So when you move from an apartment living to a new house, you start thinking about home security systems with efficient dispatch monitoring. On 30th October, we moved to our new place, new neighbour hood with a need for monitoring system.
Started with online research for ADT, BroadView & GE Protect America. All of them were comparable, just that GE requires DIY installation.
3 year service contract.
Monthly rate around $33 per month.
With my employer, I get some discount promotions with BroadView security, called them for a quote, however customer service was not interested in providing a detailed quote over phone and wanted a security consultant to visit our place for free security analysis and estimates.
Time comes, when the so called consultant arrives with a colored binder. All the conversation are just around making sure you sign the deal and to do some up sell. However will say he was a nice sales man and not much pushy. We ended up signing for Broadview monitoring with little coercion from wife, we need it..Here was the plan I signed up for
Wired security system, with wires coming from crawl space.
Complete perimeter protection with free installation and $360 worth of devices like flex switch, glass break sensor etc.
3 year service contract.
All good so far, however I ended up cancelling / voiding the contract next day. Why ? Salesman goes and I ended up reading the fine prints..
I cannot come out of this contract without paying 3 years of complete service. Lot of stories around this on Internet.
I lease the equipments.
They will drill holes, however will not fix it back after 3 years if I don't want to continue.
I need to inform within a month after 3 years else my contract will be extended for 1 more year.
I've only 3 days from the date of signing to cancel the contract, woohoo...I should use it :)
Search begins again, now I think I need wireless with no service contract dispatch monitoring. Did some research on nextalarm, safemart etc and talked to my coworkers having those systems.
Finally, got SimpliSafe. Wireless, no commitment, UL listed dispatch monitoring for $14.99. Above and all, installation was a snap. 30 minutes for my entire house. Stay tuned for more information on Simplisafe and my detailed review after a month of service usage..I love it so far.
What is better than saving for your kids education. One of the best 529 Plans,Ohio College advantage program is offering added bonus for new accounts.
* Refer a friend and earn $50, if you already have an account. Your friends will earn $25 for opening an account. * Systematic savings incentive, earn $25 when you sign up for recurring EFT or payroll deduction.
Offer ends Jan, 31st 2010.
If you are interested in opening 529 account with ohio college advantage program, Please leave a comment with your email and I will refer you.
About College Advantage: This plan is offered by OHIO and open to residents of all states. They have one of the best selections of low cost active funds to invest along with CDs and vanguard index funds.
How much should you save for your babies college education? I personally have never been sure about how much money will we need for our kids education. Random savings in 529 and Coverdell do help, however savings with a right plan does go a long mile.
You may be wondering how much you will need to contribute each month in order to meet the projected costs. While it is impossible to predict, many investors have found the Upromise College Savings Calculator very helpful in education planning of our little ones. "UPromise: How much to save."
Ever heard of Smarty Pig, a great web 2.0 concept of saving money with a goal. You set your own goal, how much money you want to save and it will suggest you the monthly deposit required to meet that goal. Easy fellas, don't flame me what I like best is their highly competitive interest rate.
Current APY: 2.75% which is sort of industry leading online saving account interest rate.
so what's a catch ? You cannot withdraw partial money, either you close your account before meeting your goal or save enough to meet your goal. You can withdraw money only in these two conditions. I don't think it's bad for a saver, looking for high yield. You have an option of taking money out via a gift card with some added bonuses too.
Is it safe ? Money is held at West Bank, an FDIC insured bank. FDIC insurance covers an individual account holder for up to the maximum allowed by law, currently 250K in accounts held at west bank.
Is web site safe ? Com'on this web 2.0 has one of the stringent signup process, I have ever seen. This is the only bad experience so far, however I see potential benefits of doing it.
Your password need to be One capital case, one small case and 1 number. Pretty awkward password requirement.
This is followed by signing up for security questions, which is followed by a security phrase and after the phrase I need to pick a picture that they will show me when I log-in every time to prevent phishing.
This is not enough, then they will need a driver license along with SSN. Why on earth I need to provide DL number to open a savings account.
Now I will have soft pull on credit and will need to answer 2 questions from credit report to ascertain, it is me and only me opening the bank account.
With Smarty pig, you can start multiple goals and start saving for it. Say down payment of a house or a big screen tv. You decide time frame and amount to fund each month.
You can even use their widget or share your savings goal with friends and family. If this is not enough, you can also allow others to contribute to your savings goal. This is kinda nice web 2.0 social.
