Definitions

First of all, you should be aware that there are actually two different types of money market accounts: money market deposit accounts and money market mutual funds. Money market deposit accounts function more like bank savings accounts while money market mutual funds are a type of (very safe) investment.

Account Differences

• Providers: Almost all banks offer savings accounts as a compliment to their regular checking accounts and many online banks offer savings accounts exclusively. Many banks also offer money market deposit accounts, which may require a higher initial deposit/minimum balance and also pay a higher interest rate. By contrast, money market mutual funds are investments and thus offered by investment companies such as Vanguard.
• Insurance: Savings accounts and money market deposit accounts are FDIC insured – now up to $250,000. Money market mutual funds are technically not, although they are regulated by the SEC and largely considered risk-free.
• Deposits: Money market deposit accounts and money market mutual funds may require a minimum deposit of as much as $10,000, whereas savings accounts can usually be opened with as little as $1.00. All three accounts may require you to keep a minimum balance to avoid fees.
• Withdrawals: Money market accounts usually come with check writing privileges. Savings accounts do not allow check writing but do allow withdrawals or transfers to checking accounts. Both types of accounts may limit the number of withdrawals to 6 per month.
• Interest rates: Traditional bank savings accounts generally pay less than 0.5% interest, while high interest savings accounts can offer as much as 1.5% right now. Money market mutual funds offer 1-3% traditionally, but are trending closer to the lower end of the range since interest rates are currently so low; some of the highest money market interest rates available right now are through the EverBank $75 Sign Up Bonus.
• Taxation: All three accounts are taxable. However, some types of money market mutual funds may invest in federal or municipal securities and thus be tax exempt for either state or federal purposes.

Bottom Line

In times of higher interest rates, both types of money market accounts may offer more interest than a savings account. In today’s interest rate environment, that difference is negligible unless you are talking about a very large amount of money or a money market sign up bonus. While money market mutual funds are technically the “least” safe of the three accounts we’ve talked about, all three are very safe options that also offer a good deal of liquidity.

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Here is a guide to help you apply for unemployment, understand the 2010 unemployment extension, and continue your health insurance.

What You Can Expect When You File for Unemployment

First of all, it is unlikely that you will need to stand in line or even leave your home to apply for unemployment benefits. In order to begin receiving benefits, you must first apply to ensure that you are eligible. Most, if not all states, now have an unemployment phone number to call, or an internet site to visit in order to first apply for your benefits. Many states have a waiting period before you can begin to receive benefits from when you first called to apply, so be sure to apply as soon as possible. A common waiting period is two weeks before you can call for your first check, which means that you will go two weeks without pay. After your application has been successfully received, you will find out how much each two-week check will be for. The amount of earnings and the number of quarters you worked are used to determine how much your unemployment benefit will be.

After you are accepted, then you will need to call every two weeks to apply for your benefits. You will have to answer a series of questions each time you call, which typically includes whether or not you have actively looked for work, if you are able and willing to work, and whether or not you earned any income in the previous two weeks that you are applying for. Be aware that because so many people are unemployed right now, you can have a waiting time on the phone of up to two hours or even more.

Some states allow you to collect unemployment compensation even if you have received a severance package, while others will not give you unemployment compensation until your severance runs out. It is still a good idea to apply for unemployment when you first become unemployed, even if you do not know if you will collect any unemployment. This will minimize the potential weeks you will go without pay due to state rules and waiting periods, and also make you aware of the rules.

What to do about Health Insurance

One of the worst things you can do is to let your health insurance lapse; what if your appendix decides to burst? What if you break a leg? Any unexpected accident could send your finances into a further tailspin.

If you lost your job between Sept. 1, 2008, and Feb. 28, 2010, you may qualify for a 65% subsidy towards your COBRA health benefits for up to 15 months thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Temporary Extension Act of 2010. You will need to pay 35% of your COBRA premiums to your former employer.

If you would rather not go through COBRA, then you can purchase a catastrophic health insurance plan with a high deductible (typically between $2,500-$5,000). This plan will not cover your routine doctor’s visits, such as to your general practitioner, eye doctor, or dentist, but it will cover you in case of an accident (minus the deductible that will come out of your pocket first). The premiums are much lower for this than for more permanent and benefit-rich plans, but this will cover you for the unexpected. Call large insurance providers to inquire about these plans, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, and also sit down and discuss with an insurance agent to get a range of quotes.

Who to Contact

Unemployment benefits vary from state to state. The best thing to do is to contact your state unemployment office in order to find out what you are eligible for when you file for unemployment benefits, the length of your benefits, and how much will unemployment pay.

