For the vast majority of savers, improved investment returns won’t materially extend how long retirement money lasts. That’s, in large part, because few investors have enough money in their retirement account to tilt the balance.

Far more important, says the paper from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, are three variables that don’t require a brokerage account: how long you work, controlling spending and tapping the value of your home.

Briefly, the study found that 47% of households would fall short of their income needs in retirement at age 67, when Social Security kicks in for those born after 1960. However, even if investors were able to theoretically earn a guaranteed 6.5% above inflation annually in a riskless investment, 44% would still be short.

How little are people saving? The WSJ article notes that having $500,000 in financial assets by retirement age would put in you in the top 10% of savers. The CRR working paper itself mentions that “the typical 401(k)/IRA balance of households approaching retirement is less than $100,000″ but I didn’t see a source.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that in 2010 the average IRA individual balance (all accounts from the same person combined) was $91,864, while the median balance was $25,296. EBRI also found that at year-end 2010, the average 401(k) account balance was $60,329 and the median account balance was $17,686. But that’s for all folks, not just people of retirement age.

This shouldn’t be too surprising. Your savings rate is the most important factor in determining if you can retire comfortably. Working longer is the same as saving more and spending less (for a while). Getting used to spending less now would aallows you to need less in retirement. Doing a reverse mortgage is just another word for cashing in your savings, isn’t it?

Why asset allocation is still important. The paper concludes that financial advisors should focus more on savings rates and less about the complex ETF portfolio they just designed for you. Probably true. However, asset allocation has always been something that we did to help our situation without actually doing the hard work of having to save more. Imagine a pill that we could take to lose weight, while not actually eating less or exercising more.

I suppose we should view designing an asset allocation more as a potential “boost” to our nest egg than the driving force, and realize that earning an extra 1% or 2% a year won’t help if you’re just compounding a small chunk of your income. How much is enough? Studies have found that a savings rate of 16.62% would have worked out well historically.

Why Asset Allocation Doesn’t Matter Very Much from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

Making Paperless Billing Better

All your bills are organized in one central place. You give Manilla your login information*, and they handle the rest. If you need to look up an old bill, you don’t need to open the filing cabinet or reset your password (again) to that archaic water department website designed in 1995. You can just view or print out the .PDF from Manilla. They promise to store your bills for free, forever. I do wish there was a way to download all your stored bills at once, perhaps in a .zip file.

You may find that Manilla may not list some of your local vendors, although you can suggest future account providers for them to add. I couldn’t find my local water utility. You can also add magazine subscriptions, frequent flier mileage programs, and hotel rewards programs.

Easy-to-manage bill reminders. You can request e-mail or text message reminders to 7 days, 3 days, and/or 1 day before the due date. I need these repeated reminders, and it’s nice that they turn off automatically after they see that the bill has been paid.

Autopay? One of the initial annoyances when I tried the service was that it kept reminding me to pay bills that were on AutoPay. I know it hasn’t been paid yet! However, you must simply change a setting that tells them that the bill is set to Autopay which stops those reminders.

Paying bills. If you like to pay bills at the actual vendor website, Manilla tries to make it easier with auto-login using your stored username and passwords. If you’re like me and use your bank’s online billpay interface, then you’ll still have to do that yourself. Most of my bills are on autopay now, so the main benefit is the stored bills for easy access.

How Manilla stays free. Paperless billing saves money for vendors. But people like paper bills. Manilla tries to make paperless billing more palatable for you, and when you sign up for paperless billing then the vendor (i.e. Citibank, Comcast) pays Manilla a little something each money. In turn, the service is free to you.

Quietly signing you up for paperless bills. One thing that should be made clear is that whenever you add a vendor, Manilla will automatically convert you to paperless if it can, whether you like it or not. I would personally like to have both for a while (paper bills and Manilla .pdf). From their FAQ:

When you link accounts that Manilla partners with, those accounts will become paperless automatically. That means you will not receive physical postal mail. Instead, you will receive your bills and statements at Manilla, where they will be instantly organized and stored for you. You can even print a copy. If you’re already paperless, great! You can still use Manilla to keep all of your accounts organized.

In the end, I have been using Manilla for a couple of months now, and my favorite feature is the easy access to past bills. I have signed up all my recurring utility-like bills (cell phone, internet, electric, sewer, garbage, auto insurance) and I expect to keep using Manilla to manage those (most are on AutoPay as well). However, I am keeping my credit card accounts separate because I still like the feel of going over a physical credit card bill and mentally re-approving all my purchases from last month. Does that make me sound old and crotchety?

(*Yes, Manilla is yet another private 3rd-party that wants your usernames and passwords. I have trusted a few companies with this personal data of mine, but is this one worth it? Well, Manila is a legit company owned by Hearst Magazines with official agreements with big companies like Citibank and DirecTV, and seems to have all the standard security protocols like SSL. Also, Manilla doesn’t actually handle money transfers, so I am comfortable using it.)

Manilla.com Review: The End of Paper Bills? from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

#1 I don’t want to pay the high closing costs again.

It’s true, when you refinance there will be additional costs. The mortgage broker has to eat! However, that doesn’t mean you actually need to pay anything extra.

First of all, you can get paid for negative points. Depending on the interest rate, the originator/lender will actually pay you a credit each 1 point = 1% of the loan principal. The lower the rate, the less points you’ll get. But if the credit is high enough, that may cover all your costs, making it a “no-cost” refi. Alternatively, they may simply advertise “no closing costs” which means they cover a certain list of fees.

When you apply for a refi, you’ll get a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) with a total closing costs amount listed at the bottom. However, you should separate the true costs from the stuff that you’d otherwise have to pay anyway, including:

• Prepaid or partial month interest
• Homeowner’s insurance to escrow
• Property Taxes to escrow

The remaining amount (origination fees, doc fees, application fees, appraisal fees, title insurance, credit report fees, etc.) is what I would just call the true cost of refinancing. Some “no closing cost” lenders still make you pay the title insurance fee.

#2. I can’t refinance because it’s been too soon since my last financing.

There are no federal laws or mortgage contracts that prevent you from refinancing again (but check your state laws, thanks Peter!). In fact, it’s quite expected by investors that borrowers will refinance when rates drop. In fact, if you have a Freddie Mac, Fannie Mai, or FHA loan, you may be able to get your appraisal waived if you are refinancing within a certain period of your last appraisal.

However, some loans do have prepayment penalties that can come into effect if you pay off additional loan principal within an initial time period. Usually these loans offered extra-low interest rates or are forced onto subprime applicants. In general, prime mortgages do not have prepayment penalties, although you should read your contract carefully to make sure. If you do accept a prepayment penalty, make sure you’re getting something worthwhile in exchange. I would rather avoid them completely as it makes it easier to compare different loan options.