Please read FAQ from SmartyPig and do your own research if you are interested in opening an account with them.
You can get up to $200 when you fund your account and make your first trade by July 31st, 2009. If you have not already signed up for an account, this is a great opportunity to get started!
Just complete these three easy steps: Open a Zecco Forex trading account Make your deposit Place your first trade!
Please note this is a targeted offer, you should receive a promotional invite to earn free money.
some tit bits for reader looking to save money during this uncertain recessionary times.
WAMU is now chase and with it goes high interest online savings account / CD's.
Recently I came across a new bank "Ally Bank", where like all other banks money up to 250,000 is insured by FDIC. Best part of Ally Bank is No Penalty CD for 9 months with 2.00 APY, daily compounded interest :)
I am a big fan and regular user of Schwab Visa Signature card for their 2% cash back in brokerage account .However, I've always used American express for any big purchase for easy extended warranty.
Readers, even visa offers such extended warranty, price protection & return protection. They even offer a cheap extended warranties
For a common investor, understanding wash sale and how one can leverage a loss to some profit is some daunting task. lets try to demystify wash sale for us 'common investors'.
The wash-sale rules comes into play if you sell a security and, within 30 days before or after the sale, buy a "substantially identical" security. Violate that rule and the loss on the first sale is denied.
Most of us have some securities whether it is a mutual fund, stock or etf which are in red since the market meltdown. Now as recessionary fear seems to be abating and stocks appear to be cheap, it seems to be a best time to do some tax loss harvesting.
For many investors, tax gain/loss harvesting is the single most important tool for reducing taxes now and in the future. If properly applied, it can save you taxes and help you diversify your portfolio in ways you may not have considered. Although it can't restore your losses, it can certainly soften the blow. For example, a loss in the value of Security A could be sold to offset the increase in value of Security B, thus eliminating the capital gains tax liability of Security B.
In a year like 2008 / 2009, almost no body should be paying any capital gain tax. If after selling securities either for profit or loss, you come up with a negative number, you can use up to $3,000 of those losses to offset ordinary income. And in many cases, you can carry over extra losses to subsequent years.
Example: Say I carry a Dreyfus mid cap index fund - PESPX and have a loss of $1000, I can sell it and using the proceeds can buy a not so substantially identical fund like Janus mid cap fund - JMCVX. This way I can reduce my tax liability by $1000 * my tax bracket. Point to note, I am still invested and my asset allocation is still intact. Replacing a index fund with active managed fund doesn't falls into the bucket of substantially identical fund and should not raise an IRS audit.
Few advises from Sage of Omaha, more like his investing principles.
Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute
Our favorite holding period is forever.
We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.
A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought
Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.
Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.
I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.
Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 125. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing
It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price
International and emerging markets funds are the key contributors to the globalization of financial market and one of the main sources of capital inflow in the emerging markets. They demand investors patience for a high risk and a subsequent reward which comes with these high octane investments.
Not every market is alike, for example Russia offers excellent growth with great political risk and government intervention whereas China is mostly export driven economy and susceptible to a fall out in the global markets. It is quite common for them to fall 60% and than give a return of 100% next year. When global market suffers, like the one in 2008 most of the financial institutional investors will be quick to move money out of these market and thus exacerbating their decline. Here is a snapshot of these individual markets and possible investment options, if any:
Russia: Too much of political risk and uncertainty. ING Russia fund LETRX can be used for a very high risk/return investment. Note:LETRX is available as no Load in Schwab brokerage.
China & neighboring region: Best long term bet for growth and investment. Started from a low cost producer and exporter of myriad small and big items, now it is biggest financier of US treasuries. Investors like us can use FXI or MCHFX as a proxy to investment in china.
India: Good bet for long term investment, burgeoning educated middle class and self sustained economy provide enough fodder for growth. However Infrastructure and lack of commom amenities can put a damper on growth. Investment vehicle for India: MINDX, IFN and PIN
Latin America: Commodity driven economy, too cyclical in nature. Great for a trade via FLATX, PRLAX and few ADR's trading in US like PBR, AMX etc.
Frontier Markets: I still don't call eastern Europe, Africa and middle east an emerging economy, they are frontier markets. Financial markets is still in nascent stage and offers little in terms of disclosure and account abilities. Hence it is better to avoid these markets all together or have no more than 2% of total portfolio. For 'us' retail investors, Fidelity - FEMEX and T Rowe Price - TRAMX offers some investment opportunities in these frontier markets.
