Dining out can be expensive, but you can still enjoy the occasional meal without breaking the bank. Smart spending doesn't mean that you say "no" to every indulgence, it simply means that you spend with intention, knowing you can afford anything but not everything. Here are 10 ways you can dine out while still being mindful of your budget.
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Like so many other American families, my wife and I will be taking our three kids on a spring break trip.
Any other year, the four-day excursion from Denver to San Francisco would be an indulgence we couldn't afford. This time, points and a little creativity made the difference. Booking a series of one-way tickets on United Continental (UAL) allowed us to get five coach seats for $188.50 -- an itinerary that will cost cash flyers at least $1,796 and as much as $2,448.
Before you ask, no, I don't have elite status on United, and my account wasn't overflowing with Mileage Plus miles. Anyone can do what I did, and you may want to, especially if you have accounts with miles due to expire within a few months.
Of Magazine Subscriptions and One-Way Tickets
That was my problem. Our three kids had Mileage Plus points lingering in their accounts -- 14,300 each, to be specific. Not enough for a round-trip anywhere and far too much for loading up on magazine subscriptions. (Airlines typically offer cheap subscriptions to fliers as a way to get orphaned miles off the books.) My wife and I had 81,000 miles between us, but that still wasn't enough to buy five round-trip tickets to anywhere.
I'd have given up trying to use our inventory -- most of which was due to expire on July 31 -- if I hadn't run across "hacker fares" on Priceline.com's (PCLN) Kayak travel search engine when booking a business trip last month.
Put simply, hacker fares are itineraries "hacked" together in the cheapest possible form.
Instead of buying a round-trip from, say, United, you buy one-way tickets on the two airlines offering the cheapest seats. Since I'd just saved myself $300 doing that when paying in cash, I decided to try the strategy using miles. It worked better than I could have imagined.
First, I used all my miles to book myself and our youngest on a round-trip to San Francisco. Then, my wife used her miles to book her own round-trip. Then, our two eldest booked one-way tickets for the most expensive portion of the itinerary (i.e., the return home) while we used the miles my youngest had earned to buy the outbound for his older brother.
All that remained was to pay $138.10 for the outbound for our daughter. Adding another $50.40 in fees brought our out-of-pocket to $188.50 -- $1,607.50 less than the cheapest comparable cash fare on United.
3 Things to Do When Hacking a Fare With Miles
The best part about this is that anyone can do it. Airlines are always keen to get rid of unused miles and to fill unused seats. Still, if you're going to try hacking a vacation with miles, be warned that it could take several hours to get a workable mileage deal. Here are three tips for getting the most from your efforts:
Search for the cheapest fares first. The best way to find mileage deals is to first search for cheap itineraries. Those are the seats airlines most want to sell, which make them a likely target for mileage inventory.
Log into your preferred airline's booking website. Neither Kayak nor any other booking engine is going to allow you to pay with miles. You'll have to deal with each carrier directly. Log into each website and input your destination details as if you're paying with cash. Select the flights you want and proceed to selecting your seats. Now, make a note of how many open seats and rows there are. If you're traveling with a family, you'll want to try for flights with lots of open seats since, again, they'll be the ones most likely to offer you the option of paying with miles.
Beware unaccompanied minors! Now that you know where you're going and how you'll get there, it's time to book with miles. But be warned: Not all tickets are equal. Minors can generally book their own tickets with miles but can't fly without the company of an adult. If that isn't you, the airline will charge a fee to take responsibility. ($150 in United's case, which is why I booked tickets for our youngest from my Mileage Plus account.)
Cheap travel deals are out there, but they aren't always easy to find. Have a tip for making it easier? A good strategy that went wrong because of something in the fine print? Leave it in the comments section below.
Motley Fool contributor Tim Beyers doesn't mind a little turbulence from time to time. He has no position in any stocks mentioned. Find him on Twitter as @milehighfool. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Priceline Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Is your portfolio ready to fly high in the new year? Check out our free report on one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.
There are more craft beer brewers today than a year ago, but there are still a bunch of brewers formerly known as craft feeling left out of the club.
Last year, the Brewers Association cut some slack to brewers who use maize, corn or rice as adjuncts in their brewing process and increased their ranks considerably. Before that, the association -- a craft beer industry group that also runs the Great American Beer Festival and the American Homebrewers Association -- was leaving out some of the oldest independent breweries in the country.
After a lot of soul searching, the association changed its definition of a craft brewer last year -- already flexed in 2010 to raise the production limit for small brewers from 2 million barrels to 6 million to accommodate Samuel Adams producer Boston Beer (SAM). By softening its stance against using rice and corn as adjuncts and whittling down the "traditional" pillar of its craft brewer definition, the association welcomed some well-loved brewers, including Pottsville, Pennsylvania-based D.G. Yuengling & Son (the oldest in the U.S., founded in 1829); St. Marys, Pennsylvania-based Straub Brewing (1872); New Ulm, Minnesota-based August Schell Brewing (1860); and Monroe, Wisconsin-based Minhas Craft Brewery (1845 as Blumer Brewing).
While the new definition technically won't go into effect until the association compiles its stats for 2014 in February, the change was a huge deal for the craft beer community. The association board of directors includes some of the most influential names in craft beer, including Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman, New Belgium Chief Executive Kim Jordan, Dogfish Head creator Sam Calagione, Deschutes Brewing leader Larry Fish and Allagash head Rob Tod.
It's All About the Politics
However, the association's stance was causing some fracturing among small brewers. It had been sponsoring the Small BREW Act in Congress and pushing for tax breaks for brewers that produce 6 million barrels or less. The Washington-based Beer Institute had been supporting the competing BEER Act that would give tax breaks to all brewers, but in increments based on production. The association's proposal draws a firm line between "craft" and importers/big brewers, but it looked shaky when the association was actively deriding small brewers as "crafty." The board knew it needed those small brewers' support but, according to the association's statement, "to change horses in the middle of the Congressional session could have burned the association's ability to get Congressional co-sponsors for any legislation, perhaps for a couple of decades."
The political implications of this tweak shouldn't be overlooked. The association acknowledges that its is trying to take 10 percent of the beer market by volume and changed its mission statement to reflect a new goal of 20 percent market share by 2020. By bringing Yuengling on board, the association just added a brewer that produced 2.79 million barrels in 2013.
That said, it doesn't mean the association is willing to bring in any brewery with less than 6 million barrels of U.S. production. The "independent" portion of its craft brewer definition still excludes any brewer selling more than a 25 percent stake of their operation to a member of the alcohol industry that isn't a craft brewer. That leaves out Fordham and Old Dominion, as those Delaware-based brewers are 49 percent owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), and recent Patchogue, New York-based A-B acquisition Blue Point Brewing.
Fall on or beneath it, as Athens, Georgia-based Terrapin Beer does with a sub-25-percent stake owned by MillerCoors -- and you're in. Drift above it with a share owned by MillerCoors, A-B InBev or any other large brewer that the association deems inappropriate (though Kansas City-based Boulevard Brewing and Cooperstown, N.Y.-based Brewery Ommegang's owner, Belgium's Duvel Moortgat, is just fine by the BA) and you're excommunicated.
While the craft beer blacklist isn't what it used to be, there are still enough notable brewers on it to make it worth mentioning. Here are five:
5. Goose Island Brewery
Why it's not craft: Owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
The Chicago brewery got its start in 1988 but got its first taste of craft beer wrath when it joined up with Redhook and Widmer Brothers in the Craft Brewers Alliance in 2006. Despite saturating the Chicagoland area in 312 Urban Wheat during the summer and warming it with its barrel-aged Bourbon Country Stout during the winter, it occasionally drew critiques for associating with a collective that was distributed and partially owned by Anheuser-Busch.
