Thoughts And Riches

Quote - Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:12:00 +0000

If you are clear where you are going and you take several steps in that direction every day, you eventually have to get there. If I head north out of Santa Barbara and take five steps a day, eventually I have to end up in San Francisco. So decide what you want, write it down, review it constantly, and each day do something that moves you toward those goals.

- Jack Canfield

Financial One - Web site to get life and other insurance quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:09:00 +0000

With everyone placing greater emphasis on saving money these days, one of the areas where people can lower their expenses is insurance. Whether it's insurance for life, car, house, and so forth, many of us can lower their insurance premiums by shopping around, comparing rates with different companies, and switching to the company that better meets our needs. Fortunately, there are many different Web sites available where you can plug in a few numbers and get free multiple quotes either instantly or you via email or phone. One such Web site is Financial One.

Financial One is a one-stop place for getting quotes for a variety of things, including life insurance, auto insurance, and mortgages. Interested in comparing life insurance rates provided by different companies? All you need to do is to go to the Financial One Web site and plug in a few pieces of information about yourself. Financial One's online life insurance shopping system then instantly compares life insurance rates from over 140 companies, and provides multiple quotes. Some of the companies it can get quotes from include AIG, Genworth Financial, Chase, and Prudential.

Financial One Web site's easy-to-use interface also allows you to get quotes for annuities (deferred or immediate), auto insurance, and so forth. For example, if you are interested in getting a quote for auto insurance, you simply need to provide your zip code and their Web site then displays the companies from which you can request quotes. If interested in proceeding further, you can click the appropriate company's link and input information to get a quote.

Financial One's Web site also provides other useful information, including information on different types of policies and coverages. For example, the site lists various auto insurance resources, including auto coverage for teens, women and seniors. Similarly, it has information about auto insurance for sports cars, SUVs and luxury cars such as BMWs and Mercedes.

To shop for auto, life and other insurance rates, and for more information about Financial One, click the links below:

Annuities Quote: Financial One: Annuities Quote

Auto Insurance Quote: Financial One: Auto Insurance Quote

Mortgage Quote: Financial One: Mortgage Quote

Financial One's Web site: Financial One

Free annual subscription to Forbes

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:08:00 +0000

For a limited time, RewardsGold is offering a free annual subscription to Forbes.

For details, check out:

RewardsGold: Forbes magazine

Free Sample - Cottonelle Ultra Toilet Paper and Cottonelle Fresh® Flushable Moist Wipes

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:43:00 +0000

For a limited time, Wal-Mart is offering a free sample; see:

Free Sample - Cottonelle Ultra Toilet Paper and Cottonelle Fresh® Flushable Moist Wipes

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Weekend Quote - Ability

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

- John Wooden

Free subscription to the Forbes and Golf Digest magazines

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:58:00 +0000

For a limited time, RewardsGold is offering free subscription. For details, check out:

RewardsGold: Forbes and Golf Digest magazines

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Free medical care for uninsured and unemployed

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:15:00 +0000

For people who are unemployed or uninsured, Walgreens is offering some lifeline by offering free tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics. The service is expected to be free till Dec 31, 2009 and patients will still pay for prescriptions.

Walgreens said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance.
....
Free services will be offered only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walgreens said it will not offer free checkups, vaccinations or other injections because it is focusing on providing services patients might otherwise get at an urgent-care center or even an emergency room.

Patients must present proof they are unemployed, including a federal or state unemployment determination letter and an unemployment check stub. They will have to sign a form at the clinic saying they have lost their jobs and health benefits. If they find a new job or get new health insurance, they will no longer be eligible for free care.

Spouses and children are also eligible for free services if they don't have insurance of their own.

For details, see:

Yahoo: Walgreens giving free care to jobless and uninsured

Free Sample: Degree Men Absolute Protection

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:57:00 +0000

For a free sample of Degree Men Absolute Protection, see:

Free Sample: Degree Men Absolute Protection

Weekend Quote - Life

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:22:00 +0000

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is a beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it!

- Mother Teresa

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Earn 300 Continental Airlines Onepass miles

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:01:00 +0000

Continental Airlines is offering an easy way to earn 300 Onepass frequent flier miles. Simply click on links to learn 3 cardmember benefits from Chase, register on each page and earn 100 Onepass miles each, for a total of 300 miles. Just click on the links for Bag Fee Waived, ShopOne 2X the Miles and BusinessFirst 2 for 1 and then register with your Onepass mile on each page.

Chance to earn 300 Onepass frequent flyer miles

Free subscription to the Forbes and Conde' Nast Traveler magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:29:00 +0000

For a limited time, RewardsGold is offering free subscription. For details, check out:

RewardsGold: Forbes and Conde' Nast Traveler magazine

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Weekend Quote - Money flow

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Money Goes Where it’s Treated Best

- Wriston’s Law

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Put on layoff alert

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:22:00 +0000

Recently my boss called me to her room and told me that my job is vulnerable and I could be laid-off any day unless things change for better for the firm. We already have had a couple of rounds of layoffs, so the news wasn't exactly shocking although it still hit me a bit when my boss told me about it.

