Personal Finance

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 01:43pm

My wife was in a safety meeting earlier this week and one of her co-workers mentioned a video they saw about the dangers of driving on old car tires. What’s an old car tire? According to the video, it’s any tire that is older than 6-years old. The video goes on to show how to check the date when your tires were manufactured. It’s pretty easy to figure out once you[...]

Tags: Miscellaneous, Old Tires

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:48pm

This week, the House of Representatives passed H.R.4154, titled the “Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009.” HR 4154 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to prevent the repeal of the estate tax next year. Under current law, there would be no estate tax for 2010 and your estate would transfer tax free to your heirs. What is in the H[...]

Tags: Estate Planning, government, Estate Tax

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:21pm

Bing for Ebay is now 15% cash back! Here’s a trick to double dip. First, you need to get an Ebates account ($5 bonus too). Be sure to have a Bing account too from Bing.com. Here’s a step by step on doing ‘DOUBLE DIP” with Ebates 2% and Ebay 15%. Also, check to see if you can sign up for Ebay Bucks Rewards for another 2%. http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?R[...]

Tags: Street Smarts, eBay, Ebates

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:15pm

Here are some interesting thoughts from Stop Acting Rich: ...And Start Living Like A Real Millionaire regarding your kids' "rich" friends: What happens when your children attend school and/or interact otherwise with kids who display an abundance of expensive consumer products? Your children are likely to ask you why you do not supply them with the same collection of products. Tell [...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 11:57am

With the news that Bank of America hurried up a sale of securities in order to pay back their TARP loan, the story of the many billions loaned to the “big banks” has reached an interesting turning point: they’re now more than half paid back, 57% to be precise. Here’s the breakdown of the $165 billion loaned to the country’s biggest banks. Bank $[...]

Tags: Economy, loans, banks, tarp, financial crisis

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 11:45am

During the month of November, my net annualized return with Lending Club took a bit of a tumble. The reason for this is that the loan from my “High Risk” portfolio that had gone into default was finally written off. Once this happened, my net annualized returns dipped into the high 8% range, though they’ve since recovered to just shy of 9.2%. In other news, two more l[...]

Tags: Investing, Saving &amp

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 11:15am

This was sent to TIMalert subscribers at midnight this morning: LiveStock live tomorrow 1-2PM EST & I will be calling people again so leave your number & questions Only 50 reviews today on Investimonials, c’mon guys help me out and write some honest reviews! Thinkorswim-Based Account:... .

Tags: Potential Plays, Testimonials, Cheap Stocks To Buy, Hot Stocks To Watch

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 10:06am

Home is where the heart is, so why not let more gifts come from your heart than your pocketbook? If you’re looking for some homespun inspiration and how-to’s, look no further. Say “Season’s Greetings” with homemade sweets and treats. Nearly everyone enjoys a homemade dessert, but not everyone has the time or the ability to do the making or the baking. Make the edible [...]

Tags: Frugality, Frugal Living

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:59am

Welcome to tracking of income and expenses for the month. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month. This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid unt[...]

Tags: budget, Finances

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:49am

Here’s the 5-day forecast for my part of the country: It’s not a big deal unti you realize that I live 40 miles from the Gulf and we NEVER see snow in our area.

Tags: Miscellaneous

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:30am

I'm sure you are probably wondering what the connection is between the two. I've posted before about the virtues of an Emergency Fund and how much they've helped me in the past. I'm sure this will be a controversial post but I wanted to stress again how important it is to have money set aside for those unknowns in your life. Consider this real life example.... I have a friend [...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:30am

“I love to go shopping. I love to freak out salespeople. They ask me if they can help me, and I say, “Have you got anything I’d like?” Then they ask me what size I need, and I say, “Extra medium.”” — Stephen Wright That would certainly make shopping more fun! Hope you guys have a fantastic weekend – only a few more[...]

Tags: quotes

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:20am

W-2 tax forms for your 2009 income taxes will be mailed out by your employers within the next month or two.  In my last job we worked closely with many companies sending out tax forms and December and January were extremly busy months as they scrambled to make sure that they had all the correct information and met all the IRS tax form deadlines. Inevitably someone would [...]

Tags: Taxes, W-2 form, W-4 form, W-4 withholding, W2 tax

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:17am

I’m free. Yes. I quit. I’m gone. Out the door, never to return. A bird that has flown the coop. Last night, after I finally finished the latest iteration of the Index from the Black Lagoon, I mailed the damn thing off with an e-mail to our client editor letting him know I’m taking my 350 unused vacation hours, starting TODAY. That will carry me through to the end of t[...]

Tags: Retirement, Workplace issues, layoff

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:04am

My mortgage company approved my request to delete escrow.  Now I can pay my own property taxes and hazard insurance.  My first tax bill was due on December 1st and I just found out yesterday.  Not off to a great start, huh?  But I have until December 31st to pay without penalties or interest. Whew! Over the course of 2009, my financial software tells me that (on average) I spen[...]

Tags: Just Bloggin&#039

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:00am

Marco writes in: Most of your “money tips” are stupid. Why would I waste my time doing this stuff to save fifty cents? I want to learn how to make money not how to save a nickel. Whether or not you take advantage of the huge benefits of frugality is all a matter of perspective. If you spend your time looking at just the short term, I’d agree that many frugal tips a[...]

