Think Your Way to Wealth » Personal Finance News

Amazon Offers Free Streaming on Over 5000 Movies and TV Shows to Paid Prime Members

RC — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:09:04 +0000

Today Amazon announced it will be offering free Amazon instant video for prime members, with over 5000 Movies and TV shows, to customers signing up (or current customers) with Amazon Prime, their free shipping service, at $79/yr. If you are currently an Amazon Prime member (paying $79/year), you will receive this service at no additional cost.

While the selection doesn’t seem quite as extensive as what Netflix provides, this is a really good “bonus” deal in addition to the free shipping Amazon Prime offers if you are already a Amazon Prime subscriber.

It could be enough, depending on your viewing habits, to allow you to cancel Netflix if you already have a Amazon prime membership. I would imagine that Amazon will be adding to their collection over time as well, so this may end up being competition to Netflix’s streaming service, although I would think it is too early to tell.

This benefit only applies to the primary holder of a paid Amazon Prime account. Also, users who are sharing another household member’s account, free Amazon Mom, and Amazon Prime for Students
accounts are not eligible for free streaming via Amazon Instant Video.

Additional Details & Info:

1. Student, Mom, and Amazon Prime member guest accounts are not eligible. Free trials do work.
2. Customer must be in the United States.
3. Not all TV shows and movies are free.
4. This only applies to streaming video. Devices that do not live-stream, like TiVo or the Amazon Unbox Player, will still pay regular RENTAL or PURCHASE prices.
5. iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch not supported.
Also, this will work on your computer, and the Roku XD Streaming Player , and other live-stream boxes.

To see all of the Prime Eligible Free Amazon Instant Video Offerings, Click here.

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Starbucks Accepting Mobile Payments via Cell Phone, Are You Ready to Start Paying For Things With Your iPhone or Smart Phone?

RC — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:00:06 +0000

Starbucks, the ubiquitous coffee purveyor, recently starting accepting mobile payments via an iPhone or Blackberry app (no app for Android yet as far as I can tell, which seems strange) , the Starbucks Mobile App, basically allowing their customers to pay for their coffee purchases using their phone.

No longer will you need to have your wallet or purse with you when you go to get a frappuccino (or whatever they call those there). Instead, you’ll simply whip out your cell phone, and have the barista scan a bar code that will show up after you’ve opened the app and gotten it ready to make a payment, as shown below:

Kinda neat, huh?

While you may not be ready to pay for things with your iPhone or smart phone yet, phone makers like Apple as well as credit card companies, such as Visa, have developed the technology and are working to make mobile payments as acceptable as a credit card or debit card to pay for things. It is already being tested in Europe and other parts of the world.

Using near-field communication technology will allow users to simply place their phone within a few inches of a payment kiosk set up to accept them, and allow payments wirelessly through a cell phone. Obviously, they more ways you can pay for something and the easier, the more money credit card companies and merchants think they can make from your spending.

Are You Ready to Pay for things with Your Phone?

Paying for things with your phone does raise some issues regarding security and protection. What if you lose your phone? Personally I’m probably more likely to lose my phone that my wallet. Would a thief or someone who finds a lost phone be able to use your phone to make purchases, or would there be safeguards?

While it may not be too bad of a loss if someone used up your $20 Starbucks card credit, if all of your credit card information was stored on the phone, it could be a lot worse. Also, I think there will be a wave of early adopters who will use it due to the technology involved, but I think a lot of people will be uneasy in adopting mobile payment technology. Certainly older people probably won’t be very likely- as far as I know, my Dad (who is just about 70) still never got a ATM card.

Still, it is kind of neat that the personal payment system is changing after so many years of being asked “cash, credit, or check?” when paying for something.

Are you willing to pay for Starbucks with your phone? How about using your phone to pay for all of your purchases? Or will you continue to use other methods?

Starbucks Accepting Mobile Payments via Cell Phone, Are You Ready to Start Paying For Things With Your iPhone or Smart Phone? is a post from: Think Your Way to Wealth a Personal Finance Blog Copyright 2008-2010

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What Caused the Financial Crisis?- Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report Released and Available for Download

RC — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:16:41 +0000

The recent economic meltdown and financial crisis over the last few years hit the American and global economies hard- the stock market, banks, investment firms, the housing market, and jobs all took a hit.

Words like subprime lending, shadow banking, and CDO’s would be relatively unknown, or at least not common in everyday language were it not for the crisis.

Do you wonder what really caused the financial crisis?

The group formed to investigate the financial crisis, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, just release their report on the economic meltdown that engulfed the country over the last few years.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was created to “examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States.”

