UPSIDE of Money

Make a Cool Hundred this January

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:01:11 +0000

While Zecco is rolling out the new Zecco Trading Center, they’ve extended their popular Refer-a-Friend offer.

If you share, you get rewarded: $100 for you and $100 for your friends when they open a new Zecco Trading account and fund with $10,000.

There’s no limit to the number of friends you can refer. The offer now runs through February 29, 2012.

The Fine Print:

Friend must open and fund account with at least $10,000, and maintain at least a $10,000 balance for 90 days. Terms and Conditions apply. Questions? Please refer to the Zecco Friends Program FAQs

This offer replaces Zecco’s former $75 refer-a-friend promotion. Accounts opened up until October 25th will still be paid out under the original program terms.

This Holiday Season: Dealybobs and Thingamagifts

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:43:31 +0000

Thanks to Matthew over at 8coupons.com, my holiday headache is a little less, well–headache-y. Wait! you say. It’s not even Halloween yet, for ghosts’ sake. Why bring this all up now? Because we all know a bad economy when we see one. Look for Christmas displays starting now, or even in some cases where I live, already starting in late summer. Why risk being enticed? Let’s face it: planning ahead online means spending less, with less stress. Who needs that crazed trip to the mall to look for that special something and paying through the nose for some mediocre gift? See Countdown to Holiday Crazy – How’s the Stress? for ideas on beating the gift-giving head game again this year.

As the holidays approach, consider including daily deals in your roundup of unique gifting ideas. Who doesn’t like Groupon? (OK, maybe those people who have forgotten to use their coupons. I stand corrected.) Anywho, 8coupons collects and organizes deals from every big-name deal source (Groupon, Living Social, Eversave, KGB, BuyWithMe, Gilt, YourBestDeals, DoubleTakeDeals, Dealfind, Dealster, Goldstar, Restaurant.com, Zozi, Weforia, Juice in the City, Signpost, to name a few, plus over 300 others) and delivers them to your (inbox) door.

You can log on to 8coupons or sign up for the email and see all the deals near you… or in the zip code of a loved one/relative/co-worker/favorite pet. Spas, restaurants, or adventures–there are new gift deal ideas out every day.

If you simply must mail something, then check out the new cards app for the iPhone, showcased at the Let’s Talk iPhone event. I think it’s going to make a killing this holiday season. You can send a card (yes, a physical card) all from your living room or couch (or bathroom, den, man-cave, or slinky boudoir). Now you’re a hero! The right card, right message, on time. In the mail.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll check back in a month or two with some aspirin.

You Do the Math: IRS Pension Plan Limitations for 2012

admin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:11:56 +0000

The IRS just announced cost of living adjustments (COLA) affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement items for the 2012 tax year. Many of the pension plan limitations change for 2012 because the increase in the COLA index met the statutory thresholds needed. Some limitations will remain unchanged.

Here are some of the highlights:

The elective deferral (contribution) limit for employees who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan is increased from $16,500 to $17,000.
The catch-up contribution limit for those aged 50 and over remains unchanged at $5,500.

Traditional IRA
The deduction for taxpayers making contributions to a traditional IRA is phased out for singles and heads of household who are covered by a workplace retirement plan and have modified adjusted gross incomes (AGI) between $58,000 and $68,000, up from $56,000 and $66,000 in 2011. For married couples filing jointly, in which the spouse who makes the IRA contribution is covered by a workplace retirement plan, the income phase-out range is $92,000 to $112,000, up from $90,000 to $110,000. For an IRA contributor who is not covered by a workplace retirement plan and is married to someone who is covered, the deduction is phased out if the couple’s income is between $173,000 and $183,000, up from $169,000 and $179,000.

Roth IRA
The AGI phase-out range for taxpayers making contributions to a Roth IRA is $173,000 to $183,000 for married couples filing jointly, up from $169,000 to $179,000 in 2011. For singles and heads of household, the income phase-out range is $110,000 to $125,000, up from $107,000 to $122,000. For a married individual filing a separate return who is covered by a retirement plan at work, the phase-out range remains $0 to $10,000.

Saver’s Credit
The AGI limit for the saver’s credit for low-and moderate-income workers is $57,500 for married couples filing jointly, up from $56,500 in 2011; $43,125 for heads of household, up from $42,375; and $28,750 for married individuals filing separately and for singles, up from $28,250.

Details available, of course, on www.IRS.gov.

Prosper Running 1-Day Promo: Your 2nd Payment Free

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:41:45 +0000

On Friday, 10/21/2011, Bay Area-based P2P company Prosper will be running a one-day promotion offering to make borrowers’ 2nd payment, up to $250.*

If you apply for a new loan before midnight on Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, Prosper will make your second payment for you. To be eligible for the offer, you cannot have posted a loan listing on Prosper.com within the past 30 days, and you must submit your listing between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM PST on 10/21/2011. The offer is valid for all rates and terms with the exception of 1yr. AA loans.

A simple way to take advantage of the offer is to click on the promotional link on the homepage at www.prosper.com.

THE FINE PRINT
* To be eligible for the second month payment offer (i) you cannot have posted a loan listing on Prosper.com within the past 30 days; and (ii) you must submit a loan listing by 11:59 am PT on October 21, 2011, that loan listing must result in an originated loan, and your first payment must be received by its due date. If you meet these criteria, Prosper will credit your second required loan payment up to $250 prior to the due date of the second payment. This promotion cannot be combined with any other promotional offer from Prosper. Offer not valid for 1 year AA loans. Eligibility for a loan is not guaranteed and requires that a sufficient number of investors commit to fund your loan. Refer to Borrower Registration Agreement for all terms and conditions. All loans made by WebBank, a Utah-chartered Industrial Bank.

