Moving Servers: Pardon The Dust

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Due to the increasing needs of this site, I have been upgrading to a new server over the weekend. It has been taking longer than expected. Because of the way the internet works, there are currently two copies of my site on the internet right now – one on the old server and one on the new server. Depending on where you are located, you will be seeing one or the other.

The side effects of this are that you may leave a comment on the “old” server, and it will disappear when you eventually get redirected to the new servers. Posts also might appear and disappear. The dust should all settle within the next 24 hours. I have been monitoring the e-mails on both my old and new servers, so everything should be okay in that respect. Thanks for your patience.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

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The Many Paths Toward Simplicity

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

I have never been a very neat person. Having a bigger house is not a good thing for me. I swear the amount of junk we have has doubled since we started living in a house with a basement!! Given that we are also doing an inter-state move in less than 4 months, I really need to get rid of this junk. Because of this, I’ve been noticing a lot of other articles that related to simplifying your life:

The Zero Inbox – Here, the idea is to have nothing in your e-mail Inbox. Nothing! The second you get the e-mail you either answer it, delete it, or file it away appropriately. 43 Folders has a whole series about this method. I think I have over 1,000 messages in my blog e-mail Inbox alone. 😛

Buy Nothing For A Year – A group of people, called The Compact (see their blog and Yahoo Group, are pledging not to buy any new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.) for all of 2007. They wish to “counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture.” and simplify their lives. Instead, they borrow, barter, or buy used. (I think food and medicine are okay.)

Having Zero Impact – What if you went further, and led a life with the goal of having zero impact on the environment? For the couple interviewed in this New York Times article “The Year Without Toilet Paper”, it means “eating only food (organically) grown within a 250-mile radius of Manhattan; (mostly) no shopping for anything except said food; producing no trash (except compost); using no paper; and, most intriguingly, using no carbon-fueled transportation.” This means no cars, no subway, no toilet paper, and barely any electricity. I’m sorry, but I need my Charmin, dude…

While I don’t necessarily want to go to any of these extremes, I do feel I need to consciously choose to live a more simple life and let go of my pack-rat tendencies. I’ve felt this way before, though, so I know it won’t be easy.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

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My Net Worth Tracking Template

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

You may be curious as to how I keep track of my net worth updates. It’s actually highly manual and nothing fancy. I simply log into Yodlee account aggregation via Bank of America’s MyPortfolio and copy-n-paste the appropriate balances into this simple Excel spreadsheet file. Then I make a screenshot and post it online. This way, it only takes a few minutes – I don’t have to log into 12 different websites, I have a permanent copy for my own records, and I don’t have to write any HTML.

The net worth progress bar on the top right of this page is also made manually with a graphics program (I’ve migrated from Microsoft Paint to Macromedia Fireworks). If you are looking for something automatic for your own site, try this progress bar image maker or run a search for “percentage bar javascript”. Hope that helps!

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Going To Vegas? Play The Games With The Best Odds!

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

I’m going to Vegas! I haven’t been in several years, so I wanted to brush on my gambling knowledge. Of course we all know that the vast majority of games have what is called a “House Edge”, which means that over the long run the casino will be profitable. But not all games and bets are created equal. Since I love numbers, I decided to compile some ways to achieve the best odds in a casino. This way, you’ll increase your chances of winning the short term, or at least extend the time between ATM visits 🙂

Odds Explained
A 95% expected return, or a House Edge of 5%, is the same as saying that on each bet you are expected only to receive 95 cents out of every dollar you bet. This does not mean if you walk up the table with a $100 bankroll, you will leave out with $95. You will most likely bet a lot more than $100 since you will win many hands as well. If you play 50 hands per hour, after 4 hours at $5 each that’s $1000 in bets. With a 5% House Edge, on average you would have lost $50. The more hands you play, the more you are expected to lose. This is why good blackjack dealers deal so fast.

So besides playing inherently slower games or simply playing less, here are a few ways to get the best odds:

Bets Requiring No Skill
This includes scenarios where the best odds are achieved when you simply make the same move every time. (Actually, the best odds here are achieved by not gambling at all…)

1.36% House Edge

Although the table is very cluttered, the best bet is actually very simple. Just put your money on the Don’t Pass/Don’t Come line and the House Edge is a mere 1.36%. You won’t be very popular, however, as you are betting on the roller to “crap out”. Since this is such a social game, it may be worth it to bet on the Pass/Come line instead – the House Edge is only slightly worse at 1.41%.

1.06% House Edge

Although Baccarat has the reputation of being a “high-class” game, the ideal betting is remains straightforward. If you bet on the banker every time, the House Edge is a mere 1.06%.

