Retirement planning is all about The Number. So much emphasis is placed on amassing the right number of dollars for retirement that there was a bestselling book on the subject a few years ago called, you guessed it, The Number.

Here’s the problem with that approach. You can calculate your number down to the penny, but how do you get there? Let’s say I’m five years away from retirement. (I wish!) I invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds in my 401(k), and I’m saving aggressively. How much money am I going to have in five years?

Who knows? The answer is in the hands of the stock and bond markets. I can increase my chance of hitting my goal by saving more, but how much more? Five years isn’t a long time: I could easily end up with less money than I started with, even using a relatively conservative portfolio.

Is there another way to approach the retirement savings problem? This isn’t an ivory-tower question. For most of us, retirement saving is like a runaway project at work: you can be 90% of the way there and have no idea how long that last 10% is going to take. It’s like trying to walk from Seattle to New York, blindfolded. Can I get a compass?

“Okay,” you might say. “If market fluctuations make retirement planning so hard, let’s take the Invisible Hand out of the equation by investing in low-risk bonds or insurance products.” I am sympathetic to this idea, have written about it before, and will talk to one of its passionate defenders in a moment. But damn, have you looked at treasury bond rates lately? As I write this, you can lock up your money for 30 years and get a real (inflation-adjusted) return of 0.77%. That is the very definition of a hard sell.

Another way

Wade Pfau, a professor of economics at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, came up with a different approach and published it in the Journal of Financial Planning.

It’s not a new method of retirement savings: it relies on a diversified stock-and-bond portfolio like you probably already have. It’s a compass for your journey through the investment wilderness: a way of checking your progress without having to make a prediction about future market performance—a prediction that will certainly be wrong. I’m going to explain how it works, but feel free to skip ahead to where I link to a simple table where you can check your own progress.

What Pfau realized is: the market goes up, then it goes down. And vice versa. (Yes, this doesn’t seem like much of a eureka moment, but bear with me.)

Take the case of someone who retired in 1982. Lucky bastard: 1982 was the beginning of one of the biggest, longest bull markets in US history, and our guy can spend freely. But 1982 was also the end of one of the worst bear markets in history. That means our retiree had to save and save and save in order to be able to retire in 1982.

“Sure, the 1982 retiree has a high withdrawal rate, but this isn’t fair because it would have been tough to save enough to retire in 1982,” says Pfau.

So he fused together the ideas of savings rate and withdrawal rate. We start with a data set of market performance from 1871 to 2009. Then we invent a hypothetical retiree. Let’s call her Jane. We know Jane’s age, how much she has saved so far (in terms of a multiple of her salary), how much of her salary she needs to replace from her savings in retirement, and how much she is saving now (again, as a percentage of her salary).

Now we can use Pfau’s tables to ask: What if Jane were saving and retiring at the worst possible time in recorded investment history? At what age could she have retired?

You’re probably lost at this point, so let’s fill Jane out with some actual numbers, Ms. Potato Head-style. Let’s say she’s 55, needs to replace 70% of her salary in retirement, has already saved eight times her salary, and is currently saving 15% of her gross pay. According to the table, Jane could have retired at 68. What if she bumps her savings up to 20%? That knocks five years off her retirement date.

Here are the tables for savers age 35, 45, 50, and 60. (The tables for age 55 are in the original article.)

A dissenting view

The problem with taking a historical perspective, of course, is that the 1000-year storm could hit at any time, and Pfau admits as much in the paper. “Indeed, there is an important caveat that these ‘safe’ strategies are only what would have worked in the worst-case scenario from the past,” he writes. “Future retirees may experience even worse market conditions, and this must always be kept in mind.”

That’s not good enough, says Zvi Bodie, professor of management at Boston University and author of the forthcoming book Risk Less and Prosper. “This is an extreme case of what is called hindsight bias,” says Bodie, who advocates investing your baseline retirement money in low-risk assets. “It’s true he’s never seen a truly disastrous period of security returns in the US. But he sure has hell has seen it in Japan.” (The Japanese stock market is famous for hitting a high of nearly 40,000 in 1989 and then slumping to a small fraction thereof ever since.)

Again, Pfau freely admits this. “In the future we could have a worst worst-case scenario. A black swan,” he says.

Here comes the judge

I’m going to referee this debate. As I said, I’m sympathetic to Bodie’s view that we can achieve more certainty in our retirement planning by investing in safe assets, and to a significant extent, I follow this approach myself.

But it’s an approach few investors are likely to sign up for at the moment, when bond yields are at all-time lows, no matter how good an idea it is. Most people I know invest in a mixture of riskier and safer assets and hope for the best.

