Giveaway: Goat-milk soap from Talkeetna.

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thWhile at the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition each December we always visit the annual bazaar at the Talkeetna Elementary School. Although we frame this as “supporting the local economy,” it’s really just an excuse to sample local crafts and, yeah, the local baked goods.

Also the goat-milk soap table, run by a pleasant woman named Brenda Hogan. I bought a few odd-sized scraps from her last year and the soap was luxurious stuff.

This year I decided to share the wealth by giving away some of her artisanal soap. Not scraps, either: two full-sized bars.

The fragrance: violet-rosemary.

The effect? Delicious.

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Get free retirement advice from the pros.

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thHave you thought about how you’ll manage after you stop working? Get some free advice at “Jump-Start Your Retirement Plan,” a day-long online chat on Feb. 20.

Sponsored by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and the National Association of Personal Finance Advisors, the event is designed to help consumers make the smartest possible money moves.

Given some of the comments from my recent Mary Hunt book giveaway, I’m hoping that readers will make time to attend. You can submit specific questions, such as “I’m in my 40s – how do I get started?” or “We’re on a really tight budget – what are your suggestions?”

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Blowback from Mary Hunt’s book giveaway.

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thPlenty of food for thought in the comments on last week’s prize, Mary Hunt’s “The Smart Woman’s Guide to Planning Retirement.” National pundits and rich politicians who think that the economy is going just fine, thanks, should get an eyeful of stories like:

“I am 44. I have no money. No savings. No job.”

“Like others, I have student loans and – in this economy – am earning very little, and struggling to do that.”

“As a 48-year-old whose financial situation has deteriorated drastically due to some serious life changes, I could really use the help.”

I’m 52 and recently lost my job. I have no savings, my husband has been on disability for 20 years and we rely on every penny that I make. … I don’t want to have to work until I die.”

“I have spent more than one sleepless night fretting about this very subject. Divorced, mid-forties, paycheck to paycheck, less than stellar salary, adult kids sometimes need my help, prices up, taxes up…”

Understand: Such comments don’t surprise me, because I’m playing catch-up with my own retirement and also because more than a few people in my life are living fairly close to the bone. Not every pundit and politician has that daily reality check.

 

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What’s the weirdest thing you ever charged?

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th-1The folks at CardRatings.com recently commissioned a survey about offbeat credit card purchases. Some 57 percent of those surveyed copped to a bit of buyer’s remorse, i.e., “What was I thinking?”

“Adult entertainment” was the top culprit, with 6.7 percent admitting to have purchased temporary jollies. Men are “about four times more likely than women to use a credit card for this purpose,” according to the CardRatings blog post.  

You don’t say.

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A book that could change your life.

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guidetoretirementLadies: How’s your retirement planning going? Have you even started? Do you fear you’ll never be able to stop working?

Have I got a book for you.

Mary Hunt’s “The Smart Woman’s Guide to Planning For Retirement” is designed for women of all ages. Yes, I’m looking at the 40- and 50-somethings who don’t really have a clear plan except, “I hope Social Security isn’t gutted by the time I retire.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 55 percent of women have no savings at all and thus depend entirely on Social Security. Since the average monthly check is $1,130, that would be like working for $6.40 an hour, the author notes: “Could you live on that?”

Those who retire with some savings don’t fare much better. The average account has less than $30,000 in it; assuming you live to 85, it works out to just an additional $125 a month.

Want to take charge of your own finances? Enter for a chance to win a copy of this book.

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This just in: Men prefer sex to a Valentine gift.

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thStop the presses, right? It certainly doesn’t surprise me that 66% of the men polled by Retail Me Not would choose the pleasures of the flesh over, say, a teddy bear holding a red sateen heart embossed with “I Wuv You.”

They’re likely to be disappointed. In the same survey, 70% of the women said they’d much rather have a present than an extremely personal moment.

Selfish? Maybe. But let’s face it: Most women in relationships can get all the sex they want. Gifts, on the other hand, are a surprise.

Well, sort of: Apparently it’s expected that we’ll be getting gifts on Valentine’s Day. Just flip through any store circular, turn on the TV or surf the Internet to be bombarded by ads that shriek some version of, “Feb. 14 is at hand! Buy the right gift or you won’t get laid for the rest of the year!”

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Will I go round in circles?

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thRecent sustained pain in my right shoulder has made it hard to work, and also to do some of my exercises. Walking’s been tough, too: The freeze-thaw cycle glaciated our side street, and the footpath is as polished as a politician’s promise. Even with ice-grippers on my feet I’m unsteady and fearful of falling.

Between my frozen shoulder and the frozen ground I’ve been frustrated and sluggish. Last week I decided that if I couldn’t walk outdoors, I’d walk inside.

That’s when I started doing laps around the living area.

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Two ways to get free credit monitoring.

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thTarget is offering a great big mea culpa as a result of its recent data breach: a year’s worth of free credit monitoring through Experian. This is for anyone who shopped at Target stores in the United States between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15.

Personal finance expert Liz Weston offers some best-practices tips plus a legitimate URL where you can sign up for the service. According to the Target website, consumers need to be wary of e-mails and phone calls by scammers pretending to represent the company but who “are really trying to get personal information from you.”

Experian may try to get something from you, too, according to Weston: “It will try to sell you upgrades, such as a peek at ‘your credit score’ – actually a PLUS score that isn’t used by lenders.” But you don’t have to give a credit card number or pay for anything, because Target is picking up the tab.

You do, however, have to provide your Social Security number and some other info, so that Experian can make sure it’s protecting the right person.

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Giveaway: The cold and flu package.

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th-1I’ve heard a bunch of hacking and coughing lately, and I bet Alaska isn’t the only state thus afflicted. With so much time spent indoors, you’re likely to run into some kind of rhinovirus or other virulent cootie just lookin’ for a home.

Once it hits, having to pay $7 for a bottle of cough syrup adds fiscal insult to physical injury. I think that’s why these cold-and-flu giveaways are so popular: Nobody wants to shell out $20 or more for analgesics and expectorants.

This time around the package features:

Advil Congestion Relief. It’s a non-drowsy version, in case you really can’t take time off from work, and it’s a one-pill dose so you don’t have to remember to take it throughout the day.

Tissues. With all the suffering in the world it’s a little embarrassing to complain  about a chapped honker. But after a couple of days of nonstop blowing our noses really do get sore. That’s why I’m including a box of Kleenex Lotion Aloe & E Tissues.

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