Quickly since this won’t apply to everyone – If you have a American Express Business card with OPEN, check to see if you were offered $150 back at AT&T Wireless. Simply log into your AmEx account online and scroll down until you see the “Amex Offers For You” tab. Not everyone will have this, but for those that do, simply make a $150 payment to your AT&T Wireless bill by phone at 800-331-0500 with that business card, and get that $150 back in statement credit!
Fine print:
This highly scientific chart shows why many of us are so inefficient. I’m definitely guilty of this one.
Another insightful comic from XKCD, via Abnormal Returns.
Since March 2009, the FTSE NAREIT All Equity index of US real estate stocks has has nearly quadrupled. When will the party end? Mathematically, we know that bond values will go down in general if interest rates rise. But how would rising interest rates affect future REIT performance?
Here are some articles that examine historical REIT performance relative to interest rates: A Wealth of Common Sense, AllianceBernstein Blog, and Altegris Whitepaper [pdf].
The TL;DR version is that based on historical data, an increase in interest rates will not necessarily hurt REIT prices. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t. Out of the seven past periods of rising interest rates, REIT performance was positive in four of them and sometimes they kicked butt. The average statistical correlation between REITs and bonds is very low. On top of that, the actual correlation oscillates from positive to negative. Sometimes REITs and rates move in the same direction, and sometimes they move in opposite directions.
Using predictions of future interest rates to further make predictions of future REIT performance seems doubly silly.
I usually don’t write much about Black Friday “deals” as it usually involves a lot of stuff most people don’t need anyway, but this year it caught my attention that Target is selling their gift cards at 10% off face value. Here are details according to their Black Friday ad [pdf] hosted by Fatwallet.
The good news is that you can buy online, but the max discount is $30 on $300 of gift cards (less if you’d otherwise use Target RedCard with 5% off). Also, what is up with “quantities limited”? Why limit access to their own gift cards when they already restrict the time to purchase and place a cap on purchases? Hopefully they make this promo run smoothly.
As reader Helena points out, you can also use your Discover It card and get an additional 5% off if you buy the gift cards online at Target.com.
Here is a fairly balanced and informational Morningstar article about real estate investment trusts (REITs). Below are my notes and excerpts:
Random fact: Did you know you can buy partial ownership of the Empire State Building in New York City via the Empire State Realty Trust (ticker ESRT)? You’d be collecting rent from some big name tenants. ESRT currently makes up about 0.17% of the Vanguard REIT Fund, so if you own VNQ you also own a tiny piece.
Open enrollment for obtaining health insurance from the Affordable Care Act-sponsored Health Insurance Marketplace for the 2015 calendar year starts on November 15th, 2014. (If you have a qualifying event like marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, loss employment, or loss of insurance then you can enroll at any time.)
Here is a chart to help you determine if you will qualify for lower premiums and/or lower out-of-pocket costs based on your estimated 2015 household income and household size. Get more details and sign-up for e-mail reminders at Healthcare.gov.
The numbers above are for the contiguous 48 states. Income cutoffs are higher in Alaska and Hawaii.
Estimated prices for 2015 plans are supposed to be available in “early November” but there are only 9 days until enrollment actually starts. I would hope that the actual 2015 premiums will have been finalized by then!
Every since completing the Dinner Boot Camp over 8 weeks ago, we have cooked dinner at home at least 5 times every single week (heating up frozen lasagna doesn’t count). Two months! That has never happened before… The weeklong boot camp (see if still online) was done by Jenny Rosenstrach to promote her new book, but I always like starting at the beginning so I read her first book Dinner: A Love Story: It all begins at the family table. Both books were inspired by her popular blog at DinnerALoveStory.com.
The book itself is probably 50% non-fiction story about her journey and 50% recipes. The author felt strongly about the importance of family dinners and kept a journal of every single dinner she cooked for several years. I think the two excerpts below do a good job of encapsulating her views.
It’s for mothers and fathers—working, staying home, single, divorced, any kind—who crave more quality time with their children and have a sneaking suspicion that the answer may lie in the ritual of family dinner, in the ritual of sitting down together at the end of the day to slow down and listen to each other. […]
…no matter how different and harried family dinner looked during this new baby phase of our lives, it still served its main purpose: It was our day’s deadline. Even when we were in a house in the suburbs with two kids under two and the evening hours between six o’clock and eight thirty felt like we were trapped in a high-speed game of playground dodge-ball, even when the girls got a little older and we’d try and fail and try and fail to get them to eat the same dinner as us at the same time, even though each of us would have our share of late nights at the office, and even though we’d regress to our frozen veggie burger nights more often than I care to admit, the ritual of sitting down together at the end of the day remained our default mode, our time to be together. And a decade later, dinner has happened regularly enough for me to feel I’ve stayed true to my vow.
