Photo: CoffeeGeek

Are you a coffee snob? Do you sniff at drip? Are you willing to endure a day of caffeine headaches and jitters rather than sip a subpar brew? And most importantly, is this addiction/affliction costing you more money than you can afford? These days a lot of people are telling you to get your caffeine fix at home rather than spending $10 a day at carts and counters.

“You probably stop at your local coffee shop at least once a day and grab your latte, cappuccino or Americano,” says sales manager Darren Ruffel of Whole Latte Love (WLL), a consumer-oriented e-tailer based in Victor, NY. He estimates, for example that if you average two venti mochas daily at $4.27 each, that comes out to $59.78 a week or more than $3,100 a year on take-out coffee, not to mention the cost of gas, parking and waiting in line.

“Your coffee habit is costing you a lot of moola!” he cries. WLL has definitely seen an uptick in machine sales since the economy crashed. “More people are investing in home equipment to save money and have good quality coffee at home.”

A shot in the dark

The heart of a gourmet coffee drink is the espresso shot, flavored with milk-stuff, sugar-stuff or spice-stuff or blended with ice or foam. It was Achille Gaggia who invented the modern espresso machine in 1938, which uses pressure to extract the best flavor and aroma from ground beans.

The signature of a perfect shot is the crema, the ephemeral golden foam of oils, proteins and sugars floating on the ebony slurry of extra virgin extraction. You only get that when properly selected and roasted beans are properly ground and pressed and then properly heated and pressurized water is forced through the coffee during the proper 20-25 second window.

How hard is it to get a professional-quality cup at home? “Not hard at all. With the right equipment, beans and knowledge you can create a great cup of coffee in your home—in most instances, a better cup than at cafes because you can customize your drink to your own personal tastes,” Ruffel says.

Types of espresso technology

So assuming that five or six cups before 8am will keep you going all day (really?), what kind of investment are we talking about? These days several categories of espresso machines have been especially popular: super-automatics, semi-automatics and single-serves. (Price ranges provided by WLL).

Super-Automatic ($499-$3299): Essentially a coffee-making robot. Put whole beans in the hopper, fill the water reservoir, and a superautomatic grinds and pumps perfect cups of espresso or crema coffee at the touch of a button. Then the mechanism expels the spent puck into an internal bin and readies itself for the next shot. Some have LCD screens or manual adjustments; many have self-frothers to foam the milk.

Semi-Automatic ($59-1999): Upgrades from the traditional pump machines. You’ll need to grind your beans first (use a burr grinder) and tamp it into the portafilter, but then the machine takes care of temperature and pressure.

Single-Serve ($89-499): A new market entry. These machines usually feature space-saving designs and deliver a single, precise extraction from an inserted capsule or pod. Many manufacturers also make tea, hot chocolate and flavored coffee pods.

Does it pay?

At my house we bought a Gaggia Synchrony Compact. Our preferred way to enjoy coffee is to express about 2-4oz of coffee and then add an ounce or less of milk or creamer to cut the acidity of the coffee. In Spain and Latin America, this is often called a cortado.

We paid $650 in 2005, so our beloved little robot just turned four. Over that time, this superautomatic has required very little maintenance and only weekly cleanings. It grinds and brews perfect cups of crema at the push of a button, and then cleans up after itself. After four years at an average of 5-6 cups per day, the machine itself has cost us less than 7 cents per cup.

Besides the coffee-maker, of course, you will be spending money on coffee beans. We use Peet’s Espresso Forte blend, which we buy fresh for $12.95 per pound. Using—believe it or not—the IRS’s estimate of 60 shots per pound, we’re paying a little more than 21 cents per cup. So for about two bits per cup, we’re enjoying the best coffee I’ve ever had anywhere in the world.

Compare that to about $1.45 for simple shot of espresso at Starbucks. If we invest the time in steaming some milk or adding a flavor, our investment only goes up by a penny or so. Compare that to Ruffel’s $4.27 venti mochas.

Coffee culture

Unless you work at home, this works best if you get your whole caffeine fix first thing in the morning. (Or maybe you need to invest in one at work too?)

