This is probably a light version of what marketers use but probably not that different. 49.3% are in the same home for 5+ years. 28.9% never married, 55% are married, and 9.3% are divorced. You have household income breakdown, occupation (in some broad categories), and even unemployment and poverty. It’s amazing what is available on census alone.

I had two questions – have you ever researched data like this and does it bother you that marketers are using it?

(Credit: Eric Fischer)

Your Take: Ever Research Your Zip Code? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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Now, though, after reading stories on CNN Money and NBC News, I suspect that these are attempts at marketing based on my ZIP code.

You probably already know that information in your credit report is used to market items to you. Credit card issuers, personal lenders, and insurance companies all use information garnered from your credit report to send you marketing mail. But your ZIP code can also provide information to marketers that use “big data” to get information about you and your habits.

What Information Does Your ZIP Code Provide?

Anyone looking at the general statistics surrounding my ZIP code would assume that I have either just had a baby or that I’m pregnant. In my neighborhood, I’m one of the few women under the age of 35 who isn’t pregnant, or doesn’t have a child under the age of two (there are also many moms in my young neighborhood who are pregnant and have children under the age of two).

Someone marketing baby formula, trying to sell toddler items and looking for the “typical” stay-at-home mom would certainly send their free samples to my ZIP code — and assume that I fit right in.

Those who collect information about consumer habits compile information based on the information provided. The NBC story points out that:

When you swipe a credit card at the cash register, the merchant receives your name, card number and expiration date, but little else, [Paul] Stephens said. Give the store your ZIP code, however, and you’re providing a valuable piece of the puzzle.

When paired with your name, it can help the merchant figure out your mailing address, phone number and specific demographic information, Stephens noted.

That means more marketing items in your mailbox, and more telemarketers calling your phone. It means more targeted sales pitches aimed at trying to get you to buy what someone else is selling.

How Else Could Others Profile You?

But it’s not just about marketing. There are some concerns this type of information could lead to more consumer profiling behaviors. Until a few years ago, most consumer buying habits were profiled in the form of credit agency reports. Someone looking at your situation would look at your payment history and debt level, and a few other items, and then make a decision about you.

Now, though, Big Data can help marketers and others figure out what types of consumer items you are likely to buy, based on your ZIP code. They can pair your buying behavior when you swipe your plastic with what others in your geographic area are buying. They can get an idea of other habits as well.

Already, social media profiling is used to get an idea of what kind of friends you have, and the activities in which you engage. But what if more information could be extracted from your ZIP code and other information you provide. If you are friends with a lot of folks who are in debt, perhaps you are in debt, too. Or perhaps you engage in other behaviors.

This type of consumer profiling is already being used overseas in some cases. With all of the data collected on you every day, it’s possible for just about any business to get a fairly comprehensive picture of what makes you tick.

What do you think? Is there too much data collection going on? How do you feel about stores selling your ZIP code information to data crunchers?

Photo: 38 Degrees

What Does Your ZIP Code Say about You? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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A lot of people got burned that year when they saw their investment drop, got angry at Wall Street, and have never been back. And so they participated in the fall but didn’t participate in the rise. And it stinks.

There are signs that the appetite for risk is returning among more sophisticated investors and institutions, but that may not extend to the median American, who did not not recover as quickly or as fully (if at all) as the finance industry did.

Rather than guess, I’m curious to know what you did during the fall and subsequent rise? We didn’t do anything drastic (I did sell a Target Retirement fund in 2007) but most of our investments were in retirement accounts that we wouldn’t need for 30 years. When you have that long of a time horizon, you can afford to be patient. Then, we started buy dividend stocks when we saw solid blue chip companies were trading at historic discounts. Names like Coca-Cola and Heinz. I was able to do that in part because we weren’t invested in the market outside of retirement accounts. Had we been invested, we would’ve just held into the valley and just recovered with everyone else who stayed around. I probably wouldn’t have put in any more money, I’m certain of that.

