$10 From Amazon To Try Amazon Music Unlimited

Amazon is promoting a deal right now* to get $10 credit for trying their Amazon Music unlimited service for a month.

Follow this link to the offer.*


What is Amazon Music Unlimited?   I didn't know so I looked that up too.   It is Amazon's subscription based online music library with "10's of millions" of songs.    Amazon Prime music has "over 2 million songs".     Amazon Music Unlimited starts at $7.99 a month for prime members or $9.99 for non-prime members.

Here is all the detail and fine print straight from Amazon:

1.  Sign in to your to Amazon.com account
2.  Click “Add gift card or promotion code” and add the offer code AMAZONMUSIC
3.  Complete the Amazon Music Unlimited sign-up process by clicking here). NOTE: Your promotional credit will be reflected on the sign-up page and credit will be applied after your free 30-day free trial ends.
4.  Start listening and enjoy access to tens of millions of songs by your favorite artists

Terms & Conditions
This is a limited time offer. The benefit applies to new Amazon Music Unlimited customers only. Beginning at 12:01am (PT) December 24, 2016 and ending at 11:59pm (PT) December 30, 2016, when you start your free trial of Amazon Music Unlimited, you will receive a $10 credit valid exclusively for an Amazon Music Unlimited Plan. The promotional credit will be applied after your 30-day free trial is completed. Digital content and services may only be available to customers located in the U.S. and are subject to the terms and conditions of Amazon Digital Services LLC. Offer limited to one per customer and account. Offer good while supplies last. Amazon reserves the right to modify or cancel the offer at any time. Offer is non-transferable and may not be resold. If any of the products or content related to this offer are returned, your refund will equal the amount you paid for the product or content, subject to applicable refund policies. If you violate any of these terms, the offer will be invalid.


-- * This article contains referral links which will this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

$15 Toys R Us Gift Card with Purchase of $15 Gift Card for New TopCashBack Members

If you sign up for TopCashBack as a new member you can get a $15 Toys R Us gift card after purchase of a $15 Toys R Us gift card.

Use my referral link to sign up.*

To get the deal :
Join TopCashback and sign up for a FREE account.
Follow the 'get offer now' link at the link above to go to Toys R Us
Purchase a mail delivered $15.00 Toys R Us gift card.   Note this has to be a MAIL delivered card, not an egift emailed card.
Shortly after you've made your transaction, you will see the transaction in your TopCashback account.
Once confirmed, your transaction will become payable within 14 days.


Open until 11:59pm PT on Dec. 6th 2016 or supplies run out whichever happens irst

*I do get a referral bonus if you sign up using my link, so I thank you to do so.

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

Best of Blogs for Week of November 11th

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

DoughRoller tells us How to Get Out of a Bad Variable Annuity

The Big Picture shares Picking Investments is Nothing Like Buying a New Car which they picked up from Visual Capitalist

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Best of Blogs for Week of November 4th

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

ESI money shares their thoughts on How to Select a College


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Annual Increase In Per Capita Health Care Spending 2001 to 2014

Not too long ago healthcare spending was going up around 8% a year.    That has slowed down recently.   I thought it would be interesting to see the rate of change in per capita spending recently.

I got the data on the CMS site where it says that "The National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) are the official estimates of total health care spending in the United States."

Annual rate of increase in per capita spending :

2001	7.5%
2002	8.6%
2003	7.6%
2004	6.3%
2005	5.8%
2006	5.5%
2007	5.5%
2008	3.7%
2009	3.0%
2010	3.1%
2011	3.1%
2012	3.0%
2013	2.1%
2014	4.5%

They only have data up to 2014 so far.

The most recent 5 years have been going up ~3% a year.    However during those years inflation in general was only averaging about half of that in the 1-2% range.
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Points Costs When Redeeming American Express Membership Rewards for Merchant Gift Cards

I signed up for an American Express Premier Rewards Gold card recently to get the sign up points.

