How many credit card solicitations (both phone calls and mail) do you get in one year?

I’m going to find out.

Starting today, I’m going to track all of the credit card offers my wife and I receive over the next year. I’ll keep a log in Excel and also mention them in a blog post either as they come in or once a week or month.

So, here’s what came in the mail today:

Friday, Read the rest of this entry »

An extension of the new Live.com Search Engine cashback system mentioned previously, it has been discussed ad nauseam here, here, and here. At first glance, I thought it would be a short-lived misprint/typo kind of deal, so I didn’t bother. It did disappear, but now it is back, so I guess Live.com is consciously choosing to continue with this promotion (for now).

In short, the cashback system is currently offering 25% off Read the rest of this entry »

This year marks my high school classes’ 20th reunion. And, although I’m not organizing it, I did offer to help with the web effort. Here’s what I did:

The first thing I did was set up a website called 88Hornets.com with the tagline “The Official Website of the Valley Center High School Class of 1988.” My theory was that my classmates would figure out that this year marked our 20th high school reunion Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a promotion that is just about as good as cash to any homeowner. Visa is offering a coupon for $10 off $25 or more purchase at Lowes when you pay with your visa card.

For more ideas see my tips for saving money on home improvement projects.

It’s not every day that you get to interview someone who:

started out as an Emergency Medicine doctor in her native country of Russia,went on to be a body double for Cindy Crawford,is a former public relations executive,has been reading my blog for nearly a year

, … and now spends her time twisting latex balloons.

Irina Patterson is a balloon artist, usually working at upscale events Read the rest of this entry »

Someone recently asked me why I don't own any bonds in my portfolio. It’s a great question, here is my current justification: I am not convinced bond funds are a great investment. After all, the reason to invest in bonds...
Continue reading "Why Do I Own No Bonds In My Portfolio?"

Michael Masteron in Automatic Wealth

suggests in his experience there are 8 common habits found in successful wealth builders:

1.) Work hard.
Makes sense to me. Working hard at your career or business should grow your income. The author mentions $130k as a good starting target. The early focus for me since graduating has been on my career. I am wrapping up a 2 year career development program and hope Read the rest of this entry »

Note to my readers:Although I did receive a scanner to review as well as three scanners to give away, I was not paid to do this review.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a PR person representing the company that makes a product called NeatReceipts Scanalizer. She asked me if I would be interested in receiving a scanner to review. I told her I would be happy to check it out and that if she wanted, she could send Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a quick look at some of the happenings around the MoneyBlogNetwork (and beyond) over the past week:

Flexo reviews David Crook’s The Complete Real Estate Investing Guidebook. - Should we be listening to a guy with the last name of “Crook?”

Jim thinks weddings are scams. - I don’t think weddings are scams but I do think that people have gotten sucked into the trap of thinking that their Read the rest of this entry »

Small bits of money can add up over time and become significant chunks of cash. This is a big benefit when it's small bits that we save, but hurts when it's small bits that we spend. This piece from Marketwatch demonstrates how these little bits can add up.

For instance, take the small costs associated with using cash machines that aren't a part of your bank's network:

The Fall 2005 Checking Study released last week by Read the rest of this entry »