Despite a trophy case full of medals from the Great American Beer Festival, whispers about the supposedly inevitable drop in Goose Island's quality became deafening. Last year, founder John Hall sold the company to Anheuser-Busch InBev outright for $38.8 million. Since then, questions about Goose Island becoming a national brand (which it was, to a degree, when the Craft Brewers Alliance brewed it in various locations) and about Bourbon County Stout going year-round have continued to circulate.
There's still release-day, line-waiting, ticket-holding demand for Bourbon County Stout in Chicago and nothing about Goose Island's numbers indicate outsized success as A-B's "craft" beer brand. According to Beer Marketer's Insights, Goose Island sold 150,000 barrels of beer in 2011, its first year with Anheuser-Busch. Not only is that less than half of the 623,000 barrels sold by the Craft Brew Alliance in the same year, but it's a fraction of the 713,000 barrels sold by Colorado-based New Belgium and the 858,000 barrels from California-based Sierra Nevada. It's a little brewery in a big company, but it's getting a lot more company these days.
4. Mendocino Brewing
Why it's not craft: Owned by UB Group in Bangalore, India.
It's one of craft beer's most important breweries, as well as one of its most cautionary tales. Back in 1983, Michael Laybourn and Norman Franks bought the brewing equipment from pioneering microbrewery New Albion Brewing and hired New Albion founder Jack McAuliffe to run the place, in Ukiah, California. McAuliffe came up with the recipe for the brewery's flagship Red Tail amber ale and made it the cornerstone of California's first brewpub and only the second post-Prohibition brewpub in the U.S. behind Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing.
That lasted for nine years before the owners got the idea to sell shares in the company and advertise the sale with fliers in their six-packs. By 1997, UB Group owner Vijay Mallya had bought up controlling interest. The Brewers Association craft beer industry group considers Mendocino not craft, while Mendocino-owned brewing facilities in Saratoga Springs, New York, are used largely to produce UB's Kingfisher line of beers. Red Tail Ale and its home brewpub still exist as relics of what once were, but Mendocino Brewing is a hollow shell of the promising brewery it was 30 years ago.
The association doesn't consider it a craft beer, largely because the overwhelming majority of UB's U.S. output is Kingfisher light lager. If it did, Mendocino would have been the 31st-largest craft brewer in the U.S. in 2013 and the 41st-largest brewer overall.
3. 10 Barrel Brewing
Why it's not craft: Owned by Anehuser-Busch InBev.
In many corners of the country, beer drinkers would simply stop buying a beer they either didn't like or no longer felt like supporting. In Bend, Oregon, those drinkers are a bit more vocal about it. When 10 Barrel sold to A-B late last year, its Facebook (FB) page and Twitter (TWTR) feed were filled with angry voices declaring them sellouts, vowing never to drink their beer again and trying to turn anyone within shouting distance against the brewery.
To some, it may look like the outsized zealotry of fans who may need to drink just a little less beer. To locals, however, it speaks to just how deep the relationship with 10 Barrel was and what the area beer communit had invested into the brand.
After being founded as Wildfire Brewing back in 2006, the brewery switched names to reflect its original 10-barrel brewing system in 2009 and made waves by hiring away brewmaster Jimmy Seifrit from Bend neighbor Deschutes Brewing in 2011. 10 Barrel followed that by hiring brewer Tonya Cornett away from Bend Brewing that same year to serve as head of research and development and absconding with hop-centric brewer Shawn Kelso from Baker City, Oregon-based Barley Brown's in 2012 to lead the brewing team in the Boise, Idaho, brewpub that just opened last year. Earlier this month, it hired a fourth award-winning brewer - Whitney Burnside of Pacific City, Oregon-based Pelican Brewing - to run its its brewpub when it opens in Portland, Oregon, this year.
10 Barrel just won three medals at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver in October -- including a gold for Cornett's Cucumber Crush Berliner Weisse -- and was definitely on the "craft" side of the "craft vs. crafty" debate. Now, to its harshest critics, 10 Barrel just joins Blue Point and Goose Island on A-B's craft trophy wall. To its supporters, it's still the brewery that made Apocalypse IPA and a stable of other great beers. To its owners, it's just a better-funded, better-supplied version of the brewery they ran before. To the Brewers Association, 10 Barrel is a far less independent version of its former self that just gave itself every advantage craft brewers don't typically have. It's not saying 10 Barrel isn't a quality brewery: It's just saying it isn't craft anymore.
This has nothing to do with Pyramid's apricot beer, its brewpub in Seattle, its restaurants or its bland labeling that make it look oddly like Costco (COST) house brew. It has nothing to do with Magic Hat's apricot beer or its Burlington, Vermont, brewery being surrounded by high-profile competition such as Hill Farmstead and Heady Topper maker The Alchemist.
Remarkably, it doesn't even have much to do with who owns those two breweries. Pyramid's been on a wild ride since 2008, when it was sold to Magic Hat Brewing for roughly $25 million. Just two years later, investment firm KPS Capital Partners and its North American Breweries snatched up both Pyramid and Magic Hat and included them in its stable alongside beers such as Genesee Cream Ale, Dundee Honey Brown, Canada's Labatt Blue and Costa Rica's Imperial.
In 2012, KPS Capital sold NAB to Cerveceria Costa Rica, a subsidiary of Florida Ice and Farm, for $388 million. That makes Pyramid, Magic Hat and tiny Portland, Oregon-based Portland Brewing even more minute portions of a large international conglomerate.
Beer trade clocked Magic Hat and Pyramid's sales at 337,000 barrels in 2012. That's about equal to the 336,000 they sold both the year before and in 2008. But the overall NAB number including Genesee, and imports jumped to nearly 2.6 million barrels. Again, not inherently bad, but the fact that those barrels not only include Labatt's - an Anheuser-Busch InBev product produced in Canada - but include more of it than any is amount of beer that NAB produces in the U.S., means it has to go.
That doesn't mean those breweries can never be craft again, mind you. It just means that Magic Hat, Pyramid and Portland have to hope that demand for Labatt's wanes a bit. For example, Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City and Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, New York, are owned by Belgian brewer Duvel Mortgaat, but each is still considered craft because Duvel imports relatively little beer into the United States. Portland, Oregon-based BridgePort and Shiner, Texas-based Shiner, meanwhile, only gained "craft" status in 2006 when parent company Gambrinus lost the right to import Corona. Though tastes have shifted since the last time Magic Hat and Pyramid were considered "craft," the association would be more than happy to welcome them back as soon as they ditch their awkward Canadian friend.
1. Craft Brew Alliance
Why it's not craft: "Owned about 35 percent by A-B." Well, it's 32.2 precent, but why make a big deal about percentages?
That group's Widmer Brothers Brewery operation got its start when Kurt and Rob Widmer first opened shop in Portland, Oregon, in 1984. Its Redhook brand has been around since 1981 and has breweries in Washington and New Hampshire. Even relative newcomer Kona Brewing has made beer on Hawaii's big island since 1994.
In Beer Marketer's Insights editor Eric Shepard's view, all of that far outweighs the percentage of A-B ownership. "The notion that Rob and Kurt Widmer aren't craft brewers is an absurdity to me," he says. " At 24 percent [A-B ownership share] they're pure, and at 26 percent they're dirty? There's a certain sense of it being ludicrous."
Yet BA and its supporters say that the 25 percent stake isn't so arbitrary. While the alliance says A-B has no real administrative control or production input and functions more as a partner and lender, the BA and its associates say CBA's refusal to buy back the offending 7.2 percent stake says that A-B is pulling the strings. Meanwhile, the Widmer brothers still have a big stake in the company, and Kurt Widmer still serves as its chairman. His brewery still serves as the company's creative craft nexus, while the Redhook brand has been revived as a gateway beer for non-craft drinkers. Through partnerships with sports radio host Dan Patrick and the Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) restaurant chain, Redhook is doing what its cred-obsessed "craft" counterparts are too aloof or scared to do: Going after former light-lager drinkers where they live.
