Best of Blogs for Week of January 30th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

MyMoneyBlog tells us This Is Why My Retirement Portfolio Is Simple and Balanced

MMB also lists Free State Income Tax E-File Options For All 50 States (Updated 2015)


Geography of Jobs, found via The Big Picture, has a dynamic map of job gains/losses per city since 1999.    Interesting to watch the red explode all over the map in 2009.

Another one from The Big Picture Breaking With Bogle


The Upshot looks at The Shrinking American Middle Class
which I also found via The Big Picture

MoneyBox looks at The Myth That Middle-Class Students Don’t Get Financial Aid

Doughroller compares The Cheapest Tax Software of 2015–TurboTax vs TaxAct vs H&R Block
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Entertainment coupon books for $5 and Free Ship

Entertainment.com coupon books are on sale right now for $5 each with free shipping.

A second book is $4 so thats $9 for two.


I haven't bought an Entertainment coupon for a while and I'm not sure how good the coupons are.   But if you do buy these then this is a pretty cheap price for them.


Ebates also gives 17.5% cash back on Entertainment.com but I"m not seeing the $5 deal if I go to Entertainment through Ebtes so it may not work that way..   If you can figure out a way to find the $5 deal via Ebates then its worth a little extra cash back.

Standard Ebates blurb:To get the cash back you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates. 

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

How Much Are Peoples Homes Worth? - Looking At Some Demographics.

I previously looked at the values of homes in How Much Are Peoples Homes Worth?

The American Housing Survey that I got that data from also breaks down home values into some specific demographics.   Lets look at how home values break down for those demographic groups.

I got the data from the AHS site specifically the document :
Value, Purchase Price, and Source of Down Payment  Table 3-14. Owner Occupied Units

First let us look at home values by the large geographic regions :

Homes are generally lower value in the South.    The highest value homes are normally found in the West.   The Midwest and Northeast are more often in the middle.


Next, New construction : 

 Not too surprising there.   The values skew higher and theres very few new construction homes worth less than $80k.  

Manufactured & mobile homes : 

 I'm a bit surprised that there are homes in the >$200k level.   And while you can't see it on the chart theres 1-2 homes in the highest price ranges as well.   Thats kind of odd.  However I"m guessing these very high value homes are manufactured structures in the sense that they were primarily built off site then transported to the lot.   Or maybe someone parked a trailer on 5th avenue in Manhattan?

Home values of the elderly, aged 65 and over : 

There isn't much difference between the values of homes and the general population.  

People below the poverty line : 

 Here we see something interesting.   Theres more homes in the low value levels but there are still plenty of homes in the medium and high end.   Of course income and assets are not really equivalent.  You could feasibly have someone living in a $1M house in California that they bought in 1960 and only living off a $1000 social security check.   Also you can have relatively wealthy people showing low income in a given year simply because they didn't have earnings, but maybe they're just living off the giant pile of cash in their bank account.  Of course theres also some people committing fraud of various sorts.   A bet one or two of those people in >$750k homes are committing tax evasion and fraudulently reporting a very low income.



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Current Discounts & Cash Back Deals at Discover Deals - January 2015

Discover card got rid of their Shop Discover program and now they've replaced it with the Discover Deals program.   They're pretty similar in nature.   Discover Deals still has cash back bonuses typically 5% or more and it also has $x back of $y purchase deals too.   

I did a quick and dirty copy/paste off the site to capture all the current discounts and cashback rates offered.  

Here is the poorly formatted dump...

