Variable Universal Life insurance or in short VUL is sold by insurance agents as a smart investment to unsuspecting people. The pitch usually goes like this: You invest in VUL. The money in the policy grows tax deferred. You get to choose what you invest in, stocks, bonds, international, you name it. It’s like a […]
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Disputed Credit Card Charge Against Priceline
When I go on vacation, I usually use Priceline’s Name Your Price™ service for a hotel room. You specify an area in the city, a quality level (3-star, 4-star, etc.), the dates, and the price you want to pay. Priceline tries to find a hotel for you at that price. If it accepts your bid, […]
The Commutative Law of Multiplication
The Commutative Law of Multiplication is a fancy way of saying when you multiply two numbers, it doesn’t matter which number you put down first and which number you put down second. a * b = b * a This basic law of arithmetic is taught in the second grade in elementary school. Yet it’s […]
Individual TIPS Or TIPS Mutual Fund/ETF
Just like there are mutual funds and ETFs that invest in stocks, there are mutual funds that invest in TIPS. I show a list of them in More Inflation Protection with TIPS After Maxing Out I Bonds. Mutual Fund/ETF Advantages Buying TIPS through a mutual fund (or ETF) is a good idea, because it gives […]
Maxed Out: Documentary About Debt in America
I watched a documentary Maxed Out on DVD over the weekend. It’s about debt in America, especially credit card debt. It featured people who are in debt, people who lost their loved ones to debt, a Harvard Law School professor, Dave Ramsey, debt collectors, a pawn shop owner, and many other people involved in debt […]
Looking for a Photo Sharing Site
I’m looking for a photo sharing site now that Yahoo! announced that they will terminate Yahoo! Photos. I think my requirements are simple and reasonable, yet I’m drawing a blank after looking at many photo sharing sites. Here are my requirements: Free service. I don’t have many photos. When I travel I take some pictures. […]
Payday Loans, Anybody?
No, I’m not talking about borrowing a payday loan. We all know it’s very expensive for the borrowers. If you treat the fee as an interest charge, the rate often reaches several hundred percent APR. You know, what’s bad for the borrowers must be a good deal for the lenders, right? What about owning a […]
Patent on Roth IRA Conversion
If you have a Traditional IRA, perhaps as a result of rolling over a 401(k) plan balance, should you convert it to a Roth IRA? I heard on the radio program Marketplace that someone got a patent on the thought process. I looked it up and lo and behold it’s there. U.S. Patent 6,058,376 “Process […]
401(k) Committee Chasing Performance
I received an e-mail from my employer’s HR department this week announcing some changes to our 401(k) plan. Here’s what they said (emphasis added by me, fund names masked). The 401(k) Committee decided to remove the ABC Fund from the Plan due to poor performance for several quarters. The committee closely monitors all funds in […]
Successful Business Strategy: Selling Hope
While reading newspapers on a plane, I discovered a winning business strategy: Selling Hope. The products you sell don’t have to work as advertised. They may or may not. That’s not the point. All you have to do is selling the hope that they will work. There are plenty of examples for this strategy. Airborne […]