- Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond. #
- RT @keepinspiringme: Win a Canon EOS 450D SLR camera by simply tweeting the #kimcanon hashtag. #
- RT @mbhunter Carnival of Personal Finance: Parts-of-speech abuse edition http://bit.ly/7cyAqV #
- Note to self: While misusing the faucet sprayer may make me giggle, my wife is not so appreciative. #
- RT @copyblogger On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting for Your Ideas http://bit.ly/7gZgW3 #
- Blackberry? Good or Evil? #
- Round 1: Me v Snow. Winner: Me. #
- RT @The_Weakonomist: Men, I've learned that in relationships, you can be happy, or you can be right. #
Saturday Roundup
- Image via Wikipedia
Last weekend, we had 2 birthday parties. In two weeks we are having our biggest party of the year. I’m going to try to get our yard done this weekend, while my wife and a couple of her friends decorate inside the house. October is still nuts at Casa del Myhouse.
Today, I found out that I accidentally made a huge extra payment to my car. $650 too much. I thought I had deleted the auto-payment series from the bank’s site, but I only deleted September’s payment. Hopefully, I can find enough slack in the bills to make up the difference, instead of hitting the emergency fund.
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The best posts of the week:
J. Money’s doing a series on side hustles. The latest one is about chicken farming. If I lived in a more reasonable city, I’d have some chickens of my own.
Self-improvement is always good for you, kind of by definition. Here are a few ways to pick up some interesting certifications.
Lifehacker posted on Squaretrade. I can tell you that, without a doubt, I’ll never again get an extended warranty in-store.
Debanking
I’m overbanked.
The National Bank, Oamaru, built 1871: a prostyle Palladian portico on a neoclassical facade (Photo credit: Wikipedia)I’ve mentioned that before.
I won’t give up my herd of CapitalOne 360 accounts. I use those to track my savings goals, all 17 of them. I can’t drop my business accounts, my kids’ savings accounts, or the personal accounts that I actually use to spend money.
I do, however, need to simplify a bit.
Last month, I went through the hassle of transferring my 401k from two jobs ago and my IRA from my last job. Now, I’m down to just two retirement accounts. One is for my current job, and the other is a self-managed IRA with Sharebuilder.
Two down.
A few months ago, I went to yet another bank to close an account. My last job offered crappy health insurance, but balanced it out with an HSA. It complicated things, but the actual costs came to almost the same as the previous plan that didn’t have a high deductible. When I left, my HSA just sat there.
Last year, my oldest got braces, so I cleaned out the HSA ahead of time so we could pay up front and save 5% without paying interest.
Another one down.
That’s three accounts down out of 34.
Thirty-four?
Crap. That’s retirement accounts, business accounts, and personal accounts for two adults and three kids.
Bank 1 has the checking account we use, plus two savings accounts, one of which is where we store the rent money until we take a payday.
Bank 2 has a checking account, 16 savings accounts, and stock-trading account, a CD, and two IRAs for my wife and I.
Bank 3 has a checking account, and savings account for each of two businesses I own, a spare set of personal accounts, a savings account for each of the kids, and a checking account for my teenager.
Bank 4 holds nothing but my current 401k.
The only thing I can simplify without sacrificing my organizational jungle is to combine the personal accounts from bank 1 and 3. The problem is that Bank 1 has all of my bill pay information and there is still an account open for my mother-in-law’s estate. We keep that open just in case we find any other checks we need to cash. Bank 3 has my business accounts tied to my personal account and is the bank that my business partner uses, so that’s convenient to move money around.
I may be stuck.
Payday Loans Suck
- Image by vonglee via Flickr
A few weeks ago, I was approached about placing ads on this site. I was excited when I read the email. It came from a real domain, didn’t involve any Nigerian princes or wire transfers for overpayments.
Over the course of the email conversation, it was determined that, for a fee, I would place some links in a few archived posts. It would just be links to improve search engine ranking, without being an eyesore for my current readers. I don’t have a problem with that. The intrusiveness is similar to Chitika ads, which are only visible to search traffic. It’s a nice way to advertise: monetization without alienation.
Then I saw the links. I was being offered money to promote payday loans.
Payday loans offer to loan you–for example–$100 for the low(snort) price of just $25. That’s not bad. Only 25%. I know some credit cards that aren’t that good. The catch is that the loan is due in full in 2 weeks. That gives it an APR(Annual Percentage Rate) of 650%. That’s not so good.
When you payback the loan, your paycheck is pre-spent by whatever you borrowed, plus the pound of flesh fee and you are that much more likely to need their services again, digging you even deeper.
It’s not like the target demographic is terribly affluent. These are people who not only can’t make ends meet, but also can’t acquire traditional credit. They are left paying this insulting fee.
