30000 Bonus Miles From United Mileage Plus Visa + No Annual Fee!

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Last summer we had applied for this superb deal offering a rewards card from United. Since then this deal has become sweeter. Now Chase's United Mileage Signature Plus Visa card is offering a sign-up bonus of 20000 30000 United Miles. And the icing on the cake is that an annual fee of $60 has been waived for the first year. Without much ado, let's delve into its features, bonuses and rewards.

• Online Link: United Mileage Plus Visa with No Annual Fee for first year

Bonus & Conditions:

• 20000 30000 United Bonus Miles after first purchase when we make $250 in eligible purchases.


• Apply by December 31, 2009, and pay no annual fee for the first year.


• Please allow 6 to 8 weeks after your Eligible Purchases appear on your billing statement for bonus Miles to post to your account.


• To qualify for this offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.


• This offer is valid only for first-time cardmembers with new accounts.
  


• Existing card members/accounts are not eligible.
  


• Only one offer per account.


• Bonus Miles do not count towards caps. These Miles do not count toward Elite status.

Miles Back & Other Benefits:
• You will earn 1 mile for every dollar spent on eligible net purchases with NO earning cap! There is no maximum mile accumulation on net purchases.
  
  You will earn 1 mile for each $1 of eligible net purchases. You do not earn miles on balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign currency, and money orders, any checks that are used to access your account, overdraft advances, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including fees for products that protect or insure the balances of your account.


• Annual Fee: $60 - Waived for the first year.

The saver rewards tickets from UAL can be purchased with 25000 miles. A qualified round trip purchased with rewards miles can easily save us $250-$500 or more. So the bottom line is a big big WIN for the credit card customer.

We look forward towards hearing your experiences. Please do leave your comments.

Our UAL Story Line:

• UAL Visa Story
  
• 1000 FREE Miles from United Mileage Visa Plus
• United Airlines Gifted Us 1000 FREE Miles
• Received 20000 bonus miles from UAL Visa

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FREE eFile + Upto 40% OFF - TurboTax Deals, Discount Coupons

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Dec 08, 2009: TurboTax is the leading tax software for filing taxes. So we were glad to find some good deals which are offering up to 40% in savings on TurboTax software. It's best to maximize our savings. The more we keep our hard earned dollars in our pockets the better off we are :).

This year, each TurboTax 2009 product includes five FREE federal e-files and unlimited printed returns. Skip the post office this year and send your (and your family members') finished returns instantly to the IRS for a faster refund.

TurboTax 2009 Products	Download	Shipped (Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping)	Online
TurboTax BASIC - Federal + e-file	$24.95 $22.79 (9% Savings!)	$24.95 $23.99 (4% Savings!)	FREE! - eFile federal taxes
TurboTax DELUXE - Federal + State + e-file	$59.95 $53.99 (10% Savings!)	$59.95 $51.29(14% Savings!)	$49.95 $29.95 (40% Savings!) + Additional $ for State
TurboTax PREMIER - Federal + State + e-file	$89.95 $78.37 (13% Savings!)	$89.95 $81.49 (9% Savings!)	$74.95 $49.95 (13% Savings!) + Additional $ for State
TurboTax HOME & BUSINESS - Federal + State + e-file	$99.95 $84.07 (16% Savings!)	$99.95 $87.99 (12% Savings!)	$99.95 $74.95 (25% Savings!) + Additional $ for State

We hope that these coupons and the FREE eFile edition of TurboTax will help you to save some of your hard-earned dollars while filing for your taxes this year. As always, our advice is to take a peek at the fine print before using these deals. We have observed that for online tax filings customers have to pay extra for state filings.

Let the rejoicing thought of getting a huge refund from Uncle Sam get you through the tax filings with TurboTax at great ease!

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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What is the Current Unemployment Rate?

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Unemployment has been a rising concern since the US economy went into recession. At present, the US government is telling us that the economic stimulus is working which implies that the recession is over.

But if we take a look at the the unemployment numbers, can we arrive at the same conclusion? In most reports concerning the US economy, the unemployment rate is frequently mentioned. But many are at a loss for understanding what this number really means.

What is the meaning of Unemployment Rate?

The unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed persons divided by the labor force, where the labor force is the number of unemployed persons plus the number of employed persons. The unemployment rate represents the number unemployed as a percent of the labor force.

Where can we find the Current Unemployment Rate?

The most reliable information on the Current Unemployment Rate can be found from the Current Population Survey - the Labor Force Statistics published by the Burea of Labor Statistics - United States Department of Labor (http://www.bls.gov/CPS/). As of Nov 2009, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is at an alarming 10%. Comparatively, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Nov 2008 was 5.8%.

