A recent GfK Roper Reports survey indicated that 55 percent of respondents said they are limiting “discretionary expenses like eating out and vacations.”

If that sounds like your agenda, here are some ways to save on travel this summer:

Stay closer to home: Is it that boring around home? Rather than flying across the country, check out the tourism website for your state or the nearest adjoining state to yours and just see what looks interesting. Those websites offer coupons, too. Also, sign up for e-mail from your local transit agencies and check their websites – you might hear about special deals at local museums or parks and free parking sites where you can leave your car before you pick up the train or bus.

Get smart about your travel points: If there’s a particular hotel chain you’re going to stay in, see whether they’re part of a larger network where you can earn points or other incentives toward future stays. Also, rather than multiple credit cards, try and narrow your usage to plastic that carries the best points plans toward hotels, airlines and car rental agencies you use all the time for fun or business.

Go off-season: Admittedly, it’s tougher with kids since they can only travel when school’s out, but if you don’t have a family, start traveling out-of-season all the time. Vegas and Aruba might be hotter than blazes in July, but as long as you have sun block and access to good air conditioning, then you can take solace counting what you’ll save on hotels, meals and other expenses that dip in price when the crowds are low.

Let travel opportunities find you online: If you have a favorite airline, resort or hotel chain, get on their mailing lists online and be ready to react if they offer a great deal.
Look for value weeks on the calendar: For family friendly venues, you might want to check prices on the edges of summer when schools are still letting out or going back into session. It’s not a bad time for grownups to travel either – you’ll beat the crowds.

Check out your motor club: Major organizations like AAA negotiate good prices on popular tourism locations around the country, even places like Disney World. Again, even if you don’t have kids, check your motor club’s offerings on hotel, destination, rental car and even train discounts.

Merge errands into your trip: This is not just vacation advice, but good everyday advice – if you can pack regular errands into your vacation time in the car, do it. For example, when returning from a trip, consider incorporating your regular errands on the drive home (consider stopping in states or counties with cheaper sales taxes that might save money on similarly priced items).

Leave or return on a Monday or Tuesday: Play around with the days of the week that you can schedule your trip just to see if you can find significant savings on hotel and airfares. Fighting to get home on a Saturday or Sunday can cost you money.

Pinch those gasoline pennies: If you’re driving your own car on trips, focus on maintenance and when and where you’re buying your gas.   Keep your tires inflated and make sure your engine is in good shape for maximum fuel economy. Also, don’t carry tons of stuff – heavier cars burn more gas.  Consider joining a wholesale club that sells their own gas onsite – you might save a considerable sum not only at home, but in out-of-town locations where you’re staying (hit the Internet and check before you go). Also, buy gasoline mid-week when prices generally stabilize from spikes entering the weekend and starting the workweek. Last but not least, buy gas when daytime temperatures are lowest. Why? Because during cool hours, gasoline is densest and packs more fuel power.

June 2008 – This column is produced by the Financial Planning Association, the membership organization for the financial planning community, and is provided by Kristine McKinley, CFP, CPA, a local member of FPA.

Tags: saving money, saving crisis

As fast as health care costs are rising, I think it’s a good idea to educate yourself about your health care costs and how to cut them.

#3 Pay up front, in cash – I have done this several times, and have gotten a 15% discount as a result.  If it’s a cost that won’t be covered by insurance (because you have a high deductible), then it benefits you to pay up front to get the discount.

#10 Visit a retail health clinic (such as CVS and Walmart) – I haven’t had any reason to do so yet, but it’s nice to know that I have somewhere else to go for poison ivy, the flu, or other small ailments that’s less costly than a visit to the doctor.

#18 Consider an HSA – although these aren’t right for everyone, I have an HSA and love the savings (lower premiums and a tax break).

Click here to read the full article: http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/moneymag/healthcare/index.html

This made me wonder… how profitable are these payday loan places, that they are popping up on every street corner? I’ve heard that payday loans charge high interest rates, but I had never really researched this info before now.

Here’s what I found out…

First, if you’re not familiar with payday loans, basically, they are short-term loans, usually in small amounts. Typically, you write a check for the amount of the loan plus fees, and the lender cashes the check on a specified date, usually one to four weeks later.

Here’s an example: you need $100 to pay your bills so you borrow $100 from a payday loan company. You write a check for $115 and leave it with the lender, to be cashed in two weeks. Your fee for that loan is $15 – that is an annual percentage rate (APR) of 391%.

Although the Truth in Lending Act requires lenders to disclose the finance charge, including the APR, many consumers do not understand the true cost of a payday loan. To continue the example above, let’s assume that you can’t pay the $115 when it comes due. The lender allows you to roll the loan over for another two weeks, but you pay another fee each time you do this. If you rollover the loan in the example above three times, your total finance charges would be $60, for a $100 loan. That equates to an APR of more than 1000%!

As you can see from the example this a very costly way to borrow, even when compared to high interest credit cards. If you find yourself in a cash bind, here are some alternatives to payday loans to consider: a personal loan from a bank or credit union, a personal loan from family or friends, a cash advance against your credit card, a cash advance from your employer, etc.

1.  Why do I need an emergency fund? and
2.  How much should it be?

To answer the first question, you need an emergency fund for the following unexpected expenses or situations:

* Car repairs
* Home repairs or improvements
* Job loss
* Job downsize (forced to work fewer hours)
* Unexpected medical expenses

By having an emergency fund, you won’t be forced to turn to credit cards to pay for these unexpected bills.

