Category: Financial & Investment Tips
Don’t Be Surprised if Starbucks and Spotify Fall Out of Tune
Filed under: Company News, Starbucks, Retail, Food & Beverage, Music & Entertainment Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify, speaks at a news conference last week in New York. Starbucks (SBUX) turned heads earlier this month, striking a deal with streaming-music darling Spotify. The partnership will allow Spotify’s premium subscribers to earn reward points that can be redeemed at the leading premium coffee chain. It’s a pairing that makes sense in theory. Spotify has more than 60 million active subscribers worldwide, with more than 15 million of them on board as paying members. If Spotify is paying for the right to issue Stars — the points issued in the My Starbucks Rewards program — as a tool for attraction and retention, it
104,000 Taxpayers’ Personal Info Stolen from IRS Website
Filed under: Identity Theft, Taxes, Security, IRS, Ripoffs & Scams J. David Ake/AP By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER WASHINGTON — More than 100,000 taxpayers have had their personal tax information stolen from an IRS website as part of an elaborate scheme to claim fraudulent tax refunds. The information was stolen from an online system called “Get Transcript,” where taxpayers can get tax returns and other tax filings from previous years. In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address, the IRS said Tuesday. “We’re confident that these are not amateurs,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “These actually are organized crime syndicates that not only we, but
Your Credit and Debit Cards Are About to Change — Here’s Why
Filed under: Identity Theft, Banking, Credit Cards, Consumer Protection, Debit Cards Getty Images The plastic we carry in our wallets will be quite different in the near future. The big change is seemingly innocuous — a microchip embedded right above the first series of numbers on the card. But that small metal stamp is the foundation of a system that promises more robust security for all parties involved in a transaction. Chip cards have been the norm for years in other countries, but they’re only now starting to see full-scale rollout here in the U.S. And it’s about time, too. Old Technology in a New World The traditional credit and debit card in this country packs its data onto the magnetic strip on the back of
Ask Stacy: Should You Take Out a Reverse Mortgage?
Filed under: Mortgages, Real Estate, Personal Finance, Estate Planning, Financial Education Getty Images By Stacy Johnson Reverse mortgages are a popular topic these days, as evidenced by three questions I’ve received in just the last three weeks: Is a reverse mortgage something to look at? We have a 30 year mortgage on our house for $70,000 and thought it might be easier to let the house make the payments for us. The house is worth somewhere around $225,000. -Roger Can you give me a real, down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness explanation to the reverse mortgage currently being touted to seniors 62 and older. It almost seems like it’s too good to be true, and you know what they say about those kinds of deals! -Larry What is your
Which Retirement Account Should You Open First?
Filed under: Retirement, Retirement Plans, 401K, IRA, Roth IRA Lite Productions By Sharon Epperson Your first priority when it comes to saving for retirement should be to make sure you’re putting away enough money. But once you’ve earmarked a percentage of pay for retirement savings, where do you put it? Research shows that if you start saving 15 percent of your pay when you’re 35, you should have enough money by age 65 to live comfortably in retirement. “The most important question is ‘Are you saving 15 percent, including an employer match?’ ” said Stuart Ritter, senior financial planner at T. Rowe Price. “Then you have to decide which accounts to use in order to save that 15 percent.” Ritter suggests prioritizing retirement accounts in three steps: Match. Roth. Traditional.
6 Ways to Make Extra Money Using Social Media
Filed under: Fast Money, Mobile Technology, Computers Alamy By Mikey Rox It’s safe to assume that if you’re not making money on social media, you’re probably just casually wasting time on it. Flip that script. Make your profiles pull in a profit with these seven tips to on how to squeeze the juice from your tweets, posts, pics, and more. 1. Join the Sharing Economy My friends are probably tired of hearing about all the ways I add extra cash to my savings account by participating in the sharing economy — a recently coined term that denotes a person sharing something he or she possesses with someone else who’s willing to pay for it — but I harp on it for a reason. In many cases, this is easy money —
From Flat Broke at 37 to Self-Made Millionaire
Filed under: Small Business, Personal Finance, Entrepreneurs, Professional Development, People Courtesy: Plantscape Industry AllianceMotivational business speaker and author Barry Maher Through saving and investing, a lot of hard work and, in his words, more than a little luck, motivational business speaker and author Barry Maher went from being broke at age 37 to being a self-made millionaire and semi-retiree who can afford to retire completely. What Does ‘Semi-Retired’ Really Mean? Now 67, Maher only works when he wants, how he wants and as often as he wants. That sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. But who knew this would be in the cards for the boy who started out selling greeting cards door-to-door? Maher was self-employed through college and built a
Investing AND Borrowing Through Lending Club
Lending Club has been sweeping the investment world – and the borrowing universe – at the same time. And why not? Who wouldn’t be interested in a financial facility that enables investors to earn more than the going rate on their money, while borrowers pay less? Lending Club is an online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform that takes the banker out of banking. Investors lend money directly to borrowers through the site, enabling both to benefit from the rate of interest that’s established for each loan. And just as important, the entire transaction happens online, eliminating the need for sometimes embarrassing face-to-face meetings that are common with bank loans. It’s a win-win as both investor and borrower benefit from the Lending Club
The High Price of Free Games
‘Freemium’ games — addicting apps that start out free but entice you to make small, ongoing purchases — aren’t just targeted at kids. Photo: Lars Plougmann Last Christmas, I got my six-year old daughter a Kindle Fire for Christmas. It was to be her “big gift” of the year, and I thought it would be great for long car rides and fun, educational games. I expected her to love it, which she did, but there was one thing I didn’t expect – the constant onslaught of financial requests I would soon encounter. After loading my daughter’s Kindle with free games, the begging started right away. “Mom,” my daughter would say, “I need $2 to open the next level of ‘Barbie Barber
Market Wrap: Stocks Drop on Interest Rate Concerns, Greece
Filed under: Market News, Mergers & Acquisitions, Economic Indicators, European Union, Interest Rates Richard Drew/AP By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell Tuesday, pushing the S&P 500 to its biggest decline in three weeks, weighed down by concerns about Greece and some upbeat data that fueled expectations that a U.S. rate hike could come sooner rather than later. All 10 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with a drop in oil prices weighing on energy shares and transportation stocks. The S&P energy index was down 1.6 percent, while the Dow Jones transportation average fell 1.6 percent and touched its lowest level since Oct. 23. The dollar was up 1.3 percent against a basket of major currencies as commodity prices fell. Boot.getJS({ src:’http://api.dailyfinance.com/
How One Woman Paid Over $3,500 in Variable Annuity Fees and Didn’t Even Know It
“I think I’m paying around $50 per year.” That’s what I heard from one woman who actually paid a lot more on a variable annuity. A whole lot more. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I’m not a big fan of variable annuities. I’ve seen too many investors who were sold this horrible product – having no clue what it does and why they should even own it. They just know the advisor who sold it to them claimed it was some sort of “guarantee.” What’s worse is the client typically has no idea what they are paying. Don’t believe so? Here’s an actual client scenario which shows just that. The Details For anonymity I
