Here are some of the recommendations that readers suggested adding to our lists of favorite financial apps for your Android and iPad mobile devices. In addition, I added some of my favorite new free finance apps that I use almost daily.

More Free Finance Apps

• PageOnce. The best way to get a consolidated view of your bank/credit card/investment accounts on your android phone is with pageonce and their mobile app “Personal Finance”. The site is an aggregator like yodlee or mint, and the mobile app shows you your balances on one screen (as well as transactions, etc). – Cecil_t & Cory
• Wikinvest Portfolio. My favorite Android Finance app – the Wikinvest Portfolio app. It allows me to link to my investment portfolio on optionshouse, zecco and schwab and view all of the holdings I have in once place! -Lisa
• Sharebuilder and ING. I like sharebuilder’s App. I would also like to see a real ING app. – Evan (ING only had an atm finder when Evan left a comment, they’ve since added a real ING app!)
• Expensify. Expensify is another good android app, it lets you take pictures of receipts with your phone and sends it to their website where you can categorize the receipt and create an expense report. – Cecil_t
• Mobile Fuelly. While fuelly.com hasn’t come out with an actual app yet, their mobile version is popular: fuelly.com has a small mobile site that lets you enter your mileage and refueling information from your phone. You can then go to their full site to see graphs showing how your car has been performing over time, how you are doing compared to your average, and how your car compares to others. Besides giving you an early warning that something may be wrong, there have been times when I thought my car was performing poorly and got really bad mileage, only to see that, no, it’s still all good. Possibly saved me from wasting money on a tune-up (although I’ll need one anyway in a few months) -Rassah
• Paypal. Multiple readers suggested the paypal app. If you’re a heavy user of paypal, it sounds like it works well.
• Schwab. There is a feature that makes this one of my most used apps: the mobile check deposit. You just snap a picture of the front and back of your check and it’s deposited into your bank account. This has to be one of the best uses of technology for personal banking! If your bank doesn’t have this feature yet, you might want to contact them and request it!
• Vanguard. The Vanguard app doesn’t really do anything special, but since it’s my favorite place to hold a good chunk of our investments, it’s an must have for Vanguard investors.

I’m still waiting for a Quicken app to sync with my desktop Quicken, but since Moneydance rolled out the HandyBank for Android app to sync with their desktop personal finance software, I am seriously considering a switch!

What other finance apps are you using on your new tablets and smartphones?

More Finance Apps

• 5 Helpful Android and iPhone Tax Apps
• 7 of the Best Free Finance Apps for the iPhone and iPad
• Top Finance Apps for Android

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© My Dollar Plan

My younger cousins still get savings bonds from our grandparents, but that tradition just became a little harder for my technologically-challenged grandparents to continue. I was a little saddened to hear a recent NPR report informing me that as of December 31, 2011, savings bonds will only be available online directly from the Treasury. The Treasury cites the $24 million annual cost of printing and mailing paper bonds, as well as the waning popularity of savings bonds and proliferation of e-commerce, as the primary reasons for the change.

Savings Bonds go Paperless

Up until now, you could buy savings bonds at any bank or credit union and gift the physical paper bond to the recipient of your choice. As of January 1, you must purchase bonds online at www.treasurydirect.gov. If you wish to gift a bond the recipient must have their own TreasuryDirect account, where you can essentially transfer the bond electronically. The entire transaction takes place online.

New Rules for Buying Bonds

To buy bonds, set up an account at www.treasurydirect.gov. You can purchase Series EE bonds (which pay a fixed interest rate) or Series I bonds (which have an interest rate that varies with inflation). You can buy up to $10,000 of each series per year. Bonds are sold at face value, which means you pay $50 for a $50 bond. This is a change from paper bonds, which were sold for half of their face value and reached face value at maturity. Bonds can be cashed in 12 months after purchase, but you will forfeit the last 3 months’ interest if you cash them in within 5 years of purchase. Bond interest is state and municipal tax-free, and you pay federal taxes only when redeeming the bond. Savings bonds have lost popularity over the last several years, but are still a great way to save money for your own future or that of your loved ones.

