserves that they have a good deal of money to lend, as well.

Yet do all those 0 percent deals mean we’re heading back to the oh-too-easy credit days when borrowers basically went on a bender? Not there yet, economists and credit card experts say.

The latest 0 percent offers are going to people who have good credit and are likely to make their payments, according to Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.

The deals aren’t just for six months any more – again, indicating more optimism that the worst may be behind us. Some 0 percent rate deals can be strung out for 15 months, 18 months or even 21 months, depending on the offer.

But Grimes, senior research specialist for the U-M Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy, said he is concerned about potential problems ahead after seeing the personal savings rate drop to 2.6 percent in the first quarter, compared with 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter last year.

Consumers could be stretching more, he said, to deal with a 2 percentage point increase in the payroll tax that began Jan. 1. Will some be tempted to borrow too much?

Right now, though, 0 percent could be a great deal for those who want to borrow and pay down old debt sensibly.

Better deals for consumers include:

• Slate from Chase is offering a 0 percent introductory rate until Aug. 1, 2014, on both purchases and balance transfers. More important, for a limited time, Slate also is offering a $0 introductory balance transfer fee for balance transfers during the first 60 days the account is open.

• The Citi Simplicity Card had a 0 percent introductory rate for 18 months for purchases and balance transfers. The balance transfer fee is $5 or 3 percent of the amount of each transfer.

• Capital One Prestige Card is offering 0 percent on balance transfers and purchases through August 2014. Balance transfer fee is 3 percent.

• The Discover “it” card offers an introductory 0 percent rate for 14 months from the date of opening the account.

What’s the best deal for you?

Will you be going out to buy new patio furniture with that 0 percent card? If taking on new debt, consumers would want to know what the payments would be each month so that they would be able to pay off their debt at 0 percent before the offer ends in 15 months or 18 months.

Simple math: Take the amount of the debt and divide by the number of months you have at 0 percent. So if you spend $6,000 on the card, you’d want to pay $400 a month to have that debt paid off in 15 months.

Are you struggling to take care of some old debt? If so, how much will you pay to transfer a balance if tackling an old balance is part of your strategy?

“The balance transfer fee plays a big role,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of CardHub.com.

One reason the Slate from Chase offer is so appealing, Papadimitriou said, is that there is no transfer fee for the first 60 days the account is open. After that 60 days, the fee for future balance transfers is either $5 or 3 percent of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.

“It’s very easy to get distracted by the length of the 0 percent offer,” Papadimitriou said.

Make sure you understand what kind of debt can be transferred to a card, too. Slate from Chase will not allow consumers to transfer balances from store credit cards, such as a Macy’s credit card.

And remember these cards can still go from 0 percent to 20 percent. Much of that will depend on your creditworthiness. The Capital One Prestige Card, for example, offers variable rates ranging from 10.9 percent to 18.9 percent.

Consumers need to look at the big picture of credit, too. If you’re looking to refinance the house this spring or take out a new car loan now, think twice about jumping at 0 percent offers. You typically don’t want to open a new credit card before applying for a major loan in the next 12 months, McBride said.

Understand that 0 percent on a credit card is not the same as making no payments for 18 months.

To keep that 0 percent rate, a card holder would need to keep up with making at least the minimum monthly payments, McBride said. If you are 60 days delinquent, you would lose the 0 percent rate.

The 0 percent rate could be a break for some consumers. But the trick is will they make time to pay off that debt?

“Use the 0 percent card to get out of debt faster, not as an excuse to spend more,” Papadimitriou said. ]]> Sun, 19 May 2013 23:27:11 -0400 By Susan Tompor

Detroit Free Press

]]> <![CDATA[ A little softness goes a long way ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130519/BUSINESS01/130518964/1006
My friend, Kathy, once said she hated buying toilet paper because it was literally like flushing money down the toilet. I totally get that.

When I was broke, which was every minute of my life before I landed this dream job, I used to fantasize about what it would be like to go to the grocery store and buy whatever toilet paper I wanted.

That’s because I used to stand in the aisle with my calculator, comparing unit prices and square inches, trying to figure out which toilet tissue had the best value. Then I’d try factoring in one ply, two ply and three ply, how much we would use on average and how that week’s sales and coupons affected everything.

After what seemed like forever, I’d settle on something and leave, feeling like I’d missed something and was making a terrible mistake.

Yeah, first-world problems, I know, but it made my heart race.

How nice it would be, I thought, to just grab what I really wanted – the Charmin Ultra – and move on.

Today, that’s exactly what I do. And I count my blessings every time.

It’s a relief for my husband, too, I think. Before, when we were shopping together, if he said, “I’ll go grab the toilet paper,” and tried to peel away, I would be seized with panic and go into full control-freak mode.

“Um ... Sure! Yeah! OK! Just make sure you’re getting the right kind,” I’d say.

“What’s the right kind?” he’d ask.

“I don’t know. Whatever’s cheapest,” I’d say.

He’d leave and come back in about two minutes, which told me that he definitely didn’t get the right one.

“This one was the cheapest,” he’d say, holding whatever.

“But was it the best value?” I’d ask, nervous.

“Um ... yes?”

I would try to send him back with more detailed instructions on how to find the “right” toilet paper, to which he would say, “Um, yeah. Actually, I think I’ll get the milk.”

I can remember as a kid helping my mom scrape pennies together so she could run down to the store and buy a single roll from Freshmart. I bet she did the same calculations.

My mother-in-law always seems to have Quilted Northern in stock. I wonder when she felt financially secure enough to start routinely buying the good stuff.

It’s nice to be able to appreciate the little things. If you’ve ever been stuck in a public stall without a square to spare, you know what I mean.



email: schristmann@buffnews.com or call MoneySmart at 849-4612. Follow me at www.Facebook.com/DiscountDiva. ]]> Sun, 19 May 2013 23:26:10 -0400 Samantha Maziarz Christmann
]]> <![CDATA[ The lazy person’s guide to a successful yard sale ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130519/BUSINESS01/130518965/1006 All year long, when cleaning out closets, playrooms and the basement, you’ve thrown unwanted things into your “For Garage Sale” pile.

But now that it’s that time of year, the last thing you want to do this weekend is drag all that stuff outside and actually put it up for sale.

Well, have no fear, MoneySmart is here, with the lazy person’s guide to garage sales.

Follow our simple, step-by-step instructions and you’ll be done in no time. Because who needs perfect when you can have good enough?

1. Try to time your sale to take place during a block sale or when at least one other family on your street is having a garage sale.

That way, they can do all the work getting the word out and you can sit back and reap the customers who straggle over.

2. If no one on your street is planning a sale, call the newspaper and put in a classified to advertise your own.

Now you’re stuck. If you don’t have a garage sale on the date you’ve advertised, you will have people showing up at your house trying to buy your lawn mower and other random things in your garage that aren’t for sale. There you have it: instant motivation!

3. Make your kids drag everything you want to sell into the garage.

4. Stuff that looks nice will sell better, so start cleaning your merchandise.

Normally, that would mean buffing out scuff marks with shoe polish and spritzing Windex on things with shiny surfaces. But in this case, just knock the cobwebs off and wipe down the dust.

5. Start thinking about price. If you want to make sure everything goes, price it low. You might make slightly less money on a single item, but you will likely sell more overall.

Think of it this way: Do you want every possible cent for that old mini-trampoline or do you want it out of your cellar? What’s worth more to you, getting market value for that 15-year-old treadmill or having someone haul it away at their own expense?

6. Start pricing. Keep it simple, with just a couple of pricing categories, and then sort items into piles according to price.

Depending on what you have, you might stick to just four pricing categories; say, 25 cents, $1, $5 and $10.

That way, instead of writing out each individual price tag, you can make one color-coded sign. Each price gets its own color sticker.

Group everything of the same price together on one table or blanket with a sign, such as, “Everything on this table, 25 cents.”

7. Make sure you have lots of change. If you stick to your simple pricing scheme, it will also simplify what kinds of small bills and coins you’ll need – such as quarters, singles, fives and tens. Keep it in a locked box away from your house.

8. Take a picture of your goodies and post it online.

Wait, that came out wrong. Take a picture of the merchandise you’re selling and post it, along with the details of your sale (time, date, place) to Facebook, Twitter and Craigslist.

It’s a great way to advertise your sale, and since you can do it from your smartphone, it doesn’t violate the principles of laziness.

If you’re feeling really ambitious (which, I know, you’re not) take a picture of each different price category so people can really get an idea of what you’ve got.

9. Invite your friends. Not to buy stuff, though they might, but because you shouldn’t hold a garage sale by yourself.

For one, it would be boring, and for two, there are a lot of weirdos out there. Safety in numbers.