Kurt Widmer, for his part, says his brewery and CBA's exclusion is petty nonsense that only closes off options for craft brewers. BA want to put as much distance between itself and the big brewers as possible, but it does so by punishing small, pioneering brewers who worked the system and got A-B to do their heavy lifting for them. Considering the heavy consolidation within the beer distribution industry, the Craft Brew Alliance may not be the last to strike a distribution deal such as this.
Throughout January, workers are getting W-2 tax forms from their employers. To help you decipher the often-obscure codes and numbers you'll find on your form, below we've provided a box-by-box description of what you should expect to see on your W-2.
Boxes a-f: Personal and Business Information
Each W-2 includes information about your employer, including its name, address and tax identification number. It will also have your name, address, and Social Security number. It's important to check this information to ensure accuracy. Because a copy of your W-2 goes to the Social Security Administration to establish your work history and eligibility for Social Security benefits, mistaken Social Security numbers can lead to lower monthly payments in retirement or even denial of benefits entirely.
Box 1: Wages, Tips, and Other Compensation
Box 1 includes the figure that you'll include on your income tax form as taxable compensation. The number in Box 1 excludes benefits that aren't subject to tax, such as amounts you have withheld to pay your share of health-insurance premiums or contributions to employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Box 2: Federal Income Tax Withheld
Box 2 shows how much money your employer took out of your paycheck to cover your income tax liability. You'll include this on your tax return as well, and if it's larger than what you owe in taxes, then you'll get a refund for the difference.
Boxes 3 and 4: Social Security Wages and Tax Withheld
Boxes 3 and 4 show how much of your wages were subject to Social Security tax and how much tax your employer actually took out of your paycheck. This wage amount can differ from what's in Box 1 because many items that are deductible for income-tax purposes aren't exempt from Social Security tax. For instance, you still have to pay Social Security taxes on 401(k) and other employer-plan contributions. Also, if you earn more than the maximum amount on which Social Security charges payroll taxes -- $117,000 for 2014 -- then Box 3 will be capped at that amount.
Boxes 5 and 6: Medicare Wages and Tips and Tax Withheld
Similarly, Boxes 5 and 6 show the same calculations for Medicare taxation. The primary difference here is that there's no upper limit on income subject to Medicare taxes, so the Box 5 figure will be higher than Box 3 for high-income earners.
Boxes 7 and 8: Social Security Tips and Allocated Tips
For those who work in jobs with substantial tip income, Box 7 will show what tips you reported to your employer. They're already included in Box 1, so no additional work is necessary on your part. But if you have an entry in Box 8, your employer likely didn't report enough tip income for you and other employees. As a result, you'll have to add this amount to your taxable income in Box 1 and also file Form 4137 to report and pay additional payroll taxes on your tip income.
Box 9: Nothing to See Here
One oddity you'll notice is that your W-2 skips over Box 9. This area was once used to reflect any advance payments of Earned Income Tax Credits your employer made to you. Under current law, though, employers no longer make such payments, and so many W-2s simply have a blank area of the form where Box 9 used to be.
Box 10: Dependent Care Benefits
Those who get financial assistance for caring for children or other dependents will have the amount received in Box 10. You'll need this number to help calculate your Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit properly, as well as the amount you paid out of your own pocket for care.
Box 11: Non-qualified Plans
Some employees receive money from non-qualified deferred compensation plans, and for most employees, any amount here will already included in Box 1. But if your employer contributes to such a plan for services in prior years, it will be included here and in Boxes 3 and 5 but not necessarily in Box 1. Moreover, government employees who participate in Section 457 plans might have amounts here that won't be included elsewhere on the W-2.
Box 12: Catchall Area
Your employer can put several items in Box 12. An explanation of each code is on the back of your W-2, and you can also find a list of codes on page 27 of these IRS instructions. Essentially, though, things you find here will give you information about the particular compensation or benefits you received, and in many cases, you'll need these numbers elsewhere in your tax return to account properly for certain items.
Box 13: For Certain Workers
In Box 13, certain workers will have the boxes marked if they are statutory employees, participate in a company-sponsored retirement plan or receive sick pay from someone other than your employer. This information can determine eligibility for certain tax benefits, and it can also help the IRS identify individuals who would otherwise be treated as independent contractors.
Box 14: Other
This box is available for any other information an employer needs to give employees, such as union dues, payments for educational assistance, or taxes withheld for state disability insurance.
Boxes 15-20: State and Local Tax Information
Finally, Boxes 15 to 20 provide information that state and local tax authorities need to determine what you owe in state and local taxes. Income amounts will appear in Boxes 16 and 18, and any taxes you have withheld will appear in Boxes 17 and 19. You'll want to use those figures in preparing your state or local returns.
Motley Fool contributor Dan Caplinger is one of those rare people who actually enjoys talking about tax forms. You can follow him on Twitter @DanCaplinger or on Google Plus. To read about our favorite high-yielding dividend stocks for any investor, check out our free report.
About once a month, I get a robocall from an eye doctor I visited almost three years ago, reminding me to schedule an appointment. It amuses me as much as it annoys me. Fortunately, it's the only robocall I get, and it's legal because I did business with them, and it's to a landline. But many automated calls are becoming more frequent and more infuriating. Weren't they supposed to be banned? Yes, says the Better Business Bureau, but that hasn't happened in practice.
The Federal Trade Commission has used its enforcement authority to stop companies that have made billions of auto-dialed calls but acknowledges that technology has helped significantly increase these calls in recent years. This technology helps criminals generate calls from anywhere in the world and falsify caller ID technology to cover their steps.
It's also important to note that unsolicited, non-emergency robocalls to wireless phones are illegal, period. From the FTC: "Your written or oral consent is required for ALL autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts made to your wireless number. Telemarketers have never been permitted to make robocalls to your wireless phone based solely on an established business relationship with you."
In 2012 the FTC hosted a summit among industry leaders, consumer groups, tech experts and policymakers to figure out how to stop these calls, but to no apparent effect. So here are some tips from the BBB and Money Talks News. They're obviously not foolproof, but they're better than nothing.
1. Keep Your Number to Yourself
You know how businesses ask for your number for, well, everything? If you don't have to give it, don't. "It is a tacit invitation for them to call that number or sell it to a third party," the BBB says.
2. Tell Companies You Use to Buzz Off
As I mentioned above, it's not illegal for a business to make marketing calls if you have a relationship with them. So read the terms and conditions for your purchases and services carefully. Buried in those agreements might be a clause agreeing to these annoying calls.
If you find out too late that you agreed to their spam, you can still stop it by specific request. I just haven't because I'm both lazy and amused by the fact they haven't given up after two years of no response. Call them, keep a record of the date you made the request and follow up with the FTC if the business keeps harassing you.
3. Hang Up Right Away
"There is nothing to gain from attempting to reason with the people behind the calls," the BBB says. Contact your service provider to see if they have free blocking services -- but be warned: Your caller ID might show the wrong number because the latest technology can fool your service.
4. Don't Press Numbers
In the past, many people have recommended certain number combinations or the pound key to delete yourself from a robocall registry. Here's an example that appeared on the productivity blog Lifehacker. But does pressing the right numbers really take you off the list? The BBB says no, you're actually making it worse: "By pressing a number, you are confirming that someone is actually responding to the call, and you will likely receive more of them." This seems like something that maybe would've worked at some point, but scammers have gotten smarter and improved their systems.
5. Get on the Do Not Call Registry
Sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry. It's free, your number is never taken off the list, and it will at least stop law-abiding solicitors. It's for both cell phones and landlines.
6. File a Complaint
If you've been on the Do Not Call Registry for a month or longer and still get calls, file a complaint with the FTC. This may seem like a waste of time, but it doesn't take long, and sometimes enough complaints can get policy changed. That's how most robocalling got banned in 2009, and it probably sometimes prompts the FTC to investigate and fine violators. If the call comes from an identifiable business, you should also report it to the Better Business Bureau.
