"the willis report" lowing

>> the other thing happening is to the extent people have money, they put off the european trip, they're taking the european trip, so we see some more tickets being sold there. gerri: that is what we are doing. >> and you have economic headwinds wi theayroll tax rebate and the economy, where it is at.. that igood news for this summer, at least prices are going u there are some pretty good deals, especially if you have flex ability. gerri: competition, fuelrices,

is that weighing in? >> not lot. the merger will not happen unti 18 months from now. united continental is fully merged at this point. erything is fully baked into the system. gerri: you have good rules of thumb for pple. the price point they are probably going to encounter starting with the u.s. domestic flights, what can i expect to pay? >> if you're going to fly an hour-long flight, you have $150 round-trip, even this summer. when you stand out an hour to three hours, it is like going from chicago to the coast looks like the 250, 275 range. on coast to coast flights $375 round-trip including all taxes and fees. don't pay mo than $400. you will see prices and a $500 range coast to coast, t you can find deals under $400 if you

look. gerri: let's talk about international flights, wh can i expect? >> looking at prices in the $1000 to $1050. from chicago midwest, from the ea coast 1350 range. if you're going to london, paris, rome, add an extra 15, 20%. especially for nonstop. you're going to paa serious premium. if you go tolaces like germany, ireland, spain, swzerland,hich a the cheapest couries right now, those are the be bet. gerri: let's talk about making the fares cheaper, what do i do? you have to be in the shoulder season, right? >> certainly iyou can buy your ticket for example before the second week in june, ther therea little bit of break. the last week in august ticket

prices drop, kids go back to school. in between they are e expected tickets are. there is a $30 surcharge each way on those days so if you don't fly on those days,e will not incur the surcharge. tuesday afternoon is after the sales occur, monday night everything mates tuesday morning. tuday afternoon is the best time to shop. gerri: we did cheapest destinations in europe, now cheaper destinations in the u.s. what if i didn't want to pay up for it? >> northeast the cheapest city of boston. let's help the folks out in boston. washington, d.c., baltimore area. toward florida, orlando, tampa, fort lderdale competing pretty heavy. the southwest austin, san antonio, some of the cheapest places to go right now. denver, los angeles are your best bet.

gerri: there's a lot to do, a lot of history. >> fenway park is my favorite place on the planet. gerri: thank you for coming on, we appreciate your time. everybody has their own method for getting their best travel deals. i hit the street of new york to ask about their favorite methods. here is what they told me. >> we do a lot onne, a lot through american express travel. >> usually go trough kayak online or through a travel agent. >> definitely online. travel zoo, depends. >> do you feel you are getng good prices are the prices go up? >>t is really all luck, i think. depends on the day of the week. gerri: do feel you get a good de or the pric going up? >> prices are always going up.

>> if yofly, cannot go anywhere directly. the prices areutrageous. in a big city, the prices aren't so bad. from a small town, they are really high. gerri: interesting. kayak seems to be the website of choice for travel with our viewer if y're planning to take a trip overseas anytime soon and wants to speed through immigration and customsines, therthere's a special new progrm outhere. hereto as they question how do you do that, mark murphy. author of "travel unscripted." a fantastic program and nobody seems to know about it. you can get through security lines in like 40 seconds. tell folks what it is and how it works. >> all you do is go onli and you apply, and once you apply you pay $100 application fe the schedule an interview for you with the customs and border

patrol. they will do a background check on you, when they do thatf you have anything in your background, if you are under investigation, if you have had any issues with immigration or customs in the past or any criminal record, you will not get it. once you do that, you get approved, you literally whisk right through, go to kiosk instead of a person, put your fingers down, e passport, two seconds later you take the customs form and walked the express customs line and you are literally out t door two to three minutes from the time you hit the immigrations you're getting in your taxi. gerri: what about getting domestically? you have some ideas for that, ople encounter it all the time. >> , cue from the philadelphia righnow and the terminals in philadelphia are interconnected.