Although emerging economies may be able to look forward to brighter opportunities and offer new areas of investment for foreign and developed economies, they need to consider the effects of an open economy on its citizens. Furthermore, investors need to determine the risks when considering investing into an Emerging markets.
You may contribute up to $2,000 annually to a child's CoverdellESA if your modified adjusted gross income MAGI is less than $95,000 as a single tax filer (or married filing separate), or $190,000 as a married couple filing jointly. The $2,000 maximum contribution limit is gradually reduced if your MAGI exceeds these limits.
All funds in the account must be distributed to the beneficiary within 30 days after his or her 30thB'day. If the assets in Coverdell account cannot be used by the designated beneficiary when he or she turns 30, then the funds in the account can be roll over to a another designated beneficiary who is qualified family member.
If the distribution exceeds qualified education expenses, a portion will be taxable to the beneficiary and will usually be subject to an additional 10% tax. Exceptions to the additional 10% tax include the death or disability of the beneficiary or if the beneficiary receives a qualified scholarship. Hope and life time learning credits can be taken in the same year when tax free qualified distribution is taken from the plan.
Unless Congress acts, some Coverdell benefits expire after 2010.
K -12 expenses will no longer qualify.
With annual contribution limit reduce to $500 from $2000.
Withdrawals will not be tax-free in any year in which a Hope credit or Lifetime credit or Lifetime Learning credit is claimed for the beneficiary.
However as Coverdell can be roll over to any 529 Plans without any tax consequences, potential sunset of Coverdell doesn't look bad.
I-Bonds: I Bonds which are sold at face value and issued in either paper or electronic form, offers an alternative and more safer investment for future college tution. If used for college education, interest income is exempt from federal income tax. However there is no restriction on mandatory withdrawal for education etc. They can be purchased directly from treasury direct www.savingsbond.gov
Education cost is spiralling, not sure if I Bond can catch up. Probably equity is still better options for parent whose kids are still atleast 10 years away from college.
It's a score to measure how much you value financial responsibility. It is measure of how likely you are to pay, what you owe. Higher your credit score, lenders will be more willing to offer better rates. It is true from mortgage to car payments.
Credit score ranges from 300 to 850. Higher score represents less risk for a lender, hence favorable rates.
National average of score and rates for a loan of 300,000.[as of 5th May, 09]
Score APR Monthly payment
760-850 4.555% $1,530
700-759 4.777% $1,570
680-699 4.954% $1,602
660-679 5.168% $1,641
640-659 5.598% $1,722
620-639 6.144% $1,827
See how much financial responsibility helps with lower payments, effectively helping you in building wealth.
New Immigrants - How can I build my credit: If you are new to US whether from Canada, Europe or Asis you will need to build credit before lenders can offer bigger loans.
Secure credit cards are a great place to start with.
If your spouse has a good credit history, add yourself as a registered joint user on a card.
Departmental credit cards are easier to get, whether it is kohls or Target.
Get utility services in your name.
Be responsible from start, pay what you owe and preferably in full for credit cards.
Monitoring credit score and report: If this is that important for a financial well being, everyone should take care of continuously monitoring it for any fraudulent entry or identity theft. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that U.S. consumers be entitled to a free credit report each year. The government’s goal is to make sure that consumers stay informed, fight identity theft, and get fair treatment.
There are three commonly used Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies by lenders.
Equifax
Experian
Transunion
If you apply for a car loan or a credit card, any one or more of these agencies will be used by your lender to see your credit worthiness. These credit agencies collect information from parties that have previously extended credit to you, such as a department store or a bank. All new enquiry also go in your credit report.
Some key credit score points:
Avoid over extending on credit available, this is a potential sign for a lender that you may default.
Before any big purchase like house or a car, don't apply for new credits in last few months and cut down on credit taken. Try to pay off other debt first, before taking on these massive loans.
Credit is not bad, using it irresponsibly is.
Pay bills on time, whether it is utility bill or loan payment.
Monitor your credit report and dispute if something is not true with the credit reporting bureau.
Protect your identity, never disclose personal information to others if not required.
It all started few years back, buy $100 worth of stuffs and we will offer you $1 cashback. Every financial institution started offering different flavors of Rewards or Cashback credit card. Some like American express offer higher cashback once you reach some annual purchase threshold, whereas discover offers 5% on chosen category for few months with some upper limit and rest still on 1%.