#3 I already refinanced recently and I haven’t reached my breakeven time period yet.

This is based on the concept of the “break-even” period. For example, if a refi cost you $2,400 in net closing costs but saved you $100 per month, you’d break-even in 24 months. Past that, you’re saving $100 every month. But what if after only 10 months, rates have dropped even lower so that you can again refinance to a lower rate?

This is a variation of the sunk cost fallacy. You’ve already spent the money and you can’t get it back, so it’s too late to worry about it. You can only do what’s financial best starting from today, and if you can lower your interest rate again with an acceptable new break-even period, then you should do it.

The simple way to avoid such mental gymnastics going forward is to see if you can get a “no-cost” refi. As long as you can lower your interest rate without having to put up more money (keeping in mind the unavoidable costs listed above), then you know you’ll come out ahead. This may not get you the absolute best rate, but when comparing mortgage quotes, it makes life easier when you just look for the lowest rate that will be no cost to you.

#4 When you refinance, you’re either losing equity or not building equity as fast.

First, as long as you’re not performing a cash-out refi that adds your loan principal, you won’t lose any equity with a refinance. All your previous payments and any additional principal prepayments you sent in will reflected in a smaller loan principal (the amount still owed).

The second part about “building equity” seems to be based on a misconception on how amortization works. Your mortgage payment is always split into a portion that pays down your principal and another portion that goes toward interest. If you have a $200,000 loan at a 5% interest rate, $10,000 will go towards interest that first year no matter what kind of mortgage you have. Going forward, your annual interest payments will always be close to your principal left times interest rate, be it 10-year or 30-years long. The rest goes to principal.

So let’s say you had a 30-year mortgage with $200,000 initial loan amount at 5% interest ($1,074 monthly payment) that you want to no-cost refi to 4.25% interest ($984 monthly), but you’re already 2 years into the mortgage. Uh-oh! Instead of 28 years left, you now have 30 years left again. No no no! Assuming no prepayment penalty, you can always send in additional principal payments so that you build equity just as fast or faster than before. I do it automatically every month via direct ACH withdrawal from my checking account.

As long as you pay the same monthly amount as before ($1,074), you would actually be done in a little less than 26 years. That refi would allow you the option of paying off your house 2 full years earlier with zero change to your current payment! I like looking at things this way as opposed to a monthly savings of $90 a month.

Don’t Fall For These Common Mortgage Refinance Myths from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

Remember, everyone has three credit scores, one from each of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, TransUnion.

Credit Sesame

Every month, Credit Sesame can offer you a credit score based on your Experian credit report. They also offer tips to improve your score and qualify for a mortgage. Here’s a screenshot of my current credit score.

CreditKarma

CreditKarma.com is an ad-supported site that offers you the ability to check your credit score daily, called a Transrisk score, based on your TransUnion credit report. The score range is the same as FICO, from 300-850. You don’t get your credit report details, but you do get a few tips on what recent changes to your credit report have impacted your score.

Equifax Credit Score Card

The Equifax Credit Score Card comes directly from Equifax and provides a free credit score range of Low (280-559), Below Average (560-659), Average (660-724), Above Average (725-759), and High (760-850). It’s called the Equifax Risk Score. FICO has a range of 300-850, and this range is 280-850 so you don’t really have to do any scaling. It doesn’t provide any specific data from your Equifax credit report, but it does include a short summary of any negative factors that you may have on your report.

Prosper Person-to-Person Lending

Prosper Lending provides a free credit grade for prospective borrowers, based on your Experian credit data. If you don’t actually finalize the application for the loan, they will not check your credit. They do offer some good rates on personal loans, if you are looking to consolidate credit card debts. Here’s a partial screenshot of my profile:

LendingClub Person-to-Person Lending

Similar to Prosper, if you start an application to become a borrower at LendingClub.com they will check your credit on your behalf (again, this means it doesn’t hurt your credit score) to find out what rate they will charge you. Instead of a numerical score, you will get a grade like “A2″ or “B3″. Then you can use the table below to determine your credit score range. For example, A2 would indicate a score range of 747-769. It is also based on your TransUnion credit report.

You will need to provide your personal information and Social Security number to these companies, naturally, so be comfortable with that. None of these methods by themselves will affect your credit score as you are requesting them for yourself.

Five Ways To Get a Free Credit Score (No Trials!) from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

In the Business Advisory Board for Citibank, an online community created by Citibank, you will have the rare opportunity to “Learn, Do, and Connect” with other business owners and decision-makers who share your goals and challenges, as well as get an advance look into and impact the creation of new products and services aimed at businesses like yours, as well as the chance to impact the development process.

Community members will receive a $10 welcome gift as well as around $20/month for participating an average of 5-15 minutes per week at a time of your convenience. The sign-up period and the spots are limited (update 5/30 still live), so please apply promptly below if interested.

Citibank Business Advisory Board application page

MMB Reader Invitation: Citibank Paid Market Research Panel from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

It reminds me of sites that help you find unclaimed money, which I never really trusted until it actually worked for me. There are still many scammy unclaimed money sites, though, so I’d never pay money for any such services.

Database for Searching Class Action Settlements from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

Tickets must be purchased on a Friday for a Friday show time. Limit 1 movie ticket per Visa Signature card purchase, per 30 day period following the date of a purchase in connection with this offer.

Check out your credit cards, you may be surprised to have one and not know it. If you’ve gone after some of the juicy $500+ sign-up bonuses this year, you probably have one of these cards.

• Chase Sapphire Preferred with $500 in travel bonus = Visa Signature card
• British Airways card offering 100,000 bonus Avios points = Visa Signature
• Hyatt Credit Card with 2 free hotel nights at any Hyatt in the world = Visa Signature

If you are a member of AMC Stubs, you can get the Fandango service fee waived as well at those theaters (membership costs $12 a year). The Avengers was a fun summer blockbuster!

Half-Off Movie Night: 2-For-1 Tickets with Visa Signature from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

TERMS OF 20,000 BONUS MILES OFFER: Earn 10,000 Bonus Miles for every $2,000 you spend, up to 20,000 Bonus Miles. Purchases must be made within 6 months from the date your account is opened. We are not responsible for merchant delays in processing transactions. This promotional offer is in addition to the Standard Miles earned on purchases. Promotional Miles will be applied within 8 weeks of reaching $2,000 and $4,000 spend amounts.

The $2000 spending requirement over six months works out to $333 per month. What you’d be looking for is $350 per month in utilities (electric, gas, sewer, water) that previously didn’t accept credit cards for payment (at least without a big fee), which now you can pay Discover via ChargeSmart.com with no fees. If you don’t reach that, I would even prepay some utilities and let it apply to future bills. There is also double miles (2 miles/$ spent) on the first $3,000 spent combined on restaurant and travel purchases. If you can charge $4,000 in 6 months, you’d get the max 20,000 bonus miles.

