Personal Finance

Discover Bank Discover Bank has been providing banking products since 1911 with service designed to keep their customers financial goals in mind. Discover Bank’s products and services include Discover-card branded credit cards, CDs, money market and savings accounts, home loans, and personal and student loans. Their payment services include PULSE, one of the nation’s leading ATM/debit networks, and Diners Club International, a global payments network. As a card brand, Discover competes with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. However, Discover directly issues its cards, unlike Visa and MasterCard. Discover is the fourth largest credit card issuer, behind Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citi when measured by card balances. Based on MyBankTracker’s Bank Report Card, Discover Bank scores 3 out of 5 stars overall, ranking high in good bank financial health, interest rates, remote deposit access, and mobile bank services. The bank ranked poorly among customer reviews, scoring only 2 out of 5 marks on average. Amonopoulos writes that he opened his first credit card with Discover when he was in college and hasn’t regretted it since. He comments on the superiority of their rates and rewards program in comparison to other student cards. He also mentions that in one year he was able to establish credit, was rewarded with a good APR and an increased credit line. He continues by praising their online interface and helpful customer service, and finishes by saying “I would recommend Discover to everyone.” The Discover it credit card for students comes with a number of perks and forgiveness features that vastly outnumber those offered by other competitor student credit cards, including the Bank Americard for students and Capital One’s Journey Student Rewards Credit Card. Some of these benefits include: no annual fee paying late won’t raise your APR 100% U.S. based customer service available any time no foreign transaction fee 5% cash back in categories that change each quarter offered to all card members unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases Sheila H. on the other hand, gives her perspective by sharing her ordeal with Discover. In her review, she speaks about how she has tried for three weeks to get money back from a CD she closed early. She was given the go around, first being told she would receive her money by check, which she didn’t. She mentions repeatedly calling and getting a different response each time. She says, “I have been told the check is lost, that they have issued another and it is being overnighted, that they’re verifying a stop payment on the first check and will call me back. I’m worried that I will NEVER get my money back.” She finishes her review by saying she feels as though she has been scammed. If you currently use Discover Bank, visit their profile page on our site to read more reviews, see how they rank, find branches near you, and more! Or leave your review of a bank or product by visiting our Reviews page. (Reviews have been edited for clarity.) Related Stories: Top 5 Credit Cards With No Foreign Transaction Fees Saving Rates Report May 2013: Major Cuts at Online Banks What Are Excessive Withdrawal Fees and Federal Regulation D?  Review Roundup: Discover Bank

U.S. corporations are increasingly stashing cash overseas. Nearly a dozen major companies are thought to be hoarding more than $40 billion each beyond the reach of Uncle Sam.But much of it might not be overseas at all, The New York Times says. Take Apple as an example:Apple’s $102 billion in offshore profits is actually managed by one of its wholly owned subsidiaries in Reno, Nev., according to the Senate report on the company’s tax avoidance. The money is tracked by Apple company bookkeepers in Austin, Texas. What’s more, the funds are held in bank accounts in New York.Read 4 remaining paragraphs on MoneyTalksNews.com.

