AOR (app-o-rama) with Business Credit Cards

In the past few weeks I have applied for 3 business cards, one through Advanta ($10k credit line, but only $5k can be used for balance trasnfers), Bank of America ($20k credit limit, but only $10k can be used for balance transfers, and Chase ($20k credit limit/balance transfer limit). Among these 3 cards I took out respectively $4500, $10000, and $17500, so a total of $32000, which I have deposited into a high yeild savings account offering 5.30%. All of these balance transfers carry a 0% APR for 12 months, except for the Advanata card which is for 15 months. Each card had a 3% balance trasfer fee capped at $75 except for the Advanta card. Overall I am aiming to make nearly $130/month. This will vary with the min payments that are due for the cards, but that shouldn't change my initial earning by much. Bad part is that this income will have to be reported on my taxes, but hopefully my CPA will suggest some things that I can consider to be deductible.

An advantage to using business cards is that the credit line is not reported to credit agencies, thus it hardly effects one's scores. The main credit hit takes place when applying for the card. Hopefully the impact is not much, but then again I am not looking to make a major purchase or finance anything in the near future.

Finally Refinanced!

As mentioned before I went through Bank of America to refinance my home mortgage. The whole process was wonderful and easy! I looked into Bank of America after coming across an ad on their site. I applied, was instantly approved, and the next day a rep called me. For about 3 days the rep and I went back and forth as I was trying to negotiate a good rate. I used examples of rates that other web sites/banks had offered me. Eventually I got a rate I was looking for. For the next process, during the next 2 weeks I was working with another rep who worked with me to get my home insurance information, payoff statements for my current mortgage, and anything else needed. My current mortgage company was not cooperating, which I sort of expected since they were not timely in providing a payoff statement. Luckily I could get this from their web site. Right before closing, the 2nd rep passed my mortgage info to the underwriter who approved everything. In order to close within the 30 days, Bank of America sent me all of my documents via FedEx overnight. I went to a local Bank of America branch, signed the documents, had the needed documents notarized, and then sent everything back via a prepaid FedEx overnight envelope. All communication was done via email and a few phone calls. With emails I would get an immediate response or a response within an hour. Not bad. Overall this has been a good experience.

$19.99/month Service Plan for A/C, Heater, and Water Heater

The other day my dad was telling me about a service plan that my local utility offers which covers the a/c, water heater, and heater in one's home. My father has has this plan, which is added to his monthly gas and electric bill, but he was suggesting that i should maybe get it as well. This got me thinking whether or not if this was actually worth it. Instead maybe I should save that $20 and put it into a high yield savings account as an emergency fund in case if anything went wrong with my a/c, water heater, or heater. Annually this is roughly $240 that I could save or that I could pay a company. The gas and electric company's service contract covers pretty much anything that happens to any of the mentioned equipment. This does sound like a tempting deal, especially since installation, labor, or parts for these items could be costly, but then again my house isn't too old yet either. I am still debating this issue, but if I do decide to get this service contract, I won't sign up for it until it is a little closer to the winter months.

Starbucks at Target Coupon

I came across a coupon for a Buying 1 Grande size Starbucks beverage and getting another free when I was checking out this site: http://afullcup.com/upload/cmps_index.php?page=coupon_generator

The coupon is currently the eighth coupon on the list. I know for a financial related blog it may be contradictory for me to promote buying beverages at Starbucks, especially since their prices just went up, but hey at least your wallet will thank you when you are craving a Starbucks drink. Plus it may come in handy if you are with someone and you both want a beverage from Starbucks. Either treat the other person or split the total cost.

Insurance Update

Yesterday my insurance agent's secretary emailed me the application that I had to sign for my auto and home insurance policies. I immediately read over the documents and signed what needed to be signed. The bad part was that the agent wanted the original signed documents and I couldn't just email or fax them back. This morning I stopped by my agent's office and dropped my paper work off as well. Actually I really like the insurance company that I am working with and the agent is great! In the past when I was under my parent's policy, this agent has always provided great service and rates. Since I am refinancing my mortgage as well, the mortgage company needs proof that I have gotten the new insurance, so my agent's secretary is supposed to fax the bank a copy with documents to verify my new policy. I will probably call my mortgage agent to ensure that she received the documents. Another big thing in saving some money on my insurance was that if I pay the costs for my automobile insurance upfront rather than in quarterly installments, I save roughly $150. I was considering on paying them quarterly, but keep the reserved funds in one of my online bank accounts that offer a high interest, but in the end this would not save me money. Anyways I am paying for to automobile policy upfront.

Insurance and Refinancing

Since I was already looking to change insurance companies for my home insurance, I figured why not look into refinancing my home loans since now the rates aren't bad and plus I can bet on getting a lower rate than I currently have. When I bought my house, not many companies were looking to offer me a mortgage. Granted my salary was no where near than what it is today, but I guess companies thought I would be a risk. In the end I ended getting 2 loans, one 80% and the other being a 10% loan to avoid and PMI fees. These mortgages were 5 year ARMS and at the time I really wanted to buy the house. Plus the mortgage broker I went through gave me a decent monthly payment amount, which I could manage. One mortgage had a rate of 8.125% and 11%. Plus my monthly payments for one of the mortgages was creating negative amortization (I think that is the term) since I was paying below the payment option that covered just the interest. I shopped around for rates and ended up with a good deal with Bank of America. I am looking to close sometime around next week. So far the process has been very smooth and easy. Everything so far has been done through phone calls, email, or by faxes. I got a rate of 6.25%, only have to pay $2500 for closing costs, and do not have to pay any points. Since I am also changing home insurance companies this was perfect timing for me to change my mortgage company as well. My monthly payments have increased a little, but at least now I will not have to face any negative amortization, which could have been costly down the road. Overall I am happy with the process and will post an update once the refinancing has been completed.

Golf

Back around March I changed positions with my current employer and have been part of a new team. Majority of my fellow coworkers on my team regularly play golf every Friday mornings. A lot of coworkers in the company actually participate in this ritual, but 80% of the coworkers on my team participate. This soon got me thinking that maybe I should consider playing a round of golf with my coworkers since it would in a way be a physical activity, which allows one to stay healthy, and also allows social interaction with my coworkers when not at the office.