For them, Pfau’s tables can’t tell you for sure whether your retirement savings is on track—there’s always that pesky black swan to worry about. But they can tell you if you’re off track. If you’re 35, haven’t saved anything for retirement yet, and need a 50% replacement rate in retirement, you’d better be saving at least 15% of your salary if you’re planning to retire by 66—and that doesn’t take into account investment fees and expenses, emergencies, periods of unemployment, and the like.

Better make it 20%.

Matthew Amster-Burton is a personal finance columnist at Mint.com. Find him on Twitter @Mint_Mamster.

Lots of bad habits lead to overspending, but you already knew that. Countless blog posts and finance articles provide ways that you can cut back on your expenses. The problem with most of this content is that the one simple truth to overspending is never addressed. That simple truth? To stop overspending, you have to realize that you are overspending to begin with.

Most people who buy small items every day aren’t aware of how quickly these small purchases add up. Until you make the decision to take a close look at your expenses, the money that you spend daily may go unnoticed.

Sit back for a moment and think about those things that you buy every day. You know, those small “necessary” items. Now, think about how much those items cost you on a daily basis. Multiply this number by 365, and the realization that you are overspending will slowly seep in.

Now that you’re aware of your overspending habits, you can put the following money-saving tips and tricks to good use. Let’s start with that beloved morning coffee.

1. Your Coffee Habit: Whether you stop at the closest $2 drip coffee joint or you fork over $5+ for a special latte drink, your coffee habit can break you. Just multiply $2 by 7 to result in $14. Then, take that $14 and multiply it by 52(weeks), and you’ll find that you’re spending over $700 per year on coffee — and that’s the conservative drip coffee price.

2. Your Electric Bill: Do you keep your air conditioner or heater running while you are away from home all day? Not only is this bad for the environment, it’s also bad for your wallet. By setting timers (these can be purchased at any hardware store), you can control your heat and air conditioning system to turn on and off according to your schedule. You can save up to $30 per month on your electricity bill by timing your heat and air (that’s $360 per year).

3. Dining Out: Sure, it’s nice to kick back with a slice of pizza on a Friday night, and that’s just fine. However, if you turn that once-per-week ritual into a three-times-per-week ritual, you’ll be spending more than you bargained for. You can save at least $100 per week if you learn to cook. Can’t cook? Spending some of that take-out money on a basic cooking course is a wise investment (your body will thank you too!).

4. A Little Lavishness: Do you love to shop for the latest electronic device or for the one fashion item that all the magazines say you “must have?” Instead of going on a spending spree once or twice per month, put your money aside to save up for something that you really want. You’ll spend less money, and chances are you’ll get something great in the long run.

5. Where the Cell Phones Roam: Shutting off your smartphone is a hard habit to break, but there’s no need to check your email or update your Facebook status when you are in roaming country. If you find yourself putting a lot of money toward a high cell phone bill each month, activate airplane mode when you roam out of town. 

Realizing that you have an overspending habit is more than half the battle. Taking the steps to cut back will help you win that overspending fight. You don’t have to give up your way of life, but you do have to step back and ask yourself “do I really need to purchase this?” Before you know it, your bank account will be back to its former glory.

Do you want some extra money in your pocket each month? Walk through this five step program to find financial freedom.

Harriette blogs via Contently.com.

Earlier this year, my credit union announced they’d start charging a new $35/year fee on a $10,000 deposit. But they offered me a deal: they’d waive the fee if I agreed to deposit an additional $23,000. Boy, was I mad!

Actually, I didn’t even notice at the time, and I’m embellishing the story. The credit union didn’t hit me with a new fee. They lowered their interest rate on savings accounts from 0.5% to 0.15%. If they had kept the interest rate at 0.5% and announced a $3/month fee, I would have joined an angry Facebook campaign (“We are the 0.5%!”), even though it would have amounted to the same thing.

What do we want from our banks, anyway?

He’s no Brad Pitt, but he’s mine

Remember the mid-2000s, when shopping for bank deals was fun? I had an online savings account paying 5.2%, and a CD paying more than that. (And why didn’t I spring for the 5-year CD? If you’re in the happy twilight years of a high-interest CD, I don’t want to hear about it.)

Now, the experience is Blade Runner-esque. We scavenge the junkyard for a tiny fraction of a percentage point. You almost have to feel sorry for the banks. When INGDirect lowered the rate on its Orange Savings account from 1.0% to 0.9%, it earned a headline in the New York Times.

The best rates on deposits are usually on reward checking accounts (often called Kasasa accounts; kudos to whoever came up with this unthreatening, sorta-ethnic name). Offered by credit unions and community banks, Reward Checking accounts pay high interest (well, 2% and up) as long as you use your debit card a lot and sign up for direct deposit, e-statements, and (usually) online bill pay.

The problem with reward checking is that banks use it to bring in new deposits, and once they’ve got you - once you’ve connected your checking account to everything else in your financial life - they can lower the rate and figure you’re too deeply embedded to switch.

