Archives for February 2009

Rejected For A Bank Account? Get Your Free Annual ChexSystems Report

February 11, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 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.

Last week, I heard a co-worker complain about being denied when trying to open a new checking account. I told her to check her ChexSystems report. ChexSystems is a consumer information database that contains information about your banking history, similar to credit bureaus and your credit history. Turns out she forgot about an account and actually owed some other bank some money (probably just piling on inactivity fees…).

For the same reason, you have the right to a free ChexSystems report once a year, just like the annual credit reports. In addition, you can request one whenever you get declined for a bank account where ChexSystems was used.

I decided to get my own as well, and surprisingly it came via snail mail within a week or so. I say surprisingly because last time I tried to order a couple of years ago, I don’t think I ever got it. (I have never had trouble opening a bank account, so I figured nothing bad was on it.)

They have a sample ChexSystems report online, which looks exactly like what I have, and explains all the items they have recorded:

Reported Information
“Reported Information refers to reports of accounts that have been mishandled, reported for cause, and/or outstanding debts. Reported Information is submitted directly to ChexSystems by members of our service, which consists mainly of financial institutions. Our current practice is to retain this information for a period of five years.”

This includes account closed due to repeated bounced checks, or overdraft debts that were never paid. If you have one of these in error, you’ll definitely want to clear it up.

Inquiries Initiated By Consumer Action
“Inquiries Initiated By Consumer Action refers to inquiries resulting from a transaction initiated by you. These include applying for a credit card or completing an application at a financial institution. Please note that the inquiries are part of your credit history and may be included in our reports to others. These inquiries can be viewed for ninety days up to three years. ”

Basically, a list of all banks that applied for within the last 3 years that used ChexSystems to verify me. They included KeyBank, E-Trade, FNBO Direct, WaMu, DollarSavingsDirect, and WT Direct. Banks that I know that I applied for recently that weren’t on the list include EverBank, which makes sense since they used the Equifax ID check service during my application process.

Inquiries Not Initiated By Consumer Action
“Inquiries Not Initiated By Consumer Action refers to inquiries resulting from transactions you may not have initiated, so you may not recognize the source. Members of our service with a permissible purpose include current creditors, pre-approval creditors, and potential investors trying to assess risks. We report these requests only to you as a record of activities, and we do not include any of these requests on credit reports to others.”

The only bank listed here was Washington Mutual. For some reason, they made three inquiries in one day back in 2006. Weird.

Retail Information
“Retail Information refers to returned checks written on an account and certain collection accounts. Retailers and other businesses report this information to Shared Check Authorization Network (SCAN). ChexSystems receives this information directly from SCAN and is not involved in the collection of these items.”

Nothing here, I believe it counts bounced checks reported by merchants.

History Of Checks Ordered
“History of Checks Ordered refers to a record of check orders placed within the past three years.”

Nothing here, either. Probably because I would never order from Deluxe Corp. (which owns ChexSystems) since they are horribly overpriced. I barely make it past the starter checks usually, but if I do need checks I buy them from Costco.

Social Security Number Validation
“Social Security Number Validation indicates the year and state that a particular sequence of digits first became available for issuance. This information does not include the name of the individual to whom the number was issued.”

It says my SSN became available for issuance in 1987. This is interesting, considering I was born nine years before then…

Drivers License Validation, Drivers License Verification
“Drivers License Number Validation indicates whether or not the format of the drivers license number provided matches the requirements set by the state of issuance. Drivers License Number Verification is information provided to ChexSystems by the state that issued the drivers license number. This information, which is limited to certain states, identifies the name and date of birth of the individual to whom the drivers license was issued.”

Added: A smaller competitor to ChexSystems is TeleCheck. To get your free annual report from them, you must call 1-800-366-2425. I called them on 1/11, and they stated that they had no negative information me, so there was nothing to send me.

Filed Under: Banking
Last updated: February 9, 2017
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.

