TradeKing Promotion: Get $50 Bonus in October

Posted by Sun (0) Comment

Just a quick announcement.
In August, TradeKing had National Friendship Day promotion and from what I can see, it was quite successful. Now TradeKing is again giving a $50 bonus in October. To receive the bonus, you MUST use this link to open a broker account, fund the account with at least $2,500 and make a [...]

Now I’m Done

Posted by Sun on December 24, 2006 (0) Comment

After I posted the "Merry Christmas!" entry, Golbguru suggested I should catch up some sleep instead of staying late and blogging. Well, I guess I should take his advice because the past week was really a busy one at work and I had to work over time a couple of days to finish a project before holiday (and that's why I had a light-blogging week). I AM pretty tired. But there was one more thing I want to do before going to bed: Leave a "Merry Christmas!" comment to everybody on my blogroll. Since I don't have a long list, it took me about 20 minutes to complete the mission.

Now I am done for today.

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Categories : Blog, Others Tags: No Tags

Merry Christmas!

Posted by Sun on December 23, 2006 (2) Comment

Best Wishes to You and Your Family This Holiday Season!

Categories : Others Tags: No Tags

Census Bureau: Mean Family Net Worth, Income, and Education

Posted by Sun on December 22, 2006 (4) Comment

Last Friday, The Census Bureau released 2007 Statistical Abstract. In the Income, Expenditures, and Wealth part, I found some interesting numbers that show how much (on average) we make and the mean household net worth for the past decade (from 1995 to 2004).

The first table is the mean family net worth for different age groups. It shows that the group under age 35 has the least net worth. Is it because that this group of people are still paying off their student loans or mortgages? The report didn't give any explanation behind the big gap between this group and the adjacent one (age 35 - 44).

Age of family head	1995 mean	1998 mean	2001 mean	2004 mean
<35	$53.2K	$74.0K	$96.6K	$73.5K
35-44	$176.8K	$227.6K	$276.4K	$299.2K
45-54	$364.8K	$420.2K	$517.6K	$542.7K
55-64	$471.1K	$617.0K	$775.4K	$843.8K
65-74	$429.3K	$541.1K	$717.9K	$690.9K
>75	$317.9K	$360.3K	$496.2K	$528.1K

The second table is the income difference between male and female with different educational background. There are lots of discussions on whether a college degree is worth the time and money. Well, the argument probably won't stop for any time soon, but the data clearly shows the value of getting a higher degree as people with only a high school diploma earn nealy 50% less than those with bachelor's degree across all different age groups.

Sex & Age	<9th grade	9th - 12th grade	High school	Some college	Asso. degree	Bachelor's or more
Male
18-24	$16,805	$20,156	$23,119	$23,872	$26,554	$33,952
25-34	$20,977	$26,797	$33,509	$40,417	$42,200	$58,500
35-44	$25,733	$30,968	$40,885	$49,498	$50,832	$85,368
45-54	$26,139	$33,781	$43,638	$52,314	$53,701	$89,499
55-64	$29,067	$34,341	$44,619	$54,630	$55,888	$95,568
65+	$23,499	$32,695	$38,108	$59,160	N/A	$86,713
Female
18-24	N/A	$16,698	$18,915	$19,727	$23,070	$27,650
25-34	$23,142	$19,646	$26,132	$27,927	$32,145	$49,339
35-44	$17,401	$23,908	$28,975	$33,814	$38,078	$57,208
45-54	$21,853	$22,076	$29,729	$36,008	$40,785	$56,596
55-64	$20,496	$22,625	$30,590	$36,032	$37,467	$55,511
65+	$28,687	N/A	$27,955	$31,018	N/A	$44,576

I also found surprise from this table is the income difference between male and female and the biggest gap is actually for people with college degrees. With the same educational background, female workers earn considerably less than male employees across all age groups.

Categories : Personal finance Tags: No Tags

Last Minute Gift Ideas: Creative 1 GB MP3 Player for $19.99

Posted by Sun on December 22, 2006 (0) Comment

If you are still looking for a last minute gift that won't cost you a lot of money, here's one you may want to take a look.

Buy.com currently has Creative Muvo V100 1 GB MP3 Player [Buy.com affiliate link] for $39.99 after $20 mail-in-rebate. Use Google Checkout to get another $20 discount, and the final price is $19.99. I bought a 512 MB one a couple of weeks ago for $9.99 and it's very compact.

Additionally, Buy.com also has Kingston 1GB Data Traveler USB 2.0 Flash Drive [Buy.com affiliate link] for free after rebate and discount. Or a Kingston 2GB U3 DataTraveler Smart Flash Drive [Buy.com affiliate link] for $8.95 after rebate and discount. I don't remember how many flash drives I bought, but never had any problem selling them on Amazon.com. There are still many people want them.

CompUsa has Jabra BT350 BlueTooth Headset for free after $30 mail-in-rebate, but the product sold out for delivery. You may want to check your local store for availability if you are interested.

Categories : Deals Tags: No Tags

Deal: P4400 Kill-A-Watt Electricity Detector & Monitor for $19

Posted by Sun on December 21, 2006 (0) Comment

According to Dealsea.com, SuperMediaStore now has P4400 Kill-A-Watt Electricity Detector for $23.99. Use coupon code silverbells to get a $5 discount of the listed price and the shipping is free. According to the production description:

The Electricity Detector and Electricity Monitor can reduce your monthly electric bill and help you save a lot of money. Electricity bills can be murder. But now with Kill a Watt you can cut down on costs and find out what machines are actually worth keeping plugged in. Simply connect your appliances to the Kill A Watt and Kill a Watt will assess how efficient they really are.

It seems to be a nice gauge to have and the review on the SuperMediaStore website is positive (though only three reviews so far). If it can indeed help me save on electric bill, as it claims it can, then it is worth the $19 cost. Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog.com has a nice discussion on this product back in October.