Walmart Plus: Get $75+ Back on $98 Annual Membership Fee

Walmart+ membership gets you the following perks: Free next-day and 2-day shipping from Walmart.com (no minimum purchase). Free same-day delivery of cold Groceries & more from your local Walmart ($35 minimum purchase). Where … [Read the rest]

Best ETFs For Each Asset Class – DFA Alternatives for Small, Value, International, Emerging Markets

Some investors like to break down their investments into several different asset and sub-asset classes. For example, here is a pie chart showing the Ultimate Buy-and-Hold Portfolio recommended by Paul Merriman. You don't need to hold every one of … [Read the rest]

How Robinhood Really Makes Money, and Why It No Longer Matters

While it seems that Robinhood and Gamestop are officially the new gambling version of a multiplayer online video game (CNBC, BI, Bloomberg), this story reminded me of this past Matt Levine article which is my favorite detailed-yet-understandable … [Read the rest]

Money and Happiness: Happiness Keeps Increasing Past $75,000 a Year

Did you know there was an iPhone app called Track Your Happiness? The app basically does what the name suggests: A few times a day, you’ll get a notification and be asked some questions about your experience at that moment. The idea is that by … [Read the rest]

How Fintech Bank Apps like Chime Make Money: Debit Card and ATM Fees

An uncomfortable fact of personal finance is that you don't necessarily "pay for what you get". When a bank offers "Free Checking", it means "we won't charge you a monthly fee but we'll get our money from overdraft charges, ATM fees, and more". … [Read the rest]

Free Credit Scores From All 3 Major Credit Bureaus + Free Credit Monitoring Alerts + $50k in Free ID Theft Insurance

When I last applied for a credit card, I received multiple e-mails within minutes alerting me that someone had checked my credit report. This was reassuring, and yet I don't pay any money to a credit monitoring service. This is my custom-made … [Read the rest]

Coursera: Free Courses 2021 New Year Promotion

Online education site Coursera is offering a Learn a New Skill for Free in 2021 promotion with selected courses free until January 31, 2021. Here are a couple that are related to finance: Financial Planning for Young Adults (50,000+ already … [Read the rest]

Alliant CU Ultimate Opportunity Savings Review – $100 Bonus

Alliant Credit Union, one of the top 10 largest US credit unions by assets, has teamed up with Suze Orman to promote their new Ultimate Opportunity Savings account. The interest rate of 0.55% APY and structure appears to be the same as their … [Read the rest]

Stimulus 2nd Round, Unemployment, FSA Changes, PPP Loans 2nd Draw

I know I'm a bit late on this, but after reading several media articles, here again is my curated collection of highlights and perhaps overlooked items that might be worthy of additional research. Second round of Economic Impact Payments. Many … [Read the rest]

Big List of Free Consumer Data Reports (2/2): See Your Confidential Rental History, Insurance, Retail, & Employment Data

Updated for 2021. Here is the second part of my big list of free consumer reports from over 50 different reporting agencies. The first part included your credit, banking, and subprime lending-related information. This part includes your housing, … [Read the rest]

Best Interest Rates on Cash – January 2021

Here's my monthly roundup of the best interest rates on cash for January 2021, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. I track these rates because I keep 12 months of expenses as a cash cushion and there are many lesser-known … [Read the rest]

What If You Invested $10,000 Every Year For the Last 10 Years? 2021 Edition

Instead of focusing only on what happened in 2020, how about stepping back and taking the longer view? How would a slow-and-steady investor have done over the last decade? Most successful savers invest money each year over a long period of time, … [Read the rest]