I consider payday lending companies to be immoral, unethical and generally, more than a bit dishonest. These are the people who give decent, hardworking capitalists a bad name. I’d rather go to a mob loan shark. He’s at least honest about what he is.
They got shot down.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy making money. I also enjoy the money I make here.
But not at the expense of my soul or my integrity.
Pros and Cons of Cashback Credit Cards
The news that the Bank of America is introducing a cashback credit card is of little surprise. The credit card industry is competitive and customers enjoy the thought of earning while they are spending!
There are both pros and cons of cashback credit cards however and they are not suitable for every circumstance. So, before committing to a card, consider the advantages and disadvantages.
Firstly, cashback cards can be financially profitable but this depends on whether you have the funds to make the repayments. If you are having difficulties with debt, these cards are probably not the most suitable.
The strategies for maximizing your benefits from cashback credit cards depend on making repayment deadlines. Prioritize cards that have a 0% APR introductory rate.
If you can make your repayments within this 0% interest rate, or on time each month, you will not incur any interest charges. It is important to be organized so that you always meet repayment dates.
Once the 0% APR has finished, cashback credit cards will often then revert to a high APR. If you cannot pay all your debt, these charges will mount up quickly.
If this is likely to happen to you, consider looking at alternative cards with a low but constant APR, so that you do not encounter such high charges while repaying your debt.
Cashback cards are not always the smartest move financially when it comes to outstanding debt. Although they may offer a 0% balance transfer, this is not always as simple as it sounds.
If you transfer an outstanding balance to a new card, even with a 0% APR introductory period, any repayments made will be charged against your newest purchases.
This means that it is more difficult to pay off the original balance transfer if you are also using the card to purchase new items and of course, it is very tempting to do so as you have the 0% APR available.
Be aware that if you do not pay the balance transfer amount by the end of the 0% period, you will then have to pay a much higher rate on this amount.
So you either need to be sure that you can pay off the balance transfer in full in addition to new purchases or consider using a separate card just for a balance transfer.
Although this may seem more work, it can potentially save you a great deal of money in interest charges. Remember any credit card is only worthwhile if it helps you manage your money.
Some cashback cards also have a minimum spend requirement and often this is paired with a specific time frame. Read all the criteria about the card before committing to it.
Otherwise, you could be charged for not reaching the minimum spend limit or not doing so within the required time frame. Consider these issues when choosing a card.
Cashback cards can be very useful and allow you to earn money while you are spending, but they need to be used with wisdom. Research your options to ensure you select the right card for you.
Post by MoneySupermarket.
Halloween Decorations Ain’t Cheap
This year, Americans are expected to drop $5.8 billion on Halloween, with most people spending $66.28 per person. About 1/3 of that is candy.
The rest? Costumes and decorations. $4,000,000,000 on costumes and decorations. That’s a lot of freakin’ money.
Over the years, I have certainly spent more than my fair share on building that number. We are the Halloween house in our neighborhood. A few years ago, we were even featured on the evening news. Filling a yard with decorations is expensive. When money’s tight, or you just want to save some money, how can you decorate on the cheap?
1. Plan ahead. The best time to buy Halloween decorations is in the two weeks after Halloween. After that, all of the seasonal stores are closed. If you want the best selection, get up early on November 1st and hit all of the stores. Prices drop to 50% or lower the morning after the big day, but won’t drop below that, even when the seasonal stores are closing for the year. The goods will either be warehoused or bought back by the suppliers, so there’s no motivation to sell at cost.
2. Buy used. You can find some screaming deals on Craigslist, but always check the prices. I’ve seen cardboard and wooden coffins both going for $50. One is a good deal, one is a ripoff. Do some research and you can save a ton of money on some really neat pieces. Last year, a local haunt decided to close shop after Halloween and posted a “going out of business” sale on Craigslist. There were some excellent gory corpses for sale there.
3. DIY. When department stores close, you can buy mannequins for little-to-nothing. Throw some clothes and mask on that, and you’ve got a quick monster. Grave stones can be made by gluing two sheets of insulation styrofoam together and using a Dremel to shape it and add the epitaph. Make sure you brush paint it. Spraypaint will eat the foam away. Finally, if you can run a drill, you can cobble together some truly intense props with the aid of some monster mud and discarded lumber. Monster mud is made by mixing 1 gallon of latex paint with 5 gallons of sheetrock compound. I get a gallon of paint from the “oops” bin at the hardware store, preferably in a dark color. Dip some clothes in that, then put them on a a human-shaped frame built out of 2×2 lumber, and you have something not too disimilar from actual Hollywood props.
Over the years, I’ve managed to shrink my Halloween budget, while increasing the quality of my props. It just takes some time and research.