Naked With Cash is the year-long series on Consumerism Commentary where seven readers’ households share their financial progress on a monthly basis. I’ve partnered with financial planners who will offer some guidance along the way. Read this introduction to learn more about the series. Anonymous S is a 24-year-old engineer earning $67,000 a year plus bonus. He also builds websites on the side for an hourly fee of $20 to $35. Read his bio here. Anonymous S is on Team Roger, with Certified Financial Planner Roger Wohlner. Keep reading to see how Anonymous S progressed throughout the month of April. Following his net worth report own analysis, Anonymous S will be able to read feedback from Roger. Roger Wohlner, CFP appears courtesy of The Chicago Financial Planner. Anonymous S’s comments and analysis April was definitely a transitional month. I moved in with my girlfriend and started my new job, and both are definitely steps in the right direction. We just signed a lease for a new place that starts in June. With upfront costs equivalent to three months’ rent, that will take a substantial bite out of my liquid assets. I planned for this, and my checking account was able to survive. Once expenses normalize, I plan to decrease the size of my checking account. The apartment’s rent is $2,750 a month, but split over two people this is actually a very good deal for what we are getting. Plus, it’s right in the center of Manhattan, under ten minutes to almost every subway line, and a ten minute walk to work. It includes a gym (saving $50 to $100 per month per person), as well as washer and dryer in the unit, saving time and money. The kitchen is also very nice, which will give us an incentive to cook. My credit card bill was much higher this month due to some flights and travel-related expenses. I’ve also had to eat out a lot more, since using my current kitchen is impractical. In May, I hope to keep expenses relatively low while exploring New York City. I still won’t have access to my new place until June, so eating out will continue to be a relatively large expense. I’m looking into tax-efficient placement of my assets, and I may want to roll my previous 401(k) into my current IRA to simplify my assets. Once that is completed, I would work to put tax-inefficient holdings in my IRA, while moving anything tax-efficient to my standard Vanguard account. Since I’ll no longer have access to a 401(k), I need to figure out a new plan for investments. I’ll probably aim for a similar timeline, but would like to have some reduced risk so I can take out money for a house in the future. However, I don’t plan on buying a house for at least five years. Feedback from Roger Wohlner, CFP Congratulations on the move to New York City and the new job. You seem to do a good job with your overall finances. The one tip that I would provide is that you need to ensure that you continue to sock away money for your retirement even though your new employer does not offer a retirement plan. At this point a combination of an IRA and probably some taxable investing is the way to go. I’m not a fan of co-mingling any savings for a home down the road with your retirement savings, especially the IRA. Just because you can do something, like use an IRA for short-term savings, doesn’t always mean that you should. Anonymous S, April 2013 Net Worth is a post from Consumerism Commentary. New to Consumerism Commentary? Start here.

There have been many, many times over the past several years when I have felt completely overwhelmed by the huge gap between where I am right now and where I want to be. My big dream is to reach true financial independence. By that, I mean that I have enough money socked away in relatively stable investments so that the income from those investments provides me with enough for my family to live on regardless of whether I’m actually earning income. Why is that my goal? It’s not so that I can sit idle. It’s so that I have the freedom to take giant personal risks, like spending several months doing nothing but perfecting a novel or spending a bunch of time laying the groundwork for a charity or campaigning full-time for a political position without having to worry about the downside of failure. There are moments – and those moments are surprisingly frequent – where that goal simply seems impossible. It feels like an absolute pipe dream. I tell myself that it’s something that I will never, ever achieve. I feel overwhelmed. I feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the goal. I feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of little steps that it will take to get there. In those moments, I’m sorely tempted to just toss the goal aside, forget about it, and live solely for today. It is very, very, very easy to just believe that “future me” will take care of my future and that I have no responsibility for it. I felt that way today. As positive as my financial progress has been over the last several years, I sat here running through the numbers on my spreadsheet and I felt almost hopeless. The path to where I want to be is a very long one, even beyond the successes I’ve already had in terms of turning my financial life around. It feels enormous, and I almost feel overwhelmed. For me, the way out of this is to go back to the very basics. First of all, I look at what I already have achieved. I can achieve things – big things. I built The Simple Dollar out of nothing at all. I turned my financial life around, moving from being scared to open the mailbox to debt freedom and mortgage-free home ownership. We have a healthy amount of money in the bank and in various investments. We’re in very good shape. Second, I look at why I want more. Why do I want more than this? I think about Sarah. I think about my children. I think about the things I want to leave behind that will continue to improve the lives of others, even after I’m gone. All that I want to achieve in life centers around those things. Finally, I look at today. Nothing matters more than today. Can I finish off today with a run of good choices? Doing that makes my financial situation at the end of today better than it was at the start of the day. It’s hard to do that sometimes, especially when everything feels overwhelming, but it’s the key. If you can go to bed that night knowing you did everything right today, you’re going to go to bed happy. Do it again the next day, and the day after that, and you’ll really have something. If you feel overwhelmed by your goals, look at what you’ve already achieved. Look at why you’re striving for something more. Then, just focus on today. Get that momentum back and, before long, that sense of being overwhelmed will fall away. The post Overwhelmed appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Did you know that 73% of parents discuss family finances with their children? While that’s an impressive number, many children still aren’t on the same page when it comes to conversations about money. From how banks and credit cards work, to what the stock market is, see the hot money topics kids have on their minds. Then read on for stats on which parent does a better job at money management and which parent kids usually turn to when they are looking for a handout (the answer sure did surprise me!). Click on “Launch Infographic” for an expanded view.

