Michael Lewis’s New Book – Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World – Free Copy Online

Posted on October 12, 2011 // 23 Comments

I’ve enjoyed every Michael Lewis book that I’ve read, from Liar’s Poker to Moneyball to The Blind Side. Reading his writing is as easy as listening to a great storyteller, making the most mundane subjects interesting. I’ve been hearing about his new book Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, and was surprised learn from Felix Salmon of Reuters that the book is simply a collection of previously written articles from Vanity Fair magazine. Articles that are still available, for free, online!

I looked inside a copy of the book, and it’s true. Amazon reviews confirm it. The articles are the same, word for word. You can even read the only “new” thing, the Preface, online for free at Amazon since it’s the “free first chapter”. I don’t feel bad sharing this, since Vanity Fair paid Lewis good money to write these articles, put them up publicly with ads, and no doubt enjoy the traffic. So if you want to read Boomerang electronically, the Table of Contents of the book is below. I used Instapaper on my iPod Touch and read parts of them while waiting at the doctor’s office.

Preface: The Biggest Short – Amazon book page (“Read first chapter FREE”)

I. Wall Street on the Tundra – Iceland (Partial only, but Archive.org has the entire article. Thanks to reader Travis.)

II. And They Invented Math – Greece

III. Ireland’s Original Sin – Ireland

IV. The Secret Lives of Germans – Germany

V. Too Fat To Fly – California

Warning: Reading this book will make you some combination of scared, angry, and depressed. I’ve only read the Preface, Greece, and California chapters, and I’m already seriously thinking of buying some gold and guns to join my food hoard. I remind myself that Lewis is a gifted storyteller, but some people still disagree with they see as oversimplification and broad stereotyping of cultures. But just going by the hard numbers given, I’m still worried.

* Update: The Iceland article has been changed to only a partial stub at VanityFair.com, pushing you to buy the book “The Hangover” to read the rest. Interesting, the same article recycled in two separate books. The rest of the articles are still up, but I’d print to PDF or similar in case they change them as well. The Iceland article was free to read for years before this book came out, so it’s still out there if you look hard enough. Update 2: A couple of astute readers found saved versions. I recommend visiting this Archive.org link and saving it quickly.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Deals & Offers //

CollegeInvest Smart Choice 529 College Savings Plan: $50 Opening Bonus

Posted on October 11, 2011 // 6 Comments

Here’s another 529 bonus that’s pretty easy to grab. (See Ohio 529 $50 bonus.) The FDIC-insured version of the CollegeInvest College Savings plan is currently offering a $50 bonus if you deposit $50 of your own money and set up automatic transfers. There is no minimum balance, and the terms only require a $1 monthly transfer for 6 consecutive months. Effectively, double your $50 to $100 in 6 months.

This is one of the several 529 plan options for Colorado, and you do get a state tax deduction for your 529 contributions if you’re a Colorado resident (subject to recapture if you don’t use it for a qualified expense). One that caught my eye was the stable value version that is paying a 2.84% rate for 2011.

Plan Review. This bank version itself is pretty bare, and is intended for people who want to invest very conservatively in FDIC-insured accounts. There are only two options: (1) a 1-year CD paying 0.30% APY, and (2) a savings account paying 0.05% APY on balances up to $20,000. Even if it’s tax-deferred… yuck. If you are currently in college or have a really short timeframe, then you could just grab this bonus and take a qualified withdrawal soon afterward. Otherwise…

Take advantage of plan rollovers. I’ve opened a lot of 529 plans for the bonuses over the years, and I enjoy trying out each new service. Some have surprisingly good online interfaces (Ohio), while others are shockingly bad (Oregon circa 2007). But the good thing is, it’s pretty easy to roll over funds from one 529 to another existing plan. You usually just have to fill out a rollover form.

Filed Under: College & Education, Deals & Offers //

Southwest Airlines Promotional Game: 100 Points Per Week

Posted on October 9, 2011 // 11 Comments

Southwest is running a 30 Million Point Giveaway, where you can register and get up to 100 free Rapid Rewards points per week for answering trivia questions and playing online games. It’s not terribly exciting, but if you do all six weeks then 600 points = $10 towards a Southwest Wanna Get Away airfare. New members also get 250 points for signing up, and everyone can get 500 points for signing up for e-mail newsletters.