7. Use a Free Service That Blocks All Robocalls
Nomorobo is a free tool you can use to block robocalls. You tell it who your carrier is, provide an email address and from that point forward, an algorithm blocks robocalls. Note, however, the site warns, "Nomorobo is only available on certain VoIP providers and only in the United States." It isn't yet available for most major cell companies. Nomorobo works by letting your phone ring once. It then identifies the caller and if it's a robocaller, it hangs up.
Since politicians aren't trying to sell you anything, their calls are excluded from the do-not-call rules. That means these guys can call your landline and don't have to stop even if you ask. Best solution? Nomorobo can also block these robocalls. But that's about your only defense.
MADISON, Wis. -- Milk sales set records in 2014, but plummeting prices are forcing some dairy farmers to spill the surplus down the drain.
Already disheartened by the current glut, which is due to global factors and overproduction, dairy farmers say they worry that futures markets predict dwindling prices in 2015. Over in the dairy aisle, though, shoppers are milking savings by the gallon.
"I guess I'm sorry if I'm hurting the farmer or the middleman, but I'm certainly delighted to pay under $3 a gallon," said Michael Kleinhenz, of Madison, Wisconsin.
Dairy farmers recognize the volatility of the industry. Less than a year ago, they struggled to meet global demand and milk prices climbed to record highs -- about $25 per hundredweight, or roughly the equivalent of a 10-gallon tank, according to Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin.
So, many farmers bought new equipment and expanded their herds to meet demand. But when China pulled back on its dairy imports after stockpiling milk powder and Russia imposed sanctions against the U.S. by halting trade, dairy farmers nationwide were left with a surplus, Stephenson said.
It's something that no farmer likes to do ... it doesn't feel good to just dump it out.
"We were told to bring everything to a screeching halt," said Norbert Hardtke, director of milk marketing at Family First Dairy Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin.
Every state has some dairy production, but California and Wisconsin anchor the country's supply. The milk glut reached its peak in the Northeast over the holidays, when cooperatives asked farms to pour out some of their milk.
"It's something that no farmer likes to do ... it doesn't feel good to just dump it out," New York-based Northeast Dairy Producers Association board director Jon Greenwood said.
And with an excess of milk in the international market, prices for milk, butter and milk powder continue to drop. Market predictions for 2015 look worse, Hardtke said, as prices are expected to drop through the spring -- about $13.50 per hundredweight in March. Dairy Farmers of America, a national marketing cooperative, has started charging its 15,000 members 50 cents per hundredweight to account for additional transportation fees and low prices.
Many dairy farmers recall 2009 with dread, when prices plunged and some were forced to sell off cows. Hardtke said the years since have been a roller coaster.
Big Drop in Income
If prices continue to dwindle, Wisconsin dairy farmer Rick Steger says his income will decrease by a third -- if not more.
"I'm very worried because it's such an extreme drop," said Steger, whose farm is in Theresa, 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee. "Our expenses aren't going to drop."
Steger said he signed up for the Federal Margin Protection Program last year, but he believes it would not cushion the blows expected this year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture program, a product of the 2014 Farm Bill, serves as a sort of insurance policy for farmers. The program sets average national feed prices, and farmers subtract that price from their milk price to determine their margin; if the margin is below a pre-determined amount, farmers get money from the USDA. More than half of the nation's dairy farmers enrolled in the program before the December deadline, the USDA said recently.
The boom-and-bust cycle is just part of the business, said Greenwood, who farms in Canton, New York, and didn't enroll in the federal program. He said feed prices are low, "so things are not as bad as they could be."
Prices Slashed
Meanwhile, consumers are seeing milk prices slashed. At the peak last year, a gallon of whole milk cost an average of $3.86. The most recent numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate it's now $3.82 a gallon -- lower in places like Madison, where skim milk cost $2.99 a gallon -- and prices are again expected to fall this spring.
Madison mom Angela Willard said she was happy about the lower prices because her two children "drink milk like no other."
Her 8-year-old daughter Alexandria added, "It will be gone in like two days."
Such milk-drinking families could play a role in leveling out demand "dramatically" by buying more dairy, Hardtke said.
"We just need people in the U.S. to buy more milk," Hardtke said. "That would really help us out."
NEW YORK -- An old grift is making the rounds again.
With tax season coming up, the Treasury Department has renewed its warnings about the tax collection scam, one of the largest in the country. Here's how it works: the scammer calls pretending to be an IRS agent pursuing back taxes. He demands immediate payment either through a pre-loaded debit card or a wire transfer and threatens jail time, government seizure, deportation and other dire consequences. Often, according to an IRS warning, "the caller becomes hostile and insulting."
The truth is the IRS usually first contacts people by mail -- not by phone -- about unpaid taxes.
The scam has hit every state in the country and works by spoofing the IRS's phone number, making it appear as though the call were actually coming from the government. Callers invent fake names and badge numbers, and often know personal details such as the last four digits of their target's social security number. This all creates an air of legitimacy for when the scammer ultimately makes his demands.
In all of these details, however, the con artists miss one important thing: the IRS doesn't start collections with a phone call.
"The truth is the IRS usually first contacts people by mail -- not by phone -- about unpaid taxes," according to a notice from the Treasury Inspector General's Office warning about the scam. In fact as a general rule, several letters will arrive before anyone at the desperately understaffed agency picks up a phone. This is a call you can hang up on safely.
"If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and uses threatening language if you don't pay immediately, that is a sign it really isn't the IRS calling," says the notice from the Treasury Inspector General's Office.
Still, getting a threatening phone call that claims to be from the government is pretty scary. Here are a few red flags if you ever get this call:
Asking for payment over the phone -- A legitimate IRS agent will never do this.
Asking for a pre-paid debit card, credit card numbers or banking information -- A legitimate IRS agent will never request this information over the phone.
Calling for first notice of a debt -- The IRS makes first contact by mail.
Threatening punitive action -- On first notice of a debt the IRS sends a simple bill. The threats come later.
Don't hesitate to hang up if you get suspicious. The real IRS will always follow up later. Here's what to do if you get a call like this:
Hang up and call the IRS back at its main number, 800-829-1040.
If you haven't first received a bill by mail, call the Treasury Inspector General's Office at 800-366-4484.
Report the call to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
If you have genuine reason to worry that the bill is real, consult a lawyer to determine your liability for certain.
-Written for MainStreet by Eric Reed, a freelance journalist who writes frequently on the subjects of career and travel. You can read more of his work at his website A Wandering Lawyer.
Making a donation to a charity is a great way to fill up on feel-good energy, but there might be an additional benefit, too: tax savings. Donations made to qualifying charitable organizations can reduce your taxable income, which reduces your overall tax bill. But don't get too excited just yet: Not all donations can be deducted and not all charitable organizations qualify.
A qualifying charitable organization is a non-profit group that is approved by the IRS. In most cases, these non-profits are charitable, religious or education organizations, or volunteer groups. If you aren't sure if the charity of your choice qualifies, the IRS has a search tool that allows tax filers to enter the name and location of an organization and instantly see if it makes the cut. If it does, great news! Your contribution could be tax deductible.
The Tax Form You Need
In order to get the tax deduction, you must give to a qualified organization. Contributions made to specific individuals, political organizations and candidates don't count. Charitable contributions are filed using form 1040, and you can itemize the deductions on Schedule A. So, if you made three donations that tax year to three separate qualifying charities, you would use the total amount on 1040 and then list them separately on Schedule A.
How to Deduct Cash Donations
Cash donations to a qualifying charity are tax deductible, but if you received a benefit in exchange for your donation, like swag, tickets to an event or other material goods, the rules are a little different: You have to subtract the fair market value of the benefit from your deduction. There are general rules for determining the fair market value of the benefit, but it is generally the price of the property that would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither having to buy or sell, and both having reasonable knowledge of all the relevant facts.