That said, plenty of people have excellent luck with reward checking. My friend Karawynn Long of the blog Pocketmint recently wrote about her reward checking account, which pays 4.09% on balances up to $10,000. The rate is guaranteed through June 2012. That’s a great deal. I couldn’t help but notice, however, that she’s changed banks since last year.

Me? I’m too lazy to play this game. At this point, I think it’s fair to say that what most bank customers want is predictability. We’re willing to lower our standards and settle for a bank that lies around on the couch all day watching football as long as it doesn’t actually get drunk and threaten to hit us with a $5 debit fee.

Say you’re ready to close your account at Mega-Conglomerate International Bailout Bank and Trust. You know moving your money is going to be a chore and don’t want to have to do it every year. Are there any banks willing to put themselves on the line and promise to be the shlumpy, reliable guy who doesn’t pay the very best interest rate but won’t surprise us with a stupid new surcharge?

The good guys

Everbank offers a line of Yield Pledge accounts. The most interesting is Yield Pledge checking, an interest-bearing checking account with no minimum balance, no fees, and a promise to stay in the top 5% of rates nationwide. Right now, it’s paying 0.46% on balances under $10,000.

“Can somebody else run a special and have a higher rate? Sure,” says Frank Trotter, president of Everbank Direct. “It’s kind of like Southwest Airlines. They’re not the best rate in the market every day, but you know you’re going to get a fair deal every time. And you feel that the other airlines will try to take advantage of you when they can.”

I spoke with Bankrate.com senior analyst Greg McBride, who is probably the world’s foremost expert on checking and savings accounts (no, really). Is the yield pledge just a gimmick? “Having a pledge is better than you’re going to get on other accounts,” says McBride.

A different kind of promise comes from Bethpage Federal Credit Union, which guarantees no transaction fees, debit fees, or monthly maintenance fees for the life of your checking account. I like the idea, but it’s a little unnerving when you follow the asterisk down to the footnote that says “Offer subject to change.” Baby, I promise to love you until I die. Or change my mind. Whichever comes first.

Actually, almost no credit unions, community banks, or online banks charge these kinds of fees. I ask Greg McBride whether, given how hard it is out there for a bank, this is likely to change.

Probably not, he says. “Credit unions are not-for-profit cooperatives. The other levers they can pull before instituting fees are reducing interest rates, eliminating products or services, or eliminating interest on the checking account altogether.” Indeed, my credit union checking account pays 0.1%. At that rate, my money will double in just 694 years!

As for community and online banks, they’re generally exempt from new debit swipe fee regulations and have built their reputations on customer service—on not being like the big banks.

PerkStreet Bank doesn’t pay interest, but they do offer 2% cash back on signature debit purchases. Most of their competitors dropped their debit reward programs months ago, but PerkStreet is still at it. If and when they have to lower their cash back rate, it’s going to be a PR disaster, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Finally, last year I opened a checking account with Schwab, and I’ve been delighted with it. It is the epitome of boring: the interest rate is low (0.2%), but they don’t charge fees for anything: no minimum balance, no monthly fee, no fee for using anyATM in the world, and no international fees. The only problem I’ve had with Schwab is that they are bulldogs about international fraud prevention: I took my ATM card to a scary foreign country this year and had to call the bank twice to convince them that I was really me, not the kingpin of an international card number-running mafia. The country was Canada.

Other than that, for most of my savings and checking needs, I’m sticking with my credit union, no matter how low their interest rates go. (For longer-term cash savings, I use CDs and savings bonds. I mean, I’m not totally nuts.)

It may not be entirely rational, but are relationships ever rational, really?

Matthew Amster-Burton is a personal finance columnist at Mint.com. Find him on Twitter @Mint_Mamster.

A few items are always useful for travel - either vacation or business - including Ziplock bags ($7.64 for 54-count Quart Freezer Bags), duct tape (Scotch All-Weather Duct Tape, $8.95), and an umbrella (Totes Micro Umbrella, $19.99). But when it comes to some of the more expensive travel gadgets, are they really worth it? Below are a few tools that can actually help save you money (or at least make your trip more comfortable).

Problem: Exorbitant charges for overweight bags (and how to avoid checked-bag charges).

Solution: Luggage scale (and credit cards that waive bag fees).

With airlines cranking up the fees on oversized bags, and implementing charges for checked bags, it is useful to know how much your bag weighs before you get to the airport. Most of the time, your bathroom scale (Omega Ultra Slim Digital Bathroom Scale, $24.95) is going to work just fine, but if you plan to bring a bunch of tschotckes home from your next European adventure, a lightweight travel scale, such as the TraveLite Luggage Scale ($24.95), might be handy.

