From the monthly archives:
So, I got this credit card that deposits 2 percent cash back into a brokerage account. I started using it for all my daily purchases, paying off the statement balance each month. At the end of January, my points on the card were redeemed for the first time, and a few impatient days later, I had ... Continue reading this article…
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E*TRADE has decided to discontinue its collection of index mutual funds. If you hold shares of ETSPX (S&P 500 index fund), ETRUX (Russell 2000 index fund), ETTIX (technology sector index fund), or ETINX (international index fund), E*TRADE or your broker will automatically sell your shares by March 27, 2009. Even though index funds are likely the ... Continue reading this article…
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See our update with a new code. The bank Washington Mutual isn’t completely dead yet. Here is a new promotion code that will provide a $100 bonus for opening a new checking account. There are a few requirements in order to receive the bonus, however. You must open the account before March 28, 2009 with a ... Continue reading this article…
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In 2008, millions of people received checks or direct deposits from the government in an effort to stimulate the economy. The extra cash certainly helped many families and individuals, who, like the banks that received TARP funds later in the year, cushioned their bank accounts and paid off debt. Some used the found money to ... Continue reading this article…
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Claim the tax credit with Intuit TurboTax or H&R Block At Home. Are you claiming the home buyer tax credit with your 2009 income tax return? Read these new instructions. The credit has been extended and expanded to qualify for more people, including long-time homeowners. I’ve included some of the basic information below. Because the IRS ... Continue reading this article…
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I received the bad news earlier today. Continuing the trend across the banking industry, FNBO Direct has determined that it can afford to lower the interest rate offered on the bank’s savings account from 2.6 percent to 2.4 percent APY. Compared to many other popular online banks, this rate is still very competitive, and I can ... Continue reading this article…
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If everyone could “buy low and sell high” when making investment decisions, everyone would be a successful investor. I would never give this advice to anyone. First, it is obvious to anyone who understands basic arithmetic. If you want to make money, you have to sell something for more than you paid for it. This ... Continue reading this article…
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We’re still waiting to hear the official proposal, but you’re bound to hear a lot of talk this week in the mainstream media about the U.S. budget, deficit, and the plan to let the “Bush tax cuts” expire. Reporters are going to use the phrase “people earning more than $250,000 a year” with respect to ... Continue reading this article…
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From the time I started investing for the long term, almost all the advice I’ve read has pointed towards buying stocks (usually in the form of index mutual funds) and holding them for decades, rather than following trends in the news and trying to buy and sell stocks frequently. The reasons for this strategy were ... Continue reading this article…
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In the real estate boom, many homebuyers extended themselves financially to buy a house that may have been beyond their means. With the exuberant market, people were encouraged to buy with low introductory interest rates and interest-only loans, the belief that their income would increase to meet their payments, predictions that real estate prices would ... Continue reading this article…
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If you are one of the many Americans with an offshore bank account with UBS, the largest bank based in Switzerland, your name may be among those reported to the IRS. UBS has admitted that the bank has been conspiring to defraud the United States and the Internal Revenue Service. The bank will pay $780 ... Continue reading this article…
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Mint.com, a free online money tracking system, has just started including property values like houses and vehicles when calculating your net worth. Previously, the service would total up your cash and other positive account balances, then subtract your credit card debt, loans and mortgage amounts, leaving you with an almost certainly negative net worth. In my ... Continue reading this article…
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It’s true that high-yield savings accounts offer interest multiples above what you can usually find from your typical state or national bank. For example, a “high performance” money market account (savings account) at Wachovia in my area earns a maximum of 0.8 percent APY — and that’s only on balances above $250,000. The APY ... Continue reading this article…
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If real estate is truly the root of the economic recession, then this new proposal from President Obama should help. The plan calls for $75 billion to help 9 million homeowners who can no longer afford their monthly mortgage payments and are at risk for foreclosure. Here is how this plan would help. If you ... Continue reading this article…
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This week, Quicken Online (reviewed here), a free service, has added a few new features to help you more accurately and efficiently track your spending and manage your finances. As credit card offer increasingly unfavorable terms and abandon rewards, and as fewer people qualify for credit cards, more are turning to spending using cold hard cash. ... Continue reading this article…
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes, along with all the spending, the biggest middle-class tax cut in American history. Ignoring all the stuff about housing and small businesses and car sales, this will mean a yearly saving of $400 for individuals, or $800 for couples. It’s not a lot of money. People who ... Continue reading this article…
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When I first came across the term “refundable tax credit,” I have to admit I was confused about its meaning. And now that the economic stimulus bill will be signed into law today, I’ve seen that my misconception is shared by others. A tax credit is a dollar amount that decreases the amount of tax you ... Continue reading this article…
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Just a quick update this morning to point out something I think has been under-reported: President Barack Obama should be signing into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act today, which means that States (and Commonwealths) requested federal stimulus money have forty-five days to start spending some of that money on public works and improvements. No matter ... Continue reading this article…
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When is your house a liability? Does the fact that you have a mortgage make your house a liability? Or do you have to owe more than the house is worth? What is a liability, anyway? Well, it depends. Looking at your house from a financial perspective, which you should do because if you’re like many ... Continue reading this article…
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If you’ve been paying attention lately, you might have heard that throughout the economic recession, Americans have been saving more of their income. Some economists worry that saving, while good for the individual, can be harmful to the economy as a whole. This is commonly called, “the paradox of thrift,” a theory developed by John ... Continue reading this article…
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