Okay, not really, but I thought of the malevolent computer from the science fiction classic 2001 when I tried renewing the insurance on Ms. Ktnomics' Vespa earlier. It may be quicker mailing in the $23 than resetting my password on the insurance company's site.
It also reminded me we've all been seeing a lot more commercials recently for online auto insurance providers stressing their really low premium costs. Recently about one in five new auto insurance sales has taken place entirely on the Internet, according to JDPower.com, the nation's premier tallier of everything automotive.
Online seller Progressive Direct is the 7th biggest carrier in Kansas and 11th largest in Missouri, though giants State Farm, Allstate, Geico and Farm Bureau have more than half the market in both states. The big companies work the web too, but in coordination with brick and mortar stores that online providers like eSurance and Insurance 21 shun entirely.
Someone is selling enough low cost, no frills auto insurance to help pull premium costs down from levels earlier this year, though we are still paying more than a year ago. How good is it? As always, it depends on the specific company. Asking your friends and checking complaint reports filed with regulators is still a good move.
And while you are driving, watch out for drivers who are trying super hard - and illegally - to save money. Maybe one driver in six currently on the road might be driving without a license, the Insurance Research Council estimates.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Cashless clunker buyers prepare to fight back
Uncle Sam's cash for clunkers program officially kicks in later this week, but you can test drive some deals now. Two different things are happening that make comparison shopping a lot more interesting than it was just a few weeks ago.
First, those remarkably nimble marketers at Hyundai are already offering clunker cash along with $1.49 a gallon gas and other incentives. The South Korean auto giant has been fronting dealers money for almost a month to spur market share. It's working, The New York Times and trade press report. Other automakers are waiting to make sure how they'll get money back from the program. Meantime, Chrysler said it is doubling the government offer on some of its cars.
Second, Detroit, which still is surfing a tsumami of foreign competitors on various best buy lists, appears to have some additional new competition. AutoRemarketer.com, among others, reports that bankruptcy-jilted Chrysler and -General Motors dealers now selling used cars as independents, will be working to snap up their share of pent-up consumer demand.
So for consumers, we're back to square one in the buy-new-or-used-debate. Do we go with new car perks and incentives or money saving, depreciation adjusted, used car values? The rules haven't changed. The numbers might. Gentlemen, start your calculators.
First, those remarkably nimble marketers at Hyundai are already offering clunker cash along with $1.49 a gallon gas and other incentives. The South Korean auto giant has been fronting dealers money for almost a month to spur market share. It's working, The New York Times and trade press report. Other automakers are waiting to make sure how they'll get money back from the program. Meantime, Chrysler said it is doubling the government offer on some of its cars.
Second, Detroit, which still is surfing a tsumami of foreign competitors on various best buy lists, appears to have some additional new competition. AutoRemarketer.com, among others, reports that bankruptcy-jilted Chrysler and -General Motors dealers now selling used cars as independents, will be working to snap up their share of pent-up consumer demand.
So for consumers, we're back to square one in the buy-new-or-used-debate. Do we go with new car perks and incentives or money saving, depreciation adjusted, used car values? The rules haven't changed. The numbers might. Gentlemen, start your calculators.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Oh, crap. Retirement looms
Ever notice how many of the kids in your high school yearbook have goofy haircuts?
I thought of that recently when I ran across a 10-year-old AARP survey of what I and my fellow first-wave baby boomers expected retirement to be like. It's a hoot. Eight in 10 of us planned to work, at least part time, after we hit 65 just to keep active and perhaps to provide breaks between some serious recreational plans.
Reality is different, of course. First, growing numbers are being pushed into retirement sooner than we planned, the Employee Benefits Research Institute recently reported. Second, many of us aren't financially ready for that shock. Our savings rates, until recently, have been abysmal. And a $6 trillion housing market meltdown threatens to leave many first wave boomers with little more than Social Security and Medicare to get by on, the Center for Economic and Policy Research calculates.
So, chances are many of us will try staying in the workforce longer, but not for the reasons we told AARP back in 1999. More of us than we imagined will be trying to pay off credit cards that we haven't yet maxed out, say pollsters at Securian Financial Group.
I already posted a few months ago how this changed the way I'm handling some of my own plans for retirement income. Now, The Motley Fool's Robert Brokamp, posting on the Get Rich Slowly site, finds that this situation may be changing the whole notion of retirement. But we've heard that before too. And the future didn't work out the way Merrill Lynch expected either.
I wonder if our haircuts now will look funny maybe 20 years from now.
I thought of that recently when I ran across a 10-year-old AARP survey of what I and my fellow first-wave baby boomers expected retirement to be like. It's a hoot. Eight in 10 of us planned to work, at least part time, after we hit 65 just to keep active and perhaps to provide breaks between some serious recreational plans.
