Cee Mo Money

Credit Cards: A Love and Hate Relationship

So here I am writing about my new discovery…

I’ve known that credit cards can be good and evil at the same time depending on how you use them. Now, the point of this post is to point out the Love and Hate relationship I have with them.

The things I LOVE about credit cards:

1. REWARDS
   • Who doesn’t love a good reward? Credit card companies love to induce your spending by rewarding you with frequent flyer miles, points to buy things, and cashback!  Who doesn’t love getting rewards?
2. CHARGE NOW, PAY LATER
   • I’ll pay off this nice <INSERT LAVISH OBJECT HERE>with my credit card and pay the rest later.
3. CONVENIENT
   • I don’t have any cash on me and I have to drive far to get cash from the ATM, nor do I want to pay the ATM fees.  Here’s my credit card instead. **SWIPE**
4. AMOUNT OF CREDIT
   • WOW. I just got approved for $16,000 for my credit limit! **Evil Grin On Face** Time to splurge!
5. EASY TO TRACK
   • I can check what I’ve been spending online!

Things I HATE about credit cards:

1. INTEREST
   • I despise monthly interest, but credit card companies need to make sure you’re going to pay them back.
2. CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE
   • If you have great credit, be prepared for credit card companies to harass you any way they can to have them sign up for more cards.
3. OVERSPEND
   • If you don’t keep track of your spending… you’ll end up drowning in debt.
4. SNAIL MAIL SPAM
   • “Transfer your balance now 0% until 2011!”, “Sign up for a new card, get 10,000 points!”  I’m not a fan paper mail, waste of paper in my opinion and it makes you more viable to ID theft if you don’t dispose of them properly.

I’m hating my credit cards right now! **shakes fist in anger**

As they say.. it takes time to heal these “financial” wounds.  Everyone has different ways of trying to pay down their debt, however I find Snowballing credit cards the most effective way of “healing” your debt than consolidating it.  I came across this awesome free Snowballing Tool to give you an idea of how it works.

I sure need to update more often…

It’s been 7 months since I’ve updated this thing.

WOW.

Good thing for me.. and you.  I have some cool articles lined up so stay tuned.

American Express and Chase Raise My Interest Rates!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted up on here, but I got some great news! (or not so great…)

Looks like American Express and Chase decided to bump up my APRs after being locked in at the same low rate for so many years!  I pay my cards in full every month and there are some times I keep a balance on them and this is what I’m repaid with? Super LAME!

It looks like the Credit Card industry applied their changes before the Credit CARD act that kicked in recently.

The new act allows us, the Consumers, to have more protection when it comes to Credit Card companies trying to take advantage of us by undisclosed fees, rate increases, and unfair fee traps.

The act also requires full disclosure of all credit card contracts to be in “plain language” so the consumer understands what they’re signing up for. (Pretty much remove the legal complex jargon and replace it with plain English!)

Looks like the Credit Card companies are trying to save their asses from future penalties. Anyhow.. just had to vent.

Back to my old spending habits!

You know you’re back to your old spending habits when you realize you’re scourging Internet deal sites like:

slickdeals.net
bensbargains.net
fatwallet.com

and buying random unnecessary crap. After purchasing  a whole bunch of things which will lose its novelty by the time it reaches me, I’m certainly going to have buyers remorse after this.

Discount products online are discounted for their apparent reasons [going out of style, low demand and overstocked items, etc.].  These sites are evil, especially after depending on them for so long as a college student.  You still go with the flow.  Albeit there are some hidden gems at these sites, the rest are crap items.  So the next time you end up on one of these sites, you need to ask yourself…

“Do I really need this?” or “What am I going to use this for?” or even “If I buy this am I going to use it more than once?”