Who is an employed person?

Persons 16 years and over in the civilian non-institutional population who, during the reference week:

1. did any work at all (at least 1 hour) as paid employees, worked in their own business, profession, or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family, and


2. all those who were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs.

Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job. Excluded are persons whose only activity consisted of work around their own house (painting, repairing, or own home housework) or volunteer work for religious, charitable, and other organizations.

It is to be noted that the above definition implies that a person who loses a 40 hour per week job, but works for one hour mowing a lawn for pay is classified as employed! Also, a person who simply expresses interest in having a job is classified as unemployed. "Discouraged workers" who have lost a job, but do not make an effort to find a new job in a given week are not classified as unemployed or even as in the labor force.

Are there any visualizations about the meanings of being unemployed?

We found a couple of useful visualizations about the meaning of being counted as "unemployed." Mint.com (a leading online personal financial management product) has released an animated video visualization of “Are You Unemployed?” to explain who exactly is represented by the unemployment figures, and how the government chooses to use this number, even though the actual percentage of unemployed Americans is significantly higher.



WallStats.com has created "The Not So Governmental Guide to the Unemployment Rate." It demonstrates the meaning of an unemployed person as deemed by the us government by using a flow chart. Click on the image to enlarge it for your perusal.

Thus we see that the announced unemployment rate is not as definitive a tool for gauging the strength of an economy as it might sound.

What are your opinions about the definition of unemployment rate and how it can be used as a yard stick to measure the health of a country's economy? We are looking for ward towards your views and opinions.

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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Restaurant.com - Special Discount 70% OFF Plus A FREE $15 Gift From RedEnvelope

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Dec 3, 2009: Today we came across a great deal from Restaurant.com. Since we are frugal diners this special discount on their dining gift certificates is a welcome break for us. Hope it helps in saving some dining dollars.

• Beginning now, Restaurant.com is offering 70% OFF on their dining certificates Plus A FREE $15 Gift From RedEnvelope!


• This means that their $25 dining gift certificates that normally sell for $10
  have been reduced to $3 ONLY.
  


• Promo Code: Enter PRESENT at checkout.
  


• Hurry! This offer is valid through Dec 8th, 2009.
  

Their website provides detailed information about a restaurant, its menus and wine lists along with the ability to make free online reservations. Enjoy!

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PineCone Research Joining Link

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Dec 2, 2009: If you are looking towards earning some money by filling surveys, then PineCone Research is a good company for doing so. They are prompt in their payments and their surveys are fun.

But you can sign up through referrals (links) only. It is to be noted that referrers are not compensated monetarily for providing referrals. Recently we received a referral link with a request to help spread the word so that interested people may sign up.

Join PineCone Research: Referral Link

A member from a household should complete the registration form and submit it. Only one person per household may register. Multiple registrations of the same household will void all registrations.

We usually do surveys in our free time or breaks. This year, we've earned around $115 $127. Not bad as hobby money, especially in this economy :). Enjoy!

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Frugal Creative Gift Ideas for Holiday Cards

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Dec 1, 2009: Creativity replete with enthusiasm knows no bounds. Holidays provide special opportunities to express them. More so since this is one of the rare times of the year when we can give in abundance to our loved ones. Creative personalized ideas help us to use our resources skillfully without breaking our budgets. Here are some creative inspirations for this holiday season's cards.

e-Cards: For netizens and people who have access to the internet, we can send FREE e-Cards. If we can spare some time, we may go ahead and make some beautiful personalized slide-shows with music, words and photos. A cool FREE resource is SmileBox.

Postcards: Usually the postage for postcards is cheaper than regular cards. So it helps to create a separate mailing list for postcards and find suitable ones for all on the list.


Reuse: We can reuse some of our cards from various past occasions and festivities. Not only do they save us money but they also help us to save some beautiful cards from ending up in trash.

• A nice way of creating a postcard is to cut the beautiful side of the card and use the blank reverse side to write a note and mailing address. And we must not forget to leave some room for postage.
• If we want to create a card, then we can get some sturdy color paper, fold it properly and stick the pretty picture from our old card on the top.
  

Buy on Sale: Christmas cards go on sale in December. So it is a nice time to be an early bird and purchase in bulk. But we must make it a point to go through each card carefully. Its best to avoid cards which look cheap and get the pretty ones!

Use spare photos: If we have extra sets of photos that will not go into our albums, then they can be used to create homemade photo cards. This is a fantastic way to personalize a card. It has always been very well appreciated by our near and dear ones.

