Tired of using a two credit card system to maximize his cash back returns, I did an analysis to determine the single best cash back credit card. Here’s what I found:
personal finance
Stock Market Rally Continues For 5 Out Of 6 Days
By 3.17.09
The market has continued to rally for the past five out of 6 days (it took a break on Monday). Yippie! [WSJ]
High Credit Limits Encourage Consumers To Spend More
By 3.17.09
The more credulous you are, either because you’re new to the whole line-of-credit experience or because you’re uneducated, the more likely you are to mistake a high line of credit for an indication of your future earnings potential. You can see how this can lead to bad things, as noted by the researchers who studied this unfortunate problem earlier this decade. Luckily, the savvier you get about credit cards, the less influence your credit limit has on you, which is yet another great reason to make financial literacy education mandatory.
How To Be A Sexy Borrower
By 3.17.09
and a plunging debt-to-income ratio that reveals a nice plump credit score. Here’s the new rules of credit-worthiness game:
Recession Best Thing Ever For Non-Graybeards
By 3.17.09
Ever notice how most of the people bitching the hardest about the recession are old people? Here’s an alternative view, and how the economic meltdown might just be the best thing ever if you’re under 35, have a job, and aren’t strapped with debt. [MSN] (Photo: hanapbuhay)
Canceling Cards, Raising Interest Rates, Actually Part Of Same Horrible Party
By 3.16.09
That’s why credit-card companies have had to rein in their lending and shed accounts. Since that risks shrinking profits, they’re also trying to get as much as they can out of their existing customers, by doing things like sharply increasing their interest rates.
Tell The Feds You Want A Choice On Overdraft Fees
By 3.16.09
Tell the Feds that you don’t want your bank levying overdraft fees on you until you say, yes Mr Banky, I want to end up paying $28 for a Coke. The Feds are considering Regulation E: R-1343 and of critical concern is whether overdraft fees will be opt-out or opt-in. Obviously people shouldn’t overdraft, but what started out as a service for customers has, in some cases, turned into kicking a guy in the nuts while he’s down and taking his wallet.
Your Credit Card Limit Can Be Reduced Below Your Current Balance
By 3.16.09
We’ve seen how available balances can disappear when lenders cut credit card limits, but SmartMoney points out that lenders can cut your limit below your current balance, causing all sorts of problems. They’ll send you a notice, of course, but you may not receive it for several weeks. Your best bet is to set up your own alert system. A web-based financial service (like Mint) will send you an email or SMS alert if your available balance drops below a specified threshold.
Winning The Coin Jar Game
By 3.16.09
Yesterday was coin-jar payout day for me. I got $120! Woohoo! And since I took my can to the Penny Arcade at TD Bank, formerly Commerce Bank, they counted my change for free, unlike the Coinstars in supermarkets. Perversely, the past few weeks as my coin jar got close to full , I started to really look forward to getting change, to the extent I started to develop some irrational behavior…
Personal Finance Roundup
By 3.12.09
work [MSN Money] “With more companies in dire straits, raises, health insurance and 401(k) matches are vulnerable to being cut. If they’re not already gone, they could be soon.”
Scrizzle: New Homeowners Can Get Up To $8000
By 3.11.09
First-time home buyers can get a tax credit of up to $8,000 thanks to the stimulus bill Obama signed back in February. You qualify if you bought between April 9, 2008, and November 30, 2009. To get the credit, use IRS Form 5405, “First-Time Homebuyer Credit.” Since house prices are going down, the credit isn’t anything to go and sign for a new crib this afternoon. But if you already got a home or were planning to, it’s extra jingle in your coin-purse.
Stocks: Old Bulls Losing Their Steam
By 3.10.09
Even eternal stock market optimists are losing their nerve these days, but Fidelity’s Peter Lynch still says, “But at some point in the future, I think you’ll look back and see that we’ve gotten through this,” and that “stocks turned out to be the best bet.” Personally, I’ve started to look at it as throwing money down a magic wishing well, or planting magic seeds that will take 10 years to grow (it’s amazing how adding the word “magic” to anything makes it a little more psychologically palatable). [NYT] (Photo: ynskjen)
Single Men Trade Stocks Too Much
By 3.10.09
Nick Kapur at The Motley Fool says that men trade stocks more frequently than women. This is not a good thing; the result of all this hyperactivity and overconfidence is lower earnings on your investment. He writes, “Worse still (for unmarried guys like me) is that single men trade a whopping 67% more than single women, earning them annual net returns of 2.3% less! The authors cite increased trading costs, taxes, and a greater tendency to speculate as reasons for this underperformance.”
How To Find Reputable Credit Counseling
By 3.9.09
If you’re having problems with your credit and need some help, consider calling a legitimate credit counseling agency for assistance. Here’s how you find a reputable one that won’t scam you.
Save Money On A Funeral
By 3.6.09 — Updated: 5.29.13
Someone wrote to us this week that a person in his family is terminally ill, and that he was told “that the cost of the casket, funeral, viewing, and burial would possibly exceed 12,000 dollars.” He thinks that’s an “exorbitant amount of money,” and so do we. There is no reason to pay that much money for a kick-ass funeral that people will be talking about for years to come. You don’t need to be a cheapskate to manage this, either—you just need to be aware of your rights and know what traps to watch out for. Here’s our list of what to do the next time you have to plan a funeral.
Ladder Your CDs For Fun And Profit
By 3.6.09
Here’s a way to get around the worst part of CDs (certificates of deposit) which give you a higher guaranteed interest rate but lock your money in for a certain period of time: Make a ladder!
Personal Finance Roundup
By 3.5.09
7 Things to Leave Off Your Resume [US News] “What you omit from your resume can be just as important as what you include.”