In addition to the bonus miles, you’ll still get the standard 1 mile per $1 spent on the utilities charges. 10,000 miles can be redeemed for $100 towards any travel from any vendor. You just have to put a travel purchase (airfare, hotel, car rental) on the card and then go online and redeem your “miles” for a travel credit. So buy any $150 airfare from any website on the Miles card and redeem 10,000 miles for a $100 statement credit.

No annual fee. Rewards do not expire as long as your account is in good standing and the card is not inactive for 18 consecutive months.

Miles by Discover Card application link

Miles by Discover Card Promotion: Up to 20,000 Bonus Miles from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

This is pretty cool. New York City is launching a bike-share program called Citi Bike this summer (supposedly late July 2012), with 10,000 bikes and 600 stations for pick-up and drop-off. I’ve seen and used similar bike-sharing programs in Europe, and they seemed to be very practical and moderately popular. I’ve never ridden a bike in NYC, are there many bike lanes or will you be busy avoiding taxis? Combined with the subway, this makes it even easier to get around without a car.

A 24-hour membership will cost $9.95, but an annual membership is only $95 a year and will allow you unlimited trips of up to 45 minutes. A small fee applies after that to encourage you to return the bike quickly for other people to use.

Citi is the primary sponsor to the tune of $41 million and Mastercard is handling the payment infrastructure in addition to contributing $6.5 million. The program is run privately, with no public funding. I hope it works out.

Citi Bike Sharing Program – New York City from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

What, Groupon already has a class action settlement? Yup. Bloomberg reports that Groupon has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the expiration dates on its coupons are illegal. Part of the lawsuit alleged that Groupon should be treated like gift cards, which in many states are not allowed to expire. However, like with most settlements, Groupon denies that and doesn’t admit any fault, yada, yada.

Customers who bought Groupon vouchers before Dec. 1, 2011 can either redeem these past their expiration date or, if they are unable to do so, obtain a refund from the $8.5 million fund, according the proposed settlement filed March 29 in federal court in San Diego. Residents in some states can seek refunds only for vouchers sold after Aug. 22, 2010, according to the filing.

So resurrect those expired and forgotten Groupons!

I’ve personally never really had a problem with expiration dates, because the only reason I’d wait is if the service is too hard to book or if I don’t want the service. In that case, I’d just send a online message invoking the Groupon Promise of “If the experience using your Groupon ever lets you down, we’ll make it right or return your purchase. Simple as that.” I just ask for a refund, and have never been denied or even questioned.

Also, as a rule all Groupons never fall below the value of the purchase price, even after expiration. So if you buy a $30 Groupon for $15 at Bob’s BBQ Shack, it will still be worth $15 there even after expiration.

Don’t forget that you can save even more on your Groupons with cashback shopping sites like eBates ($10 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs.

Groupon Class Action Settlement: Use Your Expired Groupons from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

ChargeSmart is a bill payment service that allows you to pay many bills with a credit card that usually don’t accept such payments, including mortgages, auto loan, student loans, and utilities. Only participating vendors are eligible, but they seem to have signed up several large companies including Bank of America/Chase/Wells Fargo mortgages, Sallie Mae student loans, and Ally Financial auto loans. In general, it works with all Visa, MasterCard, and Discover branded cards.

Benefits

If you have a rewards credit card, this service gives you the ability earn cashback or frequent flier miles on more purchases. You’ll also be able to take advantage of your card’s grace period since you won’t have to pay up until your credit card bill is due (up to 45 days later depending on when you charge in the statement cycle). If you have a card with a introductory 0% APR on purchases, you could extend the interest-free period even longer.

Another side perk would be for $500+ credit card bonuses, where you use this service to meet the minimum spending requirements. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred with get you $500 in airfare after you spend $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. If you’re a little short, paying a 2-3% fee to reach that requirement is worth it since a $500 bonus on spending $3,000 is effectively 16.7% back. (You’ll also get 1.25% back on your purchases toward travel as rewards.)

Costs

In most cases, there is a fee involved that depends on the vendor. This may or may not be worth it to you, depending on how much you value your credit card points or miles. Here are a few special cases to consider.

Discover Utility Bill Fee Rebate
Currently, if you use a Discover card to pay a participating utility vendor, Discover will provide an instant rebate your Chargesmart fees. Paying my water bill would have otherwise cost me $16.40 for a $500 payment (3.28%), or $6.10 for $50 payment (12.2%). More good news is that you’ll still earn all the usual rewards that your Discover card offers. I like the Discover More card for their 5% back on rotating categories feature.

Hidden “Large Payment Security Fee”
You should be aware that their initial fee calculator can be somewhat misleading. I was trying to pay a test payment to a mortgage lender for $2,000, and was given a fee quote in Step 1 for $21.95, which was 1.1% of $2,000. Not bad, I thought, you can get 1.5% cash with something like the Capital One Cash Mastercard.

Step 2 is your address information, and Step 3 is your credit card information. So far so good. But in Step 4, they tacked on a “large payment security fee” which added another $25.71 to make the total fee amount $47.66, working out to 2.4% of $2,000. Trying out some different lenders, the final fee amount seems to always work out to about 2.4% for payments over $1,000 or so.

One last wrinkle… there’s a little box that tells me if I sign up to make this payment every month, I’ll get $10 off this first month’s payment. (You can cancel later.) That would make it $37.66 out of $2,000 or 1.88%. That makes it a little better, but not a screaming deal. But for meeting bonus requirements, a mortgage/auto loan/student loan payment is an easy way to charge something you need to pay anyway.

Pay Your Mortgage With a Credit Card Via ChargeSmart from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

Our #1 takeaway over the years was… nobody really uses budgeting. Everyone means to do it; Nobody really does it. The more important concept is cashflow. It doesn’t matter that you spent $200 on clothing this month or last month, what matters is at the end of the month, do you have more money than you spent.

So the guys in charge of the most popular budgeting software admit that… nobody budgets. Well, maybe not nobody but it’s probably safe to say that the great majority of people don’t track their spending monthly. This is an issue I’ve thought about many times. I often talk about budgeting, but I don’t really budget either.

Why is it so difficult? I point to recent books and research about willpower and how it is similar to a muscle. If we have to track every purchase, it causes us fatigue and sooner or later we give up because it becomes just too hard. Doing one push-up isn’t that hard. Doing a hundred push-ups in a row is another story.

The sheer number of choices we must make each day — what foods to eat, what products to buy, what information merits our attention, what tasks to prioritize — can be overwhelming. [...] Put simply, the more conscious willpower we have to exert each day, the less energy we have left over to resist our brain’s primitive and powerful pull to instant gratification. According to one study, we spend at least one-quarter of each waking day just trying to resist our desires — often unsuccessfully.

