My post the other day on how much to tip a tax cab driver stimulated a good bit of discussion, so I thought I’d follow by asking a substantially broader question…
What do you think about the practice of tipping in general?
I have a friend that spent several years in Australia and, upon his return, swore [...]

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Amidst yesterday’s discussion of the new tax rebate plan, a reader named Randy asked:
Will this work the same as the last Bush rebate? Meaning it reduces he amount of my tax refund by the amount of the rebate I receive? For some reason, I think this is how it worked in 2001. The down side [...]

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According to an AP report:
Congressional leaders announced a deal with the White House Thursday on an economic stimulus package that would give most tax filers refunds of $600 to $1,200, and more if they have children…
The rebates will go to 117 million families, according to a Democratic summary. That includes $28 billion in checks to [...]

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The most recent issue of Money Magazine had an interesting article about early retirement. Included was a small sidebar with tips for getting out of the rat race well before traditional retirement age. While there wasn’t anything earth-shattering about these tips, they serve as a good reminder:
1. Live below your means. Keep an eye on [...]

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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 [...]

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After nearly pulling the trigger and refinancing our home last spring, we finally decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on a refi yesterday. We’re currently about 1.5 years into a 30 year fixed mortgage at 6.375% (yes, rates bumped up right around the time we moved in 2006). Besides getting a lower rate, [...]

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Amidst talks of a $145 billion economic stimulus package that is designed to give the economy a “shot in the arm,” the Federal Reserve just cut short term interest rates by 0.75 percent. This drops the rate from 4.25% to 3.5%, meaning that the Fed has reduced rate by 1.75% since September. According to Bankrate.com, [...]

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Do you have a home inventory? If you’re anything like us, you don’t. While we used to have a video inventory, it’s woefully out of date — and to be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure where it is. Obviously, this means that it would be pretty difficult for us to put together (and substantiate) [...]

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This past week I took the plunge and bought a Palm Centro smartphone to replace my nearly new Treo 755p. And no, I didn’t get the pink one… I got the black one.
As much as I loved the 755p, I’m an even bigger fan of the Centro. They’re pretty much comparable in terms of features, [...]

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Here are some of my favorite FiveCentNickel (subscribe) posts from a year ago this past week:
» Ten Steps to Simplify Your Finances, Part 2
» Ten Steps to Simplify Your Finances, Part 3
» Don’t Miss These Tax Deductions
» Ten Steps to Simplify Your Finances, Part 4
» 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Arbitrage in Action
And here’s what [...]

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