The Commission was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (Public Law 111-21) passed by Congress and signed by the President in May 2009. This independent, 10-member panel was composed of private citizens with experience in areas such as housing, economics, finance, market regulation, banking and consumer protection.The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was created in May of 2009, and directed to complete the study by December 2010, which was subsequently delayed last November until January of 2011.

If you’re interested in finding out what the commission thinks about the crisis, the report is now available for download.

The report is fairly large, checking in at over 600 pages, and is available here: http://fcic.gov/report

There’s also a pretty interesting page of financial and mortgage graphics onthe site here:

http://fcic.gov/resource/graphics

as well as some additional reports and information here:

http://fcic.gov/resource/reports

I do plan on reading/skimming through the report, although I doubt if I will read the entire report in detail. Looking through the conclusions, they state the financial crisis was avoidable, and was due in part to excessive risks and a lack of regulation and corporate governance.

Will this help prevent future financial meltdowns? I don’t know, but for some reason, whenever the government is involved, I am a little skeptical .

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Personal Finance and Retirement Lessons from a 107 Year Old Retiree

RC — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 03:35:54 +0000

Yahoo Finance had a story yesterday about 107 year old Leonard McCracken, a 107 year old man who retired at age 69 and has been retired for almost 40 years!

According to the article, he has managed to live a comfortable retirement through thrift, real estate investments, managing debt, working hard, investing conservatively, and staying healthy.

Here are some of the experts from the article as well as my thoughts:

Thrift- He has only owned 2 new cars his entire life, and still shops at thrift stores. Those both sound like good ideas to me!

Real Estate Investments- McCracken was busy in the real estate field, “buying and selling more than 35 houses, including five he built himself”, according to the article. That seems like a lot, even for someone 107 years old! But since he obviously had an interest in real estate and building houses, it made sense for him to use this to build wealth.

Use Debt Well- McCracken borrowed when he had to, but paid it back as quickly as possible. He learned working at a bank that borrowing money can cause financial disaster. Paying off debt is always a good idea, especially paying it off quick.

Work Even When Jobs are Hard To Find- After he lost one of his jobs, he worked driving a truck for $5 a day. Working hard is definitely a way to get ahead in life, stay out of debt, and get wealthy. Your ability to earn income is one of your greatest assets.

Save and Invest Conservatively-McCracken has avoided the stock market, and invests in bonds and CD’s. While this may seem conservative to many, it’s always a good idea to invest in what makes you comfortable, according to your investment risk tolerance.

Stay Healthy- Obviously, McCracken must have lived a healthy life to reach the ripe old age of 107. But it also helped him avoid paying a lot of medical bills and avoid medical debt as well.

This is a pretty inspiring article, and I found it especially interesting in a few ways.It doesn’t really say he was wealthy, but it sounds like he had everything he needed and lived comfortably.

He lived frugally, but also felt comfortable in the real estate market, buying, building, and selling a lot of houses. He was not comfortable with the stock market, so he invested conservatively. It shows that there is no one way to live comfortably or reach your retirement goals- it all depends on what you are comfortable with regarding risks and investments.

How long do you think you’ll be retired for? Do you plan on being retired for 30 to 40 years? If so, start planning now!

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$5 a Gallon Gas- Is it on the Way and How Soon?

RC — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:44:05 +0000

Gas prices increased in 2010, along with the price of a lot of other goods and services. (But don’t worry, the government says there is no inflation….) According to recent data published by the API (American Petroleum Institute), gas prices rose from an average of $2.67 in early Jan 2010 to $3.07 in early Jan 2011, or an increase of approximately $0.40 or 15% in one year.

photo credit: brownpau

I don’t know about you, but to me, 15% in one year is a significant increase.

Things could get worse, however, according to some. The ex-president of Shell Oil recently stated that gas prices could hit the $5.00 per gallon mark as early as 2012. Others are calling this a worst case scenario, according to the article, but it does seem that prices are on the rise, to say the least.

I’m not sure you could really call it a bright spot, but one thing the economic recession did over the last few years was a fairly large drop in the price of a barrel of oil, which resulted in lower gas prices from the highs of over $4 per gallon we saw back in 2008. Since the recession affected spending activity, construction, and economic spending worldwide, the demand lessened, causing a drop in price.

However, it seems as if the pressure of increased economic activity are starting to mount both in the U.S. and worldwide again (which they seem to be), and gas prices are likely to creep back up- hopefully slower than faster!

