Finance

Pump Your Own Gas—And Fuel Your Finances

Published

1 year ago

July 2, 2023

Pump Your Own Gas—And Fuel Your Finances

Did you know there is still a place in the U.S. that requires you to sit in your car and wait for an attendant to pump your gas? It’s called New Jersey, and when Oregon passed a bill last week ending its 72-year ban on self-service gas in parts of the state, it left the Garden State standing alone in the rarified air that evolution and common sense seem to have bypassed.

My industry—the financial industry—is somewhat notorious for its slow pace of evolution and its preference for antiquity (read: profit margins). Indeed, the New York Stock Exchange still conducts a small portion of its trades manually, in person, through yelling and hand signals; and there is still an argument over whether every financial professional should have to act in the best interests of their clients [insert palm to face emoji]. But whether out of necessity or by choice or thanks to institutional disruption, we are seeing one of the fastest paces of change in the industry in, well, a couple hundred years.

I got it, thanks.

Getty Images

So, what about you? Has your personal financial management evolved? Are you taking advantage of everything at your disposal to make managing your money as efficient and as effective as possible?

While not a comprehensive list of innovations, here are three big ones that could transform your financial footprint for the better:

1. Break the Silence – Yes, we’ll get to technology in a moment, but we must start with a mentality driven by a cultural shift that may not have entirely happened yet. While I tend to think of the money taboo as a thing of the “Leave It To Beaver” era, The Atlantic reported on relatively recent surveys finding “…that in 34% of cohabitating couples (married or not), one or both partners couldn’t correctly identify how much money the other makes…and that people are ‘more comfortable’ talking with friends about marital discord, mental health, addiction, race, sex, and politics than money.” Than politics—really?

The answer to the question Why? is a bit more complicated. While it may have been about a misplaced sense of propriety in the 50s, it may be today, especially among the affluent, more about embarrassment or guilt over how much we do have. But while we may not be saying it, we certainly don’t seem to have any problem showing it, everywhere from social media to the church parking lot.

Regardless, my encouragement is not to broadcast your net worth and cash flow on Facebook every week but to be deliberate about what and with whom you do share. Most importantly, with more than 50% of marriages ending in divorce and more than half of the splits citing financial disagreements as the cause, it’s clear that we’re either not communicating—or not communicating well—about money in our marriages. Therefore, whether you have chosen to join your finances (as my wife and I have) or keep them separate (and there are good reasons for doing so), I recommend maintaining full transparency if you want to foster that ever-important trust.

The other money conversations that I believe are vital are with your kids and parents. Here, complete transparency may not be helpful (although in some cases it may), but open lines of communication are. Kids should know how to earn, save, share, and spend as early as they demonstrate curiosity on these topics, and apps like Greenlight have made this so much easier for parents. But I also hope you’ll not shield your children from your financial challenges or opportunities either because learning to belt-tighten in a pinch or luxuriate in a time of plenty could be valuable lessons, too.

Lastly, it makes sense to talk to your parents about money because, whether the result could be a windfall inheritance or a need for assistance, their financial situation will likely have an impact on you that will require planning.

2. Automate – While AI is currently getting all the technology headlines, the most transformative technology in personal finance has been around for many years now: automation. Whether you’re saving for a vacation, paying your bills, managing your budget, building a retirement nest egg, or paying off debts, all these tasks and more can now be automated. You can make one decision and check off a string of to-dos into perpetuity.

In some cases, you can make one decision that will even compound into the future. For example, you know you should be saving more in your 401(k), but you’ve been hesitant to make the jump from 0% to 3%, 3% to 6%, or 6% to 12% because you know you’ll feel it in your paycheck. No problem. Choose the auto-escalation feature that is (hopefully, but likely) in your retirement plan at work. This will boost your savings by, say, another 1% at the beginning of every year when you’re also likely to receive a bump in pay for cost-of-living adjustments, allowing you to save more without feeling the pain.

3. Go Online – There are still reasons to have a relationship with a bank that has walls and a door, but there are very few reasons to warehouse most of your savings with them. The advertised savings account rates at the three biggest banks in the U.S. that you see on every corner as of the writing of this article were 0.15%, 0.01%, and 0.01%. On the same day, Bankrate.com reported the top five savings rates, most of which were at online banks, at more than 4.5%.

Let me put that in perspective for you. Let’s say you had $30,000 in your savings account. At 4.5%, your bank is giving you $1,350 per year. For doing nothing. At 0.01%, your bank—the largest bank (and the second largest bank) in the world—is paying you $3 per year. Three dollars. Per year.

That’s even worse than making you wait in your car for someone to pump your gas.

Related Topics:Automation evolution maurer money money management new jersey Personal Finance tim maurer u.s.

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Finance

The Container Store files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Published

4 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

The Container Store files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Investors in The Container Store (TCSG) have been sent packing as the struggling home goods chain files for bankruptcy.

