REFINANCE

Monday, February 1, 2016

What to Buy (and Skip) in February

February brings Valentine’s Day, which often means buying flowers and other gifts on top of your more usual purchases. With so many things to buy, you need to ensure that your pocketbook won’t feel the pinch.

Use this list as your guide to everything you should buy (and skip) in the month of February.

Buy: TVs

February is Super Bowl month, which means shoppers are searching for discounts on big-screen TVs ahead of their viewing parties.

Handily, the beginning of the year is traditionally one of the best times to purchase a new home entertainment item. Sales have already begun at Amazon, Best Buy and Target, among others.

Skip: Jewelry

Retailers and jewelry stores will try to entice you with Valentine’s Day-inspired sale events this month, but these discounts aren’t as deep as the ones you’ll find during other parts of the year.

If you absolutely have to get your sweetheart something shiny this Feb. 14, compare prices and don’t be afraid to negotiate the cost.

Buy: Winter products

February is typically still chilly, but with the season winding down, stores are eager to unload winter products and fill shelves with merchandise better suited for sunshine.

That makes this month a good time to score big savings on winter clothing, winter sports gear and more. You may not have much time left to use your finds this season, but you’ll be prepared when next winter rolls around. Search for these clearance events at outdoors stores like Cabela’s, as well as department stores like Macy’s.

Skip: Mattresses

If you’re in the market for a new mattress, don’t buy it in February. You’d be better off choosing one later in the year, when you can take advantage of Memorial Day or Labor Day sales.

Shop smart all year long with our guide for What to Buy Every Month of the Year in 2016.

Buy: Home goods

Presidents’ Day falls on Feb. 15. And if this year is like previous years, expect popular retailers to host holiday sales — many of which focus on home goods, such as bedding and small kitchen appliances.

Last year, we saw deals at retailers including Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney. For instance, J.C. Penney offered discounts of up to 50% on select home products.

Skip: Small electronics

Finally, avoid purchasing small consumer electronics this month. Items such as laptops, computers, tablets and video game consoles are best bought in November, during Black Friday sales.

If you’re hoping for a great deal on a smartphone, consider waiting until after September. That’s when Apple is expected to release its newest iPhone and lower prices on older models.

Courtney Jespersen is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: courtney@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @courtneynerd.

Image via iStock.

Which Super Bowl Team’s Stadium Investment Pays Off the Most?

With more than 100 million fans expected to tune in to watch Super Bowl 50 on TV, and attendees paying thousands of dollars to be at the game in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, all the excitement puts a spotlight on football’s status as a mega-business — a $45-billion-a-year one.

While big games and winning seasons are emotional highs for die-hard fans, they are monetary assets for owners. Longer seasons and higher attendance rates translate to more revenue, and winning teams can often fetch richer sponsorship deals.

That got us wondering whether Super Bowl opponents the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers bring in enough to cover the cost of their stadiums, which are used for two preseason and eight regular-season home games a year — not counting playoff games. Just for fun, we took an in-depth look at the economics of each franchise’s largest investment: its stadium.

Stadium ‘mortgage’ matchup

Treating stadium revenue as income and construction costs as mortgage debt, we calculated what the debt-to-income ratio would be for stadiums if they were the “homes” of their teams, which had to pay off their debt the way individuals pay off a 30-year mortgage. The debt-to-income ratio is a comparison of a person’s monthly debt payment to his or her monthly income. The lower the ratio, the more a stadium is worth its mortgage price. Conventional wisdom says individuals should not exceed a 33% debt-to-income ratio.

To further determine the financial health of the Super Bowl participants, we looked at the median price per square foot of homes in Denver, Colorado, and Charlotte, North Carolina, and examined whether their stadiums were built below or above cost, as compared with an ordinary home. Lastly, we broke down stadium revenue into the two largest components: ticket sales and naming rights.

