The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.
This week I will be giving away five “extreme finance packages” containing Quicken, TurboTax, and QuickBooks. Each winner will be able to choose their flavor of each piece of software.
Today is the last day to enter to win this giveaway. Response has been much slower than I expected, so your chances of winning are currently very good.
In order to put your name in the hat, read these instructions. There are many ways to increase your chances, as well, from participating with Consumerism Commentary on Twitter and Facebook.
The giveaway ends at 11:59 PM Eastern Time tonight, so make sure you enter today.
The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.
Bank of America is controlling the news cycle lately. First, the bank eliminated overdraft fees for debit card purchases. Now, the bank has apologized to a woman for seizing her parrot.
Back in October, Bank of America believed Angela Iannelli was defaulting on her mortgage and she had abandoned her house. The bank ordered a contractor to visit the house to install a new lock and otherwise secure the location. The contractor saw Luke, a blue macaw, and took the pet, believed to be abandoned, away for its supposed safety.
When Iannelli called to rectify the situation with the bank, here is how the conversation progressed, from the Wall Street Journal, where the story was originally reported:
Ms. Iannelli, who owns a diner and works part-time as a bartender, said Bank of America representatives weren’t helpful when she called in to protest. They first denied knowing where the parrot was, and later told her she could go to the offices of the contractor, about 80 miles away, to retrieve the bird herself. Ms. Iannelli said bank representatives also told her they were “tired” of hearing from her, hung up on her and advised her to seek help from the police.
This incident occurred after the owner missed only one mortgage payment. She is now suing for $50,000 for the emotional distress of the event and the week she spent without Luke, in addition to the other actions taken by the contractor. Before the contractors walked off with the parrot, they cut water lines and electrical wiring and poured antifreeze into various drains.
Even if the bank had the correct information and were stepping in to secure a house that was truly in trouble, these actions seem drastic.
Bank Sorry for Taking Parrot, James R. Hagerty, Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2010
ING Direct’s recent survey results about retirement are scary. I don’t know what the world is going to be like in thirty years, the time I’ll be approaching “retirement age.” I do know that if my pattern of increasing expenses doesn’t change until then, and if I’m still earning primary income by trading my time and effort, a comfortable retirement is going to require a lot of saved and invested money.
If you believe the 4% safe withdrawal estimate, in order to live off the equivalent of today’s $50,000 a year, I’m going to need the equivalent of today’s $1,250,000 invested. Assume a modest 3% rate of inflation and I’ll need more than $3,000,000 in 2040 dollars. Unless I make major reductive changes to my lifestyle or move somewhere in the world where the cost of living is low, I’d prefer to live on more than today’s $50,000 a year. I’m going to need a bigger nest egg.
Although it sounds sophisticated, this is speculation based on assumptions that could be very wrong. I’m doing exactly what 53% of working Americans are doing according to the ING Direct survey: guessing the amount of money I’ll need to save for retirement. Even if I were to use an online retirement calculator sponsored or designed by banks, investment companies, or bloggers, my results would still be guesses, though most likely slightly more accurate.
ING Direct is offering a planning tool that takes into account the lifestyle you’d like in retirement, your investment style, and your assets and planned contributions, and presents a savings plan. According to my results, I am surprisingly on target for over $3,000,000 in 2040. This includes a number of significant assumptions about my future income and rate of return on stocks.
According to the ING Direct survey, one third of Americans age 55 and over think their number is $250,000 or less. There is a subtle implication that this won’t be enough for many retirees.
In reality, I don’t know what my retirement will look like in 30 years. I may never be able to stop working in order to afford expenses for my future family. The best we can do is set a target that makes sense for what we know and understand of the world today, and make choices based on the assumption that the nature of money and finance won’t change too much between now and then.
What is your retirement number?
Last year, Smithee reported that Bank of America was the first major bank to allow customers to opt out of overdraft protection and the associated fees. Those customers who opted out of overdraft protection would have their card rejected when attempting to make a purchase without the funds available.
