The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Watch out for toxic, dangerous toys, consumer group warns

This holiday season, watch out for dangerous and toxic toys. WashPIRG Foundation’s 33rd annual "Trouble in Toyland" report found toxic amounts of boron in slime products and a failure by Amazon to appropriately label choking hazards. Boron can cause nausea, vomiting, and other health issues.

“No one should worry about whether or not the toy they’re buying is toxic or dangerous," said Elise Orlick, director of the WashPIRG Foundation. "But in 2018, we’re still finding hazards in some of the most popular toys. Toy manufacturers must do better to ensure their products are safe before they end up in children’s hands and mouths.” 

For more than 30 years, Trouble in Toyland has issued toy safety guidelines and has provided examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards to small children. Key findings from this year’s report include:

Tips for Black Friday shopping

When I went to the mall the other day, I saw Macy's had some pre-Black Friday sales. Unfortunately, the jacket I'd seen there about a week earlier wasn't there anymore. I have some Macy's bucks to spent because the sales associate charged me for a pair of pants that I told her I didn't want. The store manager said she couldn't refund my money because there wasn't an item to return. Strange. If I didn't get the item, I should have received a refund.

I'm not a big Black Friday fan since I went shopping once with my daughter in Sacramento, and we didn't find any deals.

Will you be going into debt for holiday spending?

The 2018 holiday shopping season, like many before it, will be paid for largely by credit card debt.

After spending more than $1 trillion from November 2017 to January 2018, U.S. consumers began the new year owing more than $1 trillion to credit card companies for the first time. And even though credit card debt levels are going down a little each year, this holiday shopping season could change that.

What are consumers saying about their holiday shopping plans?  Thirty-five percent of people plan to spend more than $500 this year, according to WalletHub’s “2018 Holiday Shopping Survey.” In 2017, 33 percent said they spent that much.

Top 10 tips for buying gift cards for the holidays

Thirty percent of consumers say they want to give gift cards this holiday season.

But not all gift cards deliver. Nearly $1 billion in gift cards purchased went unused in 2015, despite gift cards being among the most popular gift.

To help gift card shoppers, WalletHub, a personal finance website, offers these top 10 tips for buying gift cards:

What is it that people don’t get about 80,000 more people dying each decade under Trump’s policies?

Although the Democrats taking over the U.S. House of Representatives is a good step, I was appalled the Republican party increased its majority in the Senate and won governorships in Tuesday’s election.

It’s disgusting that Trump’s anti-immigrant propaganda is so overwhelming that the public doesn’t get it that he and his cronies are destroying the consumer, clean water, and clean air policies that protect us.

Each decade 80,000 extra people will die due to Trump’s environmental agenda, according to two Harvard researchers.

These extra deaths will affect us all – our husbands, our wives, our children, our babies, and our friends. It’s agonizing watching someone die from chemically induced cancer. My father, a farmer, died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is linked to pesticide exposure. It was horrible to watch him get more frail and die.

Watch out for this widely used credit card trick

The holidays are approaching, and the average shopper is expected to spend about $1,007. For many consumers, holidays spending is going to be added to their credit card debt.

One trick sellers continue to use is deferred interest.

Deferred interest is when a retailer advertises a low introductory annual percentage rate or APR – often 0 percent – and gives a consumer the chance to pay for their purchases without interest. However, there’s a catch. If consumers can’t pay off the item by the end of the specified term, they’ll get hit with interest charges as if the regular APR had been in place from the start.

Marion Nestle investigates food industry sponsored research in her latest book

Every time I hear about how research shows a food, such as coffee, is good for you, I wonder who paid for the research.

Marion Nestle, consumer activist, nutritionist, and professor, looks at research paid for by food companies in a new book.

In “Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat,” Nestle reveals how millions of dollars flow from corporations and trade groups to research laboratories at colleges and universities, distorting how consumers think about food and health. The ultimate goal of this research is to promote sales of their products.

Facts and figures for Halloween 2018

 

Are you ready for Halloween? It’s rainy here in the Seattle area. One suggestion for keeping kids dry is to find see-through plastic bags to keep rain out, but yet let the costumes be seen.

Halloween spending

Halloween spending for 2018 is expected to reach $9 billion, the second highest seen post-recession. Seven in 10 consumers plan to celebrate this year, and they’ll spend an average of nearly $90 per person, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation.

This year, kids are planning to dress as their favorite princess – back in the No. 1 spot – or super hero, while pets will be donning pumpkin, hotdog, or bumble bee costumes. Adults are sticking with the traditional spookiness of Halloween, dressing as witches, vampires, and zombies.

About nine in 10 consumers will buy candy, while others will spend their Halloween budgets on decorations, seven in 10, and greeting cards, four in 10.

Halloween facts

Here are facts and figures from the U.S. Census Bureau on Halloween this year:

Top Halloween costumes for 2018

Will you be dressing up for Halloween this year like nearly 70 percent of Americans?

Here’s a list of the most popular costumes for 2918 from the National Retail Federation:

Kids

1. Princess
2. Superhero
3. Batman
4. Star Wars character
5. Witch
6. Spider Man
7. Avengers character including Spider Man
8. Ghost
9. Pirate
10. Frozen – Else, Anna

How are your finances as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the holidays approach?

 

Are you in good shape financially? Many Americans don’t think they are, according to WalletHub’s  “2018 Halloween Spending and Financial Fears Survey.” Its results show:

• 75 million Americans say their finances have reached “horror show” status, including 30 percent of millennials and 16 percent of baby boomers.
   
• Two in three people think the economy will get scarier in the next 12 months.
   
• 54 percent of people think credit cards are a trick, not a treat. The worst credit cards charge annual fees as high as $995 and APRs up to 36 percent.
   
• 21 million people think a Halloween costume is worth going into debt for.
   
• 29 percent of people say money leads the list of things that scare/stress them out the most, followed by politics at 25 percent.
   
• 23 percent of people say their biggest financial fear is an unplanned emergency, followed by not having enough retirement savings, 22 percent.

The most expensive time of year is coming, when consumers traditionally rack up billions of dollars in credit card debt, investors shuffle their holdings, and people try to enjoy themselves before making resolutions

Things could turn out well, or not so good.