Smart Money Management

Citibank e-savings: get $25 for online billpay

2006-04-28T17:34:00.000-04:00

I openned a Citibank e-savings account earlier this month and received the welcome package days ago. I thought it might contain nothing important since I have been a customer with Citi for more than three years. So I put the material in my folder of "non-urgent letter" and didn't pay attention to it. Today I started to process all the letters marked non-urgent and found that actually there was something precious there. After the signature card, direct deposit forms and some rate chart, there is an offer for online billpay.

Starting no later than the calendar month after the month in which you opened the account, pay 2 or more bills each calendar month for 3 consecutive months online at citibankonline.com, $25 will be credit to your account within 90 days from the end of the statement period in which you met all of the above requirement.

If you miss the $200 bonus, you are still qualified for this one. Take a look at your welcome package for details.

No credit and debit card payment on Verizon.com

2006-04-28T17:25:00.000-04:00

Starting from today, credit and debit card payment will no longer be accepted at verizon.com. There are only two options for you to make payment online. One is to make a one time payment from your bank account. The other is to set up the automatic monthly payments using direct debit. Of course it is also from your bank account.

According to the email sent by Verizon, you will only be able to pay with your credit card over the phone. Please be noted, however, that you will be charged a fee for that service.

Those change does not impact verizonwireless.com or verizon.net.

Currently both of my local phone and DSL provider are Verizon. It's been a long time that I have been considering the option of the naked DSL. Just didn't get a chance to call them. I sent an email days ago while getting an ambiguous answer. Anyone in New York area got the naked DSL from Verizon successfully?

HSBC online savings rate: 4.5% after Apr 30th

2006-04-28T16:30:00.000-04:00

Just got an email from HSBC about the future interest rate

"We are writing to let you know that beginning May 1, 2006, your HSBCdirect Online Savings Account rate will change to 4.50% APY**. This is one of America's leading rates and still 8x the national average*, so you can continue to watch your money grow"

It's totally out of my expectation. I thought it would be something around 4.75%. Now two of the most competitive ones are GMAC and Presidential. Will do some research on those banks and see if I should open another account just for the 0.25% interest difference. Or maybe I would just start to buy some treasury bills. At least the interest is state and local tax free.

Am I missing anything?

2006-04-26T18:48:00.000-04:00

Last week I introduced my blog to my friends in China but got reported that none of them were able to access it. Should I change anything in my blog setting? Or is it just that the blogger denies all access from overseas? Have any of you encountered the same problem? Any hint will be highly appreciated.

Open an EZ checking get $200 from Citibank

2006-04-26T18:37:00.000-04:00

Citibank rolled out its e-savings account to catch up the rising interest rate in the internet banking competition. And yet in order to open an e-savings account, you must open a checking account first. According to other people's experiences, Citibank is pulling a hard inquiry on your credit report when you open an account. So what will me you think it is worth doing it considering that the rate is not that competitive? Obviously most people would say: a bonus. There you go. Citibank will pay you up to $200 if you open an EZ checking account with them and make 2 bill pays each month for 12 consecutive months.

The special code is CD3J
Deadline: 07/31/2006
Minimum deposit: $1500

Check the bonus terms yourself

To go or not to go, it's all your decision.

Experience on Transferring money between HSBC and Scottrade

2006-04-26T18:17:00.000-04:00

I reported that I successfully linked my HSBC account and my Scottrade account last month. To make a test, I made a transfer from HSBC to Scottrade this week. Here is the detail story.

4/23 set up the transfer on the website of HSBC
4/24 fund was deducted from HSBC account
4/26 fund was deposited to the Scottrade account.

Seems the fund has been held somewhere for one day, the same way as the transfer between HSBC and other regular banking accounts does.

Unofficially I heard that Scottrade will have the ACH function by this summer. But the exact date has not been announced. With ACH, I believe that Scottrade will become more attractive.

Please note that Scottrade currently runs a referral program. If you would like to open an account there, drop me a line and I can send you a referral code. That way both you and I will get 3 free trades.

Where do you want to park your money next

2006-04-17T12:54:00.000-04:00

The promotion period of ING has already ended. So will be that of HSBC in 13 days. Where is your next place to park your money?

As the Federal reserve keeps raising the interest rate, the rate competition between banks becomes more and more tough. It would be worthwhile to take some time to move your money around so that you could maximize your benefit.

If you are not in need of cash in a short term, you may consider lock up your money in a CD account. Bankrate publishes a list of the highly-yielding CD's. You may balance the terms and interest rate based on your own situation. Just keep in mind that you may incur a penalty if you withdraw the money before the maturity date.

Another option would be the online savings account. It offers the comparable rates with more flexible term. You can link it with your local checking account and transfer the money back and force to meet your own needs. Here is a snapshot of the current rates offered by some of the well-known online bankers.

HSBC 4.80% promotion rate up to 4/30/06
GMAC 4.70%
umbrella 4.70%
virtual bank 4.60%
Citi e-savings 4.50%
EmigrantDirect 4.50%
ING direct 4.00%
You can get a full list here

Check out the carnivals in this week

2006-04-13T13:07:00.000-04:00

Carnival of Investing #17: A Financial Revolution
Carnival of Personal Finance #43: MyMoneyBlog
Festival of Frugality #18: Canadian Capitalist

No sales tax on eligible clothing or footwear purchase in NYC

2006-04-06T18:14:00.000-04:00

Have you been shopping in New York city since last Saturday? Did you look at your receipts closely? You may be surprised when you find that you didn't pay any tax for your clothing purchases or footwear. Starting from Apr. 1st, 2006, the New York State sales tax of 4.375% has been eliminated on any clothing or footwear item under $110. Considering that the city sales tax of 4% has already been chopped off since last September, shoppers in NYC don't need to pay any tax as long as the item price is less then $110. It's really good news for both the NYC shoppers and retailers. The shoppers don't need to go to New Jersey to buy clothes just in order to save the taxes. The retailers would attract more customers and increase their revenue dramatically.

However, in some other counties in the metro area, shoppers still need to pay the county sales tax. For example, in white plains, the sales tax is 3.875%.

Details are posted on nyc.gov
"There is no sales tax imposed on the purchase of clothing and footwear valued under $110. The New York State tax rate of 4.375% (including the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District rate) was repealed effective April 1, 2006, and the New York City tax rate of 4% was eliminated effective September 1, 2005."

Come to the big apple and pick up your favorate item. Don't forget the parking tips I shared before

New "get 5% Cashback Bonus" from Discovercard

2006-04-06T12:51:00.000-04:00

The "Get more program" from Discovercard gives you an opportunity to get 5% cashback bonus in some popular categories that change quarterly, four times a year. Last quarter it was for medical purchase. This quarter it changes to gas and automotive purchase. Here is the detail...

From April 6, 2006 to June 30, 2006, you can get 5% cashback bonus if you use your discovercard to make gas and automotive purchases. The qualified automotive merchants include Autozone, Pep Boys, Firestone, Sears auto center and Midas. And all gas purchase and car washes are considered eligible.

