The Money Poll on credit limits has now run it’s course, so it’s time to take a look at the results… As of this writing a whopping 36% of you reported having over $50,000 in available credit. Apparently I underestimated you guys when I put together the list of possible responses! On the low end, 6% reported that they don’t use credit, 10% had $5k or less, another 20% fell between $5k-$20k, and the balance (28%) wound up in between $20-$50k. As I suspected, it looks like 0% balance transfer credit card offers have inflated numbers somewhat for at least a few of you.

If you haven’t had a chance to participate in the credit limits poll, please do so.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve run a money poll, but while updating Quicken the night another poll idea hit me… I’m curious as to how much you guys have in available credit. I’m talking here about credit card limits, so simply total up the limits and answer the poll below. For what it’s worth, here’s our situation when it comes to personal credit cards:

Citi Driver’s Edge: $14,100
Citi Dividend Platinum: $10,800
Chase PerfectCard: $10,000
American Express: $5,000

So we could theoretically run up a total of $39,900 in credit card bills. We won’t, but we could.

What about you? I suspect there will be some real whoppers out there, especially amongst those of you that are actively playing the 0% balance transfer game. So let’s get to it… [more]

The Money Poll on tax returns has now run its course, and it looks like we have a bunch of do-it-yourselfers hanging out around here… Over 65% of all respondents are going to be preparing their own tax returns this year, while a bit under 30% will be hiring a pro. In years past, I would’ve fallen in the majority — I actually enjoy running through our taxes as it gives me a lot of insight into our finances. However, given the year that we’ve had, I want a professional opinion just to be sure that I’m doing everything right. Thus, I’m currently in the distinct minority (5%) who are both preparing their own taxes and taking them to a professional for a second opinion. If you have responded yet, the poll is still open. Hop on over an record your vote, or just read the comments.

I noted the other day that I was waffling about how to handle our tax prep this year… Do it myself again, or hire a pro? Well, I ended up deciding to split the difference this year, and do it both ways.

Over the weekend, I fired up Turbo Tax and hunkered down to figure things out on my own. With that done, my next job is getting them figured by a pro. While it’s not the most efficient approach, it’s almost certain to be the most instructive. Once I’ve had a chance to make a direct comparison between the two, I’ll have a much better feel for whether or not I should continue tackling our taxes going forward.

As it turns out, this is a particularly tough year tax-wise, as our income was split between two different states, and we had to deal with moving expenses, deductions relating to two different houses, and our first year of substantial self-employment income. Thus, I’d welcome the opportunity to have a second set of eyes look things over.

With that said, lets get to Money Poll #25… [more]

This week’s Money Poll focused on the number of open bank accounts that you have, and the results are pretty interesting… There were 180 responses, and nearly 2/3 of the respondents have between two and four bank accounts. A few ’simpletons’ have just one (5%), and a smattering of banking extremists have more than ten (8%). To see the full results and/or to register your vote, please visit the original post.

As I was updating Quicken over the weekend, I got to thinking about how much more complex our finances are than they used to be. We now have multiple retirement accounts, a non-retirement investment account, and five different bank accounts. Yep, five. Our local checking account, our busines checking account, and three online savings accounts (Emigrant Direct, HSBC Direct, and ING Direct). In reality, this isn’t as bad as it sounds. We really only use one online savings account at a time (currently HSBC Direct) and leave the others open for rate-chasing. Anyway, all of this got me to wondering how typical (or atypical) our situation is, which brings us to Money Poll #24… [more]

Based on the results of my highly scientific poll, I can now predict that the stock market will be either up or down during the next year… We now have over 100 votes, and that Indianapolis Colts hold a 58% to 42% lead over the Chicago Bears.

Just to re-cap the point of this poll, the ‘Super Bowl Indicator’ hold that whenever a team from the old AFL (now the AFC) wins the Super Bowl, the stock market will experience a down year. But when the winner comes from the old NFL (now the NFC), we’ll have a bull market. The problem with this year’s Super Bowl is that the AFC representative (Indianapolis) hails from the old NFL, as does the NFC representative (Chicago). So now we’re left to wonder if this is a win-win or a lose-lose matchup (either way, one team from the old NFL will win and another will lose). Hmmm… Here’s the deal:

I can now predict with confidence that the market will be up or down this year!

If you haven’t had a chance to participate, hop on over to the Super Bowl prediction poll and register your vote. We still have a little more than a week until the big game.

I know, I know… The connection between the Super Bowl and personal finance is tenuous at best, but… The NFC and AFC Championship games are in the books, and we now know that it’ll be the Colts vs. the Bears playing for the whole enchilada down in Miami on February 4th. Since this is nominally a ‘Money Poll,’ I’ll just point out the reputed connection between the outcome of the Super Bowl and stock market performance during the following year.

(And yes, there is a poll somewhere down there after all this junk — keep scrolling!) [more]

Well, the results of the Money Poll on Current Debt Loads are in… Interestingly, 43% of all respondents reports have no outstanding debt whatsoever. Of course, this ignores mortgages, so it’s not quite as rosy as it sounds. Beyond this, there was a fairly even spread in terms of amounts owed. At the high end, 7% of respondents owe more than $50k, and nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents owe somewhere between $10k and $30k.There were lots of interesting comments in response to this poll, so be sure to check it out. And if you haven’t registered your vote yet, it’s not too late.

Okay, I’ve asked in the past about whether or not you guys carry a credit card balance, but I’ve never really touched on the issue of actual debt load. So in this Money Poll, I’d like to ask about your current debt load. Before we get started, here are a few ground rules… [more]