As many as 350,000 households are not getting the $300 per child refund owed as part of economic stimulus rebate payments, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday. The IRS says taxpayers' error and problems with commercial tax preparation software were responsible for the problem affecting a tiny percentage of the 130 million taxpayers expected to benefit from the refunds the government began sending out last month.
Savvy shopper finds bargains with coupons
Brenda Bromfield of west suburban Woodridge has become such a skilled shopper, she can come up with a coupon or a bulk bargain buy on nearly everything. Her grocery bill is $40 a week to feed herself, husband Jim, 9-year-old daughter Madison and 6-year-old son Ian.
Shoppers have been lugging ever-larger products to their ever-bigger cars for years. Now, more of them are feeling so pinched by the sagging economy that they are embracing a new behavior: buying a little at a time.
Consumer prices slowed in April despite the biggest jump in food costs in nearly two decades. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent last month, slightly lower than expected and better than the 0.3 percent rise in March.
Public library helps family cut expenses
Books from the best sellers' list. The latest DVD releases. Karen Paluzzi Steele is quick to put them on her card. Her library card. She uses the free services of the Chicago Public Library system to keep costs down.
About 65 percent more U.S. homeowners faced foreclosure in April compared to a year ago, RealtyTrac reported. Illinois ranked 13th, with one of every 620 households in some stage of foreclosure, but the number increased 1 percent from April 2007.
Gas prices roared to just below $4 a gallon ($3.998) in the Chicago area Wednesday -- $3.75 nationwide, AAA said. Gas prices are 62 cents higher than a year ago, and are expected to continue rising at least until Memorial Day.
WASHINGTON---- The House Armed Services Committee approved a bill early Thursday that authorizes $601.4 billion in defense spending for next year, including a 3.9 percent pay raise for troops.
Faced with an unfriendly Congress, the Bush administration has found another, quieter way to make it more difficult for consumers to sue businesses over faulty products. It's rewriting the bureaucratic rulebook.
Gasoline for $4 a gallon and higher is commonplace in Chicago, and prices are now within a few cents of four bucks in many suburbs.
How Beth cuts her family's grocery bill in half Sandra Guy: Beth O'Neill prides herself on sticking to her grocery list and maintaining her reputation as a frugal shopper, and she knows the cost of lapsing from her strict regimen. "When I stray from my shopping habit, I end up waiting until 4:30 or 5 o'clock and saying, 'Let's order pizza or have Chinese take-out.' And it starts adding up," she said.
Chrysler LLC canceled plans for a new sport-utility vehicle and is instead investing in a compact car. The automaker owned by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP won't build a Chrysler brand version of the Dodge Journey SUV in 2009 and will use the savings to help pay for designing a compact car to be manufactured by Nissan Motor Co., Co-President James Press said Monday. The move reflects a push toward more fuel-efficient vehicles and Chrysler's goal of eliminating overlap between its brands. For shoppers, however, it means Chrysler has almost no new or redesigned vehicles to promote at dealerships in 2009.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said Monday that while the crisis in the credit markets appears to be three-quarters over, he believes a U.S. recession is just beginning.
Seniors have lost 51 percent of their buying power since 2000, according to a study released by the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior advocacy group. Since 2000, the Social Security cost of living adjustment has increased average benefits for seniors 24 percent, while typical senior expenses have risen by 88 percent, the study found. The study looked at the increase in costs of 15 items between 2000 and 2008, including housing, transportation, medical, food, communication, apparel and recreation costs. Twelve of the 15 costs exceeded the COLA, and three jumped by triple digits.
You walk into your bank seeking safety. You trust your bank to provide only secure, FDIC-insured deposits. But you want higher yields than the bank certificates of deposit. Those six-month CDs are currently paying less than 2 percent at most local institutions.
Young widower pushes for change in Mass. life insurance law
When Jenny and John Crowley learned they were having a baby, they did the responsible thing: they bought life insurance. Just one year later, Jenny was dead of an aggressive form of breast cancer, and when John tried to start his life anew as a single father, SBLI rejected his claim for it to pay his wife's policy. The company claimed that even though doctors said Jenny was healthy, she must have been sick before they agreed to insure her.
High demand, price of rice good news to US farmers
With the price of rice surging internationally, much of the medium-grain rice being planted between the Sutter Butte mountains and California's Coastal Range has already being sold, even though harvest still is months away.
WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged three Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-area doctors with illegal insider trading.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Oakmark invites new investors David Roeder: Market volatility has abated, and so have the scare headlines. Just in time for when investors wade back into global equities, along comes the return of a historically reliable way to do it. The Oakmark Global Fund (OAKGX), which has been closed to most new investors since December 2003, is again open to all. Managed by Chicago-based Harris Associates, the $2.4 billion fund has earned an average annual return of 15 percent since its inception in August 1999.
Stay-at-home mom worth $117,000
If a stay-at-home mom could be compensated in dollars rather than personal satisfaction and unconditional love, she'd rake in a nifty sum of nearly $117,000 a year. That's according to a pre-Mother's Day study released Thursday by Salary.com, a Waltham, Mass.-based firm that studies workplace compensation.
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration's plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities: first up, remodeling the bathroom.
The price of a first-class stamp goes up a penny to 42 cents on Monday, making today your last chance to buy a “forever stamp” for 41 cents even though it will still be good with the new price. But if you forget or run out of time, don’t worry. On Tuesday, the Postal Service will start selling a 42-cent stamp honoring Frank Sinatra.
Women are more worried about the government potentially cutting their Social Security (56 percent vs. 41 percent), according to a new survey by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Then again, half of retired women responding to the survey count on Social Security as a major source of income, while only 38 percent of retired men do.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply in March as demand for imports fell by the largest amount since the last recession was ending. The March deficit totaled $58.2 billion, down 5.7 percent from February, the Commerce Department reported Friday. There was a 2.9 percent drop in imports.
Non-customers of Bank of America Corp. who use its ATMs will find the fees can be 50 cents higher at certain machines. Bank of America, which bought LaSalle Bank Corp. last October, charges $2 at the 300 ATMs that were part of its original network before the purchase. LaSalle Bank had charged $2.50 at its 450 ATMs, and that rate hasn't been reduced and may not be. Bank of America charges no ATM fee to its existing customers at its 18,500 ATMs around the country.
Bikes save a wad of cash
Sky-high gas prices aren't giving Bill Figel the blues. He's managed to save money by navigating around them. Two years ago he gave the family van to charity and, instead of buying another second car, he invested in bicycles.
The three biggest U.S. carriers said Thursday they have again raised ticket prices, this time by $20 round trip, to recoup rapidly rising fuel costs. The increases by American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines affect the carriers' fuel surcharges, which now total $130 round trip on many flights. That means passengers on some cheap flights could be paying more in such fees and taxes than for the airfare itself.
Housing aid bill faces veto by President Bush
Democrats' plans to help hundreds of thousands of homeowners struggling with rising subprime mortgage rates and plummeting house values could be sidetracked by President Bush's threatened veto and the backing of many congressional Republicans.
Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.05 percent this week, down 0.01 percent from last week, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Other rates included: 15-year, fixed-rate, up 0.01 percent to 5.60 percent; five-year adjustable-rate, down 0.06 percent to 5.67 percent, and one-year ARMs, unchanged for a third straight week at 5.29 percent.
Couple finds ways to save on prescription meds
Chicagoan Jonathan Winans, 75, is curtailing costs in this time of high gas and food prices, in part, by zeroing in on prescription costs. The retired Dominick's deli manager has high blood sugar, high cholesterol, arthritis and a heart condition. He's on a dozen medications, and his wife, Elaine, 76, is on pain medication for arthritis.
Consumer borrowing rose in March at the fastest pace in four months, more than double the increase of the previous month, in what was seen as a sign of rising economic stress.
Pension funds responsible for paying benefits to government employees lost money in the first three months of the year amid the worst equity market in almost six years.
This Mother's Day, consumers are planning to spend a little less on mom.
Fillups now a thing of the past
Robert Johnson made as if to cry as he gassed up at the BP station at 35th and King Drive, where unleaded regular has hit $3.99 a gallon. The soaring cast of gasoline is eating up a bigger chunk of the tips that Johnson, 22, gets as a cashier at Wrigley Field. That's prompting him to make some changes.
The Federal Reserve reported Monday that the percentage of banks reporting tighter lending standards was near historic highs for almost all loan categories including home mortgages, other consumer loans and business loans as lenders react to the credit crisis.
Price check on walk down aisle
Angela Wells is looking for the right matron-of-honor gown to wear in her friend’s wedding. But, like a growing number of attendants as well as brides and grooms, she’s shopping around.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday it would expand its discounted prescription drug program to offer 90-day supplies for $10 and lower the price of more than 1,000 over-the-counter drugs to $4 or less in its pharmacies.
As the housing crisis and mortgage mess move off the front pages, some nagging questions remain. Many revolve around how so many smart people -- not the home buyers, but Wall Streeters -- could have been so dumb or blinded by greed to the eventual results of what they were doing. I wonder how they can complain now that they're losing money.
