I read a great article on New York Times last week, Unnatural Selections. The author, Mr. Barry Schwartz is a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College. He wrote about the power of the default option. People tend to stay with the default option presented to them because deviating from the default option requires making a […]
Who Pays for Credit Card Rewards and Rebates?
There is debate about whether one should charge everything on credit cards for reaping the rewards (cash rebate or miles) or pay everything by cash (and by debit card and checks). In this post I examine the source of the credit card rewards. If I charge everything on credit cards, pay the balance in full […]
Giving Gift Cards as Holiday Gifts
Many people are buying gift cards as holiday gifts. I read somewhere that gift cards will account for something like 30% of the gift spending this holiday season. Apparently financial services companies and retailers are catching on and trying to make some money on this trend. American Express, Discover, and some banks sell gift cards […]
Selling a Used Car, Part 4: Closing the Deal
This is the fourth and final installment of a 4-part series about my recent experience in selling my used car. The other posts in the series are: Selling a Used Car, Part 1: Preparation Selling a Used Car, Part 2: Placing an Ad Selling a Used Car, Part 3: Test Drive and Negotiation I now have a willing […]
Selling a Used Car, Part 3: Test Drive and Negotiation
This is the third installment of a 4-part series about my recent experience in selling my used car. The other posts in the series are: Selling a Used Car, Part 1: Preparation Selling a Used Car, Part 2: Placing an Ad Selling a Used Car, Part 4: Closing the Deal The car was ready. An ad was placed on Craigslist. Just […]
Selling a Used Car, Part 2: Placing an Ad
This is the second installment of a 4-part series about my recent experience in selling my used car. The other posts in the series are: Selling a Used Car, Part 1: Preparation Selling a Used Car, Part 3: Test Drive and Negotiation Selling a Used Car, Part 4: Closing the Deal The car is ready […]
Selling a Used Car, Part 1: Preparation
This is the first installment of a 4-part series about my recent experience in selling my used, ahem, pre-owned car. The other posts in the series are: Selling a Used Car, Part 2: Placing an Ad Selling a Used Car, Part 3: Test Drive and Negotiation Selling a Used Car, Part 4: Closing the Deal […]
I Love Southwest Airlines
Or should I say LUV, which is their ticker symbol? Southwest Airlines is the only airline I know that will not charge you a fee for changing or canceling a non-refundable ticket. Things come up all the time. You can’t make it to your brother’s place or you want to go on a different date. […]
Some MBNA Cards Didn’t Merge Into B of A After All
There has been some speculation about whether the much coveted MBNA Bill Pay Choice service will survive the web site merge into Bank of America. It turned out that it was kept intact. Smart consumers can continue to use it to pay other credit cards and mortgage payments. I was also hoping that with the […]
Best Credit Card for Grocery, Gas, and Drugstore Purchases
This is part of the TFB Awards for Best In Class in Financial Services series. Update on December 17, 2006: The Chase Rewards Plus Visa card no long appears on Chase web site. Links to online application and rewards brochure are dead. This card may not be available to new applicants any more. Exisiting card […]
TFB Awards
[Last updated on April 3, 2008.] In the style of the Academy Awards, I present here TFB Awards for what I consider the Best In Class in Financial Services. Each award winner is linked to a blog post which explains why it wins the title. If there are other good choices close to call, I […]