What did you do? Did you leave and not come back?

( Credit: AZRainman)

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Many states administer unemployment benefits to help support those who can’t find work. If you don’t have a job, it might be worth it to see if you qualify for unemployment benefits.

Do You Qualify for Unemployment Benefits?

First of all, you need to determine if you are eligible to receive unemployment benefits. If you quit your job for a reason that isn’t considered a “good cause” by your state’s labor department, you won’t qualify. Additionally, being fired can disqualify you from receiving benefits. If you are self-employed, and you lose your main source of income, don’t expect help from the government, either. Only if you are incorporated and have been paying yourself a salary (and been paying for unemployment insurance) do you have the chance to collect unemployment if you fall on hard times during self-employment.

Also, once you are on unemployment, you are expected to try to find a job. In many states, you will be required to meet with a professional who will check up on your efforts to find a job. Turning down too many jobs can be grounds to reduce or eliminate your benefits. And don’t forget that unemployment benefits are taxable, so you will have to plan to pay taxes on any assistance you receive.

How Much Can You Get?

Because unemployment is administered by the states, how benefits are determined and distributed is taken care of at that level. You can get information on local options from the U.S. Department of Labor. Most states use a formula to determine how much you are eligible each week, usually based on your salary before you were fired. It’s important to understand that unemployment benefits aren’t designed to replace your income entirely; many people can’t maintain a previous lifestyle on unemployment benefits.

You should also realize that unemployment benefits don’t last indefinitely. At one point, unemployment benefits could last as long as 99 weeks, but that isn’t the case anymore. The federal government provides unemployment help to states, which then administer the programs to residents. (States can also use their own resources for unemployment benefits on top of federal resources.) The amount of federal unemployment aid offered is based on a state’s unemployment rate. There are four levels of federal help, based on the rate offered. Now, for the most part, unemployment benefits top out at 47 weeks.

What To Do When Unemployment Runs Out

So, with unemployment benefits lasting for a shorter period of time (less than a year in some cases), you might run out of benefits before you find a job. So, what do you do when you run out of benefits? Here are some of your options:

• Draw more on your emergency fund: If you have an emergency fund, now might be the time to draw on it more. It can be a source of funds for you while you continue to look for work. And, if things are really tight and you don’t have other options, your retirement account might be an option.
• Other government assistance: There are other government programs available that can help you stretch your money each month after unemployment runs out. Food stamps, energy assistance, and other programs might be able to provide you with help.
• Charity: Local food banks can help supply your pantry, as well as low-priced items from thrift shops. You can also turn to your church congregation.
• Friends and family: Don’t forget your support system. They can help you get back on your feet.
• Unemployment loans: In some cases, it’s possible to borrow money during unemployment. But you need to watch out for the unscrupulous. Realize that you might be stuck with a higher interest rate as well. This is usually a last-ditch option.

Photo: aflcio

Unemployed? Your Benefits May Be Smaller than You Think from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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Bargaineering was around when we bought our first house and we chronicled the entire process. A lot of it is mundane, downright boring if you’ve already done this yourself, but at the time it was all new to us. Getting pre-approval, while much easier then, hasn’t changed much except for how much paperwork you need to submit. Back then you typed a few numbers on a form and you were in! That’s why I didn’t write much about the process this time around – it wasn’t that much different and it wasn’t a completely new experience for us.

That said, in the last eight years, some things have changed…

Redfin vs. a Realtor

When we bought our first house, we worked with a friend of mine who just became a real estate agent – Christina Elliott (she was with Century 21 at the time I think, then partnered with Keller Williams). Redfin didn’t exist back then (or at least in our area) and so she would send me some listings and we’d visit the homes. We visited probably around fifty homes over the course of a few months and it was exhausting.

