A Double-Dipper Tipper from The Chipper!
Ahhh… Classic Chinery. Here’s a quick and easy way to get 60,000 American Airlines frequent flyer miles. That’s enough for two free round trip Coach tickets or one First Class ticket!
Citi just rolled out its new CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® which will give you 30,000 bonus miles after $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of cardmembership. Citi’s personal card, the Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® Visa Signature® Card has the same offer as well. Annual fees waived the first year on both cards.
Self-employed people can get the biz card and be considered a business. You don’t have to have a Corporation or LLC. If you just said, “A what?” don’t worry about it – you don’t need one.
Read More
Do This Before Cancelling Your Continental Card
My buddy Jack is still holding a Continental Airlines credit card. As you probably know, they merged with United. At some point, United will replace that Continental card with a United card. When that happens, he will no longer be able to get the 30,000 mile sign up bonus for a United card, because he will then be a United card holder!
I say apply for the United card today!! Get 30,000 miles. That’s more than enough for a free round trip ticket. Annual fee waived the first year. It also includes free checked bag for you and a companion.
If you still have the Continental card, this is what I suggest:
Read More
Money Myth: It’s Good for your Credit Score to Owe Money on your Card
Some bad intel is flying around out there. Last week, two friends told me, “I know it’s good for your credit score to owe some money on your credit card.” They might as well have told me, “When you buy a car, make sure you pay for undercoating.” Nah baby, nah.
Let’s address that myth. In the chain-link fenced park where credit scores live, FICO is the big dog. There are other credit scores, but FICO is the authority. As you can see in the FICO graphic, 30% of your credit score is based upon how much you owe. If you owe money on your credit card, not only will you get charged interest, but you will also pull down your credit score. So pay that sucker off in full every month!
If you aren’t in the position to pay off what you owe, consider getting a 0% Balance Transfer card. Right now, Chase Slate is offering 0% for 15 months. No transfer fee. No annual fee.
You can save a significant amount of cash. If you owe $5,000 on your 15% interest credit card, then transfer that balance to the Chase Slate. You will save $600 in interest the first year.
The Cool Rule of 72
Your trusty Herald Square #2 pencil is busted and your smartphone’s battery has died. You need to find out approximately how long it will take for an investment to double in value. What do you do??? Use your brain and the “Rule of 72”.
Divide 72 by the compounding interest percentage you are getting on that investment. My free brokerage account shows that my stocks have gone up 12% in the past year. Not too shabby! 72 divided by 12 tells me at this rate it will take 6 years for the portfolio to double.
This is a ballpark figure, but very close. Therefore, it is close enough to use when hanging with the big boys if they start talking all highfalutin Wall Street chitter-chatter.
Read More
Health Care Hustle
If you are a Screen Actors Guild member, listen to Aziz, Diddy, and me. Well, me. Here is the spot we did for Ciroc Vodka.
If you aren’t in SAG, does this apply to your profession? It could save you $15,000 a year.
Did you know that it’s possible to move SAG earnings to qualify for health insurance coverage? ‘Tis true!
Read More
ING Direct’s Remote Deposit has Arrived
UPDATE for 2013 — ING DIRECT is now Capital One 360.
360 Checking (formerly Electric Orange)
360 Savings (formerly Orange Savings)
360 Kids Savings (formerly Kids Savings)
360 Money for Teens (formerly Money)
Snap up your housecoat, don your Slanket and whip out your smartphone ‘cuz you are one step closer to never leaving the house. ING’s remote check deposit solution has finally arrived. “CheckMate” allows anyone with an ING DIRECT Orange Savings Account, Kids Savings Account, Electric Orange or MONEY to deposit checks from anywhere – even in front of a blooming bougainvillea.
No fees. Use the free mobile app or your computer. There’s a daily limit of $5,000 or 20 check deposits, whichever you reach first, and a check limit of $3,000. Read more about CheckMate’s basics and requirements. You can also watch a video of how it works:
Read More
Money Hack – Paper or Plastic?
You can benefit GREATLY, as I have, doing as little as you want. I am happy to help!
Airline: American, American Biz, Delta, Delta Biz, US Airways, AeroMexico, Korean Air, LAN, Luftansa, Virgin America
Hotel & Misc Travel: Hilton, Starwood Personal and Starwood Business
Cash Back: Citi Dividend Platinum Visa, Discover it, Fidelity Amex
The British Are Coming!!
• Do you yearn to drive on the left side of the road without getting a ticket?
• Do you pester your spellchecker with words like humour, colour and recognise?
• Do you pronounce every letter in “Aluminium”?
If so, this is a chance for you to get your Pip-Pip and Cheerio on – for a trip to London!
Apply for the British Airways card and get 50,000 Avios points after making just one purchase. That is enough to fly direct from Los Angeles to London. Unlike other airline branded cards,
Read MoreI Got Me Some Mitt Money
I was doing my taxes over the weekend. Like Mitt & Barack, I have some dividend income. I’m not quite at the $4.9 million in dividend income that Gov. Romney pulled down in 2010, but at least I’m in the game – and you can be too!
That’s the cool thing. YOU can buy stocks, collect some dividends and pay the less than ordinary federal income tax rate called “capital gains” be you the US President, a millionaire or a pauper!
If you are a pauper and enjoy ChipsMoneyTips at the public library computer, listen up. The 15% federal tax rate for qualified dividends drops to 0% if you are in the 10% or 15% ordinary income tax bracket.
If you feel like you can pick a stock or two, sign up for a free and insured brokerage account. The cost per trade is much less than what you would pay a stock broker: OptionsHouse ($3.95), Sharebuilder ($4.00), TradeKing ($4.95), Zecco ($4.95), tradeMONSTER ($7.50), and E*Trade ($9.99).
Read MoreXoom – Not just for Drug Mules
Are you a drug mule who needs to send money to the Kingpin, ASAP? Do you owe your Coyote some scratch for hitching a ride in the glove box of his ‘72 Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon? Or are you going to visit a friend in a foreign land and simply want some cash to play with once you are there? I say Xoom it, baby!!
You can wire funds to accounts in other countries, but as those who have done it know, that’s kinda pricey. Wells Fargo just told me that an international wire is $45 plus an exchange rate.
Xoom works just like a wire transfer, but costs as little as $4.99 and has locked-in exchange rates. You can send to up to $6,000 per 30 days, to 30 countries. Click here to open a free account.
Here’s a video of how it works for cartoon people:
Read More
Comments