But what about the social aspects of the coffee house? Dropping in on your crowd, taking a break from a stressful workplace? Coffee houses have become the quintessential “third place” between work and home, but Ruffell suggest that space has gone virtual, anyway.

“With the increased world of Web 2.0, we find that people are making coffee at home and sharing the ritual of creating unique drinks on social networks like Facebook, forums and blogs,” he says. “Individuals are spending more time at home and enjoying good quality coffee with neighbors and friends.”

Steve Barth blogs about work, play, society and politics at Reflexions.

At MintLife we strive to make complex financial topics easy-to-understand. Most homeowners are already familiar with the concept of a mortgage. A Reverse Mortgage lets you borrow money against the value of your home without your needing to pay it back until either one of two things happen; either you die or you sell the home. With recent government regulations in place, the Reverse Mortgage is a financial instrument set to explode with the wave of retiring baby boomers. These mortgages not only affect the borrower, but their heirs as well, so it’s important to understand the ins and outs of process and product. The Reverse Mortgage can be a lifesaver for some, but is not for everyone. This factsheet will show you how it works.

Provided by Reverse Mortgage Guide

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(The Consumerist)

For many years, the credit card industry has resembled a modern day Wild Wild West. Unrestrained by regulatory discipline, American credit card companies have made life confusing (to say the least) for millions – often with no serious repercussions whatsoever. This lamentable state of affairs has led to the common complaints we’re all familiar with – unexplained fees, random interest rate hikes and the overall sense that you are being jerked around by “The Man.”

However, it appears that the worst of these excesses may be a thing of the past. The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (set to take effect in February 2010) aims to protect consumers from unscrupulous credit card policies; but, banks and credit card companies are not going quietly into the good night. According to the New York Times, credit issuers are taking advantage of the “grace period” between now and Februrary to get their last licks in under current, more permissive laws.

(WoodleyWonderworks)

Sudden interest rate hikes

The most obvious offense has been last-minute interest rate hikes. According to Pew Charitable Trusts’ Safe Credit Cards Project, credit card interest rates leaped 20% in the first two quarters of 2009 – despite the fall in federally-set interest rates. The Times even reports that one consumer advocate, testifying before Congress, “…cited case after case of struggling consumers who had seen their credit card rates more than double for no apparent reason, even when they had faithfully paid on time.” Critics of the industry allege that such hikes are bare-faced opportunism in response to the new legislation, which mandates that customers be notified of rate changes 45 days before they take effect.

Strict enforcement of overdraft fees

A major component of the new credit card legislation bans the long-standing practice of overdraft protection being enabled by default. Under the new rules, Forbes writes, customers will be required to “opt-in” by agreeing to pay overdraft fees if they spend more than their current balance. Customers who don’t agree will simply forego overdraft protection by not being able to swipe more than they have. While this seems only reasonable, banks actually derive a substantial portion of annual profits from such fees. Bank of America, for instance, raked in nearly $700 million in overdraft fees in just three months of 2009 alone. And according to the Washington Post, overdraft fees rose 35% from 2006-2008. In the meantime, however, banks are stepping up overdraft fee enforcement like never before. Consumers who once were able to explain the fees away with a polite call to their local branch are finding that banks are squeezing every last drop out of this precious revenue source before it is taken away.

(Oskay)

“Due date roulette”

More banks than ever have been criticized in recent years for changing due dates without notice. In fact, according to investigative blog FaultlineUSA, some banks have even, “…deliberately designed billing systems to periodically generate payment due dates that are five to six days earlier than normal in an effort to catch automatic bill payers in a missed due date scam.” Victims of this procedure find that their “missed payments” result in permanent interest rate hikes and, “…a whopping late fee.” MoneyUnder30 reported a similar phenomenon in their article “Citi May Move Your Due Date Without Notice.” Faultline calls this abhorrent practice “due date roulette”, and it is outlawed under the new rules that require bills to be sent out no later than 21 days before the due date.

