Archive for July, 2006
Speaking of cheap phone service, SunRocket is now offering two years of VoIP phone service for $199.
That’s $8.30 a month for unlimited long-distance and just about every phone feature out there! And that includes all taxes. The only catch is that it’s only for the first 1,000 customers, so I’d decide quickly.
I’ve been using SunRocket instead of a landline for over a year now now and I’m very happy with it. Check out my SunRocket VoIP Phone Service Review for a detailed rundown of my thoughts.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 22 Comments »
If you’re starting a side business, you probably don’t have the budget for a secretary, commercial office space, or all the usual business amenities. But you can still project a professional image by using these cheap and even free services to create what I call a Virtual Office:
Telephone Service
Obviously, one option is to just use your current phone. Calling out is fine, but you’ll have to change your answering machine recording and also warn the other people in your household not to answer the phone with the usual “Yo wassup!”. For cell phones, you may be concerned with call quality or running out of minutes.
Another solution is to sign up for a free voicemail-only phone number (206 area code) from K7.net. You can customize the voicemail recording, and it even accepts incoming faxes. All messages and faxes are sent directly to your e-mail instantly.
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Entrepreneurial | 35 Comments »
Emigrant Direct’s rate is now up to 5.15% APY, as promised. Hurray competition!
The old account numbers do work. I just sent a deposit and debit through ING Direct, which was linked using the old account number, and it worked just fine (screenshot). I didn’t mean to alarm anyone before, I guess the ‘official’ transfer method is still through their linked accounts, but external links are still intact.
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Banking | 17 Comments »
This was a good week for receiving some free bonus money, with $285 in total! Some updates too:
» $60 from Unwired Buyer via their $20 Bonus program. I’ve received $20 PayPal x 3 now, two for both of my eBay accounts* and one for my wife’s. For those that haven’t had a chance to bid yet, I’ve updated the post with a link for tons of good auctions to bid on. It’s Friday, get it over with!
» $100 from Bank of America for a (now expired) opening bonus (previous post). I’ve had to fight for BofA bonuses before, but this one came on time without hassle. There is a new $100 bonus available here.
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers | 11 Comments »
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) can be a great way for people to save money on health insurance, especially if you are young and healthy. I looked at compatible high-deductible plans last year but missed some deadlines, and need to start again. I found quotes online as low as $80 a month at eHealthInsurance
, whereas I currently pay about $200 a month as part of my wife’s plan. I could even stay with the same company (BlueCross/BlueShield), just with different deductibles.
Now, HSAs are great mainly due to the fact that earnings grow tax-free, and when used for healthcare expenses withdrawals are tax-free too. (I list additional HSA pros and cons here). I think of it as a Health Roth IRA. Accordingly, the ideal way to take advantage of this is to max out the HSA (up to your deductible) when you are young, and not use it. You want to pay out-of-pocket now, and leave the HSA money in some mutual funds to compound away until retirement (when you’ll really need it).
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Insurance | 35 Comments »
I have been doing 0% balance transfers for a while now, but my original three-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) about how to do them is getting a bit dated. I have also made several follow-up posts to it (like how to get a check directly and tips to manage payments), but they are hard to find for newer readers. Finally, many answers to common questions are buried in the comments.
In addition, right now is a great time do this activity as the difference between what you’re borrowing at (0%) and what you are earning in interest (over 5%) is the biggest that I can remember. For every $20k you borrow, you can earn $1,000 of interest in a year.
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Credit Cards | 1 Comment »
KeyBank is offering a free 1 GB iPod Nano for opening a checking account and either starting direct deposit or opening a credit card. No special link, it’s right splat on their front page. (I better not hear “We are not aware of this offer” later on!) I’m going for the direct deposit as credit checks are valuable. The catch is that you must live in an area that KeyBank serves to open an account. Worth a shot!
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers | 18 Comments »
Carnivals
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
This week’s Carnival of Investing is up at Stock Market Beat. For more information on participating and hosting schedule, please check out the main Carnival of Investing page. My Money Blog also participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance at Savvy Saver.
Posted in General | No Comments »
Emigrant Direct released their new site today… and promptly got hammered by the millions of people eagerly waiting to type in their 10-digit access code. I finally just got through.
Most importantly, with the new website you also get a different account number! This is extremely important for those that have externally linked their Emigrant account with other 3rd parties, such as TreasuryDirect or credit card bill-payment systems, and they most likely possibly won’t work anymore. (Added: This is per my discussion with a single rep. People have been getting differing answers.) Transfers initiated at Emigrant’s website will still work.
Posted in Banking | 34 Comments »
I always read my junk mail. You never know when you’ll get a juicy targetted offer not available to the general public. It may be extra cashback on a specific category, or just 0% APR with no balance transfer fees from a bank that usually charges fees. Besides, I have to open it to shred it anyways, and after a while you become a pro at sifting through the fine print instantly.
In this case, I got my Discover Miles card back when it was offering a 5,000 mile signup bonus. Now, it’s offering a 12,000 miles bonus over 12 months. I cashed in my bonus miles and have been happily earning 5+% interest on my borrowed free money. But for some reason, I just got a letter saying I’m getting a replacement card and I get the 12,000 miles bones offer as well. Same rules, I have to make a purchase once a month (still 0% for purchases for me, so no problem). So if you have this card, keep an eye out. 12,000 miles is worth over $75 in gift cards.
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Credit Cards | 3 Comments »
Schick is offering both a free Quattro Titanium and Intuition (promo code INTSMP06) razor, depending on what you plan on shaving. I usually don’t post too much ‘Free Sample’ stuff, but razors are expensive, and due to these offers I haven’t had to buy one in years. I use a free Quattro right now, and it’s very nice. Links via Bargainshare.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 4 Comments »
As an optional incentive for the $20 Bonus from Unwired Buyer, I am offering everyone who allows me to refer them and qualifies for the $20 bonus to send me their ING referral via my ING Direct ‘Share The Referral Love’ Program. You can help others get their $25 ING Direct bonus and also get $10 for yourself.
All ING referrals sent to me must include the referral e-mail used and what I referred you to.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 4 Comments »
If you’re like me, you get 10+ phishing e-mails a day, asking you to login to some fake bank account site. Heck, my PayPal account was “suspended” five times just today. (Although it was really was frozen once.) Combine this with all the other stories of private information stolen from laptops, and you’ve got lots of potential headaches.
This MSNBC article entitled ‘Know your rights on bank account fraud‘ clearly outlines what your legal rights are if you do become a victim of idenity theft through your bank account. Although it’s from 2005, I learned a lot of new and useful stuff from this article. To quote:
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Banking | 4 Comments »
Unwired Buyer is a service that allows you to bid on eBay auctions through your phone, and is currently giving out an easy free $20 via PayPal for new users that sign-up and complete a phone bid. I was pretty skeptical of the offer at first, but I just got paid about three days after my initial bid. Easy twenty bucks.
To qualify, you must have a 10+ feedback score, or have been registered for 12 months. Here’s the step-by-step on getting your free money:
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers, eBay | 26 Comments »
I keep forgetting to write this - Emigrant Direct is rolling out their new website on 7/24. Current accountholders should get an access code via snail mail. In addition, they announced that their interest rate will increase to 5.15% APY on 7/28.
Want an account? Get up to a $20 bonus for signing up here.
Posted in Banking | 18 Comments »
