The Sun's Financial Diary

I usually don’t read too much the Costco Connection magazine I received every month as part of the benefit of being an Executive Member, because more than half of the magazine are ads while the rest are articles about stuff Costco offers . But a piece in the February issue did get my attention last [...]

When I posted our total passive income in 2007 in the middle of the month, one item missing from the calculation was interests earned from our purchases of 4-week T-bills in the first half of the year. Though I can go through all the transactions and figure out myself how much I have made, it [...]

Since the Federal Reserve’s 75 basis points emergency rate cut on January 22nd, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained more than 500 points in 5 trading sessions ended yesterday. The rally was partly fueled by speculation that when policy makers conclude their 2-day meeting this afternoon, another 0.50% rate reduction will be handed out [...]

Nowadays, you can get a lot of stuff for free, news, music, movie, as long as you read/listen to/watch the ads that come together with the free stuff. You can even monitor your credit score for free, says CreditKarma.com, a newly launched credit monitoring service that promise free access to their own version of credit [...]

Around the new year, many previously closed mutual funds reopened their doors to new investors, including such well-known names as Fidelity Magellan (FMAGX) and Oakmark International (OAKIX), after a rough second half of 2007. For investors who had an eye on these funds, but were denied access due to the closure, the reopening [...]

What’s Regulation D fee? I have no idea until I read the post on Generation X Finance, where Jeremy explained what transactions could trigger the elusive Regulation D savings account fee.
If you are interested in investing in real estate, be sure to check out the post, 7 Things to Consider As a First Time Real [...]

One year ago, I had a post discussing the return of 4-week T-bill, whether it’s APR or APY, and how to calculate the equivalent yield based on the state income tax. In that post, only the formulas on how exactly the calculations should be done were given. Though it isn’t difficult to put the formulas [...]

Politicians in Washington acted pretty quickly this time to hammer out a stimulus package with tax rebates, for both individuals and businesses, as the center piece. According to the tentative deal announced today:
Most individuals who pay income taxes would get $600; working couples would receive $1,200. Workers who make at least $3,000 but don’t pay [...]

I didn’t.
I made a few bucks when Chinese stocks were the hottest on the street, but not lately. As a matter of fact, not just that I didn’t make any money from my investments in Chinese stocks, my brokerage account has been hit pretty hard since last November after some once high flying Chinese stocks [...]

Let’s face it, what we are seeing now are not pretty: turmoil in the financial market, slumping home value, slowing consumer spending, rising unemployment rate, and falling stock prices. The talks of a possible recession, if we are not already in it as some people have argued, are getting louder and louder these days as [...]