fact
Is It Possible to Have Lightning But No Thunder?
Today’s Big Question: Is it possible to have lightning without thunder?
8 Credit Card Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
Missing a payment is obviously bad for your credit. But you might be making one of these eight credit card mistakes without realizing it.
A new study shows that when it comes to distinguishing useful instructions from pointless ones, dogs are faster learners than human children.
9 Things You Might Not Know About Folgers
You likely already know that the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup—but here are nine facts you might not know about the coffee giant.
4 Subtle Changes to English People Hardly Notice
Some changes to language are sudden and obvious—like, say, the introduction of “YOLO” or “selfie” to our vocabularies. But others happen slowly, over hundreds of years. These four subtle linguistic shifts were spotted by analyzing large digital collections of text and transcribed speech.
The German Teens Who Rebelled Against Hitler
During World War II, the Allied forces had a few secret supporters: German teen gangs that resisted Hitler’s messages, sabotaged the German military, and embraced American culture.
Even if you religiously pay your bill on time, there are plenty of other credit card gaffes you might be making without realizing it. And any card mistake, no matter how small, can have steep consequences, thanks to high interest rates that can pile on debt in the blink of an eye. Make sure you avoid these common pitfalls and keep your finances under control.
Most expenses can go on a credit card, says Liz Weston, author of Your Credit Score and a NerdWallet columnist. But there are a few no-gos, including any charge that may be coded as a cash advance, such as a money order or a bail bond, that will trigger a higher interest rate. You shouldn’t swipe if the vendor is going to pass along the several-percentage-point card fee, either—scenarios that include federal and state taxes and school tuition. Weston also cautions against charging that scary-huge medical bill, as doing so will disqualify you from income-based discounts or interest-free payment plans offered by many medical providers.
These cards often have sky-high interest rates (a J. Crew card, for example, carries a whopping 25.24 percent APR—12 percentage points higher than the best rate available for a Citi Simplicity Mastercard). Pay only the minimum each month, and you’ll soon find yourself staring at a balance that far exceeds the cost of that perfectly chic pencil skirt.
There are other problems: A store card doesn’t feel as “real” as a Capital One or Citi card, so some shoppers forget or ignore their payments altogether. And while these cards often offer rewards, they come as incentives to shop more—which can trigger overspending.
Lots of Millennials are wary of credit cards in the first place—and for good reason, says Matt Schulz, a senior analyst at CreditCards.com, a site dedicated to helping consumers make smart credit decisions. “If you have a credit card and handle it poorly, it can cause major problems,” he says. But that doesn’t mean you should just stick with your debit card. A credit card is the easiest way to build your credit history, according to Schulz. Lacking such a history will contribute to a low score, because lenders like to see that you have an established track record of paying loans back. Bad credit translates to higher interest rates, “which can cost you thousands of dollars over the years,” Schulz says.
Forget a payment, even for a day or two, and you’ll be hit with a $25 to $35 fee and an interest payment on the balance. And it quickly gets worse: If your payment becomes 30 days late, card issuers will report you to the credit bureaus. “A skipped payment can knock 100 points or more off good credit scores,” says Weston. There’s no excuse for not setting up an automatic payment from your checking account, preferably for the full balance every month.
While auto-pay can be a godsend, it can also tempt you to not check your statement carefully. Tracking your purchases carefully is not only a fundamental part of budgeting, it’s also critical in this era of identity theft. Federal law requires you to dispute a fraudulent charge within 60 days of receiving the first statement that contained the mistake. If you ignore your account for months on end, you could be missing problems and losing money.
We know, we know—reading the fine print sucks. But if, for example, you open a card with a zero-percent A.P.R and then don’t transfer a balance over for a few months, you likely just lost out. “There’s often a deadline, generally 60 or 90 days, under which you have to make the transfer,” says Schulz. You also have to commit to doing the math when it comes to rewards to make sure the card’s annual fee is justified. If you pay $450 for a Chase Sapphire Reserve card but don’t travel much, you’re not recouping the cost.
Weston and Schulz agree: Your number-one job as a credit card user is to pay the balance in full every month. Contrary to popular belief, carrying a balance does not improve your credit score. In fact, the three major credit reporting agencies like to see a utilization rate of less than 30 percent of your available credit. To boost your score into “excellent” territory, you need to push that utilization percentage down into the single digits or teens, max, says Schulz.
What happens if you do screw up? As much as you might want to pretend the card doesn’t exist, you have to ask for help—immediately, says Weston. “The worst thing the credit card company could say is no, and there may be options you don’t know about, such as a payment plan if you can’t handle your debt or a fee that can be offset,” she says.
