Archive for December, 2011
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Daily deals site KGBDeals has a national deal of 4 Fandango.com movie tickets for $24. Each ticket has a maximum value of $12 (total $48). Deal is scheduled to run through the New Year’s weekend, over 7,000 sold so far. If you use eBates ($10 new user bonus) or Mr. Rebates ($5 new user bonus), can get some additional cash back.
Fandango codes will not be available until promotion end date on January 3rd, 2012. Valid until February 12, 2012. Both tickets must be purchased together in the same transaction for the same movie and showtime. This offer may be applied to IMAX or 3D tickets, up to maximum per-ticket code value.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 9 Comments »
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Update: Here are some good investment books that you can get for free or cheap with this discount code. Check out the top-selling Kindle e-textbooks for ideas, but I like The Ivy Portfolio and the classic Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. Thanks to reader Max for the tip.
Amazon.com is offering another $10 of free credit towards Kindle e-Textbooks with the code ETXTBOOK. Additional directions and a place to enter your code at this link. I don’t believe you actually need a Kindle to use these electronic textbooks, as there is a Kindle app for PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android phones as well. You must use it by 11:59 p.m. PST on January 9, 2012. I got this for an Amazon Student account, but it should work for everyone.
Are electronic textbooks much cheaper than paper textbooks after taking into account selling the used book back? I have no idea.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 8 Comments »
Friday, December 30th, 2011
On December 29th, Verizon Wireless announced via official press release that “Starting January 15, a new $2 payment convenience fee will be instituted for customers who make single bill payments online or by telephone.”
A day later, on December 30th, after a barrage of consumer complaints and a possible FCC investigation, Verizon retracted their fee.
Verizon said it listened to its customers and made the decision based on customer input after many complained and some threatened to leave the service if the fee was instituted. A spokesman said that the company had just wanted to encourage consumers to pay their bills via different methods such as autopay, where they give Verizon permission to charge their credit card or bank account automatically each month.
Sigh, Verizon. You do realize you’re charging us to pay you, right? Just like Bank of America wanted to charge people $5 to access their own money? Maybe read one of the 17 behavioral economics books on the shelves right now. Suggestion: reward customers with a $2 discount for enrolling on monthly autopay instead. Yes, you could quietly jack up the monthly bill by $2 later on, but at least that way it’s easy to see when comparison shopping between carriers.
Posted in Funny | 9 Comments »
Thursday, December 29th, 2011
Like many of you, we have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) that allows us to pay qualified healthcare expenses using tax-free money. (Did you know that FSA money is also exempt from payroll taxes in addition to income taxes?) I still think the idea of guessing your future healthcare expenses in a use-it-or-lose-it system is incredibly stupid, but it is what it is. We recently even got one of those FSA debit cards so at least we don’t have to deal with faxing in receipts when purchasing from approved merchants.
If you didn’t exhaust your funds with insurance copays or deductibles, here’s a quick guide to using up all that cash. First, I should say that some plans allow a grace period until March 31st as opposed to a December 31st deadline to use your 2011 funds, so confirm with your FSA administrator.
The go-to product used to be buying over-the-counter drugs like cough medicine or painkillers. But effective January 1, 2011, the cost of over-the-counter medications are no longer eligible unless the medication was prescribed by a doctor. Keep this in mind for 2012 and ask for that “official” prescription for the OTC drugs you buy on a regular basis. In that case, why not order an advanced refill of your existing prescriptions instead.
Don’t forget, Target and Walmart now offer 30-day supplies for $4 and 90-day supplies for $10 on many generic drugs that are also packaged under over-the-counter labels.
FSA Items Still Available Over-The-Counter Without A Prescription
- Eye care (contact lenses, solution, drops)
- First aid supplies (bandages, gauze, tape) for emergency kits
- Family planning products (birth control, pregnancy tests)
- Home testing aids (blood pressure, diabetes, thermometers)
As a reference, I usually check the well-organized lists from health insurers like Aetna or third-party FSA administrators like Conexis. In addition, just about every online drugstore (Drugstore.com, CVS, Walgreens) now has a special FSA-eligible section, but some still include items which now require a prescription under the the new regulations (look for FSA vs. FSARx).