Kids Artwork: For those of us who have children can make use of our kids artwork to create fantastic cards for our family and friends. Usually kids love to paint special pictures for their grandparents, aunts and uncles, as well as siblings and cousins. It also helps them to bond and get rooted to their families.

Replace: Sometimes a few of our loved ones prefer a personal phone call more than a card. In such occasions we give them a call. We use our cell phones' minutes to make these calls. When we max out our cell phone, we use an inexpensive VOIP program like Skype which allows unlimited calls to any phone in US or Canada for less than $3 per month!

Order in Bulk: When there is a need to create professional looking customized photo cards or special holiday cards (say for our businesses) we use online services like Zazzle's Greeting Cards or WinkFlash.

Your creative idea goes in here:



Newsletters: Matthew from FinanceIsPersonal has provided a fantastic idea of emailing newsletters with details of what's going on in our lives instead of sending out Christmas cards. An e-newsletter has great potential since we can add our digital photos, links to our websites or blogs and customized audio recordings for our loved ones. And the best part is that its FREE except for our efforts. Thanks Matthew!

Let us unleash the creative genius hidden within each of us. To create an interactive list of fun ways to frugal yet personalized holiday cards we are looking forward towards your experiences and feedback.

If our site interests you, please extend your support by subscribing to our feed. This will help us deliver our stories to your feed reader where you can read it with pleasure in your own sweet leisure.

Note: If you contribute unique ideas (that is okay with us), they will go into the above list with your name and links to your site (if any).

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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Retirement - The Magic Withdrawal Triangle

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Nov 30, 2009: Let us look ahead into the future when we are about to retire. All these years we have toiled hard, made sacrifices and invested diligently to make our nest egg grow. Now it is time to enjoy a new dimension of life. Relaxation! How much should we draw out of our nest egg so that it lasts through our entire retirement?

We are well aware that the stock market is too risky when there is less recovery time on our side. At this juncture of life, our portfolio's asset allocation is more conservative and income oriented. As a result a significant portion of our investments have been astutely shifted from equity to fixed income investments and more liquid instruments. Say a sizable part of our nest egg has been transferred to a money market fund or a similar investing vehicle. Having done all this it is time to give ourselves a break. Ah! All those dream vacations!

Now, the question that has to be addressed is "How much can we withdraw each year?" This step needs some care and strategic planning. Let us assume that our lifestyle requires an annual budget of $70,000. Say we have a million dollars nest egg and our current investments are expected to grow at a very modest 6% annually. How many years will it last?

Well this nifty and handy triangle says that it would still last for 33 years without any need to compromise on our current lifestyle. How does this magic triangle work?
» Let us locate the cell where the % of expected earnings and withdrawal rates meet.
» In the above example, the earnings grow at an assumed rate of 6%.
» So we locate the number 6 on the green column.
» Next we locate the payout or withdrawal percentage on the orange bar at the top. Since $70,000 is 7% of our nest egg worth a million dollars, we go to 7 in the orange Payout bar.
» The intersection of the 7% Payout column and 6% Earnings row is 33.
» This number 33 denotes the period for which our nest egg would last.


The magic triangle assumes that the payout is a fixed amount withdrawn every year-end. In our example $70000 is withdrawn at the end of every year. The payout percentage is fixed with respect to the principal or initial value of the nest egg at the start of the retirement.

What is the significance if we reach a "blank cell"? Well friends, in that case we have struck gold! This is excellent news since it means that our nest egg will be evergreen. In other words it would keep growing perpetually and last forever.

Note that this chart does not factor in personal income taxes or inflation. So we have to take that into account during our retirement planning. We hope that this chart will help our audience find a ball park withdrawal rate that will sustain their current lifestyle during retirement.

References:

1. SmartMoney
2. A Commonsense Guide to Mutual Funds - Mary Rowland

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Happy Thanksgiving

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Nov 26, 2009: We wish our fantastic audience a very Happy Thanksgiving! Its a fun filled time which gives families a rare opportunity to be together and have a gala dinner. At this time of the year we catch up with our extended families and relatives and share our life's events. Indeed it is a blessed time on Earth!

Festivities aside this is a perfect time to practice gratitude and thank Lord for His grace in our lives. A short and sweet prayer that appeals to our hearts is:

"O Lord we thank Thee for all Thy Gifts.
But above all we thank Thee for Thy Love so pure and free."

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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What is USPS - Certificate of Mailing?

