Comments on: Should We Simplify Our Finance?

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:12:45 +0000

You have too many credit cards! You are going to get into deep debts! If I were you, I would close most of credit card accounts. I think three or four credit cards are quite enough, if they are used wisely!

By: Angel

Angel — Tue, 01 May 2007 06:36:14 +0000

Electronic fund transfer would be a good idea indeed.

By: Sun

Sun — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:24:17 +0000

Brain: Regarding your investment choices and without knowing anything about age or investment objectives, I have to say you are taking a quite complex approach. Can you tell me why you decide to invest in Capital Value Fund, Mid Cap Growth Fund, and Energy Fund? If I were just to start, I probably will go to an index fund first, then gradually enter other areas. I am not questioning your choices, it just seems to me that if you just start investing, you may want to make it a little simple at the beginning. As for futures and options, I am afraid I don’t know enough to give your any opinion, but for physical gold, if you want to use it as an investment vehicle, then personally I don’t think it’s a good long-term investment. If you want to invest in gold, you can take a look at some gold ETFs such GLD. They can be bought and sold as stocks, and thus are very liquid. If you buy physical gold, there are lots of extra fees involved. Also, right now gold price is close to its peak, so you have to be careful when deciding your entry point.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:00:24 +0000

We went through this several years ago when we were married and consolidated into one bank account, one credit card, and three mutual fund accounts (401k, 403b, and IRA).

Since that time we’ve added an online bank account, a credit card, and a taxable mutual fund account but it’s still much simpler than it had been. I’d say consolidating our finances has made it much easier to manage our money.

By: The Sun

The Sun — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:16:13 +0000

I probably will try to close some newest account rather than the old ones, as you suggested. And that’s why I still keep those old cards though I will never use them again.

Acero: Actually, I am using HSBC to fund the T-bill purchase at Treasury Direct. Every time I make a purchase at Treasury Direct, the money is drawn from my HSBC account and after the maturity, proceeds are sent back to HSBC. The actual investments are made at Treasury website, but funding source is HSBC.

cs: Looks like we are in a similar situation with a large number of accounts. Not just that I may have to pay a fee for closing the brokerage account, but also I will have to pay taxes later if there’s any capitial gains. But having too many accounts is just a little pain to manage.