My company is offering Long Term Care Insurance as a new benefit. It’s really a group rate through Prudential and my company isn’t actually contributing any funds to the benefit.
Popularity: 27% [?]
It’s the end of the year and all I feel like I’m doing is spending money.
Besides the normal Christmas presents, we’re getting a new fence put in, having a plumber to come in and look at our slow sewer drainage, paying someone to take leaves away, getting a veneer to replace a 20+ year old bonding over a broken tooth and buying eyeglasses.
Wow. That’s a long list with a hefty price tag!
Popularity: 34% [?]
Exxon is generally overpriced gasoline in this area, but I decided that since they are quite a popular gas station, they would be an adequate place to target for my gas station funds experiment.
I took my AMEX gift card that I had $95 left on and attempted to buy $5 in gas. I was unsuccessful in hitting an exact number since the trigger on the pump was a little touchy. I gave up at $6.01.
My AMEX card should have had $88.99 left on the card. When I went to check on the website the available balance, I got a bit of a surprise: $0.
Wow. This means Exxon reserved $95 of my funds. They have since returned my funds, 3 business days later, which seems to be a common practice throughout this experiment.
I want to check out Sunoco next. Hopefully they won’t reserve more than $88.99 of my available funds. Otherwise, my gas station experiment may be closer to the end than originally anticipated.
Oh, I did make one more gas station attempt but was very unsuccessful. This was Sam’s Club. At the pump, it looks like they take Visa, Mastercard and Discover as well as debit cards. Alas, no American Express. Oh well. Better luck next time, I guess.
Popularity: 43% [?]
Interesting news. Sharebuilder was acquired by ING Direct.
I have a few small investments through Sharebuilder but I was never really impressed with their website or interface. ING’s, however, is great. Very easy and intuitive.
I, for one, am looking forward to this. I love simplifying my financial life.
Below is the email I got from Sharebuilder tonight:
Popularity: 39% [?]
Boy, are these polls everywhere this time of year. I found this gem on my favorite site, The Consumerist.
According to a Deloitte and Touche study, the average American family is planning to spend 19% less this holiday season, or about $517, on presents this year. This average American family, whoever they may be, also only plan to buy 24 gifts.
First off, 24 gifts seems like a lot of gifts to me. Maybe if they’re adding up all of the very little stuff, like those microfiber socks I bought for my step-daughter, then I might hit that 24 gift number. Remember a pair of socks counts as 2 gifts!
How are you all budgeting for the upcoming season? Is it a total number for all gifts or total per person? How many people do you have to buy for? Is this a big holiday season for you or are you planning to scale down compared to previous years? Anything different about this year?
Popularity: 60% [?]
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