31 Cities, Financial Planning Power to the People

admin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:41:20 +0000

No, I’m not talkin’ about a revolution here. Or occupying Wall Street. This is personal.

This October, around the country, Kiplinger is hosting Financial Planning Days where certified planners are giving FREE, no-strings-attached guidance–with no pushy sales tactics.

Watch the Financial Planning Days video:

Each local Financial Planning Day features experts from the Financial Planning Association® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, all volunteering their time and expertise to provide free one-on-one counseling and classroom-style educational presentations addressing key personal finance topics. Best of all, there are no strings attached – volunteer financial planners will not sell products or services, give out business cards or take down names. I say: Check it out!

Financial Preparedness 101: Be fast. Avoid the zombies. Put $40 in the tank, pay with cash, and jet.

admin — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:20:42 +0000

I awoke Saturday morning with a cold. Lying in bed, I thumbed/clicked my way through Facebook on my iPhone looking for thrills–and found my morning’s entertainment: Five Financial Lessons You’ll Learn from the Zombie-Apocalypse. Maybe the thrills and chills weren’t unlimited, but it worked for me.

Some of the gems from DebtKid’s (via Jessica Ward) article:

Your $100 bill isn’t going to get you anywhere if someone can’t make change. Be fast. Avoid the zombies. Put $40 in the tank, pay with cash, and jet.
When the brains hit the fan, it’s all about who has the fuel, the food and access to safety. Are you diversifying your assets to include those? If everything you own is sitting in a brokerage, 401k or PayPal account, you’re zombie food.

And yes, it really WAS a CDC article, originally (see http://www.bt.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp), complete with a thorough (this is the CDC, after all) history of zombies in the intro. Rest assured, and I quote from their site: If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak.

Happy reading and saving!

Bankrate, Blogging, and BlogWorld

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:30:08 +0000

Bankrate is giving away a BlogWorld pass and a trip to L.A. (complete with spending money). You can earn more chances to win by inviting your friends and followers to enter. If interested, here’s where you can join the contest and refer others:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Bankrate#!/Bankrate?sk=app_28134323652

Twitter: http://wildfireapp.com/twitter/233/contests/146337?referral_entry_id=29084561

The Nine ETFs YOU Need to Know About

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 02:35:20 +0000

The Universe Called ETFs
New to ETFs? So am I. So instead of flailing around, trying to select from the more than 1,000-plus ETFs currently available (!), I turned to the MarketRiders service to help me separate the wheat from the chaff–and whittle the number of ETFs to consider down to a reasonable number (nine, to be exact).

MarketRiders is an online investment service based on modern portfolio theory for creating–and maintaining–an ETF portfolio yourself with relative ease and a “sleep at night” attitude. It’s run by a relatively small but dedicated and intelligent crew that has been “around the block.” I recently met and spoke with the CEO, Mitch Tuchmann, and was impressed by his earnest approach to de-mystifying good investing principles, and ETFs, in particular.

The MarketRiders Band of Nine (for accounts less than 100K)
NOTE: The following are the selected ETFs for Schwab investors. You can choose a different broker for a customized list for that broker.

1. IGE
2. IJS
3. SCHP
4. SCHB
5. JNK
6. RWO
7. BND
8. VSS
9. VEU

(I have checked and cross-checked: none of the nine are on the ETF Deathwatch.) On the other hand, none are on the ETF Billion Dollar Club, either. But what have you really got to lose, except a ton of fees?

[Full disclosure: I have invested a small portion of my I401(K) using the MarketRiders service. My account is up overall by 4.10% over a three-month period.]

READ MORE
New Energy Hedge Portfolio from MarketRiders

MarketRiders Giving Away Random Walk Investing Book

admin — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:15:25 +0000

Have you gotten thrown around in the market–again?

Many of us can say “yes” to that, especially recently. If you finally have the resolve to quit “playing the markets” and get serious with your money, you should think about this style of investing–used by major endowments and the super-wealthy. [Quick Primer on Random Walk theory: Past stock prices are no predictor of future prices because past, current, and future prices merely reflect market responses to information that comes into the market at random. Technical analysis is useless for predicting future price movements in the market.]

MarketRiders (the ETF service I’ve written about here) is running a book giveaway special–refer someone to a MarketRiders free trial and both you and your referral get a copy of Dr. Burt Malkiel’s book, A Random Walk Guide to Investing: Ten Rules of Financial Success. What’s the connection to MarketRiders? MarketRiders advocates using this style of investing as a safe way to grow your retirement (and other) savings.

Use this link to sign up: http://www.marketriders.com?q=book_8813

Wall Street by Facebook (by Zecco)

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 01:51:13 +0000

Now you can trade stocks while you are chatting and catching up with your Facebook friends. Wall Street by Zecco has just been introduced as a way to get real-time stock quotes (free) and direct access to stock trading right from Facebook.

Bay Area-based Zecco has so far proved itself as being an online investing leader in my mind, and this only continues that trend (think Zap Trade and their mobile app). I don’t know about you, but I like social investing, chatting about stocks, and of course, a little gossip about the market, too. It can get very lonely staring at a computer screen alone, trying to decipher your last trade, or devise your latest one. If you trade all day, or a good part of it, and haven’t yet landed on a favorite broker, Zecco could be a good choice for you to avoid “trader burnout.” It’s definitely worth a look if you are an active trader. While you are checking out Zecco, look at their Zap Trade tool – which gives you a simple way to trade while browsing. I personally do NOT trade via any mobile device, but I found the demo of Zap Trade intriguing.

FYI, Zecco is the parent company–with online investing with stock and options trading–through its wholly owned subsidiary Zecco Trading, Inc. and currency trading through its wholly owned subsidiary Zecco Forex, Inc.

More about Zecco
Get in the Money with Zecco
Cool Bay Area Companies of 2009