Behavioral psychology has also found that happiness is earning $60,000 a year. As Del Favero suggests, perhaps it’s because all we really want is to spend comfortably and at the end of the month have something left in the bank account. That number just happens to be about $60k in the US.

So what should the personal finance “experts” be pushing instead of budgeting tools that nobody will use? Here’s one possible plan of attack.

1. Determine a safe savings rate. What percentage of your salary do you need to save for retirement? The idea of a safe savings rate was introduced and researched by Wade Pfau, and varies based on the assumptions. 15% is a good minimum number to start with, although if you don’t want to work for 30 or 40 years you’ll have to save more.
2. Automate that savings. Automatic 401(k) or 403(b) deferrals are great, as well as automated contributions to Roth/Traditional IRAs. It’s best to have the money taken away before you even see it, so there is no temptation to spend. Every automation means one less decision.
3. Check your cashflow. Are you good? Then stop, and enjoy your life. Or do you still spend more than you earn, net of the automatic savings?
4. At first, skip the small things. Deciding not to get that coffee or not to order lunch with all your coworkers every day may exhaust more of your willpower than is worth it.
5. Instead, try attacking at least one BIG thing. Housing and cars are the biggest expenses for most people. Moving into a smaller or cheaper apartment or house. Move closer to town, sell a car, and use public transportation. Switch to a economical car and drive it for 10 years. Look for something you can cut once, albeit painfully. You may not like it initially, but it’s much easier to get used to that than to rely on repeated displays of willpower.

For example, a prospective college student with limited financial resources can choose to go to in-state university instead of private, as opposed to worrying about the price of every textbook and having to constantly choose between studying, socializing, or working at one of three part-time jobs on the side.

Why Everyone Means To, But Nobody Really Budgets from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

As a follow-up to my cash reserves post, I wanted to note that CIT Bank also has some very competitive rates on FDIC-insured CDs with added flexibility that makes them unique. They have a very simple website and appear to be focused on certificates of deposit, although they recently debuted a savings account with a 1.05% APY interest rate on balances above 25k.

Their Achiever CD has a current rate of 1.10% APY for 1-year term and 1.25% APY for the 2-year term with a $25,000 minimum opening deposit. The first unique feature is a “rate bump” option that allows to you raise your rate again in the future if the rate increases. The second unique feature is that you can add more money to your CD one time at any point you choose throughout the term.

You buy CDs to guarantee your rate won’t drop during the term. But these two features allow you added protection from rising rates in the future, and you already start with a competitive rate. You could match future rates, and move your other money over to match those rates as well. The primary limitation would be the higher minimum deposit requirement. Interest is compounded daily.

If you don’t have the $25,000 minimum, they also have their term CDs with a $1,000 minimum opening deposit. Those are paying 1.06% APY for 1-year term, 1.20% APY for 2-year, and 1.42% APY for 3-year. Those are nearly as good as the Achiever CD, but they don’t have the rate-bump and add-on features of the Achiever CD. The early withdrawal penalty is 3 months of interest for the 1-year CD, 6 months interest for the 2-year CD. A quick comparison table:

CIT Bank CDs With Rising Rate Protection (Rate Hike Update) from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

Here’s a resurrection of a great credit card offer that I took advantage of previously for those interested in some free travel. The Chase British Airways Visa Signature card is offering up to 100,000 British Airways (BA) Avois points for new cardmembers, broken down as following:

• 50,000 BA Avios points with first purchase of any amount,
• 25,000 BA Avios points after $10,000 in purchases within the first year of account opening, and
• 25,000 BA Avios points after an additional $10,000 in purchases, also within the first year of account opening

The card does have an annual fee of $95, which is not waived the first year. The card always earns 1.25 BA Avios points per dollar spent on all purchases (double that on British Airways purchases). Another perk is no foreign transaction fees, handy when traveling and saving you up to 3% off everything compared to cards that have the fee. It also has smart chip ID verification technology that is popular in Europe.

I took advantage of the last time this deal was around, and ended up flying around Europe completely in business class with fully lie-flat seats across the Atlantic Ocean. The 50k tier is best for spenders that can’t generate enough in purchases, but if you can spend $20k in a year, you’d end up with the 100,000 bonus points + 25,000 points from $20k in spending. What can you do with all those points?

Note: Avios points now have distance-based rewards. Recently, the official terminology changed from “miles” to “Avios points”. The reward chart is now based on how far you want to travel in terms of miles.

Redeem Avios points domestically on partner American Airlines. It’s usually much better to redeem points on their US partner American Airlines. For example, I can get from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii using only 25,000 Avios points roundtrip. I ran a quote in Fall and it cost $659 broken down to $621 fare and only $38 in taxes. So in this case you could save $621 in exchange for 25,000 points, which is 2.5 cents per point.

Shorter-distance flights can be a good deal as well. Roundtrip from Chicago to New York City is only 15,000 Avios points + about $30 in taxes.

Finding partner awards on BA.com was a huge headache for me. I recommend calling them at 1-800-452-1201 and paying the phone booking fee. It was worth it for me to find the exact flight I wanted, and in my case they even waived it for me since she said “you’d never be able to find this online” (which was true, but your mileage may vary). For research purposes, you can use AA.com and look for “Saver” awards which is what is available for redemption using BA points. But I still like booking over the phone and trying to get the fee waived since it can be impossible to do many partner awards online.

Redeem Avios points for business class to Europe. Since business class is so expensive, but the flight across the Atlantic is so long, redeeming points for business class tickets can be a good value as well. The taxes are still there, but they are a much smaller proportion and your trip will be so much more comfortable and truly an experience.

A roundtrip business class flight quote from New York City to London was $3,640, with $2,540 in fare and $1,100 in taxes. I could book the same award ticket for 80,000 Avios points plus $1,100 in taxes. Now we’re talking 3.2 cents per point.

Therefore I figured, why not use this card as an excuse to go to Europe in style, because I would never have done so otherwise. When booking my trip, I ended up calling in and getting a really nice customer service rep that used her tricks to nab me a combination of American and British Airways flights from my city to both London and Rome and back, all for under 100,000 miles. The flight was a first-time experience for me… priority check-in and boarding, first class lounges with showers and buffets, multi-course inflight meals, actually sleeping on seats that were fully flat, etc.

How not to use your miles. Don’t use Avios for a economy class transatlantic flight from USA to Europe, because you’ll still be subject to taxes and fees on award redemptions, which are often half the entire cost of the ticket. I ran a quick search for a random New York City (JFK) to London (LHR) flight that cost $1,050, the taxes and fees alone were $650. You can get the $400 “fare” for 40,000 Avios points, but that’s only 1 cent a point value.