So, let's say you got a pair of baseball tickets for donating $100 to your favorite charity. And let's say the seats weren't great -- maybe they are in a section where the tickets normally go for $30 on the street. You would deduct the fair market value of the tickets ($60) from the deduction, which would lower your tax benefit to $40. Now, let's say the tickets were nicer -- maybe they have a $50 street value. Then it would be a wash -- the deduction would not exceed the fair market value of the goods.
How to Deduct Non-Cash Donations
This is one of my personal favorite deductions -- I regularly purge my closets and donate my gently used clothing to a local, qualifying charity that helps homeless women find work. I feel good knowing my donation is helping these women dress for success, and the additional tax benefit is just the icing on the cake.
Donations like this are considered non-cash property and are valued at the fair market value of the property. Non-cash property can cover a variety of goods, including stock, but any clothing or household items must be in good condition to be deductible. So, you can't just drop off your old, broken stereo and deduct $200 because that's what a restored one is selling for online. Sorry, but your beat-up stereo isn't in good condition, and it's definitely not worth $200.
How to Deduct Vehicle Donations
Even though vehicle donations are non-cash property, special rules apply. Publication 4303 from the IRS provides general guidelines for people who donate their cars to qualifying charities. The maximum amount you can deduct for your donation is the fair market value of the car.
But be careful: The fair market value doesn't necessarily equal the "blue book" value. A used car guide is a good starting point to determine the value, but the IRS might not agree with what the blue book says. For example, maybe you donated your old car to a local charity and the blue book value says it's worth $1,500, but it actually needs repairs and the exterior has some damage. After some internet searching, you find a car just like yours that is selling for $800. That is the fair market value of your car, not $1,500.
What Records to Keep to Write Off Charitable Donations
To deduct any monetary contribution you must keep records, regardless of the amount. You can use bank or payroll statements or a written communication from the organization that includes the date and amount of the contribution as tax receipts.
For text message cash donations, where you text a specific code to donate to a qualifying charity, a telephone bill will meet the record-keeping requirement as long as it shows the name of the receiving organization, as well as the date and amount of the contribution.
If any cash or property you are donating is worth $250 or more, you will need two documents: 1. a bank or payroll deduction record or a written acknowledgement from the qualifying organization showing the amount of the cash or a description of any property contributed and 2. whether the organization provided any goods or services in exchange for the gift.
If your total deduction for all non-cash contributions is over $500 for the year, you must complete and attach IRS Form 8283 to your return. Taxpayers who have donated more than $5,000 will also have to complete Section B of Form 8293, and might need to secure an appraisal from a qualified professional.
Special Rules
The types of qualifying charitable donations outlined in this article are general guidelines. There are many special circumstances and rules that apply to tax deductions, and charitable donations are no exception.
For example, donations to public charities, colleges and religious groups can't exceed 50 percent of your adjusted gross income and the limits go down for gifts of appreciated property. Additionally, taxpayers who donate to colleges and universities and then receive the right to buy tickets to school athletic events can only deduct 80 percent of their donation.
When in doubt, consult a tax professional to make sure you are following the proper procedures when deducting charitable donations. You don't want to lose all that feel-good energy to an audit.
Per Andersen/Alamy
Plenty of stocks go up and down in any given week. The gainers inspire us to keep investing. The decliners keep greed in check while reminding us about the risks of the equity markets.
Let's go over some of last week's best and worst performers.
The New York Stock Exchange's best-performing company was Tilly's. The retailer of apparel and footwear for extreme sports enthusiasts moved higher after announcing better-than-expected results for the potent holiday shopping period.
Tilly's is now looking to earn between 21 cents and 23 cents a share for the quarter, fueled by a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in comparable-store sales. That's a welcome update, since it was initially expecting to earn no more than 19 cents a share on negative comps. Brean Capital upgraded the stock after the encouraging news.
Build-a-Bear Workshop (BBW) -- Up 20 percent last week
Tilly's wasn't the only retailer moving higher after an upbeat holiday quarter. Build-a-Bear Workshop soared after revealing that comparable-store sales surged 9.8 percent from a year earlier. Adjusted net income will also clock in at roughly double what it earned during the prior year's holiday quarter.
Build-a-Bear Workshop stores allow shoppers to pick out their teddy bears and other plush toys that are stuffed as they are ordered. It was a trendy concept a decade ago, but sales later slipped, and it seems to be gaining momentum again.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that E2open was looking for a buyer, and by Friday the supply chain management software provider went public with a poison pill provision to make it easier to protect itself against a hostile takeover. That was enough to send the shares higher on buyout speculation.
It's easy to see why E2open may be seeking a buyer. The stock got slammed earlier this month after warning that it will post a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on revenue that was substantially below Wall Street targets. A turnaround would be easier as a private company or as part of a larger public company, where it doesn't have to live up to quarterly expectations.
ChannelAdvisor (ECOM) -- Down 57 percent last week
Wall Street doesn't like when you dramatically reduce your guidance. It happened to E2open a couple of weeks ago, and it happened to ChannelAdvisor this week. The provider of e-commerce optimization solutions shed more than half of its value after announcing that revenue will clock in at $23.7 million for its recently concluded quarter. ChannelAdvisor's previous guidance called for $25.6 million to $26.1 million on the top line. Now let's see if it turns up as buyout fodder in the coming weeks.
One of the country's largest homebuilders was blown down after a problematic quarterly report. KB Home's sales remain strong. Revenue soared 29 percent from the prior year's fiscal fourth quarter. The near-term outlook is also solid on that front, with the value of the backlog of homes it has yet to deliver up 34 percent over the year. Unfortunately for KB Home, gross profit margins are contracting, and it fell well short of Wall Street estimates.
Low interest rates and rising home prices apparently haven't been enough for KB Home and some of its peers to widen their margins.
One of last year's hottest IPOs has been cracking like a broken selfie stick in 2015. GoPro stumbled last week after Apple (AAPL) took out a patent for a wearable camera system. GoPro's HERO cameras have been popular with outdoor sporting enthusiasts for years, but the wearable high-def cameras have crossed over into the mainstream lately.
Apple's presence wouldn't necessarily mean the end of GoPro's gravy days, and a patent doesn't necessarily mean that a product is coming soon. However, GoPro's stock trades at a lofty valuation in a market that has historically been a tough place to sustain healthy markups. We'll see how this saga plays out, ideally in high definition.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and GoPro. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Check out our free report on one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/Academy of Television Arts and Sciences/AP
Well, Google's (GOOG) (GOOGL) first bold push into wearable computing was fun while it lasted. The search giant is suspending sales of Google Glass, the high-tech specs that apparently courted more controversy than buyers.
It's not technically the end of the initiative. Google is folding the team responsible for the eyeglasses that run apps, project online content and record video into a different division at the company. We may very well see the technology behind Google Glass emerge as something else as the future. However, with sales of the Google Glass Explorer program now coming to a close, it also wouldn't be a surprise if this is the last we see of the futuristic device that was probably too far ahead of its time for its own good.
Google doesn't miss often, so let's look at a few of the things that doomed the product.
1. Google Glass Was Too Expensive
Let's start with the obvious deal breaker: price. Paying $1,500 for glasses that would run applications and provide GPS navigation wasn't a very compelling value proposition for folks with smartphones and tablets that can do just that.
Google has historically taken an aggressive pricing approach with its rare hardware rollouts. From Chromecast media players to Nexus-branded gadgetry, the dot-com darling knows that it has to be reasonably inexpensive if it wants to reach the masses. That certainly didn't happen with Google Glass.
TechInsights tore apart one of the $1,500 glasses to assess the cost of all of its components. The specs on the specs were shocking: TechInsights concluded that all of the parts making up Google Glass, including the assembly, cost a mere $79.78.