Reality is different, of course. First, growing numbers are being pushed into retirement sooner than we planned, the Employee Benefits Research Institute recently reported. Second, many of us aren't financially ready for that shock. Our savings rates, until recently, have been abysmal. And a $6 trillion housing market meltdown threatens to leave many first wave boomers with little more than Social Security and Medicare to get by on, the Center for Economic and Policy Research calculates.
So, chances are many of us will try staying in the workforce longer, but not for the reasons we told AARP back in 1999. More of us than we imagined will be trying to pay off credit cards that we haven't yet maxed out, say pollsters at Securian Financial Group.
I already posted a few months ago how this changed the way I'm handling some of my own plans for retirement income. Now, The Motley Fool's Robert Brokamp, posting on the Get Rich Slowly site, finds that this situation may be changing the whole notion of retirement. But we've heard that before too. And the future didn't work out the way Merrill Lynch expected either.
I wonder if our haircuts now will look funny maybe 20 years from now.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Reverse mortgages -- strangling on a life line
Like many of us, I sometimes thought about using a reverse mortgage as a backs-to-the-wall post-recession defense against old age poverty. Then I did the math. Stockpiling cat food is more appealing.
That won't be true for everyone, of course. Reverse mortgages can be nifty way for homeowners who are 62 or older to pull equity out of their homes to meet living expenses. How nifty depends on their ages, the value of their homes and what other choices they have to meet their income needs. Those are different for each of us. AARP has a handy calculator to help you run your own numbers.
But if you are a 63-year-old thinking of pulling, say, $190,000 out of a modest suburban home, the numbers are not pretty. After you lop out closing costs, mortgage insurance and other fees - which can be hefty, as critics warn - what's left is either a lump sum or credit line somewhere between $55,700 and $84,920 or a monthly payment between $417 to $524. The difference depends on whether you go with a fixed rate or variable loan.
The money is tax free, which is good. But where I live the low end of my potential monthly payout barely covers property taxes and upkeep needed to get the loan in the first place. And pulling money out of your house might complicate your eligibility for Medicaid or other programs that might be more valuable.
Those are just some of many questions you need to think through before considering such a loan. Bottom line - using our homes as ATM machines didn't work out before. We don't want to get stuck in a similar jam again.
That won't be true for everyone, of course. Reverse mortgages can be nifty way for homeowners who are 62 or older to pull equity out of their homes to meet living expenses. How nifty depends on their ages, the value of their homes and what other choices they have to meet their income needs. Those are different for each of us. AARP has a handy calculator to help you run your own numbers.
But if you are a 63-year-old thinking of pulling, say, $190,000 out of a modest suburban home, the numbers are not pretty. After you lop out closing costs, mortgage insurance and other fees - which can be hefty, as critics warn - what's left is either a lump sum or credit line somewhere between $55,700 and $84,920 or a monthly payment between $417 to $524. The difference depends on whether you go with a fixed rate or variable loan.
The money is tax free, which is good. But where I live the low end of my potential monthly payout barely covers property taxes and upkeep needed to get the loan in the first place. And pulling money out of your house might complicate your eligibility for Medicaid or other programs that might be more valuable.
Those are just some of many questions you need to think through before considering such a loan. Bottom line - using our homes as ATM machines didn't work out before. We don't want to get stuck in a similar jam again.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Chump change from the credit card companies.
Our credit card cash-back earnings hit 63 cents this week. I expected rewards to go down as lenders and borrowers brace for new credit card regulations to kick in a few months from now. But 63 cents barely gets you change back from a senior-price cup of coffee. Sheesh.
Actually, there's more than the new credit card regulations going on here. We consumers are becoming more frugal, whether by choice, as Harris pollsters recently found, or because we have to, as the Federal Reserve reports.
Banks and credit card companies are scrambling to save as many billions of potentially lost dollars as they can before the full changes kick in, writes David Lazarus of The Los Angeles Times. So watch your mail the next several weeks for big changes and small ones that are in the works.
And start planning now how you might change some credit card habits as the new rules start kicking in. Many of our first impulses may actually make things worse, says John Ulzheimer of Credit.com. What you may want to do instead is diversify your credit card usage, adds Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs.com.
But don't go nuts, advises CNN Money. As always, you want to keep a healthy distance between the amount of credit you use and the amount that is available but which you don't use.
Actually, there's more than the new credit card regulations going on here. We consumers are becoming more frugal, whether by choice, as Harris pollsters recently found, or because we have to, as the Federal Reserve reports.
Banks and credit card companies are scrambling to save as many billions of potentially lost dollars as they can before the full changes kick in, writes David Lazarus of The Los Angeles Times. So watch your mail the next several weeks for big changes and small ones that are in the works.
And start planning now how you might change some credit card habits as the new rules start kicking in. Many of our first impulses may actually make things worse, says John Ulzheimer of Credit.com. What you may want to do instead is diversify your credit card usage, adds Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs.com.
But don't go nuts, advises CNN Money. As always, you want to keep a healthy distance between the amount of credit you use and the amount that is available but which you don't use.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Cars that no one wants are worth buying
OK, maybe not Hummers so much. Gas prices are still dodgy. And I don't get warm and fuzzy about anything that reminds me of riding in Army trucks.