Length of Unemployment Benefits

The standard length of unemployment benefits used to be 26 weeks. However with the recession, this 26 weeks has been extended several times, and the unemployment extension depends largely on when you became unemployed (and first applied for benefits). So far Congress has passed multiple federal extensions in the last two years for people who have exhausted their initial 26 weeks, which could give you unemployment benefits that last up to 99 weeks if you are eligible.

And just last week, another unemployment extension bill was introduced. If passed, the Americans Want to Work Act, extends unemployment benefits for 20 more weeks. Individuals will be eligible for the “tier 5 unemployment extension’ benefits if their state has an unemployment rate of 7.5% or higher. The additional benefits under the unemployment extension 2010 would extend unemployment past the 2-year mark.

Don’t forget to keep track of your expenses during your unemployment to use for your unemployed tax deductions at tax time next year.

Good luck! I’ll be back next week to share my unemployment story!

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Yesterday, Amanda shared some Back-to-School Shopping Tips to Stretch Your Budget.

Today we’re taking it a step further to pile on the back to school savings.

Maximize Back to School Savings

1. Maximize Reward Programs. If you are shopping online for clothes and supplies, don’t forget to use your rewards programs like Ebates and Mr. Rebates. Many of the rewards programs are offering bonuses during back to school shopping, like double cash back at Ebates.
2. Review Rock Bottom Price List. In the forum at Hot Coupon World, there’s a list that maintains all of the back to school price lists from 2007-2010. You’ll be able to spot deals easily when you know your price target is $0.05 for a compass or $0.01 for a folder.
3. State Sales Tax Holidays. Time your shopping with the 2010 state sales tax holidays to save even more money on your back to school shopping.
4. Free Money. Citi is offering a $50 Sign Up Bonus to kick off the school season, which should buy a lot of school supplies at rock bottom prices!
5. Free Shipping. Don’t forget students can sign up for a year of free Amazon Prime to get free fast shipping on school supplies.
6. Credit Card Rewards. Maximize credit cards reward cash back with back to school promos. For example, since I have credit cards that pay a higher cash back at drugstores and grocery stores, I’ll go there first for school supplies if the prices are the same as the other stores.
7. Review College Savings. Each fall is a great time to review your asset allocation for your college savings and take advantage of savings plans with college bonuses like the Sallie Mae Savings Account 10% Upromise Match.
8. Review Your Dependent Care Account. If your plans change for after school care in the fall, you can make a change to your dependent care account. Qualifying events are more liberal than FSAs and include a change in provider or a change in cost. Make sure you are maximizing your dependent care tax savings.
9. Save The School Supply List for Next Year. Many school districts don’t put out the school supply list early enough to get the best deals. I’ll be cutting out the list this year and saving it for next year when my oldest will begin kindergarten; I would guess that the majority of the list will be the same.

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Amazon Prime just launched Amazon Student. One of the benefits is a free year of Amazon Prime. It’s Free Money Friday, so let’s check into the deal.

How to Get a Free Year of Amazon Prime

1. Sign up for Amazon Student and sign into your Amazon account.
2. Enter your .edu email address, state, school, academic level and major.
3. Confirm your email address.
4. Get your free 1 year subscription to Amazon Prime.

Free Amazon Prime for Others

Other .edu Emails. My husband works for the university and has a .edu email address. I signed him up and selected “other” for academic level. It worked perfectly! Anybody else try various .edu email addresses?

Current Members. You can get a refund if you already have an Amazon Prime membership and sign up for Amazon Student.

Email List. When you sign up, you’ll get the student deals emailed to you. If you don’t want them, you have to give up the free Amazon Prime. I suggest setting up an email filter for them if you don’t want to read the deals.

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The idea behind Groupon is essentially buying in bulk. If you got one hundred of your closest friends to buy something at a store, of course they’d offer you a discount. Groupon facilitates it for you.

How to Groupon

1. Sign up for Groupon.
2. Get an email each day with the Groupon offer.
3. Sign up for offers you like by midnight each day; if enough people sign up, you get in on the deal.

Groupon Details

Local Deals. Groupon deals are local, so you’ll see businesses in your area. For example, today my Groupon is for 50% off at a great fantastic Mexican in our area. Some of the other deals I noticed today were for:

• 50% off Cream Puffs in Chicago.
• 50% off Waxing in Houston.
• 50% off modern art museum membership in Washington, DC.