September 30, 2016 – 2:00pm
Feeling stressed about money? You’re not the only one. According to the American Psychological Association, money is the number one case of stress for Americans, with 67 percent of people ‘fessing up that they’re stressed about their finances and, according to a 2016 study from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, more than a quarter of you worry about money every single day. This is no way to live.
Sure, paying the bills is stressful, but we’ve got some awesome ways to conquer the tension.
Our society sends the message that talk of money should be quiet, but there are plenty of professionals who can help. A fiduciary financial professional can work in your best interest (find a financial planner here or a financial counselor or coach here). Or, if you suspect that the problems are more complex, and if you think your financial issues intertwine with emotions, insecurities, past experiences, or relationship conflicts, consider speaking with a financial therapist, says Megan Ford, a financial therapist at the University of Georgia and the president of the Financial Therapy Association.
You should have a minimum of two savings accounts, says Mary Bell Carlson, principal at Silverbell Solutions, LLC, a financial counseling and consulting firm. One should be your emergency fund, and you should strive to have three to six months of living expenses in this one, Carlson says.
Next, she recommends that clients have a life fund, which is a savings account for the things that are always due: insurance premiums, quarterly water bills, car maintenance, personal property taxes, and others. “This account is attached to your checking account, and allows you to transfer the funds when the bills come due, but it helps you save for these expenses throughout the year,” she says.
You may feel like you’re always stressed about money, but start to pay attention to when your stress is the strongest, says Anne Malec, a financial therapist in Chicago at Symmetry Counseling. For example, if your money stress is at its peak when a stack of bills is sitting on the counter or in your email inbox, commit to making a habit of opening bills as they arrive, and keep a running tally of what will be owed at the end of the month, or decide to pay specific bills before the last day of the month, she says.
“The goal is to maintain awareness of monthly debts so that you are not overwhelmed by their totality at month’s end,” Malec says. The point is that if you can figure out when exactly the money stress is hitting you, then you can figure out how to combat it. “Try to see the stress as a warning sign that your finances need more attention,” Malec says.
Small, manageable goals are easier to achieve than long-shot goals, Malec says. “If you feel you are behind in saving for retirement, and this causes you stress, commit to change to get serious about savings, which will mean reducing your spending or increasing your income or both,” she says.
First, spend time on your budget to determine where you can cut, and get creative. Bring your lunch to work, cut back on Uber trips, put your health club membership on hold, cut back on restaurants. “It will be an adjustment, but your future self will be grateful,” Malec says.
A lot of financial stress is caused by simply not knowing where your money is going, Carlson says. “I call this the ostrich with its head in the sand syndrome,” she says. “Somehow, we think that if we ignore the financial problem, it will simply go away.” Carlson encourages clients to estimate their income and expenses before the month starts, then track their spending throughout the month to see how realistic their estimates were. “This helps the client know where their money is going, and helps them make active and engaged decisions on what changes need to be made,” Carlson says.
September 29, 2016 – 2:00pm
Ready to sell your old furniture? Dark photos and sketchy details won’t find you any buyers. To get the most money for those pieces and get them out of your house quickly, just follow these steps.
First, turn off the flash, says Anne Doherty, owner of Annie’s Attic, who purchases older furniture, refurbishes it, and sells it in Illinois. “Natural lighting is better than flash, so as to capture the true color and not create any dramatic shadows or spotlights, which may be caused by forced lighting or camera flashes.” Most of her shots are taken head-on and at eye level, and she includes detail pictures taken at a slight angle in her listings.
It’s important to include a photograph of your furniture in a lifestyle setting (in addition to a product photo on a white background), says Dayna Winter, content marketer at Shopify. “This helps to show scale, which is important—it’s hard to really picture the size of a couch from measurements,” Winter says.
There’s an entire book dedicated to parsing the way we talk about furniture: Furniture Phraseology: 842 Furniture Phrases to Help Sell Furniture Online and Offline. That’s how important it is to describe the pieces accurately, says Willie Davis, who wrote the book and was a marketing consultant in the home furnishings industry for 19 years.
Some of the phrases he concocted include: “Finely crafted drawers, roomy and deep enough to store your linens and flatware;” and “The beauty of a pedestal table—but built solidly enough to handle the bumps and jostles of family dinners night after night.” The key is to go beyond simply stating what the piece is and to really make the potential buyer fall in love with it, to make them envision their flatware inside of it.
Identify the furniture’s design in the description, says Harry Rinker, a national antiques and collectibles expert. Is it Mid-Century Modern? Art Nouveau? When was it made? Who manufactured it? Since many people are searching for a specific style, they’ll enter those terms when they’re searching. The more specific you get, the better.