Finally, you can also use partner airlines such as LAN Airlines or Cathay Pacific to get from the US to both Asia and South America on business class for 100,000 Avios or less.

Finally, if you can manage to spend $30,000 a year on the card, you can even earn a 2-for-1 Travel Together Ticket good for two years when you redeem for a flight on British Airways. With the Travel Together Ticket, you can bring a companion on your next reward flight without using any additional Avios points. Fees and taxes do still apply, but the voucher is valid to any destination and includes first/business class. Another family tip is that you are allowed to pool miles between multiple people in a “household account” to make redemptions easier. So you, your spouse/partner, and other relatives can share points.

(This was actually done x2 for Mrs. MMB and we traveled together. We householded accounts and that way I could redeem flights for both of us. It worked well because we could all book tickets together on the same flight all at once and only talking to one person over the phone.)

Chase British Airways Visa Signature card application link

British Airways Credit Card – New 100,000 Mile Bonus & Redemption Tips from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

In the May 2012 issue, Consumer Reports ran their scientific lab tests on 25 different varieties of toilet paper (subscription required for full article) to find the best combination of price, softness, strength, disintegration, and tearing ease.

The findings? First, the hidden shrinkage by retail brands that we’ve seen in various products like orange juice cartons (59 oz. instead of 64 oz.) has spread to toilet paper. Sheets have been made smaller, and rolls are smaller as well. The right way to calculate value is by square feet, but who does that?

The top overall pick was the White Cloud 3-Ply Ultra Soft and Thick brand sold at Wal-mart, which performed well in all categories while maintaining a good price of 25 cents per 100 sheets. The cheapest Scott brand (1,000 sheets per roll!) performed poorly and cost 8 cents per sheet. But if you’re having to use three times the sheets, who cares?

The top green pick was the Seventh Generation brand, which is made from recycled content and did alright in most areas except strength but still had a good price of 22 cents per 100 sheets.

My beloved Charmin Ultra Soft came in 6th, done in by a poor showing in disintegration tests and higher-than-average cost. But wait. The 30-roll megapack at Costco is usually $17.99. Every few months the coupon packet has a $2 off coupon, which is the only time I buy it. Each “Jumbo” roll has 231 double-ply sheets, which works out to after-coupon cost of only 23 cents per 100 sheets. The quoted retail price in Consumer Reports is 41 cents per 100 sheets. I rarely shop at Wal-mart, so it seems that my toilet paper buying habits are still within acceptable frugal parameters.

Consumer Reports Ratings: Best Value in… Toilet Paper? from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

Food on the Table is a meal planning service that tries to link the foods on sale at your local grocery store with recipe ideas to help you plan your shopping and cooking. They have a free trial, but right now if you sign up with promo code MAYFREE you’ll get their “premium” service free for life. There is a free iPhone/Android companion app so you’ll have a shopping list while you’re in the store. The main complaint seems to be that some stores aren’t covered, but my local Safeway store was. The site seems like a work in progress, but it’s an interesting idea.

Free Meal Planning Service Membership – Food on the Table from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

What is the best place to lower your interest rates and consolidate credit card debt in order to pay it all off? The first thing to try is to call up your credit card company and negotiate your existing rate down. If that isn’t satisfactory, you could switch issuers and do a balance transfer to a new card with a low introductory rate. If you have qualifying credit, you can take advantage of no fee 0% APR balance transfer offers for up to 15 months.

I would say the next option to consider is P2P lending, which in my experience has lower rates than personal unsecured loans from banks. P2P is gradually becoming an accepted source of loans as shown by announcements of new institutional money coming in from hedge funds. Prosper has been around since 2006 and has done over $300 million in loan volume since inception, and LendingClub has been around since 2007 with over $500 million in loans. Both are now registered with the SEC.

Prosper vs. LendingClub Similarities

1. Unsecured loans. Such loans are backed only by the borrower’s promise. If there is a default, the lender can’t repossess any property or garnish wages. The primary deterrent to defaults is a poor credit score that will increase future borrowing costs and potentially other side effects including affecting employment.

   Alternatively, you may be considering paying off your credit card debt with a home equity loan. This would change your unsecured debt into a secured debt. The danger is now if you don’t pay off that loan, you could lose your house. If that added risk doesn’t make a difference to you, then a home equity loan or line of credit will probably offer you a lower rate.

2. Flexible amounts. You can borrow more or less than your actual outstanding credit card balance, and you’re usually given a choice of amounts for the same interest rate. But remember, the purpose of consolidation is to help speed up the process of getting rid of that debt.
3. Fixed rates over the entire term. The problem with credit cards is that the rates are often unpredictable. “Variable” rates are linked to a benchmark rate, but even “fixed” rates that aren’t guaranteed for X months can just mean they’re fixed until you get a notice that they are now “fixed” at a new, higher number. Given the current low interest rate environment, you should be wary of rising rates.
4. No prepayment penalties. You can pay off your loan early at any time, with no fees.
5. No application fee. There is no fee to apply for a loan. If your loan successfully funds and you get the cash, then you will be subject to an origination fee that is rolled into your monthly payments.

Prosper vs. LendingClub Differences

1. Minimum credit scores. Prosper minimum stated credit score is 640, LendingClub minimum FICO score is 660.
2. Maximum loan amounts. Prosper maximum loan amount is $25,000, LendingClub maximum loan amount is now $35,000. Both lower the limits depending on credit profile.
3. Slightly different fee structures. Both companies charge an origination (closing) fee once you successfully get your loan. If you don’t get the loan, no fees. They have slightly different fees schedule, but both have origination fees ranging from about 1% to 5% for the majority of loans. Both charge $15 fees for late payments or failed payments.
4. Different loan term lengths. Depending on your requested loan amount and other factors, each lender may offer different terms. For example, LendingClub told me that loan amounts from $1,000 to $15,975 are only available with a 36-month term, even though they do offer 1-year and 5-year loans in other cases. However, with a $10,000 loan at Prosper I was given the choice of 1, 3, or 5-year terms. In general, the longer the term, the higher the interest rate.
5. Check processing fees. LendingClub charges a $15 processing fee per payment made by check. Prosper does not. Both companies allow you to make payments via automatic ACH withdrawal from a checking account with no fees.

Prosper vs. LendingClub Interest Rates?

Their full criteria for determining what rate you’ll pay is not disclosed but is based on a number of factors. Really, the best way to see which one will give you the best deal is to ask each one for a free quote. In both cases, getting a rate quote will involve looking at your credit report, but it will not result in a credit inquiry and will not hurt your credit score. If you do decide to move forward and get the loan, only then it will show up on your credit report.

• Request a free rate quote from LendingClub.
• Request a free rate quote from Prosper.

