Archive for May 2009

By MoneyBlueBook

Well it's that time of the month again. It's time to calculate my net worth, and update readers with a review of my current financial situation and prospective outlook. So, after spending a few months overseas for personal family reasons, I've finally returned home. As the bulk of my online and so-called real life business operations are run and managed over email, instant messaging, and Skype, there was barely a blip on my small business operations while I was away. In fact, despite me not even being in the country to run things for much of the last few months, the month of May still saw a pretty healthy bump up in income (as reflected by the significant increase in total assets), thanks primarily to the acquisition of several new legal clients and online affiliate partners. As my total net income is comprised of several income sources to form a diversified base, I've fortunately avoided much of the devastating carnage leveled by this ongoing economic recession. Only time will tell whether this healthy income streak will be able to continue for the foreseeable future at its current rate - however, I remain hopeful despite my cautiously bearish nature of late.

Thus, as far as I can tell based on current projections and observations, the only significantly damaging element that has the foreseeable potential to hurt me financially in a big way - is higher federal and state income taxes. Hopefully President Obama will play nice and leave existing federal tax rates alone and not

By MoneyBlueBook

If you have a high yield savings account or have funds invested in a certificate of deposit, no doubt you will have noticed that interest rates on formerly high yielding bank deposits have been dropping for months now. Thanks to this ongoing economic recession, interest rates have been steadily declining, much to the frustration and chagrin of aggressive savers like myself. While certain faithful online banks such as Ally Bank (formerly GMAC Bank) and Everbank continue to offer competitive rates that are as high as the market place will permit, the vast majority of bank rates have plummeted across the board. With many so-called "high yield savings rates" now only offering rates in the 1-2% APY range, it's getting more and more difficult for any serious cash investor or fixed interest rate chaser to make money on existing balances while remaining in these types of declining accounts.

While high yield savings accounts and CD deposits (with their formidable FDIC insurance guarantees of up to $250,000 and steady rates of return) will continue to serve important and irreplaceable roles as reliable short term cash savings options for consumers, those seeking a higher rate of return may want to start looking elsewhere. Despite this type of depressed market, a variety of rather compelling CD alternatives have emerged as serious high interest contenders, all worth a review.

High Yield CD Rate Alternatives May Not Be Fully FDIC Insured, But Many Still Offer Safety, Security, Liquidity, and Low Risk Opportunities

Before you decide to move away from traditional

By MoneyBlueBook

Special Promo Offer: 10 Free Stock Trades Every Month With Zecco.com

I decided to open a Zecco.com free trading account a few years ago back - at a time when the deep discount brokerage was still offering free online trades with no catches and no account minimums. Since then, the company has undergone numerous changes and developments of its free trading policy, not to mention weathered quite a bit of critical commentary and press regarding its underlying free trade business model. I think it's time I conducted a Zecco broker review and evaluated my Zecco trading experience as it currently stands. While I still use Zecco Trading and recommend it as a top online broker for individual stocks and exchange traded funds (ETF) to this day, due to some notable drawbacks, I have not yet made it my primary all in one broker account. But due to the attention that Zecco continues to receive among personal finance blog readers and new entrants to stock market investing, the low cost brokerage provider is worth a close review.

In case you were wondering, Zecco.com's rather unusual name is actually derived from the phrase - "Zero Commission Cost". The company is a low cost online brokerage that burst onto the discount broker scene several years ago vowing to change the brokerage landscape forever, while touting its unique offer of free monthly stock trades with no hidden catches or gimmicks. To this day, the Zecco Trading firm still does indeed offer zero-cost and commission free

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List Of FICO Discounts and Free FICO Score Offers Below!

Welcome to my FICO coupon deals, promotional discounts, and exclusive myFICO.com web bargains page. Here you will find a regularly updated list of myFICO coupons and promo codes to help you save money on genuine FICO score products. To ensure that you get credit for the myFICO promotion offer that you seek, make sure to visit the desired link below and follow the appropriate coupon redemption instructions. Also, it would be of great help to myself and fellow readers if you'd post a comment below about any new myFICO.com coupon codes or special discount offers not already listed, as well as bring to our attention any myFICO promo codes mentioned below that may have already expired.

As we all know, credit scores are numerical representations of credit worthiness, and are one of the most determinative factors that mortgage lenders and major banks base their approval decisions on. While there are several credit score variations out there, the most popular and widely used is the FICO. As American consumers, we each have a total of 3 FICO credit scores - one from each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion). While the three FICO scores are derived from the same proprietary formula, differences in credit reporting data often cause the individual scores to differ somewhat from each other. Routinely checking one's credit score (whether via a credit monitoring program or via manual credit score pulls) is a recommended activity in this modern

By MoneyBlueBook

Bonus Promotion Code: $150 Offer For New TradeKing Account Transfers

The first thing you'll notice right away with online discount broker TradeKing is that the company has received quite a number of accolades and praises over the recent years for various high performing aspects of their popular investment brokerage business. In fact, when it comes to acknowledging the awards, the company is definitely not bashful about flaunting the coveted certificate of merits, and proudly name drops them whenever they can.

A quick visit of their website reveals numerous mentions and displays of graphical award banners from popular sources of financial critique and reviews. The Wall Street Journal's SmartMoney Magazine voted TradeKing the #1 Discount Broker in 2006 and 2007, and the #1 Customer Service broker with 5 stars in 2008. Kiplinger's Finance voted TradeKing as having the best Top-Rated Customer Service in 2008. Even Barron's, in its annual surveys of the Best Web Browser-Based Online Brokers awarded TradeKing 4 stars for its outstanding investment tools, customer service, social media offerings, usability, and cost factors in 2007 and 2008 - and further tabbed it as the Best For Options Traders in 2008 and 2009.

I suppose when you've developed a quality product that's getting attention and praise from the critics and product reviewers, there's no sense being overly modest about a good thing. After having used online brokerage TradeKing for more than a year now as one of my major discount brokerages for cheap stock trading, I personally have to agree with the