When financial-aggregation site Mint.com came out a few years ago, I remember having several questions:

• How are they going to get people to sign up and enter all their usernames and passwords? Won’t people be too scared?
• How are they going to make money?

They addressed the first one right out of the gate—security was almost all they talked about when the site came out. As it should’ve been: entering all the information you need to get a view of a person’s entire financial picture is a big deal.

As for making money, I remember thinking their idea was a little weak: because they could “see” what credit cards you used, which banks you kept your money at, and which brokerages you invested with, they could show you alternatives that would save you money. They would present these offers to you and if you signed up, those partners would pay Mint a commission for referring you.

I remember seeing pitches for different online banks that had 0.25% better interest rates than ING, which is where I had (and still have) my money. They also splashed a bunch of credit cards in front of me that I had no interest in getting: I knew my credit card was solid and the rewards program was among the best.

I was pretty full of myself back then.

This was all years ago, by the way. I stopped using Mint because I was so obsessed with my finances at the time, that I was already logging into all my accounts and checking them out no a daily basis—I didn’t want a site doing all that for me. I kind of enjoyed it.

Well now things have changed and I have more accounts and less time to scrutinize them all. So I joined Mint again and found their service extremely helpful.

I also noticed a few of their credit-card pitches sounded pretty good. One in particular stood out because it was a LOT better than my current card, which gives me a flat 1% cash back on all my purchases.

This card would give me 6% cash back on groceries, 3% cash back on gas and department stores, and 1% back on everything else.

Since I got the card a month and a half ago, I’ve already gotten double the amount of cash back that I would’ve gotten on my old card. Thanks Mint/new card!

Not only that, I also got a $150 bonus for spending at least $1,000 in the first three months.

As I learned by doing a bill audit recently, you should always keep your eyes open for a better deal—even when you think you’ve already got it. There’s always the possibility of something better coming along that might be worth taking advantage of.

Tags: Credit cards, mint.com

Freelance writers are always looking to balance two things: writing something good and getting paid for it. It can be a tough line to straddle, but that’s always the goal.

Writing an affiliate post is the most direct way to provide value and get paid…as long as it’s done right.

What is an Affiliate Post?

Are Affiliate Posts Sleazy?

• It’s filled with useful information
• It’s on a respected site
• The author clearly calls out the links as affiliate links

Is the Content Awesome?

Where do you Get Affiliate Links?

The Checklist

• Join an affiliate program (again, the big ones are Linkshare (affiliate link), Commission Junction, Google Affiliates, and Amazon Associates.
• Find a product or service you want to write about and become an expert on it.
• Create a fantastic, useful article that helps readers learn more about that product or service.
• Identify your links as affiliate links.
• Publish it on a respected online site (could be your site or a guest post somewhere else).
• Stay up on the comments to answer any additional questions readers might have.

If you’ve created something truly useful for readers, they will have no problem rewarding you buy clicking on your affiliate links if they want to sign up for a service or buy a product.

Image by CarbonNYC

Tags: affiliate posts, making money

Tags: carl richards, mortgage crisis, new york times

Picking a cell phone carrier isn’t easy. Today’s ads have so much fine print it’s hard to tell what you’re agreeing to when you sign a two-year agreement.

But each carrier has its own features that make it unique.

Let’s take a look at each one to see how they stack up.

Sprint: Unlimited Data

Sprint is currently hanging its hat on three things:

• They have the iPhone
• They’ll give you unlimited data (competitors either charge for more usage or throttle your speed)
• They have fewer customers and less congestion on the network

One thing about unlimited data: the average person doesn’t need more than 2GB, which is what other carriers offer, so I don’t know how valuable it is in the real world.

I know very few people on Sprint but they seem to be happy with their service and with their phone selection. As usual, make sure to check their coverage map.

Verizon: Service

Verizon has gotten a reputation for having great customer service and top-notch coverage. They too carry the iPhone and a host of high-end Android phones.

The downside of having great coverage and so many customers is that congestion becomes an issue and download speeds become affected. That’s the theory anyway—I haven’t met anyone on Verizon complain about this.

A few weeks ago Amazon had a crazy $0.01 sale of all Verizon smart phones, including the $299 Bionic. Other carriers have these types of deals too, but this most recent one was pretty tempting.

It’s always good to check a coverage map before making the switch, though talking to people and using a real phone is always the best way to test this stuff.

AT&T: Oops

A year ago before the iPhone 4 came to Verizon, AT&T always hung its hat on one thing: they were the only carrier with the iPhone.

Once that changed, AT&T had a hard time pitching customers on why they were a good option, especially after Consumer Reports rated them dead last in their rankings.

Ouch.

I used to be on AT&T but my phone only worked if I hung out of my apartment window, so I had to switch.

T-Mobile: Value

Ah, to be the value player is always a double-edged sword. People equate cheap with bad, and that’s what T-Mobile is trying to fight, especially since now they are the only major carrier without the iPhone.

They’re in the middle of a massive ad campaign promoting their new value plans. Dubbed “The Best Plan Ever,” it gives you unlimited talk, text, and data (you get throttled down to a slower speed after 2GB) for just $59.99. If you’re on a family plan with at least two lines, it comes down to $49.99.

Check out this handy chart Apple put together for their iPhone 4S page—it shows what T-Mobile’s competitors are offering. The numbers show T-Mobile is muchcheaper.

And because value is my biggest priority, I had to find out more about this plan.

Too Good to be True?

Of course, there’s a catch: T-Mobile’s “Best Plan Ever” doesn’t include any phone discounts. You can sign up for a  payment plan if you want to get a new phone and pay a little of it off every month, but you don’t get the massive phone discounts other carriers give you when you commit to two more years. You’ll have to pay retail—which can be upwards of $699.

T-Mobile won’t be waving a $499 phone in your face saying “Here, we’ll give this to you for $199 if you sign up for another two years.” That temptation is out the window.

Let’s take a look at the numbers and see what they say (using data from Apple’s comparison page):

Those are really substantial savings.

When I figured all this out, I knew I had to get onto one of these plans. The more I delayed a new phone, the more money I would save. And since I enjoy finding phones for cheap, this plan is perfect for me [See Buying a New Smartphone Without Extending Your Contract].

The Downside

Of course, if you want an iPhone, you’re not going to get it on T-Mobile’s network. And if T-Mobile’s signal isn’t very good where you live or work, then it probably doesn’t make sense to switch.

If you really want the best value out there, these plans might be a good fit. As with any other carrier, make sure you find out beforehand how good the signal is at home and anywhere else you spend a lot of time.

Because if you can’t make any calls then all this talk about value goes out the window.

Tags: AT&T, carriers, cell phone, sprint, tmobile, Verizon