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Year-End Personal Balance Sheet, December 2011

This article was written by Flexo in Monthly Update. 17 comments.

I’ve spent the last decade of my life focused on my finances. I started because I had no money and a job that was taking more from me than it was providing in income. I knew I had to make some changes if I wanted to build any kind of future for myself. Soon into this journey, I founded this website, where I’ve written about my own financial situation and tracked my balances on a monthly basis.

Over the years, my financial situation has improved. Rather than focusing on and tracking every cent as I was doing in 2003, a necessary step to train myself to save money and value everything I was earning, I now am significantly more relaxed. I still track my bank account balances. Eventually, I stopped tracking every cent I spent with cash. Cash spending became such a small percentage of each month’s income that it became unnecessary for me to enter every receipt (or every remembered transaction for those where no receipt was provided) into Quicken. I have been using credit cards for most expenses. (I was using credit cards to take advantage of rewards, which I didn’t start doing until I was out of debt, spending less than I was earning, and making conscious spending decisions.) The credit cards helped me carefully track my expenses.

My ability to improve my financial condition has been partly due to my public tracking. When my numbers are published online, I have to admit to my mistakes and accept criticism from readers when it’s due. Knowing that I will be reporting the details of my bank accounts helps me to continue making good decisions with my money.

At the end of the year, I take the chance to look at my life from a broader perspective. I now have ten years of history in my Quicken file. I’ll be thirty-six years old in a couple of months, so my finances have been a focus for almost all of my adult life. And for those of you, readers, who know me only through this site, only as “Flexo” or Luke Landes, you may think that an obsession with personal finance rules my life. The good news is that this isn’t true; outside of Consumerism Commentary, when I see my friends and family, personal finance is not usually a topic of discussion.

With ten years of history in Quicken, I can easily see my own financial progress over time. At the end of 2001, the world was still shaking from terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., and my life was uncertain. With no money, no job, no girlfriend, and no place to live, I knew I needed to make changes in my life. That’s what I did.

Continue reading to see the numbers. Read the full article →

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20+ Christmas Gift Ideas Under $100

This article was written by Flexo in Consumer. 19 comments.

While I’ve already offered my suggestions for this year’s best holiday toys, not everyone on your Christmas or gift-giving list is a child. You may have a special adult someone on your list who would appreciate something more useful. Although it’s early in the holiday shopping season, at least for me, some of the best deals are already starting to materialize, well before Black Friday.

If you’re looking for a great Christmas gift for one of your favorite people, consider one of these Christmas gift ideas under $100. Of course, these apply as well to Hanukkah or any other gift-giving activities you might partake in before the end of the year.

Have any good suggestions? Please leave them in the comments and I’ll add the ones I like to my list.

Gift ideas under $100: Around the house

1. Dremel Multi-Max Oscillating Tool Kit (Home Depot, $99.00). “The Dremel Multi-Max 2.3 Amp MM20 Oscillating Tool Kit incorporates a powerful, efficient motor that provides cool, smooth operation under load. This versatile tool features a compact design that makes it easy to handle in tight spaces..” For anyone who likes or wants to do work around the house.

2. Black & Decker B&D Convection Toaster Oven (Sears, $95.63). This convection toaster oven also comes with a rotisserie capability. I need to replace my toaster oven, and this is a capable option.

3. Task Force 204-Piece Standard/Metric Mechanics Tool Set with Case (Lowe’s, $89.98). With 204 pieces, this tool set is complete for any would-be handyman or handywoman, yet it is still portable.

4. Pure Beech Jersey Knit Sheet Set, 100% Modal (Bed, Bath and Beyond, $29.00 – $79.00). “The softness of these extremely soft and light silk-like sheets is reminiscent of your favorite T-shirt, offering incomparable comfort.” I’ve been a fan of jersey cotton sheets for several years. I find jersey cotton to be much more comfortable than sateen or other bed sheets.

