Photo courtesy of robsmith-qld
When you think about it, eggs themselves are a pretty frugal food. They are just about the cheapest form of natural protein available, and are the primary ingredient in nearly every made-from-scratch recipe. We go through a lot of eggs in our household–boiled eggs, scrambled eggs for breakfast (and occasionally, dinner), deviled [...]
In the midst of all of this talk of financial apocalypse – which is probably a little bit overstated – I realized that the idea of saving money in times of crisis is a lot different from saving money in a time of plenty. Cutting back on Nintendo games is a lot different than learning [...]
I received an email from a regular reader, Nick, who had a question about how one knows if they are cut out for a career in the financial services sector. Basically, Nick was wondering if his hobby as a personal finance enthusiast could translate well into a career in the field.
Here’s the question:
There are [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
A Long Day Yesterday
Greeting from China!
I spent most of the day yesterday on the planes. First I asked a friend to drop me off at a local New Jersey Transit train station near where we live so I can take the train to Newark International Airport. Actually, [...]
The combination WaMu free checking and high yield savings account undergoes a rate increase to 4.00% APY.
It’s been pretty exciting (bordering on wild) tracking the markets and the banks these days. One of the latest updates I can provide you on the online banks we’ve been monitoring here is that Washington Mutual [...]
“We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money.”
- Davy Crockett
My what a difference a couple hundred years makes! Imagine if a Congressman came out and said [...]
I’ve got a fantastic cheap date planned but I’ve been felled by the flu.
So You Think You Can Dance photo by starpulse
Ugh! Just as the carnivals are heralding the start of autumn, I’ve caught my first bug of the season. Whether it’s the cold or flu, I’m not feeling too hot, am feeling [...]
Each weekend at about 4 pm on Sunday the “Sunday evening blues” set in. This week… I didn’t have a care in the world that the weekend was over. This is how life should be, happily enjoying every day, not dreading the next one, because you have to get up and go to work. And [...]
It is officially autumn, and one of the best fall dishes I can think of is a big pot of homemade chili. It goes great with football, at tailgates, parties, or even just as a family meal that you want to stretch throughout the week. A few months ago I shared a good and cheap [...]
Blue cash from American Express is our pick for best cash back credit card. The reason we use the amex blue cash card for the majority of our purchases is the 5% cash back it offers at gas stations, supermarkets, and drug stores.
5% Cash Back
While there is an annual spending amount you have to [...]
About 11 years ago, living in Moscow, I was approached – like most of my fellow expat managers – with a bizarre proposition. Leave the relative safety of Moscow and head out to my firm’s furtherestest outpost – Bosnia.
I’ll take a step back and point out that I was already in what was considered a [...]
I admit it–I was wrong to create the chore chart as the sole source of earning allowance money. Well, I was half wrong. Several months ago I wrote about the elaborate commission-based allowance system I had created for my kids whereby they would earn a bit of money for each chore completed. The idea was [...]
With the coming Federal Election, there are a few buzz words going around. One of these buzz words is the Liberal party plan to introduce a carbon tax and have dubbed the plan The Green Shift. This platform has caught my attention in particular because it would provide environment reform in Canada (much [...]
I received the following email from a reader and wanted to toss it out as an “Ask the Reader” post. I’m certain there are people out there smarter than me on the subject, and can offer some solid advice for those holding money in banks such as WaMu. From my limited knowledge and experience in [...]
Take Advantage of a Declining Market
You’ve heard it a million times, but the average investor who saves regularly by contributing to a 401(k) or IRA every paycheck can benefit from reduced volatility because of dollar-cost-averaging. If you plug away and invest $100 each month regardless of what the market is doing, you’ll be utilizing the [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
Going on Vacation
Yes, I am on vacation, for a month!
By the time this post hits the blog, I will be sitting in a Continental Airlines plane in Newark Airport waiting for taking off. My destination is Beijing, 6,000 miles away. It has been a long time since I was [...]
Is the economy affecting your spending patterns? How much effect does the economy have on how you save money?
Things must be bad when the wealthy start to tighten their belts. It appears that a lot of the rich have decided that their normal spending habits can no longer go on unchecked. With [...]
Is the economy affecting your spending patterns? How much effect does the economy have on how you save money?
Things must be bad when the wealthy start to tighten their belts. It appears that a lot of the rich have decided that their normal spending habits can no longer go on unchecked. With [...]
We’ve all heard about the basic retirement plan advice: get your employer match, pick the appropriate asset allocation, and check the expense ratios on the funds. There has to be more, right? Of course there is. Here are some tips for thoroughly evaluating your 401k and taking advantage of the less talked about options.
1. Uncover [...]
Working from home. For many people it’s just a pipe dream, a fantasy that they don’t know how to make happen. It doesn’t have to be that way though. There really are a ton of ways to legitimately work from home.
Let’s talk about a few of those options, and some ways that you can [...]
I got a haircut Friday. It’s usually a traumatic event. I’ve never enjoyed going to the barber. I had one barber I loved – her name was Victoria and she worked in a fancy high-end spa-type Manhattan place. She was perfect – she didn’t ask me what I wanted, she just told me what [...]
Often times the best way to learn a lesson is for someone to tell you what not to do. While there are many people willing to tell you all the smart moves to make with your money, only a few are willing to share their own screw-ups. Well, if you’ve been reading this site for [...]
I received an email from a reader about whether it was a good idea to sell their non-registered portfolio to pay down debt. As always, my answer was “it depends”. It depends on the interest rate of the debt, how long the term is, the marginal tax rate of the debt holder [...]
I’m still away on my vacation. We’ve had a little lot of trouble trying to get on the free military cargo flights that we were told were “typically very, very easy, but nothing is guaranteed.” It seems like there’s some value to a guarantee.
While we were on vacation, we got a little sucked [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
WaMu Online Savings Account Now 4.00% APY
Washington Mutual keeps their effort to lure new account, increasing their online savings account rate to 4.00% APY (as of now, their website hasn’t been updated yet). The latest rate change puts WaMu at the top of the interest rate table. To get [...]