Escape Card from Discover Review: 25,000 Mile Bonus + Free Primary Rental Car Insurance

February 10, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 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.

The new Escape by Discover® Card is a new travel rewards credit card with some profit potential. Here’s my review and analysis:

25,000 Miles Sign-Up Bonus ($250 credit towards Travel)
You get 1,000 Miles for each month that you make any purchase on this card, up to 25,000 miles. The simplest way to achieve this is to put some sort of automatically recurring charge on this card, like a cell phone or utility bill. But you may not want to use up all 25 months…

Rewards Program – “Unlimited Double Miles”
With this card, you earn two Miles for every dollar spent on any purchase. There is no cap on earning Miles. Now, a “Mile” in this program does not convert directly to any other specific hotel award or airline frequent flier program. I find it is easier to think of them as just “points”, but I’ll stick with the Miles name for now. I called an confirmed that this is the same Miles program that comes with the Miles Card by Discover*. Here are the redemption options:

Travel Credit. The best way to maximize this rewards program by far is to redeem for travel credit. Basically, you get cash, but only towards a travel purchase made with the card. 10,000 Miles = $100.

First, you just book any flight, cruise, vacation package, hotel or car rental – from any website. Then, within 90 days, you just log into your account, select the amount of Miles you want to redeem, and the credit shows up a few days later. The hardest part for me was remembering to use the card when I had travel plans. If redeemed for travel credit in this way, you can view this card as a 2% cash back on everything card.

Cash Option. If you want a direct credit or deposit into your bank account, then the minimum redemption is 5,000 Miles for $25 cash. Since you lose 50% of your potential value this way, I’d avoid this. Gift Cards. A middle ground. For example, 4,000 Miles = $25 Gift Card. 12,000 Miles = $100 Gap or Macy’s Gift Card.

Primary Car Rental Insurance
This is another big draw for me. Most credit cards only offer what is called secondary rental car insurance, which only kicks in after your own personal auto insurance. This means you’ll have to file a claim (likely raising your future rates) and pay your own deductible. In my case, that’s $1,000!

Primary car rental insurance essentially replaces the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) that costs $10-$20 per day that they try to sell you at the rental car counter. You know, the insurance that you buy so you don’t have to worry about parking lot dings, or them finding some bogus “new scratch” when you return it. You’re covered up to $50,000, and there is no deductible.

More perks:

  • Lost or Damaged Luggage Insurance – Reimbursement for lost or damaged baggage up to $2,500.
  • Travel Delay Insurance – Up to $150 per day of unexpected food and lodging expenses. (My parents could have really used this over the winter holidays. Delta canceled an entire flight and made them wait another 18 hours until the next day to fly out. No compensation was offered!)
  • Trip Cancellation Insurance – Up to $2,500 to travel another time should you become ill and unable to travel.

Conclusion: Annual Fee and Total Value Calculations
The Escape by Discover® Card is meant to be a “premium” travel card, so this card has a $60 annual fee. At a rate of 1,000 miles per month, the intro bonus is worth ~$120 per year if you do the travel credit route. Since the bonus is only good for 25 months, I’d note when they actually charge the annual fee, as I wouldn’t want to pay for the 3rd year.

But if you time things right, you’ll net a ~$60 bonus ($120 minus $60 annual fee) for the first two years (~$120 total), during which you’ll also have two years of free primary car rental insurance.

* The Miles Card by Discover has a similar offer – 12,000 bonus Miles over 12 months. The upside is that there is no annual fee to worry about, but also no double miles and primary insurance. As outlined above, 12,000 miles = $100 Gift Card to various stores, or $100 credit towards travel.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers
Last updated: May 1, 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.

Links: Bear Market Lessons, Free School, Minimalist Kitchen, Job Ideas

February 10, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 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.

Here are some more assorted links from my recent online wanderings…

Lessons We Should Have Learned before the Bear Market Arrived
This is a presentation by Jack Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group, back in April 2001 after the last big stock market drop. There is a lot of stuff in there, so I would treat it as a mini-investing book and bookmark it to digest it all over time.