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Nov 25, 2009: We all know about USPS - Certified Mail but did you folks know there is something called Certificate of Mailing? We didn't. Recently we had to mail a $10 manufacturer's rebate claim. Many of the rebate processing centers try to disqualify a claim at the slightest opportunity. So keeping photo copies of all submissions and proof that corroborate the fact that we mailed it before the required date are essential. Now, for a $10 rebate how much should we spend for record keeping and proof ? We went online and discovered certificate of mailing.

Certificate of Mailing

• Fee (in addition to postage) = $0.95.
• It is a receipt that provides proof of mailing with date and must be purchased at time of mailing. Don’t lose it! It’s the only official record available.
• Can be used with with First-Class Mail®, Priority Mail®, Package Services, and Standard Mail.

Certified Mail

• Fee (in addition to postage) = $2.40.
• Provides the sender a mailing receipt and online access to the delivery status.
• A delivery record with the recipient’s signature obtained at the time of delivery is maintained by the United States Postal Service. This service is available with First-Class Mail and Priority Mail.
• For an additional fee, you can request a copy of the signature record before or after delivery with Return Receipt.

We figured that for a $10 rebate spending $2.40 on a certified mail is 24% expense! Instead we opted for the certificate of mailing. The interesting thing to note is that post offices generally do not advertise or display this service. At least, the post office we went to did not have it listed on their banners and posters. When we asked the postal employee about it she replied that most people buy certified mail. We responded that customers have a right to know that they have a choice. Well, she was silent for sometime and then made her intentions clear by wishing "Have a good evening!"

Conclusion: Depending on the amount of rebate and/or the importance of the mail we should choose between the above two options on a case by case basis.

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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Retirement - All Is Well If Our HEART Is Well

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Nov 24, 2009: One afternoon we were musing about the nature of our financial lives. We were wondering as to how we could visualize the entire financial game symbolically that would help us understand it explicitly yet would be easy to remember. After some quiet moments the picture of a tree dawned on the screen of our minds. We named this tree "HEART - A HEAlthy Retirement Tree." Please allow us to introduce our HEART.

HEART - HEAlthy Retirement Tree

ROOTS: The roots of our financial tree 'HEART' represent a righteous and meaningful Livelihood. Strong and deep roots are essential for a tree to grow tall and have a huge shade. The deeper the roots of our income or revenue stream the stronger our HEART is. So it is very important to be placed well in a good profession which offers a steady and reasonable income. To make the roots of our HEART grow deep we invest time and energy into our professions and nurture it daily with love, dedication and devotion.

TRUNK: The trunk represents our true Savings. No matter how deep the roots of our tree HEART are, without a trunk there will be no branches to offer us some shade in our old age. So along with deep and healthy roots we need a wide and strong trunk. Every month at FIRST we add strength to our HEART's trunk when there is cash in-flow in the form of our pay checks. This approach needs discipline and effort. But it is worth it. We are already seeing the growing branches spreading from the trunk of Savings. What a joy it is!

BRANCHES: We visualize five main branches of our retirement tree. HEART has a branch for each of the following: Emergency Funds, 401(k)s, IRAs, Investments and Charity. These five branches will support the entire gamut of leaves which will provide a cool shade to us in our retirement. All these branches grow from our trunk of Savings which in turn is supported by the deep roots of our livelihood.

PESTS: Whims, irrational behavior, emotional roller coasters, laziness and lack of discipline are viewed as pests. These pests are small in size but can multiply fast. Sometimes these pests give birth to a dangerous bad habit of spending more than the incoming cash flow for a prolonged period of time. This new pest often leads us to the disease of debt. Slowly over time the pests crawl beneath the soil and attack the roots of HEART. Gnawing at the roots they eat away the trunk and branches as well. This inner attack makes our HEART hollow which leads to a collapse of our retirement tree. Consequently, when our bodies are aged and need a cool shade to rest, we find ourselves in the blaring sun of rising costs and no cash inflows. But there is a way out. As good gardeners we shall use pest control to kill the pests.

PEST CONTROL: Our main arsenal for pest control are single-minded focus and discipline, a clear recognition of our current needs(and not wants), a view of the consequences of not having a healthy retirement tree and a sense of responsibility to take charge of our lives. Above all, our love for our families will keep the entire arsenal in place. Love enables us to pour our energies through steadfast efforts into nurturing our HEART.

If we make our HEARTs big, they continue to serve our next generations even after our sojourn on Planet Earth ends. Numerous philanthropists have shown us how a big HEART can offer far-reaching and unfathomable support to many of our huge but united family of souls on Earth.

We hope that we have succeeded in introducing our HEART in a simplistic way to our audience. May God bless us with good and healthy HEARTs.

