Top 5 Things To Do With Your Gift Cards

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Top 5 Things To Do With Your Gift Cards

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What will you do with 2% more in your paycheck?

December 26, 2011

Another holiday season has passed and isn't it ironic that many us walked away with a little loot and lot of gift cards. I guess if you don't know what to get anymore, you'd rather show your appreciation by a gift card than give a gift that you know will send your friends or relatives reeling by standing in the return lines at the department store. My sense is that most of you got a gift card for one out of every three gifts this year. It could be as much as half of your gifts if your family really didn't want to make a mistake. The big question now, is what do you do with these gift cards to maximize their value? Here are five tips from Your Smart Money Moves.

1) Read The Back Of The Card - Some of the gift cards you got this holiday season have an expiration date and some do not. Cards that carry an expiration date can start to lose their value on a monthly basis if you don't use them in a certain period of time. Stores have to carry these balances on their books, so they don't like it if you just keep the money in your drawers at home.

2) Sell Your Gift Card - Don't let the relatives know about this if you implement this strategy. Sometimes you get a gift card to a place that you don't really want to use. Outside of doing a re-gift for someone in the New Year, there are websites like www.plasticjungle.com and www.giftcardrescue.com that will pay somewhere between 80% to 92% of the value of the cards that they will in turn resell to someone else.Since these sites have a relationship with www.amazon.com, you can get some extra value by trading out for an Amazon gift card. You can also check out this gift card exchange website.

3) Redeem during deal time - I'm actually of the opinion that you don't want to run out in January to use your gift card. Retailers will try to draw you in with all sorts of good deals that many money sites will tell you make sense, but you should try to time using these cards when your particular store is doing a 50% off or some sort of promotional offer. It really depends on the store that you have gift card from as to when you maximize your redemption value.

4) Trade It - You may have friends, family, or colleagues that have gift cards from places that you really like and vice versa. This can be especially true if you are trying to stack your cards all at the same merchant. It can be very hard to maximize the value of your cards if you have many $50 cards at different places.

5) Invest Your Gift Card - www.goalmine.com is a start up investment website where you could open a mutual-fund account for a minimum of $25 compared with most mutual funds that ask for a much higher initial minimum investment. Through the month of January, you can trade the value of your card as price determined by Plastic Jungle to a new GoalMine account. Of course, most of you will probably just spend it.

Gift cards don't always seem personalized, but I guess it is better than getting a lump of coal. Since every super market and drug store offers 25 to 50 different gift cards in today's day and age, expect more of getting gift cards in the future. To be a smart money shopper, you need to maximize the value of these gifts.

Visit to www.oxygenfinancial.net to request a free consultation with the leading financial experts for people in their 20's, 30's, and 40's in the country.

Written by:

Ted Jenkin, CFP®, AAMS®, AWMA®, CRPC®, CMFC®, CRPS®

Co-CEO and Founder of oXYGen Financial, Inc

Ted Jenkin is one of the foremost knowledgeable professionals in giving financial advice and Smart Money Moves to the X and Y Generation.

Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through NFP Advisor Services, LLC (NFPAS), Member FINRA/SIPC. Oxygen Financial is not affiliated with NFPAS. NFPAS does not provide tax or legal advice. This site is published for residents of the United States only. Registered Representatives and Investment Advisor Representatives of NFP Advisor Services, LLC (NFPAS) may only conduct business with residents of the states and jurisdictions in which they are properly registered. Therefore, a response to a request for information may be delayed. Not all products and services referenced on this site are available in every state and through every representative or advisor listed. For additional information, please contact NFPAS Compliance Department at 512-697-6000. PLEASE NOTE: The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy. When you link to any of the web sites provided here, you are leaving this web site. NFP Advisor Services, LLC makes no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these web sites. Nor is NFP Advisor Services, LLC liable for any direct or indirect technical or system issues or any consequences arising out of your access to or your use of third-party technologies, web sites, information and programs made available through this web site. When you access one of these web sites, you are leaving our web site and assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the web sites you are linking to.

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Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. oXYGen Financial is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS. Kestra IS and Kestra AS do not provide tax or legal advice. https://Bit.ly/KF-Disclosures

This site is published for residents of the United States only. Registered Representatives of Kestra IS and Investment Advisor Representatives of Kestra AS may only conduct business with residents of the states and jurisdictions in which they are properly registered. Therefore, a response to a request for information may be delayed. Not all products and services referenced on this site are available in every state and through every representative or advisor listed. For additional information, please contact Kestra IS Compliance Department at 844-553-7872.

PLEASE NOTE: The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy. When you link to any of the web sites provided here, you are leaving this web site. Kestra IS and Kestra AS makes no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these web sites. Nor is Kestra IS and Kestra AS liable for any direct or indirect technical or system issues or any consequences arising out of your access to or your use of third-party technologies, web sites, information and programs made available through this web site. When you access one of these web sites, you are leaving our web site and assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the web sites you are linking to.