I have been receiving these email alerts from American Airlines since my last trip to Florida to see my dad. Sometimes you can get great deals on flights, but of course they need to fall in the time frame that you are traveling. Most deals are for middle of the week which isn’t exactly what most people desire. With some patience and flexibility in planning you might be able to save yourself a ton of money. Check the airlines that you would like to travel on and sign up for their alerts. Some of the travel sites like Travelocity and Cheaptickets will also net some good results.

Check with your airline of choice and sign up for their alerts to get the deals for your preferred carrier.

ScanSnap Scanner S510
I purchased the SnapScan S510 Scanner  about 2 weeks ago and it is great. So far I have scanned in 30000+ pages of text into the pdf file format. The scanner software allows all of the text to be searchable. So, if I need an invoice from March 2008 I can search on that and up comes all documents related to that date. I have emptied out one filing cabinet and I plan on emptying 5 more. 10000 pages of text has taken about 500 megs of space which isn’t much at all if you think about it. The scanner does jam once in a while, but it is easy to clear and it allows you to pickup where you left off. I would recommend getting one of these scanners if you have a ton of paperwork which you need to have access to without all the storage hassles.

This year we celebrate Tax Freedom Day on Wednesday, April 23. That’s the day we stop working for the state, local and federal government and start working for ourselves. For average workers, all of our earnings for the first 113 days of the year go to pay federal, state and local taxes.

Borders may put itself up for sale. This may give rival Barnes and Noble a chance to pick up Borders at firesale pricing.

Borders executives are one year into a plan to turn around the bookseller, revealed on Mar. 20 they were considering selling all or part of the company after being hit hard by the tough retail environment and the difficult credit markets.

Barnes & Noble shares traded 8.1% higher on Mar. 20 to close at 30.27. Borders shares hit a 52-week low below $4 per share at one point on Mar. 20 before ending the day at 5.07, down 29%. That gave Borders a total stock market value of $298 million.

Though some analysts expressed doubts about a Barnes & Noble purchase of Borders — which would need the approval of anti-trust regulators — Barnes & Noble executives told analysts they were open to the idea.

Borders has hired JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch to look into a possible sale.

Barnes & Noble reported earnings of $1.79 per share, vs. $1.83 a year ago as revenue rose 1.7%. The firm raised its quarterly dividend from 15 to 25 cents per share.

The book-selling business is already very competitive, with Internet retailer Amazon.com giving Borders and Barnes and Noble a serious battle.

I prefer Barnes and Noble and Amazon over Borders because Borders stores seem to be in disarray and they seem cluttered almost to the point of being dirty. Borders also is more of a music and video store now istead of a book store.

Best Buy $50 gift cards

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) — Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. said Wednesday it will give gift cards to customers that bought HD-DVD players or HD-DVD attachments from its U.S. stores as the format goes away in favor of the Blu-ray standard.

Toshiba conceded the market to Blu-Ray and announced they were stopping production on HD-DVD players.

The products had to be purchased at one of the company’s stores prior to Feb. 23.

Best Buy said it will give a $50 gift card for each item, which will likely lead to the distribution of more than $10 million in U.S. gift cards.

The retailer said it will identify customers through its Reward Zone program, performance service plans and through online purchases and will mail out the gift cards to those individuals by May 1.

Customers that feel they won’t be identified through these measures can call the company and provide a Best Buy receipt or credit card information for proof of purchase.

Best Buy also said customers that want to get rid of their HD-DVD players can do so by visiting their online trade-in center starting March 21.

Earlier this month rival Circuit City Stores Inc. instructed its stores to “take care of our customers” and accept returns of HD DVD players within 90 days of purchase.

The HD DVD players can be returned for store credit. The policy doesn’t apply to HD DVD movie discs.

The biggest battle between two video formats since Betamax lost out to VHS in the 1980s was resolved after multiple movie studios, including Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co. Warner Bros. Entertainment and News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox, pledged to support the Blu-ray format.

I purchased a dual video player Blueray/HD-DVD and I like Blueray better. It seems to be more compatible in my drive. The one I have is made by Liteon and it is installed in my MediaCenter computer.

1. It is difficult for fund managers with years of experience to beat the market so why not just invest in S&P 500 index funds or whole market index funds with low fees. Investors will beat out actively managed funds most of the time.

2.Fire your full service broker that charge really high fees or a percentage of your assets. If your paying 1.5% on $100,000 your paying $1500 per year in fees. This means that you will have to make 1.5% more on your money to just break even before inflation. Get a low cost broker like Ameritrade or Etrade.

3. Dollar cost averaging can help smooth out the roller coaster that is investing. Invest fixed amounts of money over a period of years to invest more when the market is lower and less when the market is higher.

4. Escape taxes by investing in municipal bonds. Municipal bonds pay lower rates, but they are tax free from state and federal taxes if you buy municipal bonds from in-state issuers.

5. Save for college in a 529 college savings plan. The sooner you start saving in this account the sooner it starts to earn tax free returns for your child’s future.

