Over the weekend I had Empire Today and M&S Carpet come in and give me quotes on berber carpeting for my basement. If you recall, last year about this time I asked Empire to come out and they stood me up, this time they didn’t. (I called them only because I wanted to see their quote) They came in at a whopping $1,900 for the space whereas M&S cost only $1,000. The funny part was when the Empire salesman went through the whole ‘special discount’ routine going from $3,200 all the way down to $1,900 because even he didn’t really believe in the $3,200 part. The moment he said $3,200 he immediately jumped in on himself and said “but wait, there’s a special discount of 50%” and somehow reached $1,900 (which is not 50% of $3,200, as my astute fiancée pointed out). Yeah okay buddy, nice try.

Rosemary at M&S quoted us $1050, no special one-time one-week only discount, just straight up $1050, no BS, we can come out in two days. (They’re coming on Saturday) I like working with people who don’t BS me and get to the point quickly. So, the final price was $1050 + tax for a basic berber with a 6 lb. padding for approximately 500 square feet, including moving furniture, clean up, etc. That works out to approximately $2.10 a square foot, a pretty good price for installed carpet. The carpet itself isn’t the nicest of nice stuff (it’s only $2.10/sq. ft. installed, you can’t expect the world!) but it’ll be going in the basement where I don’t think we really want super-nice carpet anyway. All it takes it one sump-pump disaster and you can kiss that carpet good-bye.

Well they came out two Saturdays ago and it took about two and a half hours to install. The guys worked efficiently, which was a plus, and cleaned up the whole place afterwards – very professional and exactly what I expected. In fact, they even repaired a bit of carpet that I had messed up but wasn’t installed by them. There’s a little 4′ x 4′ carpeted area in front of the door to the basement that had been a bit damaged by some water. We had tossed the padding because it had gotten wet (the carpet itself was fine, thankfully) and those guys just installed some new padding underneath, no questions asked (Rose had said it wouldn’t be a problem, just let them know).

There was some carpet left over and Rose told me to bring it in, tell them what sizes we wanted, and they’d make them into little rugs, no extra charge. Ultimately, I think that while we could’ve shaved a little more off the price if we kept looking and looking and looking, dealing with M&S was great and I’d certainly go back if I wanted more carpet.

Last week I asked whether investment newsletters were worth it (the jury is still out), but when I talked to some people about it yesterday (the same co-worker), I had a revelation. When you sign up for an investment newsletter, what you’re actually doing is outsourcing the job of manager for your personal retirement or investment fund.

If it’s only $199 for the subscription to the Motley Fool’s Hidden Gem newsletter and you’re planning on putting $10,000 into it, you’re looking at an actively managed fund with a minimum expense ratio of 1.99%. Once you start adding in your own trading expenses, that numbers gets bigger, but essentially that’s your expense ratio (especially if you start trading with Zecco, thus taking out the buying and selling fees) if you want to compare it to some actively managed funds.

While it won’t compare to the low low expense ratios of an index fund but remember that you’re not really comparing your newsletter fund with an index fund, you’re (well, the newsletter is) actively managing its holdings.

Until JD linked to my story about how credit cards get you in, keep you in and keep you spending, I had never heard of “credit triggers,” which is the highly profitable side business all three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, Equifax) are deep into. This article on the Daily Kos about credit and mortgage triggers gives a great recap but basically the bureaus are paid by companies to let them know when you’ve starting doing trigger-type activity.

For example, if you start paying off some of your debt, collection agencies get a ping from the credit bureaus. When this happens, they know that they should start coming after you because you’re back on your feet. While this particular aspect of the service doesn’t trouble me as you should be paying your debts, the fact that your information is actively up for sale does. Others ways this manifests itself is in the idea of universal default, where failure to pay or late payment of one debt results in an increase in rate for another, which is one of the more insidious ideas of the credit card companies; but unless the companies are actively notified, which they are in the case of credit triggers, they would never know.

