It struck me the other day that, whenever I buy a newspaper, I never take the one on top. I’m not sure why this is but, whether I’m buying from a machine or from a stack at a newsstand or in a gas station, I always do this. Weird. But I suspect that I’m not the only one who finds the paper on top to be less desirable. What about you?
And now, some interesting finance-related articles from the past few days…
Ramit put together an interesting collection of the worst financial advice that he could find on the web. Whether it’s the waffle-y goodness of a mainstream writer who want to make a point (or take a stand) without actually making a point (or taking a stand) or the downright craziness of anonymous participants in various forums, he makes a great point. Take what you read with a huge grain of salt.
FMF put together a nice retrospective of how he’s increased the value of his #1 asset — his earning power. In short, he used a powerful combination of education, hard work, biding his time, and common sense. This one is definitely worth the read.
Madison detailed how you can escape your Sprint contract if you want to sign up for their SERO plan. Even if you’re not with Sprint, this is great information, as pretty much all cell phone carriers have language in their contracts allowing you to cancel your service without an early termination fee is they make any “materially adverse” changes to your agreement (like annoying new fees, no matter how small).
Jeremy reminded us about Regulation D, which limits the number of certain electronic transactions in a savings account to six per month. While I’ve always been aware of this limit, I’ve never kept close track. In fact, just last night I made a savings-to-checking transfer, then thought better of the amount and transferred a bit more. Doh! Two transfers for the price of one. Guess I need to tally up those transfers to make sure I stay under the limit. The downside is that some banks levy a fee for going over the limit, or even stop you from making additional transfers. The workaround is to do the transactions in person or at an ATM.
Finally, Patrick shared some thoughts about organizing his finances. Simplifying and organizing our finances is actually something that I’ve been chipping away at this month. While my wife and I make all financial decisions jointly, I’m the one that usually puts things into action. This means that I have a clear idea of where our money is, what the necessary passwords are, etc. The last thing I want is for my family to be left scrambling in the event of my demise. More on this in the near future.
Same here. I never buy any product that is the first on the shelf: newspaper, groceries, clothes, etc.
A lot of times people help themselves to the Sunday coupons from the paper on top! I always dig down several papers to ensure that I get one that still has the coupons in it…
We once took a product that was displayed on the top in a Walmart store. The package looked slightly opened and resealed. But we still went ahead and purchased it. When we got back home, we found that it was missing a part. We had to drive back to the store to return it. So I don’t see anything wierd in not taking the item that is on top. It might be a returned or used item for all you know.
I do the same thing with the paper. I do the same with the milk too, but thats because I bought a jug one time that I think some one opened and took a drink out of.
I pull the newspaper from the second or third down as well. I always figured it was more protected and nothing would have fallen out of it. It looks like I’m not the only one with a security issue involving my newspaper!
My wife and I often do our finances similar to yours – we make joint decisions, but I usually make the transactions. Then I realized I had most of the information locked away in my mind, which is not a good situation if something were to happen to me.
Thanks for the mention. 🙂
LOL, so I am not the only weirdo who does that? I also never take the milk container in the front.