To see your local deal for today, click on: Groupon local.

Refer Your Friends. Once you sign up, you can also refer your friends. You’ll get $10 Groupon bucks when your friend gets their first Groupon.

Have you used Groupon? What do you think?

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Order to Prioritize Your Savings

1. Most experts will agree that first and foremost you should fund a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement account up to the point of match – you’re maximizing your return in this way because the match is free money. If you don’t receive a match, skip this step and save for retirement in an IRA instead.
2. You should then work to build your emergency fund. Advice varies on the amount, but 3-6 months of non-discriminatory expenses is safe for most people.
3. If you have big expenses coming up, such as a new car, a wedding, a big trip or something similar, set aside some portion of your savings to fund that future spending – this helps smooth your spending over the course of a year and is much better for your budget than incurring those big expenses all at once.
4. Next, you should contribute to a Roth IRA if you’re eligible. If you’re not, you can contribute to a traditional IRA and do an immediate Roth IRA conversion.
5. Finally, and only once you are debt-free AND satisfied with your savings in items 1-4 above, you might consider investing in taxable accounts.

Items 3 and 4 can and should be done somewhat concurrently – you need to strike a balance between short-term goals and long-term security. How much you should put towards each depends on how much of your salary you are able to save, and whether you’ve contributed to an employer-sponsored plan.

If you did contribute to an employer-sponsored plan, you can choose to save as much as you need for your short-term goals, and put the rest towards retirement. You can instead choose to save 10% of your salary towards retirement, and put the rest towards short-term goals. Or, if you’re in the enviable position of having more than enough to meet all your objectives, you can split the money right down the middle, putting half away for retirement and the other half towards those big-ticket items you’re saving for.

Circumstances Matter

The friend who asked me the original question is in college – chances are family and/or financial aid are paying for many of her big expenses, and her paycheck is more for daily expenses such as food and entertainment. She is also unlikely to have an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Finally, she is so young that contributing to her IRA now could have big payoffs down the road. So for her, I might tweak the standard advice – depending on exactly how much money she is talking, I might tell her to build an emergency fund of $1,000 or 3 months of the expenses she is responsible for, whichever is larger. Then I’d encourage her to contribute at least half of the annual limit to an IRA (preferably a Roth IRA). If she still has money left over, I’d likely recommend she split it, saving half for post-grad expenses such as furniture and work attire and putting the other half towards maxing out her IRA.

When Should You Pay Off Debt?

Advice may also change if you are trying to get out of debt, in which case you want almost no savings beyond a small emergency fund and employer-matched retirement savings. If you are single, or married with one spouse not working, the lone salary matters much more – so you might need a bigger emergency fund.

The point is, like so much else in the world of personal finance, there is no easy answer to the question of what to do with extra funds. Every situation is different, and every person has a different risk tolerance. Once you are debt free, do your best to balance investing for the future with planning and saving for shorter-term expenses – and of course work on building a buffer for emergencies.

What is your preference? Emergency fund, pay off debt, or retirement first?

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Mid-Year Tips

1. Review your retirement contributions: In 2010, you can contribute $16,500 to a 401(k) and similar workplace retirement plans and another $5,000 to an IRA or Roth IRA – not to mention additional catch up amounts if you are over 55. If you’re not on track to max out one or both, review your budget and see if you can find a few extra dollars to move you a little closer to doing so. If you had planned to max out both this year, make sure you’ve contributed roughly half of the limit by the end of the month, and set up a plan to dollar cost average the rest over the next 6 months.
2. Rebalance your portfolio: If you haven’t done so in the last year, review your asset allocation and rebalance your portfolio – recent market volatility may have thrown it out of whack. And if your income previously excluded you from doing so, don’t forget to check into a Roth IRA conversion!
3. Assess your insurance situation: Most households should maintain home, auto, health and disability insurance. Depending on your family and financial situation, you may also need life, long-term care and/or liability insurance. Take this opportunity to review your insurance situation – are your policies up to date? – Have you gotten a new quote lately to compare prices? If the value of your home has increased (or, more likely, decreased) in value, you should update the amount of your homeowner’s policy. You may be able to save money on home or auto insurance by increasing your deductibles, or lowering the insurance amount on an older, paid-off car. If you are in your mid-50s or older, you may consider long-term care insurance for the first time. If you recently added to your family, had one spouse leave the workforce, or took on an increased debt load, you may need a new or increased life insurance policy. Take this time to do some research and update your insurance policies as appropriate. When it comes to health insurance, get a jump on open enrollment – take the next few months to assess how you’ve used your current policy and how a different policy might benefit you. Don’t forget to take the new health care laws into consideration!
4. Adjust your withholding: Did you owe the IRS lots of money at tax time, or receive a large refund? Your budget can be more effective if you smooth all income and expenses out over the course of the year. If you didn’t do so in January or after tax time, take this time to review your withholding with your human resources department and adjust it if needed. Assuming your income and credits/deductions stayed generally the same in 2010 as in 2009, you should withhold more if you owed money and less if you received a large refund. Even if you didn’t see a large tax bill or refund for 2009, you may still want to look at your withholding if your financial situation has drastically changed – for instance, if you or someone in your household went back to school, lost a job, bought a house, began collecting Social Security, etc.