Here’s how the Panthers and the Broncos stack up in terms of which team’s stadium investment earns the title of paying off the most.

superbowl-2016-infographic_v6

Notes on methodology

Stadium construction costs, capacity, and ticket prices and gate receipts for the 2014-15 season came from the annual evaluations done by Forbes’ “The Business of Football.” Annual interest rates for 30-year fixed mortgages came from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Stadium square footage came from the websites of stadiums themselves. Details on naming rights came from Sports Business Journal.

To calculate monthly mortgage costs, we used a 30-year fixed rate, treating the construction cost of a stadium as the principal, and the historical interest rate for the year the stadium opened. To get stadium revenue, we calculated “local revenue” based on statistics from “The Business of Football.” Special thanks to professor Victor Matheson of the College of the Holy Cross, who consulted on stadium financing.

Kamran Rosen is a data analyst at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: kamran@nerdwallet.com.

Image of Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High via iStock.

Passive Income Streams: Jan 2016 Report

Man, did the first month of 2016 go by fast or is it just me? It is amazing how fast one month goes by when you don’t plan out what you want to accomplish. Even when you set goals and work towards accomplishing something it is still amazing how time flies.

January has been another productive month and I saw a wide variance in some of my income sources. The nice thing is that certain incomes helped recoup losses in others. Another reason to have not just one income source! Here is a summary of January’s totals in comparison to last month’s.

As you can see my income was down slightly, but only by about $50. I was pleased overall with my performance, and the launch of our Two Checking Account Course. We partnered with a great bank, Northpointe Bank, that is offering a fabulous 5% interest checking account, which is pretty much unheard of. Here is a break down of how our Two Checking Account Course and my other income strea

Pension – [2016 Goal – $1308] – rinse, wash, and repeat! Another $109 in the bank!
Peer-to-Peer Lending – [2016 Goal – $100] – now on month #3 of investing in LendingClub.com. I was able to take my $24 from egg sales last month and invest it in lendingclub. A great example of one passive income feeding another.
Egg Sales – [2016 Goal – $360] – as I wrote about back in January, my chickens went on a egg production strike and were only producing 0-1 eggs each day for about two weeks. Last week I put in a couple of heat lamps and
Blog Income – [2016 Goal – $6000] – I shot pretty high for a yearly goal of $6000, and January started off on the right foot. Netted above $500, which I need per month in order to get to my goal, and made $630.
Two Checking Account System – [2016 Goal – $500] – we launched the two checking account system on January 6th and have had ____ people signup for the course! We were able to have a significant number of readers that signed up for the 5% interest checking account, which benefited both them and us. I don’t have any totals to report yet until the revenue acutally hits our books. Be sure to check out Northpointe and get 5% interest and a $50 signing bonus for funding your new checking account. Make sure you tell them that ThreeThriftyGuys sent you, so you can score the $50 signing bonus!
Schwab Monthly Income Fund – [2016 Goal – invest $1200 and make $100] – invested $100 automatically from the proceeds I had in the previous month of selling some gold/silver. Didn’t receive my first dividend, so I’m going to have to look into this! Maybe there is a minimum on the getting a dividend.
Ebay/Craigslist/Coin Sales – [2016 Goal – $500] – sold a 1881 Morgan Silver dollar on Ebay for $63 and listed one of my Ooma Wireless Adapters on Amazon and made $34. Lastly, I had a neighbor give us a US Fedaral Reserve Booklet of four uncut $2 bills with a production certificate. Sold it on Ebay for a quick $24 on auction after fees. I had a few other items listed on both Craigslist and Ebay, but they didn’t sell. I think everyone was trying to recover from the heavy Christmas spending, so I have to assume online sales might be slow.

As you can see, we are making slow and stead progress to stay on target with our 2016 goals. The import thing to do is daily remind yourself of what are you aiming towards and focus your actions each day on getting towards there. On top of that it is important to see your monthly goals frequently, so that you don’t quickly forget.

So how are you coming on your 2016 goals? What struggles or successes are you having in reaching them? Share your story below in the comments section! We’d love to hear from you!