It seems less attractive since lots of people have other cards like citi dividend and chase cash plus which provide 5% rebate in gas purchase all year long. However, if your car's maintenance due happens to fall within this period or you need buy some new parts for your car, you may consider to pay a visit to the above stores and see how much extra bonus you can get.

creditcard

Where is your tax refund

2006-04-05T18:06:00.000-04:00

Most of people should have filed your tax return by now. Are you expecting a refund? Are you wondering where your refund is? IRS provides a website for you to find out if your tax return was received and whether your fund was processed and sent to you. All you need input is just your SSN, Filing status and the amount of your refund.

Check this out: link

Check out the carnivals for this week and last week

2006-04-04T13:44:00.000-04:00

I was out of town last week so I owed you a post of the carnivals information. Today I just combine it with this week's Carnival. Enjoy all the great posts from the fellow bloggers.

Carnival of Investing #16: Free Money Finance
Carnival of Personal Finance #42: Okdork.com
Festival of Frugality #17: fivecentnickel.com

Carnival of Investing #15: Fat Pitch Financials
Carnival of Personal Finance # 41: Financial Baby Steps
Festival of Frugality #16: Frugal for Life

Retention offer from Credit Protector Program (CPP)

2006-04-04T13:30:00.000-04:00

I posted about the initial rebate offer that I took advantage of from the CPP. I called to cancel my membership after I received the rebate check. And the retention offer seemed not to be cash any more. A representative told me he could send me a gift card worth $30. But I gotta choose the stores among walmart, homedepot and sears. I thought that I could get the gift card directly this time and agreed on this deal. To my surprise, I found that it was still a rebate thing when I received the paperwork. I need to fill the rebate forms and send them to the same rebate center to request the gift cards. The face value of each gift card is $10 and it should be used in three different months. I haven't decided yet if I should go through the same hassle again. I would like to get more opinion before I take any action. So what's your experience about that?

Citibank is introducing the new e-savings account

2006-04-04T13:11:00.000-04:00

As the internet savings account becomes more and more popular, Citibank doesn't want to sit behind any more. Last week it rolled out its own version of e-savings account, trying to attract more new customers and retain more old customers like myself. Most of our fund, which has been sitting in Citibank, has been transferred to other accounts like ING & HSBC. The only reason that keeps me from closing the accounts in Citibank is the widely spread B&M branches and ATMs. So when I heard about this new product from Citibank, I opened this account online immediately.

The opening process was pretty smooth and I got approved instantly. It appeared to be a money market account in the account description though. And one weird thing was that I was unable to add my husband as the co-signer online. According to my experience, I think for the current account owner, it should be a soft credit pull, since I haven't received any alert from my credit monitoring program.

Here is a snapshot of this e-savings account:
1. No minimum balance requirement, 4.50% APY
2. Free real-time transfers between e-savings and checking account.
3. To open an e-savings account, you must have a Citi checking account. Or you must apply for one at the time you apply for your e-savings account. (If you can still find the $200 bonus promotion to open an EZ checking account, that would be a good deal)
4. Transfer money between external accounts & e-savings account via inter institution transfers, which is not free.
Type of Transfer Standard Next Day
Incoming TO Citibank FREE $3
Outgoing FROM Citibank $3 $10

5. you can't write checks
6. it can only be applied for online.

Filed my tax last week

2006-03-27T17:28:00.000-05:00

I should have done this much earlier because I expect refund from the Uncle Sam. Just right before I put all our information to the taxcut, which I bought with negative money, and finished all the calculation and forms, we got a notification from Mr. Circle's employer about some correction of his W-2. It took more than a month for the payroll to send out the corrected W-2. Just for a tiny miscalculation of the W-2, we extend our free loan to the Uncle Sam for another month.

Finally I sent out all the forms via certified mail last Wednesday and both of them arrived last Friday. Now I can do nothing but waiting for the refund to be deposited into my account.

Free $100 from Citi Professional Card

2006-03-27T17:13:00.000-05:00

I posted about the receipt of my Citi Professional Card recently. In order to get the bonus points as soon as possible, I made a tiny purchase right after I received the card. Three days ago I got my first statement and the bonus points showed up at the same day. Its statement looks very cool. You can see your expenses under different categories. And you can also create a customized report for your own purpose.

This morning I was trying to add my professional card to my existing thank your network account, which I created months ago for our banking account. But to my disappointed, I was not allowed to do so because the primary account owner of our banking account is my husband, even though we are the joint owner for both the professional card and the banking account. Should have done more research //blush...

Anyway, I started to browsing the gift card offers after I create my own account. By comparing all of those gift card, it looks that it would be better to redeem the points after it reaches at least 5000. Then each point will be worth 1 cent. There are a wide variety of selections, ranging from airline ticket, clothing store to gas card. For my personal opinion, I think the gas card would be the best choice for me. That's the expenses that will definitely occur. I don't like the feeling of being forced to shop due to the availability of the gift cards. So I exchanged 10000 points with two $50 Exxon gas card.

MBN Forums: a place to learn tricks of the trade

2006-03-26T16:24:00.000-05:00

The guys from Money blog networks launched a forum for money bloggers to discuss about the tricks of trade. Currently there are three categories:

Blogging: talk about blogging topic unrelated to monetization
Monetization: talk about how to make money off your blog
Off-topic: for everything else, including general finance.

There are 30 members now, including many well-known money bloggers.

New rates of Emigrant Direct

2006-03-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

As you may have already known, Emigrant Direct raised its interest rate to 4.50% APR weeks ago. And you may have heard about the cash rebate credit card issued by Emigrant Direct. I just got an email yesterday that the cash rebate has been increased to 1.40% on every purchase. It still requires to maintain an average daily balance of a least $10.000 in your online saving account though. Most of my savings are sitting in ING and HSBC now. Will see what the new rates from ING and HSBC will be after the promotion period.

check out the carnivals in this week

2006-03-23T16:06:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Investing # 14: Neo's Nest Egg
Carnival of Personal Finance # 40: AllThings Financial
Festival of Frugality # 15: Free Money Finance

Successfully linked Scottrade to HSBC

2006-03-22T18:17:00.000-05:00

Last month I had a feed about a new way to fund your scottrade investment account. Here is the summary, with a balance over $5000, you can take advantage of the check writing feature offered by scottrade. And HSBC allows you to link your investment account to it so that you can transfer the money online between those two accounts.

I received 50 free checks from scottrade last Saturday (03/18) and started setting up the online transfer last Sunday (03/19). There is no special trick for linking accounts. You just go to b2b transfer and select add investment account. And then select scottrade. You will be asked to provide your account number in scottrade and your checking number (the second group of numbers on your check). Then you just wait for the trial deposit to show up. My trial deposit came on Tuesday (3/21). After I received the trial deposit, only a quarter though, I went back to HSBC and put the number in the verification window. And the scottrade account was added to the list of linking accounts immediately.

what $300K will buy in westchester, NY

2006-03-18T23:56:00.000-05:00

JLP in allthingsfinancialblog.com organized "a tour to show everyone what house $300K will buy in various parts of the country". If you follow my posts, you might know that one of my financial resolutions this year is to buy a house. So I would like to invite you to take a look at the house worth $300k in my area. This is a house in a ordinary school district.
First let take a look at the photo (don't know why I can't upload the image now) Will update later.

