CORRESPONDING POST: Ten Commandments for Smart Consumers
WEBSITE: Jump Start
REASON: “Jump$tart is a national coalition of organizations dedicated to improving the financial literacy of pre-kindergarten through college-age youth by providing advocacy, research, standards and educational resources. Jump$tart strives to prepare youth for life-long successful financial decision-making.” The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service is a member of the Kentucky Jump$tart Coalition®.
TRY ME: Create your very own B.B.P. (Big Buy Plan). This will help you begin thinking about your purchasing behavior, and decide what you might want to change!
OR...
BONUS TRY ME: Take the College of Consumer Knowledge Quiz, created by the ConsumerMan, and see how you fare.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Ten Commandments for Smart Consumers
In honor of Consumer Protection Week last week (March 4th-10th), MSNBC columnist and blogger Herb Weisbaum, The ConsumerMan, posted his ten commandments for being a smart consumer: Life Inc.: The Economy and You. He is confident that if you follow his “commandments,” then you will have a lot less trouble with whatever you buy. His commandments all boil down to two common themes: Preparation and Prevention.
Preparation
A smart consumer is a prepared consumer. And to be prepared as a consumer is to go against every natural purchasing instinct that we possess. We see something we want (e.g., a new outfit, game, car, computer, etc.), and we want to buy it right now, without doing any preparatory work. Now, I am all for the occasional or, better yet, rare impulse buy; but this should be an inexpensive item ($25.00 or less), for which pre-purchase work would have been unnecessary. Under $25, it may not be worth your time to do the research; if you’re making the same (or similar) cheap buys repeatedly, however, you should consider finding out which items are better and less expensive.
Prevention
Smart consumers always find ways to protect themselves when problems arise. This is much tougher than being an idle or passive consumer.
Preparation
A smart consumer is a prepared consumer. And to be prepared as a consumer is to go against every natural purchasing instinct that we possess. We see something we want (e.g., a new outfit, game, car, computer, etc.), and we want to buy it right now, without doing any preparatory work. Now, I am all for the occasional or, better yet, rare impulse buy; but this should be an inexpensive item ($25.00 or less), for which pre-purchase work would have been unnecessary. Under $25, it may not be worth your time to do the research; if you’re making the same (or similar) cheap buys repeatedly, however, you should consider finding out which items are better and less expensive.
Prevention
Smart consumers always find ways to protect themselves when problems arise. This is much tougher than being an idle or passive consumer.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Video Post: Tax Refund Loans: High Cost, Low Benefit
VIDEO: Tax Refund Loans: High Cost, Low Benefit
QUICK THOUGHT: This video deals with Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs), which are short-term loans at very high annual interest rates. Fortunately, these types of loans are quickly disappearing, but they are only one of the many ways in which low-income consumers are taken advantage of by businesses that don’t have their best interests at heart. Check cashing businesses continue to thrive by issuing short-term loans at very high interest rates, not in anticipation of tax refunds, but any day of the year. If taxpayers could renew their RALs as they can with loans at cash checking businesses, they would quickly end up in major trouble. Consumers of all ages need to educate themselves on how to recognize a bad deal.
READERS, What Do You Think?
QUICK THOUGHT: This video deals with Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs), which are short-term loans at very high annual interest rates. Fortunately, these types of loans are quickly disappearing, but they are only one of the many ways in which low-income consumers are taken advantage of by businesses that don’t have their best interests at heart. Check cashing businesses continue to thrive by issuing short-term loans at very high interest rates, not in anticipation of tax refunds, but any day of the year. If taxpayers could renew their RALs as they can with loans at cash checking businesses, they would quickly end up in major trouble. Consumers of all ages need to educate themselves on how to recognize a bad deal.
READERS, What Do You Think?
Do you have to file federal and state income tax forms if you earn money?
Do you file your own taxes? If not, who does them for you?
At what age do you think you will begin filing your own taxes, if you don’t do it now?
In what ways are Refund Anticipation Loans problematic in tax preparation and filing?
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