Archive for February, 2008
The Impact Fees Have on Mutual and Index Funds
While Milk Your Money does not want to start picking your investments for you, we do have suggestions as to what you should look for and avoid when it comes to arranging your retirement portfolio. In this post, we will focus on the impact fees have of dramatically reducing your retirement savings over long periods. [...]
Don’t Overdo Home Renovations in a Down Market
HGTV will inspire you to add granite countertops, install top of the line stainless steel appliances, and overhaul you bathrooms, however, now more than ever, this may be a bad idea. The subprime lending crisis continues to drag down housing prices no matter how gorgeous your newly remodeled kitchen is. According to the National Association [...]
Participate in your Employers 401(k) Match Program
Employers are slowly moving away from the traditional pension plans that many of our parents enjoy and now offering an employee match program. This means employees can no longer sit back and let others make their retirement decisions for them, but must be proactive in planning their futures.
What is an Employer Match Program?
Participants of an [...]
Warning: Tax Economic Stimulus Rebate Fraud
If you haven’t heard the good news, Congress has approved a measure that will put money into your pockets starting sometime in May. In a previous post, we discuss how big of a rebate you should expect to receive as well as possible financial savvy ways to spend them. The bad news is, wherever [...]
Where to Bank Online?
One of the main reasons we decided to start putting together a blog for people was because of the idea that you could make your money work harder for you, hence milking it. One of the best ways to do that obviously, is to put your money into a high interest bearing account so that [...]
Look Up a Broker or Securities Firm Before Investing
As the subprime crisis continues to impact our equity markets, many investors see the glass half full and consider this a great buying opportunity. However, some investors are getting out of the market as they fear things will only get worse. Regardless of your risk tolerance and buying strategies, now more than ever should [...]
How Do the Federal Interest Rate Cuts Affect My Student Loans
Yesterday we discussed whether the recent action by the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates represents an opportunity for homebuyers to save money by refinancing their homes. Today, we will discuss what the rate cuts mean to your student loans. Unfortunately, after doing some research, we have found that how banks determine the rate [...]
The Federal Reserve Interest Rate Cuts and Home Refinancing
At the request of a Milk Your Money subscriber, we are doing a two part series on the pros and cons of refinancing your loans in light of the Federal Reserves recent interest rate cuts. Today, we will focus on refinancing your home loan. Should you take advantage of the rate cuts and refinance [...]
My Credit Card Interest Rate Raised for No Reason
Credit card companies are coming under fire lately, and in our opinion, deservedly so. Credit cards of all kinds are now taking advantage of the 10 pages of fine print you agree to when signing up for a new card, which gives them the rights to basically do whatever they wish to your interest rate. [...]
Five Things to Buy New and Five Things to Buy Used
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In our quest for consumption, we can readily come up with a healthy list of things, given the cash [...]
Wachovia’s “Way2Save” and Bank of America’s “Keep the Change” Saving Programs
The personal savings rate in the United States is around 1%, an embarrassing number for one of the richest countries in the world. Why aren’t we following the saving generations that came before us? We can think of a few reasons: ARM mortgages, easy access to credit, ipods, 5+ year car loans, and rising college [...]
Gassing Up
Everyone knows of a gas station in their area where they can save a couple cents on a gallon of gas. Have you ever wondered if it is worth going out of your way to fill up at these cheaper stations? We have determined it is not.
Idling
I live close to a Costco that offers [...]
Bush Administration’s Next Rescue Plan: Project Lifeline
As we all know by now, this country is in a rapidly increasing downward spiral in real estate, credit and mortgage lending. About a week after Bush released the economic stimulus plan, he and six large mortgage lenders unveiled a plan to come to the rescue of a majority of foreclosing families. The question [...]
Take Your Lunch to Work
We estimate the average cost to go out to lunch in most major cities costs anywhere from $9-$13. In contrast, the cost to bring a lunch to work will most likely cost you around $2-$4. This simple decision if turned into a habit has the potential to save you $11/day (cost of a haircut) $55/week [...]
Milk Your Economic Stimulus Rebates
The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have finally passed H.R. 5140, an economic stimulus measure that will put money into taxpayer’s hands. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law in the coming days. The IRS thinks they should get the checks in the mail sometime in May, which leaves [...]
