Save money on your grocery bill NOW!

With rising food prices, more people are becoming interested in tools that can help them save money on their grocery bill. One way to save is to go to the Web site www.thegrocerygame.com. It tracks the sales cycles of hundreds of types of food in your area at your local grocery stores. The site will also tell you how to use the coupons in your Sunday newspaper for maximum advantage. There’s another site called www.hotcouponworld.com. Sites like these can really help you cut your food bill.

But you can take steps on your own. Start by trying to cook more at home, but cook more from scratch. The closest a food is to its natural state, generally the less you pay for it. The more processed it is, the more packaged it is, the more it’s going to cost you. Also, buy things in season. If a food has to be flown or trucked from a long distance away, it’s going to cost more. Check out your local farmer’s market for what’s actually in season.

Another thought, try more meatless meals. Meat is great for protein, but you don’t need it every night for dinner. There are a lot of great substitutes to keep your family happy and keep your food bill in check.

A simple, no-cost way to boost the earning power of your IRA

I’ve always been a big fan of individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and here’s why: They’re great retirement investments because they travel with you and are not tied to your employer. You can invest in them wherever you want AND you get the added bonus of TAX FREE compounded interest, which really does give you a big advantage.

For example, let’s just say you’re going to contribute $4,000 a year to a taxable account, and you’re going to do this religiously for 30 years, and you’re going to earn 8 percent, which is a pretty good return. BUT every year the federal and state government is going to take a 33 percent bite out of you earnings. At then end of 30 years, you’re going to have about $280,000 in your taxable account.

That’s pretty good, BUT if you had the money in an IRA and it’s growing tax-deferred, you would end up with (based on the same example) $450,000. That’s an extra $170,000 because of the tax deferral AND if it were a ROTH IRA, all that money would be able to come out tax free.

It’s a great reason not to procrastinate. For more information on IRAs, call me at (313) 506-0456.

Gehad Alawan is a financial professional with AXA Equitable Advisors, LLC.

What bad credit really costs you

Your credit score is not just a number. Failing to take steps to improve your credit score could cost you hundreds of thousands of extra dollars on a home loan, car payment, or a credit car or insurance bill.

When it comes to mortgages, auto lending and credit cards, the higher your score, the lower the interest rate you’re going to pay. So the time and effort it takes you to improve your credit score could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime.

The best way to improve your credit score is to pay your bills on time and keep debt to a minimum.

Andy Elder is a mortgage lender and credit repair counselor with Elder Finance Group in Dearborn. You can reach him at (313) 289-4444.