The Consumerist has a great before-you-go checklist for everyone who’s all hyped up for Black Friday shopping. Have fun and try not to get shot while in line. I’ll be rooting for you while under the covers.
My family is in town, so it looks like I’ll have to brave the hoards later in the day. Wee. (Or should I say Wii?)
Ever since exchange-traded funds became popular, many index fund investors have taken notice. Should we try to take advantage of the often-lower expense ratios? Can we overcome the commissions from trading? For example, both of these track the S&P 500 index:
IVV – iShares ETF, expense ratio of 0.10%
VFINX – Vanguard Mutual Fund, expense ratio of 0.18%
I just ran across this article at IndexUniverse.com, which compares the performance of mutual funds vs. ETFs for various indexes.
The general conclusion was that the main ETF for an index outperforms the average mutual fund tracking the same index. However, if you choose the Vanguard fund version, you will get very similar or sometimes even better performance due to their superior index management. [Read more…]
Sprinkled throughout my ramblings are various mentions of my wife, mostly in passing. Because of these, I may have given a skewed perception of her as some stereotypical one-dimensional woman that doesn’t like math or shops all day. That’s my fault. Let’s nip that in the bud, shall we? First, she doesn’t like to deal with money issues because she’s female. She doesn’t like dealing with money because, well, she just doesn’t. Obviously, I do. While growing up, my mother was an active money manager, teaching me about frugality and saving money for the future. Without her, I doubt this blog would even exist.
Now that I’ve made that clear, let’s add some dimension to this “wife” character. 🙂 Sure, she fits some stereotypes. But don’t we all? And what’s wrong with that, anyways? Here are the facts:
[Read more…]
Update: The below promotion is now expired. The New Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN now offers 3X points on airfare, 2X points on advertising, gas, and shipping and 1X point on everything else. The annual fee for this card is $175 but it is waived for all new cardholders. You can also get unlimited additional gold cards for an extra annual fee of $50 but this fee is waived for the first year as well.
I just got my first statement, and it looks like I have received all the free bonuses promised from the New Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN. I am going to put this $100 and $50 gift card towards holiday gifts 🙂 For all the details, I have organized this and other free $100 bonuses into one central post.
Thanks for taking a peek at my detailed journal of our personal path to early retirement. You can see exactly how far along I am with the chart on the top right (We are in our late 20s). Here I reveal my current net worth, and write daily about the big things that help guarantee I’ll reach my goals, and also the small things that will make those goals arrive earlier. Please consider subscribing if this interests you!
One of the perks of this blog is that publishers send me free books to review (which I then give away). While that may be nice, I still wish I was a successful gadget-blogger. They get free electronics to review! Anyways, the whole point of this is that companies are perfectly willing to send out free stuff in order to generate “buzz” or word-of-mouth. It’s a powerful idea and potentially way cheaper than conventional means like television advertising.
Enter BzzAgent, which brings this concept to the public. Based on your profile and little surveys that you fill out, they will send you products that companies are interesting in giving out. You basically get a reviewer’s kit consisting of a free item, some coupons for your friends to buy that item, and some pamphlets about the item. You have no obligation to say anything nice or sell anything. You just openly admit that you got the item for free and give your honest opinion.
Things I’ve gotten from BzzAgent for free: (signed up in April 2005)
[Read more…]
Many of us are so busy running around that we forget to take advantage of all the benefits that we are paying for. Or maybe it’s just me. On my health plan, I am covered for an eye exam and a certain allowance for contact lenses or glasses once every 12 months. This doesn’t mean one each calendar year (as I thought), it means I have to wait at least 12 months after my last eye exam in order to get another one. Stupid me, it’s been almost two years and I haven’t gone in once. I only wear contacts when playing sports, and I finally ran out last week. I’m going in for an exam today, but I basically missed out on a two year’s worth of contacts.
I’m sure there are people who pay for dental coverage and don’t get all their free cleanings either. Also, this may fit perfectly if you need to finish using up your Flexible Spending Account balances.
My list of free budgeting software has more than doubled since I first posted it, and I’ve discovered a lot of quality software that I need to explore further. Who knew there were so many free alternatives for those looking to manage their spending?
If instead you’re looking for more ideas on growing your money, the Carnival of Investing can provide a lot of great ideas. This week’s edition is at Journey to Financial Freedom. Any blogger can submit an article, and after participating you can host one yourself!
This is just a friendly reminder that my free Thanksgiving Giveaway is going to end on Tuesday, so if you haven’t entered now is a good time. The response has been great, with over 400 entries so far! Since I underestimated the number of entrants, if more people guess the correct number than there are prizes, I will guarantee that everyone will still win a prize. So there’s no reason not to try!
So here I am, 4am in the morning, and trying to think of something interesting/inspiring/useful to say about money. So here it is. If you haven’t already, you should set yourself a 6-month financial goal. Maybe it’s “I will pay off my credit card with the biggest balance.” Or “I will put $1,000 into an emergency fund.” It should be something challenging yet attainable. Making a goal increases the probability of it happening increase 15.8 times at least.
List your 6-month goal in the comments below. Leave a contact e-mail (will not be shared), make the name anonymous. If you check in with the same e-mail at the 3-month mark (February 16th, 2006) with a status update and also at the end of 6 months (May 16th, 2006) you will get some sort of prize, no matter if you reach it or not. Everyone! (Prize value will be non-zero, but don’t expect an iPod or anything.) I want to see what percentage of people actually reach their goals.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Make your goal now!
Another no-fees no-minimums online savings account has arrived. This time it’s E-Trade Bank with the Max-Rate Savings Account. After looking around, here are what I see as the pros and cons of this account as compared to other online banks.
Pros
Cons
First Impression
If you already use E-Trade, opening a Max Rate savings account is probably a no-brainer due to the lack of fees. For others that move money around a lot, it may be also be useful to open one these accounts to take advantage of those fast interbank transfers.
The IRS allows first-time home buyers to take money out of IRAs before age 59½ without penalty. Although I don’t like the idea of taking money out of retirement accounts in order to pay for a house, I still would like to know what my options are. You know, just in case. Here’s a generalized summary of what I found.
What counts as a first-time home buyer? You may be surprised to know that it just means you haven’t owned a house in the previous two years. It has to be used to buy a person’s principal residence, but you could simply be a relative of that person and still qualify.
Traditional IRA Withdrawals
As a first-time home buyer, you can take out $10,000 from a Traditional IRA without the usual 10% early withdrawal penalty. It doesn’t matter if it is contributions or earnings. You’ll still have to pay any applicable income taxes, though.
[Read more…]
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