Archives for August 2012

Stretch Your Cell Phone Plan With Vonage Mobile App (Review)

August 7, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 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.

Vonage Mobile is an Android/iPhone app that now allows you to make free outgoing phone calls over WiFi/3G/4G to landline and mobile telephone numbers in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Limited time offer with no stated end date, up to 3,000 minutes per month. You do not need to be a Vonage VoIP customer to use the app.

In addition, you can make free calls to anyone else in the world with the app. Think Skype, but it uses your phone’s existing contact list. You must link the app to an existing cell phone number, and when it makes calls it will show that number in the caller ID. I’ve used the app and the voice quality is good over WiFi. Should even work with iPod Touch or iPad if you have a Bluetooth headset. Hat tip to GudSpellur of FW.

Here are some ways that I can imagine the app saving people money as opposed to paying for an “unlimited everything” plan.

Cell Phone Only, Limited Minutes
If you’ve ditched the landline and are a cell-phone-only household with limited minutes, you can use this app over WiFi to make outgoing calls that won’t count against minutes. The people you call will never know the difference. If you do get your friends to install the Vonage app, both sides can make app-to-app calls for free using your existing address book (still uses data plan or WiFi).

Basic Prepaid Plans
If you have one of these plans that offer basic prepaid service for under $10 a month, then you can use this plan to make more calls without using minutes when in range of WiFi (home, work, cafe, Starbucks, McDonald’s, etc).

Unlimited Data, Limited Minutes
If have a plan like the $25/$30 Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk plan that offers unlimited data but only 300 mintues a month, you can use this app with the unlimited data to make additional voice calls.

Miser Mode 🙂
If you don’t want to pay for any recurring phone charges, you could link this up with a free Google Voice number and just make outgoing calls on an iPod Touch or cheap inactive smartphone. Incoming callers would just have to leave a message on Google Voice, and you’d call them back.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living
Last updated: October 7, 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.

Retirement: Saving More vs. Higher Investment Returns

August 6, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 10 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.

Vanguard’s research department released another study [pdf] comparing ways to increase retirement savings for individuals. Here’s one illustrative example; take the following baseline scenario:

  • Investor begins working at 25, but starts saving at age 35.
  • 12% savings rate
  • Moderate asset allocation (50% stocks and 50% bonds)
  • Salary starts at $30,000 but increases with age

Now, here are three ways in which a worker could increase their final savings balance at retirement (age 65).

  • Option #1. Invest more aggressively with an asset allocation of 80% stocks and 20% bonds, while keeping your 12% savings rate and starting age of 35.
  • Option #2. Raise your savings rate to 15%, while keeping your starting age of 35 and 50/50 asset allocation.
  • Option #3. Start saving at age 25 instead of 35. while keeping your 12% savings rate and and 50/50 asset allocation.

Which single option do you think has the most impact? The results are based the median balance found after running Monte Carlo computer simulations based on 10,000 possible future scenarios for each option.

Scenario Median Balance at age 65 % Increase vs. Baseline
Baseline $474,461 –
Option #1
(Aggressive asset allocation)		 $577,133 22%
Option #2
(Raise savings rate)		 $593,077 25%
Option #3
(Start saving earlier)		 $718,437 51%

Here’s another chart comparing the median retirement balances (inflation-adjusted) for (1) someone with a 6% savings rate and 80/20 aggressive portfolio and (2) someone with a 9% savings rate and 50/50 moderate portfolio.


(click to enlarge)

The title of the paper is “Penny Saved, Penny Earned”, which matches their suggestion that saving more is more reliably effective as compared to reaching for better investment returns. This information should be helpful for those that would like to avoid stock market stress but worry about giving up those potentially higher returns. If you save more, you can take less risk and sleep better at night while still reaching your goals. Hopefully this will also encourage folks to start saving as early as possible, even it is not an especially high amount.

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement
Last updated: April 6, 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.

American Express Twitter #hashtags Promotion

August 6, 2012 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.

Update: There is now a $10 off $50 gift card at participating malls, $5 off $25+ at Shell Gas, $25 off $75 at Ticketmaster.com, and $50 off $250 at Travelocity. If you have more than one American Express card, you can link one per unique Twitter account.

American Express is definitely one of the more creative card issuers when it comes to using new social media and technology. This time around they want to you to use Twitter #hashtags to earn discounts at various merchants.

  1. Link your Twitter account at sync.americanexpress.com/twitter.
  2. Register your American Express card.
  3. Tweet specific #hashtags to sign up for specific offers. You’ll get a confirmation almost immediately that you are enrolled via an @reply back.
  4. See what’s available and easily enroll by retweeting the offers on this page.

AmEx also has similar promotions going on with Foursquare and Facebook.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
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.

Lists of Companies That Consistently Raise Dividends

August 2, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 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.

I’m about halfway into a review copy of the book Get Rich with Dividends by Marc Lichtenfeld. Although there is more hype than I usually like – “easy 12% returns!” – I am learning things about dividend stock investing.

There is a handy chart in the book that compares a variety of stock lists that track companies with histories of consistently raising their dividends with no cuts. They are included below, along with a brief description and links to the full lists. Some of these have corresponding ETFs, but many of the smaller-cap companies are not covered by ETFs or fund managers and may be good targets for individual investors. Good reference.

Name Provider, Full List Requirements
S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Standard and Poor’s
  • Annual dividend raised 25+ years in a row.
  • Part of the S&P 500.
  • Liquidity requirements.
Dividend Champions DRiP Resource Center
  • Annual dividend raised 25 years in a row.
  • No size restriction, or liquidity requirements.
  • Aristocrats are a subset of Champions.
Dividend Achievers Indxis
  • Annual dividend raised 10+ years in a row.
  • Liquidity requirements.
  • Several versions of index.
Dividend Contenders DRiP Resource Center (included in Champions spreadsheet)
  • Annual dividend raised 10-25 years in a row.
  • No size restriction, or liquidity requirements.
  • Achievers are a subset of Contenders.
Dividend Challengers DRiP Resource Center (included in Champions spreadsheet)
  • Annual dividend raised 5-9 years in a row.
  • No size restriction, or liquidity requirements.
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Investing
Last updated: April 25, 2019
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 Chapter: New Edition of The Undercover Economist

August 1, 2012 By Jonathan Ping 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.

Writer Tim Harford recently published a newly revised edition of his book The Undercover Economist. I read the first edition in 2009 and definitely enjoyed how it explained economics using everyday occurrences. I wrote about two memorable examples: price targeting and coffee shops, and the efficient market hypothesis and supermarket lines.

According to Harford himself, the biggest change in the new edition is a new chapter about eggs, probabilities, and the financial crisis (naturally). As a favor to those of us who already have the first edition, he has kindly put the new chapter as a free PDF download. I’ve read it already and it was worth the time spent even though the subject has already been covered extensively.

Hat tip to MR. Harford also has a handy website that republishes the articles he writes for The Financial Times.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 25, 2019
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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