5. Framed art (Amazon, up to $99.99). Adding art to the walls adds color and excitement to any room in the house. If you don’t know an artist willing to create work for you, shop for framed art.

6. Merkur Shaving Gift Set (Amazon, $106.50). “The set includes a chrome stand that holds a Merkur Classic Safety Razor and a fabulous badger Shaving Brush with a Chrome Handle. Also included in the set is an elegant Chrome Bowl that holds a Colonel Conk Shaving Soap.” Since April, I’ve been shaving the old-fashioned way, with a badger-hair brush, shaving soap, and a safety razor. My face has never felt healthier and I get a smooth shave. Add some inexpensive Feather blades and have smooth skin all day.

7. Helen Of Troy Hotspa Professional Ultimate Foot Bath (Amazon, $95.93). “Ozone (active oxygen) helps to control, reduce and eliminate bacteria Motorized Pedicenter rotates with the press of a foot.” These devices are quite relaxing, whether you’ve been on your feet all day teaching, hiking, or giving presentations to the board of directors.

8. Sterling Silver 1/8 Carat t.w. Diamond Heart Bracelet (Kay, $99.99). “Heart-shaped sterling silver links accented with round diamonds create playful style in this bracelet for her. One-eighth carat total diamond weight. 7″ in length. With lobster clasp.” For any women who like jewelery.

Gift ideas under $100: Electronics

9. Sony BDP-S380 Blu-ray Disc Player (Amazon, $98.00). “Enjoy Blu-ray Disc movies in brilliant high-definition resolution or upscale the quality of your DVDs to near HD. Instantly stream a wide variety of movies, TV shows, live sports, videos, and music from Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, Hulu Plus and many more.” If you have a high-definition television, you must adopt Blu-Ray and replace your DVD player. There is simple no comparison between (even up-converted) standard definition and high bit-rate Blu-Ray video and audio.

10. Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W530 14.1 MP Digital Still Camera (Amazon, $99.99). “Shoot more life with the Sony DSC-W530. Capture landscapes with one touch using Sweep Panorama, get that perfect portrait with Smile Shutter, snap wider scenes with the 26mm wide angle lens, get high quality photos with 14.1 megapixels, and automatically get clear shots with SteadyShot image stabilization and iAuto; all in a sleek little design.” This camera features a Carl Zeiss lens, offering a great quality picture sure to beat the camera built into your phone.

11. Roku 2 (Roku, $59.99 to $99.99). “With Roku, get instant access to tons of entertainment — with more choices added all the time.” This device allows you to watch any media content on your (most likely high-definition) television, accessing the internet wirelessly from anywhere in your house. It seamlessly links to your Netflix and Hulu content as well as many other services.

12. Garmin nüvi 1300 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Amazon, $98.94). “The thin nüvi 1300 has a widescreen display, yet it’s slim and light enough to take along on all your travels. This affordable GPS comes with regional mapping, announces streets by name, offers pedestrian navigation options and calculates a more fuel-efficient route with ecoRoute.” I’m looking for a new GPS navigator for my car, as I’ve been using my phone since my last device was stolen.

13. Kindle Touch Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display (Amazon, $99.00). I have been using my iPad for reading books purchased via Kindle, but if you have no need for an iPad and just want the ability to access your library from anywhere, choose the Kindle. Now members of Amazon Prime can read books without paying for each.

14. Coby DVD938 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System (Amazon, $90.01). “Dynamic sound meets sleek design in Coby’s DVD938 home theater system, which includes a progressive scan DVD player plus a 5.1-channel home theater speaker system (subwoofer and five satellite speakers).” This is a bargain if you don’t need HDMI and you’re looking for compatibility with USB players, SD cards, or karaoke.

