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Reviews

PenFed Promise VISA Card Review

by Luke Landes

Whenever you make a purchase with your credit card, the wise move is always to pay off the purchase before the bill is due to avoid interest charges and late fees. If you know that won’t be possible in the short-term, the best thing you could do is keep your interest payments low by choosing ... Continue reading this article…

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PerkStreet $25 Checking Account Bonus With 2% Cash Back

by Luke Landes

When I first started paying attention to managing my money, depositing my money in an interest-bearing savings or checking account was one of the smartest financial moves I made. While it’s still one of the safest, banks are paying next to nothing on interest these days. Instead of moving money from one account to another ... Continue reading this article…

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Discover Open Road Card Review

by Luke Landes

You don’t hear people complaining about gasoline prices as much as they used to. At least, I don’t write about it as much as I did in 2006 (or even in 2000, before Consumerism Commentary). I still remember being able to fill up my first Honda Civic for $12. When a few short years later, ... Continue reading this article…

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Chase United Mileage Plus® Signature® Visa Card Review

by Luke Landes

The offer you are interested in has expired. Read our review of the United MileagePlus Explorer Card.

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Blue Cash from American Express Review

by Luke Landes

You may have noticed the high ranking for the Blue Cash® from American Express on our best cash back credit cards page. I own the business version of this credit card and use it for all of my business purchases and some bills. In terms of rewards, this card is one of the best around ... Continue reading this article…

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Chase Credit Cards and Blueprint Review

by Luke Landes

Chase is offering a number of popular credit cards, notably the Chase Freedom® MasterCard, Chase Sapphire and Slate from Chase, which now include a set of features the company calls “Blueprint.” The Blueprint features give the credit cardholder some flexibility in organizing and paying off the various expenses he or she charges to the card. ... Continue reading this article…

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Quicken 2011 Review and Giveaway

by Luke Landes

Are you looking for the latest version of Quicken? Here is my review of the newest version, Quicken 2013. Downloads of Quicken 2013 are available today. I’ve been using Quicken for six years, and I have eight years’ worth of financial data in my files. I had the opportunity to take the beta version of ... Continue reading this article…

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A Review of PerkStreet’s 5% Cash Back Debit Card and Checking Account

by Luke Landes

PerkStreet Financial, a company that launched just over a year ago has decided to kick things up a notch by offering something new in addition to their online checking account. Previously, PerkStreet enticed customers with a $50 cash bonus for signing up a new account, then 2 percent cash back on all non-PIN debit card purchases ... Continue reading this article…

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Scottrade Discount Brokerage Review

by Luke Landes

This is a brief review of my experiences with the discount brokerage Scottrade. If you are interested, you can open an account at Scottrade here. I first opened my account with Scottrade a little over five years ago. At the time, my current discount brokerage, Wachovia, began charging an inactivity fee. They claimed I was ... Continue reading this article…

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Citi CashReturns Mastercard Review: 1% Cash Back Rewards and 0% APR

by Luke Landes

The offer you are interested in has expired. Read our Citi Credit Card reviews.

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Zecco Discount Online Brokerage Account Opening Review

by Luke Landes

Zecco is a discount online brokerage offering trades for $4.50. I decided to open an account with Zecco recently to try my hand with stocks with a small amount of “fun money.” Trading stocks, not to mention options, is a risky way to manage your money, and I prefer to buy mutual funds and hold ... Continue reading this article…

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SmartyPig Savings Account Opening Review

by Luke Landes

For two years, SmartyPig has been making so-called high-yield savings accounts look bad. The 1.00 percent APY currently offered is not a sky-high interest rate, but it beats just about every other major bank. Two years after introducing SmartyPig with a $100 giveaway, and after SmartyPig made some important changes to their fee structure, I decided ... Continue reading this article…

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Sallie Mae Bank Savings Account Opening Review

by Luke Landes

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 ... Continue reading this article…

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TurboTax Online Review, New Features

by Luke Landes
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Last year was the first year I abandoned my own tax return preparation, deferring to a professional to do the dirty work. I’m glad I did; he suggested I restructure my business retroactively, resulting in a savings of about $15,000. I still haven’t seen most of this; the IRS is still processing my amended 2008 ... Continue reading this article…

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Review: Making the Most of Your Money Now by Jane Bryant Quinn

by Luke Landes

Author Jane Bryan Quinn took her massive personal finance book published in 1997 and revised and updated the information to create Making the Most of Your Money Now: The Classic Bestseller Completely Revised for the New Economy, which will be released on December 29, 2009. I got my hands on a copy of this 1,242 ... Continue reading this article…

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Quicken 2010 Review and Giveaway

by Luke Landes

Are you looking for the latest version of Quicken? Here is my review of the newest version, Quicken 2012. Downloads of Quicken 2012 are available today. Note: This is a long article containing an in-depth review of the new version of Quicken. If you are just interested in the giveaway of Quicken 2010 Deluxe, scroll ... Continue reading this article…

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Visa Signature Concierge: Useless for Immediate Travel

by Luke Landes

As I’ve mentioned recently, my maternal grandmother passed away a few days ago, my second of two grandmothers to pass away in the past few weeks. A few years ago, she moved out to California to be cared for by my mother and brother who had also moved out to the west coast several years ... Continue reading this article…

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MyIDScore.com: What’s an ID Score?

by Jeff

If you’re a frequent reader of this (or any other personal finance blog) you’re familiar with credit scores and credit reports, and the advice to check them often. These resources detail your financial history and provide a measure of your supposed financial risk. They’re also useful tools to determine the safety of your identity. However, ... Continue reading this article…

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EverBank Money Market Account Review

by Luke Landes

A little while ago, I noted the interest rates offered by EverBank and decided to open the Yield Pledge Money Market Account to take advantage of the generous “bonus” interest offered in the first three months of holding an account. The account opening process, beginning on July 8th and two weeks later on July 23rd, ... Continue reading this article…

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Comparing the Visa Black Card with American Express Platinum and Centurion Cards

by Luke Landes

American Express created a frenzy among the wealthy when it decided to take advantage of rumors of an exclusive black-colored charge card, used by movie stars and music celebrities for purchasing jets and other items beyond the financial reach of us mere mortals. In 1999, American Express introduced the Centurion Card, a black charge card ... Continue reading this article…

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