Category Archives: Managing Money

Managing Money

How To Evaluate Which Charities Are Real Or Not

Last May we posted an article titled 4 Scams Looking To Take Your Money. We identified one that, on the surface of things, always sounds legitimate but isn’t.

The problem with all the phone calls we get from this or that charity is that many of them are legitimate charities trying to raise money for whatever their purpose is. That’s why it’s so easy for us to be scammed. No matter what the rest of the world thinks about Americans, overall we’re probably one of the most generous countries in the world when it comes to donating our money to good causes.

Few of us are rich enough to give the kind of money all these charities want. We certainly don’t want our money going to fake charities, or charities that don’t really do what we hope they’re doing with the money. In that vein, we’re making some recommendations of what you should do when you’re not sure whether a charity is real or not.

The first thing is recognizing the name of an organization. Ever hear of the American Heart Association? What about the American Heart Foundation? The first is real; the second isn’t. However, when you’re on the phone, sometimes the person on the other line can make it seem like it’s the same thing. If you’re unsure of what you heard ask them to repeat it. If it sounds fake, tell them you’re uncomfortable giving our your credit card information over the phone and ask them for a link you can visit online to donate.

The second recommendation is to tell them you need to verify who they are and see if they can call you the next day. Most of them will hang up. Some of them will try to push you into foregoing all of that and making a payment anyway before they hang up. For the few that are willing to do so, check them out online, but while you’re at it also make sure you put into your search engine their name followed by “review”. Some sites can look really good, making you think they’re legitimate, but reading reviews will help to tell you whether they are or not.

The third recommendation, even if you know the organization but not the person you’re talking to, is to ask if you can pay them online. Not only is that still more secure (although some people are still scared putting their information online like that, it’s actually much safer than it used to be), but you’ll then have an opportunity to do a further search to see just how much of that money goes to the charity and how much of it is eaten up in administrative costs.

The final recommendation… look at this list. It highlights the 50 worst charities to give money to, and was put together by the Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting. Some of these are legitimate but their administrative costs leaves them little to use for the purposes you’re giving. You’re probably better off giving to a local organization, which uses the money the way you hope it will.

Managing Money

4 Ways To Save Money On Heating Bills In The Winter

For those of us who live in central New York cold weather is nothing new. However, for many people trying to figure out ways to save money on heating bills is usually a major chore. If the temperature stayed around 32° most of the winter it might not be so bad. But how are we supposed to save money when temperatures drop below zero, which they did last night?

We’re here to help. These ideas might not all be inexpensive to implement, but if you can get them done you’ll save a lot of money for the rest of winter and for years to come. Here we go:

1. Buy a kerosene heater. It turns out kerosene heaters aren’t close to being as dangerous as people think they are. A good one might cost around $150 but you could find yourself saving as much as 35% on your monthly winter bills, depending on how cold it gets and the area you have to heat.

If you don’t have to keep every room in your house heated throughout the day a kerosene heater could keep a large area of your home comfortable, and on a full tank it can usually run for up to 10 hours. However, what you’ll find is that you’ll probably only need to run it at max about 90 minutes, which might even be too hot, so you’ll be able to stretch your dollars even further.

Kerosene can run anywhere from $2- $4 depending on where you live, but if you’re not running it for 10 hours straight all the time you might be able to get through almost 2 days before you have to add more.

2. Buy a humidifier. Most people buy humidifiers to help breathe better inside because winter weather seems to dry the air in your house. Turns out that it’s a great conductor for heat, thus it can make you feel warmer.

However, here’s an interesting tip. Turns out if you get a kerosene heater with a flat top you can put a pot on top of it and it’ll act like a humidifier and help heat your rooms faster. However, if you live in an area with hard water you could have a film of calcium getting on your walls, so you might want to also buy some distilled water to help take care of that issue.

