Tips for Hosting a Successful Turkey Day

For most people, Thanksgiving is about celebrating family, giving gratitude, and, of course, enjoying food! It’s also means putting your kitchen and your cooking skills through their paces. With extra sets of helping hands around and often the preparation of more food than you may be used to cooking in a week, it’s also a day for taking extra precautions to ensure your home and everyone in it remain safe.  

On Trend or in the Oven?

Deep-frying is an increasingly popular way to cook the Thanksgiving turkey, particularly because it frees up the oven. Also, those who prefer this method say it results in a superior bird. When trying this approach, it’s best to set up outside on a flat surface and well away from your house, decks, and awnings. Once you’ve finished, be sure to leave the cooking oil in a place where it can cool down to a safe level before disposing of it.

You Have to Be This High to Enter

Most turkeys take a few hours to cook, which means a lot of sustained heat is emitted from the oven, roaster, fryer, or grill. It’s advisable to keep the area clear of smaller family members, four-legged or otherwise. For younger kids, consider setting up an area of your house filled with enough distracting activities and snacks that they’ll be busy until dinnertime. Older kids can help with side dish preparation or may even be willing to run interference with younger guests, if you make it worth their while. For pets that might be tempted to come in for a closer look, consider setting them up in the backyard or distract them with long-lasting chew treats. Also, consider using gates to keep them out of the cooking area, if your floor plan allows for it. 

What You Wear Matters

Since Thanksgiving generally involves a full day of cooking, most people want to be as comfortable as possible in terms of what they wear. However, loose-fitting clothing may pose a problem while cooking. So, you may want to trade in any long sleeves for a shorter model and encourage your helpers to secure any hanging material as well. With all the basting and lifting of large, heavy pans, wearing both an apron and shoes can help prevent direct contact with any hot liquids that may be inadvertently splashed.

Clear a Path

Between the back and forth of preparing the Thanksgiving meal and all the guests coming for dinner, your house will see a lot of traffic. In the kitchen, try to limit the number of people helping at any one time. This prevents accidental jostling and spills. It’s also a good idea to have a designated “clear space” where you can set something hot until you transfer it to a plate. That way, no one is stranded with a hot dish in their hands longer than they have to be. When removing the turkey from the oven, make sure the turkey pan is stable and the person doing the lifting has a good grip and enough room to maneuver.

Finally, make sure the path from the kitchen to the dining room is clear. You’ll most likely be making a number of trips from one room to the other while carrying hot food.

Enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at home with family and friends is something many people look forward to all year. It may even have influenced the type of home you chose. Make sure the holiday is thoroughly enjoyed and remembered for the right reasons. 

Let’s Talk Turkey!

Here are some tips to keep in mind when preparing the main dish:

• Thaw your turkey completely in the fridge before cooking.

• Be sure to remove the neck and giblets from inside the turkey.

• Spring for a good meat thermometer, or two, rather than relying on the pop-up.

• When cooking stuffing inside a turkey, make sure it reaches 165° F in the center.

• Allow turkey to rest 15–20 minutes before carving.

• Have Butterball’s hotline number handy: 1-800-288-8372 (BUTTERBALL).

There is a well-rooted perception that to buy a home, especially your first one, you should keep saving and renting until you can make a 20 percent down payment. Reality is far different and knowing your options may get you through the door to homeownership that much sooner.

Doing More with Less

Black Knight Financial Services reports that 1.5 million borrowers became homeowners in the 12 months ended June 2017 with down payments of less than 10 percent. Most of these loans were conventional, fixed-rate offerings made through the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA loan programs. Because these agencies are now able to accommodate this type of loan, close to 40 percent of all new mortgages are being made with low down payments.

Down payment requirements may differ for condo purchases or new construction.

Weighing the Trade-Off

While it’s possible to get into a home sooner with less money up front, mortgages made with low down payments do come with the added expense of mortgage insurance premiums until that 20 percent equity level is achieved. They also typically result in the borrower paying more interest over the life of the loan, which could make the ultimate cost of the home higher.

However, proceeding with a low down payment might still save you money over the long run. You will no longer be paying rent and may realize tax savings after deductions for your higher interest expense and property taxes. Potential gains in the home’s value can also make the earlier purchase and expenses worthwhile over time. So, it is important to consider how these varying factors may affect your near-term budget as well as the potential for a long-term gain in your net worth. In many cases, your Loan Officer or financial advisor can help you weigh the alternatives.

Next Steps

Going through the preapproval process with a Loan Officer is an effective way to gauge how much home you can buy—and afford—given different down payment scenarios. It will also help you engage the attention of a Real Estate Agent. Having a preapproval letter will ensure they view you as a serious buyer instead of an aspirational browser still building your savings.

When it comes to down payments, in today’s market it isn’t as much about the amount you put down as it is how much you can comfortably afford to owe. Once you know that, homeownership is in reach.

The following infographic will help you decide whether to do-it-yourself (DIY) or go seek professional help when things around your household need to be fixed or updated:

You may already be investing in your education, your career, and perhaps even in a home. So, how do you start putting away enough to meet your long-term plans? Fortunately, several options can help you start small— with minimal fees— even as you continue working toward your more immediate life goals.

Where to Begin

When it comes to saving, no amount is too small. Diverting just $20 from your food or transportation bill each week toward investing can help build a nest egg over the course of 20 years valued at nearly $30,000. As you start to benefit from your education and career investments, you may be able to contribute more to that weekly program, even as you start to participate in an employer-provided retirement plan.

While preparing for the future using traditional savings accounts helps, investing through stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or ETFs is regarded as a better alternative for money that you are saving for the distant future. The annual returns can be expected to be substantially higher and do a better job of keeping up with the rate of inflation.

Building a Portfolio

There is a misperception among new savers that to invest you should have large balances. Currently, several large, well-known financial firms have no-minimum, low-fee, online-only discount brokerage accounts. These include Ally Invest, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, and MerrillEDGE. All currently have no minimum account opening requirements and charge between $4.95 and $6.95 for online trades. Also, many mutual fund companies will lower their account opening minimums if you agree to make deposits to the fund each month. However, other services may incur fees at many of these larger, more established companies.

Perhaps more accessible for beginners are app-based investment options like Acorns and Stash. Both mobile-friendly options allow you to nickel and dime your way to a well-diversified portfolio. Acorns works with your debit and credit cards to round up every purchase you make. The spare change is automatically diverted into a managed ETF portfolio.

Meanwhile, Stash provides entry to investing for as little as $5. Both firms are designed to help you learn how to invest and to get you started. They essentially create portfolios with training wheels. As with bicycle riding, you will probably want to graduate from being an investor-in-training at some point, and use a different program once you get the hang of it. Until then, they are both good starting points.

Other alternatives for investors include Robinhood, a new entry with no costs at all, and Motif. Motif allows its clients to create sophisticated, fully diversified, and customized portfolios—like a mutual fund—but with individual shares they select. It, too, is highly cost efficient.

Robo-advisors, such as Wealthfront and WiseBanyan, are app-based firms that do all the work for you, making your investment choices based on your circumstances and goals. While your balances are low, they assess no fees. Once you can afford to pay for advice and management, fees, which are still low by industry standards, are applied.

Given recent changes in the investment industry and the emergence of app-based alternatives, getting started as an investor is very much within the reach of most individuals. It just takes a willingness to consistently add what you can to your account and allow time for your portfolio to build momentum as its balance grows.