even if i'm going out of terminal b for instance, i take a look at the terminals and i will check in at terminal a. if you want get your boarding passhead of time, you can go to any security checkpoint. you get right in and you can walk over to terminal b, terminal c, whatever. stead of standing in line, you're getting little exercise and yo heart rate up, which is good. gerri: if you have checked in already, you can go througany security line? i did not know tha >> i do that quite a bit, it is a great way to do that. gerri: are the security lines getting longer and longer? i have to give more and more time to do that. >> i make sure i can go through a couple ofhings, tsa which i

don't even have to take my shoes off for my jacket off, don't have to take my computer out, that is great for heavy business travelers. also credit cards get to the front of the line. you can bypass and to the prioty lines, that is another travel tip. gerri: i avoid the lines with theids. it takes longer. >> the family line. the little ones, you avoid that. there are ways to g aund the problem areas. talk to travel professionals because they can give you insight into the best way to get through security and on your way. also understand that been through these lines it depends on what is going on any given day. there are different times of the day to fly, and you can avoid a

lot of the headaches as well. gerri: y said to dress appropriately and be nice because just being nice goes a longay in this world, right? >> the gate agents, they catch a lot of. showhem some kindness, they are working hard. they will give you attitude ba. if you say i am running late, anay to move to the front of the line? they will do everything they can to help you because kindness begets kindness. when i was on a week ago he said he always gets shunned at those lines, so he has to take a look at his approach for security. gerri: tnk you for coming on, great tipsgreat information. >> tha you. gerri: when it comes to travel ere is more than one app for that. travel is the third most important category in the top

five, the best apps out there. number five, giving you ights around the world andus of even terminals. number four, trippit lets you set up a mobile itinerary of the flight for the flight, car rental. number three, what you heard about on the street, kayak. just like the site, letting you know if they change and compares different travelers. number three, waze. waze provides up to date traffic news, plus it allows you to see before you pass the cops. and the number one travel ap the hotel app monitors were you book your next will rebook your room if the rate drops. like having a secretary. go to gerr gerriwillis.com.

coming up, tips for getting the most bang for your buckhen it comes to complaining to a company.

gerri: so apparently if you're like most consumers, chances are you're letting big compani off nearly 70% of americans won't speak up if you have a problem with their produut or service. this, despite one in for getting real results whethey complain. so how do you do that? senior project editor, it is always great to see you, thank you for coming back on the show. why aren't people complaining? i thought americans love to complain. >> we do, but we are kinof closet complainers and passive aggressive. we are afraid of being a

cheapskate, awhiner, we're afraid of being rebuffed or perhaps what really is happening is people are just put off by the arcane process of trying to get through tsomeone to complain to. gerri: the anonymous voices, it is the most frustrating thing in the world. you say if you can navigate it, you can actually get something. >> there are actually two systems in place in terms of customer service. there is the main system where they have the easy to play person, the person who gives up quickly. and then they have another syst for what they call the squeaky wheels, people like you and me. people who raise a ruckus. studs have shown peoplwho raise cain with companies

actually get satisfied more often than not. they have goodwill departments that a lot of companies to nullify the squeaky wheel because they know if people stand up for their rights and make lot of noise, they will complain at least 21 other people, otherwise one bad experience gets broadcast through oher outlets and it is easier to retain and ke the grouchy customer happy than to get a new customer. if you speak up, you will get rewarded. gerri: lot of people listen to this conversation and think these two people are trying to get something for nothing. they want to take advantage of the company. that is not true. there are times you have problems with ahuge company and a little tiny consumer you feel powerless. what are the keys to getting something done? >> the fine print in all of

these customer serviceicies is designed by l bay. resolve a complaint you have to know the basic policy. you have to read the fine print and understand it, and you have to know your rights. call the company, to get somebody unable or unwilling to help or listen to you, keep calling back until you get a more sympathetic, helpful here. tell the representative u would like to escate the issue or speak with a retention department. the word escalate makes people quake in their boots because of the customer service retitive gets too many escalates which gets bumped up to a higher level, that reflects badly on them and says you are not doing your job. they wanto deal wth it at the ground level to keep from getting themselves in trouble. gerri: lets tk about mistakes. >> one of the things is tey

