Five ways to pay less online

Online shoppers intent on getting the lowest price may want to make themselves comfortable: Shopping around is easier than ever, but it still takes some patience — and a visit to more than a few sites.

Price-comparison sites have long been consumers’ go-to resource for checking prices online, and related apps have made it easy for pavement pounders to perform a quick buy-or-not calculation while in stores. Some 55% of online shoppers always check for competitive prices before buying, according to Forrester Research. And when shoppers are buying a big-ticket item or something that has a reputation for variable pricing, they’re even more apt to compare, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst with Forrester Research. “It’s a way to arm yourself with the most data possible,” she says.
Pronto Pronto.com wins plaudits for enabling users to refine product searches by category to weed out unwanted items.
But experts say price-comparison engines have slowly become less useful for bargain hunters. Google (GOOG) recently redesigned its Google Shopping engine to include listings only from companies that pay to be included. On the plus side, that’s likely to weed out suspect vendors and outdated prices. But it also means small businesses are less likely to get a mention, says Jack Vonder Heide, chief executive of the research group Technology Briefing Centers. Nor will they see listings from Amazon — the retail giant (AMZN) has removed its Google Shopping listings.

A Google spokeswoman says the changes are about providing more accurate results for shoppers. “We truly believe that when merchants have a financial stake in the shopping experience, they will send us better product data,” she says. And Google isn’t alone. Other engines may also stick to paid listings, says Vonder Heide, or only include major retailers.

Then there’s the dynamic-pricing problem. Web retailers like Amazon and Best Buy (BBY) have begun changing their prices multiple times throughout the course of the day. Many of the price-comparison sites, however, update their own records just once a day, so the prices they’re showing you are wrong, says Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org. “Yesterday’s price won’t do you any good,” he says.

Shoppers’ best bet is to have not just one but several price-comparison sites bookmarked, experts say. Ideally, that results in a wider selection of retailers and a more complete view of sales and price variations, Mulpuru says.

Here are five that the experts say are worth bookmarking:

Bing Shopping: If you’re browsing models before hunting down the best prices, Bing offers a “compare” feature and virtual shopping lists that can be helpful in making a decision, says Michelle Madhok, chief executive of shopping site SheFinds.com. Price-check results include a price history over six months, plus reviews and specs on a product when applicable. But there’s no rating system for merchant reliability, and the listings aren’t always accurate. A hunt for the novel “Gone Girl,” brought up a low price, but it was from an expired auction, while a search for the Canon PowerShot D20 delivered a lowest listing of $247, but clicking on the link led to a U.K.-based site that actually wanted 247 pounds, or $397. A Bing spokeswoman says the Microsoft (MSFT) unit’s site team approves merchants before adding the free product listings and offers guidelines to merchants to make listings more accurate.

Decide: One of the better sites at capturing price fluctuations, Decide.com compares price data against factors like a new model’s launch date to help shoppers decide whether to buy or wait, says Mulpuru. Ratings also point out when consumers can “do better” — that is, when there are comparable items with more favorable reviews and similar pricing. There’s no way to sort listings by best total price with tax and shipping, however, so it can take time to review. Users can’t search for everything, either. Decide.com currently covers a few dozen items within broader categories such as electronics and appliances. A spokesman says the site, which debuted last year, continues to add new categories and capabilities.

Google Shopping: Even with the changes, it’s still a more-than-worthy engine, says Vonder Heide. “You’re going to have the safest buying experience,” he says. The recent redesign also included larger images with search listings, so it’s easier to see at a glance if those are say, the model of Ray Ban sunglasses you want. Listings show which local stores list an item in stock, as well as those that accept Google Wallet mobile payments. Web options often include eBay (EBAY) stores and current auction listings (used condition noted). But of course, with the shift to only paid listings, shoppers won’t see as wide a selection of businesses as in the past, he says. A Google spokeswoman says the redesign will still list products by relevancy, regardless of what advertisers pay to be listed. Nonpaying merchants will also continue to be included in the listings for a short time, she says.

PriceGrabber: A price history tracks the average and lowest prices over time, and shoppers can also set price alerts to get an email when the item drops below a set dollar amount. Listings include big retailers as well as eBay sales and smaller specialty stores. Results initially separate merchants into “featured sellers” (those that paid) and “more sellers” (that didn’t), but it takes just one click to sort by total price and mix the two together into one list. A spokesman says that functionality makes it clear for consumers that some retailers have paid to be featured, without compromising their ability to find the best deal. But finding some good deals requires a look through the whole list — on a Whirlpool dishwasher, one of the lowest prices got pushed to the bottom of the page because shipping and tax couldn’t be calculated. Those instances are rare, and usually stem from incomplete data passed from a retailer, says a spokesman.