More Mid Year Financial Check Up Tasks

• 12 Tasks for Your Mid Year Financial Checkup
• 10 Important Tasks for Your Mid Year Checkup

What other mid-year financial check-ups would you suggest? Tell us in the comments!

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As you recall, when I wrote about my experiences with SmartyPig, I found it easy to use, and its interest rate to be downright irresistible. At the time, the only thing I hadn’t done was actually meet one of my savings goals and withdraw my funds.

I had been saving up for a trip to a wedding, setting my goal of $600 to be reached on May 5. Based on my start date and a twice-monthly withdrawal (to correspond to my paychecks on the 15th and 30th of each month), SmartyPig calculated a twice-monthly contribution of $68.45.

Reaching my Goal

Smarty Pig did withdraw my contributions as scheduled, and accrued interest at the stated rate. But as of April 30, which was my last scheduled contribution before the target date, my account for this goal was actually about $2.00 short of the $600 target. I could have stopped the goal and withdrawn the balance, but chose to wait and see what would happen. This small shortage didn’t really affect me as I already planned to pay for my trip on my credit card (earning rewards points) and use my SmartyPig savings to pay off the bill a few weeks later. But if you are someone who keeps a REALLY tight budget, or the calculation is off by more than a few dollars, you could find yourself in a bit of a pickle if you were planning to withdraw the funds to make an immediate purchase.

On the next regularly-scheduled contribution date (roughly 10 days after my initial target date), SmartyPig initiated another withdrawal from my checking account. I assumed this would be in the amount of the $2.00 and change needed to reach my goal, and was surprised when SmartyPig actually withdrew the entire $68.45, thus putting my total account balance well over my original target. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing (saving more than planned is never bad), just unexpected. Again, if I hadn’t had the cushion in my checking account I could have found myself facing one unpleasant overdraft fee.

Withdrawing my Funds

Once the final transaction showed up in my SmartyPig account, I received an email telling me my goal had been reached. I logged into my account and clicked “Stop Goal” only to find that I have to wait 4 business days after the final transaction posted to make a withdrawal. This amounts to 7 business days and 9-11 calendar days after the last transaction was initiated, due to the standard ACH wait time. This was another surprise, and again something that could derail someone counting on a specific amount of cash at a specific time. Because SmartyPig only lets you withdraw the entire amount of your goal, this delay meant ALL of my cash was inaccessible, not just the amount of the last transaction.

When my wait time was over, I finally was able to withdraw my funds. I once again clicked “Stop Goal” and was informed that I could split my savings between gift cards to partner retailers (with a bonus), a SmartyPig debit card, and an ACH transfer to my own checking account. I had to press a button to continue. I was then asked if I wanted to put any amount on a retailer gift card. Say No, and you are directed to a new screen. Say yes, and you choose the retailer(s) and amount(s) of your gift card(s), then continue to the next screen. You then go through the same routine on a screen asking about a SmartyPig debit card – do you want one, and if so for how much. The next screen has you select a bank account so that you can transfer any remaining funds in your account. One last screen has you review the options before confirming your selections. I felt the multiple screens were unnecessary – I just as easily could have seen all the options on one screen and entered the appropriate amounts (or 0) for each.

As always, ACH transfers back to your bank account will take 3 business days to post. The gift cards and/or debit cards must be mailed so there will also be a small delay in receiving funds using those methods.

If you do not want to withdraw your whole account balance, you will first have to set up a new goal and transfer the amount you want to keep with SmartyPig, as SmartyPig requires you to withdraw your whole balance. Remember that you can have multiple goals within one account – you don’t have to withdraw all the money in your account, just the amount in the goal you are trying to close.

