Archives for December 2007

New PineCone Paid Survey Application Link

Posted on December 12, 2007 // 19 Comments

Paid surveys can be a reasonable source of additional income for certain folks. On a strictly per-hour basis, they end up at around $5-9 an hour and can get tedious. But hey, you can do them during downtime on the job or late at night while watching Leno in your pajamas, while adding up gradually to hundreds of dollars over a year. Personally, I find myself being more and more picky about them as time goes on.

PineCone Research remains one of the more elusive and better paying survey companies, with a payout of $3 for each 15-20 minute survey. Thanks to Barry for sending me the most recent recruitment e-mail, which states that they are looking for new members who are male and 18+. Here’s the new PineCone application link. I’ve anonymized the link, but this still won’t last long!

*Two important tips to keep the PineCone gravy train running:

– Whatever info you sign up with, keep it up to date and follow it exactly. For example, if your profile says you’re 35 and in a later survey you state that you’re 46, you may mysteriously stop getting any new surveys.

– Fill the surveys out as soon as you get them. If you miss enough survey deadlines, they will also remove you.

Other Paid Survey Sites
In my experience, NFO MySurvey. and SurveySavvy continue to give me the most paid survey opportunities, even if I don’t do every single one. I’ve gotten multiple checks from both now.

I don’t get hardly any surveys anymore from American Consumer Opinion, Greenfield Online, or Lightspeed Panel, but that may be due to my long periods of inactivity. SurveySpot only gave me sweepstakes entries.

Filed Under: Bored Money //

Subprime Mortgage Bailout Concept Extended To SUV Owners?

Posted on December 12, 2007 // 36 Comments

Are you sick of hearing about the subprime mortgage crisis? I sure am. But here’s a satirical news story from Patrick.net that even I found amusing – SUV Bailout To Keep America Humming.

Lawmakers in Washington are near final agreement on a proposed $400 billion bailout of SUV buyers. The massive amount of debt taken on by drivers in an attempt to ensure that their vehicles are significantly bigger than their neighbors? vehicles has resulted in millions teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. ?We need to keep these people in their Hummers, at whatever cost to taxpayers? said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Paulson is expected to announce details of the plan as soon as Wednesday, said sources familiar with the matter.

With more than 2 million drivers facing higher interest costs and the possible loss of their oil-company-friendly vehicles if they cannot meet the payments, the future of US overconsumption is at stake. The White House on Friday said it was appropriate to build a ?bulwark? against the SUV sector?s woes. ?After all?, said President Bush, ?it would not be American for us to live within our means and be responsible for our own financial decisions. Those who failed to spend themselves deeply into debt should pick up the tab to keep real Americans riding high.?

While not perfect, here are the ways in which I agree with this SUV analogy:

  1. Stuff is stuff. You have a $20,000 car through a $20,000 loan. You stop paying that loan. What happens? It gets repossessed! You don’t really own that car. You only own the right to use it as long as you make the loan payments. When I hear “they’re taking my home away!!”, I empathize the same amount as if they said “they’re taking my car/iPod/HDTV away!!” (which might be a lot or a little depending on the circumstances).
  2. Mortgages are sold by salespeople. Cars are sold by salespeople. HDTVs are sold by salespeople. I don’t recall any laws being broken here, so what did we really expect from them? Sound financial advice? Unbiased opinions? We never fault car salesmen for painting their products in a good light, we take responsibility if we bought a Hummer we couldn’t afford.

Ironically, there actually are tax advantages for large SUVs when used for small businesses.

Filed Under: Real Estate //

Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fee Refund: $25+

Posted on December 12, 2007 // 49 Comments

Back in February, I received a mailing about a class-action lawsuit claiming that Visa, MasterCard, their member banks, and Diners Club conspired to set and conceal markups and fees, typically of 1-3%, on foreign transactions. It appears that the settlement amounts have been agreed upon. Here are some selected excerpts from the official settlement website and FAQ.

Am I a member of the settlement class?
Those persons who made a foreign transaction using a Visa-, MasterCard-, or Diners Club- branded credit, charge or debit/ATM card between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006 are members of the Settlement Damages Class.

How do I complete the claim form?
You need to complete and submit a claim form prior to the deadline, either on-line at www.ccfsettlement.com/claim, or by mailing or faxing in the form.

Option 1 is an Easy Refund of $25 and is recommended if you travel outside of the U.S. for less than one week or had foreign transactions of less than $2,500 using your eligible cards during the class period.