Posted in Frugal Living, Insurance | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Despite the Treasury’s obvious dislike for the small investor, Series I Savings Bonds still offer a relatively good interest rate. As of January 1st, 2012, you will no longer be able to buy paper savings bonds other than a small window using your tax refund. The only option left is buying electronic savings bonds via TreasuryDirect.gov. This brings me to the following reader question:
Was just reading Mel Lindauer’s comments in the Bogleheads forum about I-Bonds and the trouble with Treasury Direct. Seems a great many folks hate the system to the point that they would rather not use it. 2012 is/was to be the year that I first began purchased I-Bonds, having finally got to the point of maxing out all other tax deferred and tax free methods. Now I am not so sure…what is your experience with TD?
First, let’s get to what I see as the main reason why most people choose not to use the online service at TreasuryDirect (TD). TD is not a bank and does not fall under Regulation E and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act that establishes consumer protections for loss or theft of money from your account.
If your paper savings bonds are stolen or lost, the Treasury has a process in place to reclaim your bonds. However, if somehow your electronic savings bonds were stolen, you would stuck with the loss with no liability from TD. It doesn’t seem to make sense, but it’s true.
So what do you do? The easiest thing to do is not use TreasuryDirect. But it remains a good investment, so in my case I looked into what security measures were in place to prevent such theft. In November 2011, TD instituted some security changes to their login process. What would a thief have to do in order to cash in your savings bonds?
- They need your account number, which is more like Z-12345678 as opposed to johnsmith.
- When you login with a new computer, a one-time passcode will be sent to your e-mail address. So, they would need to have access to your e-mail address as well. You can choose to register your computer for future visits if you like, but it would seem safer not to do so. I don’t log into TD very often so my cookie expires anyway by the time I log in again. This means a unique code is sent every single time I log in.
- They would also need your account password. I would hope your e-mail password and your TreasuryDirect password are different. In any case, it’s harder for viruses or keylogger programs to record your password because you must enter it using a virtual keyboard (unless you circumvent it by disabling Javascript).
- Now, at this point they have online access to your account and can see your balances. But to cash out a bond, first you must answer a security question (mom’s maiden name, etc.). More importantly, you can only cash out a bond to a linked bank account. So the thief would need access to your bank account (…which is protected by Regulation E mentioned above!)
- Alternately, they would need to send in a paper form adding an alternate bank account under their control. However, the name on the bank account must match the name on the TD account, and the form requires a Medallion Signature Guarantee where a third party checks official ID for identity verification. The TD website itself has improved over the years so that any small change (bank addition, profile change) results in a e-mail notice.
Personally, I deemed it exceedingly unlikely for an actual theft to occur and made the decision to go ahead and use the website. My holdings there are significant, but under 5% of total net worth. I know that others have also had technical issues with accessing their account, but I have not experienced anything like that. In the end, TreasuryDirect definitely has its flaws, and I would not fault someone for not using it as a result. You have to weight the risks and benefits for yourself.
Posted in Banking, Savings Bonds, Treasury Bills and Bonds | 15 Comments »
Monday, December 26th, 2011
I’ve written a little bit in the past about including small-value stocks to your investment portfolio. “Small” means companies with a relatively smaller market cap (total market value) – definitions vary from being the bottom 10% by capitalization or being worth less than $1 billion. “Value” stocks are those that tend to trade at a lower price relative to others when measured against markers like earnings, dividend yield, sales, or book value.
This NYTimes article on the portfolio of investment advisor and author Larry Swedroe included some concise examples of how significant this small-value premium has been in the past. For one, small-value stocks outperformed the S&P 500 by about 4% annually from 1927-2010.
Put another way, by making a portfolio using small-value stocks and US Treasury bonds, you could have gotten similar performance to the S&P 500 with much lower risk. Specifically, you could have held 1/3rd small-value and 2/3rd Treasury bonds and had close to the same return as the S&P 500 over a 40-year period from 1970-2010. This chart summarizes:
Source: Buckingham Asset Management, New York TimesWill this “small-value premium” continue to persist? There are a few theories out there. One is behavioral, where small-value companies tend to be the more ignored and unpopular companies and thus are consistently underpriced. Another is based on the fact that small-value companies are simply riskier, and thus investors demand a higher return for holding them.
