WOW.

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

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.

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?

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

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!

Stocks are falling and banks are in danger of closing. If you haven’t been paying attention lately, you may want to keep your ears and eye open to see what will be coming in the next couple of days.

IndyMac Bank was seized by the FDIC and some have flown in from all over the country to IndyMac’s Headquarters in Pasadena to get their money withdrawn.  Most people with over $100k in funds have reported only getting a small percentage of their money back, although the FDIC allows insurance up to $100k.  Which means if you have funds in the seized bank totalling over $100k, you’re not likely to receive the full amount back.

The tumble continues as more banks have been hit.  Washington Mutual is a bank that I have accounts with and considering the state of its stock price, its most definitely high on my radar at the moment.

What are you thoughts?

CRAP!

I’m sitting in my car trying to get through traffic to get my ass back to Target.  Once I arrive in the parking lot and explore the area, my new cookware was gone.  Great.  I walk inside Target and hoped that a Good Samaritan had dropped it off at the Lost and Found.  Unfortunately it didn’t turn up there either.  All hope was lost at this point and the cashier pulls a manager to help me.

I’m waiting for the manager thinking doing the whole “I’m sorry…” speech, but the manager approaches me and I before I can finish explaining my case, she tells me to grab another set.  As I’m leaving, I find her and ask if I need to check it out or show it to a cashier.  She advises me to be careful next time and I go home and enjoy my cookware.

Karma comes in different forms and sizes.  Either good or bad.

When it comes to money or pretty much anything in this world, they are all materialistic objects.  When you pass away and leave this world they don’t come along with you.  When you give your time and efforts to the community, it’s a great feeling!  You work hard at it and humble yourself.  Sooner or later, your positive karma grows and the positivity in your life becomes more abundant.

What have YOU done today?

And as they say…