The general rule of thumb is to save between three and six months of your living expenses in an emergency fund.  If you have no dependents, good credit, and a steady income, you can probably get by with three months; if you have a fluctuating income or work in a field that is not steady (home construction is a great example right now), you should aim for six months in your emergency fund.

One more thought… you should keep your emergency fund in a high interest money market or CDs (a portion, not all of your emergency fund) to earn a higher interest rate than your checking/savings account.

So… this week’s tip is a list of ways to put your finances on autopilot:

1.    Invest in your company’s retirement plan.  This is the easiest way to put your savings on autopilot, by far.  And many companies provide a matching contribution, so there’s free money involved as well!

2.    If you don’t have a company retirement plan, setup your own retirement plan (IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA and many others) and establish an automatic withdrawal from your bank account to your retirement plan.

3.    Setup an automatic withdrawal from your checking to your savings account to save for emergencies, rainy days, vacations or other short term financial goals.

4.    Setup automatic withdrawals to pay for recurring bills.  This way you won’t ever miss a due date.

5.    Setup automatic withdrawals to pay the minimum on your credit card.  There’s nothing worse than paying a late fee because you didn’t get your credit card payment in on time.  This tip will make sure you always get at least the minimum payment in on time each month.  You can always send in extra money when you want to.

6.    If you’re self employed, transfer a specified amount each month to a savings account until it’s time to send in your quarterly tax payment.  This will be much less painful than coming up with 3 months of estimated taxes at one time.

7.    Adding onto #6, if you’re self employed, consider incorporating your business and putting yourself on the payroll.  Then you will be required to withhold taxes and submit them periodically.

There are many more ways to put your finances on autopilot, but these will get you started.  The important thing is to make it automatic, and painless, so you’ll never miss the money.

Second, the power of compounding.  Sometimes called the 8th wonder of the world, the power of compounding is truly remarkable.  The best way to explain this concept is to show you an example:

Person 1 invests $2,000 per year beginning at age 19 and ending at age 27.  Person 2 invests $2,000 per year beginning at age 27 and continues to invest until retirement age. Assuming the same rate of return (10 percent) in each of the two examples, a person who invests early and for just eight years will have more money at 65 years old than will someone who starts late and invests for nearly 40 years.

	Example 1:		Example 2:
Age	Annual Investment	Year-End Value	Annual Investment	Year-End Value
19	$ 2,000	$2,200	$ 0	$ 0
20	$ 2,000	$4,620	$ 0	$ 0
21	$ 2,000	$7,282	$ 0	$ 0
22	$ 2,000	$10,210	$ 0	$ 0
23	$ 2,000	$13,431	$ 0	$ 0
24	$ 2,000	$ 16,974	$ 0	$ 0
25	$ 2,000	$ 20,872	$ 0	$ 0
26	$ 2,000	$ 25,159	$ 0	$ 0
27	$ 0	$ 27,675	$2,000	$2,200
28	$ 0	$ 30,442	$2,000	$4,620
29	$ 0	$33,487	$2,000	$7,282
30	$ 0	$36,835	$2,000	$10,210
31	$ 0	$40,519	$2,000	$13,431
32	$ 0	$44,571	$2,000	$16,974
33	$ 0	$49,028	$2,000	$20,872
34	$ 0	$53,931	$2,000	$25,159
35	$ 0	$59,324	$2,000	$29,875
36	$ 0	$65,256	$2,000	$35,062
37	$ 0	$71,782	$2,000	$40,769
38	$ 0	$78,960	$2,000	$47,045
39	$ 0	$86,856	$2,000	$53,950
40	$ 0	$95,541	$2,000	$61,545
41	$ 0	$105,095	$2,000	$69,899
42	$ 0	$115,605	$2,000	$79,089
43	$ 0	$127,165	$2,000	$89,198
44	$ 0	$139,882	$2,000	$100,318
45	$ 0	$153,870	$2,000	$112,550
46	$ 0	$169,257	$2,000	$126,005
47	$ 0	$186,183	$2,000	$140,805
48	$ 0	$204,801	$2,000	$157,086
49	$ 0	$225,281	$2,000	$174,995
50	$ 0	$247,809	$2,000	$194,694
51	$ 0	$272,590	$2,000	$216,364
52	$ 0	$299,849	$2,000	$240,200
53	$ 0	$329,834	$2,000	$266,420
54	$ 0	$362,818	$2,000	$295,262
55	$ 0	$399,100	$2,000	$326,988
56	$ 0	$439,010	$2,000	$361,887
57	$ 0	$482,910	$2,000	$400,276
58	$ 0	$531,202	$2,000	$442,503
59	$ 0	$584,322	$2,000	$488,953
60	$ 0	$642,754	$2,000	$540,049
61	$ 0	$707,029	$2,000	$596,254
62	$ 0	$777,732	$2,000	$658,079
63	$ 0	$855,505	$2,000	$726,087
64	$ 0	$941,056	$2,000	$800,896
65	$ 0	$1,035,161	$,2000	$883,185
Less $ invested		($16,000)		($78,000)
		$1,019,161		$805,185
Money increased		64 fold		10 fold

Need I say it again?  Pay yourself first, and start early!