Do You Tip For A Job Well Done Or Out Of Guilt?

Image via WikipediaWhen you leave a tip are you doing it for good service? Do you leave the same amount of tip even for bad service? I know I have. I have been told servers are paid a meager wage and the bulk of their income is depending on tips. I know it makes me feel a little guilty that I may be, short changing my server.

Even if I have gotten lousy service I can never work up the notion to stiff someone or leave a small tip. I guess some people are neurotic and need approval by leaving a decent tip. We don't want to be thought of as cheap. So out comes the cash.

Cornell professor Michael Lynn has found in 20 years of research, the main reason people tip is to avoid social disapproval.

What was a shocking fact was that the level of service has little to do with the amount of tip. He found out that the level of satisfaction was influencing only four percent on the decision of how much to tip. Also that our willingness to tip regardless of service was because of a sense that the customer is in a better position financially than the server and wishes to avoid the servers envy. Thus a tip is a payment to reduce that envy, says Professor Lynn. Also that the tip is a way to say, sorry that you have to serve me.

Tipping is a cost of being served

If you think about the pay structure of service people, you will see that tipping is sometimes their only payment for services. Tipping is expected. If restaurants paid the servers a living wage, then the restaurant owner would pass that expense down to you. You would be paying the tip in another form.

Tipping experts say that you should pay a server 15 percent for adequate service and 20 percent for very good service. For poor service you still pay ten percent. Remember that the servers have to pass on some of their tips to the busboys, bartenders, and hostess. Punishing the server, only punishes the others to.

You might think of the waitress, too. It's possible, just possible, the poor service you received was not really her fault. Maybe the kitchen was backed up or she was given too many tables to cover.

If you want to help cure bad service, rather than skip the tip, speak to the manager about the server's behavior or about what was wrong with your dinner.

What about the tip jar?

When you see a tip jar you can feel free not put anything in it. The tip jar is just a way to make you feel guilty by putting it in the open and everyone watch what you put in it. Starbucks, day care, convenience stores, and ice cream stands are not supposed to be tipped. It is optional, if you feel so motivated, put something in.

Fathers Day Is About Family

Today Is the day we take the time to recognize the fathers in our lives. According to the U.S. Census, almost one out of every three children in our country grow up without their father. When dads are not around to support, families and children can be impacted as a result.

Being a father is about making a conscious decision to be a part of your child's life. Easier said than done.

How do you be a good father? The easiest way to answer that question for me is to look at my own father. He is my role model for a good father. He went to work everyday, he supported our financial needs, and he was there when we laughed and when we cryed. If you can do that, your a good father.

Today's fathers have a lot more to deal with concerning their children and todays issues. But the basics still hold true. Being in your child's life when the tough times come won't cure every woe, but your child needs someone to count and lean on when times are tough.

Fathers Day is the day we take the time to show appreciation and gratitude for our fathers. But as a father, inside my heart, I will be feeling appreciation and gratitude for my family. I am the lucky one.

5 Reasons To Stay Put For Retirement

This is a guest post by Claes Bell who writes for Bankrate.com

It's an idea firmly enshrined in American culture: No retirement is complete without a move to a sunny local primarily inhabited by fellow retirees. After years of work, the thinking goes, retired folks deserve a permanent vacation in a glamorous, sunny locale, preferably near a beach or golf course.

According to a survey commissioned by Del Webb, a retirement community builder, 42 percent of those who turned 50 in 2010 planned on moving for retirement.

But as a Florida resident, I can say with some certainty that when it comes to retirement paradise, reality often comes up short. Years of reading newspaper articles about retired transplants being abused in crooked retirement homes, targeted by fraudsters and trapped in their condos for days on end after hurricanes have left me jaded on the idea of a retirement paradise.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I believe South Florida is a particularly bad place to retire. Every place presents its challenges for the elderly. What I find fault with is the idea of picking up and moving away for retirement in the first place. Here are five reasons why.

1. What's good for a 65-year-old isn't always great for an 80-year-old. A lot of the problem with the idea of an ideal retirement community comes down to the fact that retirement lasts a long time and so encompasses a lot of physical and financial changes. A place that's awesome for an active, fit 65-year-old who can mow the yard and drive can sometimes be terrible for a 75- or 80-year-old who finds themselves unable to do either.

2. Moving doesn't guarantee a better cost of living over time. It seems like for a lot of folks, the idea behind making the big move is to find a place with a lower cost of living to help stretch your retirement dollars. The problem is, you get enough retirees moving in to an area, and suddenly, the cost of living can rise sharply. Take South Florida, for instance. Between 2002 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index for the U.S. rose 21 percent; in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, it rose more than 27 percent.

3. Real estate is tricky. For many years, the general consensus was selling your home and buying a cheaper place in a retirement haven in the Sun Belt was a financially savvy move. Not only could you cash out the equity in your old place to fund your retirement, you could also buy a new property with a good chance of appreciating. But as we saw during the housing bubble, housing prices in retirement destinations can be especially volatile. Having my retirement plans hinge on selling my home and having cash to spare no longer seems like a great idea, but even worse is the prospect of buying a dream retirement home only to see the value tank and my net worth crumble.