Google wasn't going to sell the product at cost. There are marketing, research and other expenses to factor into the ultimate selling price. However, by pricing Google Glass at a point where only affluent early adopters and developers were willing to give it a shot, it never stood a chance.
2. Let's Not Forget Privacy Concerns
Let's face it, Google Glass was creepy. If you ever ran into someone wearing a pair in the wild -- and that was rare outside of Silicon Valley -- the mind would fill up with plenty of problematic questions. Is he recording me? Is she checking my online profile? Is he watching porn?
Movie theaters were the first to stop Google Glass-donning patrons at the door. Some bars, event venues and restaurants followed suit. It made surrounding guests uncomfortable. Someone could always whip out a phone or camcorder and start recording in a public place, but with Google Glass you just didn't know if you were in a frame of a recorded clip.
3. Google Glass Failed the Fashion Test
Wearable computing has to look good. The reason sleek fitness bracelets have been a hit and bulky smart watches have been duds is that fashion ultimately matters more than functionality. Google Glass wasn't very stylish, and while Big G tried to make up for that by offering designer-quality frames, the protruding projector made it look more like a medical device than mainstream eyewear.
When Apple (AAPL) finally rolls out the Apple Watch this year, it will be stylish. A product can do cool things, but if it doesn't look cool too, it just won't fly with consumers.
That's a shame. Google Glass got a bad rap, but there were plenty of cases where it was genuinely making the world a better place. There were stories out there about early responders using Google Glass to send accident and disaster images to hospitals so that medical teams could get a heads-up on the injuries of incoming patients. Surgeons could multitask, pulling up an X-ray during a procedure. Google Glass made navigation easier and more enjoyable for folks working out, and even the New York Police Department and U.S. Air Force were testing them out to improve their operations.
Google Glass may come back in some incarnation, but it's going to have to tackle the three things that held it back this time if it ever wants a shot at the masses.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Apple and Google (A and C shares). Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Looking for a winner for your portfolio? Check out The Motley Fool's one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.
JBLivin/Flickr"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" was the world's best-selling video game in 2014.
Last week was a good one for owners of some video game stocks. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) moved sharply higher on Friday after it was revealed that "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" was the world's best-selling video game in 2014. GameStop (GME) shares soared nearly 13 percent higher in an otherwise rough trading week after it announced encouraging holiday sales. Microsoft (MSFT) turned heads after Xbox One was tapped by one authoritative source as the best-selling video game console in the country for December.
Activision Blizzard should continue to serve investors well. Its combat game franchise has now been the industry's top dog for six years in a row. It also surprised the market by announcing that "Skylanders" topped Disney's (DIS) "Infinity" in global sales by 30 percent in 2014. It was often assumed that Disney introducing a "Skylanders"-like platform with Disney characters would sink Activision Blizzard's property, but it seems as if "Skylanders" is more than holding up on its own.
Activision Blizzard is in a good place as the world's largest video game developer and publisher, and that should continue to be the case in the future. Console sales remain strong and digital distribution of software will open up new opportunities for Activision Blizzard to become even more profitable. However, that same kind of rosy prognosis doesn't necessarily hold true for last week's other two winners.
Yielding to GameStop
GameStop moved nicely higher after announcing preliminary results for the holiday season. Total global sales may have declined, with total comparable sales declining 3.1 percent during the nine-week shopping period, but it's really a tale of two months.
Comparable-store sales slipped 12 percent in November, but that wasn't a surprise. Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's (SNE) PS4 hit the market in mid-November a year earlier, and sales soared as early adopters lined up to be among the first to own the next-generation consoles.
Thankfully for GameStop, comparable-store sales in December rose 4.4 percent. This was enough to lead the small-box specialty retailer to update its guidance for the quarter that concludes at the end of this month. Its new forecast implies that January may also be a slightly positive month.
The market seems to believe that this is a turnaround, but it's OK to be skeptical. After all, we're comparing this December and January to the prior year, when PS4 and Xbox One systems were scarce and there wasn't as much software in support of the new platforms as there is now. GameStop is going to have to keep this up if the turnaround is real.
Xbox Marks the Spot
The Xbox One revival may also be short lived. It's not a coincidence that the Xbox One overtook the PS4 as soon as it slashed its price to $349. The two-month holiday promo ended last month, but after just two weeks of life at $399 to kick off 2015, Microsoft decided to go back to the $349 promotional price.
Sales must have been pretty bad at $399 for Microsoft to retreat so quickly to $349, crushing any kind of profit margin that the console may have had when it initially hit the market 14 months ago at $499.
In the past, video game consoles were able to make up price cuts with higher royalties from software sales, but folks are using consoles for more than playing games these days. They're streaming video and browsing the Web, and that won't necessarily make the console makers any wealthier. In short, it isn't easy to be on top of the console hill these days.
Microsoft and GameStop may have taken baby steps up this holiday shopping season, but it's going to take a lot more than that to win the game.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Activision Blizzard and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Activision Blizzard, GameStop, Microsoft and Walt Disney. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Want to make 2015 a winning investing year? Check out The Motley Fool's one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.
SEATTLE -- Amazon (AMZN) Studios is branching out from television series to movies, with plans to begin producing and acquiring original movies for theatrical release and -- within weeks -- video streaming.
Independent filmmaker Ted Hope will oversee creative development for the new unit, Amazon Original Movies. Hope co-founded and ran Good Machine, a production company behind some Academy Award-nominated films, including "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Eat Drink Man Woman."
Amazon Original Movies will focus on unique stories, characters and voices from "top and up-and-coming creators," according to the company. Once movies have hit theaters, they'll debut on Amazon Prime Instant Video within four to eight weeks -- far less than the usual 39 to 52 weeks movies now take to stream.
Kin Cheung/AP
Earnings season is just getting started, and the market's anxiously awaiting the reports. Holiday quarters are a pretty big deal for some companies, and it's important for Wall Street to see companies post at least modest growth.
It won't always be that way. Let's take a look at four companies that are expected to post year-over-year declines in their upcoming reports.
The world's largest software company isn't just about tethering desktops and laptops to Windows and getting as many people as possible to fire up Microsoft Office whenever they want to crank out a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
Microsoft is expanding into hardware, and the success of its Xbox One this video gaming cycle, the introduction of the Surface tablet, and the purchase of Nokia's handset business have transformed Mr. Softy into more than just a software company. The downside to all of the gadgetry rolling out of Microsoft is that this isn't the same high-margin fare that investors have been treated to in its prime. Net income margins -- the percentage of revenue that makes it all the way down to after-tax profitability -- has declined from a peak of 33.1 percent in fiscal 2011 to 23.4 percent over the past year.
Analysts may see Microsoft's revenue inching slightly higher this quarter, but they see earnings of just 71 cents a share when it reports later this month. Microsoft rang up a profit of 78 cents a share a year earlier.
Flipping burgers has been a meaty business for most chains not called McDonald's. The leading burger chain has stumbled badly lately. We're eating out more, but we're just not doing it at the home of the Golden Arches.
McDonald's just wrapped up what should be its fifth consecutive quarter of declining comparable-store sales. Most of the restaurants are franchisee-owned, but if sales are slumping, they have less to pay McDonald's itself. The market sees the struggling chain serving up net income of $1.23 a share when it reports later this month. It registered a profit of $1.40 a share during the prior year's holiday quarter.
The leading online retailer continues to grow its global reach, but sales growth isn't translating into earnings growth. Amazon didn't have a problem drumming up record sales over the holidays. It issued a glowing press release just after Christmas, and the market's betting on a 16 percent top-line gain.
Amazon's problem is that it's been investing in too many projects and initiatives, and that often means losing money in order to make money in the future. Amazon's had a hit with the Kindle and Kindle Fire. It flopped badly with Fire Phone. The jury's still out on Fire TV. However, all of these projects eat into profitability. Analysts see Amazon's earnings this holiday shopping quarter plunging 65 percent to 18 cents a share.
