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Citi ThankYou Preferred Card Review

Our partner Citi has refreshed their Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card. Here are the highlights: Enjoy 0% Intro APR on purchases for 15 months from date of account opening and 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months from date of first … [Read the rest]

Best Value Smartphone Plan For Multiple Lines? T-Mobile Simple Choice Family Plan

A few months ago there was a flurry of newspaper articles about families with huge $300+ cell phone bills. I don't have to deal with this yet, but here is a value option for those of you paying for multiple lines for parents, grandparents, kids, or … [Read the rest]

$30,000 Beat-the-Benchmark Experiment Update – September 2013

Here's the September 2013 update for my Beat the Market Experiment, a series of three portfolios started on November 1st, 2012: $10,000 Passive Benchmark Portfolio that would serve as both a performance benchmark and an real-world, low-cost … [Read the rest]

Mosaic: Crowdfund Solar Projects With Just $25, Earn 5% Interest

Mosaic is a new crowdfunding start-up allows investors to invest in clean energy projects with as little as $25. A solar power farm needs financing to get built. They sell the energy produced to customers like major utilities and then pay investors … [Read the rest]

Groupon: Sephora $5 for $10 Gift Card

Groupon is offering a $10 gift card to Sephora for $5. Can be used in store, online, via mobile devices, or at any Sephora inside JCPenney. Limit one per person. I was going to say I've never shopped there, but I think I did buy a gift once. … [Read the rest]

Chart: Investment Returns Vary, Even Over The Long Run

Updated and revised 2013. You often hear that stock investing is a sure thing over the "long run". But as this chart from the NY Times and Crestmont Research shows, there is still a lot of variability involved. The matrix below visually … [Read the rest]

Betterment Bond Portfolio Asset Allocation Changes 2013

Online investment manager Betterment.com recently announced an upcoming change to their portfolio asset allocation, specifically their bond portion. Here's a visual example of the ETF changes: (click to enlarge) I have mixed feelings about this … [Read the rest]

Smart DIY Home Security Startups: Canary and Piper

I've written about my Simplisafe DIY security system which I still use and like, but Canary and Piper are two new startups that are trying to disrupt the industry even further. Similar to what Nest did to thermostats, they use a combination of … [Read the rest]

Toys R Us, Babies R Us Price Match Policy Update

Toys R Us and Babies R Us recently improved its in-store Price Match Guarantee policy to include online retailer prices from select merchants (press release). Previously, it only matched price from other physical store. The eligible retailers … [Read the rest]

Stat of the Day: Tuition Discount Rate

Right now, freshmen are moving into dorms all around the country and parents are scrambling to pay the bills. I've written about how many students don't pay sticker price on college tuition, but I recently ran across another statistic that tracks … [Read the rest]

New Class Action Settlements: Naked Juice, Barbara’s Bakery

Here are a few new proposed class action settlements that may affect you. They both involve popular food products that marketed themselves as "All Natural" and ran into some controversy: Naked Juice. If you bought an eligible Naked Juice product … [Read the rest]

LendingClub and Prosper vs. High Yield Junk Bonds

Yesterday, I posted a 9-month update on my $10,000 P2P lending portfolio with loans from Prosper and LendingClub. Every so often it is pointed out that lending unsecured money directly to random people at high interest is not very safe, and you … [Read the rest]