Irregardless of when it happens (and I hope it doesn’t happen in the next year or so) $5 a gallon gas will happen someday in the not too distant future. Just based on the ever inflating price of goods, and the fact that oil is a limited commodity and the supply depends on how fast and cost effective oil companies can extract it from the ground.

Living on the Gulf Coast, and seeing first hand the effects of the BP oil spill and the restrictions now put on drilling in the US, I’d say were probably going to be increasingly dependent on foreign sources as well-even more so than now.

It’s a good thing to always practice fuel efficient driving, to save money on gas now, and keep those good driving habits as prices go up. Another thing to think about is your transportation situation- if you are planning on replacing a while in the near future, keep future gas prices in mind! How far you live from work and how long your commute is will come into play as well, as will whether you have the option of decent public transportation or other options- such as riding a bike or walking to work.

Do you think gas prices are going to increase a lot very soon, or do you think it is still several years off?

How will you handle $5.00 per gallon gas if it gets that high in the near future?

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Bush Tax Cuts to Be Extended Through 2012, Social Security Payroll Tax Reduced

RC — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 04:59:26 +0000

After negotiations with Republicans, President Obama agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts for another 2 years, through 2012, in exchange for extending unemployment benefits for another 13 months. This follows some contentious debate and rhetoric on mainly on whether the tax cuts should be extended for those making over $200,000 for single filers and $250,000 for married filing jointly filers, and whether Congress would have to make cuts elsewhere in order to pay for the appx. $60 billion the unemployment benefit is expected to cost. The compromise also addresses several other taxes and credits as follows:

Income Taxes

Income tax rates will stay the same for all taxpayers, with President Obama agreeing not to rescind the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000 ($200,000 single filer) as he had previously wanted. The agreement has angered some democrats as well who wanted to let the lower tax rates for those making over $200,000/$250,000 expire while keeping the lower rates in place for those making less.

Estate Tax

The estate tax, which was essentially nonexistent in 2010 due to a lapse in legislation, will be back starting January 1st, 2011 with an exemption of $5 million per person, $10 million per couple, with the amount above that being taxed at 35%. It was scheduled to return with an exemption of $1 million per person with a 55% tax on any amount above that- although most expected it to at least be changed to something similar to 2009 rates, when the amount of the exemption for 2009 was $3.5 million per individual, with a tax rate at 45%.

Payroll Tax Reduction- Social Security Taxes

The social security payroll tax will be decreased 2 percentage points, from 6.2% to 4.2% for 1 year, meaning wage earners will see more money in their paychecks. This is intended to replace the Making Work Pay tax credit from last year and the year before which is expiring. For someone making $50,000, this will be appx. $1,000, while for someone making the max (or above) social security wage base of $106,800, this would mean a savings of $2,136. For self employed workers, who pay both the employee (worker) portion at 6.2% and the employer portion (picked up by most worker’s employer) at an additional 6.2% (for a total of 12.4%) it is unclear what the reduction will be, but it will likely apply only to the employee portion, which would give a total of 10.2% for the year.

American Opportunity Tax Credit

The tax credit is for undergraduate college tuition and expenses, and will be extended for 2 years with a max credit of $2,500 per year. It can be used up to 4 years of post-secondary education, and phase outs start at $80k for single filers (phasing out completely at $90k) and $160k for married filing jointly (phasing out completely at $180k).

Child Tax Credit

The child tax credit will be extended for another 2 years. The credit of $1000 per child starts to phase out at $75k for single filers and $110 for joint filers.

AMT and Capital Gains Tax Rate

There was also a patch to prevent more Americans from getting caught having to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT, as well as keeping the capital gains tax rate at 15% vs. potentially raising it to the rate one’s income is taxed at.

While none of these taxes are a done deal yet for 2011, and some democrats have vowed to fight against them, it seems likely they will pass due to the compromise on unemployment benefits, particularly with the President taking part in the negotiations.

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Obama to Freeze Cost of Living Pay Increases for Federal Workers for Next 2 Years- Fair or Not?

RC — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 04:21:51 +0000

On Monday, President Obama announced plans to freeze pay for federal workers in 2011 and 2012, in an effort to start reigning in the soaring budget deficit, which has exceeded 1 trillion dollars over the last couple of years.

Federal workers were projected to get a 1.4 percent cost of living pay increase next year, which will be eliminated, as well as eliminating any increase for 2012. The pay freeze would not include active duty military, postal workers, and some others. The pay freeze also does not affect pay increases or raises tied to promotions to higher pay grades (i.e. getting a promotion from one GS level to a higher one).

