Drawbacks Of 5% Cash Back Cards That Feature Rotating Bonus Categories
Rotating 5% cash back rewards credit cards can encourage customers to spend more money on purchases that they might not have otherwise made. In addition, cards like the Chase Freedom actually require customers to register for the bonus categories each quarter in order to receive their increased rewards. Considered together, these two factors make this type of reward credit card riskier and less convenient than a standard product that always returns the same level of cash back on different types of spending.
By understanding the drawbacks of these types of reward cards, credit card holders can make the best decisions regarding the types of products they choose to use.
7th Circuit Affirms Tax Court: No Charitable Deduction for Donation of House to Fire Department
In 2009 I wrote in IRS is Right To Deny Charitable Contribution of Home to Fire Department that,
Taxpayers who donate their homes to the fire department in exchange for the fire department’s promise to demolish the home clearly are receiving value in exchange for the property.
The taxpayer and the fire department have entered into a bargained for and negotiated contractual relationship. The fire department gets to use the home for training and in exchange agrees to burn the property to the ground so the taxpayer can build a new home.
The fire department does not have unrestricted use of the property. It must destroy it.
If the fire department changed its mind and decided to use the home as an office building or if during the training exercise the firefighters performed so well they saved the home from burning to the ground, the taxpayer would presumably have the right to sue the government for breach of contract.
The home is the taxpayer’s garbage and it has no value. I don
Another Rich Guy Says He is Undertaxed While the Camera’s Running
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the Prince of Denmark overhears his uncle, King Claudius, pray for forgiveness for the murder of his brother, Hamlet’s father:
O, what form of prayer can serve my turn?
‘Forgive me my foul murder’?
That cannot be;
Since I am still possess’d of those effects for which I did the murder;
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
Claudius pauses and then asks the $64,000 question:
May one be pardon’d and retain the offence?
Warren Buffett, Rick Steves, Carl Hiasson and, now, a fellow named Doug Edwards¹ apparently think so.
In Edwards case we have yet another instance of a rich progressive publicly announcing to the world how undertaxed he is while refusing to avail himself of the opportunity to fix the problem :
Following in the footsteps of billionaire investor Warren Buffet, former Google employee Doug Edwards asked President Obama to raise his taxes at a town hall meeting in California Monday.
“Would you please raise my taxes?” Edwards asked, a request that drew applause from the audience. “I would like very much to
Building a diversified portfolio out of Claymore Exchange-Traded Funds
Scotia iTrades recently announced that its clients can buy or sell 46 ETFs without a commission. Most of the ETFs in the list are Claymore ETFs and I gave some thought to how an investor would go about building a diversified portfolio out of the names in the list. The rules for building the portfolio are: (1) Broad diversification. The portfolio will not make narrow sector bets such as oil sands, agriculture, natural gas or water. This one rule alone would eliminate 19 ETFs from the list. (2) Limited set of asset classes. The portfolio will focus on the traditional asset classes, i.e., cash, government bonds and stocks. Real estate will be the only alternative asset class in the portfolio. This rules out another seven ETFs that track corporate bonds, junk bonds, preferred shares, commodities etc. (3) No income products. The portfolio is assumed to be suitable for an investor in her accumulation stage and does not depend on income from the portfolio. Full Article…
Get Out Of Sprint Cell Phone Contract, Avoid Early Termination Fee (August/September 2011)
If you are under a Sprint cell phone contract and want to get out of it without paying the steep Early Termination Fee (ETF), check your statements with a billing date in August. Look for the following text:
Administrative Charge Increase Terms Conditions Changes for Consumers Effective 9/9/11, the Administrative Charge will increase to $1.50 per line for customers that receive the charge. For details, visit Sprint.com/taxesandfees. In addition, the Sprint consumer Terms (TsCs) are changing. Please review them carefully at your local Sprint store or Sprint.com/termsandconditions.
You may be stuck in a contract, but a contract runs both ways. Sprint is also stuck and cant go increasing your monthly bill whenever they want. The law states that if a company makes a material change to the contract, then the consumer has the ability to exit the contract without an ETF if they notify Sprint within 30 days of the notice.
English football ticket prices are disgusting
I’ve been watching football matches since I was five, where I think a combined ticket for me and my Dad used to cost about a fiver.
Okay, so that was for Southend United, but even my local club now charges £21 for an adult ticket – and after watching some of the League Two dross last year (the English fourth-tier), I can tell you that is not good value for money.
Football, especially Premiership football, is a business to the owners and this in turn means they are looking to maximise profits – and that means exploiting supporters’ loyalty and passion for their club.