This Week’s Answers
Week #3: True, Amt & Type, True, Wanna Get Away, DIY

Old Answers
Week #1: D,A,D,D, Unlimited, Blackout, Expire.
Week #2: C (amount and type of fare), D (all), A (true), A (business select), CBA (top to bottom)

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Cheapest iPhone 4S Plan = $69.99 Sprint Everything Plus Referral Program (EPRP) with Unlimited Data and Text

Posted on October 8, 2011 // 48 Comments

If you’re looking for the cheapest plan that offers the iPhone 4S (or iPhone 4), with unlimited data and text included, then check out the Sprint Everything Plus Referral Program. This is meant for friends of employees, but a Sprint executive has offered to refer us:

Sprint employee e-mail address: Russ.S.McGuire@Sprint.com
Last 3 digits of employee ID (CID): 383

Monthly plans start at $59.99 for individuals with 500 anytime minutes with unlimited text and data, which is $10 cheaper than their regular plans. Family shared plans start at $109.99 for two lines sharing 1600 minutes with unlimited text and data, which is $20 less than their regular price. You also get unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7pm.

However, Sprint adds on a “Premium data charge” of $10 a month for iPhones and other select smartphones. This brings the total to $69.99 a month for the 500 minutes individual plan. I don’t know of any carrier that offers all that for a lower price, but let me know in the comments if you do. In fact, only Sprint has unlimited data right now, and most others charge for texting separately.

Already in a contract? Check if you are eligible for a student or employee corporate discount, or 10-15% savings for being a credit union member. Finally, if you are an AAA member, Sprint should offer you a 10% discount on their regular retail plans if you call them and ask. You can apply these for a discount on your current plan, even in the middle of a contract.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Sprint SERO Premium + iPhone 4S = $50 a month

Posted on October 8, 2011 // 41 Comments

This post is an update for fellow stubborn folks still clinging to the Sprint SERO plan. This grandfathered plan gave us individual plans with 500 minutes, nights starting at 7pm, unlimited text, and unlimited data for $30 a month. However, this was with severe restrictions on available phones. In 2010, Sprint announced SERO Premium which allowed us to upgrade to Android or Blackberry phones for $10 a month, and another $10 a month for “high data use” smartphones like the ones capable of 4G data.

Yes, the new iPhone 4S (and iPhone 4) is available on the SERO Premium plan for $50 a month. The 500 minute plan will cost $30 + $10 +$10 = $50 a month, because it is also “high data use” even though it’s not 4G-capable. For a while, the swamped Sprint CSRs were not well-trained in this area and were giving conflicting information. But customer-friendly Sprint executive Russ McGuire has confirmed the $50 price on his personal blog, and it has been ordered successfully in various cell phone forums. Looks like it’s time for an upgrade. 🙂

Never heard of SERO? You can still get the cheapest iPhone 4S plan available to the public at for $69.99 a month, including unlimited data and text messages, through the Sprint Employee referral program.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Best Citi ThankYou Point Redemption Option: Amazon.com Gift Certificates

Posted on October 6, 2011 // 26 Comments

If you’ve been sitting on some ThankYou points, you should know that Citi likes to put certain redemption options on “sale” from time to time. Right now, you can get a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate for 4,900 points.* That’s even better than the 1 cent per point you’d get on a student loan or mortgage check. Search for “Amazon” under the gift cards category. Here’s a link and a screenshot. It may go in and out of stock, so check back later if you don’t see it right away.

Citi Forward CardThis is actually a great fit for me, as the primary way I earn ThankYou points these days is with the Citi Forward® Card, which earns 5 points for every $1 you spend on restaurants, book stores including Amazon.com, video rental stores, and movie theaters. I have confirmed that all Amazon.com purchases count as a bookstore under their categorization system.

I simply have this card as my default card on my Amazon.com account for the 5x points. You also get 1,000 points for signing up for paperless statements, and 100 points each month just for paying your bill on time and not going over your credit limit. No annual fee. Here are some other good ways to rack up ThankYou points:

* I must note that Citi has apparently decided to vary their redemption ratios depending on what kind of credit card that you use to earn your ThankYou points with. I have a few cards linked to mine, all with no annual fee, so I don’t know what is fancy enough or not. If you see a different value, list your card in the comments. I don’t like this solution at all, if anything they should just offer less points if they want to promote one card over another. Don’t mess with the actual value of a point.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Promotion Code: $25 New Account Bonus

Posted on October 5, 2011 // 2 Comments

Updated… The Ohio CollegeAdvantage Direct 529 college savings plan is now offering a $25 bonus contribution if you open a new account and invest at least $500 of your own money. A guaranteed 50% return-on-investment! The promotion code is PLAN. Offer ends June 1, 2012. The $25 bonus will be applied on or about June 15, 2012 as long as the account is still open with the original $500 initial contribution. You can easily set up an automatic contribution of as little as $25 every month. I’ve had mine going for over two years now, and I barely notice it anymore.

