If you celebrate Christmas, today is a perfect day for you to take advantage of the huge after-Christmas markdowns that are certainly happening over at stores like Macy’s, JC Penney, and basically every other major store out there. Anything from decorations to ornaments will be heavily marked down as stores look to unload their excess inventory because the demand for Christmas items, surprise surprise, drops after Christmas actually happens.

Seasoned shoppers and bargain hunters probably already know this but this is a cycle that happens leading up to and after every single major decorating holiday. Anyone silly enough to buy seasonally linked decorations at full price will often see the price of those items fall significantly as the holiday approaches, usually in the last week you can see pretty big markdowns as stores recognize demand waning. Immediately afterwards, prices are slashed because no one is going to be putting up new decorations after the holidays so the demand is significantly lower (even procrastinators won’t be buying decorations they intend to use after the holidays passes!). Then the bargain hunters, such as ourselves, swoop in and buy up decorations for use next year.

What’s nice about Christmas (and Thanksgiving, and many of the other holidays) is that the decorations don’t change from year to year. While you may augment your collection, it’s not like this year’s hot new ornaments are going to be fashionably or functionally or conceptually different any other year’s ornaments. Santa looks the same every year, reindeer look the same, wreaths look the same, and colored string lights have looked the same for eons.

So, check out your local department stores for huge markdowns when you go to see their after Christmas sales!

(Photo by njchow82)

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and your family and friends and people you hardly know! I’ll be taking a break from writing until after Christmas, so look for some fantastic personal finance posts on Wednesday. (I know, a one day break! it’s so long!)

How many jewelry commercials have you seen on television in the last week? If you’ve watched any TV at all, the answer is probably at least four or five dozen. Turn on the radio and you can hear the marketing machine going full blast with spots for jewelry and electronics places. Why? Well, because both classes of products are expensive and top on the list of anyone you can think of. However, before you go the easy route and buy something expensive, think about the point of gift giving… not the actual gift itself.

“It’s the thought that counts.” That’s a line that’s thrown around a lot but it really does ring true. Gifts should be about feelings, about putting thought into the act, and by putting forth effort and not just dollars. Ultimately, it’s about making someone happy and not about getting a particular thing or tickets to a particular event.

Why is jewelry? I don’t know if this is sexist or what but these are my opinions, so you can tell me if I’m totally off base here. The allure of jewelry isn’t because women absolutely love having more sparkly things or expensive things or envious things. Jewelry, like makeup and perfume, empower its wearer (male or female!) to feel more beautiful or attractive. When someone feels more beautiful or attractive, it boosts their confidence and their overall demeanor. This isn’t true for everyone, so getting diamond stud earrings for someone who hates jewelry, despite it’s widespread appeal, would be a terrible idea.

So, why are fancy electronics popular? Here’s a bone to throw to primarily (but not entirely) guys and our love of fancy electronics. Guys like fancy electronics because it’s in part a way to show off (that’s also a reason why guys get their girls fancy jewelry, it’s a way to show off), it’s a way to show that they’ve made it so they can spend their discretionary income on something like a TV. While someone may not want to admit it, that’s in some small way a reason for getting that stuff and there’s nothing wrong with that. Another reason is because you want to be able to host your friends at your place and ensure that everyone has a good time. A part of a good time is being able to watch the game or watch the movie and hear the sounds of either, people like to have a good time and people like to be able to provide that.

So, this holiday season, while we’re coming down to the home stretch (it is Christmas Eve after all!), think about the “why” of your gift instead of the “how much” of the gift. There are plenty of frugal ideas that will yield much more in brownie points than another high priced item.

(or this post comes a week too late… oh well, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!)

Tonight, my fiancée and I went down to the National Zoo in Washington DC in order to take in the sights and sounds of Zoo Lights, the annual celebration of lights and animals. It was a great time and it turned out to be pretty good weather considering it rained a little bit today. Anyway, afterwards we went to a restaurant near the Woodley Park Metro Stop and we were put to a decision. There was a French restaurant next to an Italian restaurant and, after reviewing the menus, we picked the Italian restaurant. Big mistake… I’ll explain in a minute, after I give you two quick tips about picking a restaurant when you have a choice between a few that you know nothing about.

1. Zagat rated vs. Not-Zagat rated: Go with Zagat rated because at the very least you know someone with a discerning palate thinks it’s pretty good. The French restaurant was Zagat rated, 2007 and 2008, whereas the Italian restaurant wasn’t.
2. Don’t go to an ethnic restaurant run by someone from another ethnicity: When we walked in, we were met by a few Pakistani/Indian/Southeast Asian (I have no idea, I didn’t ask) guys and that should’ve clued us in that we were in for a surprise.

