Word: prepaid
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...Research firm IDC estimates that Americans spent more than $57 million on ring tones in 2003, up from $16 million in 2002. Hip-hop songs like 50 Cent's In Da Club are among the most popular tunes, but there are thousands to choose from. You can even get prepaid cards at Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven stores just for buying ring tones. So how can you make your jingle stand out from the crowd...
Charter One last week became the first bank to issue a no-fee gift card, meaning that when you buy the card, you don't get charged for processing or shipping and handling. The prepaid cards, which range in value from $25 to $500 and can be personalized with pictures of puppies or wedding rings or embossed with messages like Feliz Navidad or Just Because, can be used at any of MasterCard's 32.8 million merchant locations as well as online and for catalog orders. With no up-front fees and nearly universal acceptance, it sounds like the ultimate gift...
...fine irony that so many magazine travel columns are entitled "Postcard from ..." Because unless we're talking about e-cards, people just aren't sending them like they used to. Not in an age of e-mail, text messaging and mobile phones equipped with cameras. Other than the prepaid advertising cards put out by direct-mailing houses, chances are that the only postcards you receive these days are from elderly relatives...
Parents battling skyrocketing college costs get an extra weapon this week as the first prepaid tuition plan designed for private colleges and universities makes its debut. Like the prepaid plans many states run for residents, the Independent 529 Plan is a tax-advantaged way to lock in tuition at today's rates, thus hedging against cost increases like last year's 6% average jump. The plan sells discounted tuition credits good at more than 220 private schools, from Amherst to Princeton. Contributing $10,000, for example, buys a full year at a like-priced college or half a year...
...area codes, it might be a smart move. According to Yankee Group research, 12% of phone users ages 18 to 24 get by with cell phones alone. By subscribing only to basic local service, you can lower your monthly land-line fee to $20 or less. Just keep a prepaid phone card around for long distance. In short, buy a plan that suits you, and maybe you'll have more time--but less reason--to complain. --With reporting by Jonah Freedman