i.nconspicuo.us

Plastic. You’ve gotta love it. Never any reason to have to carry cash around. Ever since I turned 18 and got my first credit card, cash has become almost obsolete in my life. Why carry a wallet full of cash when you can just carry a credit card (or 6 if you’re like me). Credit cards have many pros, but there are obviously some cons as well. I use my credit card constantly, but I never charge anything that I won’t be able to pay off in full when the bill comes.

The Good

• Credit cards help you establish credit
• If your wallet gets stolen, many credit card companies protect you from fraudulent charges – your cash would be gone
• Easy to carry, easy to use, accepted almost everywhere

The Bad

• Debt – some people see credit cards as “free money” and continually max out
• Late payments – if you pay everything with cash, you don’t have to worry about paying credit card bills
• Interest rates and late fees

Credit cards obviously have a lot to offer, and there are positives and negatives that come with them, but if you’re a responsible person who typically pays bills on time, and is able to “don’t spend what you don’t have” then you’ll be fine.

PS – Always look for low interest rates like these ones Credit Card UK

I signed up for the Washington Mutual 5.00% savings account awhile back and have been making a decent chunk of interest of that account each month, but it has been brought to my attention that there are other options out there. Here are 3 of the top yielding savings/money market accounts available online today:

• Countrywide Bank – 5.40% savings account – Perks: Money market like rates for balances over $50,000 (5.25% for balances over $10,000)
• ETrade – 5.05% savings account – Perks: $1 minimum to open, link to multiple accounts (including outside accounts)
• Washington Mutual – 5% savings account – Perks: Free checks for life, free ATM withdrawls (from any ATM)

All percentages are expressed in APY (not interest rate) – note that the actual interest rate is typically slightly below the APY.

In my opinion, it was only a matter of time before Google stepped up to the plate and offered something outlandish with Google Finance (http://finance.google.com/) – now they’ve done it. Google is working on offering real-time stock quotes. Ever notice that most websites that display stock prices have that little disclaimer: *Data delayed 20 minutes.??? Hopefully Google is able to solve that problem and get a real-time feed into the system.

Here’s what the official Google Blog said about it:

At Google, we get excited about making all kinds of information accessible to everyone. The more up-to-date the information, the more valuable it is. This is particularly true in the world of finance; information, and timing of that information, is money. Today, real-time quotes are not freely and easily available on the web. Some websites offer one real-time quote at a time, but typically only after you have enrolled in a service and/or signed a complicated legal agreement. Other sites approach the problem differently and show you streaming delayed data, but that doesn’t solve the problem either — it masks it. What’s really important is getting free, easy and fast access to real-time quotes so you know how the market or your company is doing now, not as of twenty minutes ago.

As a result, we’ve worked with the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and our D.C. trade association, NetCoalition, to find a way to bring stock data to Google users in a way that benefits users and is practical for all parties. We have encouraged the SEC to ensure that this data can be made available to our users at fair and reasonable rates, and applaud their recent efforts to review this issue. Today, the NYSE has moved the issue a great step forward with a proposal to the SEC which if approved, would allow you to see real-time, last-sale prices across all Google properties including Google Finance, Personalized Google, Mobile, and of course, Google.com. It won’t matter if you’re on Wall Street or Main Street — you’ll have free, easy and fast access to real-time prices from NYSE on Google.

So stay tuned on our progress with this. We’re excited that financial data as we know it is about to change. In the meantime, set up your portfolio on Google Finance today.

For the first time in its 8 year history, Google’s quarterly earnings hit the billion dollar mark after posting earnings of $3.21 billion. Crazy to think their stock price would fall after tripling their revenue, I guess the tech stock investors are looking for bigger and better things from Google, but I must admit… I’m pretty impressed. In fact, I might even fork out a couple bucks to buy a single share of Google stocks in hopes that it will soon split 10 for 1.

After its huge 4th quarter news, the stock ended up falling 3.94% to $481.75. This is quite possibly the lowest price we’ll see this stock at for some time to come.

So, I thought I’d try to straighten out my finances in 2007… wasn’t happing until now, enter Pear Budget. Pear Budget is an Excel spreadsheet that gives you the power to forecast and budget from month to month. The user interface is simple, if you’ve used Excel before, you’ll be able to use Pear Budget. Just open the file and setup your “accounts” on the first page. Pear Budget groups your expenses into 3 main categories:

1. Regular Expenses
   Mortgage, Rent, Electricity, etc.
2. Irregular Expenses
   Auto Maintenance, Doctor Visits, Medicine, Gifts, etc.
3. Variable Expenses
   Groceries, Dining Out, Hair Cuts, etc.

Pear Budget then gives you a simple day by day, month by month sheet format of entering income and expenses and let’s you know whether you’re in-the-hole or above water for not only the current month, but for the year as well.

Simple and easy to use progrom to get your financial life in order… highly recommended if you don’t want to spend the money to get a program like Microsoft Money or Quicken by Intuit.

PearBudget is a FREE budgeting program, written in Excel. It can be used by almost any spread- sheet program (Excel, Word, OpenOffice, etc.). Setting it up is a snap, and it takes less than half an hour a month to maintain it and see how you’re doing. (And—did we mention?—it’s free!)
Pear Budget – http://www.pearbudget.com/

Are there better interest rates out there? Sure there are, but with the convenience that WaMu offers & the little or no fees, a 5% interest account can’t be beat! The nice thing about this is that it isn’t only for new customers. I’ve been banking with WaMu for years and I signed up a 5% Savings account online and made and initial deposit directly from my existing checking account. The thing I like most about the 5.00% Savings Account is the fact that it is a savings account… it’s got complete liquidity. Current CD rates at Bankrate.com

• 6 Month CD – 4.77%
• 1 Year CD – 4.89%

Visit the WaMu signup page and get started earning some extra interest before time runs out: WaMu 5.00% APY Savings Account

This is a great offer, especially if you’re an existing WaMu customer who is earning about 0.25% with your existing Statement Savings Account. Make your money work for you!