The move would save $2 billion in the 2011 fiscal year that ends Sept. 30 and $5 billion by the end of two fiscal years. Over 10 years, it would save $60 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget. While a drop in the bucket compared to the national debt and yearly deficits, $60 billion dollars is certainly not an insignificant amount of savings.

The move will have to be approved by Congress, but with the current political climate I would guess it will more than likely pass. The president’s deficit commission had proposed a 3 year pay freeze, so this is somewhat of a compromise on that issue as well.
On a personal note, I have many friends who are government employees, as the field I work in has a large government facility located nearby, and I went to college with many people who now work there.

I can see both sides of the coin when it comes to this issue. No one wants to be told they won’t be getting a pay raise for the next 2 years- but when times are tough, in the private sector many people would be happy with a pay freeze vs. getting laid off, which is a lot less common in the federal sector.

While many in the private sector have been laid off in the last few years, most government jobs have a degree of job security not found in the private sector. Thousands upon thousands of jobs have been lost in the private sector, many companies froze pay increases a couple of years ago, and some companies have reduced or eliminated 401k matches to there employees. Federal pay also rose 2% in 2010, 3.9% in 2009, and 3.5% in 2008. Those are fairly decent cost of living increases during an economic recession.

While many will argue that they make less money than their private sector counterparts, this article from USA today says government workers make a higher salary in most categories they looked at, and when you include the usually more generous federal government benefit package compared to the private sector, it is even larger. For the field I work in, pay is about the for workers in my area, in the same field, and with the same skill/experience level but that is just one example, and anecdotal at best.

Do you think Obama’s pay freeze on federal workers is a symbolic gesture for political reasons, or a good place to start in actually trying to reign in the massive budget? What are your thoughts?

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Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day- Free Museum Admission Today Sept. 25th Only

RC — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 14:09:40 +0000

Smithsonian Magazine is offering free museum admission for you and a guest today only, September 25th, when you fill out a form with you information and email address at the following site:

Link to form

They will then email you a free admission card for you and a guest (be sure to opt-out of the email offers when you fill out the form if you don’t want to receive them).

Admission Card is good for general admission for you plus one guest. One Admission Card per household.

To find a museum near you go to the following link :

Find a museum near you

There is a search box towards the bottom where you can search by state.

Just as an example, most of the major museums in the New Orleans area are included, including the

New Orleans Museum of Art
Louisiana Children’s Museum
and the National World War II (D-Day) Museum

Hope you can use and enjoy!

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Smartypig Giving Away $4951 in the Race Out of Debt Contest

RC — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:00:22 +0000

The folks over at Smartypig, the goal oriented savings account, are giving away $4,951 to one lucky winner who opens up an account and starts a new savings goal. The contest is also available to existing account owners who start a new savings goal.

Why $4,591? Because that is the average American’s credit card debt- although you don’t have to use it for that purpose.

If you don’t know what Smartypig is,it is a goal oriented, interest paying savings account which currently pays one of the highest interest rates available for online bank savings accounts at 1.75%.

The contest officially began on September 14, 2010, at 10 AM CT and will remain open until September 27, 2010, at 10 AM CT.

More details from Smartypig:

On Monday, September 27, 2010, SmartyPig will randomly choose eight finalists.
Each finalist will be assigned to a pig on the SmartyPig Farm.
These pigs will then race to determine which lucky contestant wins the grand prize.
On Tuesday, September 28, 2010, we will post the video of the SmartyPig race
and officially announce the “Race Out of Debt” winner!

How do you enter? It’s easy…

If you don’t already have one, open an account at Smartypig

New and existing users must add a NEW goal under the NEW category, “Race Out Of Debt”

Follow the instructions to set up and activate your new SmartyPig goal.

Enter your qualified checking or savings account from your credit union or bank.

Make the initial deposit requirement of $25. Remember this is NOT an entrance fee. You will automatically begin earning 1.75% APY, have access to up to 14% cash back at many retailers, and you always have the option to redeem the $25 + interest earned back to your checking or savings account.

Follow each step closely as failure to complete all steps will disqualify you from the contest.

Good Luck!

Full contest rules here:
Pay Off Your Credit Card Contest Rules

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Bing Cashback Program by Microsoft Ending July 30th

RC — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:51:39 +0000

Bing, owned by Microsoft, which is in direct competition with Google for search engine customers, announced yesterday it is ending its Bing Cashback online shopping program, with the last day that you can earn cashback from shopping through Bing being July 30th, 2010.

According to this Bing forum post announcing the end of the cashback program,the Bing cashback program did not gain the broad adoption Microsoft had hoped, and they will take what they learned and develop new programs for shoppers and advertisers.

