Since we had the subprime problem, many mortgage companies went bankrupt. The largest mortgage lender in the country Countrywide Financial (CFC) announced today that they drew down their entire $11.5 billion credit line. The analogy for this move in personal finance is like a person who normally uses credit cards only for convenience all of […]
Latest Blog Posts
Credit Card Dispute Against Priceline
This is an update to my credit card dispute against Priceline. When I went on vacation a few months ago, Priceline gave me a bad hotel. I’m usually not very picky. But this time it was bad enough for me to file a dispute with my credit card company against Priceline. It was the only […]
APR or APY, It Doesn’t Matter
It’s very strange. I see a lot of people reaching my blog when they search for information on converting APR to APY or vice-versa. They end up on my post last year Interest Rate: APY and APR which mentioned two Excel formula: EFFECT which converts APR to APY, and NOMINAL which converts APY to APR. […]
Avoiding the Worst Days and Missing the Best Days
Two readers commented about avoiding the worst days on my post about the meaningless stats on missing the best days. The stock market had some bad days since then. I think some might be interested in reading about avoiding the worst days. First I want to emphasize that the whole point of my previous post […]
Rebalancing In Action: Bought More REITs
The stock market had a good year this year. Despite the 2% drop yesterday, the S&P 500 index is up 7.5% since January. When I looked at all the Vanguard index funds, everything is up, except REITs. REITs are Real Estate Investment Trusts, which invest in commercial real estate like office buildings, shopping malls and what […]
Personal Rate of Return: Dollar Weighted Or Time Weighted
After reading my post about estimating overall personal rate of return, a reader Brian asked: “I have a Fidelity serviced 401(k) and I had always wondered about how they calculated the personal rate of return. Do you know how/if other providers calculate personal rates of return? If I were to open a brokerage account, is […]
Settle for Good Enough
I came to know the book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by coincidence when I read an article in New York Times on a plane. I wrote about that article in Opt In or Opt Out: The Power of the Default Option. I finally got this book from the public library after […]
Out of the Market and Meaningless Stats
The stock market had a field day last Thursday (7/12/2007). The Dow rose 284 points, its biggest point gain in nearly five years. It reminded me of the stats about the risk of being out of the market. It goes like if you missed the best X days in Y years in the stock market, […]
ESPP: What’s In It for the Company?
After reading my post about ESPP, a reader David sent me an e-mail and asked I’ve read a bunch of stuff about ESPP and while everyone talks about what a good deal it is for the employees who are able to participate, or the tax consequences of the various ways to sell the shares, no one talks about what […]
Agency Bonds for Higher Yield Over Treasury
I invest my short-term money in a Vanguard money market fund and Treasury Bills. I also tested water with Agency bonds for slightly higher yield over Treasury for the same maturity earlier this year. Agency bonds are bonds issued by a federal government agency or a Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE). A GSE is a entity […]