It helped that we identified with her situation as we also have two kids under two and often felt like the time between 6 and 8 pm every night was like running the last few miles of a marathon. Most recipes in the book are for a family of four. However, having two tiny ones meant we were really just cooking for two adults. So the book works equally well for couples without kids (if you don’t mind eating leftovers for lunch).
Throughout the book, you can definitely tell that she has professional experience as a magazine writer and editor. The writing is approachable and she uses a friendly, self-deprecating tone that doesn’t scare you off.
The best part about her recipes also comes from her editing skill. These are recipes explicitly honed for the tired, busy, working home cook. The recipes avoid being one-dimensional with simple ingredients like vinegar to make it salty and acidic, or honey to make things sweet and salty. There will usually be a texture component (crunchy, crusty, chewy) and at least one fresh herb. There are no added ingredients just for showing off, but if you leave something out you’ll miss it. As Albert Einstein is credited with saying:
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
There are many recipes in the book that are not on the blog. These are recipes from this book that I actually made and I could find links for. Of course some recipes we liked better than others, but that is mostly due to personal taste and none of them were bombs.
Bottom line: If you can’t spend all day in the kitchen but the idea of making minimally-processed meals appeals to you, this book includes both a nice personal story and many practical recipes for quick after-work meals. Recipe books are often about style, and I really connected with her style and taste. I would say at least half my cooking for the last 8 weeks has come from this book or the blog. If this speaks to you, I encourage you to try out the Dinner Boot Camp or the sample recipes above.
In order to extend her maternity leave, my wife is taking an unpaid leave-of-absence from her job. Since this means we will lose her employer-paid health insurance and our child has an issue that requires regular doctor visits at this time, we knew that we would have to sign up for COBRA benefits. Our employer-paid coverage ended 9/30. Somehow due to an administrative mishap, we did not get the paperwork until the third week of October, by which we already had four different (expensive!) doctor visits.
I have written before about the ability to get retroactive COBRA benefits, so I knew that we would be okay:
You have 60 days after you lose your benefits to elect to pay for COBRA coverage. However, even if you enroll on Day 60, your coverage is retroactive to Day 1. Of course, you’ll have to pay the retroactive premiums for that period. Thus, you could technically waive your COBRA coverage initially, and then wait to see if you incur any medical bills.
Her employer uses the big benefit provider Conexis to manage their COBRA administration. We were able to make our COBRA plan elections online and even paid the premiums online via electronic bank transfer. The process was much smoother than I thought it would be; some parts of the healthcare industry are just so archaic.
Our coverage was retroactive to 10/1, and all of our healthcare providers had to resubmit their claims. One thing that I didn’t expect what that we had to get new insurance card and insurance numbers for everyone in the family. I was also surprised that we were able to pick and choose amongst our original workplace options (Dependent coverage, HMO, PPO, etc.) I thought that COBRA meant we would just continue on with our exact same plan as before. Just wanted to share our story in case anyone was wondering how it worked.
Amazon has announced another feature for Prime subscribers: unlimited free online photo storage. As part of their Cloud Drive, Prime Photos will allow you to back up all your photos in full resolution via either web browser, smartphone app, or desktop PC software. The iOS and Android apps can be set to automatically upload your “camera roll” photos.
Prime Photos requires an Amazon Prime, Amazon Mom, Amazon Student or Amazon Fresh membership (trials count).
Back in May 2014, Flickr announced 1,000 GB of free online photo storage also at full resolution. Their smartphone app can also auto-upload pictures from your phone. For Google+ Photos, any photos over 2048×2048 pixels will count toward your storage limit (15 GB free; 1 TB is $9.99 per month).
On the one hand, Prime Photos provides even more value to Prime subscribers and it is good to have a service you pay some money towards. Flickr is free, but that also means they might shut down in the future if they lack revenue for ongoing support. On the other hand, if you stop your $99 a year Prime membership you’ll either lose your photos or have to pay for Cloud Drive storage. It’s not very cheap: 1 TB of storage costs $500 year.
Our family keeps a full year of expenses put aside in cash reserves; it provides us with financial stability with the additional side benefits of lower stress and less concern about stock market gyrations. Emergency funds can actually have a better return on investment than what you see on your bank statement.
Interest rates are still depressingly low, and I haven’t made any changes to how I hold my cash reserves since my last update in June. However, there are still better options out there for cash stuck in a too-big-to-fail megabank savings account paying 0.000001%.
