EU roaming charges drop sharply on Saturday

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Mobile phone roaming fees in the EU will fall sharply on Saturday, the last step before they are abolished completely for Europeans next year.

The European Union will scrap phone roaming charges outright on June 15, 2017 ending fees loathed by millions of holidaymakers and business travellers across Europe.

“We’re in the home stretch now before the end of roaming charges in 2017,” Andrus Ansip, the European Commission’s Vice President for the digital single market, said on Friday.

“This is not only about Europeans saving money, this is about bringing down barriers in the digital single market”.

With Saturday’s change, European users travelling on the continent will pay no more than an extra 0.05 euros per minute for calls, 0.02 euros per SMS and 0.05 per megabyte of data.

Currently, the cap is more than triple that at 0.19 euros per minute for calls, 0.06 euros per SMS and 0.20 euros per megabyte of data.

“We welcome the slashing of roaming prices,” said Monique Goyens, head of the European Consumer Organisation.

“Today’s consumers do not understand why crossing a border in Europe has to result in soaring phone and internet costs,” she said.

The end of roaming charges is a key element of the EU’s effort to create a far more unified market in Europe, especially for digital and communication services.

The EU mooted plans last year that would allow travellers to get online streaming services like Netflix or BBC iPlayer when abroad, something currently blocked.

source: interaksyon.com

Do You Spend Too Much on Insurance Each Month?

Most people overpay for their insurance coverage. It’s unfortunate, but insurance agents aren’t always motivated to save you money. They’re motivated to sell you more insurance. Because of this, you might end up with riders you don’t need, insurance coverage that doesn’t make sense, deductibles that are too low, and an insurer who has the split responsibility of pleasing you and outside shareholders. Here’s how to save money without sacrificing coverage:  












Unnecessary Riders

Most agents have riders that they love to sell people. It’s sort of a “personal favorite” of the agent – but you may not need them. A rider is a modification to the basic policy. It modifies the policy to include some type of coverage not normally found in the basic contract.

While some riders could be beneficial, many aren’t. Take accidental death riders for example. These pay only when you die as a result of an accident. Seems reasonable, right? There’s just one problem: the odds of you dying from an accident, by definition, are low. It’s an accident.

Moreover, even if you do become injured in an accident, a coroner may rule that you’ve died from “complications” like internal bleeding instead of the accident itself. You may survive the accident, but die due to an infection you receive in the hospital (i.e. a C.Diff infection – which is common in hospitals).

If you have ordinary life insurance, you probably don’t need the accidental death coverage offered on some auto policies.

Another problem is that you may have riders that just don’t make sense given where you live. This is especially troublesome on homeowner’s policies. For example, earthquake insurance is probably necessary if you live in California. If you live in North Dakota, however, you probably don’t need it.



Low Deductibles

Many agents try to make things easier for you by selling you on a $200 deductible. It’s low – sometimes too low. You can dramatically lower your premium by raising your deductible as high as the insurer will allow and saving the difference. Once you have enough to meet your monthly deductible amount, you can allocate that savings any way you wish.

Only raise your deductible if you plan on building up a savings to cover your higher out of pocket costs.



The Mutual Advantage

Most agents don’t advertise it, but mutual insurers are usually able to offer you a better net premium than stock companies? Why? Because mutual insurers pay dividends to policyholders. For homeowner’s insurance, this means that the insurer will refund part or all of your premium through a dividend payment if and when dividends are paid by the company.

With life insurance, your policy can grow substantially over time with the addition of dividend-funded premiums and dividend-funded additional paid-up life insurance death benefit.

Mutual insurers cannot guarantee that they will pay a dividend every year. That’s why it’s important to look at the historical dividend payments made by the company. Historical performance won’t tell you about future performance, but it will tell you the track record of the company. It’ll allow you to make a decision based on the probability of a dividend being paid in the future.

Most mutual insurers have a solid track record of paying dividends every year.



You’re Paying For Insurance On The Land

One small, little, mistake can cost you thousands on your homeowner’s insurance. When you’re having your home assessed, it’s common to include the land value in the assessment. When you give this figure to the insurer, it prices your policy accordingly. However, while a flood, earthquake, or fire might damage your property, it’s not the end of the world. You really should just be concerned about the replacement value of any structures on your property (i.e. your home, garages, etc.).

