Carnival of Personal Finance #241

Evan of My Journey to Millions brings us the 241st edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.

His Editor’s Picks are:

Dividend Growth Investor: Buffett the dividend investor
A Gai Shan Life: I don’t want to retire
Financial Highway: MythBusters: Financial Advisors
Planting Dollars: Being Rich versus Being Wealthy
Len Penzo dot Com: When Pigs Fly: How I Fought My Parking Ticket and Beat City Hall
Pop Economics: What investment return should you plan for?

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured.

Your next host will be Patrick of Cash Money Life. Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

January 25, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival of Personal Finance #240

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance presented by Frugal Trader at Million Dollar Journey, the Support Haiti edition.

Here are his Editor’s Picks:

Squawkfox: 10 Frugal Ways to get Fit this Winter
Gen Y Wealth: The 7 Deadly Sins of Personal Finance
 Balance Junkie: Your Financial Hierarchy of Needs
Pop Economics: Why crazy people rule the market, and how you can profit from it
Bible Money Matters: Blueprint For How To Make Money With A Blog: Income Generators, Optimizing Your Site And Helpful Site Tools

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured.

Your next host will be Evan of My Journey to Millions. Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

January 18, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Chase’s affiliate exposed my personal information, now what?

I just received a letter in the mail stating that my name, address, and account number of a now-defunct account was posted online and accessed by a non-Chase employee before it was taken down.

In response, they’re offering me a year’s free membership in their Chase Identity Protection program.  I simply have to submit my Social Security number with signature and all the previously leaked personal information to them by mail or fax.  [Skeptical me says: really? so I can make sure that my personal information is disseminated again?]

The benefits of the program include:





You’ll notice the most weasel language in the last and possibly most valuable almost-promise they make there.  It’s unfortunate that you’re not guaranteed coverage, nor are you guaranteed blanket eligibility to all the financial damage that can be done by the potential fraud, they just might help you out.

Nevertheless, continuous monitoring and protection in this instance will be helpful, in addition to placing a 90-day fraud alert on my files.

If you need to place a fraud alert on your credit files, you only need to contact one agency and they’ll forward your information to the other two agencies.  A fraud alert means that anyone trying to open credit in your name will have to verify their identity.

If things are more serious and you need to place a security freeze on your account, it’s free for any acknowledged identity theft victim in the state of California; there is a fee if you’re not considered a victim (by police report, usually).  Check here for all other states.

It may also be a good idea to opt-out of all information-sharing with affiliates that the major companies you do business with frequently participate in; it’s good for them but just another risk for you.

In the meantime, I’ll be checking my credit report for any new suspicious activity.  Be careful and be alert, folks, identity theft can be truly destructive if it’s not nipped in the bud.

[You can find my everyday writing over at A Gai Shan Life.]

January 13, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival of Personal Finance #239

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance at Darwin’s Finance! This week’s edition covers the Hot Money Trends of 2010 so hop on board and see what Darwin foresees for the year.

Here are his Editor’s Picks:

Budgets are Sexy: The Move Your Money Movement
Doughroller: 11 Smart Money Moves to Supercharge Your Finances
 Get Rich Slowly: 10 Steps to Financial Success in 2010
Bargaineering: How to Opt Out of Credit Card Internal Marketing
M is for Money: Money and Etiquette: Dining with a Terrible Tipper

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured.

Your next host will be Frugal Trader of Million Dollar Journey. Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

January 11, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Starting classes? Save money!

Aside from tuition and fees, the worst money drain I remember from college was the textbooks. My school was on the quarter system and we had to fork over an astounding amount of money every twelve weeks for a set of textbooks that the bookstore would buy back after finals for pennies on the dollar.

Even back then, before I was heavily into personal finance, I didn’t like that ROI. Education’s fine and dandy, but when you’re working 20 hours of overtime a week, it’s more than slightly galling to hand it all over to use a book for a season.

I adopted a rather convoluted and time-consuming approach to saving money on books, and reveled in every penny saved. It’s been years since I needed it, but a good old table comparing the prices of each book by venue reminded me how much money you can save when you bargain hunt for a textbook.

1. Library: I checked our school and local libraries for every textbook, many of which were literature books. If the books weren’t in high demand, I could either check out the book for the duration of the quarter (with renewals along the way) or tailor the checkout period to my syllabus. ie: if we were slated to read the book in Week 6, I’d make a note in my planner to start checking on the book’s status in Week 3. If it was checked out already, then I could enter a request for the book. This meant the previous reader had to return the book without renewing.

