Updated. American Express has a product called Serve - a combination of their prepaid credit card and a Paypal-like online payment service. No credit checks, no monthly fees, and one free ATM withdrawal per month (the ATM itself may charge a … [Read the rest]
New inflation numbers were just released for September 2012, so here's the usual semi-annual update. New Inflation Rate March 2012 CPI-U was 229.392. September 2012 CPI-U was 231.407, for a semi-annual increase of 0.88%. (CPI-U increased 2.0% … [Read the rest]
As you probably know, I'm not an advocate of market timing. Jumping in and out of stocks is usually based on fear - either fear of missing out on hot returns or fear of more losses. However, if you're going to do it, I figure you should announce … [Read the rest]
Mobile payments are hot, and start-up LevelUp let's you pay by scanning a QR code from your smartphone that is linked to your existing credit or debit card. You know what that means... venture capital spent on customer acquisition! New users can … [Read the rest]
I ended up ordering a FreedomPop mobile hotspot last week for the 500 mb in free wireless internet each money, and have been playing with it for a couple of days. Here's a review including what came in the box, hotspot size comparison, download … [Read the rest]
The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund is designed to track the entire spectrum of US bonds (well, those that are publicly-traded, taxable, and investment-grade). It is the second-largest bond fund out there, with $160 billion in assets and … [Read the rest]
Here's another potential way to cut those monthly expenses. FreedomPop is a start-up offering wireless 4G data service with a free basic plan including 500 megabytes data per month. You can earn more free data by referring your friends or doing … [Read the rest]
These days when you inquire about repairing something, you're often confronted with a $50-$100 minimum diagnostic charge with no guarantee that it'll be fixed. Combine this with carefully planned obsolescence by the manufacturers, and it's no … [Read the rest]
Here's a friendly reminder for those on the hunt for a new job. Many job-search expenses may be tax-deductible, so knowing the rules can save you money at tax time. As you might expect from the IRS, the rules aren't straightforward: You have … [Read the rest]
Here is my monthly update of the trailing total returns for the major asset classes that I find useful. I am using passive ETFs to track asset classes, as they represent "real" investments that you can buy and sell. See August 2012 asset class … [Read the rest]
Here's yet another retirement rule-of-thumb, this time by Fidelity Investments. [...] the average worker may replace 85 percent of his pre-retirement income by saving at least 8 times his ending salary. In order to reach the 8X level by age 67, … [Read the rest]
The Barclaycard NFL Extra Points Credit Card is currently offering 10,000 bonus points after making $500 in purchases over the first 90 days. That's worth $100 in statement credits which you can use to increase your savings rate, or they have other … [Read the rest]
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