If you cannot get away from checking a bag, consider purchasing your ticket with a branded airline credit card. Delta SkyMiles American Express ($95 annual fee, checked-bag fee waived for two bags) or Continental Airlines ($95 annual fee, 2^nd checked-bag fee waived), are two examples. Or you could fly with airlines that don’t have checked-bag fees, such as Southwest and JetBlue.

Packing a carry-on bag is easy if you follow a few simple steps:

 1. Take out half of the clothes you put in, you won’t need them.

 2. Invest in a set of Travel Space Bags (Container Store, $7 for two medium, $8 for two large) and pack thoughtfully. 

3. Mix and match outfits and layer judiciously. No one is going to care if you wear the same outfit more than once, they will never see you again!

Problem: Fees to change flights, stranded travelers and trip cancellation.

Solution: Travel insurance

Some airlines have reasonable fees to change flights (JetBlue $20 online, $25 with an agent), but most major carriers charge $100-150, plus the difference in airfare, if any. Fortunately, travel insurance will cover the fees to change a flight, and if necessary, to cancel the entire trip.

Did you book your trip with frequent flyer miles or loyalty points? While the cash value of loyalty points or frequent flyer miles cannot be insured, the fees associated with the program can be insured (for example, fees associated with penalties to re-deposit the miles or points because of cancelled plans or date changes).

If you find yourself stranded, travel insurance benefits can be a lifesaver. When Hurricane Irene hit this summer, thousands of flights and trains were canceled, leaving travelers stranded and many trying to get through to their airlines for rebooking. Travel insurance companies can help re-book your trip with special concierge services, and even help with additional needs including hotels, restaurant bookings and reimbursement for incidentals.

Problem: Loud and annoying seatmate on crowded flight

Solution: Noise canceling headphones

Frequent travelers swear by a good pair of noise-canceling headphones, and won’t travel anywhere without them. Starting at about $79.95, these headphones work by reducing the amount of ambient noise your ear takes in, allowing you to listen to music and movies at a much lower volume. Sure, they don’t seem cheap, but if you travel frequently, they pay for themselves in no time.

Problem: Uncomfortable coach seats on overseas trips

Solution: 1^st Class Sleeper

Besides actually upgrading to first class (just try using all those miles you have accumulated), making your coach seat into first class accommodations for a long flight is tricky. Sure, you can ask for a bulk head seat, or hope that the flight has empty seats, but those are all gambles. If you want to ensure a comfortable flight, look into the 1^st Class Sleeper by Travelon. At $29.95, it is a reasonable option for comfort. The sleeper turns a regular coach seat into a first class recliner, all with an easy to store and inflate pillow.

While you are there, consider earplugs (Mack’s, $2.99 for 10 pairs) and an eyeshade ($5.95) to complete the package. For shorter trips, a comfort neck pillow (Eagle Creek, $20.00) might be just the thing.

The Financial Pros of Getting Married

In addition to commitment and a beautiful ceremony, marriage carries economic incentives as well. Major benefits of marriage include:

• Joint health insurance: If one of you has a great health insurance policy through an employer and the other doesn’t, getting married might be the easiest way to ensure both of you are covered. Not all employers allow adding a domestic partner to your health insurance policy.
• A bigger home: Assuming both you and your future spouse are employed, applying for a mortgage together will increase your chance of getting approved for a larger amount (and, consequently, enable you to buy a bigger home). Of course, bigger won’t necessarily be better if you overextend yourselves. The same applies to renting a home: your landlord will take both incomes into consideration, but make sure you’re not spending more than you can afford.
• Death benefits: The IRS generally does not tax spousal inheritance, except in the case of the very wealthy. Further, you might receive benefits such as Social Security and pension, which are generally not available to unmarried couples.

The Financial Cons of Getting Married

Some potentially serious financial problems arise when you walk down the aisle. Considering the ramifications before you get married is essential for planning the best financial future for you and your spouse.

• Money management: If partner has trouble managing money wisely, trouble can ensue for both.
• The marriage penalty: Simply put, because one spouse’s income will be tacked on top of the other for tax purposes, their whole income will fall within higher tax brackets compared with each of you filing single. However, higher deduction limits largely offset the marriage penalty, so it shouldn’t be a major concern. If in doubt, you can always discuss the details with an accountant or run joint vs single filing scenarios through your tax preparation software.
• Liability: Financial judgments on joint accounts affect both spouses. If your partner goes bankrupt or doesn’t pay bills on joint accounts, you can be held financially liable.

The Financial Pros of Staying Single

Other than being able to go out every night without answering to anyone, staying single has financial benefits, just like getting married.

• Control: While married couples don’t have to merge their finances, many do – and then regret it, should the marriage turn into a divorce statistic. Single individuals, or even couples who live together without being married, generally have and retain full control of their financial and credit lives.
• Career focus: When you get married, the marriage becomes the primary focus of your life – especially once children come into the picture. Staying single, even when you’re dating seriously or cohabitating, allows you a little more leeway to concentrate on your professional life.