Some additional details from the Bing forum post:

So what does this mean for Bing cashback users? Well, until July 30th at 9:00 pm PST, it’s business as usual, with cashback offers still living within Bing. After that, Bing cashback will discontinue, though you will have a year to redeem any cashback you have earned through your cashback account consistent with the cashback Terms and Conditions. In addition, Microsoft will provide 12 months of customer support to ensure a smooth transition.

I’ve only taken advantage of the Bing Cashback a few times, so I can’t really say that it will have an effect on my online shopping habits very much. But many people loved the Bing Cashback program and made somewhat of an art out of saving money shopping online by using the program.

Here is a thread on slickdeals lamenting the demise of the Bing Cashback program, with some members posting some pretty impressive totals of the amount they’ve saved through Bing.

Have you taken advantage of the Bing Cashback program when shopping online? Are you disappointed/upset that it is ending, or does in not make much difference to you?

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Mini Review- Five Simple Ways to Save $500 from Suze Orman’s MoneyMindedMoms Site

RC — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:00:17 +0000

A few days ago, I posted a link to Suze Orman’s new website, MoneyMindedMoms.com, with a brief description of the site, and a note that the site was offering a free download to “5 Simple Ways to Save $500″ when you signed up for a newsletter. I hadn’t downloaded it at the time, but since then, I have received a couple of emails and a comment that having to sign up for the email newsletter was “the catch”, in order to get the free download, and they were not sure it was worth the trouble.

Since I had brought it to their attention, and for those who decided not to deal with hassle of signing up for Suze’s newsletter, I thought I might give the download of “5 Simple Ways to Save $500″ a quick look see and share my thoughts with you guys.

The download is 7 pages long, with 5 categories where you can save money-each one contains 3 to 5 tips, for a total of about 20 money saving tips spread across the 5 categories. Below are the 5 categories, along with my favorite tip from each- they’re OK in general, nothing earth-shattering, but sometimes being reminded of money saving tips you may have already heard isn’t a bad thing- there were a few I hadn’t thought of or hear before.

1.) Face the Facts- Saving money on looking good, i.e., hair, face etc. Tip- Go a week longer between haircuts, which seems quite doable and probably wouldn’t be noticed by too many people.

2.) Drive in to Big Savings- Saving money on your car. Tip- Look into increasing your car insurance deductible to save money- this is one I have been meaning to take care of myself, but haven’t done so yet on my 9 yr. old car- I need to get on this!

3.) Food for Thought- Tip- Focus on using leftovers. This one can be difficult at times (spaghetti again!), but it can definitely cut down on your food waste, and save money in the process.

4.) Party and Pleasure for less- Save on parties and fun. One interesting tip here is to start requesting that friends not bring gifts to your kids birthday parties, (only family would give your kids gifts), in order to start a precedent for kids your child is friends with. Now depending on the age, they may get quite mad at you for starting this, but I do agree- kids get WAY too many gifts these days, and it seems like trying to stop the madness, so to speak, would be good. I just don’t want to have to be the 1st one to tell my kid he’s not getting gifts from his friends at his b-day party- maybe I can talk my wife into it .

5.) Home-in on Savings- Saving around the house. Tip Reduce your cell phone or cable plan by one “level” of service, in order to save money. This sounds like something most people could probably do without much effort or pain.

Overall, it wasn’t too bad- it’s a short 7 page download, with somewhat good tips- it may not be your cup of tea, but if you want to download it, you can sign up for the newsletter and do so here. As a side note, you can always unsubscribe at the bottom of the email newsletters if you decide it’s not for you- it only takes a few clicks to unsubscribe.

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Suze Orman’s New Money Minded Moms Site

RC — Sun, 30 May 2010 13:51:56 +0000

Browsing through the morning paper with my coffee this morning, I came across a coupon flyer with an advert for Suze Orman’s new blog type website, called MoneyMindedMoms.

I visited moneymindedmoms.com to check it out, and it has sections on managing debt, feeding your family, and others, as well as financial calculators for debt, tracking expenses, and calculating interest. It also has video clips from her show on CNBC. It does not have a lot of content as of yet, so time will tell if it is regularly updated like a blog, or is more of a static type website. And while it’s geared towards moms, obviously, it looks like it has money saving tips useful for anyone- moms, dads, and single people alike.

You can also sign up for her newsletter and get a free download of “5 Simple Ways to Save $500″ when you do. I haven’t downloaded and read it yet, but I plan on doing so to see if there are any useful tips.

Let me know your thoughts if you’ve checked it out.

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