Here is the description of this house.
bedrooms: 2
full baths: 1
acres: 0.14
number of levels: 1
square feet:824
style: Cottage
year built:1935

Let's compare it with the house in poughkeepsie, NY, just 30 minutes north.

A great PF blog aggregate site: pfblogs.org

2006-03-18T23:01:00.000-05:00

Recently I came across a great aggregator for personal finance, real estate, and investing blogs: pfblogs.org. And it has pledged to remain free of advertisement. It keeps updating the new posts from more than 300 hundred blogs (354 currently). And the number of links is increasing day by day. Just bookmark one site, and you will read new topics from different blogs very easily.

Free gift from Credit Protector Program (CPP): is it worth it?

2006-03-18T22:37:00.000-05:00

As a credit card holder, you should have received one of the checks for you to try out the credit protector program. Have you ever taken advantage of it?

Last year when the bonus of my citi dividend card reached the $300 limit, I stopped using it. I decided that it was the time for me to join the credit protector program and put my card deep in my drawer. But at that time I had no trail checks to deposit. So I chose to enroll it through the internet and received a rebate form with the welcome package. After having sent out the filled rebate form along with the required documents (a retail receipt of more than $20), I started a long waiting period. Three months later I still didn't received anything from the rebate center. I was even unable to locate the record of my rebate in the website. And the worse thing was that there was no telephone number in the rebate form. So I called the CPP customer service and got the number of rebate tracking. I just don't understand why they don't put it in the rebate form like other rebate programs do. Then that phone number is an automated system and it requires the caller to leave a message for them to call back. The next day someone called back and asked me to fax the copies of all my documents. Finally it took me almost five months to get the $20 check. That was the hardest $20 I have ever earned.

I think next time I would do this only when I get the trial check first. I will call to cancel that in a few days and see what the retention offer will be.

Check out the carnivals in this week

2006-03-14T22:33:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Investing #13: InvestorGeeks
Carnival of Personal Finance #39: PFAdvice
Festival of Frugality #14: neo's nest egg

Credit reporting agencies created a new credit scoring system

2006-03-14T22:22:00.000-05:00

The three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) announced today that they're introducing a new credit scoring system,"VantageScore", to banks, mortgage lenders and credit card companies. The new scores will be the same across all three agencies and is expected to be available to consumers probably later this year. It will range from 501 to 990 and be grouped from A to F. Looks like the grade in the school.
A -- 901-990

B -- 801-900

C -- 701-800

D -- 601-700

F -- 501-600
Details

refundplease.com

2006-03-08T18:38:00.000-05:00

More and more people are doing online shopping nowadays. Amazon is one of the most popular online dealers. As you may know, you can get refund of the price difference if you see the price of your order drops within 30 days of your date of purchase. Normally how do you track the price changes? Keep going back to Amazon? I used to do things like that. It was really time consuming. Last week I found a website called refundplease.com. You just tell them your date of purchase, price, items of purchase as well as your email address. They will track the price for you and notify you when there is a price drop within 30 days. Looks like very convenient. Haven't got a chance to try it out. Definitely will give it a shot for my next purchase in Amazon.

How do we balance marriage and personal finance

2006-03-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday mymoneyblog raised a topic about marriage, love and money and attracted a lot of comments. I have also seen similar discussion in several online forums. Basically there are two common ways for married people to deal with their personal finance. One is to combine all their money after married. The other is to have a joint account for everyday expenses while keep individual accounts for personal expenses like gifts, entertainments etc. There is also a small portion who just maintain individual accounts and each one pays his own bills or the bills assigned to him under some agreement.

How do we handle our finance? I would say we belong to the first group. When we came to the US to pursue our graduate degree, we nearly had nothing after we paid the first month's rent and other necessary expenses. We put all the left money in one account and made it as a joint account. Since then we never thought about splitting our income and expenses. Three years ago, Mr. Circle obtained his degree and found a decent job. Our savings increased rapidly compared to that in the period of study. And there are bonus or promotions for account opening everywhere. In order to maximize our bonus or rebate income, we started to have our so-called individual accounts. Mr. Circle never cared about the process. I just reported to him every time I opened a new account and updated him with the tracking file. Both of us have access to all of our accounts and can make any expenses we want. Of course we always made agreement for big purchases. I also need to keep Mr. Circle notified when to use which credit card to maximize the rebate.

Then you may ask what has Mr. Circle been doing? Actually he makes more important decisions. If you follow my posts, you may find my topics only include banking, credit cards, budget, tax etc. Why didn't I talk about investment? So the answer is Mr. Circle is in charge of our investment activities. Although I have my own opinions about economic phenomenon, as an economics graduates, I do think that Mr. Circle has more business sense and he is more decisive.

Check out the carnivals in this week

2006-03-07T23:16:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Investing # 12: Personal Finance Advice
Carnival of Personal Finance # 38: Canadian Capitalist
Festival of Frugality # 13: Simply Thrifty

Received My Citi Professional Card

2006-03-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

Since Discovercard ceased its restaurant rebate program, I have been searching for an alternative card for restaurant spending. So when I saw the benefits of the Citi Professional card, I decided to take this offer. This card offers 10000 thank you point after the first purchase, which can be redeemed as $100 gift card from one of the popular stores. And 3 points will be accumulated to your thank you network account for every one dollar purchase on restaurant, gas station, auto rentals and some office supply stores. It's just like a 3% cash back. If you are traveling a lot, this card would be a good choice for you. Just as other citi cards do, it offers a nine-month 0% apr balance transfer.

In order to keep a good credit for one of my financial objectives (buying a house), it's been a long time that I have not applied for any credit cards. But I didn't resist the temptation this time, as I understand that one hard inquiry won't hurt my credit score too much. But if I make the balance transfer, it will take a while to bring my score back. Hence I decide to use this card while not to take advantage of the balance transfer offer.

The good thing is I won't waste the 0% APR offer. I got 9 months' buffer period. I can do the transfer anytime within nine months of opening. And the 0% apr will be valid for 9 month from my actual request date. I could save it up for some small projects of my future home.

Lost $50 in a test drive deal

2006-03-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

Actually I should say I didn't earn $50 in a test drive deal instead of losing it. Here is the story. I got a $50 certificate for a test drive in one of the Ford dealers along with the renewal notice of car registration sent from DMV. The deadline was Feb 28th,2006. I've had more than one month to close that deal. Usually I am not a last-minute person. I was trying to recall what I have been doing over the previous several weekends. A big snow storm, parties, other errands... Somehow I got an impression, for those kind of test drive bonus, I just need to tell the dealer that I am not interested in buying a car, all I want is the $50, and the dealer will stamp for me without test drive. However, when I went to a dealer at the last minute, one of the salesmen insist that I must make a test drive. I didn't have enough time to do that and had to give up that deal.

