Best of Blogs for Week of November 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.


PlanetMoney points out that Foreclosures Are Falling In States Where It's Easy To Foreclose

PlanetMoney also has Old People Versus Babies, In One Graph
which has a widget that shows the demographic shifts for various countries over 100 years from 1960 projected to 2060

Moneybox says You Should Move to Minneapolis

MyMoneyBlog has a tip for Costco members who have Amex cards : American Express Facebook Promotion – $25 off $100 at Costco, More

Apex continues the rental discussion with Real Estate 101: Keeping Good Tenants




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Election Day Freebies

If you didn't notice, today is election day.   Several merchants offer free or discount promotional deals on election day.

You may need to show proof of voting for any of these deals. 

Yahoo has a list of election day promotions and freebies.   Not a lot of good stuff there, but I found one notable:

Uber car service is offering free rides to polling places to vote.    They're in several major cities.

Fatwallet thread has a long list of free stuff from fast food joints :

• Starbucks will give you a free 12-ounce coffee. They will give the coffee to anyone who asks for it.
• Krispy Kreme will give you a free star-shaped doughnut decorated with red and blue sprinkles
• Ben & Jerry's (5pm-8pm) will give you a free scoop of ice cream
• Chick-fil-A will give you a free chicken sandwich with an "I Voted" sticker
• Shanes Rib Shack will give you a free Vote America Meal with an "I Voted" sticker
• Daily Grill will give you a free appetizer with an "I Voted" sticker
• Eatn Park will give you a free coffee
• California Tortilla will give you a free taco with an "I Voted" sticker
• Olive Garden will give you a free dolcini with purchase of any entree and an "I voted" sticker
• Fox and Hound and Bailey's Sports Grille will give you a free appetizer with any purchase if wearing an "I Voted" sticker

I have not verified any of these, so it would be a good idea to check the individual companies to verify the deal.   Of course all the deals are only good today and some are more limited times.

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Who Gets Bonuses at Work?

I get a profit sharing style bonus at work as well as another bonus based on hitting our company's internal performance goals. You often hear of people getting bonuses at work but most employees do not get any form of bonus.   The BLS has data on nonproduction bonuses   The information is current as of earlier this year.

Forty percent of workers get bonuses of some sort.  Heres how the portion of workers getting bonuses breaks down for various kinds of bonuses:

All nonproduction bonuses	40%
Cash profit-sharing bonus	5%
Employee recognition bonus	4%
End-of-year bonus	9%
Holiday bonus	7%
Payment in lieu of benefits bonus	6%
Longevity bonus	4%
Referral bonus	5%
Other bonus	11%

The sum of the categories adds to more than 40% as some employees get multiple types of bonuses.

Management is most likely to get a bonus and 45% of managers do and only 25% of teachers on the only hand get bonuses.

46% of Full time employees get bonuses while only 23% of part time employees do. 

Only 37% of union employees get bonuses while 40% of non-union employees do.  I suspect that is do to the way the unions and the employers negotiate labor contracts.

Lower income individuals are less likely to get bonuses than people making more money :

Lowest 10% earners	22%
Lowest 25% earners	27%
Second 25 percent	40%
Third 25% earners	46%
Highest 25%	49%
Top 10%	52%

Do you get a bonus?  What type?

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Best of Blogs for Week of November 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.


fivecentnickel says Organics for the Win: Why I Still Buy Organic Produce

GetRichSlowly discusses how to Bid for savings at an auction

Yahoo carried Meet the Wealthiest person in Each State

Apex continues his series on FMF with Real Estate 101: Finding Good Tenants
 
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