Mike Deerkoski / Flickr | http://www.flickr.com/photos/deerkoski/7178643521/ On Tuesday, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, sat before a committee in Congress to defend Apple’s practices of tax evasion, where they were accused of dodging about $9 billion in taxes from more than $44 billion in income. Cook insisted that for American sales, Apple pays 30.5% of its profits in taxes, and that they are abiding by all U.S. laws. But Senator Carl Levin from Michigan had “just issued a 40-page report on how the company shifts money around the world in order to avoid paying American corporate tax rates,” reports The New Republic. According to the report, Apple had been using corporate loopholes in order to pay almost no tax on their profits funneled through shell companies in Europe — most of the companies being in Ireland. According to the New York Times, “Apple subsidiaries — based in Ireland but spanning other regions around the world — had helped the company pay as little as one-twentieth of 1 percent in taxes on billions of dollars in income.” These ghost companies have no employees and are run by Apple’s upper management, and because so many of Apple’s products are digital, they can be shifted around to avoid tax codes that were design for industrial corporations that sell tangible products. By keeping its subsidiaries “in places like Ireland, Apple was able to, in effect, make them stateless — exempt from taxes, record-keeping laws and the need for the subsidiaries to even file tax returns anywhere in the world.” In addition, “about two-thirds of Apple’s global pretax income in 2011 was recorded in Ireland, yet only 4 percent of its employees and 1 percent of its customers were located there.” However, Apple consistently denied being involved in any “tax gimmicks.” The craziest thing is that none of this is exactly illegal, which means that technically Apple isn’t doing anything wrong. Apple is just taking advantage of something called a “tax shelter,” which many large corporations also take advantage of. Businessweek writes that Amazon also redirects a lot of its cash outside of the U.S. so that they can avoid taxes. But unfortunately for Amazon, it had stashed a lot of its cash in Europe and when the European economy tanked, so Amazon ended up recording a huge loss of $338 million. Apple hasn’t had this problem, so at the moment it’s still only paying taxes at about a 30% rate, which seems ridiculous for a company that has hundreds of billions in cash. What do you think? Should Apple pay up, or should Congress back off? Live Hassle-Free: 11 Must-Have Apps in 2013 Related Stories: The Rich Got Rich By…Being Lucky? Do the Rich Pay the Most Income Taxes? Income for Poor Grey Only $59 in Four Decades Apple Evaded Billions in Taxes