10. Fill a cooler with ice and bottles of water. You can sell the bottled water for $1 apiece and make more money! Besides, your friends will need someplace to chill the pinot grigio.

11. Grab a ton of plastic grocery bags out of the junk drawer or wherever you keep them. People will need a way to carry their purchases home.

To encourage people to buy more, take a cue from Bath and Body Works and hand them a bag as soon as they walk up. This serves two purposes: it allows people to carry (and buy) more, and it guilts them out of leaving empty-handed because they’ll feel embarrassed to hand you back an empty bag.

12. Put everything on clearance. An hour or two before your sale ends, slash everything to half price. Have the least tipsy of your friends scribble “50 percent off” on a big piece of cardboard.

13. When your sale is through, pack up whatever didn’t sell and call Amvets or another charity that picks up donated items.

14. Once you’ve donated your leftovers to charity and before they’ve been hauled away, get a receipt for your donation and put it in your “For taxes” pile.

15. You’re done! Now use some of your new pocket change to order a pizza for your friends and go party in a house made spacious by the newly vacated garage sale pile.



email: schristmann@buffnews.com ]]> Sun, 19 May 2013 23:25:19 -0400 Samantha Maziarz Christmann
]]> <![CDATA[ Six questions to ask before booking a summer vacation ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130512/BUSINESS01/130519745/1006 It’s May. Memorial Day and the end of the school year are in sight. Suddenly, you’re thinking about a summer vacation. A little advance planning – and some insider tips – can save you a lot of money. Whether you’re booking airfare, a car rental or a hotel room, there are questions you should ask first.Q: When is the best time to buy airfare?

A: There is no overarching rule, but generally the sweet spot for buying is four to six weeks before you travel. Prices are highest eight to 10 weeks and two to three weeks in advance. However, start your search earlier, if possible. Learn what fares tend to be on a route so you can jump on a deal when one appears. Timing it right can save a family hundreds of dollars. And remember, with most fares you now have 24 hours to cancel for any reason. Use that to your advantage.

Q: Is it worth paying for extras such as more legroom, access to shorter security lines and early boarding?

A: There are a number of variables to consider here, including the length of your flight — and your legs. The airline and time of day can also matter.

You can buy your way to the front of a security line. United, for examples, charges $9 for the privilege. But first consider the time you’re flying. At lunchtime on a Tuesday, the airport is probably empty anyway. However, if you’re leaving Orlando or Las Vegas on a Sunday, the fee could be money well spent.

Boarding early improves your chances of finding overhead space. But that’s about it. If you don’t have a carry-on bag, then save the money – typically $10 each way. Only on Southwest – which doesn’t assign seats – is there an additional advantage: being first to pick where to sit.

Then there’s legroom. JetBlue charges extra for seats in the front of the plane with more legroom. But its standard seats already have three inches more legroom than a similar seat on United. “Preferred seats” on American Airlines start at $4 and climb to $99, depending on the length of a flight. But there isn’t extra space — you’re just nearer the front. Use sites like SeatGuru.com and SeatExpert.com to review specific seats.Q: Do I need rental car insurance?

A: The rental firms sell collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance for up to $25 extra a day. It offers protection from theft, vandalism or other damage. It’s a major source of revenue. Decide whether you need this insurance long before you get to the counter.

Your personal insurance policy likely covers rental cars. It probably also extends liability insurance to your rental, which you also need. But confirm this well ahead of time with your insurer.

Many credit cards offer rental car insurance. Some offer primary insurance. Most only cover what your personal insurance does not. And cards have plenty of exclusions. If you are renting for more than two weeks or traveling to Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Australia, Italy or New Zealand, you might not be covered. Exotic and luxury cars, some vans, motorcycles and SUVs aren’t covered.

Your card probably doesn’t cover the rental company’s “loss-of-use” fee – a surcharge for the revenue lost while the vehicle is in the shop. Some personal insurance policies cover this, some don’t.

Pay for the rental with the card that gives you the best protection. Debit cards typically don’t offer the same coverage.

As for liability insurance, if you don’t have a personal policy you should probably buy this extra coverage, which costs a few hundred dollars. Or if you rent frequently, insurance companies will sell you annual non-owner car insurance policies.

Q: Is it worth adding a GPS or toll collection device?

A: You don’t need to pay up to $14 extra a day for a GPS. If you own a portable GPS, bring it with you. Or use your smartphone. Just be warned: using the smartphone’s GPS tends to drain its battery.

An automatic toll collection device will cost about $5 a day. It can save you time at busy toll plazas if you’re traveling during holiday weekends. But when traffic is normal, it is harder to justify the time savings.

If you decline the service and the car still has a toll device, make sure it is properly stored in the protective case. If a toll booth picks up the signal you’ll be charged the toll and face a hefty penalty from the rental company.Q: How can I save a few bucks on my stay?

A: Ask about extra charges. Parking at some hotels might be $10 a night, while big city hotels can charge in excess of $50. Internet access might cost $10 a day or more. Many big hotels also have a mandatory resort fee – that includes Internet, phone calls and use of the pool – that can run $25 a night or more.

Look for savings on food and drink. Hotel chains such as Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express offer free breakfasts. Others offer free bottled water in the room.

Join the frequent guest program. Omni, Fairmont and Kimpton all give program members free Wi-Fi – even those who have yet to spend a night. Fairmont gives its members free access to its health clubs. Kimpton gives a $10 credit toward snacks in its minibars.

Big chains typically run summer promotions. They offer loyalty club members rewards like a $25 gas card or a free future night after just two stays.

For smaller hotels and bed and breakfasts, pick up the phone and negotiate.

Q: Are nonrefundable rooms a good deal?

A: Sites like Priceline and Hotwire offer deep discounts in exchange for taking a chance. Vacationers only learn the name of a hotel after they pay upfront. They also aren’t guaranteed a bed type or choice of smoking or nonsmoking room. And some hotels give such guests less-desirable room locations, like next to the ice machine.

Many hotels now offer nonrefundable rates on their own websites. The savings might be less, but you still get to pick your room type and know where you will be staying. If your plans change and you rebook, however, you lose your money.

Keep in mind that room prices can drop after you book. That discounted, nonrefundable rate could still be higher than if you booked the room a month later.

A relatively new travel site, Tingo.com, tries to balance the best of both worlds. Guests prepay for a fully-refundable hotel room. But if the rate falls, Tingo automatically cancels the reservation and rebooks travelers at the new, lower rate, and refunds the difference. The typical rebate is $50, according to the site, which is owned by TripAdvisor. ]]> Sun, 12 May 2013 22:43:50 -0400 By Scott Mayerowitz

Associated Press

]]> <![CDATA[ Somebody is watching you ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130506/BUSINESS01/130509524/1006
Here’s ShopSmart’s update on what’s going on in many stores around the U.S.• What they are. High-resolution video cameras monitor all areas in and outside the store. The footage is then stored and cataloged for easy searching.

With facial recognition software, your mug shot can be filed digitally without your knowledge or permission. Ditto for your car’s license plate.

• What’s creepy about them. Gaze trackers are hidden in tiny holes in the shelving and detect which brands you’re looking at and for how long. There are even mannequins whose eyes are cameras that detect the age, sex, ethnicity and facial expressions of passers-by.

• What’s in it for you. Stores use video customer counts to set staffing and reduce cashier line backups. The system can also nab shoplifters and identity thieves.

• Who’s using them. Retailers want their own privacy. Macy’s, for example, employs video analytics, according to printed promotional materials from Cisco, a maker of such systems, but a Macy’s spokeswoman didn’t return ShopSmart’s repeated calls for comment.

A Target spokesperson refused to comment about the store’s use of video analytics and other tools, even though its privacy policy states that the retailer collects information “recorded by in-store cameras.”• What it is. Your mobile phone is an excellent device for tracking your shopping route. So retailers and malls are beginning to monitor all visitors’ cell signals, which help create “heat maps” that glow red where the most foot traffic is – perfect for showing where to best place displays, in-store ads and high-margin merchandise.

• What’s creepy about it. Technology giant Cisco is testing a system at an undisclosed store. It automatically detects your mobile device and connects you to the retailer’s free Wi-Fi network, which can detect when you search other online sellers for lower prices.

If you check prices online while you’re in the store, you might get messages that the store will match the lower prices you find.

• What’s in it for you. Stores can use the information to improve service. Also, you can get coupons and discounts.

• Who’s using it. Lots of retailers and malls have Wi-Fi networks.• What it is. Onscreen video ads you look at might be looking right back at you. Tiny pinhole cameras can be built into the monitor. Facial detection technology determines your age group, sex, ethnicity and maybe even your mood, so it can serve up a message targeted to you. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags placed on the merchandise detect when you pick up an item.