The Bottom Line

To be safe, you should set your goal to end well before your actual target date for reaching it – you should allow for one extra contribution before the date you would actually need to withdraw your money. You need a little cushion to make sure you reach your goal, time for the final transaction to post, and then time to get the money out, regardless of the withdrawal method you choose.

Knowing more about how the final postings and withdrawals work, I would be less inclined to recommend SmartyPig for an emergency fund or “just because” savings as you won’t be able to access any of the amount if there happens to be a contribution in progress. As long as you plan for these contingencies, I still recommend SmartyPig as an excellent way to save for targeted goals with specific end dates in mind – just make sure you give yourself a little time cushion if the exact amount is vital to your financial stability!

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CD Rates

Are CDs Obsolete? That’s the question we’re discussing this week. As CD rates remain low, we’re always on the lookout for alternatives.

I eliminated my CD ladders awhile ago due to the interest rates, but my kids still have CDs that are renewing at ultra low rates, so I’m interested in finding a better CD product for their money.

CD Strategy to Lock in Higher Rate

One of the Ally Bank CD strategies that is gaining momentum is to purchase a 5 year CD with plans to pay the two month interest penalty when you access the money, making it financially a better option than short term CDs.

Ally Bank opened the door for this option when they made a standard 6 month interest penalty only 2 months on their CDs.

How it Works

The 5 year APY is 2.95%. The 1 year APY is 1.49%. The fee to withdraw your CD before maturity is 60 days’ interest.

If at the end of one year, you break your CD, here’s what it might look like if you invested $5,000:

• Open a 5 year Ally Bank CD at the 2.95% APY.
• Earn about $148 at the end of year one.
• Close your CD and forfeit $25 in interest.
• Net about $123, which is equivalent to about 2.46%.

Finding a 1 year CD that pays 2.46% is next to impossible, so it’s a no brainer in my mind.

This example ignores that interest is compounded daily. But it’s a strategy that’s makes the 1 year CDs unnecessary if you want to earn the highest rate.

Locking In Low Rates

What if interest rates go up and you don’t want to lock in at such low rates? With the Ally Bank CD, you can break your CD, pay the penalty, and open a new CD at higher rates.

Action Plan

I had my mom open a Ally Bank CD this week, with the intention of keeping the money in the CD for 1-2 years. She reported that it only took a few minutes to open. I’ll be opening mine soon, as soon as each of the old CDs matures.

Have you looked into the Ally Bank CDs? Are you planning to use the penalty feature to get higher rates?

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CDs Today

INGDirect is perhaps the best known online savings bank. It boasts an interest rate of 1.10% for its high-yield savings account. Contrast this with CDs – for the “privilege” of locking your money away for 6 or 9 months, ING will pay you .75% – a whopping .35% less than keeping your money completely liquid and accessible! 12- and 18-month term CDs pay 1%, while 24- and 30-month CDs earn you the same 1.10% as the savings account. The only way to get a higher rate is to choose a 36-month CD, earning a rate of 1.25%. But of course, interest rates will almost certainly be higher by then and you’ll have lost out on the opportunity for more interest in either a CD with better terms or a higher-yielding savings account.

Best CD Rates

Our CD rate tracker paints a similar picture – the highest rate you can get for a 1-year CD is 1.55%, and many banks are paying less. Compare this with SmartyPig, where you can earn 2.15% if your account is worth less than $50,000, and you may start to question, as I did, whether CDs make sense in the current economic environment.

Only 5-year CDs are paying a truly desirable rate of up to 2.99% at Ally Bank. Again, to earn this rate you must be willing to lock your funds away until 2015, paying a penalty if you decide to take them out earlier, and missing out on any interest rate increases in the meantime.

To get one of the best CD rates, check out a Unique CD Strategy to Lock in Higher Rates using the Ally Bank CD.

When CDs Make Sense

CDs still make sense for people who need a more disciplined approach to saving money – if you honestly have a hard time leaving your savings account untouched, locking up the funds in a CD is a good way to limit the temptation.

CDs may also make sense if you believe interest rates will fall – locking in a higher rate now will give you a better long-term return.

CD Alternatives

The average saver/investor probably won’t find it beneficial to lock your money into a CD at today’s low rates. Instead, consider keeping savings and the cash portion of your investing portfolio in savings bonds or at a bank like SmartyPig (currently paying 2.15%) or Sallie Mae (currently paying 1.40%).

What do you think – will you continue to buy CDs in the current interest rate environment? Tell us why or why not in the comments!