Bets Requiring Some Skill
The main skill you need here is memorization. For each situation, there is always a single correlating “correct” move.

0.60% House Edge

If you memorize Basic Strategy, the house edge in a normal six-deck shoe is about 0.6%. Keep in mind that the strategy changes slightly with all the small variations between blackjack games. Read up on how the rules on when you can split, double down, surrender, and more affect the odds. Never buy insurance. You can even practice learning online.

Positive House Edge

If you’re going to stare at a computer screen alone, you should play video poker. Unlike slot machines, you can actually figure out your odds of winning based on the payout schedule which must be displayed on each machine. If you find a “full play” machine and memorize the correct moves for each combination of cards, you can theoretically achieve a negative House Edge of up to -0.76%. Keep in mind this takes into account getting the Royal Flush, which pays 800 to 1. However, if you practice a bit, you can whittle the House Edge down to less than 0.5%. (I don’t know of any free sites that help teach you Video Poker, do you?)

Bets Requiring Significant Skill
If you are willing to put in the required of time and effort, poker may be a good idea. You are competing directly with other people, with the casino making their money by taking a small percentage of each pot. Tournaments can be a fun way to minimize your losses.

Another practice that can gain you a slight advantage over the house is Blackjack with card-counting. This takes into account that a blackjack deck has a “memory” – that is, what cards have been shown will affect the probabilities of what cards will be shown. Not only do you have to be mentally sharp and pay continuous attention to every single card shown, you have to do it all without letting the casino know you are doing it, as they’ll kick you out. Card counting typically gives the player an advantage of 0.5 to 1.5% over the house.

Of course, Vegas isn’t all about the odds. I personally like Craps (not just pass), Blackjack (no counting), and the sportsbook the best. Provide your own Vegas tips below!

References: Wikipedia – Baccarat, Craps, Blackjack, Video Poker

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Links About Saving, Debt, and Lending

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

NCN shares a list of things he actually does to save money. Maybe you can pick up a few ideas.

If you are looking for more about online lending at Prosper, Lazy Man is starting his Prosper Week. He started by addressing some parts of my Prosper Review.

Mighty Bargain Hunter has a multiple-part review of the book Debt Is Slavery and how stuff will imprison you. It’s amazing how much junk I’ve accumulated after living in a house with a huge basement.

Got a crockpot? Trent shares some of his essential recipes. Am I the only person who doesn’t have one of these things? I don’t think I can handle any more kitchen appliances. Maybe if I throw away that old sandwich-maker…

Sometimes trying to save money can be tricky. Have you seen those places that offer $100 brake repair and a lifetime warranty? If you couldn’t smell the cow dung from a mile away, Golbguru has shared his own experience. Hint: It’s never just $100. That reminds me, our Nissan is nearing 100,000 miles as well.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


$25 or $75 Bonus For Opening HSBC Checking Account

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

HSBC Bank is offering a $25 or $75 bonus for opening one of two types of checking accounts with them. This may be a good complement to their 6% HSBC Direct account (my opening review). Your two options:

Interest Checking ($75 bonus)
– To avoid fees, you need to keep $3,000 in combined balances, or simulate direct deposit with an ACH transfer from another bank each month. HSBC Direct balances count toward the $3,000 requirement!

Free Checking ($25 bonus)
– No monthly fees, no minimum balance, no direct deposit requirement
– You do need some sort of checking activity every 3 months, or you’ll be knocked down to Basic Banking checking, which does have fees.

Both offer:
– HSBC Debit MasterCard? Card with PayPassTM
– Free first order of selected wallet-style checks
– Check-writing ability, and thus the ability to link to banks like Capital One 360, Emigrant Direct, etc.
– ATM access to money and free Online Billpay
– Possible branch access to people who live near one.
– Instant Transfers between Checking and HSBC Direct accounts, and thus possibly avoid HSBC’s longer transfer times.

I recommend opening an Interest Checking account first, and either keeping $3k in HSBC Direct or simulating direct deposit for a while to grab the bigger $75 bonus, and then after 6 months downgrade back to the Free Checking account. I did this myself with a previous bonus offer with no problems. Fine print:

HSBC reserves the right to charge your checking account an amount equal to the bonus if your checking account does not remain open for at least 180 days. Limited to one (1) cash bonus per household. Offers expire April 10, 2007 and cannot be combined with any other offers.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Poll: What’s The Most You’ve Ever Spent On An Impulsive Purchase?

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

See, this is why I don’t go to the mall. Even though we don’t like pet stores and the associated puppy mills, we came perilously close to buying another puppy today. It looked very similar to this little dude (We already have a Cavalier).

