The Free Money Is Just Rolling In…
Sunday, June 26th, 2005Over the weekend, I became over $241 richer. How?
1) I deposited my $93+ Dividend Check from my Citi Dividend Mastercard (click image to enlarge):
Archive for June, 2005
Modest Millionaire
Saturday, June 25th, 2005Saw this article on Fatwallet - Modest Millionaire, thought it’d be good to share. See more discussion here. I won’t judge the guy (who’s now deceased), but it’s an interesting story of how another person handled their money.
This reminds of when I was a little kid, I remember reading in the Guinness Book of World Records that the richest woman in the world ate gruel everyday and left hundreds of millions of dollars when she died. For some reason that stuck with me.
Blessed
Saturday, June 25th, 2005Sorry…didn’t mean to be so melodramatic. =) I just wanted to note it on the right date for posterity.
Yeah, I’ve somewhat unhappy with my job for a while, although I didn’t want to bring it to this blog. In the end, I couldn’t handle the monotony, the lack of upward mobility, and lack of challenges anymore. The company was great; I would actually use their product if I was their target market. But it just wasn’t for me. Some of you large corporate “consultants” out there might know what I mean. Of course, there are also some consulting positions that are great.
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What’s in MY wallet? My daily-use credit cards (Part 3 of 3)
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005(Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.)
So last but definitely not least of my daily-use credit cards is the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card. I actually use this great card mostly for work, as I get reimbursed for travel expenses that I incur. Also, my work covers the $30 annual fee (which is waived for the 1st year anyways). Still, even if I had to pay the annual fee myself I’d keep this card. Why? There are two ways to take advantage of this card: as a very competitive frequent flyer card, or as a hotel rewards card.
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What’s in MY wallet? My daily-use credit cards (Part 2 of 3)
Tuesday, June 21st, 2005(Continued from Part 1: Citi Dividend Platinum Select Mastercard)
Some of you may have noticed in my Net Worth Updates that I have a 529 account. Yet, I have no kids! The MBNA/Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards Card is why.
Like I mentioned in Part 1, I buy everything I can with the Citi Dividend Card to get 5% back. Everything else I use this card or the Amex Starwood. This card also has no annual fee, and gives you 2% cash back on all your purchases (up to $1500 annually) which can only be transferred to a Fidelity 529 account. (You can be the beneficiary, no need to procreate.) 2% is a very generous amount of cash back, very few cards offer 2% straight cash back on everything, and those that do are usually invitation-only. This is not straight cash back, but very close!
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What’s in MY wallet? My daily-use credit cards (Part 1 of 3)
Monday, June 20th, 2005Yeah, earning free money off 0% balance transfers is great, but those cards go straight from the envelope to the lockbox. So what’s in MY wallet? Only the best rewards cards, of course:
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The Other Side of Tipping: Waiter Rant
Monday, June 20th, 2005Man, I ran across this hilarious and witty blog called Waiter Rant today, and I’ve already wasted way too much time reading it. My entire lunch (brown-bagged) actually, and then some.
Check out this post called Cheap Bastards, and you can see what waiters have to deal with. It’s the other side of tipping. It reminded me of my post on tipping guidelines. Just because you have a gift certificate doesn’t mean you don’t have to tip!!! And don’t be like Dr. Zamir. Anyways, watch out, it’s addictive reading.
30 Days: Living on Minimum Wage on FX
Sunday, June 19th, 2005Jim over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity wrote a great entry on the first episode of Morgan Spurlock’s (the Super Size Me guy) new show on FX, 30 Days. It focused on him and his fiancee living on minimum wage for 30 days and trying to get by. Very powerful, and reminiscent of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, which I own and read a while back. If you get FX, I highly recommend it. It’s on tonight at 11 Pacific (schedule). If you like it, I recommend the book even more.
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4.16% APY 7-month CD at World Savings Bank
Sunday, June 19th, 2005A reader (Thanks Johns) just pointed out that World Savings Bank is offering a promotional 4.16% APY 7-month CD, with a minimum opening balance of $10,000 (max $100,000) [more discussion here]. Offer ends July 9th. This is a great rate, and I really doubt any online savings account such as ING (now 3%)or Emigrant-Direct (review) (now 3.25%) will be able to beat it over a 7 month period even with future rate hikes.
World Savings is a pretty good-sized bank, I’ve walked past their branches, but they are not everywhere (branch locator). However, there are no residency requirements to open an account. You can open an account right online. The 4.16% CD is the very first option to open. They have a 3-star “Performing” Safe & Sound Rating from BankRate.com.
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Book Review: Free Gulliver - Six Swift Lessons in Life Planning
Sunday, June 19th, 2005
At first, this book sounded like another Rich Dad Poor Dad-style vague-finance-tips-rehash. But as I read more about it, it really intrigued me. As is mentioned directly in the title, Free Gulliver by Tripp Friedler is more life planning than necessarily financial planning. There is very little emphasis on how much you need to retire, or exactly what you should invest in. In fact, instead of trying to scare you into saving by talking about how destitute you might be when you retire, he suggests that if you are truly happy in what you are doing - why retire? I guess this is to suggest that some people are suffering and stressing out too much now, simply in order to retire to some magical place sometime in the future.
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Get $25 from Bank of America for opening a Savings Account
Friday, June 17th, 2005Already have a Bank of America checking account? Next time you log in, look for this $25 Savings Account offer from Bank of America. You just have to open a Regular Savings Account with them with an opening deposit of at least $100, and then also make one transfer from your checking account to your savings account online.
Note that according to the BofA fee schedule, you’ll need to either keep a $300 minimum daily balance or have an automatic monthly transfer of $25 into your savings from checking to avoid a $3 monthly maintenance fee. So, I’m transfering in $300, making another transfer for $25, and then waiting the 45 days 90 days to avoid a $5 early closure fee for my $25, then closing the account most likely. Total time spent: ~10 minutes.
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MMBPM beats the S&P 500! (*by pure luck)
Friday, June 17th, 2005I was tinkering around with my stock portfolio MMBPM again and cleaned up some more transactions. I think it’s all correct now, complete with stock splits and commissions. Check it out (as of 6/17/05):
MMBPM beats the S&P 500! (*by pure luck)
Friday, June 17th, 2005I was tinkering around with my stock portfolio MMBPM again and cleaned up some more transactions. I think it’s all correct now, complete with stock splits and commissions. Check it out (as of 6/17/05):
GBI Home Finance Manager - Now Free To All
Friday, June 17th, 2005According to their site, “GBI Home Finance Manager is now provided AT NO COST to all customers thanks to our sponsors.”
Free = good.
