I have added a Save Money links section to my sidebar. I currently only have several links but hope to build it quickly into a robust resource. The links I wanted to highlight in this article are the ones for coupons. It never hurts to save a little money and the ones highlighted here do not require you to subscribe and opt-in to a bunch of spam you do not want. They are easy to use and hopefully will save you some cash. The bonus is no need to purchase a Sunday paper, you just need a printer and a pair of scissors.

Coupons.Com – Usually offers several pages of coupons, hard to not find a few you can use.

SmartSource.Com – These are the coupons you would find in the Sunday paper. See you are already saving money.

ValPak.Com – This site offers coupons on a variety things in your local area, including restaurants.

Remember to keep checking my sidebar under Save Money. I hope to have new links to great saving opportunities coming soon.

Thank you,
Matt

  Senator Edward Kennedy passed away at age 77 from brain cancer. He had been battling the tumor since May 2008. Although you may not have shared his political views, I think it is important to give some well wishes to anyone who loses a loved one to a tragic event or disease. Reuters wrote a more in depth article chronicling his life at, Click for Full Story.

Employers can now offer a Defined Benefit (k) or DB(k).

   I read an interesting article several days ago about a new retirement option made available when congress passed the Pension Act of 2006. This option called the DB (k) will allow employers to offer a retirement option that has the guaranteed income stream of a defined benefit plan, think government pension, with self-directed 401(k) investing, which many of us are already familiar with and hopefully participate.

      Of course a major reason an employer would decide to start offering this option is to help attract prime talent. Businesses would also be allowed to participate even if their plan would be considered “top-heavy” by the IRS.  However, it does not become available until next year, 2010. In order for your company to be eligible it must have 500 or less employees. After the turmoil many of us have been through recently with the economic meltdown and having our 401(k)s devastated, a small annuity income blended in with our traditional 401(k) investing would be a nice addition.  Keep a look out and ask your employer if they may adopt one. If you are job hunting this is a benefit that may be worth accepting one job offer over another. For more details click the link below to read an article published by Klipinger. Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click for Full Story

Another good article with details written when the 2006 Pension Act was passed.
Financial-Planning – Click for Fully Story

   I was going through my credit card statements this past weekend and noticed a charge from cheaptickets.com. This would not be a big deal except I have never used this card for any purchases online or otherwise and I have never been to cheaptickets.com, let alone make a purchase from them. Now I called the Card Provider and they canceled the card and  I should have the charge refunded, no harm no foul. Then this week I came across and article where a man is alleged to have stolen in the region of one-hundred and thirty million credit card numbers. The irony is supposedly this guy was suppose to be working with the feds but was actually selling the fed information to the bad guys.

   This just goes to show you can never be too careful and need to always check your statements. My credit card was stolen without ever being used in any transaction. So either cheaptickets charged the wrong account and was able to process the transaction without my info or they hacked it from some system that the number had passed through no relating to making a purchase. Anyways, a link to the article can be found at the end of the post and ALWAYS CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS!

Click for the full article – AP

      I wrote an article in December 2008 about the proposed Credit Card Law changes called, “New Credit Card Rules Passed – In Law July 2010″. The intent of these laws is to better protect consumers from the unscrupulous practices of banks. These laws are a big step in the right direction for better protecting the consumers although the Banks are not going quietly. They are cutting credit lines and raising rates before being forced to follow the new laws. The legislation is good but because the laws are being phased in we the consumer will continue to get abused. Yes, if you do not carry a balance it is all irrelevant but many of us have balances we are paying off. Here are the landmarks:

Starting August 2009

• Banks must send statements at least 21 days before bills are due. Currently the requirement is 14 days. Ever wonder why it seems like you just got your bill and its already due?
• Banks must give 45 days notice before increasing interest rates and / or fees. The current requirement is 15 days.

Starting February 2010

• Banks can not raise rates on an existing balance, unless payment is more than 60 days late or a teaser / intro rate expires.
• Banks cannot offer teaser / intro rates for less than a period of six months. This is good because banks have made a lot of money getting people to jump from offer to offer making them rich off the balance transfer they probably hit you with.
• Banks cannot raise the rates on new purchases in the first year, unless it is due to an expiring teaser / intro rate.
• You must be 21 to apply for a credit card, otherwise you will now require a co-applicant unless you can show proof of income. This of course aimed at reducing the number of kids coming out of college with significant debt.
• Banks are no longer allowed to use the infamous “universal default” policy, which is when they raise your rate because you were late on another account.
• Banks must now apply payments over your minimum due to the highest APR balance first and then to any remainng balances in descending order of interest rates from highest to lowest.
• Banks must now disclose on your statement how long it will take to pay your current balance and the total associated interest if you make only the minimum payment.
• Banks can no longer allow you to charge over your limit and hit you with fees for doing such unless you opt in, giving them permission to allow you to exceed your credit line. You of course would be very unwise to do so.
• Banks can no longer perform what is termed “double cycle billing”. This is when the Bank calculates finance charges by averaging in daily balances from the previous cycle in a addition to charging finance charges for the current billing cycle.
• Another rule to protect our youths prevents Banks from offering sign-up gifts on or near college campuses.

