As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and more!

2004

Top 30 ZIPs With Six-Figure Salaries

by Luke Landes

According to CNN Money the chart below shows the top 30 ZIP codes based on the percentage of residents earning $100,000 per year or more. If you’re wondering why regions like Beverly Hills and other rich locations around Los Angeles, or regions in Manhattan like the Upper East Side, didn’t make the list, it’s because ... Continue reading this article…

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More Millionaires This Year

by Luke Landes

There are more millionaire households in 2004 than ever, and they have increased in number at a record rate year-over-year. The latest research shows that the number of millionaires has increased 33 percent this past year to a total of 8.2 million U.S. households. Most of the people surveyed said that it was not real estate ... Continue reading this article…

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Debt Help

by Luke Landes

From MSN Money and Bankrate.com, 15 signs you need help with your debt. Seek help from a credit counselor if you do: Any trip to a credit counselor should be preceded by a thorough analysis of your family’s personal finances: how much money you have saved, how much you owe, how much you have coming ... Continue reading this article…

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Fix Up Your Home to Increase Value?

by Luke Landes

An article at The Motley Fool points out the ineffectiveness of making improvements around your home to “increase its value.” It may be worthwhile in some instances, but it’s rare for the value of your home to increase in value the same amount it costs to make the improvement. So if you find yourself with ... Continue reading this article…

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Losing a Job?

by Luke Landes

If you find yourself laid off, Here are some tips from The Motley Fool that can help you in your preparations and in your negotiations at your next corporate job.

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Fed Moves Up

by Luke Landes

You may have heard that the Federal Reserve Bank (aka. The Fed) has raised its interest rate by one quarter percentage point to 2 percent. (Another way of saying one quarter percentage point is 25 basis points—a “basis point” is a hundredth of a percentage point.) Digressing for a second, I should clear up any confusion ... Continue reading this article…

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Above Average

by Luke Landes

It doesn’t always feel good to know you’re above—way above—average. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who just released the results of their National Compensation Survey, the average annual health insurance premium for singles is $810.84. I enrolled in my 2005 medical and dental plans last night. For medical I chose the least expensive ... Continue reading this article…

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Win Ben Stein’s Advice

by Luke Landes

I am going to make this really simple. It is fine to have no money when you’re young. It is not fine to have no money when you’re old. It is even fun to be poor when you’re in college or right out of it. But to be retired and in your 70′s and not ... Continue reading this article…

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Better Than The Bare Minimum

by Luke Landes

The Lazy Man’s Guide to Retirement (from CNN Money) lists five easy steps for those who don’t want to expend energy and still be able to retire. Here are the five steps: Think about how you want to live when you retire Take advantage of your 401(k) or a similar investment account Use automatic contributions ... Continue reading this article…

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My Latest Statement

by Luke Landes

I checked my credit card statement online today and discovered that my APR has increased from 11.7 percent to 14.7 percent. Now, I don’t think I’ve paid a finance charge in several years because I pay my balance off every month, but still the change disturbed me slightly. I sent a note to customer service asking for ... Continue reading this article…

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Travel Savings

by Luke Landes

Liz Pulliam Weston explains through an article on MSN Money how travelers can save money. She suggests, for frequent travelers, to build loyalty to a specific airline with good benefits rather than always shop for the lowest price. I only fly about three or four times a year at the most, so I can’t say ... Continue reading this article…

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Into The Woodses

by Luke Landes

Once again, here’s another Millionaire in the Making story where most of the money is based on property ownership. One of their properties, a condominium, was foreclosed when their broker found it for them. That’s a great way to save some money in many cases. I like the fact the couple met online. That’s more ... Continue reading this article…

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Post-Election Update

by Luke Landes

Like the rest of the country, I am dealing with the aftermath of the presidential election. The stock market rallied for the day after the elections, but it’s probably more of a response to the fact the election was over quickly, not a response to specifically the guy who won. While we could think about ... Continue reading this article…

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It Never Hurts to Ask

by Luke Landes

Or more accurately, it never hurts to call and threaten cancellation of a service. I called my cable television company today to get rid of HBO, since I never watch it. I only had it because at one point, it was cheaper for me to have it than not to have it*. That promotion ended, ... Continue reading this article…

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More Landlord Disappointment

by Luke Landes

Since July 2003, I have been paying my rent with my credit card. I do this because it allows me to “float” for about 20 days and, more importantly, because I get a one percent discount on all credit card purchases. As of next month, they are discontinuing the allowance of credit card payments. I ... Continue reading this article…

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Extreme Money Ultimate Kung-Fu Challenge

by Luke Landes

Jeanne Sahadi takes the simple question, “How do you define ‘living within your means?’” and turns it into some kind of poorly-dubbed martial arts movie or strange game show (if you judge by the title of the article). Nevertheless, I agree her with her analysis of the above phrase: Ideally, I’d define living within your ... Continue reading this article…

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Short-Term Savings

by Luke Landes

The Motley Fool on the importance of short-term savings. Having an easily accessible cash stash can prove to be one of the most important parts of your saving and investing strategy. Maintaining the liquidity of the equivalent of six-to-twelve months of your expenses means that if you run into an emergency, you don’t have to ... Continue reading this article…

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Fast Forward and Get Rich?

by Luke Landes

Scott Burns from MSN Money preaches the benefits of TiVo. In this article he claims that a TiVo device pays for itself in the value of your time saved after 12.5 hours for the $100 price to buy the device and after an additional 6.5 hours for each monthly fee of $13. His assumption is ... Continue reading this article…

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Give Me More Money, Boss

by Luke Landes

How to ask your boss for more. You may notice many of my links come from CNN/Money. It’s their fault for being good. In any case, this article presents raise-negotiating tips to help persuade your tight, wimpy, intimidating, and/or passive-aggressive boss to give you that money you deserve. Here are some of my own—Flexo’s tips ... Continue reading this article…

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Financial Update – October

by Luke Landes

Below you’ll see the charts for the month. I still have one paycheck left to receive, so that should add to the month’s tally, but since I’ve done the last few months on the 23rd, I didn’t want to break that habit just yet. I guess it would make more sense to do this count ... Continue reading this article…

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