When these powers combine...

Two of my very favorite things in the world, free stuff and music, come together in one awesome web-based package at Pandora. The music station works as a sort of human genome project for music. Analysts at Pandora dissect what makes up the key elements of different types of songs and then categorize each and every song and artist available on the site. It's a fantastic way to become exposed to new music at no cost to you!

Here's a selection of some new people I have found or come to appreciate more because of Pandora (mostly folky, indie kinds of people, but some diversity):

- Hawksley Workman
- The Temptations (an increased awe)
- Tyrone Wells
- Midlake
- Pedro the Lion
- Marcia Ball (Cajun-flavored folk, pop)

Try it out. It's certainly worth the cost.

Juggling that Plastic

Yahoo Personal Fiance had a good article today about making the most out of your plastic. WARNING: This article only works for people who pay off their bill in whole every month. If you don't, skip this article.

There are so many great cards out there that serve a specific consumer niche, that it makes sense to capitalize on them. Currently, I have one "favored" card that gets me 5% cash back at grocery stores, gas stations, and drugstores. I have a second card that yields 3% points, which can be used for cash or other things, at restaurants, office supply stores, and a few other places. Between groceries and eating out, an Old Navy card (good at Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic) that gets 5% back, I have covered most of my personal non-bill expenditures.

Credit card companies are looking at for their own best interests. Might as well beat them at their own game.

5.50% Savings Rate at E-Loan

While I do not ever plan to close my account at Emigrant Direct, I have to follow the money. E-Loan just opened up their online savings bank with a great 5.50% APY. Hopefully Emigrant will follow suit. The account has been open for less than a month and so far, so good. They were lightning quick with taking my money, and hopefully they will be just as expedient in transferring in back when the time comes.

Balance Transfers and Free Nanos

I hope I am not "cruisin' for a bruisin'" as my mother used to say with this offer from Bank of America. If you have any combinations of purchases or balance transfers over $2000 in the first three months, a free iPod 2 GB Nano is yours! Plus, a credit of $50 is applied to your first statement, which should cover the bulk of the 3% balance transfer fee if you decide (like I did) to travel that route.

I filled out the initial application, but was not instantly approved. This will be my first balance transfer/0% APR/invest the money in savings accounts foray, so I am interested how things will pan out. I will update this as this story unfolds.


December 20, 2006 Update:

Nano in hand (despite claims that it would take 10 weeks from statement close), $50 credit on statement, and calendar marked to pieces to remember the due date to repay my interest free loan. So far, a great experience. I would just note that I did call and speak with an agent at BoA, and he "put a note on my account," so I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't done that.

Nobel Peace Prize Announced

I was psyched to hear that one of the founding fathers of microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. His bank, which caters to the most destitute, started with mere $27! It's inspiring.

Microfinance has the opportunity to change the face of poverty more than almost any other movement in the last 30 years. It's innovative, creative, and resourceful - qualities I dig. Microfinance's appeal is that it allows people to participate in crafting their own futures - the proverbial "hand-up," not "hand-out."

Yunus has a book called Banker to the Poor available at Amazon (see below), which I hope to read after D-Day (GMAT on November 6th). I have a feeling this book is going to be outstanding. Looking forward to posting a review once I get to it. Congrats, Muhammed!

“Those who understand compound interest are destined to collect it. Those who don’t are doomed to pay it.”

Accmulating Money has a great, well-designed site and has a good little section talking about the absolute MAGIC of compound interest (one of my favorite things). Check it out here.

Want to Fight AIDS? Buy a Cell Phone.

A provocative social enterprise article from the NYTIMES:

A new line of products from companies like Gap, Armani Exchange and Motorola aims to raise money to help fight AIDS in Africa.

Those companies, along with Converse and American Express, created the new products, which bear the brand name Red and are to begin appearing in stores this month. The companies are committed to selling the products for at least five years, and plan to donate part of their profits to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

If the Red products sell the way the companies’ other products do, the fund stands to gain hundreds of millions of dollars annually — enough to provide AIDS medications to hundreds of thousands of Africans each year.