4. Retirement is a terrible time to leave your support network. A change of scenery may sound appealing for a lot of people who've spent the last few decades living and working around the same old friends and family. But the physical limitations and medical issues that come with old age seem likely to make people more in need of support from able-bodied friends and family, not less. This fact was underscored for me recently, when my wife's grandmother suffered through some serious medical issues lately. The fact that she has a strong support network hasn't just made taking care of her home and getting to doctor's appointments easier, it's also probably saved her life on a couple of occasions.

5. "It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Just because I love visiting a place doesn't mean I'll get the same enjoyment out of it after five or 10 years. If I like a place, I'll consider making an annual vacation of it, rather than trying to live there permanently. That way, if I get sick of it, I can just stop going; no real estate agents, movers or mortgage brokers required.

Maybe by the time I'm up for retirement, I'll feel differently. But If I do end up moving, I'll try to target a small, easy-to-maintain condo in a city with really good public transportation, preferably well north of the Sun Belt. That way, being able to maintain a house or drive a car won't be preconditions for me to be able to live on my own. Sunshine may be sweet, but independent living for as long as possible is sweeter.

Claes Bell has covered banking, autos and a variety of personal finance topics for Bankrate.com since 2006. He blogs on autos, banking and CD rates. Contact Claes on twitter, his handle is @claesBell. 

PerkStreet Financial & Ally Bank: Who's Got The Better Checking Account

If you look on any personal finance website you will see ads for PerkStreet Financial and Ally Bank. Each have much to offer, each have free accounts, and each are easy to use. Let's see what each one has to offer.

PerkStreet Financial


PerkStreet Financial is the only checking account that has rewards for using your debit card. Customers have the choice of cash back, music downloads, or a free coffee.PerkStreets claim to fame is that just by using your debit card on just your normal purchases, you can easily earn $600 cash back every year.


How to make deposits with Perkstreet:

• Regular mail: Using a postage-paid envelopes.
• Free overnight delivery: Send your checks overnight for free from 3,400 UPS Stores and Mailboxes Etc. locations nationwide (get a tracking number to ensure delivery).
• Direct deposit: Sign up for direct deposit with your employer and have all or a portion of your paycheck deposited into your account automatically.
• Online transfers: Move money easily between your PerkStreet account and outside accounts.
• MoneyGram® ExpressPayment: Deposit cash free at 18,000 locations nationwide, including Wal-Mart stores. You’ll need some specific information from Perkstreet to use this deposit method.

How to withdraw money

You can withdraw money without a charge at one of 37,000 ATMs within the STAR®surcharge-free network or at any merchant that offers cash back with purchases such as grocery stores or department stores like Walmart or Target. You may also use ATMs outside of the network but you’ll pay a $2 fee plus any fee the ATM owner may charge.

Another benefit of opening a PerkStreet Financial Checking account is that they don't do a credit check on you. If you ever have walked away from overdraft charges and your old bank, you know any other bank won't give you a checking account because they do a credit check.

Other exciting services are about to come out at PerkStreet.

• Increasing the amount of cash back they can earn;
• Connecting with an expanded community to share secrets for saving;
• Accessing an expanded set of financial services from PerkStreet (To the thousands of customers who have asked for savings accounts — we hear you!);
• Using a groundbreaking set of online tools to identify additional ways to save and reach financial goals faster.

Sign up today for one of the most rewarding checking accounts and get the 

PerkStreet Financial Debit MasterCard® - the debit card that helps you get debt free. It gives you 5% cash back on certain categories and 2% on everything else.

Ally Bank

Instead of a rewards plan Ally Bank offers interest on your balance. The details of their checking account:

• $0 monthly fee
• $0 to open and no minimum balance – you can open it today and begin using it when you want
• Free checks
• No ATM fees at any ATM
• Variable rate account where balances $15,000 or more get an even higher rate
• Ally Bank has a nice feature for people who have trouble with overdrafts. If you set up an Ally Bank On-line Savings account and link it to your Interest Checking Account, every time you go into over draft Ally will transfer the funds to cover the overdraft all at no charge. The amount of money you will save on fees is tremendous. Other banks normally charge you for this service.

How Do I Make Deposits?

• Ally has something called eCheck Deposit, you simply scan your check and transmit it to Ally Bank. 
• Send a check using special prepaid envelopes made avaiable by Ally Bank.
• Move funds between accounts at other banks to your Ally Bank account.
• Set up Direct Deposit for your payroll check.
• Use a wire transfer at no charge.

How Do I Withdraw Money From Ally Bank?

You can use any ATM in the nation and you will not be charged. And if you are charged, ALLY will reimburse you. They have more than 400,000 ATM locations and when you use your debit card you can receive cash back.

To open a ALLY Checking Account Click Here.

What's The Verdict? ALLY or PerkStreet?

If you don't want to bother with cashback go with ALLY. They give you interst ony your balance with no hassle. If you want cashback then PerkStreet Financial is the way to go. If you only have a small amount of money to use in these accounts, you results will not be great. But if you depositing at least $50,000 or more through your account then you will see some cashback money when using PerkStreet.