By Sun on May 11, 2008 in PF blogoshpere | 1 Comment
Personal Finance Across Borders I - Retirement Accounts Million Dollar Journey compared retirement saving accounts offered in the U.S. and Canada. No much difference I have to say.
7 Tips to Simplify Today Brip Blap offers some ideas to live a simple life. The one I like the most is “Stop trading, start Investing.”
Money Tips for New College Graduates - Spending, Saving, & Budgeting Advice Money Smart Life talked about what newly graduated students needs to know about money in post-college life.
How To Deal With Debt Collection Problems: Don’t Get Harassed! The Digerati Life shares her experience in dealing with collection agencies.
Lessons From the Microsoft - Yahoo Negotiations Lazy Man and Money looked at the collapsed talk and found some values from it.
Get a Jump on Summer With These Warm Weather Money Saving Tips Generation X Finance knows how to save money when it’s getting warm outside and he lets us know what to do.
Plan Ahead: 6 Steps to Secure Your Financial Future My Dollar Plan said they start to save for college before their children were born.
Personal Finance is About Freedom — What Will You Do With Yours? Good question, Mrs. Micah. But, on the other hand, getting out of debt isn’t what personal finance is all about.
We’re building a house! (and how to negotiate with a builder) Not many people will choose to build their own house, but the story from The Penny Saved is an interesting read.
The Financial Realities Of Having A New Baby No Credit Needed analyzed the impact of having a new baby on their finance.
Using money as a reward for good behavior Mighty Bargain Hunter has a give-or-take-back discussion. Somehow, I prefer the take-back approach when the child doesn’t behave.
Finally, I participated in the last Carnival of Personal Finance, held at Alpha Consumer with my post on solar energy ETF.
By Sun on May 9, 2008 in Banking, Personal finance | 5 Comments
It has been more than four months since I last updated my little interest rates table. During this four-month period, the rate picture of online banks has changed a lot, going down 5% something to mostly in the neighbourhood of 3% APY, as the Fed cut interest rates every time they met. However, the latest reduction of a quarter of a percentage point at the end of last month could be the last one by the Fed in the current round of rate cut. And because of the relatively small cut (only 0.25%), no bank, as far as I know, has followed suit. One bank, E-Trade Financial, even raised the rate on their Complete Savings Account a couple of days ago. So I feel it’s time to take a look at where everybody stands on the rate ladder.
| Bank |
Savings
APY |
Minimum |
Checking
APY |
Minimum |
| Provident Direct |
3.75% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Capital One Online Savings |
3.75% |
$10,000 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Umbrella Bank |
3.40% |
$1,000 |
N/A |
N/A |
| WT Direct |
3.31% |
$10,000 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Washington Mutual |
3.30% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| IGoBanking |
3.28% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| FNBO Direct |
3.25% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
AmTrust Direct
|
3.25% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Costco Capital One |
3.20% |
$1,000 |
N/A |
N/A |
| E-Trade |
3.15% |
$1 |
3.25% |
$5,000 |
Savings Square
|
3.05% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Bank of Internet |
3.05% |
$1 |
3.46% |
$1 |
| HSBC Direct |
3.05% |
$1 |
0.05% |
$5 |
| Discover Bank |
3.04% |
$2,500 |
N/A |
N/A |
| UFB Direct |
3.01% |
$1 |
0.01% |
$50 |
| E-Loan Bank |
3.01% |
$5,000 |
N/A |
N/A |
| ING Direct |
3.00% |
$1 |
1.75% |
$1 |
| Univest Direct |
3.00% |
$1 |
1.75% |
$1 |
| Salem Five Direct |
3.00% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| GMAC Bank |
3.00% |
$500 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Capital One Money Market |
3.00% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Ever Bank |
2.76% |
$1,500 |
2.01% |
$1 |
| Emigrant Direct |
2.75% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Citi Bank |
2.70% |
$1 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Presidential Bank |
2.60% |
$5,000 |
2.00% |
$1,500 |
Two clear winners are Provident Direct and Capital One Online Savings at 3.75% APY, both have been covered here before. The banks I am currently using, IGoBanking and FNBO Direct, aren’t far behind. I have been considering getting another account with a better rate for some time, but haven’t made the move before with less than 0.50% difference, it may not worth it. However, I didn’t totally give up the idea. If I do make the move, Capital One will likely to be my choice because Provident Direct has too many restrictions. I want something simple without a lot of limits and fees.
Any other better deal out there?