Image Source(s): Bakewell-Trees, HiredHand, Mowabb, Molon, BugBusters.

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Four Quick Ways to Build A Strong Credit Rating

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Nov 23, 2009: Much has been written about credit rating and how we can go about improving it. There are companies offering professional services to help us earn better credit scores. But with a little contemplation we'll see that we don't need to spend our hard earned dollars on professional help for building a strong credit rating. Its simple, DIY (Do It Yourself) and boils down to the following four steps:

1. Paying our bills on time: Apart from extreme circumstances like bankruptcy or tax liens, nothing has the impact of late payments. More so if we're late on our mortgage or rent payments. Anything more than 30 days late will hurt us. We should be careful to not let a payment of any kind (including utilities) get 90 days past due.
   


2. Limiting our debt: Its best not to carry any balance on any of our card accounts. We can make it a goal to pay off our credit card bills in full at the end of each billing cycle. But if we absolutely must carry a balance on any of our accounts, we should try to keep that balance as low as possible. If we bump against our credit limit on one or more cards it's a sure shot signal to many lenders that we're not good debt managers.
   


3. Monitoring our credit reports: This is especially important to prevent identity thefts, keep an eye for any errors in our reports and monitor our progress. We should also check our credit history when we are planning to apply for a time-dependent loan, say a mortgage. The Federal Law entitles us to one FREE annual credit report from Experian, Equifax and Transunion via annualcreditreport.com. After we use up our annual quota, we can purchase an Equifax Credit Report.
   


4. Not applying for too much credit in a short span of time: Multiple requests for our credit history (say within a span of 90 days) is bound to reduce our credit score. This excludes requests by us to check our credit files. We should be extra careful when we are searching for good rates on loans. Its fair to assume that every time we give our Social Security number to a lender, they will order a credit history.
   

If we execute the above mentioned steps in a disciplined and consistent manner we should be well on our way to a strong credit rating. No professionals or complicated theories are needed.

We welcome you to share additional tips for building a strong credit rating. Meanwhile we wish you all the best on the road to a strong credit score!

Related:

• Avoid Credit Card Fees And Interest Rate Increases
• Credit Score - Myths & Facts
• Rebuild Credit Score After Bankruptcy

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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In Search Of A Savory Salary

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Nov 19, 2009: We spend more than one third of our lives at our work places. Perhaps its a good idea to make sure that we are being paid well for our sweat and toil. But how do we go about finding out how much our salaries should be?

Well in this age of technology, smart people should use good tools to accomplish the job. One of the finest tools for salary search has been released by a company named Indeed. You can check out Indeed's tool here. Playing around with the tool, we discovered quite a few neat features and interesting facts:

• We can compare more than one Job Title, in various cities and states by using the "Add Comparison" link below the "What" and "Where" boxes.

• If we want to remove some of the criteria chosen above for comparison we can do so by using the button "Remove" placed at the end of each row.

So how does Indeed's Salary Search Do It?

A quote from their website:

Indeed Salary Search is based on an index of salary information extracted from over 50 million job postings from thousands of unique sources over the last 12 months. Many job descriptions don't contain salary information, but there are enough that do to produce statistically significant average salaries for millions of keyword, job title and location combinations - in fact, most job searches you are likely to think of. As new jobs are added each day, the Indeed Salary Search index is automatically updated with fresh salary data, so the salary results are as up-to-date as they could possibly be.

What is so unique about Indeed's Salary Search?

Indeed claims that Salary Search isn't based on survey data and isn't limited to job titles. They say that:

• Market Rate: Many salary tools that claim to be market-based use historic survey data. But is the past a true reflection of the current market rate? Indeed Salary Search shows you what current job openings are paying - which is what matters if you are in the job market. Traditional survey-based salary tools can be poor at tracking completely new kinds of job - Iraq Reconstruction Program Advisor, for example - whereas Indeed monitors the very latest jobs as they emerge.

• Keyword-based: Typical salary tools are based on job titles alone, but Indeed Salary Search lets you search using any mix of skills, keywords or job titles to give you the average salary of all jobs matching your query. You don't have to choose a generic job title that may or may not match your skill set, which really helps when skills or qualifications are more important than titles. Indeed Salary Search also provides the average salaries of jobs with specific titles related to your search.

Well, we did like the concepts behind Indeed's tool. The authenticity of its data can be checked wrt a particular industry and location by comparing the current salaries in that domain with the data generated by Salary Search. If any of our readers do find out how well this tool fares against real life data, please do let us know. Meanwhile we shall also try to find out how well the tool fares in our professional arenas. Good salaries are rare indeed!
Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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