Archive for February, 2005
I find it interesting that E*Trade announced that it would cuts its fees and commissions just a month after I moved all of my accounts out of their brokerage. I guess I wasn’t the only one to do so. Capitalism in action! $19.99 per trade + bogus $3 “handling fee” coupled with subpar customer service is simply not competitive. I like the CEO Lilien’s quote - “If we treat (small investors) right, they will become the larger investors”.
Very true, but too little too late, Mr. Lilien. You guys even charged me $120 ($60 per account) to leave and it was worth it. I definitely intend to become a larger investor, but it sure won’t be at E*Trade.
Posted in Investing | No Comments »
It’s really annoying when sites like The New York Times and CBS Marketwatch make you register before being allowed to enter their site and be presented with ads (and occassionally read some content).
Above are the slogans of BugMeNot.com, which stores and shares generic logins and passwords that everyone can use so you don’t have to endure any more junk mail than you already get. Check it out! Hopefully sites will get the hint and we won’t need it anymore. Also available as a Firefox extension.
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Posted in Tools & Calculators | No Comments »
I thought I’d poke around online and read about some ETFs today and look for a suitable one for my Ameritrade account since I am just keeping $2k in there so I can have real-time quotes (part of this month’s goal).
I have thought about investing in REITs for a while, as I don’t own a house yet and would like to have a piece of the (crazy) real estate market while I am waiting. However, I also feel that interest rates will rise sharply this year and the next, hurting potential returns. Real Estate Bubble?? Who knows, but a little diversification never hurt anyone, right?
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Posted in Investing | 5 Comments »
How is it the 11th of February already?!?! Work is keeping me busy, but I still need to set a goal for this short month. I’ll keep it relatively simple. What I am doing is making the ~$5,000 in my FreeTrade account my “Play Money” account. I am also thinking of it as my own experimental personal mutual fund, or a micro-fund, as first brought to my attention by IRA-CAM.com.
While I will probably not have time to even make one trade this month, I am taking steps to set it up so that I can run it with minimal time invested. Steps I want to take this month:
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Posted in Goals | 3 Comments »
Now that all of my IRAs are at Vanguard, I can decide whether to convert my $5,000 Traditional IRA to combine with my Roth IRA. After reading up on some pertinent articles at Fool.com and Fairmark.com, here are my thoughts.
Right now I am currently eligible to convert, as my modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $100,000, after reading this article on eligibility. This will probably not be the case in the future. Also, I have the cash available for the taxes that I will have to pay during the conversion. That way, I won’t have to take the money out of the Traditional IRA, and the $5,000 will then be post-tax instead of pre-tax. Finally, I don’t intend to contribute any more money to a Traditional IRA in the foreseeable future.
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Posted in Retirement | 5 Comments »
I got my bonus! Well, most of it anyway. After all taxes I ended up with barely more than 50% of the gross amount. For some reason I have been laboring under the false impression that there is a special tax bracket for bonuses. But after some research and this article at TheStreet.com, I realize that’s a myth (for federal taxes at least). Apparently some states also have a special tax on annual bonuses?
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Posted in Taxes | 3 Comments »
A few days ago, a visitor VJ posted a some good questions and points in a comment in this thread. Here is his post again:
Great blog, and very impressive and logical thoughts given your relative newness to the topic!
I work in finance, but in institutional research, so my knowledge of personal finance issues is slightly limited, but my grounding is pretty good. A couple of ideas/thoughts:
1) My company has its 401ks with Fidelity. Fidelity has “asset allocation” funds which are indexed blends of stock and bond which have various “maturities.” That is, if you plan to retire in 2010, you have mostly a bond mix, and if you plan to retire in 2050, you have mostly a stock mix, and by 2045 the 2050-fund will look kind of like the 2010-fund looks today; they become more conservative over time. Sounds like an intriguing product and I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
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Posted in General | 2 Comments »
My goal for last month was to implement my chosen asset allocation plan. Here is my current status:
1) My E*Trade Traditional IRA is liquidated and transferred to a Vanguard Traditional IRA where it is currently invested in VTTHX. I am going to consider rolling it over to the Roth IRA.
2) My $7,000 Roth Contributions ($3k 2004/$4k 2005) are invested in a Vanguard Roth IRA in VTTHX, along with
3) My Ameritrade Roth IRA (previously cash) which is also transferred to the Vanguard Roth IRA.
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Posted in Goals | 3 Comments »
Here are the results from the Deals & Offers I have posted recently (see last month’s entry here). I try to only post the offers that I think are good enough to apply for myself:
$50 Amazon Credit for Opening 529 - Received! Took about 6 weeks, which is within what they promised.
$50 from MetLife Bank w/ Deposit - Received on the 91st day exactly. Easy $50. Closed the account immediately afterwards with no problems. Their rates seems to always match ING Direct, but I can do better elsewhere…
Emigrant Direct Savings - 3.0% APY, No Fees, No Minimums - Opened an account, see my Emigrant Direct Savings review. 1st statement received, getting interest as promised.
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Posted in Deals & Offers | No Comments »
Here are the results from the Deals & Offers I have posted recently (see last month’s entry here). I try to only post the offers that I think are good enough to apply for myself:
$50 Amazon Credit for Opening 529 - Received! Took about 6 weeks, which is within what they promised.
$50 from MetLife Bank w/ Deposit - Received on the 91st day exactly. Easy $50. Closed the account immediately afterwards with no problems. Their rates seems to always match ING Direct, but I can do better elsewhere…
Emigrant Direct Savings - 3.0% APY, No Fees, No Minimums - Opened an account, see my Emigrant Direct Savings review. 1st statement received, getting interest as promised.
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Posted in Deals & Offers | No Comments »
Here is yet another Millionaire in the Making. The interesting thing is that he also takes advantage of 0% APR balance transfers on credit cards to earn interest. In this case, he took out $60,000 and looks to earn $1400. If you assume the rate lasts for 12 months, that’s about a 2.33% APR, which is reasonable. I’m glad he’s not speculating in stocks as they are indeed “volatile”.
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Posted in Credit Cards | 1 Comment »
Wow, I can’t believe it is February already! January was a blur, but here my current financial snapshot:
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Posted in Goals | 1 Comment »
Whew! All the boxes are unpacked (Well, 95%) and the cable guy came by today. I have been pretty unhappy with my telephone provider for the last year, with them double-billing me for 4 months and then disconnecting me last week on Thursday instead of the requested Saturday. On top of that I still don’t have a dial tone. I had set up an appointment for Cable TV previously for today since I had to be home when they came. He showed up on time (plus), installed my cable tv promptly (plus), and afterwards I asked him about Cable High-speed internet. It was priced about the same as my DSL, and he said he could hook me up right then and there. Sold!
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Posted in Frugal Living | 6 Comments »
