How my publisher got $5,000 of goodwill with $100

It’s about that time where we start getting tons of invitations to weddings, birthday parties, and family reunions. Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed my friends mentioning how expensive these are. For example, one of my friends will end up paying about $1,000 to attend her friend’s wedding, with airfare, hotel, and gift. And [...]

How to plan for disasters and personal finance — with social psychology

There’s a great article in last weekend’s New York Times Magazine on disaster preparedness, which I want to use to highlight the social-psychological reasons for why we behave the way we do.

Photo from e-strategyblog.com
Read the article closely and notice the parallels between preparing for a disaster and preparing for your financial future. They are eerily [...]

Announcing the winner of the $1,000 gas giveaway for Sway

Last week, I did a review of Sway, a book on behavioral psychology, and offered a $1,000 gas giveaway for the rest of 2008 through the author
The winner is Philip Soriano, who, among many others, submitted a receipt of his Amazon purchase of Sway. Thanks for participating!
(Philip, check your email for the details.)
And [...]

“But I earn $300/year from switching banks!”

A little comment exchange on yesterday’s post about not switching banks to get an extra 0.25% interest:
Mike:
I’m one of those rate-chasers, so [with $40k in emergency savings], I’ve consistently been earning anywhere between 0.65-0.85% higher than my operating money market account… That’s an extra $300/year in interest, which is definitely worth changing banks [...]

Stupid account requires $10,000 for $25 bonus, and I mock them

Stupid marketing gimmick alert!
My friend Ian sent this to me today: A Capital One Account that gives you a $25 bonus…if you have $10,000 in it. (Plus, $10,000 minimum required to get the high interest.)

Wow!! Amazing!! Thank you Capital One!!
Listen up. If your bank account’s best incentive is $25 for locking up $10,000, your bank [...]