My Money Blog

Online Savings Accounts: Where’s The Fine Print?

Posted on January 21, 2006 // 7 Comments

Every time there is an issue with a bank, I have to go digging to find their fine print again. No more! I have tracked down the direct links to the Terms & Disclosures for each of the banks on my high-yield savings account comparison page - … [Read the rest]

Emigrant Direct Announces Mediocre Credit Card

Posted on January 20, 2006 // 5 Comments

What do I think? Pretty much what Caitlin of Clutter2Cash thinks. Pass. … [Read the rest]

Book Review: Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People

Posted on January 20, 2006 // 18 Comments

Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People. Whew, what a long title. I was putting off reading this book because it seems like 'just another personal finance book' by another so-called Money Guru. (I'd never heard of Ms. Quinn before … [Read the rest]

Estimating Our Needed Retirement Nest Egg

Posted on January 18, 2006 // 19 Comments

Right now I'm reading Yes, You Can Still Retirement Comfortably! by Ben Stein and Phil Demuth, at the recommendation of my friend Trip of Musing Money. So far it's pretty good. I'm not quite done, but as part of the book it gives you a step-by-step … [Read the rest]

Separating Personal and Business Worlds: Got An Employer Identification Number

Posted on January 17, 2006 // 17 Comments

I am trying to separate my personal and business finances, so my first step was to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN), sometimes called a Tax ID. An EIN is used by the IRS to track businesses and takes the place of a Social Security Number … [Read the rest]

Best of MyMoneyBlog: The 4th Quarter

Posted on January 17, 2006 // 3 Comments

Time flies when you're havin' fun. Continued from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Quarter flashbacks. Here are what I feel are the more worthwhile posts to read from my blog from September to November 2005. September » Brainstormed options for … [Read the rest]

Motley Fool Interviews Vanguard Founder John Bogle

Posted on January 16, 2006 // 5 Comments

Speaking of being a BogleHead, I just finished listening to an interview of Bogle on NPR's Motley Fool radio show, available online here. Thanks to reader Jonathan for sending it to me. John (Jack) Bogle, if you don't know, is the founder of The … [Read the rest]

My 2006 Financial Goals

Posted on January 15, 2006 // 12 Comments

I dislike resolutions, mostly because I am horrible at keeping them. I tend to look backwards at them, as in "Oh, I resolved to do X back then, but I haven't. Oh well." Goals are better for me, because it's something to focus on with a date … [Read the rest]

Maxed Out Both Roth IRAs, New Goal

Posted on January 14, 2006 // 22 Comments

This last week I maxed out the 2006 Roth IRAs for both my wife and I, a $4,000 contribution for each. I kept it simple and bought Vanguard's Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX) for both, tilting our retirement portfolio asset allocation more towards … [Read the rest]

Is HBSC Taking Advantage Of The Float? An Experiment

Posted on January 14, 2006 // 23 Comments

So apparently from the comments on my last post, I am wrong about all banks taking 2 business days to do a transfer. I thought taking the money out on a Monday and depositing it on Wednesday was about normal for online savings accounts? All this time … [Read the rest]

HSBC Direct Bank-to-Bank Funds Transfer Schedules

Posted on January 12, 2006 // 29 Comments

I must admit, after opening up my HSBC Direct account I went ahead and linked all of my numerous other bank accounts (except ING). Other than racking up over $6 in trial deposits, I envisioned having HSBC be my hub for all my interbank transfers. … [Read the rest]

Smoothing Out The Cashflow

Posted on January 11, 2006 // 18 Comments

Even though I track our net worth monthly, it can be difficult to determine exactly how well we are building our wealth due to large recurring expenses we have that do not bill on a monthly basis. For example, we may have saved up $1,000, but if it … [Read the rest]