Archive for December, 2005
Saturday, December 31st, 2005
Update: This post is longer updated. Please see my new online bank comparison, which includes current high-yield savings accounts from a variety of FDIC-insured banks.
I have redone my old Online Bank Comparison to drop Presidential Premier Savings and add HSBC Direct instead. This way, all four accounts compared have no minimum balance requirements, no monthly fees, and no other strings attached. That way, one can always move money away without issues. There may be other banks with higher rates, but also higher balance requirements to get those rates. The best value for each feature is bolded:
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Banking | 97 Comments »
Saturday, December 31st, 2005
Yawn. Get your $25 if you haven’t already.
Posted in Banking | 6 Comments »
Friday, December 30th, 2005
I don’t always get a chance to talk about all the posts I find especially helpful during the week, so I think I’ll start doing that.
JLP of AllThingsFinancial put in some hard work and posted his guide to 2006 resolutions.
Savvy Saver informed me of AmazonCreditsYou, which helps you automatically take advantage of Amazon’s 30-day Price Drop policy.
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Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 29th, 2005
I’ve blogged about Pentagon Federal Money Market Cerificates (CDs) before, including how to join, previously. PenFed has just announced new rates, and several of them are very competitive –
3 Year CD – 5.5% APY
5 Year CD – 5.75% APY
7 Year CD – 6.0% APY
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Posted in Banking | 4 Comments »
Thursday, December 29th, 2005
Everyone who has does any freelancing or independent consulting will say DUH, but here are my thoughts on freelancing so far:
» Need to get better at estimating the time required to finish a job, including any hiccups that are bound to occur.
» Need to improve my contracts to outline time requirements and outline exactly what is and is not included.
» Need better metrics on proper pay rates. Don’t just try to undercut everyone. My time is valuable, and each job I take has to be worth it considering both pay and experience gained.
» Need to do more research on minimizing taxes.
Posted in Entrepreneurial | 12 Comments »
Tuesday, December 27th, 2005
As noted in my net worth updates, I have 529 account as part of my Fidelity 2% Cash Back card. The 2% is nice, but the only way to get your contributions and earnings out of the 529 tax-free is to have real college expenses.
Now that I’m in college, no problem right? But then I read that the same college expenses cannot be both reimbursed by a 529 account and be used in claiming my Lifetime Learning Credit. I don’t have more than $10,000 in tuition, and getting 20% back is much better than cashing out my 529 tax-free. So I was bummed, until I read that 529 plans are also allowed to cover room and board, which the Lifetime Learning Credit does not. Yes!
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Posted in Credit Cards | 6 Comments »
Monday, December 26th, 2005
I am warming up to my idea of making a separate brokerage account for all of the free money I’ve gotten from banks, brokerages, and credit card companies. After some preliminary research, I’m leaning very heavily towards one broker – MB Trading, as they feature:
» $2,000 minimum to open.
» No minimum balance fees, no minimum commissions per month.
» Per-share stock commission of 1 cent per share up to 500 shares, and 1/2 cent per share over that. The minimum commission is $1. This means as long as you are trading less than 100 shares, you’re only paying $1 a trade!
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Posted in Investing | 27 Comments »
Monday, December 26th, 2005
I just got paid for another round of referrals for my $10 Emigrant Direct Opening Bonus Promotion – No Code Necessary. Everyone who sent me their 2nd e-mail or Form #2 in November should have an e-mail with payment enclosed or further instructions. If not, e-mail me. I’ve now sent out over $800 in bonus payments! Thanks again to all who participated and followed the directions.
Here’s to another upcoming bold rate raise. 4.5% APY anyone?
Posted in Deals & Offers | 2 Comments »
Saturday, December 24th, 2005
Although we should be giving back throughout the year, I know I tend to give at the end of year. Thanks for all who responded to my charity suggestion post – my wife and I have decided where to give this year. We are giving at least $100 to each of the following:
Local Food Bank
Modest Needs
4-H National Council
School Alumni Scholarship Fund
Modest Needs (mentioned before), has found a donor that will match 100% all monthly donations for 2006. So I’m going to start a monthly match in 2006 instead of a lump-sum now.
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Posted in Giving Back | 4 Comments »
Saturday, December 24th, 2005
A reader asked how much money I’ve gotten total from doing zero interest balance transfers and the bank, brokerage, and credit card bonuses I post about in my Deals and Offers section. Well, the 0% APR part is a bit difficult to calculate, but I would say easily over $1,000. It used to be tough, as I was borrowing at 0% but only earning 2.75% interest. Now you can get 4.25%, making the game much juicier.
As for the bank bonuses, I’ve never really added them up before, so I did a little mental rundown:
Banks Bonuses
Charter One – $100
Citibank – $200
ETrade Bank – $225
Metlife Bank – $50
Meadows Credit Union – $75
ING Direct – $25
VirtualBank – $20
HSBC Direct – $25
Brokerage Bonuses
ETrade Brokerage – $75
Ameritrade- $75
ShareBuilder – $46
ex24.com – iPod Shuffle ($75?)
Fidelity – $100
California 529 – $50
Credit Card Bonuses
Sony Card – $100
Charles Schwab – $150
Pending Right Now
Citi Professional Card – $100
Bank of America – $25
Total: $1391 (+$125 pending)
I know I’ve forgotten some, but this shows that these little bonuses add up. I’m actually thinking of making a Free Money portfolio, consisting of all my bonus money, and start investing it aggressively in various stocks and ETFs.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 13 Comments »
Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
A good discussion came up in my previous post on my IRAs – Should I invest the $4,000 earmarked for my 2006 Roth IRA contribution all at once in January, or dollar-cost-average it over the entire year? Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) involves investing a fixed amount at a regular interval. For my $4,000 example, I could invest $335 a month, every month, for 12 months. The idea is to buy more shares when the price is low, and and less shares when the prices are high. Sounds good, right? Maybe.
This question actually came up last year, but I didn’t research it very much. My own thoughts were that because the markets trend upwards overall, if you are investing for a long-term period you should get your money in as soon as possible. Sure, you might run into a huge drop, but you could just as easily (in fact more easily) miss a huge rise. But this is too hand-wavy, as scientists would say. I want numbers. So I found some.
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Posted in Investing | 34 Comments »
Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
Just to be clear, I only trade individual stocks on my Play Money portfolio. All our retirements funds are going to stay in low-cost index funds. Currently everything is in two funds – Vanguard Target Retirement 2035 (VTTHX) and Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 (VTIVX).
According to Vanguard.com, VTTHX has a year-to-date (YTD) return of 6.82%, and VTIVX has a year-to-date return of 7.54%. Not a bad year, their S&P 500 index fund only has a YTD return of 5.93%. The international diversification of this fund of funds has helped this year, with the Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund (VPACX) returning 22.28% YTD. I’ve already got my $8,000 ($4,000 x 2) ready to invest in our Roth IRAs in January.
Posted in Retirement | 10 Comments »
