Personal Finance, Writing, and Blogging
Posted in saving on Sep 26th, 2008
I used to listen to music all the time. Back in college, I owned the very first MP3 player. When I told people what it did and how it worked, they always asked the same question: “So you can only have seven songs on it? That’s stupid.” I tried telling them about how the songs [...]
Posted in Outside the box, saving on Sep 17th, 2008
I’m not a superstitious guy — I’m not religious at all and I don’t even buy into things like fate or cliché phrases like “it was meant to be.” But for whatever reason I’m a fervent believer in Karma. Not in a spiritual sense, but more in a “that will come back to haunt you” [...]
Since I moved to Chicago, I’ve never had a car and I’ve never missed it. Of course, it helps that M has a car if we want to go for a drive or need to hit up Ikea. But I’ve always assumed that public transportation was not only cheaper, but that it was also more [...]
The iPhone is the quintessential “want” — one of those products that no one really “needs” but still lusts over. Trust me, I understand about the lusting after. While some people might think that buying “wants” is irresponsible, I’m not one of them. Buying stuff you don’t need isn’t necessarily a bad thing financially — [...]
Posted in saving on Sep 8th, 2008
Everyone should have a high-yield savings account. Why? Because your bank is probably offering something close to 0.50% interest, which is nothing. If you have $1,000 dollars in your savings account, they’re paying you $5 for keeping your money. High-yield accounts like ING are paying 3% right now, which means that same $1,000 pays you [...]
Posted in Credit cards, saving on Aug 19th, 2008
One of the very first personal-finance pieces I ever wrote was about Bank of America’s Keep the Change program (it was years ago and it wasn’t for this blog, I was trying to get it published in a magazine. It never happened). At the time, I thought it was a great idea and gave customers [...]
A couple of weeks ago I went to a BBQ dinner with some friends of M’s friend. Basically, I didn’t know anyone except M and her friend. Which is a good way to meet new people and expand your horizon, but sometimes you just don’t feel like going through the hassle of meeting new people. [...]
It’s kind of challenging (but fun) to think up activities you can do here in Chicago that are enjoyable and cheap, so here are some that I have done and are more than worth the price of admission:
Ride the Ferris Wheel: Ride one of Chicago’s landmark structures on Navy Pier for just $5.
Visit the Art [...]
I’ve seen these kind of posts all over the web and I always kind of looked down on them — “everyone knows that stuff already, they just don’t do it!” It’s part of my problem of assuming too much. So anyway, in a remarkable bit that’s part bravery, part “late to the party” — here [...]
Posted in Budgeting, Money and Relationships, saving on Jul 31st, 2008
Ever since I started reading personal-finance blogs and educating myself about the more advanced aspects of budgeting and saving, I immediately took to the idea of targeted saving. It goes something like this: instead of just saving whatever is left over at the end of the month and adding it to one big pile, you [...]
Open an ING account and get a $25 bonus!
