CBS Mornings: Supply Chain Shortages

Supply chain problems across the country could cause havoc for people's holiday plans. Meg Oliver finds out why shoppers may want to hit the grocery store soon to prepare for Thanksgiving, and I explain how long we can expect to see inflated prices.

Thanksgiving Emails

Thanksgiving is all about being thankful. Trust me when I say I'm so incredibly thankful for you, the audience. Without you guys listening and sending in your questions, this show wouldn't be possible. In lieu of the usual in-studio guest or the guest on the phone, aka you the listeners, today I'm going to answer a handful of emails.

Thanksgiving is all about being thankful. Trust me when I say I’m so incredibly thankful for you, the audience.

Without you guys listening and sending in your questions, this show wouldn’t be possible.

In lieu of the usual in-studio guest or the guest on the phone, aka you the listeners, today I’m going to answer a handful of emails.

The inbox is seriously backed up, so what better way to show my appreciation :) Keep ‘em coming, I promise we’ll get to them all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a money question? Email me here.

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CBS This Morning: Black Friday

Black Friday sales are expected to hit a new record this year, with 71 percent of Americans planning to shop over the Thanksgiving weekend. Shoppers could spend more than $1 trillion this holiday season, for the first time ever. I joined CBS This Morning to discuss why consumer confidence is so high.

Have a money question? Email me here.

#351 Preserving and Sharing Humanity’s Stories with StoryCorps

Happy Thanksgiving! It's hard to believe that this is our seventh Thanksgiving together here at Jill on Money. Where does the time go? In hour one this week we're bringing you some great listener calls. We started the action with Chris from Florida who inherited some money and is wondering what his next step should be.

Happy Thanksgiving!  It's hard to believe that this is our seventh Thanksgiving together here at Jill on Money.  Where does the time go?

In hour one this week we're bringing you some great listener calls.  We started the action with Chris from Florida who inherited some money and is wondering what his next step should be. Next up was Doug from Miami, who at the ripe old age of 35 has aspirations of a very young retirement. Andrew from Chicago had some questions about consolidating old retirement plans and we wrapped up the calls with Chris from Spokane who has some extra income and isn't quite sure what he should be doing with it.

Since this episode is dropping on Thanksgiving we thought we’d do something a bit different.

Instead of focusing on bettering ourselves financially, we wanted to introduce you to StoryCorps, a non-profit organization that strives to make the world better off by preserving and sharing stories, build connections and create a more just and compassionate world.

In short, it serves as a good reminder of the things that matter most.

And who better to help us stay in the giving thanks spirit than our guest Dave Isay, the founder and president of StoryCorps.

His goal is simple: to use stories to remind us of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters. At the same time, StoryCorps is creating an invaluable archive for future generations--every interview is housed at the Library of Congress.

So as you’re sitting around this Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends, I encourage you to download the StoryCorps app and take part in The Great Thanksgiving Listen, a national movement that empowers people of all ages to create an oral history of the contemporary United States by recording an interview with an elder using the free app.

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#299 Thanksgiving Holiday Show

It's Thanksgiving weekend...which means Mark and I are still suffering from food comas...which means this weekend you get a best-of version of Jill on Money!

• Download the podcast on iTunes
• Download the podcast on feedburner
• Download this week's show (MP3)

After making a list, checking it twice and soliciting votes from you, the audience, we've narrowed it down to a handful of guests we will be rerunning between now and the end of the year.  So, for this weekend, a time when it's all about spending time with family and loved ones, perhaps enjoying a movie, we decided to go with Dave Isay in hour one and Alysia Reiner in hour two. 

Dave Isay is the founder and president of StoryCorps, whose mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.  As you're sitting around this weekend and have some free time I highly recommend you download the StoryCorps app and check out the Great Thanksgiving Listen.

Alysia Reiner is an actress you've likely seen in the movie Sideways or the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.  We chatted with Alysia over the summer about her latest movie, Equity, the first ever female driven Wall Street film.  Not only did Alysia star in the film, she also co-wrote and produced it.

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer/Music Curator in the World. Here's how to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

Financial Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving is a time when we count our blessings. In addition to the big stuff, I like to use the opportunity to give thanks to the resources and organizations that improve our financial lives. The Financial Planning Coalition, a collaboration of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) has provided a strong and unified voice promoting the recognition and regulation of financial planners and increased investor protection. The big task that the Coalition has been trying to tackle is to educate policymakers and consumers about the importance of advice that is in the best interest of the client—the so-called fiduciary standard.

The coalition’s tireless efforts may soon pay off…next on my list of thanks goes to the United States Department of Labor, which is expected to finalize rules that would require financial advisors of all retirement accounts to put customers first. Although the industry has fought hard to thwart the initiative, most believe that it will survive. Its enactment would amount to the biggest changes to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) since that law was drafted more than 40 years ago.

