U.S. National Park Free Days for 2014

The United States National Park Service offers free entrance to their parks on certain days (or holidays).  For 2014, here they are:

• January 20, 2014 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• February 15 to 17, 2014 for Presidents Day weekend
• April 19 to 20, 2014 for opening weekend of National Park Week
• August 25, 2014 for National Park Service Birthday
• September 27, 2014 for National Public Lands Day
• November 11, 2014 for Veterans Day

Obviously expect crowds. On our trip to Yosemite, it happened to be during the National Park Service Birthday of that year and so in addition to the usual volume of visitors, I am sure there were extra people present.

If you want to avoid those crowded days, just get an annual pass. Currently they run about $80 per year.  If you are 62 years of age or older then your price is $10 per year!  Click on the below link for more information.

Related website:

• Free Days: http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm
• Different Passes: http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm

I hope you found this helpful.  Click here to see how you can support me.

Merry Thrift-mas...

I feel like I have partially neglected this blog.  Most of my attention has been with my photography blog which you can see by clicking here or on the link to the right.

I have been only skimming magazines and not really having time to pass things along to all of you, but hopefully that will improve.  I did want to pass along a quick read from USAWeekend that comes with the Sunday issue of many newspapers.  The article is from award-winning journalist and best-selling author, Jean Chatzky who wrote a featured article called "Merry Thrift-mas."  She made some key points as you all head into the home stretch of holiday gift purchases which include:

• Think "Life List," not Christmas list
• Consider what you could buy instead. This is called "opportunity cost" in economics
• Involve other and commit (to spending limits)
• Get more out of gift cards
• Embrace impulse control
• Shop (online) till you drop (limit yourself to 2 hours)
• Think life a recipient, not a giver

For more details click here for the full article: http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20121130/MONEY01/311300005/Merry-Thrift-mas

Related websites:

• Wikipedia entry on Opportunity Cost: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost

I hope you found this helpful.  Click here to see how you can support me.

AAA Members-Only Night at Magic Mountain

In case anyone missed this announcement in the last Westways magazine. Members get admission on May 18, 2012 to Six Flags Magic Mountain in southern California for $27 and for $10 more you get access to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Parking is also complimentary.

For more details go to the following website:  http://www.calif.aaa.com/en-ca/find-discounts/Pages/six-flags-member-night.aspx?

Apple is skimping this year!

Oooh.  Apple is skimping this year!  In previous years they would run a promotion of something like "Buy a Mac and get an iPod free" where you would be reimbursed for about $199 for the purchase of an iPod.

I guess this year they are giving you an "app" store credit in the amount of $100.  For them, it isn't a big deal because there is virtually no overhead for this variable cost.

Bummer.

Click here to be taken to Apple's website for more information.

Westways: Gas-saving tips

In the June 2011 Westways issue, they have a list of gas-saving tips. They are:

• Slow down
• Don't rev up the engine, and avoid "jackrabbit starts"
• Maintain your vehicle
• Anticipate traffic lights and stopped traffic
• Don't warm up your car
• Consolidate trips and errands
• Don't haul extra weight around

Click here for further details (you will need to scroll down a bit).

ING Compare Me / Money: Seven Secrets to a Richer Retirement

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been getting Money Magazine for free (still).  In a recent issue, they were covering the retirement.  They had a couple things that were interesting including referencing ING's Compare Me website.  You can enter your age, your income, and how much you have saved.  It looks like more than 154,000 people have registered.

They also went through the Seven (7) Secrets to a Richer Retirement which include:

• Get a good picture of the future you
• Try to beat the other guy
• Use reminders and checklists
• Think bite-size pieces, not whole enchilada
• Make friends with an annuity
• Take losses in stride
• Protect the future you

Click here to go to INGCompareMe.com

To view the above in more detail, click here to go to their website.

To subscribe to Money Magazine, click here for 1-year auto-renewal

AAA: Keep your old car or trade it for a new one?

