There's a Hole in Your Wallet

Chances are you waste a lot of money each month. You probably recognize some of the ways you could live less expensively, but here are a few you might not:

• If you're stashing your cash in an ordinary bank checking or savings account, you're missing out. It would work harder for you by sitting in a high yield savings account. You can even get an interest-bearing checking account. Check out ETrade or ING.
  
• Your home electronics are sucking juice (more than you would think, too) when they are turned off. If you can't bring yourself to plug and unplug all the time, you can buy power strips that will stop drawing electricity when the item is turned off.
  
• Do you complacently pay your insurance bill when it comes? Rates can vary drastically from insurer to insurer. Re shopping your home and auto insurance could save you a bundle. You'll also want to examine your deductibles and coverage every so often to make sure you still need what you're paying for.
  
• Say you're a diligent saver and you automatically invest a little each month into mutual funds. Make sure you're not paying an upfront fee, or load on that fund. You might also be paying a 12B-1 marketing fee, but these are less expensive and more difficult to avoid than sales charges.
  
• If you're a smoker, you don't need me to point out how much money you're wasting, let alone the more costly medical care you're signing up for in your future. A pack-a-day smoker at $5.00 a pack spends $1,825 a year on cigarettes. If you're a junk-food or tanning bed fan, that adds up too.
  
• Do you really need all those cable channels? I've even had luck reducing my cable and cell phone bills by calling and asking. It's worth a try.
  
• Don't pay for your credit report. You're entitled to your credit report for FREE once every 12 months from EACH reporting company. That means you could be even more diligent and remind yourself to pull your report from a different company once every 4 months. Make sure you visit annualcreditreport.com to pull yours. There are many other sites out there that will be happy to charge you for the privilege.

By Amanda Bashore, CFP®

Arbashore@taaginc.com