This article was originally published on Cash Money Life | Personal Finance, Investing, & Career at Goodbye Plastic Jungle.Thanks for the discounts! My inbox greeted me with some sad news this past week as I learned that Plastic Jungle was no longer buying and selling gift cards. I’ve been using Plastic Jungle for buying discounted gift cards for several years now, and it’s disappointing to learn they will no longer be offering this service. The site is still honoring gift cards purchased through their site, they just won’t be buying or selling them any longer. It appears as though they will still be in the gift card game to some degree, but now they will be exchanging them for rewards points with some of their partners, including Best Buy, CVS, United Mileage Plus, FlexPerks, and ZeeVex. From their site: With this transition, there are a few important things you should know. First, all orders currently being processed will be honored with the same guarantee of service and safety that we have upheld for seven years. Second, our website will be available to retrieve gift cards until November 1, 2013. Finally, our customer service desk will remain open during this period to answer inqueries and resolve any concerns. If you have any questions, we encourage you to visit our FAQs page or contact Plastic Jungle Customer Success at customersuccess@plasticjungle.com. What are the best options for buying and selling gift cards? Plastic Jungle recommended CardCash.com for buying and selling cards, but I haven’t used them. I am also familiar with Gift Card Rescue and GiftCardGranny. Another great place to get discounted gift cards is through your credit card shopping portal. For example, I have I have seen discounts on many gift cards of 10-20% through my Chase, Discover, and American Express card shopping portals. The best part is that you can redeem your rewards points that you got from regular shopping to save more money on future purchases. Double and triple dipping on rewards: The best part about these deals is getting savings through two or three methods. For example, I almost always use a cash rewards card when making online purchases, so you get to save on the discounted gift card, plus you get your cash back on the purchase you made. You can sometimes add another layer of discounts by shopping through Ebates, FatWallet, or another online shopping portal. You can save a ton of money by combining these discounts! Recent Carnivals: Finance Carnival for Young Adults at Fat Guy,Skinny Wallet, Yakezie Carnival at Growing Money Smart, Carnival of MoneyPros at Thirty Six Months, Carnival of Retirement at Brick By Brick Investing, Carnival of Financial Independence at Carnival of Financial Independence, Yakezie Carnival at Money Life and More, Carnival of MoneyPros at My Personal Finance Journey, Y and T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty.ca, Finance Carnival for Young Adults at WILDaboutFinance. Carn of Financial Independence at Carnival of Financial Independence, Carnival of MoneyPros at Freeat33, Carnival of Retirement at Money Q, Yakezie Carnival at Money Reasons, Finance Carnival for Young Adults at Faithful With a Few. ~$~ All content copyright Cash Money Life | Personal Finance, Investing, & Career; if you are reading this on another website it has been illegally reproduced in violation of copyright laws. Related Articles: Gift Cards – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Gift Card Scams and Frauds to Watch Out For Declare Financial Freedom on Financial Independence Day

One of the most expensive financial decisions many of us make is having a wedding. While my wedding was pretty modest (coming in at right around $3,000), the average cost of a wedding as of this writing is a little more than $28,000! Who has $28,000 to spend on a wedding — especially if you have student debt and you are hoping to save up for a house? One way to pay for your wedding is to obtain sponsorships to help you take care of the costs. This is the approach Donnie Gallagher and his fiancee Jennifer are taking. They hope to raise $25,000 in services and and cash to pay for their dream wedding on February 14, 2014 (yes, that’s Valentine’s Day). If they manage to raise more than $25,000, everything extra will be donated to charity. Should You Find Sponsors for Your Wedding? “Jennifer and I are recent college graduates paying back student debt,” Donnie says. The couple also plans to save up to buy a house, since mortgage rates are low, and so are prices. In order to fund their wedding, the two decided that finding sponsors would be the best way to get their wedding off the ground, saving them money while still allowing them to have the wedding they want. So far the couple has one sponsor, a photographer willing to donate $500 worth of services for the wedding. Donnie is confident, though, that the two of them will find more sponsors. “We need to continue to send our message out to as many people as we can,” he says. “Once we beat down enough doors, we will find the right sponsors.” Of course, no business is going to sponsor a wedding without receiving some sort of recognition. Donnie says that corporate sponsors will be recognized in a number of ways. He says that sponsors will be promoted on the couple’s wedding web site, as well as through the social media accounts associated with the wedding effort. But what about at the wedding? “We really wouldn’t mind if anything outside of the main ceremony was branded or contained promotional pieces,” Donnie says. This means that sponsors could have branded materials at the reception. The hardest part of the whole operation so far, Donnie says, has been trying to find a charity to work with. While some of the sponsors the couple has talked with so far have been open to the idea — even if they haven’t signed on officially yet — charities have been harder to work with. “Jennifer suffered a stroke in 2011, so we wanted to partner with a stroke-related charity because that is a cause that we have a personal connection with.” Donnie says. Unfortunately, it has been difficult, with many charities refusing to allow them to show public support as part of the wedding. “The reason I was given was that they would not be ‘the sole reason for giving,’” he says. Even though the charities said that they would be happy to accept any donations, they don’t want their names out there in association with the sponsored wedding. Other than that, Donnie hopes that he and Jennifer will be able to find sponsors for their wedding, and perhaps be able to donate to a good cause to boot. What do you think? Would you ever find sponsors for a wedding? Or would you prefer to just save up? Image: Katsunojiri via Flikr One Clever Idea You’ve Never Thought of to Save Money on a Wedding from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com. The post One Clever Idea You’ve Never Thought of to Save Money on a Wedding appeared first on Bargaineering.