Their Membership Rewards program has various ways to redeem your points.   One option is to get gift cards from a variety of merchants.   The redemption varies from around 0.7¢ to 1¢ per point.    Theres no simple way to get a complete list on the Amex site and you have to click on each merchant to see the dollar value.   So I created a table for reference.

Most cards have multiple redemption options such as options to get $25, $50 or $100 gift cards.  I'm only listing the minimum redemption option and the higher value cards are just multiples.    Note Mercedes Benz offers maintenance and some movie theatres offer movie tickets  Those gift cards have variable dollar value and I estimated typical market value

Keep in mind : The table below is going to change over time and I don't plan to update it.  

Here are the gift card choices and the dollar value / point spent.   (I haven't listed some theme parks and snow lodges)

	points	card value	value/points
Aria hotel	10000	$100	$0.0100
Bellagio hotel	10000	$100	$0.0100
Best Western Hotels	5882	$50	$0.0085
Delta airlines	7143	$50	$0.0070
Fairmont hotel	50000	$50	$0.0010
Four Seasons	14286	$100	$0.0070
Hilton	3571	$25	$0.0070
Hotels.com	7143	$50	$0.0070
Hyatt	5000	$50	$0.0100
Mandalay Bay	10000	$100	$0.0100
Mandarin Oriental	5882	$50	$0.0085
Marriott	7143	$50	$0.0070
MGM Grand	10000	$100	$0.0100
MGM Resorts	10000	$100	$0.0100
Ritz Carlton	14286	$100	$0.0070
Amtrak	5000	$50	$0.0100
Avis	5000	$50	$0.0100
Enterprise	5000	$50	$0.0100
Hertz	5000	$50	$0.0100
Mercedez Benz	100000	$1,000	$0.0100
Mercedez Benz service A	26000	service A	$0.0077
Mercedez Benz service B	58000	service B	$0.0100
Benihana	5000	$50	$0.0100
Bonefish Grill	2500	$25	$0.0100
California Pizza Kitchen	2500	$25	$0.0100
Chilis	2500	$25	$0.0100
Flemings Prime Steakhouse	5000	$50	$0.0100
Legal Sea Foods	5000	$50	$0.0100
Lettuce Entertain you	5000	$50	$0.0100
Maggiano's Little Italy	2500	$25	$0.0100
Morton's The Steakhouse	10000	$100	$0.0100
OpenTable	3751	$25	$0.0067
PF Changs	2500	$25	$0.0100
Ruth's Chris	5000	$50	$0.0100
Seamless.com	1000	$10	$0.0100
Seasons 52	5000	$50	$0.0100
Starbucks card	3571	$25	$0.0070
The Capital Grille	5000	$50	$0.0100
The Cheesecake Factory	2941	$25	$0.0085
AMC	1200	1 ticket	$0.0083
Cinemark	1125	1 ticket	$0.0089
Facebook games	588	$5	$0.0085
Regal	1200	1 ticket	$0.0083
Showcase cinemas	3600	2 ticket + consession	$0.0028
Athleta	2500	$25	$0.0100
Banana Republic	2500	$25	$0.0100
Barnes & Noble	5000	$50	$0.0100
Bath & Body works	1000	$10	$0.0100
Bergdorf Goodman	5000	$50	$0.0100
Brooks Brothers	5000	$50	$0.0100
Coach	5000	$50	$0.0100
Cole Haan	5000	$50	$0.0100
Crate and Barrel	5000	$50	$0.0100
Gap	1000	$10	$0.0100
Gap Brands	2500	$25	$0.0100
Groupon	1500	$15	$0.0100
Intermix	5000	$50	$0.0100
itunes	1176	$10	$0.0085
J Crew	5000	$50	$0.0100
Neiman Marcus	5000	$50	$0.0100
Nike	2500	$25	$0.0100
Old Navy	1000	$10	$0.0100
PB Teen	5000	$50	$0.0100
Pottery Barn	5000	$50	$0.0100
Pottery Barn Kids	5000	$50	$0.0100
Ralph Lauren	5000	$50	$0.0100
REI	5000	$50	$0.0100
Restoration hardware	5000	$50	$0.0100
Saks Fifth Avenue	5000	$50	$0.0100
Spafinder	2500	$25	$0.0100
Staples	2500	$25	$0.0100
Target	7143	$50	$0.0070
The Home Depot	2500	$25	$0.0100
Tiffany & Co	25000	$250	$0.0100
Victorias secret	2500	$25	$0.0100
west elm	5000	$50	$0.0100
Williams-Sonoma	5000	$50	$0.0100
Zappos.com	5000	$50	$0.0100

