Personal Finance

Copying from the “gym model,” companies have set up unlimited flights for a single monthly fee, typically about $2,000 a month or less. This model has not gone mainstream yet. If you want to travel around the U.S. as often as you like there are four choices: OneGo, SurfAir, Rise and Beacon. These four companies offering unlimited flights for less than $2,000 a month, but make sure you know their rules. to take full advantage.

Chris Morran writes on Consumerist: “According to the latest YouMail National Robocall Index, some 2.3 billion robocalls were placed in January alone. That comes out to around seven robocalls for every single person in the country, or 858 robocalls placed every second of every day.” Most of these robocallers are calling to collect debts. In fact, out of 20 most frequent robocallers in the January Index, 15 of them were debt collection calls with approximately 175 million calls in a month. That’s a lot of annoying, unwanted pre-recorded calls. (consumerist.com)

The average, one-way daily commute for Americans is 25.5 minutes, or almost six hours in one week. Instead of wasting all these times, Asheley Eneriz on Money Ning suggests you can take advantage of the commute time and “make it more profitable for your brain, budget, and body” using 3 good ways. They are (1) audiobooks and podcasts to finish a book per week, (2) dictate important documents to get ahead in your workplace and (3) meditate and stretch to de-stress that benefits your health. (moneyning.com)

According to the survey from Pew Charitable Trusts, 60% of households had experienced a financial shock in the past 12 months. Even 10% of households earning more than $100,000 a year have no emergency fund. It’s time to start building that emergency savings fund, said Suzanne Woolley at Bloomberg. First, set up an account where you can’t easily get at the money. Use automatic paycheck deductions or account transfers for a set amount of money each month. Or set small goals, like a “dollar per week of the year approach; in week 1, you save $1; in week 13, you save $13; and so on.” You can also contribute to a Roth IRA and use it in case of emergency without penalty. Having six to nine months’ worth of cash in a contingency fund provides a peace of mind against a long list of possible emergencies. (bloomberg.com)

Carl Richards in The New York Times shows a quick way to calculate how much life insurance you need by following the 20-20 plan: “First, you have to decide how much life insurance to buy. This is where most people get stuck. You’re not going to get stuck. Just take your income and multiple it by 20. For example, let’s say your income is $50,000. Take $50,000 times 20 and you get $1 million. This is the amount of life insurance coverage you’ll buy. This goes a long way toward replacing the economic loss that will result if you’re no longer around.” Then buy a 20-year term policy for that amount. (nytimes.com)

Scott Spann on Forbes writes: “While it may be difficult to achieve perfection in our planning, there are things we can do to avoid making the big mistakes.” You can avoid spending decades trying to recover by avoiding these three big financial mistakes:

1. Thinking that you don’t need a budget
2. Relying on credit card debt to pay for lifestyle choices
3. Not paying attention to fees on financial products

“How we choose to manage our personal finances says so much about our life goals, values, and priorities. These financial decisions also demonstrate how we balance living in the moment with the need to plan for future goals.”

Jason Butler on Dinks Finance writes: “Once you decide to rent your first apartment or house you have to make a decision whether to get renters insurance or not. Before I get to that answer, I want to explain to you what exactly renters insurance is. Renters insurance is an insurance policy that provides benefits very similar to homeowners insurance. Renters insurance protects the tenant as well as their property. Every renter should have renters insurance.”

Over 70 percent of Americans say they find it hard to save because of expenses they didn’t plan for. Ann Carrns at The New York Times reports that unexpected, but not unusual, expenses thwart efforts to save. She also urges to not let unexpected expenses derail your savings plan. “If unplanned expenses occur so often, can they really be a surprise?” If you own a car, for instance, it will eventually need to be repaired.  So you need to build up your emergency fund for rainy days by setting up automatic transfers from checking to savings each month. The old rule of thumb for saving  six months of income might be unrealistic for many people. Reasonable goal like one month of income should be enough to cushion many of those “inevitable bumps” in the road and to avoid taking on high-interest debt. (nytimes.com)

Ashley Chorpenning writes: “Dating can be extremely challenging and intimidating. It is often forgotten what we truly value in a partner when beginning to date a new person. Finances are the number one taboo topic when it comes to love. How can we eliminate the negative connotation around a financial discussion? How can we educate ourselves and find our financial soul mate?” Financial issues consistently are among the top reasons why marriages fail. Finding your financial soul mate is one of the most important decision you will make in life.(moneygravity.net)

The Practical Saver writes: “Money is simple but a lot of people make it complicated. With these simple money rules, you’ll be able to understand more about your money and how to best handle it. By considering these rules, you’ll help yourself get the most value out of your money.” These tips include: Spend less than what you earn, don’t treat credit cards as free money, always budget, stop trying to impress other people, invest early on, and be contented and thankful with what you have and don’t have. (thepracticalsaver.com)