You'd think that with all the accounts that I have, I would love getting my bills electronically. Nope. I recently tried to go 100% e-bill. Nearly ended very badly with multiple late payments. I get so many e-mails a day, it's just too easy for me to put them off initially. Of course, if it then gets pushed off the first page of e-mails, I may never see it again for weeks.
Paper bills are nice in that even with a cluttered desktop, I still clean it off constantly and at most I wait a few days before paying the bill online. For some reason, also having a hardcopy of the bill for recordkeeping is comforting. Anyhow, not that anyone cares, but I'm ...
I just applied for the Citi Driver's Edge Platinum MasterCard that I wrote more about previously. I'm driving a lot more this summer and therefore also spending a lot more on gas, so the 6% cash back on gas and groceries will come in handy. I'm also getting close to the $300 annual cap on my Dividend card this year, so I need another card anyways to fill that gap.
Also, I'll also be able to rack up those Drive Rebates that give me cash for driving miles. If you drive enough, it effectively doubles your cash back percentage as the drive rebates match the cashback rebates. So in this case, you could get up to 12% back in the first year, and ...
There appears to be a new sign-up link for the online survey panel at Pinecone Research. If that one doesn't work, the last sign-up link I mentioned is also working again. For some background, check out my brief Pinecone review here. Keep in mind these links tend to appear and disappear quickly. I just realized that I haven't received one of their $5 surveys in a while. Maybe it's because I moved? Or it just me? Link via Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Another online survey company that has paid out is Greenfield Online.
The second quarter of 2006 is over, time again to check in on my progress towards my 2006 Financial Goals. See my progress in Q1.
Separate business and personal financial worlds
Actually, I have recently incorporated my self-employed business as an S-Corporation. I've been meaning to write more about this, but I've found it hard to condense the information into a blog-sized bit. I've also learned a ton about setting up an IRS-recognized home office and tax deductions for self-employed businesses. More on this soon.
Roll over Traditional IRA to Roth IRA
I don't think I'm going to do this anymore, given that we are not going to be in the 15% tax bracket like I thought we might this year. I will instead contribute more ...
Richard Ferri, author of the book All About Asset Allocation that I just reviewed, is currently offering a free online version of another of his books, Serious Money, on his portfolio management website. Thanks to commenter Chris for pointing it out.
Serious Money explains why stockbrokers, investment firms, financial consultants and the mass media do not always have your best interests at heart. In this hard hitting book, author Richard Ferri takes the investment industry to task for spending too much effort on selling and too little on meeting the needs of serious investors.
Recently, I have been avoiding reading more investing books that were basically 'invest in index funds, invest in index funds, invest in index funds'. Great message, but I get it already. I wanted a more detailed analysis of the different asset classes, and more advice as to what to actually buy. And so I found All About Asset Allocation by Richard Ferri, which does exactly that.
The beginning of the book starts like most other index fund books: great investment skill is very rare, asset allocation determines much of your investment return, expenses matter, and you should invest for the long term. The book also explains (better than I can here) how asset allocation works by reducing your overall portfolio risk by introducing asset classes that ...
Emigrant Direct is now at 5.0% APY. [Emigrant Review] [$10-$20 Opening Bonus]
Presidential also raised rates last week to 5.12% APY on their Premier Savings Account. [Savings Review]
This week's Carnival of Investing is up at Mighty Bargain Hunter. Next week's edition will be hosted at Experiments in Finance. For more information on participating and the updated hosting schedule, please check out the Carnival of Investing Information Page.
In addition, MyMoneyBlog participated these other carnivals as well:
Carnival of the Capitalists at MyMoneyForest.
Commenter Rummy on my last net worth update asks a good question - What's our income? After all, I sure spill a lot of financial beans on this blog. You guys know how much debt I have, how much savings, even where my money is invested. Why not disclose income? I agree, it would help complete the financial picture and give things context.
The main reason why I'm not giving out exact numbers is that this blog is not a completely anonymous anymore. If it were, I think I would share. But family, friends, and co-workers know about it now. And for some reason income is very, very personal. Even more personal than net worth. If our co-workers knew our salaries, there ...