Starting August 2010

• Saving the best of last of course. If you have been late on payments for a card and your interest rate has been increased as a result, banks at your request must reduce your interest rate to the pre-penalty rate if you make six months of consecutive on-time payments.

   I have been hearing on the radio this commercial about getting my free laptop. Now being the cynical, non-trusting individual that I am when I hear such offers I want to investigate to find out the catch. Now obviously they do not disclose during the radio commercial anything about what is required to qualify for the free laptop. This should be illegal and banned by the FCC but I am not going to hold my breath.

   So I went to the website, which I will not put any links in because I do not want to generate traffic for them. On the home screen you see pictures of name brands and what looks to be current models. There is then a place to put your email to begin the registration process. I of course dug into the rules and here is the real deal with the so called, “free laptop” . The redemption rules are as follows:
Sponsor Offers. You must participate in and satisfy a total of 13 Sponsor Offers as follows:  
Page 1: 2 offers
Page 2: 2 offers
Page 3: 9 offers

 To satisfy the requirements for the Choose a Free Laptop, you must participate in the above-stated number of offers for each page (participating in offers in excess of those stated above for a given page does not reduce the number of offers in which you must participate on the other pages), and you must complete each of the Sponsor Offers pages listed above.

 Verification of Sponsor Offer Participation. Each Sponsor must provide written verification to Super-Free-Laptops.com that you have successfully qualified for and completed that Sponsor’s offer. Following Super-Free-Laptops.com’s receipt of such verification from the last of the requisite number of Sponsors, Super-Free-Laptops.com will send an email message to you asking you to confirm your delivery address where the Choose a Free Laptop will be shipped. The qualification time varies by Sponsor, but may be in excess of 30 days. Once you receive your email notification that you have qualified for your gift you must complete and satisfy the instructions within 90 days from the date of qualification. Submission after this time has elapsed does not meet the conditions for eligibility, and Super-Free-Laptops.com will not be obligated to award the gift or reward. Fulfillment based on a completion of redemption instructions after 90 days is at the sole discretion of Super-Free-Laptops.com. In some cases an additional step by you is required to satisfy the Sponsor’s qualifications. By way of example that is not intended to be exhaustive, all-inclusive, or otherwise limiting, a Sponsor offer for, for example, credit card or similar service may require you to use the credit card to make a purchase, take a cash advance, or transfer a balance, to satisfy the Sponsor’s qualifications. The time it takes you to complete this step is in your control and not that of the Service or the Sponsor, and the qualification time for such Sponsor offers accordingly will vary based in part on the time you take to satisfy this requirement.    

    I have highlighted in red what should be the scariest parts for anyone who takes the time to vet such things. Unfortunately, the saying, “nothing in life is free”. continues to ring true. Were you to be foolish enough to go through with this it could take almost 3 months to get the laptop. In that time you probably could have saved most of the money yourself. The price of laptops has dropped dramatically and a good machine can be purchased for mid $500s.

    If you want a free laptop you are going to have to find a contest that is really giving them away. Even then though you often have to pay sales tax and claim the gift as income on your federal return furthing negating the free factor. Anyways,  part of building wealth is protecting wealth. This has bad news written all over it so please stay far away. The fact that you must take out credit, move credit, etc. is crazy, especially since the sponsors involved are probably of the subprime variety and not someone like Citibank or JP Morgan.

Thanks,
Matt

   I have to apologize. I made a rookie move. I was reinstalling my site to try and resolve some issues and did not copy back the online htaccess file. This caused you to see thet maintenance page when clicking any links or titles. This has been resolved. Again my apologies for the inconvenience.

Site Admin

   I am currently working on the Cheaters Guide to all things IRA. I know you could probably google most of the information contained in the guide but my goal is to put it all in one place written clearly and concisely. This Cheaters Guide to IRAs will hopefully help you better understand what your employer may be offering you and for planning purposes how to best allocate your money now and down the road.

  In the Cheaters Guide to IRAs I will be covering the Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, 401(k), Roth  401(k) , and Non-Deductible IRAs. In a separate addition for the self-employed I will cover SEP IRAs and SEP 401(k)s . Even if you already have a good understanding, this reference should come in handy when you have a question and are not sure of the answer off the top of your head. I hope you will find it useful and will be able to download it shortly. Please leave any suggestions on this or anything else you see on the site that could be improved under the suggestions category. As always please be constructive and always do your own necessary due diligence before making any investments.

Thank you,
Matt

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