Archives for October 2009

Finding The Right Cables To Connect Laptop to TV

Posted on October 9, 2009 // 34 Comments

Like many others, I am thinking of ditching cable TV and the $500 to $1,000+ annual bill. You can find a lot of good online content now at sites like Hulu, FanCast, and OVGuide. Here is a quick guide to finding the right cables to connect your laptop or PC to your TV set, usually for less than $20.

First up, a quick summary of the most popular types of video connections. Common computer outputs are VGA, S-Video, and DVI. Common TV inputs are RCA Composite, S-Video, Component, and HDMI. Keep in mind, you may also have to get the appropriate cables to set up audio.

The premier place to buy cheap cables has become Monoprice.com. Compare their prices to what Monster Cables at Best Buy cost, and prepare to weep at discovering what their markup percentages are like. Their shipping costs are also very reasonable.

VGA Out to Composite/S-Video
Many older laptops only output video via a VGA port. Some models support what is called “TV-Out” via their VGA port. If you are sure that your computer does this, then you can buy this cheap $2 VGA to S-Video/Composite adapter cable. This is related to RGB vs. NTSC.

Otherwise, you will need to buy this VGA to RCA Composite/S-Video Converter for $27. Still not bad for a one-time cost. This converter box will convert a VGA computer display signal into a composite (Yellow RCA) and/or S-video TV display signal.

S-Video Out
My old Dell Inspiron offers S-Video out, so I’m guessing a decent amount of other laptops do as well. This means all you need is a nice long S-Video cable, which costs a mere $1.70 for a 12-ft male/male cable.

DVI to HDMI
If you have a newer video card or a laptop like a MacBook, then there’s a good chance you have DVI out. Here is a 10ft DVI to HDMI cable for about $5.

(If you have mini-DVI, you’ll can get mini-DVI to DVI or mini-DVI to HDMI adapter for a lot cheaper than the Apple store!)

HDMI to HDMI
HDMI includes both video and audio data. Here is their HDMI cable category; scroll down to the cheaper (but good enough for most people) cables, as opposed to the Professional stuff. You can get a 10ft cable for less than $5.

Filed Under: Frugal Living //

1 Year’s Supply Of Food For $800 From Costco

Posted on October 9, 2009 // 22 Comments

Costco is selling an entire year’s supply of food for $800. That’s only $67 a month. Made by a company called Shelf Reliance, it’s all freeze-dried or dehydrated and is primarily marketed as emergency food (10-20 year shelf life). However, it also claims to taste pretty good, and they suggest to use it in rotation as a regular meal supplement.

The THRIVE 1 Year Food Supply comes complete with 78 #10 cans ranging 5 food groups: grains, fruits, veggies, meats & beans and dairy. With over 4,700 servings and many foods with a shelf life of up to 20 years, this package will give you variety, nutrition, and peace of mind. In addition to the high quality foods this package provides, a wheat grinder is included.

* 1 Year Food Supply for 1 Person
* 6 Month Food Supply for 2 People
* 3 Month Food Supply for 4 People
* Shipment arrives in 14 separate boxes
* Freeze-dried products have up to a 20 year shelf life if unopened
* Dehydrated products have up to a 10 year shelf life if unopened
* Simple rehydration instructions, recipes, and helpful tips on each can
* 4723 total servings
* Seventy-eight #10 cans
* Wheat Grinder included

I could not find any good in-depth reviews of how this product actually tastes and/or looks when prepared. Anyone out there try it before?

Filed Under: Frugal Living //

Free Suze Orman Will & Trust Kit Gift Code

Posted on October 7, 2009 // 15 Comments

You can get the SuzeOrman.com Will & Trust Kit for free if you enter the gift code STAR on this page. Save the resulting activation code. Retail price is is $13.50.