$1 off any ice cream product at Carvel
$10 back on a purchase of $35 or…Mrs. Fields Cookies
$10 back on a purchase of $50 or…Steve Madden.com
$10 back on a purchase of $50 or…ULTA Beauty
$15 Cashback Bonus® at 1800Flowers.com
$15 off at Babyage.com
$15 off at  Fanzz
$15 off at GODIVA.com
$20 back on a purchase of $100 or…Panera Catering
$25 back on a purchase of $200 or…Sheraton Hotels & Resorts
$25 back on a purchase of $250 or…Adorama
$30 off $150 at Caché
$5 back on a purchase of $35 or…Wag.com
$5 back on a purchase of $75 or…Skyo.com
$5 off your purchase at Piccadilly
$7 off $50 gift card at Spaweek.com
$8 back on a purchase of $40 or…Bespoke Post
10% Cashback Bonus on Fandango Bucks at Fandango online
10% Cashback Bonus® at Celebrity Cruises®
10% Cashback Bonus® at Holland America Line
10% Cashback Bonus® at Princess Cruises
10% Cashback Bonus® at Royal Caribbean International®
10% Cashback Bonus® at Viking River Cruises
10% off at AAMCO
10% off at Big 5 Sporting Goods Store
10% off at Hertz
10% off at Orbitz
10% off at Shop.NHL.com
15% Cashback Bonus at Brookstone.com
15% off at ATGStores.com
15% off at Bath & Body Works
15% off at Cookies by Design
20% off at Dunham's Sports
25% back on a purchase of $10 or…TeeOff.com
25% off at papajohns.com
25% off contact lenses at Walgreens.com
25% off your tax returns at Jackson Hewitt
40% off at Men's Wearhouse
Act NOW for 10% off at Omaha Steaks
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at 1800CONTACTS.com
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at AllPosters.com
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Art.com
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Athleta online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Banana Republic online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Blair.com
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Bumble and bumble online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at CHEFS Catalog online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Clinique online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Columbia online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Finish Line online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Foot Locker online
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Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at GNC online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Godiva online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Lids online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Lobster Gram online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Lord & Taylor online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Lucky Brand online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Macy's online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at MLB.com
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at OnlineShoes.com
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at PetSmart online
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Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Starbucks online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at The North Face online
Earn 10% Cashback Bonus at Zales online
Earn 15% Cashback Bonus at Jewelry.com
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Earn 15% Cashback Bonus at PUMA online
Earn 15% Cashback Bonus at Saks Fifth Avenue
Earn 15% Cashback Bonus at Under Armour online
Earn 15% Cashback Bonus at Vision Direct online
Earn 15% Cashback Bonus at Wine  Enthusiast online
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at 1800Baskets.com
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at 1800Flowers.com
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at Bliss online
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at Cheryl's online
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at Fannie May Candies online
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at Magazines.com
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at ProFlowers online
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at Teleflora online
Earn 20% Cashback Bonus at The Popcorn Factory online
Earn 25% Cashback Bonus at FTD online
Earn 25% Cashback Bonus at H&R Block online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at 7 For All Mankind online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at A Pea in the Pod online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Abt.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at ACE Hardware online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Advance Auto Parts online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Aeropostale online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Ann Taylor online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Anthropologie online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Apple online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Avon online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Backcountry.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Barnes & Noble online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Bass Pro Shops online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Beauty.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Bed Bath & Beyond online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at BestBuy.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Beyond the Rack online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Bloomingdale's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Bluefly.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at buybuy BABY online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Carson's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at CB2 online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Chadwick's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Chico's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Coach online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Cost Plus World Market online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Crate & Barrel online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Darphin online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Dell Home online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Dell Small Business online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Destination Maternity online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Dillard's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Dockers online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at drugstore.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Eastbay online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Eddie Bauer online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Estee Lauder online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Express online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at GameStop.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at GAP online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Golfsmith online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Gordon's Jewelers online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Gourmet Gift Baskets online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Groupon online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Guess online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Guitar Center online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Hammacher Schlemmer online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Hanes online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Hanna Andersson online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Harbor Freight Tools online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Harry & David online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Home Decorators Collection online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Homedepot.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at HP.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at HSN online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at J Crew Factory online
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Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at J.ill online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at JCPenney online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Jo Malone London online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Jos. A. Bank online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Justice & Brothers online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Kiehl's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Kmart online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Kohl's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at L.L.Bean online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at LAB SERIES online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Lancome online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Lands' End online
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Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at LEGO online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Levi's online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at LivingSocial online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at LOFT online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Lumber Liquidators online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Madewell online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Mattel online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Michaels online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Moosejaw online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Motherhood Maternity online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Neiman Marcus Last Call online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Neiman Marcus online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at New York & Company online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Nordstrom.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Office Depot® Office Max® online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Ojon Hair Treatments online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at OLD NAVY online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Omaha Steaks online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Origins online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Panasonic online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Paper Source online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at pcRush.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Perry Ellis online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Pier 1 Imports online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Piperlime online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at QVC online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Rakuten.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Ralph Lauren online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Samsung online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Sony online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Staples online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at The Body Shop online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at The Children's Place online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at The Container Store online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at The Land of Nod online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at The Limited online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at The Sports Authority online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Things Remembered online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at TigerDirect.com
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Timberland online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Tory Burch online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Toshiba online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Tumi online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at UGG online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Ulta Beauty online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Vera Bradley online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Victoria's Secret online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Walgreens online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Walmart online
Earn 5% Cashback Bonus at White House Black Market online
Save $1 at Ryan's
Save up to 55% off Hotels at priceline
Up to $20 off at TurboTax
Up to $25 gift card at Sam's Club

