Tools and services

Real War Of The Reel World: Netflix vs Blockbuster – The Fight Goes On

September 26, 2011
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Real War Of The Reel World: Netflix vs Blockbuster – The Fight Goes On

I got a flyer in my mailbox – a colorful red and blue 3×5 card – declaring, “Goodbye Netflix, Hello Blockbuster.” It’s now Blockbuster’s turn to fight back in the DVD rental wars. Once defeated, Blockbuster got a fresh start when DISH Network bought it (only after its huge debts were written off due to bankruptcy). Powered by DISH Network’s 14 million subscribers and their set-top boxes, Blockbuster’s latest offerings allow you to stream movies and rent DVDs by mail. Blockbuster Movie Pass customers can exchange the DVD received in the mail at Blockbuster stores as well. If you remember, prior to the price hike, Netflix cost the same amount per month as Blockbuster Movie Pass is charging. I can’t help congratulating DISH-Blockbuster folks on their impeccable timing. I am not a fan of DISH Network – do not consider this post an endorsement of the new rental service. But I believe in fair competition. In any industry, a monopoly is bad for the consumers. We are grateful for Blockbuster’s reentrance as Netflix will think twice before increasing their prices further. Ever since Netflix announced its price hike, it has seen a steady customer outflow. Per a quick reference check

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Its American Express Serve vs PayPal In Digital Payment Landscape

August 3, 2011
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Its American Express Serve vs PayPal In Digital Payment Landscape

Beware people at PayPal, Your dominance in person-to-person payment is now threatened. You now have competitors in Google wallet, visa and AMEX Serve, to name just the major ones. Mobile payment market is expected to grow to $640B by 2014 and big companies are working hard towards grabbing the largest pie of it. Advent of technology coupled with few fresh ideas resulted in mushrooming of start- ups in digital payment landscape. Companies with big fat wallet were quick to notice this opportunity and grabed the most potential ones. American Express grabbed a company called ‘Revolution Money’ and after the amalgamation the product, which went live in March, is called ‘Serve’.  At present PayPal captures the majority share in P2P payment, with nearest rivals not even close to it in terms of revenue. No wonder that the likes of Google, Visa and American Express are trying to enter in this lucrative and fastest growing payment industry. Since its launch, Serve has really grown bigger piggy backing on Amex’s muscle power and brand value. The recent news of serve tying up with Face Book, Patch.com, Foursquare, Sprint and most recently, Verizon wireless is customary to that fact. Why you should one ditch PayPal in favor

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What To Do When You Don’t Have Health Insurance

July 25, 2011
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In winter I was in hospital to see my friend’s new born. There, I witnessed a heated dispute between a patient and the hospital authorities over hospital charges. There was no way that patient could have afford $5000 for a day at the hospital because she didn’t have sufficient insurance. I am a salaried employee and only get concerned about my co-pay and deductibles, I had not much idea about health care cost prior to that incident. In US,  50 million people live without insurance. The main reason behind this is inability to pay the insurance premium. Also, for young adults, a relative confidence on good health makes spending on health insurance premium a second choice to spending on other things. More than 50% of all bankruptcy cases in US are due to non-payment of medical bills, and most of them are people without health insurance or limited insurance coverage. There is help you can seek when you are in need for health care while you are not insured, this is based on information available in public domain. Alternatives for some one without health insurance Medicaid – Run by the state govt, available for low-income families and requires a stringent

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What Credit Sesame Is All About And Why Should You Opt Out

June 21, 2011
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What Credit Sesame Is All About And Why Should You Opt Out

I have heard about this ‘exciting’ new site called ‘Credit Sesame‘, which gives away credit scores for free, every body talks about them. It seems every one is writing a review for it. Has it become a status symbol to write reviews for every credit products in the market? Saying that let me jump in to band wagon and let’s write a review for them, be it my status symbol too I would start by disclosing that neither did I interview any one in credit sesame, nor have I any interest in their business or income. I am a registered user using credit sesame for some time. I liked it so much that in past 30 days I logged on twice, once just after registering, and then again a while ago just before starting with this post. I am not at all being paid by Credit Sesame for writing this review down. And, I don’t think they will pay me a cent after reading what I am going to write. I am always interested to know latest credit score. After hearing about Sesame, checking it out was one of the pending tasks for me. Once started the registration process, within

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How To Prepare An Annual Budget To Keep Finances In Order

June 11, 2011
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How To Prepare An Annual Budget To Keep Finances In Order