I happen to believe that there is something enduring about small-value stocks, but the size of my bet on that belief is relatively small – only about 5% of my target stock allocation. But I also know that you need to hold a very strong belief in whatever internal explanation you have for the outperformance. Otherwise, when small-value is the dumps for a while relative to the Current Hot Thing – and it will be, one day – you’ll sell and lose any potential edge.
Posted in Investing | 6 Comments »
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Republic Wireless is a new cellular service that uses WiFi to place calls and text whenever possible, saving you and them money. They advertise an $19 a month Unlimited Plan with unlimited minutes, data, and text – all with no contracts and no early termination fees. What’s the catch? Read on.
(Instead of having the information all over the place, I’m keeping all updates and news about Republic Wireless in this one post. Everything is dated, and the new stuff is on top.)
Republic Wireless goes “all-in” (11/26/11)
In response to complaints about the confusing limits of their “unlimited” service, Republic Wireless has a new blog announcement that they will not kick anyone off their network during their Beta phase. Everyone will get unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited data the entire time. Also, their money back guarantee now lasts 90 days instead of 30. I guess Republic just wants to see if they can pull this thing off without kicking anyone out of the network for using too much Sprint data… at least initially.
Long-term, it’s nearly impossible for them to allow this. On average, they can’t have people go over their Sprint network usage (see below), but maybe there will be enough low resource users to counter the high resource users. In any case, you might get a nice year or so of unlimited everything at $19/month during their beta without worries.
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers, Frugal Living | 18 Comments »
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
Update: The following Citi holiday promotion has ended. If you’re in the market for a top notch balance transfer credit card, check out our list of the best credit cards offering a 0% intro APR on balance transfers.
Here’s another nice 0% interest balance transfer offer – it is a holiday promotion, but any time is a good time to pay down your balances even faster with less interest! The Citi Diamond Preferred MasterCard now gives you 0% APR for 18 months on both balance transfers and purchases. Now, the balance transfer fee is 3% (minimum $5). This means that you could transfer a balance of up to $6,650 and still have your transfer fee completely covered. Transfer less than that, say $5,000, and you’d actually net yourself $50. Remember, purchases are at 0% APR as well. No annual fee.
Comparing this with the other best no fee 0% APR balance transfer offers, the Slate from Chase Card mentioned earlier has no balance transfer fee at all, for a period of 15 months. If your balances are less than or around $7,000 you would get six more months at 0% with the Diamond Preferred over the Slate. If your balances are higher and/or you plan on paying them offer within a year, then the Slate would work out better.
Which reminds me… Citibank balance transfers are the easiest to get in the form of a check sent directly to you. I just confirmed in my Citi account and here is a screenshot to show what to look for.
*Online purchases are coded differently than physical locations where you swipe your card – even paying your cable bill online or auto insurance online counts.
Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 15 Comments »
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
Discount stock brokerage Sharebuilder is offering a $75 cash bonus as long as you open a new account with $100 by December 31st with promotion code EXTRA75. It doesn’t appear that you even need to make a trade. Fine print:
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers | 21 Comments »
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Winner Announcement! The contest is now over. Congratulations to Devin A. and Julia D., the lucky winners of $2,500 and an iPad 2. You should have received an e-mail notification to your registered e-mail address. Thanks to all who entered, I hope to do it again next year.
‘Tis the season of giving so I’ve decided to award two lucky MyMoneyBlog readers with $2,500 in cold hard cash! And as an added bonus, each winner will receive a brand new iPad 2 (64gb). Yes, really! I don’t think you’ll find a richer giveaway on the web so please tell your friends, family and coworkers to get an entry in! Winners will be selected at random on the morning of Wednesday, December 21st and to enter the giveaway, you need to follow two simple steps:
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers, Giving Back | 113 Comments »
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
UPDATE: The Citi ThankYou Premier Card $500 bonus is now expired.
