Archives for August 2012

Flightfox – Complicated Flight Booking Without a Travel Agent

August 17, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 9 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Passenger air travel must have one of the most complicated, opaque pricing systems known to man. The price of a ticket depends on date of travel, date of booking, time of arrival, time of departure, one-way or roundtrip, how many seats are left, the price of oil, and who knows what else. I mean, this is an industry that overbooks on purpose because they gamble on how many people will miss their flight, and will start to charge for restroom access by the second any day now.

Sites like Travelocity and Expedia have made buying your own airfare much more simple, but if you’ve every tried to make a complicated booking with an extended layover, open jaw, multiple cities, or international transfers it’s still quite a maze. In the old days you’d ask a travel agent and hope they were good, but now you can ask the crowd at Flightfox.com. Thanks to reader Mike for the tip.

Simply enter your trip details and offer a bounty ($19 minimum) for the best flight booking in your own opinion. In addition to a low price, you may prefer a certain airline, have a lot of baggage, require no stopovers, or be willing to endure extra stopovers if it saves money. Ideally you’d choose the best option, pay the bounty, and walk away with a better result than you’d have gotten otherwise. If you don’t like any of the options, you owe nothing.

If you’re already a savvy frequent flier, then you can sign up and earn money as a Flight Expert deal finder. Flightfox takes 25% of the fee and you keep 75%. According to Techcrunch, about 5-10% are indeed moonlighting travel agents, and the rest are just well-versed travelers.

I definitely plan on trying this the next time I have a multi-city trip. Anyone use it yet?

Update: About to fly? Get 25% off Flightfox with this link!

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Travel
Last updated: April 29, 2014
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Free 500 US Airways Miles With Toolbar Download

August 16, 2012 By Jonathan Ping Leave a Comment
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

You can get 500 bonus US Airways miles when you download their web browser toolbar called the Dividend Miles StoreFront Assistant, install it, and make at least one search. Note that some people have reported getting the miles with just a download, no installation required. In any case, you can uninstall it later.

To qualify for the initial download 500 bonus miles offer, make at least one search or purchase using the Dividend Miles StoreFront Assistant. Bonus offer is valid only for the initial download and install of the Dividend Miles StoreFront Assistant. Not valid on subsequent downloads or installs.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: August 16, 2012
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Sprint Smartphone Promotion: $100 American Express Gift Card

August 16, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 7 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Sprint is running a promotion offering a $100 Reward Card from American Express when you buy any smartphone and start a new line of service. $36 activation fee is also waived. This is on top of the current discounted prices for a 2-year agreement, meaning a new iPhone 4S now costing $149 would be only $49 after the $100 gift card. (The $99 refurbished one would essentially be free.) Sprint has to sell something like $15 billion worth of iPhones in the first 4 years, so it looks like they are clearing out the iPhone 4S inventory..

Valid during 8/14-8/26, online only. Requires 2-year Agreement and new line of service. Account must be in good standing for 30 days to receive card. Card will arrive in 8 to 10 weeks. You can get one $100 gift card per line with a family plan with multiple phones and multiple lines. Android phones like Galaxy Nexus and Samsung Galaxy III are also eligible.

Keep in mind the monthly data plan costs, and don’t forget to add any employee or student discounts available with can be substantial. Compare with other good iPhone options like the Virgin Mobile iPhone $30 plan and the Straight Talk BYO iPhone $45 Unlimited plan.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: August 30, 2012
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

American Express Prepaid Card – $25 x 3 Bonus, No Promo Code Required

August 16, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 121 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update: In addition to reader reports, I just received my own multiple $25 bonus gift cards as shown below. $25 bonus on loading $200 per card is back for month of August!

AMEX now has their own reloadable prepaid card, creatively named the American Express® Prepaid Card. Features:

  • no credit check,
  • no monthly fees,
  • no upfront purchase fees,
  • no inactivity fees,
  • and no overdraft fees if you try to spend more than what is on the card

You can load the card for free via online bank transfer, and it ships fee via USPS 1st class mail. In fact, this card is likely better than most other prepaid cards on the market that are branded by Suze Orman, reality TV stars, or music moguls.

Right now, if you reach the 2nd page of the card application process (click on “Get your card now”) they will offer you a bonus $25 gift card for loading $200 onto the card, no promotional code required. (They may ask you to log in if you have an American Express account, or you can switch to Incognito/Private Browsing mode/clear cookies and they won’t ask you.) You should see this in the top right corner:

Offer is available to all, non-targeted. Expires 8/31/12. $50 or more must be loaded at the time of initial purchase. “Limit one $25 gift card per new Card user named on a Card.” You are allowed 3 prepaid cards per person, so that’s a potential bonus of $75 if you have 3 different names on each as these are designed to help manage spending for a family or household.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: January 7, 2016
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Ken Robinson and Finding Your Passion

August 15, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 7 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Passion can actually be a controversial subject when it comes to the early retirement / financial independence discussion. If you truly love your work, then why ever stop working? Alternatively, what if your passion is racing cars or playing basketball? The odds of making a living doing either is very slim. So is the answer to maximize yourself financially (even if you hate it) until you can pursue your passion in retirement?