• What’s creepy about it. Not only are stores doing little or nothing to disclose that signs are watching you, some privacy advocates also fear that the technology could be used for discriminatory pricing based on age, sex or ethnicity.

• What’s in it for you. Ads can be more targeted to your needs.

• Who’s using it. Vendors, analysts and critics say big retail chains commonly use digital signage, but the stores ShopSmart checked either denied it or didn’t respond to inquiries.• What they are. Stores have been monitoring and tracking returns and exchanges for years to identify and prevent the 1 percent that are fraudulent.

Now some stores are rewarding the honest 99 percent of customers who return items with special offers to encourage them to spend their refund in the store.

• What’s creepy about it. The reward is designed to appeal to you, based on statistical models that predict consumer behavior.

• What’s in it for you. Moneysaving opportunities, if you can resist buying stuff you don’t need.

• Who’s using them. The Retail Equation, which markets the system to stores, did not return ShopSmart’s repeated phone calls. ]]> Mon, 6 May 2013 09:52:51 -0400 Consumer Reports

]]> <![CDATA[ Don’t fret over low vitamin D ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130506/BUSINESS01/130509525/1006
So taking supplements seems like a no-brainer.

Problem is, many of those claims are overblown – and some calcium-vitamin D supplements exceed a California lead limit. A November 2010 report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which examined more than 1,000 studies and other reports, concluded that although vitamin D is essential to bone health, evidence of other benefits was inconclusive.

And what about the “deficiency epidemic”? One explanation is that it blossomed almost overnight when many testing laboratories in this country upped the threshold for what’s considered a normal blood level of vitamin D. Currently, nearly 80 percent of people are labeled deficient.

So when it comes to supplements, what makes sense for you? With the help of its medical experts, ShopSmart waded through the hype to answer four top questions about vitamin D.

• Do I need more D? It depends. It’s a good idea if you don’t get at least some midday sun exposure during the warmer months (the body makes D from exposure to sunlight) or regularly consume vitamin D-rich foods such as fatty fish, eggs and fortified milk or soy products. In those cases, a vitamin D supplement might help.

Supplements are also recommended for people with osteoporosis (weak bones) or who have a condition, such as celiac disease or Crohn’s disease, that impairs their ability to absorb fat-soluble vitamins.

Being middle-aged or older, dark-skinned or overweight can slightly increase your risk of deficiency and might tip the balance in favor of taking supplements, particularly if your diet or lifestyle is likely to be “D-ficient.”

If you take this supplement, there’s no reason to exceed the recommended intake of 600 International Unit (IU) daily for adults up to age 70; 800 IU for those who are older. But try to avoid exceeding 4,000 IU daily unless your doctor has prescribed a higher dose to make up for a deficiency.

At very high levels, too much D can cause kidney damage. The symptoms of toxicity include nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, constipation, weakness, weight loss and confusion.

• Should I get tested? Not unless you are at risk for deficiency.

If you do get tested, ShopSmart says to keep in mind that vitamin D levels fluctuate with your exposure to sunlight and diet and that results can differ from one laboratory to another.

If results are abnormal or unexpected, you should be retested. Results are more likely to be accurate if you use labs that perform high volumes of testing – say, more than 50 vitamin D tests a day.

Although in some labs healthy blood levels of vitamin D are considered to be at least 30 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml), the IOM says that levels of at least 20 ng/ml are fine to ensure healthy bones.

If your levels are well below 20, your doctor will probably recommend a high dose of D for several months followed by a regular supplement thereafter.

• Does it matter what form of the supplement I take? No, not really.

The D3 form (cholecalciferol) has a reputation for being more potent than D2 (ergocalciferol), but research suggests that’s the case only at high doses. At recommended doses, they work equally well, experts say.

• Do I need to take calcium with my vitamin D? Yes, unless you meet your recommended calcium intake through your diet. That’s 1,200 milligrams daily for women older than 50 and men older than 70 and 1,000 milligrams for other adults.

In most of the clinical trials linking vitamin D supplementation to denser bones or fewer fractures, the nutrient was combined with calcium. The few studies that examined vitamin D alone did not find the same benefits. ]]> Mon, 6 May 2013 07:45:36 -0400 <![CDATA[ Color of Money: A cheaper refinancing alternative ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130506/BUSINESS01/130509526/1006
Come on, you can admit it. You’ve been at an event or to church or having lunch with co-workers and someone brags about the interest rate she just got when refinancing her mortgage. You stay silent, grieving that you can’t take advantage of the low interest rates for mortgages.

You grumble when you read news stories about mortgage rates near historic lows, with rates on a 30-year fixed loan down to 3.42 percent last week. The rate for 15-year fixed mortgage was 2.64 percent, not far from the record low of 2.63 percent posted last November.

As mortgage rates fall, people are rushing to refinance. But what if you are 15 or 20 years into a 30-year mortgage and you don’t want to stretch the payments out again? Still, you can’t stand it that you are stuck at a 5 percent or 6 percent interest rate.

But there is a way to cut the amount you’ll pay in mortgage interest to achieve savings as if you refinanced. HSH.com, which publishes mortgage and consumer loan information, has created two calculators for homeowners who are unable to refinance at today’s low interest rates.

The company’s “PreFi” and “LowerRate” calculators help homeowners figure out how to attain a lower effective mortgage interest rate through prepaying their mortgage principal.

The PreFi calculator will help if you have a specific dollar amount available for prepayment each month. It calculates your interest savings over the remaining loan term and your effective interest rate as a result of making extra payments. The LowerRate calculator can be used if you want to aim for a specific interest rate.

“If you can’t refinance your mortgage but can afford to pay some additional money each month, that prepayment might save you as much as an actual refinance,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com.

Gumbinger said he got the idea for the calculators because he was contemplating whether he should refinance his own mortgage. But he’s so far along in paying the mortgage down and the amount is so small, he wondered if it was worth the time and cost of refinancing.

“It’s hard to achieve measurable savings when you are in my situation and not interested in restarting the mortgage,” he said.

Let’s say you took out a $200,000 mortgage two years ago at 4.5 percent, which was the average 30-year fixed rate in mid-June 2011. You have an extra $200 a month you could apply to the mortgage principal.

Without prepayment, you will pay off your loan in 337 months (28.08 years). Total amount of interest you’ll pay: $147,819.88. With prepayment, you will pay off your loan in 244 months (20.33 years). Total amount of interest you’ll pay: $102,216.80. Your effective interest rate over those 244 months: 3.843 percent.

Here’s an example of how the LowerRate calculator works, using the same information. You want that 3.41 percent interest rate. So in the calculator, you would enter 3.41 to find out exactly how much extra you’ll need to pay each month.

To get the equivalent interest cost of a 3.41 percent refinance over a term of 28.08 years, you would have to prepay $167.10 every month – or just a little over $2,000 a year.

Of course the assumption is that you have the extra money to pay down your mortgage. But many people want to refinance because they want to lower their payment.

In that case, it may be worth considering a refinance, if you can qualify. Aside from savings, refinancing does free up cash you might need.

If you are not well-positioned financially – you’re not saving for retirement or college for your children, paying down other debts, such as credit cards – then prepaying your mortgage may not make sense, Gumbinger said.

Still, try out the calculators and prepay on your principal.

The next time someone is bragging about the lower interest rate they got, you won’t have to be envious. ]]> Mon, 6 May 2013 07:44:53 -0400 <![CDATA[ Avoid these 10 cooking mistakes ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130429/BUSINESS01/130429105/1006
But some common cooking habits can be unhealthful. Salting water to make it boil faster when preparing pasta not only doesn’t work, but it also adds unnecessary sodium. And rinsing chicken before roasting it can spread pathogenic bacteria in your kitchen sink. The following are 10 cooking mistakes to avoid the next time you prepare a meal and some smart steps to take instead.

• Mistreating your vegetables. Boiling and overcooking certain vegetables robs them of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Instead, Consumer Reports recommends steaming them. Studies show that this cooking method preserves more nutrients in vegetables than boiling, stir-frying or even blanching them.

• Salting food before tasting. Just one teaspoon of table salt has about 2,300 milligrams of sodium, the generally recommended daily limit. For people who are 51 or older, and African-Americans or those who have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease, the recommended maximum is 1,500 milligrams a day.

To cut down on sodium, remove the salt shaker from your table and try to train yourself to be satisfied with less. Cut back on ready-to-eat processed foods and high-sodium condiments, such as barbecue sauce, ketchup and soy sauce.

• Not rinsing canned vegetables. You can cut down on sodium in canned vegetables and legumes, such as black beans and chickpeas, by rinsing them in water. That helps lower their sodium content by about 10 percent or more, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• Failing to remove fat from ground beef. If you pan-fry burgers instead of broiling or grilling them, be sure to pour off the fat. Or try making burger patties in a broiling pan, which has slits or holes to let the excess fat drain away from the meat.