Thanks too must go to technology, which has greatly enhanced the ability to better manage personal finances. Mint, You Need A Budget (YNAB) are among the many free apps that help you keep track of your money, while Acorns and Level Money help you budget and then find even the smallest dollars that you can save or invest.

And a tip of the hat goes to the innovators of financial technology, like the folks at Betterment, Wealthfront, Motif investing and MarketRiders, who have introduced a cost efficient way for investors to better allocate and manage their investments and retirement accounts.

There are also plenty of terrific tools available to help people with their financial lives. The EBRI Choose to Save Ballpark Estimate is an easy to use calculator to help quantify retirement savings needs, FinAid is the go-to site for students and their families to help understand the various ways to pay for college; and LifeHappens helps families understand their life and disability insurance needs.

I am often asked about which financial blogs that I use to augment the multitude of publications that I need to do my job. I am thankful for the terrific work of Bill McBride of the Calculated Risk blog. In addition to his wise insights about the housing market, Bill has a wonderful way of providing much need context to a world of economic numbers. I am also grateful for Barry Ritholtz’ “The Big Picture”, with its great mix of information, humor and a healthy dose of skepticism. Although a bit wonkier, I always learn from economics professors James D. Hamilton and Menzie Chinn, who are the brains behind Econbrowser and Mark Thoma of Economist’s View.

What would I do without economic resources, like the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’s Reserve Bank FRED blog, with its nifty charting features; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s research on Household Credit; the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ historic databases; the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ interactive data; and the IRS’ rich web site? The people at these organizations have also been incredibly generous with me.

On the research front, the folks at Pew Research Center, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce are producing some of the most interesting and useful publications, which help me in my job every day.

And finally, the greatest thanks goes to you—the readers, listeners and viewers, who take time out of your days to absorb my content and who generously provide commentary, both and good and bad. To quote Alice Walker, the words thank you “expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.” On this Thanksgiving, thank you.

Thanksgiving Week Holiday Shopping

American consumers, start your engines! This weekend kicked off the holiday shopping season and here is what you need to know. Despite the rapid growth of digital sales (the government said that overall E-commerce jumped 15.1 percent in the third quarter from a year ago), most shopping occurs in physical stores. In fact, last quarter, E-commerce accounted for just 7.4 percent of overall retail sales. But these numbers are somewhat misleading, because overall retail sales include the big-ticket automobile category, as well as gas and groceries. According to consultancy Strategy&, these groups are responsible for almost half of total retail sales. Without them, online’s penetration of its “addressable market” is closer to 16 percent.

But that’s not the whole story: Deloitte found that nearly two-thirds of in-store retail sales will be influenced by digital interactions this holiday season, as consumers smarten up and conduct research on their desktops, tablets and phones and consult shopping apps to land the best deals.

Speaking of those bargains, shopping early can pay off. According to Adobe Digital research, online prices should hit rock bottom on Thanksgiving Day, where consumers will snag an average discount of 27 percent. So if you are one of the 45 percent of consumers who can sneak away in between football games and family time to click away, you’ll be rewarded.

If shopping on Thanksgiving -- even from the privacy of your home -- doesn’t sit well with you, try the Monday before Thanksgiving, which has been a good option to beat the rush and still get deals. Adobe also found that the best time to buy depends on both discounts and product availability, especially for hot-selling gifts. In fact, this weekend is the best time to shop for toys and Monday is good for electronics, though the entire week leading up to Thanksgiving will deliver bargains.

Before you hit the stores, don’t forget to download a few apps to help: Red Laser, Snip Snap and Coupon Sherpa can help you score the best deals and find extra savings and Slice keeps tabs of your online purchases by monitoring your email and extracting online order details. The app also notifies you about price drops on recent purchases and helps you get a refund when possible.

Finally, a quick word about security…when shopping in a brick and mortar location, the safest choice is cash at the checkout counter, but that too has risk, because who really wants to shop with wads of cash? For convenience, credit cards are the safest option because issuers usually provide protection against stolen, damaged or lost items. Additionally, if credit card information is stolen or compromised, your liability is minimized, whereas a debit card thief could drain your bank account before you notice.

And during this time, carefully review your credit card statements as soon as you receive them to make sure there aren’t any unauthorized charges. If there is a discrepancy, call your bank and report it immediately. If you think that your information has been compromised or that you have been a victim of identity theft, go to the FTC website for step-by-step instructions about what you need to do.

MARKETS: The bulls had visions of Sugar Plum fairies this week, as stocks reversed most of the previous week’s losses.

