More, Personal Finance, Retirement

Social Security and COLA: How Much Will Your Check Be in 2023?

If you’re retired or just about to retire, next year’s Social Security and COLA (cost of living adjustment) checks are likely to be one of the biggest increases on record for it, ever! The reason is no secret. It is a direct result of surging inflation which is now the highest in over 40 years.

Older woman’s hands around coffee representing Social Security and COLA

While we don’t know yet exactly, the average beneficiary could be looking at an increase in the benefit monthly check amount of as much as $180 (or even more) starting next January. That would be another $2,260 a year and that number is based on the current inflation rate we’ve all experienced over the past year.

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Personal Finance

5 Unwritten Money Rules You Need to Know to Succeed

Learning how to manage your money is a skill that must be learned and mastered or else. You could go to the library or a book store and seek out a guide to your money and finances that would have chapter upon chapter about the rules of finances and you’d certainly have a leg up on learning about it. But what about those unwritten money rules?

Strategy game of Go representing unwritten money rules

Unfortunately, for a good majority of us, the skill of learning those rules comes from the school of hard knocks. Money management and personal finance principles aren’t the big “important” subjects that are taught in schools, although that does seems to be improving slightly. Even so, the rules about money are not always written down on a neat short list for you to learn, but there are actually unwritten money rules you need to know.

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Personal Finance

Adulting 101: 9 Steps of Personal Finances for Grown-Ups

When you are a child, someone usually takes care of your finances for you, even if you hate that! That someone is most likely to be mom or dad or a guardian, but whomever it is, they try to make sure you have everything you need until that day comes when you fly away from the nest – so to speak. The hope is, of course, that you don’t try to fly and then crash and burn as you hit the ground, but even with help, you might. That’s the reason that Adulting 101 is so important. It’s time to learn personal finances for yourself now that you are a grown-up (no matter how grown up you may already be)!

Teacher with blackboard that says Adulting 101

Now That You’re on Your Own, What Will You Need?

There is a long list of basics that everyone needs in order to be financially secure, or at least try to be. They’re not new and they’re not complicated, but it seems that so many of us fail to “get it”, that is the real importance of these things. It’s that safety net you’ll need when you do jump from the nest and will continue to need for your entire life.

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Shopping

Why Gift Cards May Suck and Why They Don’t!

For decades now, gift cards have become a “basic” for most of us as just another way to shop and give as gifts to our family and friends. I can remember my days as an executive with the Macy Corporation when they became first an idea and then ultimately a real money maker for the company. That was then and the profit motive was in my brain and blood. But when it comes to the reality of gift cards, are there cons to them? I mean, for you, do they actually suck?

Hand holding gift card representing why gift cards may suck

Remember Gift Certificates? (Yes, They Still Exist)

I once had to make a presentation to the Board of Directors about expanding the sale of gift certificates at the chain of department stores I worked for back in (as Adam F. Goldberg would say) 1970-something.

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Food

9 Steps to Save on Groceries Even When Inflation Is Setting Records!

We are all waiting to hear some good news about the inflation numbers. It seems that on every newscast these days we have to hear about grocery prices going up, gas prices at new all-time highs, and not much news about what we can really do about it all except to buy less and still spend more. But today I feel a little bit like “Superman” because Super Saving Tips is here to save the day! You can save on groceries even when inflation is setting records and I am going to show you how!

Supermarket aisle representing how to save on groceries

How to Save on Groceries During High Inflation

Step #1 – Prioritize your budget

More than ever you really have to think about what you need when you shop. Know what’s necessary and know what can wait. Budget only for your “needs” first and then see if there’s room in there for the “wants” on the list.

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Frugality

What Are Drip Fees and Why Should You Care?

Welcome to our new post-pandemic inflationary hidden-cost world where the economy and the bills we pay are not always what you expect them to be. Hidden tricky fees are popping up more and more and are lurking everywhere, whether you pay attention or not, and you should. There are many names for these fees. But they all fall under one group heading called “drip fees”. So what are these drip fees and why should you care?

Water dripping representing drip fees

We All Know Prices Are Going Up Right Now

For quite a while, months and months and even years, we have been seeing that what we buy is costing more and more every time we shop. Like everything else in life, once you experience something like inflation and rising prices—you read about it, hear about it, and pay for it—it becomes more real to you and almost what you expect to happen until it stops.

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Saving & Investing

Saving Money Is Earning Money and Here’s Why

One of the things I shouldn’t ever have to explain to anyone is this simple fact: If you are saving money, in any way, you are actually earning money! It’s effectively the same thing and it’s something you can do almost every time you shop. Even if all you are doing is heading to the grocery store, the gas station, or the mall, when you save when you shop it means that your money isn’t going anywhere except into your pocket just as if you “earned” it. Saving money is earning money!

Woman and piggy bank representing saving money

Something Really Good Happens When You Save

Although you could waste your precious time debating whether or not earning more at your job, side gig, or working for your Uncle Fred in Tucson is a better way to get more cash and build your wealth, why bother? (Spoiler alert: You can do both.) You deal with money every day and you have it in your hand all the time, so why not figure out new and better ways to hold on to to some more of it when you must spend it?

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Shopping

Summer Retail Sales Mean Big Savings If You Know Where to Look

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We are just a few days away from the “official” beginning of summer and that is despite the fact that the pools are already open, the beaches are ready, and the temperatures in many places have already hit 90 degrees and higher! But trips to the beach, backyard barbecues, and those lazy vacation days ahead aren’t the only hallmarks of summer. There’s the great shopping and summer retail sales to look forward to, and consumers this year can add even bigger bargains to their lists.

Young woman with shopping bags representing summer retail sales

No surprises here, but guess what? Thanks to the 41-year high in inflation, there are even more reasons right now to shop and save. Summer retail sales 2022, here we come!

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