Here is the 3rd half of questions submitted to me. Yes, 3rd half. I thought I could finish last time, but some of the comments had 6 questions within one comment 😉 Not a problem, just took another post. This should just about finish my series on How To Make Money From 0% APR Balance Transfers (index of all posts).
Archives for August 2006
0% Balance Transfers Questions & Answers: 3rd Half
August 21, 2006 By 48 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.Last updated: September 24, 2011
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Carnival of Investing
August 21, 2006 By Leave a Comment
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.This week’s Carnival of Investing is up at Blueprint For Financial Prosperity. For everyone that has volunteered to host future carnivals, I apologize for not getting back to you all. I’m trying to make some alterations to the Carnival requirements to make it better for everyone involved and want all the new hosts to agree to the new changes before I wrangle you into hosting. Of course, I haven’t found the time to put it all together yet so shame on me.
Last updated: June 26, 2012
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Angie’s List – Free Local Reviews, Discounted Movie Tickets
August 21, 2006 By 6 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.Angie’s List is a site that contains reviews of local housing contractors, as well as other services like auto mechanics and accountants. Looks like most larger metro areas are covered. It’s usually $6 a month to get access, but right now it you can get 1 year of membership for free for many (but not all) locations. Worth a shot. I just joined for free with no credit card needed. A similar site that’s already free is Judy’s Book.
Besides the reviews, several contractors also give out members-only discounts. Depending on your area, another perk is discounted movie tickets (look under ‘Tickets and Perks’). I was offered $6.50 tickets to all Regal/United Artists theaters. Not bad, although I wonder if they are restricted in any way. Heck, just sign up for cheap movie tickets.
Last updated: August 21, 2006
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
0% Balance Transfers Questions & Answers: 2nd Half
August 20, 2006 By 5 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.Here is the 2nd half of questions submitted to me. 1st half is here. All are part of my series on How To Make Money From 0% APR Balance Transfers (index of all posts). And off we go:
Last updated: August 22, 2006
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
FundAdvice.com and Portfolio Tweaking
August 20, 2006 By 8 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.Spent some time this weekend reading many of the articles at FundAdvice.com. The website is the educational arm of Merriman Capital Management, an investment management firm that is heavily into DFA funds. They promote no-load, asset-specific, low-cost funds (which often end up as index funds), and have a lot of interesting things to say on both active and passive investing.
I naturally gravitated towards the passive investing articles, and favorite article so far is ‘The ultimate buy-and-hold strategy’, which agrees with why I want to slice-and-dice my portfolio. I was also intrigued by their ideas for investors with small portfolios. Instead of picking an all-in-one fund or a cash fund until you have enough to invest, they advise you to pick the asset class with the most potential return but highest volatility (U.S. small-cap value to begin with) and build upwards.
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Last updated: April 29, 2014
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Work For A Big Company? Read a Review of Your 401(k) Plan
August 19, 2006 By 12 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.Do you work for a large government entity or corporation? Are you looking for an independent review of your company’s 401k plan or maybe some investment suggestions? I just ran across 401khelp.com, which does just that for a large list of companies, including for example Bank of America, Boeing, ChevronTexaco, Cingular Wireless, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Costco, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, Home Depot, Honeywell, IBM, Microsoft, Nike, and the U.S. Government.
I wouldn’t follow their fund suggestions blindly, but it’s something to consider. They do seem to promote low-cost index funds overall, but also like some actively managed ones as well. This is part of a larger site, FundAdvice.com, which I’m still perusing. I am intrigued by their suggested portfolios, especially their Vanguard ones since it’s close to my portfolio, but I haven’t entirely figured out their philosophy behind them yet.
Last updated: April 29, 2014
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Citibank Kills their 5% Dividend Card?
August 18, 2006 By 48 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.
