Here’s a quick look at some of the articles that caught my eye over the past week…
Archive for March 2007
Weekly Roundup – 03/30/07
Written by Nickel - One Comment
Published on March 31st, 2007 - One Comment
Filed under: Link Love
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Filed under: Link Love
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Netflix Changes Shipping Policy for the Worse?
Written by Nickel - 23 Comments
Earlier this week I talked about jumping ship from Netflix to Blockbuster Total Access. Then yesterday I received an e-mail that may have driven the final nail into Netflix’s coffin…
While we have a Netflix shipping center just 50 miles from our house, their e-mail specified that our next movie (Wild America; it’s for the [...]
Carnivals – Week of 03/26/07
Written by Nickel - Leave a Comment
FiveCentNickel participated in four carnivals this week. Here they are along with links to my posts that were included in each.
The Carnival of Personal Finance included “How to Decide When to Refinance Your Mortgage.” Also included was “Allowance Insights” from Raising4Boys.
The Best of Me Symphony included “Free Bonus Miles for Applying for Frequent Flyer Credit [...]
Published on March 30th, 2007 - Leave a Comment
Filed under: Carnivals
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Filed under: Carnivals
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Blockbuster Total Access vs. NetFlix
Written by Nickel - 32 Comments
We’ve been happy customers of NetFlix for quite some time, but have been recently considering Blockbuster Total Access. We actually tried Blockbuster’s online movie service a couple of years ago and, to be totally honest, we weren’t crazy about their service. At the time, we found it to be slower than Netflix, in part [...]
Georgia Upholds Ban on Payday Loans
Written by Nickel - 15 Comments
This week Georgia lawmakers narrowly rejected a bid to repeal a state law banning payday loans. Supporters of House Bill 163 have argued that the state went too far in banning payday lending back in May 2004, and they want to bring the industry back, albeit with new regulations.
According to an article on Georgia.gov:
Usury laws [...]
Published on March 29th, 2007 - 15 Comments
Filed under: Debt Reduction
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Filed under: Debt Reduction
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Avoid Check Washing With Special Ink?
Written by Nickel - 8 Comments
I’ve written in the past about how to protect yourself when writing checks (see also “Checkbook Security“), but I haven’t talked much about “check washing.” Check washing refers to the chemical removal of ink from a check that you’ve written such that fraudsters can change the amount and make it payable to themselves. Apparently check [...]
Published on March 28th, 2007 - 8 Comments
Filed under: Banking, Identity Theft
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Filed under: Banking, Identity Theft
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Money Madness: The Championship Round
Written by Nickel - 3 Comments
The Final Four came down to the wire but, in the end, two of my posts were left standing. FiveCentNickel narrowly (very narrowly) edged out NoCreditNeeded for one of the spots, and Raising4Boys defeated MyFinancialJourney for the other spot. These were the matchups:
Ten Simple Ways to Cover Your Ass(ets)
(barely) defeated
Avoid 10 Common Debt Reduction Mistakes
Teaching [...]
Published on March 28th, 2007 - 3 Comments
Filed under: Miscellany
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Filed under: Miscellany
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Amex $150 Signup Bonus Still Alive?
Written by Nickel - One Comment
Late last week I received an interesting e-mail from a reader — it seems that the juicy $150 signup bonus for the Amex Business Gold Rewards might not be dead. (And yes, anyone can apply for business cards – just use your SSN instead of an EIN and use your name as the business name.)
Hi! [...]
Published on March 27th, 2007 - One Comment
Filed under: Credit Cards, Frugality, Identity Theft
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Filed under: Credit Cards, Frugality, Identity Theft
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Minimizing Our Taxes with a SEP-IRA, 403(b) and 457(b)
Written by Nickel - 16 Comments
Given the recent uptick in our income due to my new job and our growing self-employment income, I’ve recently been thinking of ways to reduce our 2007 tax liability. The first step, of course, is to contribute to my employer’s basic retirement plan, which is held at Fidelity. But… I want to do way more [...]
Published on March 26th, 2007 - 16 Comments
Filed under: Retirement, Saving & Investing, Self Employment, Taxes
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Filed under: Retirement, Saving & Investing, Self Employment, Taxes
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One Year Ago This Week (March 18th – March 24th)
Written by Nickel - Leave a Comment
Here are some of my favorite FiveCentNickel (subscribe) posts from a year ago:
» Safe Deposit Box: A Confession
» Ten Real Estate Mistakes, Part 1 (and Part 2)
» Storing our Stuff
» Staging Your Home for Sale
And this is what was happening over at Raising4Boys (subscribe) over the same period:
» Taking a Header out Back
» Braces for [...]
Published on March 26th, 2007 - Leave a Comment
Filed under: Best of...
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Filed under: Best of...
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Best of FCN
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- How to Manage Your Asset Allocation with Multiple Accounts
- Consumption Smoothing - Save While the Saving's Good
- How to Save on Groceries
- How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
- Eleven Great Books About Money
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