This experience tells me that "never take what I heard as granted. What worked for others may not work for me (get bonus without test drive)". Don't leave anything until the last minutes. That way I won't have time to correct my mistake.

Carnivals in this week

2006-02-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Investing #11: Retire at 30
Carnival of Personal Finance # 37:MoneyBlogNetwork
Festival of Frugality #12: Mightybargainhunter

what's two-cycle billing method

2006-02-28T21:52:00.000-05:00

Here is the comment from wesleman

"Don't forget the infamous "Two-Cycle Balance" trap used by some credit card companies! The ones known to me are Discover and Chase/BankOne"

Actually the "two-cycle billing method" has been adopted by more and more credit card companies by now. Basically the credit card balance is computed using one of three methods: the adjusted balance method, the average daily balance method, and the two-cycle balance method.

The adjusted balance method charges interest on the balance remaining after payments and credits during the billing cycle (the outstanding balance at the end of the billing cycle), which is the most advantageous method to the consumers. While the average daily balance method calculates interest on your average balance during the whole billing cycle. For both of the above two methods, you are charged nothing for the month you made the purchase, and interest only for subsequent months in which payment is outstanding.

The one you need to look out and avoid is the two-cycle balance method, where the interest is charged on the average balance of your purchases both from the current billing cycle and from the previous one. For example, If you carry a large balance in January, even if you paid them off completely, the credit card company is still going to use that number along with your February purchase to calculate your average daily balance. You may find that your extra payments to reduce your balance won't have any effect on the previous billing cycle.

A trap in 0% Apr offer: expiration date

2006-02-27T23:49:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of credit cards that offer 0 Apr nowadays. People are making money by taking advantage that to pay off their debts or save it to the high-yield online saving account. Yet, there are still a lot of complaining about getting high financial charges finally even if they pay the minimum of every statement on time. Here I want to talk about one of the traps in those attractive b/t offers: expiration date of the offer. I will also discuss some tips about how to avoid getting into that trap.

When you get the preapproval letter or read the advertisement from various resources, you can always see something like that " 0% Apr on B/T UP TO 6/1/07". Please be aware that it is "UP TO". You need to read the details about the conditions of up to. Normally, in order to extend your 0% Apr to another 3 months, you are required to make some purchase first and not returned with a certain period. If you didn't make purchase or you did but paid it off immediately,your real expiration date became 3/1/07.

tip 1: Always read the conditions of the bonus period.

When you get the real card sent by credit card companies, you will get a new term about the rate and period of the 0% Apr offer. Don't take the offer on your preapproval letter or the advertisement for granted.

tip 2: Look at the terms & conditions along with your new card.

There are many different ways to describe the expiration date of the B/T offer. The most simple one is what has been mentioned above. 0% Apr until 3/1/07, which means you just need to pay off your balance before the specific date. You may also see "offer expires on the first day of the statement period including 3/1/07". You need figure out what is the first day of your statement period normally and prearrange the payoff activity before that period including 3/1/07. It should be a certain day of February or January 2007.

tip 3: Try to understand the description of the expiration date.

The most important thing is don't wait till the last day to pay off your balance. Give yourself at least five days to arrange that in case anything unexpected happens.

tip 4: Set a bill reminder in your bill management software. Basically I will set a $1 bill in the last day of the month prior to the expiration date and then adjust it to the real balance and the real planning payoff date when I check my monthly networth at the end of that month.

A new way to funding your Scottrade account

2006-02-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

When I am doing online banking, I like to study the new features or new programs offered by the financial institutions to keep myself updated about the deals. Today, just as usual, after I scheduled a bank-to-bank transfer from my linked account to HSBC, I started to browse the website. First I tried to search several banks and to see if there are participating in the cashedge system. Then I found that there was a tab for me to link the investment account. And scottrade is one of the brokerage firms listed.

As you may know, back to November 2005, scottrade stopped its echeck service due to some security issues. It became a hassle to add more money to my brokerage account. I have been trying hard to find an alternative way to fund my account recently. I just felt surprised that I didn't find this feature last time I logged on.

I was so excited that I wanted to set up the transfer immediately. So I clicked the link and wanted to see how it works. To verify the account information, I was required to provide my account number and my check number. I never got a check from scottrade. Is it a new service? I felt so curious and went to scottrade to continue my research.

Okay. I found the trick. Check writing capabilities are available for account with a minimum account equity of $5,000 in scottrade . And the first 50 checks are free. With this service, it would be much easier to deposit to or withdraw funds from my brokerage account.

I will fax the relevant forms to scottrade tomorrow and report my experience when I finish transferring funds between HSBC and scottrade.

Also scottrade currently offers a referral program. If you would like to open an account there, leave your email address and I can send you a referral code. That way both you and I will get 3 free trades.

How do you maximize your cashback from discover card

2006-02-25T23:19:00.000-05:00

There is a thread in fatwallet about "how do you use your discover cashback"

Seems a lot of people have just taken the cash or applied it to the card balance since discover card changed most of its rebate programs from double rewards to $25 for $20. I only use discovercard in sam's club or for its special promotion. So I don't have too much rewards available. Basically I just take $25 for $20 program to buy bed bath & beyond giftcard. Well, What's your suggestions about maximizing the benefit? Feel free to leave your comments.

Check out this week's carnivals

2006-02-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Investing #10: mymoneyblog
Carnival of Personal Finance # 36: Free Money finance
Festival of Frugality #10: Retire at 30

my posts appeared in recent carnivals

2006-02-19T15:39:00.000-05:00

Have been blogging for several months. But just got to know what is carnival two weeks ago.During the past two weeks I submitted several posts to the recent carnivals and luckily got accepted. It was really fun to share my financial experience with others. I also learned a lot from other fellow bloggers. Here is a list of my posts in the recent carnivals.
(1) Parking tips in NYC (Festival of Frugality #10)

(2) Make your own passport pictures (Festival of Frugality #9)

(3) One of my financial mistakes (Reverse Carnival of Money Mistakes )

Received the first check from Pinecone Research

2006-02-19T11:24:00.000-05:00

On Feb. 10th, 2006, I posted a link to sign up with Pinecone Research, a famous company who gives incentive for your participation of its internet survey. I got my first survey on that day and finished it right away. You know what, the check just arrived at Feb 17th, 2006. Just seven days after my participation. It's pretty fast. Check the link to see if it is still valid. Looking forward to my next survey...

cardoffers.com: good website to apply for credit cards?