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You may have life insurance to cover funeral expenses, but average funeral costs are still pretty steep. Researching the costs before planning your loved one’s funeral will help set forth a sensible plan to help you through the funeral process.

Average Funeral Costs

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the average funeral costs in the United States can be well over $10,000 by the time you add floral arrangements, prayer cards and family transportation. Traditionally, when people think of funeral expenses they think of things like a casket and flowers. However, there are other items to take into consideration when planning a funeral, especially if you already cashed out your life insurance policy.

Cemetery Cost. Most people understand that cemetery costs can be profound. Headstones often start around $500 and run upwards of $4000. The materials used for construction contribute to a wide price range. An average granite headstone in 2009 cost about $1500. If your loved one did not already have a cemetery plot, you will need to purchase one. Prices of cemetery plots depend on location. They start as low as a few hundred dollars and can be upward of a few thousand. Also, be prepared to pay someone to open the burial ground, and vault used to reinforce the grave site. Opening the grave and vault preparation are around $600 and $1000 respectively.

Casket Cost. Another major funeral cost is the casket. There are many choices of caskets available from cardboard to stainless steel. According to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America, metal caskets were the predominant choice with 65 percent of all caskets sold in 2007. The average cost of a metal casket then was around $2300 as specified by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) price list survey.

Funeral Home Fees. Some items that people neglect to consider are services the funeral home will charge to prepare the funeral arrangements. Most funeral homes will charge a basic services fee. This fee includes expenses such as housing the body, retrieving the death certificates, and collecting burial permits. These fees vary depending on the funeral home used. They average around $1,595.

Ways to Reduce the Cost of a Funeral

Consider Cremation. If you are worried about costs, cremation might be a more sensible choice. It can cut down on funeral costs by eliminating the need for a casket, vault and headstone. If you decide to go with direct cremation, you may be able to eliminate the need for embalming as well. Cremation is becoming a popular choice for many families. In 2008, the U.S. cremation rate was over 36 percent and projected to rise steadily. Cremation services usually start at $1000.

Buy Online. Many online floral shops have funeral service flowers that can be ordered and delivered for a fraction of the cost. In addition, you can order various funeral items online, like caskets and stationary.

Preplan Your Own Funeral

Another way to prevent your family from worrying about how much a funeral cost is to pre-plan your own funeral. Many funeral homes now allow people to pre-plan and pre-pay for their own funerals. Not only does it relieve your family from the stress of having to plan a funeral during a difficult time, it allows them to honor your final wishes.

Economically speaking, it also locks you in at the current prices instead of the inflated prices your family would pay. Though it is hard to think of your own mortality, it would benefit your family both financially and emotionally.

Pre-planned funerals also allow you to concentrate on the grieving process, which is priceless.

Final Thoughts

I realize this probably isn’t a popular personal finance topic to discuss, but it is one we should discuss. Obviously, spending money during a time of grief isn’t the best time to shop around, so we should force ourselves to think about it sooner rather than later.

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Since we have 7 people in our party, we’re going to save $350 with this week’s Free Money Friday offer!

How to Get Your Free Bags

1. Open a Platinum Delta SkyMiles American Express if you don’t already have one.
2. Book your family and friends on the same reservation.
3. Automatically get the first checked bag free for each person (up to 9 people) when you check in and fly on a Delta flight.
4. Save $50 per person!

More on Delta American Express

Free Flight. When you sign up for the Platinum Delta SkyMiles American Express card, you also get 20,000 bonus miles with your first purchase, and 5,000 bonus miles to add two people to your account. It’s an easy way to get a free frequent flyer mile flight on top of the free bags.

Annual Fee. This card has an annual fee. However, if you’re planning a trip, you should be able to more than cover the fee with the free flight and free bags. Our card paid for itself in one trip.

Pay with Miles. The Platinum Delta SkyMiles American Express card also allows you to use miles to pay for flights in 5000 mile increments starting at 10,000 miles. We were able to stretch our miles to cover more flights with the pay with miles program.

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A reader, ElleX asked:

Madison, how do you like Ooma? Did you keep your landline number? I want to rid myself of a landline phone so I am very interested in your results.

To answer ElleX’s questions, here’s our Ooma review!

Ooma Review

Our Ooma phone setup was easy. You can connect an unlimited number of phones to your Ooma phone service; we connected four phones to our Ooma hub.

The calls have a better voice quality than Vonage for us. And compared to our previous Vonage fees, it will pay for itself in less than a year.

Based on price and quality, I’m really happy with our purchase. We also ported our original phone number so we wouldn’t have to deal with that.