Alas, could it be true? I was alerted two days ago that you can no longer apply for the Citibank Dividend card which is one of my favorite rewards cards. If you try to apply, you get this:
Changes are underway to the Citi Dividend Card, so we are unable to process your application at this time. Please check back soon for more details…
At first, I thought “no big deal, probably just temporary”. But according to commenters, Citi says that the card is discontinued and there are currently no more straight cash-back credit card options. No more 5% back!! I would be more distressed, but I just switched over to the Citi Driver’s Edge Card which gives 6% back on gas, groceries, and drugstores for a year, but it’s via car expenses or their ThankYou points. Instead of going for the tires though, I may just cash them out for gas cards for the convenience. After that, looks like I’ll have to start looking for another card…
Last updated: August 18, 2006
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Finding a Good Self-Employed Solo 401k Administrator
August 17, 2006 By 143 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.As I’ve mentioned in my SEP IRA versus Solo 401(k) comparison, the problem with the additional paperwork involved with a 401(k) is that you have to find an administrator that is willing to do it for you at minimal cost. Compare that with the SEP-IRA, you can usually walk up to many brokers, open up an account, and start trading anything with no annual fees and just commissions.
For example, I opened up my SEP-IRA last year with Vanguard, but I can’t open up a Self-Employed 401(k) with them directly as they won’t be my administrator. The only option I found was to go through a third-party administrator like 401kBrokers, which charges an annual maintenance fee of 0.25% of the account balance. I think the fees are pretty fair considering there is no setup fee or other annual fees, but I still don’t want to pay them if I don’t have to.
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Last updated: August 9, 2018
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
ViaTalk – 2 years of VoIP Phone Service for $199
August 17, 2006 By 6 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.If you didn’t get in on the SunRocket deal, here’s another deal for 2 years of unlimited VoIP phone service for $199 from a different company – ViaTalk. Note that there is also a $10 shipping and $30 activation charge. Offer ends soon at 2 pm EST, Friday August 18th. I’ve never used them so I can’t offer any opinions, but the reviews at DSLReports are pretty good. Thanks to Brian for the tip.
Last updated: April 29, 2014
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Self-Employed Solo 401k vs. SEP-IRA Basics
August 16, 2006 By 32 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.If you have self-employment income, there are a variety of ways to save some taxes and put some away for retirement. As I have no employees, right now my top two choices are the SEP-IRA (Simplified Employee Pension), which I used for 2005, and the Self-Employed/Solo 401k. After a bunch of reading, here’s what it boils down to:
SEP-IRA: Allows tax-deductible contributions and tax-deferred growth. Easy to set up at basically any broker. Very minimal paperwork involved.
Self-Employed 401k: Similar tax advantages as SEP-IRA, but with more paperwork, a more limited number of administrators, and higher contribution limits.
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Last updated: August 9, 2018
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Life Insurance… For Your Parents?
August 15, 2006 By 16 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.Normally you’d think of getting life insurance for your dependents – your significant other, your kids, even your grandkids. But over at Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge, she’s single with no children, but still has a sizeable life insurance policy. The beneficiary? Her parents. In case something happens, she wants to be sure that her parents have some money to help them in their retirement in her place. They have no idea.
First, I was surprised. Then I felt guilty for never thinking of doing that myself. Then, I remembered that I really don’t have much of a policy for my wife either. Right now, since it’s just the wife and me, we each just have a $100,000 policy through work. Basically the logic is that if something happens to either of us, we are each still able to support ourselves and move on financially. (Plus I’m not allowed to go skydiving anymore.) But once there gets to be even a whiff of possible daiper duty, we planned on getting significant policies.
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Last updated: August 16, 2006
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
Book Review: Yes, You Can Still Retire Comfortably!
August 15, 2006 By 4 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.
After reading their investing book Yes, You Can Time The Market! and liking their writing style and slightly different view on things, I decided to read Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth’s book on retirement – Yes, You Can Still Retire Comfortably!
Even though this book is targetted at Baby Boomers worried about their impending retirement, and I’m still in my 20s, it was an interesting read. First, they scare you with (true) tales of underfunded pension plans, a shaky Social Security system, and rising healthcare costs. Obviously, you need to do something about it!
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Last updated: August 15, 2006
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned. MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.
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