My Money Blog

Secret Eaters: Fighting Your Unconscious and Semi-Consicous Choices

Posted on September 20, 2016 // 1 Comment

In my last Buffett post, I talked about the importance of tracking performance carefully when trading your own portfolios. Most casual traders "think" they are doing fine, but if you ask them their rate of return for the last year compared to a … [Read the rest]

Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules: Do-It-Yourself Investing Guidelines

Posted on September 19, 2016 // 2 Comments

Okay, so you probably aren't reading a book titled Warren Buffett's Ground Rules: Words of Wisdom from the Partnership Letters of the World's Greatest Investor if you are perfectly happy owning solely index funds forever. While the shared concepts … [Read the rest]

Uber and Android Pay: 50% Off 10 Rides (Up to $5 Each Ride)

Posted on September 14, 2016 // Leave a Comment

Uber and Android Pay are running a promotion offering 50% off 10 rides (up to $5 per ride) now through 10/15. No promo code required. The instructions they provide are pretty straightforward: Download and set up Android Pay on the Play … [Read the rest]

Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules: Shared Concepts with Low-Cost Index Funds

Posted on September 13, 2016 // 1 Comment

If you get in a debate about owning index funds, Warren Buffett will likely be invoked as an example of successful stock-picking. A recent book called Warren Buffett's Ground Rules: Words of Wisdom from the Partnership Letters of the World's … [Read the rest]

Open Enrollment Season: Maximizing Your Employee Benefits

Posted on September 12, 2016 // 10 Comments

As open enrollment season is around the corner, Morningstar offered up an 10-minute video interview with Christine Benz discussing tips on maximizing your employee benefits. (Is it just me, or does open enrollment too often seem to be a game of … [Read the rest]

Smarter Better Faster by Charles Duhigg: Book Review and Highlights

Posted on September 11, 2016 // 1 Comment

We'd all like to improve our productivity. Ideally, this would only involve downloading an app for 99 cents. :) Instead, Charles Duhigg did a lot of research in various areas and filtered out universal concepts that we can apply to our everyday … [Read the rest]

Citibank $400 Checking Account Bonus

Posted on September 9, 2016 // 33 Comments

Citibank has a $400 bonus offer for new checking account customers. Here are the highlights: To qualify for a $400 cash bonus, open a new consumer checking account in The Citibank Account Package by 10/31/16. Within 30 days from the date … [Read the rest]

Vanguard Complacency Check

Posted on September 7, 2016 // 12 Comments

Vanguard recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, the first index fund available to individual investors. If you are like me and have a significant portion of your net worth in Vanguard products and services, you … [Read the rest]

Jack Bogle WSJ Interview Highlights (September 2016)

Posted on September 7, 2016 // 5 Comments

When Jack Bogle grants an interview, I sit down and take notes in case he drops something significant. Here is a link to his WSJ interview dated 9/2/2016 (paywall, use Google redirection if needed). Bogle estimates 2% annualized returns over … [Read the rest]

7 Essential Money Questions from The New York Times

Posted on September 6, 2016 // 4 Comments

The NY Times has a new essay called 7 Essential Money Questions Sure to Start a Conversation: What follows are the seven best queries that I could find that tend to stop people cold and get them to open up about whatever money they have and the … [Read the rest]

Free BJ’s Club Membership for American Express Cardholders (New Customers)

Posted on September 5, 2016 // Leave a Comment

If you are an American Express cardholder, they have a promotion with BJ's Wholesale Clubs that will essentially net you a free 1-year membership if you are a new BJ's customer. The membership is discounted 50% down to $25, and then you also get a … [Read the rest]

Amazon Problems: Counterfeit Products

Posted on August 31, 2016 // 13 Comments

In my previous installment of Amazon Problems, I talked about fake Amazon product reviews. This time, I talk about fake products themselves. Thanks to lax Amazon policies, buyers now have to worry about whether their products are genuine or … [Read the rest]