don't understand what is plausible and what is not. if they are not aware of things, they are not intelligent enough to have a good back-and-forth. personality, have you take the time to investigate. what is the policy? do i take no for an answer? how do i advocate on my own part? one of the greatest ings i think people can advote themselves for us to go to message board on company bsites or take it to facebook and twitter because companies monitor these sites and they know if this problem inot resolved, to be broadcast widely and they want to nip that in the bud. that is why they take these steps, we go back to the squeaky wheel. if you know what you're talking

about, you have all your documentation and you threatened to escalate, chances are. gerri: my husband is the best escalator i have seen on the telephone. his greatest line towards the end is that is just not good enough. >> if you're willing to not take no for an answer, chances are you will be placated and you will get to yes, that is the bottom line. gerri: love that. you're always terrific on these topics. thank you so much. next, going to college without leaving your living room. online classes are all the rage no we will tell you about one of your options. this is greta. she works in quality control. she makes nifty living sleeping on mattresses pioneered by engineers whose singluar devotion is not stopping until

th havgiven her the best sleep of her life. that's not greta. save up to $500 on the tempur-ergo collection and get your best sleep possible. visit tempurpedic.com to find a store near you.

ever wonder what makes us, the smurfs, so happy? the forest of course! this is where we, ong with all the beautiful forest creatures, make our home. with beautiful plant life, clean water, and endless adventures. it's a place to celebrate! so discover the forest with your family today. visit discovertheforest.org to find a forest near you. gerri: an ivy league education freef charge. next, where he can take free online

gerri: here on "the wiis report" who talk a lot about how education is just too expensive. today we have a solution for that. college students seek t massive open online courses. being offered by institutions like harvard, mit, stanford. sounds good, doesn't it? free of charge. but is it right for you? joining us now. professor at stanford university. tell me what it does. >> it works with the best universities to offer the best classes from the best instructors to students all over the world. we have 3.3illion students taking some of the world's best for free.

gerri: 300 plus online courses with teachers from 200 universities. how do you do this? my goodness, how do you convince these people to teach for free? >> for profsor giving opportunity to take something they are passionate about and convey it to tens of thousands or even 100,000 people is a priceless opportunity for them to get the message out about something they care deeply about. at the same ti for universities we are working with, this is a great opportunity for them to change the way on-campus instruction is done because a lot of times instructors to the insight and materials they have developed as part of the online education effort and use it to teach the students on their own college campuses moving more active learning into the classroom so they have a chance to really engage with their students. gerri: what kind of students or take advantage of the online version? >> we have students from every

age group. 10-year-ds, 90-year-olds. students from every country around the world, students very different economic backgrounds a lot of students who have disabilities with a real educational experience. gerri: if i take your courses, can i get a degree eventually? can i get the satisfaction of having the knowledge? >> we are not a degree granting institution but you have the option of getting statements of a combo's rent, a letter from the instructor saying you successfully completed the class. an option of getting a verified certificate which verifies your identity, this is for some of the classes, and some more rigorous ways that include universities.

access the credit ability. it can potentially transfer those into a college degree d an institution at which they are enrolled. gerri: it could become credit, is awesome. at the end of the day, say you've really want to have a better understanding of what you are doing. put it on the resume. bolsters your own sense of accomplishment, i think i said free. free. >> it is totally free. the options available for those of us working professionals over the course of the life are very limited. you can find a babysitter and go to a community college. neither of these is all that attractive for these people.