Ken Robinson is an Professor of Education who argues that passion and creativity are the key for transforming education and the economy. He wrote a book called The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything that expands on his views and also includes many stories of people finding their passion. I find his ideas interesting and added this book to my reading queue.

Of all places, I learned about Robinson in an interview inside Costco’s monthly magazine for members (emphasis mine):

Costco Connection: Can you define what you mean by finding one’s element for readers who haven’t read your book The Element?

Ken Robinson: The element is finding that point where talent meets passion. Both are important. If you’re in your element, you’re doing something for which you have a natural aptitude. You get it. I’m not suggesting that you have to be the best in the world or the best in history, but you get it and you have a natural feel for it.

I know people for whom that’s true in every type of work. Aptitude takes many different forms. But being good at something is only part of this. To be in your element, you really have to love what you’re doing. If you love something that you’re good at you never “work” again. And you can tell. If you love something, time changes when you’re doing it. An hour feels like five minutes. But if you’re doing something that you don’t care for or doesn’t resonate with your own particular energy, then five minutes feels like an hour.

I really like this idea of time relativity (having it fly by also known as a “flow” state) as it really applies to me and many activities. It also reminds me of the following Venn diagram:

Finally, watch or listen to Robinson’s related TED talk about how schools kill creativity.

Filed Under: College & Education, Entrepreneurial
Last updated: July 5, 2022
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Zillow Map – Percentage of Underwater Homes By Zip Code

August 14, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 16 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Do you owe more on your house than it’s worth? How many of your neighbors are underwater? Are things brighter in the next zip code over?

Zillow has a very revealing Negative Equity Map that shows the percentage of homes in your area that have negative equity. The numbers are recent, last updated based on Transunion data from the first quarter of 2012.

I checked out the San Francisco Bay Area and saw a lot of red as expected, but also several pockets of lighter colors. More evidence that real estate is local?

I then pulled up the map for Austin, Texas where my sister lives, expecting (based on anecdotal evidence) to see a completely different picture. It’s better, but there are still areas of pain:

Filed Under: Real Estate
Last updated: August 13, 2012
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Online Investment Portfolio Manager Comparison: My Wish List

August 13, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 9 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

An increasingly-crowded space is the online investment portfolio manager, which promises to help you invest better while costing a fraction of what conventional financial advisors would charge. Here is an incomplete list, including several services that I’ve tried and reviewed:

I support the overall vision and enjoy seeing all the new developents, and I think that many of them show promise. Selfishly, I figured that I’d put up my personal wish list of features as a DIY low-cost investor. Many of the services listed above do one or more of these things, but so far none have done enough to replace my current method of using a manually-updated Google Docs spreadsheet.

Import my existing portfolio automatically. Similar to Mint, I should simply provide my login details and have all my portfolio holdings and activity imported and synchronized automatically on a daily basis. Security is a concern here, and it would be really nice if brokers created a “read-only” access protocal, similar to what Capital One 360 has set up for its savings account. SigFig (formerly WikInvest) does this aggregation part reasonably well for many popular brokers.

Track asset allocation across entire portfolio. Many folks have investments spread across various places – 401k, IRA, SEP-IRA, taxable account, etc. I want to know my overall asset allocation across everything. Stocks vs. Bonds, US vs. International, Large-cap vs. Small-cap, Growth vs. Value, please break it down as fine or as broadly as I’d like. This may take some learning by the software in the case of some niche investments like stable value funds or individual bonds. I’ve seen Personal Capital learn asset classes quickly, so it’s definitely possible.

Customized rebalancing alerts. I want to be able to set my own target asset allocation as well as tolerance bands, and have the software send me an alert when I need to rebalance. They could even tell me “buy $X,XXX of Large-Cap US stocks” or “sell $X,XXX of Corporate Bonds”. This is a critical feature of my Google Docs spreadsheet, as it tells me where to invest new cash inflows. MarketRiders provides rebalancing alerts for a fee, but they don’t import data automatically.

Detailed performance stats vs. benchmarks. Even though I’m mostly a passive investor, my actual performance will still depend on the timing of my investments. I’d like to know my “personal rate of return”, which some brokers like Fidelity and Vanguard are pretty good at showing me. But again, I want to see numbers across my entire portfolio. How does my return compare with various benchmarks?

Reasonable cost. Some services are ad-supported or charge based on asset size, but I would be willing to pay around a flat $100 a year or $10 a month for such a product. That’s not much, but I think all of the above can be done with software and thus should scale easily. 10,000 people paying $100 a year is still $1,000,000 a year. Perhaps a company like Morningstar could offer access as part of their premium service, or it could be licensed to an E-Trade or TD Ameritrade.

What features are you looking for that haven’t been met?

