The Money Garden

Free Gas from Mobil Speedpass

2005-06-23T16:36:55-08:00

Mobil is offering $.05 off each gallon of gas (up to $20) for folks who sign up for Mobil Speedpass by August 31. The rebate is good for 90 days. Speedpass is pretty convenient and this is a tempting offer. My own gasoline usage is too low to make this ...

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Shell 'Get $25 Back' Credit Card Offer Expires 30 June

2005-06-23T03:20:00-08:00

Shell's 'Get $25 Back' credit card offer gives folks a $25 statement credit after 4 purchases. After checking the fine print the offer seems to expire on 30 June 2005. This is not a bad deal - free cash is free cash. Still it's not clear whether it is worth ...

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Tires at Costco - A Good Deal!

2005-05-21T05:16:19-08:00

The time finally came to replace the original tires on my now middle aged car. I hunted around and finally decided to get a set of four Goodrich tires from my local Costco.

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Corus Bank 1 Yr CD a Smart Buy?

2005-05-15T05:29:49-08:00

Corus Bank in Chicago is currently offering a 1 yr CD at 4.26% APR. Even with the Fed's current tightening this is probably a good deal. Here's why.

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Two Family Goes Under Contract

2005-05-13T04:13:35-08:00

A few weeks ago I wrote about a two family in my city that was listed for over year at varying prices (699k, 539, 569k, 499k in that order). It finally went under agreement.

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ING Drags its Feet on Rates (Again!)

2005-05-12T03:20:30-08:00

It's been over a week since the Fed raised short term rates to 3.00%, and INGDirect's flagship savings account is still stuck at the same 3.00%. Money market rates have again begun their slow crawl upward

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The "Y" - a Gym without the "GM"

2005-05-11T03:50:38-08:00

For while now I have belonged to the local YMCA. It's a good deal - there are great facilities and a great atmosphere. I hardly even notice the one huge thing that's missing.

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Could GEICO Save Me 15%? I May Never Know

2005-05-10T01:56:01-08:00

I hear ads all the time for GEICO on the radio and the web constantly. GEICO is a direct to consumer car insurance company that says it can save the typical customer

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Organic Food - Bad For The Planet And Your Wallet

2005-05-04T14:50:31-08:00

It's almost an article of faith among a lot of folks that organic food is better. Better for the person eating it and better for the planet. They couldn't be more wrong.

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Tax Exempt Money Markets - A Better Deal Than ING?

2005-05-04T11:24:50-08:00

There are a number of tax exempt money market funds out there. Vanguard, for example, offers a number of state specific ones (PA, CA, OH, etc) that are exempt from State and Federal taxes, as well as a generic tax exempt money market that is just exempt from Federal taxes ...

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Car Insurance - Can You Save With A Higher Deductible?

2005-05-03T02:22:47-08:00

I paid off the loan on my Civic a couple of years ago and did it a couple of years early. One of the benefits of doing this was I no longer had to have a lender mandated $500 deductible.

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Snow Tires RIP

2005-05-03T02:07:42-08:00

After 4 winter seasons I have been told by my tire guy that my snow tires will not be good enough to put back on next year. I'm still driving around with them on (in May!) since my original tires are not mountable either (I'm shopping right now). These snow ...

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New I-Bond Rate: 4.8%

2005-05-02T07:31:04-08:00

Treasury Direct just posted the new I-Bond Rate effective 5/1/2005: 4.8%. This is way above the 4.2% I predicted a few weeks ago. Blowout inflation the last month or so has probably played a big role in the higher rate. My basic advice was sound though - it has paid ...

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Timber Investing for the Little Guy

2005-05-02T05:27:30-08:00

Timberland as an investment class has some great things going for it. Inflation protection. Renewable-ness. Harvard University's smart managers have over 10% of its endowment in Timberland. Timberland is one of Jeremy Grantham's favorite investment classes. A big minus though is that timber investments typically require a large ($250,000 or ...

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Land's End - The King of Affordable Business Casual

2005-05-02T02:21:33-08:00

Lands End - this company is still the king of affordable business casual clothing (in my humble opinion). To illustrate I provide the tale of two kahkis.

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Price Slashing Begins - Is The Housing Bubble Collapsing?

2005-05-01T04:40:37-08:00

I'm still sitting on the sidelines, waiting to buy a house (and still unwilling to pull the trigger on an overpriced piece of junk). I was browsing the MLS listings today and saw a 2 family house in the city for sale for $499,000. That's when it got interesting.

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Be Afraid - Be Very Afraid (The Latest Free Commentary from GMO)

2005-04-28T03:24:23-08:00

With free advice on the internet you usually get what you pay for. If you're looking for the usual 'stocks for the long run' or 'stocks are cheap' or the 'stocks will return 10% long term' investment Kool-Aid then this post is not for you. If you want some hard ...

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ING 1 year CD Rates Now 3.6% - But It Will Pay To Wait

2005-04-27T03:28:46-08:00

ING Direct just pushed its 1 year CD rates to 3.6% (from 3.45%). I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on some 1 year CDs or short term bonds to grab some extra yield, but I'm going to wait. Here's why.