The campaign was created by the musician Bono and Bobby Shriver, a California politician and member of the Kennedy family. Both are leading advocates for the Global Fund. The fund, which will collect and distribute money from Red in Africa, says the hundreds of millions of dollars each year given by world governments is not enough to provide medications to all of the people who need them.

You can log-in to read the rest of the article here.

Girl Scout Preparedness for Your Finances

Recently I have been reading alot about being prepared for a disaster. I am no Debbie Downer, but it doesn't take one to think that some sort of disaster might happen in my lifetime, whether natural or human-driven. It's necessary to have a physical disaster preparedness plan (outside point of contact, meeting place, batteries, yada yada), but others note the further necessity of having a financial disaster preparedness plan. Bankrate gives a great little checklist that I plan to act on soon.

Changing the world, one lightbulb at a time

This is so easy that there is no reason not to jump on this wagon:

If every American household made the commitment to change just one traditional light to an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would provide enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year, save more than $500 million in energy costs, and prevent the greenhouse gas emission equivalent of nearly 800,000 cars. It's a simple action with a tremendous impact.

I encourage each of you to do as I have and take the ENERGY STAR Change a Light Pledge at www.energystar.gov, committing to change just one traditional light in your home to one that's earned EPA's ENERGY STAR label.

Please take ENERGY STAR's Change a Light Pledge, and help EPA continue to brighten America's future one light at a time.

Reasons to save

Bankrate, ever useful and informative, just put out an article listing reasons to save money. My favorite, and the only one I really need, is #9: "It just plain feels good." So true, Bankrate, so true. It's addictive; once you start, you just don't want to stop.

A new look here...

Duh, but appreciated, Bernake.

Fed Chair Bernake made his first speech in a while, in which he urged Americans to save more, calling current savings rates "exceptionally low." This comes as no surprise to most, including yours truly. You can read the Financial Times article here.

Please save, people! There are so many fantastic high-yield savings accounts out there. My personal favorite is Emigrant Direct. Not only do they have one of the highest rates out there, I sincerely appreciated the $1000 deposits they made to every account registered in the Gulf Region following Katrina. When I called to tell them that I had moved from New Orleans a few weeks prior to the hurricane, they told me that they figured I knew how best to use the money to help. You don't see that often, and this attitude has endeared this bank to be for the long haul (even if their rates fell to 5.05% from 5.15%).

Travel Deals

These travel deals from Gate 1 seem almost too good to be true. A friend of a friend went on one last year and had a great experience. Spain in 2007 is calling my name.

Scentastic

I love the smell of laundry. Few things are better. I hope Snuggle is not trying to mess with a good thing here, but check out their new Snuggle "Premium Exhilerations" Scents with a $.50 coup.

Eco-friendly do it yourself projects

Tiffany Tomato Designs offers you the option of purchasing their funky recycled objects, or letting you make them yourself. I am especially partial to the Vitamin C bowl.

Not without coups.

Anytime you have any online shopping to do, I would heartily recommend checking out Current Codes for an always up to date list of current coupons and promotions for various vendors. I remembered to check the site recently and found one from Kodak Gallery that ended up saving me $18 on something that I was going to buy anyway. Fifteen seconds of my time is easily worth that much.

Kiva

I love the idea of helping people help themselves. Kiva is a website that does just that through small person to person loans. Kiva allows people from all over the globe to provide funds to fledgling entrepreneurs in the developing world so that they can begin to lift themselves out of poverty by engaging in the local economy.

The basics seem pretty simple. A loan request is posted, along with details describing what the loan will be used for, and the timeframe in which the loan will be paid back to the lender. Loans are broken up in order to both lessen the risk for lenders and make lending a more real possibility for folks of modest means.

Saving money on the small stuff allows you to make it go father than on things like toothpaste. What I like about Kiva is that is streches the dollar in a way that makes me proud. Plus, since the money gets repaid, the entire process has a sense of accountability built in, and I believe the effects will be even more transformative than just giving someone money outright.

I have yet to donate, but will update my results when I do.