(Andres Rueda)

Reducing consumer credit limits

One of the many factors that influence credit scores is a person’s debt to available credit ratio – that is, how much they owe versus how much they can spend. Unfortunately, many banks (perhaps in response to new rules that require advanced notice of major term changes) are unexpectedly lowering consumers’ credit limits. As SmartMoney explains, even, “…folks with good credit scores and solid credit histories are now getting caught in the fray.” American Bankers Association spokeswomen Carol Kaplan was quoting as saying, “…people with credit scores of at least 720…are not immune. They’re doing it to everyone.” American Express specifically “adjusted the credit lines of 20% of its credit-card holders.” Under such a scenario, someone who owes, say, $10,000 can see their credit score drop simply because their credit limit was lowered and their debt to credit ratio thereby worsened. And since FICO scores are roughly 1/3rd determined by how close you are to your limit, the implications for consumers are serious – perhaps most importantly, because, banks tend to charge higher interest rates to lenders with lowered credit scores.

Universal default

One of the most outrageous (at least from the consumer’s perspective) credit card practices is so-called “universal default.” That’s when missing a payment on one card or account triggers rate hikes or penalties on an unrelated card. For instance, your failure to pay your Visa bill on time could lead to a rate hike on your MasterCard, even though in theory the two cards have nothing to do with each other. According to Tennessee’s Brownville State-Graphic, fees and penalties stemming from universal default may increase during the holidays. Of course, it is worth noting that the very practice of collecting universal default fees is prohibited by the new credit card legislation set to take effect in February.

It’s plain to see that banks and credit card companies are sucking up every last fee, penalty, and point of interest available under current laws. Life after auto-overdrafting and unexplained rate hikes won’t be pretty for these financial behemoths, and it’s hardly surprising to see them gorging upon the American consumer while there’s still time. With luck, some of the common-sense reforms included in the new credit card legislation will curb these practices once and for all.

Photo: Simon Blackley

A guy walks into a mechanic and asks for a tune-up.

“Looks like your car needs a lot of work,” says the mechanic. “After a quick inspection, I estimate about $1000 worth of services.”

It may sound like a joke, but car owners are often hit with an unhappy diagnosis like this. Many of us have little-to-no car expertise. We feel helpless at the sometimes-merciless hand of our mechanic. After all, who are we to say when a spark plug needs changing or steering should be flushed?

Jon Bartunek, owner of his family’s Union Street Garage in San Francisco who has worked in the car repair business since he was ten years old, has some empowering tips and guidelines to offer.

“Many car repair shops are in the business of selling auto repair, not the business of repairing autos,” says Bartunek. “Keep in mind that any good shop is a combination of both, but you want the mechanic you work with to have your best interest in mind.”

Read on to find Bartunek’s words of wisdom to help you through the car maintenance and repair process without spending an unnecessary, exorbitant amount of money. Bartunek shares his knowledge on how to be informed before and after service, the common traps car repair shops will use to get more money from you, and what you absolutely must require of any mechanic who performs work on your car.

A reputable mechanic should provide:

ASE [National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence] or AAA [American Automobile Association] certification, and/or a state license, which is required in many states

• A clean garage, free of empty cans, dirty rags, and old tires
• A friendly, polite staff that communicates well
• Before service: an itemized bill with a written estimate for repair work
• After service: a detailed invoice of work done and parts supplied

How to approach a new mechanic

Get a recommendation. Ask someone with a similar income level and car type if they have a good relationship with their mechanic. Don’t ask a friend who has a car or lifestyle that’s very different from yours because they may work with someone who’s not suitable for you.

Use the owner’s manual. This manual is your most valuable defense tool when visiting the mechanic. You should never, ever walk into a mechanic like the guy in our opening example and say, “I need a tune up.” This is way too vague and your professional may see this as an open invitation to charge you up to $1000 for miscellaneous unnecessary services such as spark plug replacements when you don’t need them. Bartunek advises, “Cars don’t need tune ups like they did years ago. Go by the services in your owner’s manual. Most list the necessary services according to the mileage you have on your car. Just saying something as simple as ‘I need my 30,000 mile service,’ shows your mechanic you are informed and not someone he can easily take advantage of if he is so inclined.”