The Citi ThankYou Premier Card is now offering 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $2,500 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. That is enough to redeem for $500 in gift cards or $665 in airfare when you redeem through their ThankYou Travel Center. There is no annual fee for the first year, $125 after that. Let’s take a closer look at how this breaks down.
$500 in Gift Cards
You can view your redemption options at ThankYou.com. In general, it takes 10,000 ThankYou (TY) points to redeem for a $100 gift card to retailers like Gap, Banana Republic, Barnes & Noble, Bath and Body Works, Bed Bath & Beyond, Cabelas, CVS Pharmacy, Kohl’s, Land’s End, LL Bean, Sears, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Staples, and Walmart. So with 50,000 TY points, you could get five $100 gift cards from different stores.
Want something closer to cash? For a check mailed to you, it costs 8,000 points for $50. For a statement credit, it’s 7,500 points for $75. A check mailed towards your mortgage payment or student loan (made out to your lender) costs 7,500 points for $75. You could also redeem your points for a Walmart gift card and then sell it for cash at a site like PlasticJungle.com that offers you 91 cents on the dollar. 50k points would net you $455 in cash.
$655 in Airfare (ThankYou Travel Center)
Now let’s look at the advertised airplane ticket option. A good question is whether a flight booked through the ThankYou Travel Center costs the same as through any other travel site like Expedia, Orbitz, etc. I have some old ThankYou points laying around, so I went to the redemption site and found that the prices are very closely aligned to what is offered at sites like Expedia.com. I did a few quick searches for random flights, and the cost of the flight matched up with the cost in points in a 100:1 ratio. For example, the exact same flight below that cost $360 including taxes and fees on Expedia would cost 36,000 TY points.
ThankYou Travel Center screenshot:
Expedia.com screenshot:
So the pricing seems fair, no inflated prices or hidden fees. However, with this specific Premier card with the annual fee, you also get 33% more value when redeemed for airfare. Thus, 50,000 points can be redeemed for $665 in airfare, which would typically require 66,500 points. Since you can book any flight that can be found on Expedia, there are “no blackout dates”.
Update October 2011: Let’s say you found a ticket for $200 = 15,000 points, but only have 10,000 points in your account. Citi now lets you pay the difference, so in this case you can get your $200 ticket for 10,000 points and $67. This makes it much easier to use up all of your points at a 33% premium.
Some other highlights of the card:
- No foreign transaction fee on purchases.
- Earn 1.2 ThankYou Points per $1 spent at gas stations, supermarkets, drugstores, commuter transportation and parking merchants. Earn 1 ThankYou Point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
- No limits on earning points or expiration dates.
- Earn points for the miles you fly as well when you purchase a ticket with your Citi ThankYou Premier Card.
- Other smaller perks, like 200 bonus points for signing up for online account access, 200 points for paperless statements, and a 1-5% bonus on your existing point balance on your annual card anniversary.
- Annual complimentary domestic companion ticket. (Fees and taxes not included. Full details not available on application.)
Posted in Credit Cards | 69 Comments »
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
(Updates: There is now a coupon code available on the Obi110 VoIP adapter at Amazon that makes it only $44.88 with free shipping. You must buy the item as sold by Obihai Technology, Inc. (still fulfilled by Amazon) on the right-hand site of the screen under “More Buying Choices” and use the coupon code OBIGREAT during checkout for the $5.11 savings.
Free calling within the US and Canada through 2012 has also been confirmed on the Official Google Voice blog.)
It has been reported at Slickdeals and other forums that Google Voice and Gmail will continue to offer free calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for all of 2012. Previously, Google had only committed to free calls until the end of 2011.
This should make the owners of the Obi110 VoIP Telephone Adapter very happy, as it allows you plug in any standard telephone system and use Google Voice to make free phone calls. The current regular price is $49.99, for which you will at least get a full year of free phone service including long distance, with no computer required (broadband internet access is required). It costs $20 to port your existing number over to Google Voice. The sound quality is reportedly good per reviews.
I replaced traditional telephone service with VoIP over 6 years ago (except for a brief stint with a cheap DSL plan), and I’m quite happy with the technology. Voice quality is great; I’d much rather talk for extended periods on VoIP rather than cell phone.
Posted in Frugal Living | 8 Comments »
