Fee Ghosts, Sales Goblins, and Identity Thieves

How often do you check your credit card and bank statements?

Some people open their statements and file it away somewhere never to be touched until tax season, while some people just open it and lose it with the bundles of bills and papers being sent to them through the mail. No matter what the case, a quick review of what you have been spending on for the month is worth the minute.

Identity theft, unauthorized withdraws, or ghostly fees may be a reason for your low balance. If you begin to see any strange charges to your account, I would contact the bank right away to figure out the problem.

I was a victim to being charged a $12.99 privacy advantage fee for a service I did not authorize and on a credit card I rarely use. The "privacy advantage" fee was part of a shady selling campaign by banks to scare people in to buying protection against identity theft. The service was contracted out by the bank to these "no-name" companies that are completely separate from the bank, but go under the banks initials usually (IE. Bank of Amigos -> BAC or WellsFinago -> WFC)

Once I reported this to my bank, they refunded my account but when I called the Privacy Advantage company they could not look up my account (because I did not authorize such), and they could not stop this reoccurring fee. Finally after calling several months in a row, they finally found this mysterious authorization and canceled my "account".

All I am recommending is check your statements! If I did not check, I would have been out $156 for the year for something I did not want.

Get the treats and not the tricks.
Enjoy your donut for the day!

You Be the Credit Card Company Through Bonds and Bond Funds

Ever thought how cool would it be a credit card company? I mean all you gotta do is credit money people now and they will pay you back the whole amount with interest. So essentially you did not do anything but fork over some money temporarily, and you made some income out of it.

Pretty sweet deal.

No real back-breaking work involved and your debtors are bound by a contract to pay you back. Well that's how bonds work. I mean bonds could easily become a complicated topic. Yet the root of it all is like how credit cards work.

Loan money out -> Get paid back full with interest

The catch? Gotta have money to make money. Minimums for bonds are usually around $5,000 - $10,000. Not everyone has that much cash just laying around. An alternative? Bond mutual funds! Mutual funds are loads of money that are managed by a group or individual to be invested. Cool thing about having loads of money is that you can leverage your way in to better interest rates. I won't go too deep in to that statement, but just know some bond funds can pay you EACH MONTH, and at a rate that is more awesome than your bank savings rate. Sure you'll get taxed on that income; but even taxed, that rate would probably still be higher than your bank interest rate. Banks really like to take your money and give you crumbs for it.

Why not take donuts over crumbs? :)
That's your feed for the day.
Enjoy!

The Beginning

"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda

How about donuts, Yoda? Donuts are simple. Its a pastry with a sweet topping. They are cheap, packed with energy, and go really well with coffee. That is how I want this blog to be. If you want financial advice, you can pay to talk to a financial advisor or read volumes of words on the subject or even watch financial shows like Mad Money with Jim Cramer or the Suze Orman show. These are not bad routes to take to understanding you spending behavior.

Unfortunately you have to have either the time, energy, or money to get and comprehend that information. Some blogs have tons of great advice and material, but if some people are like me, they read about 3-4 paragraphs in before switching back over to Facebook.

I sincerely want this blog to become a resource for people to understand personal finance. All of the subject is part common sense and part knowing the information. I will try to limit my posts to just a page length. It will be straight to the point and simplified to the best of my ability. Subscribe to this blog for little donuts on developing your own financial plan!


You have just been fed your first introductory donut.
Enjoy!