My experience. I applied for a $10,000 debt consolidation loan at both places. I was offered a 1-year loan at 8.17%, a 3-year loan at 7.49%, or a 5-year loan at 10.85% annual interest rates at Prosper. I was offered a 3-year loan at LendingClub at 6.62% interest rate. For a $10,000 loan over 3-years and including all fees, my LendingClub payment was $307 per month and Prosper payment was $311 per month. So even though the interest rates seem rather different, the final monthly payments ended up closer than expected (though still a $150 difference in total payments over the whole 3 years).

Prosper vs. LendingClub: Credit Card Debt Consolidation Loan Comparison from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

If you wrote a book about investing and wanted some big-name endorsements, you couldn’t do much better than this – The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks has recommendations from Warren Buffett, Jeremy Grantham, Jack Bogle, Joel Greenblatt, and Seth Klarman.

Howard Marks is already famous around many investment circles for his Client Memos as the chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, although not as well-known as Buffett’s shareholder letters. This book is basically a distillation of those memos into book form. Here are my personal notes.

Efficient Markets
Marks is an active investor, and this book is about successfully generate excess turns (alpha). Some people seem to think that “efficient markets” is black and white – either you believe in the Easter Bunny or you don’t. Market prices are completely perfect or investing is purely skill. This book helps you view market efficiency as a continuum. Beating the market by trading large-cap common stocks which are following by thousands of professionals is exceedingly hard. Oaktree Capital chooses to focus on what he perceives as less efficient markets – things like convertible securities and high-yield debt from distressed companies (“junk bonds”).

Developing your own investment philosophy
I enjoyed this quote:

Where does an investment philosophy come from? The one thing I’m sure of is that no one arrives on the doorstep of an investment career with his or her philosophy fully formed. A philosophy has to be the sum of many ideas accumulated over a long period of time from a variety of sources. One cannot develop an effective philosophy without having been exposed to life’s lessons

Quality vs. Price
The title of the book is a bit misleading, as there is no single “most important thing”. Basically each chapter is an expansion of one or more of his memos and it titled “The Most Important Thing is… XXX”. However, an overarching theme of the book is about risk control. I’ve already written about higher risk vs. higher investment return.

A related idea is that people tend to think of investments only in terms of quality. Strong companies vs. struggling companies. Highly-rated bonds vs. Lower-rated bonds. Strong developed countries vs. Weaker emerging countries. But what’s important is the price. A high-quality company can be a high-risk or low-risk investment, depending on what price you pay for it. A junk bond can be a high-risk or low-risk investment, depending on what price you pay for it.

Cycles
Marks strongly believes in the recurrence of cycles. One side of the pendulum occurs when people seems think that there are minimal risks, either because of recent history or some new invention that eliminates risk (CDOs?). Often, the only worry remaining is that we’ll miss out on the opportunity for great returns. The other side of the pendulum is when uncertainty is everywhere. Here, people say things like “I’m staying out of the market until the dust settles.” This reminded me of a chart I pulled out a lot during the housing bubble:

If you’re going to pick a time to invest, it’s better when people are scared, because at least they are properly considering all the potential risks. It should be scary and uncomfortable. He reminds you, as Charlie Munger says, “It’s not supposed to be easy.” If you wait until the dust has settled, there won’t be great prices anymore.

Illuminated-only Bonus Chapter: Reasonable Expectations
This is good reminder about having a clear goal as to what you want to achieve with your portfolio, but also to keep that goal within reason:

The key questions are what your return goal is, how much risk you can tolerate, and how much liquidity you’re likely to require in the interim.

Extraordinary skill is rare. When someone else promises returns “too good to be true”, the next question to ask is “why me?” If they found a can’t miss investment opportunity, why are they sharing this with you? If some talking head on TV makes a bold prediction, why aren’t they busy betting their net worth on the outcome? With today’s complex derivatives and betting markets, they should be rich and sunning themselves on a yacht instead.

Recap
Even though I am primarily a low-cost, buy, hold, & rebalance type of investor, I felt this book still provided me with new information for my own evolving investing philosophy. Creating alpha is not easy, and most people who try to do so consistently fail, so you should be very careful and realistic when assessing your own skills. I’ll be sure to read his future memos. Thankfully, they can be found at the Oaktree Capital website, free and available to all.

The Most Important Thing Illuminated by Howard Marks (Book Review) from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

You may know that John Bogle is the founder of Vanguard, now one of the largest fund organizations in the world and a pioneer in low-cost index funds. But what I really like about his books is his focus on common sense as the foundation for his advice. An example of this is his Gotrocks parable [pdf] adapted from Buffett. But back to this excerpt. He first points out how stock dividends have been a good way to create an income stream over the long run that grows faster than inflation.

Of course, by investing in common stocks you assume the risk that dividends will decline during periods of recession or depression [...] What is truly remarkable is that the record of dividend payments by U.S. corporations heavily favors rising dividends over declining dividends, almost irrespective of prevailing business conditions.

Here’s a chart of the historical S&P 500 annual dividend, inflation-adjusted. (Note this is absolute dividend, not dividend yield percentage.)

Image credit to Multpl.com, data from S&P and Shiller

Now, the problem is that you can also pay too much for dividends. He shares an example of how if you were comparing the dividend income from a diversified stock portfolio yielding 3% and growing at 6% annually or a long-term bond yielding 7% each year, it would take 26 years for the dividend income to total the bond income payments.

Unfortunately, defining what constitutes too high a price for dividends is a fallible exercise, one that must take into account not only the average historical valuations for stocks but the current valuations for other investment alternatives as well. History suggests that stocks are relatively expensive when the price paid for $1 of dividends is above $30 (i.e., a yield of 3.3%) and relatively cheap when the price paid is less than $20 (a yield of 5%). However, stocks may well be attractive at a yield of, say, 3.5% if there are compelling reasons to assume that their dividends will increase rapidly or if yields on other classes of financial assets are relatively unattractive.

In the example shown in Figure 2-5, buying a portfolio of stocks at a 3% yield rather than a bond at a 7% yield might not be a sensible investment, especially considering the incremental risk incurred in holding stocks. When stocks yield 4.5% and bonds yield 6%, that may be quite another story.

What would Bogle say right now, when the S&P 500 yield is ~2% and 30-year Treasury bonds are ~3%? The relative difference between the stock yield and the bond yield is less than 1%. I would argue that his last sentence would suggest stocks are actually preferred over other classes at this point.

Now, I’m not turning in a stock bull, and I still have about 70% stocks and 30% bonds in my portfolio, but this line of thinking makes me happier with my 70% in stocks. I’ve also been looking more at living off of dividend income in “early retirement”.

