My Money Blog

A Year Of Free Haircuts = $250 Saved

Posted on March 22, 2006 // 57 Comments

I noticed it's been almost exactly a year since my first post about letting my wife cutting my hair. Since then, I haven't seen the inside of a barber shop. So let's see, I used to cut my hair about once every 3 weeks, at about $15 including tip. … [Read the rest]

Citibank Doesn’t Hate Me.

Posted on March 21, 2006 // 18 Comments

I guess Citibank doesn't hate me as much as I thought they did. I just received my cashback check for $112.47, right on time: You gotta love getting over $100 in free money just for pumping gas and buying groceries! … [Read the rest]

How You All Budget

Posted on March 21, 2006 // 6 Comments

My 'How Do You Budget?' post was a nice success, and the giveaway winner has been notified. Here is a breakdown of the replies: … [Read the rest]

Google Finance Beta Launched

Posted on March 21, 2006 // 7 Comments

Apparently this is the big news today. Check out Google Finance for yourself. More evolutionary than revolutionary, but as always competition is good, and will lead to more improvements for all finance sites. Yay AJAX. … [Read the rest]

Portfolio Option #3: Just One Fund

Posted on March 20, 2006 // 26 Comments

Ah, mutual fund companies love your money, and fully realize many people are lazy, busy, or just don't want to deal with money. So they created the All-in-One fund. The one I like the best for our purposes is the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 … [Read the rest]

Where Am I On The Efficient Frontier?

Posted on March 20, 2006 // Leave a Comment

When I talk about maximizing your return (reward) for a given amount of risk, that is called being on the Efficient Frontier. For a very neat illustration of this, check out this Interactive Risk/Reward Chart from IFA, which lists 15 index portfolios … [Read the rest]

Portfolio Option #2: Keep It Simple

Posted on March 19, 2006 // 14 Comments

Now, let's see if we can take the slice and dice portfolio option and make it a bit simpler, and hopefully avoid all extra fees. Theoretical Allocation 20% S&P 500 (VFINX or VTGIX) 20% Large Cap Value Index (VIVAX) 20% Small Cap Value Index … [Read the rest]

Portfolio Option #1: Slice And Dice

Posted on March 18, 2006 // 15 Comments

Man, figuring out a good set of funds to work into your asset allocation plan is hard! There are so many different funds to choose from. So I've decided to break it down into three possible scenarios that I can then choose from, varying from complex … [Read the rest]

Asset Allocation: How Much Risk Would You Like?

Posted on March 17, 2006 // 6 Comments

As mentioned before, our goal when investing is to maximize the potential return for the amount of risk we decide to take. But how do you find that out? It seems the traditional way to decide this is through what financial planners call a Risk … [Read the rest]

No Double-Dipping For Me

Posted on March 16, 2006 // 21 Comments

If you love getting a good deal and have a partner that shares your passion, then you probably already know that you can double your pleasure by both using the same coupon (one per person, right?) or signing up for bonuses separately, and then … [Read the rest]

SNL Skit – Don’t Buy Stuff You Can’t Afford

Posted on March 16, 2006 // 3 Comments

This video has been floating around for a while now, but since it's great Friday material, check out it if you haven't already - Saturday Night Live - Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford. "It's funny 'cause it's true." … [Read the rest]

Book Review: The Intelligent Asset Allocator

Posted on March 15, 2006 // 8 Comments

The Intelligent Asset Allocator (IAA) by William Bernstein does exactly what it says on the cover, it teaches you 'how to build your portfolio to maximize returns and minimize risk'. However, I would recommend that 95% of readers not buy it. Come … [Read the rest]