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3% back categories
TL;DR: This new, no fee Bank of America credit card gives you 3% back on a category of your choice. Bank of America came out with a credit card whose main feature is 3% back on your choice of these categories: gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings on your first $2,500 spent per quarter. Realistically, it’s more like your choice on these 3 categories: online shopping, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings, since Duck’s Unlimited has you covered on gas and the Uber Credit Card or the Propel Card would have you covered on dining + travel. There’s no annual fee, and the welcome bonus is $200…
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Walgreens Rewards
TL;DR: Get an account. Get some discounts. Clip the weekly coupon! Walgreens are everywhere, and I personally purchase way too many things from my local one. If you haven’t already, sign up for an account. They’ll give you 1% back on every purchase, and all you have to do is give a phone number so they can identify you. As of now, this is also the only place I’d recommend giving your email for weekly emails. They almost always have some kind of coupon ($5 back if you spend $25, $7 back if you spend $25, 10x points, etc…) that’s general enough it takes seconds to clip online and save…
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Municipal Bonds
TL;DR: Municipal Bonds are tax-exempt Municipal bonds are ways cities can fund projects like bridges and schools. The main advantage here is that these are federally tax-exempt, which boosts their earning potential higher than federal bonds. They are similarly safe investments, although occasionally they still default (e.g. Detroit). Directly investing in municipal bonds takes some research, capital, and time dedicated to the endeavor. However, you can also invest in ETFs to reap the tax-exemption benefits. If interested, I’d recommend Googling and reading more about it. Happy Muni-bonding! TheJKW
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Check Through Your Credit Card Transactions
TL;DR: Companies love to bill your credit cards. Sometimes unreasonably. Check through Personal Capital to make sure all your transactions are correct. As one could imagine, some businesses love to charge you however they can. And if you’re like me, with lots of credit cards all on auto-pay (which is super convenient), sometimes it can be a hassle to stay on top of everything. As an anecdote, I took a road trip using a rental car from Enterprise once. There were tolls that used cameras (no cash option); and so once the toll cameras got the rental car’s license plate Enterprise was billed. And Enterprise billed it to me. The…
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Getting discounts online
TL;DR: CashBack Monitor When you make purchases online, ever wonder how you could maximize returns? Of course, you can use credit cards. But beyond that, you can get cash back simply by using these other sites to refer you. The old reliable one I use is Mr. Rebates. It has Amazon and Expedia in particular. But you can also just check CashBack Monitor to get whatever’s best in general for whatever you’re buying. Happy Cashback’ing! TheJKW
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Stock Lending
TL;DR: Stock loan is a way to earn extra income on some of your non-blue chip stocks For most stocks (e.g. FB, JPM) none of this applies. However, you might occassionally find yourself holding some more questionable stocks like WATT, or MDXG. This is where you may benefit from lending your shares. How and why does this work? It all starts with short selling. That’s when someone decides to sell a stock they don’t own (to bet it’s going down). To do this, they have to borrow the stock from someone who already owns it and is willing to lend it. They then sell it, and return it later. But…
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CrayPay: Save with discounted gift cards
TL;DR: The CrayPay app gives you discounted gift cards on tons of local stores. CrayPay lets you save by having you pay for a gift card (by linking a credit card!) for a discount. These gift cards are for stores that are found in your area, and they’ve got a pretty wide selection. All you do is link a credit card, select the store you’re at, and enter the amount owed. This will charge your credit card (at a discount) and give you an e-gift card for the cashier to scan and cover your purchase. They’ve got a retty wide selection, for example 4.75% off AMC Theatres, 7.25% off Banana…
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The Ritual app
TL;DR: The Ritual app gives you points for ordering from local food establishments It’s 1 point per dollar spent, which is roughly 0.1% back. However, they also run promotions. For example, it’s dollarfest until March 22, 2019! Various places are offering something from their menu for $1 through the app, so check it out! Happy Ritual’ing! TheJKW
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Saving On Your Phone Bill
TL;DR: Mint Mobile is a low cost, high-quality option to keep your phone bill low, with plans starting $15/month. I know, sounds like an ad. But I swear, I’m not getting paid to say any of this. Phone bills end up being a big annual cost if you’re paying $50+/month, or $600+/year. Imagine making most of that back and spending it on yourself. I started out with Boost Mobile and had a plan that was $30/month, which wasn’t so bad a cost. Without a family plan but also wanting a decent unlimited talk+text plan and some data, I thought that was about the best I could do. So I stuck…
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Investing: Tax Tips
TL;DR: Of your investments, put dividend yielding investments in tax-efficient vehicles, and stocks where you expect long-term capital gains in your other accounts. When it comes to taxes on most investments, if you’re like most people, you’ll get taxed whenever you close a position, or whenever you get paid a dividend. Unless the dividend is a qualified dividend, it’s likely going to be taxed just like short-term gains. And unless you are actively trading in and out of positions (which I don’t usually recommend), you’ll probably be holding stocks long-term and be getting favored tax treatment there in comparison. So, of course, invest in what you believe you should invest…