This time around, with Redfin and its great search features, we were able to get a better sense of how much homes were in the area we liked. She would send me listings as they appeared and was my conduit into listings on the MLS and with the research we did on our own, we visited only around fifteen homes. We were much pickier this time around too, so we didn’t go to a home unless we already liked it.

I’ll go into this in greater detail (Redfin vs. Real Estate Agent) in a future post but there’s a big difference between working with a Redfin agent and working with a traditional real estate agent.

Fewer Homes

The stories about the real estate market being soft or slow are all true, but it’s picking up. A lot. I’ve heard stories of homes that get sold within hours. It’s like 2005 all over again! Part of it is supply, there simply aren’t a lot of houses out there. I don’t know if it’s because people are underwater or they aren’t thinking about selling, but there just aren’t a lot of homes coming onto the market. It’s now May, we’re fairly deep into the “nice weather” Spring period and we didn’t see an “explosion” of home listings when we exited the cold of winter.

The end result of this was that the homes that are coming on the market are selling fairly quickly and at very good prices. But it’s said that real estate is local so what happens here may not hold true near you.

Loans Require Lots of Documentation

Loans always require a lot of documentation but it seems like this time around the list has gotten a lot longer. So far we’ve had to provide W2′s, paystubs, bank statements (showing down payment plus 9 months of mortgage payments), proof of homeowners insurance, two years of tax returns, two years of business tax returns, two months of every account that paid out interest or dividends, and letters of explanation for a variety of little things. If there are any irregular transactions on the bank statements, we have to provide the associated account statement as well. The statements have to be official statements and can’t be screenshots or cropped photos.

I’m More Confident

Eight years ago, I didn’t do much in terms of trying to save money on the purchase. Outside of comparing lender costs, I went with whatever was recommended. This time around, and they’re minor savings in the grand scheme, I was more confident in the process to do some things a little smarter. For example, we wanted to radon test the home and the inspector said a radon test would cost $135. We purchased a $35 kit from the Radon Testing Corporation of America and tested it that way. The house is on well water so there’s a water test, inspector quoted us $235 and we found an actual water testing company that would do it for $100. These are all minor savings in the price of the home but instead of just going with whatever was presented, I did more homework.

We haven’t reached settlement yet, that won’t be until June, but we’ve gotten over the major hurdles.

(Credit: WCampos3)

We’re Buying A House (Maybe) from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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Since the dream of working from home is so strong, you need to watch out for scams. Whenever something seems very attractive to a wide swath of the population, there are scammers out there trying to take advantage. If you’re not careful, you might find that the dream job advertised online at places like Craig’s List is actually scam. Here are 5 signs your dream job is probably a scam:

1.  Good Pay for Easy Jobs

When I was in college, and looking for a way to earn a little extra money, I answered an ad for envelope stuffing. I could earn $1 for every envelope I stuffed! That’s easily $50 an hour, I thought. Probably more. I actually sent in for a “kit.” Once I saw the “kit,” I realized that the envelope stuffing I would do involved getting other suckers to send in money for a similar “business kit.”

Watch out for jobs that seem like you’re getting paid a good deal of money to do very easy work. It’s probably a scam.

2. Up Front Payments

While MLM companies aren’t illegal, and most aren’t scams per se, you do need to watch out. When an “employer” requires you to make some sort of up front payment, you could be moving into scam territory. MLM companies that encourage you to max out credit cards to buy products are trouble. Another red flag is when you are told to go to a specific web site and pay for a “background check” or “credit check.” Also, watch out for “opportunities” that require you to buy an expensive kit in order to get started. It’s one thing to buy a legitimate course or information product, it’s another to buy something as a condition of employment.

3. Poor Grammar

Does the job listing feature poor grammar and lol-speak? If so, it’s probably not legit. Reputable companies follow the rules of professional communication. They don’t abbreviate items, and they don’t substitute “$$$” for “money.” Nor do they use the sort of terminology you are likely to see if you look at a text message from a teenager.