I decided to go ahead and look into get a golf set and practice a bit before playing a game with my coworkers. A contractor on my team actually makes custom golf sets. He approached me about this and mentioned he won't charge me anything except for the material. This was wonderful since I a tad below average height and people have been saying I may need a custom golf set. After comparing prices of a decent golf set, which typically with a bag and irons was around $130, I decided that it was well worth the $200 to get a set that is custom and made from material that will last. This whole process took at most 2 weeks from ordering the set till when my coworker gave me my whole set, which was custom made. The website we ordered the material from actually badly messed up my order, but I ended up getting better iron heads and was billed only $30....not bad at all!

To get used to a swing, I went to a local golf course that also has a driving range. A medium size bucket of golf balls cost $7.50. As far as quantity there is enough balls to surely keep me busy until I get tired. After 4 visits to the driving range I played my first 18 hole round of golf with my coworkers. Granted playing the actual game is totally different than hitting balls at the range, but it was surely a great experience. My coworkers were helping me and encouraging me as well. I didn't have a putter yet, but one of my coworkers even lent me his until i got my own putter. The 18 hole round cost me about $30, but in the end I think it was well worth it especially since I now have a better bond with my coworkers, I can now participate and understand conversation in regard to golf, and you see a different side of your coworkers when not in the office building.

Sure the $30 may seem like a lot at first, but majority of my coworkers do not eat out for lunch everyday, so I think of the moving being saved there goes toward the round of golf with the coworkers.

Eventually I paid regular price of the the expected $170 and even got my father a golf set. We know both go to the golf range together, which has also allowed me to have more father-son time with my dad. I haven't taken my dad out to play on the course yet, but I guess after taking him to the range 2 more time, he will be good to go.

Home Depot - Storm Door

Two weeks ago on the local news broadcast there was a report on a technique known as key bumping, which criminals use to break into a house. The report mentioned that You Tube has videos on how to perform this technique. I watched various movies on You Tube and wow this is crazy!!! The process of key bumping is cheap, fast, and easy! Very creepy!!! Since that report I considered looking into a storm door for my main door. I went to Lowes and Home Depot, but Lowes seem to be pricey at first. Thus, I went to Home Depot. The problem with Home Depot is that that if they are performing the installation they charge $25 for a required measurement session. They also offer a $75 mail in rebate for installation, so the deal looked good to me. They had a storm door which looked well built and was around $210. I figured $210 plus the $150 installation minus the $75 rebate for a total of $285 was well worth it for an extra piece of mind. After the measurements were taken I went back to Home Depot, since they do not disclose the information over the phone, which is odd. I went to the store, but wow did Home Depot try to rape me with the price. They said my door needed some custom work to be installed as well as a custom sized door would have to be ordered. The grand total the sales rep gave me was $675!!! I was shocked and pissed off. The rep at first when I went to the store said the total should be around $350 at most and he even wrote this down on this card for me. I figured that isn't too bad, but $675 is way too much for a storm door at the moment. Knock on wood I luckily live in a pretty safe area, but I still wanted to eventually get a storm door. Anyways, I canceled my order with Home Depot and argued to get my $25 measurement fee back as well. I guess I will have to shop around even more or find a reputable contractor. I never knew a storm door would cost that much. Oh well. I guess on the bright side it saved me some money. Plus I guess this is part of the whole home owner experience.

Home and Car Insurance

So my home insurance policy with the current insurance company is about to expire in August. For now I have still been under my father's automobile insurance policy which is with another provider. I figured now since I am 24 I should look into getting my own car insurance policy as well as see if I can get a discount if I was to get my home insurance policy through the same insurance company. Long story short I will save roughly $150 on home insurance and my auto insurance is the cheapest that anyone else has quoted. Knock on wood I have a clean driving record, which helped. I did shop around but staying with the same company who has provided my auto insurance since I was driving greatly helped me save some money. Plus you can't beat their service, which is really worth it.

All in all other finances are the same for the most part, but with some slight increase in savings. Recently I have done some decorating around the house with the help of my girlfriend. She actually has been finding me some great deals on various items such as curtains and a large mirror.

Updates - Cell Phone, Electric Rate Hike, Golf

Yes, I know it has been a long while since I last posted. Overall there have been some minor changes since my last post. My spending has remained to be the same overall. I have not really splurged on anything in particular, except for a few gifts for my parents (since I hardly ever got them anything before). I did receive a minor salary increase, which surely is not bad. My savings is slowly but steadily growing as well, which is what I love to see.

I used to have a Sprint family plan with multiple cell phone lines, but I have finally consolidated to just one line, which is only $30/month before discounts. I analyzed my past cell phone usage and now see that ever since graduating from undergrad I do not use my cell phone as much. At home I have a VoIP line and at work I can casually use the desk phone when needed. From my employer I have a Verizon Blackberry, which gets free Verizon mobile to mobile calling, so I use tjat to call my friends who have Verizon. To help out I also signed up with Grand Central for a free phone number, which can then forward calls and even screen calls. I got Sprint to offer me free "Sprint to Home" service, which allows free calls between my cell phone and a designated "home number". In this case my Grand Central number is my "home" number. Now I can freely distribute a number when needed. If I get any annoying calls I can black the caller or block any callers whose name or number show up as private or unavailable on caller id. These callers can also be screened.

Electricity rates in MD have gone up significantly and I have been trying to adjust with this change. I used to be a huge advocate for using the air conditioning, but now ever since having my own place I watch my a/c usage. So far I have greatly limited my use to mainly having the a/c on only when I have guests over, which is not too often, thus helping ease the transition to the increased electricity rates. Most of the bulbs in my house are already the CFL bulbs. One major saver on electricity was when I switched from having a desktop running 24x7 to having the laptop run instead. I mainly have a computer on for server related functions, plus I am a computer nerd, but by switching my server related functions to a laptop I have noticed nearly a $30 drop in my electricity bill. To fight the heat I have purchased 3 $35 tower fans from Wal-Mart, which actually work great. They even came with their own remotes. The fans have helped keep the temperature near comfortable levels throughout the house.

