Cheapest Woman ever ( The power of coupons )

This lady get the grocery for whole week for family of six for 4$ per week . All this by using coupons and planning before shopping .You have to see this video to believe it. Here is the you tube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQNvdKNTZUg

PenFed American Express Card Announced

If you are a frequent flier this might be a good reward card .

Rewards program to be handled by PenFed  credit union (or so it seems); $50 annual fee (waived first year), 20,000 bonus points after $650 in purchases on the card .

General Overview:
* Earn 5 points per dollar spent on airfare purchases.
* Earn 3 points per dollar spent on hotel stays and purchases made at restaurants until December 31, 2010.
* Earn one point for virtually every dollar you spend on all other purchases.
* There is no limit to the number of points you can earn.

Here is the link for more info

Ridiculous Restrictions from Financial Institutions (and ways to defeat them legally)

IRS

31 day wash sale rule - cannot repurchase a stock or similar mutual fund within 31 days or it negates the writeoff

Ways to defeat: Tax Loss Harvesting - you sell a down mutual fund and buy a “significantly” different fund the same day. With respect to the IRS, the VG Total Stock Market(TSM) and SP500 index funds are significantly different, even though they track eachother at 98% similarity because although TSM holds 5000 stocks, over 80% of it is the SP500 and the remaining 20% have strong correlation to the SP500. You get the loss but maintain market exposure so you don’t miss a potential rally.

Paypal(PP)

has carte blanche in pulling ACHs from linked checking account. This has caused me numerous overdraft charges from my bank, and even though PP reverses the fraudulant transactions, they do not compensate me for the overdraft fees from my bank.

Ways to defeat: After enrolling your checking account with PP, immediately close the account with your local bank. PP requires a linked checking account to be verified in order to work. Then add a second checking account but NO NOT verify it. PP will let you withdraw funds through ACH to the unverified second checking account, but as long as the primary checking account linked is closed at your bank, then PP cannot screw you over.

Checking Account Direct Deposit Requirement

Some banks require direct deposit into a checking account to qualify for free/reduced fees and/or reward dividends. Depending on the institution, this may be done by doing an ACH push from another bank, once a month. Perhaps if you own a MMF at VG, for example, you can set it to automatically deposit monthly dividends into external account - being the checking account you need a DD in. This works on some banks and not others.

Vanguard

60 day restriction on buying any mutual fund after you sell any portion of it:

Ways to defeat: - Setup a one-time automatic transfer from your VG MMF to the mutual fund you want the buy. The intention of automatic investments are that you could dollar-cost average, for example, $100 every month out of your paycheck into a mutual fund. However VG lets you set the frequency interval to “one time” so in essence you have a direct purchase and not an automatic recurring investment. If they ever stop allowing this option, you could simply setup a time interval of monthly and then discontinue the option after the first investment was made. Note that automatic investment purchasing is exempt from the 60 day restriction.

If you know more let me know as comments.

Lost your Job? There are deals just for you

We know it would be tough to be in that situation. But there are some new deals/options for people who lose their income.
People who are at risk of loosing their jobs can use these deals/options as well OR use this as one of your criteria during purchase.
Hyundai Assurance
Hyundai Assurance Plus
Jos A Bank - Risk Free Suit
Jetblue Promise
YMCA Free Membership
eCruise Free layoff Insurance
GM Payment Protection

Simple Changes to save you almost $3000

We have put together a list of simple changes to your budget and spending habits. By making these changes you could be almost $3000 better off in a year.

You can earn more money by switching your savings and checking accounts

5 simple ways to save $25000 in this tough economy (Big money saving changes by living frugally)

Economy is in crisis mode right now. People are struggling to save extra money. Here are few tips to save big by making changes to your lifestyle to live more frugally.
- Cancel your cell phone (20% of US population don’t have cell phone) – around $1000 saving per year.
- If you have two cars in family get rid of second car – assuming average cost of 1$ a mile – Total average saving around 10-12K.
- Save money by eating at home – don’t buy prepared meal or eat outside. Average saving of $2500.
- Stop shopping around especially clothing and electronics – average saving $1800 per year per family.
- If you have a college going kid – ask him to plan to attend collage closer to home and live with parents - saving of around $9000 per year on room and boarding.

Free Identity theft protection and credit score (with no catch!!)

Credit card companies, banks and credit rating agencies sell identity protection, credit watch and credit score. They offer a 30-60 day free trial and after free trial period is over there is generally a monthly fee. It can be somewhere between $9.95-19.95 per month. This can end up costing you over $200 per year. If you want to find out your credit score credit agencies (such as myfico.com) sell it for $15 each time you want it.

According to Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) you are entitled to receive one free credit report every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. I generally recommend checking your credit file every 4 months (3 times a year once for each credit reporting companies). This free credit report can be requested through this website annualcreditreport.com, by phone or by mail. If you find any incorrect information on your credit file report it to respective reporting agency to fix it.

More information is available at

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/helpfaq#creditfile

As far as credit score is concerned you can check it free at creditkarma.com. It shows you percentile ranking nationwide and among your age group, what factors are making your score lower and what are making it higher.

Did You Know this about Flexible Spending Accounts

If you choose to have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) with your employer and don’t spend all the money in the year, the remaining balance is forfeited. That can be a real bummer . That’s why it is important to plan your medical expenses carefully.  FSA plans allow you to lower your taxable income by claiming medical expenses and allows you to pay that amount throughout the year instead of a lump sum payment. For those of you with kids, this is definitely a great plan.

Did you know that if you if you spend all your FSA money and get fired or laid off from your employer, you do not have to pay the difference? For example, let’s say you set up a FSA account for $2000 dollars for the year 2009. That equals to $167 a month out of your paycheck throughout the year. Now, in February you had LASIK surgery on your eyes for $2000, essentially spending all the money in your Flexible Spending Account. Then on March 1 you get the bad news your employer is letting you go. So far, you’ve only paid $400 of that $2000 FSA. Guess what? That’s $1400 free money! You are not responsible for having to pay that money back.

If you are contributing to a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and are worried about losing your job, get out there and spend that account money now. Don’t put off a surgery or getting presciption glasses any longer. Take advantage of a system that takes advantage of you (if you don’t spend). If you were just laid off, you usually have 30 days (sometimes up to 45) to make insurance claims. The bad news is that after you’ve been let go, you can only benefit up to the limit of what you’ve paid into the FSA.

Coming soon … dealworthy.net

Announcing dealworthy offering you deals worth your money . Deals for a better life .  Lookout for new and exciting content , features in coming months .