Best Currently Available Interest Rates
If I wasn’t already invested as outlined at the bottom of this post, here are the FDIC-insured or government-backed opportunities that I would be looking into based on my needs.
Where’s My Money At?
Here’a quick recap of how I have our cash reserves split up. Keep in mind that most of the rates that I locked in are no longer available, but I did blog about them at the time.
All rates are believed current as of writing, 11/3/14.
Update: The official announcement states that effective November 1st, the new fixed rate on Series I savings bonds is 0.0%, down from the previous 0.1%. The variable inflation-indexed rate is 1.48% (as was predicted). Thus, buying a new I Bond between November 2014 through April 2015 will earn a composite rate of 1.48% for the first six months, and after that 0% plus the current inflation-indexed rate updated every 6 months.
Original post below:
Savings bonds offer a unique opportunity for individuals to buy an investment that is closed to large institutional investors. Compare the rates on these savings bonds to what you’re earning on your FDIC-insured bank deposits or even your TIPS and bond mutual funds, and you may find them a good addition to your portfolio.
Since inflation-linked savings bonds (“I bonds”) are based on CPI numbers announced two weeks earlier, we can make predictions about upcoming savings bond rates before their official announcement. This also allows us the opportunity to know exactly what a current bond purchase will yield over the next 12 months, instead of just 6 months.
New Inflation Rate
March 2014 CPI-U was 236.293. September 2014 CPI-U was 238.031, for a semi-annual increase of 0.74%. Using the official formula, the variable component of interest rate for the next 6 month cycle will be approximately 1.48%. The new fixed rate won’t be announced until November 1st (speculation below). You add the fixed and variable rates to get the total interest rate. If you have an older savings bond, your fixed rate may be different.
Purchase and Redemption Timing Reminder
You can’t redeem until 12 months have gone by, and any redemptions within 5 years incur an interest penalty of the last 3 months of interest. A known “trick” with I-Bonds is that if you buy at the end of the month, you’ll still get all the interest for the entire month as if you bought it in the beginning of the month. It’s best to give yourself a few business days of buffer time though, since if you wait too long your effective purchase date may be bumped into the next month.
If you buy before the end of October, the fixed rate portion of I-Bonds will be 0.1%. You will be guaranteed the current variable interest rate of 1.84% for the next 6 months, for a total rate of 0.1 + 1.84 = 1.94%. For the 6 months after that, the total rate will be 0.1 + 1.48 = 1.58%. Let’s say we hold for the minimum of one year and pay the 3-month interest penalty. If you buy on October 31st, 2014 and sell on October 1st, 2015, you’ll earn a ~1.49% annualized return for an 11-month holding period, for which the interest is also exempt from state income taxes. That is better than any 1-year bank CD that I can find right now, keeping in mind the liquidity concerns and the purchase limits. If you hold for longer, you’ll be getting the full 1.76% over the first year.
Given the combination of current low rates and the fact that you lose the last 3 months of interest (again, for holding less than 5 years), it might be better to wait long enough to grab 12 full months of interest by holding for 15 months (14 buying late). If you buy on October 31st and hold until January 1st, 2016, you’d achieve an annualized return of ~1.51% over 14 months. (Check my math.)
If you wait until November, you’ll give up the opportunity to lock in the 0.1% fixed rate from April. Instead, you will get 1.48% plus an unknown fixed rate for the first 6 months. The next 6 months will be the sum of the same unknown fixed rate plus an unknown rate based on future inflation. If there is high inflation for the next 6-month period, buying in October may get you a higher rate sooner. My best guess for the fixed rate is that it will be somewhere between 0.0% and 0.2%.
As for my decision, I already maxed out my contribution limits for 2014 back in April to lock on the 0.2% fixed rate.
Existing I-Bonds
If you have an existing I-Bond, the rates reset every 6 months depending on your purchase month. Your bond rate = your specific fixed rate + variable rate. Even at a low or even zero fixed rate, your existing savings bonds are paying more than current savings accounts and will continue to be hedged against inflation, so weigh carefully whether or not to redeem them.
Annual Purchase Limits
The annual purchase limit is now $10,000 in online I-bonds per Social Security Number. For a couple, that’s $20,000 per year. Buy online at TreasuryDirect.gov, after making sure you’re okay with their security protocols and user-friendliness. You can also buy an additional $5,000 in paper bonds using your tax refund with IRS Form 8888. If you have children, you may be able to buy additional savings bonds by using a minor’s Social Security Number.
For more background, see the rest of my posts on savings bonds. I’m keeping all of mine for the foreseeable future, due to their tax deferral possibilities and other unique advantages.
