Rates Drop Under 4% = Refinance Check! 7 Million People Can Lower Mortgage Rate By 0.75%+

A mortgage broker once told me that he didn't care if rates were high or low. He just wanted them to change. As long as interest rates move enough in either direction, more mortgages will be created. He's probably getting a lot of calls right … [Read the rest]

Official Warren Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway Book Reading List 2019

At every annual shareholder meeting, Berkshire Hathaway publishes an official reading list and sells discounted copies through a local Omaha bookstore called The Bookworm. Both Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have consistently attributed a … [Read the rest]

Boeing Engineer: From Dream Job to Nightmare

The most depressing thing I read today was Former Boeing Engineers Say Relentless Cost-Cutting Sacrificed Safety at Bloomberg Businessweek. If you want to know why I am not part of the "I love what I do and I'm going to plan to work forever" … [Read the rest]

Vanguard Target Date Retirement Funds Nudge Younger Investors To Own More Stocks

Vanguard has a blog post about their Target Retirement 20XX funds (TDFs) with a few interesting stats (via Abnormal Returns): 97% of all Vanguard retirement plan participants had a target-date fund as an available investment option. 77% of … [Read the rest]

Best Interest Rates on Cash – June 2019

Here's my monthly roundup of the best interest rates on cash for June 2019, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Things are pretty dull this month – mostly small rate drops on CDs due to the inverted yield curve. Check out my … [Read the rest]

Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Review: $700 Towards Any Travel + Annual Fee Waived First Year

This offer has expired. The Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard® is a travel rewards card that has just increased their sign-up bonus to 70,000 points (worth $700 towards any travel), and the annual fee is also waived for the first … [Read the rest]

Chase Freedom Card Review: 5% Cash Back on Quarterly Categories + $150 Sign Up Bonus

The Chase Freedom Card is a popular cash back rewards credit card. What makes it unique is the combination having no annual fee and the ability to get 5% Cash Back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter. Here are the … [Read the rest]

Couples and Money: The Proportional Sharing Method

If there's one topic that's probably more sensitive than people talking about their money, it's how they split their money with their partners. I am swayed by the method proposed by this post - Why Couples Should Split Expenses By How Much They … [Read the rest]

Keep Your Hilton Honors Points From Expiring with a $1 Amazon Purchase

Updated with alternative method. My relative lack of travel these days means that I am constantly keeping miles and points from expiring. Here's the official policy of Hilton Honors point expiration: Hilton Honors Points do not expire as long … [Read the rest]

Nomadland Book: What Really Happens When You Don’t Save Enough For Retirement?

I'm reading Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder. Essentially, it's the story what happens to a group of people when their plans for retirement fall apart. Here's the book blurb: From the beet fields of North … [Read the rest]

Firstrade Free Trades on Stocks, ETFs, Options, Even Mutual Funds

Firstrade.com has announced free online trades on stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options and mutual funds. All of them. As a more traditional online broker, Firstrade includes access to all stocks, ETFs, options and mutual funds currently … [Read the rest]

Dividend ETF Comparison: Total Market vs. High Dividend vs. Steady Dividend Growth

After my post on mailbox money last week, I did some poking around comparing different dividend-focused ETFs. Specifically, the idea of focusing on companies with a steadily growing dividend, not a high dividend yield. Here are three different … [Read the rest]