• Pan-frying instead of oven-frying. Food soaks up oil as it fries. Try switching to “oven frying,” which uses little oil but still delivers a “fried” crunch. First, coat the food in something crispy that also adds nutrients, such as whole wheat panko crumbs. Then spritz the food with cooking spray or drizzle with oil, and bake.

• Baking with white flour only. The milling process that produces white flour not only removes fiber but also saps the flour of iron and several B vitamins. When baking, Consumer Reports suggests replacing some white flour with fiber-rich whole-grain flour.

• Preparing fat-free veggie salads. Using fat-free dressing or a squeeze of lemon on a salad saves some calories, but it may prevent your body from absorbing all of the nutrients in the vegetables. That’s because some nutrients are fat-soluble, and our bodies don’t absorb them as well without a bit of fat in the meal.

• Mishandling olive oil. Of all the types of olive oil, extra-virgin usually contains the most phenols – that is, natural health-promoting plant chemicals with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticlotting properties.

Heat, air and light can affect olive oil’s flavor and possibly its nutrients, so be sure to buy extra-virgin olive oil in a small, dark-colored bottle, and keep it tightly capped and stored in a kitchen cabinet away from the stove and sunny countertops.

• Overcooking fresh garlic. Garlic has been linked to a reduced risk of certain cancers and heart disease. But if you cook it too long, you might miss out on some of its benefits. So keep cooking times as brief as possible.

• Sticking to the same menu. Preparing the same type of meal over and over, or otherwise limiting the food you eat, restricts your nutrient intake. Research has linked a varied diet to better overall health and a reduced risk of cancer and heart disease. ]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:19:54 -0400 <![CDATA[ Keeping mower in tune makes for a sharp lawn ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130429/BUSINESS01/130429106/1006
“Usually in the springtime, about now, people try to start their mower and it won’t run, so they’ll want to throw it out,” said James Feehan of Treasure Valley Premier Services, which offers lawnmower service and repair in Boise, Idaho. “Instead they spend $500 on a new mower. People don’t call when a problem exists. They just throw the mower away.”

Having your mower serviced before you need it can help avoid inopportune breakdowns and extend its life. A professional lawn mower tuneup should include having the blade sharpened, cleaning under the mower, replacing spark plugs and air filters, changing the oil, replacing old fuel if necessary and inspecting the carburetor, cables and belts.

A spring tuneup should cost between $50 and $150, depending on the mower and what needs to be done. Feehan picks up and drops off the mowers he services, charging about $90 on average for a full service. Jeff Breton, of Precision Outdoor Power Equipment in Raleigh, N.C., charges $47 for a tuneup, plus the cost of parts like spark plugs, oil and filters. Both professionals recommend an annual inspection and tuneup.

“First off, it makes the grass look prettier,” Breton said. “A dull blade just tears the grass, whereas a sharp blade will cut the grass and give you an even cut. Plus, we can see anything that might potentially go wrong [before] they might have to end up having to replace it.”

Warning signs that your mower needs maintenance can include difficulty in starting, a smoking engine and reduced horsepower.

The most common issue both pros say they see is trouble with carburetors, especially in mowers where fuel has sat in the gas tank for an extended period of time.

“It typically will start up, run for few seconds and then die,” Feehan said. “Once the fuel starts to gel, it will clog up right away. That’s 90 percent of the repairs I get.”

Feehan recommends using a fuel stabilizer throughout the season to minimize potential issues.

“It will extend the life of the gas and keeps it from gelling up when it sits,” Feehan said, adding that the No. 1 thing homeowners can do to keep their mowers working well is to drain fuel from the mower before storing it during the months when it’s not being used.

Feehan, who studied turf grass management at the University of Maryland and combined his knowledge of lawn care with a lifetime of experience working on small engines to form his company, said neglecting your mower will ultimately lead to neglect of your lawn.

“When you don’t maintain your lawnmower, it’s going to break down,” Feehan said. “When it breaks down, you can’t mow your lawn regularly. Regularly cutting the lawn is very important for its health. If you miss a week, it grows taller. When you come back to cut it, you’re ripping a lot of the moisture out of the lawn. You’re causing a lot of problems by not doing it regularly.” ]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:04:10 -0400 By Angie Hicks

Angieslist.com

]]> <![CDATA[ Color of Money: It takes work to prepare for retirement ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130429/BUSINESS01/130429107/1006
Let me put you to the test. How much do you know about the following?

• When to take your Social Security? Securian Financial Group surveyed baby boomers 50 to 65 about their plans for claiming Social Security retirement benefits. Only 18 percent knew how or when to go onto Social Security.

• The cost to have Medicare. Nearly three-fourths of boomers surveyed by Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement didn’t know that most Americans on Medicare pay premiums, co-pays and deductibles.

• Long-term care insurance. Only 14 percent of participants in the Bankers Life and Casualty survey knew that Medicare generally does not cover long-term care. Long-term care insurance can help cover the cost of nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and in-home care. The insurance pays expenses for those who need assistance with daily activities such as eating, dressing and bathing, or who have a severe cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease.

• Your company pension. Have you considered whether to take a lump-sum distribution instead of guaranteed monthly payments? Could you manage the money if you take a lump sum?

Even some people with strong financial backgrounds aren’t prepared enough for their own retirement.

If anyone should have mastered the science of retirement, it would have been Stan Hinden, who spent the last 12 years of his 45-year journalism career as a financial columnist for the Washington Post. Yet Hinden, now 86, admits that he was not prepared with the breadth of knowledge he needed to handle his affairs in retirement.

But, what experience can teach you.

After 17 years in retirement, Hinden is well-versed in many issues and shares his wisdom in “How to Retire Happy: The 12 Most Important Decisions You Must Make Before You Retire” (McGraw Hill, $20).

Be sure to get the updated fourth edition, which contains the most recent information about Medicare. The chapter on health insurance covers the new deductibles for Medicare Part A (pays for hospital stays) and the new deductible and new premiums for Medicare Part B (pays for medical tests, doctor and preventive services). It also gives details on the new monthly premiums for Part D (prescription drugs). The new edition also explains some of the salient facts about the new health care law.

Also new to the book are the health issues affecting his wife of 59 years, Sara. She suffers from Alzheimer’s and lives in a small group home for dementia patients.

“Signs of Sara’s illness first appeared in 2007, when she was 78,” he writes. “Needless to say, Sara’s condition dramatically changed both her retirement and mine. Until then, we had been poster children for a happy, upbeat retirement. … My experience with Alzheimer’s disease has given me a new perspective on how one prepares for serious illness during retirement.”

One way to prepare is consider getting long-term care insurance. Sara’s policy, which she took out at age 62, is helping defray the cost of her care, which runs about $4,000 a month. The insurance pays $130 a day, or $3,900 a month. But her maximum total benefit is $260,000, which equates to 5.5 years. The chapter on long-term care is scary and depressing. Yet it is a must read.

I asked Hinden what one piece of advice he would give someone close to retiring (within five years).

Start working on your retirement budget now, he said.

“Pay close attention to your likely health expenses,” he added. “Prepare to go on Medicare at 65, if you are not already there. See if you can upgrade your secondary health insurance, or arrange to buy it. Study your prescription drug expenses and see if you can minimize those expenses.”

Hinden doesn’t come off as an expert wagging his finger at you. He has become smarter and wants to help show you how to retire happier and better informed. ]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:03:23 -0400 <![CDATA[ Giveaways and contests can be worth your time ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130429/BUSINESS01/130429122/1006 When Erin Thompson was pregnant with her daughter Lillian, the North Tonawanda mom got everything she needed – and then some – by entering online contests.

She won a stroller, a bassinet, a swing, a high chair, a very expensive breast pump, two toddler walkers and a hospital bag filled with supplies.

She has also won three Kindle e-readers, hundreds of dollars in gift cards, a meet and greet with celebrity chef Paula Deen, a CrockPot, DVDs, toys, shoes, dozens of books and a 2-foot-tall chocolate Easter bunny.

Her luck was so incredible, people started joking that she had a horseshoe in her belly instead of a baby.

Donald Weis of East Aurora won a Corvette in Tops Friendly Markets’ Monopoly sweepstakes by collecting game pieces he received at the checkout. He opted to take the cash prize and pocketed $50,000 ($12,500 of which went toward federal taxes).

Christine Musielak of North Tonawanda has won a slew of exotic trips and vacations. Most recently, she won a trip to the Kentucky Derby.

Whenever you’re invited to “Roll up the rim to win” or urged to “Tell us how we’re doing and be entered to win $10,000!” on the bottom of a takeout receipt, your first thought might be, “Does anybody ever really win these things?”