Bogle on Earning Dividend Income From Stocks from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

US Government Budget Breakdown: 50 Years Ago vs. Today from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

SmartMoney 2012 Top 10 Overall

1. Fidelity
2. Scottrade
3. TD Ameritrade
4. E-Trade
5. Schwab
6. TradeKing
7. Zecco
8. Merrill Edge
9. ING Direct Sharebuilder
10. WellsTrade

Best in Commission & Fees Category (5 stars)

Scottrade doesn’t have a rock-bottem per-trade commission at $7 a trade, but it’s lower than average and they still win overall due to lower fees elsewhere – such as annual fees, inactivity fees, fees to use a phone, or close out an account.

1. Scottrade
2. ING Direct Sharebuilder

Best in Customer Service Category (4 stars+)

One important factor here was speed of reply in addition to accuracy, and per the article all of the brokers surveyed now offer Live Chat online except for WellsTrade. I think TradeKing was the first to offer this feature?

1. TradeKing ($50 opening bonus link)
2. Scottrade
3. E-Trade
4. Zecco

Trends

• Prices are still dropping, although more slowly. SmartMoney reports that in 1994 the average commission price surveyed was $28. Last year, $8.27. This year, only $7.96. Note that every single one of their top 10 brokers have per-trade stock commissions of under $10. I suppose anything higher would just seem greedy now.
• Banking. More firms are adding banking features like debit cards and billpay to make it more likely that you’ll keep all your money there, joining firms like Merrill Lynch (Bank of America) and WellsTrade (Wells Fargo) which are already closely aligned and owned by big banks.
• Smartphone and iPad apps. These are indeed cool, but the brokers really love them because they increase your trade activity.

Omissions

SmartMoney mentions the the Merrill Edge BofA deal, where you can get 30 free trades a month if you hold a combined $25,000 as cash in your *deposit* accounts only at Bank of America. However, they don’t mention the WellsTrade deal which offers 100 free trades a year if you hold a combined $25k across acounts including your brokerage balance, but instead requires a PMA checking account that you have to keep active with “in-person” activity like writing a physical check at least once a year.

WellsTrade and Zecco enter the top 10 this year, but Vanguard and OptionsXpress were bumped out. Vanguard was #7 in their 2011 rankings. There was no mention of what happened… I’d like to know if they were notably worse in some area or were simply excluded? OptionsXpress was bought by Schwab last year, but still runs an independent site.

Finally, there was no mention of the quantity and quality of the commission-free ETF lists offered by the majority of these brokers. If anything, I thought that was more important to mention than smartphone apps that scan product barcodes at the grocery store.

Finding The Best Broker For You

Don’t forget to compare these results with the Consumer Reports 2012 Rankings and the Barron’s 2012 Rankings. The key is to drill down to see which broker satisfies your personal set of needs the best, as there is a lot of fluff in there. This is why I’d rather look at specific sub-rankings more closely than the big headline “Top 10″ rankings.

Take the “Banking” category, which included as a criteria but some brokers just don’t offer banking services and I don’t think they should be penalized for it. Another area I don’t care about is “Research” tools. I’ve ever used a broker for research. Morningstar offers me everything that I need, otherwise I just look at Google/Yahoo quotes and look for related news and blog articles. I don’t see how a discount broker would have the time or resources for unique analysis. Just give me cheap trades with good fills, solid customer service when I need it, and track my capital gains and tax lots accurately.

SmartMoney Magazine Top Online Broker Rankings 2012 from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

I’ve never had a security system until now, other than our dogs which are all bark and no bite. I suppose the main reason for that is that I didn’t own enough property to be worth protecting. Burglars could take everything and it would perhaps fetch $600 total on Craigslist, which is less than what a year of ADT monitoring fees might cost.

Combine the baby nesting instinct with a rash of recent break-ins in our quiet neighborhood, and my mindset has changed. I wanted a home security system, but I didn’t want to pay $60 or even $30 a month for monitoring. The monthly bill is where companies make most of their profit. $60 a month = $720 a year = $7,200 over a decade.

After some research, we settled on a company called Simplisafe. Here’s a list of reasons why we chose it:

• Wireless. Simplisafe uses GSM cellular technology, which means you don’t need a landline (which can also easily be cut by a criminal). Wireless monitoring was a requirement for me, and usually costs extra with other brands.
• Affordable up-front cost. The total cost of equipment was about $400 to completely cover my 2,000 sq. ft. house. You could probably cover an apartment or condo for $200-$300.
• DIY Installation. You order it, and install it yourself using the included 3M sticky tape. No drilling holes. Installation literally took less than half an hour. (Their YouTube video has it done in one minute.) If I moved, I just remove the sensors and buy some new sticky pads for $10.
• Affordable monitoring fee with no contract. Again, the monthly fee is where your cost over time adds up, and you’re usually stuck in a 2 or 3-year contract. Simplisafe 24/7 monitoring is only $15 a month with no contract. You can add instant text message alerts for an optional $5 a month. That’s is pretty much as cheap as UL-listed monitoring will cost. If you prefer, you don’t have to buy monitoring at all and you’ll just have a loud audible alarm (you can also buy extra sirens) which may be adequate for condos and apartments.
• Battery-powered. The base station has a rechargeable battery that will last up to 8 hours in a power outage. All the rest of the sensors use their own individual lithium battery. This means the entire system will work in a power outage or if the power is cut on purpose.
• Expandable. Everything is a la carte on the website, so you buy just as many sensors as you need. They recommend a contact sensor for each entry into the house, and motion sensors to cover important areas.
• UL-listed 24/7 Monitoring. On a cheap system, I imagined the monitoring system to be two minimum-wage employees taking turns in an apartment. But Simplisafe is certified by United Laboratories just like ADT and commercial fire alarm systems. Central station monitoring is provided by AMCEST Corporation (UL #S2299). This may also make you eligible for a discount on your homeowners or renters insurance.

Also see short write-ups in NY Times and CNN Money.

I’m happy with the system, and it’s been in use for over 30 days. I often forget to disarm the system before I get home, so when I get home I get warning beeps and have to enter the PIN into the keypad or use the key fob within 30 seconds. If I didn’t, they would call a listed phone number and ask for the secret passphrase, otherwise they would call the police. I don’t see how anyone could enter the house and take something valuable without setting off at least one sensor and having the police within a minute along with a loud alarm. Even if someone breaks in and immediately breaks the base station, the signal is already sent. When you’re at home, there is a “Home” setting where the contact sensors are armed but the motion sensors are not. We also purchased a “panic” button to place by your bedside for instant alarm activation.

I would say that one thing I’m worried about is that I am depending on the system to tell me if/when the individual lithium batteries run out of juice. But the base station makes a little beep whenever one of the sensors is set off, so you know it’s still working. The lithium batteries are supposed to last 5 years. I also do not get video monitoring. I could buy an additional DVR setup from Costco for a one-time cost, but I’m really not interested in that much surveillance. Finally, depending on your area you may need to file for a security system permit with a small fee.

