Retirement? Spouses Don't Think Alike
(May 13) You would expect marrying couples in the 50s talk a lot about retirement, but apparently they don't. I have been starting to prepare my wife for the retirement since the 30s :-)
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Social Security Tips and Traps
(May 12) Social security withdrawal to me is still 30 years aways from me. I'll only pray if most of the tips and traps will still hold true. Nevertheless, Sue Stevens contributed a good article for those in need a few quick doses of Social Security education.
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ETF or Mutual Fund. Who Is The Winner?
(May 12) WSJ added another featured story to the neve-eding comparison of ETFand index-tracking mutual fund performance. The result? Based on Morninstar's calclation, mutual funds stay ahead in most of the games.
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Bank of America Promotes No-Fee Mortgage
(May 8) Is it no fee, or no cost? Apparently, Bank of America is burying much of the cost to interest rates. Clever move BofA!
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Is It The Right Time for Mid-Cap?
(Apr 29) Interesting WSJ article that pitches domestic mid-cap stocks for its timeliness. However, the PEG ratio comparison is quite misleading. Given that the economy has more downside risks than upside ones, it is prudent to assume the growth potential implied in these growing P/Es will not materialize. Disclosure: I'm still in favor of large-caps. There are ...
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(2 Comments)
Freddie Mac: Housing Worst Isn't Here Yet
(Apr 28) I would be too naive to think the cumulative effect of many years' of reckless lending has already been unwound. How will this affect the economy in the next few years when the Class of 2006 faces graduation?
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Vonage: IPO to Bankruptcy in One Year?
(Apr 22) I'm so glad I didn't take Vonage's invitation to partcipate in its IPO. Less than one year after, the VOIP company is seriously looking at bankruptcy as an option.
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Why Term Life Insurance from Employer May Not Be The Cheapest
(Apr 22) WSJ's columnist Diana Ransom discussed the same thing I recognized a few years ago: for employees young and healthy, buying term life insurance from employee-sponsored plans may not be the most economical way to get coverage.
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Foreign Markets Provide Better Diversifaction Now
(Apr 22) WSJ reports that the correlation between US market and other developed markets is becoming weaker, suggesting exposure in foreign markets can achieve better diversification now.
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Tax Advice: How to Avoid Getting Audited
(Apr 8) IRS audits for high income households are on the rise, and WSJ's Tom Herman has some advices for us. To be honest, producing accurate tax returns is a growing pain now. My last year's tax return adds up to 45 pages, and I couldn't do it without professional help.
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Review: LifeInsure.com Provides Instant Insurance Quotes
(Apr 8) With the proliferation of internet, it is becoming common for people to getting life insurance quotes online, especially for term life insurance, a product that is so commoditized that it usually only takes applicants a few minutes to answer a bunch of questions before getting the rate quotes from various insurers. It is therefore no ...
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(5 Comments)
It's a Buyer's Market: More Housing Inventory Everywhere
(Apr 4) For people who are thinking at selling their houses, the timing couldn't be worse. Higher inventory numbers are reported in each of the 18 major markets. Will it be a slippery slope from here?
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Review: TermLifeOptions.com
(Apr 4) With the proliferation of internet, it is becoming common for people to getting life insurance quotes online, especially for term life insurance, a product that is so commoditized that it usually only takes applicants a few minutes to answer a bunch of questions before getting the rate quotes from various insurers. It is therefore no ...
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Review: Credit Demystified
(Apr 2) If you need a healthy dose of quality credit education, look no further than CreditDemystified.com. This credit education web site, backed by Countrywide Home Loans (Countrywide is one of the largest mortgage product provider in the nation), includes the following sections: 1) How to Improve One's Credit: Information regarding credit repair, credit counseling, and whether ...
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Should You Perform Roth IRA Conversion AFTER Retirement?
(Mar 10) Fairmark brought a good case about when to convert your IRA to Roth IRA for several tax benefits even after you retire. Among them, you can reap extra tax-advantaged growth provided by Roth IRA, avoid required distributions in IRA and potentially save on tax. Still, one needs to carefully evaluate his tax brackets and time ...
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The Fastest Way To Blow Up Your IRA
(Mar 9) Do you think the Real Estate IRAs fancy? A misstep and you can destroy all the tax savings you are entitled to in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Take this Fairmark Tax Tips to the heart and forget about mixing real estate investment with IRA.
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Should Bill Gates Oppose of Estate Tax Repeal?
