|
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Classes
Click on name of class for more information
Northern Utah:
For more upcoming classes
Click Here
|
______________________________
Volunteer Opportunity
Learn more on volunteering at least 3 hours a week for 3 months at a VITA site.
|
|
Send In Your Saving's Tip
America Saves is looking for your frugal tips and are willing to pay for them! Send in your savings tip to:
America Saver, c/o Consumer Federation of America
1620 Eye St., NW, Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20006
If America Saves selects your tip for publication, they will send you a check for $25 (the initial purchase price of a $50 EE Savings Bond) and an application for the $50 EE Savings Bond. America Saves recommend purchasing a savings bond at a local bank or credit union. Please include your name, address, and phone number so they can contact you.
|
Don't know where to begin?
|
__________________
Questions or Comments?
|
|
| |
Dear Saver,
Ken McDonnell is the program director for the American Savings Education Council, a financial education program of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) that helps all individuals make saving and retirement planning a priority. Ken has been with EBRI for 18 years.
Click here to learn how to save for retirement in a bad economy.
|
 Utah Saver of the Month
Emily F. Jones has been able to save money the PowerPay way. By using previous debt payments to pay off current debt, Emily and her husband have been able to live a frugal lifestyle with out giving up the perks. Want to learn more about PowerPay?
Visit powerpay.org.
"I was raised by a CPA and I had to dig myself out of $20K in Debt in my early 20's and I vowed never to go into unsecured credit card debt again."
"My husband and I were able to pay CASH for our wedding through budgeting and doing things in the off season and buying things on clearance and shopping around. Our wedding cost us $4000.00 For EVERYTHING including the honeymoon and activities in Vegas. We had over 150 guests and we fed them a full meal. Our Honeymoon was used from a vacation package we earned by going to a time share presentation."
"Since our Wedding was in January 2009 we have put that money towards my husband's Student Loans and this year we have paid off one student loan and are putting the payment on that loan to the next highest loan. We have made so much progress financially."
"We round up our bills to pay extra to principle. Our Mortgage is $1387.00 (With Taxes and Insurance) We pay $1400 each month so the extra pays down principle, we have shaved off according to our amortization 5 months of payments in our 2.5 years of owning our home I don't know how much savings that is but I know it is a lot. Our goal next year is once we have 6 months expenses in savings we will start paying $1500.00 a month or More to help shave even more time off our mortgage and hopefully earn some equity back in our house instead of being upside down."
"Because of our budget and hard work I am going back to school to be a Paralegal and I am paying cash for school. No loans. That is the best reward to our budget and savings. I have worked in the Foreclosure and Bankruptcy Industry for 12 years and I am glad that I have learned all I have about money and savings."
|
Your Car
Does it matter what brand of gas I buy?
viamagazine.com
Oil companies pump barrels of money into the effort to convince you their product is better than the competition's. Chevron's Techron-fortified fuel comes recommended by a fleet of gleeful autos; ConocoPhillips touts Proclean. Besides the price and fancy marketing, though, there's little difference between brand name gas and what you get at the mom-and-pop pump up the block.
"They're basically the same fuel," says Marcia Goggans, a chemist for the Motor Fuel Testing Laboratory in Maryland. In 2007, the lab compared discount and brand-name gasoline and came to the conclusion that the two were nearly identical.
That's not surprising, because by EPA mandate, every gallon of unleaded must be bolstered with detergents to keep emissions and engines clean. Then consider that most gas comes from the same sources. Suppliers share pipelines, and what you put in your tank at Texaco may have been refined by ExxonMobil, or vice versa.
To top it off, dealers can buy their fuel on the open market. That means the generic station could be selling you one of the big boys' house blends, and for less. So go on, fill up and save a buck. Grab a pack of gum while you're at it-if you don't mind blowing some of the money you just saved.
Shop for the least expensive fuel near you with the AAA Gas Price Finder. Visit AAA.com/gasprices for more information.
|
Don't Just Wrap Presents This Holiday!
Wrap your windows also. Wrapping up your windows doesn't have to be expensive. Use bubble wrap. Take a Saturday afternoon in order to become energy efficient and to save money on your monthly heating and cooling bills. What could you use the extra money for?
Read the entire article:
|
|
Homebuyer Tax Credit & FDIC Insurance Updates
ConsumerCents Newsletter 11/1/2009
First time homebuyers now have until April 30th, 2010, to sign their purchase contract and still be eligible for the $8,000 tax credit that was originally set to expire at the end of this month. In addition to the first time homebuyer incentive, existing homeowners may also be eligible for some new home buying incentives. If you have owned and lived in your home for at least five years, you can qualify for up to a $6,500 tax credit on a new home purchase.
These new provisions are contained in H.R. 3548 which was signed into law by President Obama on November 6, 2009. Details about these tax credits, how to qualify, and how to claim them may be found online at www.irs.gov.
In March, we told you about an increase in FDIC insurance limits that was put in place to give consumers further protections against their banks or credit unions failing amidst the economic downswing. The increase in protections was originally set to expire on December, 31, 2009. These protections have been extended and will now expire on December 13, 2013.
This means that deposits held at FDIC insured institutions are insured up to $250,000 per depositor for most account categories. As a reminder, the FDIC only insures deposits at banks. Deposits held at credit unions are insured by the NCUA. Deposits at credit unions have also been insured at up to $250,000 through December 13, 2013.
For more information about the FDIC or the NCUA and insurance details for each kind of deposit account, you may visit each agency online at www.fdic.gov or www.ncua.gov.
|
Give the Gift of Love this Holiday Season
Want to have a great holiday season, but are low on cash? Nothing says seasons greetings like volunteering! Thanks to a new website called volunteers.utah.gov, the Utah State Commission on Volunteering has made a one stop shop to all things volunteering in the state. This website makes it easy for those to find volunteer opportunities through a database or contact information to a volunteer center near by. So no matter where you live, their may be a volunteer opportunity near you.
So this holiday season, pay the rewards of this year forward to those who may be less fortunate. After all, isn't that what the holidays are all about?
|
| Utah Saves is
*Utah State University Extension is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution.
|
|
| |
|