By Sun on May 7, 2008 in Oil and gas | 3 Comments
In the June issue of Consumer Reports, the magazine gives its readers some ideas to save money at the pump. In addition to tips that we have already knew, such as avoiding rapid acceleration/stop, there are also tips that I didn’t know before or haven’t paid any attention, such as the rolling resistance of tiers. The conclusions were based on tests the agency conducted with Toyota Camry and other vehicles.
- Drive smoothly: Frequent rapid acceleration and breaking reduced the Camry mileage by 2 to 3 mpg.
- Drive at a moderate speed: Driving at 55 mph instead of 65 or 75 mph can save money. When the Camry goes from 55 mph to 65 on highway, its fuel efficiency dropped from 40 mpg to 35.
- Reduce unnecessary drag: Don’t carry things on top of your car if you don’t have to.
- Don’t use premium fuel if you don’t have to: If your car need only regular gas, don’t buy premium. Your engine won’t run better with higher grade gas.
- Minimize driving with a cold engine: Making multiple short trips and starting the engine from cold each time can reduce fuel economy by nearly 4 mpg.
- Keep tires properly inflated: When the Camry’s tires are under-inflated by 10 psi, the loss in mileage is 1.3 mpg.
- Buy tires with lower rolling resistance: The rolling resistance of tires can further reduce the car’s fuel economy by 1 to 2 mpg. By high-rated tires with lower rolling resistance.
- Avoid idling for long period: When your car is idling, it gets zero mile per gallon. Turn off the engine when you expect to stay longer than 30 seconds (??).
BTW, oil price has broken all-time record everyday this week. Now, crude oil is traded above $123 a barrel (Bloomberg) and the national average of regular gas is $3.665/gallon (gasbuddy.com).
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Discover Open Road Card: With Discover Open Road Card, you can earn 5% cashback on gasoline purchases at any stations where Discover is accepted. Plus, it also offers 5% Cashback Bonus on auto maintenance. However, the drawback is only the first $100 are eligible for 5% bonus. Other purchases earn 1% Cashback Bonus.
Chase Freedom Credit Card Chase Freedom Card is the gas reward card I am using, though not exclusively for gas purchase. The card gives 3% cashback on all purchases at any gas station. But it comes with a catch: Gas purchase must be one of top 3 categories in monthly spending to e receive the 3% reward. Otherwise, the rebate will be just 1%. In addition, the card also has a maximum of $18 you can earn on 3% bonus every month.
American Express and Costco TrueEarnings Card The TureEarnings Card just added gas to its rewards program. Now it allows cardholders to earn 3% cashback on all gas purchase. The TrueEarnings card also gives back 3% bonus for restaurants, 2% for travel, and 1% everywhere else including at Costco. There’s no limit on cash rebates you can earn. The TureEarnings Business Card gives a even more generous 5% cashback on gasoline.
More card offers can be found here.
photo credit: williamhartz
By Sun on May 6, 2008 in Banking, Personal finance | 3 Comments
In a sign that interest rates may stop falling and start rising, E-Trade Financial sent me an email this afternoon with a surprising update: Start May 8, they will increase the interest rate of their Complete Savings Account from the current 3.01% APY to 3.15% APY, though the Fed has cut interest rates by another 0.25% point last week.
Another interesting observation is that, in the past every time after the Fed cut rates, banks followed almost immediately to slash interest rates on their savings accounts and my Inbox was flooded with rate update emails. Not this time, though. Actually, I didn’t get any such email from banks since last Wednesday. I guess the banks must have enough cushion after dramatically lowering their rates since last September so they can afford to stay where they are now 
I haven’t updated my checking and savings rates table since last December. Since it looks like the Feb will idle when they meet next time in June, maybe it’s time to revise my table.
By Sun on May 6, 2008 in Personal finance | 4 Comments
Back in February, the U.S. Postal Service announced that the postage for one-ounce first-class mail will go up by 1 cent to 42 cents next Monday, May 12th, so does the price for a Forever stamp.
When the stamp was first introduced in 2007, I didn’t buy any extra other than the booklet of 20 when I was out. The main reason for not stocking up on the stamps that never expire was after gradually moving from paper checks and mail to online billpay over the past couple of years, we are using much less stamps now than before. In fact, there are only a couple of regular items need to be mailed in every month. And except bills, we don’t many letters to send (who is still sending letter anyway?). So I feel even if the postage keeps going up every year, the money we save by stocking up Forever stamps won’t be significant if we only use one book a year.