gerri: really appreciated, thank you. >> thank you. gerri: areou on the cloud? an easy way to keep your information in one place, but also easy prey for thieves. how to keep yourself@í0x;ñt

gerri: all right, storing your files on the cloud is more important than ever. offering users ample space for their files, but just how safe are these sites and what are the dangers you are facing? mea reporter joining me now with how to protect your data on the cloud. i had to tell you i am so worried about this because all of my stuff is there. you want to know what coupon i've got? it is up there. you wa to know where i live? anything about me is there. should i be concerned? >> the same concern as always,

w the consequences can be a lot more severe as you said, it is your photographs, your documents, your li, somebody gets into it, can be big ouble. the cloud is not that new. you have been using it all along. the differences in the old days we had hard drives, flash drives or cd-ro, and priesey let us put the documents, the photos, our life in these remote storage devices. like having a personal locker in the sky. very convenient. gerri: look at what is going on. all of the major media since i've have had some sort of a break-in. anywhere you look it seems like nothing isecure. >> you are right, they are more

vulnerable than they let on. you have inese hackers, criminal gangs looking for credit card information. sometimes the hackers win. gerri: i want to play something he had to say about this topic. with the cloud you do not own anything, you have already signed it away. there will be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years. is he just to negative? >> not really. i use it, you use it, but if something go wrong it will go really wrong. gerri: i was hoping you uld inspire me to be confident, but you are not. tell me what i can do to keep myself safe,t least i can take just the basic steps to protect myself. >> a lot of these are within your control, don't have a weak

password, do not make your password "password" or "i love you." that is where most of the breaches happen. those are the accounts youill get into first. you're seeing some great things from gooe and dropbox. if there is accessing your cloud, they'll ask for text message confirmation. use that security feature. >> you give your password to your friend or boyfriend or something like that, that is asking for trouble. gerri: you say watchut for public wi-fi. >> don't start doing your banking. be careful. gerri: i think our viewers need to hear this because a lot of us

don't even realize we are using the cloudnd we have to make sure that we take a lot of it away. always good to have you here. when we come bk some important tips on rebalancing our portlio, working out for you and your money next.@í0x;ñt

gerri: 401(k) rejoice, the stock market is on fire with all three major indexes seeing big games so far this year. all good news, but for most of us that means investment portfoo are way out of whack. most money in stocks and little in bonds. is it time to relance, and how do you do that? joining us now, a financial advisor and the authorf you can never be t rich. welcome to the show.

we brought this up because last night on the show david was with us, he had this to say about rebalancing. >> that type of a person who is really in a bull mark, it is a great time to pull back a little bit of those profits, enjoy it because we will see market pullback this summer. gerri: i am one of those people, i have let i ride for a while and i am now 80% stocks and my portfolio, which is probably too much. should i rebalance and how should i do with? >> people have to understand what is rebalancing. can i touch upon it fojust a second? gerri: please do. >> it gives an investor systematic way to take the guesswork out of trying to manage money. anytime you can take emotion and guesswork out of managg money you are in a much better position. for those whdon't understand

what rebalancing is, i will make it super simple. imagine in the pizza pie you have four different sectors, stocks, bonds,u.s. stocks, emerging markets and international market. let's say the way i set up my portfolio is each sector represents 25% in each slice of the pie. the u.s. stock market exploding an grow. a lot of people tend to let that ride as we all know, the market cycles come and go. what is up today can be down tomorrow. instead of letting it grow and the chances of it going dodown n the future, you should take emotion out of the equation and take the prophets out of the u.s. stock market and use it to buy into other sectors that aren't doing so well. if you don't get emotion in the mix, should allow you to sell high-end buy things low.

gerri: these are things that can be difficult to make. shouldou a moment like this in time rebalance or should you do it once a year, once a quarter, how often? >> is typically say every 366 days, the reason for 366 days is because if you have those gains, i sell it o day after t new year, i have a much better chance of reaping the rewards of long-term capital gains instead of short-term capital gains so in the best case scenario wait a little bit after a year to rebalance but that is not always the case. we have about six months of a big run-up in the u.s. stock market and if you are something that could be a pullback, sensing there could be a pullback, take some of that

growthut of the center and use it to rey to things like europe. the speegerri: i like that. thank you. 401(k) hopefully your 401(k) is growing with the bull market, so bigger nest egg means bigger fee. cut down on those hidden costs, but how do youo that? joininme now, chad, welcome back to the show. you know what is amazing to me, nobody thinks abt the 401(k). they are misled, how so? >> no such thing as a free lunch. the fees come out of the top of your investment return. you see a return of maybe 10% on the fund, that is the net of fees. the weight is structured is they don't have to tell you that, so basically here is the return.

