2013 is going to be another good year for borrowers, and a lousy year for savers, as interest rates remain low amidst a slow-growth economy, Bankrate Senior Financial Analyst Greg McBride said in an interview.

McBride forecasts that the U.S. economy will expand by about 2 percent this year, tempered by an unemployment rate that will decline very slowly and gains in wages that will be “nothing to write home about.”

Those consumers looking to purchase or improve their homes or upgrade the cars will have a window of opportunity as borrowing costs remain low. Auto loans, for one, are at record lows and are still falling, making 2013 a favorable year from a financial standpoint for anyone looking to buy either a new or used car, McBride said

A few years before my mom passed away, she had knee replacement surgery and needed some help in the weeks immediately following her operation. It was always tricky figuring out the best arrangement at times like these – she lived across the country, which meant we had to put together a patchwork of support for her care during those times when immediate family weren’t in town.

She was fortunate to have a strong network in her hometown, and the kindness of her friends at these times of need was heartwarming. But in one unfortunate incident my mom learned the troubling lesson of how even those who have the best of intentions can sometimes succumb to their own life stresses and take advantage of someone who is disabled.

She had hired a friend who had recently lost their job to be her nurse for a week. Longstanding confidence, built on years of friendship, led my mom to trust this individual with her debit card to make some grocery purchases. Unfortunately, the friend did more with the card than just buy groceries. A couple of weeks later, my mom happened to check her bank statement and discovered several other amounts that she had not authorized.

The friend, who was feeling the pinch from her own financial strain, had used my mom’s bank account to take her children on some excursions. My mom speculated that the friend had thought she would get away with it because my mom was distracted from most paperwork and the chances were slim that she would check her account closely.

I have to admit, I found this infographic from creditsesame.com cute, festive, and relevant to the holiday shopping season ... A nice way of reminding all of us to watch our credit even as we spend it ...

What’s in your wallet? Whatever it is, identity thieves still see it as the easiest way to get your information.

As concerned as we all are with an online or other technology-related data breach, the vast majority of identity theft happens from stolen or misplaced items such as wallets and pocketbooks. The second most common cause is a compromised license, Social Security card or other form of personal I.D. Burglaries rate third.

These top three causes accounted for 73 percent of cases involving identity theft, according to a study of 2011 claims data by Travelers Insurance. The thieves often acquired the personal information through less obvious means, from sorting through trash for bank statements to stealing pre-approved credit card applications in the mail. Only 10 percent of those surveyed could identify the perpetrator of the identify fraud made against them.

My work and personal email inboxes are chock full of online ads, promoting next week’s so-called “Black Friday” retail doorbusters to kick off the holiday shopping season.

Seems as if retailers in the Greater Boston area need to do a little more homework, though, if they want to capture this market. According to the results of the survey that I posted last week, more than 70 percent of Boston.com readers plan to wait to do most of their holiday shopping until early December, when there aren’t many crowds in the stores. I have to agree with my readers. Who wants to deal with Black Friday when you can wait a few days and have some time to think and space to breathe in the stores?

Several companies that have contacted me, claiming to have done “studies” that forecast an increase in holiday shopping spending, also don’t seem to have a good pulse on what Boston-area residents plan to do. Sixty-four percent of readers who answered my survey said their budgets are going to stay the same this year. Another 25 percent said they’re reducing it. Only 11 percent will increase their budget.

Excel spreadsheets are once again becoming my best friend.

As I begin preparing my annual Christmas shopping list, instead of my usual paper system tacked onto my bulletin board or stuffed in my wallet, I have decided to lay out my list of people, and purchases, in a few simple columns so that I can easily find and track all of the information.

At the end of last year’s holiday season, I realized that my budget should not only include those items I buy for gifts, but all the other items I end up purchasing because it’s the one time of the year that I actually take time out to shop. It’s the extra things that end up blowing my budget and bloating my credit-card bill come January.

It also helps me reinforce the fairness factor among my kids. We always try to make sure that we split our immediate family budget pretty evenly among them, but having a formula that automatically tallies up the amounts for me as I input each one makes it a lot easier to make sure that I am keeping my word.

Easthampton Savings Bank is one of 88 banks nationwide that is participating in this year’s “Lights, Camera, Save!” video contest for teens that’s organized by the Education Foundation of the American Bankers Association.