For now, I’m paying the extra $5 a month since I like getting text messages whenever the system is armed and unarmed. You’ll also get an alert if there is a power outage or any sensor is set off. I might get rid of it once the cool factor wears off and I trust the system more.

You can get 5% off a Simplisafe system with code SAFENOW or $25 off with code LM25OFF (better unless your total is over $500).

Note: I bought the original Simplisafe. They just announced Simplisafe 2.0 for pre-order which has a few more features like a smartphone app and fancier sensors like glass breakage and carbon monoxide. The basic setup and technology is still the same, but you need the 2.0 base station to take advantage of the new features. However, the 2.0 costs $25 a month, so I’m sticking with the original for $15 a month.

If you already have a home security system, I would recommend looking into switching to a cheaper UL-listed monitoring service once you are out of contract like NextAlarm.

Simplisafe Alarm Review: Cheap, Effective DIY Home Security from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

Here’s a chart of the historical mortgage rate averages, courtesy of HSH.com. It includes the 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed, and the 5/1 30-year adjustable. Since I bought my home less than 5 years ago, 30-year fixed mortgage rates have ranged from a high of 7% to just above 4% today.

Even though I stopped trying to predict mortgage rates a while ago, I still find it hard to believe that I started with an interest rate of over 6% and now could be paying under 3% with a no-cost refi.

Alternative investments
If I successfully close on this loan, I don’t know if I’ll be aggressively paying it down as much as before. It’s important to note that the risk levels are not the same for the options below, but the interest rate environment is finally tipping to the point that I’d consider investing instead of paying off 3% debt.

• I could buy super-safe US Treasury bonds, with yields at ~2.2% for a 15-year maturity. Interest on Treasury bonds are exempt from state income taxes.
• I could buy a municipal bond fund like the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund (VWIUX), which invests in investment-grade municipal bonds. The fund holdings have a duration of about 5 years and yields nearly 2% federally tax-exempt. If you’re in the highest tax bracket, that would be an effective yield of ~3%.
• If I lived in California, I could buy shares of the Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund (VCITX) with 2.60% yield that is exempt from both federal and state income taxes, with a duration of 6.4 years. That could be an effective yield of well over 4%.
• I could take on more risk and buy shares of mature, dividend-paying companies. The Vanguard Equity Income Fund (VEIRX) has a current dividend yield of nearly 3%.

I’m going through a local mortgage broker, but you can find similar rates over at Amerisave. If the “all lender fees and points” is negative, that means the credit they give you is more than all closing costs including appraisals and title insurance. (Anyone use them before?) Compare that with rate quotes from and Quicken Loans.

What’s The Record For Multiple Mortgage Refinances Within a Short Period? from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

After an interesting conversation about how vegetarians often have different motivations (religious, ethical, environmental, amongst others), I thought about the many driving forces that can result in frugality.

Purely Financial
Let’s start hypothetically, and say that all you care about is money and you cut expenses purely because you would rather invest that dollar and have it produce income for you. You could move into a smaller house, buy a fuel-efficient car, walk or use public transportation instead of driving when possible, make dinner from scratch at home instead of ordering dinner at the restaurant, and cancel the cable TV service. But if you won the lottery tomorrow, you’d drive your Hummer everywhere, eat at Morton’s Steakhouse once a week, and subscribe to everything from ESPN to HBO and add in the 5-DVD Netflix plan to top it all off.

Environmental / Green
But wait, you are rather concerned about preserving natural resources, so perhaps you’d still walk a little more and buy a fuel-efficient car. A smaller house would probably use up less electricity and heating oil as well. Using raw ingredients to cook uses less wasteful packaging made of plastic and styrofoam.

Simplicity / Minimalism
If you want to reduce chaos and clutter in your life, then you may still have a reason to move into a smaller home since that’ll force you to get rid of some extra things. Do you really need a big car, or is a hatchback or station wagon enough? Hey, the Europeans make do, as gas costs $10 a gallon there.

Physical Health
Walking or biking is much healthier than driving, so you won’t need that Hummer as much. Medical studies have shown that the more time you spend sitting, the shorter your lifespan, so you don’t want to be that TV-watching couch potato.

Self-Empowerment
Sure, you could pay someone to cook your food, but wouldn’t you feel great if you knew how to brine a turkey, make your own beer, or grow your own vegetables? This might also apply to whatever other skills you want to pick up. Home repair, appliance repair, auto repair, landscaping, investing…

Religious / Philanthropic
The sooner you reach financial independence, the sooner you can start giving more back to society and serving others instead of trying to make money.

So in the end, you could be the same person, with or without a big pile of money. (Maybe not. I’d get some cool toys.) A more practical idea would be to use these other motivations to make saving money more appealing. You’re not buying a compact car because you’re cheap, you’re being minimalistic and environmentally conscious. You’re not skipping Olive Garden because you’re broke, you’re doing it because you know how to can make your own risotto at home that’s even better. Find a different (higher?) cause. (The extra thousands of dollars growing in your brokerage account won’t hurt either.)

Use Multiple Motivations For Frugality: Environmental, Simplicity, Health, Spiritual, Philanthropy from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.

• 6% cash back on purchases at supermarkets
• 3% cash back on gas and department store purchases
• and 1% cash back on everything else.
• 6% back on Amazon gift certificates bought via supermarkets. Finally, don’t forget that you can buy a lot of nice gift cards at popular stores at supermarkets – I’ve seen Home Depot, Best Buy, Macy’s, Sears, and various gas stations and even Amazon.com. (Update: Confirmed to work for Amazon gift cards bought at Safeway stores. I bought it in along with other grocery purchases.)

In addition, there is now a $150 welcome bonus for new cardholders when you spend $1,000 or more within your first 3 months. The card has a $75 annual fee, but keep in mind that spending $25 a week on groceries, that 6% back will earn enough cash ($78) to pay for the annual fee by itself. The Blue Cash Preferred also has 0% APR interest on purchases for 12 months.

The regular Blue Cash Everyday(SM) Card from American Express gives you $100 cash back bonus after spending $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months, pays 3% cash back on purchases at supermarkets, 2% cash back on gas and department store purchases, and 1% cash back on everything else and has no annual fee.

If you spend less than a combination of $175 per month on groceries and $100 on gas per month, then the Blue Cash Everyday would give you more money back overall. Otherwise, the Preferred above works out better. Both cards offer the simplicity of cash back on the major “need” categories of groceries and gas, great for those that don’t like dealing with rotating categories or don’t travel very much.

If you get some sort of application error, you should try clearing your cookies or using the Private Browsing or Incognito option in your web browser. This worked for me to see the application page.

Blue Cash Preferred(SM) Card from American Express Card application link

Blue Cash Preferred from American Express Review: $150 Bonus + 6% Back on Groceries from My Money Blog.

© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2012.