OpenYale Course on Financial Markets
You can view the lectures and materials for the “Financial Markets” class taught by Professor Robert Shiller (possibly best know for his book Irrational Exuberance) at Yale University.

The course strives to offer understanding of the theory of finance and its relation to the history, strengths and imperfections of such institutions as banking, insurance, securities, futures, and other derivatives markets, and the future of these institutions over the next century.

Fresh Start for a New Year? Let’s Begin in the Kitchen
From the Minimalist blog of the NY Times, this article is about updating and refreshing your pantry items so that you can more easily cook better food at home. He lists things to throw out, and suggests substitutes to replace them with. Reminded me of when my mom used to make chicken stock from scratch and freeze them in old margarine containers. I should start doing that.

52 ways to make extra money
Prime Time Money did a guest post on the MSN SmartSpending Blog that compiled 52 ways to make some extra money. You’ve probably heard of most the part-time jobs before, but perhaps you’ll pick up something new.

Awesomest Compilation of Weird & Crazy Jobs Ever
Something more on the fun end of the money-making spectrum. Some of y’all have had some funky jobs!

Filed Under: General
Last updated: September 27, 2015
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.

401(k) Failures: Over Last 20 Years, The Average Investor Did Worse Than Cash

February 9, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 35 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.

These days, not too many people are singing the praises of their 401(k) plans. They have been called failures, with many having hidden fees and poor investment choices. But I was reading a Scott Burns article that had an different take on things: 401(k) plans are a miserable failure because most of us make bad choices.

Here the evidence: For the 20-year period from 1988-2007, the S&P 500 had annualized returns of 11.81%, while investment-grade bonds returned 7.56%. But what did the average mutual fund investor return? Only 4.48 percent. That’s worse than super-safe Treasury bills, which managed 4.53% annually!

This data is actually pulled from the “DALBAR study”, which I have seen referenced before. DALBAR is a research firm that provides research for financial professionals about investor behavior. Each year, they publish a report called the Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior where it compares the returns from average individual investors to various benchmarks. The news is not encouraging…

For years, mutual fund companies have been marketing their products using the long-term results of a lump-sum investment. The results typically show that the funds’ annualized returns have outpaced their designated benchmarks and inflation, implying that if investors purchase fund shares and hold them for similar time periods, they may achieve similar results.

Reality, however, is quite different from this scenario – and it’s not the fault of the fund companies. In this year’s Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior, DALBAR illustrates how investors are often their own worst enemies. By examining actual fund inflows and outflows during the 20-year period ended December 31, 2007, the analysis finds that investors often buy and sell at the worst possible times – and achieve commensurate returns.

As Burns quips, investors as a whole do seem have a great skill for “methodically buying equities when they were up and selling when they were down.” 🙁 This sentence summarizes it best:

Investment return is far more dependent on investor behavior than on fund performance. Mutual fund investors who hold their investments typically earn higher returns over time than those who time the market.

Added: I’m not really trying to bag on 401ks, I’m trying to focus on the fact that tying to time the market has been very destructive for investors. For a related parable, read their story of Quincy and Caroline.

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement
Last updated: September 27, 2015
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.

Bank of America Overdraft Fee Class Action Settlement

February 8, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 342 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.

Time for another class-action lawsuit. This time, Bank of America and its affiliated banks are putting up $35 million to settle accusations of doing various naughty things to boost their revenues in the form of overdraft fees (AKA insufficient funds fees, bounced check fees, returned item fees).

For example, let’s say you have a bank balance of $500. You have debit card transactions of $15, $75, $200, and then $600. Allegedly, BofA would order the transactions posted from high-to-low, so that you’d have 4 separate overdraft fee charges, instead of just one.

