Archive for November, 2005
Sunday, November 13th, 2005
A commenter asked how do you predict rates for T-Bills, which I have been buying. I have no idea. I’ve never even taken Econ 101. I did a search and found this [pdf] article titled ‘Using Federal Funds Futures Rates to Predict Federal Reserve Actions’. If someone wants to read that and see if it helps, be my guest. From what I read, the conclusion was “yeah you can try, but not very accurately”.
Since I’m on an Excel kick right now, I found some historical data on the Fed Funds Rate and previous 4-Week Treasury Bill rates. I graphed them together, along with a trendline of the 4-Week T-Bill rates:
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Posted in Treasury Bills and Bonds | No Comments »
Saturday, November 12th, 2005
Here are our results our Target Budget Areas for October:
Overall, a solid showing. Most importantly, we had minimal miscellaneous expenses, which includes stuff like clothing, household things, pet care, travel, medical - all those little things that add up quick. Gas and entertainment were okay. I felt like we ate out a lot last month, but I we were still close to our total food cost goal.
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Posted in Budgeting | 3 Comments »
Saturday, November 12th, 2005
I was bored, so I did some comparison of T-Bill rates vs. equivalent bank rates and actual bank account rates for various combinations of Federal and State tax brackets. Yes, I’m weird. As expected, if you don’t pay state or local taxes, T-Bills are pretty bland. However, if you are in a higher income tax bracket or in a heavily-taxed area, they can become pretty attractive.
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Posted in Treasury Bills and Bonds | 8 Comments »
Thursday, November 10th, 2005
Time for more Bored Money… Although frequent flyer miles are getting watered down by the second, they are still worth something if you fly as much as me. And if they are free, why not get them? Whenever I have some free time I stop over to Gary Steiger’s excellent website FreeFrequentFlyerMiles.com. He sifts through all the current miles deals and filters it down to a easily manageable level. It’ll take a while to get caught up with all the goodies there, but after that I just always check the ‘What’s New?’ section.
There are always airlines giving out miles here and there for surveys, switching long-distance carriers, signing up for e-mail newsletters, and so on. It all adds up! Together with this site and my Starwood AmEx Card earning 1.25 miles per dollar spent on it, last time we flew to visit the parents it was with 50,000 miles for two free cross-country flights, saving us over $1,000.
Posted in Bored Money | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 10th, 2005
So I the $1,000 28-day T-Bill that I scheduled for purchase last week was issued today without a hitch. I knew the rate was 3.885% (exempt from state and local income taxes), as the auction was on Tuesday and announced on their Recent T-Bill Auction Results page. The issue date was today, and right on time today I see a debit of $997.03 from my checking account. It also showed up online in my Treasury Direct account. After 28 days, on 12/8, I will have an even $1,000. Not so exciting when you think of it as less than 3 bucks. 
But if you think of it as an equivalent CD return, that’s the same return as a 4.41% 1-month bank CD, based on a 25% marginal federal tax bracket and 9% marginal state tax. (If you are in higher brackets your return is even better). I’m thinking a T-Bill ladder with 28-day T-Bill rungs…
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Posted in Treasury Bills and Bonds | 19 Comments »
Wednesday, November 9th, 2005
For me, the only reason I knew Washington Mutual existed was because they offered free ATM access with no fees on their end. According to this recent Reuters article (via Fatwallet), as of November 17th that will be no more. Bummer.
An surprising quote from the article:
Bankrate.com estimates that U.S. consumers pay nearly $4 billion a year in ATM fees, with an average $1.40 surcharge.
$4 Billion??? Yowza. We are lazy folk. I can’t talk though, because I contributed to that $4 Billion myself.
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Posted in Banking | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, November 8th, 2005
Almost a month ago I was brainstorming ideas for an online business that my wife and I could start together. Well, since then we’ve both been otherwise distracted and haven’t made much progress. It seems we just don’t have the time to do it all out, so we are moseying along at our own comfortable pace. We realize this is mostly for fun and to spend time together on a common hobby. Anyways, I thought I’d share some prototypes we’ve been cooking up. As I mentioned before, we think the pet area is a good growing market with higher margins.
