Are Gift Cards Good For Consumers?

Gift Card (Photo credit: 401K)

In a National Retail Federation survey, about 80 percent of shoppers expected to buy gift cards, while 58 percent of shoppers said their most requested present would be a gift card. The gift card has been the most popular choice for five straight years now.

The gift that has increased in popularity over the years is being forgotten more often as well. NPR reports that analyst Brian Riley of the Tower Group has estimated about $41 billion in money spent on gift cards has not been claimed since 2005. USA Today reported that accounting rules say gift card sales don’t count as income for stores until they are actually redeemed.

It helps to choose the right card for your gift recipient. But GiftCardRescue.com sells gift cards people don’t want and allows them to buy others at discounted rates. A company spokesman felt that consumers weren’t redeeming their cards right away due to the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. According to USA Today, rules now say that expiration dates are limited to five years after purchase, and fees for non-use are prohibited until after the first year.

Even More places to get rid of that unwanted gift card.

• ABC Gift Cards allows users to buy, sell, or trade gift cards. They claim to be the largest secondary market for gift cards.
• Card Avenue has a very extensive inventory of cards for sale. Navigating the site is easy. If you want to trade a card, create a “wish list” of gift cards you would consider in exchange for your gift card. For example, if you have a $50 Pottery Barn card, but you would much rather have a $50 Victoria’s Secret or Macy’s card, then include those cards in your wish list. Other traders will browse the site, and if they have a Macy’s or Victoria’s Secret card and want your Pottery Barn gift card, you might be able to make the trade. The site receives a commission from the traders.
• Cardnap allows users to buy and sell a variety of popular gift cards.
• Cardpool features free shipping, and a 100-day guarantee, to ensure the gift cards are legitimate.
• CardsUWant is an auction site that lets sellers buy, sell, and trade gift cards. They collect a 5% fee, which is less than eBay.
• CardWoo is another service that buys and sells gift cards. They pay all shipping costs, but require that gift cards have a minimum $20 value.
• Cash4GiftCards.com buys gift cards for 75% of their value. They sometimes buy expired cards, for 25% of their pre-expiration value. GiftCardBin provides an initial offer on sellers’ gift cards, based on the retailer, value, and expiration date. If you don’t like their offer, you can make a counter offer.
• GiftCardGranny is another gift card buying and selling site. The site allows users to sign up for alerts and receive notification when cards from their favorite stores have been listed for sale.
• GiftCardRescue allows users to buy, sell, and exchange gift cards. This website offers an additional 5% over the redemption value if the card is exchanged for an Amazon gift card instead of cash. They also offer bankruptcy protection in the event that the retailer no longer accepts the gift cards.
• Plastic Jungle buys unwanted gift cards and will pay up to 92% of the face value of the card. Users have to enter gift card information on the site, and then Plastic Jungle makes an offer for the card. Sellers receive pre-paid shipping labels to mail gift cards to the website. Once the balance of the gift card is verified, the website pays for the gift card with a check or PayPal.

Obtain quotes from each of the websites to determine which site offers the best deal for the gift cards you want to sell or exchange. Make sure to read the websites’ terms and conditions, and learn more about their guarantees, transaction fees, and shipping policies. Gift card exchange websites are an excellent way to sell or trade gift cards from major retailers. If the gift card is for a small, local business, try selling or trading the gift card on Craigslist or eBay Classifieds instead.

Don’t let your unwanted gift cards sit around collecting dust. Make them work for you instead. If your Great Aunt Sue gave you a $100 Starbucks gift card and you don’t drink coffee, trade the card for a shop you do visit, or trade the card for cash. If you use Plastic Jungle to sell your $100 Starbucks gift card, they may pay you up to $92.00 for the card. 

Citi's Simplicity Card With 18 Months No Interest Balance Transfer

Does a credit card with no late fees, no annual fees, no penalty late payments and more sound good to you?

If you need a no non-sense 18 month no interest balance transfer, to use to pay off your high interest credit cards, then skip down to the bottom and apply.

The Citi Simplicity® Card is designed to give consumers an uncomplicated line of credit. It also allows card members to say goodbye to penalty fees for missing a payment due date, and hello to fast, person-to-person customer service!

The Citi Simplicity® Card features an excellent introductory APR period that gives you over a year without interest! As a cardholder, you'll enjoy 0% APR for 18 months on purchases and 0% APR on balance transfers for 18 months from the time you opened your card account!

After this introductory APR period expires, you'll enjoy a low, variable APR. This APR will NOT change if you're late making a payment, nor will you be charged any late-payment fees for missing a due date! This is just one of the many ways Citi is using the Simplicity® Card to make credit management easier.

The Citi Simplicity® Card also lets you do away with frustrating, automated voice recordings when you make a customer service call. Citi representatives are standing by 24/7, and you'll never have to sit and wait for your call to be answered. As a cardholder, just verify your account number and say “representative.” You'll be put right through!