Thompson, Weis, Musielak and many others are proof that the answer is yes.

“A lot of people said to me, ‘Wow, you never see anyone you know win,’ ” said Weis. “People said, ‘You know, I didn’t even bother [with the contest].’ ”

In fact, 71 of the 200 winning ticket holders for Tops’ recent Golden Anniversary sweepstakes threw away their winning tickets – forfeiting their guaranteed consolation prizes and their shot toward unlocking a vault filled with $250,000.

No one is saying you should quit your day job to make a living entering contests. But for those Western New Yorkers who love to try their luck, we’ve got some advice on how to maximize your chances of winning.

• Divide and conquer. Use websites that compile and vet contests for you. Websites such as Sweeps- advantage.com and SweetiesSweeps.com do a lot of the work that will help you narrow down which contests are worth entering and which ones may not be worth your time.

The sites weed out contests that are scams, then organize them by category: where they’re being held (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, a blog or manufacturer’s website), prize (money, trips, merchandise), how many times you can enter (once, daily, monthly), how to enter (online, by mail, with a photo, essay or by garnering votes) and tips to increase your chances of winning, such as what times of day are best to enter.

• Look for quick deadlines. Contests that run for a year will garner more entries than contests that run for a week. Shorter is better.

• Pay special attention to bloggers with small audiences. Companies often send bloggers samples or products to use in giveaways to try to create buzz about their brand. Unless it’s someone like Perez Hilton, bloggers tend to have a very small pool of readers. If they host a giveaway, the pool of people who will actually enter to win it is even smaller.

That’s how Erin Thompson, the uber-lucky mom from North Tonawanda, won so much loot, including one of her Kindles. Contestants were asked to comment on a blog as their entry into the giveaway. Thompson’s comment was chosen from among just 25 entries.

“There are so many out there online. The possibilities are endless,” Thompson said.

• Aim low. Clearinghouse websites will show how many times a contestant has clicked on any given contest, so you’ll get an idea of how many people have entered to win a prize and, in turn, how good your chances are of winning.

Sure, you might as well throw your name into the hat with millions of others trying to win a dream home or a $1 million prize, but you might want to focus your time on contests where the competition is a little less stiff.

• Narrow the field. Look for local contests. When Tops held its Golden Anniversary sweepstakes last year, the contest was basically restricted to New York and Pennsylvania, where Tops has stores, and further narrowed to the people who actually shop at those stores.

Last year, Tops gave away more than $3.3 million in cash and prizes, including a $250,000 cash prize and $10,000 in tuition. Nearly 5,000 people at Tops’ 150 stores received game pieces good for a prize worth $10 or more. (Don’t get too excited: The odds of winning the grand prize were still 31 million to 1, but you get the idea.)

You can also pare down the competition by entering contests available only to specific genders, age groups or other criteria.

• Tell your friends. When you share links to Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest-hosted contests on social media, you’ll often receive additional contest entries for every friend who submits an entry through your link.

• Enter as often as you’re allowed. If you can enter once a day, do it.

• Set your computer to “autofill.” Filling out contest entries is much quicker if you don’t have to submit your information by hand every time. If you use Mozilla Firefox, try the Autofill Forms extension. If you use Google Chrome, give the Autofill extension a try.

• Do the work. Not everyone wants to take the steps necessary to enter an essay contest or photo competition. If you enjoy writing or photography, you’ll find less competition when entering those kinds of contests.

The same goes for contests that require you to collect information, enter bar codes, answer questions or hunt for clues.

• Avoid widely advertised contests. The more people who know about it, the more people who are entering to win.

• Watch out for scams. Prize winnings will not come unsolicited. If you didn’t enter to win an iPad with a certain company, you’re not going to win one. Don’t click links sent via email, Facebook or Twitter to enter contests or claim prizes. Don’t ever send money or personal information such as credit card, bank or social security number to redeem prizes.



email: schristmann@buffnews.com ]]> Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:49:26 -0400 Samantha Maziarz Christmann
]]> <![CDATA[ Color of Money: Be your own savior with the IRS ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130422/BUSINESS01/130429785/1006
The majority of filers – three out of four – get refunds. This year the refunds were pretty large, on average $3,000.

But what if you didn’t hustle to file because you couldn’t pay? Or maybe you did file but couldn’t pay all that you owed? One in six taxpayers owes money, according to the IRS.

Increasingly, I run into people with tax collection issues. Many are entrepreneurs. In struggling to keep their businesses running, they didn’t pay estimated taxes during the year. So they end up owing the government lots.

Fearing the IRS will move aggressively to collect, they don’t call or respond to letters from the agency. Instead, they gravitate to the voices that offer too-good-to-be true deliverance.

“If you owe $10,000 or more to the IRS, call for a free tax consultation,” the saviors say. “We can stop IRS liens, levies and wage garnishment.”

Have faith, the tax-relief companies encourage. Through working with their team of tax experts, often claimed to be former IRS agents, they guarantee that they can help you escape most of your tax obligations, including penalties.

But don’t count on it. In the case of tax debt, you can believe if you want that there is some quick fix or a former IRS worker who knows the secret to getting tax relief. But this kind of blind faith in a debt-settlement company is likely to leave you deeper in debt and still stuck with a tax bill. Many of the companies require thousands of dollars in upfront, nonrefundable fees, money you could apply to your taxes.

In recent years, several large tax-relief companies have closed after authorities accused them of deceptive practices. Roni Deutch, who called herself the “Tax Lady,” shut down her practice after California’s attorney general alleged her company swindled thousands of people by taking large upfront payments while providing little or no help in lowering clients’ tax bills.

The IRS offers a number of options if you owe and can’t pay. You can pursue the options yourself. In just minutes, you can set up an online payment agreement for up to 72 months if you owe $50,000 or less in combined tax, penalties and interest. Go to www.irs.gov and search for “Online Payment Agreement Application.” You can also request a payment agreement by filing IRS Form 9465.

“We work with people all the time to get them back in the system,” said IRS spokesman Eric Smith. “Chances are you don’t need to pay somebody. You may be able to do a lot of work on your own. When you see the ads for people saying they can solve your tax debt for pennies on the dollar, many of those kinds of operations are not providing good service to people.”

You can also try to get the IRS to reduce your tax burden by asking for an “offer in compromise,” or OIC. This allows the IRS to accept less than the full tax payment under certain circumstances. If you’re in great economic hardship, you may qualify for an OIC. But you first have to provide detailed financial information to prove your economic situation, and you have to exhaust all other payment options. The IRS received 64,000 offers in compromise during the fiscal year that ended last September and it only approved 24,000, an acceptance rate of 38 percent. You can use the IRS’ OIC prequalifier tool on its website to see if you’re eligible.

Even if you decide you still need help from a tax professional, do some homework to learn about the IRS collection process. If you have a good working knowledge of your own, you’ll get better help, Smith said.

The IRS has a series of videos at IRSVideos.gov/OweTaxes that provide a lot of information on the collection process, including tips on hiring someone to represent you before the IRS. If you’re low-income, you may be able to get help through the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Program, which is run by the Taxpayer Advocate Service and provides free or low-cost assistance.

If you have tax debt, stop hoping for a savior and contact the IRS. ]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:00:29 -0400 <![CDATA[ Higher risk factors mean higher life insurance costs ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130421/BUSINESS01/130429811/1006 Let’s talk life insurance. Actuarial tables, risk assessment, morbidity. Exciting stuff, right? Well, don’t doze off now.

Shopping for life insurance and qualifying for a good rate may not be as exciting as shoe shopping, but failing to do your homework can end up costing more than a whole closet of Coach purses.

“Getting dropped to a less-favorable tier can mean the difference of hundreds of dollars per year, or thousands of dollars over the life of a policy,” said Ryan Ficorilli, a financial adviser and chief information officer for Georgetown Capital Group Investment Advisers in Williamsville.

Unfortunately, very subtle differences – something as little as a two-point change in cholesterol–can sometimes be enough to knock you out of a favorable tier and into another, more expensive one.

The good news is, you have at least some degree of control over many of the factors that affect your rate when applying for a life insurance policy.

To secure the lowest premium possible, here’s what the experts suggest:

• Start at the end. Usually, when shopping for insurance, the first thing you do is fill out questionnaires that help estimate your initial quote. But it’s not until several weeks later that your medical exam results are underwritten and you find the true price of your premium, which can be much higher.

Start with the medical exam first, and you’ll be able to comparison-shop much more accurately.

“You can say, ‘Here’s my risk profile, what kind of rate can you give me?’ ” said Norlyn Dimmitt, a consumer advocate and former actuary. “It will save you a lot of time and hassle.”

