My Money Blog

Swap Gift Cards For Free at CardAvenue

Posted on May 11, 2006 // 5 Comments

Got a bunch of gift cards you haven't used yet? Sell or trade them the new site CardAvenue.com. For example, you could swap an unwanted $100 Pottery Barn gift card you just got for a $100 Home Depot gift card that you could really use. I've already … [Read the rest]

Play Money Stock Portfolio Snapshot…

Posted on May 10, 2006 // 24 Comments

A while ago I set aside $5,000 to buy and trade stocks. I call it my 'play money', as the rest of my portfolio is painstakinly allocated into index funds. But I really don't do much 'playing' anymore. I just check the stock prices every few days, … [Read the rest]

Save Money on Prescription Meds

Posted on May 9, 2006 // 13 Comments

If you require prescription medication, and are like me and have lots of pharmacies around, you should really check out your next Sunday newspaper. Almost every pharmacy around here regularly has a $15-$20 coupon if you switch your prescription to … [Read the rest]

28-Day Treasury Bill APY Calculator

Posted on May 9, 2006 // 16 Comments

In my previous post on Calculating and Comparing Treasury Bill Returns, it was pointed out that my APY calculation was incorrect because the way T-Bills work, you can't actually reinvest all the interest into the next T-Bill. That is true, but what … [Read the rest]

APY to APR Calculator For Bank Interest

Posted on May 8, 2006 // 23 Comments

These days you usually get APY (annual percentage yield) from banks, but there are some times when you want the APR (annual percentage rate), which does not take into the compounding of interest as it is earned. For some reason I could not find an … [Read the rest]

Experiment: Life Without TV

Posted on May 7, 2006 // 34 Comments

After we moved, I didn't sign up for Cable TV as I couldn't find a good deal and was morally against paying the full price of over $50 a month again. So, we decided to try life without television. We don't watch that much TV, but we are definitely … [Read the rest]

Other Places To Stash Your Cash

Posted on May 6, 2006 // 25 Comments

Being my money blog and all, I inherently have a biased focus on the best places to keep own my money based on my own personal tax situation, time horizons, and existing accounts. So far I've mostly talked about the banks in my online savings … [Read the rest]

Free GainsKeeper with Scottrade Account

Posted on May 6, 2006 // 10 Comments

Another nice feature of my Scottrade account that I noticed recently is that they offer GainsKeeper free with every account. GainsKeeper is an add-on program available for all brokers that offers a lot of useful tax-related features such … [Read the rest]

Are Credit Card CashBack Rebates Taxable?

Posted on May 5, 2006 // 13 Comments

Hmm... the media seems to be addressing all my questions today. This Wall Street Journal column addresses the taxation of credit card rebates: The IRS hasn't issued any specific public guidance on whether cash-back card rebates are subject to … [Read the rest]

NY Times Article on Online Banks

Posted on May 5, 2006 // 13 Comments

Thanks to David for sending me this New York Times article about online savings accounts. I really think this market is maturing, especially since Citibank is entering the fold. Here's an interesting quote: Unlike credit card users, who freely … [Read the rest]

Merging SEP and Rollover IRA Funds with Traditional IRA

Posted on May 4, 2006 // 6 Comments

I love Vanguard, but it seems all their funds require $3,000 to open, except for the STAR fund, which really doesn't interest me. Unfortunately, I could only contribute $2,500 to my SEP-IRA for 2005. Arrgh. The good thing is that, if you have a … [Read the rest]

Stock and Options Trading Book Suggestions?

Posted on May 3, 2006 // 24 Comments

I'm currently finishing up All About Asset Allocation by Richard Ferri and I think I've had my fill of books about index funds. Now that my primary portfolio is set up (I'm fighting the urge to tinker already), I'm considering splashing around with … [Read the rest]