Exception for I Bonds

One way to purchase savings bonds in the past was to receive all or part of your tax refund in bond form. This option is available in 2012 for Series I bonds only. You can receive up to $5,000 in paper Series I bonds by making the election on IRS Form 8888 when filing your tax return. You may purchase bonds for yourself or a gift recipient in $50 increments. You can choose to receive the remaining amount of your refund by check or direct deposit. See the TreasuryDirect page on tax refunds and I Bonds for more information.

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You’ve probably heard from the more bargain savvy people of the world that there are certain days that products are on sale and they’re right. Just as the price of gas is rumored to rise in price before a holiday and you can pick up deals during post holiday sales, prices are said to be more customer friendly on certain days of the week.

A Day by Day List of When to Shop for Discounts

Monday
Monday is the day you shop for cars. Coming off of a less than impressive weekend, any sales they can get to temper their unimpressive performance are gladly taken but sometimes the opposite is true. If the dealership had a big sale and the results were impressive, they may be more likely to make the same deals to people they met over the weekend. Sort of an icing on the cake as they look at their sales numbers.

Monday is also electronics day. Manufacturers pass discounts on to retailers on Monday which gives them some leeway to make some good deals but you have to do some negotiating.

Tuesday
Tuesday is airline day. Airlines post sales on Monday evening which make other airlines scramble to match prices on Tuesday morning. By 3PM on Tuesday, the unbelievable deals are gone but those sales may last for a few more days.

Thursday
Get your clothes on Thursday. Retailers roll out their upcoming weekend sales on Thursday which gives shoppers the chance to get their hands on those great deals before they sell out. Some sub categories of clothing may have better deals on other days so if you have your eye on a great pair of shoes, expecting the best deal on Thursday isn’t necessarily true.

Sunday
Sunday is the day you should do your grocery shopping because it’s the day that the fresh coupons appear in the newspaper. Combine these savings with special pricing in the grocery store’s advertisement and you can score some great deals.

Sunday is also a good day to combine sales with coupons at the popular drugstore chains. Some bargain hunters go at midnight to make sure they score the free bottle of mouthwash but if you’re not that type of shopper, go as early as you can.

How about the Other Days?
Of course other stores may offer great deals on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. That’s why savvy shoppers know that talking to the store manager and asking them when they announce their sales is the best way to learn about their local market.

Finding Bargains

Maybe the reason the financial instruction manual hasn’t been published is because there are too many variables involved. Use this as a guide and if you’re really serious about finding the unbeatable bargains, keep a good eye on when you see the sales appear at your favorite local stores.

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If your new years resolutions are financially based this year this list will come in handy as a springboard to get started.

And even if you didn’t dedicate a resolution to your finances, you’ll still be able to find some finance tips in the list that apply to you!

New Year Finance Tips

1. Outfit your new tablet with finance apps. Did you get a new tablet or smartphone under the tree? If so, here are our favorite finance apps for the iPhone and iPad and finance apps for Android to get you started.
2. Review your asset allocation. Review your investments and compare them to your target asset allocation. Rebalance if necessary. If you don’t have a target asset allocation, now is the time to make one!
3. Establish your 2012 budget. Determine your income and expenses for the year. Are you happy with the proportion of your expenses to your income for each category? If not, plan some changes. In addition, keep an eye on your 2012 paycheck changes – at the end of last month the payroll tax cut extension was passed for 2 months.
4. Plan retirement contributions. Plan your annual retirement contributions for your 401ks and IRAs. Don’t forget the limits went up for 401ks this year, so you’ll need to increase your deferral with your employer to contribution the maximum.
5. Review your investments. Did you miss your chance to harvest tax losses at the end of the year because you were too busy with holiday festivities? If so, you can always sell your losers now and they’ll help you out with your taxes next year.
6. Follow up on bonuses. Make sure you received all the sign up bonuses you were supposed to get last year for credit cards, banks, and other sign up bonuses.
7. Purge accounts. Go through and clean up the accounts left over from the free money sign up bonuses above. If you won’t be using an account review the inactivity fees and annual fees. If necessary, close the accounts to avoid any fees (I keep most of my credit card accounts open if there aren’t any fees).
8. Collect cash back. Now is the time to go through and collect all of your cash back from your holiday shopping.
9. Balance accounts. Balance all of your accounts for year end. It really helps to have all of this done before you file your taxes to get an accurate list of interest, dividends, capital gains and items that will go on your tax return.
10. Make a tax folder. Designate a place to collect all of the incoming tax documents. Each day when you get the mail, if you have a place to put the tax papers immediately, you’ll thank yourself!
11. Purge old papers. Now is also a great time to purge old papers. As you go through and balance your year end accounts, file the new papers and purge the old ones. See How Long Do We Really Need to Keep Those Papers?
12. Organize your wallet. And finally, change out your credit cards to take advantage of the 1st quarter 2012 5% rotating cash back.

