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Bargaineering

Bargaineering is a blog that chronicles my personal finance life and where I discuss matters of shopping, insurance, investing, retirement, loans, credit cards, mortgages, bargain hunting and other issues in my life.

Latest Posts from Bargaineering (page 229)

CDs Investing Beating S&P Investing, Since 1994

Published Monday, July 13, 2009 - 06:26 by Bargaineering

From 1994 to 2008, investing in certificates of deposit has beaten investing in the S&P 500, including dividends, according to data collected by The Big Picture. Check out this chart: Does this mean you should be investing in CDs? Not based on this chart alone. […]

Where to Put Your Money Now by Peter Passell

Published Sunday, July 12, 2009 - 09:38 by Bargaineering

Not sure where to invest your hard earned money? Not even sure if you should invest it? Where to Put Your Money Now by Peter Passell is the latest in a line of books focused on that very issue. […]

Diversify Your Online Bank Accounts

Published Friday, July 10, 2009 - 20:08 by Bargaineering

For the last ten minutes I’ve been trying to access ING Direct, to no avail (it’s now available, but it was slow for about half an hour). While I’m certain my funds are safe and nothing is wrong, it certain solidifies the notion that you should be diversifying your bank accounts. Websites go down. In fact, websites go down pretty often and usually it’s not a big deal. […]

Your Take: What Would You Tell Yourself 10 Years Ago?

Published Friday, July 10, 2009 - 06:52 by Bargaineering

Hindsight is 20/20, we all know that, but imagine if you not only had hindsight but also a time machine. What fun that would be! If you could go back in time ten, twenty, thirty years… what would you tell your earlier self? I would tell myself that it takes hard work, talent, and a little bit of luck to find success in this world, emphasis on hard work. […]

Why Naming Beneficiaries Is Important

Published Thursday, July 9, 2009 - 12:03 by Bargaineering

Editor’s Note: How many times have you opened an account and skipped over the beneficiaries section? I know I do all the time. In fact, any one who has an ING Direct account has skipped over that section because that section doesn’t exist! […]

What To Do With Underwater Stock Options?

Published Thursday, July 9, 2009 - 07:02 by Bargaineering

My wife has a whole mess of underwater options with her company, issued before the economy took a nosedive, and was looking to see what her options (ha ha) were. She’ll be leaving her company in early July, to pursue graduate school in her field, and so she’ll only have sixty days after her last day to exercise the options. For the shares that are profitable, it’s a no brainer: exercise and sell. […]

WTDirect $150 Account Promotion Bonus

Published Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 16:13 by Bargaineering

WTDirect is offering a cash bonus of up to $150 depending on how much you deposit initially. $150 bonus for $50,000 balance $100 bonus for $40,000 balance $75 bonus for $30,000 balance $50 bonus for $20,000 balance $25 bonus for $10,000 balance In terms of interest rates, WTDirect is within reach of the top spot but not quite. […]

Incremental Simplification of Your Finances

Published Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 12:27 by Bargaineering

This morning, I explained how you could do a hard reset of your financial life. In a hard reset, you start from scratch and then mold your financial map until it fits that ideal financial map. […]

How to Hard Reset Your Financial Life

Published Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 07:17 by Bargaineering

We have twelve bank accounts. You read that correctly, we have twelve accounts. Ally Bank, FNBO Direct, ING Direct, HSBC Direct, Bank of America, M&T Bank, … the list goes on. We also have a dozen credit cards. Citi, Discover, Capital One, … again, the list goes on. We have so many accounts because we’ve slowly acquired them over the course of the last ten years. […]

Plan Z: How to Survive the 2009 Financial Crisis [FREE]

Published Tuesday, July 7, 2009 - 16:18 by Bargaineering

I recently had the opportunity to write a preface to Robert Pagliarini’s ebook on surviving the 2009 financial crisis, titled Plan Z: How to Survive the 2009 Financial Crisis. […]