Recently a lot of my college friends have been getting engaged, so I have been busy attending these events and even buying gifts for such events. I actually need some good ideas on such gifts.
Since March I have been part of a new department within my employer. It is still IT related, but a different side of IT than before. My coworkers love playing golf and most of them play golf every Friday morning. Best part is on Fridays when they do go to play golf they come in around 9:30, which is normally after eating breakfast after the game, but yet they leave around 3:30pm, and my manager is fine with it as long as everyone gets their work completed. Due to this I figured I would learn to play golf and even go golfing with my coworkers. This is in a ways a social event since I can socialize with my coworkers as well as I can improve on my golf skills. I ended up buying a custom built golf set, which cost me $120 just for irons. The website that my coworker recommended I order the golf equipment from totally messed up my order, thus I got nearly a 50% discount. I gotta admit though that even if the price still seems to be high, I really do like these clubs. Granted these are only an iron set as well as a driver, but I can always buy other clubs later. Plus I figured the $120 "investment" is worth the socializing time with my coworkers. Hopefully this will help build a stronger relationship and help me advance in my career path. The driving range I go to costs roughly $10 for a huge bucket of balls. A 9 hole game is around $20. Overall this isn't too bad. I guess it makes up for not eating out for lunch. I played my first 18 hole golf game 2 weeks ago and it was great. I am surely not the next Tiger Woods, but it was amazing to see that so many of my coworkers actually golf. I was even surprised to see a fee of them, but yet was glad to see them there.

Best Savings/Checking Account Combo

Maybe people may already know this, but I am a sucker for playing the rate chase game when it comes to banking. I pretty much have an open account with majority of the online banks, as long as there is no monthly fee or minimum balance requirement. The problem is that majority of the online banks offer accounts, which have ATM access, but none of the fee free ATM's are near me or these ATM's do not accept deposits. I am trying to have my main savings and checking account at one bank, rather than having to transfer funds back and forth. The problem is that with the banks that do offer a high yield savings account they do not offer a checking account or vice versa. Another issue is that many of these high yield savings accounts are in fact money market accounts or have a monthly withdrawal limit.

Overall ING Orange Checking seems to offer the best rate (4.00% - lowest of the tiered rates offered) for a checking account, nor is there a monthly fee or minimum balance requirement. Plus this ING account offers a fee free ATM card that can be used for withdrawals at one of their many ATM locations nationwide. ING is part of the Allpoint ATM network. As far a savings account rate, the rate that ING offers for savings account is only 4.50%, which is not as good as many of today's online banks that offer rates between 5.00-6.00%.

Last month I learned about about Bank of America's affinity accounts with AAA and NEA, which offer high yield money market accounts. The rates have been around 5.07% or more. These rates are reevaluated every week, thus they change a tad every so often. Since my undergrad days I have had a free checking account with Bank of America, which I mainly used to deposit checks to and then transfer the funds to my online bank account. I figured if I opened one of these affinity accounts I could keep majority of my money with one bank now. In this case though I would loose out on a high yield checking account. Now my problem is should I go with a bank that offers a money market account with a high yield, but hardly anything for checking, or do I go with ING who offers an okay savings account rate, but higher than normal checking account rate?

For now I am using ING mainly for the checking, but using Bank of America for the money market account. Let me know your thoughts.

So I Have Not Kept Up

I just finished my last final for the Spring semester of my MBA classes, so now I will surely have more time for the next several weeks until when the summer semester starts. I will surely try to keep up with the blog this time. By being a daily reader of various other financial blogs it gave me some encouragement to continue blogging. On that note, I will continue my blogging!

Banking - Tackling Interest Earned as Being Taxed

I have been following various forums in regard to what is the best apr being offered by online banks. Like many others I also play the whole rate chasing game, where you dump your money into a bank account that currently offers the highest apr. I actually have made a decent amount by utilizing this strategy. Overall I'd like to one day see a bank where I get both the highest savings and checking account apr's, but until then I am currently utilizing ING's Orange Checking and a Bank of America Affinity money market account.

The one disadvantage I see with playing the rate chasing game is that the interest earned is taxable. How do you guys go about decreasing the amount taxed, more specifically do you guys deduct anything? One CPA who I talked to earlier mentioned that I could deduct the expenses related to making this money. For example I could deduct my cable internet costs, my computer's value, etc. Has anyone gone about making such deductions when rate chasing?

Back and Dedicated

So I kind of neglected the idea of having a blog. I was in a way questioning whether to still continue it or not and if it is going to help anyone. Pretty much I figured it is a good way for me to voice my ideas and if it helps anyone that will be great.

As far as new things overall my savings account looks much better. This is partially due to my tax refund as well as my annual bonus from my employer. I decided to open up a MMA with Bank of America. I can receiving the special intro rates for AAA members (at least for now my AAA was finally worth it to an extent). I had a huge problem with GMAC Bank when I went to transfer money from my account with GMAC to BoA. I wrote myself a $500 check just to try my new BoA MMA. The deposit went through properly, but GMAC Bank withdrew the check twice. For 4 days I lost $500. GMAC Bank admitted to the mistake and credited my account back along with a credit for lost interest. This still left a bad taste in my mouth in regard to GMAC Bank. Their error caused them to "steal'" my money and not say anything in regard to it, until I contacted their customer support line.

Recently I was looking to get into playing some golf. I got some clubs from a coworker for only $20, but I still need a bag, which I will worry about later once I get all of his clubs. Last week I decided that my reel mower was a pain to use and that I need a cheap gas push mower. I placed an ad on Craigslist for my reel mower and within 30 mins I got several emails from interested parties. The next day I showed the reel mower to a person who was interested and they purchased the mower from me for $40. Not bad since I bought it last year for only $25 from another guy who posted the reel mower on Craigslist. I don't want to pay someone $15-$25/month to cut my grass so this further justified my thinking of getting a gas mower. WalMart has a $109 gas lawn mower that is very basic but it uses a Briggs and Stratton motor. My dad had a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower that lasted 20 years, so I trust their motors. The lawn mower I bought also hardly takes any space, which is perfect when storing it.

Overall these are the most recent financial changes.