The cool thing about these sites is you’ll come across a lot of stuff that you passed up as you were window shopping through the mall since they were too pricey.  I’ll admit some of the items may be a bit dated, but in some people’s eyes they are steals!  For example, Newegg.com is selling Soul Calibur IV for Xbox 360, brand new, for $17!  To think I was going to plop down $40 for this game used only a couple of months later to find the game cheaper, brand new.  If you throw in NBA2K9 for about $20 in there too, I bought 2 games for the price of the used game I was going to buy. Note: This only works if you’re willing to wait out on it, you won’t find a deal on popular games yet.

I would only recommend visiting these kind of sites when looking for a deal on a TV, Monitor, Laptop, PC, Cameras, Hard Drives [Ok tons of Computer accessories], and cables [Why cables? Who in their right mind would spend $100 for a 6 foot HDMI cable? When you can get it for only $15].

Although I may have gone back to my old spending habits, I’ve managed to catch myself before I piled up my apartment with worthless crap. Then again, I can always use them for Christmas presents.

Wanna see how 789 dealerships nationwide looks?

WOW that's a lot of dealers

Yea, that’s all 789 of Chrysler’s dealerships that will be closing down as the company is restructuring after declaring for Chapter 11. That’s a TON of dealerships around the country!

It’s also been reported that Toyota is swoopin’ in on those rejected dealers and offering them to switch franchises!  Isn’t that something?  What are your thoughts?

GeoCities Closing Up Shop

It looks like that GeoCities is closing it’s doors.  [I didn't even know they were still around!]

To those who remembers GeoCities back in the day, they provided free website hosting. All of the sites that were hosted by GeoCities were organized by “neighborhoods” depending on what the site niche was about.

Geez, I remember hosting some videogame site back in the day.  Ahh the memories… what’s interesting is that GeoCities pretty much setup what we call Blogs nowadays.

They apparently were bought out by Yahoo! and long story short, Yahoo! ran the service into the ground by changing the entire GeoCities environment by adding premium services and getting rid of the “community”.  Since the economy has been directing a lot of financial hurt as of late, I’m sure Yahoo! would like to stop the bleeding by closing this service up.

Here’s more information regarding the GeoCities closure: http://bit.ly/geocitiesclosed

Impulse Purchases!

I’ll admit it.  I am (or was) an impulse buyer.  I’ve learned to control my urges since.

What is an Impulse Buyer and why do they make Impulse Purchases?

According to Wikipedia:

An impulse purchase or impulse buy is an unplanned or otherwise spontaneous purchase. One who tends to make such purchases is referred to as an impulse purchaser or impulse buyer.

So now you know what that means, how many of you guys are impulse buyers?  I’m pretty sure a majority of you are.  It’s human nature and a lot of marketing!

I used to be so bad, I’d go into Fry’s Electronics and leave with some random electronic device or goto Foot Locker and pick up the latest Jordans. I racked up a ton of debt in impulse purchases when I was in college it was nuts now that I look back on it! I can now go out, have my wallet filled with cash and credit cards, go walk through the mall and not buy a thing.

Let’s do some quick math with my previous spending binges so you have a better understanding:
Monthly Jordan Purchases: $120-$180
Electronic Purchases: $100-$200

Let’s say we go with the averages:
@ $300/mo for Shoes/Electronics Yearly Cost: $3600

Minimum:
@ $220/mo for Shoes/Electronics Yearly Cost: $2640

Maximum:
@ $380/mo for Shoes/Electronics Yearly Cost: $4560

Let that sink into your head for a bit….

Are you ready to listen now?

There are TONS of ways to approach this.

The way I personally do it is by asking myself “Do I really need this?” and “Will I be still be using it in the next 6 months?”.  If they meet the criteria, then I’ll go through with the purchase. Telling yourself “I deserve it” or “I can’t live without it” are the worst excuses you can give yourself.  I have a collection of electronics I no longer use and my Jordan collection still stands, at the same time I don’t have to buy shoes for a long time.

You can try using a list.  Before you go out for the day, write down a list of things you NEED to buy and go do your errands.  I live and die by my list.

