The Sun's Financial Diary

A big—no, strike that—a HUGE part of saving money is protecting what you’ve invested in. It pays to know about how long you can expect something to last and exactly when to throw it out. So here’s a quick run-down on many items that you may be wondering about. Pantry Staples White rice will keep [...]

These days, you don’t get a lot of credit card balance transfer offers that don’t come with a balance transfer fee. A few years ago, I played the credit card arbitrage game a lot and made some nice money by taking advantage of no-fee, 0% APR balance transfers from new and existing credit cards with [...]

If you’re concerned with saving money and intrigued by thrifty living, then you’ve likely watched or at least caught glimpses of the extreme couponing shows currently being featured across the airwaves or read a few articles on the topic. It’s true. People really can save thousands of dollars and build stockpiles enviously able to care [...]

Exactly one year ago this time, shortly before I got the card myself, I wrote about how PenFed was about to reduce the rewards that it offers through its Visa Platinum Cash Rewards Card. On March 1, 2011, rewards for PenFed Visa Platinum Cash Rewards Card cardholders on grocery shopping was cut in half, from 2% [...]

I’ve been around the block a few times, and I’ve made said trip with kiddos in tow. As a result, I’ve come to learn there are few key “must-haves” every parent should have in his or her arsenal of tricks at all times. Fortunately, too, all of these items are cheap. But they’re absolutely worth [...]

In case you are shopping for a checking account, Citibank is currently running a promotion for its checking account that comes with a promotional bonus up to $100. The promotion runs for a full year, from now to December 31, 2012. During the promotion period, if you open a Citibank checking account, you could receive up [...]

Do you want an ING Direct Orange Savings Account or Electric Orange Checking Account? Get rewarded by using any ING referral bonus link to open an account and receive $25 bonus. This product has been around long enough (probably one of the oldest online savings accounts) and I feel that anyone who wants to have [...]

One of the earliest articles I wrote about investing in mutual funds was how to understand Morningstar Star Rating system and use it to research mutual funds.  It has been a while since that article was written and I haven’t added any new fund to my taxable investment accounts for years, so I haven’t used [...]