There are specific websites designed for furniture-selling, so if you’ve tried Craigslist without any luck, try these:
AptDeco
This site only sells secondhand furniture, and it focuses on antiques, mid-century, and current finds. It’s free to list, and you’ll pay a 23 percent commission for every item you sell. You can offer a free local pick-up, or the buyer can pay a $35 fee to have it delivered.
Viyet
Operating in large cities across the Northeast, California, Florida, and more, this company comes to your home to photograph and list your unwanted furniture. Once you approve Viyet’s suggested pricing of your items, the company will begin to advertise your wares. If your furniture sells, you keep 50 percent of the profits. As an added perk, Viyet will also store your furniture in its warehouse before it sells, should you so desire.
Krrb
You can sell furniture locally through this site, which also aggregates listings found on eBay and Etsy. There’s no commission, but they require credits to list your items—and you have to buy or earn these credits (you can earn credits by completing your profile, shopping on the site, or sharing on social media).
Chairish
Upload a photo of your item (furniture here is pretty high-end), and have it approved. Once sold, you’ll get 80 percent of the sale price, and Chairish will arrange the shipping. The buyer will have 48 hours to return the item.
September 28, 2016 – 4:00am
If you’ve spent September (a.k.a. National Yoga Month) hitting the mat and want to keep up the routine of stretching and centering yourself, packing your bags for a yoga retreat can be a great option. You’ll take part in regular classes (often two a day) with a relaxing setting to help you unwind. For those reasons, these kinds of retreats have become big business in recent years—in fact, wellness travel in general makes up about 14 percent of all tourism spending worldwide, according to a 2013 study by the Global Wellness Institute [PDF].
Going on vacation to do yoga might seem like it’s only for people who are super-bendy and totally Zen and spend hours hanging out in downward dog. But a lot of resorts and companies offer packages that are open to newbies. You can work on your sun salutations in the morning and then go surfing, try some new dance moves, head for a hike, or take serious advantage of happy hour. Here are four brands that host awesome retreats—both across the country and abroad—that boast all kinds of fun extras.
These three-day retreats, organized by outdoor gear giant REI, offer a little something awesome for all women who love getting outside. Get your blood flowing during daily yoga sessions led by PrAna athletes and instructors, then pick and choose which activities excite you. Into nature? Go kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking, or learn about wilderness survival. A little more laid-back? Try your hand at photography on a relaxing hike, learn about map and compass basics, or enjoy a class about essential oils. Whatever your adventure, you’ll stay fueled up with meals fresh from local farms, then camp out or opt to spend your nights in a nearby hotel. Travelers this year headed to Lake Tahoe, California, and Powder Mountain near Salt Lake City.
If there’s a little bit cowgirl in you, these four- to seven-day trips are the retreats for you. You’ll enjoy the fresh mountain air of various locations in Montana while you move through an energizing practice every morning and a restorative session each evening (before heading off to sleep in luxe lodging); plus, you’ll also get active with hiking and horseback riding. (If you’re looking for a different destination, you’re in luck—the company boasts a few special trips to Costa Rica and Philo, California, as well.)
Choose a getaway to Yellowstone and you can relax in the national park’s natural hot springs in between your classes on the mat. Other activities to choose from, depending on the package you pick, include wine tasting, and Nordic skiing, as well as pottery-making and journaling to boost your creativity.
This popular yoga studio chain (it boasts more than 150 outposts around the U.S.) hosts getaways that combine stretching with adventure in scenic destinations like the Red Rocks in Denver. This November, they’re leading a week-long trip to hotspot Tulum, Mexico.
Each day, they’ll lead you through two 75- to 90-minute yoga sessions (which incorporate light weights and cardio bursts), plus guided meditation each morning. In between your bouts on the mat, you can take up all kinds of eco-adventures—hike the nearby Mayan ruins, try a tour, or go snorkeling. Some extra R&R more your speed? Book some healing bodywork at the Maya Tulum spa before heading to an ocean- or garden-view bungalow for the night.
If you couldn’t tell from the name alone, this company’s excursions are far from the typical relaxing retreat. For one thing, you can expect to trade in those nature sounds and that New Age-y music for upbeat playlists including tunes from artists like Outkast and Led Zeppelin. Instructors lead you through yoga and meditation classes, but then you can take on fun extra activities—like hiking, stand-up paddleboarding, and dancing—based on your interests and where you go (some recent locales include Croatia, Ireland, and Cuba). During the upcoming December trip to Cuba, for instance, you can spend your time in between twice-daily yoga sessions hitting the beach in Havana, taking a nostalgic car tour, going on a walking tour of the old city, and visiting a tobacco farm.
September 23, 2016 – 12:00pm