Most insurers don’t even cover landscaping, so if the value of your home includes the land, you might be paying for coverage that you’ll never see any benefit from. Have your home reassessed so that you get just the home value. Turn this figure into your insurer and watch your premium drop like a stone.

Louis Winter is a personal finance expert. He frequently writes some of his best tips on money saving blogs. To learn more click AutoInsuranceQuotes.com.

source: 20smoney.com

6 Ways To Teach Your Kids All About Money

Kids are fast learners, and one of the best lessons that we can teach them is money management. However, money management is often hard for many adults to grasp, so how can we teach our kids about money in a way that is engaging?

First, we can realize that there are opportunities to teach children about money every single day. Whether we take them with us into the bank or let them push some buttons at the ATM, they can learn simply by doing. If you are looking for more ideas, check out the 6 below.

1. Talk About It All The Time

I don’t know why (because I’m not shy about it!) but money is a taboo topic. People don’t like talking about their budgets or their debt or what they paid for their house. While I am a private person and I don’t want my future kids to know my salary, I do think that it’s important to talk about money topics. Kids can learn about investing, interest rates, banks, checking accounts, and credit cards at a very young age. Having all of these topics open for discussion will make them comfortable with money. It will also put them way ahead of the curve when it comes time for them to grow their own nest egg.

2. Teach Them To Give

While it’s important to teach children how to save, it’s equally important to teach them how to give. Whether it’s splitting their allowance with a charity of their choice or having them drop change in a donation bucket, you can teach them how lucky they are and how the money they decide to donate can be used to help others.

3. Teach Them To Earn It

Instead of giving your kids an allowance just for being your kids, why not ask them to complete certain chores around the house? This will teach them that money doesn’t drop out the sky. You actually have to work hard in order to get it.

4. Teach Them To Organize It

When kids are young, many parents decide to have two or three piggy banks. You can have one for spending, one for saving, and if you want, one for giving too. That way, every time your child receives money, they can split it between their piggy banks. When they grow older, they can get their own checking and savings accounts.

5. Set An Example

Kids watch absolutely everything we do. I remember telling my mom to “just write a check for it.” However, I had no idea what writing a check meant at the time! Show your kids how you are paying for things. Explain to them different methods. Tell them that you are buying yourself a new dress because you worked hard, and you have money in your bank account because of it. You’d be surprised what they pick up! Kids are sponges!

6. Let Them Play Games

T.Rowe Price has a fun, interactive game called The Great Piggy Bank Adventures where you can “earn money and buy cool stuff.” Kids also learn about investing and saving up for goals through the game, so it’s a great resource!

source: everythingfinanceblog.com

How to Determine How Much to Give

 Dear Dave,

We’re debt-free except for our house, and that’s on a 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage. We also have an emergency fund in place. We’d like to give back this year, and do some Secret Santa things and a little extra giving. At what point should we start giving over and above what we tithe?

-Jeremy




Dear Jeremy,

My advice would be to wait until you finish Baby Step 3, which it sounds like you’ve done. That way, you’ve paid off all of your debt, except the house, plus you have a fully-funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses.

You mentioned tithing, so I’ll cite the Scripture that says he who doesn’t take care of his family is worse than an unbeliever. I’m paraphrasing, of course, but in my mind, from a financial point of view, taking care of your family means having your emergency fund in place and being out of debt, except for your house. At that stage, you’re beginning to build wealth and you can really help others while knowing those closest to you aren’t going without.

My wife and I made the decision a long time ago to live on a certain amount of money. We apply a formula to everything above that figure for tithing and taxes. The rest we allocate for giving, saving and spending. It works great for us, but be responsible and realistic with what you have. You don’t want one of those areas to hinder the others.

-Dave

Dear Dave,

Do you have any advice for deciding which charities to give money to during the holidays?

-Danny

Dear Danny,

There are so many great organizations out there. It’s virtually impossible to pick three or four and say with any certainty they’re the best.

When it comes to choosing, I think the amount of diligence you put into the decision-making process should correspond directly to the amount of money you’re giving. There’s no reason to spend hours in exhaustive study over a $20 donation. However, you’d want to put some time and thought into research if the amount is $2,000.

In situations like this, I’d want to see full disclosure. I’d like to know the expense ratios of the organization and how much money goes toward administrative costs. Every organization has bills to pay and salaries to consider, but you don’t want overhead to eat up 90 percent of every dollar donated.