Some ideas for reducing your student loan debt and repayments:

1.Consolidate your student loans into one loan that spreads the payments over a longer period of time. Sometimes this enables you to receive a better interest rate on the consolidated loan.

2.Work out a plan with lenders to extend payments.

3.Work with a lender to pay less now and more later as your income grows.

4.Work with a lender to defer payments until your financial circumstances become better. If you are expecting a better job with more money then perhaps they may be willing to work with you.

5.Get a higher paying job or work extra hours for your employer to get the debt paid off.

With any of these ideas make sure that you read the paperwork completely. If you don’t understand ask questions. Check with your financial advisors, or parents or whomever you trust. You don’t want to make things worse by getting into a loan that doesn’t work out for you.

Money from paycheck to paycheck

Paying off your mortgage, putting the kids through college, amassing an emergency fund, are you serious? For some, having any cash left over from paycheck to paycheck is a tall order.

You can break out of the paycheck to paycheck whole, pay off debt and actually start setting aside money. The key is to start tracking your spending, develop a budget, and setting goals.

Unfortunately people get bogged down in short-term needs and then get caught short when the big expenses hit. If you haven’t taken the time to determine your goals, it’s hard to be motivated to watch your current spending.

Track your spending and watch your expenses

The first step toward breaking out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle is to track your spending on a daily basis. Make sure you keep track down to that muffin you had at breakfast. Carry a notebook or a pda with you for a month to write down everything you spend money on. The list needs to be very detailed. Don’t guess how much you are spending actually write down everything you spend money on.

Keeping track of your expenses will be an eye opening experience. You will be surprised to find you spent $50 a week on breakfast, or $100 a week on happy hour. This exercise can be time consuming and frustrating, but you need to know how you’re spending your money before you develop a spending plan. Enter all of your expenses an income into an excel spreadsheet to see how you are doing and where the money is going.

Look for out of the ordinary expenses such as utilities, gasoline, food and recreation. High fees on checking, savings and retirement accounts can eat away at your earnings. High interest rates on credit cards and loans can force you to pay more than you have to over time.

Set short and long term goals

Once you know how much you’re spending each month and on what, you can set achievable goals, such as paying off debt, saving for a house or building an emergency fund, and create a budget. If you don’t establish goals, you won’t be motivated to change your spending habits. Achieving goals shouldn’t require you to make drastic life changes or cut out all the things that make life fun. Make your goals attainable and something you can get excited about (like retiring in a certain amount of time), and celebrate your progress with some short term inexpensive goals also.

When establishing goals, be sure to differentiate between wants and needs. Short-term needs, like buying a new car to replace one that’s toast or paying for a necessary medical procedure, are top priority. Long term needs, such as retirement funds, are secondary goals. A vacation to the Bahamas, falls to the bottom of the wants not needs list.

If you’re married or have a significant other, make sure you set and prioritize your goals together. Each of you should write some goals and compare lists to see which you agree on and how to prioritize them. You need to know what direction you want your financial lives to take before setting a budget to get there.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average American family of four spends $8,513 per year on groceries — that’s $709 per month! And many of us blow our budgets further on restaurant meals.

Here are some ideas on saving money on food from Kiplinger’s Magazine

LEARN TO COOK
Eating out is a huge budget buster. Even seemingly inexpensive fast food can add up quickly. Cooking your own meals could save you a small fortune on restaurants and groceries.

TAKE FEWER TRIPS TO THE GROCERY STORE
Making bigger shopping trips less often will cut down on your impulse buys. In fact, almost half of all shoppers go to the store three or four times per week. Shoppers making a “quick trip” to the store usually purchase 54% more than they planned, according to a study published by the Marketing Science Institute.

BREAK YOUR RESTAURANT ROUTINE
This may seem obvious, but we are creatures of habit and convenience. Make an effort to cut back a little, such as dining out once a week instead of three nights a week. With $20 meals, this simple act will trim your expenses by $160 a month.

Checkout these sites for job opportunities for older workers:

Enrge.us
This website specializes in helping retired government workers find jobs in the private sector. Workers can post resumes for free which potential companies can then view (for a fee). There are no job postings allowed by the companies.

ExecSearches.com

Helps government, nonprofit, education and groups
“fill executive, midlevel and fund raising positions”. People seeking jobs can receive emails alerting them to potential openings that fit their needs and skill levels.

RetiredBrains.com
Allows job seekers to search for part-time or temporary jobs. Also, project assignments or full-time positions.

Retireeworkforce.com
Features 3 dozen or so companies posting job openings. No fees for job seekers.

Retirementjobs.com
No charge for job seekers. Employers pay a fee to post openings and access to the websites database. They screen and identify employers that offer an “age friendly environment”.

Seniors4hire.com
Job seekers can post resumes and job wanted ads.

Workforce50.com
No charge to job seekers. Job seekers can store up to 3 resumes on the website. Offers a large number of resources and articles for job seekers.

YourEncore.com
This website was founded by Proctor and Gamble and EliLilly. They specialize in placing retired scientists and engineers with employers that join the website. Jobs are primarily for part-time technical assignments.