Kiva is allowing people to experience micro finance loaning without incurring any risk. They’ll give you $25 to loan out to any entrepreneur you desire. You’ll get to experience the entire loaning process and see if charitable loaning is for you.
Check out the Kiva $25 free trial.
Recently while checking my bank account balances I noticed that the balance on my savings account labeled “emergency fund” was over $3,300. This was a bit of a surprised because I had for the most part forgotten about this account.
So how did I accumulate over $3,300 in an account that I forgot about? The trick is regular deposits using automatic transfers. A little over two years ago I decided I should start putting money away for an emergency. I decided that a contribution of $25 per week was something I could easily do without putting much strain on my finances. The automated transfer part is key though.
Week after week I’d notice the $25 debit from my checking account to a savings account at another bank when reviewing my transactions but didn’t think much of it. Periodically I’d check in on my high yield savings account and notice that I’d pass milestones of $1k, $2k and now $3k.
$3.3k isn’t enough to cover a big emergency but for my current situation it’s a pretty good safety net. The transfers still occur weekly so the emergency fund is still growing but if a situation occurred that exhausted the money I figure I could still liquidate some investments.
The lesson here is small regular consistent deposits will add up to a sizable amount over time. So if you’re looking to build a 10k or so emergency fund, set up automated deposits and you’ll get there in no time.
I got an e-mail that effectively ends the deal where you could rack up free credit card spending by purchasing dollar coins at face value and free shipping.
Here’s the e-mail:
Dear United States Mint Direct Ship Customer:
The United States Mint has eliminated the credit and debit card purchase of $1 Coins through its Direct Ship Program effective July 20, 2011. Customers who wish to purchase $1 coins through the Direct Ship Program can still do so by using a wire transfer, money order or check. Customers who wish to purchase the coins by wire transfer may fax their order to (202)756-6585. Customers interested in purchasing by money order or check may do so by submitting your request in writing to the following address:
.
United States Mint
PO Box 71192
Philadelphia, PA 19176-6192Please download the order form which includes wire transfer information and follow the instructions provided on the form. http://www.usmint.gov/
downloads/directShip/orderform
If you currently have an open $1 coin Direct Ship order placed with the United States Mint, that order will be cancelled. Please resubmit your order by wire transfer, check or money order using the order form. The Mint has determined that this policy change is prudent due to ongoing activity by individuals purchasing $1 coins with credit cards, accumulating frequent flyer miles, and then returning coins to local banks. Local banks, in turn, return coins to the Federal Reserve. While not illegal, this activity is a clear abuse and misuse of the program which was intended to facilitate the use of $1 coins in cash transactions.The Mint has undertaken several aggressive internal and external actions to mitigate this issue, including restricting chronic and repeated use of credit cards, contacting customers who frequently placed large numbers of orders to ensure they were using the coins for legitimate business purchases, and other measures. While these efforts eliminated a significant amount of misuse in the program, we believe some abuse still exists. Eliminating the credit and debit card purchase of the $1 coin is the next step in our efforts to root out abuse in this program and ensure it is better targeted toward fulfilling its intended purpose – which is to get the $1 coin into greater circulation.
Thank you for your understanding and your continued support of the $1 Coin Program.
The United States Mint
I only wish I took advantage of the program earlier. I had been ordering coins here and there but nothing in serious volume. I’ve heard of people churning in volumes of $10k+ per week.
Just go to http://www.kgbdealsaa.com and sign up for their daily deals for 100 AAdvantage miles.
Have your AAdvantage number handy.
I’m a huge fan of the GroupOn deal site. The basic concept is that local merchants offer great local deals. Not only are the discounts pretty good but as a general rule GroupOns are suppose to be straightforward and not have catches to them. I’ve used many deals in the past to introduced to great restaurants, stores, etc.
It’s a great way for merchants to advertise locally but sometimes things can go awry. One of the most common issues I’ve seen is that merchants (especially small ones) are unable to handle the huge volume that results because of a popular GroupOn. Merchants are able to cap the offers but some don’t for whatever reason.
Recently I witnessed this situation personally with the website DiapersDirect.com. The GroupOn was for $50 worth of merchandise for $25 on June 23rd. It’s almost a month later and my stuff still hasn’t shipped out. I proceeded to their website to find out why.