What are you doing to prepare for your financial new year?

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Over the last 20 months we have put some sweat equity into our house and feel that it is at a place now that we can call it home—this is despite several issues others would not fail to miss, such as the cement flooring in our bathroom (we removed the gross bathroom carpeting almost immediately upon moving in), the sloping subfloor of the bathroom on the second floor, the yellowed area on our living room ceiling due to a leak from the second room bathroom, and the slightly sloping east end corner of the house all together (foundation issues are much more prominent where we live in Houston, TX). Some of these issues we were fully aware of when purchasing the home, and others we have found along the way.

What Our Home Inspector Missed

Even though we had a very detail-oriented inspector, we can say with 100% confidence that he missed quite a few things that are going to cost us a sizable amount in the future. Here’s a list of the things our home inspector did not catch:  

1. Faulty Plumbing Fix-Up Job: After nearly one and a half years of living in our new home, I decided to finally take a bath in the bath tub on the second floor. Big mistake; I sprung a leak through our living room ceiling. After a $75-an hour plumber came out, we found out the reason for the leak: the overspill in the bathtub had leaked in the past and the previous owners had jerry-rigged it with pvc piping epoxied to metal piping, epoxied to a rubber hose. Cost to fix: $450
2. Bathtub Turned Shower: We have a humongous master bathroom shower, the kind that you take a step down into. We were in the middle of renovating our master bathroom and called in a shower expert to see about getting it to properly drain (the floor does not slope to the drain, and there is always mold in between the tiles). Turns out that our “shower” was meant to be a bathtub. The previous owners had merely tiled the slab below without installing a shower pan, sloping it towards the drain, or fixing the plumbing to make it suitable for a shower. Estimated Cost: $5,000
3. Wrong Tonnage for A/C Unit vs. Square Feet of Home: We were aware of the A/C situation when we purchased our home—it was a very old unit. We had tried to negotiate the price of the home down by $5,000 in order to pay for a new one, but the previous owners balked at us and we relented. Instead, they purchased a home warranty for us for our first year and gave us $800 off the asking price. Big mistake: turns out that the A/C unit was not the correct tonnage (2.5 tons) for the amount of square feet in the home (2500 sq. feet). As such, no matter how many times it was fixed by the home warranty, it never cooled us off. We are in Houston, TX, so it’s not really an option to go without air conditioning for at least five months out of the year. Cost to Fix: $7,800 (we received a $1500 tax credit, and a $1200 credit from our home warranty company)
4. Insufficient Grading on Back Patio: The previous owners decided to use indoor tile to tile the back patio. While it looks nice, it is extremely slippery when it rains or is humid. On top of this, they did not properly grade the back patio, so whenever it rains there is a large puddle of water towards the house. Cost to Fix: We have not gotten an estimate on this, but are assuming a few thousand dollars.  
5. Broken Fridge in Garage: The previous owners left us their kegerator in the garage, and we thought this was super cool. Unfortunately, it was not working except on the highest setting (which would kill our electricity bill). Fortunately for us, we earned $25 by selling this to a company who salvaged it.
6. Loose Bricks in Firebox: We knew that our chimney was lacking a chimney cap, so shortly after moving in we brought in a fireplace expert. Unfortunately, he showed us that the bricks and mortar in the firebox were extremely loose, which could cause a fire to get in behind the bricks. Cost Estimate: $850 (we were fortunate in that the fireplace guy showed Paul how to fix it on his own, saving us $830).