The following is a chart of U.S postage rate history from 1863 on Wikipedia. Clearly, the pace of postage increase has accelerated since this century began. During the 1990s, there were 3 adjustments that resulted in a net increase of 8 cents. So far this decades, 5 adjustments have already been made and the postage has gone up from 33 cents in 1999 to the latest 42 cents due to higher inflation (using historical inflation data from 1999 to 2007, the postage should be at 42 cents in 2008, see table below), though the inflation adjusted price 145 years ago was actually higher. So one benefit I can see from buying Forever stamps is: You will keep pace with the inflation!
Continue reading …
By Sun on May 5, 2008 in China | 2 Comments
April has turned out to be a pretty good month for equity investors. After all three major indices dropped to 52-week low in early March, stocks rebounded last month after financial firms indicated that the worst part of the current crisis may be over. The Dow ended April with a gain of 4.54%, the S&P added 4.75%, and the NASDAQ climbed 5.87%.
Chinese stocks traded on U.S. exchanges also had a solid month in April, rising along with U.S. stocks. Chinese ADRs also got support from favorable policies adopted by Chinese security regulators aimed to stabilize the market after the Shanghai Composite Index (^SSEC) lost half of its value in less than half a year. For the month, SSEC jumped 6.35% and the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (^HSI) surged 12.72%. Among Chinese ADRs, VanceInfo Technologies (VIT) led the way with a gain of 142.60%, followed by Sohu.com (SOHU)’s 53.18%. Chinese search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) also recorded a 52.57% gain in share price. The month’s biggest loser was Agria (GRO), China’s agriculture products, such as seeds and feeding products, provider, which saw its share tumbled nearly 50%, despite record food price.
| Name |
Symbol |
04/30/08
Price |
April
return |
YTD
return |
| 3SBio |
SSRX |
10.45 |
19.57% |
-29.77% |
| 51Job |
JOBS |
18.4 |
13.23% |
2.11% |
| Acorn international |
ATV |
6.86 |
-9.97% |
-26.47% |
| Actions Semiconductor |
ACTS |
3.86 |
29.98% |
-5.39% |
| Agria |
GRO |
4.33 |
-48.14% |
-53.59% |
| AirMedia Group |
AMCN |
19.86 |
24.91% |
-11.26% |
| Aluminum Corp of China |
ACH |
42.82 |
5.91% |
-15.44% |
| APT Satellite |
ATS |
1.53 |
-0.65% |
-28.84% |
| ASAT Holdings |
ASTT |
0 |
0.00% |
0.00% |
| ATA* |
ATAI |
10.67 |
20.43% |
12.32% |
| Baidu.com |
BIDU |
365.6 |
52.57% |
-6.21% |
| China Architectural Engineering |
RCH |
5.45 |
0.00% |
-36.99% |
| China Digital TV |
STV |
16.8625 |
-9.97% |
-37.50% |
| China Eastern Airlines |
CEA |
43.39 |
-15.58% |
-55.57% |
| China Finance Online |
JRJC |
18.45 |
32.73% |
-16.14% |
| China Grentech |
GRRF |
4.72 |
-7.81% |
-46.61% |
| China Life Insurance |
LFC |
65.6 |
26.01% |
-14.25% |
| China Medical Tech |
CMED |
37.4 |
-8.98% |
-15.75% |
| China Mobile |
CHL |
86.32 |
15.08% |
-0.63% |
| China Nepstar |
NPD |
11.77 |
-13.46% |
-33.05% |
| China Petro & Chemical |
SNP |
107.51 |
25.04% |
-27.46% |
| China Southern Airlines |
ZNH |
32.84 |
-17.18% |
-49.82% |
| China Sunergy |
CSUN |
8.22 |
12.60% |
-50.24% |
| China Techfaith |
CNTF |
5.46 |
-0.36% |
-5.86% |
| China Telecom |
CHA |
67.59 |
7.58% |
-13.42% |
| China Netcom |