Chatham woman rings up almost $300 in savings
Chatham resident Claire Addams expects to save about $288 a year by making changes to her phone service. Addams, 75, who lives on a fixed income, said she pays about $44 a month on her home's landline service, including paying AT&T for long distance minutes she doesn't use.
You're (not) fired...how do you avoid getting canned?
Subpar performers have cause to be more worried about job security in the midst of these weak economic times. They're likely to be the first on the chopping block, some local human resources and outplacement experts note.
Despite debt, college still worth cost -- to a degree
Karnell Black faced a difficult decision his senior year at a Dallas high school: He liked his job as a law firm file clerk and was making decent money -- $10 an hour. His family wasn't pushing him to go college, which he knew would be expensive. Should he apply, take out loans to attend, and then try to succeed in college when no one else in his family had gone?
The for-sale listings on the online hub Craigslist come with plaintive notices, like the one from the teenager in Georgia who said her mother lost her job and pleaded, ''Please buy anything you can to help out.''
In light of calls her office has received, Chicago City Treasurer Stephanie Neely is warning taxpayers the IRS will not call or e-mail to verify bank account information for economic stimulus refund checks.
General Motors Chief Executive Richard Wagoner says global warming is not going to be solved with $100,000 electric cars, and his company is focusing on a vehicle more consumers can afford. Wagoner spoke to the Commonwealth Club of California on Thursday on the topics of global warming, ethanol availability, and rising gas prices. Global warming needs a solution that can ''significantly shift the fleet of vehicles to different fuels or different propulsion technologies fairly rapidly,'' he said after the event. So why is it taking so long to launch the plug-in electric Chevy Volt? ''Frankly it's one thing to develop a technology for a car that's going to cost $100,000, it's very different for a car that's going to cost $20,000,'' Wagoner said.
Car sharing avoids agony at the pump
Between paying $50 a month for parking in his Rogers Park neighborhood and shelling out more money for maintenance, Carl Westberg was spending about $400 a month on his paid-for 1995 Ford Taurus. But it was the hurt the gas pump was putting on his wallet that pushed the 53-year-old department store worker to get rid of his car and use a car-sharing program.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer spending was up 0.4 percent. However, once inflation was removed, spending edged up a much slower 0.1 percent. Also, the Labor Department reported that claims for unemployment benefits rose by 35,000 to 380,000 last week.
Citizens Utility Board will show consumers how to save money on their phone bills. Bring your phone bills to ShoreBank's Chatham Banking Center, 7936 S. Cottage Grove. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, CUB experts will look over bills to find savings. For consumer tips: www.CitizensUtilityBoard.org.
With the cost of a first-class stamp set to rise a penny to 42 cents May 12, the clock is ticking on buying the "forever" stamps at the current 41-cent rate. The stamps, which do not have the postage price stamped on them, can be used even after the price changes and will be honored as first-class stamps. The U.S. Postal Service said it will have 5 billion forever stamps in stock to meet increased demand before the price change. The stamps have been popular. Americans have been buying 30 million of them a day in recent weeks.
The cost of private nursing home care in Chicago spiked 30 percent since 2004, outpacing national numbers and the rest of the state, according to an annual survey released by Genworth Financial. Chicago is the most expensive city for such care in Illinois, with one year of care in a private nursing home costing $72,567, Genworth reported. The cost rose 26 percent to $57,362 statewide and 17 percent to $76,460 nationwide.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Will the rebates work?
The first of the tax rebate checks began hitting consumers' pockets this week, part of the U.S. government plan to boost the sickly U.S. economy. Will the checks be the medicine the economy needs? As the rebates are dispensed between now and July, some early signs of success or failure will emerge in monthly retail sales data starting in May, said Mesirow Financial Chief Economist Diane Swonk.
Imagine being a 24-year-old woman, graduating from college with more than $65,000 in debt. Now you're looking for an entry-level job that -- if you can find it --might pay $40,000 a year. And you're stuck with monthly payments of nearly $600 on your consolidated loans. Those payments will consume more than a quarter of your after-tax paycheck, every paycheck, for 20 years.
Demand for used SUVs driven down
For used car dealer Ivan Hoyos, accepting a sport-utility vehicle as a trade-in is no longer good business. The only SUV he's offering at his Florida Auto Sales and Finance is his mother's red 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor.