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Candian Oil Sands Trust - Pure Oil Sands Play

2005-04-26T02:26:46-08:00

Most folks don't know that Canada has some of the most significant oil reserves on the planet. Unfortunately much of this oil is not liquid - it is locked up in 'tar sands' in giant deposits in Alberta. Current high prices combined with decades of investments and cost improvements have ...

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Ditching Microsoft

2005-04-25T03:33:07-08:00

Last weekend I messed up my firewall installation and had to re-install. I couldn't get the re-install to work (and since I had downloaded the original I did not have a CD). My virus protection was expiring so I just went over to Staples and got a new firewall. $60 ...

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The Tightening: Fed Funds Rate at 4% by Dec 2005?

2005-04-24T03:54:54-08:00

The Tightening. It sounds like a the title of a Sam Rami horror movie. In fact "The Tightening" is what Al Greenspan is doing now. The Fed Funds overnight rate has gone from 1% to 2.75% over the last year. This has pushed the rates on online savings accounts at ...

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How I Hedged My Oil Exposure (and how you can too!)

2005-04-23T04:55:52-08:00

Oil prices are a lot higher than they were 18 months ago. I used to fill up for $1 and change a gallon - those days seem gone for good. But Southwest Airlines, a big consumer of jet fuel, is still paying less than $26 per barrel for its oil ...

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Biking To Work - Impotence Risk for Men?

2005-04-21T10:41:32-08:00

Commuting via bicycle can save you money, but it can also can pose impotence risks for men - particularly if you are overweight or do not have a bike that is well fitted. Fortunately there are bike accessories that can help.

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Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card - Still A Sweet Deal

2005-04-19T10:10:39-08:00

The best credit card deal I have been able to track down is still the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card. This is the one that gives you 5% back on gas, groceries and drug store purchases and 1% back on everything else. The reward isn't miles or luggage - it's ...

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GMAC Smartnotes - Smart or Dumb?

2005-04-18T02:48:47-08:00

Barrons has had a couple of favorable mentions of GMAC Smartnotes in its weekly interest rate column. I've been tempted ...

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Where are they now: Dec 2004 Stock Picks Report Card

2005-04-18T01:59:37-08:00

I made a few moves in my IRA late last year. Like many value oriented investors I saw little that I liked, but like a dope I went ahead and made a couple of buys.

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Condo: To Buy or Not To Buy? That Is The Question

2005-04-17T05:49:05-08:00

We are in the midst of a housing boom or bubble - depending on your point of view. In the expensive coastal area where I live housing prices have soared but now seem to be topping out. I see some houses sit on the market for months (or longer). In ...

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Market Carnage Only The Beginning

2005-04-17T05:11:35-08:00

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Free 7 Year Asset Class Forecasts from GMO

2005-04-14T17:12:13-08:00

Some great free advice is available from money managers Grantham, Mayer, Van Otterloo (GMO). If you register (free!) at their website, you can view some expert (if sparse) commentary and also 7 year asset class forecasts (updated quarterly).

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New I-Bond Rates 1 May 2005 - Prediction

2005-04-14T17:04:02-08:00

The treasury will issue new rates on inflation protected savings bonds on May 1 2005. The rate is currently 3.67% (and exempt from state income tax). For those thinking about an I-Bond purchase it may make sense to hold off because

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Why 3% is Actually Less than 0

2005-04-14T14:35:19-08:00

Like a lot of folks I have gone out and gotten an account with one of the high yielding online savings banks. (You've seen the ads- ING, Emigrant-Direct and the rest). These accounts typically yield 3% or more. I was feeling smart about all the extral money I was making ...

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Free Online Energy Stock Analysis

2005-04-14T13:09:54-08:00

We all hear about high oil and gas prices. Energy stocks have moved up a lot in the last 24 months or so. It's difficult for a layperson to know if the move is over for enery stocks or if there or if there are still values to be had ...

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Costco vs the Supermarket Smackdown

2005-04-14T13:08:57-08:00

Every time I go to Costco and drop 80 bucks (or more) I get a nagging suspicion that I may not be saving quite as much money as I think I am. Last week I decided to do a Costco vs the Supermarket comparison to get the truth.

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Saving Till It Hurts - A Cautionary Tale

2005-04-14T11:30:09-08:00

A while back I worked out how much I was spending on Diet Coke at work and I was shocked - it was over $100/yr. The frugalitarean in me decided to save some cash by buying Diet Coke by the case at the local Costco. It seemed like such an ...

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Dr. Doom's Free Monthly Advice

2005-04-14T03:52:24-08:00

Dr. Marc Faber, contrarian investment manager and author of Tomorrow's Gold has a great free monthly column. The April column just came out.

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"Investing" in Textiles - 44% Per Year Return

2005-04-09T05:16:13-08:00

I invested in textiles last week. I went ahead and bought 5 more dress shirts for work from Lands End so I would not have to do laundry each week.

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About the Money Garden Author

2005-04-09T04:41:06-08:00

I try to tend to my money the same way I would a small garden, and hence the name of my blog. As the name implies I have no get rich quick schemes (at least none that work). Instead I try to be, as Thomas Stanley discusses in his excellent ...

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Instant Coffee - a Low Cost Caffeine Deliver System

2005-04-09T03:17:40-08:00

My daily cup of coffee costs about $.06. I don't go to Starbucks or one of those other pricey places. Instead I fire up my trusty kettle and make my self a cup of good old instant coffee.

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