Cost of things and Interests

Top Reasons You're Short on Cash |Credit Card $1,645 Undergradu- ates are carrying record-high credit card balances. The Today 21% average (mean) balance grew to $3,173, the highest in the years the study has been conducted. $946 2004 of undergraduates had balances of between $3,000 and $7,000, also up from the last study. Median debt Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: Total U.S. consumer debt $15,799 as of May 201l: $2.43 trillion $ aving tips The best way to use your credit cards is for small, predictable amounts and paying it off completely each month. Cost of Living housing entertainment Food, Housing, and Transportation totaled 75% of all living costs food healthcare for Americans in 2009. That left just 25% for Entertainment, Health- care, Shopping, and everything else. transport shopping 75% 25% From 2008 to 2010, Americans' spending fluctuated a great deal. Here are how some major categories of spending changed. 8.9% 7.7% 5.7% 5.2% Clothing and Footware TV & Entertainment Televisions Furniture 3.4% Air Fare Health Care Prescriptions Cars & Auto repair Lotteries -1.1% Groceries -3.6% Phone and Internet -4.2% -6.0% -7.4% $ aving tips The rule of thumb for living expenses including rent or a mortgage and all utility bills is no more than 36% of what you make. If your cost of living is close to or more than that, it's time to make some changes. Socialized Spending Yearly college students spending on snacks & beverages, new clothes and Movies, DVDS, music, and games $11 Billion $5 Billion $3 Billion snacks and beverages Movies, DVDS, music, and games new clothes $ aving tips Spend time together, not money. Sign up for store email lists so that you know exactly when the biggest sales happen. Interest charges and late fees 31 Late payment fees Over the limit fees 1/2 8.0% of the students suveyed in PIRG's 2008Campus Credit Card Trap report 4.8% 1989 2004 Percentage of cardholders incurring fees due to late payments of 60 days or more. said that they have paid a late fee, and 15 percent have paid an "over the limit" fee. In 2009, penalty fees from credit cards will add up to about $20.5 billion Annual fees Late fees In the first 3 months of 2009, 27% of card offers carried an annual fee, up from 18% in 2008 $25.90 $28.19 2008 2009 Consumer Action reported that late fees reached up to $39 per incident. $ aving tips To avoid late fees, set up automatic payments and keep track of the due dates. Source: Source: Sallie Mae, "How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards," April 2009 Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, released July 2011 Consumer Expenditure Survey by the US Department of Labor, 2009 VisualEconomics, 2010 US News and World Report, The Princeton Review, Zaarly.com New York Times, September 2009 Demos.org, "Borrowing To Make Ends Meet," November 2007 U.S. PIRG, "Campus Credit Card Trap" ConsumerReports.org Money Blog. August 2009 Consumer Action credit card survey, July 2009 KIDDD Copyright o 2011 Kiboo LLC. All Rights Reserved. www.kiboo.com