After reviewing the menu, I chose a Sea Bass and Shrimp dish. What came out… was tilapia. Yep, they pulled a switcheroo and thought I wouldn’t notice except I did (if you’ve had either, you know that tilapia doesn’t taste anything like sea bass, absolutely nothing). So, did I call them out on it? Nope, what we did was just pay out bill, left a thirteen cent tip (it was a freaking $55 bill too), and left. Now, before say we ripped off the waiter, the restaurant was dead (we were the only people in there for most of our meal) and there was basically only one server and he looked like he was the owner. My take is that they had a dead night and were looking to squeeze a little extra profit out of your ticket… (the kitchen doesn’t swap out fish because they independently think they can earn a little extra more) either way I’m okay with the fact that I screwed them because they tried to screw us. (yes yes, very passive aggressive, but I’m okay with that).

That being said, how would you have handled it?

(read full article…)

Lazy Man has a really good post on how to save on wine and I felt I should chime in on the tips I have (some of which overlap with Lazy’s take) since some of us will be partaking in the vino this upcoming holiday season (just don’t drive!).

• Try different types of wine: One of my favorite types of wine is a Riesling and the beauty of Riesling is that not many people are aware of it so demand is low. What happens when demand is low? Prices are low! You can get a good bottle of Riesling for under ten bucks and I remember a Smart Money piece on best wines under $10 featuring Rieslings.
• Go to wine festivals: Wine festivals are a great way to try out local wines and learn what you enjoy without the pressure of buying a whole bottle. For a few bucks you can see all the local wineries, check out their stuff, and usually get pretty good deals on case purchases. For us we discovered we were a fan of many of the wines from Boordy Wineries, a local winery, and so we picked up a case of wines on the cheap.
• Brand names don’t matter: Perhaps decades ago the technology was such that brand name wineries could buy the technology that smaller wineries didn’t have access to. With the latest and greatest, perhaps the big names were able to put out a superior product worth the premium. Now? With the advances in technology, I would argue that local wineries compete on the same level as brand names but add a personal touch you can’t get from a larger name. Nothing beats going to a winery and talking to the owner, it becomes an experience and not just a beverage.
• Pair decent wines with chocolate: It’s amazing what a nice piece of chocolate can do to accentuate a decent bottle of red. The richness of the chocolate really does offset the bite of a red yet still allow the flavor to come through. This idea is really about pairing, with chocolate as an example, because having a nice pairing really adds to the experience of wine.
• Invite over some friends! While it sounds like I’m going to talk about splitting the cost, this is really about enjoy the time spent drinking wine. You can get away with lower priced wines if the company is good since you’ll focus on the conversation and less on the wine.

There you go, enjoy those wines this holiday season and have a blast!

This question comes from a reader (I’ll spare you the contents of the message) and my quick answer is Yes, though the longer answer comes with a whole slew of caveats. The bottom line is that the key to paying off debt is to exercise financial discipline. Financial discipline means you have to spend less money so that you can put more towards paying down that debt. The more you put towards principal, the better. (duh!)

That being said, switching credits cards to chase a 0% APR balance transfer is a solid strategy as long as you follow the more important financial discipline part. By taking advantage of 0% interest, more of your payment goes towards principal so you’re paying your debt off faster. So, yes, switching credit cards (assuming you’re getting a balance transfer at a rate lower than your current rate) is a good idea.

But, let me stress that the key part of the above strategy is the financial discipline - you have to stop spending. Right now. Not tomorrow… not after the next electronic gadget or nice outfit… right now. Commit to paying off your debt.

Jumping from card to card is going to pummel your credit (more hard inquiries, increased credit lines, etc.) so the 0% APR game is going to yield you a diminishing rate of return so don’t squander it by buying stuff instead of paying off your debt.

This year I had new windows installed (in part to take advantage of the energy tax credit and because the windows were 20 years old) and I took advantage of a 0% financing offer from Castle Windows to fully finance the $7,000 purchase of nine windows and three sliding doors. Six months later, we paid off the $7,000 and smiled as it resulted in a nice 2.5% discount from the interest we earned by putting those funds away in a high yield bank account. Then yesterday, as I was cleaning up some papers, I saw an old statement from GE Money Bank/Project Line, the lender that gave us the 0% financing money. On a whim I tried to log into my account to see if it was active and it was! I had erroneously assumed that the line of credit would be closed after I paid off the loan - aaaaannnnn (that’s a buzzer folks!), wrong!