Pronto.com: Users can refine product searches by category to weed out unwanted items, like the accessories for a particular smartphone instead of the handset itself, says Madhok. Search results also allow winnowing by category-specific attributes like the color of a digital camera, or liquid versus cream foundation in makeup. There’s a page of details on each merchant, including which credit cards they accept and where they charge sales tax, but there are no reliability ratings. Most listings do not note shipping price, either, except when it’s free. Pronto.com did not respond to requests for comment.

Alex Karras, former NFL lineman, actor, dies at 77

DETROIT (AP) -- Alex Karras, the rugged lineman who anchored the Detroit Lions' defense in the 1960s, then went on to an acting career in which he starred in the sitcom ''Webster'' and famously punched a horse in the 1974 comedy ''Blazing Saddles,'' died Wednesday. He was 77.

Karras, who had recently suffered kidney failure, died at home in Los Angeles surrounded by family members, said Craig Mitnick, Karras' attorney.

Diagnosed with dementia, Karras in April joined the more than 3,500 former NFL players suing the league for not protecting them better from head injuries, immediately becoming one of the best-known names in the legal fight.

Detroit drafted Karras with the 10th overall pick in 1958 out of Iowa and he was a four-time All-Pro defensive tackle over 12 seasons with the franchise.

He was a terror on the field, using a variety of moves to push around opposing linemen and get into the backfield. His Lions handed the powerful 1962 Green Bay Packers their only defeat that season, a 26-14 upset on Thanksgiving during which they harassed quarterback Bart Starr constantly.

Packers guard Jerry Kramer wrote in his diary of the 1967 season about his trepidation over having to play Karras.

''I'm thinking about him every minute,'' Kramer wrote.

For all his prowess on the field, Karras may have gained more fame when he turned to acting in the movies and on television.

Playing a not-so-bright bruiser in Mel Brooks' ''Blazing Saddles,'' he not only slugged a horse but also delivered the classic line: ''Mongo only pawn in game of life.''

Several years before that, Karras had already become a bit of a celebrity through George Plimpton's behind-the-scenes book about what it was like to be an NFL player in the Motor City, ''Paper Lion: Confessions of a Second-string Quarterback.''

That led to Karras playing himself in the successful movie adaption, and it opened doors for Karras to be an analyst alongside Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford on ''Monday Night Football.''

In the 1980s, he played a sheriff in the comedy ''Porky's'' and became a hit on the small screen as Emmanuel Lewis' adoptive father, George Papadapolis, in the sitcom ''Webster.''

Don't Love Money

1 TIMOTHY 6:10 ESV
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is
through this craving that some have wandered away from the
faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Many think the Bible says money is evil but it does not. What
it actually says is the love of money causes evil. The meaning
is that when people love money they will do evil things to
obtain it.

While not all evil is caused by the love of money (rape is an
example), there are many different kinds of evil that have the
love of money as their true motivation.

Money has deceived many. They think it will bring them
happiness, but it disappoints.

Money cannot buy happiness or real love. Money will never love
you back.

Can you be a lover of money and also be a continual giver? No!
Those who love money are not willing to part with it. Although
they may part with some for the purpose of gaining more money,
they will never focus on giving, for they are interested in
getting, not giving to others.
As for me, I will not be deceived by money, loving it and
trusting it, instead of God.

The Magic of Compounding

The magic of compound interest is simply a combination of time and rate of return. Let us begin by taking a truly long-term look at the financial markets. Complete data tracing the returns of financial assets are available beginning in 1872. I use primarily the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stock Price Index (and a predecessor index prior to 1926) as the measure of common stock returns, the long-term (20-year) U.S. government bond as the measure of bond returns, and the 90-day U.S. Treasury bill as the measure of the returns on cash reserves.

During the 1872-1992 period, the annual return on U.S. common stocks averaged +8.8%, the annual return on long-term bonds averaged +4.6%, and the annual return on cash reserves averaged +4.2%. The differences in returns - which may appear small - result in a staggering dispersion in the final value of $1 invested in each asset class on December 31, 1871. The summary figures are in Table 1-1. A mere 0.4 percentage point increase in return, from +4.2% in bills to +4.6% in bonds, increases the final value of the $1 initial investment by more than 70%. A further 4.2 percentage point increase, to 8.8% in stocks, causes the final value increase an additional 115 times. This is the magic of compounding writ large. Figure 1-1 presents the cumulative returns since December 31, 1981, for each of the three basic asset classes.