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105 Years of Text Book Cost Inflation

(click image for full size)

I found the attached price list for text books in an old textbook from 1909.    That was 105 years ago.   I thought it was interesting.   Textbooks back then were as little as 25¢   The average of the numbers listed there is $1.17.

Textbooks cost a little bit more today.   I found in an article from Kiplinger that the new textbooks were $72 average last year.   I'm not too confident in that number as it seems lowish to me and I don't' see a source cited but I think $72 isn't unbelievable.  

If textbooks were $1.17 in 1909 and $72 today then that equates to a 4% annual increase rate over 105 years.    The inflation data from CPI only seems to go to 1913 but thats fairly close to 1909 for my purposes so I'll call it good enough.     Inflation from 1913 to 2014 was 3.2% per year cumulative.

4% versus 3.2% doesn't seem like a big difference but over 100 years that matters a lot.    If textbooks had only gone up 3.2% over 105 years then they'd be around $32 today but they're more than double that. 

Note : This is mostly anecdotal information for fun.  I only have one list of prices from one publisher and all the books are in the science field. 

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Amazon Mom, Student & Prime Free Trials

If you haven't joined Amazon Prime then you can start a free 30 day trial of the program :

Join Amazon Prime - Listen to Over a Million Songs - Start Free Trial Now

If you're a Mom (or Dad) or Student then are programs specific to you as well that include the benefits of Prime.

The first deal is Amazon Mom.

Amazon Mom is for moms or dads or any caregivers of children.   You can get a free month of prime benefits in their trial.  After that it will convert to a regular prime account.

Try Amazon Mom for Free

Amazon Mom gives you :

Prime Benefits Provided During the 30-Day Free Trial

Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items.
Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows.
Unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs and hundreds of playlists.
A Kindle book to borrow for free each month from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
Other Prime benefits, including the ability to invite up to four household members to share your Prime shipping benefits for free.

Amazon Mom Exclusive Benefits During the 30-Day Free Trial

20% off diapers with a Subscribe & Save subscription. This discount includes a 5% Subscribe and Save discount plus a 15% Amazon Mom member discount. The maximum discount on diapers is 20%, regardless of the number of Subscribe and Save items arriving on your monthly delivery day.
A 15% baby registry completion discount. The 15% baby registry completion discount is available 30 days before your child’s arrival date and can be redeemed on eligible items from your Amazon.com baby registry.
Access to Amazon Mom exclusive discounts and deals.

Benefits After the 30-Day Free Trial

At the end of the 30-day free trial, Amazon Mom members will continue to receive the Amazon Prime and Amazon Mom Free Trial benefits listed above for $99 a year.

Amazon Student

The next program is Amazon student.   This is of course for students and you do have to provide proof that you're a currently enrolled student.

Join Amazon Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for College Students

Amazon student is free for 6 months and then shifts to a paid membership.   They give you Amazon prime benefits for $49 a year rather than the normal $99 charge.