Life insurance tends to be pretty low on the list of financial priorities for most people, but it really shouldn’t be. If you’re married or have young children, life insurance is one of the most important things to have if others depend on you. What kind of financial hardship would your family be in if the unfortunate happened to you? These things are not fun to think about and that’s another reason life insurance usually gets put on the back burner. The reality is that having life insurance is probably a good idea, but shopping for it can be a chore. If you work full time and receive benefits from your employer, you may want to check to see if they offer a group term life insurance plan for starters. Since this may only require a quick call to the human resources department it makes sense to start there. This came up recently here, which is why I wanted to bring it up. My wife came home with a packet of information about the term life insurance offered through work, and since we have been meaning to reassess our insurance coverage, it was a perfect opportunity to see how much it costs and compare it with other companies to see if it was a good deal or not. One of the benefits of using your employer’s group plan is that you may be able to receive a decent amount of coverage without the requirement of having a medical exam. For those who may not be in great health, this can be quite a benefit if the group plan doesn’t require this while outside companies may, and may end up costing you more or be denied entirely. So, that is one thing to consider. The other benefit is that when working with your employer’s plan it will come out of your paycheck just like your other benefits, so it’s simple. No monthly or annual payments to make, no missed payments, no stamps or mailing anything in, no setting up automatic bill payments, etc. So, after looking through my wife’s plan I noticed the rates were quite affordable. We could receive five times her annual salary for around $21 per pay period, and this was with no medical exam. Even though this seemed reasonable, going this far was just enough to encourage us to find quotes from other companies to compare. And good thing we did. After looking around a bit we found two other options that were actually a bit cheaper for the same amount of coverage. That being said, even though the employer’s plan wasn’t the most affordable, simply checking into it made us then explore more options and find out just how affordable the insurance can be. Now, like many employee benefits there is one big drawback. If you go with your employer’s plan it will typically only be available as long as you are employed there. If you go on to change jobs, get fired, or quit, the life insurance will go away as well. When you get a policy with a company on your own, you’ll have coverage no matter who you work for, so keep that in mind. In the end, getting life insurance through your employer may or may not be the best for your situation, but at the very least it’s worth checking into. It’s easy, it may not require any health exams, and the premiums will come right out of your check like your other benefits. But if you go far enough to check into your employer’s plan, take the extra step and get a few quotes from other companies just to compare. You may be surprised at how affordable this crucial part of your financial wellness may be.

So you’re planning a baby shower, and you’ve got the decorations, the games, and even the gift – so what’s missing? Ah, yes: the food. It’s not a baby shower without a ton of cute edibles for guests to pick at. However, if you’ve already blown most of your budget elsewhere, you might need to [...]5 Easy Baby Shower Food Ideas on a Budget is a post from the Money Crashers personal finance blog.