Total Cost of Missed Defects

All in all, the things our home inspector overlooked could cost us a total of $13,375. And this is above the cost of the cosmetic renovations we had planned on making, such as renovating our three bathrooms and the bar area in the living room.   

I write this article not to scare the wits out of future homebuyers, but instead to prepare them for their home inspection and to manage their expectations about their home purchase. Talk to any homeowner and they will tell you that they had several unexpected costs creep up that they wish they had known about before purchasing their home. These could run from an outdated water heater to faulty plumbing.

In the end, even after knowing about all of these issues, we still would have purchased our home because we are in love with it, and the asking price was undervalued from the beginning.

What issues have surfaced in your home that were not caught by your home inspector, and how has this impacted you financially? What do you wish your inspector would have spent more time on?

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© My Dollar Plan

When you want to save money, it makes sense to start at the top and determine where you’re spending the most money. Often, where you are spending the most money is also the best place to make some cuts.

Trim Your Housing Costs

If you want to trim your housing budget, here are 16 places to look, ranging from simple to extreme, and everything in between:

1. Refinance. Have you refinanced to lock in a lower interest rate yet? We talk about it all the time, but there are still many of you who just haven’t gotten around to it. Whether it’s a fixed rate or an ARM that makes sense, be sure that you are getting the best possible rate in today’s low rate environment.
2. Negotiate your real estate taxes. After we bought our vacation home for $63,000 less than the assessed value, I took our numbers to the tax assessor and asked for a lower assessment. The result will be a lower real estate tax bill in the fall. If your assessment is higher than it should be, now is the time to work with the tax assessor on an adjustment.
3. Shop homeowners insurance. When was the last time you sent your homeowners insurance out for quotes? I routinely shop our insurance to make sure we’re getting the best price. We’ll continue our homeowners insurance with Allstate as long as it remains the most inexpensive.
4. Get rid of PMI. Even though PMI is deductible, it’s an avoidable cost. Call your lender to see if you qualify to have it removed.
5. Lowball. In the process of buying right now? Stop and read the reader tips for making lowball offers. We used these strategies on our last home purchase to get the house for almost 40% below list price.
6. Negotiate repairs and improvements. My neighbor just finished telling me about how she got her backsplash for almost 1/3 of the original price she was quoted. With a bit of time and effort, shopping around and comparing quotes is still a money saver.
7. Modify your mortgage. We recently did just this with Penfed. It’s a new name for what used to be called a streamlined refinance. You pay a modification fee and get a lower interest rate without any requalification. We had originally applied for a refinance, and one of the processors mentioned it to me; we modified our rate to 3.375%. Call your current lender to see if they have something similar (I know Chase does). Note, that this is different than any hardship modifications and it doesn’t have any adverse consequences, this is really just the bank giving you a lower interest rate without all the paperwork of a refinance.
8. Do something about homeowner dues. Are you on the board for the homeowners association? If not, chances are you didn’t give input into your new homeowner dues for this year. Get on the board and get involved in the budgeting process for your neighborhood.
9. Rent part of your house. Or the whole thing, if you have somewhere else to live cheaper. Taking on a roommate can also help alleviate expenses. Have you seen the HGTV show Income Property where they convert basements into rentals to help the homeowners with their mortgage payments?
10. Move. If you’ve been through all the steps above, but your house is still sucking the money out of you, maybe it’s time to downsize and move to a cheaper house.
11. Optimize payments for taxes. Mortgage interest and property taxes are deductible in the year they are paid. This gives you some tax planning options to pay them in the year that will benefit you the most if you have variable income.
12. Government programs. If you qualify, the Making Home Affordable Program is still running to help people underwater or facing financial hardship to refinance or modify your mortgage.
13. Work out a short sale. Two houses in our neighborhood were recently listed as short sales. If you can’t sell your house because of the mortgage, maybe you can work it out with the bank and list it as a short sale.
14. Educate yourself on walking away. Strategic foreclosure is obviously the most extreme and very controversial; when I asked readers Would You Walk Away from Your Home? there was a very passionate discussion. No matter how you feel about it, the white paper in that article was worth reading just for the education on the topic.
15. Rent your house for 2 weeks. If you are near a big event that will draw in visitors for a long weekend, you can rent out your house tax free for two weeks.
16. Earn cash back on your property tax. I just recently found out that I can pay our property tax with a credit card. Now earning cash back on our property tax is a good way to make some extra money.