There was a time when running an office supply superstore was as easy as tapping one of Staples' "That was easy" buttons. Times have changed. Staples began to stumble a couple of years ago with its overseas operations, but now it's also struggling closer to home as small businesses find cheaper supplies online.
The merger of its two closest rivals was supposed to provide some relief to Staples, especially with Office Depot (ODP) moving to close hundreds of redundant namesake and OfficeMax stores. It hasn't panned out, and market pros are now forecasting earnings of 30 cents a share out of Staples. It came through with 33 cents a share in net income a year earlier.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com and McDonald's. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Staples. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Want to make 2015 a winning investment year? Check out The Motley Fool's one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.
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January is that time of year where people are tightening their belts. People have overspent on the holidays and now they're trying to get back on track by slashing their expenses and building a budget.
But what if you're naturally thrifty? What if you save throughout the year? What if you deny yourself life's luxuries because you're always afraid you won't have any money?
I see this happen a lot. Lately, I've been talking to friends, clients and prospects who are sacrificing living a great life because they are afraid of spending money. The result is that people deny themselves the things that would bring them great happiness and joy. I have two words for you: Stop it!
Who Am I Talking To?
I'm talking to the great savers of the world who get excited to see how much bank interest their savings account made last month, even if it was $8.72 I'm talking to the people who are giddy to max out their health savings account and those who love seeing how much money their company 401(k) match is on their paycheck stub. I'm talking to the people who always have tens of thousands of dollars in emergency savings but because of their modest lifestyle this money would last them at least a year.
Why Is This Happening?
I talk to people like this every week who have great incomes, love saving and want to know the next step that they can take with their finances. They've read books and personal finance blogs and listened to podcasts on improving their financial lives.
But everything they've read about improving their personal finances has to do with cutting back, slashing expenses, and trimming their budget. While this is great advice for the over-spenders of the world, you might not be one of them.
What Are You Saving Your Money For?
Besides having emergency savings and retirement accounts, what is all the money for? What makes you truly happy? What brings joy to your life? What do you do for fun that you'd like to do more of?
It's important that we stop and consider these things so that we can start spending our money in a way that matches our values.
How I Like to Spend My Money
My own personal example: I love to travel. I've been traveling since I was little, and now it's one of my favorite ways to spend money. I've been to Thailand, Mexico, Italy, Argentina and more.
You know what? I never regret money I spent traveling. I see it as an investment in memories. I will remember parts of those trips for the rest of my life, and I've met many amazing people on these adventures.
If travel is something that you value, plan a dream trip! What is that one place that you've always wanted to go, but you told yourself it was "too expensive"? Start a folder on your computer and start doing your research to make your dream trip a reality.
Write Down Your Ideal Day
One of my favorite exercises is to spend 30 minutes writing down your ideal day. What time do you wake up? Who are you with? What activities do you engage in throughout the day? What do you do for work? What do you eat? Where do you spend your time? What do you notice about your surroundings?
After this exercise, write down a few things that you could do to start incorporating these things into your life now. The results might surprise you and are often not as expensive as we think.
What Can You Do About It?
What are those things, big and small, that bring you joy? I think we need to find a balance between enjoying life today and setting ourselves up for financial independence. If you're saving for the future and on track with your other financial goals, I think you should start to incorporate life's little luxuries into your life now -- not 20 years from now.
Bringing Joy Into My Own Life
When I think about the things that bring me joy they are: candles, hot tea, great conversations, a new journal, travel and a great pair of yoga pants. Instead of seeing "going to the coffee shop" as a waste of money, I see it as a place to meet a friend for a cup of hot tea.
Almost every day, I take a yoga class, and I feel different when I wear my favorite yoga pants. Every night, I light a yummy-smelling candle and write in my journal before I go to bed. I get excited thinking about my next trip and finding the best restaurants on Trip Advisor.
These things make me happy and leave me with a feeling of calm, yet energized. Some cost a few dollars and some cost a few thousand and take more time to save.
Stop Being Afraid
It's time that we find balance in our lives. Balance between saving for the future and enjoying our lives today. Building financial security is important, but so is joy and happiness.
I'll leave you with these two questions: What small change can you make to spend money on the things that put a smile on your face? What big dream do you need to start saving for today?
Shutterstock
The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers that 2015 could be a tough year to get the tax help you need. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen recently pointed to budget cuts for the federal tax agency that could result in operational shutdowns and furloughs, poor telephone customer service, and delays in return processing and refund payments. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson characterized the cutbacks as telling "millions of taxpayers who seek help each year, in essence, 'We're sorry. You're on your own.'"
Yet just because the IRS won't necessarily be the perfect resource to get the tax help you need doesn't mean that you have to go without assistance entirely. For many taxpayers, other sources of help in tax preparation can give you a much better experience. Let's take a look at three ways to bypass the IRS to get high-quality help.
1. Get Free Help from Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program offers help in preparing and electronically filing tax returns. If you have a disability, are elderly, have limited understanding of the English language or make $53,000 or less in income, then you can typically qualify to participate in VITA. Volunteers are IRS-certified to be able to provide basic help and tax-return preparation, and at many locations, you can get help with more difficult issues. Find a local location via this IRS website or by calling 800-906-9887.
To participate, bring photo ID along with your Social Security number, date of birth, copies of your previous year's tax returns,and any W-2s showing your work income and 1099s or other forms showing interest and dividends or other types of income. To take advantage of direct deposit options, you'll also want to have your bank account and routing numbers handy.
2. 60 or Older? Get Free Help Tailored to Your Needs
The Tax Counseling for the Elderly program is designed to provide free tax help with an emphasis toward serving people who are 60 or older. TCE volunteers tend to be retired themselves and are IRS-certified to offer help on questions about pensions, retirement-account distributions and other retirement-related issues that those over 60 most commonly face.
The majority of TCE sites are administered by the AARP Foundation's Tax-Aide program, which has operated for more than 45 years and helped nearly 50 million taxpayers nationwide. To find an AARP-administered site, go to this AARP website or call 888-227-7669. You can also use the same IRS links and phone number listed above for the VITA program to find a list of TCE sites as well.
3. Use IRS Free File
The Free File program is a partnership between the IRS and various private companies that make software for tax preparation. Free File offers two different services depending on your income. If you made $60,000 or less in adjusted gross income in 2014, then you qualify for complete tax-preparation services for free. With your choice of several preparation programs, you'll get guidance throughout the preparation and filing process, with electronic filing at no extra charge. For those who make more than $60,000, tax preparation software isn't free, but you can still use the program's fillable forms, which will help you by automatically doing the math for the figures you enter.
The documents you'll need for Free File are similar to those for VITA and TCE, but the benefit is that you can use your own computer without leaving your home. For more information, check out the IRS Free File website.
Motley Fool contributor Dan Caplinger knows how tough it can be to get good tax help. You can follow him on Twitter @DanCaplinger or on Google+. To read about our favorite high-yielding dividend stocks for any investor, check out our free report.
These four ideas all have the potential to improve your financial future future in 15 minutes or less. If you've done them all, consider yourself ahead of the pack.
1. Check Your Credit Report and Score
Checking your credit report is one of the best things you can do, and it's free through AnnualCreditReport.com, the government website. I was sure glad when I first checked my credit report. An old gym membership that I thought I had cancelled because I relocated back to the Midwest was still showing up -- as delinquent. Having it on my credit report was hurting my credit. Luckily, in 15 minutes I was able to get it taken care of, and my credit was restored.
You don't need to know your credit score unless you're making any major changes (job, house, car) or if you have never checked it before. For instance, a former intern of mine was surprised to learn that his score was below 600. Turns he out he had no credit history, so he started builiding one and was able to increase his credit score after a few months by over 100 points.
Unfortunately, you don't get your credit score for free. You'll have to sign up for a free FICO credit score trial service. Or, you can rely on a service like Credit Karma for a free non-FICO TransUnion score (which is also free and requires no trial or credit card). Or you can be a customer of some banks.
