The Sun's Financial Diary

It’s that time of year again. No, not just the holiday season, but also the time when you realize that the year is ending and taxes are just around the corner. This year is particularly difficult because Congress still hasn’t decided what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts (the Senate will vote on Obama [...]

Citibank has recently introduced to brand new rewards credit cards, the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Rewards Card and the Citi ThankYou Premier Card. Both cards rewards card members with ThankYou Rewards Points for using the card on everyday purchases, though at different levels, and they both offer incentives for applying for the new cards. The big difference [...]

If you’re struggling to pay your bills on time, or even set aside enough funds to pay your bills regularly, then “auto-pay” might be the best solution for you. It’s quick and easy — and if you play your cards right, you’ll never have to physically mail another paper check again.That’s right: it’s green, and [...]

If you have a savings account, and I am pretty sure you do, you are probably not very happy with the return you get for your hard earned money. The problem isn’t really about the particular bank you are using. If you look around, I can almost guarantee that you will be very surprised if [...]

Discover Bank may be relatively new to the online banking business, but it started quite well with very competitive rates for its Online Savings Account, Money Market Account and CDs. Currently Discover Savings Account has an interest rate of 1.15% APY. The yield may not seem to be very impressive at first, but if you [...]

Let me clarify one thing right off the bat…I’m all for the institution of marriage.  If you fall in love with someone, you should be able to enter in to a marriage and aim for a lifetime of happiness. That being said, absent the romanticism and committing yourself to the person you love for the [...]

Since the beginning of  the current recession three years ago, conventional lenders have implemented much more strict rules on lending money after most of them taking a big hit from the collapse of sub-prime l0an business. That makes borrowing money a lot tougher in bad economic times, even for credit worthy borrowers. And this is one [...]

It looks like the President and the Republicans in the Congress have reached a deal to neither permanently renew Bush-era tax cuts for all taxpayers, which is set to expire at the end of the year, nor cut taxes only for middle class American, as the President has campaigned for years. Instead, the deal calls for a [...]