Gas and Electric Bill

Today I logged into my utility provider's online access site to check what my monthly utility bill is and wow did my jaw drop. My bill this month is for $190, of the $70 was from electric use and the rest is from gas use. My electric use was average compared to my past bills, but my heating bill was very high. I think this is due to the fact that in February the average temperature was pretty low compared to earlier winter months. I figured I would look at how my usage is. Mainly most of my electric usage is from a desktop pc I have running 24x7, then after work or school when I come home I will watch some TV, get on the laptop, or both, then the rest of my usage is mainly from using the microwave for breakfast, the stove for food, then the lights when I am home, and that is pretty much it. As far as gas usage that is mainly from the water heater and the heating system. I keep my showers no more than 10 minutes if that, then I have a pilot light running for the fireplace, and that is all. I am trying to think of ways to cut my costs. I know I should start with that server desktop I have on 24x7. I mainly use that to remote into when I am at work, school, or at someone's house. I am considering to switch that to a laptop based system. Actually I am working on this right now. I already have CLF bulbs all through the house. Besides that I do not see where else I can save money. I already use a programmable thermostat, which is always set at 63 degree f. Maybe during the day I should have lowered the setting even further? That is pretty much all of my ideas.

Another Rebate, Spending, New Car or Used Car

I got a $20 rebate in the mail today from Netgear, which I submitted the forms for back in mid December. This rebate also had some problems as well from the rebate issuer. They claimed I didn't send all of the required items, when I in fact did. Anyways I got the rebate.

Overall I have decreased my spending. This is partially due to the fast that I have already bought most of what I wanted for my house. I do not have everything in the world yet, but I have enough to have a simple and somewhat furnished house. Luckily I do not have any debts or outstanding credit card balances, just a mortgage. The next big thing I am trying to save up for is a wedding ring for my girlfriend and as well as a wedding.

Today I noticed that my neighbor just got a new Honda CRV. He traded in his Jeep Liberty, which was constantly giving him problems. He got the EX version, which is surely nice, but it got me wondering, why spend so much for a depreciating asset? When I graduated from undergrad I wanted to buy a new car too, but I ended up getting a used late model Toyota coupe. I partially wanted a coupe just since everyone has told me enjoy a coupe before you have kids and I also wanted something sporty. Anyways I got a good deal and it only had 35k miles. I love the car and have not had any problems. Best of all it looks flawless. My dad has taught me to not consider a new car unless I do not mind it's value depreciating. I figured if my neighbor looked around he could have gotten a good deal on a used CRV, but most likely it wouldn't have been the latest generation design. I know it is a personal preference. Overall I think everyone should look at or consider a used car before buying a new car.

Another Rebate and On Hold With Sprint

Good news is today I got a $30 Radio Shack mail in rebate for a Logitech Wireless Keyboard and mouse.

Today I contacted Sprint in order to get a replacement Motorola RAZR, since the one I got for my dad was not holding a charge for a long period. My parents were out of contract on their cell phone lines with Sprint and they have had their current phones for over 2 years. I ended up calling Sprint and saying I was going to leave them since Verizon and Cingular are offering the RAZR for $25 or even free. The retention rep offered 2 Motorola RAZR's for $50, which was a good deal for a full featured phone, so I went with this deal. I wanted my parents to have a feature rich phone that was also small and easy to use. Another advantage is that this phone has a built in mp3 player with removable memory, which would come in handy when my parents do not have their IPods with them, but want to listen to music. I was on hold for roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes, but I finally got a rep who helped me. The rep is sending out a new RAZR replacement phone as cell as a prepaid mailer to use when sending the defective phone back. The wait time was very long, but I guess in the end it will pay off since my dad will have a phone that actually maintains a charge.

Taxes - Now Need Receipt/Proof of Donations

I heard from my CPA as well as others online that the IRS will now require people to have some type of proof or receipt for cash donations. This was brought to my attention by my CPA, since I normally make a once a month donation to the place I go to pray.

End of Citi Dividends 5% Cash Back

As I mentioned before I had a MasterCard and an American Express Citi Dividends Platinum Card. Both of these cards offered 5% cash back on grocery, gas, and pharmaceutical purchases. The one thing I liked about the American Express card is that it offered the price protection feature that American Express used to offer on majority of their cards. With this is mind, I closed my MasterCard card and had it's credit line transferred to my American Express' card. I think I will continue to carry the Citi Dividends American Express card in my wallet. Also as mentioned earlier, I am still considering whether or not to replace the Discover 5% cash back card for gas and auto mechanic shop purchases. Recently I also noticed that more and more restaurants are starting to not accept Discover credit cards. This problem has become annoying at times when trying to use my Discover Restaurant card that gives 5% cash back on restaurant purchases. Luckily I normally carry at least 3 to 4 credit cards on me.

Tips

Friday evening I attended a happy hour which was in honor for a coworker who was leaving the company to run a sushi restraurant and a fast food franchise. A table in the pub cleared, so some co workers and I went to sit at the table. We noticed that the bill was on the table for the previous 2 people who were sitting at the table. Their bill was for $70, but they only left the waitress a $4 tip. This got me wonderering, why would people leave such a low tip, are they being fruggle, was the service bad, or are they just being cheap. The people who the bill was for had a decently prived wine bottle, had some cigars, and other various drinks. Just from that I figured they must not be that cheap. A coworker who I was sitting with, had a friend of his sit with us as well. His friend saw the bill and pretty said "what the heck, only a $4 tip, that is messed up". His dsguist in the tip led him to change the tip and total amount, which I thought was nice but then again the pub might be blamed for such a false action, which is bad. This friend of my coworkers, made the tip to be $24 and added a few strokes to make the total $94. He meant to do this to be nice, but then again when the previous customers check their credit card bill, they may fight the charge. Anyways though I was wondering what do other fruggle people think a good tip amount should be?

State Tax Return

Yestreday in the mail I recieved my state tax return, which was around $500. I can't believe how fast it came, especially since I just had my account e-file my taxes on Tuesday when I went to see her to go over my taxes. Wow....4 days is not bad!!! I was excited about that. I deposited the check and will have it transferred into my savings account.