(Mar 7) While I can understand where Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett come from, should they, arguably the best two capitalists of our generation, believe they, or their desginated agents, can spend more effectively than the government?
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Most Recalled Cars of 2006
(Mar 7) Can you believe Honda's popular Civic is making its way to the list of most recalled vehicles?
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Payday Loan Companies Change Practices (for the Good)
(Mar 7) I'm a believer of free market. As long as the nature of payday loans are properly disclosed, and the industry stops misleading marketing, I don't see an issue with the high interest rates. We have to allow borrowers to make decisions based on free will.
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New 401(k) Disclosure Rules May Be Coming
(Mar 5) I'm all for more transaparency. Also, I feel we need to radically reform 401(k) and 529 Plans by allowing plan participants to invest in any stocks and mutual funds instead of the few blessed by the plan administrators you don't know in person and cannot influence.
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Beating The Market Is Easy (and Here Is How)
(Mar 5) Settling for the average by index investing is ok, but one can surely do better. Tim Middleton at MSN Money offers some time-tested mutual fund recommendations.
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Payday Loan ABC Tracks Industry Developments
(Mar 5) If not for the news section, Payday Loan ABC is just a me-too payday loan site that seeks to solicit online applications from people in bad credit and in urgent need of cash. It provides up to $500 next-day cash advance to almost all states (excluding AR, CT, GA, NJ, NY, PA, PR, WV, and ...
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Unpaid Tax Per Household: $2,680
(Mar 5) Isn't it a surprisingly high number? It is estimated that the tax gap, or the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they pay, is $300 billion, or $2,680 per household now. But is there any quick fix? Our tax system is too complicated to allow effective enforcement. There is probably no way we can ...
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Millionaire's Growing Problem: Tax Audit
(Mar 5) If you are receiving 7 figure income, your tax return is six times more likely to get audited. Still, it is probably a nice problem to have -- I wish I will have this level of annual income one day.
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(3 Comments)
Explainer: Who Owns Our National Debt?
(Mar 5) It is quite refreshing to know that foreign governments only own a quarter of our $8.5 trillion national debt.
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An Imperfect Mortgage Calculator
(Mar 4) Mortgagecalculatorplus.com is a web site with only one purpose: an online mortgage calculator. Unfortunately, it didn't do its job too well. Like other mortgage calculators, this one asks for your loan amount, interest rate and term (number of years). It also goes one step further by asking you to estimate your property tax and PMI ...
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Some Nice Loan Calculators
(Mar 4) When it comes to personal finance, there is usually no one-size-fit-all decision. Options need to be carefully examined, usually in a quantitative way, to determine whether a particular decision is a nice fit to one's specific financial situation. To this end, I found the dozens of online calculator at iloancalculator.com particularly useful. These calculators cover ...
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Are Mutual Fund Managers Gaming The (Morningstar) System?
(Mar 4) While it is certainly true that one can game the system by being risk-averse -- Morningstar values risk-adjusted returns instead of absolute returns -- I still believe in the franchise of Morningstar and the effectiveness of its rating system. At the end of the day, Morningstar's rating is a relative rating comparing each fund to ...
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CreditProvide.com, Destination for Subprime Loan Offers
(Mar 3) If you have low credit score and are looking for credit options, Credit Provide may be your one-stop destination. This website, specializing in cataloging sub-prime loan products, probably can help you to find any loan product you are looking for. Specifically, for each of the following loan types, CreditProvide lists a few companies that offer ...
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Mortgage Defaults Are Climbing For Alt-A Customers
(Mar 3) Woo ... it looks like the housing market slowdown and default nightmare for mortgage underwriters will be worse before getting better. If these Alt-A customers are turning in 2.4% delinquency rate, there is no wonder why my person-to-person lending experience at Prosper.com is abysmal.
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The Best and The Worst 529 Plans
(Mar 3) Not two 529 plans are identical. In fact, the difference between the best and the worst 529 plans can be huge. While you may be able to deduct state tax by investing in your home state's 529 plan, the high fees in a bad plan can quickly wipe out any tax savings you achieved, and ...
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Finance Market Commentary, The UK Flavor
(Mar 3) Facing the turmoil of recent global financial market slowdown, it is probably helpful to get some perspective from outside the U.S. One can certainly count on Financial Times for some good editorial content from the Europe, but how about some grassroot content? Finance Markets is one site you can get some fresh content of what's ...
