House For Sale: $1
(Feb 16) Originally published here on 12/30/05 I personally had never heard of this before but there are historic homes that sell for $1 and it's not an American pipedream either. Bankrate wrote up an article explaining the "'demolition delay bylaw" (at least what it's called in Norfolk, Mass.) where the existing homeowner wants to demolish a ...
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Ten Real Estate Mistakes
(Feb 16) Originally published here on 12/28/05 Bankrate, one of the great free resources out there today, had one of its real estate related articles featured on the front page of Yahoo! Finance and it contains ten mistakes that you must know if you're looking to buy a house. As you may or may not know, I ...
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Reviewing and Rebalancing Your Portfolio
(Feb 10) Originally published on 12/22/05 Every year, or every six months if you're so inclined, you should review and potentially rebalance your portfolio. This is important because throughout the year the actual percentage an asset is in your portfolio will have changed from your original allocation. The reason this occurs is because some assets appreciated faster ...
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Few Blockbusters To End Late Fees
(Feb 10) Originally published on 12/15/05 Blockbuster started their "End Of Late Fees" promotion this year where you're allowed to keep movies as long as you want but after a week you're charged for them as if you purchased them. For a $1.25 restocking fee, you can return the movie and get your money back. But, did ...
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Contactless Payment Technology is Risky
(Feb 10) Originally published on 12/8/05 I discussed back in May about some reservations I had with JP Morgan Chase's new "Blink" technology, where you would no longer have to sign anything after a purchase. Well, CNN/Money has made Blink, MasterCard's "Tap and Go," and Amex ExpressPay programs front page news again. They state that "contactless payment ...
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Ask For Auto Insurance Discounts Early
(Feb 10) Georgia left an excellent comment the other day about how she received her "turning 25" auto insurance discount three months early simply by asking. From our email correspondence: I was actually calling my insurance for something else (in late January) when he asked when I was turning 25 (in early May). He put me in ...
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Sharebuilder $50 Bonus Revisited
(Feb 10) Originally published Oct. 19th, 2005, updated 12/3/05 and again in 1/6/06 with new code. Valid CodeBonus AmountExpiration Date GIFT40$40unknown GIFT05$401/15/06, but still valid Original Post: Back in August, I did the Sharebuilder $50 promotion (tip of the hat goes to Jon from MyMoneyBlog) with the intent that I'd deposit, buy a share of something, and ...
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About Specialty Consumer Reports
(Nov 28) Specialty Consumer Reports are to you what what credit reports are to your credit worthiness. In a front page featured article, Bankrate-writer Amy Crane discusses what these things are, what they're used for, and how you can get a copy of your specialty consumer report. The level of detail in these specialty reports is staggering ...
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