4. It’s Hard to Get Information on the Company

Does the “business” have a vague or generic name? Is the email address given a Gmail or Yahoo! account? Is it difficult to find a web site? If so, you could be dealing with a scam. Most legitimate companies have email addresses originating from the business domain name, not from MSN/Hotmail or Mail.com. Additionally, a poorly designed web site, or not web site at all, should also send up red flags. You should be able to find information on a potential company.

5. Pressure to Move Now

Most jobs aren’t going to require you to make a decision immediately. There’s a whole process involved. Additionally, watch out for “limited time opportunities.” Most legitimate job listings don’t feature this type of language. Plus, with a reputable job, it’s not about getting in on something quickly. It’s about being the right fit.

Photo: thisisbossi

5 Signs Your Dream Job is Actually a Scam from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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There’s just one problem… I’m not graduating from any of those schools. So how do I get in?

Find a Student

You will need a ticket to get into commencement and the only people who get tickets are graduates. For example, Maryland distributes five tickets per graduate (it’ll vary between 4-6 each year) and you simply show ID and pick them up from the Comcast Center box office. The University of Baltimore also gives 5 tickets per graduate.

The easiest way to get a ticket is to find a graduate to get you one. If it’s a local college, as those three are for me, chances are a co-worker or a friend knows someone who knows someone who is graduating and can get you a ticket. It’s a little last minute for this year but plan ahead of next year and you’ll probably be able to get one.

Buy It

If you can’t get a free one from a student, the next best way is to buy one from a student. As the event nears, you’ll start to see sale listings on Craigslist or other classified ad sites. I found a listing for four tickets to the UMD graduation for $400, which might be steep depending on your budget.

Alternatively, there are exchanges available across social media set up by the schools themselves. Some graduates come from large families and whatever the school distributes just isn’t enough. Check out the school’s commencement page for the available options.

Stream It Online

If you can’t find a ticket to attend the event live, you can almost always stream it. Many universities put their commencement online and let you watch it in real time. Considering how large the venues are, oftentimes your streaming feed is exactly what you’d be watching anyway if you were there live. The University of Maryland streams theirs feed starting at 1 PM on graduation day, details all appearing on the main commencement page.

The streaming option is probably the best option unless it’s someone you’ve always to see live and in person. Sometimes a speaker generates so much buzz and emotion from the audience that you really need to be there to experience the full experience. Sometimes you can just wait for the Youtube video and skip all the lines and the traffic.

(Credit: HckySo)

How to Attend Commencement at a University You’ve Never Been To from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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A number of colleges and universities offer online degree programs, and there are online schools completely in the Internet education space. My husband teaches online classes for Utah State University, and one of them is a graduate-level course mostly aimed at teachers working on their master’s degrees.

While my husband’s students find it useful to continue their educations online, since the master’s degree will come with a pay increase, not everyone is in the same boat.

What is Your Online Degree Worth?

First of all, you have to decide what you’re trying to accomplish with your online degree, says Chris Cullen, Managing Director at Infinia Group and former Chief Marketing Officer for The Johns Hopkins University. “The benefits of an online degree are direction relational to the goals of the student,” he says.

If you are just trying to continue your learning for your own benefit, and don’t really care to use the degree, it might make sense to use free online learning resources and open courseware. However, if you feel that advancing your education is essential to your career, either to receive better credentials or qualify for higher pay or a promotion, it might make sense to take advantage of the convenience of online classes.

But you still need to beware. Classes like those my husband teaches, and the online MBA programs offered by numerous respected and major universities, are fully accredited, and you enjoy the prestige of that particular university.

It’s a different story with a totally online institution. “It is safe to say that a completely online credential still does not afford the leverage and opportunity that any conventional degree does,” Cullen says.

“The job market is competitive,” he continues. “If the online credential is a basic requirement to advancement in your company or career path, the source may be mostly irrelevant as long as it is accredited.”