Get an estimate. Before service, make sure your prospective mechanic gives you a detailed parts-and-labor estimate so you’ll know exactly what he plans to do and what went wrong if you have a post-service failure. Never accept a verbal estimate or a sheet of paper that says something unspecific like, “Fix Car – $800.” Make sure you sign the itemized estimate and walk away with a signed copy.

Ask questions. Never be afraid of asking questions such as “Do I really need that?” or “I don’t see any symptoms of failure. Is work on that part absolutely necessary right now?” If your mechanic makes a generalization like, “The part is old,” ask for details. Find out if it’s leaking, losing pressure or what the specific problem is. Then ask to see the part. A good mechanic should be able to physically show you the problem with the part on your car or explain it to you by using a removed car part. Similarly, if the price quote sounds expensive, tell the mechanic what you were hoping to spend and ask him if you can get by safely with a less expensive job.

Finally, if you think the job sounds expensive and your car seems to be working fine, get a second opinion.

Common traps

Drastic statements like, “We need to tow your car out of here because we don’t want to be responsible for you driving it,” are almost always a scam. Bartunek has seen many car owners succumb to these warnings and end up paying an arm and a leg to get their car back from the mechanic in “driveable” condition. He advises, “If you drove your car into the mechanic with no issues, most likely you can drive it away from any threatening advice without any problems.”

Coolant and power steering flushes are common services some of the larger mechanic chains will propose in order to make money. Check your owner’s manual to see how long your fluid is supposed to last so you know if your mechanic’s suggestion is warranted.

Do your research before having a catalytic converter or other emissions part repaired. Some of these pieces have a very long factory warranty including free replacement of covered parts.

A muffler that lasts a lifetime does not exist. Many of the larger companies give you free replacements and make their money on expensive exhaust system repairs.

The $55 brake pad job is also a scam nine times out of ten. No shop can make money on a $55 dollar brake pad replacement job. It’s an excuse to suggest the replacement of other parts such as brake rotors when you don’t need them.

Keep up on car maintenance

In addition to being a savvy buyer of proposed services, it’s important to keep up on regular car maintenance to avoid unnecessary breakdowns or repair costs. Here are Bartunek’s suggestions:

Get regular fluid changes as per your owner’s manual. This includes oil as well as brake, windshield and coolant fluids.

Replace the air filter when needed or suggested in the owner’s manual.

Keep tires inflated properly for your safety. Check once a month and before long car trips to make sure your tires have a little bit less than maximum pressure.

While all these warnings and rules may be overwhelming at first, there are some great mechanics out there. If you remember these tips, you’re much more likely to find a helpful professional than a wallet-draining scam.

New! Compare Auto Insurance with Mint.com.

Recent news articles have brought to light the fact that almost 47% of households in the US currently have zero or negative federal tax liability. We take a closer look at this lack of liability across each income level, highlighting the percentage in each range that will not pay any taxes. Also shown is a full breakdown of who is paying the bulk of all taxes collected by the Federal Government each year.

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Photo: iChris

By last summer, our tiny house was bursting at the seams from a decade of bargain shopping, vacation souvenirs, outgrown clothes and upgraded gadgets and appliances. We had already suffered the separation anxiety of several runs to Goodwill when our neighbors invited us to join other families in a communal yard sale.

Based on past experience, I was loathe to the idea. I didn’t think the earnings would be worth the hassle, but we had too many valuable items to simple give them away to charity and too many items for the hassle of auctioning them off one at a time on eBay.

By the time it was over, we had a fanny pack full of cash, really nice suntans, a lot more room in the house, and a list of tips for what to do and what not to do. And clearly, we’re not the only ones: Craigslist ads are up by more than half and garage sale permits have more than doubled according to some sources.

There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there from professionals, so we’ll tell you what they say, but also what worked for us.