3. Insulate! It turns out that most homes don’t come close to having enough insulation to stay energy efficient. Adding insulation to areas such as walls and attics could help you save a lot of money both for winter and summer because it keeps outside temperatures outside better and helps both your heater and air conditioning work better, if you need to run them at all. This option isn’t inexpensive though, as it can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 depending on the size of your house. However, in some states you can finance it through your power company or potentially qualify for special programs that help even middle class families with tax breaks, and it’ll protect your home for years.

However, there are some small things you might be able to do that can help. Try to cover up spaces under and over doors. Make sure your windows are sealed well. Putting up plastic on some windows can help with drafts but if you have windows that you’re not worried about having to look outside of you can add towels or blankets to help insulate them better. Finally, don’t forget to change from screens to storm windows if you have them, both on your regular windows and your screen doors. These are inexpensive little things that could end up saving you a lot of money while keeping you warm.

4. Check your vents and registers. Are you sure you’re getting all the air you should coming into your rooms without some of it scattering in other areas of your house that don’t need the heat? If you’re not feeling strong pushes of air coming from your vents it wouldn’t hurt to pay to have someone come over to check your vent system and also clean it out so you don’t have to deal with dust and other nasty stuff getting into your air.

Luckily, this doesn’t cost as much as insulation. There are many companies that charge less than $100 for this service, but you should shop around because you might find someone who might charge a little bit more to check your furnace, filters and even your hot water heater to make sure everything working efficiently.
 

Budgeting, Managing Money

Are Sales Always Economical?

This weekend is one of the biggest sales periods of the year, and every year around this same time it seems like the best deals of the year are coming up. Whereas it seems like the best time to save money, one has to be wary of some of the deception that takes place at the same time.

For instance, there are many smartphone deals this weekend, and all of them might seem like you’re going to save a lot of money. You might, but you need to pay attention because most of the phones on sale are already obsolete. It’s rare to see the latest models having big discounts at this time of year, and truth be told, if you see a discount it’s probably not a new discount but something that was already available with a switch in plan that’s just been renamed for the holiday.

There are also places you’ll go to where you’ll see discounts of up to 50%, but if you do some homework and look at the prices during the year you’ll see those items have been marked up and then discounted, to the point where your savings aren’t really what they’re purported to be. That’s pretty sleazy but there’s nothing illegal about it.

The biggest thing to take into account is whether the item is something you actually need versus want; that is, if it’s for you. If you’re buying gifts for someone else we’d hope that you had a budget for that sort of thing. If not, it’s worth taking some time to think about things you really need, even if it’s for business purposes, and then determine if it’s worth the purchase.

Business furniture is always a good purchase at this time of year because it’s an industry where, sometimes, moving inventory is relatively static. It also works because things like desks and chairs rarely goes out of style.

Computers are something you need to take a good look at, even if you need one. It’s good to have an understanding of things like RAM and storage capacity and chipset. For instance, if you need office computers mainly for email and bookkeeping then you don’t need anything with 8GB of RAM, whereas if you’re making 3D models and the like the extra capacity is a great benefit. The same goes for storage, since most businesses will never reach a level where they’re going to need terabytes of files. As for chipsets, there’s mainly two (the names of which we won’t mention here) and, truthfully, both are good but one has a name that gets more respect and thus can drive the price of a computer higher than needed.

Overall, it’s best to figure out how much money you’re willing to spend after you put together a list of things you want, whether it’s for business or pleasure. Also, the best thing about shopping in today’s world is that you can take some time to do a little online research to see where you can get the best price.
 

Managing Money

Businesses Sometimes Must Spend Money

As much as we tell businesses and individuals that they need to budget their money in case something comes up, we need to also mention that if you’re a business you need to spend money from time to time for multiple reasons. It’s hard to spend money you don’t have, which is why we talk about budgeting, but it’s important for your business not to be too shy about buying a thing or two here and there.

The biggest reason of course is that you get to write off those expenses when it comes to taxes. This is why we say to keep receipts and track your mileage. As we stated in our previous post, you can still make good money while having your business considered as operating at a loss, and it’s all legal.