What other ways have you found to lower your housing costs?

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is one way that is used to measure inflation as it concerns American consumers. It measures changes in the pricing of a basket of goods and services over a period of time. The products and services are representative of what Americans consume, and the most recent ones have been chosen from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 2007 and 2008 (7,000 families recorded their quarterly consumption during these surveys). There are over 200 categories, including transportation, food and beverage, and recreation. The CPI is measured for two groups of consumers: Urban Consumers and Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

Increase in Prices

From March 2010 to March 2011, the ‘All Items’ category increased in cost. Food and gasoline spending accounted for three quarters of this increase, which is probably not a surprise to you.

In particular, gasoline prices have risen 27.5% from March 2010 to March 2011.

The category ‘Food At Home’ (aka the food you purchase at a grocery store) rose 3.6% in price from March 2010 to March 2011. Of that 3.6%, the highest price increases since February 2011 were:

• Vegetables: 4.7% (specifically tomatoes, lettuce, and potatoes)
• Coffee: 3.5%
• Margarine: 3.9%
• Salad dressing: 3.1%

Now may be the time to look into 11 Ways to Save Money on Groceries.

You can see data for the most recent month in the economic news release which is updated monthly.

How this Could Impact Future Policy

Beyond prices at the grocery store and the gas station, the Consumer Price Index is also used as an economic indicator in a number of ways, and a substantial increase to prices could impact future government policy. The CPI is used to determine:

• Cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for social security, federal, and military retirees; recipients have not seen an increase in benefits for the past two years (the last increase was 5.8% in 2008).
• Federal income tax brackets, personal standard deductions, and exemptions are all based off the CPI as well, and if prices continue to rise throughout 2011 these could change.
• The CPI is the reason for the increase in New I-Bond Rates at 4.6%.

In addition, IRS mileage rates are “based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.” Since the CPI measures gasoline prices, it’s probable that the study will correlate with increases in the CPI as an indicator for the variable costs.

How have rising prices impacted your household? Which items seem to be more expensive to you?

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She was trying to figure out where to stash some of her money to get the best return, without any risk. With pitiful rates on CDs and bank accounts, it’s time to revisit savings bonds!

Due to inflation, the rates on I-Bonds jumped up this month, which makes I-bonds much more attractive than both savings accounts and short term CDs.

Current I-Bond Rates

Current I-Bond Rates for bonds purchased in May 2011: 4.6%

The rate is made up of the following rates:

• Fixed Rate: 0%
• Variable Inflation Rate: 4.6%

Update: I-bond composite rates for bonds purchased in November 2011: 3.06%. The next update will be in May 2012.

The fixed rate will stay the same for the life of the bond; the inflation rate of the I-bond changes twice a year on May 1 and November 1.

Inflation Rate

The inflation portion of the I-bond rate is based on the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U).

We won’t know what the inflation rate will be for the second half of the year, so it’s impossible to calculate the return for the entire 11 months. However, the bond cannot lose value from month to month, so the minimum interest rate is 0%, even when there is deflation.