Cathy Pedigo, author of the book, “How to Have Big Money Garage Sales!” claims you can more than triple your profits if you follow her advice, which she tests personally. One weekend she’ll host a garage sale using other people’s tips and tricks; the next weekend, she sets it up her way, based on 25 years of personal experience. The results:

Their way: less than $200

Her way: more than $1,000

Maybe you’ve never worked at the mall, but you’ve been there, no? The main thing to remember for a successful yard or garage sale is to use your shopper’s instincts, Pedigo says.

Whether your intention is to make money (why not?) or just to get rid of stuff, experts, confirmed by personal experience, will tell you to treat your sale like a business in terms of merchandising, marketing and pricing. In our case, even though our primary motivation was a massive reduction in clutter, we still earned more than enough to compensate for the hours we put in.

Merchandising

Allow plenty of time for preparation. We started weeks ahead of our sale, cleaning out cupboards, dressers and storage spaces to identify everything we wanted to sell before cleaning and sorting it. But come our first Saturday, there were still cartons’ worth of stuff we forgot to put out. As a result, we repeated our sale the following weekend based on lessons learned.

Next, we underestimated the amount of time it would take to carry everything out to the driveway and arrange it before the horde of early shoppers (often professional) who inevitably ignore your start time. Swap meet dealers will paw through boxes before you’ve even put them down and offer insultingly low prices. But they don’t care if things work, buy books by the box and snap up antiques without scrutiny. They will drop cash and be gone before you know it.

So we improved our system by loading everything into tables inside the garage so they could be hauled out in place first thing in the morning—and starting work before dawn.

All the experts agree that organization is important. Sort by “department” too because each shopper has things they are looking for. Place items back into their original boxes or keep original tags for that “like new” look. An extension cord lets people test appliances and electronics. Hoard plastic shopping bags.

Tables are important because shoppers shouldn’t have to do too much bending and squinting. We placed lower quality or lower price items beneath tables in boxes. All clothes were hung on hangers across the bottom rail of the raised garage door (with tarps hung to block access to the rest of the garage). Flashier items went out by the street to catch the eyes of passing motorists.

Use a front-facing fanny pack as a cash register and make sure you have enough singles and change before you start.

Finally, like a store, manage your risk. Check local laws to see if you need a permit. Have liability coverage in your insurance and check for sprinkler holes and other hazards in your sale area. Don’t sell anything that has been officially recalled—such as kid’s toys. Never put something truly valuable out on a table if it could be easily shoplifted. Jewelry or watches don’t take up a lot of room, so they can be grouped on the table in front of your “cashier.” Keep valuable items in front of you, or put out their empty boxes until someone asks to see them. Keep your house doors and gates locked. Next Page.

photo: fristle

This is part 2 in a 2 part series on how to lower your auto insurance premiums. The first part covered 10 variables that you can control when it comes to lowering your premiums, while this post will talk about 10 factors that are out of your control – and what to do about them.

Same Message, Different Company. Different Message, Same Company?

We’ve all seen the ads about how switching your auto insurance from ‘the other’ company to ‘our company’ has saved the customer an average of $XYZ. It’s most likely left you wondering how every single insurance company can save you more than every other one. What that same advertisement doesn’t tell you, of course, is how much the guy/gal who didn’t switch saved by staying with their current auto insurance provider or going to a different one.

And while we’re on the topic of auto insurance commercials, I’d like to take this opportunity to call out the marketing department of Geico. Seriously, guys? The gecko was a pretty cool guy and the caveman thing was slightly funny at first, but it’s simply gone too far. And now the googly eyes on a pile of dollar bills that somehow plays that 80’s song by that guy who is trying to sound like Michael Jackson. And running all three ad campaigns on the same medium at the same time? Collect yourselves, people!

Let’s continue with the ads. Wouldn’t you love to hear “Customers who switched to us saved $215 (while those who didn’t switched saved $357)”? When shopping for auto insurance, unfortunately, there really is no easy answer to the question of which company offers the lowest rates. The reason being is that most insurance companies, by design, use a different proprietary formula to determine what price they can specifically offer you. Some of the variables that go into this formula can be controlled by you, but most cannot.

