My Money Blog

FNBO Direct Offering 6% APY Until 9/28

Posted on May 1, 2007 // 89 Comments

Update: Please see my FNBO Direct Review for more info! Rate chasers rejoice! Look likes with the expiration of the HSBC Direct 6% APY promotion yesterday, the online bank FNBO Direct has decided to offer the rate of 0.85% APY as of January, 2013. … [Read the rest]

Our Mid-Term and Long-Term Goals Explained

Posted on May 1, 2007 // 15 Comments

If you look at the progress bars on the top right of this site, you'll see our current progress towards our mid-term and long-term goals. I just wanted to spend a minute and discuss these goals, as I haven't revisited them in a long time. First … [Read the rest]

Another $105 In Easy Discounts From Comcast Cable

Posted on May 1, 2007 // 71 Comments

Since I already wrung a few extra dollars from my cell phone bill with the Sprint SERO plan, I figured I'd try the same with another monthly expense - Cable TV and Broadband internet access with Comcast. Even though I know there are slightly … [Read the rest]

Weekly Carnivals

Posted on April 30, 2007 // Leave a Comment

I got off my virtual tush and participated in some Carnivals this week: The Carnival of Personal Finance was run by We're In Debt. It's organized nicely by topic, and my post on my current bank setup was an Editor's pick. Woohoo! The first … [Read the rest]

Sprint SERO Plan Review: Affordable Cell Phone Plan, Free Data, Currently Open To All

Posted on April 29, 2007 // 253 Comments

If you are currently out of or nearing the end of your cell phone contract, be sure to consider the Sprint Employee Referral Offer, or SERO, plan. Although it has been heavily discussed for a while on many cellular enthusiast forums, actually … [Read the rest]

The Average American’s Spending Breakdown

Posted on April 28, 2007 // 21 Comments

I've been trying to find a pie chart listing the spending breakdown of the average American to provide a frame of reference for our spending pie chart last year, and here is the closest I could find. It's in terms of pre-tax numbers, and I added the … [Read the rest]

Got Good Credit? Rent It Out For Cash!

Posted on April 27, 2007 // 41 Comments

You have bad credit. You want to buy a house. Why bother with such old-fashioned ideas like paying off debts and slowly building back your credit? You want that McMansion now! All those other sub-prime defaults are just crimping your style. Well, now … [Read the rest]

Vanguard Simplifies Low-Balance Fees, and Even Eliminates Them With Electronic Statments

Posted on April 26, 2007 // 30 Comments

Vanguard has just announced some changes to their fee schedule, which includes some great news for us smaller investors who like Vanguard but kept getting dinged by their low-balance fees. Before, you had to dodge the following $10 fees: The … [Read the rest]

Morningstar Investor Returns: Another Reason Why Chasing Past Performance Is Bad

Posted on April 26, 2007 // 10 Comments

Traditionally, when you look at the historical return of mutual funds, you are getting what is called a time-weighted return. For example, the 5-year return is what you would have gotten if you bought the fund five years ago and held it … [Read the rest]

Our Spending Breakdown For The Last 12 Months

Posted on April 25, 2007 // 40 Comments

Several readers shared their own spending breakdowns in the comments of my previous post, so that inspired me to dig up the numbers for ourselves. I don't have exact stats, and our income varies each month, but I did the best I could by averaging … [Read the rest]

Spring Cleaning: More Painful Than Watching Reality TV

Posted on April 23, 2007 // 24 Comments

It's spring cleaning time. On top of the usual build-up, we are moving in a few months to a place where there (gasp!) probably won't be a basement! I'm not the best at organization, but here's what we've done so far: Made two big boxes labeled … [Read the rest]

Redeeming Citibank ThankYou Points For Free Flights: A Great Option

Posted on April 23, 2007 // 32 Comments

I just redeemed a bunch of ThankYou points and I think I got some great rewards for doing things I would have done anyways. Consider this: I have had the Citi Driver's Edge MasterCard (one of my main rewards cards) since July, which gives you a … [Read the rest]