I also keep a budget aside for “toys” and “entertainment” so if I feel like spending, I’ll go buy it guilt free. If you don’t have any kind of budgeting setup, better get started!

Or another way of looking at it is, add up all of those purchases you made in the past year and see how much value it’s worth to you now. Not worth much when it’s piled up in your closet or garage is it?

If you’re the worst of the worst… take your Credit Cards, chop em’ up, or freeze them in a block of ice!

It’s all about discipline.  Make the changes you need. If you want out of debt, you’re going to have to make a ton of sacrifices.  Sell all the old crap you’re no longer using! If you have a goal to buy a house, a car, or go on a lavish vacation, make that your motivation to save up.

ps. I would’ve used a picture of a woman, but then I would’ve gotten a lot of heat from women out there. Enjoy!

Tesla Model S

Priced in luxury car territory of around $49k.. and only cost $4 to “fill up” for 300 miles is lots better than $60 a fill-up on Premium gas.

AND it has a great look to boot!

What do you think?

Saving Wisely and Still Have Fun!

It’s currently tax season and all and I was just reviewing my expenditures from 2008 and found that in 3 months into 2008 I had spent about $9k from Jan-Mar. OUCH.

I look at the same time frame now and I’ve spent $1k less!

Now this includes a raise in salary and putting more money into savings too, so I’ve probably saved a lot more than that.

Don’t you find it interesting when you go over your expenses and see how your spending habits are? It’s puzzling to see where you spend your money and ask yourself why and how did it end up there. Despite of being in a recession/depression (whatever you want to call it nowadays) you can still spend for the luxuries you enjoy! You just have to know how to save and spend wisely.

Well what do you mean spend for luxuries and still save?

I like to do a lot of things, which means I have to spend money to enjoy them. If you really want to do something, you do it.  So I wanted to save more money.  Sacrifices had to be made, but I can still have fun!

I’ve cut back on my “entertainment” and “hobby” expenses, which include going out to the club/bar ($40 a night) and snowboarding ($150 a trip). Since I’ve been cutting back on that, I’ve actually reallocated the money spent on those activities to either travel, put more into savings, or put it into my business.

I’ve also scaled back on eating out as well. I love to dine at fancy restaurants; can’t help it, it’s just something I like to do. Who wouldn’t love to dine on a steak and lobster meal every now and then or maybe have a fancy salad for lunch.  Yea.. I was feelin’ the pinch on this too. So I had to make some sacrifices on it as well..  make your own meals and eat in!  On the plus side, it teaches you how to be a better cook too!

Money saved from cutting back can go to doing more fun things or getting that “toy” you’ve sought after for sometime.

Now what do I do with all this extra money and maintain it?

This is where it gets fun… get an Online Savings account (or a regular one). Doesn’t matter with who you sign up with. Just find one you like, especially one with a good interest rate (it’s really low right now.. I know it sucks).  ING Direct gives you $25 if you sign up with them and if I refer you I get like $5 bucks, so if you’re interested just drop me your email address.

So what the heck do I with this thing after I sign up?

Put money into it of course!  I have mine setup to take $25 out of my checking account on a weekly basis.  I call this account my “fun” account; i’m putting $100 a month into savings. Big deal it’s just $100! Look at this way, $100/month equates to $1200/year! Of course it’s a big deal, when you’re going to splurge on a cool toy or do something “fun” just pull it out of this account.  This is so you’re not spending it once your paycheck comes in.  Pay yourself first!

Be realistic when setting up financial goals for yourself. I was pretty optimistic myself, but when you look at how the money grows it becomes substantial. Maybe I’ll try saving up for that trip to Australia or London next year…

Cheers!

The Inauguration Day Special

It’s history in the making today as we inaugurate the 44th President of the United States.

President Barack Obama

Congratulations, Mr. President!  Best of luck to you sir! Our future rests in your hands.

Catch live feeds at:

cnn.com
hulu.com