The contest asks teens ages 13-18 years old to create a video that educates themselves, and their peers, about the value of saving and using money wisely. The videos can’t be longer than 90 seconds and must be an original work by the student (including all music and images).

Last week we learned that much of this year’s growth in the balance of consumer loans came from borrowing for school expenses. As we head into the fourth quarter, Moody’s Analytics is noticing an additional trend: a rise in auto lending.

In fact, auto lending is growing at the fastest pace in seven years, according to a recent report by Moody’s Analytics. Total outstanding debt on loan and leases increased last month by more than $50 billion, or 7 percent, to $767 billion from year-ago levels, said the company, which provides research and other financial tools to help companies measure and manage risk.

“Auto lending is on fire,” Cristian deRitis, senior director of consumer credit analytics for Moody’s Analytics, said in an interview. “It’s pent-up demand that built up during the recession.”

This week the National Retail Federation, the retail industry’s main voicebox, released its annual forecast for holiday spending, and not surprisingly the results indicate that consumers are going to continue to be cautious during the fourth-quarter buying season.

Discount stores will be the biggest beneficiaries of streamlined holiday budgets, with nearly two-thirds of consumers saying they will shop there to seek the best deals, the NRF said. Department stores ranked second. Clothing retailers were a close third, while electronics stores ranked fourth among the almost 8,900 individuals polled. Total budgets are forecast to barely edge up to an average $749.51 on gifts, décor and greeting cards, from the $740.57 they actually spent last year, the NRF said.

Consumers are also showing an interest in controlling the way they spend their money, an adjustment to the “new normal” that is evident in not only their adherence to budgets and avid pursuit of discounts, but their reduced use of credit cards. As a result there is more interest in using layaway programs (hence the already large number of TV commercials airing to promote this practice) with many consumers saying that they plan to begin their shopping this month, even before Halloween, in order to make sure they are able to grab the season’s “must have” items before it’s too late.

“Consumers have more credit available to them, and have more cards in their wallets that they did a year ago, but they have not been willing to take them out and charge up,” said Cristian deRitis, senior director of consumer credit analytics for Moody’s Analytics. “This year’s holiday season will be tough. People are worried about issues such as the fiscal cliff and the impact of Europe on the U.S. economy. Consumers are still quite cautious.”

Expecting an inheritance? Apparently so, if you’re a member of Gen Z. And that youthful optimism may deter these individuals from taking retirement savings seriously – with potentially damaging consequences.

That result was surprising, said Carrie Braxdale, managing director, investor services, TD Ameritrade, Inc., because this group of young people was generally pretty savvy about articulating the current challenges in the economy and job market. And with the majority of them already actively using some kind of investment or savings account, they also clearly had been taught about the importance of saving and thinking about a financial plan.

Still, they are focusing mainly on “savings needs that are more near-term,” Braxdale said. “Many explicitly said they are saving for college or current expenses.”

Whenever I write anything about affluent Americans, inevitably I hear from some readers about how journalists are “out of touch” and not understanding the issues. I find these emails striking because they reflect a lot of the uncertainty and frustration most people are feeling in today’s job market and economy. And while I am often just reporting the results of someone else’s study, I understand that even doing that simple act can rub people who are struggling the wrong way.

So when I was told about a recent “Affluent Insights Survey” that Merrill Lynch conducted, I found myself wondering how we might think about its results so that it can be useful information for a variety of individuals, of varying incomes, and not just for those who happen to have $250,000 or more of investable assets. To me, these surveys are helpful if we can find even just one or two nuggets of new information that might serve as potentially interesting solutions when applied to our own lives.

Let’s start by laying out some of the context for the results uncovered by the survey. Among the 1,000+ individuals that Merrill Lynch interviewed, close to half view today’s economic uncertainty as a “new normal,” with rising healthcare costs, the care of aging parents, and the extended financial support being given to adult-age children weighing on their minds. Four out of five, or about 80 percent, of those surveyed worry that they won’t be able to achieve their financial goals before they retire.