Helping a good cause is wonderful, but you’ve got to be reasonable and wise about these things. Don’t feel bad about asking to visit a site and take a tour. Lots of times you can get a feel for what’s going on by just walking around and gauging the people you encounter. Regardless, the bigger the gift, the more time you should spend investigating!

—Dave

source: foxbusiness.com

Helping Mom Save Money and Feel Independent

As we get closer to winter here in the Northwest, everyone’s minds start thinking about power outages, storms, and cold weather. Honda-EU2000i Normally we only have a few power outages each year and they traditionally don’t last very long.  Once in awhile, we get hit with horrible storms that cause power outages that can last a number of days.  Where we live, we normally don’t lose power for more than a couple days at a time but my mother’s home is a bit more remote and tends to experience power outages that can last upwards of a week in a severe storm.  Last year my mother had to go through one of those long power outages and we ultimately went over and picked her up and had her stay with my sister for a few days.

My mom is fiercely independent.  She stayed in the cold dark house for 4 days before finally giving in to our pleading to come stay in a warm house until her power was restored.  While she appreciated the hospitality, she really hated the fact that she wasn’t able to stay in her home.  Once the power was back on, she immediately started researching permanent backup power generators.  She needed the kind that automatically come on and use natural gas so she never has to worry about running out of fuel.  Her main concern was keeping the refrigerators going and keeping the gas furnace running.  It turns out that a permanent solution would have cost upwards of $5000 when you include the electrician charges.  When you are living on social security, that’s a lot of money.

A couple weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and was having trouble getting back to sleep.  I started thinking about her options and realized that for a fraction of the cost, we could buy her a small portable Honda generator (inverter) that would power a few lights, her refrigerator and her gas furnace fan.  I started to research options and found that you can buy a Honda EU2000i generator online for about $900.  As I researched further, I found plenty of videos and forum posts talking about how people had done just what my mom needed.  The beauty of it is that it’s incredibly quiet, light enough for her to carry, and can last for 9 hours on 1 gallon of fuel.  After talking with my mom, and hearing the excitement in her voice, I knew it was the right approach.

I received the generator a few days ago and am still in awe of how small and quiet it is.  I’m going to add a furnace transfer switch and test out the generator at her house over the next couple weeks.  If all goes well, she’ll be ready for any storm that mother nature throws her way.

source: everybodylovesyourmoney.com

Save on your electric bill with York

Top air-conditioner manufacturer York releases its inverter series into the market, ensuring consumers all over the country a more energy-efficient way to cool homes. With York’s commitment to building quality products for comfort, the inverter series comes at a time when being more concerned about the effect of energy consumption on the environment is at its peak.

The technology of York air-conditioners can be rooted in its history as the leader in the refrigeration industry, committed to quality and innovation since 1874. York pioneers the development of artificial ice and ultimately air-conditioning systems, and also prides itself as the brand cooling the very first air-conditioned office building in the world, the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation headquarters located in Fresno, California. Since then, York has been known to provide air-conditioning to the world’s biggest structures. The Empire State Building, the Taj Mahal and the Sydney Opera House are just some iconic venues where York air-conditioners are found.

York now makes its way into smaller places – homes which demand energy efficiency. Thanks to unparalleled research and development and quality assurance testing done by a highly trained staff of engineers who follow rigorous methods, York air-conditioners have received the most prestigious accolades from industry experts: the ACH&R News Dealer Design Gold and Silver Awards, the Best Buy Award, the Good Housekeeping Seal, and the AHR Expo Innovation Award. York eases its way into the consumer market with these top recognitions.

Traditional air-conditioners make use of compressors, which have two default settings when it comes to powering a unit: on and off. This then proves to be quite costly – the moment a unit is turned on, maximum energy is required to begin cooling, up until the moment it is shut off. What an inverter does for an air-conditioner unit is that it regulates the power supply available to operate the machine. And because the unit does not demand more power, efficiency is then met as less power is used.

When it comes to the energy efficiency of the York inverter series, up to 50 percent of energy is saved. This type of air-conditioner also starts up and cools quicker that the conventional kind, while maintaining noise-free operation from beginning to end. In addition to these inverter features, York air-conditioners all boast a sleek and modern look, which complement the interior of any home, as it goes well with any design flow. With all these factors, York becomes an ideal choice not just for people with houses, but also for condo owners who require a unit which can cool a smaller space in less time and at a lower price.

source: mb.com.ph