Credit Card Offers

CNN Money has a slideshow of the 9 most annoying bank fees but fails to do a good job of explaining the best way to avoid them. Fortunately, we have simple solutions to many of these issues.

Apparently, some banks will charge you if they mail you a statement and it comes back undeliverable. This fee seems unfair and only exists so that you remember to update your address. The easiest way to avoid this fee is to go with paperless statements, so that you get an email instead of a letter. Going paperless can help the environment and, in some cases, more secure depending on what type of mail box you have.

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While it would be nice if you could just set it and forget it in the world of investing, the strategy rarely works. Even if you invest primarily in index funds, or are the staunchest of buy and hold investors, it is still a good idea to periodically review your investment portfolio and decide whether or not you need to rebalance.

While the actually rebalancing of your investment portfolio will likely take a little more time, it is possible to get a general idea of what your next step should be in 55 seconds or less. Gather up your latest investment account/retirement account statements, and get ready to see where youre at:

1. Consider diversity: Skim through your investment holdings.

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Last week, Pandora IPOs on the stock market with a single letter stock ticker P. It thus joined a prestigious group of fewer than 26 companies to have a single letter stock ticker. Other members include Agilent, Macys, Ford (back from the dead), and Visa.

Does it really matter if you have a single letter? In the days of the Pony Express and ticker tapes (hence the term ticker), heavily traded stocks were given single letters to speed things up. Nowadays, its just a vanity play since we dont use ticker tapes.

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Last week, Reader Anthony sent me a most puzzling email and one that kind of hit home for me. He has a fairly common name, much like Jim Wang is pretty common, and hes been getting debt collection calls for another Anthony who lives in the same geographic area, shares the same exact name (including middle initial), and has fallen behind on some debts. heres a portion of his email:

This other person, also in N. CA, with middle initial S., apparently is 3 months late on his credit cards from Macys, Capital One, and this one NCB Management (Google says this firm is a collections agency).

Ive been getting repeated collections calls from these companies instead of this other guy.

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Payment with plastic has become the standard in our society. Even if you dont use credit, chances are that you swipe a debit card. Getting used the idea of paying with plastic, and learning how to deal with money that is more abstract than cash, is important. Teenagers need to learn how to track their spending, even when they dont hand over cash. This important lesson is one of the reasons that we are seeing a rise in marketing for prepaid debit cards.

But are prepaid debit cards really the answer?

The biggest advantage to a prepaid debit card is that it provides a way for you limit your childs ability to spend money.

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I read a lot of forums and deal sites, like Fatwallet Finance, and Ive been noticing a lot more deals out there for Visa Signature cardholders. Visa Signature is a class of Visa cards, its not an actual card itself. For example, the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card is a Visa Signature card and comes with all the perks of the Visa Signature program and the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program.

Most of the cards are a loyalty card of some kind, whether it offers airline miles or cashback or reward points, and many of them have an annual fee (because they are a loyalty reward card).

There are frequently promotions offered only to Visa Signature cardholders.

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