The Sun's Financial Diary

Did you stock up Forever Stamps when they became available last May? If you did, good for you because it doesn’t much longer for the postage to go up again. Beginning May 12th, the rate for a one-ounce first class mail will go up one cent, from 41 cents to 42 cents, according to U.S. [...]

I am and I can’t think of any reason why not using it as long as I have a bank account. It’s safe (I don’t have to worry about losing the check) and it’s fast (there’s no delay for the money to show up in my account). However, it appears that not everybody is using [...]

Yesterday, I received a letter from CollegeAdvantage, the Ohio 529 college savings plan, regarding lowered cost for the Vanguard portfolios. The letter says starting February 1, the total administrative cost for the Vanguard options will be reduced by 0.02%. This is a welcome news, though the reduction is tiny. I set up a CollegeAdvantage account [...]

I usually don’t read too much the Costco Connection magazine I received every month as part of the benefit of being an Executive Member, because more than half of the magazine are ads while the rest are articles about stuff Costco offers . But a piece in the February issue did get my attention last [...]

Nowadays, you can get a lot of stuff for free, news, music, movie, as long as you read/listen to/watch the ads that come together with the free stuff. You can even monitor your credit score for free, says CreditKarma.com, a newly launched credit monitoring service that promise free access to their own version of credit [...]

Politicians in Washington acted pretty quickly this time to hammer out a stimulus package with tax rebates, for both individuals and businesses, as the center piece. According to the tentative deal announced today: Most individuals who pay income taxes would get $600; working couples would receive $1,200. Workers who make at least $3,000 but don’t [...]

In the February issue of Consumer Reports, the magazine has a cover story which lists 12 costly common money mistakes people usually make. Before I bring up the list, may I ask what mistake you think could be the most expensive one in the long term? Not save/invest enough for retirement? Carrying too much credit [...]

Don’t have an iPod yet? You can get one for free if you apply and get approved for a Discover More Card and use the card to make a purchase. MyEasyRewards.com is now offering a free iPod Shuffle upon approval and activation of a Discover Card. From the offer website, the whole process takes three [...]