This also happens with mortgage companies, which explains why I received a deluge of mortgage refinancing offers for about two months after I bought my house. I received approximately two or three refinancing offers a day! I just bought the freaking thing, why would I want to refinance!? The same exact thing happened whenever I paid off the second mortgage… two or three offers each and every single day (while I am a fan of hyperbole, that was no exaggeration and anyone who has every bought a house can attest to the tenacity of those companies).

Of course, the credit bureaus spin both of those triggers as things that help the consumer – “you can get offers more aligned with your rating, so that they will be better when your score improves!” or so “you can shop around!” Ultimately, they’re taking the cash, selling your information, and there’s not much you can do about it. The difficult part in all this is that they do the work of collecting it but the onus of keeping it accurate is up to you, this is definitely one industry I wouldn’t mind seeing nationalized and more tightly regulated (fat chance, if anyone has any political-swing money, this industry does).

Credit card companies have three objectives in mind: Sign you up, don’t let you quit, and keep you spending. They make money whenever you spend and, in fact, they can make a ton of money if you never pay a fee, are never late, and never pay interest because they take a little cut off the top of each transaction. All the other fees and interest, that stuff is just gravy to them. So, when it comes to those three objectives, those credit card companies will employ all sorts of tactics to get you in, keep you in, and keep you spending (sounds like casinos doesn’t it!?) so keep on reading to see what I think is the best way to combat these tactics.

(Click to continue reading…)

Eventually, everything breaks. Sometimes it breaks after a long successful life and sometimes it breaks after a few rough uses (or not so rough uses); but eventually everything breaks. It’s only those times when someone breaks far quicker than we expected are we actually bothered by it. If you use a broom for five years and one day the handle snaps off, you probably are pretty satisfied with your purchase. If you use a broom for five days and the handle snaps off, you’re probably going to be pretty upset. So, what do you do?

1. Contact the manufacturer

Before you do anything, call or email the manufacturer of the product and ask them if they can do anything to help you. More often than not, a company will be willing to send you a replacement or offer up some sort of repair services absolutely free. Recently, after reading a Consumerist post about OXO free replacement of a palm brush, I emailed the kind folks about an insulated coffee travel mug that had cracked and they promised a replacement once I emailed it them. What happened was that the mug had cracked in the microwave and we didn’t know it wasn’t microwave safe (but they’d replace it anyway because they’re such a nice company). Considering the mug was like $8 and shipping will be $4, I don’t know if we’ll actually send it back but it’s nice to know OXO offered.

In writing the email or call, be courteous and respectful because you really want the company to be nice and send you something without having to deal with any paperwork or hassle. If you act indignant as if you deserve to have the product replaced, you’re less likely to be successful because the CSR’s own emotions may come into play – you don’t want that. You’re asking for a favor, act like it.

2. Contact your manufacturer with warranty in hand

Let’s say the nice asking didn’t work, time to pull out the warranty if one applies. Usually this will get you results but will take a little more time. If the warranty has already expired and it was by a few days, maybe sweet talking a CSR will get you the response you want – otherwise it’s time for step 3. Some companies, like Crucial memory, have lifetime warranties and they’ll take care of you without any problems.

3. Call your credit card company and activate their warranty

I always buy major items with my American Express card because it doubles the manufacturer’s warranty up to an additional year up to $10,000 per claim through their Buyer’s Assurance Plan (details). Many other credit card companies offer this as well including major players like Citi. In fact, if your card is a Visa Signature card, it’s likely covered by the Warranty Manager, unless it’s a Chase card which recently discontinued it. The same applies for Gold and Platinum MasterCard holders. Sadly I couldn’t find anything from Discover Card.

This only applies to products you buy with that card; so be sure to always buy with a card that offers this sort of protection and then you can call on it if you need to. When you do need to call, call your credit card company first, or you can call the issuer’s direct line:

• Visa Product Protection eClaims Customer Service: 800-882-8057
• MasterCard Assistance: 800-622-7747
• American Express Buyer’s Assurance Plan: 800-225-3750
• Discover Card: Where are you guys? No policy?

If all else fails, send a letter to Ben at the Consumerist and they’ll be able to work their magic for you.

