Business Innovators Radio - Episode #69 – Tips for Saving on Back-to-School Shopping – The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcast – With Mark Triplett & Troy Westendorf

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

We believe that every dollar has a purpose and a timeline. When and how your retirement assets will be used should be understood before making important financial decisions.The Triplett-Westendorf Purpose and Timeline 5 Step Planning Process (PT5) begins with Discovery.Understanding where you are now, and then defining where you want to go (Your Purpose) and when you want to get there (Your Timeline), programs your financial GPS. Our Purpose and Timeline 5-step process (PT5) programs your financial GPS.Learn more: http://triplett-westendorf.com/ | https://mypt5.com/The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/episode-69-tips-for-saving-on-back-to-school-shopping-the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast-with-mark-triplett-troy-westendorf

Welcome to the 15-minute financial feast podcast, bringing you 15-minute segments to help you retire with purpose on time. We're serving up food for thought and bread for the head. Are you hungry to learn? Here are your hosts, Mark Triplett and Troy Westendorf. Welcome to another episode of the 15-minute financial feast. Today, you are listening to the audio from a live television interview where one of our favorite local news station anchors asked us questions about a financial feast. topic on the minds of many hardworking folks in our community who are trying to make good decisions and get ahead. Des Moines students will be back to school in a month. So that means

back to school shopping is about to be in full swing. Local financial professional, Mark Triplett from Triplett Westendorf Financial Group joins us with advice on just helping you all stay on budget as you head back to do some back to school shopping this year. Thank you for being with us this morning, Mark. Thanks for having me, Cheneau. So we have been talking a lot recently about inflation as that impacts families, but is that going to impact back to school shopping this year? Absolutely. Now, inflation is about 3% year over year. So it's come down. This is the lowest it's been. It's about three years from now, or over the last three years. However, that doesn't mean that prices have come down. So it's estimated that families are going to spend $81 billion, that's with a B, on school shopping this year. And that can be a very expensive time of the year for a lot of families. It's really important to plan ahead and make sure that before you hit the stores,

you really have a good understanding of what your budget is. And especially for families who have to shop for multiple children, multiple students, Mark, what are just a few simple things they can do to make sure that they stay on budget? Start early. There's no reason why you have to wait until school gets here. I'm in fact, most folks have probably already started some school shopping. not one of those most folks. I have not started that. But we are preparing to get out and get the things that we need. But if you start early at less, you spread some of that cost out over a number

of weeks, maybe even months, and look for deals along the way. And also stick to your list. Most schools provide a school list, a school supply list. Stick to it. Give yourself a budget for each one of those items. Take that list with you to the store and only buy the essentials that you need. I prefer personally to shop online so I can comparison shop and order right there and have it delivered to me. And also, Mark, I know a big deal is the sales tax holiday. How does that work? Because, you know, obviously with back-to-school shopping, it's about more than just the school supplies, but also getting clothes and shoes and getting the kids situated.

I have a 13-year-old. He grows out of his clothes. It seems like every six months, so we're constantly buying new clothes. this Friday, August 2nd through midnight on Saturday, August 3rd is an opportunity to buy some of those clothes that your children need and not have to pay the state and local sales tax. Now, it does not include Sunday. So you want to get out on Friday, Saturday, et cetera, get that done. It is capped at $100 per item, not per ticket. So if you, like my son's shoes typically cost more than $100, but a lot of his clothes are less than that.

we may spend a couple of hundred dollars at a store, but as long as the items themselves are less than $100, we don't pay sales tax on those. Yeah, all good points to keep in mind there. Mark, anything else people should know as they just continue to get ready for back-to-school shopping? Two things. Yeah, reuse old supplies. So we have all sorts of pencils last year that didn't get used, maybe some other items that

could be reused this year. And also buy in bulk. you know those shopping list, if you look at the shopping list for your school this year and then compare it to next year, chances are you're going to need things like notebooks and stuff like that. So if you can buy those in bulk and keep some of them over and use them the following year, that's what I tend to do with my son's back-to-school shopping, and that can really help out with keeping some of those costs down too. All right.

All good things to know. Thank you so much, Mark, and thank you again for joining us this morning. You've been listening to the 15-minute financial feast podcast. Remember, every dollar has a purpose and every dollar has a timeline. If you have questions about today's topic, schedule a call with a team member. Visit www.w.com. Until next time, be sure you're taking steps to retire with purpose on time. Mark Triplett is an investment advisor representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management,

LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Nothing contained in this program should be considered an offer to buy or sell securities. Different investments have different risks associated with them, and not all investments are appropriate for all investors.