2006-02-15T15:46:00.000-05:00

I came across a website called http://cardoffers.com yesterday. It looks like a good website to apply for the credit cards. You can search credit cards by category, card issuer and merchants and find what cards would be your best choice. Also you may find the feedback of the cardholders at the commentaries section before you apply a credit card or submit a review to help other potential applicants. If you registered as a member and apply the credit cards through the provided link, you may earn cash rewards on selected credit card approval and may view special discounts and savings available on their current credit cards. According to their introduction, this website was established in April 1999 and was previously known as CreditCardFreedom.com

The deal seems attractive, while the safety should be a concern since you need to provide a lot of confidential information when you apply for a credit card. I checked some post in fatwallet and found that some good reviews about it. Just want to know more feedback from various resources. Leave your comments if have used it or heard about it before.

Check out this week's carnivals

2006-02-14T15:28:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Investing #9: Trader Mike
Carnival of Personal Finance # 35: The Dividend Guy
Festival of Frugality #10: Boston Gal's Open Wallet

Parking tips in New York City

2006-02-13T18:41:00.000-05:00

As the residents in new york metro area, we go to the big apple once in a while. But the overhead expenses seem to be a problem. If we take train, it would cost $30 for two of us. It would cost more for a bigger family. So most of time we just drive our own car to the city. But you may heard the parking in NYC had also been a pain on the neck. Here I will introduce a website which makes our trip to NYC convenient and affordable. You may try that if your have to drive to the NYC.

iconparking has a network of over 150 manhattan parking facilities. You just need to go to their website and use their easy 1-2-3 step:
(1) enter when and where you want to park.
(2) choose the best location and price
(3) print the space guarantee

Just bring your print out to your designated facility, you will enjoy the professional valet parking service with a reasonable price. You will pay the parking fee when you exit. And you have no obligation to do anything before you enter the parking facility. If you have to cancel your trip, just throw away the print out.

With this website, you can choose your parking lot at home and get a guaranteed space at a resonable price. Sometimes you may find some coupon for night or weekend parking on their special section.

Also they provide several tips about parking in NYC, which I think it's kind of useful.
(1) Enter the garage between 6am and 10am to get the early bird special
(2) Enter the garage after 6pm to get the night parking special
(3) Park farther away from the 5th ave
(4) Avoid oversized vehicle

And the sweetest thing is as of Nov 13th, the metered parking in NYC became free on Sundays. Enjoy your trip in the big apple!

Throw out the old egg while searching the new egg: one of my financial mistakes

2006-02-13T17:40:00.000-05:00

Last October, my DSL's contract ended and I was considering to switch the bundle plan provided by optimum. ($29.99 each for internet, cable TV and unlimited phone call).

The first step I made was to call Verizon to cancel my DSL service. The first CSR I talked with offered me 2 months free without additional contract. I told her that I need discuss with Mr. circle. After doing some calculation we though that we couldn't save too much out of it. Furthermore we really wanted to have a cable TV service as soon as possible at that time. Then I called Verizon again and the 2nd csr only offered me 1 month free without additional contract. Of course I rejected her offer and set a time to cancel my DSL service.

unexpectedly, Optimum changed the installation date. I didn't think too much and agreed with that change, while not called Verizon to change the termination date of the DSL. Even more unexpectedly, the guy from Optimum told us that the signal in our apartment was too weak and they can't complete the installation. Thus I had to cancel the order and switch back to DSL. Then I called DSL to reopen my DSL service. Unfortunately I was no the customer they want to retain any more. I was treated as the new customer and had to sign another one year contract to get the DSL service.

The above experience told me "never break the old egg before you eat the new egg, even if the new egg is just in front of you". If I didn't cancel the DSL contract before I installed the Optimum bundle plan, I would have had at least one month free without additional contract. And you never know how important it is to negotiate a better deal with the provider in the future without the contract. So many bloggers mentioned various tips of saving on the everyday expenses. Now I am just stucked here and waiting another year for my contract to expire.

$50 visa GC for 2k cd account in netbank

2006-02-10T20:16:00.000-05:00

This offer is for existing customer only. You can find the details when you login in your netbank account and click on your special offers link. To be eligible to get $50 bonus, you must open a one year CD account with a minimum deposit of $2000. The expiration date is 3/31/06. With the $50 GC, the real apr becomes 7.25%.
Check out the other two post of mine about netbank:
link 1
link 2

bored money from Pinecone Research

2006-02-10T17:08:00.000-05:00

The first time I heard about Pinecone Research was from Jonathan in mymoneyblog. But they closed their door for the new applicants at that time. Yesterday, however, I finally signed up with this well-known online survey company. The credit goes to Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist for his post

First when I clicked the link provided by the FSA and it just led me to the mainpage of www.internetpaidsurveys.com. There is just a list of online survey companies, most of which provide a link to join their programs, while the Pinecone Research only has a link to visit their website. But after several minutes' browsing on that website something in one of sidebars on the right side caught my eyes. There is a "pinecone signup link 1" right there, through which I got to submit my application. That's really tricky.

Today I got my first survey and finished it. It's a little bit time consuming though. Just do it when you get bored by your work. Let's see when I can get my first little check.

FAQ of the flexible spending account (FSA)

2006-02-09T17:11:00.000-05:00

What is FSA
FSAs are a tax-saving benefit that some employers offer to help their employees pay for medical and dependent care expenses.

Why should I enroll
The reason is really simple: They can save you money! When you look at your paycheck, you'll find that you always take home less money than you actually earn because a portion of it has been taken by uncle sam. However,because of Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code, you can take back all the money that’s set aside in an FSA if you plan it ahead wisely. That means the money in FSAs is tax-free.

How do they work
Typically, employers offer an opportunity to enroll in FSAs during their regular benefits open enrollment. If you want to enroll in an FSA next year, this is a perfect time to begin planning. You need to elect an amount of money for your employer to deduct from your pay on a pre-tax basis. The money is deposited into your account over the course of the upcoming plan year. You can then use that money to pay for certain out-of-pocket expenses, depending on the type of FSA you have.

How many types of FSAs are there and what's the difference between them
There are two types: Health care spending accounts (HCSA)& Dependent care spending accounts (DCSAs)

With an HCSA you use the money for health care expenses, such as co-payments, dental and vision work, over-the-counter medications, and much more. If you have qualified dependents, you can use your HCSA for their health care expenses as well. IRS gives a list of medical expenses that you can claim when filing your taxes; this will give you an idea of the types of expenses that are considered eligible for HCSA reimbursement. However, check with your employer for a complete list.

With a DCSA, you use the money for any child care or adult day care expenses you incur to be able to go to work or look for a job. IRS Publication 503 can be used as a guide for eligible DCSA expenses. Also you need to check with your employer for specific requirements.

How do you access money in an FSA
FSAs operate as reimbursement plans -- first, you pay for the expenses out of your own pocket. Then, you submit a form and receipts for reimbursement from your account. You typically can submit claims up until 90 days after the end of the plan year.

HCSAs are “pre-funded,” which means that your entire election is available at the beginning of the plan year, even though it hasn’t actually been deducted from your pay. That means you can get reimbursed more than you contributed. It is just like giving you a 0APR loan. For DCSAs, however, you can only be reimbursed up to the current balance in your account.