Insurance companies look at blood pressure, cholesterol levels (your HDL, LDL, triglyceride and total cholesterol) and Body Mass Index (your height to weight ratio) as the biggest indicators of health. Get your annual physical and blood work done and ask your doctor for those numbers.

The insurance company will do its own physical, but at least you’ll know what you can expect and whether you should appeal your results.

• Quit smoking. This is a no-brainer. Smoking will kill you, and for that reason, smokers pay twice as much for life insurance as non-smokers.

The healthiest smoker (say, someone with 2 percent body fat, low cholesterol and great blood pressure) will always pay more for life insurance than the unhealthiest nonsmoker (such as an obese couch potato with high cholesterol and high blood pressure).

Even if you smoke just a few cigarettes a day, you’ll be considered as risky a prospect to insure as someone who smokes a pack a day.

If you are a smoker, don’t bother trying to lie. Even if nicotine doesn’t show up in your blood work, insurance companies have plenty of other ways to find out whether you partake or not, such as asking your doctor.

• Lose weight. One of the biggest risk factors that increases the cost of a premium is your Body Mass Index. Overweight policyholders are much more likely to die from obesity-related diseases.

• Keep a clean driving record. One driving while intoxicated conviction or multiple speeding tickets will throw you into a less-preferred and more expensive pricing tier. Yes, they will pull your DMV records.

If you don’t qualify for superior rates, don’t wait. Insurance companies inquire about DWI convictions that have occurred within five years of the application date. Smokers typically qualify for nonsmoker rates after two years of quitting (their risk level evens out to that of a true nonsmoker after 10 years). But that doesn’t mean you should leave your family uninsured and unprotected while you wait to become an optimal candidate.

Instead, you might consider buying a shorter-term policy, such as a five-year policy, so that you’re in a better risk category when it’s time to re-up. Do your homework first, though. You may be better off locking into a longer-term rate at a younger age with a less desirable record than shopping around later when you’re healthier but older.

• Meditate. Even if it’s just before and during your physical exam, meditation is proven to have immediate effects on lowering blood pressure.

• Consider a career change. An accountant has a much lower risk of dying on the job than a crab fisherman on “Deadliest Catch.” Loggers, roofers, ranchers, farmers, aircraft pilots, recyclable materials collectors, power line workers and traveling salesmen have some of the highest mortality rates, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Eat your oatmeal. As important as your BMI are your cholesterol readings. Foods like oatmeal, fish and most nuts can help keep your cholesterol levels down, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Go to the doctor regularly. You will have to sign a privacy waiver so the insurance company can communicate with your doctors. If you show that you take proactive care of your health with regular well visits, that will help.

The insurer will also want to know what specialists you see. It can work against you if you see them for chronic conditions, but well visits intended to support good health will reflect positively.

• Don’t show off. You’ll be asked whether you engage in risky activities such a skydiving or flying. Don’t lie, but if you truly have no plans to do it in the future, answer no. If you do end up in the Caribbean one day and take an impromptu scuba diving excursion, you won’t be penalized.

• Buy early. The younger you are, the lower your risk is of dying and therefore, the cheaper your premium will be.

Use an agent. Underwriting varies from company to company, and while your penchant for skydiving may disqualify you for a premium rate at one company, it might not be as heavily weighted by another. Agents can shop multiple carriers to find you the best rate.

Make that three agents. Insurance agents are usually honest people. But if they know they are competing for your business against others, they will be more likely to choose the policy that gives you the best value instead of earning them the best commission.

“I can’t overstress that point, make sure at least two brokers are duking it out with one another,” Dimmitt said.

Shop online quote engines. Many insurance search engines make money steering you toward certain companies. You might have more luck with sites such as AccuQuote.com, SelectQuote.com, BudgetLife.com and MatrixDirect.com.

Pay attention to an insurance company’s financial stability rating, but not too much attention. You’ll want a policy from a company that has at least an “A” rating from A.M. Best, but an “A++” rating is not necessary. In fact, you may end up paying more for that rating.

Consider smaller insurance companies you’ve never heard of. Someone has to pay for all those commercials advertising the big-name players. That somebody is you.

Above all, be honest.

“Can you lie? Yes you can,” Ficorilli said. “Is it a wise thing to do? No.”

You may get away with it for a while, but if something happens to you and that lie comes to light, the insurance company won’t have to pay your death benefit.To test optimally, do some homework before your physical exam: • Avoid secondhand

smoke for 30 days.

Testing positive for even a small amount of nicotine can cause your premium to skyrocket. If you smoke cigars, abstain for the 30 days leading up to your exam.

• Avoid strenuous

exercise for 24 hours

before the exam.

It can mess with your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, white blood cell count and glucose reading.

• Fast for at least 12 hours. Food can cause certain levels to spike and cause a costly misreading.

• Avoid alcohol for

at least 24 hours.

You don’t want to test as someone who has whiskey in their system at 8 a.m.

Alcohol can also interfere with liver function readings.

• Avoid caffeine for 24 hours.

It can elevate your blood pressure.

• Drink water.

You’ll need to give blood

and urine samples.

• Avoid salt, high cholesterol, high fat, high sugar and starchy foods for as long as possible before the exam, but definitely for at least 24 hours. They can spike lipid, blood pressure and glucose readings









email: schristmann@buffnews.com ]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 06:56:04 -0400 Samantha Maziarz Christmann
]]> <![CDATA[ Discount Diva: Don’t get zapped by fake goods ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130414/BUSINESS01/130419471/1006
It had a little sparkly shade with a beaded butterfly fluttering across the outside and a bunch of little see-through stars. It came in several different colors and was so cheap I was tempted to buy one for both of my girls and each of my nieces.

But something always freaks me out about buying anything from a dollar store that gets plugged into an outlet. Same goes for anything made in China.

Call me crazy, but a country that gets caught putting melamine in baby formula to save money doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Believe it or not, there really are things I don’t mind paying more for. Like, you know, anything that will keep my family alive and healthy.

Turns out, when it came to my anything-with-a-plug-shouldn’t-be-cheap phobia, my overbearing mommy fears were well-founded.

I had the opportunity to sit in on a firefighter’s association meeting last week and learned something really scary.

You know that little label you get on extension cords and plug-in appliances that shows it has been tested by the Underwriter’s Laboratory? It’s got the capital letters “UL” in a little circle and is supposed to show that the product has been tested to comply with rigorous safety standards.

Well, investigators have found that overseas manufacturers regularly make counterfeit labels, then knowingly tack them to things such as extension cords sold in the United States.

“It’s just like the knock-off Nikes,” said Robin Schott, chairman of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York’s legislative committee.

But while counterfeit kicks may only rile the fashion police, a fraudulent label could put your family in serious danger.

The group is pushing for tougher penalties for retailers that knowingly sell mislabeled goods. But stores say if their buyers tell them something is safe, they have little way of knowing what is ending up on their shelves.

What can you do to minimize the risk you’ll bring home something dangerous?

There are a couple of ways to spot fake UL labels. Be suspicious if a product doesn’t have a toll-free consumer hotline number on the box, doesn’t have an instruction manual outlining care and maintenance, has subpar craftsmanship or its packaging has grammatical or spelling errors.

UL-certified products will say “Listed” or “Classified” under the UL logo – NOT “approved” or “pending.”

For maximum peace of mind, spring for products that are made in the U.S.A.



email: schristmann@buffnews.com or call MoneySmart at 849-4612. Follow me at www.Facebook.com/DiscountDiva. ]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:28:04 -0400 Samantha Maziarz Christmann
]]> <![CDATA[ When to keep, when to toss financial paperwork ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130414/BUSINESS01/130419472/1006 Does your filing cabinet look like it was plucked from an episode of “Hoarders”? Do you need a paper catcher for your paper catcher?

You’re not alone.

“I’m overloaded with stuff,” said Betty Falkowski of Cheektowaga. “The day-to-day papers just accumulate like crazy.”

Like many Western New Yorkers, Falkowski isn’t sure what to hold onto or for how long, so she errs on the side of caution and just keeps everything.

No one wants to throw away a receipt only to have to return the purchase later, or ditch a cable bill and then be accused of not having paid it.

“How long do you really need to keep these things?” Falkowski said. “I want to clean everything out, but I don’t want to get rid of something and then realize, ‘Oh, no, I should have kept that.’ ”

Not everyone is willing or able to go paperless with digital accounts, so to help you wade out from under the mess, we checked with the experts. Here’s what they suggest:

• Tax returns and supporting documents. The Internal Revenue Service has very detailed and confusing advice about this – surprise, surprise.

Ideally, you should only have to keep tax documents for three years, since that’s how far back the IRS can go to audit you for accidental errors. But if you underreport your income by more than 25 percent, the IRS can come after you for six years. And if you fail to file or file a fraudulent claim, they can come sniffing around indefinitely.

