Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial advice, gathered from around the web:
Grad gifts that keep giving
By all means, give the gift of cash this graduation season, said Suzanne Woolley at Bloomberg. "But the best gift may be twofold: some cash your grad can spend as he or she likes, plus a gift that introduces the power of long-term saving and investing." One popular option is to open a Roth IRA; these accounts are easier to tap into before retirement than a traditional IRA, like for the down payment on a house. If your graduate earned income this year, you can give the amount of that income up to the annual limit of $5,500. Another idea is to "match your grad's savings or payments on debt," like student loans. Or set him or her up for a lifetime of money management, with paid-for "sessions with a planner."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Cramer's market record
CNBC TV personality and Mad Money host Jim Cramer is one of the country's most famous stock pickers, said Jennifer Booton at MarketWatch.com, "but he doesn't beat the market." Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that Cramer's charitable fund, Action Alerts Plus, has underperformed the S&P 500 since its 2001 inception, with total cumulative returns of 64.5 percent compared with 70 percent for the index. The Action Alerts Plus portfolio, which Cramer uses in part to sell $15-a-month newsletter subscriptions that give information about the fund's holdings, actually beat the market in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, but it has struggled since. Cramer isn't alone, however. A majority of active money managers have underperformed the market over the past 10 years, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Reselling your hotel room
"Stuck with a pricey hotel reservation?" asked Amy Zipkin at The New York Times. Try reselling it online. With cancellation restrictions and fees becoming more widespread, travelers are turning to sites like RoomerTravel and Cancelon to unload nonrefundable reservations. Sellers can list booked rooms for any price to recoup some or all of what they originally paid, and the listings appear on travel sites like Kayak and Trivago. When a room sells, the sites take a percentage — 15 percent at RoomerTravel and 10 percent at Cancelon. There's both an upside and a downside for those looking to book a room. The offered rooms can be cheaper — RoomerTravel says its average discount is 45 percent — but some consumers say they have had issues with confirmation numbers associated with their stays.
-
Critics' choice: Outstanding new Japanese restaurantsFeature An all-women sushi team, a 15-seat listening bar, and more
-
Why do Dana White and Donald Trump keep pushing for a White House UFC match?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The president and the sports mogul each have their own reasons for wanting a White House spectacle
-
'Quiet vacationing': a secret revolt against workplace cultureThe explainer You can be in two places at once
-
The pros and cons of noncompete agreementsThe Explainer The FTC wants to ban companies from binding their employees with noncompete agreements. Who would this benefit, and who would it hurt?
-
What experts are saying about the economy's surprise contractionThe Explainer The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web
-
The death of cities was greatly exaggeratedThe Explainer Why the pandemic predictions about urban flight were wrong
-
The housing crisis is hereThe Explainer As the pandemic takes its toll, renters face eviction even as buyers are bidding higher
-
How to be an ally to marginalized coworkersThe Explainer Show up for your colleagues by showing that you see them and their struggles
-
What the stock market knowsThe Explainer Publicly traded companies are going to wallop small businesses
-
Can the government save small businesses?The Explainer Many are fighting for a fair share of the coronavirus rescue package
-
How the oil crash could turn into a much bigger economic shockThe Explainer This could be a huge problem for the entire economy