Based on a question-and-answer format, this online software includes the ability to create a:

  • Will
  • Revocable Trust
  • Financial Power of Attorney
  • Advanced Directive / Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare

I’m not sure how this compares to a more established legal service like LegalZoom which I had considered using up until now (I used them to incorporate my side business), but they charge about $70 for a basic will. I would think that this SuzeOrman option might be an acceptable temporary solution for those with very simple estates. However, for those who have enough assets to actually require a revocable trust, hiring an attorney would be worth the extra cost.

As for the advanced healthcare directive or power of attorney, I think that this could be useful at least to get the discussion started on what your wishes are with your family if you do become incapacitated.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Insurance //

100 Free Continental OnePass Miles

Posted on October 7, 2009 // Leave a Comment

Continental Airlines is offering 100 free OnePass miles for registering and learning about Continental’s PetSafe® and PetPass® programs. Valid through November 30, and the miles will post 4-6 weeks after that. Via Gary of View from the Wing. Like the American Airlines 150 miles offer, this is handy for resetting the expiration date of miles if you don’t fly frequently.

Continental likes to state that their miles have “no expiry date”, but “if no mileage is deposited in your account for 18 consecutive months, your membership may be canceled, and your miles may be forfeited”. Gee, that sure sounds like an expiration date to me.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Monthly Net Worth & Goals Update – October 2009

Posted on October 6, 2009 // 23 Comments
Net Worth Chart 2009

Credit Card Debt
For newer readers, I have taken money from credit cards at 0% APR and placed it into online savings accounts, bank CDs, or savings bonds that earn 4-5% interest (much less recently), and keeping the difference as profit. I even put together a series of step-by-step posts on how to make money off of credit cards in this way. However, given the current lack of great no fee 0% APR balance transfer offers, I am mostly waiting on existing offers to end.

Retirement and Brokerage accounts
Wife’s 401k was already maxed out at $16,500 for 2009. I made another $5,500 contribution to my Solo 401k, for a total of $15,000 contributed in 2009. This makes us about 95% done with our goal of maxing out both our 401k salary contributions for 2009.

Our total retirement portfolio is now $190,085, or on an estimated after-tax basis, $152,349. At a 4% withdrawal rate, this would provide $508 per month in tax-free retirement income, which brings me to 20% of my long-term goal of $2,500 per month.

Cash Savings and Emergency Funds
We still have a little over a year’s worth of expenses in our emergency fund. Part of the cash is earmarked for some smaller home improvement projects.

The next step is to put future funds into buying ETFs in a taxable brokerage account since I no longer have room in tax-sheltered accounts. I’ll probably use TradeKing or Scottrade as my buy-and-hold ETF broker, and keep Zecco as my “play money” account.

Home Value
I am no longer using any internet home valuation tools to track home value. If I still did, it would have been $572,000. Some people have suggested using my tax assessed value, but I also think that is too high. I am simply picked what I felt is a conservative number based on recent comparables, $480,000, and keep it for at least 6 months if not a year. This way, I just focus on the mortgage payoff, which I still plan to accomplish in 20 years at most.

You can view previous net worth updates here.

Filed Under: Goals, Investing, Real Estate, Retirement //

Prime Dime Rewards Checking Account $300 Bonus

Posted on October 6, 2009 // 18 Comments

I haven’t posted a bank promo in a while, but this one isn’t too shabby. Dime Savings Bank is offering up to $300 in bonuses for their Prime Dime Rewards Checking. You can get:

  • $100 for account opening, bonus paid immediately
  • $100 for setting up a monthly recurring direct deposit
  • $100 for completing two Online bill payments

Minimum opening balance is just $1, but there is a $15 monthly maintenance fee if average daily balance is under $5,000. Takes 6 months to get direct deposit and billpay bonuses. Expires 11/15/09. Selected fine print:

*Bonuses for Prime Dime Rewards Checking are $100 for account opening, $100 for setting up a monthly recurring direct deposit, and $100 for completing two Online bill payments. The bonus for account opening will be paid at the time of account opening. The additional two bonuses will be paid 6 months after the opening date if the direct deposit service is established and the bill payments are completed within 3 months of account opening. There are neither account minimum balance nor balance time requirements to obtain the bonuses. If you close your account within 6 months of the opening date, any bonuses paid will be deducted at the time of account closing. Bonuses will be paid for new checking customers only. Bonus accounts are limited to one per household. Promotion is in effect until 11/15/09. All bonus payments will be reported as interest on IRS Form 1099-INT.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Are Internet Home Valuation Tools Worth Using? 12 Months of Historical Data

Posted on October 5, 2009 // 34 Comments

If you like to keep up with my net worth updates, you’ll know that I’ve been trying to estimate my home’s value using four different internet valuation tools:

  • Zillow.com
  • Cyberhomes.com
  • Coldwell Banker
  • Bank of America (older version)

It’s finally been a year since I started using these tools, and I wanted to look back on how successful this experiment has been. Some give one numerical estimate and some give ranges. When I got a range of values, I simply used the midpoint. Here are the results over the past year:

Accuracy. We all know the real value of a house is what someone is willing to pay for it. (Actually, it’s what a bank is willing to lend that person…) But as a group, I would say these services can’t possibly be accurate because they all seem to disagree all the time. In nearly every month, estimates would differ by $50,000 or more. Half are up over the past year, and the other half are down.

Even though they all seem to use similar housing information databases, all of them must interpret the data differently. Some may take into account the change in value of all houses in zip code, or the city in general. Or they may differ in what properties they consider to be comparable sales (by zip code, by distance, size, or age). How do you weigh different physical factors (i.e. number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage)?

Volatility. Bank of America appears to have had the least volatility over the last year, while Coldwell Banker has the wildest swings. I believe the recent upswings are due to some more houses being sold in my area at the higher range recently, while for a time very few houses were being sold and those were at the low end. If so, it would follow that Coldwell Banker weighs recent sales more heavily.

Should I Keep Using These Tools?

Even though the house you live in might not be considered an investment per se, I still think one should track it’s value. The fact is that $200,000 in home equity here could buy me an entire house elsewhere if I were to move. (And I know people who have done just that.) I have seen that home price trends can vary across different neighborhoods within the same area, so you can’t just go by city-wide data.

However, due to the lack of reliable estimates from these internet valuation tools, I’m going to stop using them in my net worth updates. I initially tried to deal with the variations by taking the average of all four and also subtracting 5% to be conservative and 6% for real estate agent commissions, but the swings still dwarfed all my other accounts. I’m still undecided about what alternative to use.

Filed Under: Real Estate //

TradeKing: $50 Bonus For New Accounts

Posted on October 2, 2009 // 6 Comments

Online broker TradeKing has brought back their $50 sign-up bonus for new accounts, no referral required. You must open with $2,500 and make one trade within 30 days.

4) To qualify for this offer, new accounts must be opened and funded with $2,500 or more. Account funding must occur within 30 days of account opening, and one trade must be executed within 180 days of account opening, for account to qualify. Offer is not transferable or valid in conjunction with any other offer. Open to US residents only. One offer per household. TradeKing can modify or discontinue this offer at anytime without notice. The minimum funds of $2,500 must remain in the account (minus any trading losses) for a minimum of 6 months or the credit may be surrendered. Other restriction may apply.

TradeKing offers $4.95 trades with no minimum balance requirement. I’ve been using them for a while, they are a good basic broker. For more information, please check out my TradeKing Review.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

150 Free American Airlines Miles

Posted on October 1, 2009 // 6 Comments

You can get 150 free frequent flier miles from American Airlines by watching a two-minute video for Bose headphones.