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Best of Blogs for Week of October 28th

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 has a nice List of Cheap Basic Cell Phone Plans on Every Network – From $1.25 a Month

MMB also discusses Consumer Report Car Brand Reliability Rankings 2016

Dough Roller tells us about Variable Annuities: What They Are and Why They’re a Bad Idea for Most Investors
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$20 off $20+ at Shutterfly via Discover Deals (YMMV) - Shipping and Taxes apply

I'm seeing an offer in my Discover card account in the Discover Deals section for $20 off of a $20+ purchase at Shutterfly.    

To get the offer you have to log into Discover for your card and then go to the Discover Deals and find the Shutterfly offer.    The offer has a unique promo code.

However, as it seems with all Shutterfly deals nowadays you do have to pay the taxes, shipping and handling.    

I don't know if everyone gets the same offers so this may be YMMV.

Example purchase :  right now you can get 4.5"x5" photo magnets for $6.74.    3 of those would be $20.22 and with $7.97 shipping the pretax total is $8.19.  


Offer details:
Offer expires December 31, 2016 (11:59 P.M. PT). Discover card must be used for payment. Offer is good for $20 off one qualifying merchandise order of $20 or more (after select discounts and before taxes, shipping and handling) through shutterfly.com, our mobile-friendly site, or Shutterfly App. This promo will be applied to your order before any code-based %-off promos. Limit one $-off promo per order. Promo can only be redeemed once per account and/or billing address. This offer code can only be entered once. Taxes, shipping and handling will apply. Not valid on Make My Book services and fees, personalized postage stamps, prepaid, annual savings, and video plans, gift certificates, cards sent using mailing services, prior purchases, FavePix, TripPix, and orders placed for in-store pick up. Cannot be redeemed for cash or combined with select offers or credits. Not valid for resale. We reserve the right to modify or replace any part of these terms and conditions without notice.


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Zillow Rental Comps for October 2016

I have been doing rental comps from Craigslist and Zillow.   The most recent was April 2016.
However right now I'm not able to get Craigslist to give me total numbers for the rentals listed on the map view with consistency and because of that its not practical to try and find medians in my old method.  So I'm just doing Zillow comps for now.

Here are the Zestimate figures :

	A	B	E
Jan-16	$1,500	$1,400	$1,675
Apr-16	$1,600	$1,300	$1,750
Oct-16	$1,600	$1,450	$1,695

Zillow also tracks a range of rents with a low and high estimate.

here are the current figures including the low and high of the ranges:

Zillow	min	med	max
A	$1,500	$1,600	$1,900
B	$1,200	$1,450	$1,600
E	$1,600	$1,695	$1,800

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Patience Wins the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

I was previously denied an application for a Chase Sapphire Preferred card.    I was humiliated and ashamed.  (not really)     But at the time I found out about Chases 5/24 rule for credit cards.   They deny you if you've applied for 5 cards in the past 24 months.     So I simply waited until I was past that and applied again.   My second application was approved.  

The card gives you 50,000 points bonus after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.    Thats a pretty hefty amount of money to spend in 3 months on one card, but we had a summer trip that helped get me to the total among other things.   I also tried to maximize my rewards by using other cards for 5% bonuses so I didn't put all our spending on this card.    I think I also got 5,000 points for adding my wife as an authorized user.   The spending on the card also tallies up points.

In total I ended up with 60,820 points which is good for $608.20 credit to my account.

I could also use the points to get 1.25 worth of travel or $760.25.    I plan to hold on to the points for as long as possible so I can get that 25% bonus on any travel expenses we might have.

On top of that I can also transfer the points over to airline programs on a 1-1 basis if I want to.  Southwest Rapid Rewards are one of the options.    If I needed to fly to Vegas I could book a flight for abut 7,500 rewards points plus $11 taxes.   Paying for the flight would be about $135.   That would be more like 1.67 cents per point.  

Unfortunately the card has a hefty annual fee so I'll cancel it before the year is up.

$608-$760 is a pretty great haul from one card.  

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Best of Blogs for Week of October 21st

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 discusses an interesting business idea with BuffetGo: Reduce Food Waste and Buy a Big Box of Leftovers for $3    however note its only at a few cities now.


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FREE Finding Dory DVD at Walmart for New TopCashBack members

TopCashBack is offering a special cash back bonus for new members who buy Finding Dory DVD.

Follow this link for the deal 

Detail from TopCashBack:
"Visit Walmart through TopCashback, pre-order one Finding Dory DVD while it's priced at $19.96 and within seven days $21.95 cashback will post as pending in your TopCashback account. 

In-store pick-up, at one of Walmart's many stores, is free. Free shipping on the purchase is also an option! You choose! The movie will begin swimming its way through the mail from when its officially released: on Thursday, November 15, 2016. The $21.95 will cover the cost of the DVD and cover any sales tax you may possibly incur, effectively this popular under the sea adventure an amazing freebie. 

Join Dory, Nemo, and friends as they search the ocean blue for Dory's family in an adorable film that's perfect for the whole family! And with the holidays right around the corner, this is a great start to the holiday shopping. "

The deal is:

- open until 11:59pm PT on October 21, 2016 or supplies run out; whichever happens first
- available for pre-order while it's priced at $19.96; if the price changes, the deal's over
- subject to supplies, shipping, and pick-up availability
- applicable for purchases made directly after clicking through TopCashback

Only one:- Pre-ordered Finding Dory DVD is eligible for $21.95 cashback per TopCashback account  TopCashback account is permitted per member

Keep in mind this is only for new TopCashBack members.

I do get a referral commission if you use my link, thanks.

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

Using Zillow to Measure Rental Demand

Our local rental market is pretty hot right now.   But I wouldn't necessarily realize that if I didn't list a property for rent and then get a flood of applicants.    I've found one way you can get a measure of the kind of rental demand you might see for a property using a figure Zillow estimates.   The figure is called the 'rental views' and is their estimate of the number of people who will view a rental ad for the property in question.   Here is how to find their 'rental views':

1. Log into Zillow.  If you don't have an account you'll need to make one.
2. Find your property and claim it as yours if you haven't already.
3. Then when you open the property you'll get the 'Owners view' initially by default rather than the standard 'Public view'
5. If you scroll down on the owners view there is a bit with some info on selling your home.   There you will find forecasts on the number of views of the home that Zillow expects you'd get if you listed it for sale or put it up for rent.    It looks like this :

That number in the middle there 220 is the number we're looking for.

Not all properties have this number and I'm not entirely sure why some do and some don't.    I have another property that has a 'rental views' estimate over 1000.    Thats the hottest market I've got a rental in and when I list that property for rent I have to screen dozens and dozens of people.      The rental with 220 is still pretty good demand market but not nearly as hot.

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Q2 2016 Rental Vacancy Rates by City

The US Census tracks rental vacancy rates in major metropolitan areas.  

Note the margin of error is pretty high.   On that they say:

"1. A margin of error is a measure of an estimate’s reliability. The larger the margin of error in relation to the size of the estimate, the less reliable the estimate. This number, when added to and subtracted from the estimate, forms the 90 percent confidence interval. "

So then I read that to mean that for Akron with a vacancy rate of 10.9 and a margin of error of 10.9 that they say they have a 90% confidence that the vacancy rate is 0 - 21.8%.      Thats kind of meaningless.   But for other markets the range is a lot more narrow.   For example Boston is 3.4% with a margin of error of +/- 1.6% so they have 90% confidence the vacancy rate is 1.8% - 5%.

Here is a big list :

Metropolitan Statistical Area	Second         Quarter       2016	Margin of Error
Akron, OH	10.9	10.9
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY .	3.3	4.6
Albuquerque, NM...	5.9	3.3
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ..	2.6	4.9
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA\1	7.6	2.8
Austin-Round Rock, TX.	4.9	3.6
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD\2.	6.6	4.1
Baton Rouge, LA	6.4	4.4
Birmingham-Hoover, AL..	14.4	6.6
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH\3...	3.4	1.6
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT.	8.7	6.7
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY\4...	10.9	6.4
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL...	7.4	9.7
Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC	15.8	8.6
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC\5...	6.9	4.5
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI\6	5.3	1.8
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN\7	9.5	5.4
Cleveland-Elyria, OH\8..	6.8	4.4
Columbia, SC	3.7	4.3
Columbus, OH	5.6	3.8
Dallas-Ft. Worth-Arlington, TX...	5.7	2.1
Dayton, OH...	5.8	7.4
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO\9...	5.2	3.2
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI\10	7.0	3.4
Fresno, CA	0.0	0.0
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI	3.5	5.6
Greensboro-High Point, NC	19.9	11.6
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	5.7	4.8
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX\11	8.2	2.7
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN\12.	6.2	4.2
Jacksonville, FL..	7.2	5.0
Kansas City, MO-KS.	12.1	5.4
Knoxville, TN.	5.8	5.7
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV\13..	9.3	3.0
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR..	11.3	5.5
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA\14...	3.2	1.1
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN\15..	6.6	5.1
Memphis, TN-AR-MS.	8.4	4.9
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL\16	6.8	2.5
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI	5.5	4.1
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI ...	5.2	3.3
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN\17	4.5	3.4
New Haven-Milford, CT..	6.8	5.5
New Orleans-Metairie, LA.\18	11.4	4.4
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA\19...	4.9	1.1
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL...	16.8	14.7
Oklahoma City, OK.	11.2	5.0
Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA	3.9	3.3
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL\20	7.6	4.1
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD\21 .	5.9	2.6
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ...	6.0	2.8
Pittsburgh, PA.	7.7	4.8
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA\22..	4.9	2.7
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA\23.	2.5	1.4
Raleigh, NC\24	4.4	5.0
Richmond, VA.	4.4	4.6
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA..	6.0	3.0
Rochester, NY...	3.5	4.5
Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA\25	8.2	4.5
St. Louis, MO-IL..	5.5	3.4
Salt Lake City, UT	5.6	3.8
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX\26...	7.2	4.1
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA\27.	1.4	1.5
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA\28	3.1	1.9
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA...	4.2	3.3
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	2.7	1.9
Syracuse, NY	6.6	7.4
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL..	5.9	3.3
Toledo, OH	5.7	7.1
Tucson, AZ ..	11.5	6.9
Tulsa, OK	4.7	4.4
Urban Honolulu, HI\29..	10.1	3.4
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC\30...	5.2	4.1
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV..	5.5	2.4
Worcester, MA.	3.2	3.8

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FREE - 2 Bags of Milky Way fun Size Candy at Walmart for NEW TopCashBack members 10/3 & 10/4

Right now NEW members of TopCashBack can get two bags of Milky Way fun size candy for free after cash back.

The offer from TopCashBack:
Visit Walmart through TopCashback, purchase a bundle of Milky Way milk chocolate fun size candy bags priced at $9.44 and within seven days $9.44 cashback will post in your TopCashback account. 

Follow this link to get the deal

Details :
- open until 11:59pm PT on October 04, 2016 or supplies run out; whichever happens first
- available while it's priced at $9.44; if the price changes, the deal's over
- subject to supplies and pick-up availability
- applicable for purchases made directly after clicking through TopCashback

I do get a referral bonus from TopCashBack if you sign up with my link.     So please do use my link, I'd appreciate it.