For full detail see the description of the Student program from Amazon help page.





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If it ain't obvious, this article contains several referral links which will hopefully pay this site fat commissions for purchases made at the sites.   So please click on the links so I can make some money!

UpDown Performance for 2014

Once in a while I remember that I have an Updown portfolio.  Quite a while ago back in 2008 I started my portfolio at Updown and then I played and tracked my stocks pretty regularly for a while.   Then I got busy, lazy, forgot, and then I neglected it.   The portfolio has been sitting there since without any active trades for a while.

My annualized return 11%
Total performance + 77.8%

Monthly and total performance for 2014 :

	Freeby50	S&P 500	diff.
Jan-14	-1.9%	-3.6%	1.7%
Feb-14	1.3%	4.3%	-3.0%
Mar-14	2.7%	0.7%	2.0%
Apr-14	0.5%	0.6%	-0.1%
May-14	0.3%	2.1%	-1.8%
Jun-14	0.6%	1.9%	-1.3%
Jul-14	0.3%	-1.5%	1.8%
Aug-14	2.5%	3.8%	-1.3%
Sep-14	-1.70%	-1.60%	-0.1%
Oct-14	-0.20%	2.30%	-2.5%
Nov-14	2.40%	2.40%	0.0%
Dec-14	2.10%	-0.40%	2.5%
Cumulative	9.10%	11.20%	-2.1%

Again I got beat by the index.  

My portfolio returned 9.1% in the year and the S&P500 gained 11.2%.

My portfolio wasn't build for a buy and hold strategy initially.   Maybe if I'd set out to have a long term buy and hold portfolio I might have done better, but I really don't know.   As it is, my portfolio wasn't setup so that it would be safe to let it sit neglected for years.

There isn't any real point to this now.   I'm honestly just tracking it out of curiosity sake to see how a neglected portfolio of stocks might perform over the years.


Cash in my account is now up to about 16% of my holdings.   Thats not intended and has happened due to dividend payouts going straight into cash and then sitting there doing nothing.     I figure that if I'd have been fully invested then my return would have been ~0.7% better give or take.


In my current portfolio my best pick is now WDC which is up 156%.   I paid 41.82 in April 2011 and its now at 106.37   Updown says my worst is SB which is down 33%.  But its a little complex and I'm not sure its as simple as Updown thinks.  I bought some, sold some and then bought some.   For the stock I bought it cost me 8.09 and now its down to 3.75.  However I sold some of my holdings at 9.60.

I also did pretty well with HPT.  I originally bought at 10.08 in  Oct '08.   I then sold most of it off for 20-26 range from Dec. '09 to April '10.   I more than doubled my money in that time period and I still have about 10% of the shares I originally bought currently trading at $32.71.

I've got other stocks in my trading history that I no longer own like HOG and others.   But I'd have to go do more research to see what all I traded in and how they performed.  I know I nearly doubled my money in HOG.



--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Amazon Subscribe and Save Filler List - January 2015

Updated list of items under $2 eligible for Amazon Subscribe & Save :


JELL-O Dessert Mold Kit, Strawberry, Texas A&M University, 12 Ounce = $1.06
BC Analgesic Powder, 6 Count  (aspirin) = $1.26
Pac-Kit 1-009 Fabric Adhesive Light Woven Flexible Knuckle Bandage, 3" Length x 1-1/2" Width (Box of 8) = $1.33
Dial Liquid Antibacterial Soap, Himalayan Pink Salt & Water Lily, 7.5 Ounce = $1.42
Munik Soto Ayam Chicken Soto Soup Seasoning, 70-Gram = $1.47
Velveeta Kraft Cheesy Skillets Dinner Kit Box, Creamy Beef Stroganoff, 11.6 Ounce = $1.68

Speed Stick Deodorant, Regular, 1.8 Ounce = $1.69
Lawry's Seasoned Salt, 8 Ounce =$1.70
Crystal Body Deodorant Travel Stick, Unscented, 1.5 Ounce = $1.76
Tea Xotics Tea Blend, Boston 1773- Black, 1.75 Ounce= $1.77

Keebler Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper Cookies, Mint, 10 Ounce = $1.88 (cookies!!)
Permatex 25575 Fast Orange Pumice Bar Hand Soap, 5.75 oz. Bar =$1.95


I try to list a variety of items so you'll have a better chance of seeing something on this list that you'd actually get use out of so its not just bought and wasted.