Doc's No Show Fee

I forgot to mention this, but on Thursday my dad got a letter in the mail which was addressed in my name and from the ophthalmologist who I used to go to. I was supposed to go see this doctor until I found out he does not accept my insurance. Originally I did make an appointment, which gave me time to find out whether or not my insurance would cover any expenses if I was to go see him. Apparently my insurance will not cover the bill, so I wanted to cancel my appointment. A day before the appointment, I went ahead and canceled the appointment. This letter that recently was in the mail was in regard to a $50 no show fee for the doctor. I read the letter and thought what the heck, I did in fact cancel my appointment. So on Friday I called the doctor's office and talked to a rep who helped straighten out this mess. Sure $50 may not seem like much, but then again I did not do anything where I was be at fault, so why give away my $50. Again every penny counts. I understand why doctors have this policy, but they should make sure that whoever handles their appointments, know what they are doing.

ING Orange Checking Debit Card

Today I had a good opportunity to use my ING Orange Checking Debit card and as expected it worked as it should. Still still this day my employer has not deposited my paycheck into my ING Orange Checking account. This has been the second pay period where the direct deposit did not go through since the requested change. Hopefully by my next pay period the paycheck will be deposited into my ING Orange checking account.

An another note my eBay stock went down today, but my shares of AMD went up. My other investment accounts did well though, so I am not complaining, nor did I invest much into the Zecco stock account I have.

AAA, Mail in Rebate, New Job, Taxes, Stocks

Today I received my reimbursement check from AAA which was for the car battery and fuse issues, which I posted about earlier.

Also in the mail I got a postcard from Kensington in regard to a mail in rebate. They stated that the product I purchased was not within the purchased time frame, when in fact it was. I always keep photocopies of my rebates, so I referred to that and contacted the toll free line. The rep who I spoke with said she will re-evaluate my rebate and I check it's status online within 72 hours.

I officially start my new work position on Monday, but was told I could use today and Friday as transitioning days. Thus, today I went to report to my new job and I loved it. I am working more in the networking/server field now. The first few days will be spent getting acclimated to the job.


I forgot to post this, but on Tuesday I went to see my CPA in regard to my taxes for 2006. I must say she is a great accountant who is friendly, affordable, knowledgeable, and knows where to save money. I was referred to her from my Dad's coworker. For everything related she charged me $90, which was well worth it. I mostly chose to go to a CPA for my taxes this time, just since I now am a homeowner, which changes some things now. Overall I am to get a few thousand dollars back from the federal and my state government.

Today I also got back into investing in stocks through an online broker. I am currently using Zecco.com, which provides up to 40 free trades/month. For now I do not think I will be a hardcore trader, so 40 trades should be fine for me. I used to follow the market heavily when I turned 18 and opened my first brokerage account, but soon after once I was working and making more money, I opened a Roth IRA account, then a 401k account through my employer. I was closing one of my Bank of America account and had $60 in it, so I transferred that balance to my Zecco account. Again I am not looking to invest a lot at the current time, just test ot Zecco and get my feet in the water again. I purchased a share of EBay and 2 shares of AMD. At the end of the day I made $0.09 (it's something), which is not too bad. This may turn into be a small hobby, which hopefully I will do well in. Again I do not think I will invest too much in stocks, since my other investments are doing very well, but I figured I should diversify my portfolio a bit.

Citi Dividends Credit Card Changes

Today in the mail I received 2 letters from Citi in regard to both my Citi Dividends MasterCard and my Citi Dividends American Express Card. Both these cards used to offer 5% cash back on grocery, gas, and pharmacy purchases. The letter today stated that the 5% is being lowered to 2% now. In my wallet I used to carry the American Express card, since it offered the cash back as well as it was an American Express card, which was nice to use when purchasing groceries. So now with this change I have to reevaluate what cards to keep in my wallet. I currently carry a Discover 5% cash back on restaurant purchases, a Discover 5% cash back on gas purchases, an Orchard Bank 2% cash back on all purchases, and for now I have replaced the 4th card with the American Express Simply Cash card, which offers 5% cash back on office supplies, gas, and cell phone related purchases. Overall I am now in the process to see if there is anything better to use, so we shall see how that goes. I like to have the separate cards to separate my purchases, which makes it easier when paying bills.

New Job Position

So last month my manager emailed me about a job opening in our company and thought I may be interested. The position greatly interested me, but I wasn't too sure if I would even get it since I have only been with the company for a little over a year and recently graduated. I have learned from experience that it is always beneficial to have a great relationship with all of your past coworkers and managers/supervisors. Luckily my first manager at my current employer is wonderful and has always looked out for me as far as available positions. At first I wasn't too sure about applying for this position, but he told me to apply and he also mentioned he will put in a good word for me. He pretty much said it would b a step up the ladder from what I currently do as well as it has better room for income growth and advancement. I followed his advice and applied. The day after submitting my resume I was scheduled for an interview with the supervisor of the new position. My interview went great and he told me that he thinks I would be a great candidate for the job. About 3 days later my current manager met with me to discuss if I was to get the position, she would need to find someone to fill my current position. She asked me about my job duties and what hurdles a person new to the job may face. My manager mentioned that she may know someone who could fit the job well, but she needed to talk to this potential candidate first. My manager found someone who would accept my current position and she informed me that next week I will be able to transition to my new position. Overall I am greatly excited is the new position related to something I have always been interested in and I think it will help me advance myself in the company and if not it will allow me to build a skill set that other companies are greatly interested in. My overall pay increases by 7%, but I do not get paid for overtime anymore, instead I will accrue paid time off/vacation time, which can be carried to the next calendar year and in some cases can be cashed in, and best of all I will no longer have to spend $140/month of parking. Every year there is a cost of living raise as well as a bonus, which is dependent on your performance evaluation, which I have done great in so far. My pay increase for the new position was not as much, since I will be starting the job mid year and this is a new position, which was not originally budgeted for, but next year my pay will increase accordingly since the budget will include the position, which will be the best part of the deal.

Credit Score Monitoring Service

About 3 weeks ago I signed up for Citi's Credit Monitoring service, which was for $4.99/month. I pretty much just wanted to try the service out and see how it is different than my Providian (now Washington Mutual) credit card that tells me my credit score, which is updated on a monthly basis, but is free for having the credit card. Overall I was not impressed with Citi's product and decided to cancel it today. Citi has a 30 day money back guarantee, so I got my $4.99 back. Not a huge deal, but still every penny can help.