As usual, the reason was to cut costs. As I have been working part-time since last few years, I am all the more vulnerable even though for all intent and purposes I have been carrying full time load. My boss also agreed and wants to keep me. During the conversation with me, my boss suddenly thought that the Dept Manager probably doesn't realize that I am working part-time and there won't be much savings by laying me off. She spoke with her immediate supervisor who told her that that's probably true but she should still tell me that my job is vulnerable. Personally, I feel that if there isn't enough work, our firm should implement furloughs or reduce the work hours of all full-time employees as many other firms are doing but then the Manager probably doesn't read the Wall street Journal and isn't aware of such great strategies :-)

Ever since my boss told me about potential layoff, I go to the office every day thinking that this is the last day at work. So far, fortunately, I still have a job although from my side, I have fully emptied my cubicle so that I can leave it as soon as I found out that I am let go. Unlike other employees at work whose layoffs we found out days after they had been let go, I already told some of close friends at work about it and exchanged contact info just in case they find out that they haven't seen me at work for a few days.

My spouse's company has also had layoffs, so his job is vulnerable too. But fortunately, we try to live within our means and have been through layoffs before, so believe that even if we get laid-off, we will be fine. Our main concern is always related to the health insurance but I have been reading that with the recent changes to law passed by President Obama, the COBRA premiums have been subsidized and become more affortable - so that's a good thing. Hopefully, we will both keep our jobs but if not, I know that this time too shall pass and we will come out stronger and better from this experience.

Weekend Quote - Should traders get multi-million dollar bonuses?

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:18:00 +0000

The author of "An Anonymous Trader Defends His Pay (Mar. 16, p.29) argues that his $1 million bonus is fair. If he helped make $100 million, he should get 1%. I say sure, as long as he's exposed on the downside. If you share in a $100 million profit, you should also share in a $500 million loss if you cause it. Since the loss is worse for the company, your share should be 5%. You should be eligible for a $1 million bonus only afer depositing $25 million into an account that would be used to reimburse the company if your gambles don't pay off. If you aren't happy with that, settle for $400,000 to risk company money.

- Stuart Boreen

Source: Traders Anonymous, Readers Say, Forbes magazine, Mar 30, 2009 p. 16

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Applying for Penfed HELOC

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:46:00 +0000

Given all the negative news about layoffs etc, we recently decided to open home equity line of credit (HELOC). After doing some research, we realized that HELOC from Pentagon Federal Credit Union worked out best for us. At the time of opening the HELOC, Penfed was offering prime minus 0.5% which came to about 2.75%.

Opening the account was pretty straight forward. We simply called them and provided the required info over the phone. Basically, they asked info about our jobs, salary, how much credit limit we want and other info. Initially, they told us that most likely there will not be any appraisal required as they can model the prices in our neighborhood without requiring an appraisal. However, a few days after our conversation, we received a letter in the mail as well as a phone call that they require an appraisal for which we will have to pay $290. The letter also indicated the deadline by which we need to contact Penfed to proceed ahead with our application. We called Penfed a couple of times and asked if there was way to avoid the appraisal fee such as if we opened the HELOC for a lower amount but each time, we were told that we will have to pay the fee.

Since we didn't want to pay any appraisal fee, we decided to forget about opening HELOC. However, a couple of days before the stated deadline, my spouse called Penfed again and this time, there was a different customer service rep who told us to contact the mortgage department directly to see if that was possible. Fortunately, the loan officer was very good. She told us that we could avoid the appraisal but our line of credit will be reduced to a lower amount than what we had requested. This was fine with us and we ended with the HELOC account. We received our paperwork shortly afterwards via Fedex, got them notarized and the line of credit was established for us. We also had to call our Home Insurance company and list Penfed as the second mortgagee - the entire conversation with the home insurance lasted for less than 10 minutes, and they automatically sent a letter to Penfed. Within few days of submitting the paperwork, we also received the checks.

The good thing about Penfed is that the entire process was pretty stateforward. I guess, being a member of that credit union as well as having a credit card from them helped speed up the process to some extent. Unless we use the credit line (in which case, we will be incurring interest charges), we won't have to pay fees of any kind. The only fee Penfed said that they will be charging is the closing cost in case we close our line of credit within two years of opening. The good faith estimate gave a closing cost of about $300 but our actual closing cost listed in our closing papers was $275.53 and consisted of the following charges:

Credit Report Fee: $1.20
Flood Determination: $7.00
Quick Close Fee/Title Guarantee: $68
Recording Fee: $46
City/County tax/stampts: $143.33
Total = $275.53

So $275.53 is all we will have to pay in case we close the line of credit before two years. We are planning to leave it open, so hopefully that's something we can avoid. However, having the HELOC does give some sense of security although considering the current circumstances, financial institutions can always cancel or reduce them any time.

Weekend quote - Technical analysis of Citigroup's Stock Price

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:20:00 +0000

You can throw the technicals out at this point. Zero is the only place of support right now.