Some health care FSA administration is offering the FSA debit card, which allows participants to pay for expenses directly from their account rather than waiting for reimbursement. FSA debit cards can really cut down your paperwork, but you’ll still need to keep your receipts in case your employer needs them for verification purposes.

What's the coverage period of FSAs
The IRS “use it or lose it” rule. You can only use money in your FSA for expenses incurred within the plan year. You will not be able to use money in your FSA to reimburse expenses incurred after the end of the plan year, so you’ll have to forfeit any remaining funds. That's why I said you should plan it wisely.

However, the U.S. Treasury announced in May 2005 that employers can establish a grace period of up to two and a half months to allow participants access to the previous year’s balance for purchases made in the early part of the following year. Check with your employer to see if your FSAs have a grace period.

What's the limitations of FSAs contribution
The IRS limits how much money you can contribute to a DCSA. In 2006, the maximum is $2,500 if you are single or filing separately; if you are filing jointly, it’s $5,000.

The IRS has not set a limit for how much money you can set aside in an HCSA, but your employer will set a maximum -- usually between $2,000 and $5,000.

Is there any tips
Start tracking your medical expenses now so you’ll have a good idea how much you should elect to contribute to an HCSA. If you have child care or adult day care expenses, track those if you want to enroll in a DCSA. When it comes time to enroll, it’s a good idea to underestimate how much you’ll need. You don’t want to find yourself scrambling to use up the remaining funds in your account at the end of the year.

What's the difference between HCSA and HSA
HSAs allow you to save money for eligible medical expenses only when you’re enrolled in a high-deductible health care plan. But the good thing is that there is no “use it or lose it” rule. But most employers do not yet offer these plans.

Check out this week's carnivals

2006-02-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Personal Finance #34: Financial Reference
Carnival of Investing #8: Wealth Junkie
Festival of Frugality #9: Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

Make your own passport pictures

2006-02-06T17:02:00.000-05:00

Everybody needs to take passport pictures in his whole life. Especially for a person who lives in a foreign country or travels a lot. But when we look around, the average market price for the passport pictures seems to be $7.99 for 2 photos. Actually the cheapest price I could ever find is $7.99 for 6 in CVS. That's way more expensive compared to the printing price of the regular pictures. When I was looking at the sample pictures in CVS, something crossed my mind: why not make it myself? If you have a digital Camera, a color photo printer and some basic knowledge of photoshop, it would be a piece of cake for you. Here is the way I have been doing.
You may adjust the steps according to your own needs

(1) check the information regarding proper lighting, exposure, composition, and size of the pictures. For US passport pictures, you can get the guidelines from here.

(2) stand in front of a white wall and ask someone to take some pictures for you.
Small tips: (a)Try to choose a place with enough natural light without using the flashlight.
(b) Keep a little distance from the wall so that there won't be any shade on the wall.

(3) transfer the pictures into your computer. Compare those pictures and find one with the best exposure and lighting. And of course with your best looking

(4) Open it with photoshop or other photo editing softwares. Adjust the exposure further as well as the white balance

(5) Once you are happy with the expression and lighting, it's time to make sure the sizes are correct. Use the measuring tool to make the distance from your chin to the top of your head is around 1/2 to 2/3 of the length of the whole picture. Leave enough space on both sides.

(6) Save your pictures and print it as the required size. You may ask "What if I don't have a printer at home" . Don't worry. I don't have one either. You just save it in a mobile device and bring it to a photo center. I went to sam's club and printed two wallet size pictures.

(7) Use a paper cutter to trim the picture to your ideal size.

The final price for two of my passport pictures is just 28 cents. I saved more than $7 dollars and got the most satisfying passport picture I have ever had.

HSBC raises rate to 4.8%

2006-01-30T16:32:00.000-05:00

HSBC's view rate link shows the new rate for online saving account is 4.8%, although the main page still indicates 4.25%. The new rate has been confirmed by the csr from hsbc. The $25 bonus is still valid. Check out the application process.

Update: This offer is valid until 4/30/2006

Got full $25 blink bonus from chase

2006-01-28T18:12:00.000-05:00

On Nov 22nd, I mentioned chase was providing $25 bonus to promote a new feature called "blink" aka. pay without signature. Up to today, I completed six small purchases in a local cvs and got the full $25 bonus.

emigrantdirect increased rate to 4.25%

2006-01-28T18:07:00.000-05:00

The interest rate war between online banks is still continuing. Emigrantdirect just increased its rate to 4.25% to match HSBC's rate. Considering the two days' interest loss in HSBC, Emigrantdirect becomes more competitive. Let's see what HSBC will react.

the place to visit before you hit the store

2006-01-23T18:51:00.000-05:00

Just got an email from a friend, who recommended a good website for coupons.
Check this out: link

Don't forget your CVS extracare card

2006-01-23T18:39:00.000-05:00

When I was applying the CVS extracare card, I thought that it was just like the regular frequency card in other grocery stores. You can use it to buy goods with discount price during that week. But it turns out I was totally wrong. When I was browsing the website of cvs, I found that actually the extracare card carried a lot of extra features.
(1) Extra bucks:
(a) You can earn 2% rebate on most purchases, both online and in local.
*Excludes alcohol, tobacco, lottery, gift cards, money orders, postage stamps, pre-paid debit cards, prescriptions, and special order Home Health Care items, including footwear.
(b) Earn $1 Extra Buck for every 2 prescriptions purchased.
*Excludes pharmacy items paid for in whole or in part by state and/or federal health care programs and prescriptions purchased in-store in NJ and NY, and controlled substances in LA. All online prescription purchases qualify to earn Extra Bucks.
(2) Extra savings:
Earn free merchandise when you buy participant products & Enjoy extra savings without cutting coupons when you use your ExtraCare card in-store
(3) Special programs:
If you have an account in Upromise and register your extra care card with them, cvs will contribute 5% of your nonprescription online purchase price to your Upromise account.
(4) Sign up their mail list and get coupons for extra savings.

By combining it with your citi divident card or chase cash plus card, you can save a lot for your parmacy spending.

emigrantdirect is offering a new credit card

2006-01-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

Just one day after ing announced its winter saving up sale, emigrant direct started to promote its new credit card. Before you read the fine prints, you may think it might be replace you other cash-rebate cards when you buy something other than those in 5% category (grocery, gas and phamaceutical products).
Here I create a summary for your reference:
(1) No annual fee only if you have an ED account.
(2) 1.5% rebate only if you maintain a 10K balance.(otherwise only 0.5% rebate)
(3) 6 month 0% apr balance transfer but with transfer fee. The transfer fee even doesn't have a upper limit after the trial peiod.
(4) rebate will only be credited twice annually.

Upon careful consideration, I decided to pass this offer.

Lucky circle: the winter save up sale from ing

2006-01-22T20:55:00.000-05:00

From my precious post, you may know that I just had b2b tansfer in HSBC set up last week. I was planning to transfer all my money from ing to hsbc within this week. However, because Jan 16th was a bank holiday, the transfer request was scheduled on Jan 17. And the fund was deducted from ING on Jan 18th.

