Carnivals and Festivals and More, Oh My! Tuesday, December 13th, 2005
For your pecuniary perusal, this week’s carnivals are up:
Carnival of Personal Finance #26
Carnival of Debt Reduction #13
Festival of Frugality #1
Archive for December, 2005
What Does It Take To Work At Ameriprise Financial? Monday, December 12th, 2005
Wow. I didn’t expect such a negative response for Americ… er Ameriprise Financial. So far, not one comment on my post about trying the free consultation from them, even from people who interviewed for a position as a financial advisor there, was positive. Talk about a bad sign!
So, I decided to look further. What does it take to get a job at Ameriprise, according to their own websites? A Finance degree? 3-5 years experience in portfolio management? Opposable thumbs? I’m sure the people who interviewed can also chime in. From Ameriprise Careers Website, here are some excerpts (emphasis mostly mine):
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Saving Money With Cheaper Hobbies? Sunday, December 11th, 2005
Another good frugal living tip I hear is to get cheaper hobbies. I know a lot of people with very expensive hobbies - Golf, Boats, ATVs, Gadgets, Photography, and Mountain Biking come to mind. Each of these involves pressure to buy the latest and greatest widget to “take you to the next level”. Like getting the newest Super-Mega-Big-Bertha, or the latest Shimano XGVRSTQ++ titanium alloy components, is really going to help your game all that much.
My expensive hobby of choice? Snowboarding. I try to keep things under control; my equipment was bought off-season, and is now 6 years old. But it’s still expensive. Lift tickets now average $50 a day, gas for the 3 hour drive to get there, hotels for multi-day trips, food on the mountain…
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Ameriprise Financial - Trying Their Free Consultation Saturday, December 10th, 2005
So I was strolling through Costco, contemplating buying a 10-year supply of pancake mix for six bucks, and I see some guys handing out chocolates with a ‘Free $25 Costco Cash Card’ sign. Obviously, I go check it out. Turns out they are from Ameriprise Financial, formerly American Express Financial Advisors. If I agree to a “free” consultation, I get a $25 Gift Card. I chat, eat the chocolate, and somehow give them my phone number and take a brochure. I tell him late next week is a good time.
I already knew that AmEx had some issues. Turns out they recently settled with the SEC for $30 million for improper “revenue sharing”. In layman’s terms, their advisors would push products that give them the best kickbacks, even though they have a fiduciary (legal/ethical) responsibility to act in the client’s best interest. Hmm… Should I go?
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GMAC Bank paying 4.30% APY Saturday, December 10th, 2005
As mentioned by readers. GMAC Bank MM Savings at 4.30% - FDIC Insured, $500 minimum to open and maintain to avoid fees, ATM Card, limited check writing. I don’t have an account with them currently, let’s hope others move to match.
$100 Fidelity Bonus for New Customers - Need $10,000 Friday, December 9th, 2005
Got $10,000 in cash? (Perhaps via 0% balance transfers?) Don’t have a Fidelity account yet? Want $100 in about 2 weeks? Fidelity is offering a $100 bonus for new households who open an eligible (non-retirement) account with $10,000+. Per the fine print, you get the $100 within 7 days after your funds hit the account. I did a very similar $100 bonus deal exactly a year ago (whoa… deja vu), and got my money in and out in a week with zero hassle and no extra fees. Here’s a play-by-play:
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Budget Results for November
Friday, December 9th, 2005
As expected, since we hosted my family for Thanksgiving, we blew through the Dining and Groceries budget guidelines this month. It takes a bunch of food to keep 6 people fed for 6 days. We finally finished our ham and turkey leftovers though! Everything else seemed alright, we must have spent a whole tank of gas just on outlet mall hopping. Hurray for American Consumer Day (aka 12/25). Speaking of which, our tally for holiday gifts is almost complete, I’ll share that in a bit.
Sunrocket VoIP Phone Service Review Thursday, December 8th, 2005
I replaced my landline telephone service and switched to SunRocket VoIP service back in February. I got a whole year of unlimited local and long distance, with tons of features, for $199 a year or $16.58 a month. Now that I’ve had it for 10 months, I’d though I’d give it a review. The short version is, it’s definitely not perfect, but for the price and my current needs it rocks.