Warning :  If you use items off this list then make sure to watch them and cancel your subscription if you no longer want them or if the prices go up.   The cheap items I find seem to change pretty quickly so they may have large price hikes or be removed from the subscribe and save program. 

Note the list will get out of date within months or days.   I'll probably post a newer list before all of the above items are gone or have price increases.  But if you can't find something good here you can always go to Amazon and search for Subscribe & Save and sort based on prices and poke around to find something cheap to use as a filler.

I've discussed before how you can get a  better discount on Amazon Subscribe and Save purchases if you order 5 items at once.  However if you don't buy a lot of stuff then it can be hard to come up with a 5 item order.   However if your products are worth enough then it can be worth it to add some filler items to get up to 5 items to get the 15% discount. 

Say for example, you want to buy a couple cases of Pampers Swaddlers Diapers  that run $45.97 each with a normal purchase.   With Subscribe and save you'd get a 5% discount.to get the price down to $43.67.    But if you have 5 items in your S&S order then it is only $36.78 or a $6.89 savings.   And if you're buying two of those then thats double or $13.78.    Adding the 4 cheapest items listed here to the S&S order would only cost you $4.99 total with the 5 item discount so its worth buying those items to get you a net savings of $8.79.

Note if you don't want the filler items and only use them to get a 5 item discount then you can of course always give away the food items to someone you know or donate them to the local food bank.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Best of Blogs for Week of January 23rd

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

The Big Picture gives us a graph showing Asset Class Returns vs. “The Average Investor”
for the past 20 years (the average investor did very poorly and underperformed 3 month T bills)

DoughRoller has A Guide to Tax Loss Harvesting & Robo Advisors

Kiplinger has a calculator to show How Your Income Stacks Up
If you enter your income it will tell you  what % of earners you're in and how much total taxes that group paid.


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Unlocked Amazon Fire Phone for $199

Amazon has their unlocked Fire 32GB phone for sale at $199.

Here's the direct link :Amazon Fire Phone, 32GB (Unlocked GSM)

The phone comes with one year of Amazon prime which is a $99 cost normally.   If you're paying for Prime anyway then the net cost of the phone after counting that $99 prime value is $100.   Thats a great price for an unlocked phone of this quality.

The phone has 4 of 5 stars on Amazon.   Thats a pretty good review for a phone.  

I haven't used the phone myself, but if I hadn't just bought an unlocked phone of inferior specs for ~$120 I'd definitely would be buying one myself.

I heard about this on fatwallet

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Annual US Oil Production past 100 Years

The US is producing more and more oil.     I wondered if the number was hitting our previous peak yet.  

The government EIA site has data on annual production of oil up to 2013.

The following chart shows the production from 1913 to 2013.

As you can see we haven't returned to the peak production which was in 1970.     If however the production continues to go up at the rate it has since 2008 we might return to the 1970 level by 2019.     I doubt that will happen but its possible. 



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Best of Blogs for Week of January 16th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

MyMoneyBlog shares Investment Returns Ranked Annually by Asset Class 1995-2014


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Credit Card Rewards for 2014 = $1865

For the calendar year of 2014 we earned about $1865 in rewards by using our credit cards.    This money is the straight cash value of the rewards.   It also includes some money from card sign up bonuses.

This year I decided to count my rewards for the calendar year.  In previous years I'd been going from February to February because most of my rewards came from the Costco Amex and February is when they'd credit the rewards.  But that was awkward so I"m going to do calendar years from now on.   For this reason theres some overlap between this years total and last years.