The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Sunday, Yahoo Finance learned exclusively. The company said in a press release it is doing this in order to refinance its debt to “bolster its financial position, fuel growth initiatives, and drive enhanced long-term profitability.”

For the quarter-ended Sept. 28, 2024, The Container Store listed total liabilities of $836.4 million against $969 million in total assets.

CEO Satish Malhotra — a former Sephora executive who took over atop The Container Store in 2021 — is confident the maneuver will allow the 46-year old company to stick around.

“The Container Store is here to stay,” Malhotra said in a statement, adding that it is taking these necessary steps in order to advance the business, strengthen customer relationships, expand its reach and bolster its capabilities.

It plans to lean into custom space offerings, “which continue to demonstrate strength,” he said.

The bankruptcy process is expected to last several weeks with the reorganization anticipated to happen within 35 days. The bankruptcy does not include the company’s Elfa home goods business in Sweden.

The Container Store has filed for bankruptcy, putting its future in question. (Courtesy: The Container Store)

The business will operate as usual across all stores, online and in-home services. The company operates 102 stores across 34 states.

The company says all customer deposits are safe and protected, and vendors will get paid in full. There are no planned layoffs.

There are also no planned store closures, but that may be a possibility in the future as the company goes through the reorganization process.

Chapter 11 allows companies to “renegotiate the terms of their leases to align their store footprint with market realities and business needs,” sources told Yahoo Finance, adding “if they do not achieve meaningful rent reductions, they may be forced to close a select few locations.”

The filing has been expected by industry experts.

Read more: Why Walmart won the 2024 Yahoo Finance Company of the Year award

The Container Store — a chain founded in 1978 that rose to fame for its nifty home organizational goods in the 1990s — was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 9 after it fell below the exchange’s standard to maintain a market cap of $15 million over 30 consecutive trading days.

The company has seen its profits plunge post the home remodeling frenzy fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic and competition picked up from Walmart (WMT), Amazon (AMZN) and Target (TGT). It has been unprofitable for the past two fiscal years, with losses tallying about $10 million for the fiscal year-ended Sept. 28, 2024.

The Container Store Group is the latest, but not the only, retailer to fall against the rise of better retail operators Amazon, Walmart, among others.

Both Party City and Big Lots also announced that they’re officially going out of business this past week.

Founded in 1978, The Container Store went public on Nov. 1, 2013, pricing its initial public offering (IPO) at $525 per share. By the close of trading that day, shares closed at $543.

In the last decade, shares have spiraled down to a grisly $0.32 as of the market close on Dec. 19.

In recent years as inflation persisted and competition heated up, the company struggled to drive revenue, especially as customers put off big-ticket items, home remodeling, and focused on essential goods.

On Oct. 29, the company reported that revenue fell 10.5% year over year to $196.6 million in the most recent quarter. Net losses narrowed to $16.1 million, compared to a $23.7 million loss last year.

An example of The Container Store's custom closet. (Courtesy: The Container Store) — An example of The Container Store’s custom closet. (Courtesy: The Container Store)

Overall same-store sales fell 12.5%. General merchandise sales declined 18.7%. Custom products for home closets, kids rooms, and garages were down 1.5%.

“Results are plagued by continued macro headwinds delaying a return to growth for the category…the company has yet to see green shoots in COVID pull-forward categories and echoed recent hardlines sentiment regarding an increasingly promotional environment and event-driven consumer,” JP Morgan analyst Christopher Horvers said in a note ahead of the results.

In a filing after earnings, the company shared that there was “substantial doubt” about its “ability to continue” as a “challenging retail environment” persists, including “reduced consumer spending in the storage and organization category and increased price sensitivity.”

It also foreshadowed that it “may need to scale back…discontinue certain or all of our operations to reduce costs…or seek bankruptcy protection.”

This as the company announced a strategic partnership with Beyond (BYON), which includes brands like Overstock.com and the fallen Bed, Bath and Beyond brand. At the time, Beyond planned to invest $40 million in The Container Store Group through a preferred equity transaction.

That partnership now won’t come to fruition, according to sources close to the matter.

“The company has been working closely with its lenders to determine a path forward that addressed its balance sheet. While they explored a strategic partnership with Beyond Inc., the deal did not materialize,” the sources said.

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Brooke DiPalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.

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Finance

Personal finance lessons from Warren Buffett’s latest letter

Published

12 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Personal finance lessons from Warren Buffett’s latest letter

Last Nov. 25, Warren Buffett announced that he would donate a substantial portion of the shares he owned in Berkshire Hathaway to his four family foundations.

In his announcement, he included a letter which contained some important personal finance lessons that we can apply to our own situation.

One of my favorites is his comment that hugely wealthy parents should only leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing.