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.

Enrolled in Keep the Change? Buying stuff from Amazon.com? Well, I figured that Amazon lets you buy gift certificates in whatever amount you wish above $5. So naturally I bought a gift certificate for $5.01 with my Bank of America Check Card. $0.99 match = 20% off. Order gift certificates 1 at a time. Gift certificates CAN be stacked. Just add the to your account and you have 18 months to use em. Read the terms on that, I’m not quite suire on the amount.

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.

I love free after rebate deals, especially easy ones. Last month I did a deal for some symantec software that was free after rebate. After hearing all those rebate horror stories I was a bit nervous but Symantec’s rebates on their Norton products are great I’ve heard. I spent $150 total on two software packages and a month later after submitting the rebates, $150 in rebates actually came!

Here are some tips for people that are interested in FAR deals:
1. Photocopy EVERYTHING. Please, please, please remember this one. One of the rebate submissions, I got an e-mail from Symantec saying it was the wrong UPC code. I called them up and the rep asked if I had a photocopy of the items. Luckily I scanned everything and read the UPC number to him. The rebate came two weeks later.

2. Read the terms & condition carefully. Read everything and make sure you follow all the requirements. If they tell you to circle your item on the copy of the sales receipt, then remember to circle it!

3. Don’t procrastinate. If you miss deadlines you will be ineligible for the rebates.

The next free after rebate deal I am pursuing is Norton Antivirus – 3 user pack from Buy.com. Details of the deal are listed here.

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

Have you ever looked in an old coat pocket and found a couple bills and felt really good?

Well, today I got a letter from my brokerage that manages my Roth IRA account. I signed up over a year and a half ago and stashed all my earnings from a part-time job into that account. I totally forgot I had this account.

Calculating this account into my current net worth bumps me up $2000

The only sad part is that this account is only up 7.5% since inception and a couple months ago it was up around 20%. That market correction took a chunk out but I’m glad I’m still showing positive gains. I’m just glad I remembered it exists.

Why a roth IRA you ask? Since my income bracket is so low it made a lot of sense to contribute to a roth since the dollars are taxed now and when you withdraw after you’re 59.5 years old it’s tax-free. This is opposed to contributing pre-tax dollars now and getting taxed later when withdrawing.

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.

I saw something new at McDonald’s (MCD) yesterday. Apparently they are offering Coke Floats. I think the locations that offer this vary since it does not seem a nationwide item yet or maybe never. The McDonald’s I went to yesterday was on Canal St. in Manhattan. It was so hot yesterday I had to get one. The float comes in a hard plastic “collectible” Coca-Cola cup. I thought this was a genius idea on McDonald’s part. They already offer Coca-Cola and vanilla ice cream seperately. The only new cost to them would probably be these new cups they are using and maybe a couple minutes to “train” an employee on how to make a float.

The McDonalds by my house doesn’t offer them yet. Sigh. It’s so hot outside.

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.

Every sector of the market seems to be taking a hit lately. Most people are supposedly fearing inflation which is suppose to explain why they’re dumping everything. However, things that are suppose to be inflation hedges, like oil and gold stocks are getting dumped also (and their prices show it). I believe the overall panic is creating irrational behavior and now is the perfect time to pick up some oil and gold stocks since they’re technically “on sale” if you are in the market for them.

I, however, don’t have any money.