Car loan refinance vermont

Yes, it is possible to have the best of both worlds -- here's how

I'm not a Starbucks shareholder, but I get awfully tired of hearing this lecture from personal finance writers: If you want to save enough money for retirement, college, a house, car or any other goal, you should immediately stop drinking $3 cups of coffee.

Surely, caffeine isn't what's going to imperil our retirement or keep our children out of college. Judging by the lines at my neighborhood Starbucks, I don't think this admonition is resonating across America.

Sure, saving money does require self-discipline. But there are plenty of ways to squeeze money out of your budget that don't require sacrifice. For all you hedonists out there, here's a short tip list:

* Refinance your car. Plenty of us have saved money by refinancing our houses, but why stop there? It's worth exploring whether you should refinance the loan for whatever you've got parked in your garage. In just one minute of research on the Internet (of course, I did know where to look), I discovered auto refinance offers with interest rates as low as 4.99 percent. Who is the ideal refi candidate? Somebody who still owes at least $7,500 on a vehicle, since lenders usually don't like bothering with what they consider piddly amounts.

Filling out the paperwork will take about the same time as microwaving two bags of popcorn. Ten minutes max. Your only cost? Paying a few dollars to the Department of Motor Vehicles to record the car's new lien holder. Some credit unions and banks offer car- refinancing loans, as does the Automobile Club of Southern California. There are also Internet lenders, such as E-LOAN at www.eloan.com, and Capital One Auto Finance at www.capitaloneautofinance.com, which also provides the auto club's loans.

While it might be tempting to stretch out the term of a new loan, don't do it. Stick with the same loan maturity date, otherwise you could end up paying on this car long after it's been disemboweled for its scrap. So if your old loan was due to be paid off, say, on Jan. 1, 2007, try to stick to that date.

* Ditch expensive phone service. Do you really need to pay an obscene amount every month for your cell phone? You can save yourself buckets of cash and make the world a quieter place by yakking less and using a prepaid cell phone instead. Phone companies don't advertise their prepaid phones because they apparently prefer charging their customers for more expensive plans.

At Radio Shack, you can buy a Verizon prepaid phone and start-up minutes for about $79 after a rebate is deducted. After that initial cost, you'll pay as little as $15 a month for phone service and there are no hidden charges. You also can save considerably by switching to a cheap long-distance company. For a list of inexpensive plans, visit the Web site of consumer advocate Clark Howard (www.clarkhoward.com).

* Swap baby-sitting duties. If you want my teenage daughter to baby-sit your kids, she's expensive. And so are all her girlfriends. Unfortunately, it's possible to spend more on your baby sitter -- whose kiddy skills may begin and end with continuously feeding Disney videos into your VCR -- than you do on dinner and a movie.

* Avoid cash-value life insurance. It's hard to know which is the bigger financial leech -- a cash-value life insurance policy or an outrageously expensive variable annuity. Despite what an insurance agent will tell you, this type of insurance policy, which includes whole life, universal life and variable life, is inappropriate for most people. You certainly don't need one of these costly policies to save for college or retirement or any other investment purpose.

But you don't have to believe me. Get a second opinion from an expert at the Consumer Federation of America (www.consumerfed.org). James H. Hunt, a life insurance actuary with 40 years experience and a former insurance commissioner of Vermont, will analyze your cash- value policy or any that you are considering purchasing. The cost for the first analysis is $55, and $40 for each additional one. You can contact Hunt at 603-224-2805 or by e-mail at jameshhunt@cs.com.

* Negotiate a bigger raise. Obviously, it would be a heck of a lot easier to stash away extra cash if your boss just gave you a stinkin' raise. But practicing your cogent argument in front of the mirror isn't going to cut it. You need to prepare well in advance before asking for a fatter paycheck, advises Herb Cohen, a professional negotiator and author of books on negotiating.

"The reason people don't get raises is that they walk into the boss's office out of the blue and say, 'I want a raise.' You get the knee-jerk reaction, which is no."

The wisest approach, Cohen says, is to align your interests to your boss's a few months before popping the question. Ask your superior what you could do to better qualify yourself for greater compensation in the future. Walk away from the conversation with two or three concrete things to work on. After a few weeks, ask your boss how you're doing, but don't mention the "R" word. By the time you do bring up the subject of a raise, your boss will expect it.

* Don't pay retail. When buying furniture, mattresses, computers, appliances, jewelry and other major purchases, ignore the price tag. The price on any big-ticket item is negotiable, Cohen insists. With little effort, it's possible to knock 10 to 20 percent or even more off a listed price. Here's one approach: After spotting, say, a television that you'd like, tell the salesperson that it's a bit more than you could afford. Then pause and wait. "Try it," Cohen urged. "You'll be shocked."

Lynn O'Shaughnessy is the author of The Retirement Bible and The Investing Bible. She can be reached at LynnOShaughnessy@cox.net.