2. Start an Emergency Fund
An emergency fund is something everyone should have to protect you against any unexpected emergencies. Just start putting some of your savings into a separate account, preferably an online savings account where you can get great interest, and only tap it if it's truly an emergency. The general rule is to have six months of expenses saved up -- to protect you in case you lose your job -- but it doesn't hurt to have more, especially in this economic climate.
If you've always struggled to have an emergency fund, consider the 52 Week Money Challenge. With the challenge, you start off by saving $1 per week and increase it $1 each week. By the end of the year you'll have accumulated $1,378 -- plus interest.
3. Start a Roth IRA
If you don't have a Roth Individual Retirement Account, start one right now. A Roth is one of the best retirement vehicles because whatever you earn in interest or appreciation is tax-free. So you get to invest money from now until retirement and the government can't take any of it away as long as you follow the Roth IRA rules.
4. Simplify Your Finances
If you've done the first three, then this last one is an ongoing project you can bite off in 15 minute increments: simplify your finances. If you're like me, you probably have a bunch of bank accounts, credit cards, brokers and other accounts that you've acquired over time.
Simplify your life by consolidating or closing some of those accounts. The fewer accounts you have, the less time you need to spend managing them. The fewer you have, the less likely you'll forget them.
Take 15 minutes to close out one account a week, and in few months your life will be so much easier. Another option is consolidating your accounts online. One of my favorite options is Personal Capital, which allows you to sync your financial accounts in one secure online portal.
There are plenty of reasons to like Trader Joe's: helpful employees in Hawaiian shirts, a no-questions-asked return policy, unusual items such as cookie butter and rosemary marcona almonds, and -- best of all -- low prices.
However, not everything is a good deal at Trader Joe's. We compared non-sale prices on a variety of items with similar items at Harris Teeter, Kroger (KR), Walmart (WMT) and Whole Foods (WFM). While we found that it's tough to beat Trader Joe's everyday prices, there are a few things that are better bargains at other stores.
Here are eight items you can get for less elsewhere -- and in some cases we're talking dollars less, not just pennies. For each one, we've suggested related items you might want to purchase instead at Trader Joe's because the regular prices are better than you'll find on competitors' shelves. And we end this slide show with a bonus item that's cheap at Trader Joe's -- but you have to judge if it's worth it.
Neal Hamberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesIn this 2004 photo, a customer looks through "The Big Book" catalog at a JCPenney store.By Rama Venkat Raman
Department-store operator J.C. Penney (JCP) is bringing back its hefty print catalog five years after ditching it to focus on the web, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The retailer stopped mailing the "Big Book" catalog in 2009 and phased out its distribution of 70 smaller catalogs a year later, the Journal said.
The move is substantiated with data showing that many of its online sales were driven by what the shoppers saw in print, the newspaper said.
The new, 120-page book will present items from the company's home department and will be sent to select customers in March, the first time it has sent out a catalog since 2010, the report said.
J.C. Penney has been on the rebound this year after reversing an ill-fated attempt to move upmarket under former Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson.
J.C. Penney couldn't immediately be reached for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will challenge the Republican-led Congress to back his tax-raising ideas for helping middle-class Americans in a State of the Union speech Tuesday that will set up a tough debate and may impact the 2016 campaign to replace him.
Looking to burnish his legacy with two years left in office, Obama will appear before a joint session of Congress in the well of the House of Representatives at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The speech will be his best opportunity of the year to command the attention of millions of Americans watching on television.
Obama will push a plan to increase taxes by $320 billion over 10 years on the wealthy by closing tax loopholes and imposing a fee on big financial firms. The money would be used to pay for an increase in benefits for the middle class.
Obama's aim is to help those left behind by an economic revival taking hold six years into his tenure, which began with the Democrat facing a crippling financial crisis.
"Now that we have fought our way through the crisis, how do we make sure that everybody in this country, how do we make sure that they are sharing in this growing economy?" Obama said in a White House-produced YouTube video preview of his speech.
Obama's proposals are already being viewed skeptically by Republicans who control both houses of Congress and who are in no mood to raise taxes on anyone.
"More Washington tax hikes and spending is the same, old top-down approach we've come to expect from President Obama that hasn't worked," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican.
But White House officials are betting that Republicans, also under pressure to help the middle class and needing to prove they can govern, will be willing to compromise on some aspects of the plan.
"So are they going to agree on everything? Absolutely not," senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "I think we should have a debate in this country between middle class economics and trickledown economics and see if we can come to an agreement on the things we do agree on."
The proposals are also likely to be the subject of a debate among potential candidates to replace him in 2016, a campaign that is just now getting started.
Obama will take his proposals on the road the next day, traveling to Idaho and Kansas to promote them. And he will be interviewed by three YouTube bloggers.
The speech will also allow Obama to update Americans on the struggle against Islamic extremists, two weeks after 17 people were killed in Paris attacks.
He will defend his decision to seek to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba. Alan Gross, the U.S. aid worker whose release from a Cuban prison helped pave the way toward restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba, will be among first lady Michelle Obama's guests for the speech.
WASHINGTON -- A notice from the Internal Revenue Service saying your return won't be accepted might be your first clue that your identity has been stolen.
"The IRS recognizes the first return submitted under a Social Security number, and usually the identity theft is identified when the second return is filed" under that same number, said Mark Luscombe, principal federal tax analyst for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, US.
Another clue might be an IRS notice saying you have unreported income. That could happen if someone steals your Social Security number and gives it to an employer to avoid being taxed on earned wages. You get the tax bill instead.
Identity theft could lead to long delays in getting your refund or bigger tax bills for unreported income. "Tax refund fraud associated with identity theft continues to be an evolving threat, one that imposes a serious financial and emotional toll on honest taxpayers and threatens the integrity of the tax administration system," the Government Accountability Office said in a report in August.
236,000 Returns Linked to Identity Theft in 2014
More than 236,000 tax returns processed last year were deemed fraudulent because of identity theft, and nearly $1.2 billion in refunds from those fraudulent returns were blocked, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The number of identity-theft returns is down significantly from 2012, and the IG said in a report last fall that new filters the IRS put in place to identify the crime may be responsible.
"The IRS is investing in that area," said Bob Meighan, vice president of consumer advocacy for TurboTax (INTU). "People have to have confidence that the returns that they file are protected and secure," he said.
The IRS is providing identity-theft victims with a personal identification number to prove who they are when filing tax returns. In 2014, more than 1.2 million of these identity-protection PINs were issued, up from 770,000 the previous year. The agency also has more than doubled the number of workers assigned to identity theft cases since 2011, to about 3,000 in 2014, according to the GAO.
Beginning this year, the number of refunds direct-deposited to a single account is limited to three, another attempt to reduce identity theft. "The fourth and subsequent refunds automatically will convert to a paper refund check and be mailed to the taxpayer," the IRS said.
National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson wants the agency to do more. She has called identity theft "an invasive crime that can have a traumatic emotional impact." She said early last year that she has called on the IRS to designate a single point of contact, someone who can provide "sensitive, holistic assistance" to an identity-theft victim.
What You Should Do
Kathy Pickering, executive director of the Tax Institute at H&R Block, says prevention is the best defense. Don't give out your Social Security number or your date of birth, she says.
The IRS also advises people to protect their personal computers and Internet accounts, check their credit reports and avoid giving out personal information over the phone, especially if you didn't initiate the call.
And beware of phishing attempts -- online or over the phone -- that seek access to your personal information. "The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information," the agency said. "This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels."
If you get a notice from the IRS that leads you to believe you are an identity-theft victim, the IRS says you should respond immediately. The first step, the agency says, is to complete and submit an Identity Theft Affadavit, Form 14039 at www.irs.gov. If the issue remains unresolved, taxpayers should contact the Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490.