Thanks to these changes as well as the limitation of four overdraft fees charged per day rather than ten, the bank lost out on $160 million in income in the last three months of 2009. Nevertheless, the bank will continue to make changes to comply with federal regulations.
Bank of American announced additional changes coming this summer, and I expect other banks will follow suit. On June 19 for new customers and in early August for existing customers, Bank of America will cease all overdraft protection on debit card purchases. After the policy change, no customer will be able to spend more than they have available in their account while using their debit card. The transaction will be declined.
The type of overdraft protection being eliminated is the type where the bank covers the funds in the short term and your checking account balance will head into negative territory. Customers will still be able to link their checking accounts to credit cards or savings accounts, so overdraft coverage in the form of a transfer from their own account will be available for a fee $10.
The bank-covered overdraft protection will continue to be available for checks and automated payments. Banks still see this as a convenience to the customers; no one wants their mortgage payment to bounce or be denied. At the ATM, if a customer attempts to withdraw more than the amount available, the machine will warn the user than a $35 fee will be charged if the withdrawal continues.
Bank of America is making it clear that it is looking to win points with customers with this move to eliminate certain overdraft fees. I have no concern about Bank of America’s ability — as well as the ability of any other big bank — to continue to find ways to charge unexpected and excessive fees. It’s a great reason to track your finances and keep your finances simple.
Photo: taberandrew
When I post my financial reports each month, they reflect only a small piece of who I am as a person. My bank account balances are only a small part of my life although they are center stage on Consumerism Commentary. I try to avoid labels for this reason; when I reach a net worth of a million dollars, I will be hesitant to call myself a “millionaire,” a label that would describe only a small part of me.
Even when looking at my finances in whole, net worth is a small piece. You cannot forget about your net income, a number which will tell you more about your financial well being than your net worth. That is, if your net income is positive every month and your net worth is negative, you’re in better financial shape than if your net worth is positive and your net income is negative.
You can take your net worth, income, and cash flow and still have an incomplete picture of your financial wellbeing. That’s because these figures all neglect to include human capital, your ability to earn income in the future, and focus solely on financial capital, your assets.
The New York Times recently shared an article about using human capital to hedge your financial capital. If you have strong human capital, you can afford to take fewer risks with your financial capital, but if your human capital is weaker, you may need to take more financial risks to get to the same place.
The strength of human capital can be judged by the stability of your job and your ability to find work regardless of the economy. Can your skills be marketed across a variety of industries? If you are a mortgage broker, your immediate job security is tied to the real estate industry. That could be a dangerous sign for your human capital. But if you are a financial analyst, you might be able to find a job in any economy in any industry (not just finance).
If you are close to retirement, your human capital will be low. You may not be willing to spend several years training for a new job or career. Young people have a human capital advantage; time is on their side.
This measurement of human capital may be even more important and tell a more complete story about your ability to thrive financially than your financial capital. How would you characterize your human capital?
At the beginning of March, the banking arm of Sallie Mae, a publicly-traded corporation whose main business is student loans, began offering high-yield savings accounts. As I’ve mentioned before, “high-yield” is currently a joke; just a few years ago, you could deposit cash in high-yield savings accounts and count on slightly beating inflation.
It is likely your money in a savings account will lose purchasing power until rates increase again. Even then, with the proliferation of online savings accounts, the marketplace might look much different than the last time rates here high.
I’m not normally a fan of chasing high interest rates; the time and effort generally don’t outweigh minor gains in after-tax income. I suggest finding a bank that offers consistently high interest rates and sticking with them until you have a problem with the bank or could earn at least a hundred dollars more by moving your money.
Because I review banking products, I have many active savings accounts. With Sallie Mae, I am adding one more. Like Discover Bank, opening my account at Sallie Mae Bank was very easy.
Opening a Sallie Mae Bank Savings Account
Consumerism Commentary is currently giving away five “extreme finance” packages containing Quicken of your choice, TurboTax of your choice, and QuickBooks of your choice. Click here to find out how to enter.
