While perusing ProBlogger.net this morning, I ran across an interesting service offered by BlogPulse — a blogging trend tracker (direct link). After entering search terms and selecting a timeframe (from one to six months), you’ll get a graph depicting the percentage of all blog posts that mention the term(s) of interest. Beyond giving you an […]
I just ran across an interesting article on CNN/Money about home appraisal fraud. Despite the fact that appraisers are supposed to come up with an independent estimate of the value of a property, they’re apparently coming under increasing pressure from lenders and realtors to hit a predetermined value (i.e., the agreed upon sales price) when […]
I just ran across an interesting article on the accuracy of personal finance writers in the Akron Beacon Journal of all places — gotta love Google News! The article correctly points out that personal finance books, news stories, etc. are often riddled with factual errors that might lead you to make bad money moves. How […]
A recent post over at AllThingsFinancial prompted me to reassess the way we handle our kids’ allowances. Thus far, we’ve been pretty lax/inconsistent about allowances, and our oldest son has recently been agitating for a more reliable stream of income. After mulling it over, we’ve settled on a new system.
Big news in the world of online DVD rentals… Wal-Mart has exited the business, and is throwing their weight behind NetFlix. In fact, if you hop over to the WalMart.com, you’ll see an ad for NetFlix plastered on their front page. Presumably their getting a kickback for customer referrals. It’ll be interesting to see what […]
Editor’s Note: This limited-time offer has expired. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m a big fan of CitiBank credit card rewards. In fact, I’m currently carrying a Citi Dividend Platinum as well as a Citi Driver’s Edge in my wallet. The former generates cash back, whereas the latter earns credit toward automotive services and/or auto purchases. […]
It seems that a common question for homeowners is whether or not it’s a good idea to send extra principal along with (or in addition to) their mortgage payments. The answer to this question varies from case to case, but here’s what I do…
I just ran across an interesting method of covering your tuition bills in an article on alternative ways of paying for college. They offer a number of alternative methods for paying for your schooling, but by far the most interesting of these was a service called MyRichUncle.com. There’s not a whole lot of information at […]
I love Quicken. I’ve been using it to track our finances since January 1, 1997. During that time, however, I have noticed a few shortcomings. Perhaps the greatest of these is Quicken’s lack of support for certificates of deposit. It doesn’t seem like it could be that hard for Intuit to build in straightforward, intuitive […]
I’ve recently gotten interested in real estate investing, especially with regard to rental properties. Unfortunately, I know hardly anything about it. Thus, I’m really in need of a good education. So before going any further, I thought I’d start by reading up on the subject to see if it really sounds like something I’d like […]