Online brokerage Firstrade just announced a new Commisssion-Free ETF program that includes 700+ ETFs from 40 fund families. This is a bold move as it includes both a lot of ETFs (quantity) but also the best ETFs (quality) from providers like … [Read the rest]
In early April 2018, Delta disclosed that hackers may have compromised credit card information from ticket buyers on Delta.com between September 26 and ending October 12, 2017. However, as with many of these "cyber incidents", this may just be the … [Read the rest]
Here is a First Quarter 2018 update for my primary investment portfolio. These are my real-world holdings, not a recommendation. It includes tax-deferred 401k/403b/IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts and excludes our primary home, cash reserves, … [Read the rest]
The importance of an emergency fund is often mentioned, but often the hardest thing is to get started. SaverLife.org is a program run by the nonprofit EARN to help working families by encouraging savings. Their idea here, essentially, is to … [Read the rest]
HowMuch.net compiled an infographic about the income you need to afford the average home in every US state. The key is that "afford" means that the total cost of housing take up no more than 30% of gross income. The highest income required is in … [Read the rest]
Above is a historical chart of US household retirement assets that helps visualize the shift from mostly pensions to mostly a combination of defined contribution plans (401k, 403b, etc) and IRAs. Pension share has gone from nearly 80% of total … [Read the rest]
Deal of the Day again 4/4/18. The benefit of "old-school" desktop tax software is that it doesn't require your Social Security Number and financial details to be stored in the cloud (third-party server where it can be sold or hacked). Here's a … [Read the rest]
The Chase Freedom Visa card has updated its quarterly 5% cash back categories for April 1st to June 30th, 2018. One of the eligible cash back categories is PayPal. April is also the time to make both income tax payments along with 2017 tax returns … [Read the rest]
(Update 4/7: Random Walk is no longer on sale, but Intelligent Investor is still $2.99.) Amazon has the Kindle version of two investment classics on sale for $2.99 each at the moment. These are savings of over $10 from the usual price. A … [Read the rest]
(Update 5/18/18: Looks like the available rate to new applicants is now down to 1.85% APY. This is why I don't like switching savings accounts nearly as much as locking in a good CD rate.) The Popular Direct Exclusive Savings account, offered … [Read the rest]
This WSJ article had a chart that illustrates why I run this update every month. Deposit rates at the big banks will stay low for as long as enough people don't move their funds elsewhere. The rising Fed rate changes nothing by itself. However, if … [Read the rest]
Many promotions will offer a "$50 cash card" sent to you in the mail. I recently received such a $50 American Express Prepaid Rewards card that looks exactly like the image shown in the top-right corner. I am horrible with gift cards and coupons … [Read the rest]
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