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Which Status Symbols Piss You Off the Most?
I hate to admit it, but I can be a real judgmental prick sometimes.
Since starting this blog eons ago, my general personal finance philosophy has been this:
If you can really afford it, spend it.
But there are those moments where I’ll just cringe and think to myself: “God, what an ass.”
My first encounter with status symbol was many years ago, back in elementary school. For a period of time, my sister and I had reduced price on lunch due to family income eligibility. (Thinking about it now, it might have been free lunch for a month or so, then it changed to reduced price and eventually the benefit went away as our family household income increased). I remember standing in line, giving the coupon/vouchers to the lunch lady, and I was none-the-wiser that my family was any different than my classmates.
Ah, to be a naive kid again.
$20 Amazon Gift Card for $10 from Living Social
Well here’s a stupidly good deal that you really can’t pass up on (especially if you’re going to buy something at Amazon in the near future). LivingSocial.com is having a nation-wide deal on a $20 Amazon gift card, 50% off for $10. The deal started a couple of hours ago and went from 50,000 takers, to 200,000 to the now incredible 740,000 sign-ups (as of time of writing). Grab the deal fast as time is running out.
For those that aren’t familiar with Living Social (or sites like it such as Groupon), these are daily group-buy deal websites that presents you with usually location/local based deals. You can see from the screenshot above that they’re currently presenting me with Orange County, CA deals.
I Like My Bank Because They Haven’t Screwed Me Over Yet
A couple of weeks ago, I was in San Francisco and my friends and I were heading to the delicious Volcano Curry, where you can find decent portions of Japanese-style curry being served for a relatively good price.
On the way to the restaurant, I withdrew some cash from an East West Bank branch. Upon seeing the ATM action, a person in the group asked if I banked with East West, and if I liked the bank.
“Oh actually, I have an account at Charles Schwab Bank, and they refund all ATM fees. They’re pretty bad ass.”
“Ah, is Schwab a good bank then?” the person asked.
“Good service so far. Haven’t got screwed yet so I like them.”
Its funny that my immediate thoughts and standard to the quality of a bank is how much, if any, has the bank taken advantage of me.
Free FICO Score: Score Watch Trial is Back (Yay!)
Whenever people ask me about getting a free FICO score, it’ll often involve a long process where I’ll explain why they will most likely have to pay for their FICO credit score. The fact is, while there are a number of free services that offers a credit score base on your real credit history, one of the few places to easily get a real FICO credit score, and avoiding all those “fake scores” is to get your score straight from myFICO.
For a long time, myFICO offers FICO score for free via a trial service with their Score Watch product, but for whatever reason they discontinued this trial offer earlier this year. If you’re ever in need of the credit score and not just estimates from third parties, you will usually have to fork over anywhere from $12-$15 for these numbers. Thankfully, myFICO has now reintroduced their free trial offer (this time, a 10-day trial offer versus the previous 30-day offer).
Explain to Me the Concept of a $166 Pair of Jeans
Maybe I just don’t get it.
Maybe I just couldn’t understand why a pair of jeans made in Thailand may be better than another pair of jeans made in Thailand. (To be fair, Diesel jeans are made only in Italy, Tunisia, or Morocco — with the most being produced in Italy).
The thing is, although I may think of it as a waste of money, it really is a sense of perspective and value.
There are MANY denim fans out there. They value a well made pair of denim, that’s well-designed, fashionable, long lasting; and well, many other factors that I probably wouldn’t be able to list.
“I Don’t Need To Get a Job. I Don’t Need the Money!”
As I uttered the line above to my friend, her eyes widen in disbelief.
“What do you mean you don’t need money?”
“Well, uh, you know,” I stammered, suddenly realized how stupid I sounded. “I make an okay amount of money on the side, I don’t think I really need a full time job right now.”
She shook her head in utter annoyance.
It’s been about an hour since we started the discussion about how I can at times be a flake, never committing 100% to school or work.
“You need to commit to one or the other,” the infinitely more matured friend told me. “You should just get a full-time job right now and better your working habits.”
Somewhere along the conversation, I clamor out the now forever brilliant line.
“I don’t need to get a job. I don’t need the money!”
In retrospect, this was probably another moment where I showcased my occasional twisted value system to my friend.
Chase Freedom 5% Cash Back for Summer
If you have a Chase Freedom credit card (whether it’s a VISA or MasterCard), you’ve probably got a similar mailing in your mail box. As you can tell above, I have too many Chase Freedom cards (although some of them are duplicate ones, I have a strange habit of keeping credit cards that are long-since expired).
Before you start thinking I went crazy with the credit card sign-ups, Chase basically converted all my credit cards to their “Freedom” lineup through out the years, as they consolidated their credit card program under their flagship card product and revamp their reward programs to the “Ultimate Reward” structure.
Welcome to the Age of Nickel and Dimed
A trip from San Diego to Indianapolis.
As you’re about to book your flight, you stare at the computer screen, wondering what’s the best choice.
You quickly searched Southwest, but the time table and seats available just didn’t match up to the meeting’s schedule.
You could fly American, as you actually managed to store up some mileage through the years. Despite the fact that you prefer other airlines, you’ve stuck with American, because loyalty’s gotta mean something, right?
With a quick check, those mileage are currently meaningless as there are no reward seats available to claim.
The problem is that you’re now running on a much tighter budget. Ever since the recession, business hasn’t been going so well, and you can barely afford this trip out to the mid-west. But you have to get to Indianapolis, as sealing this deal ensures your business’ survival, and the 6 life-long employees that your business employs.
9 Weird Crap You Can Buy on Amazon.com
It’s been awhile since I’ve written a fun post (or any post for that matter). So let’s take a look at some of the weird stuff you can buy on Amazon.com. Quick note: if you click through, many of these have fairly funny corresponding “customer images,” and ridiculously funny “reviews” by users.
Always handy to have around, just in case you’re all out of juice in your Delorean-based time machine. Of course, in actuality this radioactive sample of uranium ore is meant to be used in science labs, for testing Geiger counters and uh, other sciency-thingies (it’s been awhile since I’ve been in a lab-based course).
Amazon review of note:
3 out of 5 star. Great product, poor packaging.
I purchased this product 4.47 billion years ago and when I opened it today, it was half empty.
S. 3247: Fair Access to Credit Scores Act: Denied Credit? You May Get Free Credit Score in Future
Anyone that has been denied credit will remember the added-on fine print at the end of the denial letter telling you that you can receive a free credit report from a specific credit reporting agency. Sometimes this will require you to mail in a written response to request the free credit report, sometimes it will be as simple as logging on to the reporting agency’s website and fill in a few information.
While it’s little solace to being denied credit (let’s face it, rejection blows), Federal law dictates that you should be given clear reason as to why you’ve been denied, and free access to your credit report so you better understand your credit history.
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