Archive for June, 2006
Friday, June 30th, 2006
I found out that a friend of mine’s parents have been retired in Mexico for years now as US expats. Supposedly the housing and living expenses are affordable, taxes are low, and the healthcare is reasonably good. I have no idea if any of these things are true, and obviously this is not for everyone, but according to him they are very happy there. Good weather, nice people, and so on.
I wonder, where are other popular international places to retire? Asia? Africa? Western Europe sounds more expensive. I doubt that I would really want to retire away from family, but the idea has a certain charm.
Posted in Retirement | 28 Comments »
Friday, June 30th, 2006
That was fast. Ten days after going to 4.80%, HSBC Direct is now at a solid 5.05% APY. [HSBC Direct Opening Review]
Oh, and the little peep you hear is ING Direct inching up from 4.30% to 4.35% APY. Come on, ING! [ING $25 Opening Bonus]
Tools: Rate Chaser Calculator
Posted in Banking | 18 Comments »
Friday, June 30th, 2006
While our current cars are running fine (even though one is 11 years old), I find myself very intrigued by the new 2007 Honda Fit. One of many perky new compact cares, many people may assume that it’s just a response to recent gas prices, but the Fit has been sold in Japan and around the world as the Jazz since 2001.
I like it because it just seems simple and useful. It’s got decent seating room due to it’s shape. Check out the different seating configurations, or ‘modes’, that it has. The rear seats actually fold flat like in an SUV, giving you lots of storage space. And it’ll be easy to park.
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Posted in General | 27 Comments »
Thursday, June 29th, 2006
The Big G is rolling out Google Checkout today, and there is a new promotion with Citibank credit cards to go along with it. If you register and make a purchase by 9/15/06:
» Citi Dividend Card users will get 5 Dividend Dollars (the one that gives you 5% cash back on gas, groceries, and drugstores).
» Cards with the ThankYou Network (such as the Citi Professional Card I have) will get 1,000 points
» All other Citi cards will get a $5 statement credit.
Technically, if you already have other ThankYou points, 1,000 points could be worth $10 towards a student loan or $10 in gift cards. The beauty is that you can do this with every Citibank card you have, as the terms say “one incentive reward per account number“. Since you have to make some sort of purchase, be careful not to spend too much just to get the $5. One option for pure profit is to try and buy a video clip for 99 cents or less and keep the difference.
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Posted in Deals & Offers | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, June 28th, 2006
I realized just now that there is only about one year left in my wife’s training program, after which she will be geographically mobile again and we plan on moving back close to family. This also means that we have only one year left before we plan on buying a house. Scary! I haven’t been keeping a particularly close eye on the real estate market, just kind of reading the newspaper and talking with friends.
What will housing prices be like in a year? Who knows for sure, but here are my thoughts on housing prices, from a late-20s guy who’s never owned a house. I think that housing prices are set by supply and demand like everything else, and people buy what they can afford. I think that four major things have made the prices rise to fast in recent memory: low interest rates, dual-income families, relaxed mortgage lending policies, and parental support.
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Posted in Real Estate | 28 Comments »
Wednesday, June 28th, 2006
In addition to my monthly net worth updates, I’ve decided to also take snapshot of my investing portfolio and my overall asset allocation. I want to also track any fund or ETF purchases so that I can better calculate my actual returns over time.
I haven’t decided whether to do it monthly or quarterly, but here’s my retirement portfolio as of today:
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Posted in Investing, Retirement | 10 Comments »
Monday, June 26th, 2006
The efficient market hypothesis contends that it is not possible to consistent beat the market on a risk-adjusted basis, as overall people are rational and all of the information available is already priced in the investment values.
On the flip side, the field of behavioral finance contends that humans are inherently irrational, and we, well, do stupid things. Here’s a list of such stupid things. I don’t know about you, but I think some of them definitely apply to me.
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Posted in Investing | 14 Comments »
Monday, June 26th, 2006
My Money Blog is excited be included in a few carnivals this week:
Carnival of Personal Finance #54 at Mighty Bargain Hunter.
Carnival of Investing #28 at My Personal Finance Blog.
