Given that money matters are hardly taught at school at all, much of people's financial knowledge comes from their parents. Given that I grew up in an apartment smaller than the one I live in now with just my wife, I learned quickly the value of … [Read the rest]
Free Equifax Credit Alerts via PayPal
Posted on May 12, 2006 // 9 Comments
Equifax and PayPal have teamed up to provide a basic credit monitoring service that is free to anyone. I say it's free to anyone because after you click on the sign-up link, there is no verification that you actually use PayPal when signing up. In … [Read the rest]
Last updated: August 5, 2006
Swap Gift Cards For Free at CardAvenue
Posted on May 11, 2006 // 5 Comments
Got a bunch of gift cards you haven't used yet? Sell or trade them the new site CardAvenue.com. For example, you could swap an unwanted $100 Pottery Barn gift card you just got for a $100 Home Depot gift card that you could really use. I've already … [Read the rest]
Last updated: February 25, 2019
Play Money Stock Portfolio Snapshot…
Posted on May 10, 2006 // 24 Comments
A while ago I set aside $5,000 to buy and trade stocks. I call it my 'play money', as the rest of my portfolio is painstakinly allocated into index funds. But I really don't do much 'playing' anymore. I just check the stock prices every few days, … [Read the rest]
Last updated: December 12, 2011
Save Money on Prescription Meds
Posted on May 9, 2006 // 13 Comments
If you require prescription medication, and are like me and have lots of pharmacies around, you should really check out your next Sunday newspaper. Almost every pharmacy around here regularly has a $15-$20 coupon if you switch your prescription to … [Read the rest]
Last updated: August 5, 2006
28-Day Treasury Bill APY Calculator
Posted on May 9, 2006 // 16 Comments
In my previous post on Calculating and Comparing Treasury Bill Returns, it was pointed out that my APY calculation was incorrect because the way T-Bills work, you can't actually reinvest all the interest into the next T-Bill. That is true, but what … [Read the rest]
Last updated: February 2, 2015
APY to APR Calculator For Bank Interest
Posted on May 8, 2006 // 23 Comments
These days you usually get APY (annual percentage yield) from banks, but there are some times when you want the APR (annual percentage rate), which does not take into the compounding of interest as it is earned. For some reason I could not find an … [Read the rest]
Last updated: March 4, 2018
Experiment: Life Without TV
Posted on May 7, 2006 // 34 Comments
After we moved, I didn't sign up for Cable TV as I couldn't find a good deal and was morally against paying the full price of over $50 a month again. So, we decided to try life without television. We don't watch that much TV, but we are definitely … [Read the rest]
Last updated: August 5, 2006
Other Places To Stash Your Cash
Posted on May 6, 2006 // 25 Comments
Being my money blog and all, I inherently have a biased focus on the best places to keep own my money based on my own personal tax situation, time horizons, and existing accounts. So far I've mostly talked about the banks in my online savings … [Read the rest]
Last updated: February 9, 2017
Free GainsKeeper with Scottrade Account
Posted on May 6, 2006 // 10 Comments
Another nice feature of my Scottrade account that I noticed recently is that they offer GainsKeeper free with every account. GainsKeeper is an add-on program available for all brokers that offers a lot of useful tax-related features such … [Read the rest]
Last updated: June 11, 2012
Are Credit Card CashBack Rebates Taxable?
Posted on May 5, 2006 // 13 Comments
Hmm... the media seems to be addressing all my questions today. This Wall Street Journal column addresses the taxation of credit card rebates: The IRS hasn't issued any specific public guidance on whether cash-back card rebates are subject to … [Read the rest]
Last updated: April 10, 2013
NY Times Article on Online Banks
Posted on May 5, 2006 // 13 Comments
Thanks to David for sending me this New York Times article about online savings accounts. I really think this market is maturing, especially since Citibank is entering the fold. Here's an interesting quote: Unlike credit card users, who freely … [Read the rest]
Last updated: August 9, 2018
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