2. Paperback Swap: Once in a while, you’ll get lucky and get a shipping-only book from the Swap.

3. Amazon, Alibris, other internet book sellers: This is a dicier proposition as you have to factor in shipping time vs. cost. If you went with Super Saver Shipping, you ran the risk of receiving the books too late. If you ordered them really early to compensate, there was the risk of finding out that the professor had decided to skip that book and wasting your money on an unneeded book. But this is a great way to get a really cheap copy of an older edition literature classic that you could donate to your local library afterward or sell to a friend.

4. Which brings me to a great resource: friends and fellow students! If you network even a little, you can find out which classes your peers have taken and buy their old books for a fair selling/buying price, or even plan to pass along books to people who are taking the class after you. This is probably the best option: you pay much less without having to worry about shipping, they get real money instead of foreign pennies. Win-win!

5. Renting books from Chegg.com: the newest addition to the textbook game, Chegg offers you the chance to rent your textbook at a reasonable price for a specific time frame. Unless they’re offering a free shipping code or promo, you’ll usually be charged a shipping fee but they pay for the return of their books so you’re only paying on the front end. I’ve tried this service once before, and my experience was about a 3/5.

The lower score was partly my fault: I didn’t pay attention to shipping dates so I missed the optimal shipping dates, and got my books a week after I needed them. You do have to watch those ship dates very carefully because sometimes they don’t have the books you ordered – which I wish was something that was clearly stated on the site when you’re placing the order – and then you’re left scrambling when the “Sorry, it’s not in stock!” email arrives. Again, this is something easily remedied if you simply order your books two weeks in advance.

They also have a 30 day guarantee which allows you to return the book within 30 days and pay nothing, just in case you didn’t need the book after all.

I’m testing it again this semester, and have received one of the two ordered books so far. If I get both books in good order, I’ll have saved about $200 off the two books, bought new. (They’re not available used anywhere.) If you’d like to try it, you can use my affiliate code to get 5% off your order: CC107691. I think I get some sort of credit if you order using the code, but I’m not sure of the details, it’s still new to me.

6. Last resort, the student bookstore: If the book is specialized enough that no one carries it, you’re going to have to bite the bullet and buy it directly from the school. I hate that, but it happens. Again, timing is important here – go early enough to grab a used version because buying new from the bookstore is doubly painful. At least it is for me.

With a bit of searching, a combination of the above methods can help you save that hard-earned cash and keep you a little more debt free!

[You can find my everyday writing over at A Gai Shan Life.]

January 6, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival Schedule Announced

Thanks to everyone who applied to host the first carnivals of 2010. The schedule is below; we look forward to sharing your posts in the upcoming weeks.

Date Host Edition
Mon., Jan. 11, 2010 Darwin’s Finance #239
Mon., Jan. 18, 2010 Million Dollar Journey #240
Mon., Jan. 25, 2010 My Journey to Millions #241
Mon., Feb. 1, 2010 Cash Money Life #242
Mon., Feb. 8, 2010 Get Rich Slowly #243
Mon., Feb. 15, 2010 Len Penzo #244
Mon., Feb. 22, 2010 Budgets are Sexy #245
Mon., Mar. 1, 2010 Taking Charge #246
Mon., Mar. 8, 2010 SimplyForties #247
Mon., Mar. 15, 2010 Being Frugal #248
Mon., Mar. 22, 2010 Amateur Asset Allocator #249
Mon., Mar. 29, 2010 Four Pillars #250
All other dates Open.

Articles should be submitted by 5 p.m. Sunday night before the Carnival.

January 5, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival of Personal Finance #238

Happy New Year!

The Financial Blogger ushers in the first Carnival of Personal Finance in 2010 with the  5 Tricks to Keep Your Resolutions For the Year Edition #238.

Here are his Editor’s Picks:
Intelligent Speculator: 2010 stock picks
Funny about Money : Happy New Year! What Are Your Goals?
 Money Help For Christians: How To Get Motivated To Manage Your Money
The Digerati Life: Use A Debt Consolidation Calculator, See How To Erase Debt Faster

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured.

Your  next host will be Darwin’s Finance.  Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

January 4, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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