Back From Vacation

So I got back early this morning around 3am from my mini vacation to Miami with some of my friends. Overall the trip was not too expensive at all, especially when considering all that we did. The grand total for my part of the trip came out to be $641.14. The costs for the trip was split between a total of 8 guys. For the most part everything in Miami costs more than it does in other places. For example regular unleaded gas was on average $2.79/gallon versus the $2.39 it is around where I live. The total costs of the 3 day trip covered flights to and from Fort Lauderdale, rental of a Lincoln Navigator SUV, 1 night for 2 bedrooms at an average hotel, which by the way was horrible, then 1 night at the Ritz Carlton, tickets to a concert, tickets to the pre-party, tickets to the after-party, gas for the SUV (1 fill-up), parking for the SUV, alcoholic beverages, and lastly airport parking.

Yes, I know there would have been better alternatives as fas as savings costs associated to the trip, but for this trip I was surely not trying to be too frugal, which is not the norm when it comes to me and vacations.

Mini-Vacation

I will be enjoying a mini vacation for the weekend. I will post back on Monday.

AAA Alternatives

I was looking into some AAA alternatives. Currently it is my father you is a AAA member and I just use his membership card if needed. Yesterday my friend told me that most American Express cards offer free road side assistance, but a max of 4 calls/year. Also you are limited to being towed in a 10 mile radius. This is a free perk to most of the American Express cards.

Another option is getting some roadside assistance coverage through your car insurance. I think my insurance company quoted me $24/year for this, but I do not know the specifics.

Overall people may want to consider checking their credit cards to see if anything like this offered and if so what is its terms and conditions.

Good Timing - Rebates

I checked my mail yesterday and guess what? I got another rebate in the mail. This time it was for $25 for an external hard driver that was for $30 after rebate. Back when Buy.com had it's Google Checkout promotion I purchased a lot of computer related products that were even cheaper due to rebates and the the Google Checkout promotion. I mailed this rebate around December 12, 2006 and got it on February 28, 2007...not bad!

Who pays, the boyfriend of the girlfriend?

I have a question I thought I would ask people who are concerned about financial issues and you are a female. My girlfriend, who I have been with for about 1 and a half years, always thinks I should pay for pretty much everything we do. She is a student in law school and currently does not have a job or internship that is paying her. I work full time, making a decent salary, and also go to grad school but part time. Almost every other week we will go out for dinner and I pay. This is even for when we meet up at a Starbucks for a drink or go to a not so fancy restaurant. I have not really been in a relationship before, so this is all new to me, but my girlfriend was once in a 2 year relationship. There have been times when we would go out to eat with her friends and they would pick some fancy place and I would have to spend more than normal. For example, one time when her cousin took us out they paid for dinner and I paid for the drinks. I thought my girlfriend would have covered such costs, since was her plans with her cousin. Then more recently we went to her best friend's birthday dinner and after splitting the bill I had to pay $100 for the both of us and then at the lounge for drinks I had to pay $50. Thus $150 went in one night. I am pretty frugal and try to save as much as I can. Unlike most of our friends around our age (23 years old), I have my own house, two cars that are paid off (they are nothing fancy like a BMW, but 1 of them is pretty nice), and with a house comes rest of the bills (utility, mortgage, basic cable/internet, etc). As far as gifts/presents we have spent an equal amount overall.

My girlfriend seems to think that I am always supposed to be paying for us when we out. Out of our relationship she has maybe covered the bill for dinner about 3 times, and has on occasion paid for things like drinks at Starbucks. She says all of her friend's boyfriends always pay for themselves and their girlfriend. Also none of her friend's boyfriend's have a house or any other costs, since they still live with their parents. Plus some of her friends if they are out of school do have a job and if they are in school most have a paid internship.

Every 3 months we have this kind of talk and we end up arguing over it. What is your take on the whole perspective? Don't get me wrong, I buy her nice jewelry, take her to nice restaurants, etc. Some people have told me that everything should be split until you guys are engaged/married and then everything is pretty much being shared. Relationships, don't always last and I know that is a risk of having a relationship, but I also don't want to spend my money unnecessarily.

Mail In Rebates

So yesterday I received an $80 rebate check for some items I purchased back in early January from Linens-N-Things. They had several Black & Decker items for $10 after rebate and being a new home owner, I figured I could actually use the products that were on sale. This was one of the fastest turnovers I have had for a mail in rebate. This rebate did not have any electronic filing process involved, which was great that I got my rebate so fast!

I know a lot of people are not bent about purchasing items that offer a mail in rebate, since majority of the times you do not get a rebate back. The processing center "accidentally" messes up and with time, one will forget about that paper they mailed in. I have a process that I use for mail in rebates, which may help others as well. Before I send any information related to the rebate, I photocopy everything (the receipt, the rebate form, the UPC, whatever is requested). If I made more than one photocopy that is related to a particular rebate, I staple all of the papers together. Then at the top of the first page, I mark the date when I mailed the rebate. I have a filing cabinet with a folder just for rebate. The photocopies are sorted by the date I have sent the forms out. Each month I go back and look over what outstanding rebates I have not received and if it has been over 8-10 weeks (the normal rebate wait period listed on most forms) I pull the photocopies out. Eventually I make a call to the processing center and find out what is going on. I notate on the photocopies, who I spoke with and when I spoke to them. Once I receive a rebate I will shred the photocopies that pertain to the rebate. If I didn't have to send in the original receipt, I keep that. This process has worked well for me so far and hopefully someone else can benefit from it as well. The key is to organize your information.

I was thinking about digitizing this process and instead of having photocopies I could scan everything into a pdf file. The problem with this idea is that if I had to call a rebate processing center over a rebate in question, they normally ask for copies of the forms submitted or at times they may ask for an original, which is rare, but possible. I am still contemplating this idea, especially since it would save cabinet space and such.

AAA - They Will Reimburse Me

This morning I faxed over a copy of my receipt to AAA that was related to the blown fuse problem. About 4 hours later I called AAA's member service's line and spoke to Annette, who said AAA will reimburse me for the expenses related to the incident. In the next 8-10 days I should receive my check.

Picked up the Car, Dropped Off Another

Last night I picked up my Toyota from the mechanic's. I had them check the breaks since the car was already there and the last time I was at the Toyota/Lexus dealer for an oil change they said I needed to get my front brakes/rotors replaced. What a bunch of BS since my mechanic who I trust more said the breaks will last me another year without any problems. I gotta admit my mechanic is pretty good, he has often given honest advice, which in turn has saved me money. Granted if he wanted to make a quick buck he could have told me that my breaks do in fact need to be replaced. He charged me $24.50 to get them checked, saving me a few hundred that the Toyota/Lexus dealer wanted. Not a bad deal.