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

What is the Best Value in a Hotel Club Rewards Credit Card?

Recently The Simple Dollar discussed Guaranteed Getaway: Credit Cards That Offer a Free Hotel Stay Each Year    In that they listed 4 different rewards cards for hotels chains.  
Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card,
Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card,
Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card, and
IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card

(hey if you want to sign up for any of these cars follow the link to The Simple Dollar article and use their links, that way TSD will get a commission,  I get NO commissions myself )

I've got the IHG card already and its a good card.   In addition to earning over 50k points with IHG during my sign up, I also get a free hotel room every year for the $49 annual card fee.     To figure what card is a good value you have to look at the rewards given, the points cost of hotel stays and the costs of the card.   

Here is my break down of the value for all 4 cards : 

	Hilton	Marriott	Carlson	IHG
annual fee	$75	$85	$75	$49
Sign up	2 nights	80,000	85,000	60,000
Spend	$2,500	$3,500	$2,500	$1,000
bonus value	$175	$445	$330	$430
Annual	1 night	1 night	40,000	1 night
Spend an	$10,000	$0	$0	$0
Status	Gold	silver	gold	platinum
points /$	3	1	5	2
pts /night	20,000	20,000	28,000	20,000
annual value	$      100	$         65	$     139	$     101
pt value	2.3%	0.8%	2.7%	1.5%

NOTE :   This is based on some assumptions in nature of hotel, cost of hotel rooms and YMMV.

To explain all the parts of that table see below:

annual fee:  You have to pay for these cards.  IHG waives the annual fee the first year but the others dont.
sign up :   When you sign up the cars give you a bonus.   Hilton gives you 2 free nights but the others give a pile of points.
spend for sign up:   This is the amount you have to spend to get the sign up points.  
bonus value:   This is what I figure the cost of your bonus sign up is in total.   I include the cost of hotel rooms at the standard pts/night rate and value a night stay at $150.    I subtract the annual fee and the amount you'd get if instead receiving 2% cash back on the amount spent to qualify for the bonus.
Annual : This is your annual reward for the card.   Most give you a free night stay and Carlson gives 40,000 points.   The HHonors card requires you to spend $10,000 to get the free night.  
Status:   The cards ensure an elite status level varying from silver to platinum.
points / $ :  this is how many points you earn on normal purchases.   For IHG you get 2 points for gas, restaurant and grocery which is easy to get
pts/night:   This is now many points it costs to get what I consider a standard hotel room in a reasonable location.   Its actually the amount of points I'd have to spend for a night in places I'd want to go.  YMMV on this cost since you might spend less staying in a cheap area or more in some place like London or NYC.
annual value:  This is the value in keeping the card if you value your free night less the anual fee
pt value :   this is what I'd consider the dollar value return on points earned if used towards hotel rooms at a average $150 cost.

Overall I think the Marriott and IHG cards are the best total value and IHG is the overall winner in my book.  

Your own value will depend on how you might use the rewards.    You should check what it costs in points for specific hotels you'd be likely to book and compare to the $ cost of those hotels.   Personally I wouldn't get much out of the Carlson card because they don't have a lot of hotels in places I'd routinely visit.    All the cards have good ongoing value if you use the free night.   The Hilton card does require you to spend $10,000 a year for the free night so thats a hefty obligation, but if you do you get good points and return on it.

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FREE - 4"x6" or 4"x4" Prints For Free with Shutterfly App ($2 shipping)

I just noticed on the Shutterfly page that they are offering free 4"x6" and 4"x4" prints when ordering with their app.    

Link to Shutterfly page with links to the apps.

Its a limited time promotion and they don't say exactly when it expires.

However the catch is that they do charge $1.99 shipping.    Of course if you order say 50 or 100 prints that makes it pretty economical per print.

You can also get unlimited free photo storage at Shutterfly.    