I love having cashback credit card. Being paid to shop is great. Just remember to pay your balance off every month. So, "Which cards offers best cashback and other incentives"
Charles Schwab Visa Signature cards seems to be very promising. I applied and was approved online, will see how it works out for me. link to schwab card.
Key Benefits for me
No foreign exchange transaction fee. Other cards except capital one charge you around 3%
2% Cash back on all purchases. No need to wait for some 5000 or x points for redemption. After every month cycle, 2% cashback is credited to your schwab brokerage account.
Benefits of Visa Signature card and no preset spending limits.
Fidelity retirement rewards card was close second, with same 2% cashback. However they are offering american express branded cards, with foreign transaction feee and redemption after 5000 points.
Natural resources influence a significant portion of world economy. Our appetite for different commodities is ever increasing, plus with close to double digit growth in BRIC countries commodity prices are increasingly correlated to supply and demand. One thing to note here is "Supply is limited", so what happens to the prices? It doesn't take business degree or investment experience to figure out.
Look into Legendry investor "Jim Rogers" commodity index and you will see all it includes is agri, oil, metal & minerals. http://www.rogersrawmaterials.com/
One thing a common investor like me should always remember "Commodity trading is very volatile", probably suited for a very long term investment or a pure speculative play. Recently there was a news that owing to fall in copper prices, china is stockpiling copper for future construction and growth. Isn't it leading to volatility and prices become too sensitive to supply and economies health?
Lets start with how and what you can do to be part of this trade.
Individual stocks: Starting from copper like Freeport copper and Southern copper to Steel stocks like US steel and Nucor. More contrarian investment can be in agricultural stocks like Agrium, Monsanto etc.
ETF: Starting from broad natural resources etc like GSG, RJI etc to concentrated commodity funds like DBA, DBC and yeah 'MOO' too.
Gold ETF: GLD & IAU are best with high trading volumes. If you like Gold and Silver together, than there is 'CEF', central fund of canada
Leveraged ETF: double short and long ETF for short term trading etc.
Mutual funds: Nearly all mutual fund houses offer a natural resources funds. Some are tied with stocks like FNARX, PRNEX & PSPFX, whereas some are tied with treasury & futures like PCRDX & RYMBX.
disclaimer: I own Freeport copper stock (FCX), PSPFX and PCRDX.
A year back when oil prices were soaring, everyone from presidential candidates to average joe were talking about alternative energy and how to come up with less dependence on foreign oil. This lead to the boom in new funds and etf offering alternative energy investment.
Mortgage mess not only dragged entire stock market, each and every sector, it also pushed oil prices far below 2004 level. Now once more alternative energy and stocks are in back burner. BUT, it may be one of the best times to wet your feet into this sector. There are bunch of offering starting from clean energy, alternative energy, solar, green, wind etc.
• The New Alternative Fund, Symbol NALFX, began 1982: investments in a variety of companies focusing on renewable energy sources, as well as interests in companies focusing on energy conservation and environmental protection
• The Guinness Atkinson Global Energy Fund, symbol GAAEX, began 2006: The fund invests in global companies that “derive more than 50 percent of their revenue from alternative energy or alternative energy technology.
• PBW is a Power share ETF that holds companies in the "business of the advancement of cleaner energy and conservation
• The Winslow Green Solutions Fund, WGSLX. It expects to invest globally in companies of varying sizes that provide green solutions. Winslow defines green solutions as products or services that reduce resource consumption; decrease pollution such as climate-changing greenhouse gases, or contribute to natural and sustainable nutrition and health
Life insurance offered by your employer usually is valid as long as you are employed with the same employer. Hence it is advisable to add an life insurance cover to supplement your employer offered insurance policy.
Life insurance can be either of following types
Term life insurance: It provides coverage for a limited period of time and at the expiration of policy insured can either drop the policy or pay annually increasing premium to continue the coverage. There is no cash value with a typical term life policy and term insurance is often the most inexpensive way to purchase a substantial death benefit on a coverage amount per premium dollar basis.
Whole life insurance: This on the other hand, combines a term policy with an investment components. The investment could be either in bonds, money market or stocks. Policy builds a cash value, against which you can borrow money later. Permanant life insurance coverage for as long as you live and continue to make premium payments.
