http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai Daily personal finance observation, musing and decisions in a journey toward financial independence by 36 with at least a million dollars. en-us webmaster@pfblog.com 2008-04-25T08:01:47-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The workload surge in the last two months caused many slips in my life. Not only was I forced into a "sabbatical leave" from blogging, I didn't even notice that I have fallen behind on a monthly credit card payment. The card at issue is a Discover Miles card, which ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.1 My Finance - Credit mm 2008-04-12T20:55:34-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The first month of net worth gain came rather late in 2008. Helped by continued strength in my day job and sideline business, our net worth edged up 0.7% in March. While we are $62,100 off where we started the year, we still increased our wealth by over $150,000 in ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2008-04-08T05:54:14-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>It seems that our distance to the seven-figure net worth milestone only increased in the first 60 days of the year. With another 25 grand retreat in February on the heels of the $42,790 net worth decline in January, our net worth took a 7.6% nosedive so far this year ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2008-04-08T05:19:08-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>I'm back to PFBlog! I know it has been a long hiatus since the last time I posted, but the last couple of months hasn't been easy. I was asked to take over a billion dollar P&L that had been poorly run and turn it around. While PFBlog is always ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2008-04-06T22:49:41-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>SUMMARY $54,134 is a big amount to lose in a single month, and it doesn't make life any easier when it comes immediately after another $60,000-down month. Most of the damage is done by the untimely Microsoft bid for Yahoo! The bid, which was made public in the first day ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2008-04-06T22:46:12-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Earlier this month, Morningstar announced the winners of Fund Manager of the Year award for the past year. Here are the winners: Domestic-Stock Manager of the Year: Will Danoff, Fidelity Contrafund and Fidelity Advisor New Insights International-Stock Managers of the Year: Hakan Castegren and Northern Cross Team, Harbor International Fixed-Income ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.7 Readings - Investment mm 2008-02-12T03:16:31-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Suffering the biggest-ever loss in our portfolio -- a total of $60,000 -- our net worth took a nosedive again in January. That is, the second month in red in the last three months. For the month, our net worth declined by 4.8%, or over $42,000. I would be lying ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2008-02-09T14:02:24-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>SUMMARY With the S&P 500 dropped more than 6% and the international market performed no better, January sees perhaps the most brutal start of the year in recent memory. For three months in a row now, my portfolio lost money. This time, for a total of 60 grand in one ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2008-02-07T15:49:37-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Back in August, I noted in this blog that Bill Gates was replaced my Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim as the world's richest person. Although both Mr. Gates and Mr. Slim have seen their stocks appreciated lately, they are now dwarfed by a new name from India. According to The Boston ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.9 Readings - Others mm 2008-01-15T22:07:44-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Yesterday I shared my grand plan to thoroughly review my portfolio management again in 2008. My first stop is to drill down to my 2007 results, and understand where the ">benchmark-beating results come from. Yes, I beat my benchmark index by 1.77%, and that's what is called alpha in portfolio ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2008-01-14T14:54:50-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>I first realized that the game rules of my personal finance journey have permanently changed back in the summer of 2006. First, one day I woke up in the morning and found out my portfolio was worth half a million. Then, more frequently, my portfolio started to generate five-figure monthly ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2008-01-13T18:52:38-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Our generations of lawmakers truly don't want to make our financial life easy, and that's why every year there are a long list of tax rule changes that affect everyone's life. To this end, Tom Herman, the tax columnist at the Wall Street Journal, provided a great summary of major ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.6 Readings - Tax mm 2008-01-12T11:19:11-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Starting in 2004, I have always published my annual financial goals at the beginning of each year, and reviewed the result when the year wrapped up. It is a great practice that allows me to keep a record and learn from past experience. Having spent most of my December to ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2008-01-11T02:45:30-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Robert Frank's column The Wealth Report at the Journal is all about the rich people's financial life, or anything related to the riches. You will read about how the riches use MySpace-like portals to get connected, how someone can have an A-380 as a private jet, and what the truly ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.9 Readings - Others mm 2008-01-10T00:47:10-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>I started to use personal finance software like Microsoft Money to track my finance as early as 1998, but admittedly I have a broken track record -- in my first few attempts to gain control to my finance, I was always too lazy to keep doing the bookkeeping after a ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2008-01-09T01:44:04-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>I am a frequent traveler and I love to collect miles. Over the years, I have been using these miles to bring the family to many nice places with reward tickets. It is a bit addictive if you love to travel: the more you travel, the more free tickets you ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 3. Resources mm 2008-01-08T03:26:39-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>My life is complicated and one of the complication is I have to deal with two currencies: my investment income and most business income are received in dollar, whilst 95% of my cost structure is denominated in Chinese Yuan (or called Renminbi -- "people's money"). Worse, Yuan is appreciating quicker ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 3. Resources mm 2008-01-07T08:53:52-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Have your bank ever promoted the new generation of overdraft service to you? If you occasionally write a check that exceeds your checking account balance, your bank will gladly pay on your behalf to avoid your embarrassment. Of course, there will be a "convenience" fee. But do you know consumers ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.5 Readings - Savings mm 2008-01-06T03:10:08-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>When it comes to the cycle of setting up financial goals and achieving them, oftentimes a good post-mortem analysis gives more insight than mere celebration of another mission accomplished. As we are quickly bidding farewell to 2007, I took some time to revisit my 2007 plan -- I did a ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2008-01-05T03:56:17-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The beginning of a year can be a good time to perform a 401(k) check-up. And before that, a timely reading will be this recent feature from USA Today on a study of how American employees invest their retirement fund in 401(k) accounts. The biggest finding from the survey of ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.7 Readings - Investment mm 2008-01-04T02:01:43-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Ever read about how those successful money managers at Harvard and Yale turn their respective endowments into double-digit gains year in year out? As a matter of fact, Harvard's endowment earned 15% per annum in the last 10 years, and Yale's boasted an annualized return of 17.2% during the same ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.7 Readings - Investment mm 2008-01-03T05:20:28-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Recovering from the mass bleeding in November, we ended 2007 with a positive note by growing our net worth by almost $20,000 in December. Savings from our regular job and business income, and the appreciation in our stock option accounts, both contributed to a successful month. For the full year ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2008-01-02T00:51:02-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>SUMMARY After another choppy ride in December, the domestic market retreated 0.7% and the foreign market MSCI EAFE index lost almost 3%. My benchmark index, which is composed of 50% domestic equity, 35% foreign equity and 15% cash, suffered 1.34%. Speaking of my portfolio, although I took some (more) beatings ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2008-01-01T12:36:17-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Every time Fed lowers the interest rate, there will be a quick round of rate adjustment by all online banks. Now that the Fed rate is standing at 4.25% after four rounds of quarter-point cuts, those golden days of 5%+ interest rate on savings accounts are over. So, how should ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 3. Resources mm 2007-12-31T03:32:19-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>So far I have spent three posts in our Financial Plan 2008 series to elaborate the key driving forces of our financials in 2008 (part 1, part 2 and part 3). It is time to put everything together. In summary, we are looking at $212K net worth increase in 2008 ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-30T05:51:28-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Home price decline is showing no sign of deceleration these days. According to the latest monthly release of the S&P/Casae-Schiller Home Price Indices, the 20 cities in the survey is showing an average price reversal of 6.1% compared to a year ago. ???No matter how you look at these data ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.3 Readings - Car & Home mm 2007-12-29T05:47:19-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The quick fall of the housing market and the widespread impact to the American homeowners have already prompted a long list of prompt political actions. All of them came with good purpose, but not all are rational. The often-touted rate freeze and loan-modification program, announced by the White House on ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.3 Readings - Car & Home mm 2007-12-28T05:54:20-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Earlier in this Financial Plan 2008 series I shared the respective 2008 outlook of our household's earned income and investment income. Today I will complete the itemized list of planning assumptions by discussing the spending and tax picture of 2008. Still, the discussion will follow the planning