The Sun's Financial Diary

As we are approaching the finial day of 2007, I feel it’s time to look back and examine what we have done in the last year that could affect us financially, both in the short- and long-term, as I did at the end of 2006. Since we didn’t make any official goals [...]

On December 17th, Vanguard launched three new Mega ETFs:

Vanguard Mega Cap 300 ETF (MGC): Track MSCI Large-Cap US 300 Index
Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Growth ETF (MGK): Track MSCI US Large-Cap Growth Index
Vanguard Mid-Cap Value ETF (VOE): Track MSCI US Large-Cap Value Index

All three funds have an expense ratio (ER) of 0.17%. According to MSCI, the [...]

I took advantage of the $100 bonus offer from OptionsXpress last week and opened an account for myself. The process is quite simple, taking only several minutes to complete. What appeared to be a little bit concern was that when I set up the ACH transfer, it asked me the method to verify my identity, [...]

I have been a loyal customer of Scottrade for more than 5 years. Though I have opened a number of brokerage accounts during that time period, Scottrade remains my primary broker holding most of our investable assets. There are reasons for me to stick with Scottrade (Scottrade 3 free trades offer).
Last week, Scottrade informed me [...]

Don’t have an iPod yet? You can get one for free if you apply and get approved for a Discover More Card and use the card to make a purchase.
MyEasyRewards.com is now offering a free iPod Shuffle upon approval and activation of a Discover Card. From the offer website, the whole process takes three steps:

Register [...]

After the latest rate cut by the Federal Reserve early this month, we are seeing many banks followed suit in the past by lowering the interest rates of the online savings accounts. As of today, UFB Direct offers the highest savings rate at 5.22% APY among banks I tracked.
Update: Go to this post to get [...]

Investors will soon be able to invest in Oakmark’s two international funds again.
I received an email from Oakmark Fund yesterday which announces that two previously closed international funds, International Fund I (OAKIX) and International Small Cap Fund (OAKEX) will re-open to new investors on January 2, 2008.
Both funds are managed by David Herro, who was [...]

Silicon Valley Blogger at The Digerati Life had some tax questions answered.
Jeremy at Generation X Finance discussed Fed’s plan on curb shady mortgages.
Ben at Money Smart Life talked about making money from selling on eBay after the holiday.
Lazy Man at Lazy Man and Money asked your own definition of retirement.
Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity [...]

and we have our last two winners!
It was a fun week and the volatile market made the guess game even more fun. Yesterday, Chuck made a perfect a guess of the closing number of the S&P 500, 1460.  Then today, when everybody least expected it, the Dow surged 200+ points. However, Steve did give his [...]