Carnival of the Capitalists at Financial Methods
The next Carnival of Investing is also going to be held at Mighty Bargain Hunter. What a sucker for punishment 
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 26th, 2006
Citibank’s e-Savings Account just bumped up to a nice, round 5.00% APY.
This needs to be used alongside a Citibank Checking account. To avoid monthly fees, you need to one of the following:
- Direct Deposit,
- Make two monthly bill payments, or
- Maintain a $1,500 combined average balance.
If you don’t have the minimum balance, I would just set up an $1 monthly auto-pay for your electricity and phone bills or any other two recurring bills you have and you’ll be all set, with nothing extra to remember each month. If you overpay it just carries over to the next month anyways.
Sounds like a great deal if you use Citibank already for your other banking.
With all these recent rate bumps, should you move your money? Perhaps my Rate Chaser Calculator can help.
Posted in Banking | 22 Comments »
Sunday, June 25th, 2006
Ok, I fully realize that everyone complains, and it is just how most people deal with stress. Nothing wrong with that. But I’m sick and tired of the media frenzy about college costs like it’s worse than HIV or something. Books, magazine articles, newspaper headlines. I’m here to say: College Is Cheap. And here’s why:
Tuition. I don’t know of any public university that charges more than $5,000 $10,000 a year for in-state tuition. I also don’t know of any state that doesn’t at least have one decent college. On top of that, in most states you can do your first 2 years at community college, and then transfer for your final 2 years and still get the exact same Bachelor’s degree.
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Posted in General | 56 Comments »
Friday, June 23rd, 2006
Q: When is an oil/filter change not an oil/filter change?
A: When you go to the Jiffy Lube featured in this video. They leave the original filter in the car! (They mark the old filter with a smiley face.)
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Posted in General | 30 Comments »
Friday, June 23rd, 2006
If you’ve already hard about the guy who had the worst time ever cancelling his AOL account… and recorded the entire conversation, then skip the rest of this post. Otherwise, turn down the volume in your office cubicle and watch this:
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Posted in Credit Cards | 22 Comments »
Thursday, June 22nd, 2006
Trying to keep up with all these online banks and their rate activity could be a full-time job! So here are just a few more snippets. Emigrant Direct is now at 4.80% APY. [$10-$20 Bonus]
BankUnited offers a savings account paying 5.25% APY with $5,000 to open and $300 minimum to avoid fees.
Most of my own cash is still being held in 28-Day and 182-Day Treasury Bills, as they continue to offer the best equivalent taxable yield for me since I have to deal with state income taxes.
Posted in Banking | 11 Comments »
Thursday, June 22nd, 2006
Most homeowners may already know this, but since I’ve never had to purchase a bunch of large appliances, I only noticed this recently while fawning over fancy appliances (Man, I’m getting old). When stores like Home Depot, Lowes, or Best Buy offer “No payments and no interest for 12 months”, it’s true, but with an interesting catch. If you don’t pay in full before that 12 months ends, they will charge you back interest for the full price of the purchase from the date of purchase, often at about 20% APR! It doesn’t just start accruing from when the promo period ends.
Here’s an example. You buy a nice stainless steel fridge and oven range for $1,500. You’re happy, paying nothing for 364 days. If you pay it off early, you pay $1,500. If you figure, well, I’ll wait after the whole 12 months is up and then start paying it off, you get to pay $1,800 ($300 more!)
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Posted in Budgeting | 20 Comments »
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
Ah, June is in the air. That means sunshine and a whole lot of gift shopping. People are getting married or graduating from high school or college left and right. A good number of birthdays in the summer too it seems. When you have a large family, it’s not uncommon to have to spend several hundred dollars on gifts this time of year. I’m glad I ordered my cheap checks from Costco.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Giving is just part of life in this family. Heck, I was born, had 27 birthdays, graduated both high school and college, and got married. I’ve scored tons of loot. I just think it’s interesting how all this money just goes around in a circle. First you receive, then you give, and then your kids receive again. I can see how single, childless adults would get really annoyed after a while
Posted in General | 8 Comments »