The interesting thing was that ING offered a big promotion right on Jan 19th: the winter save up sale (4.75 apr on all new deposit from Jan 19th 2006 to Apr 15 2006). How lucky I am! If I had made the transfer earlier, I would have already transfered my money to hsbc. If I made had made the transfer later, my money in ing would have become the old deposit and so I would have missed this promotion.

Anyway, in order not to lose the interest over the weekend, I just scheduled the tranfer back to ing tonight. Hopefully, it will be performed tomorrow and the fund will arrive ing no later than wed.

Don't miss this opportunity. If you want to open an account, drop me a line or leave a comment with your email address. I can send you a referal link. You can get a easy $25 bonus. Just please note that you must make a depoit over $250.

Open Process for HSBC online saving

2006-01-19T12:02:00.000-05:00

On 11/30/2005, I mentioned a promotion for opening an online saving account in hsbc. Well,
I din't take action until 2006. Don't know why it was delayed. Vacation, holiday parties or just being lazy or scared by its tedious processing... Anyway, 25 bonus has been deposited to my new account yesterday. It's time for me to review the whole process.

1/2/2006 Finished my saved online application. Answered some wired questions that were totally unrelated to our credit report. I think I did the same thing when I requied the free credit report from one of the credit bureaus. Don't remember exactly which one though. Fortunetely I got passed right away. Then I filled the signature card online. There are two ways to verify the initial deposit account. (1) provide online username and password (2) trial deposit. I am not comfortable to give them my password in another bank and want to get some extra money. I heard that hsbc has always beem always generous than the others. So I choose the trial deposit.

1/3/2006 Two small trial deposit showed up on my local checking account. So I went to the application page and verified the two deposit.

1/4/2006 The initial deposit amount disappeared from my local checking account. And I found that it was deposited to hsbc account on 1/6/2006. Lost two days' interest!

1/6/2006- Received several snail mails including userid, password
-1/9/2006 and account numberrouting number. Finally I got logined on my account using the 20 letter-long id and 8-letter long password. You may ask how can you remenber those numbers. The good thing is that you can choose your own id and password after you login.
But, you can not be relieved yet. To set up bank to bank transfer, you have to set up a securrty key, which can only be typed by mouse. After that, it requires the atm car number and pin.

1/10/2006 I am in east coast so I think the atm card and pin
-1/12/2006 should arrive soon. But I was wrong. I checked my mailbox everyday but didn't received any mails from hsbc thereafter

1/13/2006 I called the customer service and they skipped that step for me. So I can initiate bank to bank transfer now. I add all my account except ingdirect. Again I choose the trial deposit instead of providing password. You even need to set up b2b transfer again for the bank where you made the initial deposit.

1/14/2006 Received atm card. Don't know why it took so long.

1/17/2006 After weekend and a bank holiday, the trial deposits showed up on all my linked accounts. And $25 bonus showed up in HSBC account. It's faster than I thought. Just 15 days after I filled in the application.

Incorrect Quotes due to Nasdaq Error

2006-01-19T11:37:00.000-05:00

Last night Mr. Circle came back from work and told me that he found a weird thing in the stock quotes provided by scottrade. He had a conference call at 4:30. Before the conference call he checked the close price of our stocks. But to his surprise, when he was back from the conference call, he found that most of our stocks' closed prices became different. When I heard the story from him, I said "Maybe you are so concentrated in that conference call that you forgot what you saw before that". In order to prove he was correct, he pulled the chart and compared it to the quotes. Oh, my god. It turned out he was correct.

Then this morning when I checked out yahoo finance. I found there was an article written at 11:12am which declared the reason of those errors. I can't imagine what would happen if there was a price error when they execute your orders. Still "A spokeswoman for the Nasdaq had no immediate comment beyond the Nasdaq Operations notice sent Wednesday night. A spokesman for the NYSE had no immediate comment." Let's see what will happen.

Prepare yourself for the tax season(2): Get the software

2006-01-13T18:31:00.000-05:00

Considering my simple tax issues, first I thought I would not need the tax software and I could continue using my 2005 money deluxe to do all my account management. However, the other day when I was browsing fatwallet and found a really good deal about the combination of these two software. You can easily get them with a negative price after pm and rebate. Yes, I am not kidding. You can get money back from this purchase. So I changed my mind. Why not grab one to save the hassle of the paperwork? Also with money, I can get free one year of credit monitoring. It's really useful for me to decide if I should take some credit card deals.

Here is the trick: you can order them from staples and ask for price match right after you submit the order. You can also buy them separately like 2 million did.

Prepare yourself for the tax time(1): Collecting forms

2006-01-13T17:58:00.000-05:00

Tax season is around the corner. You may need a lot of documents and forms when you file your tax return. So it would be wise to keep them handy in advance so that you can easily reach it whenever you need them.

Basically, you will received the forms from different sources starting from February. So January turns out to be a good time to make the list for the incoming documents: employer, bank (especially when you have a bunch of accounts open in order to get the bonuses and promotions), brokerage firms, loan companies, mortgage and property tax (if you are a house owner), school (for the tuition payment) and so on......

Every year I have a big envelop for all these forms and write down the list on the envelop. Then I will cross it off whenever I receive one. This year I only got the dividend statement from the espp administrator so far.

5% bonus in health care spending

2006-01-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

5% rebate on internet purchases ended on 12/31/05. There comes another promotion from discovercard.

You can get 5% Cashback Bonus on up to $1,500 in health and wellness purchases through March 31, 2006.

CVS/pharmacy® RITE AID® Walgreens GNC Bally Total Fitness® Jenny Craig LensCrafters® Doctor Visits Dentist Visits

Enjoy and take care.

My new year's resolution

2006-01-09T17:44:00.000-05:00

Seems a little bit late to think about the new year's resolution nine days after the new year. But it's still better than not to think about it.

1. Buy a house
We have been looking for a house since last May. Extended several offers but didn't finalize the transaction for various reasons. Now the housing market is cooling down while the interest rate is moving upward. It's really tough for us to decide when we should enter the real estate market and what price is reasonable.

2. Maximize 401k
Last year we made a big contribution into 401k out of our last month's pay check in order to catch the maximum limit. Luckily the stock market was in its yearly low on the day of contribution about it was in a high position? It was really risky not to plan ahead. So this year we still want to maximize our 401k contribution and will adjust the contribution wisely.

3. Open a Roth IRA account
We didn't buy a house last year, which allows more time for us to save for the downpayment. Since we already have enough money to pay 20% downpayment for the price range of the houses we are planning to buy, we can put the extra savings to the retirement account and save all the investment for the future. Even if we need some unexpected fund, we can still cash out our contributions.

4. Monitor credit report every 4 months
Now that the residents in New York are allowed to receive their credit report every year, we can take this opportunity to request a credit report from one of the three credit bureaus every 4 months.

