The Sun's Financial Diary

So what are alternative energies? According to Wikipedia, alternative energy sources include biomass, geothermal, solar energy, wind energy, and wave power. In late April, Glaymore Securities launched a Solar Energy exchange-traded fund, TAN, which lets investors in solar energy providers as well as solar energy related equipment and material suppliers. Early this month, PowerShares introduced [...]

IndyMac Bank, the California-based bank specializing in mortgage lending, became the latest, yet largest so far, bank to fail in 2008 after the bank’s customers withdrew more than $1.3 billion since June amid crisis in the financial and housing market. Last Friday, July 11, 2008, IndyMac Bank was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance [...]

I recently came across a website called MyCallons.com when browsing the Finance Forum at Fatwallet.com. What got my attention is what this site promises to help its members save money on gas: Save money by pre-purchasing gas at today’s prices, then fill up with your MyGallons Card when prices rise. No matter how high prices [...]

I am always on the lookout for better banking deals. Recently I opened my fifth online savings account with Capital One after considering the move for a long time. At the time when I opened the account, the interest rate was at 3.75% APY which was pretty good given how much bank interest rates have [...]

A few months ago, RevolutionMoneyExchange, a challenger to Paypal, generated some buzz when they offered a $25 signup bonus for every new account. I signed up an account and used it to make some transfers. From my limited experience, the service is quite nice and easy to use. The best part is that there’s no [...]

For the second time in less than two months, E*Trade Financial decided to make its Complete Savings Account competitive by increasing its interest rate from 3.15% APY to 3.30% APY, starting July 2, 2008 (current rate 3.01% APY as of 12/28/2008). It made a similar rate adjustment in early May. With the Complete Savings Account, [...]

Found this Discover More Card deal on the Clipper Magazine in my mailbox. Details of the offer are: $100 Cashback bonus when you make $500 in purchase; 0% APR on balance transfer until June 2009; 5% Cashback bonus; 3% balance transfer fee. I have discussed this card in my best cash back credit card post. [...]

Early this month when I called T-Mobile to complain the 15 cents they charged me for sending me a text reminder, I also asked their early termination policy and was told that if I want to get out my contract before it expires, I will have to pay a $200 early termination fee, regardless how [...]