Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
This posts lists a bunch of the 0% balance transfer credit cards on the market today, and having the list in the first place was motivated by a reader who managed to pay off her debt with these 0% balance transfer offers. Below is her story along with the different choices out there on the market today, including a couple options with no balance transfer fees.
During the 0% balance transfer credit cards craze of recent years, many of my friends were calling me ignorant for not taking advantage of these balance transfer offers. The idea was simple in that all you needed to do was apply for a few credit cards offering 0% balance transfers, send the money to a high yield savings account and pocket the difference in interest.
The 0% balance transfer tactic worked well, with each card earning a couple hundred dollars before taxes with minimal effort. I never bothered, though. The tactic seemed weird. It just wasn’t me and subsequently, I never talked about it here.
Now that the credit card companies are offering these 0% balance transfer offers in full force again, a reader took the plunge and wrote me an email that really changed my perception of these 0% balance transfer cards.
David, you have to write about these 0% balance transfer credit cards. I used one and it helped pay off my debt a year ahead of schedule!
One of the great side benefit of not being a salesperson who is on the plane way too often is that I have more time to talk to my parents over the phone. Yesterday, a question came up that affects almost all of us who weren’t born into eventually inheriting Exxon Mobil – How to not worry about money?
Under all guidelines and measures, my finances are very solid. I’m debt free, I live below my means, my emergency fund is already setup and in some respects, my business is actually more stable than most people’s jobs. Furthermore, Emma’s salary more than covers for the family’s monthly expenses. Pretty fail proof it seems.
Certificate of deposits, or CDs, are offered by banks as a way to attract additional deposits from customers in exchange for a higher yield. It works out for the banks because CDs have a fixed time period where there are penalties for early withdrawal, giving institutions a high confidence that the deposits can be used for lending. On the other hand, it works for customers as well because of the guaranteed (and often higher) interest rates.
Sounds great. Yet, it’s been a decade since I purchased one. Back then, I bought GICs (it stands for Guaranteed Investment Certificate, the equivalent of CDs in Canada) so technically, I have never purchased a CD before. [ continue reading… ]
Imagine with me for a second that you took the advice to freeze your credit cards. You read the article, poured water into a container, dropped the plastic cards into it and then shoved the end product in the freezer. All is good. Months go by, your spending declines, your bank account balance rises and your mood changes. In fact, you are feeling so good and the increased productivity translates into a promotion. You are ecstatic. You decide that you can afford to splurge a little and buy yourself a new netbook. You go to the freezer, thaw your cards and something strange occurs. The plastic on the front of your credit card starts peeling off and so does the magnetic stripe at the back. You might be thinking that it’s someone telling you that the netbook is really an unnecessary purchase, but more appropriately, it’s the lack of foreseeing the whole scope of your actions. Our society calls this “the unexpected consequences”. [ continue reading… ]
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Once in a while, an event reminds me why we aren’t as frugal as our parents. Yesterday was such a time – my glasses broke. More specifically, the screw that holds the frame together popped out and so did the glass, sending everything flying.
It was actually quite funny. I was writing my review of Ally Bank at the time, and I almost literally said “The bank was eye-popping… literally”. Instead, I went to look for the tiny screw driver and of course, I couldn’t find it.
The Simple Free Fix
Without a screw driver, I was stuck. I couldn’t just leave it there and continue to be blind (and falsely believe that everyone I see are beautiful). I looked around, and the solution was there – tape. [ continue reading… ]
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