Category: Finance

  • I just saved hundreds of dollars on car insurance! – Updated x2

    … But not with Geico.

    When I first got car insurance I went with what my parents had, American Family, I paid like $25 a month for the piece of crap car I drove, then I bought a new car and started forking over $225 a month. Recently I gave Geico a try, had I switched to Geico I would’ve saved $3 a month… yippy! Next I tried NetQuote.com they matched me up with State Farm and Stephen from State Farm mailed me a quote the very next day, a quote which would save me $68 a month, fantastic!

    So after checking with Travelers, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, as well as Allstate and getting mixed savings from $5-35 a month, I went with State Farm. Yay!

    Switching would’ve saved me $116 a month if it weren’t for the accident on my record from 2 years ago, thankfully that goes away next year and I’ll be able to save even more, but even as it is, I’m saving myself $816 a year.

    Update: Who says customer loyalty is dead! American Family gave me a new quote when I called to cancel my policy, they’re offering me better coverage than State Farm for $121 a month… So I sent that quote to State Farm, we’ll see if they can beat that, but if not I’ll be staying with American Family.

    Update 2: State Farm got back to me, they upgraded their coverage to match what American Family was offering and quoted me $111.63

  • Mint.com – Financies just got really shiny

    I know, the hype is over… Everyone else has already reviewed Mint. So what? Maybe I’ve held off on trying Mint.com for a while, I’m quite happy with my current financial management program, even if it is rather basic. Anyhow, I broke down, registered an account and gave it a try.

    Long story short, Mint is hot. But if you need a little bit more incentive to try it, here’s the break down.

    The good…

    • Slick interface, staring at numbers has never been more attractive
    • Wide range of banks and credit cards are support
    • Automatically downloads transactions and categorizes your spending (it’s not always correct, but you can easily change things)
    • Great range of information is available at a glance, you login and right away you can see the key numbers for all your accounts
    • Ridiculously easy to use

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  • Passive Income – October

    At the beginning of last month I made a post about my quest to earn money doing nothing, or passive income if you will. Here are the results for the month of October, I made $63.19 in passive income, here’s the break down…

    • Interest: $11.13
    • Dividends: $13.22
    • Credit Card Rewards: $16.57
    • AdSense: $7.17
    • Text Ads: $15

    This blog generated nothing in AdSense income, which is sad, I also didn’t end up doing anything with Revver, so no love there either.

  • 369 Monthly Dividend Stocks

    In a recent post I mentioned that I’m trying to diversify my portfolio holdings in the area of dividend stocks, in the pursuit of that I’ve pieced together a list of 369 dividend stocks that pay a monthly dividend.

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  • Stock pick: CapitalSource Inc.

    Recently I’ve been trying to diversify my portfolio in the area of dividend stocks, while rocking the research scene I happened across CapitalSource Inc. (CSE) which looks like a good investment.

    While their business model is a little more high risk than I’d like, I think they’re a decent buy at their current price thanks to the market weakness of the past few months, plus their current dividend yield is 14.30%.

    The biggest question now is whether to buy CSE prior to their earnings report of November 6th or not. If they report weaker than expected earnings, you might be able to pick it up at a discount.