1. society
2. work
3. retirement

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2014
WSJ 3
... You Shouldn’t Buy in 2015
1
Cable TV
Some 102 million Americans subscribe to cable, according to research firm IBISWorld,
but the number is declining.
IBISWorld projects the industry
losing a net one million subscribers a year through 2019.
Americans are increasingly
embracing cheaper alternatives.
PricewaterhouseCoopers notes
that subscriptions to streaming
services like Netflix (up 25%
over 2013), Amazon Prime (up
14%) and Hulu (up 3%)—all of
which cost around $8 a
month—are rising.
Next year, you may have more
reason than ever to cut the cord:
Research firm NPD Group predicts the average pay-TV bill (for
basic and premium channels)
will hit $123 a month in 2015, up
from $86 in 2011.
—Catey Hill
2
Name-brand razor blades
Americans love their Gillette razorblades so much that
the shaving giant controls 66% of
the $13 billion shaving industry.
But Gillette cartridges aren’t
cheap, so many shavers are
turning to membership programs. The Dollar Shave Club,
whose membership has grown
by nearly 200% in the past year
to 1.3 million, may be the most
prominent. Such clubs sell
blades via mail-order subscription for a fraction of what Gillette’s blades typically retail for.
A blade bought through Dollar
Shave can run as little as $1.50,
while a Gillette blade can run as
much as $5. Reviewers generally rate generic blades as
highly as the brand names.
—Charles Passy
3
Bottled water
Who would pay $2 for
what amounts to a bottle of tap
water? Millions of Americans, it
turns out: U.S. bottled water
sales reached $12.3 billion in
2013. Scares over water contamination have helped boost
demand, but environmental ad-
4
Credit monitoring and ID
theft insurance
Despite proliferating data
theft, consumers needn’t pay for
credit-monitoring services or
identity-theft insurance, which
can cost more than $100 a year.
Consumer advocates note that
banks’ zero-liability policies already protect consumers from
unauthorized charges to their accounts. You can also ask credit
bureaus to set up a security
freeze that stops scammers from
opening accounts in your name.
—Priya Anand
5
DVDs and CDs
Sales of compact discs
(down a year-on-year 19% in the
first half of 2014) and DVDs
(down 8% in 2013) have nosedived amid competition from
on-demand, streaming media.
But the economics of streaming
should tilt even further in some
consumers’ favor in 2015.
On the video front, HBO, Univision and CBS have each announced new, affordable streaming services for next year. In the
music world, streaming platforms
with monthly subscriptions
should continue taking market
share from CDs and digital tracks.
—Q.F.
6
Computer memory sticks
Computer memory sticks
and thumb drives are becoming
obsolete, as storage wars heat
up in the cloud. Microsoft recently offered unlimited cloud
storage to subscribers to their
Office 365 software suite (although subscriptions cost $70
to $100 a year). Google Drive
slashed its monthly online fees
to as little as $1.99 for 100 gigabytes. Many tablets and computers also come with free storage for new buyers.
Paulo Buchinho
Changing technology and
evolving trends can turn today’s
purchase into tomorrow’s regret.
vocates argue that for most
Americans, bottled water is no
safer than tap water. About 45%
of bottled-water brands are
sourced from municipal water
supplies, says Peter Gleick, a
scientist and author of “Bottled
and Sold.”
Consumers can often purify
their own tap water at a much
lower cost. Filters from companies such as Brita and Pur start at
around $15 for a year’s supply.
—Quentin Fottrell
It’s true that memory sticks
may cost less: Their prices typically start at around $25. But
they can spread viruses and,
unlike the cloud, can be left behind in a cafe.
Of course, the cloud isn’t invulnerable, as a breach of Apple’s iCloud system showed this
fall. And some consumers fear
losing access to cloud data if
storage providers raise prices.
—Q.F.
Some free dating apps say
their companion-matching software is on par with the algorithms offered by the paid services. OkCupid, which had about
10 million users last year, offers
detailed questionnaires to help
match mates. Hinge, another
free app, matches users with
mutual Facebook friends—that
is, friends of their friends—to
boost the odds of a match.
—P.A.
7
8
Online-dating subscriptions
Love may be priceless,
but the online dating industry
will still earn $2.2 billion in revenue this year, according to IBISWorld. An estimated one in five
Americans between 25 and 34
has online-dated, and Match.com
and eHarmony, the two most
popular paid services, charge between $20 and $60 a month.
YOUR BENEFITS
The Trouble With Social Security IDs
BY JENNIFER WATERS
Encouraging seniors to
keep
close
watch
over
their Social Security
numbers, as we did in our last column, opened the floodgates to
letters complaining that those
numbers are in plain sight on
their Medicare cards—and asking why that should be.
“When you reach this old age
of 65, all the years you protected your Social Security
number are for naught; everything shows your number,”
writes Steve H. from Anaheim,
Calif. “I figure, at this age, the
government believes dementia
has already occurred.”
Adds Liz M. of San Antonio:
“Could they try any harder to
increase the potential vulnerability of the elderly?”
“I find it difficult to comprehend that the personal ID number that we are reminded frequently to keep a secret is now
on a card that we need to have
on our person frequently,” says
Phil O. of Pittsfield, Mass. “You
remind readers that a lost or
stolen SS number can lead to
identity theft, with all the related consequences. The elderly
are often targets of scams of
numerous variety. Why does the
government require us to carry
a card with such potential for
dire consequences at a point in
our lives when we are becoming
more vulnerable?
“Is there a way to deal with
this issue?”
There is, but like most government-related matters, it’s an
imbroglio mired in red tape,
multiple agencies and big dollars to fix—and you will need to
make your opinions heard to
get it done.