The problem with that is, what if you know you have not filed a fraudulent claim, but the IRS believes that you have? You might wish you had saved every shred of evidence to support yourself.

That’s why the tax experts we checked with said they tell everyone to save their taxes (and any bills and receipts that support them) forever. Sorry!

• Credit card receipts. Save your credit card receipts until you get your credit card statement, then check them against one another. If everything is reflected accurately, you can throw the individual receipts away.

Hold onto the credit card statements for one year, suggests CreditCards.com. Even if you don’t have an online account, credit card companies archive your statements electronically, so there are usually ways of getting at old statements if the need arises.

The same advice goes for bank statements. Save your deposit, withdrawal and ATM receipts until you can reconcile them with your monthly statement. Keep the monthly statements for one year.

• Purchase receipts. Toss clothing receipts after the clothing is worn (since it usually can’t be returned after that) and grocery receipts after the food is prepared and eaten.

If you run into problems with other merchandise, such as baby gear or small appliances, many manufacturers will work with you to repair or replace items without a receipt.

For items or services with a warranty or guarantee, save the receipt for the life of the contract. The same rules apply for hanging onto the warranties and guarantees themselves.

Receipts for large purchases such as jewelry, antiques or home improvements should be kept indefinitely for insurance purposes.

• Paid utility bills. Keep these for one year in case billing discrepancies arise later. Always note on each bill the date and amount paid, and record the check or confirmation number associated with the payment.

• Pay stubs. Keep all your pay stubs for one year until you can check them against your W-2 form and make sure they match, recommends the Social Security Administration. Save your W-2s indefinitely.

• Loan, lease or installment payments. Save the associated bills until you get the associated quarterly or annual statements, and toss the bills once you’ve made sure the two match up. Save the statements until the loan or product is paid off, then toss everything except the document that shows you are paid in full, according to personal finance guidelines from USA.gov.

For things like paid-off computers and cars, once you no longer own the item (or the item the loan was for), you can ditch the paid-in-full receipt.

• Retirement and savings plan statements. Keep quarterly statements until you get your annual summaries and check them against each other for accuracy. Toss the quarterly statements once they match up, but keep the annual summaries indefinitely, recommends Bankrate.com.

• Medical bills. Medical bills are notoriously vulnerable to errors. Since they’re bounced back and forth between providers, patients and insurers and several parties may be billed at once, consumer advocate Public Citizen recommends hanging onto medical bills for as long as five to 10 years after treatment for the associated medical issue ends.

• Insurance policies. Life, homeowner, auto and liability insurance policies should be kept for the entire time the policy is in force. When a renewal policy comes, you can shred the old policy and replace it with the new one, according to the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.

And with all of these documents, don’t just toss them into the recycling bin. Keep your private information private and foil would-be identity thiefs: Shred them all.

...Some papers really should be held onto forever. Here are some things you’ll want to keep permanently.

• Social Security cards, citizenship paperwork and passports.

• Marriage, birth and death

certificates.

• Prenuptial

agreements,

divorce decrees and military

discharge

papers.

• Wills, trusts and power of attorney papers (unless they’ve been updated and are no longer valid).

• Annuity

policies and

original bond or stock certificates.

• Personal health records, adoption papers, union cards and

diplomas.



email schristmann@buffnews.com ]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:16:16 -0400 Samantha Maziarz Christmann
]]> <![CDATA[ UB ‘hackers’ demonstrate a knack for creating useful apps in a pinch ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130414/CITYANDREGION/130419491/1006
So a team of UB computer science students decided to develop a smartphone app for that.

It took them just 24 hours to do it.

ARCampus – which spots a campus destination for a smartphone user, indicates the direction and tells how close it is – was one of more than two-dozen computer science projects developed by students this past weekend as part of “UB Hacking 2013.”

More than 100 students tested their computing skills in UB’s second “hackathon,” taking a concept or problem and developing a computer application or program to address it.

They had just 24 hours to make their concepts a reality, and most of the students worked straight through Saturday night and Sunday morning to bring their plans to fruition.

The name of the event might suggest nefarious purposes, but participants said hacking is a term to describe free-form computer programming and coding.

Hackathons have become popular on campuses around the country, including Syracuse University, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

“The software culture is just different. Hack means just throwing something together,” said Nick DiRienzo, a UB sophomore who helped organize the event. “We don’t care if it’s going to be monetized.”

The hackathons are an opportunity to “build cool things” and show them off.

“As a student you don’t really get that opportunity very often in class,” he said.

Some of the results from this weekend’s hack fest were fascinating – a website that shows users on campus whether its faster to walk or wait for the bus to and from various stops and destinations; a program that converts a photographic image into a text file from which information can be exported into an Excel file; a program that can be used to automatically control household items such as lamps, blinds and security cameras.

“A lot of programmers work really well under pressure,” said DiRienzo. “When you push yourself without other distractions around, a lot can happen.”

The winning team – consisting of graduate student Andrew Wantuch, senior Jen Cordaro, senior Andrew Kopanon and sophomore Scott Florentino – developed an idea based around advancing science.

They considered the question of how more of the world’s computing power could be put to work more often on scientific computations.

Since many people play games on computers and smartphones, and since those games use only a fraction of a computer or smartphone’s computational power, the team developed a program aimed at encouraging gamers to allow researchers access to the central processing units of their iPads, smartphones, laptops and desktops for scientific computing.

“We keep things simple for the user. All they have to do is play a game,” said Florentino.

Gamers are rewarded for helping science with in-game bonuses.

To demonstrate how the concept would work, the team used an online pinball game that they modified.

They hope to further refine their concept, which they call GamePute, and show it to research universities that might have an interest in applying it.

ARCampus, developed by graduate students Radha Krishna Dasari, Sree Harsha Konduri and Sai Samrat Karlapudi, took second place by using a publicly available software development kit to speed along their project.

The genesis of their idea stemmed from seeing people on campus asking for directions to various buildings, as well as their own experiences on the sprawling Amherst campus.

They hope to pass the app along to UB Mobile, a network for mobile devices that allows access to online university information and services.



email: jtokasz@buffnews,com ]]> Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:17:47 -0400 Jay Tokasz
]]> <![CDATA[ Be wary of payday loans ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130408/BUSINESS01/130409284/1006
After all, you’d be able to pay the bills, keep your service and avoid extra late fees.

No doubt, borrowers may be able to afford to pay $15 or $20 in fees for each $100 borrowed for some payday loans.

But the real question is, can they actually afford to repay the payday loans? Come up with $300 or $500 in just two weeks? Or even in a month? It’s not a small issue, especially as regulators examine whether borrowers can afford to repay mortgages and student loans, too.

Payday lending is receiving more scrutiny. Richard Cordray, director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, noted in a speech in February that the fees may seem small for quick cash, but consumers in a financial jam could fall into debt traps if the fees pile up and consumers must borrow again to avoid defaulting and to keep making ends meet.

“I thought it was OK, but it wasn’t OK, because I couldn’t stop,” said a 53-year-old woman who used to work at a Detroit casino. She didn’t want her name used because she didn’t want her family to know about her financial troubles.

She told me that she received a $500 payday loan in 2009 when she was taking home about $650 after taxes. After missing some work, she needed money to cover bills.

She’d pay the loan but then borrow again and again over five months or so. One day, she found a way out when her boyfriend helped her cover the entire loan.

“That’s the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she said. Lately, she’s used a short-term loan at a credit union that takes smaller payments over eight weeks, so she’s gradually paying it off over time. She says that product seems more manageable.

About 19 million Americans use payday loans each year, according to the Community Financial Services Association of America, a trade group.

Some services, like Check ’n Go, have online calculators that can make the loans seem doable. Plug in a $300 amount to calculate the payback in Michigan and you’d see there’s a $42.45 finance charge. You’d pay back $342.45 and the annualized interest rate would be 368.91 percent.

The payback would vary significantly by state. In Texas, that $300 payday loan would have a finance charge of $76.15; you’d pay back $376.15, and the APR would be 661.78 percent.But the small print notes this is based on a 14-day loan term.

Frankly, this is where the grab-money-here-to-pay-money-there mess starts.

“It is highly unrealistic for borrowers to think that they will repay the loan on their next payday,” according to Pew’s latest “Payday Lending in America” report.

Alex Horowitz, research manager for Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C., maintains that many people end up getting trapped in a payday loan cycle that lasts closer to five months or more.

About 27 percent of those surveyed in the Pew Report said a payday lender making a withdrawal from their bank account caused an overdraft, according to Pew’s report.

Lenders are able to automatically withdraw payments from borrowers’ bank accounts.

Only 14 percent of those surveyed in the Pew report said they can afford to pay more than $400 toward their payday loan debt in a month, the report noted.

