Time for my annual Black Friday Buzzkill calculator! ;) Can you hear that sound? Sleigh bells a-jingling? Carol singers? No, it's credit cards a-swiping as part of what is now officially BUY BUY BUY season. Here's a mental trick that I use to … [Read the rest]
Unexpected and Wise Advice From Financial Advisor Ann Kaplan
Posted on November 21, 2013 // 2 Comments
I'd never heard of Circle Financial or Ann Kaplan before reading this Businessweek interview, but I found myself bookmarking it for later as she gives a lot of unexpected advice that you usually don't hear from a financial advisor. For example, … [Read the rest]
Barclaycard Travel Community: Share Stories for Bonus Miles
Posted on November 21, 2013 // 2 Comments
Barclaycard recently started a "Barclaycard Travel Community" at BarclayCardTravel.com. Although it's obviously another "social media" attempt to promote their new Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard (actually a pretty good travel card … [Read the rest]
Puerto Rico Exposure in Vanguard Tax-Exempt Municipal Bond Funds
Posted on November 19, 2013 // Leave a Comment
Speaking of holding municipal bonds, I've been catching up on the troubles in Detroit and Puerto Rico. Last month, there was a flurry of articles warning about mutual funds with high exposure to Puerto Rico bonds, as they were yielding over 9% and … [Read the rest]
Free 39-Week Subscription to Wall Street Journal
Posted on November 19, 2013 // 29 Comments
Same offer, but link works again. Here’s a free 39-week subscription to the Wall Street Journal. New subscribers only. Not a trial, no credit card required. Just fill out the first page, hit "Click Here", and that's it. Use a spam e-mail if you … [Read the rest]
Reasons to Buy Actively-Managed Mutual Funds
Posted on November 18, 2013 // 3 Comments
I would characterize my personal portfolio as 85% passive, 15% active, and 100% low-cost. Why is part of my portfolio managed by people trying to generate "alpha"? Aren't I supposed to say that index funds are always better? Author and money … [Read the rest]
Charts: Credit Card Debt and Household Debt Trends
Posted on November 17, 2013 // 13 Comments
Here is an interesting Quartz article by Matt Phillips outlining "the most important change in the US economy since the Great Recession that nobody is talking about". I don't know about that, I've seen a lot of these charts before. But many include … [Read the rest]
Shoprunner Membership with American Express
Posted on November 17, 2013 // 11 Comments
Update: American Express is now offering Shoprunner if you enroll at ShopRunner.com/AmericanExpress and agree to keep your AmEx card as the default payment method for their Express Checkout feature. You can still choose to use another credit card for … [Read the rest]
$30,000 Beat-the-Benchmark Experiment – One Year Update, Prosper and LendingClub
Posted on November 12, 2013 // 7 Comments
After posting Part 1 yesterday, here is Part 2 of my Beat-The-Market experiment one-year update. In order to test out P2P lending, I started with $10,000 split evenly between Prosper Lending and Lending Club, and went to work lending other people … [Read the rest]
$30,000 Beat-the-Benchmark Experiment – One Year Update, Part 1
Posted on November 11, 2013 // 6 Comments
It's finally been a full year since starting my Beat the Market Experiment, a series of three portfolios started on November 1st, 2012: $10,000 Passive Benchmark Portfolio that would serve as both a performance benchmark and an real-world, … [Read the rest]
SavedPlus Review: Automated Savings Linked to Spending
Posted on November 6, 2013 // 8 Comments
You've probably heard the adage "pay yourself first". Well, now there is a website that will help you essentially tax yourself first. Recently mentioned in Businessweek magazine, SavedPlus.com tracks your spending and automatically transfers a set … [Read the rest]
Healthcare Flexible Spending Accounts $500 Carryover
Posted on November 6, 2013 // 4 Comments
The U.S. Treasury recently announced that participants in Healthcare Flexible Spending Accounts would now be able to carry over $500 of unused funds into the next year, but only if your employer chooses to allow it. Employers can allow either a 2.5 … [Read the rest]
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