HSBC Direct, GMAC Bank at 4.80% APY Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
HBSC Direct is now back up to 4.80% APY, joining GMAC Bank.
Archive for June, 2006
Fidelity Freedom 2040 Fund: A Closer Look Monday, June 19th, 2006
When I started my first 401k about three years ago, I was boggled by the fund choices given to me. I ended up picking the Fidelity Freedom 2040 Fund (FFFFX), probably for the reason most people do - it looked simple and had tons of funds with great sounding names in it. Disciplined Equity? Value? Growth and Income? They all sounded pretty good to me. Who doesn’t want some discplined investing, value, or growth?
But what are you really buying? If you read its information page you see that this fund of funds includes 17 different stock funds and 6 different bond funds:
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Investing Carnivals Monday, June 19th, 2006
The 26th and 27th editions of the Carnival of Investing are up! Next week it’s being held at My Personal Finance Blog. Thanks for everyone who has volunteered to host future editions, I will line those up this week.
Fidelity 401k Decisions Sunday, June 18th, 2006
So while we were gone the details were announced for my wife’s 401k. It appears that there is a 1.5% flat contribution (regardless of how much you contribute) instead of the match that was mentioned previously, and also some sort of performance-based bonus of up to another 1.5%. So far it is very vague as to what those performance targets are. Another piece of good news is that the plan administrator is Fidelity.
We only have a few days left to sign up with our own options, otherwise we get put initially into the default plan, which is just the 1.5% flat contribution invested into Fidelity’s Auto-Pilot Freedom Funds.
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Thanks Dad Sunday, June 18th, 2006
While also teaching me the same things as my mom, my dad specifically illustrated how doing hard work every single day, over time, can add up to great achievements in life. Always work towards your goals.
China Pictures Saturday, June 17th, 2006
I’m back! Heavily jetlagged and with a mountain of snail mail and e-mail to sort through, of course the first thing I must do is upload my digital pictures. Here are a few I thought were worthy of sharing:
Scorpions and other critters on a stick
Life Insurance In Airports? Saturday, June 17th, 2006
Did you know that they sell life insurance at the Taiwan airport? Big honking booths too. And people are buying it! Talk about preying on people’s fears. Especially considering that you’re much more likely to have died on your way to the airport than on the flight you’re about to take…
New HSBC Direct Opening Bonus - $25 Best Buy Card Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
It looks like HSBC is now offering a $25 Best Buy card (expired) for opening an HSBC Direct Account, currently paying at 4.65% 5.05% APY. Please check out my HSBC Direct Opening Review for what to expect. Thanks to Camilla for keeping me in the loop!
More Musings from Guilin, China Friday, June 9th, 2006
Whew. I’m on my first guided tour and I don’t like it. I feel like sheep. Baaa. Back to independent travel from now on.
My wife and I (more her than me) couldn’t handle any more Chinese food, so we went to… Kentucky Fried Chicken! It is seriously huge here, I was told it’s the largest chain restaurant in China. I really don’t quite understand why. Is fried chicken destined to be the world’s official food? The Colonel was a true visionary.
With my stomach full of grease and my mind full of the beautiful scenery of Guilin, I am hanging out in another internet cafe. Hotel internet: 60 yuan an hour, or about $8 a hour. Internet cafe: 2 yuan an hour, or 25 cents an hour (+ a lot of looking stupid and hand gestures for communication).
Discover Miles Card Now Offering 12,000 Bonus Miles Friday, June 9th, 2006
I’ve mentioned the Discover Miles Card before, but the bonus has now been increased from 5,000 miles after the first purchase to 12,000 miles (1,000 for each month with a purchase). It still offers 0% APR for 12 months on both purchases and balance transfers, which means you can get the 12,000 mile bonus and earn interest on borrowed money without worrying about getting charged interest.
I got this card already, and outlined exactly step-by-step how I got my money from Discover. The deal is hotter now as you can get 7,000 more miles, and interest rates are higher than before. Assuming I got another $10,000 balance transfer, this deal would be worth about $500. Here’s how I got that number:
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Random China Ramblings
Thursday, June 8th, 2006
- For a communist country, Beijing sure has a lot of SUVs, Audis, BMWs, and other luxury vehicles. The official federal vehicles seems to be black Audi A6s. New shiny luxury condominiums rise directly next to concrete slums. There are also a large number of (often aggressive) beggars on the streets. Interesting contrasts.
- How this - my tour guide owns his own condo (actually “leases for 70 years”) and also owns a commercial storefront (bought with cash) and leases that out. Mortgages only run to 20 years, but many people use much shorter lengths. Capitalism!
- Haggling is a pain in the butt, but makes a huge difference in the price you pay for stuff if you’re a tourist. It’s like picking a fight every time you want to buy a gift for somebody. In the end the vendor looks like you just said his mother was ugly, but you know in the end his profit margin was still astronomical.
MyMoneyBlog Highlights Monday, June 5th, 2006
I want to also remind recent visitors that I have a category called Best of MyMoneyBlog which is a condensed version of past posts. I meant to do another highlight reel of recent happenings on this blog before leaving on my trip, but I spent that time instead searching for my old money belt. (It was in the safebox. Duh!)
Bought Some Bridgeway, Selling Individual Stocks Sunday, June 4th, 2006
As a follow-up to my post Researching Bridgeway Funds and BRSIX, I went ahead and opened an account with Bridgeway and bought $2,000 of BRSIX. I chose Bridgeway over other Micro-Cap alternatives for a variety of reasons.
First, after looking at the Micro-Cap ETFs, none of them were truly indexes either, as you really can’t be in this sector. They all have their own unique algorithm for choosing which stocks to hold, for better or worse. Also, since the ETFs are new it is unknown how they will react to large inflows or outflows of money as Micro-Caps are very volatile. These concerns are mentioned in this CBS MarketWatch article.
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June 2006 Financial Status / Net Worth Update
Friday, June 2nd, 2006
Best ATM or Credit Card For Foreign Travel? Friday, June 2nd, 2006
Just because you’re overseas on vacation, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still pay attention to fees. Visa and Mastercard charge a standard 1% “conversion” fee on all foreign transactions (even if they are in US dollars!.) Many major credit card issuers charge you up to another 3% on top of that. Why? Because they can.
But by selected the best credit card in your arsenal, you can minimize the damage. Flyertalk has a great resource listing all the card issuers and the rates they charge. Don’t forget to also take into account the cashback program of your specific card, as you’ll still earn it on foreign purchases.
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