So what should you do? How do you find the lowest rate? Before we go into premium savings strategy, it definitely pays to know what variables insurance companies are looking at when calculating your risk. Let’s take a look.

The Auto Insurance Premium Factors that are Out of your Control

Fair or not, auto insurance companies (and insurance companies in general) are master statisticians and they have determined the risk to have you as a customer for just about everything down to what color shoes you wear. These are traits or characteristics that you mostly don’t have control over, but are often used to calculate your auto insurance premium. Sure, you can change some of these things, but you would rarely change them just to get a break on your auto insurance.

1. Your age: Most policies give a reduction at 21 years of age, or with 5 years experience. A further reduction can be expected at around 24 or 25. Once you hit the ripe age of 70, you can expect the opposite to occur.

2. Your gender: Women are statistically safer drivers. This one surprises me as I’ve been a passenger while my wife is driving. She was in three accidents prior to meeting me and with my set of eyes to prevent her from driving through red lights when her attention wanders, she hasn’t been in any after meeting me. Sorry, honey, it’s true.

3. Where you live: Locales with high rates of accidents or theft can result in a higher premium.

4. Your past driving record: Some insurers look back three years, others look back five years or longer. Depending on the company that is quoting you and how recently you had a major traffic violation or accident, this can have a huge impact on your premium. Don’t worry about that pile of parking tickets in your glove box as they do not impact your driving record and premiums.

5. Your marital status: Married drivers can pay less than single drivers.

6. Occupation: Doctors tend to get in less accidents on average than ice cream truck drivers. Go figure.

7. College degrees: Most insurers give discounts to alums of certain universities.

8. Years of driving experience: similar impact as age.

9. Business use of vehicle: If using your vehicle as part of your job, you are at risk of a higher premium (and probably rightly so).

10. Multiple Vehicles: Are you insuring multiple cars on the same plan? If so, it could result in lower premiums for each vehicle.

Now that you know what you can and cannot control, what can you do about it?

The answer is simple. Shop around. Frequently.

It’s true that you may not have control over a lot of what your premium is based on, but your saving grace is that the auto insurance companies don’t all agree on how to precisely calculate your risk. Until they do, it pays to shop around.

When Should you Shop Around for Auto Insurance?

For starters, it might make sense to shop around after the following events take place:

• When you turn 21.
• When you turn 25.
• 3 years after you have a traffic violation or accident.
• 5 years after you have a traffic violation or accident.
• When you move.
• When your miles driven decreases significantly.
• When you graduate.
• When you get a new job.
• When you get married.
• When you get a life insurance policy.
• When you get a home insurance policy.
• When you add another car to you plan.
• When you install a theft deterrent device.
• When you get a new car.
• When your credit score has improved.
• Whenever you feel like it!

Final Thoughts:

There is no auto insurer who offers the lowest rates to everyone. But there is an auto insurer who offers the lowest rate to you specifically. You just need to find them. And it might be a different insurer six months or a year from now than it is today. That’s why it pays to know what the insurance companies look at, what discounts you might be able to swing, and to shop around frequently.

For more of G.E. Miller’s writings, visit personal finance blog MicroFrugality.com.

New! Compare Auto Insurance with Mint.com.

(Richard Smith )

With faith in the US dollar hitting new lows, some believe the solution lies not in politics, but in design. Meet Richard Smith, architect of the ambitious and infectiously popular “dollar rede$ign project.” Smith is a creative strategy consultant who feels, “…our great rival, the Euro, looks so spanky in comparison,” to US currency that, “…it seems the only clear way to revive this global recession is to re-brand and re-design.” But rather than merely arguing for a new-look dollar, Smith drummed up an impressive wave of support for a redesign by allowing people to submit their own ideas to a web-based contest.