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FREE : 50 free 4"x6" prints From Amazon Photos With Prime

Amazon Prime members can get 50 free 4"x6" photo prints via Amazon Photos for free.  

1. Sign in to Amazon Cloud Drive and upload 50 prints
2. Go to S&D prints
3. Pick your photos to print and add them to your card
4. Add the promo code BABY50FREEPRINTS and you should get free shipping and 50 free prints.

If you don't have the cloud drive you can get it free with an Amazon Prime account and you can get a free trial for Prime.

I don't know how long the promo will last.    S&D print is the name of the company that prints the files.  I

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Q4 2016 5% / 2% Cash Back options for US Bank Cash+

The US Bank Cash+ card gives you quarterly options for 5% and 2% cash back promotional categories.  Each quarter you can pick the categories you want to earn bonus cask back on.      For Q4 2016 the categories they have are below.

2% options pick 1 of : 
Gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores

5% options pick 2 of : 
Select clothing stores (list below)
Cell phones
Electronics stores
Car rentals
Gyms/fitness
Bookstores   (includes Amazon kindle books)
Fast Food
Charity
Sporting Goods Stores
Department Stores
Furniture Stores
Movie Theaters

Clothing store options include ONLY : 
Aeropostale®
American Eagle Outfitters
Ann Taylor®
Banana Republic
Eddie Bauer®
Express®
Forever 21®
GAP
J.Crew®
Jos A Bank™
Old Navy
Talbots®
The Limited®

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What Do Health Care Sharing Ministry Plans Cost?

Since the passing of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) I've come to learn about Health Care Sharing Ministries.     A health care sharing ministry is a cost sharing organization ran by a religious group.   Its kind of like co-op health insurance.      The sharing ministries may be attractive for a couple major reasons.   First you may prefer to participate in a religious plan that matches your own religious beliefs rather than the various mandates and rules of health insurance and the ACA.    In other words you prefer not to be forced to buy into insurance that pays for things against your religion.   Second, the ministries may be cheaper than general individual health insurance and also help you avoid the financial penalty for not having insurance.     Or maybe a combination of those reasons.  

Whatever your interest in a health care sharing ministry it may or may not be cheaper than standard insurance.   The plans may also not cover everything normal insurance does.     But the first question... what do they actually cost?

Doing minimal research I found 5 plans at Make that FIVE sharing ministries…

Altrua HealthShare
Christian Care Ministry
Christian Healthcare Ministries
Liberty Healthshare
Samaritan Ministries

There or may not be more plans out there, but I'm only covering the five plans above.

First an important note:  If you're interested in any of these plans, you should real.ly look at all the details of coverage and fully understand how they work.   Some will deny you coverage if you smoke or do other things against the plan rules.    They may not over certain things at all.     You should also verify for sure that membership in the plan in question does qualify you as covered under Obamacare in order to avoid the penalty.    I'm not covering every detail here and I'm just giving a rough summary of plan costs and coverage.

Details on the plans pricing are below.

Altrua plans : 

They have 3 levels with pricing varying by age.
Bronze   $120 to 300 singles / $330 to 600 families
Silver $216 to $360 / $450 to 720
Gold $240 to 420 / $480 to 780

The deductibles are $500, $1000 and $1500 for gold, silver and bronze respectively plus you also have to pay 25% of the next $10,000 of cost.

Christian Healthcare Ministries  (CHM)

They have 3 programs

Bronze = $45 /mo for a single and $135 for family with a $5000 deductible per incident and $125,000 per illness cap on benefit
Silver = $85 / mo for a single and $255 for family with $1000 deductible and $125k cap
Gold = $150 / mo for a single and $450 for family with $500 deductible and $125k cap

For about $140 / $340 more you can add their Brothers Keeper plan that adds $100k to the cap for bronze and silver and makes it unlimited for gold.

Christian Care Ministry (CCM)

This one has a lot of variable pricing.     The rates vary by age and there are several deductible levels.