My general strategy for cash back is to first use the Sallie Mae card for gas, grocery and amazon up to the monthly limits.   Then use any card that has a 5% promotion for the category.  Finally all other spending goes on the Fidelity card for 2% reward.

Here's how we did on each of our cards :

Fidelity Amex = $700

This card pays flat 2% on everything into a Fidelity account.   A chuck of the rewards on this card was from a single large medical expense that we were able to put on the card.   Otherwise the spending on this card was all day to day spending and any rental expenses we could put on it.

Sallie Mae Barclay = $559
This is our 5% card for grocery, gas and book stores (Amazon).   So we earn pretty consistent and good cash back on this card in those categories.    3.2% return total

Costco Tru American Express card = $137
Most of the cashback on this one was earned in the 1st quarter (Jan-Mar) before I had signed up and started using the other cash back cards.   After that I didn't use it all that much.  ~1.5% return

Chase = $336
This one included a $200 sign up bonus.    Other than that I got about $40 in their 5% promotional categories for gas and restaurants.   4.8% return on this one in total.

Discover  = $133
The vast majority of these rewards were from their quarterly 5% promotional categories.  I maxed out the Q4 promotion for online purchases at $75.    I got most of the rest in the restaurant category and a few bucks in home improvement category.
I also got about $37 in rewards on my Discover card by using their Shop Discover portal.   However I'm not counting those here because  I don't think of those as the same.   My total return was 3.2%


I also have a Citibank card but I only earned ~$3 on that one so its hardly worth mentioning. 

If you're good at math you can probably quickly see that we spent a lot of money this year on our credit cards.   That one medical bill was a chunk of it.     We also had some significant spending on our rentals that goes on the cards but which is basically a business expense for us.   But even removing those things we still spend a lot of money.

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Auto Maker Market Shares for 2014

It seems to me that where I live there are a lot of Japanese cars on the road.   But in actuality the big 3 US brands are still mostly dominant.  It was not that long ago that Toyota passed Chrysler and Ford & GM are still the biggest sellers.

WSJ has data on auto maker market share.    I took the YTD figures for 2014 and made the chart below.  

8 names control the vast majority of the market but its pretty spread around between them. 

If you look at the major area the car makers are from then this is how its split up :

I'm a bit surprised the European brands don't have more of the market.   But I think those brands are more popular among my co-workers so I a higher % of them in our parking lot.  Or maybe I just see more ads about them then actually see cars on the road.

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Best of Blogs for Week of January 9th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

DQYDJ tells us the  2014 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return and the 2014 S&P 500 Return
and 2014 NASDAQ Return

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You CAN Make 6 Figures As A Welder (... if you work 80 hours a week)

While skimming the headlines this morning I saw this article from the Wall Street Journal :
The $140,000-a-year welding job

And I figured it was another one of those articles touting high paying jobs that don't really exist.   Or if they do exist are special cases.    But I had to read 2/3 into the article to find the real answer on this one and its simple, the welder in question Mr. Friend : "... typically works 72 hours a week" and "His base pay is more than $25 an hour..."

I think its a bit misleading to have a title for an article like that and then bury the detail that he works 72 hrs a week.     Thats like working 2 jobs.     Most people working hourly jobs with overtime can make a lot of money but few jobs have that kind of opportunity for overtime.  

Then theres also this little detail, his employer "sent Mr. Friend to work for a month on an oil project in Ghana".    People willing to travel can often find better compensation.  I don't know much of anything about Ghana but it doesn't appear to either much of a hot tourist destination nor a warzone.
  
Welding can be a pretty good job.   Its got pretty fair wages and it can be  in fairly high demand.   Overtime can be common as well.   So I don't fault the idea that welding can be a pretty well paid job, I think that the fact that you'd have tow work 72 hrs a week to get that $140,000 is very key and shouldn't be buried in the 2nd page of the article.

I think the real message of the article is that : If you work a ton of overtime then you can make good money.    But thats not news.

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Best of Blogs for Week of January 2nd

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

The Simple Dollar lists Six Strategies for Maximizing the Value of a Warehouse Club

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