A reader asked a question in the comments to my previous post Bought REITs Again. I’m answering it in a new post because the question is quite common. “If you were to set up a new IRA and pour some cash into it (200K), would you go ahead and dive right in or wait and […]
Latest Blog Posts
My Flexible Spending Account Sent Me a Debit Card
As if I don’t have enough cards in my wallet, the vendor for my employer’s health care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) sent me a MasterCard debit card. I’m supposed to use it for items eligible for reimbursement from the FSA. The pitch from the FSA vendor is that I won’t have to file reimbursement claims […]
Best Finance Blog for People Ready to Save or Invest
Marc Hedlund is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of the popular Web 2.0 personal finance site Wesabe. He wrote the three personal finance writers you should read in 2008 on the Wesabe blog. My blog was selected as the Best Finance Blog for People Ready to Save or Invest. Here’s what Marc had to […]
Bought REITs Again
After my FFCB bond was called in December, I’ve been mulling over what I should do with the proceeds. I decided to use the money for my 2008 IRA contribution and buy more REITs there. The Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ) dropped 25% in the last 3 months, causing it to be the asset class which […]
Looking Inside a Credit Card Portfolio
I was searching for some information about my credit card the other day and I accidentally stumbled upon a collection of interesting documents. They are the offering documents for Bank of America’s borrowing backed by its credit card receivables. Bank of America lends money to credit card holders. It borrows the money from the capital […]
Better Gift Cards
It’s holiday time. Many stores are pushing gift cards and gift certificates. I heard a radio ad for a lottery gift card! You give someone a gift card so they can buy lottery tickets. Isn’t that insane? The lottery has long been said as a tax on the poor. You give someone a gift so […]
A Different World
I’m traveling on business again. I read this interesting letter from a reader in the US Airways Magazine. I added the link so you will see what he’s talking about. “On my US Airways flight, I would typically call my situation “unfortunate” -sitting on the runway for over an hour waiting for take-off. However, I […]
How a Callable Bond Worked
The Federal Farm Credit Banks (FFCB) bond I bought in February finally got called. For more info about federal agency/GSE bonds, see my previous post Agency Bonds for Higher Yield Over Treasury. A callable bond means after a certain date, the bond issuer can redeem the bond early, before the bond’s stated maturity date. When […]
Why Banks Push Debit Cards
The Wall Street Journal reporters at FiLife started a series of “Why Don’t They …” blog posts making suggestions about services and practices which seem to make sense to the customers but not offered by the financial institutions. I gave a one-word answer — economics. If you think they should do something but they are […]
Salute to the American Consumers
If you read financial stories in the media you must have come across the talk of a forthcoming recession, like this article on Bloomberg, Recession Hits U.S. Profits; Economy Might Be Next. The lead paragraph reads “U.S. corporate profits are in a recession, and the entire economy may not be far behind.” I went shopping […]