This is handy for resetting the expiration date of miles if you don’t fly frequently. Currently, AA miles expire after only 18 months of non-activity.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Zecco Forex Promotion Code: $25 to $1,000 Deposit Bonus

Posted on October 1, 2009 // 5 Comments

Zecco Trading, best known for their free stock trade offers, is running another promotion for their Forex trading accounts where you can trade foreign currencies and gold/silver. I opened an account previously due to their last $200 promotion (now expired) and got the bonus successfully. Here’s the current offer for newly funded accounts with promotion code ZECCOCASH2TRADE1:

You can get up to $1000 when you fund your account and meet the trade requirement before November 13th, 2009 5pm (ET).

Just four easy steps:

1. Open an account with Zecco Forex
2. Make your deposit before 10/30/2009 5pm (ET)
3. Make the round-trip trade requirements before 11/13/2009 5pm (ET)
4. Collect your bonus!

Note: If you open a practice account first, remember to use promo code ZECCOCASH2TRADE1 when you open your live account.

Instead of just making one trade, you have to make a certain number of round-trip trades. Mini trades and metals trade only count for 1/10th of a “full” round-trip. With a 1 pip spread on $100,000 standard trade amount, that would mean $10 for a round-trip trade if you ignore any price swings. (I tried this by buying and then selling immediately.)

Consider the offer carefully. If you’re not looking to actually do any speculating, the “easy” money is to just trade twice and get the $50 for two trades minus spreads. If you are looking to speculate, the bonus essentially takes away the spread costs. Forex for an inexperienced investor is a lot like gambling, and this is similar to one of those online casino bonuses. If you know the ropes, you can use such deposit bonuses to grab an edge.

Credit card funding. An possible extra is that you can fund via a credit card. It does show up an a purchase, which means we can get miles or cash back, but when I withdrew it just went back as a credit on my card. Users have reported that if you can keep the initial funding in for 6 months and trade regularly (which this promo seems to require anyway), you might be able to withdraw via check and keep the rewards. There is a $5,000 cap on each credit card funding, but you can perform multiple transactions.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Entrepreneur Interview: Lester of BevShots.com

Posted on October 1, 2009 // 5 Comments

Even in these tough times, there are still plenty of motivated and passionate people taking risks and starting new businesses. One of these folks is Lester Hutt, who is the founder of BevShots.com, which takes microscopic photos of your favorite drinks and turns them into beautiful art. The piece shown above is English oatmeal stout. I know Lester through a long-time friend, and he agreed to share some of his business experiences as well as how it has affected his family’s personal finances.

What was your inspiration for Bevshots?
I was working as a business research analyst at Florida State University, and my job was to find possible business opportunities out of university research projects and patents. I came across the work of research scientist Michael Davidson, who took photographs under a microscope of a variety of items including DNA, biochemicals, and more. He also did cocktails, which he initially used for a tie collection.

I’ve never really understood abstract art, like a blue wall at a modern art museum that is supposed to express “man’s frustration with industrialization in the 20th century”. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to make a form of modern art that is affordable to the masses.

What previous experience did you find most useful in starting this new business?
For one, my time working for Apple taught me the power of good industrial design and creating a great user experience. In addition, I had just spent the last several years running every aspect of a small business, from product development to managing employees to sales.

How did you come up with the initial funding costs?
We used a combination of loans from family, personal cash reserves, and a revolving line of credit with local community bank. Thanks to my existing banking relationship from the aforementioned small business, it wasn’t difficult to secure a loan with relatively favorable terms.

How did this affect your personal finances?
It definitely affected us quite a bit. For one, we went from two incomes to having only income to support our family. We started looking for places we could cut back, including going out to eat, canceling our cable television, clothes, and travel. We’re also thinking of buying a used car as our next work vehicle.

Besides trimming expenses, we also found that we were unable to take advantage of other investment opportunities like real estate that we might have otherwise pursued. We do still maintain an emergency fund with 8 months of liquid cash. Even in a worst-case scenario for the business, we will still be okay.

More after the jump:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Entrepreneurial //
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