The idea is roughly similar to corporate re-branding, which seeks to change the face of struggling organizations by adopting fresh, new images. Several banks, for instance, have undergone name, color and logo changes since 2008 to erase the negative perceptions attached to old branding. In Smith’s view, a re-branding of the dollar targets the same goal: expressing and revamping its emotional value and the connections people make with currency. Seen from this perspective, the negativity people feel about our money and economy stems not just from economic indicators and discouraging news reports, but from the very look and feel of the money we possess. Change the “brand”, Smith believes, and you take a bold step toward changing our entire emotional response to US currency. And Smith isn’t alone in advocating a graphical overhaul of the dollar. In a blog post applauding the redesign project, the New York Times quotes designer Michael Bierut calling the current dollar, “…a cake that has been decorated to within an inch of its life.” Specifically, Bierut derided the dollar’s new enlarged purple numbers (an anti-counterfeit measure) as, “…a denim patch on a satin dress.”

Few could argue with Smith or Bierut that the dollar could use a new look. The world was quite different when the dollar got its last, major visual upgrade in 1930’s. And to its credit, the dollar redesign project has produced numerous, beautiful designs that most of us would be proud to carry in our wallets. Take this concept from Kottle.org, featuring a sleek green layout, a bluish-purple vertical stripe, George Washington’s portrait and text from the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution. A full inventory of all redesign project submissions can be seen here. The project’s winner (announced patriotically on July 4), however, was 25 year old Kyle R. Thompson. Beginning from his convictions that, “…conceptual design can really transform the way people deal with their communities” and that current dollars, “…feel cold and outdated”, Thompson took home top project honors with this submission (shown below.) Indeed, Thompson’s concepts breathe some much-needed fresh air into US currency while honoring the great traditions of our founders and history. On purely artistic grounds, Thompson and the entire dollar redesign project are to be applauded.

(Kyle R Thompson)

Artistic merit notwithstanding, however, it is unclear whether redesigning the dollar will address the severest criticisms leveled against it. For all the similarities between currency redesign and re-branding, there is one large difference: a corporation’s products or services are consumed. A business can properly engage in an image overhaul on the assumption (or at least the hope) that a better image will attract more sales, customer loyalty or other results. Currency, on the other hand, is simply a nation’s medium of exchange. Put another way, a dollar de-design project that made our currency as hideous and unappealing as possible would still result in everyone who currently uses dollars using the new ones. While businesses can lose customers, citizens cannot start paying the local Wal-Mart (*now, Walmart) in Euros if they decide they’re unsatisfied with the dollar.

It is also worth noting that physical currency is not as prominent in day to day commerce as in generations past. The lion’s share of today’s transactions are digital – facilitated by debit/credit cards, PayPal accounts, wire transfers, gift certificates, direct deposit, electronic stock exchanges and other mechanisms that reduce the number of people physically using dollars. While cash-based businesses are still with us, the economy has largely “moved on” from printed money. Therefore, exactly what or how big of an effect a nicer-looking dollar would have on the economy is hard to forecast.

(Won Park)

Of course, one could argue that a snazzier dollar will attract currency speculators to invest here what they would have invested in the Euro, yuan or other currencies. No one can deny the worthiness of that goal. Harvard MBA John T. Reed recently likened bond traders and forex traders to, “…the canary in the mine” who would be, “…the first to herald the arrival of the financial apocalypse.” But unlike commodities (like coffee beans or diamonds) currencies do not share an ubiquitous price. Rather, currency speculators decide which currencies to invest in based on current or predicted value. Variables considered in currency speculation include political stability, national debt, deficit spending, and the willingness of foreign governments to buy your debt – all decidedly non-aesthetic considerations. Taking this into account, it’s hard to imagine currency speculators staking thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money on a currency solely because of a graphical makeover. Far more weighty in such decision making are things like China deciding to cease buying U.S. bonds.

None of this, again, downplays the artistic value of a new-look dollar. Few would oppose Kyle Thompson’s design replacing current dollars in our wallets and bank accounts. That being said, the link between how our dollars look and how they are percieved by foreign governments and speculators is less certain.

PhotoDu.de

When it comes to auto insurance premiums, there are a number of factors that you have absolutely zero control over. Most of us like to think that we’re the best drivers to ever hit the road, but we’ve all felt the pain of being 18 years old and having to pay considerably more for the same vehicle than the crazy guy who lives down the street. The injustice!