Some of these “affluent” individuals are drawing a harder line on funding college. About 48 percent told Merrill Lynch that they were willing to support adult-age children for as long as they need. But some are trying to use the expense as a way to teach a financial lesson. About 38 percent of parents today paid for, or plan to pay for, the full cost of their children’s college education, down from 48 percent a year ago, the survey said. And when asked about their ability to fund higher learning, 19 percent said they chose not to pay for the full amount so that their kids would appreciate their education more.

Increasingly, “families are getting together, with their college-age kids, to talk about how they will pay for college, even in this group where the cost was traditionally paid for by parents,” said Merril Pyes, a managing director in Boston with Merrill Lynch. “Parents are talking with their kids about how to pay for it, what they’ll get out of college, and what their kids will do when they get out.”

Communicate.

Having more conversations as a family about finances seems to be one of the bigger lessons we can learn from this survey, which provided other examples of how people are trying to communicate, and work together, more to solve concerns and challenges.

Individuals who participate in company stock plans are increasingly earmarking the assets for investment or retirement instead of paying off debt – a shift that offers some hope that segments of the population are starting to be able to refocus on saving rather than just paying off bills, Fidelity Investments said today.

The Boston-based investment company found that more than half (57 percent) of company stock plan assets are being allocated for eventual investment or retirement savings after participants sell them. Just 13 percent are targeted for paying bills or debt in the future. In past years, about a third of assets were allocated for bill payment, and only a quarter targeted for savings and investment, Fidelity said.

Earlier this week a study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) showed that the number of American households opting out of the banking system grew steadily from 2009 to 2011.

About 17 million adults don’t have a checking or savings account at all, representing about 8.2 percent of U.S. households. Another 51 million are so-called “underbanked” adults, which means they have a bank account but may also consistently frequent higher-risk services such as pawnshops and payday lenders. The FDIC said it partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to conduct the survey in June 2011, collecting responses from almost 45,000 households.

The purpose of the report was to assess the inclusiveness of the banking system since, as the FDIC said, “public confidence in the banking system derives in part from how effectively banks serve the needs of the nation’s diverse population.”

When I was pregnant with my first child, I went into sticker shock when I learned the cost of childcare. I had assumed it would be expensive, I just didn’t realize that my recent move to Massachusetts meant I would be paying prices that didn’t just rival – they exceeded -- New York and some other places I had previously lived in.

And the trend continues. A study by Child Care Aware® of America found that Massachusetts had the highest average annual cost for full-time infant daycare in the U.S. at an average $14,980 per year, and that top expense continues through age 4. It’s only when a child enters school that the state drops off the top 10 list.

If you participate in your employer’s 401(k) plan, you may have already noticed a change in the format of the statements that are provided to you, detailing your investments. If you haven’t, keep an eye out – by Aug. 30th, the information provided on there will be changing.

The U.S. Department of Labor is requiring that plan sponsors (your employer) provide more detailed information on fees and expenses related to 401(k) plans. It’s important to note that the fees listed are not new. They’ve always been there. It’s just that now the DOL is trying to make it easier for participants to see the administrative expenses charged for running a program, as well as the individual expenses – or those fees that may have been deducted from a participant’s account based on actions they may have taken, such as redemption or loan fees.

Plan sponsors must also notify participants about the existence of any revenue-sharing arrangements. This is a practice that involves using a portion of the investment-related fees paid by participants to help cover a plan’s administrative costs. It is this type of so-called “soft dollar” arrangement that has been the subject of some debate, and helped prompt the new fee disclosures. (To get a sense of the historical context around the fee debate, read this 2006 column by Bloomberg columnist John F. Wasik, “401(k) Fees Are Still Exorbitant, Buried Secrets.”)

Previously there was concern about administrators passing along fees to participants in the form of individual fund expense ratios, which is an annual percentage deducted from plan assets. The lack of transparent disclosure raised criticism that some plans may have been paying excessive administrative fees, and investors were buying into them without considering other, lower-cost options such as index funds. Other concerns included the potential for conflicts of interest: Plan sponsors and administrators may have an incentive to pick funds that pay more in revenue sharing, instead of evaluating funds for being the best investment. (SmartMoney highlighted this ongoing concern in a May 2012 article, “Will 401(k)s Abandon Revenue Sharing?”)