According to the official settlement website, it looks like it may cover a lot of people. If you are eligible, you may be rewarded up to $78 depending on the number of claimants. You must submit a claim form either by mail or online by May 1, 2009. So who’s eligible?

You are a member of the Settlement Class and eligible for a payment if you resided in the United States at any time between the dates set forth below, had an account at a bank listed below, and meet all three of the following requirements:

  1. Your account was accessible through a debit card, check card, or any other bank
    card used for debit purchases; AND
  2. You paid at least one:
    1. insufficient funds fee, overdraft fee, returned item fee, or similar fee that was assessed to your account within five business days after a Bank of America debit card transaction either occurred or posted to your account; OR
    2. overlimit fee or similar fee that was assessed for an account cycle in which a Bank of America debit card transaction either occurred or posted to your account;
      AND
  3. The insufficient funds fee, overdraft fee, returned item fee, overlimit fee, or similar fee was paid between the following dates:
For customers of . . . From Through
Bank of America 12/6/2000 12/31/2007
Fleet Bank, N.A. 4/1/2004 12/31/2007
U.S. Trust Company, N.A. 7/1/2007 12/31/2007
LaSalle Bank N.A. and LaSalle Bank Midwest N.A. 10/1/2007 12/31/2007

Update: The current case status appears to be that the judgement is still under appeal.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: February 25, 2015
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.

Save Money By Sitting Closer To The TV?

February 8, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 22 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.

Sorry for the lack of posting, I am actually at a conference in Park City, Utah this week. Add in that fact that my computer is now giving me the blue-screen-of-death, and I’ve been somewhat disabled. Looks like it’s time for a fresh Windows install. The good thing is that I’ve been able to tune out all the Obama stimulus talk until they finally pass something, and instead catch up on a bunch of financial books and magazines that I’ve been meaning to read.

While flipping through a Money magazine, I ran across a often-repeated piece of advice about buying an HDTV: that the size of the TV you should buy is determined by how far you plan on sitting from it, not just bigger is better:

Which always begs the question – why not just put your couch closer to your TV? 🙂 You could buy a much smaller set and save hundreds of dollars. I guess it’s just another by-product of buying a house that’s too big. You need more furniture to fill it, and now also a bigger TV to see from across the room.

In addition, doctors now say that sitting too close to the TV is not bad for your eyes. Well, I guess it can’t be worse than most of us sitting inches away from an LCD screen all day long already.

Filed Under: General
Last updated: July 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.

Free Tax Filing Software Options: IRS, TurboTax, TaxCut, TaxACT

February 5, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 42 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.

Due to a combination of owning a corporation, moving mid-year, and all the residency and payroll rules attached to assigning incomes between states, we are hiring a CPA this year. This MSN Money article says that 62% of Americans pay a professional to do their taxes. I’m actually surprised by this number, as I think most people can get by just fine by using current tax software. I’ve certainly been happy to do so for the last decade.

Below are several free ways to get your taxes done, besides of course using old pen n’ paper. As you’ll see, for just about everyone there is at least one option for completely free Federal filing with E-file. And even if you add in State, it shouldn’t cost more than $14 with E-file.

IRS Free File – Income Restricted
If your 2008 adjusted gross income of $56,000 or less, there are a variety of options from 20 different software companies available from the Free File Alliance at IRS.gov.

Free File Fillable Tax Forms [IRS]
If you already know which tax forms you need to fill out, the IRS now lets you fill them out electronically and file them electronically for free. This is not the same as the income-restricted “Free File” above. Via Consumerist.

TurboTax
You can use the TurboTax Federal Free Edition if you have a simple tax return, for example one that only requires the 1040EZ return with no itemized deductions. State is $25.95.

TurboTax Business
If you have a corporation, partnership, or multi-member LLC and think you can handle it yourself, you can get TurboTax Business for Federal filing free with Federal E-file included.

H&R Block TaxCut
The free version of TaxCut is also restricted to those with simple returns.