Amy Cantu, a spokeswoman for the Community Financial Services Association of America, disputed several areas of the Pew report, noting that the typical customer uses the product for weeks or months, not years. A consumer may use the product seven times over the course of the year for a short period of time, and not all uses are consecutive, she said.

As the regulators debate this one, though, consumers who are tempted to take a payday loan must honestly answer: How quickly will I really be able to repay this loan?

Average borrowers nationwide end up indebted for five months, paying $520 in finance charges for loans averaging $375, according to the Pew report.

Will the payday loan get you through a short rough patch? Or will you end up in debt a lot longer than advertised? ]]> Mon, 8 Apr 2013 08:18:15 -0400 By Susan Tompor

Detroit Free Press

]]> <![CDATA[ Don’t hesitate to hang up on telemarketers ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130408/BUSINESS01/130409285/1006
Ask yourself first, “Should this company even be calling me?”

It’s an odd thought. But maybe it’s a good, quick reality check for a time when some of us might be sitting at home alone and wouldn’t mind talking to any friendly voice on the phone.

Really, if you’ve never done business with the company, why are they calling?

By staying on the phone, could you be hooked to a potential scam or a way to lose money?

It’s perfectly fine to just hang up.

“We want consumers to hang up if they think something is wrong,” said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. “Money lost to scammers is gone for good.”

The Consumer Federation of America conducted a survey recently regarding those telemarketing calls, as one step to preventing fraud and abusive calls. The conclusion: Plenty of consumers can easily be confused by the details of the “Do Not Call” rules.

I’ve heard some unsettling stories lately regarding sketchy phone calls, too.

Recently, a reader told me about an elderly relative who eagerly answers the phone when strangers call and keeps sending money to cover some fee or tax connected to the latest so-called lottery prize. No prize, of course, ever arrives.

Another woman told me about an elderly parent of one of her friends. The dad seemed to talk with one caller a little too long for his daughter’s comfort. Who was it? Some financial planner, the Dad said. But when the daughter tried to track down the number, the number that appeared for the call ended up being connected to a random household, not a financial services outfit at all.

It’s essential to realize that caller ID or dialing star 69 for that “last call return” might not give you a legitimate answer as to who was on the other line. Scammers are savvy.

“They’re able to spoof their phone numbers,” Grant warned.

Some robocalls give you the wrong impression that a well-known company could be calling, too.

Seniors and others need to watch out for utility scams, too.

“Imposter telemarketer issues occur all too frequently,” said Michael Lynch, chief security officer for DTE Energy in Detroit.

Some scams, he said, involve a phone call where the con artist claims to be from the utility and offers a 20 percent discount if you pay your bill today. Just give me your credit card number now, the scammer might say.

Or someone shows up at the door, again claiming to be from the utility, and demanding that you hand over cash for your bill now to avoid having your service shut off immediately.

“We don’t take money in the field. We don’t go to a house asking for money ever,” Lynch said.

Scam artists often target elderly consumers and may spot a neat and tidy home with lawn ornaments or U.S. flags, as well as other signs that a senior lives there.

The spring is particularly a bad time when scam artists pretend to be utility workers to enter a home of an elderly person, Lynch said. One person distracts the homeowner; the other empties drawers of jewelry and cash in the back bedroom.

To be sure, many consumers may find it hard to tell whether a sales call is legitimate.

But Grant said too often, it’s more human nature to search for reasons why a special discount is really a great deal – not try to figure out why it’s a scam. Sometimes, people won’t even listen to the advice they receive when the consumer takes time to call a consumer hotline.

“People will argue with them when they’re calling to ask for advice because they really want it to be true,” she said.

Signing up for the “Do Not Call” list might help avoid some calls, but not all of them.

Some points to remember:

• If you put your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry, a telemarketer is allowed to call you if you’ve recently done business with them. But some consumers wrongly think no calls are allowed or that telemarketing calls would be allowed only in the late afternoon around dinner time.

• A robocall that uses a prerecorded message, instead of someone speaking live, can be used for sales calls but only can be made to your home phone or cellphone if you gave the telemarketer written permission to make such calls to you.

• Some consumers wrongly think that telemarketers could make prerecorded sales calls to you without written permission if you had bought something from them in the past.

“Legitimate companies usually follow the rules, but scammers don’t,” Grant said.

It may sound rude, but the best way to save money and avoid a scam may very well be to just hang up. ]]> Mon, 8 Apr 2013 08:16:45 -0400 By Susan Tompor

Detroit Free Press

]]> <![CDATA[ Stop unwanted sales calls ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130408/BUSINESS01/130409286/1006
• You can stop unwanted sales calls by putting your number on the National Do Not Call Registry. Call (888) 382-1222 from the phone that you wish to register or go to www.donotcall.gov. On the website, you can register more than one phone number at the same time.

• It is possible to put cellphone numbers as well as landline numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.

• Some phrases that might be a clue of a potential telemarketing scam: “You’ve been specially selected.” “You’ll get a free bonus if you buy our product.” “You’ve won one of five valuable prizes.” “You’ve won big money in a foreign lottery.”

• As for investment scams? Don’t fall for someone who tells you an investment has low risk, is guaranteed and has high returns that you can’t find elsewhere.

• Even if you don’t put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, you always have the right to tell a company “put my number on your no-call list.” ]]> Mon, 8 Apr 2013 08:14:56 -0400 <![CDATA[ Good deals for a good night’s sleep ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130408/BUSINESS01/130409288/1006
Consumer Reports tested 12 models from Ikea, Sealy, Serta, Simmons, Stearns & Foster and Tempur-Pedic, plus Costco’s Novaform brand. Simmons’ performance varied the most in this test. The manufacturer’s Beautyrest Glover Park Firm Pillowtop (sold at Sears), a CR Best Buy at $780, topped the Ratings of conventional, innerspring mattresses, while its ComforPedic Loft Crestwood Luxury Plush, $1,920, earned the lowest score.

Overall, foam models fared a bit worse than innerspring mattresses. The recommended Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Simplicity, $1,200, earned the highest scores. But Sleep Innovations Novafoam Memory Foam Collection Serafina (Costco), a CR Best Buy at $900, virtually tied the Tempur-Pedic – and for $300 less.

When it comes to mattress shopping, roughly 40 percent of surveyed subscribers said they had buyer’s remorse.

Consumer Reports’ latest tests confirm that more coils, fancier fabrics and frills found on pricier models don’t guarantee a better mattress. And the best mattress isn’t always necessarily the firmest, even for those who suffer from back pain.

• Try before buying. Don’t rely on softness or firmness claims – nearly half the mattresses tested were softer than promised. Gauge comfort by lying on the mattress. Spend at least 10 minutes on each side, back and stomach – depending on typical sleep position.

• Win the name game. Mattress makers offer some lines nationally. Those available at major retailers like Macy’s, Sears and Sleepy’s are typically exclusive to those chains. And because retailers often change model names, it’s hard to compare models store to store, so use Consumer Reports’ ratings as a guide.

• Consider the winter months. Using a temperature-controller chamber, the tests found three innerspring and three memory foam mattresses that were better at retaining body heat, which should help keep users warm when the weather turns cold without feeling clammy when it’s hot.

• Keep an old box spring if possible. Replacing the box spring that goes beneath a mattress can cost anywhere from $150 to more than $300. For those swapping out an innerspring mattress for a new one, keep the box spring if it is not sagging or damaged. If switching to memory foam, a solid platform may be necessary to provide enough support. But for both foam and innerspring mattresses, some brands require consumers to purchase their box spring to receive the full warranty.

• Don’t forget to haggle. Most mattresses have huge markups that allow retailers to run frequent “sales” of up to 50 percent off. But don’t wait for a promotion to save – one-third of Consumer Reports’ subscribers who haggled slashed $150 or more off the price.

People typically keep their mattresses roughly 10 years before replacing them. Consumer Reports recommends tossing any mattress that shows sags or lumps. For a mattress that looks serviceable but causes discomfort, try these quick fixes before buying a new one.

• Flip or rotate it. Many older, conventional innerspring mattresses can often be flipped and rotated. But models with an obvious top layer can be rotated only, not flipped. And those with different firmness levels for each sleep partner, including some memory foam, can’t be flipped or rotated.

• Check the pillow. A firmer or softer one may be what it takes to nod off. Evaluate the firmness of pillows by putting them on a flat surface and compressing them to about half of their original thickness; the more pressure needed, the firmer the pillow.

• Top it off. A mattress topper can improve a too-hard bed. Consumer Reports’ tests have found that paying more for foam- and feather-filled toppers didn’t guarantee more comfort. ]]> Mon, 8 Apr 2013 08:12:43 -0400