Look at your goals, and the requirements of your career. In some cases, all you might need is particular certification, and once you accomplish that — whether you take the required courses online or in person — you can advance. In other cases, though, an online education might just be expensive, and leave you with a degree that is considered inferior to those from more traditional schools.

Besides, there are some benefits to continuing your education in a classroom environment. I remember the stimulating discussions and exchange of ideas in my own graduate program. These are experiences that aren’t as robust over the Internet.

Cullen agrees: “[I]f a student is hoping to share the same conversations, and benefit from the same category prejudices of college graduates, at least for now an online education still carries a reputational asterisk.”

What do you think? Is an online degree worth it? Would you continue your education online?

(Photo: CollegeDegrees360)

Should You Continue Your Education with an Online Degree? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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So I read up on how to maintain a suit and was surprised how simple it was.

Don’t Dry Clean After Every Wear

First, understand what dry cleaning is. Next, understand that you don’t need to dry clean your suit after every wear. That great Art of Manliness article covers when you should dry clean your suit or will a quick brush or ventilation do the trick. Dry cleaning is a pretty harsh (and expensive) process and so if you can avoid it, it’s best to dry clean when only absolutely necessary because it damages the suit.

Ventilation for 24 Hours

After you wear your suit, let the suit ventilate for at least twenty four hours. The idea here is that the suit has picked up some moisture from your body and will need some time to dry out. Also, if your suit picked up any new scents, like perfume or smoke, this also gives the suit a chance to rid itself of its new friends.

Hang On Thick Heavy Hangers

You know those wire hangars the dry cleaner sends your suits back home in? Those suck. They’re fine for shirts but those wires dig into the shoulders of suits. Also, sometimes those wire hangars aren’t strong enough to even hold the suit and pants and you might find your suit in a crumbled ball on the floor the morning you need to wear it.

While we’re in the closet, make sure the suit has enough air around it to breathe a little. You won’t need to ventilate it like in the previous tip but don’t jam it in either. And check your pockets!

Cedar If You Can

The saddest thing that could ever happen to a suit is discovering it’s become food for moths. It’s never obvious but holes just start appearing and all it takes it one hole for a suit to be ruined. If you can store in a closet lined with cedar, that’s the best defense. Moth balls are also a good option, whether the traditional naphthalene mothballs or the newer cedar ones, especially when storing summer suits for the winter. The downside to moth balls is, of course, the smell; so cedar might work better.

Rotate, Rotate, Rotate

By rotate I mean don’t wear the same suit every single day. If you need to wear a suit every day, have a few on hand in order to cycle through them so they don’t get beat up. As silly as it sounds, suits need time to recover and if you wear the same suit every day it’ll wear it down faster (plus people will notice).

Always Launder Your Shirts

Always. Wash. Your. Shirts. Even if you wear it for just an hour to an event and then take it off afterwards, always wash your shirts. The biggest reason (well, besides just the simple fact that you should keep your clothes clean) is that it slows the development of the dreaded “ring around the collar,” which is a mix of sweat, oils, dirt, and dead skin cells. It may not look like you got it dirty, just wearing it for an hour or two, but if you stick it back in the closet then whatever you did leave behind will yellow and be baked into the shirt.

To this day I still have all five suits, added a few more to the group, and they still get use at weddings (along with the twenty or so $1 ties…).

Do you have any suit maintenance tips I missed?

( Credit: .faramarz )

The Secret to Making a Suit Last Forever from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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The exact charge wasn’t that they hacked the unit itself, since they didn’t, but that they exceeded “their otherwise legitimate access ‘to obtain or alter information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled so to obtain or alter.’” In other words, they discovered this workaround, used it, and made lots of money. They found a bug (the thing the accesser is not entitled to obtain or alter).

Personally, I don’t think what they did should be a crime. The manufacturers of the Game King system didn’t test their systems enough and now turning this into a legal case just brings more exposure to their oversight. This is big news only because of all the recent news about Aaron’s Law (named after Aaron Swartz), and the fight over internet regulation laws.