5. Replace current cell phone plan with a prepaid plan
The contract of our cell phone plan will end in Feb. After checking the monthly usage, I found it was really a waste of money for us to carry the current contract. The prepaid plan may be the better choice for us. Still doing a research on that and will try to find a good deal in the next two months.

received 150 bonus from netbank

2005-12-25T23:24:00.000-05:00

Account open: 11/07/05
Initial deposit: 11/16/05
Bonus received: 12/22/05

got blink bonus from chase successfully

2005-12-08T22:43:00.000-05:00

I went to cvs several days ago and spend some money there. I checked my credit card statement today. To my surprise, the bonus showed up on the same day as that of the purchase. Will try to use up the six purchases t get the full $25 bonus.
By the way, it was really convenient and fast since it didn't require signature. I am just wondering how they prevent the identity theft. The cashier in cvs even didn't know that their machine was installed wih this function. He said that he would ask his father to try it.
See my previous post about blink

holiday gift card in a&p

2005-12-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

A lot of people are buying gift cards for other retailers in safeway to maximize the cash rebate from the credit card. Since I moved to the east coast, I had no chance to shop in safeway any more. So I have started to search for local supermarket where I can buy gift card from recently. Today when I was browsing the flyers from a&P, I found that they had this program in the holiday season.
http://www.apsupermarket.com/gift_cards.asp

Will check some stores nearby soon to see how many kinds of gift card they are selling. Hopefully I can convert most of the 1% rebate to 5% rebate.

snapshot for the taxrate in 2006

2005-12-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

For married filing jointly
taxable income(x) tax
0----14600 x*10%
14600----59400 1460+(x-14600)*15%
59400---119950 8180+(x-59400)*25%
119950--182800 23317.5+(x-119950)*28%
182800--326400 40915.50+(x-182800)*33%
326450---infinity 88320+(x-326450)*35%

standard deduction: 10000
Personal Exemption: 3200

25 bonus for opening a HSBC savings account

2005-11-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

I missed the $35 one. Now here is another one, although it is not as sweet as before. But it is
better than nothing. Will do more research to see if they will run hard credit check to open an account.

http://hsbcdirect.com/1/start.htm
promo code is "start"
Limit one $25 bonus per customer. HSBCdirect Online Savings Account must remain open until bonus is credited or bonus will be forfeited. $25 bonus is considered taxable income and will be reported on IRS Form 1099

chase blink

2005-11-22T11:13:00.000-05:00

Got my renewed chase reward card. Chase is currently promoting a new feature: Blink. You don't need swipe the card and sign the receipt. All you need to do is to blink it in front of a new machine. Chase will give me $1 for each of my first five blink purchases and $20 for my sixth blink purchase. There are not many affiliate stores right now though. Basically they are convinient stores like 7-11, drug stores like CVS, DR and cinemas. I will try to blink it in the cvs nearby and see how it works.

how to boost your credit score

2005-11-21T18:31:00.000-05:00

Find an interesting article in WSJ

costco: black or white card

2005-11-21T17:46:00.000-05:00

There are two different membership cards for individuals. One is called Gold Star membership (white card), while another is called New Executive Gold Star membership(black card). It costs $55 more to get the black card. But the black card offers 2% rebate for purchases. For a basic calculation, you need spend $2750 per year to compromise the difference in membership cost. For a small family like mine, we never spent that much in costco. That's why we never considered it.But I just heard from someone there was another extra benefit for the black card. If your rebate don't reach $55, costco will refund you the difference between your rebate and $55. That means you can get $55 anyway. Then why not apply for a black card? However, I checked all the documents about the membership in costco.com and didn't find this term. Is it a under the table deal? Don't know if anybody really got that.
Anyway there is $10 cash back when you sign up for a membership from now to 12/31/2005

To do list about credit card

2005-11-18T19:10:00.000-05:00

(1)Discovercard is now offering three different award programs: 5% rebate on gas, restaurant, and home improvement. I have two cards with same rebate on gas. I am still renting so I don't need promotion for the home improvement. I think I should take the restaurant promotion
(2)Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards Card provides 2% rebate for any purchase. The rebate will deposit into the 529 account in Fidelity.

Combining these two cards with my current two favorites, I can have 5% rebate on grocery, gas, medicine and dining out and 2% rebate on all others.

my favorite credit cards (2)--Chase reward card

2005-11-18T19:03:00.000-05:00

The reason I was applying for the chase card was for transferring some balance to pay off my car loan. After the 0 apr period ended, I never touched it. Don't like the interface of its website. However, my citi card rebate reached the limit of $300. I need to find another replacement card with equivalent benefit. So I started to search for a new card and found chase was offering the same rebate structure as citi dividend did. After a simple call, I switched to the new reward system.

My favorite credit cards (1)--Citi dividend

2005-11-18T18:55:00.000-05:00

The citi dividend card should be my most favorite credit card without any doubts. When I first got this card two years ago, they gave me 5% rebate for every purchases. It was really exciting to see the accumulation of the bonus. After the promotion period, 5% rebate only offers to grocery, gas and medicine shopping. But it's still better than other cards.

Is budgeting always good

2005-11-18T15:40:00.000-05:00

I set up a budget and review it frequently. I always try my best to keep my spending within my budget. Sometimes I have a coupon like 20 off 100, while my budget doesn't allow me to make purchases over 100，I always go with my budget. I though that I really were a self-disciplined. However, when I review my expences over the last several months, I found my total expenses in that thing was far beyond 100. I just didn't enjoy the benefit of the coupon and lost some money technically. After that I realized it might be smart to make a trade-off between obeying the budget and using coupons efficiently.

sweet discover deal

2005-11-18T11:30:00.000-05:00

Got a postcard from discover, which indicates a $5 bonus just for revisting the website. How sweet it is! Seems that discovercard always has some promotions now and then. Last month for restaurant, and this month for online shopping. This one is even better. You don't need to buy anything.

About categories

2005-11-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

I am really a newbie as a blogger. I just can't find how to create categories in the template. Should I modify the html code? I remember I can do that in msn spaces. Hope I can figure it out soon.

finally my deposit showed up in netbank

2005-11-17T16:32:00.000-05:00

Got a deal 0f $150 bonus to open an checking account and an money market account in netbank. The application got approved immediately on Nov, 7th. Three days later the initial fund was withdrawn from my linked account. It's my second time for me to open an online account. The first time was with ingdirect. It went very smoothly. In the following days I keep checking the website of netbank and the balances for both accounts have been always zero. In order to try the customer service of netbank, I called them to ask the funding process. The service was okay. I was told last friday was a banking holiday. And it normally takes five to seven business days to transfer money between banks. Does that mean I would have lost interests during that period? Should take this into account next time when I open an account. Anyway this time I was just going for the bonus. Finally I found the fund arrived this morning. Not too bad. Now I just need to be patient to waiting for the bonus. Still not sure how they count the average monthly balance.

congratulations on the openning of my blog

2005-11-16T16:46:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I considered creating a blog for myself. Today finally I made it. Just want to congratulate to myself. Hope I can find a time to update it frequently.