gerri: fees for mutual funds, but obviously there are fees for maintenance of the 401(k). a lohas a handout. you have a mutual fund investment expenses in addition to you have things in the marketing cost, sub transfer agency fees, fees mutual funds pay companies like mine to help record keep, andhen you have what insurance company plans m&a fees. i won't ev go into it, we don't have time. gerri: short story, you are paying a lot of fees. can i as an individual negotiate these down or can reduce them anyway? >> you as an individual cannot but you can to your hr

department, finitely pay attention to the fees, shop around, do yr homework, look at the investments you are paying, bring its detention of a business owner and stand up for yourself because these are your dollars and they are, your hiring these people to work for you so make sure you have the right people at the right prices. gerrii the fees are lower instead of a very expensive actively maned fund. so much money do you think over my lifetime i missing out on because of these fees? >> i've seen different studies up to $150,000. you owe it to yourself to absolutely make sure you're getting the right balance. this is not a race to the bottom. are you getting the best value for what you are paying?

gerri: typical fees can be half a%, up to 2%, be your best advocate and tell the people what you need. great to see y, as always. coming up next, don't be fooled how packaging and have y buy things you don't need or even want. what to look out fo next. >> i know how fast time goes by and the importance of cherishing life's special moments. in the blink of an eye, your world can change, and suddenly

you're faced with health risks. >> one in six men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, and every 16 minutes, a man dies of prostate cancer in the u.s. but prostate cancer is often treatable. >> so speak to your healthcare provider about a plan for your prostate health. >> time goes by so quickly, so all the more reason to protect the futures of the ones we love.

♪ gei: welcome back to the show, we are at consumer reports testing facility and i'm here with one of my favorite consumer reports people.

we are talking thelaim that companies make on their products when they go to the grocery store. some of this may be the fault of consumers who have the wrong attitude when they walk into the store. >> consumers walk and the supermarket, they are in a heightened state, a very hot states. they want to belie that they're making exclent choices when it comes to nutrition, when it comes to value. they love to see pretty things, pretty packaging, pretty colors, they want to see these health claims that make them feel very good about their decisn. gerri: 25% more, armand hammer. >> who would not wt more of anything? it is 25% more than the 40-ounce detergent. it is a 50-ounce package they are comparing it to a 40-ounce. of course it isore. any school kid knows that, so that is the king of the

erroneous comparison. gerri: how about this, peter pan peanut butter. no fruose corn syrup. >> sure, there is no high fructose corn syrup anwe applaud that, but it doesn't tell you there is partially hydrogenated fat in there, not so good for you. gerri: here's one of my favorite things to talk about, so the people who make corn starch, fortified it with calcium. they want to put things in products. >> fortification is all over the place. who doesn't think calcium is not good for you? but if you fortify product like cornstarch with calcium, i uess that is okay for you, but to make a claim, let's be honest, cornstarch is mostly used as a thickener for sauce and gravy.

you're n skipping it up like a bowl of soup so you're going to get very little benefit of it. gerri: i love triscuits, you have a problem with it. >> they are not friday, bbt they are not exactly a health food. however to look at the label you see may help reduce the risk, we like that, but it is like when you eat one particular sial, they say this can help your heart. the real thing is you're trying to portray the snack food as health food and that is a little bit disingenuous. what they are not telling you is six crackers contain 120 calories and 4 grams of fat and how many of us stop at six? gerri: these potatoes look pretty darn good. >> they look v good. a lot of produce packers are

doing the supermodel appach. it looks really good on one side but without makeup it doesn't look so attractive. we see this with things like grapefruits, the bag actually mimics the color of the product inside. it makes it look beautiful, blemish free, delicious. but when you flip the side, you see the clear plastic and then you can see the warts d all. yohave to look at both sides of this story to find out what you are getting. gerri: love it. ll people to read the package. >> don't be seduced by pretty packaging. don't look for blaring claims. read the details on the ingredients and don't fall for a pretty face. gerri: it is always good to see you. thank you very much. gerri: bad credit can keep you from buying a home or getting a job. what causes bad credit and how you can fix it.

