My Money Blog

Prosper.com Person-to-Person Lending Review, Part 2: The Numbers

Posted on March 3, 2007 // 45 Comments

Update: Prosper is currently offering a $25 sign-up bonus when joining! To recap the first half of this review, my initial impression of Prosper was that is a somewhat risky investment opportunity with poor liquidity. However, along with the risk … [Read the rest]

Prosper.com Person-to-Person Lending Review, Part 1: First Looks

Posted on March 2, 2007 // 53 Comments

Update: Prosper is currently offering a $25 sign-up bonus when joining! Prosper.com is a person-to-person lending service where you can lend out money to complete strangers. My first and only post about Prosper was back on February 13, 2006, when … [Read the rest]

Young Entrepreneur Interview: Dennis of Young Money Blog

Posted on February 28, 2007 // 7 Comments

Although many of us have thought about starting a small business, significantly less actually take the plunge. So when I read on Dennis' Young Money Blog back in July that he had opened up his own custom Greek Apparel store, I was intrigued and have … [Read the rest]

Stock Market Correction? A Peek Into My Investing Philosophy.

Posted on February 28, 2007 // 33 Comments

Apparently the S&P 500 dropped 3.5% yesterday. Not bad for one day! Let's see what I haven't done yet: 1. I haven't logged into Vanguard.com, where all my IRAs are. 2. I haven't logged into Fidelity.com, where my 401(k) is. 3. I haven't … [Read the rest]

Investing In Actively Managed Funds: Deal or No Deal?

Posted on February 27, 2007 // 19 Comments

I just finished watching my first episode of Deal or No Deal, a new game show on NBC. I personally thought it was amazingly dull, but it did remind me of a good parallel to investing that I read in the book The Coffeehouse Investor (Yes, I know. … [Read the rest]

Do You Have A Financial Success Story To Tell?

Posted on February 26, 2007 // 2 Comments

Everybody loves hearing success stories. I certainly do. And I know that many of you readers have some great tales to share... Did you start your own business? Did you crawl out from under a mountain of personal debt? Did you overcome … [Read the rest]

Buying A Home In The San Francisco Bay Area On $75,000 A Year

Posted on February 26, 2007 // 34 Comments

Besides shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joes, it seems like one of the major hobbies of young professionals in cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco is to complain that we can't afford a house given our mere $50,000-$100,000 salary. It's true. … [Read the rest]

Certain Yodlee Versions Don’t Show Passwords

Posted on February 25, 2007 // 12 Comments

Yodlee MoneyCenter is an account aggregation service that logs into your online accounts automatically in order to track your financial balances and transactions. It's also a great way to see all your rewards points. While Yodlee is available for … [Read the rest]

Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fee Settlement

Posted on February 24, 2007 // 33 Comments

I just got a letter regarding a class-action lawsuit claiming that "Visa, MasterCard, their member banks, and Diners Club conspired to set and conceal markups and fees, typically of 1-3%, on foreign transactions." I guess the companies settled, and … [Read the rest]

Six Figure Salary Survey Results: Who’s Making $100k?

Posted on February 24, 2007 // 42 Comments

Two weeks ago I asked people with six-figure salaries to share their stories. There was a great response, and I wanted to both summarize and add to the discussion some more. $100,000 Isn't That Much... Is It? Many people expressed that $100,000 … [Read the rest]

Proof That Anyone Can Call Themselves a Financial Advisor

Posted on February 23, 2007 // 6 Comments

Speaking of business cards, check out this one I found: If you can't read the sentence on the back, it says: This card waives the setup fee for your first paycheck advance. Call us to set up your consultation with our financial advisors … [Read the rest]

250 Business Cards With Custom Logo Starting At $5

Posted on February 23, 2007 // 21 Comments

Vistaprint always gives out 250 "free" business cards, but they have a little "made by Vistaprint" watermark stamped on the back, and you have to use one of their templates. Right now, they are offering 250 business cards with a customized logo and … [Read the rest]