With school starting in just a month, parents and their kids are beginning to shop for those supplies, clothes, and other gear needed to make it through the upcoming year. The back-to-school shopping season is the second-busiest for retailers after Christmas, and the National Retail Federation, one of the bigger groups representing the industry, expects this year to be a banner year. Spending, according to the NRF, for combined K-12 and college, is expected to reach a record $83.8 billion.

The growth may be due, in part, to record levels of elementary and middle school enrollment, as about 3 in 10 Americans say they have children between the ages of 6 and 17.

But the bigger boost in spending may actually be from online shoppers, who are expected to spend 27 percent more than those who hit the actual physical stores. Internet shoppers are forecast to spend an average $874 for back-to-school supplies, compared with $688 for those in stores, according to an NRF survey, which polled more than 8,500 consumers.

Members of Generation Y appear to be embracing age-based asset allocation retirement programs faster than other age groups, according to an analysis done by Fidelity Investments in the second quarter.

The Boston-based investment firm analyzed the 401(k) accounts of about 2.2 million Gen Y participants – which the company defined as those born between 1979 and 1991 – and found that this age group has stronger adoption of target date funds and Roth 401(k) programs compared with others.

About 67 percent of Gen Y participants are within +/- 10 percentage points of the Fidelity Freedom Fund equity rolldown schedule, which is a gauge used by the company to determine appropriate age-based asset allocation. That compares with just 45 percent across all 401(k) participants, the company said.

Many Gen Y participants achieved the diversification through the adoption of target-date funds, which are often the default option for plans with auto enrollment. For those plans that offer target-date funds as investment options, about half of Gen Y participants allocated all of their assets in a target date fund compared to 30 percent of participants of all ages.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Merrill Lynch wealth management advisor Mary Mullin, a resident of Sudbury who was recognized this summer as one of America’s Top 100 Women Advisors by Barron’s Magazine – and the top Woman Financial Advisor in Boston.

Ms. Mullin’s group of clients consists largely of women and couples, and after more than three decades working at Merrill, she has seen the impact that the sharing of financial duties can have on an individual’s understanding of a family’s financial condition.

Having raised four kids as a single, working mom, she also intimately understands the challenges of juggling the management of a household budget with the need for long-term financial planning.

I asked her to identify the top three lessons she’s learned from her experiences, and would like to share with women as they organize their finances, either alone or with a partner. She came up with more than that. Looking at all of her comments, though, I think you’ll agree that her insights can be universally applied:

The rear brakes on one of our cars suddenly leaked fluid on Wednesday, sending us into a quick flurry of activity as we tried to fit in taking the vehicle into the shop for repair with wrapping up work before a holiday week. We’re one of millions of families who will be hitting the road now that summer’s here to meet up with family members or see some sights.

I always hate seeing an extra charge for something like a car repair on my credit card bill, but according to CarMD.com Corp., I’m lucky to be in Massachusetts for that type of expense. The website just published its second annual state-by-state ranking of car-repair costs and found that Massachusetts is one of the lowest – placing 34th in the nation. That’s down from 15th place last year, due to a 23 percent drop in average labor rates and a 6 percent decline in the cost of parts.

The average cost for car repairs in Massachusetts was $322.48, said CarMD, which analyzed over 160,000 repairs made on vehicles with “check engine” light problems in 2011. That’s 3 percent less than the U.S. average of $333.93, and below the most expensive state – Wyoming – where drivers paid an average $389.18.

Ever wonder the types of income-generating investments that someone who is officially “high net worth” is interested in? According to Fidelity Investments, they are actively looking for dividend-producing stocks and corporate bonds for higher yields in today’s low-interest rate environment.

During the next six months, over half of the more than 1,000 Fidelity customers polled said they are most bullish about dividend-producing stocks, followed by investment-grade corporate bonds (15 percent of respondents).

Where will they put their next investing dollar? About 44 percent in US stocks, while another 16 percent said investment-grade corporate bonds. Nine percent chose high-yield bonds, and another 9 percent chose “under the mattress.”

My dog died on Monday. An American Foxhound, she lived to the ripe old age of 14, much longer than anyone, including my vet, ever expected. Even so, I am struck by the void her absence has left in our home life. There were so many routines that we took for granted, from the early morning dog walks to the almost daily vacuuming of her dog hairs all over the front hall rug. On Tuesday, my husband felt lost in the morning because he was so used to grabbing her leash. So he grabbed our littlest one instead and toted him around as he went through the rest of the morning routine.