Gift ideas under $100: Fun stuff

15. Tauntaun Sleeping Bag (ThinkGeek, $99.99). “In the sub-zero wasteland of the planet Hoth, only the strong survive… and of course those lucky Jedi protected by the thick skin of a Tauntaun.” Any Star Wars fan, adult or child, would appreciate the comfort of avoiding the cold by sleeping inside a tauntaun. ThinkGeek offers lots of gifts for science fiction and fantasy geeks and tech nerds.

16. Bicycle Premium Mega Masters Poker Chip Set (Amazon, $99.95). “The Bicycle Mega Masters Poker Set is a premium poker set for the poker enthusiast. It includes a handmade, high-lacquered wooden case with 500 11.5-gram Bicycle clay filled poker chips in a four-color assortment of red, blue, black, and green… [and] two decks of Premium Bicycle brand playing cards.” Invite your friends over and lose more money to them than the cost of buying this set.

17. Halex Premium Vivace 113mm Bocce Set (BocceBallSets.com, $94.98). With this set, you can entertain your friends with both backyard games: bocce and croquet. Best to buy these sets during the off-season for the best prices. This set normally costs $140.

18. Bob Ross Deluxe Oil Painting Set In Wood Box (Amazon, $85.00). “Bob Ross Art Sets enable the beginner artist to create a beautiful oil painting through Bob’s easy and informative instruction methods and top-quality materials. This Deluxe Art Set contains everything needed to get started in the Bob Ross ‘Wet on Wet’ technique.” Thankfully, this set comes with an instructional DVD. You recipient will be on his or her way to creating masterpieces.

Gift ideas under $100: Financial stuff

This is a personal finance blog, after all.

19. $100 Treasury Bond (TreasuryDirect, $100). TreasuryDirect offers gift functionality, so as long as you have an account and have the Social Security Number of your recipient, you can give the gift of a savings bond, a low risk investment that will earn interest over time.

20. Stock (ShareBuilder, $100). If you would like to give someone a financial gift, particularly a young individual who has an interest in the stock market but is a beginner, consider a ShareBuilder gift card to get them started. This is a good time to introduce young investors to the concept of transaction fees, as well.

21. 2011 United States Mint Silver Proof Set (United States Mint, $67.95). “The 2010 United States Mint Silver Proof Set contains all 14 circulating coins in stunning proof condition displayed in three protective lenses, each bearing the S mint mark of the United States Mint at San Francisco.” Great for collectors or non-collectors, and it can inspire and create young numismatists.

22. Kids’ Savings Account (ING Direct, $25 and up). Opening a new ING Direct Kids Savings Account is a great way to teach a child or teenager good saving habits and concepts like compound interest.

Here are some more ideas:

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ING Direct Financial Independence Days Sale

This article was written by Flexo in Banking, Investing. 7 comments.

Online bank ING Direct is offering some goodies in July in time for Independence Day. July 4 is a bank holiday in the United States, so this sale starts early. July 1 and July 2 are the only days this sale will be available, so this offer is only around for a very limited time. The promotions have been expanded from what ING Direct offered in previous years. Here is what the sale entails:

Electric Orange. Electric Orange is ING Direct’s paperless checking account. During this two-day promotion, new Electric Orange customers will receive a bonus up to $126. ING Direct is offering $50 just to try the account, after making three purchases or person-to-person payments within 45 days and an additional $76 for setting up direct deposit and making deposits of at least $250 by August 31.

Orange Savings Account. ING Direct’s Orange Savings Account is the flagship online savings account. Normally, ING Direct offers $10 bonus for each customer referral, up to 25 referrals. During today and tomorrow, any referral emails current and new customers send out will generate a total of $76 to you, as well as $25 to each of your friends who open an account. Two successful referrals are required in order to receive the $76 bonus (the $20 standard fee for two referrals plus $56 additional).

ShareBuilder. ING Direct’s discount brokerage arm offers low transaction fees, and for today and tomorrow, all new customers receive a $76 bonus just for opening the account and making one transaction.