Currently on their website they’re offering updates specifically titled “GroupOn Update” detailing their progress dealing with the huge volume they experienced. It turns out they offered this deal nationwide in a ton of locales and they’re a very small company with only 4 employees. They didn’t expect the GroupOn to be this popular nor the redemption volume to this high so early on. Hopefully I’ll get my order soon and the company survives this whole ordeal.
My firm is sponsoring me for a general securities representative exam license or more commonly known as a “series 7″. It’s a license that allows agents of broker-dealers to communicate with retail investors.
The exam is 6 hours and has 250 questions. You need a score of 70% to pass. The content outline is available from FINRA which administers the test. My firm enrolled me with Kaplan Financial Education and supplied me with materials from Kaplan.
The study material recommends 90-120 hours of studying to pass. I’ve started looking at the material and I feel that it won’t be as difficult for me to study as I actually find most of what I’ve read so far interesting. As someone that has a natural interest in finance I enjoy reading the material. I feel that having a better understanding of the financial industry as a whole is not only good for you career wise but will improve your ability as a personal investor.
Last month I offered to match loans made by anyone on Kiva through the bloggers lending team. The results weren’t as great as I had hoped but I had a few takers here and there.
Despite the poor turnout I decided to fund another 100 or so loans on Kiva. These are funds I don’t anticipate needing anytime soon I figure they may as well be put towards a good cause. Historically about 1.21% of funds lent on Kiva end in default (My % is 1.41%) so there’s a good chance I’ll be receiving the majority of the funds back.
Last month I opened up a Capital One Rewards Money Market account for the 1.4015% yield. Normally I would make deposits via transfer online but I found out that Capital One branches near me have very convenient hours that almost rival that of TD Bank. The hours are 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM Monday-Thursday and until 7:00 PM on Friday.
I had cash and some checks I wanted to deposit but when I filled out the deposit slip with my account number the teller found the account in the system but was unable to process the deposit. The branch manager informed me they can’t accept deposits for online accounts. I guess because the online accounts pay higher yields you’re restricted in terms of brick and mortar services. The money market account I had wasn’t available in-branch.
However there’s a easy way around this. I opened up a free checking account right there in the branch and deposited my funds into that account. I can log in online and my accounts are linked so I can transfer funds into the “online only” money market account. It’s a bit silly that customers would need to jump through this hoop but at least there’s a way.
Go to this page AA.com to get your e-mail address “appraised” to see how many miles your e-mail worth.
Essentially it’s a marketing gimmick to get you to sign up for American Airline AAdvantage subscriptions. To maximize the amount of miles you should log into your prior and unsubscribe to everything. I didn’t get a chance to do this but still got 2,000 for subscribing to various subscriptions.
Recently I opened a Capital One Money Market account because they’ve started offering pretty attractive yields. If you look on their savings & money market accounts page you’ll see 4 accounts available.
All the accounts have no monthly fees or minimum balances but you’ll need at least $1,000+ to earn 1.10% on the InterestPlus Online Savings.
The yields would seem pretty straightforward except the InterestPlus Online Savings offers a 10% bonus on interest earned every quarter and the Rewards Money market offers reward miles based on your average monthly balance. These bonuses juice up the yields a little bit.
The InterestPlus Online Savings yields about 1.21% – Since you’re getting 1.10% APY, a 10% bonus of the interest earned would give you an extra 0.11%. This is a pretty good yield but however you might want to consider the rewards money market.
The Rewards Money Market Account yields about 1.4015% – In addition to 0.75% APY you get 1 mile for every $20 of your average monthly balance.
For example with a $10,000 balance you’d end with 6,015 miles after a year. The extra 15 miles is from your growing balance from the 0.75% APY. Each mile is worth $0.01 therefore $60.15 / $10,000 is a 0.6015% return.
Add together 0.75% + 0.6015% and you have a yield of 1.4015%.
The miles are redeemable for travel, gift cards, etc. They’re the same type of “no hassle” miles earned in other Capital One reward programs. There’s also the added benefit that you won’t be taxed on the reward miles.
Check out CapitalOne’s savings and money market offerings.
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