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money
Economic Stimulus Plan Passes
By 1.24.08
Accord was reached and the economic stimulus plan has passed. Here’s a brass tacks breakdown:
By 1.24.08
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Personal finance blog FiLife’s Ron Leiber on why he bought stocks this morning: because he’s nowhere close to retirement. [FiLife]
Tentative Economic Stimulus Deal Reached
By 1.24.08
The Administration and Congress have negotiated the outline of how the proposed economic stimulus plan will play out. Here’s how much in rebates you could be getting back, depending on your situation:
By 1.23.08
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On investing in scary times: “The bottom line: If you don’t have a plan, develop one. If you do have one, stick to it,” – Larry Swedroe. [All Financial Matters]
By 1.23.08
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Just checking annnnnnnnnnnd… yep… global stock markets remain in turmoil. [NYT]
Get Tax Advice Over The Phone With FreeTaxQuestion.com
By 1.23.08
If you’re uncertain about something on your taxes, you can get free tax advice over the phone until Jan. 31, thanks to a special TurboTax promotion at FreeTaxQuestion.com. Just enter your question and name, phone, email, and best time to reach you, and an IRS enrolled tax pro will call you and help you out. If you’re worried that this is just a lead generation ploy, use a disposable email address and disposable phone number. The FiLife blog tried it and had to submit their question twice, but they got it answered and answered good. They said that TurboTax was casually mentioned among the array of options one could use to finish filing, but there was otherwise no overt product pushing.
E*TRADE Drops Online Savings Account Rates To 4.4%
By 1.23.08
So, of course, one day after I post about how great E*TRADE’s 5.05% savings rate is, it drops to 4.4%. Truth be told, that was kind of unsustainable with the federal interest rate at 3.5%. It will still probably be higher than the rates offered by the other players which have like HSBC Direct (currently 4.25%), ING Direct (currently 3.6%), and Emigrant Direct (currently 4.55%). Tears, tears.
5 Retirement Myths
By 1.23.08
Many people are so fixated on saving for retirement that they forget to plan what they’ll do during that time. If you cut out your days of work, you now have 40-60 extra hours in your life. What will you do with that time? After all, there’s only so much golf you can play.
Who Do I Complain About A Bank To?
By 1.22.08
If you think your bank is doing something so bad that it violates banking regulations, here are the groups that officially regulate banks. Complaining to them might not help your individual issue, but enough complaints could bring some attention on the banks that they would prefer to avoid:
Swapped Cash From HSBC Direct To E*TRADE
By 1.22.08
Today’s interest rate cut means online savings accounts lovers will once again experience heartbreak as their high-interest accounts become even less so. There is still one company offering rates from the what now must be seen as halcyon days; E*TRADE’s online savings accounts give you 5.05%, though it’s not without caveats…
Fed Cuts Interest Rates In Emergency Action
By 1.22.08
The Federal Reserve Board cuts interest rates again, now down to 3.5% from 4.25%, in a rare move outside the normal meeting schedule. The reduction is meant to stimulate growth as banks will lower their loan rates for certain kinds of loans. Here’s how things will go for the consumer:
By 1.21.08
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As of January 11th, you can now start e-filing your taxes. Let the fun begin! [Bankrate]
By 1.21.08
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Here’s another fraudulent charge to watch out: charges in the amount of $9.45 or $9.40 from your checking account from an “advertising company” called HBS. A reader says it happened to him, and when he searched online, he found others, a good number of whom had ordered credit reports from Equifax… [800notes]
By 1.21.08
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The average age of new car buyers in January 2007 was 43. In January 2008, it was 48. This suggests that as the economy tightens, younger car buyers are staying out of the new car market. [Kicking Tires]
Missing Data On 650,000 Customers Related To Credit Card Fraud Surge?
By 1.18.08
On Tuesday we speculated that the surge in credit card fraud and forcible card reissues our readers have been reporting to us were the result of a recently discovered breach at a “major retailer,” and now GE Money Bank reported that the data of over 650,000 customers of JC Penney and hundreds of other retail stores is missing. Are these two events related? The official line is no. GE Money Bank says the data, which was stored on magnetic tapes, “was created in such a manner to make unauthorized access extremely unlikely and difficult, even for experts with specialized knowledge and technology.” But guess what?
By 1.18.08
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Here’s 10 top questions frequently asked about starting a Roth IRA. Don’t have one? Why not? They’re a great no-brainer way to save for retirement. [Yahoo! Finance via Money Crashers]