Option 2 is a Total Estimation Refund that is based on typical spending during travel and answers to the few questions listed on the claim form. This option is recommended if you traveled outside the U. S. for more than one week or had foreign transactions of more than $2,500.

Option 3 is the Annual Estimated Refund option. It is recommended if you had extensive foreign travel or foreign transactions and are willing to provide year-by-year information.

Seems like a pretty huge settlement class! You don’t even need to have gone anywhere, maybe you just bought something online in a foreign currency. If you choose the simple $25 option, you will need to provide your name, address, credit card number, issuing bank, and the last 4 digits of your Social Security number. This site has been reported in various new outlets, so I believe it to be legitimate. Also, thanks to the readers who reminded me about this.

Filed Under: Credit Cards //

What Are We Saving For, Anyways? Our Life Goals and Retirement Plans

Posted on December 11, 2007 // 38 Comments

I’ve talked about this in bit and pieces under the Goals category, but I thought I should organize our life goals into one post. Hopefully, this will outline our priorities and shed some light on why we choose to do the things we do.

First, I’d like offer what I am afraid people think our life goals are:

Incorrect Goals

  1. Find the highest paying job possible. Work long hours, but tolerate it for the money.
  2. Live a very spartan lifestyle, with minimal luxuries and worrying about money constantly.
  3. At age 65, abruptly stop working so hard, finally relax and begin enjoying our life. Hopefully live long enough to enjoy this period.

In fact, that’s not what we want at all:

Actual Goal #1 – Finding A Job That Fits
If your going to spend almost 50% of every weekday doing something, shouldn’t you enjoy it? Sure, even great jobs have their challenges – bureaucracy, boring meetings, office politics, the occasional annoying co-worker. But finding a job where you don’t dread getting out of bed in the morning was a huge priority for me. It took a few different degree programs, a couple of resignations, some stressful interviews, and several rejections, but we are definitely making progress in finding work that is challenging, enjoyable, and reasonably well-compensated.

I would also add that having a simple lifestyle initially allowed us to take some risks in order to get where we are now.

Actual Goal #2 – Less Work, More Life
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Career, Family, Frugal Living, Goals, Retirement //

Equity Asset Allocation: Comparison of 8 Model Portfolios

Posted on December 10, 2007 // 18 Comments

I’m still planning on reshaping my investments and continuing my choosing an asset allocation series, but Thanksgiving and work has thrown me off a bit.

To skip ahead a bit, here are several sample asset allocations from various sources for the equity (stock) side of your portfolio. I thought it would be helpful to see them all side by side and compare how different authorities might split things differently between domestic and international stocks, how they deviate from the “total” market indexes, and whether they choose to incorporate additional asset classes like real estate or commodities.

For more information about any specific portfolio and the source, just click on the pie chart.

altextaltext

altextaltext

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement //

Take Pride In Being Financially Different!

Posted on December 9, 2007 // 48 Comments

Recently, I ran across an article called the 5 Steps to Early Retirement. Written by a couple who retired at 38, here are they are:

  1. Track your spending.
  2. Save a lot.
  3. Invest wisely.
  4. Put peer pressure into perspective.
  5. Keep your eye on the prize.

At first glance, these steps may seem obvious and common sense. However, I would say there is a lot of hidden wisdom in the 4th step, in which they explain:

Social pressure to spend can be subtle and pervasive, and it can divert you from your commitment to retire early. Marketing specialists tell you that if you only buy this new product, car, house, or membership, your lifestyle will improve. It’s reasonably easy to tune out that marketing message, but you have to handle your friends with a little more tact. Trying to match the spending of our peer group is a surefire way to derail financial goals. Decide now that you don’t have to keep up with their consumption to fit into the crowd. The choice is yours — not theirs.

In other words, if you want to be different from everyone else – have more savings, retire earlier, whatever – then you have to act differently from everyone else. Here’s a quick anecdote. A friend of my wife recently told her:

“You make good money, you should stop buying your dresses from Target… Check out my new Louis Vuitton purse!”

The same friend later in the same week said:

“How the *%& do you have $100,000 (20% down) saved up already for a house?”

She didn’t make any connection between the two events. 😉 I’m not saying everyone should buy dresses from Target, but I do think everyone should pick their battles and be proud of them. Maybe it’s not leasing that shiny SUV or brown-bagging the lunch more often. Maybe I’m weird, but I love it when people judge me by my outward appearance. One day, perhaps that same friend will say:

“What!? You’re only 48 and you’re retiring?”