Not quite free, but you can also get TaxCut standard for Federal for $1 with free Federal E-file at Dollar Tree stores. It has no income restrictions and handles itemized deductions. State return is the upsell, at $29.99 extra (see below for more options).

TaxACT
Competing well with the big boys is TaxACT, which offers a free federal return for everyone with no restrictions, with free Federal E-file included. State return is $13.95 with E-file included.

The TaxACT “Ultimate” Bundle is $16.95, includes data importing, and the state return. However, there is a returning customer’s offer that gives you 30% off, bringing the total cost to $11.90. The link does not appear to actually discriminate between new and returning customers.

State Income Taxes
Many states also offer their own online income tax filing programs. I don’t have time to compile all the links this year, but use this old list as a starting point, or just Google your own state’s tax website. In many cases, filing a state return manually is not very difficult.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Taxes
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.

Best Free Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Software

February 4, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 70 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.

I wasted last night trying to deal with a pretty nasty virus/spyware/malware/trojan or whatever they are calling it these days on my computer. I watched it shut down my computer right in front of my eyes without any input from me. Upon restart, I could no longer open any web browsers. On top of that, a (fake) Windows Firewall warning came up, which directed me to buy some (fake) anti-spyware software. Who knows what private information was sent out. Sigh, if only such powers were used for good instead of evil…

I usually use AVG Free but it didn’t catch anything, even after a safe reboot and complete computer scan. Anyway, it forced me to update my knowledge of the best freeanti-virus software out there. Here’s what I found, let me know if you know of something better.

Anti-Spyware Freeware
The three most popular seemed to be SuperAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Basic, and Ad-Aware Free.

I basically just downloaded them all and had them all scan my computer. MalwareBytes and SuperAnti both detected different malwares, and helped me regain control of my computer. By the time I ran Ad-Aware, there was nothing left to detect. Most of the free versions are “on-demand” only, which means you have to manually run them when you need them.

Anti-Virus Freeware
The three that I tried were Avast! Home, Avira Antivir Personal, and AVG Free.

I don’t like the Avast! interface, but Avira and AVG seem to be decent free options, even though AVG didn’t save me initially. Avira crashed my computer while running the full scan, but I suspect it was because AVG was running at the same time. I think I’ll keep Avira and AVG running on my computer.

For more details and opinions, I found page at Gizmo’s to be the best compilation of freeware options.

Filed Under: General
Last updated: December 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.

February 2009 Financial Status / Net Worth Update

February 3, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 34 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.

Net Worth Chart 2008

I pretty much have a general feeling of malaise right now. Hiring freeze at one job, big group meeting about how “we don’t have to worry about layoffs… right now” at the other. And now it’s time to look at my incredibly shrinking net worth… I know I have it really good in general, but let’s just make this quick. 😉

Credit Card Debt
I do not carry consumer debt. In the past, I have been taking money from credit cards at 0% APR and immediately placing it into high-yield savings accounts or similar safe investments that earn 5% interest or more, and keeping the difference as profit. I even put together a series of step-by-step posts on how I make money off of credit cards this way. However, given the current lack of good no fee 0% APR credit card offers, I am just waiting to pay off my existing balances.

Retirement and Brokerage accounts
The media has pronounced last month as the “Worst January Ever” for the Dow (-8.8%) and the S&P (-8.6%). The value of our passively-managed portfolio shrank accordingly. Our 401(k) contributions for the month and new company match got swallowed up instantly by losses. Same old, same old.

Cash Savings and Emergency Funds
Our net cash balance (aka emergency fund) increased a bit, and remains more than 12 months of our total monthly expenses. Let’s hope we don’t need it.

I intend to contribute again to a non-deductible Traditional IRA for 2008. My reasons are basically the same as last year: Should I contribute to a non-deductible IRA? The limits for Roth conversions are removed in 2010, which is just around the corner.

Home Equity
I continue to estimate our home value using internet tools, starting with the average estimates provided by Zillow, Cyberhomes, Coldwell Banker, and Bank of America. After taking off 5% to be conservative and 6% for expected real estate agent commissions (11% total), I am left with $515,257.