• DJIA: 17,823 up 3.4% on week, up 0.2% YTD
• S&P 500: 2,089 up 3.3% on week, up 1.5% YTD (best week in almost a year)
• NASDAQ: 5,106 up 3.6% on week, up 7.8% YTD
• Russell 2000: 1175, up 2.5% on week, down 2.5% YTD
• 10-Year Treasury yield: 2.26% (from 2.28% a week ago)
• Dec Crude: $40.39, down 0.9% on week
• Dec Gold: $1,076.30, down 0.4% on week (fifth straight weekly drop)
• AAA Nat'l avg. for gallon of reg. gas: $2.09 (from $2.18 wk ago, $2.84 a year ago)

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Mon 11/23:

8:30 Chicago Fed Nat’l Activity Index

10:00 Existing Home Sales

Tues 11/24:

8:30 Q3 GDP (2^nd Estimate)

9:15 Case Shiller Home Price Index

10:00 Consumer Confidence

Weds 11/25:

8:30 Personal Income and Spending

8:30 Durable Goods Orders

10:00 New Home Sales

10:00 Consumer Sentiment

Thursday 11/26: THANKSGIVING DAY-ALL US MARKETS CLOSED

Friday 11/27: BLACK FRIDAY

1:00 U.S. Markets close early

Week ahead: Black Friday OUT; Terrific Thursday IN

Consumers surprised economists by shrugging off the government shutdown and hitting the stores with gusto in October. Now the question is whether they will continue to open their wallets for the all-important holiday season. The NRF (formerly known as the National Retail Federation) predicts that holiday sales will rise 3.9 percent, a touch higher than the 3.5 percent growth seen last year. Because NRF is a trade group, many analysts discount the optimism. Scrooge alert: Economists at IHS Global Insight and Morgan Stanley believe that 2013 could be the weakest holiday season since 2008 and considering that holiday sales can make up one-fifth or more of annual sales, that would be bad news for the entire industry.

Retailers themselves are all over the map - Macy’s and TJX, the parent of TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls, anticipate a solid quarter, while Best Buy and Wal-Mart are not so sure. One thing is clear: there will be fierce competition for consumers’ hard-earned dollars this holiday season, which due to a quirk in the calendar, is six days shorter than usual.

Retailers are offering holiday deals and layaway offers earlier than last year, hoping that this year’s trend of consumers spending on large ticket items, will spread across other categories, like clothing, toys and general merchandise. And by now, the idea of “Black Friday” seems positively passé, with Wal-Mart, KMart and Best Buy opening at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day; and Target, Sears, Macy’s, JC Penney and Kohl’s opening at 8pm. “Terrific Thursday” doesn’t have the same ring as “Black Friday”, but you get the gist – despite everyone complaining that it is sacrilege to open on Thanksgiving Day, consumers are rewarding retailers for rescuing them from those turkey-induced L-Tryptophan highs.

For those who don’t partake in the sport of fighting crowds in the physical stores, don’t worry -- the brick and mortar retailers have fully embraced their online competitors to provide shoppers with ample opportunity to escape their families without leaving their homes.

And a final bit of good news for the 38.9 million road warriors out there, who AAA expects will travel by car this week: gas prices are about $0.20 cheaper than they were a year ago.

MARKETS: Milestones abound! The Dow and S&P 500 closed above big, round numbers last week (16,000 and 1800), as stocks enter the final stretch of the year with tailwinds.

• DJIA: 16,064, up 0.7% on week, up 22.6% on year (7^th straight week of gains)
• S&P 500: 1804, up 0.4% on week, up 26.6% on year (on pace for its biggest annual gain since 1998, when it climbed 31%)
• NASDAQ: 3991, up 0.1% on week, up 32.2% on year
• 10-Year Treasury yield: 2.75% (from 2.71% a week ago; Treasurys have lost 2% on a total-return basis this year)
• Dec Crude Oil: $94.84, up 1.1% on week
• Feb Gold: $1244.60, down 3.4% on week
• AAA Nat'l average price for gallon of regular Gas: $3.26

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Mon 11/25:

10:00 Pending Home Sales Index

NY bankruptcy court considers merger of American Airlines and US Airways

Tues 11/26:

8:30 Housing Starts

9:00 FHFA House Price Index

9:00 Case-Shiller Home Price Index

10:00 Consumer Confidence

Weds 11/27:

8:30 Durable Goods Orders

8:30 Jobless Claims

9:45 Chicago Purchasing Managers Index

9:55 Consumer Sentiment

10:00 Leading Indicators

Thurs 11/28: US MARKETS CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING

Fri 11/29: BLACK FRIDAY

1:00 US Markets close early