Did they do something ethical? No, certainly not. But you could argue that gambling is hardly ethical either (and being unethical in an unethical place… well, that’s not two wrongs make a right either!). That said, gamblers are always trying to beat the house when they play any rigged game (all casino games favor the house), these gamblers simply found a way to work things in their favor. I applaud them!

What do you think? Did they commit a crime?

(Credit: midom)

Your Take: Is Cleverness a Crime? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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This means we might be moving. Even though we’ve tried not to get weighed down with too much stuff, the reality is that we’ve got more stuff now than we had when we schlepped it to Syracuse, New York for grad school.

So, I’m digging deep, and trying to remember the things we did to save money during our several moves earlier during marriage. Here are 4 of the frugal ways I came up with to move:

1. Take Less With You

Even though we’ve tried to limit the amount of stuff we’ve acquired, it still adds up. So, before we get ready to move, we’re already going through what we have and taking some of it to the local charity store, as well as giving it away. Not only does it make it easier and less expensive to move, but we get a tax deduction for donating our goods.

Make sure that you are careful about what you get rid of, though. You can negate the moving savings if you have to buy new (more expensive items) to replace what you left behind.

2. Get Help from Family and Friends

The classic way to save money on moving is to get help from family and friends. Even when we moved cross-country, we still got help with the packing and the cleaning. For an in-town move, we rented a small U-Haul moving van for the day and my parents and brothers helped us shuttle loads between the houses.

3. Drive Yourself

Many movers find it inexpensive to rent a moving truck and then drive themselves. This can be effective for moves within regions, and moves in town. When you do all the packing and driving, you don’t have to pay someone else for their time.

However, you do need to make sure you can handle driving a large truck. Additionally, you might need a trailer to pull your car, if you don’t want to spend the money on gas for separate driving arrangements, or if you don’t want to be in the cab of the truck alone.

4. Pack Yourself, Let Someone Else Drive

It’s been a long time since we moved back across the country, but for both of our cross-country moves, we did the math and discovered that it was cheaper for someone else to drive our stuff across the country. There are companies like ABF UPack (this is what we used) and PODS that can give you a hybrid moving experience. You pack all your own boxes, and load them into the truck. Then, you pay for someone else to drive. We figured that by the time we paid for gas, truck rental, and hotels for a cross-country move, this method was slightly cheaper — but much more convenient.

How do you save money when it’s time to move?

Image: idogcow

4 Frugal Ways to Move from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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What we don’t often think about is less obvious fees and charges that companies stick on bills. I download my internet/cable bill from Comcast each month in order to fill out an expense report. When I looked at my bill, I noticed that it was a little higher than normal. About forty dollars higher.

I did some digging and here was the culprit:

Here’s the kicker – a technician never came out. I did call Comcast around that time to report slow and intermittent internet service and they told me that a local junction box was having problems. For about three or four days internet was essentially broken. I called a few times and they said it was that “junction box.”

Apparently, and they never told me this, they decided to charge me $40. I tried calling the 800 number but due to high call volume I was never connected. A twenty minute online chat left me with the feeling that it’s been resolved. Hopefully that’s the end of that but this is another reason why people hate cable companies.

For what it’s worth, Verizon did return our money back to us and hopefully Comcast will too.

(Credit: Nathan Godding)

Check ALL Of Your Bills Too! from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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Inflation represents a decline in the purchasing power of your dollar. Essentially, it is a rise in prices. However, not only are many consumers starting to worry about protecting themselves against inflation, but they are also concerned about hyperinflation.

What is Hyperinflation?

“Hyperinflation results when governments print too much money, which is to say that governments create money at a faster rate than the economy is growing as measured by GDP,” says Dr. David McClough, Assistant Professor of Economics at Ohio Northern University.

