Archive for November, 2009

9
By

31 More Days To Use Up Your Health Benefits For The Year.

If you pay for health insurance, this last month of the year is the time to make sure you use up any benefits you have left and/or any money still in your Flexible Spending Account. After all, you pay for the insurance so why not use as much of it as you can? While I no longer have health insurance, I did use up all my dental benefits for 2009 last month when I had some crown work done and I got my prescriptions filled and saw a doctor one last time before I lost my medical benefits. I meant to get a full physical which was included in the BCBS plan I had, but I ran out of time. Oh well! Some things to keep in mind for these next 31 days so you can be sure to use up your benefits:

Click to continue reading...

insurance
7
By

Happiness Is What Matters, Not Net Worth.

With Thanksgiving Day coming up tomorrow, I wanted to write a post just to remind everyone of what I think is truly important – happiness. If you are happy, you have something to be thankful for tomorrow, as there are many, many people around the world who have it way worse than you do. I imagine you have a roof over your head, food on the table, and some clothes on your back, all of which are worth much more than whatever your net worth is. Sure, having money is nice – but it sure ain’t gonna make you happy and content. Those feelings come from somewhere else and it most definitely isn’t the bank. So while everyone else is out trying to buy themselves some happiness in the next few days, take a minute and consider your own life and what you can be thankful for other than your money. Your own self is worth way more than any amount of net worth can buy you. Looking for some help or advice on this line of thinking? Check out some of my past posts on the same:

Click to continue reading...

Lifestyle
2
By

Renters Losing Their Homes Over Mortgage Foreclosures

Think just the people who bought homes are losing theirs in this crisis? Think again. Renters are now finding themselves homeless after investors are upside on loans they cannot pay back – meaning rentals are now being foreclosed on.

Analysts say international speculators and private-equity firms took on mortgage payments larger than their income from rents in such buildings. Some may have hoped they could eject rent-regulated tenants in favor of higher-paying ones.

Click to continue reading...

real estate
9
By

Streaming Video To My TV With My Netflix Account…For Free.

Seriously, how can Netflix offer unlimited DVD rentals AND free online streaming for $9 a month? And now, with my new Blu-Ray player, I can stream the movies and TV shows directly to my TV? For no additional money per month? I remember the days of driving to the video store, spending 45 minutes looking for the elusive “in-stock” case, giving the clerk $4 and being told to have it back the next day by midnight. Now, Netflix just charges $9 to my credit card each month and I can rent as many movies as I can watch (1 at a time, of course) AND watch any of the ones available for streaming as well. Just the other night I watched the entire first season of 30 Rock, on my TV, without renting a single DVD. Talk about cool… Video on Demand is definitely the future, as evidenced by the number of DVR’s and Netflix/Blockbuster memberships there are, and with my ability to now watch these streams on TV rather than on the computer, well, I can see where all of this is going – TV/movies when and where you want!

Click to continue reading...

Frugal
5
By

How To Buy A Foreclosure.

Thinking now may be a good time to start shopping for foreclosures? You may be right – but you also may want to be careful. While there are houses going for pennies on the dollar in some towns and cities (like the sub-$1,000 houses in Detroit seen on the news recently), you really need to know what you are doing to get into the foreclosure market safely. With over 1.5 million homes facing foreclosure, your time for picking one up might be now. Luckily, CNN/Money has an article up with some tips for buying foreclosed homes that I figured I would share with those of you looking to do so, along with my thoughts on each:

Click to continue reading...

real estate
Page 1 of 512345