How is good is the Ohio plan relative to other state plans? Well, you should always check if your own state plan has special incentives. Mine doesn’t, and I hold my 529 assets in the Ohio plan. Another good one is Utah, although most plans with Vanguard investments are going to be well below-average in costs. I like Ohio because they offer low-cost conservative investments for college, including high-yield CDs and inflation-indexed bonds. (As of early 2012, TIPS and CDs are at record-low yields, so I am shifting a small percentage in to equities.) I should have bought more of that 10-year CD at 5% APY.

Expired Promotional Codes
KIDS
PLAN (for $50 expired 11/18/2011)

Filed Under: College & Education, Deals & Offers, Investing //

Citi Checking Account Bonus $200/$400 in Gift Cards

Posted on October 4, 2011 // 21 Comments

Citibank is offering new checking account customers a bonus of either a 20,000 or 40,000 ThankYou points, worth $200 or $400 in gift cards. You must:

  • Open a new Citibank checking account in the Citigold or Citibank Account Package by 10/31/2011.
  • Enroll the new checking account in Citi ThankYou Rewards.
  • Within 45 days after account opening, initiate one direct deposit AND complete one electronic bill payment for two consecutive months.

ThankYou Point Value Recap
There are a decent number of options for these poitns. 10,000 ThankYou points = $100 Wal-mart Gift card, which you can sell for a $95.55 Amazon.com gift certificate or $91 cash at PlasticJungle.com. Alternatively, can be worth $100 towards Expedia travel, a student loan, or paying down your mortgage. More details in the Citi $500 ThankYou card post.

Citibank Account: 20,000 ThankYou Point Bonus (Easier)

  • $100 minimum opening deposit
  • $6,000 minimum balance in linked accounts (checking, savings, personal, credit card balances) to avoid $20 monthly fee.

Citigold Account: 40,000 ThankYou Point Bonus (Harder)

  • $500 minimum opening deposit
  • There’s no monthly service fee for the first 2 statement cycles. After that, in order to waive the $30 monthly service fee you need the combined average balance of your eligible linked accounts to be:
    • $50,000 or more for all linked deposit and retirement accounts OR
    • $100,000 or more across all your eligible linked Citi accounts, excluding a first mortgage with Citibank OR
    • $250,000 or more if your Citibank first mortgage is included in the total relationship.

For most people, I think the 20,000 ThankYou point offer will be the easier one to qualify for if you have $6,000 to move over there instead of an online savings account earning only 1% APY. $6,000 would only earn $60 over an entire year, at that rate. Even it takes 6 months to get your $200 bonus, that’s a 6.67% annualized return.

I thought that the Citigold might be doable since the monthly fees are waived for the first two months, but I saw in the fine print that the points might take another 90 days to post and your account must be open until then. This option would only work well if you have a mortgage with Citi.

The bonus ThankYou Points will be credited to your ThankYou Member Account within 90 days from the end of the statement period in which you satisfy all offer requirements. New checking account must be open and in good standing at the time the bonus ThankYou Points are posted to your ThankYou Member Account.

Afterwards, if you wish, you can downgrade to the Basic Account which offers a way to avoid monthly fees with no minimum balance, if you make 5 “qualified transaction” activities per month (direct deposits, debit card purchase, bill payment, ACH payments, checks paid, ATM withdrawals).

Update: Citibank has updated their checking account to have different restrictions starting with statements ending on 12/9/2011.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Chase Bank $125 New Checking Bonus In-Branch or Online

Posted on October 4, 2011 // 5 Comments

Chase Bank is offering a $125 bonus for new customers if you open a new Total Checking account with $100 and set up direct deposit within 60 days of account opening. They state that the direct deposit must be “an electronic deposit from your employer or the government of your paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as Social Security)”, but I’m not sure if they manually check. You must keep the account open for 6 months. To avoid a monthly fee, you must do one of the following each statement period:

  1. have at least one direct deposit of $500 or more post to your account (two or more direct deposits that add up to $500 or more do not qualify), or
  2. keep a minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more in your checking account, or
  3. keep an average balance of $5,000 or more in qualifying accounts with Chase.