Ooma Hub Vs Telo

We have the Ooma Hub, which we bought on Amazon. There is also a new Ooma Telo device.

Both cost the same, you can compare Ooma Hub vs Telo to see which one will work best for you.

Ooma Pros

• One time fee, no monthly charges
• Free unlimited U.S. calls
• No computer required, just a broadband internet connection
• Works with standard handsets, no special equipment required
• Standard features: caller-id, call-waiting and voicemail
• Voicemail alerts to email and text message
• You can listen to voicemail on the hub or call in to check your messages. (Vonage had no box, which we found annoying)

Ooma Cons

• Premier features have an extra charge for enhanced voicemail (attachments to email, translation to text, etc), 3-way, second line, and bluetooth
• There is a $39.99 one time charge to port your existing number (free with Premier subscription)
• Relies on internet connection

Price of Ooma

Standard Service: A one time ooma phone system equipment purchase. We found the best price on Ooma to be at Amazon.

Premier Service: $9.99/month or $119.99/year (free first 60 days). We don’t use the premier feature but it would be good if you had a home business or needed the second line feature.

Reader Comments

When I mentioned that we got an Ooma phone, readers also chimed in with their user reviews on Ooma:

“We have had Ooma for over a year. Getting rid of the landline bill is fantastic. The nice thing about Ooma over MagicJack and/or Vonage is that your computer does not have to be on for Ooma to work – not to mention NO monthly charges at all!” – Maureen

“We’ve had ooma for some time now. We paid about $250 for the ooma hub and ooma scout. Our phone bill for local and long distance was almost $73/month, so the ooma paid for itself in three months. My wife recently got an Iphone so we took $30 of the monthly savings back and diverted that to wireless, but we’re very happy with the ooma running over our AT&T dsl line.” – Ooma User

“I have had Ooma for about a year now and it works as well as Vonage did. Hookup was a breeze and porting my Vonage number was easy. I have had no real problems, although there are times when call quality is not great – usually hanging up and calling again will fix that.” – Hughman

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I am now contentedly sitting back, enjoying all of the free time that has crept back into my schedule. You know what else I am enjoying? All of the extra money that we saved while planning our wedding.

The wedding industry is full of people with ideas and opinions about what the perfect wedding should look like, what is appropriate to spend for “the best day of your life”, and what a bride simply cannot do without.

Perhaps this is why the national average wedding budget for 150-guests has ballooned to $30,000! But Paul and I didn’t play by their game. We did things our way, and we were extremely satisfied with the results.

Wedding on a Budget

Here are ten things that Paul and I decided to not include in our day to keep wedding costs down and our approximate cost savings.

1. Borrowing Only One Item: We’ve all heard the saying that a bride needs “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” But why only borrow one item for a wedding on a budget? Our friend let us borrow a beautifully handmade ring bearer’s pillow and a set of cake cutting knives, my mother and grandmother let me borrow jewelry to wear with my gown, and my sister gave us a flower girl basket. Here are some other items that can be borrowed: centerpieces, veils, cake topper, etc. The sky is the limit! Cost Savings: $60
2. Professional Photographer and Expensive Prints: We used a great tip from the book Bridal Bargains, which as lots of great cheap wedding ideas, by going through a local university with a photographer department and asking the department chair to recommend a few students who are passionate about photography and who may wish to make some extra money on a Saturday. Despite everyone else’s hesitations, our photos turned out beautifully, and we only paid $230! Plus our photographer was happy because it helps to build his resume. The other great thing about this is that you can request to have full rights to the photos, and so you can skip all of the expenses of printing out as many photos as you’d like. Cost Savings: $500
3. Limo: Our wedding and reception were at the same location, so there really was no reason to rent a limo. Even so, a limo was not on our priority list. If we had needed transportation to the ceremony site/reception site, we would have used either a friend/family member to drive us individually, or a rental car. Cost Savings: $250
4. Practice Hair/Makeup Session: Some brides may not be comfortable without doing a dry run of hair and makeup with their stylist before the big day, but I did. Before the day of our wedding, I spoke with the hairstylist about my idea, and let her know that I was flexible as well. My hair turned out beautifully! Also, I did my own makeup (I do not wear much, even on our wedding day). Cost Savings: $60
5. Engagement Photos: Admittedly, engagement photos are fun! Instead of paying for them, we asked a great friend to get her camera and meet us at a gorgeous park (where many others have their engagement and wedding photos taken at). Cost Savings: $150
6. Accessories: There are certain items that Paul and I considered to be accessories, and not necessary to our wedding day. These included monogrammed napkins, centerpieces (our reception was held at an Inne, and they had their own small centerpieces of fresh flowers), and a cake topper. Cost Savings: $150
7. Two Bouquets: A lot of experts (and friends and family!) will tell you that you need two bouquets—one to keep and one to toss. We really did not want to keep around a bouquet that we knew would rot/whittle away over the years, especially when bouquets are not the cheapest. Cost Savings: $50
8. Extra Layer on Cake: Many people add an extra tier onto their cakes in order to freeze it to eat on their first wedding anniversary. We saw no need for this. Cost Savings: $50
9. DJ/Dance Floor: Paul and I had a day wedding, and needed to cut our wedding budget down. One of the ways was cutting out a DJ and making our own CDs for the ceremony, cocktail hour, first dance/father-daughter dance, and reception. The music was played outside on a beautiful terrace, so we also did not have to rent a dance floor. Cost Savings: $750
10. Videographer: It may be tempting to want to catch your day on DVD so that you can watch it later down the road, but Paul and I wanted to memorialize our day through our memories and photos instead. Another way to get around this is by asking a guest to bring along their own camcorder. Cost Savings: $300

