Thursday Roundup – The Paper on Top Edition

It struck me the other day that, whenever I buy a newspaper, I never take the one on top. I’m not sure why this is but, whether I’m buying from a machine or from a stack at a newsstand or in a gas station, I always do this. Weird. But I suspect that I’m not the only one who finds the paper on top to be less desirable. What about you?

And now, some interesting finance-related articles from the past few days…

Ramit put together an interesting collection of the worst financial advice that he could find on the web. Whether it’s the waffle-y goodness of a mainstream writer who want to make a point (or take a stand) without actually making a point (or taking a stand) or the downright craziness of anonymous participants in various forums, he makes a great point. Take what you read with a huge grain of salt.

FMF put together a nice retrospective of how he’s increased the value of his #1 asset — his earning power. In short, he used a powerful combination of education, hard work, biding his time, and common sense. This one is definitely worth the read.

Madison detailed how you can escape your Sprint contract if you want to sign up for their SERO plan. Even if you’re not with Sprint, this is great information, as pretty much all cell phone carriers have language in their contracts allowing you to cancel your service without an early termination fee is they make any “materially adverse” changes to your agreement (like annoying new fees, no matter how small).

Jeremy reminded us about Regulation D, which limits the number of certain electronic transactions in a savings account to six per month. While I’ve always been aware of this limit, I’ve never kept close track. In fact, just last night I made a savings-to-checking transfer, then thought better of the amount and transferred a bit more. Doh! Two transfers for the price of one. Guess I need to tally up those transfers to make sure I stay under the limit. The downside is that some banks levy a fee for going over the limit, or even stop you from making additional transfers. The workaround is to do the transactions in person or at an ATM.

Finally, Patrick shared some thoughts about organizing his finances. Simplifying and organizing our finances is actually something that I’ve been chipping away at this month. While my wife and I make all financial decisions jointly, I’m the one that usually puts things into action. This means that I have a clear idea of where our money is, what the necessary passwords are, etc. The last thing I want is for my family to be left scrambling in the event of my demise. More on this in the near future.