Univeral life insurance: Life insurance which combines the low-cost protection of term insurance with a savings component that is invested in a tax-deferred account, the cash value of which may be available for a loan to the policyholder. Universal life was created to provide more flexibility than whole life by allowing the holder to shift money between the insurance and savings components of the policy. Additionally, the inner workings of the investment process are openly displayed to the holder, whereas details of whole life investments tend to be quite scarce
Variable universal life insurance: Name 'variable' here signifies the ability to invest the money in different form of investment vehicle. This life insurance policy along with insurance cover offers to build up the cash value. With a typical whole life policy, the death benefit is limited to the face amount specified in the policy, and at endowment age, the face amount is all that is paid out. Thus with either death or endowment, the insurance company keeps any cash value built up over the years. With a VUL policy, the death benefit is the face amount plus the build up of any cash value that occurs (beyond any amount being used to fund the current cost of insurance.)
Now comes the best part, For my personal insurance needs, I prefer the idea of separating investment from insurance. Insurance should just offer me the life cover at the cheapest rate, for cash value part, I can always use other investment vehicles.
Looking for an agent or a insurance company can be tricky and a time consuming process. Look for an insurance company which are stable and highly rated by A.M Best and Standard & Poor.
Top 10 Life Insurance Companies By Premiums (From the Insurance Information Institute):
Rank Revenue Assets 1 MetLife 53,150 $558,562 2 Prudential Financial 34,401 485,814 3 New York Life Insurance 29,280 179,621 4 TIAA-CREF 27,526 420,315 5Mass Mutual Life Insurance 25,268 172,911 6 Northwestern Mutual 22,597 156,547 7 AFLAC 15,393 65,805 8 Genworth Financial 11,443 114,315 9 Principal Financial 10,907 154,520 10 Lincoln National 10,738 191,43
With the plethora of independent insurance agent, online agents etc looking for an agent can be trickier too, I've had a positive experience with select quote, If that helps they were prompt in service and not pushy with riders etc.
Here is the link to kiplinger article on how to get best rate on life insurance policy - Best Rate
Coverdell Education Savings Account also called Coverdell IRA is used as a tax advantage investment vehicle for a child. Just like 529 plans, money can be taken out of these IRA without any tax implications if they are used for qualified educational expense. Biggest difference with 529 Plan is that, Coverdell can be used for primary and secondary education. They seem to offer more flexibility around investment choices, but with much less allowed annual contribution limit.
Mantra "Pay yourself first" is great for education savings. Automatic contribution depending upon how much one can contribute will certainly help in shaping a kid's future. Talk to your financial advisor for asset allocation and understand your risk tolerance, you don't want to lose money in a stock market meltdown when your kid is just few years away from college.
Here is a sample list of Coverdell ESA custodian with fee and contribution limits. I've opened a Coverdell ESA in Schwab, due to low fee and better investment choices.
Ever heard of P2P lending, a new kid on the block after prosper is currently offering $50 bonus just to open a new account. Lending club is a social lending network that brings together investors and creditworthy borrowers to offer value beyond traditional banks.
If you would like to make your money work for you, nothing is safer than a bank acount offering competitive interest rate. ING is the oldest and most stable of the online banks. If you open your account with initial deposit of $250, you will get an account opening bonus of $25.
If you open your ING direct account with the links below, I will get $10 too :)
Montana Pacific Life Funds 529 College Savings Plan.
Ohio Putnam CollegeAdvantage.
Nebraska AIM College Savings Plan.
Couple of testimonials for Top rated Ohio 529 Plan
Morningstar rates Ohio's 529 plan as "Top 5" college savings plan in the nation Morningstar Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research, has named Ohio’s CollegeAdvantage 529 direct plan as one of the top five college savings plans in the nation in a report that was released April 23, 2009. In reviewing the Ohio direct plan Morningstar stated that “the strong investment options, low costs, and good flexibility make this plan tough to beat for Ohio residents.”
The Wall Street Journal praises Ohio's bank options Ohio's 529 bank options were recently noted in the Wall Street Journal's "The Intellegent Investor" column written by Jason Zwieg on March 20, 2009. Zwieg mentions Ohio bank options in the column: "For young children, consider the remarkable deal offered by Ohio's 529; Federally insured certificates of deposit from Fifth Third Bancorp with maturities of up to 12 years at yields as high as 5%. But it is tough to beat a risk-free 5% return exempt from federal income tax. What a tragedy that more states didn't offer similar options before it was too late."