A 25 year old single individual can get coverage for as little as $70 a month with a $10,000 deductible or pay up to $197 for $500 deductible.
Someone who is 60 years old will pay $213 for $10k deductible and $475 for $1250 deductible (no option for $500 deductible)
Family rates are based on the age of the oldest person.
If the head of household is 25 years old the rates are $193 to $709
A 60 year old head is $419 to $900

Liberty HealthShare

They have 3 plans with monthly prices based on age bands.

Liberty Complete pays 100% of bills up to $1 million
Single $149 under 30, $199 for 30-65 and $225 for over 65
Family $399, $449 and $475/499

Liberty Plus pays 100% of bills up to $125,000
Single $131 under 30, $181 for 30-65 and $206 for over 65
Family $374, $424 and $449/474

Liberty Share 

Single $107 under 30, $157 for 30-65, and $182 over 65

Family $345 under 30, 395 for 30-65, and 420/445 over 65

Samaritan Ministries 

Their rates only vary based on family size and don't care about your age.

$220 for a single  / $495  for a family of 3 or more
Save to Share is an extra cost of $133 single or $399 for family

They cover anything over $300 per incident.    The normal max coverage is $250,000 but you can also sign up for the Save to Share program to cover unlimited costs.


Here is a summary table of the plans, benefits and costs for a single person who is 25 years old:

		Deductible	Monthly	Cap
Altrua	Bronze	$1,500	$120	$1,000,000	25% over $10k
Altrua	Silver	$1,000	$216	$1,000,000	25% over $10k
Altrua	Gold	$500	$240	$1,000,000	25% over $10k
CHM	Bronze	$5,000	$45	$125,000
CHM	Silver	$1,000	$85	$125,000
CHM	Gold	$500	$150	$125,000
CCM	$500	$500	$197	unsure
CCM	$10,000	$10,000	$70	unsure
Liberty	Complete	$500	$149	$1,000,000
Liberty	Plus	$500	$131	$125,000
Liberty	Share	$500	$107	$125,000	pays 70%
Samaritan	normal	$300	$220	$250,000
Samaritan	Saveshare	$300	$353	unlimited

The very cheapest plan is the CHM Bronze plan which is just $45 a month.   But it pays very little.   That plan has a $5000 deductible and only $125,000 cap.  

The Liberty Complete plan looks like the best all around deal.   That plan is $149 a month with only a $500 deductible and has a $1,000,000 cap.


For a family of 3 or more with a youngish head of household under 25 years old:

		Deductible	Monthly	Cap
Altrua	Bronze	$1,500	$330	$1,000,000	25% over $10k
Altrua	Silver	$1,000	$450	$1,000,000	25% over $10k
Altrua	Gold	$500	$480	$1,000,000	25% over $10k
CHM	Bronze	$5,000	$135	$125,000
CHM	Silver	$1,000	$255	$125,000
CHM	Gold	$500	$450	$125,000
CCM	$500	$500	$709	unsure
CCM	$10,000	$10,000	$193	unsure
Liberty	Complete	$500	$399	$1,000,000
Liberty	Plus	$500	$374	$125,000
Liberty	Share	$500	$345	$125,000	pays 70%
Samaritan	normal	$300	$495	$250,000
Samaritan	Saveshare	$300	$894	unlimited

The cheapest is again the CHM Bronze plan at only $135 a month.   But again that plan covers very little and its not a good risk for a family.

I think the best deal is the Liberty Complete plan for $399 a month.  
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5% Cash Back Promotions for Q4 2016

Here are the 5% cash back promotional categories for Q4:

Discover card :  Amazon.com, Department Stores and Sam's Club

Citibank Dividend : Best Buy and Department Stores

Chase Freedom :   Department Stores, Drug Stores and Wholesale clubs such as Costco, BJ's and Sams Club   (does not include gas or other select services)

There are some good opportunities here.  I'll try and max the Amazon offer.


Discover card and Chase have a $75 maximum per quarter, which is 5% on $1500 of spending.
Citi has a maximum of $300 for the year.

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