Don’t confuse a tax credit with a tax deduction. If you are not sure about the difference, it’s a good time to clear up some tax terms. For the sake of length, this post will only cover tax credits. I cover tax deductions in Tax Deductions: Above-the-Line, Itemized, and Neither. A tax credit directly reduces […]
Latest Blog Posts
Tax Cuts in Fiscal Stimulus Package
Update on Feb. 14: The stimulus package has been passed by both the House and the Senate. The President is expected to sign it shortly. See the follow-up post for updated information.
One-Time Credit Card Numbers for More Security
The sixth largest payment processor in the country Heartland Payment Systems disclosed recently their system was compromised by hackers with a piece of data sniffing software watching credit card data pass by between Heartland and credit card networks. That system processes 100 million transactions a month. This had gone on for months until Visa and […]
How Long Can You Live On Your Credit Cards?
It’s old news that credit card companies are cutting people’s credit limits. I also read on FatWallet some banks paid people more than $500 for paying down their balance. I checked my three cards. None of them cut my limits. Maybe they just haven’t got to me yet. Besides merchant fees, they are not getting […]
Deferred Interest Payment Plans Banned
I wrote on Monday about 0% APR, Same As Cash, and No Interest No Payments. Upon closer reading of the final rules adopted by the federal regulators in December, I realized that deferred interest payment plans like “same as cash” or “no interest no payments” are actually banned after July 1, 2010. Good riddance! I […]
I Received a Parking Ticket That’s Not Mine
Right before Christmas I received an overdue parking ticket in the mail. It has my name and license plate but it’s really not mine. I have never been to the location noted on the ticket. The vehicle description has the right make but the wrong color. Why did they think it was my car? I’m […]
Bought HP 12C Platinum Calculator
A generous reader gave me a good tip for answering some questions. I used the money and bought myself an HP 12C Platinum calculator. This is a financial calculator. It has financial functions like loan payments and bond prices. What really makes it different from all other calculators is that it uses a different input […]
2008 Personal Rate of Return
Everybody knows 2008 was a bad year for investing. It may seem odd to some people that I never bothered to calculate my rate of return during the year. That information just isn’t so useful to me. I have no control over what the market does. Most of my investments are already in index funds […]
3 Reminders About Year-End Mutual Fund Distributions
I wrote on Tuesday that I bought PIMCO CommodityRealReturn Strategy Fund D (PCRDX) on Dec. 5, 2008. It’s a good segue to today’s post. As luck had it, only a few days later, my jaw dropped when I saw the price of the fund dropped 25% in one day. It turned out it was just […]
Ratings in Magazines Versus Actual Customer Experience
Good customer service is worth paying for. I think everybody understands that. But in this age of easy price comparison, we sometimes forget. Fellow blogger indexfundfan is having trouble with TradeKing, an online discount broker. TradeKing is holding his money hostage for 60 days. According to TradeKing, it was rated #1 in customer service by […]