Endless Gibberish

HSBC Direct has yet another rate increase. It’s at 5.05% according to the e-mail I recieved. I still believe it’s fool’s money. The bank is never a great investment vehicle.

Taxes will take approximately 1.5% of that 5% and inflation eats up the rest. Your real gain is basically 0%. It’s great place to stash funds that’ll keep up with inflation, but don’t think it as a real investment vehicle.

Disclosures:
Here are my current holdings. It’s about time I discuss them.

Bank of America (BAC)
Price bought: $44.55
Current Price: $48.17
This was one of my “safe” picks that I believed would perform well with relatively low risk. The stock pays a healthy dividend which I believe they will maintain and maybe even increase in the foreseeable future. I bought this stock 7/26/05 so I’m very close to having owned this stock for a year. If I choose to sell at $48.55 that’ll be $4 or 9% in capital gains plus 4.5% yield in dividends in one year. Pretty decent for a “safe” pick I think.

Bank of America looks like a complete opposite view to this high risk strategy. However you do need some sort of balance. Also, I believe Bank of America’s is done growing in the US, however international growth is an area Bank of America can grow in.

Weddings are great and wonderful occasions. Who doesn’t like the celebration of two people in love? Broke people. That’s who. Is it worth it though?

Most times when people hear the word wedding they think a number of things: “How nice!”, “Why am I still single?”, and “$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$“. Red because it’s expenses, expenses, expenses. The people that probably incur the most expenses are the ones funding the wedding. Everyone attending the wedding also spends a fair amount of money in plane tickets (if applicable), new clothing, etc. etc.

It’s my brother is getting married. I know he doesn’t care much on what gift I get him however it’s just not fun being able to only afford one of the lowest priced items in his registry at Crate & Barrel. The other part is I’m splitting the gifts with my girlfriend.

$39.99 (item price) + $11.37 (taxes and shipping) = $51.56 Not bad so far.

I also decided to pick up some “Just Married’ flip-flops because I think they’re downright cool. These are normal flip-flops except they have “Just Married” imprinted in the soles so when you walk on the beach they leave the imprints behind. FYI they’ll be honeymooning in places with lots of beaches.

$4.99 (White for her) + $4.99 (Black for him) + $12.02 (insane shipping and handling charge) = $22.00 Personally I think they threw in the $.02 so they could have easy number accounting.

So far, not that bad. It’s a wedding right?

Then here comes the tuxedo. The shop where my brother is having it done is charging $130 per rental for all the groomsmen.

I haven’t paid for the tux yet so I don’t know if taxes are applicable.

Parking in manhattan for that day. $20 for the morning ceremony, I’m guessing it’ll be another $20 for the reception parking unless they validate.

It’s a lot of money for a person in my standing, but it’s okay. My point is, weddings, like christmas, valentine’s day, promote irrational spending. I wouldn’t normally spend this much money in a given week. My expenses per week are probably about $100 tops.

Anyone interest in a $50 Sharebuilder bonus? Great for people that just want to invest whole dollar amounts. Clicky

Whenever I talk to people, they always tell me the Bank of America Keep the Change program is a waste of time. It’s too hard to earn $250. I’m always puzzled by this. You don’t HAVE to earn the whole $250 and it’s money you’re already going to spend. This is just a higher cashback % on most small purchases. I deliberately make seperate purchases at McDonalds and etc whenever I can to try to get the whole $250 in match. However, most people who just use the card on small purchases should easily rack up $100 match in 3 months.

Not worth it? If your purchase at McDonalds was $3.50, you’d get $0.50 in match which is essentially 14% cashback. $3.01? Approximately 33% cashback right there.

Okay, I’ll be honest, I’m a bit desperate for money. I’m going to offer half the referral bonus I get if you join using my referral on top of the sign-up bonus you already get. So if you haven’t opened any of these accounts yet, do so now, there’s a bigger incentive to do it.

ING Direct
E-mail me with your full name for a referral
ING Direct offers a $25 bonus with $250 initial deposit. No minimum balance or inactivity fees.
I get $10 for referring someone so I’m offering $5 on top of your sign-up bonus. $30 total for you.

Virtual Bank
E-mail me with your full name for a referral
Savings account, VB offers a $20 sign-up bonus with an initial $100 deposit.
I get $20 for referring someone so I’m offering $10 on top of your bonus. $30 total for you.

Unwired Buyer
E-mail me with your first name for a referral.
You get $20 for signing up and trying this free service. I wrote about my experience here. Probably one of the easiest $20 you’ll make in your life.
I get $5 for referring someone so I’m offering $2.50 for you. $22.50 total for you.

All cash will be sent through PayPal and will be fee free regardless of what kind of Paypal account you have.