So, my tip of the day today is to remember to close out those 0% financing offer accounts because there’s no sense having a line of credit open that you’ll never use. The credit score equation calculators will say that having more credit is good because it lowers your utilization and will improve your score, but I argue that having an account that’s “out of sight, out of mind” is dangerous because you won’t keep your eye on it. Let’s say someone gets access to it, since you aren’t checking that account you won’t find out about it until the first bill. That’s bad.

So, if you’ve opened up lines of credit like this, remember to close them out after you’ve used them because they won’t close themselves out automagically.

Last week, Nickel polled a few personal finance bloggers for their favorite personal finance books and reached a nice set of eleven great books. My personal favorite was The Richest Man in Babylon because: “This book does what no other personal finance book does. It keeps the generally simple tenets of personal finance very simple. Too often books try to be very complicated so they sell more copies, but The Richest Man uses very easy to understand allegories that won’t trip anyone up.”

So, of course, after a post about 11 Great Books About Money, you must be wondering about what the 11 Terrible Books About Money are right!? Well, I polled the same set of bloggers and found that it was much harder to remember the terrible books because we often just put them out of our minds. In fact, several of them weren’t even able to come up with one (perhaps they just wanted to be positive!) But, a few of them did share their opinions and so we have four. That’s right, only four… but one book was hated by four bloggers, so we have representation from eight bloggers (including myself).

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki was declared terrible by four bloggers. The comments ranged from “not actionable” (that is, the advice might be good but how exactly do I use it?) to “insulting.”

• NCN: “While I was intrigued by the idea of the book, I found the advice to be hollow, somewhat cold, and non-specific.”
• Trent: “It was arguably inspirational, but it was factually incorrect (or at least not directly actionable) and it did a lot to encourage an actively antisocial mindset and a ridiculous disdain for people who don’t have an entrepreneurial spark. Kiyosaki goes so far as to call people who work for a salary “hamsters,” which goes beyond ridiculous to disturbing.”
• Leo: “It was a nice story, but it’s one thing to give advice and another to actually put it into action. Unlike some of my favorite personal finance books, RDPD doesn’t give enough concrete advice about investing or running your own business. It says that these are good things, but we already knew that. Now how do we implement them? It was a disappointment to me, as I was looking for more.”
• Jeremy: “If you want a an inspirational book that puts ideas into your head, yet gives ideas that are simply unrealistic for you to accomplish, this is the book for you. For the average person, you simply can’t put many of the ideas in this book to use. Not everyone can jump into real estate or start their own business. While these ideas can be great ways to free yourself from being an employee just trying to earn a paycheck, most people should be focused on the basics: getting out of debt, increasing their income, and investing some of their money for the future. According to Mr. Kiyosaki, investing in the stock market is for suckers. I guess Warren Buffett is a sucker.”

The next book listed is actually a Rich Dad Poor Dad spinoff/branded book, Rich Dad’s Advisors: Real Estate Riches by Dolf de Roos, picked by Will of Wisebread:

• Will @ Wisebread: “I blame books like this for the subprime mortgage crisis. This book is a glossy ad for real estate investment. The author spends most of his time trying to convince you how easy it is to make money from real estate. Charmingly written and marketed under the “Rich Dad” brand name, this book arms the novice investor with just enough information to be dangerous.”

The next book is another real estate related book, The Real Estate Coach by Bradley Sugars, not liked by FMF:

• FMF: “No new information and written in an annoying format. It’s told as the story of “Brian” and “Sarah” who are helped by a “Real Estate Coach.” Yuck! Please spare me the third-grade bedtime story and just give me the facts.”

And finally, Nickel dislikes yet another home related book, The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner by David Bach:

• Nickel: “This isn’t a particularly bad book, but… compared to The Automatic Millionaire, this book was more of the same with a slightly different twist. Sure, it’s motivational, but so are a ton of other financial books. Do yourself a favor and just read the original. Then pay off your mortgage early. There, I just saved you $12.95.”

So, which book did I think was terrible? Actually, it’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, which was disliked by four bloggers (really five). I think the general idea is sound, that you should have your money work for you instead of you working for your money, but I don’t like the game it plays. Kiyosaki’s “rich dad” and “poor dad” characters are silly but I think that’s the hook, that he can “point” to two different mindsets and use that to explain his point. Anyway, John T. Reed, who has “exposed” a bunch of real estate experts, shares his review of Rich Dad Poor Dad and I think it he hits the mark on the head.

What’s your most hated personal finance book and why? As an incentive, in about a week I’ll just randomly pick a few names from the list and send them some personal finance books I have lying around.