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(image from CuteOverload)
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Impulsive means you woke up that morning without any plans to buy something, but by the end of the day you had it in your possession. Mine was probably a laptop that was “too cheap to pass up”. Leave the fun details in the comments 🙂

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Do You Have A Financial Success Story To Tell?

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Everybody loves hearing success stories. I certainly do. And I know that many of you readers have some great tales to share…

  • Did you start your own business?
  • Did you crawl out from under a mountain of personal debt?
  • Did you overcome hurdles (illness, tragedy, divorce…) to reach financial stability?
  • Did you switch careers?

If so, I would like to interview you either online or via telephone. I’ll ask questions like – What did you start with? Who/What inspired the idea? How did you do it? What outside help did you have? What tools, software, or services did you use? What was the most helpful advice you received? What was the most unhelpful advice you received? Any regrets?

Alternatively, you can submit something to me in writing. Please include as much detail as possible. Either way, toot your own horn and contact me! I can keep it completely anonymous if you’d like.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Proof That Anyone Can Call Themselves a Financial Advisor

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Speaking of business cards, check out this one I found:

Front
Back

If you can’t read the sentence on the back, it says:

This card waives the setup fee for your first paycheck advance. Call us to set up your consultation with our financial advisors today!

My head hurts.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Taxes, Debt Attitudes, Carnivals, and March Madness

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Queercents offers some tips on choosing a tax professional. It’s always interesting to see tax advice from an actual accountant.

No Credit Needed explores the differing attitudes towards debt amongst personal finance bloggers.

This week’s edition of the Carnival of Investing is available at Stock Market Beat. If you’d like to host please visit the main Carnival page.

In anticipation of March Madness, Free Money Finance is gearing up for a tournament bracket composed of blog posts. Readers can participate to choose the winners and get some prizes. Time to start studying that bracketology!

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


My Favorite Business Rewards Credit Cards

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

I’ve written about my favorite rewards cards already, but someone asked about my favorite business cards. On top of the extra rewards, I like these because they can also help you track and separate your business expenses. Remember, individuals can also sign up for business cards under their own name.

For Big Spenders: The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN
The New Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPENI forgot about the The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN (which I also got for the rewards), that also offers a good deal of Membership Rewards points during the first year. Limited Time Offer: Get 50,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $5,000 in the first three months of Card membership. Terms and restrictions apply. Points are earned only on eligible purchases. Bonus points limitations apply.

It’s a bit hidden – if you click on the ‘Learn More’ link on the application page, you’ll see the bonus points offer:

  • 3X points on airfare
  • 2x points on purchases in the U.S. for advertising in select media, gasoline at U.S. stand-alone gas stations, and shipping
  • 1X points on other purchases

————————————————————-

10,000 points is equal to $100 in gift cards or 10,000 frequent flyer miles, so roughly 1 point = 1 cent.

Let’s say you spend $60,000 in the first year. You’ll get 1 point per $1 spent, so 60,000 points. You’ll also get all 30,000 points above. That’s 90,000 points (~$900) for $60,000 in spending, for an overall 1.5% back.

You can get another 10,000 points for the one-year card renewal, getting you to their 100,000 point level, but you’ll be charged the $125 annual fee, so you’ll have to decide if it’s worth it. The first year’s annual fee is waived.

Here are some fine print details for the cards:

Chase Business Cash Rewards Card

You will earn 1 point per $1 for new net purchases totaling $0 to $2,000 each billing cycle. New net purchases totaling over $2,000 and up to $2,500 will earn 5 points per $1, and new net purchases totaling over $2500 will earn 1.25 points per $1. To determine the level of points earned for each billing cycle, only new net purchases are used in the calculation, and net purchases spending thresholds will reset to $0 at the start of each new billing cycle.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Our Savings Rate Is (Still) Negative: Should We Worry?

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

A few days ago, the US Department of Commerce released1 that the nation’s savings rate for 2006 was negative 1%. This means as a whole we spent more than we earned after-taxes, again. (It was also negative for 2005). Much is being made about how this is the lowest savings rate since the Great Depression, when there was a negative 1.5 percent rate in 1933. Should we be worried? Is the sky falling?

What’s the recent trend?

Savings Chart 2000-2006

I wonder what the margin of error is on this data. Looking at this graph, it seems like perhaps something happened about a year and a half ago? But then I found it goes back a lot further than that. This chart starts from the 1960s2:

Savings Chart 1960-2005

To help better understand the numbers, you have to go into the definitions a little bit. The personal savings rate ignores the capital gains in our investments like stocks and bonds, and also tangible assets like cars and real estate. In fact, our overall net worth is not doing that bad and actually increased over last year. The graph above tracks this by dividing household total wealth by disposable personal income (DPI). There are a few ways the experts try to explain this:
[Read more…]

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.