In this AAA article titled "Keep It or Dump It?" Peter Bohr tackles the mind battle all of us grapple with when deciding how much longer to keep our current cars.

Here are the common reasons rationalize buying a new car:

• Too much hassle (too many trips to the mechanic, etc...)
• Too unattractive
• Too few of the latest bells and whistles
• Too fuelish

To tread the whole article, click here

Secrets of Extreme Savers

In this recent feature by CNNMoney.com it features eight people or families and what they have done in their lives to be able to save a

Their key strategies are at the very core of nearly every "get rich" or "get out of debt" books in print and include the following:

• Avoid debt
• Delay gratification
• Create multiple streams of income
• Live below your means
• Cut down on everyday expenses
• Track your spending
• Live on one salary while bringing in two
• Automate saving

For more details, click here to read the entire feature.

Trade a cell phone (eventually) into a Porsche?

I recently read an article on Yahoo! Finance about a person who over the course of two years made multiple trades off of Craigslist and turned an old cell phone into a used Porsche Boxster.

I applaud his efforts, but here is my point.  It states that he spends five to six hours a day looking for possible trades for two years.  The value of the car was $9,000 and it reports that he later decided to get rid of it because maintenance was too high.

I am just wondering what would have happened if he had just worked for two years and bought the $9,000 car outright?  I know someone reading this will throw in that it is a poor job market and that it would be difficult to get a job, and on and on...   At the Federal Minimum wage of $7.25 per hour at five hours per day and 250 days per year for two years, he would have earned (before taxes of course) $18,125. Of course if someone would be able to get a job paying more than the minimum wage or worked more than 25 hours per week, this amount would be higher.

Was it worth it?

For more details, click here to read the article

If you received $10,000, what would you do with it?

That is one of the questions you are supposed to ask a prospective partner in life to help determine if they tend to be a "saver" or a "spender."

There were a couple of questions listed at the end of an article by Laura Rowley titled "Keeping Finances Separate Can Be Costly" that discussed whether you should keep finances separate as a couple, merge them together, or have a hybrid system.

To read the entire article, click here to be taken to Yahoo! Finance

Is it time to Downshift?

If you have been reading this blog, you will know that I have been receiving Forbes Magazine for free.  It looks like I will be likely getting it for another six months or so.  In the April 26, 2010 issue, there is an article called "Downshift" by Monte Burke which showcases some vignettes on five people in a variety of industries who have either by choice (most of them) or by being laid off.

This is just another reminder to stay grounded and focus on the fundamentals (live within your means, positive monthly cash flow, emergency savings, etc.) because sometimes you never know what is going to happen.

Click here to read the article.

To subscribe to Forbes magazine for 12 months, click here.

Start planning for tax hikes now

In the latest issue of Forbes (yes, I am still getting it for free), there is a nice summary of what to do between now and 2013 to try and minimize any effects of the tax hikes that will be hitting all of us.

There will be a new 3.8% "Medicare" tax on investment income and 0.9% Medicare tax on wages.

Here are some of the key points:

• Next year, money in FSAs, Health Savings Accounts, and Health Reimbursement Accounts may no longer be used for over-the-counter medications  unless your doctor has prescribed you to take them.
• In 2013, the maximum you can place in an FSA will be decreased to $2,500 per year. 
• In 2013, there will be an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on gross compensation (before any retirement contributions) above $200,000 (individuals) or $250,000 (couples).  
• In 2013 there will also be a new 3.8% surtax on investment income for individuals with more than $200,000 in adjusted gross income and $250,000 for those filing jointly.  This will apply to interest, capital gains, annuities, rents, royalties, passive activity income, and dividends.  Except will be retirement account distributions, capital gains from selling your principal residence and business income from a venture.  It will also affect trust income more than $11,200 that you do not distribute.
• In case you were planning to sell some of your long-term investments in future years for a major bill, consider selling them before the capital gains rate increases. Depending on your tax bracket, your long-term capital gains rate could be going from 0% to 10-20% or from 15% to 20%. Click here to view the table on Wikipedia

The Forbes article has a nice graph showing what the Capital Gains and Income Tax Top Rates have been from 1960 to the present and in the coming years.  Click here to view that graph.