I also got the bill for all of the battery related issues due to the stupidity of the tow truck driver who AAA sent, which came to $80.60. This morning I spoke to Annette, a rep for AAA, who advised me to fax her the bill and upon her review she will send a check to reimburse me. I have faxed her the receipt, but will probably call her later today to get an update and to verify she received the fax, even though I have a fax receipt as well.

I forgot to say this earlier, but yes I know not to let my battery drain. A lesson learned I guess.

Since I went to pick up the car by myself I figured it would be a good chance to drop off my Honda to get the oil changed and to get the breaks checked as well. Around November my mechanic said that I should come back when I get time in the next month or so to get my breaks replaced, thus I have dropped that vehicle off for him to perform the required work.

Brick & Mortar Bank vs. Online Banks for Checking Accounts

Recently with the launch of ING's "Electric Orange" checking account I have started using this service more so rather than my checking account with Bank of America (BoA). One thing I disliked about BoA is that when the company bought out or merged (I forgot which one it was) with MBNA Bank, the billpay system on the site changed. This forced some of my payments to be send a day or 2 in advance when I didn't have enough funds in the account. My BoA checking account doesn't offer any interest, thus I normally transfer money over to an account at an online bank, who is offering a high interest rate. I eventually drilled down the BoA billpay system, but still did not like it too much. To protect myself from overdraft fees I opened a savings account just to play it safe and only keep the minimum amount required in it to avoid fees. I like that BoA has a lot of ATM locations, which are near almost all of the major areas I am in. After getting used to ING's checking account, I began to use it more and more. I just started using it last week and I am still testing the waters, but overall everything seems to be perfect. Billpay payments are sent on time. ING has a network of ATM's in many convenient locations as well. The only drawback of ING's checking account is that they do not offer any paper checks or allow you to print paper checks. To combat this I will probably keep my BoA checking account, but I hardly write any checks. I like to have paper checks as a trail for various payments or donations. Again I hardly use paper checks. I am going to probably close the savings account I have at BoA, since I hardly use it for the billpay service now. I must admit, I am getting hooked onto using ING's Electric Orange checking account. The best part is that ING offers a decent interest rate even for their checking accounts.

Tuition Reimbursement

So my employer provides tuition reimbursement, but they do not pay the employee back until the company's HR dept receives a copy of the employee's transcript. For this Spring semester I had $2,293.00 due. Yes, I know it looks like a bargain for grad school, which is partially due to the fact that I am going to a state university as well as only taking 2 classes a semester. I made the payment and paid it off. I was thinking maybe I should use a 0% credit card BT offer, but I didn't go that route. In the end I can not wait to get reimbursed.

AAA - Is it worth having?

My parents are AAA Platinum Road Service members. Pretty much for $50 a year (my mom got added for free) their membership includes up to 4 calls, which includes towing (I think within a max of a 50 mile radius) , jump starts, etc. About a week and a half ago there was a snow/ice storm around where I live. I normally drive my older car, which is my daily commuter/beater car. When the roads are slick or when they are covered with salt I avoid driving my newer car, just because I guess I am obsessed with keeping my car clean. A haven't driven or even turned the car on for the past 9 days. Last Thursday I was about to take my newer car out for a drive to my parent's place. I went to disarm the alarm via the remote and I didn't hear the normal beeps that I usually hear when arming/disarming the alarm. The doors didn't unlock, so I went to manually unlock the door, which is when I was thinking man not the battery! I went to start the car and it didn't have enough juice to even start the car. I ended up calling AAA and they sent over this guy to jump start my car. This tow truck driver was very young, maybe my age or even younger. I was surprised to even see that he could drive a fairly large tow truck. Anyways though he got out his cable to jump start my car. He connected the cable to my vehicle, but then I saw him fumbling with the cables when he was connecting them to this box on the side of his truck. What do you know? This guy mixed up the positive and negative cables, and when he went to start my car it blew the fuse for the alternator. The driver did not have any fuses with him, nor did any of the spare fuses that came with the vehicle match the blown fuse. It was around 10pm, thus no shops or stores that sell a fuse would even be open. The driver gave me his cell phone number and said he could stop by the next day whenever I was free. On Friday morning I called the driver and told him that I would be free around 4pm. I went home and waited till 4:30. Since by this time I have not heard back from the driver I called him and asked about his whereabouts. He said he was at a sop picking up the fuse and will be on his way. I waited till 5:55 and have not heard back from the driver, so I call him but got his voice mail. At that time I left a message for him. Around 6:00 the driver calls me back and says he will be over around 7. I had some errands to run, so I went out to do those but was back around 6:45. It was now 7:20 and yet the driver was not here nor did he call me. I then started calling him, but he would not answer his cell phone. I repeatedly tried to call him and could not get through. By now I was fed up and I called AAA. I spoke to a rep named Pat, who was very helpful. I explained to her what has happened and that I am not happy with their service. She was willing to send out another truck, but I had other plans that evening, so I told her I would call back on Saturday. I also asked if I could get a credit for the first call from Thursday, so it won't effect my 4 free allowed calls. Pat put the request through. I woke up early Saturday morning and figured I would try replacing the fuse myself, thus I would not need the car to be towed to my local mechanic. I went to my local Toyota dealer and they did have the fuse, which was for $10.49 after taxes. I asked the rep at the parts counter if he knew how to replace the fuse. I could not get the blown fuse out, thus I had to ask. The rep said that supposedly the fuse is held down by a bolt. He was friendly enough to print out some schematics, which I tried to use to assist me. The funny thing is a guy at the parts counter who gave the rep the fuse, sarcastically said "did he mix the cable when jump starting his car". I told the rep at the counter what happened and they surely guessed right. I went back to the service area to ask a mechanic if such a job was easy. The first young mechanic, who was probably also in his early 20's said it shouldn't be anything too hard, but he is not too sure since these fuses hardly blow, thus he has never had to replace one. This mechanic took my to talk to another mechanic, but this mechanic wasn't helpful at all. He was like if you have skills you can change the fuse. I went home and went to try to change the fuse. I got the covers around the fuse holder off and was able to see where the bolt holding in the fuse is. Unfortunately I could not pull the fuse cover out much, thus I could not get to the bolt. I tried tugging for a bit, but did not want to continue this, since I didn't want to accidentally damage or loosen a wire. I gave in and called AAA for a tow truck. This driver was wonderful. He was very nice and he surely knew what he was doing. He transported my car safely on his flat bed tow truck and dropped it off at the mechanic who I go to. I told my girlfriend about what happened and she told me that I should complain to AAA and ask them to cover the bill for fixing the fuse problem. She is a law student, so she is very upfront with a lot of things, which is great. I took her advice and contacted AAA. Melody, the rep who I spoke with added this request to my original complaint and asked for my mechanics address and phone number, which I provided. She said that most likely AAA will cover the bill in such a case, since the blown fuse was caused at their fault. The car is in the shop and hopefully AAA will call me today or tomorrow. If not, I will surely call them.


