Here are some rules that I always follow when gambling:

Play with what you’re comfortable with. I have never used an ATM in a casino and never plan to ever. I bring down what I am comfortable with playing and that’s it. If I bring down $200 and I manage to blow it all on $5 blackjack (a rare occurence), that’s it. I’ll hang out and watch my friends continue their action.

Don’t ever play with an amount of money that you’ll regret losing if it ever comes to it. Gambling is entertainment to me and it should be for most people. It’s not entertaining or fun if you lose more than you can handle.

Understand the game you’re playing. It amazes and annoys me how many people play casino games they simply don’t understand or fully grasp. I’m a blackjack player so I took the time to read up on it and learn optimal play.

Don’t ever gamble for comps. Casino comps are when the casino gives you freebies for your play. Generally a portion of your theoretical loss based on the house advantage of the game being played is comped back to you. Play to win and think of comps as icing on the cake.

Know where you’ll get the most comps for your play. In Atlantic City, playing $10-$15/hand for a couple hours at Harrahs casinos will easily get you comped a free weekday night. If you played at the Borgata you’d probably end up with free comedy tickets or maybe a meal at most.

Earlier today I got a call from American Express. The person on the other end wanted to verify my employment status which was listed as full-time student and my income (which was listed as $15k). She then proceeded to ask me about charges on my account. I have about $4,500 so far charges this billing period and she proceeded to ask me questions related to various charges.

Basically the financial review person was flat out saying “you’re a full-time student and you can afford to run up x amount of dollars each month?”. She basically asked for me to fill out a 4506T which allows them to ask the IRS to provide them with my recent tax returns. I was also asked to provide three month’s worth of recent transactions on the checking account I use to pay off my American Express account.

I’ve always imagined myself growing into a lifelong American Express customer like my father. They have a reputation for superior customer service and great product offerings. I’m a bit offended that they’re financially reviewing me even though I pay off my account in full each and every month. I’ll be even more offended if they cut the credit line on my Starwood Preferred Guest card which is the account in question. The credit line isn’t that high at $7,000.

At first I had mixed feeling about this but I guess if an individual wants to lend to someone in the United States it should be an available option. I decided to contribute to one loan because I collect loans and I want to partake in this big moment in Kiva’s history. I chose to loan to Alejandro from Westchester, NY. What I noticed that’s pretty cool is that there’s a short video clip of the entrepeneur.

You aren’t just lending someone your credit score but rather you’re on the hook if they ever default. It’s a serious financial step that you should reserve only for people who you intimately know. I wouldn’t mind co-signing a future spouse’s loan because chances are I’d know their finances well enough to know they aren’t likely to default and relationships are about trust so I hope I’d trust a spouse enough to co-sign a loan or that would be the last of my problems.

Co-signing a loan adds the debt amount on both your credit reports so if you’re someone that needs their credit report to appear debt free think twice about co-signing that loan.

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There’s only 2 TD Banks near me and I’ll have to drive to them but there are no fees to maintain an account and it’ll be nice to know I can get my banking needs met even as late as 8pm.

The results were a bit mixed and it was somewhat interesting.

I’ve come to realize that I don’t spend much cash in general. I don’t mean I don’t spend money but rather most of my transactions are credit card based and cash transactions were few and far in between. This led to me taking a lot longer than I expected to spend the $200 worth of $2 bills I had obtained.

Most of my $2 bills were spent at mom & pop shops that didn’t accept credit and bars where opening a tab for a credit transaction is sometimes more trouble than it’s worth when it’s crowded.

At a bar I frequent they would have $3 specials for drinks on certain nights and two $2 bills easily covered the cost of the drink and a $1 tip for the bartender. One bartender in particular would eye every $2 bill I handed him and I understand as it is suspicious to have somebody pay in $2 bills all night.

Probably due to the myth that $2 bills are rare at one bar the bartender exchanged my $2 bills for singles from her purse probably because she wanted to hold onto them.

At another bar, the very attractive waitress flat out asked if they were real.

At one of my favorite sandwich shops the cashier gave me the wrong change. The total was $6.50 or so and I handed her 4 $2 bills and she gave me back 50 cents (I did get the correct change after pointing it out).

Numerous friends, cashiers, etc. have all said something along the lines of “$2 bills! You shouldn’t spend those, they’re rare!”.

A good number of my $2 bills went to friends who wanted to exchange them with me since they didn’t have any $2 bills.

All in all my personal $2 bill experiment was an interesting experience. I got to see firsthand how many people believed that $2 bills were rare and couple more of my friends realized I’m a bit eccentric. I have exactly one $2 bill left and I think I’ll keep it in my desk drawer. You know… cause they’re rare.