As you can see, just from our choices alone, we saved $2320.

What are some ways that you shaved money off of your wedding without compromising on what you wanted?

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Once I got the gift card though, I decided to try out SmartyPig Bank. Since then, I’ve moved most of my targeted savings to Smarty Pig, while keeping my emergency fund and “just because” savings at ING.

Smarty Pig used to be a little limiting in terms of how often you contributed and how you could make withdrawals, but has rapidly responded to customer feedback and drastically improved its functionality.

SmartyPig Bank Review

• How it works: You open targeted goals, with a target date and amount. For example, vacation fund of $2,500 by August 15. You then tell SmartyPig how often you want to contribute and it creates an automatic savings plan, where you contribute a set amount each period (monthly, weekly, biweekly, etc).
• Interest Rate: 2.01% APY, accrued daily and paid quarterly. It’s hard to beat SmartyPig rates right now.
• Minimum Contribution: $25 initial contribution plus at least $10 per month
• Fees: None
• Withdrawals: Upon reaching and closing your savings goals, transfer to bank account, receive a debit card, or redeem for a gift card (plus bonus!) to one of several business partners
• Interaction: You can post your goals to Facebook or Twitter, or send an email to your family members and friends. With your permission, anyone can see your progress, and even make a contribution to help out.
• Insurance: SmartyPig funds are held with West Bank and are insured by the FDIC to the full legal maximum, currently $250,000 per account holder

My SmartyPig Experience

I’m currently using Smarty Pig to save for 5 goals, each with a target date less than a year away. For each, I told SmartyPig how much I wanted to save and by what date, and that I wanted to contribute on the 15th and 30th of each month (when I get paid). SmartyPig then calculated how much I needed to contribute each paycheck to meet my goals. I linked my primary checking account (it had a little trouble linking to another online savings account), and authorized SmartyPig to initiate automatic transfers. Each account transfer is made separately – $30 per paycheck for goal #1, $60 per check for goal #2, etc. Like any ACH transfer, the deposits take about 3-4 days from start to finish.

Smarty Pig has a great interface that allows me to see graphs showing how much I contribute each month, and how much I have left to meet any of my goals. I can move funds between goals at any time and change the target date or amount.

I actually have yet to make a withdrawal from my SmartyPig account – my first goal is ending in May, so when I do close and withdraw I’ll be sure to write about it! But the option to get gift cards with bonuses is definitely appealing. Even once I meet my goals, the money can stay in the account and continue earning interest until I’m ready to withdraw. The only thing I don’t love is that once you close a goal and make a withdrawal, you have to withdraw the whole amount. Of course a way to get around that is to figure out how much you actually need and transfer the rest to another goal before completing the withdrawal.

Bottom Line

SmartyPig’s interest rate is one of the best available on the web, making it tempting to put all your money there. Theoretically you could create a new goal with a very high target amount to simply stash your regular savings. But when it comes time to tap those savings for an emergency or anything else, you may have to do a little finagling if you don’t wish to withdraw the whole amount. For that reason, I maintain my accounts at ING Direct and a traditional brick-and-mortar bank.

For targeted savings goals and earning extra bonuses on your withdrawals, SmartyPig can’t be beat. A gift card is also a great way to set up a young friend or relative with their own virtual piggy bank, helping them save for a specific goal.

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