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Americans Spend 5 Hours a Day Watching TV

Americans are watching more TV than ever at least according to Nielsen and AllThingsD. Television remains the biggest chunk of the nearly 60 hours of media consumed every week. Here's how those 60 hours break down across TV, radio, online, and … [Read the rest]

Picking Municipal Bond Funds & The Importance of Low Fees

Due to a lack of tax-deferred space, my current tax bracket, and the current interest rate spread over US Treasury bonds, I started investing part of my portfolio in Vanguard's tax-exempt municipal bond funds. As a result, I try to read every single … [Read the rest]

MyMoneyBlog.com Interview with Mint

Money management website Mint.com recently did a brief interview with me, although we did cover a variety of topics. Here's the link: Personal Finance Interview with Jonathan Ping on Money Management … [Read the rest]

Fandango: Buy $50 in Movie Gift Cards, Get 1 Free Movie Ticket

Several stores are offering a little something extra with gift card purchases this time of year. If you buy $50 or more in Fandango gift cards (can be multiple cards, but must total $50 in one transaction), you will get a bonus gift code via e-mail … [Read the rest]

Investing Charts for 2013: Looking Beyond a Great Year For Stocks

More charts! The Atlantic has a big collection of 41 economic charts for 2013. Some are neat, some I don't understand, and some I don't think anyone really understands. ;) Here are two investing-related graphs that caught my eye. The first one … [Read the rest]

Asset Allocation Revisited: How Much International Stock Exposure For Your Portfolio?

In the post Foreign Stocks For The Long Run, author Rick Ferri recently revisited the topic of how much international stock exposure you should add to your portfolio's asset allocation. I also have an older post about this - Choosing An Asset … [Read the rest]

Case-Shiller Home Price Index Update: Getting Frothy Again?

Real estate prices have rebounded in many areas since the financial crisis, so much that some people are wary of another Housing Bubble. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index measures the value of residential real estate in 20 … [Read the rest]

Chart: What Percentage of Your Budget Goes Towards Food? Should You Spend More?

Here's another interesting chart from a Businessweek article about a food-delivery start-up called Blue Apron. It shows how food costs have decreased dramatically as a percentage of total U.S. consumer spending from 1959-2013. I've seen … [Read the rest]

Coinstar $40 in coins = $50 Toys R Us / Babies R Us Gift Card

The standard fee to cash in coins at a Coinstar kiosk is 9.8%, which is too high in my opinion and I'd never pay that much. However, if you redeem for one of their gift certificates there is no fee, and there are often promotions that make it even … [Read the rest]

Amazon & Facebook: Share Wishlist, Save $5 off $35

If you link your Facebook account and share one of your Amazon.com wishlists on Facebook, Amazon is offering a $5 off $35 credit. You can always create a separate public wish list first if you don't want to share your primary wish list. Upon … [Read the rest]

Discover it Card: $150 Bonus, 0% Balance Transfers, New 5% Cash Back Categories

UPDATE - The Discover it Double Cash Back your first year $150 Cash Back Bonus is now EXPIRED Discover only has one card these days, called the Discover it Double Cash Back your first year. However, there are a few different promotions for new … [Read the rest]

Howard Marks Oaktree Client Memo, November 2013

Howard Marks is famous among many investors for his Client Memos as the chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management. He even weaved many of the older ones into a book, which I read and reviewed. I now try to read every one that comes out. … [Read the rest]