The good news is that there are a number of factors that you have considerable control over when it comes to your auto insurance premium. In the first of a two part series, we’ll cover the 10 prime factors that you have control over that most auto insurance companies consider in the formulas used to determine how much to charge you.

1. Switch Vehicles

Each vehicle is assessed a different risk variable depending on a number of factors, including category classification, crash test rating, price, cost of replacement parts, and even horsepower-to-weight ratio and how often the model is stolen. If you want a lower premium you should avoid sports cars, expensive vehicles, newer vehicles, and those that are not considered to be top of class in safety (smaller vehicles). Each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports an insurance make and model comparison. Each insurance company should share similar information, should you ask for it.

2. Pay Up Front

Some insurers offer a discount if you pay for the year ahead up front all at once versus a monthly payment plan. If you have the cash on hand to pay up-front, don’t worry about losing it if you switch insurers. Your insurance company is required to pro-rate your total bill and refund you for the days that you won’t be covered under them.

3. Drive Like an Angel

Believe it or not, your driving record is still considered to be one of the top factors that insurance companies look at. Whether you’ve been in an accident or received a major traffic violation within the last few years can have a huge impact on your premium. Some auto insurance companies look back three years, while others look back 5 or more.

4. Cut your Miles

A number of auto insurance companies will offer you a lower premium if you drive less miles. Makes sense for them and for you, right? Moving closer to work might not only save you on fuel and commute time, but it may also decrease your auto insurance premium as well. If you make a move closer to work or end up drastically cutting your mileage driven, call your insurance company to see if it can earn you a discount. A number of insurance companies are offering pay-by-the-mile programs, which may end up costing you less than traditional plans if you rarely drive at all.

5. Improve Your Credit Score

Credit history is becoming a much more highly valued variable that is being looked at by insurance companies (however, this is not allowed in the State of California). We’d recommend that you move to California if your credit history is terrible, however, the cost of living would more than cannibalize any savings in auto insurance.

6. Reduce your Insurance Levels

Whether or not you have collision and comprehensive coverage certainly dictates how much your premium will be, but your decision to carry it really should come down to how much your vehicle is presently worth. Each state has a liability coverage minimum that you should be aware of when determining how much you want to carry. We do not suggest lowering your coverage to the minimum to save money, as that may end up being a big mistake should you get into an accident. However, it might be to your benefit to keep an eye on your liability coverage if it is high and you are in need of cutting your premium.

7. Buy a Vehicle with a Theft Device or have one Installed

Purchasing a vehicle with a theft deterrent system or having one installed will most often get you a discount.

8. Same Insurer, Multiple Policies

Having multiple insurance policies with the same company typically gets you a hefty discount. As if comparing apples to apples wasn’t already hard enough, most auto insurance companies will give you varying levels of discounts for also having a home, life, or other insurance policy with them. You may find that even though one car insurance company would charge you more than another, your ‘total’ insurance cost to go with them is less.

9. Be a Loyal Customer

Loyalty can be rewarded when it comes to sticking with your auto insurance company. As witnessed by the massive amounts of advertising insurance companies partake in, the cost and value to acquiring a new customer is very high. That’s why a good number of insurance companies will give you a percentage off on your total premium each year just for sticking around. It’s also for this reason, especially if you’ve been a cheap customer for them in the past, that they may be a little more willing to work with you in lowering your cost than a Comcast might be. Stick around long enough, and it may be difficult to find a cheaper policy elsewhere.

10. Increase your Deductible

How high of a deductible you set has a significant impact on your premiums. For example, increasing my deductible from $250 to $500 reduced my overall premium by 25%. If you have an older vehicle with a relatively low value it makes a lot of sense to have a high deductible. It makes even more sense if you don’t have collision or comprehensive coverage to begin with – because there is not much else that would make the cost/benefit of having a low premium worth it.

What About All the Factors you can’t Control?

We’ll discuss those and what to do about them in the second part of our series on how to lower your auto insurance premiums.

For more of G.E. Miller’s writings, visit the personal finance blog MicroFrugality.com.

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