Is Buying An Extended Warranty Right For You?

Buying An Extended Warranty

Buying An Extended WarrantyI recently had the  opportunity to interview Stephen Ebbett, President of ProtectYourBubble.com. Protect Your Bubble is a third party gadget insurer (extended warranty provider). We talked about buying an extended warranty. We talked about when you should and shouldn’t buy extended warranties. We also talked about the difference between insurance and warranties.

Why are extended warranties offered for every imaginable gadget and electronics? Why do they seem to be on the rise and offered by every retailer imaginable? Do they deserve the bad rap that they have gotten? Is buying an extended warranty right right you?

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Below is my interview with Stephen Ebbett. My questions are in bold. And his responses are right below each of them. Hope you enjoy!

Tell us a little bit about “ProtectYourBubble,” what is it, what do you offer on the site?

We’re a specialist insurer, and we’re also an insurance company strictly for gadgets such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, and cameras. We offer both insurance and also extended warranties as well.

And we just provide choices to customers of the different options they might be able to buy. One of our competitive advantages is the speed at which we replace your device. So if you lose or break your device, we’ll ship a device out to you so you’ll have a new device the very next day.

Why bubble? What is that a reference?

We’re cognizant that our lives these days they’re very fragile. And particularly when it comes to smart phones, you know, we need to be connected. To a certain extent, our world is quite fragile, kind of this bubble, and it can burst very easily.

And if you’ve ever been away from your smart phone for more than 24 hours, you’ll know what that feels like. So we wanted to kind of have a message that we’re there to we protect your bubble and help you to keep safe. And people seem to like the name.

What’s the percentage of people that buy extended warranties at like the point of sale, versus a third-party like Protect The Bubble?

Thirty to 40% take the kind of point of sale extended warranty and insurance option inside a big box retailer or at a cell phone carrier. And then the after-market solution is there for people who don’t decide to do that.

I think what we’re seeing more and more is that consumers want to do their own research. So they don’t necessarily want to buy these first and only option given to them. They want to be able to shop around, and they want to be able to look at coverage, price, deductible, and service.

Then they can make a decision like they do with so many other things in their lives. They want to have the ability to make an important decision on their own two feet.

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How To Launch An Online Business On A Budget

The following guest post by Kimberly Palmer is based on her new book, “The Economy of You: Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur and Recession-Proof Your Life.”

The Economy of You

When you’re launching a new online business, it’s tempting to spend a lot of money getting it going. You might want to pay for a professionally-built website, the perfect logo, public relations services and maybe a lawyer’s time to help you get your paperwork in place.

Here’s my advice: Don’t do any of that. At least, not until you launch your shop and have a steady stream of revenue coming in.

There are some exceptions, of course. Certain types of businesses require some hefty start-up costs. A custom cake baker needs an oven and a fridge (and the required licenses); anyone selling products that could potentially lead to injuries needs to make sure they are protected legally.

But for most of us launching online businesses, we can do it on the cheap. Here are five tips to help you keep your own costs down as you build and launch your online business on a budget:

1. Use existing e-commerce sites.

E-commerce websites like Etsy, Fiverr, Elance and Freelancer make it easy and virtually free to create a profile, describe what you have to offer, and start looking for customers. It took me about two weeks to officially open my shop after I first got the idea.

That’s because the infrastructure already exists, you just have to tap into it. There’s no need to start from scratch and create your own e-commerce platform, or even your own website.

Sure, you might want to consider hosting your own site once you get bigger, but to start out, you can simply piggyback on the ones that already exist. An added bonus is that it gives you a built-in customer base of people already browsing those sites.

2. Stick with digital products.

I made the mistake of launching my planner shop with the idea that people wanted to buy bound, printed copies of my planners. I was wrong. The printed planners that I paid hundreds of dollars to create are still sitting in my closet, unsold.

What did sell was the digital version of my planners. Not only does that option save me money in printing costs, but it also saves me time and postage on shipping. Digital products can download automatically, too, which means you’re not keeping your customers waiting.

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How To Beat The Airlines During Flight Delays

Airport Flight DelaysNothing is worse on a vacation than a cancelled flight or really long flight delays. And it’s made even worse by the fact that the airlines often have no requirement to help you out when the delay is because of weather, which is the biggest cause of nasty flight delays.

All they have to do is get you out on their soonest available flight in the class of service you booked. The rest is up to you.

Here are some ways to help you get home more quickly and avoid extra cost.

Five Ways To Beat Airline Flight Delays

1. Change online.

Some airlines like Delta let you rebook flights online when you have a delay. It’s a lot quicker and easier than dealing with an agent or the customer service phone line. Just login to the website or the company’s smartphone app and pull up your reservation. You’ll see options to change flights. Other airlines will be implementing this in the future, so keep it in mind.

If you can’t get online, get yourself on hold while you’re waiting so you can reach an agent more quickly. Also consider sending a Tweet to the assistance desk of your airline. United, Delta, and American will all help with reservations via Twitter.