framework we adopted ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-27T11:01:43-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>J.D. Power recently announced American Express as the winner of 2007 Credit Card Satisfaction Survey, with Discover Card as a close runner-up: American Express ranks highest among the 10 credit card issuers examined in the study with a score of 735 on a 1,000-point scale, performing particularly well in benefits ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.1 Readings - Credit mm 2007-12-26T02:48:15-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The Congress's Christmas gift for the middle class: several last minute tax law changes that temporarily addressed the tax on forgiven mortgage debt and Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). If you don't want to be buried in the Congress's literature of the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2007 and the Mortgage ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.6 Readings - Tax mm 2007-12-25T05:40:30-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>A special Merry Christmas for the readers of PFBlog from the midst of the Indian Ocean! 2007 has been an amazing year for us, and we want to thank you for watching our growth and providing feedback for the 5th year in our journey! Merry Christmas! We wish you all ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> Z. Misc mm 2007-12-24T15:39:01-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The other day I shared the somewhat gloomy view of our earned income in 2008, which will likely to decline by a small percentage due to a variety of factors. To continue this series of 2008 financial planning, let me discuss how I view our investment portfolio will evolve in ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-24T05:11:08-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Back in November I studied Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs), a new genre of product with apparently better tax treatment than its much popular cousin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) with ETFs. The innovation of Barclays, ETNs are debt notes 1) issued by financial companies like Barclays, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 2. Analysis mm 2007-12-23T13:22:23-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Thank you for the those who participated in the "Producing My 2008 Financial Plan" contest at PFBlog, which I believe is the first-ever contest of one personal finance blogger inviting the community to work on one's annual plan. As planned, today will be the day we announce the winner of ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 2. Analysis mm 2007-12-22T04:04:08-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>I always enjoyed the budget process. On the job, I organize annual budgets in the magnitude of several hundred million dollars to a billion, and derive great satisfaction by orchestrating how people should envision and plan the coming year. In my personal life, I enjoy dreaming about how we will ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-21T05:55:17-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>I discussed briefly in my last monthly portfolio update that I'm looking to capture some tax loss in the remainder of the year so I can lower my tax for 2007. In theory it is simple: since I untimely loaded some financial stocks in October before they took a nosedive ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 6. Portfolio - Analysis mm 2007-12-20T05:06:54-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The common sense is since China is a developing country, things are much cheaper on this side of the Pacific. However, according to the research from renowned HR consulting firm Mercer, living in Shanghai, the biggest city of China, is quite expensive. If the cost of living in New York ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 3.2 Postcard from China mm 2007-12-19T05:03:49-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>It is December and many household CFOs like me are crunching the numbers and make annual plans. At PFBlog, this will be the fifth time I set annual financial goals publicly (see my goals for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007). This year, let me do something different by inviting you ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.5 My Finance - Savings mm 2007-12-18T05:33:20-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Last week, Microsoft 401(k) Plan Administrators announced several exciting changes to the Plan in 2008. First off, four mutual fund investment options currently available to plan participants will be replaced with Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) on January 16, 2008. These SMAs are designed exclusively for Microsoft's 401(k) plan, managed by ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 6. Portfolio - Analysis mm 2007-12-17T04:02:28-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The embattled discount-brokerage-turned-bank E*TRADE is announcing that its customers can trade U.S. stocks, U.S. options, global stocks and futures for free, for one day only on December 19, 2007. Here is the excerpt of terms and conditions: Unlimited commission-free trade offer is valid for trades entered by E*TRADE Securities customers ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.7 Readings - Investment mm 2007-12-16T05:21:48-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>One more trip to go, and it will be the end of the year. And it is a very long year in terms of travel: by the end of the year, I will have flown a total of 124,520 miles. This includes 7 cross-Pacific trips to the U.S., one trip ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.4 My Finance - Services mm 2007-12-15T06:26:45-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>This is the third and last installment