The car buying strategy that I hear recommended most often is to decide on which car you want, down to all the options e-mail (or previously fax) the fleet managers of 3-5 local dealers, and ask for their best deal pit each of them against … [Read the rest]
Lonely Planet Offers Free iPhone Apps To Travelers
Posted on April 20, 2010 // 2 Comments
In response to the disruption caused by a certain Icelandic volcano, Lonely Planet has made their iPhone apps for 13 European cities free until April 22nd. These usually cost $15.99 each, and seemed to work fine on my iPod Touch. From their … [Read the rest]
Portfolio Check: Do You Need Investment Management Help?
Posted on April 19, 2010 // 11 Comments
I received a thought-provoking comment last week on my Fidelity Portfolio Advisory Service review. Since this post is a couple months old by now, I doubt most readers saw it. After reading it, my first guess was that somehow the visitor was … [Read the rest]
Savings I-Bonds March 2010 CPI Update: 1.54% Variable Rate
Posted on April 19, 2010 // 6 Comments
New inflation numbers for March 2010 were announced today, so it's time for the usual semi-annual update and rate predictions. New Inflation Rate September 2009 CPI-U was 215.969. March 2010 CPI-U was 217.631, for a semi-annual increase of … [Read the rest]
Short Film: The Cheapest Man in the Room
Posted on April 16, 2010 // 13 Comments
Do you think you're cheap? Or know someone who is? Well, unless you've brought supermarket cheese samples on a date, they may not be when compared to The Cheapest Man in the Room. Ross Carter lives a normal life … for a guy on a budget. … [Read the rest]
Insurance Quiz: Can You Beat 4 out of 10 Correct?
Posted on April 14, 2010 // 21 Comments
Argh... they got me. I usually filter out PR emails, but I went ahead and took the Insurance Intelligence Quiz by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). According to them, a recent survey found Americans only answered an … [Read the rest]
NY Times Financial Tune-Up: Interactive Checklist
Posted on April 12, 2010 // 2 Comments
The NY Times has a new series called the Financial Tuneup: Take a Few Hours and Unlock Some Cash. Essentially these are all the things that you probably know you should do, but never get around to. By compiling them all into a interactive … [Read the rest]
Surviving the Great Baseball Card Bubble
Posted on April 9, 2010 // 48 Comments
From the 1630s tulip mania to the Roaring 1920s to the Dot-com Bust to Real Estate, I thought I had read about all the bubbles. But it seems that I forgot that I was right in the middle another one - the baseball card craze of the late 1980s and … [Read the rest]
How Much Did Your Tax Return Cost? U.S. Average $229
Posted on April 8, 2010 // 44 Comments
As CPAs everywhere are burning the midnight oil, the National Society of Accountants (NSA) released the results of their 2009-2010 Fee Survey of nearly 8,000 tax preparers, which showed the average tax preparation fee for an itemized Form 1040 with … [Read the rest]
Chase Sapphire Card: $100 Signup Bonus
Posted on April 7, 2010 // 8 Comments
The Chase Sapphire Card is a new rewards credit card that is offering 10,000 bonus points after your first purchase on the credit card, which can be redeemed for $100 cash. No annual fee. As a rewards card, it offers 1 point for every dollar in … [Read the rest]
Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan: Free $25 To Start
Posted on April 7, 2010 // 8 Comments
The Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan is again offering a $25 refer-a-friend bonus if you open an account and deposit at least $25 by June 30, 2010. You can be a resident of any state, and there are no application or annual fees. Rated a … [Read the rest]
Depositing Loose Coins and Coin Jars
Posted on April 5, 2010 // 76 Comments
Like a lot of folks, I don't like carrying around change and whenever I get the chance it gets deposited into a jar on my desk. Coinstar has somehow created a publicly-traded corporation (ticker CSTR) worth over 1 billion dollars based on converting … [Read the rest]
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