2. Do your own flight search?

If you can’t change online, still get online with your phone while you’re waiting and start looking for flights that are available for sale and ask to be put on them. When really bad weather strikes, and the usual options are days away, airlines may be able to book you on other airlines as an option.

But you need to be firm and polite in asking about them. It helps to have examples ready to go for them to look up. Kayak.com does a good job of displaying a complete list of flights available.

Just note Southwest flights aren’t on there, but Southwest doesn’t have an agreement to carry other airline’s passengers, so they won’t be an option anyway.

And if you’re in coach, you’re only going to fly in coach. Don’t make the case that because they only have first class seats left you are entitled to one – that’s rarely possible.

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Why New Stadiums Are Ruining Baseball And Taxpayers Are Paying For It

Field of Schemes by Neil deMauseNew sports stadiums and arenas are popping up all over the country. And, they are ruining baseball. New stadiums are causing higher ticket prices and higher taxes as a result. The owners are adding to their profits through subsidies provided by local governments at a detriment to both sports fans and tax payers alike.

Are New Stadiums Ruining Baseball?

While most politicians and sports franchise owners will want fans to believe that a new stadium is in their best interest, will bring jobs to their area, will increase their stature, and a host of other promises, the reality is far from those promises. The truth of the matter is that new stadiums are rarely a good deal for citizens and fans in most cases.

In this episode of the Money Q&A podcast, “Your Money: Your Choices“, I interview Neil deMause who is an expert in the area of new sports stadium construction, their costs, and their lasting affects on the game and its citizens. He is also the author of the book, “Field of Schemes – How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit“.

On the podcast we not only talk about my favorite team in baseball, the Atlanta Braves, and their recent new stadium announcement, but we also talk about a host of other affects to teams building new stadiums. How much do government subsidies play into attracting new stadiums to an area? Is the skybox or the suite the cause of all this turmoil? Are professional athletes and their exorbitantly high priced salaries to blame?

You may be surprised to hear what Neil has to say. But, more importantly, why should you care? In fact, you may also be surprised to learn just how much it will impact you, what you buy, the cost of sports tickets, salaries, new jobs, and the like. You won’t want to miss this very interesting conversation with such a national expert in the field.

Are Higher Ticket Prices In Our Future?

Politicians and sports franchise owners how would have much fans believe that new stadiums, the new arenas are a good thing. But, is that always the case? It seems like there’s two things in the future for Braves fans and residents of Cobb County. It’s going to be higher ticket prices and higher taxes for those poor souls in Cobb County.

So, I asked Neil deMause just that question. Here’s what he told me…

“You absolutely, generally wind up paying twice for new stadiums, once at tax day and once at the ticket office. Ticket prices invariable go up at new stadiums because that’s the whole point of them, is to sell more expensive tickets and in particular, you know, this is part of the trend of building smaller stadiums that you see in baseball,” said deMause.

“It’s not that they want a new place because the old… you know, traditionally in baseball especially, but in any sport, the idea was, ‘Oh, we’ve gotten really popular, we can’t fit people in our stadium anymore. We want more seats.’ That’s not what this latest round of stadiums is about. It has been about where, say we have too many seats, and it’s too easy to get tickets. What we want is to make it a scarcer commodity so that we can charge through the nose for them and have people lining up, you know in January, to buy tickets when they go on sale.

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Five Tips For Frugal Living To Live Comfortably

Tips For Frugal Living To Enjoy Your Life

Tips for Frugal LivingIn the current state of the economy, it can seem nearly impossible to stay financially afloat and comfortable. However, many people don’t realize that the trick to getting their hands on more money does not necessarily lie with bring more of it in. However, it more so lies with learning how to not spend as much of what they already get.

Many incomes are substantial enough to allow a person to live a comfortable life, but often times, people don’t realize this because they don’t know how to properly manage their money.

Tips For Frugal Living

Without further ado, these are five tips on living a frugal life, frugal living, and pinching the most amount of pennies possible.

Always Look for Used First

Before you buy anything, whether it be a gold necklace or a truck, make sure you check with friends and family first. There’s always a chance that someone you know would be willing to actually give away whatever it is that you’re in search of. Additionally, check local “For Sale” listings for the items that you want. You might be surprised how easy it is to get a great deal on something that has been lightly used.

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Exploring The Resources Necessary To Manage Your Company’s Finances

Managing your company’s finances should always be a top priority that is handled efficiently throughout the year. This is one of the most important things that you can do in order to keep your company afloat, especially since the cornerstone and foundation of your business is your cash flow. The mismanagement and mishandling of your revenue and expenses can quickly spell disaster for your company, which is why it is imperative that you take full advantage of several key resources that are available to you. Invest in Quality Accounting Software There are quite a few software choices that are available within an expanding catalog of options that are used by business in different industries today. Finding the perfect one to … Read more