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.

Recent Investment Returns By Asset Class – August 2012

Now that our portfolio size has become more significant, I want to keep on top of things better while still avoiding most of the market noise. I took some ideas from how others share investment return data (see here and my 2011 year-end returns … [Read the rest]

Dividend Yield Definitions: SEC Yield vs. 12-Month or TTM Yield

When looking at the dividend payout of stocks and ETFs, there are actually a few different ways to measure dividend yield. In general, dividend yield is defined as: $latex \frac{\text{annual dividends per share}}{\text{share … [Read the rest]

Digital Postal Mail / Zumbox Review

Digital Post Mail, formerly just known as Zumbox, is a service that tries to turn all your physical mail into digital format. Hat tip to reader Christina. My first reaction was that it seems very similar to Manilla.com. According to TechCrunch, … [Read the rest]

Free 2-Year Subscription to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine

Here's a link for a free 2-year subscription to Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine from RewardsCountry. There is a short survey on the second page, mine was something about watches. There is no credit card required so they can't auto-renew … [Read the rest]

Stock Market Returns Are Never Average

I was updating my portfolio spreadsheet over the weekend and noticed that many of my funds have been a quite a roll recently. The trailing one-year total return of the US stock market is over 21%. I don't know of any market "expert" that called … [Read the rest]

Virgin America Visa Credit Card Review: 20,000 Point Bonus = Free Flights

The Virgin America Visa® Signature Card is currently running a limited-time bonus of 20,000 Elevate points after your first purchase of any amount (ends August 31st). I haven't flown Virgin America before, but they are an airline similar to JetBlue … [Read the rest]

LivingSocial Takeout & Delivery: $1 for $10 Value

Back again for limited time. LivingSocial is spreading into being a central site for ordering takeout and delivery from local restaurants. Right now they are offering $10 worth of food for only $1. Check out their restaurant list first before … [Read the rest]

Financial Freedom and Parenthood

Last week I finally got to meet the most beautiful girl in the entire world: I've only been a parent for a matter of days and am actively suffering from sleep deprivation, but here are some thoughts which I can revisit later and probably laugh … [Read the rest]

Library Elf – Free Alerts To Prevent Overdue Library Books

Library Elf is a third-party website worth checking out that helps you keep track of library books that are due soon, overdue, and ready for pickup. Their free service offers basic e-mail reminders on borrowed items that are either due soon or … [Read the rest]

Life Insurance Advice From a Life Actuary

Life insurance tends to be one of those things that you know may be good for you, but is so easy to put off. For one, it makes you confront something uncomfortable: possibly untimely death. On top of that, some insurance products are so … [Read the rest]

TradeKing and Zecco Merger Details

If you're an account holder at either online broker TradeKing or Zecco Trading, you probably know that the two agreed to merge recently. I think the merger makes sense, as they were pretty similar and there is room for savings in consolidation. I … [Read the rest]

Zeek Rewards: Same Ponzi Scheme, Different Victims

I read on CNN today that a company called "Zeek Rewards" was just shut down by the SEC for being a ponzi scheme. After some research into how ZeekRewards worked, all the same telltale signs were there from the original Ponzi scheme and also another … [Read the rest]