I need to work out the last few kinks in my new long-term goals, in order to regain some focus. You can see our previous net worth updates here.

Filed Under: Goals, Investing, Real Estate, Retirement
Last updated: April 13, 2016
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.

Zecco Brokerage Raises Minimum Requirements For Free Trades

February 2, 2009 By Jonathan Ping 36 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.

Zecco Trading announced on Friday via e-mail that they will be raising the minimum requirements to receive free trades on their accounts starting next month. Thanks to everyone who also alerted me.

Dear Zecco Trading client,

I’m writing to tell you that as of March 1st, 2009, we’re increasing the minimum level of assets needed to earn 10 free trades per month to $25,000. We’re also adding a new way to get free trades: customers who make at least 25 total trades per month will also qualify for 10 free stock trades per month.

Bummer! The change is blamed on current economic conditions, which is understandable, but also I fear for their community model. Their vibe up until now has seemed to include a lot of younger investors who are just starting out. $25,000 is a pretty high hurdle.

The upside is that since their last fee schedule change, their customer service and website has indeed improved over time. I just feel like they are split between customers like me who just want a bare-bones free system, and those who want “the kitchen sink” and free trades. I guess the latter isn’t realistic.

So now what?

Exploring Staying With Zecco

Small balances. If you trade less than 25 times per month, you pay $4.50 per trade. Still small, but not free. 🙁 If you make 25 trades per month at $4.50, but get 10 of them free, that works out to an average of $2.70 per trades. This isn’t the worse deal out there, but at this price point there are closer competitors now (see below).

Move assets over. The $25,000 applies to net assets. So if you have $25,000 in ETFs or other stocks in another brokerage that are idle, you could move it over and just leave it at Zecco to qualify for the free trades. One possible idea is to invest in a short-term bond ETF like PVI to maintain the minimum.

Exit Plan Options

Liquidate and close out your zero balance account. To avoid the $50 ACAT transfer-out fee for moving your entire Zecco portfolio somewhere else, you can sell all your positions, transfer out the cash, and then have them close the account. During February you’ll still get 10 free trades if you reach a $2,500 net asset balance anytime during the month. You may have to worry about realized tax gains and/or losses with this method.

Transfer to another brokerage with fee rebates. Several other brokers offer a rebate of the ACAT transfer fee if you move enough assets to their brokerage. Unfortunately, most brokers that I have found set the minimum transfer amount to be of $25,000 in assets (FirsTrade, SogoTrade, Scottrade).

However, TradeKing brokerage will credit your transfer fees if you move just $2,500+ over to them. They offer $4.95 trades with no minimum balance requirement. For more details, see my TradeKing review here.

TradeKing will credit your account transfer fees up to $150 charged by another brokerage firm when completing an account transfer for $2,500 or more. Offer applies to new non retirement accounts funding for the first time.

Other Deep Discount Alternatives
Here are some more brokers with rock-bottom commissions. Rates are for non-IRA accounts.

Wellstrade, the brokerage arm of Wells Fargo, offers 100 free trades per year if you have a net asset balance of $25,000. However, you’ll have to open up a PMA checking account and keep some activity going in their every month or so. If you don’t, they’ll close the checking account and you’ll lose the 100 free trades.

Just2Trade offers $2.50 trades with a $2,500 minimum account balance. It is targeted at “experienced investors”. To get approved for an account, you need to state that you have 2+ years of investing experience and know how to use margin, amongst other things. Electronic statements are free, paper ones are $5 per month.

SogoTrade has $3 trades with a $500 minimum. Electronic statements are free, paper ones are $5 per month.

Of course, low commissions shouldn’t be the only consideration for a brokerage firm, it just depends on what you are looking for. I may need to move my “fun money” account elsewhere now.

Filed Under: Investing
Last updated: April 1, 2015
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