CN |
61.05 |
5.28% |
2.78% |
| China Unicom |
CHU |
21.57 |
1.41% |
-3.71% |
| ChinaEdu |
CEDU |
7 |
5.58% |
-17.65% |
| City Telecom (HK) |
CTEL |
4.51 |
0.67% |
-20.18% |
| CNinsure |
CISG |
14.05 |
21.86% |
-12.13% |
| CNOOC |
CEO |
177.55 |
20.96% |
6.04% |
| Ctrip.com |
CTRP |
62.06 |
17.05% |
7.99% |
| E-House |
EJ |
16.72 |
27.15% |
-29.84% |
| eLong |
LONG |
9.37 |
9.85% |
13.16% |
| Focus Media |
FMCN |
36.89 |
4.95% |
-35.06% |
| Fuqi International |
FUQI |
8.25 |
15.71% |
-0.60% |
| Giant Interactive |
GA |
16.28 |
28.70% |
25.42% |
| Global Sources |
GSOL |
13.89 |
-6.46% |
-50.83% |
| Guangshen Railway |
GSH |
28.88 |
9.81% |
-18.97% |
| Gushan Environmental Energy |
GU |
12.5 |
-4.36% |
33.69% |
| Home Inns & Hotel |
HMIN |
22.41 |
13.81% |
-37.09% |
| Huaneng Power |
HNP |
33.65 |
10.18% |
-18.52% |
| Hurray! |
HRAY |
2.77 |
0.36% |
-30.40% |
| Hutchison Telecomm |
HTX |
21.05 |
-2.14% |
-7.06% |
| JA Solar |
JASO |
24.01 |
29.09% |
3.18% |
| Kongzhong |
KONG |
4.23 |
-2.31% |
-30.54% |
| Las Vegas Sands |
LVS |
76.22 |
3.50% |
-26.04% |
| LDK Solar |
LDK |
31.74 |
17.56% |
-32.48% |
| Linktone |
LTON |
2.15 |
-20.37% |
-30.42% |
| Longtop Financial Tech. |
LFT |
19.95 |
5.67% |
-15.75% |
| Melco PBL Entertainment |
MPEL |
13.2 |
15.99% |
14.19% |
| Mindray Medical |
MR |
34 |
17.48% |
-20.88% |
| Netease.com |
NTES |
22.32 |
16.19% |
17.72% |
| New Oriental Education |
EDU |
75.06 |
15.73% |
-6.86% |
| Ninetowns inter |
NINE |
2.23 |
-4.70% |
-30.09% |
| Noah Education* |
NED |
6.161 |
10.81% |
-23.56% |
| O2Micro International |
OIIM |
7.52 |
-2.72% |
-34.84% |
| Perfect World |
PWRD |
28.72 |
26.46% |
3.01% |
| PetroChina |
PTR |
151.14 |
20.61% |
-13.87% |
| QiaoXing Mobile Comm. |
QXM |
6.43 |
6.99% |
-23.91% |
| Renesola* |
SOL |
16.75 |
47.45% |
28.85% |
| Semiconductor Manufacturing |
SMI |
3.81 |
8.55% |
-26.59% |
| Shanda Interactive |
SNDA |
34.29 |
17.84% |
3.03% |
| Simcere Pharmaceutical |
SCR |
12.59 |
20.36% |
-9.10% |
| Sina |
SINA |
46.2 |
31.06% |
4.29% |
| Sinopec |
SHI |
39.55 |
13.03% |
-35.23% |
| Sohu.com |
SOHU |
69.13 |
53.18% |
26.80% |
| Solarfun Power |
SOLF |
13.43 |
11.36% |
-58.87% |
| Spreadtrum Communications |
SPRD |
8.71 |
0.11% |
-28.96% |
| Suntech Power |
STP |
44.73 |
10.28% |
-45.66% |
| The9 |
NCTY |
21.47 |
4.73% |
0.19% |
| Tongjitang Chinese Medicine |
TCM |
8.2 |
-0.24% |
-16.75% |
| Trina Solar |
TSL |
42.18 |
37.22% |
-21.60% |
| UTstarcom |
UTSI |
3.25 |
14.44% |
18.61% |
| VanceInfo Technologies |
VIT |
14.75 |
142.60% |
63.89% |
| Vimicro International |
VIMC |
3.39 |
23.29% |
-9.84% |
| VisionChina Media |
VISN |
14.75 |
33.12% |
73.53% |
| WSP Holdings |
WH |
6.62 |
-4.06% |
-27.25% |
| Wuxi Pharmatech |
WX |
18.44 |
-17.53% |
-36.94% |
| XinHua Finance Media |
XFML |
4.15 |
31.33% |
-30.83% |
| Xinyuan Real Estate |
XIN |
9.03 |
7.63% |
-36.54% |
| Yazhou Coal Mining |
YZC |
92.68 |
30.48% |
-4.51% |
| Yingli Green Energy |
YGE |
22.03 |
28.83% |
-43.02% |
*2008 IPO
For the month, two widely held EFTs that mainly invest in China also rose sharply. iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) gained 17.50% in April while PowerShares Gloden Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ) climbed 15.55%.
Do you need an ING Direct Orange Savings Account?
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