Credit Card Arbitrage, Investing, Lending Club and More!

For a change of pace I’m doing a mid-week roundup of my favorite personal finance articles of the week. I’m deep in spreadsheet mode lately as I have come up with yet another plan to tweak some of our strategies to change things around at home.

I’m reprioritizing some of our 2008 goals and considering decreasing our portfolio contributions even further to fast-track the action plan in my Stay Home or Go Back to Work decision. Stay tuned and I’ll explain it all once I get a grasp on how it might work.

Money Announcements

Great news! The $25 offer from Revolution Money Exchange has been extended to May 15, so if you didn’t get signed up, you have another chance. Also, Upromise is offering a $10 signup reward for the month of April.

Mint

Check out my latest article at Mint: Traditional IRA versus 401k: Choosing The Right Retirement Account For Your Financial Planning Goals. I added the Mint articles that I write directly to the feed, so if you are a subscriber, you should see the Mint articles along with your regular articles.

Credit Card Arbitrage

Lately, I’ve seen people debating the merits of credit card arbitrage. Frugal Dad decided that Credit Card Arbitrage is Not Worth the Risk and Moolanomy asks Credit Card Arbitrage, Is It Worth It?

Clearly we know my views on it since we ran a $223,270 credit card arbitrage last year. It can be a very profitable venture, but takes organization. Although I wouldn’t be a fan of this practice: College Sells Alumni Information to Credit Card Companies.

Lending Club

For once I am rewarded by procrastination. I never got around to funding any loans at Lending Club. It’s just as well since Lending Club is Dead. The email that they sent wasn’t very forthcoming about what is going on… Is Lending Club Bankrupt?

Investing

Woman Refuses to Roll Over 401k Saying She Would Lose Half of Her Money. This story just made me feel awful. Unfortunately, being uneducated in the financial world can cost you so much money.

I was excited to see A Peek Inside Vanguard’s Portfolio Watch. We have a substantial amount of our portfolio at Vanguard and I like Yodlee for aggregating our accounts, so combining the features of both is great!

By the numbers

• 50 Tips to Help Establish Your Emergency Fund at Consumerism Commentary
• Frugal Tips: How To Make 10 Ordinary Things Last Longer at The Digerati Life
• 10 Gasoline Cost Saving Tips for Your Wallet at The Wisdom Journal

More articles I enjoyed this week

• How Running a Business Made Me a Better Employee at My Super-Charged Life
• How To Replace Missing Savings Bonds at My Two Dollars
• Are American kids stupid about personal finance? at Brip Blap
• New Car every 10 years or Used Car every 5? at Million Dollar Journey
• NYT: Dogs Cost $2k per Year, Cats $1.2k at Free Money Finance
• SmartyPig Eliminates $25 Check Fee at The Sun’s Financial Diary

You can get my latest articles full of valuable tips and other information delivered directly to your email for free simply by entering your email address below. Your address will never be sold or used for spam and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Email: