Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program 2026 (Free Book, Kids Grades 1-6)

Posted on May 19, 2026 // Leave a Comment

Back for 2026. Barnes & Noble has brought back their Summer Reading Free Book Giveaway for kids in Grades 1-6. You child will need to read any eight books this summer and record them in this Summer Reading Journal [printable PDF]. This year has a “playoff” format.

My family has participated the last two summers, although for 2026 they have added a requirement to visit a Barnes & Noble store four separate times, each time you finish two books:

1. Each time you complete two books (one matchup on your journal), bring your journal to your local Barnes & Noble store. You’ll receive an exclusive Summer Reading sticker and create a recommendation slip for your favorite of the two books — your recommendation slip will be displayed in the store!

2. Return after each completed matchup to collect your sticker and share another recommendation.
Be sure to check out other kids’ recommendation slips for ideas on what to read next.

3. After completing all four matchups on your journal, you’ll complete your full sticker collection and earn a special Barnes & Noble Champion sticker. Keep your journal so you can look back on all the great books you read this summer.

4. Finally, select a book from the list below to receive for free! Thank you for reading with Barnes & Noble this summer.

Advantages of Owning Vanguard Total US and Total International Stocks ETFs Separately

Posted on May 18, 2026 // 2 Comments

One of the most popular ways to build out the stock portion of a simple index fund portfolio is to own the following two Vanguard ETFs:

  • Vanguard Total US Stock Market ETF (VTI), which tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index representing ~100% of the investable U.S. stock market and includes large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap stocks.
  • Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS), which tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index representing equity market performance in developed and emerging markets, including 48 countries and excluding the United States.

However, a lesser-known option is to own a single Vanguard ETFs that attempts to track all the investable stocks in the entire world:

  • Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT), which tracks the FTSE Global All Cap Index, a free-float-adjusted, market-capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the market performance of large-, mid-, and small-capitalization stocks of companies located around the world.

You may already have noticed that VTI/VXUS together have a lower blended expense ratio than VT, at least partially due to how big they are and their economies of scale. This Elm Wealth article goes into detail about one of the major benefits of owning them separately in a taxable brokerage account: the ability to obtain the Foreign Tax Credit. VT is ~60% US stocks and thus does not qualify for the Foreign Tax Credit.

The net result of this is that VXUS effectively earns you an extra 0.23%, which when added to the expense ratio difference in a blended 60% VTI/40% VXUS portfolio ends up being worth 0.13% annually. The effect of an extra ~0.13% in essentially guaranteed extra performance every year (in a taxable account) is pretty significant and can really compound over time. I’m happy to see a number placed on this benefit.

The article includes other good points, with the overall takeaway being that owning both VTI and VXUS has a lot of notable advantages and only minor disadvantages. VTI and VXUS are my largest holdings by far, and I agree that it’s hardly any extra work to add the tiny bit of complexity of owning two ETFs (that mostly already rebalance automatically with price changes).

CIT Bank Platinum Savings APY Boost Promo: 6-Months at 4.10% APY (New and Existing Customers)

Posted on May 18, 2026 // 19 Comments

(Update: The end date for this offer has been extended to 6/30/26.) CIT Bank has a new limited-time Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion, offering a boosted interest rate of 4.10% APY for 6 months on their Platinum Saving account that is 0.35% APY … [Read the rest]

Best Interest Rates on “Cash”: Bank Accounts, Treasury Bills, Money Markets, ETFs – May 2026

Posted on May 14, 2026 // 1 Comment

Here's my monthly survey of the best interest rates on cash as of May 2026, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Banks and brokerages love taking advantage of idle cash, and you can often earn more interest while keeping the same … [Read the rest]

SoFi Promos: 2% ACAT Transfer Bonus, $425 New Checking Bonus, $300-$1000 Loan Bonuses

Posted on May 12, 2026 // 80 Comments

(Updated: 2% ACAT transfer bonus is back, valid on both IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts. For example, $2,000 on a $100,000 account value. 5-year minimum hold. Only a 1% bonus on 401k rollovers. ) SoFi ("Social Finance") is an all-in-one … [Read the rest]

Atmos Rewards Visa Signature Business Card – Improved 85k Offer

Posted on May 12, 2026 // Leave a Comment

The Atmos Rewards Visa Signature Business Card is the business card version of the Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa. Right now, there is also a limited-time increased 85k + $99 Companion Fare offer for this card, which you may find promoted by flight … [Read the rest]

Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Review: 85,000 Bonus Points + $99 Companion Fare

Posted on May 11, 2026 // 5 Comments

Limited-time offer. The Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature Card is the one of the new refreshed Alaska Airlines cards in the new combined Alaska–Hawaiian ecosystem. Formerly the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card, and still issued by Bank of … [Read the rest]

A Cautionary Tale about Maintaining Paper/Offline Records of your Accounts

Posted on May 10, 2026 // 9 Comments

The NY Times recently published the article "Her Life Savings Mysteriously Disappeared After a Systems Glitch" (gift link), where a woman logs into her Fidelity account one day and finds that her accounts are missing online and Fidelity dismisses her … [Read the rest]

Barclays Select Savings w/ AARP: $400 Bonus on $40,000 Deposit (+4% APY)

Posted on May 7, 2026 // 2 Comments

Barclays Bank Delaware has a Select Savings account (currently at 4.00% APY on all balance tiers) as part of their "AARP® Digital Banking" package which also offers Select CDS (with currently subpar rates) that is only available to AARP members with … [Read the rest]

Vanguard To Add Morningstar Branding to Several Index Funds

Posted on May 5, 2026 // 5 Comments

Last month, I mentioned that Morningstar had bought the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) from the University of Chicago. CRSP started out as a non-profit, but was later converted to an LLC and sold for $375 million. Vanguard used … [Read the rest]

2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes

Posted on May 4, 2026 // Leave a Comment

The 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting occurred on May 2nd, 2026. Here is the full 5-hour meeting (pseudo-transcript) and a 7-minute highlight reel from CNBC from Omaha. This is the first one where Warren Buffett was not on stage … [Read the rest]

Ally Invest: $200 Bonus for New Brokerage Account

Posted on May 3, 2026 // 1 Comment

Ally Invest has a new $200 bonus offer for opening a new brokerage account with them, however it is specifically targeted to existing Ally Bank and Ally Auto customers who have never had an Ally Invest account before. (Some of us may have Ally … [Read the rest]

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