There are other benefits to the Roth accounts:  You aren’t required to start pulling money out after age 70 1/2 like you must do with a 401k and regular IRAs.  You can leave the Roth “bucket” alone if you don’t need it.  You can can leave a larger legacy to your heirs and they can draw on it for the rest of their lives (or immediately) - tax free.  Also the money taken from a Roth won’t count in determing whether any of your Social Security benefits will be taxable.

So why don’t more employees take advantage of the Roth 401k?  Any ideas?

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.  Proverbs 22:7

The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever het gets.  Proverbs 21:20

Steady plodding bring prosperity.  Proverbs 21:5

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his househole, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.  1 Timothy 5:8

I found a link on the Crown website with many more Bible references.   Check them out.

1. Reduce you reliance on snail mail.  Sign up for online statements and use online bill pay.  I love online banking and have used it for years.  I have swtiched bills over to electronic as soon as it was available from each company.   It also leaves you less to shred – no hard copies.  If you don’t have ingoing or outgoing mail in your mailbox, your important information can’t be stolen from your box.  Use a PO box if you must get snail mail. 
2. Track your statements.  Check transactions on each statement.  Reconcile your statements.  I use Quicken and have for years.  I do direct download from my accounts into Quicken.  At the end of the month I can reconcile my accounts in a matter of seconds.
3. Set up a secure online security system.  Make sure you have ant-virus, anti-spyware and firewall protection.  Don’t log into financial accounts on a public or unsecured computer.
4. Think carefully about your passwords.  Don’t use obvious passwords or the same one over and over again.  Using a jumbled combination of letters and numbers is the best.  Keep an Excel spreadsheet of all of your passwords but make sure that is also password protected.

Do you have any other suggestions?

1. The most important key to your credit score is  to KNOW your score.  What is you score?  Your score is used to determine mortgage, loan and insurance rates.  It can also be used be a potential employer.  So you need to know what your score is.  I use www.creditkarma.com to get a free score.  You can purchase scores from any of the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) but I like free better.   Credit Karma believes consumers have a right to know this information with no charge or without the bait and switch of 30 days free followed by enrollment products with confusing opt outs. They subsidize the cost of pulling the credit scores by selling advertising on the site.  Note that scores from different places may (probably, will) be different.  The credit data that comprises the credit report  is very likely to be different.  The scoring algorithm that is applied to that credit data is also likely to be different.  So scores will vary somewhat.
2. You actually have three FICO scores, one from each of the three major credit bureaus.  Ask your lender which bureau it uses.  Mortgage lenders usually obtain all three scores.  They move throw out the top and bottom and consider the middle number.  It may be worth it to purchase all three scores if you are going after a big mortgage.
3. Do the annual checkup on your credit reports by going to www.annualcreditreport.com.  If you make a note on your calendar every 4 months to go to this site and get a free report you can get a report from each of the three credit bureaus on a rotating basis (for example, Experian in February, Equifax in June, TransUnion in October).  This will help detect any fraud that may be happening under your name.  Report any discrepancies you find on the report as soon as possible.
4. You can score too high which makes you seem unprofitable.  If you have a long credit history and little or no outstanding debt you won’t be turned down but may not receive new offers.  A good place to be in my mind.

For deal of the day offers check out www.dodtracker.com.

To find printable coupons and codes for online shipping check out www.retailmenot.com.

For a comparison shopping website that locates bargains check out www.shopzilla.com.

You can sign up for email alerts on brand names at www.shopittome.com.

Do you have any others that you recommend?

Locate a credit union by going to www.creditunion.coop.  You can join many credit unions that you wouldn’t necessarily think you could join.  You can join the Pentagon Federal Credit Union by joining the National Military Family Association for a one-time $20 membership fee.  Credit unions often offers lower rates for things like auto loans.

You can find small community banks at www.icba.org and click on bank locator or just look around your community for them.  Building a relationship with a small local bank also helps out your community.

You can find online banks through www.bankrate.com.  You can check if the bank is FDIC insured by putting the bank’s name into www2.fdic.gov/idasp/main_bankfind.asp.  I have accounts at several online banks.  They can pay higher rates on savings account and it only takes a couple days to transfer money which isn’t a problem.  Not having immediate access to the money can be a plus as you can’t spend it as easily.

On the financial end of funeral planning, experts suggest you preplan, but don’t prepay. You don’t know that the money will be in a safe investment or that the funeral home will still be in business.

Shop around as prices for caskets and funerals can vary by thousands of dollars, even in the same city. You can purchase a casket online or elsewhere at a discount and the funeral home has to accept it. If they give you a runaround on accepting it, you can report them to the Federal Trade Commission (or threaten to report them and they may change their mind). Also don’t purchase a “protective” rubber seal for the casket – these are just another way for a funeral home to overcharge you.

Consider having everything at your place of worship rather than at the funeral home which will also save you money. Make it even simpler by going the cremation route. That is what I am planning on doing. When I see all of the space being taken up by cemetaries where will it end? If everyone continues to take up at least 6 foot of space when they die and old cemetaries can’t be dug up as they are sacred, where will there eventually be space to live???