of a three-part series that reflects on my predictions of 2007. In the previous posts, I reviewed the result of my predictions on earned income and investment income. Let me finish off this series by debriefing you on my two last remaining forecast ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-14T03:13:51-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Administrators of Microsoft's 401(k) Plan are really working hard lately to reengineer the program for the benefit of employees. Earlier this year, the Plan announced replacement of Fidelity Overseas (FOSFX) with Russell International Growth Account, a "separately managed account", or SMA, that is exclusively created for the Microsoft Plan, and ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 6. Portfolio - Analysis mm 2007-12-13T04:20:44-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>As we are approaching the year end, many personal finance journalists are busy throwing out last minute tax advices. One of the most discussed year-end tax saving strategy is to prepay your January's mortgage bill in late December so one may deduct 13 months' interest on mortgage payments instead of ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.6 My Finance - Tax mm 2007-12-12T06:38:05-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>This is the second installment of a three-part series that reflects on my predictions of 2007. In the previous post, I reviewed the result of my first three predictions on our earned income. Today, I will debrief you on my forecast on investment income: Prediction #4. Size of investment portfolio ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-11T04:56:26-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>There are enough headlines that U.S. dollar has weakened against almost all major currencies in the last few years, and it is certainly not good news for everyone making a living in the States -- higher price for imported products, more expensive overseas vacation, etc. As a U.S. taxpayer who ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 6. Portfolio - Analysis mm 2007-12-10T01:41:17-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>CNN Money's Jeanne Sahadi did an amazing job in compiling the different opinions on tax policy from all presidential candidates. Given the fact that I have a portfolio that briefly crossed seven-figure mark lately, I'm naturally interested in how they think on the investment taxation: Currently they're both taxed at ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.6 Readings - Tax mm 2007-12-09T07:19:18-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Besides banking and investment accounts, I also use Microsoft Money to track various mileage programs. For Northwest Airlines' frequent flier program WorldPerks alone, I track five different accounts: mine, my wife's, my kid's, and both of my parents'. The problem is: since my parents didn't travel much lately, their miles ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.4 My Finance - Services mm 2007-12-08T04:52:27-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>One benefit of blogging is that you keep a written record of your life so you can always rewind to re-learn yourself. One year ago, when I plan for our financial life in 2007, I made 9 predictions. Now that the year is almost over, how is my batting average ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-07T05:31:48-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>My individual stock portfolio is full of dividend-paying stocks, leading by Citigroup (6.5% yield), Bank of America (5.5% yield) and Pfizer (4.9% yield). As a matter of fact, all but two of my 13 individual stock positions at the end of November is paying regular dividends. I do believe a ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 6. Portfolio - Analysis mm 2007-12-06T06:37:57-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>It is not easy to be rich, but being rich can be boring. As WSJ columnist Robert Frank commented in his recent post "Wealth Fatigue Syndrome": "For the super-rich, houses, yachts, cars and planes are like new toys that they play with for five minutes and then lose interest in," ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.5 My Finance - Savings mm 2007-12-05T06:44:37-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>When it comes to stock trading, I'm a premier customer at Fidelity and TD Ameritrade because of asset size. Fidelity charges me $8 per trade and TD Ameritrade charges me $9.99 per trade. Since I typically by in the amounts of $10,000 or so, the trading cost is less than ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 3. Resources mm 2007-12-04T02:39:22-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>My fellow personal finance blogger 2million did an interesting exercise to tabulate all stock dividend income he received in 2007. While I'm not exactly boasting my self as a dividend investor, my value investing style drives me to many companies that pay handsome dividends. Therefore, I found it is quite ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 6. Portfolio - Analysis mm 2007-12-03T06:25:15-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>SUMMARY The stock market took a nosedive in November after three months of gains. At one point, the market was officially declared "in correction," defined as more than 10% off recent highs. Obviously my finance-stock-stuffed portfolio is not spared from the chaos. It ended the month with a 3.75% loss ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2007-12-02T09:33:23-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The broad market correction was wielding its powerful force on my portfolio last month, causing a 3.7% hair-cut of our net worth in a month, the highest percentage decline ever in our history of meticulously bookkeeping in the last five years. Although I don't feel for the