I’ve always been intrigued by those multi-camera home security systems that you see walking around Costco and Sam’s Club, so when I was asked to review a similar unit I took the opportunity. Here is my review of the Zmodo 4 Channel Complete sPoE NVR Surveillance System w/ 1TB HDD, done from the perspective of a mainstream consumer who wants an affordable, DIY-installed security camera setup at home. I will not be nitpicking camera specs or exploring hacking options.
Cost
My specific package model is ZP-KE1H04-S-1TB, which currently has a list price of $349.99 with free shipping on Amazon. Note that this package comes with a 1 TB hard drive pre-installed, whereas other Zmodo packages do not include a hard drive so that you can size it as you like. (There are many grouchy online reviewers who didn’t notice this fact.) This budget-friendly version has 4 channels (4 cameras recording at once), while more expensive models come with 8 channels or more.
What’s In The Box
What You Need To Supply Yourself
Setup & Installation
If you buy this unit with the hard drive pre-installed, setting everything up is literally plug-and-play. (Of course, installing the hard drive just takes a screwdriver.) You simply connect everything according to the diagram below. Make sure everything is connected first and then turn on the unit, and the unit will automatically recognize the cameras and display them on your monitor. I was up and running (with the cameras on my coffee table) in under 10 minutes.
sPoE stands for simplified power over ethernet, which means that both power and video signal travel through one cable to the camera. You’ll still need to drill holes and such for cable installation, but you don’t need to route an additional power cord to every camera. Definitely easier, and many budget systems don’t have this feature. Included are two 50 ft cables and two 80 ft cables. If you need more, you can use standard Cat5 ethernet cable. The only hard part is deciding where to position your cameras and installing the cables, which for me required crawling through the attic. I am also simply pointing one out the window.
The NVR (network video recorder) is like a simplified computer with a hard drive, mouse, ethernet port, and monitor port. You view live streaming video on your connected monitor, desktop computer over internet, or smartphone app via internet. You can only view stored video when on your home network. You can make backup copies to a USB flash drive. The NVR must connect physically to your router via ethernet cable.
More Impressions
I personally barely met the minimum requirements as the only VGA-capable monitor I have currently is our living room HDTV bought in 2007. Also, I have no Windows computers either, so I am restricted to either viewing on my home’s only TV or via smartphone app. I wish they allowed more control via web browser.
I primarily use their iPhone app, which thankfully works fine on work WiFi or cellular 3G/4G data. You can link up your app via a quick QR code scan, but if your smartphone is already on the same WiFi network it also finds your cams automatically. Both are simpler than the traditional method of setting up port forwarding. I can enable motion detector alerts via the app as well as through e-mail. The motion detection is rather sensitive, and you’ll get a lot of alerts if you aim it at windy trees. You can adjust the sensitivity on the main box, but not via app.
The 720p camera video quality is significantly better than my previous Samsung Smartcam indoor WiFi cameras. Daytime video has good colors and night video is crisp. Each camera as 24 infrared LEDs which improves illumination and are quite noticeable at night with a red glow (good for scaring off criminals?). Again, I can’t compare directly with other HD cams but the picture is more than satisfactory. You can also toggle between high and low definition streaming.
The IP cameras have an outdoor “weatherproof” casing that feels durable and high quality. They are IP-rated 65, which means it is dust-tight and can withstand low-pressure water jets from any direction. The box says the camera’s rated operating temperature is 14 F to 122 F so I’m not sure about extremely cold climates. You mount the cameras with screws, so the only real tool you need is a drill and screwdriver.
With a 1 TB hard drive, I can keep 30+ days of past footage from all 4 cameras using their “intelligent” setting which increases the video quality when motion is detected but maintains a lower quality when there is no motion detected. The recorded footage is marked with times of motion detection, so that you can go directly there without viewing the entire thing.
If you compare this with the popular Dropcam Pro, that only comes with one indoor camera and costs $200. Dropcam also has easy installation and live streaming to smartphone, but no storage option unless you pay at least $10 a month for cloud storage. The video data travels via WiFi, but you still need a power cable so that’s still one cable going to the camera. So the Dropcam offers cloud storage capability and easier portability, but this Zmodo package offers four indoor/outdoor cameras and 30 days of hard drive storage for no ongoing cost. I think the Zmodo is ideal for small business owners that want an affordable security option and the ability to review lots of past video, and also for homeowners who want permanent, outdoor surveillance and are willing to perform a DIY installation.
Pros
Cons
I received this unit for free to review with no editorial restrictions and no other compensation. All opinions expressed are my own. You can interact with Zmodo and enter periodic contests via their Facebook page.
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