Otherwise, a $12 monthly Service Fee will apply ($10 monthly Service Fee in CA, OR and WA). Per the fine print, if are not a current customer and you’ve closed an account more than 90 days ago, you count as a “new” customer again. However, you can only receive one checking account-related bonus per calendar year. Thanks to reader Andy for the tip. Offer expires 10/7/11.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Free Southwest Airlines Points For Email Sign-Up, Watching Video

Posted on September 30, 2011 // 9 Comments

Southwest Airlines is offering 500 Rapid Rewards points if you sign up for their e-mail subscriptions for a monthly statement and deals newsletters. Relatively easy, and if you’re already signed up, try unsubscribing for a day or two and then signing up again at the link.

If you have a Southwest Airlines-affiliated credit card, you can get another 1,000 points by visiting this page and watching a 2-minute video. You’ll need to enter your RR number and the last 4 digits of your credit card at the end. Thanks for reader Brian for the tip. (Update: May be targeted to specific cardholders.)

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

CreditSesame: Would You Like Me More If I Showed You My Credit Score?

Posted on September 21, 2011 // 11 Comments

CreditSesame just launched a “credit badge” that is intended for random folks on the internet to show how big their… I mean how high their credit score is. Instead of wearing Armani or driving a Porsche, I can show off my CreditSesame badge. It’s supposed to help me find a job, find a mate, and find an apartment to rent. Really? I thought I was the only one who thought paying bills on time was hot.

Why should I share my badge?
The Credit Sesame Credit Badge™ program is designed to give you a competitive edge in life and helps you to develop your personal brand by promoting your financial responsibility and showcasing your good or excellent credit. You’ve worked hard to maintain your good or excellent credit and your shared badge allows you to stand out from the crowd as a creditworthy and financially responsible individual.

The Good badge requires a 640+ credit score. An Excellent badge requires 740+. The Guru badge requires 740+ and you must “maintain an optimized level of debt so that Credit Sesame cannot find you more ways to save.” Basically you have to sign up for one of their offers. Well, I decline since it also requires you to reveal your last name, first initial, and city of residence. However, I’ll take the free monthly score updates.

All jokes aside, consider this a reminder that you can get a free FAKO credit score estimates from each of the three major credit bureaus. There is CreditSesame for Experian, CreditKarma for TransUnion, and Equifax Score Card for Equifax. All free, but obviously you do have to provide your Social Security Number.

This is all in addition to the government-mandated free credit report available from AnnualCreditReport.com. As of July 2011, lenders are required to provide a free credit score to anyone who is denied or given worse terms because of their credit. I see no reason to pay $100+ a year for credit monitoring or other credit score products.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Free 9/20 Only: Incorporation & LLC Formation Service From MyCorporation

Posted on September 20, 2011 // 3 Comments

If you’ve been considering making your side venture a formal separate entity, MyCorporation is offering their LLC formation and incorporation filing services for free for one day only 9/20/11 until 11:59 PST with the coupon code MYFREE (regular price $99). Also included is a copy of Quickbooks Simple Start (though I think this is always free…) and a free domain name registration. You must still pay shipping and the applicable filing fees charged by each state. I’m sure they’ll also try to upsell you some additional services, but you can decline them.

MyCorporation is owned by Intuit, makers of TurboTax and Quicken. Accordingly, you can view such online incorporation services as similar to TurboTax for taxes. Yes, you could fill out your 1040 tax forms all by yourself, but it’s much easier to go through a question-and-answer software that walks you through it and explains the steps. You could also incorporate yourself as well, may prefer some guidance. However, if you’re doing something complex or out of the ordinary, then you should hire a professional to handle it (accountant for taxes, lawyer for incorporation).

When I formed my S-Corporation years ago, I used one of their primary competitors LegalZoom and paid about $150 for the service – not including the state filing fees and shipping. It was good to have someone look over the forms before submitting, while avoiding the $1,000+ fees from a lawyer.

The decision between staying a sole proprietor/partnership or forming an LLC/corporation is not always simple. If you’d like to dig into the details on your own, I recommend the book LLC or Corporation? How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business from Nolo Press. I chose to go the S-Corp route primarily for the income tax savings. You can even have a LLC and chose to have it taxed as an S-Corp, as if things weren’t confusing enough!

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Entrepreneurial //
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