increased volatility in ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-12-01T14:54:50-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>With the sudden realization that the housing boom is officially over, our interest is shifted to where the bottom is. To that end, Fortune Magazine released an in-depth analysis on how housing price in 54 major cities will likely evolve in the next five years. Fortune's analytical framework assumes that ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.3 Readings - Car & Home mm 2007-11-13T16:18:29-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Both ">SmartMoney and ">Kiplinger's Personal Finance recently shed light on a completely new genre of investment vehicle available to the general investors: Exchange-Traded Notes (ETN). ">iPath ETN, created and marketed by Barclays Bank, PLC, is very similar to ETF, or Exchange-Traded Funds (also pioneered by Barclays), which can be traded ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.7 Readings - Investment mm 2007-11-12T22:05:21-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>What if I tell you there is a risk-free investment that is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, will guarantee you an annual return of 8%, and is open to every taxpayer? And this investment is made available by an unlikely source: IRS. Yes, you ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.6 My Finance - Tax mm 2007-11-06T16:28:46-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Every year, each 401(k) Plan Administrator is required by law to disclose summary financial information of 401(k) plan to plan participants. I was reading the Microsoft 2006 Summary Annual Report today and some numbers are quite revealing. Here is the original text from the report: "Benefits under the plan are ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 2. Analysis mm 2007-11-05T04:56:59-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>SUMMARY October is another winning month for my portfolio. My portfolio appreciated another 3.08%, which handsomely beat my benchmark by over 60 basis points. The result is attributable to a couple of winning stock positions (APOL and BRK.B especially) and better mutual fund performance vs benchmark, slightly offset by the ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2007-11-02T09:35:19-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>One month after we breached the $800s mark of our quest for net worth accumulation, we are now in the new domain of the $900s. Our bottom-line is happily lifted by a blow-out quarter from my employer and the ensuing multi-year highs of its stock, together with significant gains from ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-11-01T12:47:43-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>I wrote a couple of weeks ago about why some basic tax knowledge will not only help you to maximize your tax refund after the fact, but will also serve as good guidance on how one should plan financial activities beforehand. Case on point: my exit strategy on my investment ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 6. Portfolio - Analysis mm 2007-10-30T18:32:49-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Long-term readers of PFBlog knows I have been taking advantage of credit card companies for years. Especially, I'm very good at 0% APR arbitrage, whereby I sign up for new credit cards with attached introductory 0% APR balance transfer offer, move the entire balance immediately to my bank account, and ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.1 My Finance - Credit mm 2007-10-17T20:21:54-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Now you can always choose to tackle the annual chore of filing tax return by 1) learning to file tax yourself, or 2) paying someone else to file your tax. You may think the difference is just the $100 or so you pay someone sitting in the booth in Walmart ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.6 My Finance - Tax mm 2007-10-16T02:05:41-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Having accumulated a big retirement portfolio but uncertain about how you should count on the portfolio to generate regular inflation-adjusted monthly payments? Our innovative financial service industry is not hesitate to help. Introducing the latest innovation in mutual fund industry ??? Fidelity Income Replacement Funds. As marketed on the Fidelity ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 2. Analysis mm 2007-10-11T22:41:11-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>This is the second installment of the series "Running Household Finance As A Business". My goal in this series is to "examine our household finance under the corporate finance microscope," which, I hope, will bring up some new perspectives in thinking about personal wealth accumulation. In the first part of ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 2. Analysis mm 2007-10-08T18:51:07-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>As I am doing my regular web surfing of personal finance news, I bumped into A.G. Edwards's site and particularly its Nest Egg Score section. A.G. Edwards labels the Nest Egg Score as "a comprehensive indicator of how well U.S. households are doing at building personal wealth." With its online ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 3. Resources mm 2007-10-08T05:16:44-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>SUMMARY After Fed decisively acted to cut rates, the general market is recovering from the turbulent July and August. This lifts all boats, and helped my portfolio to book a record-beating 3.75% monthly gain. For the first time, my actively managed portfolio (excluding employee stock option account), has more than ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2007-10-01T21:12:22-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>September is an exciting month