Below is a chart of the breakdown of government spending from 50 years ago, 25 years ago, and today. There are many differences between the political and economic environments of 1962 vs. 1987 vs. 2012, but I still think it's still very … [Read the rest]
SmartMoney magazine has released the results of their Annual Broker Survey in its June 2012 issue. Check out the attached article for additional commentary and insight into rankings and methodology. You'll find my own commentary on their findings … [Read the rest]
Old security system vs. New security system I've never had a security system until now, other than our dogs which are all bark and no bite. I suppose the main reason for that is that I didn't own enough property to be worth protecting. … [Read the rest]
The Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card from our partner Citi is a rewards credit card where the primary feature is currently an Intro 0% APR offer for 15 months. Here are the highlights: Enjoy 0% Intro APR on purchases for 15 months from date of … [Read the rest]
...because it looks like I'm getting another one. After seeing repeated news articles titled "Mortgage rate set record lows", I'm now looking at refinancing to a 15-year fixed mortgage for 3% with all lender closing costs covered. I've seen … [Read the rest]
Reaching financial independence faster boils down to either increasing your income or decreasing your expenses. This is why so many books and blogs focus on frugality and saving money. However, too often the term frugality conjurs up the image of … [Read the rest]
SunTrust Bank is offering 30,000 Delta Skymiles for opening a new checking account by 6/30 with qualifying direct deposit and choosing the Delta SkyMiles World Check Card. Available in AL, AR, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, WV, VA and Washington, … [Read the rest]
Summer is coming, and that often mean rising gas prices. A comment from reader Thadf reminded me of an old post from late 2008 about hedging gas prices using ETFs. He points out that looking back, using the United States Gasoline ETF (UGA) was a … [Read the rest]
As new parents-to-be, we have been exploring our options for paid and unpaid family leave from work. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but I was pretty surprised by all the possible permutations that you could do. I would add that while … [Read the rest]
If you're like me, you have a cabinet in your kitchen stuffed with a scratched and stained mess of Gladware, Ziploc, or Tupperware food containers and an even larger stack of lids that never seem to fit. I even remember telling myself to stick with … [Read the rest]
"Sell in May and go away" is a rhyming market-timing slogan that may never... go away. Here's a graphic that seems to support the idea that stocks have historically performed much worse between May and October than the rest of the year. Credit to … [Read the rest]
Chase Exclusives is a program that encourages you to open a Chase checking account whenever you have any other relationship with Chase. I closed my Chase (formerly WaMu) account a while back after they slowly started making it harder to keep as a … [Read the rest]
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