I love and hate the $5 blackjack table. Generally you’ll get a lot of people who make tons of bad moves at the $5 table because they’re beginners or idiots who can’t grasp the concept of the game. Since $5 tables are relatively scarce you might have to wait a bit to get a seat also. On the other hand the $5 table will provide you with hours of entertainment at very little cost (or perhaps even a gain).

There are a total of 14 credit cards in that picture and I’ll start at the top left and move down.

Chase Professional Rewards - This card gets 3% cashback at gas stations, restaurants, office supply stores, hardware and home improvement centers. I got this card because back in the day I use to purchase a lot at office supply stores. I would easily rack up a couple thousand in charges a year and redeem the reward checks $50 at time.

New York Jets Extra Points - This card gets 1 point for every dollar spent. The rewards aren’t really worth much so I don’t use the card often. I got this card because they were offering a iPod nano with the Jets logo lasered on the back. Yes, I am a Jets fan. This is also one of my oldest cards and I make a small purchase on it from time to time to keep it active.

Chase Freedom - This card gets me 3% cashback on fast food purchases. It also gets 3% cashback on other categories but I forget what they are. I probably buy fast food 4-7 times a week and this is what gets used. It does take longer to reach the rewards threshold of $50 but it gets 1% back on all other purchases and sometimes I’ll throw a large charge on this card. The sign up bonus for this card was a whopping $250 which was the main reason I opened it.

Wamu ESPN Total Rewards - I opened this card because they had a 0% apr offer. The rewards program is now defunct after Chase bought out Wamu. The card has converted to some type of generic Chase rewards card. I believe I should get a re-branded replacement card before the expiration date.

Chase Visa (generic) - I do not remember how I got this credit card. I think I applied for a card and got rejected for it and they sent me this card with a $500 limit. I called to have the card closed and it still shows up on my online account with a $100 limit and still accepts charges (I tested with a $1 charge a couple weeks ago).

United Mileage Plus - I opened this card to get 25,000 bonus miles on United airlines. I downgraded this card to a no annual fee card that gets 1 mile for ever $2 spent as it’s a great way to pad my mileage account at United and reset the expiration timer every now and then. The card is also one of my oldest.

Chase Cash Rewards - This card gets me 5% cashback at supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations. I got this card to replace the Citi Dividend as Citi was ending the 5% rewards for those categories on that card.

Discover More Card - This card gets 5% on various and changing categories depending on the season. Until the end of June I get 5% cashback at home improvement, clothing, department stores. I did make a couple clothing store purchases recently. The card also had a $100 sign-up bonus.

American Express Platinum - The card offers tons of benefits. However the ones I use are access to airport lounges (you and up to two guests) and roadside assistance(hopefully I’ll never have to). Generally when I’m traveling with a friend the airport lounge access is a great perk as you get to kick back before a flight and indulge in the open bar. I’ve taken a shower at the lounge after a flight was delayed once in Chicago so it’s a nice perk to have.

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest - You get 1 starwood point for every dollar spent with this one. This is one of my more recent cards. I discovered that if you transfer 20,000 points to an airline miles program you get a 5,000 miles bonus. So essentially every dollar spent equals 1.25 miles earned. You generally get more value for redemptions at hotels but it’s not a bad deal for airline redemptions either.

American Express Business Platinum - When I was younger my sister (who runs a business) gave me this card for whenever I needed to charge anything because I didn’t have a credit card. I sock drawer this card now but I’ve used it in the past to book vacations and other high dollar purchases for myself and friends (who also didn’t have access to a credit card or a high line of credit).

Citi AAdvantage - I opened this card because I wanted to get started on a million miles on American Airlines (and get the gold status for life). I charge roughly 3,000-7,000 through this card monthly so in a given year I’ll earn enough miles for at least two roundtrip tickets anywhere in the continental US.

Citi Cashreturns - I signed up for this card because Citi was offering 5% cashback on EVERYTHING for 3 months of account opening. Needless to say, I charged everything on this card for 3 months. These days the card offers 1% cashback on everything and the credit line is pretty big so I run charges through here and there to keep it active.

Citi Dividend - This is my first credit card. It originally gave me 5% cashback at supermarkets, drug stores, and gas stations. However Citi changed the rewards structure to 2-3% cashback on utitilities and various other categories which I am unsure of because I don’t use the card actively. I do run charges through from time to time to keep the card from being closed because of it is my oldest card.

In this day and age most people use their GPS or Google maps to figure out how to get to their destination. Not putting your exact address just makes it a little bit more inconvenient for people to figure out how to get there!