There is no annual fee for the Citi Simplicity® Card either. This card is designed to simplify the credit process for those with excellent credit. With an 18-month 0% APR period, an APR that doesn't change if you miss a payment due date, and access to representatives who can answer your questions or concerns 24 hours a day, the Citi Simplicity® Card truly lives up to its name!

Here are All the goodies:

• Annual Fee $0.
• 0% Intro APR for 18 Months on Balance Transfers.
• 0% interest for 18 Months on Purchases.
• No late fees for making a late payment.
• no penalties for going over your credit limit.
• no wait-time for live help via telephone.

Also The Negatives:

• No rewards program.
• $35 fee for returned payment.

The bottom line is if you need an 18 month no interest balance transfer then this is the card you need. It doesn't get better than this.

Visit the Citi Simplicity® Card page to sign up and for more information. 

Term Life Insurance for Seniors

Universal Life Insurance Company (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)If you are past the age of 50, you may not know that you can still apply for a term life insurance policy. As time passes, it’s natural to think about the financial future of the people you cherish most. Term life insurance for senior citizens may help address some of these needs.

Why might a senior citizen want a life insurance policy?

Life insurance for seniors can help compensate for future expenses that your retirement savings may not cover.

You can also use term life insurance to help loved ones:

• pay off a mortgage
• cover estate taxes
• afford payment of final expenses
• transfer a business

Do I need to be in good health to be approved?
All life insurance companies may evaluate your physical health when quoting you for a term life insurance policy. Age, gender, height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, history of family illnesses and prescription medications can be considered when evaluating life insurance for senior citizens. Physicians may generally administer the same paramedical exam they would perform on a younger life insurance candidate. If you’re concerned that your general health condition will prevent you from being approved, some providers offer an option to insure people ages sixty and over with no medical exam. These policies generally range from $3000 to $15,000 in value and are appropriate for seniors

How young do I have to be to get approved?

It could be a rare event that insurance providers will issue a permanent life insurance policy to senior citizens over sixty. However, you may be issued a term life insurance policy for up to ten years from some of the leading providers as a senior citizen. It is common to be able to receive a 10-year term life insurance policy until the age of 70; in some states, like Arizona, seniors may be issued a policy until age 75.

How much can I expect to pay monthly?

When you’re a senior, it is important to consider the benefits of purchasing a term life insurance policy as soon as possible. Monthly rates for term life insurance policies may increase significantly on an annual basis. For example, a person at age 60 in great health and no history of family illness might pay $68.76 monthly whereas someone with the same medical standing at age 65 can expect to pay $117.37 for a 10-year $250,000 life insurance policy with MetLife. At 70, the same person might pay $223.56 monthly and at 75 could pay $431.91/month for the same policy.*

What should I look out for?

Too much life insurance is sold rather than bought. The best advice for seniors should be determine what it is they want to insure against and figure out what type of protection makes sense for them.

In other words, you should figure out what your loved ones’ financial needs will be. Then, you should determine how much insurance you’ll need to provide for their financial future. If you do decide that life insurance for seniors can cover your needs best, you should ask around and find a good professional that will not “sell” you on policies.

*Policies based on a 6’, 190-pound male for a 10-year $250,000 term policy at the ages described. Quotes are based on MetLife rates as of October 11, 2011. Rates are subject to change.

Boomers Health Care Costs Cause Worry

Retirement (Photo credit: 401K)Boomers are worried if they can afford health care costs in retirement. A report by the Insured Retirement Institute found two-thirds of boomers aren’t confident they have enough saved to cover the cost of health care after they retire. Also 72% of the younger boomers, between 50 and 54, say they are concerned about health care costs.

Those costs can be considerable. The report, "Health Care Expenses and Retirement Income How Escalating Costs Impact Retirement Savings," found that a healthy 65-year-old man can expect to pay $350,000 for health care expenses, including premiums, for the remainder of his life. A 65-year-old woman can expect to pay 13% more at $417,000. Health care expenses increased 5.75% in the 12-month period ending September 2011.




The IRI also shows that the average boomer on Medicare can have out-of-pocket medical expenses of over $4,300 per year. The 2012 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment of 3.6% represents an average $42 per month or $500 per year. In 2012, Medicare Part B premiums will account for over 8% of the average Social Security benefit, the IRI found.

The IRI suggests purchasing an immediate or deferred annuity with a guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit to supplement Social Security income. Another strategy for boomers who already have an annuity or plan to purchase several years ahead of their retirement is to use income from that annuity to supplement a separate investment.

“Boomers are already concerned about their ability to cover their lifelong medical expenses during retirement–therefore, they will likely be open to discussing ways in which to fund the large outlay that will be required,” the report concluded.


Further Reading: 

• The Mystery Of Medicare
•  Medical Issues Can Ruin Good Credit

Top 4 Tips To Save For Retirement

No matter what part of your life you are currently in, eventually you will want to retire, even if it seems a long way off. These tips on retirement saving will do the most for you when you do them in order, so we’ll start with number one, and you've already half completed it. 