Savings IRA. ING Direct offers savings IRAs to save for retirement. If a low-risk investment choice is part of what you need for retirement, having cash in a savings account in your IRA could be a good way to balance your portfolio. Current ING Direct customers who open a savings IRA with at least $1,000 will receive an additional $76 bonus. The bonus counts as a 2011 contribution, so if you’ve already maxed out your IRA, you wouldn’t qualify.

Easy Orange. ING Direct offers mortgage loans, and their rates are often lower than what you might find at a local branch-based bank. During this limited time sale, ING Direct is offering $1,776 off closing costs.

Finally, if you visit the ING Direct store, you’ll receive 17.76% off everything you could buy. Just use coupon code 1776. The ING Direct store has a variety of items included branded messenger bags, bicycles, children’s books, and boxer shorts.

I’ve been a happy customer of ING Direct since July 29, 2002, and I usually recommend the bank’s savings account to friends looking for a good place to keep their money. Although their interest rates are no longer in the upper echelon, it’s a solid choice for most customers. I’ve also been happy with ShareBuilder for the past several years. Thanks to bonuses I’ve earned there over time, most of my (infrequent) ETF and stock purchases have been free to me.

Photo: David Hepworth

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Personal Balance Sheet, May 2011 ($844,136, +9.6%)

This article was written by Flexo in Monthly Update. 21 comments.

Over the past few days, I considered making some drastic changes to the way I report my finances at the end of each month. I’ve been trying to decide whether it makes more sense to separate my business accounts from this report and report the numbers separately as I did a few years ago, remove the business accounts altogether, or leave the report the way it is.

I’m not sure how relevant my business bank accounts and receivables are to my personal finances. I transfer as little as possible between the business and personal accounts to keep my income taxes low, so most of the revenue stays “in the business.”

I didn’t change the report for May before putting together this article. These numbers include my business accounts and personal accounts commingled, like usual.

I’ll need to start making some decisions about how to better manage the business cash. I wrote about a friend of mine who was looking for better interest rates for his business’s cash and he decided to take advantage of business CDs offered by a local bank; I prefer to avoid long-term CDs with the rates currently so low. I’m not sure an investment account for my business is the right approach either, so I’ll ask around among colleagues to get some ideas.

I expected to see a seasonal dip in business income in May, like in 2009 and 2010, but that was not the case this year. Keep reading to see the numbers. You can see last month’s numbers have been revised upward; I expect the same to happen this month as more business invoices are calculated.

Read the full article →

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Today’s Giveaway: $50 and The Gift of Stock

by Flexo

While the forecast is calling for rain all week where I live, the free gifts are raining down at Consumerism Commentary. Giveaway May continues right now with the twelfth freebie of the month. Today, with the help of Glen from Free From Broke, I will be giving away ING Direct and ShareBuilder’s “Gift of Stock.” ... Continue reading this article…

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Giveaway May at Consumerism Commentary

by Flexo

This coming month is going to be “Giveaway May” at Consumerism Commentary. Every weekday, I will feature a new giveaway for readers. It will be simple to enter, usually just requiring a comment and one other action (such as subscribing to the RSS feed, following me on Twitter, or liking Consumerism Commentary on Facebook). Each ... Continue reading this article…

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Charles Schwab Acquiring OptionsXpress

by Flexo

I’m not surprised that smaller trading firms attract the attention of the larger brokerages and banks. ING Direct acquired ShareBuilder (see my ShareBuilder review) in 2007. Today, OptionsXpress (see my OptionsXpress review) has announced that it will be acquired by Charles Schwab for $1 billion. OptionsXpress is one of the best discount brokerages, offering low ... Continue reading this article…

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ING ShareBuilder Review

by Flexo

Read to the bottom of this article for the latest ShareBuilder bonus. I’m not a frequent trader. With my long-term view of investing, looking at stocks every day and executing costly trades does not make sense for my approach to my own finances. My strategy does not involve trading stocks or ETFs, timing the market ... Continue reading this article…

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