European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday april 19 2007 stars and stripes Page 17 your Money better spending habits seem Small yet pay off column by Kara Mcguire Star Tribune Minneapolis who Hast dreamed of becom ing a millionaire for Many this dream typically includes a lottery win a professional sports career perhaps marrying Rich rarely does it revolve around saving Here and there yet ask any financial adviser about their millionaire clients and  say they have at least one millionaire next door the Guy who Worth seven figures but lives life As if his Bank balance has fewer zeroes if s those clients that inspired Kevin Mckinley a certified Finan Cial planner with Robert w Baird co to Analyse his family finances to find ways to save Money with minimal loss of enjoyment or satisfaction finally a list that Doest include cutting out lattes or cancelling Cable the result a presentation called fifty ways to save at least 50 Bucks Here Are my 12 favorite Money saving no particular order from Mckinley list read the rest and share your own on cancel your gym member ship if s cheaper to pay per visit if you rarely go another option exercise outdoors consolidate your credit cards find a lower no interest offer and pay less in interest and fees shop around for prescriptions prices vary you might qualify for help through the partner ship for prescription assistance save More for retirement contributing to a 401 k will re Duce your taxable income raise your insurance deductibles doing so should reduce the premiums you pay be sure you can afford to pay the deductible though boost interest rates on your savings move Money earning next to no interest into an account earn ing a higher rate try the unhappy meal keep a bag of cheap toys in your car and order off the Dollar menu for your Small kids ask for a Cash discount it Doest Hurt to try stores pay an interchange fee of 1 percent to 2 percent for visa and other card companies to process payments talk to your neighbors companies might give Price Breaks for services if your neighbors sign on too this strategy works Well for other stuff do we each need our own Snowblower or Chainsaw get an air Popcorn Popper it sounds quaint but Mckinley Esti mates microwave Popcorn costs 10 times More than a Jar of kernels dont buy or rent dds take full advantage of your Cable pack age and record movies whether on a digital video recorder or Good old Ems ask for a fee waiver say youre hit with a bounced Check fee or Are told a Money order will Cost you Tell your Bank you dont want to pay the fee Mckinley says what s the worst they can say tuesdays Market summary 52 High week Low name last net chg Ltd chg chg 52wk chg 1279593 1068332 Dow Jones industrials 1277304 521142 413472 Dow Jones transportation 508222 2188 43 51570 38097 Dow Jones utilities 51672 962553 770811 nose composite 963169 223277 amex Index 223801 253142 201178 Nash a composite 251695 138 05 145862 500 147148 87731 71053  87631 100 11 83149 66858 Sussell 2000 82896 248 30 2489170 1224990 do Wil Siire 5000 1491093 most Active or More name last chg pm cup forum Geneles so map Motorola Mic rent Johnjon Pfizer tire warn sprint nex 628191 426776 356567 293240 292949 286484 272257 264054 263190 254135 1522 785 3520 5600 1795 1095 18 16 12 6455 2650 04 2087 2041 most acre or More name vol 00 last Fig Spur ishr2k nya spongy on2 tech up incl oils vat Prus Haqq n Crys Talix g of islands Gnovia diam 939409 468621 144845 127838 125306 117172 105538 95818 85022 76451 14709 8226 6306 245 3656 15400 5037 381 311 12775 19 36 05 01 150 23 36 17 most Active or More name Yokoo last chg Intel Sirius push Sqq Cisco Sun Micro Andreon Microsoft to a Roeritz Levels Yahoo 903533 898647 660999 558842 401463 333156 321481 306320 293359 276627 2098 303 4516 2684 535 1570 2885 1531 602 32q9 01 02 156 09 name div be last Ltd  Amor computer general general Harris Allied l3 Lockheed Rockwell Seq a Lexas text Ron United name Nav Ltd chg ret Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity spartan Putnam funds a Erlna Amer Century inv Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity invest aim investments a const fms a aim investments a Charta Fidelity advisor Fidelity advisor t Putnam funds a Globe qty Fidelity advisor t Putnam funds a Tom Philpott Retro pay wont hit deadline thousands of disabled Mili tary retirees due Back pay under one of the Mili Tarys two concurrent re Leipf programs Csc and crop will wait longer than they expected to be paid in full say senior officials the defense finance and accounting service Dias had hoped by sept 30 to Complete screening of pay records for 133000 disabled career retirees who Likely have been underpaid at least a few months after becoming eligible for combat related Spe Cial compensation Csc or con current retirement and disability pay but calculating the catchup pay has been tougher than officials expected when they set a oneyear deadline for completing the a Retro award program last fall said Pat Shine Dias Deputy director for operations if s going to be a stretch for us to get this thing completed by the end of september As we originally programmed Shine said in a phone interview from his Indianapolis office we might have to go five or six weeks beyond that in order to get the original 133000 done As of april 1 the