The Financial Cons of Staying Single

The final thing to consider when thinking about the financial side of getting married are the financial problems related to staying on your own.

• Retirement planning: Forbes.com reports that single individuals generally put off retirement planning into their 40s. Married couples tend to start saving earlier, making retirement easier and potentially more lucrative.
• Higher per-person cost of living: To state the obvious, single individuals (who live alone) pay a higher percentage of their income for basic necessities, including food, phones and cable television.
• The marriage penalty: The marriage penalty cuts both ways. Single filers pay, on average, 35% of their income to the IRS, as opposed to just 29% for married couples. (Keep in mind, those averages include couples where only one spouse works, which may explain the lower average tax rate.)

Making Married Life Financially Sound

All told, though, have you ever heard of anyone who decided to not get married because it’s financially imprudent? Hardly.

When it comes to love and finances, it’s less about knowing the cons of being married and more about finding the best way to handle your finances as a married couple. Some ways to ensure a sound financial and romantic union include:

• Put all your financial information — good and bad — on the table. This allows for a frank, in-depth discussion of the issues raised above.
• Create a budget together. This allows you and your future spouse to compare income with expenditures and plan for your financial future.
• Create a plan to pay off outstanding bills and get out of debt.

It might be the last thing on your mind when you’re planning your wedding, but trust us: at the end of the day, examining the financial consequences of marriage are more important than finding the right color linens for your bed.

The Marriage Decision Matrix was provided by CreditSesame.com.

For those of us who’ve grown up always having cable or satellite service, paid television seems as basic an expense as groceries or electricity. But depending on what you watch, cutting the cord in part (or whole) can help cut expenses - but not your most vital TV services. You can watch HD Big Brother, House M.D., Survivor or American Idol for the cost of a $50 rooftop or balcony-attached antenna. Watch TV via internet streaming for as little as $0. And if you need a reminder regarding the value of the major networks, the top 20 primetime shows for the week of May 9^th to May 15^th were on free, broadcast television. 

Still, if you watch more than broadcast television, you’re going to have do some research in order to avoid missing much programming. You’ll need a combo of internet and free television options, because watching TV without cable service isn’t as simple as placing one order and clicking power on your remote.

Know Your Options

For starters, there’s equipment. If you use an antenna for local television stations, you’ll want to plug in your address at Antennaweb.org.  Just as with a satellite dish, says Consumer Electronics Association Director Megan Pollock, reception varies by the direction your home faces and interfering objects (such as if your apartment faces a tall cement building). If you don’t want to install an outdoor antenna (and antennaweb.org indicates you should get good reception), try an indoor antenna. Purchasing an indoor antenna is pretty goof-proof, too, since you can keep the box and return it if your signal isn’t clear.

When you browse channels to check reception, don’t just look for the expected local networks, such as PBS, NBC or Univision. Each channel can split their digital signal to create multiple channels of programming in a process called “multicasting.”  According to American Broadcast Association spokesperson Dennis Wharton, you could watch your favorite primetime show via the primary NBC signal during primetime Thursday night on NBC, while NBC uses its secondary signals to broadcast a 24-hour sports, weather channel or a re-run of a classic sitcom.

Beyond antennas, increase your viewing options with Blu-ray players, Xbox, AppleTV or Roku. Each device functions as a programming hub similar to a cable box. You’ll utilize a wireless internet connection you purchase from your phone or internet company to stream programming from different web-based services such as Hulu, Amazon Video, Itunes, and Netflix. Also similar to cable and satellite, the programming you can choose from to create viewing packages varies from device to device. For instance, if you want HuluPlus - which offers a selection of broadcast and cable shows for $7.99 per month - you’ll need a device that supports HuluPlus. If you subscribe to Netflix or Amazon video to watch movies, you’ll want a device that supports these services.

Consumer Electronics Association Director, Megan Pollock subscribes to MLB.tv to get Red Sox games that normally aren’t available in her local area – at least without an additional subscription package on cable. When she prices out her cost for her programming package, she includes this subscription, which is $119 per year. When she’s not at home, she watches programming on her Ipad using free apps.

Where you may sacrifice by cutting cords is premium cable television shows. Giving up seeing shows on premium channels such as HBO or Showtime at premiere dates is the largest sacrifice you’ll make. As of now, there isn’t an alternative way to view these shows within a day or two of theor original airing. You can rent seasons on Netflix, or peruse iTunes, Hulu, Amazon video and other services for episode availability; however, you can usually just see the shows at later dates. For instance, Pollock watches shows a season behind utilizing Netflix and talks about the show with other coworkers who are also a season behind.