Pros:
Simple, no-hassle pricing - The $199 includes everything, ALL features, ALL taxes, I haven’t been charged a penny since my first $199 bill. There are no rebates to mess with. There is no cancellation charge. If you cancel within 31-days, you get a full refund. If you cancel after, you still get a prorated amount back of your unused time. Even the shipping for your free equipment is free.
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Fun with Dick and Jane - Consumerism Comedy Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
Just saw a trailer for Fun with Dick and Jane, a new Jim Carrey movie hitting on how we are too obsessed with owning Stuff and “Keeping up with the Jones’”. In this case the Jones’ have a new voice-activated Benz, while Dick looks sadly at his mere non-voice-commanded BMW. Awww, poor baby.
Dick gets fired, and since they’re mortgaged to the hilt and want to keep living in happy gated-community suburbia land, they have to share one huge single-trip salad bar plate, and start showering with the garden hose (how does that save water?). Dick even gets a job at KostMart (think Costco + Walmart). In the end, the only way to solve their money woes is of course…. spending less? Nah. Robbing people!!
Confused? Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
I guess I’ve been leaving newer readers behind with all this talk about taking advantage of credit cards with 0% balance transfer offers. Sorry about that. Check out this old post:
Redistributing or Moving Credit Limits Between Credit Cards
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
Please also see my updated guide on
How To Make Money From 0% APR Balance Transfers
How To Make Money From 0% APR Balance Transfers
When you do one of these 0% balance transfer deals, you want the biggest limit you can get for a couple of reasons.
1) More free money. More borrowed money = more interest earned = more free money.
2) Keep your credit score high. Say you already have a $9,000 balance. A $9,000 balance on a card with a $10,000 limit hurts your credit more than the same balance with a $20,000 limit.
3) Feed your ego. Knowing I could buy that Mini Cooper right now on my credit card gives me the warm fuzzies. 
For example, now that I have a new Citi Professional card with a $9,000 limit and a 0% balance transfer that I can take advantage of at any time within the next year, I am going to shift all the limits on my other Citi cards onto this one.
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Recent Citi / Discover Credit Card Application Updates Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
Recently I gave into temptation and applied for two new credit cards with nice perks and no-fee balance transfers: the Citi Professional Card and the Discover Miles Card. I got approved for the Citi card right away and got a $9,000 credit limit. I’m going to make a purchase right away and get my $100 gift card. I’ll also call Citi and move my credit limits from my dormant Citibank cards to this one increase the limit to close to $20,000, making it nice and ripe for a future 0% APR balance transfer.
I haven’t heard from Discover yet, the online application said it might take up to four weeks for a decision? Sounds like a long time to me. I did request $15,000 in balance transfers, so maybe they’re pondering if I’m worthy I also moved recently (less than a year).
Don’t Buy Checks From Your Bank Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
Bummer, I’m finally out of checks. I try to write as little checks as humanly possible and pay for everything with credit cards to get cash back, but still, things like rent, graduation gifts, giving to charity, gradually deplete my checkbook. Last time I was stupid and requested new checks directly from Bank of America. They cost me $35! What a rip off. I didn’t know you could get checks printed from anywhere.
This time, I’m ordering from Costco Check Printing. You get 400 single plain checks for $9, or 300 duplicate checks for $10 with free shipping. Executive members get another 20% off. If you’re not a member of Costco or need less checks, try these places:
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Got My Cingular Wireless Education Discount Monday, December 5th, 2005
I blogged a month ago about Cingular offering service discounts based purely on having a (or access to a) school or corporate e-mail address. Just got my new bill today - it’s usually $80 for two lines with taxes, but this month it was for only $32.40! I was supposed to get 15% off a month, no idea what of funky pro-rated math they did to get that number. But hey, I won’t be asking any questions =)
There was no verification beyond receiving one e-mail from them, although I suppose they could have called my school, but I doubt it. With this and my lower cable bill, I’m happily minimizing my monthly subscriptions without actually dropping the service.
Update: I found out you can also get education discounts at Cingular, Sprint, Nextel, Verizon, and more.
ING Direct Raises Rate to 3.75% APY Monday, December 5th, 2005
Title says it all. $25 opening bonus still active. I’ve updated my Online Savings Accounts Comparison accordingly.