- Ryan Detrick, Technical Analyst, Schaeffer's Investment Research on Citigroup's (Ticker: C) stock price which dipped below $1 this week and is currently trading around $1

Source: Wall Street Journal (WSJ): Citigroup Hits 'Penny Stock' Realm

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Site to find information about upcoming job fairs in your state

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:04:00 +0000

If you are unemployed or just interested in looking for a new job, CNN's Web site has posted a nice link to find job fairs in different states of the US. These job fairs are organized by CareerBuilder and Monster.com and provide info about the dates for the upcoming job fairs. In some cases, the time and Location address will be provided later by CareerBuilder/Monster.com.

For details, see:

CNN: State by State Map of Job Fairs

CNN: List of Upcoming Job Fairs

Just a thought: More job losses and economic pain ahead?

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:39:00 +0000

Stock market is considered a leading economic indicator. It tends to peak 6 to 9 months before the ecomomy recovers, even though job losses are still approaching their peak. Currently, some analysts think that stock market will drop further - further drop has become all the more possible now that the stock market broke through the 7000 support level on the Dow and 700 level on S&P500 earlier this week. Since stock market is a leading indicator and it's expected to fall further, does this mean that there is still more room for the job losses and the economy to deteriorate further? Just a thought.

Down, down and down we go - Dollar Savings Direct lowers APY yet again

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:49:00 +0000

In keeping with the trend of present times where dividends, stock prices, job security and benefits, house prices, credit lines, and consumer spending and spirits are all going down, Dollar Savings Direct online bank has yet again lowered the interest on its savings account - the new APY is 2.50%. It was just a few days ago that the bank had lowered it's APY to 2.65%.

For details, see:

Dollar Savings Direct

Credit cards canceled

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:39:00 +0000

We joined the ranks of many other people recently when both my spouse and I had our credit cards closed. In my case, Citibank informed me that my credit card will be closed while my spouse got a letter from Barclay's Bank stating that his Barnes & Noble Mastercard will be closed. Reason was simple - we had these cards but weren't using them, so just like what happened to other people, our cards were closed as well. Our FICO scores may take some hit but since we were using those cards nor needed to use them, we are not too worried about the hit our FICO might take.

Weekend quote - Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:53:00 +0000

A thought is power. Think big, think fast and think ahead. No one has monopoly over thinking. Thinking is a foundation on which a person can build the palace of his success.

- Dhirubhai Ambani

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Warren Buffett's Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:51:00 +0000

Warren Buffett released his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders today. Warren Buffett admitted making some investment mistakes in 2008, including buying shares in Conoco Philips when the oil prices were peaking. Just shows how much even investing maestros and legends underestimated the severity of this recession.

Here's an online version of his latest letter:

Feb 28, 2009: Warren Buffett's Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

For a complete list of his previous letters, see:

Warren Buffett's Letters to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

Free subscription to the Elle Decor and Women's Health magazines

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:21:00 +0000

For a limited time, RewardsGold is offering free subscription.

For details, check out:

RewardsGold: Elle Decor and Women's Health magazines

Points.com eLearners Earn Rewards at MyPoints.

Bank fees: a toll to pay for accessing unemployment benefit

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:53:00 +0000

As if the unemployed weren't already enough problems, another problem that's hitting them now are the bank fees. Reason? - many states providing unemployment benefits require people to use debit cards to access their money. Not surprisingly, many banks have been smart to find ways to make money in these situations.

Thirty states have struck such deals with banks that include Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase and US Bancorp, an Associated Press review of the agreements found. All the programs carry fees, and in several states the unemployed have no choice but to use the debit cards. Some banks even charge overdraft fees of up to $20 -- even though they could decline charges for more than what's on the card.

I don't mind banks charging legitamate fees. However, in situations like these where people have no choice but to retrieve money using debit cards, I think the states should have been smart to have set up better agreements with the banks to ensure customers didn't end up getting charged fees. Of course, some questions I have are - why were these bankers not so smart when they were issuing mortgages to all the subprime borrowers? How come they display all their smartness only when it comes to finding new ways of charging fees to customers, or ensuring they get million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes even when they fail on their jobs, or convincing their board of directors in investing in $35,000 commodes?

Of course, consumers also need to be smart. For eg, many banks allow consumer to avoid debit card-related fees by withdrawing all their money in a single transaction. Why not do that?

The banks say their programs offer convenience. They also provide at least one way to tap the money at no charge, such as using a single free withdrawal to get all the cash at once from a bank teller. But the banks benefit from human nature, as people end up treating the cards like all the other plastic in their wallets.

For complete article, see:

Associated Press/Yahoo Finance: Jobless hit with bank fees on benefits

Dollar Savings Direct reduces APY on its savings account to 2.65%

noreply@blogger.com (Ruby) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Dollar Savings Direct online bank has again lowered the interst on its savings account - the new APY is 2.65%. Given the prevailing fed interest rates and the economic conditions, this cut wasn't surprising. In the recent weeks, E-Trade and other banks have all reduced their interest rates.

For details, see:

Dollar Savings Direct