Being a cord-cutter may not be for everyone – but saving money is. If you choose satellite or cable service, negotiate your rate, choose only services you watch regularly, and ask for specials on movie channels and premium packages. (I call my cable service every six months to get on a new special.) Also, consider which tv you watch the most. You can always eliminate one tv’s cable box by using an internet-streaming device or watching local programming via an antenna. The best bundle for you maybe a combination of both cable and alternative viewing options.

Reyna Gobel is a freelance journalist who specializes in financial fitness. She is also the author of Graduation Debt: How To Manage Student Loans and Live Your Life.

Layaway is back! At least it is according to a recent New York Times article reporting that Walmart is resurrecting the payment method. Putting expensive items on layaway was commonplace during most of the 20th century, but once credit cards became de rigueur, many places phased out layaway options. Well, times have changed yet again. From October 17 through December 16, Walmart customers can put 20 percent down toward electronic items or toys that cost more than $15 apiece. According to its layaway plan, customers will have to fork over an additional $5 service fee, but that beats a 15 percent APR (or higher) that credit cards charge.

And Walmart isn’t alone in the layaway trend. Sears reinstated the policy in 2008 and Toys R Us jumped on the bandwagon in 2009. Now, clothing hounds can put items on layaway at Burlington Coat Factory, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx and several others.

With layaway, you can furnish your house, get a new TV or stereo system, dress your kids for back to school and buy toys for the kids during the holidays—all without going into debt.

Get surround sound from Walmart: Vizio’s Surround Sound Home Theater with Wireless Subwoofer is a pretty penny at $348.98. But with a layaway plan, the system can sit in your living room after five $63 monthly payments. Besides having a slick design, the system is wireless, which means no messy entangled cables.

Get that winter jacket from Burlington Coat Factory: Yes, it’s still October. But winter will be here sooner than you think. Forking over money for a leather parka might not sound particularly appealing right now, but if you start with small payments, both you and your bank account won’t be frozen come December. To get the men’s Sergio Benini Leather Parka ($149.99), you’d need to put down a 20 percent deposit ($30), a $5 service fee, another $30 in two weeks and finish paying off the entire coat in 60 days—just in time for the air to turn crisp!

Splurge on the big toy for the holidays without going broke: At Toys R Us and Babies R Us, you can load up your cart with battery-powered mini-cars, bikes and play sets for the yard. The 12 Volt Mercedes Benz ($359.99) comes with a price tag worthy of the high-end brand. But with an actual radio and speakers (which can connect to MP3 players or iPods), it’s not skimping on those fancy details. To get the car on layaway, you’ll need to plunk 20 percent down ($67 plus taxes), and you’ll have to pay 50 percent of the balance within 45 days. The best part is that if you change your mind, you’ll get your money back and will only be charged a cancellation fee of $5 (you’ll also have to wave goodbye to the $10 service fee required of all layaway purchases).

Go on a fall shopping spree at T.J. Maxx: This discount retailer has a smashing selection of fashionable clothes that can refresh your entire wardrobe: a Tignanello purse ($39), Lanvin Patent Leather Oxford Pumps ($40), Marc by Marc Jacobs Logo Drop Earrings ($29.99), a BCBG dress ($20) and much more. If you’ve got $200 worth of items, but you only have $100 now, never fear. The T.J. Maxx layaway plan gives you all month to pay it off. Just put down 10 percent of the purchase, pay the $5 service fee and you’ll have a new look in just a month.

Update that old sofa at Sears: The Sears layaway plan is flexible and isn’t limited to specific departments. You can update your kitchen and living room, get a new mattress or spring for a diamond necklace. But layaway is most handy with larger, more expensive items, such as the Country Living Espresso Leather Sofa ($499.99). This couch costs a bigger chunk of change than most Americans are able to part with in one fell swoop. But Sears’ online plan provides steps that make this purchase simple. You pay $20 or 20 percent down—whichever is greater—a $5 service fee and four simple payments. If you buy in-store, you have up to 12 weeks to pay off your bill, though the terms change; the service fee is $10, but the single payments are just 16 percent of the balance due.

Get a state-of-the-art digital camera from Kmart: In the modern layaway game, Kmart was an early adopter. The national retailer allows you to put all types of products on layaway, including expensive digital cameras, such as the full-featured Canon EOS Rebel ($599.99), which is only a notch down from a professional grade SLR camera. But with a hefty price, and the economy at a standstill, the cost is easier to swallow if you pay a bit at a time. Like the others, Kmart provides a formulaic layaway plan complete with a $5 service fee and an eight-week payment schedule. But Kmart only requires 10 percent down. That’s a winning formula for consumers!

 Come Layaway was provided by RetailMeNot.com and authored by Tricia Romano.

A question I almost never get asked: “How much should I save per month?”