However, even though the Federal Reserve is creating money through its purchase programs, McClough doesn’t think that hyperinflation is a real threat right now. “Although there is a key element in place for hyperinflation, hyperinflation remains an unlikely event in the U.S. as long as lenders are willing to finance government deficits.”

“Currently, bond markets indicate that this concern is premature,” McClough continues. “Indeed, with 10-year maturity bonds hovering around two percent, it is clear that the lenders to the U.S. do not foresee any risk of hyperinflation. If lenders were concerned with inflation or hyperinflation, they would demand higher interest rates to compensate for the risk.”

As long as lenders are convinced that the U.S. can handle its debt, inflation can be kept under control.

How Can You Protect Yourself from Hyperinflation?

“Hyperinflation results from too much money,” McClough explains, “but money is just a medium of exchange. As prices rise and buyers pay more, sellers receive more. If prices rise faster than costs, companies derive substantial profits so certain stocks might be an effective way to hedge against hyperinflation.”

McClough also suggests buying goods before prices rise on them. “When prices rise and the goods remain unchanged, it is wise to convert money into goods before the price increases,” he explains. “Buying durable consumption goods is another way to protect oneself from the deteriorating effects of inflation.”

Brian Luftman, an ex-commodity trader and founder of the American Farm Investors, agrees that tangible assets are desirable as hedges against inflation. “It’s hard to imagine rapid hyperinflation happening in the U.S., but there are feasible events that could cause a quick loss of confidence in global fiat currencies,” he says.

“For protection, I turn to real inflation-proof assets,” Luftman says. “My favorite are gold and silver coins. They are difficult to store with good security, but it beats investing in gold through an ETF, which could decouple from the gold bullion price in a dollar crisis.”

Luftman also says that invests heavily in farmland. “Instead of investing in grain or other commodity futures, I like growing grains on a farm every year and capturing higher returns as prices increase,” he explains. “Again, grain futures are dollar denominated and electronic. Having the real thing is always better, in my opinion.”

Finally, Luftman invests in foreign currencies of countries he things are fiscally strong, including Australia, Norway, and Canada. “These currencies will gain value if people lose faith in the U.S. dollar,” he says.

What do you think? Is government money-printing getting out of control? Are you afraid of hyperinflation? How are you protecting yourself?

(Photo: Chris Breeze)

Is Hyperinflation Coming? What Can You Do about It? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

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We recently put in an offer on a new home and one of the fun parts of the home buying process is getting a mortgage loan. One of the fun parts of getting a home mortgage loan is finding out whether or your not you can get on in the first place and how much it’ll cost you!

When the lender pulled our credit, we found out that the bank would be taking the our median credit score and using that as our score. As cruel fate would have it, our middle score happened to be 739. 739 puts it exactly one point under 740, which would’ve made us eligible for the best possible interest rate. The difference between the two rates was 0.125% APR, which equals thousands over the thirty year life of the mortgage.

Since we didn’t have an accepted offer and we weren’t locking in the rate, we still had a chance to try to boost our score just a little bit in the next month in order to get the best possible rate. We needed just a single point. Here is what we were going to do:

Request Credit Line Increases

It’s been at least six months since I’ve done this but we requested credit line increases from American Express and Citi for the two credit cards we use the most often. The idea here was to lower our credit utilization, which was typically around 7-10%, which is one of the few factors we can control. I was able to secure increases to increase our credit limit by about 15%.

Prepay Credit Card Balances

All of our credit cards have statement periods ending on the 15th, I set that up a few years ago to make things easier. Nowadays we do autopay but I still like having all the statement dates line up so I can check the statements all at once instead of Amex on the 15th, Citi on the 20th, etc. I also like it mid-month because I check bank statements at the end of the month, it kind of breaks up the checking.

Anyway, if you pay your balance before the statement closes, the credit card reports a smaller number to the credit bureau. Presumably that will result in a lower utilization figure as well. When the 15th passed, I saw our utilization was just 2%.