I-Bond Tips and Tricks

The basics of purchasing I-Bonds are covered in Everything You Need to Know About Buying I Bonds, but there are a few more tips and tricks to consider:

When to purchase: I-bonds should be purchased at the end of the month to maximize returns. If you purchase I-bonds at the end of the month, it’s as if you owned the bond for the entire month. Just be careful about an online purchase on May 31, as the transaction may not be credited until June.

How much to purchase: The maximum you can buy in I-bonds per year through Treasury Direct is now $10,000. However, you can also buy another $5,000 in paper bonds per year. Update: You can no longer buy paper savings bonds unless you are using a tax refund. These are individual limits; each person in your family can make the minimum purchase per year.

Redemption. You can redeem savings bonds after a 1 year minimum holding period, so it’s not as liquid as a savings account. However, with an end of month purchase, it effectively reduces the minimum holding period to 11 months.

Factoring in penalties. You will lose 3 months of interest if you redeem the bond before 5 years. However, even after forfeiting the 3 months of interest, you’ll still be able to get a higher return than other current interest rates.

Look up old bonds. I used to stockpile I-bonds back in the day when you could purchase them with cash rewards credit cards …. I’ve long since sold those bonds, but I’m tempted go look up how much they’d be earning now, since the fixed rates were much higher. If you made similar purchases and held onto those bonds, it looks like you’ll be seeing rates around 7-8% right now!

I-Bond Rate Formula

For those of you interested in the math, here is the official formula for computing the I-bond composite rate:

Composite I-Bond Rate = Fixed rate + (2 x Semiannual inflation rate) + (Fixed rate x Semiannual inflation rate)]

The current semiannual inflation rate is 2.3%, so the calculation looks like this:

Composite rate = [0.0000 + (2 x 0.0230) + (0.0000 x 0.0230)]

Composite rate = 4.60%

I-Bond Highlights

Some of the attractions of I-bonds (in addition to their current interest rate) are centered around the tax treatment of I-bonds:

• Interest is tax deferred until redemption.
• Interest is exempt from state (and local) taxes.
• Interest is tax exempt when used to pay for college or roll into a 529 plan.

In addition, children can own I-bonds; our kids each have a stash of bonds they’ve received as presents.

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If you’re like me, you associate Discover with credit cards only – in fact, I previously had no idea that they had a bank arm at all! Now that I’ve had my account for several months, I thought I’d share my thoughts with all of you.

Discover Bank Account Details

• Interest Rate: 1.15% APY.
• Opening Balance: You must open your account with at least $500. Accounts transferred from E-Trade were exempt from this requirement.
• Minimum Balance: Once the account is opened, there is no minimum balance requirement.
• Fees: None for incoming wire or a limited number of electronic transfers/withdrawals (see below). Outgoing wire transfers cost $20-$40.
• Withdrawals: Up to 6 free withdrawals per month, then $15 per additional withdrawal.

Discover Bank Account Features

• Transfers: As with other online banks, you can only “push” transfers rather than “pull” them, meaning the transfers have to be initiated to/from Discover Bank rather than in any other account. As with most electronic transfers, funds will take 3-4 days to appear in your linked account.
• Resources: Discover Bank provides resources beyond those of your average online bank. Their “Tips and Advice” page gives you more information about how their products and good financial habits can work for you. Their online savings calculator allows you to plan for the future, and their FAQs are very comprehensive.
• Customer Service: I had to use customer service after I accidentally initiated a transfer to a closed bank account and the funds bounced back to Discover. For my protection, Discover prevented me from making future transfers until I could verify my identity and delete the closed account from my linked accounts. My initial email was answered within 4 hours, and when I called the 1-800 number as directed I did not have to wait at all before speaking to a very knowledgeable representative and getting my transfer privileges immediately reinstated.

Other Discover Bank Products

In addition to the online savings account, Discover Bank offers a Money Market account, CDs, and even IRA CDs. The money market account pays up to 1.10% (1% for deposits less than $10,000) and allows you to write checks and make ATM withdrawals. The CDs pay 2.35% for a 5-year term and the IRA CDs pay 3.0% for a 10-year term. For more on the various products, see this information page from Discover Bank.