It was 2002 when the Government Accountability Office
first recommended removing
Social Security numbers from
government documents. By
2007, President George W.
Bush’s Identity Theft Task Force
called Social Security numbers
“the most valuable commodity
for an identity theft,” and over
the next two years a number of
government agencies began taking steps to reduce the use of
Social Security numbers from
government transactions.
But not the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Social Security Admin-
A Language of Its Own
Deciphering some of the Social Security Administration’s
mind-numbing jargon and abbreviations.
! AIME (Average Indexed Monthly
Earnings): The dollar amount used to
calculate your Social Security benefit.
Past earnings are adjusted using an
“average wage index” to keep the values
of past earnings (when money was
worth more) in line with present
earnings.
! Benefits: Social Security pays five
types of benefits: retirement, disability,
family, survivors and Medicare.
! COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment):
Social Security and Supplemental
Security Incomes payments may
automatically increase annually to keep
pace with the cost of living, or inflation.
! DRC (Delayed Retirement Credits):
Social Security benefits are increased by
8% (if born after 1943) if you delay
taking retirement benefits beyond your
full retirement age. The increases stop
after age 70, even if you continue to
istration or the Railroad Retirement Board. Why? Because it
would cost a lot to make the
change, and Congress has not
appropriated the money
A CMS spokesperson agrees
that removing Social Security
numbers from Medicare cards
“is an appropriate step to reducing the risk of identity
theft,” but notes that “CMS cannot make a decision to proceed
unilaterally.” It needs SSA and
RRB on board, and it needs “to
consider all existing workloads
and priorities in light of the
funding that is available for
such a major project.”
A bipartisan measure to
combat Medicare fraud introduced in Congress in early December included $320 million in
funding to start the process. It’s
unclear if the bill will be reintroduced in the session that
starts Jan. 3.
If you want to voice your
support, start by calling the
hotline of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security
and Medicare at 800-966-1935.
Operators will keep track of
your calls and comments, and
answer questions.
“The best thing [seniors] can
do is show a strong level of interest in getting this problem
fixed,” says committee spokeswoman Pamela Causey.
Q:
My wife of nine years
passed away a number
of years ago. I am 58 and have
been told that I can collect her
delay benefits.
! FICA tax (Federal Insurance
Contributions Act): The tax withheld
from your salary or self-employment
income that funds Social Security and
Medicare programs.
! FRA (Full Retirement Age): The age of
entitlement to full or unreduced benefits.
It is gradually rising from age 65 until it
reaches 67 for workers and spouses in
2027 and for widows and widowers in
2029. The increase affects the amount
of reduction if you take benefits early.
! GPO (Government Pension Offset):
Reduces Social Security spousal or
widow and widower benefits by
two-thirds of the amount of the earner’s
individual public pension.
! Number holder: In many Social
Security Administration documents,
this refers to the wage earner.
Boutique moonshine
“White” whiskey—unaged corn or rye whiskey—has
been trendy in the liquor industry since the Great Recession.
Some boutique moonshine commands as much as $40 a bottle.
From 2010 to 2012, U.S. moonshine sales quintupled to more
than 250,000 cases, according
to Technomic, a firm that ana-
lyzes the beverage industry.
But some experts say consumers shouldn’t pay top dollar for
un-aged whiskey, because time in
the barrel is what gives whiskey
its flavor (and color). “I’ve never
had a white whiskey that I would
say I prefer to an aged whiskey,”
says Clay Risen, author of “American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye.”
—C.P.
9
Mini tablets
When Apple launched
the extra-large iPhone 6 Plus in
September, it may have sealed
the fate of another Apple product: The mini tablet. As smartphones get bigger, tech experts
say, there’s less reason to buy
mini-tablets—which cost as
much as or more than large
“phablet” phones but usually
can’t be used on phone networks and don’t work as well
when used as cameras.
Already, iPad buyers seem to
be turning up their noses at the
iPad mini: E-commerce firm
Slice Intelligence says 93% of all
iPad preorders are for the
larger, 9.7-inch iPad Air 2.
—Q.F.
10
4K TVs
With their super-sharp
pictures, so-called 4K and ultrahigh definition (UHD) televisions,
which arrived in stores a year
ago, are tempting. But NPD
Group says 4K/UHD TVs average
$2,400, compared with about
$450 for flat-panel TVs overall.
And it’ll be two to three years
before there’s enough 4K-quality
content available to make ownership worthwhile, says Phong Vu,
CEO of deal intelligence site
DealScience.com.
—C.H.
REPORTING SO
POWERFUL, ITJUMPS
RIGHT OFF THE PAGE.
benefits at age 60, then collect
my benefits at full retirement
age, or wait until I am 70. Can
you clarify?
I would like to know
whether the nine-year marriage, rather than the 10 years
most refer to, is allowed and if
there is any specific way and
time to file for her/my benefits.
—Mike M., Minneapolis
A:
Your nine-year marriage
does qualify you for your
wife’s benefit if you were still
married when she died. The 10year marriage period applies
only to divorcées who haven't
remarried before age 60.
You can collect on her benefits at age 60 and delay collecting your own benefits until full
retirement age for your full
benefit (assuming they are
higher than your survivor’s benefits) or age 70 to build delayed
retirement credits to maximize
your own benefit.
The survivor’s benefit you
receive will be based on your
wife’s benefit had she lived to
her full retirement age. But if
you take it early, it will be reduced by a fraction of a percent
for each month before your full
retirement age. You can search
for “survivor plan” on ssa.gov
for more information.
Please send questions with your
name, phone number and city to
[email protected]. I can respond only in the column.
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