Over the past week or so, I’ve been having a run of bad luck with cars. Not long after I got my speeding ticket, I suffered a flat tire.
I had driven to the airport and all seemed well when I parked and headed to my flight. But, upon my return, my tire was dead flat.
Upon closer inspection, I discovered it had been punctured by a screwdriver and it wouldn’t hold air. I thus had no choice but to put on the mini-donut spare tire and limp my way home. The next day, I took it to the tire shop and learned that it was beyond repair.
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Filed Under: Insurance
Topic(s): automotive, car insurance, state farm insurance, vandalism
Perhaps the best known bit of financial advice out there is that you should “spend less than you earn.” You’ve probably heard it over and over (and over!). And for good reason.
This is a bulletproof solution to whatever financial woes you might face. And yet… So many people seem incapable of doing it.
For an extreme example, consider the case of (currently former) NFL player Chad Johnson Ochocinco Johnson… While he reportedly has assets worth a total of $4.7M, he been spending money like it’s going out of style.
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Filed Under: Consumer, Credit & Debt
Topic(s): debt reduction, earning, frugality, spending, wealth, windfall
This is just a reminder that the much-loved Google Reader will shutting down on Monday, July 1st. That’s just two short weeks from now. Thus, if you’re still using Google Reader, time is short to find a replacement. Don’t wait ’til it’s too late!
The best alternative that I’ve found is The Old Reader. It’s been around for about a year, and it’s quite nice. The layout is based on the original Google Reader (hence the name) so, if you’re a Reader refugee, it should be quite familiar to you.
The transition process is easy. You can export your feeds using Google Takeout and then import the subscriptions.xml file into The Old Reader. And if you end up hating The Old Reader, you can always export your feeds from there and move on.
I should also point out that you can get my articles via e-mail…
Many of you are already e-mail subscribers. To those who aren’t, you can get the full-text of everything that I write in a daily (at most) e-mail. If you’d prefer fewer messages, you can switch to weekly summaries. You can get started at this link.
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Filed Under: Link Love
Unlike the situation with Discover and Chase, I haven’t been able to find a yearlong calendar of bonus reward categories for the Citi Dividend card.
They have, however, announced their bonus categories for the current (summer) quarter, which runs from July 1st through September 30th.
Winter 2013: The winter 2013 categories, which ran from Jan 1 – Mar 31, included drugstores, fitness clubs, and purchases from Zappos.com.
Spring 2013: The spring 2013 categories, which ran from Apr 1 – Jun 30, included home furnishing stores and home/garden stores.
As a reminder, Citi (and others) adopted rotating reward categories a few years ago, meaning that you can get 5% cash back on select purchases. The downside is that you have to re-enroll in the program each quarter.
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Filed Under: Credit & Debt
Topic(s): citi, credit cards, rewards
At the end of last week, I mentioned that estimated tax payments for the second quarter of 2013 are due soon.
As I noted in that post, these payments are intended to help you avoid income tax underpayment penalties if you have income that isn’t subject to withholding (self-employment, investing, etc.).
In short, if you don’t pay enough into the income tax system during the year, the IRS can penalize you when it comes time to file your return. So who’s subject to these penalties and how can you avoid them?
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Filed Under: Taxes, Working
Topic(s): income tax, irs, self-employment, withholding
Over the weekend, I got a speeding ticket. According to the deputy who pulled me over, I was going 65 mph in a 45 mph zone.
The worst part is that I got busted in a known speed trap — a short stretch of highway where the speed limits drops from 55 mph to 45 mph and then goes right back up.
While the ticket will eventually show up online, I found myself near the courthouse yesterday so I thought I’d stop in to find out how much this will cost me. No, those details aren’t included on the citation.
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Filed Under: Insurance, Travel
Topic(s): automotive, car insurance, legal, speeding ticket, state farm insurance