For most people, the second question is, oh, ten times as important as the first one. I’m going to explain why in words and then in pictures.

In words, here’s the answer. Every month, some money is added to (or subtracted from) your account due to factors beyond your control. Your stocks go up or down. A bond fund pays a dividend. In short, market stuff happens. Also every month, you add some money to your account.

If the amount of money you add is bigger than the effect of the market stuff, then your savings rate is more important than your investment performance. If the market drops and you lose $200, but your monthly contribution is $1000, then your balance at the end of the month is still $800 higher than it had been.

At some point in life, if you’re lucky and diligent, you get to the point where the monthly fluctuations in your investments dwarf the new money coming in. But it takes surprisingly long for this to happen, as demonstrated by a beautifully simple graph created by Chartered Financial Analyst, Rick Ferri of Portfolio Solutions.

This graph, as explained by Ferri on his blog, represents two people who work at the same steady job with exactly the same pay. One saves 5% and earns 10% annual returns. The other saves 10% and earns 5% annual returns. It takes over 25 years for the one with the awesome 10% return to come out ahead.

There are two key lessons here, says Ferri. One is: on your first day of work, save 10% of your gross pay and keep doing so forever. “Mathematically, if you work for 45 years starting at age 20 and you save 10%, then it gives you the number that you need to retire on comfortably,” he says.

The second lesson: if you hit the middle of your career and are still making stupid investment mistakes like market timing, day trading, and performance chasing, cut it out. “Some time in your early 40s, you need to have gotten all the bad stuff out of your system,” says Ferri. “You need to have learned how to diversify, how to keep your costs low.”

We’re all Generation Y now

But how many people do you know who started saving for retirement at age 20 and haven’t been unemployed, or taken a 401(k) loan, or gone off to India in search of themselves, before they hit age 45? In their 2011 retirement confidence survey, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 70 percent of Americans believe they are “a little” or “a lot” behind schedule.

In other words, regardless of our age, most of us are more like the 20-year-old on Ferri’s chart than the 45-year-old. The best thing we can do to increase our retirement nest egg is to (snooze alert) save more and spend less.

That’s what Carl Richards told me as well. Richards is a certified financial planner and author of the forthcoming book The Behavior Gap. I asked for his take, and rather than respond in prose, he sent me this original sketch:

(My sister-in-law thought it was hysterical. I don’t see why.)

Don’t get me wrong. Investment choices are important, especially once you’ve accumulated a sizable chunk of savings. I like helping people choose their investments, and I enjoy checking my own spreadsheet to see how close I am to my goals and whether I need to rebalance. Investing is fun, scary, and mysterious; saving more money, well, that’s boring at best, and painful at worst.

And that’s exactly why it’s so important—for me as much as anyone—to listen to what Ferri and Richards are saying.

The silver lining of saving more

Last question: is it better for your 401(k) balance to go up because you’re saving more or because your investments are performing well? Or does it matter?

It matters. Improving your balance by saving more is better. Once you retire, you’ll be using your savings to pay expenses. The lower your expenses before retirement, the easier it will be to cover them from your nest egg. And when your savings rate goes up, your expenses (as a percentage of your pay) have to go down, right?

Maybe the secret of a comfortable retirement isn’t about savings rate or investment performance: it’s about redefining “comfortable.” Oh, and ignoring your brother-in-law.

Matthew Amster-Burton is a personal finance columnist at Mint.com. Find him on Twitter @Mint_Mamster.

1.  Use the least amount of detergent possible. Any extra soap makes the machine work overtime rinsing all the suds away.

2.  Always wash on a cold cycle. This reduces energy intensity.

3.  Only use warm water for pre-soaking heavily soiled clothing.

4.  Always use cold water in the rinse cycle. Warmer temperatures for rinsing don’t clean any better than cold water.

5.  Only wash full loads. You waste energy, and to a lesser extent water, when you wash smaller loads, since you use as much (or nearly as much) energy as you would for a full load.

6.  Use the shortest washing cycle. This can result in energy and water savings. Longer washing cycles may seem like they clean more deeply, but are not really necessary except for the most soiled clothing.

7.   Switch to a front-loading washing machine.

8.   Purchase machines with the Energy Star label. This will save you a third off your energy bill and cut your water costs by more than half.

9.   Keep the lint trap clean. A dirty lint trap means your equipment is working harder and spending more energy.

10.  Line dry on racks. The ultimate drying cost-cutter.

Finally, buy generic brand detergent - or save even more by making your own. Here’s an easy recipe for home-made laundry detergent:

DIY Laundry Detergent (Makes approx. 500 loads)

You will need:

1 bar of soap (any brand)

1 cup of Borax

1 cup of washing soda (not baking soda)

A large pot (2 gallons minimum)

A grater

A long spoon

2 empty gallon jugs or containers (empty milk cartons work well as do empty water jugs with spouts)

Step 1:

Grate the bar of soap into your large, empty pot.