ETF
Exchange traded funds hold a basket of securities, like mutual funds, but they trade like a stock, which means that they can be purchased at any time of the day and incur a transaction cost from the broker. --Bankrate.com
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The rebate checks are on the way
President Bush said tax rebates will start going out Monday, earlier than previously announced, and should help Americans cope with rising gasoline and food prices, as well as aid a slumping economy. ''Starting Monday, the effects of the stimulus will begin to reach millions of households across our country,'' Bush said Friday.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that U.S. sales of new homes dropped by 8.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, the slowest sales pace since October 1991. Meanwhile, the national median price of a new home sold dropped 13.3 percent compared with March 2007, the biggest year-over-year price decline since July 1970.
Tax breaks for higher education, Medicare and Medicaid concerns and reverse mortgages are among free Money Smart Week workshop and seminar topics today throughout Chicago. For a schedule, go to www.moneysmart week.org/chicago or pick up a calendar at any Chicago public library. The week is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and others.
Help for Chicago homeowners at risk of foreclosure, including one-on-one sessions with mortgage lenders, will be available at a special free workshop that extends into the evening in Chicago today. "We want to encourage homeowners to take action and use every resource available so that they can get control of their finances and stay in their homes," said Chicago Housing Commissioner Ellen Sahli. The workshop, which will show homeowners their options, will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. at Douglas Park Cultural & Community Center, 1401 S. Sacramento Ave.
While median U.S. households earn roughly $48,000 annually, the amount these families spend on employer-sponsored health care per year continues to edge closer to one month's salary, according to Aon Consulting's 2008 Benefits and Talent Survey. It found the median annual contributions for family health care coverage is $3,120 --a 15 percent increase from 2007 and 22 percent rise from 2006.
Workshops and seminars on how to start a business on a dime, deal with IRS issues and teach teens how to manage money are among free Money Smart Week activities taking place across Chicago today through Saturday. For a schedule, go to www.moneysmart week.org/chicago or pick up a calendar at any Chicago public library. The week is sponsored by the Chicago Federal Reserve and others.
The Better Business Bureau of Chicago & Northern Illinois is warning consumers to be on the watch for HDTV scam artists as consumers prepare for television stations' switchover from analog to digital signals. Television stations will begin broadcasting a digital TV signal Feb. 17, 2009. Viewers will need a digital television or a converter box to receive that signal. There is a difference between a high-definition television and a digital television, and consumers should beware if someone tries to sell them a device that turns their analog TV into an HDTV. No such device exists. To apply for up to two $40 converter box coupons, go to www.dtv2009 .gov or call (888) DTV-2009.
Workshops and seminars offering advice for small business owners, career advice for women and information for those planning for retirement are among free Money Smart Week activities taking place in Chicago today. For a schedule, go to www.moneysmart week.org/chicago or pick up a calendar at any Chicago public library.
Today is Administrative Professionals Day. Administrative assistants earn $35,400 on average, and secretaries make $30,000, according to the International Association of Administrative Professionals.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Get 'balance' for retirement at free financial seminars
What's key to planning wisely for retirement? Don't become so paralyzed by fear of the unknown that you fail to plan, but also don't go overboard in planning for the future, Sun-Times financial columnist Terry Savage advised attendees at a Money Smart Week program in Chicago Monday.
Choosing a financial planner is a complicated process. There's a huge amount of financial advice out there -- ranging from free to extraordinarily expensive. And it becomes quite a task to evaluate and compare the services, costs (some hidden), and performance of all of the people who are advertising that they're ready to help you manage your money.
Free one-on-one time with financial planners and words of advice from Chicago Sun-Times financial columnist Terry Savage await those who attend a Money Smart Week program slated from noon to 2 p.m. today at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State, in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium.
What are your goals? (This is a key ingredient in any planning decision, so be sure the planner asks -- and that you're prepared to answer! And remember that you should have long-term as well as short-term goals.)
Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.88 percent this week, matching last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Rates dipped on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages to 5.40 percent, from 5.42 percent; on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages to 5.48 percent, from 5.56 percent; and on one-year ARMs to 5.10 percent from 5.18 percent.
Airline passengers who get bumped from overbooked flights will be entitled to double the compensation they now get from U.S. airlines under new U.S. Transportation Department rules that go into effect next month.
United Airlines raised its domestic fuel surcharge by $10 to $20 round trip Tuesday night, less than a week after the carrier increased fares to offset rising fuel expenses.
Average prescription drug costs continued to rise last year, but the average co-pay dipped for the first time in at least five years, according to pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Inc. The average co-pay dropped 25 cents to $13.20, while the average total cost of a prescription rose to $55.93 from $55.01.
