Will an extra fee boost travel costs outside the U.S.?
Going on a summer vacation is supposed to be a stress reducer. But the average American family is likely to spend $2,936 on vacation this summer — including taking on roughly $600 in extra debt, according to a MagnifyMoney survey.
Plenty of us will pull out the credit cards and the excuses to tell ourselves that we’re worth it.But there are some savvy ways to avoid a budget buster this vacation season.
Can you reconsider when you travel — and see if you can cash in on those rewards points?
Such flexibility can be necessary if you’d like to tap into rewards points when booking a hotel room or airline flight.
Some points to consider with those rewards programs: Can you use a combination of points — and some cash — to reduce your out-of-pocket costs for a hotel or plane ticket?
Also, pay attention to any resort fees, cancellation charges or other fees that you might be charged.
If you plan to use your credit card in Toronto this summer or even take a trip overseas, take time to find out whether your card has any transaction fees for spending outside the U.S.
“Foreign transaction fees usually range between 2 percent to 3 percent, so they can really add up,” said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com.
Both credit cards and debit cards can charge foreign transaction fees on each transaction in U.S. dollars. Some issuers — including Capital One and Discover — do not have foreign transaction fees on their credit cards. The BankAmericard Travel Rewards card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Barclaycard JetBlue card — and some other Barclaycards — also do not charge foreign transaction fees.
Do you have any kind travel insurance on your credit cards?
Believe it or not, about 36 percent of the credit cards analyzed offer protection to cardholders if their luggage is lost, according to research by WalletHub.
The average policy offers coverage of $1,750 for lost luggage, according to Jill Gonzalez, an analyst for WalletHub. Some even offer insurance if your luggage is delayed. Terms vary by issuer.
For lost and delayed luggage, some of the better cards include Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase JP Morgan Reserve and Citi Prestige Card, according to WalletHub.
Some cards also offer reimbursement in the event of canceled trips and travel-related accidents.
Can you tap into a credit card deal before you go on vacation?
Maybe. Some hefty, five-digit bonus offers exist on cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard and Capital One Venture Rewards, according to WalletHub.com.
But you’re going to need to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening the account to qualify for many of these deals that can trigger 40,000 or 50,000 in bonus rewards or miles. To get the best deal, try to opt for travel rewards that you realistically will be able to redeem in 12 to 18 months, so there’s no risk of seeing a devaluation of your points.
“Boomerang” PHILADELPHIA — kids returning home? Get ready for stress and dissatisfaction.
Adult children moving back with their parents is so common a phenomenon that it has inspired Hollywood movies (witness “Failure to Launch” with Matthew McConaughey). Credit the financial crisis and the slow economic recovery that has followed.
One in nine parents surveyed by Fidelity and Stanford University’s Center on Longevity said their offspring had returned “to the nest” in the last year. Sixty-eight percent of those parents reported they were more stressed, and more than half said they were less happy (53 percent), less satisfied (54 percent) and had less leisure time (53 percent). Nor did parents report those housemates coming cheap: Seventy-six percent of respondents said they faced higher expenses.
Health impacts were significant for women, with 46 percent reporting sleeping worse and 40 percent reporting gaining weight.
Fidelity and the Stanford Center surveyed more than 9,000 retirement-plan participants still employed full time to understand how major life events affected a person’s health and wealth and overall happiness.
“This research reinforces that a key component of living long and living well is about navigating life events that can impact a person’s finances, health, career, overall happiness and ultimately their overall well-being, conclusions supported by the Stanford Center on Longevity’s own Sightlines Project,” said Tamara Sims, director of the Sightlines Project.
Adult children moving home can range in age from Generation X to younger millennials. But the latest data show that more 18- to 34-year-olds live with a parent than with a spouse, according to an April report from the U.S. Census Bureau.
That report, “The Changing Economics and Demographics of Young Adulthood: 1975–2016,” found that boomeranging adult children represented a major shift from the 1970s, when young people were more than twice as likely to live with spouses.
Most of those who live at home today, but neither work nor study, have high school diplomas or less, and about one-fifth have children. Half are white, and the majority are male. About a quarter have disabilities, the data show.
“Almost nine in 10 young people who were living in their parents’ home a year ago are still living there today, making it the most stable living arrangement for young adults,” the report said. “In 2005, the majority of young people lived independently in their own household (either alone, with a spouse or an unmarried partner), which was the predominant living arrangement in 35 states. By 2015 — just a decade later — only six states had a majority of young people living independently.”
Brooke Willmes, a lawyer and real estate agent with Space & Co, observed: “There’s growing pains, especially when you have two generations of adults with their own ways of doing things.”
“When kids move into the parents’ house, the parents still rule. That can be really challenging when you have children,” said Willmes.
To prevent their adult children from moving home, some boomers are buying them real estate outright.
Elizabeth Convery of Very Real Estate in Philadelphia recently completed a deal in which parents bought a large house near a college campus for their son, who is in medical school.
“The parents are able to collect rent from his roommate friends, pay off the mortgage, and use it as a place to have their money work for them that’s different than the stock market,” Convery said.
Another couple bought a condo for their daughter who had just graduated — and the parents had only seen the property online, Convery said. (They were retired and living in Hawaii.) “We did a lot of touring on FaceTime, but the daughter and her friend picked it. The parents flew in for the home inspection and wrote the check.”