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I never thought I’d put an exclamation mark on a sentence about credit card statements, much less be sincerely excited about it, but here we are. You have to pick your battles in life, and clearly-displayed information is one of mine. Educating people about credit card danger is another. Today, I feel like I’ve won a battle, or at least helped.
In addition to the rest of the recent changes to U.S. credit cards, any statement made after Feb. 22 will be including some information about your interest rate, penalties, minimum payments and the like. By law, this information has to be clear and obvious.
On my most recent statement, it looks like the picture below, front and center on the first page. The part that makes me unexpectedly giddy is outlined in red.
If I make only the minimum payment, it will take 11 years to bring the balance to zero. This is obvious to people who had the right education, or who made an extra effort to calculate it for themselves, but now it will be obvious to millions more.
Will it help everybody? No, not everyone looks at their statements, and some of those who do see it won’t let it sink in, or be able to change their behavior right away. But I know that if I had this information on my statements starting around age twenty, I would not have gotten into as big a mess as I did.
Frankly, I was hoping for graphs, or more bold text, but this will do for a start.
The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.
Thanks to the team at Intuit, Consumerism Commentary has “extreme finance” packages to give to our readers. This is a complete package that covers personal finance management, tax filing, and even business accounting. Five of these packages are available. Although the company balked at my initial idea of giving away free tax filing for life, I’m happy to say we were able to come up with something just as extraordinary.
This has the possibility of being a popular giveaway, so I am offering Consumerism Commentary readers a number of ways to qualify. But first, here is what is included in the “extreme finance” package, worth up to more than $300 each.
If you win, you will be able to select your choice of tax software, personal finance management software, and business accounting software.
The winner will choose one of the following options for filing taxes:
The winner will choose one of the following options for managing personal finances:
The winner will choose one of the following options for handling business accounting:
I’d like to point out that in addition to the above software, Intuit provides these free options. For filing your taxes, you may qualify for the TurboTax Online Federal Free Edition and for managing your personal finances, you may be satisfied with Mint.
In order to win this giveaway, readers can accumulate points. Each point represents one chance to win one of five of these “extreme finance” packages. The maximum number of points is 20. In other words, if you follow each of the suggestions, you will be 20 times more likely to win than someone who just leaves a comment below. Here is what you can to in order to increase your points:
- Leave a comment below (one point)
- Include in your comment a Quicken or TurboTax tip (two points)
- Subscribe to the Consumerism Commentary RSS feed (two points)
- Follow @flexo on Twitter and let me know that you have in a comment below (one point)
- Retweet the giveaway on Twitter: “Pls RT! Awesome TurboTax/Quicken giveaway from @flexo! http://bit.ly/aH8vnR” and let me know that you have in a comment below (two points)
- Become a fan of Consumerism Commentary on Facebook and let me know that you have in a comment below (two points)
- If you have a blog or other website, link to this article (three points)
- If another reader mentions in their comment that you referred them to the contest, you will receive up to seven matched points as the referrer
Of course, if you already subscribe to the RSS feed, if you already follow @flexo on Twitter, or if you are already a fan on Facebook, let us know in the comments. You do not need to re-do these actions in order to receive points.
When you comment, don’t forget to let us know what additional actions you have taken to ensure you’re awarded all your points. Also, if someone referred you to the contest, let us know who referred you so the referrer can receive their matched points.
This giveaway will remain open until Friday, March 12, 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Your comment must be posted and all actions must be complete by that time in order to be awarded your points. You will need a mailing address in the United States and must be at least 18 years old to qualify.
Now for some fine print. Intuit is providing this software directly to Consumerism Commentary readers. The software is being provided independently of the recent review of TurboTax Online and any other software reviews posted on Consumerism Commentary. Consumerism Commentary is an authorized affiliate of Intuit.
The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.
Check out the Intuit product blogs for QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Mint.
