Suze Orman continues to give money advice in O, The Oprah Magazine this month. Her list “guaranteed to be ridiculously easy to implement” has several bits of advice. The first was track your spending, calculate your net worth and check your credit.
Find Hidden Savings
1. Shop for insurance deals. We’re always shopping around looking for great bargains, right? So, do the same for auto and home insurance. Just don’t reduce your level of coverage. These websites insweb and netquote can help you find quotes from different insurers.
2. Raise your insurance deductibles. If you raise your auto and home deductibles to $1,000, your premium cost falls 10 percent or more. Low deductibles can cause you to make claims for small-ticket items. There is also a nice payoff for a higher deductible, says the article. Just go ahead and call your insurer and ask for a new quote based on a higher deductible.
3. Check out a credit union. I don’t use a credit union, but I’ve heard great things about them. Sometimes you can get a better deal with a credit union. They also tend to pay higher yields on deposits. Findacreditunion can help you track down the best one. Make sure you look for one that is part of the federal insurance program run by the National Credit Union Administration.
4. Challenge your property-tax assessment. Orman says home values are down an average of 30 percent since the 2006 peak. If your assessment doesn’t reflect that, you might be overpaying. Call up your county tax assessor to find out more. The National Taxpayers Union also has a book on the topic.