The Sun’s Financial Diary

As the closing bell sounded on Wall Street, the month of October came to an end, at least financially. How did we do this month? 
Well, I don't have the exact number yet, but considering that the Dow kept setting new record highs this month (up from 11676 to 12080), we definitely got some help from [...]

I got this offer from Citibank today and the condition for the $100 bonus include:

Apply online for both an e-Savings account with a 5.00% APY and a regular checking account in the EZ Checking package.
EZ Checking account requires a minimum balance of $1500.
Pay 2 bills a month for a year at citibankonline.com.

The rate they offer [...]

Kiplinger's Personal Finance has an on-going special series on successful investing. Today, the first segment of the "The Five Keys to Investing Success" is out and key number one is Make Investing a Habit, a principle that I couldn't agree more.
The article begins with a suggestion to people with small amount to invest every [...]

I took a detour last night after work to my local Staples store and picked up the free desktop shredder. Since the shredder, though a low-end one, is on sale, I expected it to be placed up front at the entrance, as Staples usually did for on-sale items. Not so for the shredder. I looked [...]

410!
I don't think I will get any number close to 410 on a daily basis any time soon, but you never know. Maybe tomorrow I can again come up a similar one that attracted so many visitors!

On the way to work this morning, I heard on the radio (WCBS) that a new list of safest cities was out today. The news interested me because it mentioned that St. Louis, MO, which just won the MLB title replaced, Camdan, NJ, as the most dangerous city in the nation. When I got into [...]

Vanguard may be a great company for investing, but my experience with them on non-investing related issues wasn't that great at all. It all began with my Roth IRA transfer that I started the same time last month. Here's the timeline of the process (and it isn't over yet):

September 30: Mailed Roth IRA transfer forms [...]

Worried about the safty of your identity? Then pick up a desktop shredder at your local Staples store for free after rebate.  Features of the shredder include:

4-sheet, light duty, up to 25 uses/day
Shreds 4 sheets folded at a time or 1 credit card at a time
1.37 gallon bin
3 position Child Resistant switch: Auto/Off/Reverse

It won't solve [...]

When buying real estate, everybody knows "location, location, location." However, the difference between locations shouldn't just be neighborhoods in the city, the city itself should also be on your mind. You certainly don't want to live in one of those "most dangerous" cities, even though you may find a perfect location in the city.
Morgan [...]

When it comes to charitable givings, I consider myself below average, though I can’t tell what that average is. In the past five years since we started to work, we donated above 200 dollars every year to a couple of organizations such as March of Dimes, American Red Cross, and local police department. One exception [...]