Step 2:

Add one gallon of water into the post with the grated soap. Cook on medium heat until the soap has completely dissolved.

Step 3:

Add 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of washing soda to the soap/water mixture.

Step 4:

Bring the soap, water, borax, and washing soda mixture to a boil until it thickenns.

Step 5:

Once the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat and add one gallon of cold water. Stir well.

Step 6:

Pour the mixture into your gallon containers and allow to cool for at least 24 hours. You may want to use a funnel to help guide the hot mixture into the containers.

A few words of advice:

The mixture will coagulate and become very thick. If you prefer a runnier consistency, try using half a bar of soap instead of a full bar.

Use half a cup of the detergent for each full load of laundry. The detergent will not create suds like commercial detergent does. This does not mean your clothing is not being cleaned well. This homemade detergent cleans beautifully. It is also compatible with HE washers.

Feel free to add a cup of baking soda for extra odor removing properties and/or a cup of white vinegar to break down stains and grease.

Cost:

1 box of borax $5.00

1 box of Arm and Hammer washing soda $3.00

1 bar of Ivory soap $1.00

Total – $9.00 for 500 loads

Comparison:

Tide Liquid Detergent Original Scent 50 fl. oz. (32 loads) $9.00

500/32 = approx. 16 bottles of detergent

16 x $9 = $144 for 500 loads

Savings per year:

$144 – $9 = $135

Morgan is a freelance writer and blogger living in Southern California with her husband, two daughters, and flock of backyard chickens. You can read more of her at The Little Hen House.

Forget scary movies -– have you dared to look at your 401k statements lately?

The financial headlines keep getting more frightening, and the numbers on your retirement accounts are probably more red than green these days. Sometimes it’s enough to make you want to throw in the towel on your savings goals.

But financial experts say that’s the last thing you should do when times get tough. Instead, refocus your efforts and revise your goals if you must -– but don’t abandon savings altogether. Here are some key things to keep in mind when you’re tempted to take your money and run:

Use the economic slump as an excuse to re-focus your goals

When your financial situation takes a hit — that’s the time to investigate where your money is going. Determine whether there are areas where you can cut back before you consider revising your savings goals, said Andrew Schrage, editor of Money Crashers.

“Every dollar that you do not save is a missed opportunity that puts you even further behind in your ultimate financial goals,” he said. “For example, if your employer matches your 401k contributions, make sure you are saving as much as your maximum 401k contribution limits will allow; otherwise, you are missing out on free money from your employer and the money that will be made on the investment.”

Use the power of dollar cost averaging to your advantage

Long-term investors, who are at least a decade or more away from retirement, can actually benefit from a downturn in the stock market thanks to dollar cost averaging.

Rather than investing a chunk of money all at one time in the stock market, the key is to regularly invest the same amount of money every month –- automatically if possible, such as through your employer-sponsored 401k retirement plan.

When the market goes down, that money will buy more shares in the stocks that have lost value. And when the market eventually rises again, the stock values -– and your total investment -– will grow. So rather than agonizing over those red numbers, just tell yourself, “Now I’m able to buy more shares!”

If you are a casual investor primarily investing for your retirement, you really don’t need to over-think this process – just make sure your money is automatically deducted in a balanced portfolio that makes sense for your expected retirement age. Then let your investments do the work for you.

Learn more by trying Suze Orman’s Dollar-Cost Average Calculator.

Every little bit counts

A thinner wallet doesn’t mean you should necessarily ease up on savings. If paying for the necessities in life becomes a challenge, you might need to scale back temporarily, but never give up on savings altogether.

For example, you might need to prioritize your rainy day savings account over “luxury” savings goals (a vacation or a new house). Having even a small amount saved up will give you peace of mind and can help in case of an emergency, which can pop up at any time.

“If you stop saving and lose sight of your goals, you’ll lose momentum and it’ll be difficult to get started again once the times improve,” said Schrage. “Your perseverance will pay off in the end because not only will you have saved money, you’ll have experienced character-building by resisting the easier path.”

Saving money actually helps the economy

In an economic downturn, some people argue that spending money — rather than saving it — is the key to stimulating the economy. In other words, you can look at that shopping spree at Macy’s as doing your patriotic duty to keep the financial engines humming.

But in fact, saving your money at a bank also keeps the economy on track, as that money stays in the marketplace and is lent out to people and businesses and reinvested in your community many times over.

But no matter how bad things seem, there’s one thing you should never, ever do: hoard money under your mattress. That’s one place where your dollars aren’t helping anyone or anything, including a good night’s rest.

Cynthia J. Drake is a personal finance writer who lives in Michigan. Cynthia J. blogs via Contently.com.