Tip #1: Make a Plan
Think about retirement savings and make a plan. By far, the most frequent cause of poor financial retirement outcome is failure to even contemplate it. Without a plan there is no action, not even partial action, no triggers to step up efforts, and no measure to gauge progress.

To make your plan, there are a number of retirement calculators available online to help you decide approximately how much money you’ll want to have and when. Armed with this target, you can see if you are able to save enough or whether you need to reduce your current spending to make up the difference. The calculators will help you factor in adjustments to the saving strategy such as interest rates and employer matching. Once you have this ballpark target, you can start to apply the next tips.

Tip #2: Save Early
Don’t wait until you have the more comfortable job you’re seeking at your next promotion. Don’t wait until the kids are out of daycare. Don’t wait until the car is paid off. All of these other demands on your budget are essentially ever-present. As soon as you can cross off daycare fees, you’ll start paying sport team fees and other school fees, and the end-point of those expenses will never really arrive. Instead, start saving now, despite those other budget items and make time do the heavy lifting. Each additional ten years you save gives you a chance to let time double your money if you are earning a 7% return.

Tip #3: Save Regularly and Before Counting the Money in Your Budget
Money that you set aside automatically and outside of your household budget is easier to part with and easier to sustain. If you find yourself making retirement savings after you have paid the electric and the shopping bills, you’ve created a competition for resources and the far-off retirement will always seem like a good payment to delay. It’s best to make your transfers to your retirement account as early in your compensation path as possible. A transfer directly through payroll into a retirement account is the best, or your bank can divert some of your funds as they receive a direct deposit. If you take a physical check, you can make your retirement deposit the first thing that you do at the bank window. Make it a bill that you pay to yourself as soon as you receive your pay.

Tip #4: Exploit Add-ons and Extenders
After your own savings, the largest contributor to your bottom line is employer matching. If your employer offers matching funds to your retirement savings account, you should maximize this benefit and let your employer build your retirement with you; it is a better and more secure return than any interest rate. Look also for ways to increase your pension benefit if you have one and take advantage of tax-deferral in IRA accounts to build your nest-egg faster than savings alone.

There are many other avenues to help improve your retirement outlook, including downsizing earlier, working a little later, deferring Social Security payments from the minimum of age 62 to the maximum of 70 as a start-date, and optimizing Medicare insurance strategies. But saving remains the area you can best control to provide the retirement you want to enjoy. These tips will help you make the most of that segment of your portfolio and provide the foundation to a secure and comfortable retirement.

Sam M. is a financial blogger who has recently begun his retirement savings and writes from his experience. He also writes about other topics that may be of interest including how to go about getting Medicare supplement insurance and how to find life insurance that’s affordable.

Long Term Care Insurance: When Should I Buy It?

Image via WikipediaI am finally old enough to worry that I may need long term care insurance. I worry if I get sick and need long term care that it will probably bankrupt me. Still with kids in college and a 11 year old to raise maybe it's time to take the plunge.

The facts are if you obtain a policy at age 50 it will be cheaper than if I start one at age 60. Tempting the fates and waiting till 60 seems like a good idea because according to the Long Term Care Industry statistics, 90% of long term care claims do not occur untill the person is over age 70. So if your feeling lucky, maybe you should play the odds and wait.

The only problem with that decision is your health may decline before this time arrives, causing you to pay higher premiums or just being declined any insurance. You have to juggle this decision with the odds of you getting sick before then. The question also is does your family have any history of debilitating diseases that you probably will get. If you are looking at this future, the decision is almost made for you to get long term care insurance.

What if your healthy and your parents are in their 90's and completely healthy, will that effect your decision? 

I checked for some answers on this decision by going to DaveRamsey.com. Dave Ramsey has held the position that you should wait till 60 to purchase long term care insurance. He is totally against buying it early only to get a better deal. Dave came up with a good example of how to make the decision:

"The average LTC premium for a healthy 50-year-old man is $1,340 per year. If the policy remains in effect until this person is 95, he will spend $60,300 in LTC premiums. For a healthy 60-year-old, the average premium is $2,170; it will cost him $75,950 to keep the policy until he is 95. So buying LTC at age 50 is $15,650 cheaper than buying it at age 60."

Dave Ramsey suggested to invest the $1,340 each year from age 50 to 60.

"If his investment averages just 5% growth per year, he will have $17,412 when he turns 60—that’s all it takes to beat the “savings” on premiums for buying LTC at age 50. If he keeps that money invested until age 95, and never added anything to it, he’d have nearly $100,000 at 5% growth, and that is the low end of how he can expect his 35-year investment to perform."

It's a big decision and not knowing when to make the move just complicates it. These types of decisions have to be made using the math first but later the true reason is to decide is will the decision make you lose sleep or will you rest better because you know everything is taken care of for you and your family. Always seek professional counsel on important decisions.