My Experience with Discover Bank

I’ve been very happy with Discover Bank. Their interface is easy to use and their interest rate surpasses many of the well-known online savings accounts. In fact, in a quest to simplify my financial life I recently closed my accounts with EmigrantDirect and INGDirect. While I was happy with most other aspects of those accounts, the interest rate at Discover was enough to make my Discover account one of two online savings accounts I use regularly (the other is SmartyPig).

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Each time I get a paycheck, should I save as much as I need to meet my goals and then spend the rest freely? Or spend what I actually need and save the rest? I thought it would be good to explore each option a little further, and figured some of our readers might be interested as well.

Option 1: Save only what you need

• What it looks like: Figure out what you need to save from each paycheck for retirement, short-term goals like upcoming travel or annual payments, and long-term goals such as a house down payment, a new car, or your kids’ college. Set aside that amount faithfully, whether it’s 25% of your paycheck or 2.5%, and spend the rest freely on all those things personal finance blogs beg you not to do: eating out, daily lattes, vacations, clothes, etc. As long as you are avoiding new debt and meeting your savings goals, just don’t worry about how you spend the rest of your money.
• Reasons to do it: It’s fun. It’s still responsible since you’re taking care of savings first. And you can’t take your money with you when you die…so you might as well enjoy it now.
• Reasons not to: Anything can happen. Your retirement assumptions might be way off, your car might need replacing faster than anticipated, you could lose your job, you or someone in your family could face big medical bills. Basically, you can never be too safe.
• Other things to consider: Can you ever really save enough? Worst case, your money outlasts you and you leave some to your family and friends or favorite charities.

Option 2: Spend only what you need

• What it looks like: Give yourself a small “allowance” for necessary food, shelter, transportation, personal hygiene and similar needs. Bank every other dollar, regardless of whether you have a plan for it. Budget carefully, use coupons and other strategies to minimize expenses, and then sit back and watch that interest roll in.
• Reasons to do it: Few people would argue that having more money in the bank is a bad thing. You are prepared for anything this way, and you can always use it for a major purchase down the road – even if it’s just a vacation to reward yourself for so many years of diligence! See also: “reasons not to” under Option 1 above.
• Reasons not to: It’s hard to save with no goals in sight. Everyone deserves a treat now and then. See also: “reasons to do it” under Option 1 above.
• Other things to consider: Is there such a thing as being too money conscious? Will it be easier to make good financial decisions on the big things if you give yourself some breathing room when it comes to the small things?

My conclusion

Right now, I’m not really following either of the strategies above – I’m neither spending nor saving as much as I could, and neither saving nor spending only what I need.

Exploring the two options above, I’m not sure either is right for me at this time in my life. I think Option 1 is probably good for people in the later stages of life, who are all-but-certain their retirement funds will last and have few if any savings goals still outstanding.

Conversely, Option 2 is good for the very young, those who haven’t quite developed savings goals yet, or those who can’t meet their savings goals no matter how much they try – they should at least get as close as possible.

Of course the unspoken in both of these is that getting out of debt should trump spending and anything but emergency savings! But if you’re on track to meet your goals, and also want to give yourself a little breathing room (like me), I think it’s ok to find your own personal balance between saving and spending.

What about you? What strategy are you using as you continue on your personal finance journey?

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I downloaded every financial android app I could find and narrowed it down to my favorites. The money apps I selected are of course, all free!

I think I covered almost all of the finance categories for stocks, frugal shopping, account management, and cash back rewards.

You can download each Android personal finance app by scanning the QR Code with a barcode scanner app.

Best Personal Finance Apps for Android

1. 

   ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner. Use the camera to snap a picture of any barcode. You can find the best price for the product online or locally. It’s really handy when you see something at the store; you can quickly check to see if you can get it cheaper next door. After our kids tried on new shoes last week, it was a snap to figure out that we could order them online and save $20 a pair (and earn cash back at Ebates)!

2. 

