Personal finance
2010 401(k) Contribution Limit Won’t Be Adjusted
If you are thinking of putting aside a little more for your retirement next year, you won’t get any help from the government because the 2010 401(k) contribution limit will remain at the same level as this year at $16,500 (the catch-up limit for workers 50 years old and order will also be the same [...]
Citi PremierPass Card 1,500 ThankYou Points Promotion
Citi PremierPass Card, one of the best travel reward credit cards, is running a promotion to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the introduction of the card (I had the PremierPass for nearly 3 years).
From now till December 31, 2009, card members can earn up to 1,500 ThankYou points by simply using the card to make [...]
ING Direct Business Account $50 Promotion
I opened a PNC Business Checking Account early this year for the little business I am running. The reasons I had the account with PNC are that 1) they have a branch office in our neighborhood, so it’s easy to make a deposit; 2) the account has low balance requirement and no monthly fees; 3) [...]
Minimum Credit Score for FHA Loan To Raise to 620
Fannie Mae, the mortgage insurer, announced early this week that it is revising the eligibility, underwriting, and pricing policy to support housing market liquidity and sustainability. In a statement (PDF file) released on Tuesday, Fannie Mae said that starting December 12, 2009, the minimum credit score will be increased to 620 for all loans delivered [...]
Yodlee Does a Better Job Categorizing My Expenses
Last week, when I logged into my Mint.com the first time in several months, I was shocked by how Mint categorizes the expenses downloaded from my Bank of America Checking account. I don’t know exactly how Mint processes the transactions, but it is just unacceptable to me that a popular financial product that is used [...]
Sweet! Now You Can Get $50 Bonus from CollegeAdvantage
Early this month, Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 College Savings Plan announced a promotion which gives each new plan participant $25 bonus for just opening an account. Yesterday, I got an email from CollegeAdvantage with a sweetened deal: For a limited time, each new customer will get another $25 bonus on top of the existing $25 referral [...]
Mint.com is Scary
Kind of.
Last night, when I was writing the post about manageME 7, I logged into my Mint.com account first time in many months in order to make some comparison I needed for the post. I mentioned before that I mainly use a desktop version of Quicken to track my finance, not the online version, despite [...]
ManageME 7 Review and Membership Giveaway
If you are using either Mint.com or Quicken Online to manage your finance, you probably have already heard the big news today that Intuit, owner of Quicken Online, is buying Mint.com. While changes can always be expected when such acquisitions occur, Intuit has promised to keep both popular online money management tool free for existing [...]
What Is FHA Loan?
The process of selling our house is moving forward. This morning, our attorney told that the attorney review has completed and now the house is officially under contract. The buyer will do the home inspection this weekend. After that we will move to Virginia and leave the house and all other matters to our agent, [...]
Surprise! Ally Bank Increases Savings Account Rate
Well, this really comes as a surprise because I have already gotten used to Ally Bank’s endless adjustments of the rates of their banking products. I was so pissed by the bank’s weekly rate reduction (yes, a rate change here or there every week) that I left Ally Bank only a couple of weeks after [...]