When I was looking for a job, one of the main things I told myself, and everyone involved, was that I was looking to sacrifice a bit of my time in order to make a little more money. What that meant was that I’d take a job with better pay and longer hours now because money was a commodity I wanted and time was not. Outside of work, I have few demands on my time, very few of those can’t be sacrificed for the sake of work. I play some intramural sports (softball, kickball) and I take MBA classes, except for those two things my time is pretty much wide open (okay okay, I have a fiancee too, most important, very special). At this point in my life, I would take money over time.

However, that won’t always be the case. Slowly that slider will start moving from money towards time, probably once kids start entering the picture. See, I don’t want to be that father that’s always at work. You know what I’m talking about, the one who kills himself for their 9-to-5. I understand companies value their employees, I recognize that people seek fulfillment and doing a good job is a great way to feel good about yourself, and I see all around me all the folks burning the midnight oil to get that task done. I’m cool with all that… but I think that family trumps work and work is honestly just a way to feed your family. Don’t forget what you’re working for right?

I’m young, so right now I can put my head down and focus on working hard. However, I can’t do it for too long or get too used to doing it because I might one day look in the mirror and see a head full of gray hairs and no idea who my children are. You could offer me a million bucks and I still wouldn’t do it, money doesn’t buy you that feeling of fulfillment.

For the sake of work, would you skip your child’s wedding in order to handle a crisis? What about the birth of your grandchild? What about their little league baseball game? Or a soccer playoff game? How about their sixth grade graduation or them just getting an award for a perfect attendance. Money is easy to quantify and time is not, but I just gave you a pretty good list of things you might one day have to trade in for money… if you want to. I don’t. When my little ragamuffins get stupid awards for not giving everyone the chicken pox, I’m going to be there.

Am I just an idealistic kid who hasn’t lived the real world long enough?

Back in college I bought a bunch of DVDs from a reputable eBay seller located in Canada for what I thought was a great price. We’re talking Wal-Mart type prices for new releases and it was from a seller that had positive feedback in the high hundreds, what I would consider a relatively reputable seller. So, I win three auctions or so for about $200 or so, quite a sum for someone in college; and I foolishly sent a practically untrackable Western Union money order to a guy in Canada. So, after I discovered this guy was basically scamming me, I tried to get some recourse. Well, Western Union told me that the money order is gone when cashed and the guy had already cashed it, I was crap out of luck with Western Union. I tried to appeal to my credit card company but they said that my charge with them was for a money order, which I received; unfortunately they couldn’t help me. I eventually was told that I had to contact Canadian officials for mail or wire fraud if I wanted resolution, yeah good luck with that.

Basically, a Western Union money order is no different than any other money order, there is basically absolutely no reason why you would buy a money order from Western Union in the first place! In fact, the use of Western Union as a means of ripping people off, through no fault of Western Union themselves, has gotten so widespread that it’s practically a flashing red light that a scam is going on. In those situations, those were people desperate for a loan who paid a fee in advance (bad idea) and were ripped off.

Don’t ever send a money order (Western Union or otherwise) to anyone you don’t know… you’re begging to get burned.

Starting next year, until 2010, if you are in the 10% or 15% marginal income tax bracket, your tax on long term gains falls from 5% to 0%. Everyone else, that is the 25% to 35% tax brackets, still pays the same 15% capital gains rate. In 2011, everything reverts back to how they were before 2003, that is 10% for the 10%/15% brackets and 20% for the 25%-35% brackets. Think of it as four year long (because you can start the long term clock now) Roth IRA if you qualify. Team this up with $4.95 trades at TradeKing and you’ll practically have no expenses whatsoever.

Unfortunately if you’re single and in the 10% to 15% brackets, your income is under $31,850 (2007, it’ll be higher in subsequent years), of which you pay approximately $5,560 each year in taxes (if you made $31,850 on the dot), so with a take home pay of at most $26,290 and the cost of living in most areas, you’re probably not thinking of investing much anyway… but every bit helps!

Source: USA Today