Tags: Frugality, Getting Started

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 08:57am

The Boston Globe article: Cold cash gains new warmth as holiday gift in hard times reports that cash is at the top of most gift lists. And as the nation has rekindled its sense of thrift - today’s personal savings rate of 4.5 percent is double that of a year ago - financial institutions are offering a flurry of deals to entice shoppers looking for the perfect savings account, certificate of [...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 08:29am

It’s Free Money Friday! This week we have a great sign up bonus for a checking account from PerkStreet Financial! How to Get Your Sign Up Bonus Open a PerkStreet Financial account with a $25 minimum deposit by December 31, 2009. Keep the account active for three straight months (90 days). Get $50 deposited into your account within 15 business days of the end of the third month. PerkStr[...]

Tags: Quick Money

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 08:00am

This week, Consumerism Commentary is matching your charitable donations up to $4,000. Here are the details. It’s time again for checking in with the state of my finances. Although a few months ago, I changed the format to isolate my “side business” from my personal finances, I’ve changed my mind yet again. It makes more sense just to leave all my accounts gr[...]

Tags: income, Net worth, Monthly Update, Flexo, expense, balance sheet

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 08:00am

Let’s face it; our wonderful country that prides itself on its many freedoms, opportunities and amazing history doesn’t consist of the smartest people in the world. And with two-thirds of the country not knowing what the Food and Drug Administration does and one fifth of us believing that the Sun orbits around the earth, it’s no surprise that the average American’s financia[...]

Tags: expenses, Money Tips

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 08:00am

We didn’t “cut the cable cord,” we never had it installed in our apartment. And yet, the boyfriend and I are total “Heroes” and “LOST” addicts – how do we live? I’ve written about how to live without television before, but I wasn’t really doing it back then, because I was living with my parents, who had the full cable+Showtime+HBO package[...]

Tags: Television, Cable, Save Some

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 07:50am

There’s an interesting article on the Consumerist two days ago discussing a paper written by law professor Brent T. White of the University of Arizona. The paper, “Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis,” argues that more people should be strategically defaulting on their mortgages but don’t because they [...]

Tags: Mortgages, Your Take

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 07:47am

As I’ve said more than a few times on this blog, have you considered a credit union? CNNMoney has an article on their site today that points out some of the benefits to switching to a credit union if you are unhappy with some of the changes that banks are making to their credit cards. As regulations tighten on banks and financial institutions, they are coming up with new ways to keep e[...]

Tags: Credit - Debt

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 07:30am

REMINDER: LiveStock is live later today 1-2PM EST from the Livestream NYC studio, tune in and learnnnn So some of you know I starred in 5 of the 6 episodes of season 1 of ‘Wall Street Warriors’ (of which you can buy the DVD set) back in 2006 as my hedge fund was crumbling, but they [...] .

Tags: Videos, Wall Street Warriors, Wall Street Warriors Brett Hickey, Wall Street Warriors Laetitia, Wall Street Warriors Season 3, Wall Street Warriors Timothy Sykes

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 07:00am

In the comments on a recent post about peer pressure, I mentioned a quote that I’d edited from the original draft. (I write a lot of stuff that doesn’t make it into final articles. It’s as if there should be “bonus features” for GRS, like on DVDs.) Anyhow, I re-read John T. Reed’s Succeeding recently, and was struck by this quote, which d[...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 07:00am

When it comes to your money, there’s falling behind, catching up, staying even, and getting ahead. Which one do you want to be doing? I much prefer getting ahead (or at least staying even) but I’ve definitely been there when it comes to falling behind or catching up. When I was falling behind, it seemed like every month was a struggle. I’d resolve that this month thin[...]

Tags: Financial health

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 06:12am

According to the recent Wall Street Journal article Resolved: Spend Less Next Year, people are getting ready to commit to making changes to their financial affairs. Again. But more seriously this time. So serious that they are resolving, not simply talking about, the changes. So — this time — it will really count. But not until next year. (We’ve got to go holiday shop[...]

Tags: Saving Strategies, Ranting, new years resolutions

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 06:00am

Here are some articles from around the personal finance blogosphere that I think you might like. Do not miss the big third anniversary give-away at The Financial Blogger! Entering the contest requires little effort and the prizes are outstanding. First prize is an iPod Touch, second prize is a $50 Amazon gift certificate and third prize is a $25 gift certificate. Click on over right away! Being Fr[...]

Tags: Friday Gatherings

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 05:29am

Here's a simple money saving tip that I hit on recently. Some of you probably figured this out a long time ago, but for me it was a very nice discovery. I've been a subscriber to Consumer Reports magazine for years, and even subscribed to their website for some time. But it irked me that the cost for their website subscription was so high -- $19 a year if you're a subscriber to CR m[...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 05:19am

For weekday updates of what I find to be some of the most interesting personal finance articles on the web, follow me on Twitter. For now, here are some pieces I found especially worthwhile and some of the carnivals Free Money Finance was in this week and my posts that were included: EDITOR'S CHOICE! Carnival of Money Stories - Five Steps to Six Figures in Seven Years  Fiscal Fizzle t[...]