From the monthly archives:
The company has spent the past few months managing expectations. With the economy tanking and our company’s performance following the trend of all other companies in the industry, there won’t be much in the way of annual raises and bonuses this year. (We receive these incentives a few months after the end of the ... Continue reading this article…
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Throughout December, WTDirect has been offering an opportunity for new customers to earn up to $250 by opening a new account. The bank is offering a good interest rate right now (3.06 percent APY) for customers with balances of $10,000 or higher. The opportunity to earn this bonus is ending tomorrow, December 31, 2008. ... Continue reading this article…
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On December 22, a representative for Visa wrote about that company’s protection for customers who use debit cards: If your account is compromised, Visa is committed to setting things right without further aggravation or inconvenience to you. Visa’s cardholder protection policy requires all financial institutions issuing Visa products to extend provisional credit for losses from unauthorized ... Continue reading this article…
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If you do not already have an account at ING Direct and you’re interested in opening up a new savings account or checking account at this online bank, you can earn a $25 bonus just by using one of these referral links. If you transfer more than $250 as your initial deposit into your new ... Continue reading this article…
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Six or seven years ago, a couple I knew married each other and bought a house right away. I can’t claim to know their personal financial details, but I am sure the value of the house was well beyond three times their combined income. The husband explained to me that house values never go down, ... Continue reading this article…
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Every Tuesday, Smithee presents an article about his own experiences with credit cards and observations about the credit card industry. A few weeks ago I was the victim of debit card fraud. In my case the system worked very well. The bank’s automatic mechanisms noticed a few big-ticket items being purchased in Chicago, which is quite ... Continue reading this article…
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The Carnival of Personal Finance has been running consecutively for 185 weeks. The latest edition is live at the Fraud Files blog, and every Monday this celebration of the week’s best in personal finance blogs is hosted at a new location. For bloggers, hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance is a good way to increase your ... Continue reading this article…
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Over the last 36 years whose first five days resulted in a stock market increase, 31 of those years experienced an overall good year for stocks. While that’s a good track record, it’s not an infallible indicator. There are three trading days left in 2008, a lost cause for the stock market. This method ... Continue reading this article…
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In December 2007, I set a number of financial goals or targets to be accomplished by the end of this year. In some cases I was successful while in others I fell short. It’s important to keep things in perspective; when I set these goals, the economy was in a significantly different state. The goals ... Continue reading this article…
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Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. That’s a well-known quotation from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Polonius was perhaps concerned about, among other things, the public shame that could come from being a deadbeat borrower. As he proferred this and other advice to his ... Continue reading this article…
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As I’ve mentioned before, one of my long-term goals is to run a foundation to support arts education, specifically music education. To do this effectively, I would require a significant amount of start-up capital, and I’m not quite there yet. I’m not quite sure that I will ever have the opportunity to succeed, but ... Continue reading this article…
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FNBO Direct, the online bank that was recently rated best online savings account by Kiplinger, and one of my picks for best online savings accounts, significantly dropped the account’s interest rate today from 3.25 percent to 2.8 percent APY, a 20 percent decrease. I don’t normally chase the highest rates and move my money back and forth based on ... Continue reading this article…
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Every Tuesday, Smithee presents an article about his own experiences with credit cards and observations about the credit card industry. Two weeks ago I introduced you to a new credit card that offers 2 percent cash back that is deposited into a brokerage account. Then, a few hours later, I applied for the thing. In my experience, ... Continue reading this article…
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Here is how a Ponzi scheme works. The individual running the scheme promises abnormally high returns over a short period of time to the initial investors. These investors provide the start-up capital, and the schemer will do whatever he likes with that money, either invest it, spend it, or let it sit in a bank. ... Continue reading this article…
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A representative from Visa offered to answer a few questions for Consumerism Commentary readers about debit cards. I’ve written previously about five reasons to avoid debit cards, preferring credit cards for plastic payment. Here are three questions I asked Visa and the company’s responses. I have three more questions to post in the future as ... Continue reading this article…
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This is today’s big news, and you’ve probbably heard about it already. This morning, President Bush approved three-year loan to GM and Chrysler which would give these companies $13.4 billion now and $4 billion in February. There are strings attached. Although the loans have terms of three years, the government will require the companies to ... Continue reading this article…
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Recently, I mentioned that setting goals is an important part of taking control of your personal finances, focusing on the idea that the best approach is to determine your major, non-financial life goals first. This is a difficult process for many people, and many people go through life without determining a direction. There’s nothing wrong ... Continue reading this article…
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Highlights: Discover Bank, FNBO Direct, ING Direct, HSBC Advance, Ally Bank. There are two main criteria I use to determine the best online savings account and to choose where to put my money when it comes to short-term savings: interest rates and customer service. Interest rates are important because I don’t want my money to lose ... Continue reading this article…
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If the only value of higher education is the money you earn throughout your lifetime with your college degree, then SmartMoney’s recent study might help you decide where to matriculate. Ivy League schools don’t pay off as much as one might expect. The magazine surveyed the annual salaries earned by graduates of 50 of ... Continue reading this article…
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For those who have enjoyed high-yield savings and checking accounts, get ready for a difficult time keeping up with inflation. ING Direct announced just minutes ago that the bank is dropping the interest rate on the first $50,000 per person deposited in their Electric Orange checking account to 0.5 percent APY. The interest rate ... Continue reading this article…
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