Buying Mutual Funds

Buying Mutual Funds
As an individual investor, you have many avenues available to you if you want to invest in mutual funds. You can invest through a company-sponsored 401(k) plan, through a personal IRA account or through a standard brokerage account. But regardless of which avenue you choose, you should be aware that mutual funds don’t trade like stocks. You can buy or sell shares of stock anytime during market hours, but you can only buy or sell mutual funds at the end of the day.
Mutual funds only trade at the end of the day because you trade mutual funds based on their net asset value (NAV). To determine the NAV at the end of the trading day, the mutual fund company looks at all of the assets that are in the basket, determines their value and divides that number by the total number of outstanding shares in the fund. As you can imagine, this can be a complicated process and the fund company only wants to go through it once a day once the market closes.
Mutual-fund companies recognize the inflexibility associated with only being able to trade once a day can be difficult. So to offset a portion of this inflexibility, they allow you to purchase fractional share of the mutual fund.
Imagine a mutual fund is trading at $58.50 and you have $100 you want to invest. If fund companies didn’t allow fractional shares, you would be able to buy one share for $58.50, but the rest of your money would have to wait until you could save enough to buy another full-priced share. But because funds do allow fractional trading, you can utilize your entire $100 and own 1.71 shares.
Now that you know how to buy a mutual fund, how do you search and make sure you’re buying a profitable fund?

Expenses and Prospectus

Expenses
Every mutual fund has expenses. Some funds’ expenses are relatively low while other funds’ have extremely high expenses. You should be aware of a fund’s expenses before you invest because those expenses can have a dramatic effect on your investment returns. The three expenses you should always identify are loads, redemption fees and operating expenses.
Loads are fees that can be charged either when you buy a mutual fund (front-end load) or when you sell a mutual fund (back-end load). These loads are usually used to pay a commission to the agent who sold you the fund. By law, front-end loads cannot be higher than 8.5 percent, but most fund companies opt for load lower than the maximum. Some fund companies have even gone so far as to not charge a load (no-load) on their mutual funds.
Redemption fees are stipulations indicating that if you sell your mutual fund before a certain date, you will be charged a fee. Fund companies impose redemption fees to discourage turnover in the fund.
Operating expenses—management fees and 12(b)-1 fees—comprise the operating expense ratio. These fees are charged as a normal part of doing business for the fund. Management fees go to pay the fund manager for his expertise and time. 12(b)-1 fees cover advertising and distribution expenses for the fund.
Now that you know what expenses you have to account for, where can you go to find out what expenses a fund charges?
Prospectus
A mutual fund company outlines everything you could ever want to know about a fund in the fund’s prospectus. A fund’s prospectus is a booklet that will identify and discuss everything from the fund’s objectives and its past performance to a description of the fund manager and the fees associated with the fund. And if there is something you can’t find in the prospectus, the prospectus provides you will all of the contact information so you can get your questions answered.
Unfortunately, most investors never read through their funds’ prospectuses. But if you want to access this tremendous information, Yahoo! Finance offers and incredible tool to help you locate a fund’s prospectus: the Prospectus Finder.
To watch a video outlining how the Prospectus Finder can help you in your mutual-fund investing, click here.
Now that you know virtually everything about a fund thanks to the prospectus, how do you go about buying that fund?

Performance of mutual fund

Performance
Investors like to see not only the rate of return for an individual mutual fund but also how that fund compares to other similar funds. To see the performance of a fund, investors need look no further than the newspaper or some other quote source. To see how a fund compares to other funds, investors can consult either the Morningstar Ratings or the Lipper Ratings.
The SEC requires mutual funds to furnish historical returns for the following time periods so you can easily see how well a fund has been performing:

Year to date

One year

Three years

Five years

10 years

Since Inception

While seeing how a fund has performed in the past is extremely useful, you don’t have a complete picture of how well the fund has done unless you compare it to other similar funds. For this comparison, you will need to utilize rating from either Morningstar or Lipper. Both of these companies compile comparative performance-based information.
Morningstar rates funds using a “star” system—with 5 stars being the highest rating and 1 star being the lowest rating.

5 stars indicates the fund is in the top 10 percent of its Morningstar category.

4 stars indicates the fund is in the next 22.5 percent of its category.

3 stars indicates the fund is in the next 35 percent of its category.

2 stars indicates the fund is in the next 22.5 percent of its category.

1 stars indicates the fund is in the last 10 percent of its category.

Lipper rates funds using a numeric score—with a “1” being the highest rating and a “5” being the lowest rating.
Now that you know how to measure a fund’s performance, what are the expenses that can affect a fund’s overall performance?