"I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things."Henri Matisse
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Sisters are insuring themselves: how finance is the new feminism
According to a study by LifeSearch, the number of women in the UK buying life insurance in the UK has doubled over the last six years. As women are increasingly closing the gender related pay gap and even becoming the main breadwinners in a household, ...
Small Business Tax Tips - Product Review of Tax Reduction Toolkit
Product Review - Introduction Product Review - What I liked Product Review - What I didn’t like Product Review - Best Features Summary Table of Contents - Seven Sections - 29 Tax Tips Final Comments and Pricing (under $40) Suggested Books & Reference ...
Starting A Business Online
It seems like the internet is the place for the new gold rush these days.You get flooded with information and advertising about how easy it is to start a business online all over the place.And the market is big. According to a recent Harris poll, 72% of ...
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There has been an explosion of credit cards that specialize in certain benefits over the last five years; reward points, cash back, 0% transfers, credit monitoring, discount gasoline, money-market savings, etc. So how do you get the most return from your card, particularly when their plans change?
(Presuming you never, ever carry a credit card balance - interest charges and potential fees will more than consume any side benefit that a card can offer.)
In the old days, the big benefit was airline miles. Let's see how well that works out. The average airfare for a ticket that was paid for with credit card airline miles is about $400. And the average program requires 25,000 to 35,000 miles to be credited a free ticket. Since miles are normally accrued dollar-for-dollar, the average benefit is between 1 to 1.5% of what you spend. More reference material for this article is available at http://investing.real-solution-center.com.
Now we are starting to have something to compare. If you get an offer for a 1% cash back credit card, you'd be slightly better off getting the airline miles. But in my opinion, the many cards offering up to 5% cash back are the best deal, as long the fine print lines up. First, there are normally limitations on the shops where the 5% applies. You want a card that applies the 5% to where you spend the most of your monthly income. The credit card industry calls these 'everyday purchases', such as groceries, drug stores, and gasoline, but exclude warehouse clubs. You should get a card with the widest number of retailers where you commonly spend money. Or, get a specific-store card for those large one-time purchases. For example, if you are buying new kitchen appliances from Sears, apply and use their card for the purchase and you normally get 10% off. You can cancel it later when it has a zero balance.
The next 5% cash back problem is an annual limit. Citi Dividend credit card limits your annual earning to only $300. If you have some big purchases, you may have spent $5,000 on your credit card in the first month, and you've hit your cash back limit already. So guess what, you are going to stop using that card and start using a different 5% cash back card until you've used up that limit as well. Use them up and move on. American Express currently has a card called Blue Cash for bigger spenders. It offers only 1% cash back until you spend $6,500, and then it pays 5% cash back until you've spent $50,000. But there aren't nearly as many AmEx merchants as Visa/Mastercard merchants. (Again, AmEx and others may have exclusions like purchases at warehouse clubs). You can compare dozens of credit cards from directory websites like www.allstarcreditcards.com.
Getting the most from your card is like going into battle: you can have a great plan in the beginning, but once cardholders start exploiting loopholes and creating unintended consequences, the card companies change their policies, it goes back and forth continually. So read all the fine print before applying, and squeeze some extra money from your credit card purchases this year.
About the author:
Francis Kier has an MBA in finance and shares his two decades of experience with investing and personal finance. More of his articles are available at http://investing.real-solution-center.com
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USA TODAY |
Money Watch: How do I make my 401(k) last after retiring?USA TODAYMoney Watch, a personal finance column that runs every Saturday, features a financial planner from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisorsanswering reader questions about saving, protecting and growing your money. To submit a question, ... |
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Friday's Personal Finance StoriesMarketWatchWell, it's that time of year again. Getting ready for the traditional start of summer, planning a fun Memorial Day barbecue, dreaming about a summer vacation, and defending your portfolio against a 30% drop in stocks and another debt-ceiling crisis.and more » |
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Thursday's Personal Finance StoriesMarketWatchInvestors who take minimal risk can't expect much gain, but those who don't manage risk can expect much worse, Jonathan Burton writes today in his Money Talks column. Read about risk manager Keith McCullough's strategy. Also on MarketWatch today, ...and more » |
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