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New Capital One Credit Card with 1.25% Cash Back
(Feb 26) A good summary from WSJ on top flat-rate cashback card offerings. I still prefer my Fidelity Investment Rewards card which rewards me with 1.5% no-hassle cashback.
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How To Manager Your Tax Bracket With IRA Withdrawal
(Feb 26) What should you do in a year with low income? Withdraw more from your IRA account so the withdrawal is taxed at a lower rate. This WSJ article provided some excellent food for thought for long-term tax planning, and actually I'm planning on doing the very similar thing by timing my Roth IRA conversion. If ...
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Do We Have Too Many ETFs?
(Feb 25) I love the phrase "ETF pollution." People are crafting too many ETFs for exotic strategies, and some ETFs are simply designed to be short-lived. For ETF operators, it is becoming a casino of whose strategy will be most favored by the market for longer.
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Funniest Tax Writeoff (Attempts)
(Feb 22) Bankrate compiled some super-funny attempts to write off more expenses. Of the 9 stories, I love the following the best:
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A Quick $30 Refund You Shouldn't Overlook
(Feb 22) This is probably the easiest $30 (or $40, or $50, or $60) tax refund you can get. Don't miss it!
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What's Your Marginal Tax Rate?
(Feb 21) Two Bosten University economists claimed that almost everyone in this country is having the same marginal tax rate of 40%. It is probably true: the poorer has to pay
My marginal tax rate? It is about 46%, including my PRC marginal income tax rate of 45% and the Medicare tax.
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Term Life Insurance: It's Getting Cheaper and Cheaper
(Feb 21) It shouldn't be a surprise that term life insurance is getting cheaper because people are generally living longer. Also, the popularity of getting insurance coverage from online outlets reduced the cost of insurers, which also drives the cost down. Is it time for me to double-size my million-dollar policy?
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10 Tips for Value Investors
(Feb 13) In 2002, Fool.com recommended some of Bob Olstein's wisdom on value investing. I am a huge fan of value investing and do believe in the right hands, it can be used to consistently beat the market. Despite the passage of five years, it is still worth reading:
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Tax Reminder: Telephone Excise Tax Refund
(Feb 11) Good to keep in mind you may get $30 or more refund from what the government illegally charged you in the last four years.
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More Money = Better Sex?
(Feb 9) At first sight, this survey provides one more reason to become a multi-millionaire. But the average net worth of the survey respondents is a whopping $89 million, making this path toward sex quality almost irrelevant for ordinary Joes.
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Managed-Futures Funds Available To Small Investors Soon
(Feb 9) Want to play in the future market? Mutual fund innovator Rydex is going to launch an open-end managed futures fund next month, enabling anyone with at least $2,500 to have access to the future market.
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When Should You Get Rid of Financial Documents?
(Feb 7) Here is a handy reference of when you can shred your financial documents. I'm not sure why one has to keep tax returns for 7 years, though. Isn't it said that IRS cannot bother you for returns that are three years old?
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(5 Comments)
Best and Worst Housing Markets in America
(Feb 6) I start to have a bit seller's remorse now. Seattle's housing market is still strong after many year's doyble-digit price appreciation. Can I still afford a house when I move back?
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What Is Mortgage REIT?
(Feb 6) Morningstar's analyst Erin Swanson masterfully explained what is Mortgage REIT, and why it is not a timely bet in today's market. I invested in one of the Mortgage REIT before (which later merged with an investment firm to today's Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group - FBR) with some good gains, but that's back in 2003.
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How To Survive On $12,000 A Year (And Still Save)
(Feb 5) I do admire the author who intends to live on $12,000 a year. Our household probably cannot survive for four times the amount -- I know we have some fat that can be cut in our cost structure, but as long as we can grow the top line and still enjoy life ...
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Frequent Flier Miles Are Expiring Faster
(Feb 3) USA Today did a good job in compiling the expiration policies of major U.S. frequent flier programs. Time to strategize your usage of mileage programs!
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Taxpayers May Direct Refund To Three Accounts
(Feb 2) Yes, it is good to have the flexibility of sending your tax refunds to three accounts, and you may use it to defeat your spending habits so you can save more for retirement. However, it is a bit over-engineering for me. By the way, the split-refund function is not implemented in major tax softwares like ...
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Exxon Mobile Is Minting Money
(Feb 1) $39.5 billion annual profit! That's more than $100 million a day and $1,252 per second. It will be hard to exceed, even by Exxon itself.
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