Index funds are growing increasingly popular. Yet Carl Richards tweets that over the last 15 years, the actual investor return for the popular Vanguard S&P 500 index fund (VFINX) lags nearly 2% a year behind the fund's official return. That works … [Read the rest]
I'd like to make a habit of reading a book every other week in 2014. My first book is The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. This 2006 NYT bestseller has already been well-discussed, but I saw it at my library's … [Read the rest]
It is very tempting to invest in an actively-managed mutual fund that advertises above-average historical returns. Why would you bother investing in the ones with below-average returns? However, there’s something behind the whole “past performance … [Read the rest]
After losing their customers' credit card numbers and other personal data, Target is offering free credit monitoring services at creditmonitoring.target.com to anyone who shopped at their US stores. (Supposedly the data breach "only" affected the … [Read the rest]
2013 was a great year for US stocks, and that also means that many mutual funds distributed (taxable) capital gains to their shareholders. ETFs are hot right now and there are many articles like this one which tout the tax-efficiency aspect of ETFs … [Read the rest]
Update - This offer is now EXPIRED Frontier Airlines is a lesser-known budget airline that actually has a pretty decent nationwide footprint using its main central hub at Denver. (see route map). For example, you could fly from Los Angeles to New … [Read the rest]
Reminder for last quarter of 2013. If you'll earn income outside of your W-2 paycheck this year, you may need to send the IRS some money before the usual tax-filing time. Here are the due dates for paying quarterly estimated taxes in 2013; they are … [Read the rest]
The problem with most New Year's resolutions is that they just take a moment to make but to actually accomplish it you'll need to re-make that decision hundreds of times. If you're trying to be healthier, every single day you'll have to choose the … [Read the rest]
Inside this Morningstar article discussing the choice between a prepaid 529 plan or a 529 college-savings account, there was an updated chart comparing the 10-year growth rates of tuition at 4-year public and private universities, the S&P 500 index, … [Read the rest]
While walking through an IKEA home furnishings store last week I saw a bunch of neat "model homes" that took up very little space. Supposedly every IKEA store has their own sampling of small space floor plans - only a few are profiled on their … [Read the rest]
Annual reminder for 2014. Want to get back on track for the new year? Here is a list of ways to get free credit reports, free credit scores, and free credit monitoring services. Remember that there are three major consumer credit bureaus - … [Read the rest]
While dividend size is not the primary driver of my investment decisions, I still love seeing dividend distributions arrive in my brokerage account and consider them a critical part of my portfolio's total return. Eddy Elfenbein of Crossing … [Read the rest]
The Best Credit Card Bonus Offers – 2026
Big List of Free Stocks from Brokerage Apps
Best Interest Rates on Cash - 2026
Free Credit Scores x 3 + Free Credit Monitoring
Best No Fee 0% APR Balance Transfer Offers
Little-Known Cellular Data Plans That Can Save Big Money
How To Haggle Your Cable or Direct TV Bill
Big List of Free Consumer Data Reports (Credit, Rent, Work)