Comments on: Weekly Financial Review #13

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:04:35 +0000

Brandon, you are right about the Chase thing. I’ll correct the one above.

Brian, I’m not sure if there’s a limit. If so, I haven’t run into it yet.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:25:53 +0000

does chase have a limit on how much you can take in rewards per year? I know Citibank has a $300/yr limit per credit card which we typically reach after 5 months.

By: Shadox

Shadox — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 08:29:03 +0000

I saw those same billboards. I too didn’t know it was ask.com. Now that I know, I don’t care. Of course we are talking about those billboards, so buzz is being created.

As a Director of Marketing myself, there is no way in hell I would approve a campaign suggested by one of my guys that involved this sort of expense, but then again I am in B2B marketing and these guys are targeting the masses, so who knows…

By: RateLadder.com

RateLadder.com — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 05:09:53 +0000

I saw the billboards, too. I think it is worth talking about the marketing strategy. Do they really think they will recoup the money? I didn’t know it was ASK.com until you told me. How did you know?

By: brandon

brandon — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 03:14:25 +0000

Are you sure your Chase card is cutting all rewards to 1% I too received a similar letter but after re-reading it they are keeping all 5% rewards EXCEPT for super big discount stores like SuperWalmart. This was for a Chase Ultimate Rewards card (or similar?).

By: dong

dong — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:52:29 +0000

After reading all those comments on the “cutting the cable” post, I think I’m gonna get a new TV. Not very frugal, but I’ve been holding off on getting a new LCD cuz I’m a dish contract for another 12 months and it would’ve cost me another 150 to upgrade to HD without signing up for a new contrct. I don’t want to sign up for a new contract since I might move. Long term I was gonna suck it up and get HD dish service, but now that I’ve gotten alot of confirmation that HD attennaes work pretty will I think I’ll just do that and buy a new TV. My new long term plan is HD attenae, and iTunes. I rather just pay for the shows I watch on cable. That’s my splurge. Otherwise I’ve got my monthly expenses cut. No Land Line. Family Mobile Plan with with my brother and parents (though that means I’ve an out of state area code – but who cares). My share of the mobile bill is less than $15 given the discount my bro gets at work.

By: limeade

limeade — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:20:21 +0000

I admire the steps people are taking to cut their costs. I also like the fact that you talk about increasing your passive income through alternate income streams. Sounds like you’re on a very good path.

-limeade

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:13:33 +0000

Skype would work fine for me, but it doesn’t pass the wife test. I could probably do without cable and 2 DVRs if it wasn’t for a wife (but I still love her). I’d much prefer to download my shows commercial free over bittorrent and play them on something like an AppleTV. But it’s not easy enough for her to use and they don’t have her shows, so there we go with a $130 cable bill ($40 of which is Broadband and reimbursed from work). Oh well, the little sacrifices we make for harmony in the home.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:44:29 +0000

Brian, I do use Vonage. I had thought about switching Skype as MossySF mentioned in a comment in a previous post. It’s even cheaper than Vonage, but not quite as easy to use.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:27:38 +0000

I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned, but if you’re already springing for broadband access, why not switch your phone to VoIP. I’ve been using Vonage (yes, I know they’ve got their issues in court – as of today, they aren’t supposed to sign up any new customers) for 3 years with no issues. $19/mo (including tax, etc) for 500 minutes with all the options (Voicemail, CallerID, etc) all included. Other providers comparable to Vonage that I’ve heard good things about are ViaTalk and BroadVoice, both have comparable rates. ViaTalk also has an offer from time to time to get 1 year of service for $200 with 1 year free of their unlimited plan. Talk about kissing Bellsouth goodbye and never looking back…