Energy Star Appliance Rebates Available Nationwide

"You may be eligible to receive rebates from your state or territory for the purchase of new ENERGY STAR qualified appliances. These rebates are being funded with $300 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Under this … [Read the rest]

Anyone Use CarBargains.com Price Negotiation Service?

The car buying strategy that I hear recommended most often is to decide on which car you want, down to all the options e-mail (or previously fax) the fleet managers of 3-5 local dealers, and ask for their best deal pit each of them against … [Read the rest]

Lonely Planet Offers Free iPhone Apps To Travelers

In response to the disruption caused by a certain Icelandic volcano, Lonely Planet has made their iPhone apps for 13 European cities free until April 22nd. These usually cost $15.99 each, and seemed to work fine on my iPod Touch. From their … [Read the rest]

Portfolio Check: Do You Need Investment Management Help?

I received a thought-provoking comment last week on my Fidelity Portfolio Advisory Service review. Since this post is a couple months old by now, I doubt most readers saw it. After reading it, my first guess was that somehow the visitor was … [Read the rest]

Savings I-Bonds March 2010 CPI Update: 1.54% Variable Rate

New inflation numbers for March 2010 were announced today, so it's time for the usual semi-annual update and rate predictions. New Inflation Rate September 2009 CPI-U was 215.969. March 2010 CPI-U was 217.631, for a semi-annual increase of … [Read the rest]

Short Film: The Cheapest Man in the Room

Do you think you're cheap? Or know someone who is? Well, unless you've brought supermarket cheese samples on a date, they may not be when compared to The Cheapest Man in the Room. Ross Carter lives a normal life … for a guy on a budget. … [Read the rest]

Insurance Quiz: Can You Beat 4 out of 10 Correct?

Argh... they got me. I usually filter out PR emails, but I went ahead and took the Insurance Intelligence Quiz by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). According to them, a recent survey found Americans only answered an … [Read the rest]

NY Times Financial Tune-Up: Interactive Checklist

The NY Times has a new series called the Financial Tuneup: Take a Few Hours and Unlock Some Cash. Essentially these are all the things that you probably know you should do, but never get around to. By compiling them all into a interactive … [Read the rest]

Surviving the Great Baseball Card Bubble

From the 1630s tulip mania to the Roaring 1920s to the Dot-com Bust to Real Estate, I thought I had read about all the bubbles. But it seems that I forgot that I was right in the middle another one - the baseball card craze of the late 1980s and … [Read the rest]

How Much Did Your Tax Return Cost? U.S. Average $229

As CPAs everywhere are burning the midnight oil, the National Society of Accountants (NSA) released the results of their 2009-2010 Fee Survey of nearly 8,000 tax preparers, which showed the average tax preparation fee for an itemized Form 1040 with … [Read the rest]

Chase Sapphire Card: $100 Signup Bonus

The Chase Sapphire Card is a new rewards credit card that is offering 10,000 bonus points after your first purchase on the credit card, which can be redeemed for $100 cash. No annual fee. As a rewards card, it offers 1 point for every dollar in … [Read the rest]

Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan: Free $25 To Start

The Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan is again offering a $25 refer-a-friend bonus if you open an account and deposit at least $25 by June 30, 2010. You can be a resident of any state, and there are no application or annual fees. Rated a … [Read the rest]