What should you be spending your money on? Here are 5 things to consider.

1. Business meals. Networking is the name of the game when it comes to most businesses and a major perk is that you get to write off your meals when you’re doing any sort of business. You get 50% off of any meals you pay for towards your taxes, which means you don’t have to meet potential clients at McDonalds. And if you’re traveling a lot, any meals you buy out of town count as business expenses.

2. Education. There isn’t a business in the world that stays stagnant. Yet the first thing businesses often do is stop training and learning when things get financially tough. That will put you behind your competitors and that’s never a good thing. You get to write off training seminars and materials.

3. Networking. Most businesses have some kind of professional group they can join to either learn more about their business or network with others who are in business for themselves. Chambers of Commerce in your local area are always something to consider, especially if you tend to spend most of your time alone, if only because it not only gives you a reason to get out of the house, but it’s tax deductible. Getting to know other professionals, even if they’re not in your field, is always a good business move.

4. Office equipment. Unless you’re a large business you’re probably not depreciating any of your office equipment, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about changing things from time to time, especially when you get to write it off. Computers, software, office furniture… sometimes you have to bite the bullet and buy something new, but knowing you get to write it off should lessen the blow somewhat.

5. Clothes or uniforms. There’s no rule that says you have to keep wearing the same thing over and over. Clothes and uniforms sometimes wear out, and since you get to write off the costs of these things it makes sense to update your wardrobe from time to time. You may not be able to write off that Syracuse University t-shirt, but if you buy a couple of dress shirts and maybe a pair of shoes… you’re good to go.

Managing Money

Should You Do Debt Consolidation?

Almost everyone at one time in their lives found themselves having trouble paying all the bills. Even if it wasn’t true, because you hadn’t verified your income versus how much you owed, you probably had some discomfort when it came to a question of whether or not you were managing your money properly.

If you ever find yourself in trouble, you have a few options.

3D Shackled Debt
Creative Commons License
Chris Potter via Compfight

One is to ignore it and wait for the phone calls to start coming in; we wouldn’t recommend that.

Another is to borrow money from friends and family. This might be a solution but, unless you don’t have to worry about paying them back, it can end up in family strife and probably isn’t a great option.

The best option is to look at some kind of debt consolidation program or process to help get out of debt, or at least to get some control of your finances so you at least know what’s going on.

We’ve talked in the past about things one should do when you’re having problems with bills, and those are great first steps. Being proactive is always a better option than sitting around feeling nervous and scared and waiting for things to happen.

One thing you can think about doing is, if most of your debt is in credit cards, moving balances to the cards with the lowest interest rate. While this doesn’t quite eliminate debt, it will give you fewer payments, lower total payments overall for a while, and if you can make larger payments you will reduce your debt faster.

The problems here are twofold. One, you might already be close to being overextended, thus this isn’t a viable option. Two, you have to be disciplined enough not to use the cards you clear, which might mean you’d have to do something as drastic as cutting some cards up to stop yourself. You have to do a major self evaluation here; if a lack of discipline is that put you in trouble to begin with don’t even think about this as an option.

Another thing you can do is some credit counseling. You can go to someone like an accountant, who can help you get a handle on your bills and even pay them for you, or set you up to pay things down while putting you on an allowance. Or you can look for free services like Consumer Credit Counseling, who will help negotiate payment terms with your creditors with the caveat that your accounts are closed at the same time. And no, you don’t get to keep a card in reserve, although you can always use your debit card.

A final thing to think about, if you own a home, is a debt consolidation loan via the bank where your mortgage is. This might be harder to do if you have high balances on all of your cards because the bank might not see you as a great credit risk, but if they do extend you credit it’ll end up becoming a part of your monthly mortgage payment, which will be less than what you pay now for your mortgage and bills, and the interest rate will probably be lower also.

The best option overall is to address any potential issues early so you don’t have to consider doing any of these things. Help is always available; you just have to ask for it.