department of veterans affairs had made million in Retro payments to 40145 military retirees an average of Exchange rates military rates euro costs april Dollar buys april British Pound april japanese yen april South korean won april commercial rates Bahrain Dinar British Canada China Denmark Egypt Hong Kong Hungary Israel Japan Kuwait Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore Dollar South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey new military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities in the country of issuance for Japan South Korea Germany the Netherlands and the United kingdom for no local currency Exchange rates in purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your local military Bank ing facility commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying currency All figures Are foreign currencies to one Dollar except for the British Pound which is represented in dollars Pound and the euro which is dollars Teuro Gold Silver new York merc dose 413992 interest rates prime discount rate625 Federal funds Market rate 525 3month bill501 30year bond484 sources the associated press Bank of America apiece Dias is making its own Back payments in addition to screening Retiree pay files for the a so far Dias has paid Mil lion to 10500 retirees most of whom were due Back pay from both Dias and the a another 22000 disabled Retiree pay records reviewed so far found no Back payments due Shine said Dias met its first goal to have half of 133000 targeted files reviewed by the end of March but still ahead is review of the most Complex cases half of the remaining files Are Csc recipients the first combat related cases to be reviewed on average their Retro awards Likely will be Tri ple the size of those made so far exclusively to crop recipients other Complex cases will involve retirees who have died since qualifying for concurrent receipt Csc and crop recipients who Are dividing their retired pay with espouses chapter 61 retirees who get disability compensation from their service rather than from the a and retirees with government debts that Likely will affect Retro pay awards besides these cases Shine said More retirees each month become eligible for crop or Csc of these about 1200 a month Arent paid in full because old pay processes continue to cause underpay ments these Back payment obligations wont be met Shine suggested until All of the original 133000 files Are reviewed and paid per haps by mid november several factors have slowed the Retro pay program one is that most repayment calculations still have to be done manually rather than by computer a revised com Puter program to automate most of the necessary pay calculations wont be installed and tested by Dias until next april another Factor was human error Dias recently sent to the a a miss Abele file that names 1400 retirees who already had been sent Retro payments the error resulted in double Back pay ments the a had to notify affected retirees and arrange to recoup the Money then the a and Dias had to set up a new review process to protect against such errors in the future Thomas j Pamperin Deputy director of the a compensation and pension service said the first Large group of Csc recipients should see Retro payments in May also the coast guard soon will begin supplying the a with Retiree files to be included in the Retro pay process a coast guard spokes Man said his service int ready to discuss details or to estimate How Many service retirees might be in line for Back payments Shine said he knows that Many crop and Csc recipients due Back pay Are frustrated not get Ting their Money a year ago Shine said was an aggravation for them and we fully recognize that Shine and Pamperin put most of the blame for slow Retro payments on the complexity of the Csc and crop programs to comment write military update to Box 231111 Centreville a 201201111 email or visit  dont waste your refund by Marshall Loeb Market watch new York so youre one of the Lucky taxpayers receiving an income tax refund this year the irs estimates that the aver age refund will be while its tempting to spend that chunk of change on a plasma screen to or a fabulous vacation consider using it to firm up your financial future Bill Stroh Coco Obi Lyscom says that Many tax refund recipients dream of ways to spend that Cash but before getting carried away in a spending fantasy think Lon term a tax refund is not re ally a Windfall but a return of your own Money to you tax re funds Are a forced savings plan from the irs not a gift that shift in your mind May make it less Likely that you will squander the refund heres How you can spend your refund wisely pay Down debt use the re fund to get rid of High interest debt such As credit card balances Stroh also suggests slashing your mortgage and car payments by create an emergency fund you should have six to nine months Worth of living expenses in your fund your refund can pro vide a Good foundation buy insurance if youre not covered adequately with the proper health Auto Home or renters insurance now is the time to get it save for retirement stash some of your refund into your Roth Ira or other retire men savings plan put the Money Back into your Home take care of minor and major Home maintenance so that you dont have to Deal with bigger More costly problems later