Car Insurance – Milestone at Age 25
JimI’m reaching what is commonly considered the biggest milestone in a driver’s life, turning twenty five years ago. Aging from 24 years 11 months and thirty days to 25 years will probably save you the...
View ArticleAuto Insurance & The 25 Milestone
JimAbout a month ago I quoted auto insurance rates to get a pre-25 year old rate so that I could re-quote and get a post-25 year old rate. Well, the time now has come for me to re-quote and see what...
View ArticleAuto Insurance 25 Year Milestone Analysis Revised
JimWe’ve all heard that the twenty-five year old milestone is the biggest deal in auto insurance. On that day you magically become safer and actuaries have tables and statistics proving this fact,...
View Article“Historical” Online Savings Interest Rate Comparison
JimWant to see an interesting comparison of the interest rates of HSBC, ING Direct, Virtual Bank, Emigrant Direct and the Federal Funds rate in a table and easy to understand chart? Me too. That’s why...
View ArticleEffects of Changing Personal Insurance Details on Premiums
JimUsing Kanetix, an auto insurance comparison site, I decided to play around with the various driver characteristics to see what effect each one would have on my premiums. I chose Kanetix because...
View ArticleEffects of Changing Coverages on Premiums
JimLast week I played around with my personal details on Kanetix and we learned how the various characteristics affected the premiums you could expect to pay on auto insurance. Today, I played with the...
View ArticleSaving For A House: 401(k) vs. Brokerage Account
JimThis morning I did a bit of an apples to oranges comparison of a 401(k) and a high yield savings account, showing that the two would meet two years and two months out given a set of probably...
View ArticleCalculate Your Car’s Cost Per Mile
JimA few years ago, with my last car, I did a little calculation to help determine the “cost per mile.” I was doing quite a bit of driving back and forth from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, then Baltimore to...
View ArticleWhen Does Married Filing Separately Make Sense?
JimAfter the wedding, I started taking a closer look at the tax numbers and incorrectly concluded that the only time someone would ever file as “married filing separately” would be if one partner...
View ArticleThe 15- vs. 30-Year Mortgage Savings Myth
JimIf you’ve ever lamented the fact that you signed a 30 year fixed mortgage instead of a 15 year fixed mortgage (it was one of 8 regrets of 2007 for Trent of The Simple Dollar) because of how much...
View ArticleManaging Your Own Mortgage Escrow
JimThat One Caveman recently took on the task of managing his home mortgage’s tax and insurance payments, essentially replicated the services of his lender’s escrow account, because of a very favorable...
View ArticleCost Benefit Analysis of GPS Units
JimBefore talk of $4 gasoline (and airlines going bankrupt and charging you to check luggage) dominated the nation’s transportation attention, global positioning system units were all the rage. Now it...
View ArticleOur Disney Dining Plan Experience
JimLast week my wife and I went to Disney World in Orlando Florida to celebrate our one year anniversary and, for the first time, opted for the Disney Dining Plan. You can only include the Disney...
View ArticleBrewing Single-Serve Coffee Pods Beats Buying Anytime
JimHardly a week goes by when a personal finance writer doesn’t take a swing at Starbucks and buying coffee, so why not put it all to rest and do some math to settle it once and for all? I know it’s...
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