But analysts at Consumer Reports and elsewhere are arguing that the auto brands that General Motors and Chrysler are tossing into their financial scrap yards are good deals for anyone who wants to buy a new car and keep it.
We've been through this before, as Bankrate Monitor's five years ago elegy for Oldsmobile buyers reminds us. Someone will be around to provide parts and service, though some warranty work might require driving farther.
The killer for many car buyers is resale value. It drops like stone when dealers start ripping auto names off their walls, report services such as Edmunds.com or Kelley Blue Book.
You can make that work for you, say observers such as Sylvia Cochran at Associated Content. Buy cheap now because dealers are really motivated to move discontinued models. Realize you won't get squat for a trade-in. Drive it until the wheels come off.
The analysts don't say so, but I can see one big challenge to preplanning a future clunker. That's selling the idea of a fuel-sipping Saturn to a 16-year-old new driver in your house. Guaranteed eye-rolling, no matter how you pitch it.
But analysts at Consumer Reports and elsewhere are arguing that the auto brands that General Motors and Chrysler are tossing into their financial scrap yards are good deals for anyone who wants to buy a new car and keep it.
We've been through this before, as Bankrate Monitor's five years ago elegy for Oldsmobile buyers reminds us. Someone will be around to provide parts and service, though some warranty work might require driving farther.
The killer for many car buyers is resale value. It drops like stone when dealers start ripping auto names off their walls, report services such as Edmunds.com or Kelley Blue Book.
You can make that work for you, say observers such as Sylvia Cochran at Associated Content. Buy cheap now because dealers are really motivated to move discontinued models. Realize you won't get squat for a trade-in. Drive it until the wheels come off.
The analysts don't say so, but I can see one big challenge to preplanning a future clunker. That's selling the idea of a fuel-sipping Saturn to a 16-year-old new driver in your house. Guaranteed eye-rolling, no matter how you pitch it.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tres chic, tres cheap
Here's another head-scratcher from the recession front. Better stuff is showing up in second-hand and thrift stores these days. Some shoppers complain it's getting pricey.
Ms. Ktnomics and I checked out some familiar stores and a couple new ones this weekend. It was too hot and wet outside to garden or tackle some house painting I need to get to. We saw a $6.99 designer sports jacket that looks a lot better than a no-name I need to replace, a virtually new Brooks Brothers suit for under $10 and whole lot of other stuff for $5 and under that we would have snapped up not long ago. But not now. We also saw stuff priced for almost what department stores charge on closeouts.
Time magazine, among others, has been tracking many changes that thrift and the recession are bringing to retailers. Suburban malls that once lusted after names such as Saks or Macy's now hail organizations like Savers or Maj-R Thrift instead.
Shopping second hand is a bit different than hitting the mall used to be, though I don't agree with some of the advice Reader's Digest recently published. It suggests focusing on stores in nice neighborhoods. I usually have better luck looking for relative clusters of stores and going with first impressions among the choices there. Shopping second hand stores also is a lot like going to farm or household auctions when I was a kid. Some days you see bargains and some days you simply need to wait until another time.
Two things have changed. The Internet makes it a lot easier to find both for-profit resellers and non-profit resale centers. Unfortunately, the same wired-technology also makes it easier for lenders to see where you shop if you use plastic. Some reportedly get antsy if suddenly words such as Salvation and Army pop up. So pay cash. It's also a good way rein in impulse spending if you stumble into a bargain bonanza.
Ms. Ktnomics and I checked out some familiar stores and a couple new ones this weekend. It was too hot and wet outside to garden or tackle some house painting I need to get to. We saw a $6.99 designer sports jacket that looks a lot better than a no-name I need to replace, a virtually new Brooks Brothers suit for under $10 and whole lot of other stuff for $5 and under that we would have snapped up not long ago. But not now. We also saw stuff priced for almost what department stores charge on closeouts.
Time magazine, among others, has been tracking many changes that thrift and the recession are bringing to retailers. Suburban malls that once lusted after names such as Saks or Macy's now hail organizations like Savers or Maj-R Thrift instead.
Shopping second hand is a bit different than hitting the mall used to be, though I don't agree with some of the advice Reader's Digest recently published. It suggests focusing on stores in nice neighborhoods. I usually have better luck looking for relative clusters of stores and going with first impressions among the choices there. Shopping second hand stores also is a lot like going to farm or household auctions when I was a kid. Some days you see bargains and some days you simply need to wait until another time.
Two things have changed. The Internet makes it a lot easier to find both for-profit resellers and non-profit resale centers. Unfortunately, the same wired-technology also makes it easier for lenders to see where you shop if you use plastic. Some reportedly get antsy if suddenly words such as Salvation and Army pop up. So pay cash. It's also a good way rein in impulse spending if you stumble into a bargain bonanza.
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