   Key Ring Reward Cards. I’m a huge fan of earning all the rewards possible on each purchase. But the reality of carrying around rewards cards for 30 different stores is that it won’t happen. With Key Ring, you scan in all of your rewards cards, and it stores them for you. When shopping just pull out your phone, and the cashier can scan your barcode.

3. 

   Mint.com. You can instantly see a snapshot of your Mint.com account including account balances, cash flow, alerts, and your budget. I use Mint.com to track a lot of my credit card accounts, using the alert features. It worked pretty well to log in and see, by merchant, which transactions came through. I honestly never thought I’d need to look up any bank transactions on my phone, but the ability to do so actually impressed me so much, that it was the first thing I thought of later in the week when I needed to quickly see if a check I’d written had cleared yet. You’ll need a free account at Mint.com to get started with this app.

4. 

   Gas Buddy. Want to find the cheapest price to buy gas? The GasBuddy.com app has you covered. Just click “find gas near me” and you’ll get the cheapest gas closest to your current location. I can’t see our Costco gas station from the street, so it’s incredibly helpful to know how the price compares there, since I can combine it with Costco rebates, and cash back on gas purchases. You can sort the list by price or distance, and click on the station to get directions.

5. 

   Google Finance. Watching the stock market in real time doesn’t get any easier than the Google Finance app. This will be a handy app to use during our investment club meetings when we need to look up the current price of a stock being discussed. The app syncs to your google portfolio, but it doesn’t show the performance tab, so it could be better with that feature.

6. 

   TouchTip Calculator. I usually just calculate tips in my head, or use a calculator if I really need it. However, I know many of you love tip calculators that divide by the number of the people at the table quickly, so my list wouldn’t be complete without it. My favorite tip calculator is TouchTip since you can quickly use the touchscreen to increase the numbers for the bill without having to enter the entire amount on a keypad. It’s fast.

7. 

   ATM. There are lots of apps to find the closest ATM for various networks or banks. However, if you are like me, and your bank reimburses you for any ATM fees, you need an app that will show you all ATMs. They’re sorted by location, so you’ll see the closest ATM to your current location. You can also look for the closest bank or credit union. The app itself is pretty basic, and isn’t the prettiest with the ads scrolling across the bottom, but it gets the job done.

8. 

   Mileage. When I was little, my dad used to track all of the mileage on a little pad of paper he kept in the glove compartment of his car. Later he calculated the mileage he was getting and the cost per mile for fuel. This app is for my dad, and all the other mileage trackers out there. The statistics page shows fuel economy and prices and tracks your fill-up costs. It also has export capabilities to send the data to excel for all the number crunchers. If only this app could somehow work in connection with the GasBuddy app, we’d be all set!

Android App Wishlist

Overall, I was a little underwhelmed with the personal finance apps for droid. It’s a great start, and I expect in the future we’ll see a lot more improvements. Here’s what I’m looking for android apps finance:

Quicken. Now that I’ve converted to Quicken to manage all of my personal fiances, I’d love to see a Quicken app.

Taxes. I tried out a lot of the tax apps, but honestly, couldn’t find one that I’d recommend. Obviously, I expect once tax season rolls around we’ll see more in this market. Update: Just as I expected, now that tax season is here, I found some Helpful Android Tax Apps that I like.

Apps that Sync. I tried out various personal finance apps, like Moola and EasyMoney, but they were entirely too cumbersome to enter everything on my phone. However, if they linked to a website, where I can type everything in there to get started, and just make updates from my phone, they might be worth taking a look at.

Universal Banking. Every bank has its own app. Wow, how inconvenient. I realize this is competition, but I have bank accounts at a lot of places. It would be nice to have an app that lets you access (not just view) all of your bank accounts in one place.

Better Grocery Lists. There are plenty of grocery list apps out there to track your grocery list, like Ourgroceries. But what I’d really like to see is a grocery list that coordinates with sale prices and coupons.

Don’t have an Android? Check out 7 of the Best Free Finance Apps for the iPhone and iPad.

What are your favorite money android apps?

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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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