For more details, click here for the article.

To subscribe to Forbes magazine, click here for 12 months (26 issues).

Yahoo! Finance "How to Be Your Own Financial Regulator"

In this article by Laura Rowley she discussed the recent proposals for financial reform.  It is 1,300 pages long!  I know there are debates back and forth "For" or "Against" reform.

She makes the following points where if you adhere to them, the chance that you making a bad decision is low:

• Thou shalt not live beyond thy means.
• Thou shalt set aside cash for emergencies.
• Thou shalt not carry a revolving balance on they credit card.
• Thou shalt not use a financial product without searching for the best deal.
• Thou shalt save early and often for expensive goals.
• Thou shalt not be overconfident whilst demonstrating financial ineptitude.

Click here to view the article and more details about the above recommendations.

43 percent have less than $10,000 saved for retirement?

We all need to start saving more.  Click here for the CNNMoney.com article.  Previously it was 39 percent in 2008.  It also says that 24 percent have postponed their retirement (working longer) compared with 14 percent in 2008.

More people are switching from "big" banks to local credit unions

The question is whether you or I have already done this or should seriously considering doing so.  My wife brought this up last week.

Now here's an article on CNNMoney about how others are doing it as well.  Sometimes it is about saving money on fees/charges and/or receiving a higher return on interest-bearing accounts.  Sometimes it is just a matter of principles.

CNNMoney.com article on the biggest rip-offs

In this CNNMoney.com article, it lists nine of the biggest rip-offs as far as markup from the cost.

The top one is sending a text message.  This is based on the cost of sending a message is only $0.003. Click on the link above to see the rest.

Suze Orman's advice from tonight

I know that a lot of people don't like her, but Suze Orman was on the late night Channel 7 news program.  Here's some of her advice:

• If you carry a balance, opt out for a store credit card or a credit union credit card ONLY if the interest rate is cheaper.  Just remember to try and not carry a balance.
• Avoid promotions.  Make a list and don't buy or spend more than you planned "just because" it was a deal.
• Sometimes you can afford it.
• Define the things around you instead of having the things define you.

You can buy some of her books and other products at: Amazon.com's Suze Orman Products

Documentary on Credit Cards airing 11/24/09 at 9 PM

If anyone is interested in watching this potentially interesting documentary of the Credit Card industry, tune in to their local PBS station or on-line.  Click here for more information.

Ways to help your monthly cash flow

I found this interesting article from Kiplinger and on Yahoo! Finance about 20 ways to waste (or not waste) your money.

I think the big ones for myself are Numbers 1, 5, 10, 12, and 18. We all could do better.

Click here to read the article and see if there are areas you can improve as well.

Using Variable Ratio/Variable Reward to encourage saving

I just read this interesting piece by Jason Zweig about a bank that is offering prizes (or raffles) just for opening a bank account.

We all know that variable ratio / variable reward is the best way to encourage behaviors. Think of gambling (don't know when you're going to win or how much you're going to win) or even other activities such as golf (don't know when the next good shot will come or how great it will be).

Of course, the rates are a little lower than current market and the differential is how the credit union pays for the "prizes." The article reports the following: "You are sort of betting, but there's no losing."

But in reality, there is losing because of the differential in return and losses to inflation. How you make it up is in the risk/reward ratio. If you contribute the minimum like the reported person who placed only $25 in their CD (Certificate of Deposit) and won $400, the ratio is more justified as compared with someone who opens their CD with $100,000 and wins $400, but misses out in $1,000 for every 1 percent interest rate differential.