Look For Mistakes

If you review your credit and see an erroneous derogatory mark, you’re lucky – get that fixed and your score will increase. Unfortunately, we had no such “luck.”

Avoid Any New Inquiries

We’ve been casually looking at homes for the last year and only seriously looking the last few months. Since I knew we were thinking about moving, I made sure we didn’t do anything that would trigger a hard inquiry. I also slipped up when looking at getting a Mifi unit (it’s a wireless hotspot) because wireless companies will check your credit before giving you a device. The logic is that they’re giving you a device worth several hundred dollars on the hopes you’ll maintain a two year contract. It’s not that much different than “real” debt.

Hope to get Lucky

After racking my brain for ideas on what to do, I ultimately was just hoping to get a little lucky. Outside of avoiding obvious bad stuff (and even some less obvious bad stuff) and lowering utilization, there isn’t much you can do in the super short term to boost your score.

We would later find out, as a result of dumb luck, that the interest rates moved enough that we were able to get that lower rate by simply paying 0.125 of a point – it would breakeven within a year based on monthly payments – and we didn’t need to go through these gyrations.

We never pulled our credit again though a quick peek at Credit Karma showed no change anyway.

(Credit: Fosforix)

Can You Increase Your Credit Score in One Month? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

The post Can You Increase Your Credit Score in One Month? appeared first on Bargaineering.

The idea is to cap retirement accounts, preventing further contributions to tax-advantaged accounts. The reasoning is that, at a certain level, enough is saved up for a “reasonable” retirement and there is no more need for the tax advantage.

Presumably, instead of contributing to tax-deferred accounts, those who reached the cap would no longer be able to take advantage of the savings, and pay taxes on that income, instead of getting a tax deduction. (Of course, there are issues surrounding the fact that, eventually, taxes would have been collected on the money if it were withdrawn from a tax-deferred account down the road.)

Who Would the Cap Affect?

Rather than being a hard dollar amount, this cap is a fluctuating cap. The cap is based on the lump sum it would take to create a return of $205,000 a year if the money were placed in an annuity. Today, according to the EBRI, that means about 0.06 percent of IRA accounts and 0.0041 percent of 401(k) accounts would be affected.

However, accounts affected could increase in the future. Annuity returns could rise if interest rates start going up. At this point, the cap would drop. The EBRI used 2006 interest rate levels to determine that the cap could drop to $2.2 million, affecting three percent of 401(k) accounts. And, if interest rates rose even higher than 2006 levels, the cap would drop further, meaning that more people would be affected.

Some argue that the cap would result in fewer plans being offered by employers. They cite the administrative problems associated with delineating between accounts subject to the cap and those that aren’t subject to the cap. “Put a cap on it and you take away an incentive for owners to offer a plan,” says Ilene Davis, a Certified Financial Planner with an MBA.

What Can You Do?

Of course, most of us don’t have $3 million in our accounts right now. And some of us won’t even reach $2.2 million by retirement. So the impact would likely be minimal. But what if you were going to be affected? What if rates went high enough that the cap dropped to $1.5 million?

It depends on what you think you will need to live on in retirement, as well as what you plan to do with the money. If you are concerned that your employer will stop offering a plan, you can still open an IRA. You can even start your own business and make larger contributions to a solo 401(k) or to one of the IRAs aimed directly at business owners.

Davis suggests that business owners take a different route. “Just put money into a tax-deferred annuity,” she says. “Same general benefits, but this gets away from the accounting fees, government rules, and cost. That is what I would advise for business owners if a cap was put into place.”

It looks as though how you will be affected, and what you can do, depends a great deal on whether or not you are a business owner or an employee.

What do you think of the cap? Do you think it’s a good idea? Or a bad idea?

Image: thecrazyfilmgirl

Proposed Retirement Cap: More People Could Be Affected Down the Road from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

The post Proposed Retirement Cap: More People Could Be Affected Down the Road appeared first on Bargaineering.