Most of us live our lives paycheck to paycheck. What we earn is what we spend. When our income drops we feel pressure, when our perception on consumerism changes, we go for more spending. And when spending becomes more than income it becomes a bad disease, called debt. It is important that you should stop living on borrowed money, but it is a reactive decision, a more proactive decision would be to budget your yearly spending right at the beginning of the year. That will tell you how much you need to spend to not to rely on borrowed money. A budget will tell you whether you are going to be infected by indebtedness with a negative cash-flow or you are going to stay financially healthy with positive cash flow. Why Budget Is Essential To Keep Finances In Order? You can prioritize expenses, determine which expense is required, which can be deferred You can control your day-to-day finances You can take into account the unexpected need for funds It checks you from overspending You can start researching on alternative investments, if you see surplus cash in future months A budget would take you to the path of the most basic personal finance

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eBay, Craigslist,Garage Sale Vs. Goodwill, Salvation Army Donation

April 24, 2011
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eBay, Craigslist,Garage Sale Vs. Goodwill, Salvation Army Donation

In many frugal living blogs people say that one of the best way to receive income is by selling your old stuffs on Craigslist or eBay. In their term, it is ‘Cash Your Crap’ to become debt free. While at times it is useful and it is what is needed. But giving in life has some meaning too. If you are wealthy or rich, you are so because the society helped you become one. Naturally then, you should try to give back to the society as much as you can, you may not agree, but I do feel that way. By garage sales, selling on eBay or Craigslist will earn money, but what if you are not in debt, your car and student loans are paid off, you don’t run a balance on your credit card? Probably you will not be interested in selling your used items. This is where the donation or giving away for free comes in to the picture. There are few benefits which are common to both donations and resales. Your home will be less cluttered. In the process of identifying goods to get rid off , you may uncover a hidden gem etc. Here’s why

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Keeping Track Of Net Worth

March 14, 2011
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One of the important need for building wealth is keeping track of your money invested in various places. You need to know how your investments are doing. You need to know your net worth at any point of time.It is not only useful for planning but also it gives a lot of pride, joy and sense of satisfaction seeing your wealth grow day by day. There are various sites available today to track your portfolio. Major credit card companies present a portfolio view where you need to enter online user accounts (like Fidelity, Vanguard, ETrade etc). Once you go in to your portfolio it will fetch the records and display your net worth. Majority of these card companies uses service from a service, called Yodlee. I use and encourage you to use Yodlee money centre to track your investments directly instead of going through third parties providing same service through Yodlee API. Whatever be the reason, I do not find few institution in American Express portfolio tracker, but I do find it in Yodlee.com. It might be a business strategy from those people, in my opinion. Yodlee even lists the banks from my home country where I do remit money periodically. I can add my Car’s

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Credit Card or Debit Card

March 13, 2011
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One very often discussed topics in personal finance discussion is whether to use a credit card or debit card. Here is how I handle my cards. I have 4 credit cards Chase Freedom, American Express Gold, Citi Bank select platinum and Bank of America American Express platinum, also, I have BOF Visa Debit card. I seldom use debit card, as they do not give cash back or rewards. I did have ‘Auto Pay’ set up on all of credit cards where the entire monthly balance, what they call Total outstanding balance is deducted from my checking account, before they start accruing fees and interests. I do not have to remember to pay off the cards. The other reason I keep 4 credit cards is I can build up my credit score by using them and paying the dues on time. When I first reached US, banks refused me to have any credit cards due to lack of credit history, I started with BofA secured card. Since then I applied for a new credit card each year. In 2005 I got my first secured card, 2006 got me my Citi card, 2007 I applied and got Chase Freedom. In 2008 I

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My Investment Philosophy

March 12, 2011
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I have been very avid follower of CNN Money, USA today Money, WSJ Personal Finance, Get Rich Slowly and other PF blogs for last few years. They helped me understand the concept of good investment strategy. Spent many hours on net, going after prospectus and brochure of so many investment vehicles. I am a broad investor who considers a range of investment vehicles, existing asset mix and environment before choosing the right one. My monthly saving is 2-3K, hence every month I do this ritual of  finding proper place to invest. Some time it’s easy when I want to decide to increase my investment in a particular share, or CD or fund. My aim is to retire early and pursue my passions after wards, the path to there is to increase net worth by 50K every year.  We are a single income family, with kid to come in future, she can not start earning due Visa restrictions in USA. We invest monthly saving, annual bonus, dividends from independently owned stocks and what ever extra income we can generate. The ads appearing on this site is another medium for earning money by utilizing spare time. We invest in mutual funds, index

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this web site are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”