Filed Under: Frugal Living //

Lending Club Review: Free $25 To Start, P2P Borrowing

Posted on December 7, 2007 // 69 Comments

Next up in the person-to-person lending showcase is Lending Club. I recently joined up because they were offering the carrot of $25 sign-on bonus, and I was curious to see how they differentiate themselves from Prosper Lending (review, $25 bonus). As usual, this overview will primarily be from the perspective of a potential lender/investor in these unsecured consumer loans.

Lending Standards
LendingClub only allows borrowers with a minimum credit score of 640. Prosper initially had no bottom, but later raised it’s floor to a 520 credit score, which by itself eliminated 45% of their loan listings! So lots of subprime action over at Prosper, but very little over at LendingClub. Some people may disagree on whether this a plus or a minus.

Setting Interest Rates For Loans
With Prosper, prospective lenders bid on loans in an eBay format. Essentially, all the lenders as a whole set their own market rate. But with LendingClub, they do all of it for you.

The mechanism for setting a fair interest rate is complex: it involves a proper assessment of the risk associated with each loan (based on the borrower’s credit history, current situation, income, debt and other factors), an understanding of the volatility associated with each level of risk, and a proper reward for that volatility. We have access to large amounts of information and historical data from the credit bureaus, which puts us in a unique situation to set attractive, fair and equitable interest rates. Rates also depend on the amount of the loan (with larger loans bearing higher rates).

Each loan request made by a borrower is attributed a Lending Club grade ranging from A1 to G5. Here are some sample corresponding loan rates:
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

Zopa US Initial Review: A Credit Union Disguised As Person-to-Person Lending

Posted on December 6, 2007 // 12 Comments

Zopa US joined the person-to-person lending arena recently. From a potential lender’s perspective, I was excited to see what they had to offer since Zopa has been operating in the U.K. for a while, and with several features that made them different than the current leader in p2p lending within the US, Prosper.com (review, $25 sign-up bonus). These include:

  • More Flexibility – You set your rates, choose how long you want to lend for (1 to 5 years) and decide on a risk level. With Prosper, all loans are for 3 years, there are no other options.
  • Risk-Based Interest Rate – Each borrower has a risk-assessment done, and your investment rate is based upon what risk grade you want to invest in. This is different from the pure reverse-auction format of Prosper.
  • Easier Diversification – If you lend ?500 or more, your money is spread across at least 50 borrowers. That’s only ?10 per borrower. On Propser, the best you can do is split it to $50 per borrower.

Which of these were extended to Zopa US? None of them.

With Zopa US, they have basically turned into a credit union. Your only choice is to buy a NCUA-insured 1-year certificate of deposit, currently paying 5.10% APY. While the rate is better than average, it’s nothing spectacular. That’s it. Minimal risk, minimal return.

Oh, there is a bit of optional charity if you like. You can “choose your rate”, which mean if you choose a rate of 4.90%, then 0.2% goes the the borrower to help them pay off their loan. But borrowers pay at least 8.75% interest on their own loans! Who’s making money off the rate spread? Zopa, not you. 🙁

Person-to-person lending was supposed to cut out the bank as middleman. But this just the same old bank/credit union setup. My guess is that Zopa went this route because US regulations don’t allow them to replicate the UK model here. Very disappointing!

Filed Under: Investing //

Considerations For Going Cell Phone Only

Posted on December 4, 2007 // 57 Comments

I mentioned that our family has been living with only a cell-phone for about half a year now. Here are some of the concerns that we had, and how we got over them.

Our Current Setup
We have two individual Sprint SERO plans that give us each 500 anytime minutes, unlimited nights & weekends starting at 7pm, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile. All for $30/ month each + taxes. No overages at all. I just checked, and the plan looks still to be available using the savings@sprintemi.com e-mail address.

How much do you really need another line?
When we lost our VoIP service with SunRocket, we just tried to live without it, and realized it was fine. I even bought a MagicJack VoIP gadget for $40 to try it out, but stopped using it after only a week or so. We thought we might go over our 500 anytime minutes per month, but since my wife and I mostly call each other a lot, the free mobile-to-mobile works great.

