Being careless with your money isn’t always about spending in obvious ways.
What it boils down to is this: people often get smarter and more experienced about certain buying behaviors, while being clueless about others.
Here’s a partial list of purchases where spending carelessly is common.
Failing to compare professionals
Whether you have a financial adviser or are looking for one for the first time, it’s crucial to comparison shop.
If you’re not already, you should be working with a fiduciary adviser.
These advisers adhere to higher ethical practices when managing your finances. The fee structure they choose can impact your finances — including all-in-one hourly fees, fixed fees, performance-based fees or retainer/service fees.
Some advisers earn commissions, while others charge fees for each trade, and others get bonuses for selling specific investments or products. You don’t want that.
There are plenty of free services you can use to find vetted, fiduciary advisors. One of the most popular and widely used is Smart Asset.
Shopping without a browser extension
Shopping online probably seems like an easy way to save. After all, it’s not like driving to the store.
Yet there’s probably a promo code for whatever you’re purchasing.
If you don’t feel like searching for the code, odds are your browser extension will.
Some retailers post promo codes on their websites, and others send an occasional discount code in an email or promotional flyer.
Services like Rakuten offer an extension or browser add-on that can automatically search their database for matching promo codes — no searching necessary.
It’ll also compare prices for the same product, price match a sale item from one retailer to another retailer with the same sale item, make suggestions for cheaper alternatives, offer price alerts and track your rewards.
Real cash back rewards are waiting plus a $30 sign-up bonus. Only takes a few seconds, to start saving.
Dining out on a dime
According to federal data, average spending on food away from home is more than $3,000 per year, or more than 5% of a household’s annual spending.
Discounts and promotional offerings at restaurants — like BOGO deals, daily specials and birthday freebies — are something many restaurant-goers see and take advantage of.
And if you’re a member of a restaurant chain’s rewards program, you may earn greater savings the more you visit.
So, it makes sense to use a rewards and discounts service if you’re spending an additional few thousand dollars when you dine out.
It can be a reputable service, like AARP’s restaurant rewards program (which lets you save up to $450 per year), a rewards app or extension that finds deals for you, or a simple restaurant-hopping monthly subscription that offers discounts.
Whichever service you choose, there are plenty of ways to support your local eateries while cutting down on costs.
Not insuring appliances
Filing claims on insurance for your home isn’t as cut and dry as “something broke.”
Home insurance policies typically cover sudden damage caused by perils like storm damage, electrical surges or off-premise power outages.
Appliance warranties typically cover electrical devices with mechanical failures or normal wear and tear.
That means if one of your appliances fails for a reason outside of those limits, you’ll be on the hook for repair or replacement costs.
If you can repair or fix it yourself without spending on a service technician or parts, that’s great.
But appliance failures may result from things like pests, flood damage or using the wrong commercial cleaners — risks that definitely won’t be covered by a warranty or your homeowner’s insurance policy.
That’s where home warranties can come in handy.
A service provider that specializes in home insurance and protection — like First American Home Warranty — can help you with specialized care plans for different appliances in your home, which can ease the overall financial burden.
We like First American because the company has a network of prescreened technicians and typically dispatches an independent contractor within 48 hours.
Using predatory credit cards
Credit cards can play a big part in your financial wellness, whether for better or worse.
For example, healthy behaviors — like regularly monitoring your account, paying off transactions and being careful about your purchases — can boost your credit.
But there are so many credit card options and lenders competing to get you to sign up, making it hard to know what the best option is.
Only about a third of applicants who qualified for a credit card before the pandemic in 2019 said they received the best card offer available.
And a whopping 29% of cardholders thought they owed less than their remaining balance when they received their first statement.
There are glass half-full numbers: 75% of people who compared multiple cards from different providers reported lower interest rates.
Those borrowers also tended to have better service and timely notifications about changes or issues with their accounts, compared to borrowers who didn’t compare cards.
Things like APR, monthly fees, due dates and service fees can all span a wide range.
This means finding the right card might take some time, but it’ll likely earn you more savings.
Failing to compare HELOCs
A home equity line of credit lets you borrow money from a lender and make monthly payments like you would with a credit card.
Lenders like LendingTree even let you compare deals from other competitors.
Plus, you can sometimes get a HELOC that doesn’t have added fees or even one that doesn’t offer long-term, adjustable interest rates.
Comparing lenders and their offers, like you would an adviser or card offer, is simple and efficient. Best of all, you won’t have to pay a broker fee to see your rates or estimate your borrowing power.
That said, stricter lenders may occasionally charge a fee as part of closing the deal. Asking upfront about free estimates and any fees is a good idea.
Now that rates are down, you could be on your way to an envy-worthy dream home or funding anything else on your list!