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement
Last updated: February 23, 2013
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Half-Off Movie Night: 2-For-1 Tickets with Visa Signature

August 10, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 9 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Every Friday this summer from now until August 17th, you can get 2-for-1 movie tickets from Fandango.com if you have a Visa Signature card and use it to buy the tickets. You can also get $5 off $25 in Fandango Bucks gift cards which can be used any day of the week and are instantly redeemable online.

Tickets must be purchased on a Friday for a Friday show time. Limit 1 movie ticket per Visa Signature card purchase, per 30 day period following the date of a purchase in connection with this offer.

Check out your credit cards, you may be surprised to have one and not know it. If you’ve gone after some of the juicy $500+ sign-up bonuses this year, you probably have one of these cards.

If you are a member of AMC Stubs, you can get the Fandango service fee waived as well at those theaters (membership costs $12 a year).

Filed Under: Frugal Living
Last updated: April 18, 2013
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Otixo: Combine and Manage Free Cloud Storage

August 9, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 5 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

There are lots of places to backup your files online – Dropbox, Box.net, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, SugarSync, and Picasa all give out free cloud storage on the order of 5 gigabytes (often more with various promos). If you’re like me and wish you could combine all those free buckets together into one, you should check out a new service at Otixo.com that lets you manage multiple cloud services with just one login. Hat tip CNN Money.

Otixo links up with each service and makes it easy to organize and view all your files across various platforms. You can even transfer files directly between services. The free version of Otixo promises 2 GB of free bandwidth (not storage) per month forever. Upgrading to unlimited bandwidth costs $10 a month. Personally, I intend to use Otixo to track the long-term archival of pictures and documents across lesser-used services, and keeping my precious Dropbox space for real-time automated backups. This way, I can keep everything backed up safely – even in case of a house fire or burglary – without adding another monthly expense.

If you sign up through a referral link (that’s mine), both the referred and referring person gets an additional 100 MB of bandwidth (up to 4.9 GB max). Refer your family and friends for more bandwidth.

Filed Under: Frugal Living
Last updated: August 9, 2018
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Cozi Back-to-School Coupon Pack, Free Shoprunner

August 9, 2012 By Jonathan Ping Leave a Comment
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Cozi is an online/mobile organizer specifically made for families to help keep track of appointments, activities, shopping lists, etc. I downloaded the app to check out it; It’ll be interesting to see if this beats the huge calendar on the fridge.

Right now, they are offering a “back to school” promotion for those that sign up before August 31st that includes a bunch of family-related freebies and coupons. Included is a free 6-month ShopRunner membership (limited quantities), 10% off at Zulily, $10 off Brenthaven bags, and more. I’ve been using Shoprunner and the free 2-day shipping with no minimum order is definitely a nice perk.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: February 9, 2017
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

UsingMiles.com Promo Codes – Free Lifetime Premier Membership

August 8, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 8 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Usingmiles.com is a website that tracks your various frequent flyer miles and other loyalty points. Like other aggregation sites, you must trust them with your logins and passwords so that they can monitor things for you. I don’t know much about this company personally, although they have gotten nearly $3 million in venture capital according to TechCrunch and are endorsed by Flyertalk founder Randy Petersen.

There are a few competitors in this space such as Awardwallet.com, but most of them require some sort of annual payment in exchange for letting you know if your miles are about to expire. So it’s good news that right now you can get free lifetime Premier membership (otherwise $29.99 a year) via one of these links with a promotional code embedded:

  • LFLYER via LufthansaFlyer
  • MIL1CLICK via MilitaryOneClick

Premier membership includes the miles expiration alerts and also the ability to search for award seat and hotel room availability. I’d grab it now, as expiration date is unknown. Keep in mind that certain airlines like American Airlines and Southwest tend to block these tracking sites even if you provide them your login info. I’m trying it out right now and the user interface does provide a polished feel.

If you already have an account, you should be able to upgrade using one of the above links, or try using the promo code TBP.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: January 5, 2016
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

The Future of Online University Education

August 8, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 24 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

I just noticed that perhaps my most “Liked” post is one comparing how rising cost of college tuition crushes the housing bubble and even the rising cost of healthcare:

The current rate of tuition hikes is clearly unsustainable, and I believe that within the next 10 years there will be a big disruption. The traditional 4-year college experience won’t go away, but what if you could also earn credits with an online class taught by an Ivy League professor and graded to equivalent standards of mastery? What if it cost less than community college?

Below is a recent TED talk by Daphne Koller about her startup Coursera which offers university courses online. Now, there is already lots of free lecture material online. That’s easy.

What made this talk different is that they are tackling the hard problems of making a affordable, accessible education both effective and legitimately recognized with grades, credit-hours, and eventually degrees. This means scaling the little things that usually work best in small groups – encouraging discussions, grading homework and exams, answering questions and providing feedback. How do you manage this in a class of 100,000 students? The ideas of peer-grading and peer-teaching are very intriguing. Also, they point out that technology can make eduction more personalized to the student as compared to traditional lecture-based classes.

Embedded video after the jump.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: College & Education
Last updated: April 22, 2015
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

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