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Posted in Entrepreneurial | 9 Comments »
Monday, November 7th, 2005
Many people have heard of Upromise, a service that gives you cash back towards college for various types of shopping activities, from shopping online to buying certain groceries to dining out. I actually don’t use them hardly at all, because most of their cash-back programs are watered-down version of other programs such as Rewards Network, formerly iDine. The only thing I have linked to them is my Safeway Club Card, which gives me 5 cents every time I buy a 12-pack of Diet Cherry Coke (good stuff). So my grand total right now is $4.26, supposedly to put towards a 529 (although you can get straight cash back).
(Deal Expired…)
Posted in Deals & Offers | 16 Comments »
Monday, November 7th, 2005
So here I was, paying my Cinglar Wireless bill online, when I notice this little box on their front page called ‘Extra Discounts’. Naturally, I was intrigued. I click on ‘Learn More’ and read:
Cingular has business agreements with thousands of corporations, government agencies and educational institutions to offer wireless products to their employees and families at a significant discount. To determine if you are affiliated with an organization that qualifies for additional savings, we need your work email address.
Ok, so I tried my alumni University e-mail. Guess what - 15% Discount!
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Posted in Deals & Offers | 19 Comments »
Monday, November 7th, 2005
Welcome to the 8th edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction, which is a weekly smorgasborg of the best debt reduction articles as submitted from bloggers. While I don’t talk about debt reduction very much, I would suggest that they key is first to find out where your money goes now. I dislike budgeting myself, but every month I track my spending and focus on certain target areas like Dining Out. What? You want more? Ok, ok, here:
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Posted in General | 5 Comments »
Sunday, November 6th, 2005
Back when I was a new eBay Powerseller, I loved PayPal. People paid me instantly, and I didn’t have to run to the bank to deposit checks and wait until they cleared. Of course some people had problems, but I figured they were probably doing some sketchy stuff and had it coming…. Until it happened to me.
They don’t tell you this, but just one nervous buyer or seller can file a complaint against you, and that’s that. Even if they just don’t want to pay for it. Your account is disabled, a happy word for frozen. As in no access to your money. And you don’t get access until you do all of the following:
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Posted in Banking | 19 Comments »
Sunday, November 6th, 2005
I know a lot of people who use local credit unions not only because they have reasonable prices, but they like the personalized customer service and small bank feel. Me, I’ve been pretty happy with my local Bank of America branch, it fulfills all my needs. But I just noticed in the newspaper that a local credit union is offering a 6 month promotional CD paying 5% APY. Not only is that a good rate, but they also have a branch right by my house.
Looking at their website, I also notice a lot of cool little features. They include: free cashier’s checks, free traveler’s checks, $10 outgoing wire transfers, and non-network ATM reimbursements. Definitely must check it out in person, their safety deposit boxes are only $20 a year. All these little things cost more at BofA and can add up.
Posted in Banking | 5 Comments »
Saturday, November 5th, 2005
(Oops, gotta read that fine print. Their regular 3.25% APY is only good for balances over $100k. Bummer, I might have kept it open after the bonus period, but 0.3% stinks.)
Just got this offer in the mail. Go to this link for the offer details. You get 4.10% APY for the first three months, after which you’ll go back down to their standard money market rate, currently at 3.25% APY 0.30% for balances under $5,000. I went for it, and the $50 bonus showed up in my account a couple days after I opened the account. No waiting is nice. With $1,000 cooped up for 120 days (4 months, you get about $68 $51, which is a 15% annualized return! Offer ends soon on 11/15.
The fine print makes getting the bonus a bit confusing. There is only a $100 opening minimum, but you need a monthly average of $1,000 (or combined balances of $5,000) to avoid a $10 monthly fee. Also, you’ll need to keep the account open for 120 days to avoid a $10 early closure fee. Overall, not bad if you just put in $1,000 and take it out and close the account after 6 months. They only let you fund electronically with a max of $100, so either open with a check or send in a 2nd deposit after the confirm your account great enough to make your monthly average at least $1,000.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 11 Comments »