to say the least. After the stagnating performance of the general stock market in the last three months, it finally rallied in the month and helped our portfolio to book a monthly gain of 3.7%, a record in itself throughout our systematic tracking of portfolio ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-10-01T02:33:04-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>NetBank, one of the first online-only banks in the 1990s, finally made to the Wall Street Journal headlines again. Unfortunately, this time, the news is NetBank is closed by federal regulators after suffering significant loss in the aftermath of housing bubble. According to the notice shown on the NetBank homepage ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 2. Analysis mm 2007-09-28T20:18:47-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>The renowned tax consulting firm CCH has released its projection of federal income tax brackets for 2008. Here are the major changes that will affect our family (when we file joint returns): Tax Brackets Joint returns. For married taxpayers filing jointly and surviving spouses, the maximum taxable income subject to ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.6 Readings - Tax mm 2007-09-24T04:43:25-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Managing finance is all about planning. Recently, I was contemplating on how I should spend the next 50 years if I opt for early retirement before the end of the decade. Then, an interesting collection of articles from Money Magazine caught my eyes. series from Money Magazine, caught my eyes ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 2. Analysis mm 2007-09-19T23:54:36-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>If there were a longevity award for personal new worth tracking, I probably could get an honorable mention at least. By the end of last month, I have been tallying my net worth religiously at every month end for more than five years, including four full years at this blog ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-09-18T04:35:52-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>A great humorous video production from The Onion. Enjoy! In The Know: Are America's Rich Falling Behind The Super-Rich?</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.9 Readings - Others mm 2007-09-16T23:03:02-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Nowadays, given the developing credit crunch in the financial market, card issuers are slashing rewards and hiking rates, making it much harder for prudent spenders to get rewarded from card usage. Therefore, good credit card deals are few and far between these days, forcing us to settle for 1% or ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 3. Resources mm 2007-09-13T04:08:35-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>In a little noticed press release, the Bush administration announced its plan to create a new refinancing program managed by Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that will likely rescue 240,000 homeowners from the fate of foreclosure. The new product, named FHASecure, does have some strict eligibility criteria, though. Homeowners must meet ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.3 Readings - Car & Home mm 2007-09-11T18:39:43-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>ANALYSIS AND COMMENTATRY Although market ended within 1% of where it started off the month, market volatility in August is comparable to that of the chaotic July. At one point, the market was 10% lower than its peak in mid-July, certifying this as an official "market correction." Being a participant ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 4. Portfolio - General mm 2007-09-08T03:58:49-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>After two months of lukewarm net worth growth during the summer, our household finance is back to the fast lane. The $31,000 monthly increases makes August the second best month of this year so far. I have to admit it is partially driven by seasonality -- every August, a few ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 1. Objectives and Progress mm 2007-09-07T03:59:40-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Today S&P released the Q2 figures for its S&P/Case-Shiller?? Home Price Indices. Not entirely surprisingly, the numbers are suggesting that the average price for single-family house in the top 20 metro areas is down 3.2% from a year ago. Out of the 20 metro areas tracked by the index, 14 ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.3 Readings - Car & Home mm 2007-08-28T20:44:48-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>What's the quickest money you've made? For me, the $1,110 Citibank posted to my credit card account last week should qualify. Back in March, I shared in this blog that Citibank was inviting me to pay down my $40,000-strong credit card balance from multiple 0% APR balance transfer offers. Citi ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 8.1 My Finance - Credit mm 2007-08-26T23:39:40-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>It has been 20 years since the magazine started the first annual tally of Best Places to Live in this country. Today, Money Magazine just published its 2007 list. Here are the top three, and you can find the complete list of Top 100 towns at here: 1. Middleton, Wis ...</p><p><p>This post comes from <a href="http://www.pfblog.com/" target="_blank">PFBlog.com, The Best Personal Finance Blog </a>.

]]> 9.9 Readings - Others mm 2007-08-22T07:01:53-08:00 http://www.ba.net/news/feedsburner/sai <p>Today WSJ dubbed Warren Buffett as "one of the last buyers standing." The famous Oracle of Omaha's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, just released its stockholdings as of June 30, 2007. According to StreetInsider.com, the legend investor opened two new positions, raised stakes on 8, and sold on 7. New Stakes ...<