we will be right back. ♪you fill up my senses ♪li a night in a forest ♪like the mountains in springtime♪ ♪like a walk in the rain ♪like a stormn the desert

♪like a sleepy blue ocean ♪you fill up my senses ♪come fill me again ♪come let me love you ♪let me ge my life to you ♪let me drown in your laughter ♪let me die in your arms ♪let me lay down beside you ♪let me always be with you ♪come let me love you ♪come love megain

see these hands? they gripped the wheel of a humvee in afghanistan. twelve years, flying choppers. my hands? they're here for the person who fought in afghanistan. i made the call and got support for my sister. mine take care of the person who flew those helicopters. and if le gets overwhelming they're ready toial the veterans crisis line.

confidential help is just a call, click or text away. gerri: had creditoesn't just happen to deadbeats. maybe your credit agency screwed up, maybe your ex screwed up, but now it is up to you to fix your credit. with more on this, always great to see you, you have such a great name. >> i agree. gerri: so let's speak about this, there is this idea people who are deadbeats have bad credit, but that is not true, is it? >> it is absolutely not true. one of my mortga companies reported me late six months in a row, and i wasn't late, so this is something that can happen to anyone. gerri: how important is your credit score? >> it is very important. consumers who have a prime credit score versus coumers

with an average credit score on a 30-year mortgage talking $270,000, $20,000 over the course of a loan. there can be a big difference with just a few points difference. gerri: that is just money out of their pockets. it pays to know your credit score and build it if you can. first off you have to know what the score is. check your credit report and your scores. what am i looking for? >> go to annualcreditreport.com. i say get all three, they do not share information with each other. get a free credit score, check that each month, and what you are looking at is not so much the number, there are a lot of different scoring models, but what i strong, what is not strong, with plenty to look at improving? gerri: the further something bad is in your life the better off your scores going to be if you are doing the right things now.

>> that is right. ifhey have been through something really negative, not true they are building current references. back on the wagon, using credit responsibly to build positive reference. gerri: a lot of people are juggling credit cards, i had to pay one of them off first. if you have a do it in a certain order, what order would you do it in? >> your st strategy is to pay off the credit card that is closest to its limit first because one third of you credit card is how close you are to your credit limit. most people think as long as i stay below 50% of the availabl credit i am okay. they say the best scores go to consumers whouse about 10% of e available credit on the

credit card. gerri: earlier you mentioned building positive credit rereferences. how do you do that? >> if you don't have a credit cardurrently, we can start with a secure card. we deposit in the bank, b because the credit limit is low, you want to make suryou keep the balance really low that card. secure card support to the credit bureau, prepaid cards do not. gerri: tell us if i have a problem and i am going to it, how long will it take to repair that credit? >> if it is a mistake, as soon as it is gone, your score go up. it is a pduct of rebuilding credit can because improvement as little as 18 months if you are very proactive about making sure that erything now gets paid on time. gerri: that is great information. thank you for coming on.

gerri: that is it r tonight's "the willis report." thank you for joining us. hope you have a safe and enjoyable rest of the holiday. see you tomorrow, haveat good evening, everybody. thank you for being with us. the fate of the immigration reform bill making its way through congress may be in the hands noof some of the most conservative members of the republican party. house speaker john boehner says he will not move on the senate's ng of eight bill until it has the support of the majori of the republicans in the house. and it's unclear whether they ll support it. the republican party's share of the hispanic vote has actually declined. it fell after president reagan signed the original amnesty legiation into law in 1986.