Voice Quality and Comfort
I’m surprised by how many people’s cell phones don’t work in their own house. That would drive me crazy! I used to think cell phone calls were just too fuzzy to use all the time, but either I have gotten used to it or the quality is just better now. As for comfort and avoiding too much excess radiation from the phone, a wired headset is key. I got a wireless Bluetooth headset as a gift, but I always forgot to charge it and it kept falling off my ear.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Frugal Living //

December 2007 Financial Status / Net Worth Update

Posted on December 3, 2007 // 40 Comments
Net Worth Chart December 2007

About My Credit Card Debt
If you’re a newer reader, you may have some concerns about my high levels of credit card debt. I’m actually taking money from 0% APR balance transfer offers and instead of spending it on junk, I am placing it in high yield savings accounts that earn me 5% interest or more, and keeping the difference as profit.

Along with other things, this helps me earn extra side income of thousands of dollars a year. Recently I put up a series of step-by-step posts on how I do this. Please check it out first if you have any questions. This is why, although I have the ability to pay the balances off, I choose not to. Also mixed in are our monthly credit card charges, which we do pay off each month.

Commentary

Cash Savings, Midterm Goal Done. We have successfully reached our mid-term goal of $100,000 to put towards a house downpayment. This goal was set initially on April 2, 2005 – right here on this blog, with a deadline of mid-2007. Since then, I quit my 9-5 job, went back to school, changed fields, and now work both on my own independent ventures and a salaried “W-2” job. That transition set us back, but we finally got there, just 6 months late. 🙂

Of course, now we have to set another mid-term goal. For now, I think a proper goal would be probably to keep accumulating more cash, as if we do have to buy a house there are tons of other costs like closing costs, mortgage points, moving costs, initial home repairs, and so on to worry about. Not to mention also keeping an emergency fund, which is pretty critical once you have a mortgage to worry about.

Retirement and Brokerage accounts. Our investments overall have dropped about 2-3% since last month. We have again juiced up our retirement contributions this month, because unlike IRAs, the 401k contributions for 2007 have be in by the end of the year to count under the 2007 annual contribution limits. Thanksgiving managed to sidetrack me from my asset allocation series. It must be done by 2008!

You can see our previous net worth updates here.

Filed Under: Goals //

A Glimpse Into Our Arguments About House Buying

Posted on December 2, 2007 // 58 Comments

Here’s a condensed update to our home-buying story. Our discussions about the subject have been going like this:

Should we buy or rent?
– We should just buy if we intend to live in it for a decade.
Do you want a condo or a house?
– A house. 3 bedrooms, 1500 square feet.
Okay, let’s look at houses… They are all well over $500,000.
– Ouch. What about a condo?
If we buy a condo we’ll probably want to move when we have kids.
– Well if we are going to move, we should just rent.
But I want to settle down…
– Okay, let’s keep looking and see what we get.

The only real compromise seems to be to buy a more expensive house than our initial $500,000 target price, one that we can live in indefinitely. But if that’s the case, I want to get a good deal on that perfect house. Prices here are holding pretty steady, so any offers we make are being rejected. So we keep looking, and sometimes her patience wears thin. I feel she wants to settle, she feels I am too picky. I am stubborn about this because it is such a huge commitment.

The fact is that $500,000 buys you a two-bedroom condo in a so-so building with a so-so commute here. If such high prices seem crazy to you, check out this article about affordability in California:

The percentage of households that could afford an entry-level home in California stood at 24 percent in the third quarter, unchanged from the same period a year ago, according to a report released Thursday.

The California Association of Realtors said the minimum household income needed to purchase an entry-level home at $482,910 in California in the third quarter of 2007 was $99,590, based on an adjustable interest rate of 6.56 percent and assuming a 10 percent down payment. […] The monthly payment including taxes and insurance was $3,320 for the third quarter of 2007.

Yep, crazy sounds about right.

Filed Under: Real Estate //

Free Domain Name, Free 1GB SD card, $25 Billpay Bonus

Posted on December 1, 2007 // 24 Comments

Here are some quick freebies and bonuses. Enjoy!

  • Register.com is offering a free domain name (1 year) for small businesses. I couldn’t think of a good name just now, but I went pretty far and didn’t find any catches.
  • Buy.com is offering a 1gb Secure Digital memory card for free + free shipping if you are a new Google Checkout customer. Via reader TM.
  • HSBC Direct is offering a $25 bonus for paying 3 bills online via their Online Payment account by January 31, 2008.
Filed Under: Deals & Offers //
« Previous Page