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avatar You are viewing an archive of articles by Smithee. Smithee formerly lived primarily on credit cards and the good will of his friends. He is a newbie to personal finance but quickly learning from his past mistakes. You can follow him on Twitter, where his user name is @SmitheeConsumer.

Smithee

Credit Card Policies Unfair? Tell the Fed.

by Smithee

The Federal Reserve Bank issued a proposal this past May to: prohibit unfair practices regarding credit cards and overdraft services that would, among other provisions, protect consumers from unexpected increases in the rate charged on pre-existing credit card balances For a limited time, you can add your opinion to this proposal (scroll down and click ... Continue reading this article…

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What We Learned by Being Open with Our Friends

by Smithee

I’ve never been squeamish talking about finances with friends and acquaintances (partly, I suspect, because of my lack of an internal dialog filter), but I have learned over time that not everybody else is as comfortable as I am, so I try not to use too many specifics when having financial discussions. However, I think ... Continue reading this article…

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The $155 That Almost Wasn’t

by Smithee

It was only back in April that Flexo wrote about MissingMoney.com. I had heard about it once before through a friend on Twitter who said he’d had some success and so I figured, “What have I got to lose?” They don’t charge anything, it’s just a convenient way to get at some abandoned money that ... Continue reading this article…

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Why I Still Have No Money

by Smithee

I recently explained my history of having no money and as promised, will now come clean with the mistakes I’m still making: I’m driving the wrong car I’ve never owned a car long enough to get it inspected. The first Jeep Cherokee was a lease, and I foolishly let them talk me into not converting ... Continue reading this article…

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Why I Have No Money

by Smithee

Near the end of my college career there was a sort of “Psychic Fair” on campus. As I recall, nobody charged us anything, so I got a reading from a Numerologist. She basically had me fill out a form with some information about myself. I remember “full name” and “birthdate”, for example. Multiple calculations later, ... Continue reading this article…

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You Can’t Have Too Much Available Credit

by Smithee

You’ve probably been concerned at one time or another with your credit worthiness: the somewhat squishy way that lenders determine whether you’re going to repay, for example, a home loan. I say “squishy” because ultimately, these decisions are made by human beings in a temporal landscape. We bought our house in June 2007, and if ... Continue reading this article…

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W-4 and Your Working Spouse

by Smithee

It’s possible that this advice might be considered common knowledge, but I just learned it at age 32, so feel free to forward it to your friends who recently became part of a working couple. The first time I saw a W-4 form at age 16, I had to take it home and ask my ... Continue reading this article…

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Hiring Our First CPA

by Smithee

At the age of 32, with our household income breaking the $100,000 (US) mark for 2007, I was finally convinced by family and friends to take our tax preparation to a specialist, a Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”). I was always wary of the idea, primarily because since I started filing taxes at age 16, I ... Continue reading this article…

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