Previously I had a problem where my sister's car, which was parked in the student lot of the university she attends, was having a problem where the check engine light was on and the speedometer was not working properly. She drives a Honda Civic. My dad and I went check the car out and then we called AAA. It took AAA about 5 hours before they came on site. This driver and his assistant were total idiots. They looked as if they were 2 of The Three Stooges. My dad and I followed the tow truck on the beltway. The truck was probably driving at 40mph and was emitting strong exhaust fumes. With traffic and the storm, we lost site of the tow truck. My dad and I continued and we reached the mechanic's shop where the car to be dropped off. We get there waited about 30 mins and the tow truck still had not arrived. I called AAA, the located the driver and told us he ran out of gas about 8 miles down the road from the shop. By this time it is nearly midnight and I was frustrated. AAA sent out another tow truck to pick up the car. This tow truck driver who came for the 2nd time, was great and got our car to the shop without any problems.

Overall these have been my past two experiences with AAA during the past 6 months. Now I have been starting to wonder if the membership is even worth having? It came in handy once about 3 years ago when my sister's car's muffler fell off and was dragging on the road. AAA came out to DC and towed the vehicle to our mechanic's shop. One out three calls has gone well. Our insurance (Erie) does offer road side assistance reimbursement, so I am going to get more info on it and see if that would be a better option. Supposedly though their service will reimburse you for any towing related expenses. I'm not too sure if that includes if I need to call a tow truck to have a flat tire changed (for when I am lazy/tired) or for a jump start. What do others do when they are in a similar situation? Do you guys belong to AAA or have any roadside assistance plan through your insurance company? I know more expensive cars such as Lexus, BMW, Acura, etc offer road side assistance for free during the first few years of vehicle ownership, but being cheap I doubt I would buy any of those cars at the moment, plus a $30k will cost more than a $50 annual membership.

Favorite sites for finding deals

I am a big fan of getting a good deal on items and plus if I buy something that is on sale or for a price lower than normal then I don't feel as bad for spending my money. My favorite web sites that I check piratically everyday are Fat Wallet and Tech Bargains. Both sites are updated throughout the day with various deals that are going on. Currently I am not in the market to make any specific purchases, but if I come across something that I know I need or will need, then I will go ahead and purchase an item I found through one of the mentioned web sites.

Introduction

Hello. Being in the IT industry I probably should have probably started this blog with a post titled "Hello World", but I figured I wouldn't think too much about anything work related when I am not at work. I am a male in my early 20's who has been working full time in the IT industry since graduating with a BS degree roughly 2 years ago. The fall semester right after my graduation I was accepted into a local state university's MBA program, thus I have been attending grad school part time.

So this blog is meant to be for sharing and feedback of any financial related material. I guess I will start by giving some financial background about myself. As mentioned earlier, I work full time in the IT industry. The salary I earn at this job is definitely good, especially for when I have only been with this company for a few months. An added benefit of my employer is the great benefits that they offer their employees. Granted my first full time job after graduation did not pay too well, but it opened doors for me, which till this day I greatly appreciate. Due to my first full time job not paying as well as I wanted, I started working part time at a local company's NOC. This was mainly an evening/weekend job. Once I got my current full time job, I still kept my part time job, but strictly only for extra income by working a few hours over the weekend. Honestly the part time job is something that looks good on my resume as well as it is a job that is not too stressful or busy. An added benefit of the part time job is that I have a lot of time to work on my grad school work. Back to some financial information. I am a big fan of "rate chasing" when it comes to keeping my money in a bank. Before working full time I started a Roth IRA account since I was earning income from a paid part time internship. Overall I never really got into trading stocks. I have a few stocks, but their overall value is less than a $1000. As one of the benefits of working with my current employer I am funding my 401k account, as well as earning the employer match. Last year I was in the market for a house and ending up negotiating a wonderful deal on the house that I now live in. One bad part was that I did not have my current full time job at the time when I was in the market to buy a house, thus the interest rate on one of my two mortgages is not the best rate. I am hoping to eventually refinance my mortgage. By reading various forums I did also participate in another financial game, which is the 0% credit card game, where you can take out a certain amount of your available credit and put the amount into a high interest rate bank account. This wasn't a bad game, since I was making a few hundred dollars a month. On my spare time I also troubleshoot and fix computers for friends, family, or people who I have been referred too. I have made a decent amount from this small side business, which is nice. It's a job I enjoy and can do when I have time, plus I have earned a decent income from it. I am greatly interested in cars and have always been into them. Unlike my friends I did not blow my money on a fancy/sporty new car. I kept my car at the time, which I now use as a daily driver/beater (even though I keep it in good condition) and I also have a fairly new coupe, which is not anything fancy. I bought it used and ended up getting a good deal on it. Overall this is pretty much where I stand in terms of my own personal finance. I always am on the lookout to save money and cut any of my expenses. It is in a way a hobby of mines, which also helps my personal finances. Don't get me wrong though I do like to enjoy my money once in a while and I feel that everyone should enjoy some of their hard earned money.

So I gave some information on what my financial situation is like and yes I know it was not specific, but I hope to hear some input/feedback from others as well as learn more ways to save money and even make money. Again thanks for visiting my blog and I hope it soon can be a blog that benefits all of my readers.