As the end of the year draws near, I’ve been looking at my Amex Delta credit card and wondering if I’ll make it through the $25k spending tier to get a bonus of 10k MQMs (Medallion Qualifier Miles). My account closes on December 15th and, if I make it, I’ll get bumped up to the [...]
Archive for November 2010
Strategies for Breaking Through Credit Reward Tiers
Filed under: Credit Cards
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Financial Forgiveness
You are probably harder on yourself than anyone else is.
You might still be blaming yourself (and feeling ashamed) for mistakes you made years ago. Here’s proof:
Do you tell yourself that you are stuck now because you made the “wrong” career choice 20 years ago? Do you feel rotten about the spending binge you went on [...]
Filed under: Miscellany
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Ally Bank 0.25% CD Renewal Bonus
Two years ago, I set up a CD ladder at Ally Bank, though they were still technically GMAC Bank at the time. I did this by buying a one, two, three, four, and five year CD and have been renewing each “rung” on the ladder into a new 5 year CD every November.
While CD rates [...]
Modified on November 18th, 2010 - 4 Comments
Filed under: Banking
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What is Price Targeting and How Does it Affect You?
Have you been paying more than you could probably get away with? Do you know that not everyone pays the same price for the same service that you received? How can you find the best deal for what you buy?
Price targeting is a tool that sellers often use, but if you’re aware of how it [...]
Filed under: Economy, Frugality
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401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) Contribution Limits for 2011
It’s that time of year again… Time to start thinking about retirement plan contributions for next year. With that in mind, I wanted to point out that 401(k) contribution limits will not be changing from their 2010 levels.
This means that individuals under the age of 50 will be able to contribute up to $16,500 to [...]
Modified on November 16th, 2010 - 2 Comments
Filed under: Retirement, Saving & Investing, Taxes
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Opening a Solo 401(k) at Fidelity and Rolling Over My SEP-IRA
At long last, I’ve finally gotten around to opening a Solo 401(k) with Fidelity. My primary motivation for doing this is to move pre-tax contributions out of my SEP-IRA and into a “qualified” plan so I can convert non-deductible Traditional IRA contributions into a Roth IRA with minimal tax consequences.
If you’re not sure what [...]
Modified on February 9th, 2011 - 7 Comments
Filed under: Retirement, Saving & Investing, Taxes
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Extreme Couponing: What’s Your View?
I understand folks wanting to save money on groceries. However, while at the grocery store this past Saturday night, I witnessed some hard core couponing. The guy ahead of me in line bought something like 24 cans of Chunky Soup for $1.95 total. That works out to roughly $0.08 per can.
So how did he [...]
Modified on November 17th, 2010 - 67 Comments
Filed under: Frugality
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Over 50 and Need a Job?
It’s frightening to be out of work at any age, but it can be terrifying if you’re in your mid-50’s and unemployed.
This is especially true if you are tapping into your emergency savings, or facing other financial hardships. But if you are in that age range and out of a job right now, or can’t [...]
Modified on October 4th, 2011 - 6 Comments
Filed under: Working
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Dave Ramsey’s Electric Bill
About three weeks ago, we took a closer look at Dave Ramsey’s new mansion just south of Nashville. In case you missed it, his home spans more than 13k square feet (including a nearly 1500 sq ft garage!) and it has a total assessed value of just shy of $5M.
A common theme in the comments [...]
Modified on November 12th, 2010 - 17 Comments
Filed under: Debt Reduction, Real Estate
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Debt and Obesity – What’s the Connection?
This is a guest post from Stathis Papas, Ph.D.
A study conducted at the University of Mainz in Germany has shown that over-indebted people are more than twice as likely to be obese as their financially stable counterparts. Dr. Eva Munster, who led the study, defines over-indebtedness as the inability to redeem one’s debts due to [...]
Modified on November 12th, 2010 - 5 Comments
Filed under: Debt Reduction
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