Before Peanut, I’d never had a pet for that long. When I was a kid, I owned a dog, but we had to give him away when we moved overseas. There were times, over Peanut’s life, that I was really struck by the commitment we had made to taking care of this creature. When my first son was 2, he used to terrorize her by loving her too much. She complained to me daily about him trying to climb on her for a ride or pull on her ears. She never bit him, but she would give me a look that threatened to do so if I didn’t pry him away. Policing their interaction until my son matured tested my patience almost to exhaustion.

Financing a college education is a big effort for every family, and according to Legg Mason Inc., a global asset management firm based in Baltimore, even those affluent enough to fully fund the bill feel that their children should help pay the cost.

More than 1,000 parents who have $250,000 or more in investable assets were surveyed by Legg Mason in order to find out their expectations when it came to college funding. Of those surveyed, 72 percent said they believe that their children should pay part of their college expenses – close to one-third said they should contribute as much as half the total amount.

The parents said they wanted their kids to participate in the investment because they wanted to make sure that their children take college education seriously, and appreciate it. They also used it as a way of teaching responsibility.

This morning I awoke to the sound of a loud fire engine siren signaling a strong warning. It was code, I later learned, for all firemen out. The home they had been trying to save had gotten too hot, and their mission shifted from trying to save the structure to trying to contain, and eventually put out, the fire before it spread to the neighbors’ lots.

You hear about fires but when you’re confronted with one that consuming it really drives home the depth of potential losses. In the case of my neighbor’s home, thankfully there was no one inside and so no risk to lives. But once you know everyone’s safe, your mind turns to the property itself, and the contents within. If it were my home, what would I hope most to save?

Family photos, definitely. Jewelry. The ever-present laptop. Artwork? Or the random things that hold memories like the handmade area rug I picked up on a trip to Istanbul before I got married…

And as the fire dies down into embers, you think, how does one rebuild?

It’s funny how quickly the practical lines of thought kick in with that question: Homeowner’s insurance. Is mine adequate? Did I ask all the right questions? What haven’t I thought of?

A few months ago I wrote about Doughmain.com, and how their online tool can help parents organize and track allowances and related chores for their children.

As a follow-up to yesterday's post about teaching financial lessons, here are a few tips for other summer activities by Ken Damato, the founder of that website:

1. Create a family match plan for savings — To encourage smart saving habits and help your child build savings, create a matched family savings plan, similar to a 401K you have at work. You, as parents, act as the company and match your kid’s savings contributions. Also discuss how the money they have saved throughout the summer will allow them to continue to do fun things throughout the year or prepare for their future.

My friend’s daughter was born in the summer, often a tough time for an elementary-aged kid who wants to celebrate with her friends. As we talked about seasonal plans, my friend mentioned how her daughter was asking for a second American Girl doll, and how she was torn about what to do. In her mind, she was weighing the price tag against the guilt over the fact that many of her daughter’s friends wouldn’t be around for birthday festivities.

My friend’s angst is common among mothers of young girls who clutch their wallets around birthdays and holidays in anticipation of the request for these $100 dolls. There’s no question the dolls are well made. It’s just after the abuse you watch your child put their Barbies through, you can’t help but want some solid guarantees that these pricier playthings will do a better job of surviving the endless grooming, wardrobe changes and intricate imaginary adventures.

My own daughter has had an endless fascination with dolls from the time she was 2, so I knew early on my budget would be in trouble. When she entered kindergarten and discovered American Girl, I borrowed from another mom’s playbook the idea of having to earn the privilege of owning the doll. The pricetag was steep in the eyes of my then beginning reader: she would have to prove to me that she could read an entire “chapter book” before we could go to the store.

The assignment had the desired effect: she learned the concept of value, and made an admirable effort at taking special care of her playmate. But it didn’t quench her appetite for more. At Christmas a year later, the request for a second doll was made to my mother, who happily went shopping despite my protests. But when the request for a third came down the pike during the spring of her 8th birthday, I stood firm and banned her from the store. “Absolutely not,” I told her. “No one needs that many.”