Would you let your kid buy stock in Disney?
February 25, 2012 by Charlie Stedman · Leave a Comment
I’m not such a big fan of everything Disney that I’ll ever win a trivia game about the Magic Kingdom. Like many parents, I like to go to Disneyland as often as I can afford it and watch my daughter light up when she sees Mickey.
Buying stock in Disney isn’t as fun as using a Park Hopper pass to tour your favorite amusement parks, but it can be educational. What kid doesn’t want to make money?
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As an investment and educational tool, buying stock in Disney or any other company that caters to children can be a way to show them how to invest and hopefully make some money while learning about the stock market. There’s plenty of math involved. They can learn about the power of reinvesting dividends, dollar cost averaging and how news events can move a stock price.
Direct stock purchase plans through Disney require a minimum investment of $250 to start and additional investments of $50 or more if you want to buy more shares.
Are Credit Card Rewards and Frequent Flyer Miles Taxable?
February 13, 2012 by Charlie Stedman · Leave a Comment
Credit card rewards are very valuable, but does that mean you have to pay taxes on them? If you did, how would each mile or point be valued? These are the questions that some people have every year when it comes time to submit their income to the IRS. Interest is also peaked by stories like this one in the Los Angeles Times that reveal that Citibank has been sending out 1099-INT forms to some of its savings and checking account customers who received American Airlines miles. In response, many people are concerned that their credit card rewards in the form of cash back, miles, and points may be taxable.
The IRS has always considered cash back rewards from a credit card to be a discount on the purchase price of goods and services. They view these rewards much like a coupon where the original price is marked down, and a lower price is paid. In all of those instances, the value of the discount is not reported as taxable income.
If cash back is considered a discount on a purchase price, how are points and miles treated by the IRS?
Discover More Card offers no-fee balance transfer
February 7, 2012 by Charlie Stedman · Leave a Comment
If you’re going to rob Peter to pay Paul, why would you want to pay a fee? The whole idea is to save some money, stave off debt … why incur more charges? Balance transfer fees are pretty standard across credit cards; move your balance to a new card and you’re usually going to pay 3 percent to 5 percent of your transfer amount. While that often still makes better sense, as long as you’re dropping your interest rate on that money dramatically, it’s still a drag to get dinged for giving your business to another credit card.
A number of cards offer zero percent interest on balance transfers for a specific time frame (12 months for instance) but right now Discover More Card has a zero percent balance transfer promotion that is offering that plus no balance transfer fee. Discover’s website lists a few of the perks associated with this offer:
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As ever, there are some restrictions and requirements, too. I’
Making Sure You Get Credit Card Reward Bonuses
January 13, 2012 by Charlie Stedman · Leave a Comment
It would be an understatement to say that the credit card industry is intensely competitive at the moment. Banks are trying absurdly hard to earn new business and are offering applicants some truly astounding sign up bonuses that range as high as $500. When advertising these bonuses, banks often specify that customers may earn “up to” a certain number of points or “as many as” a specific amount of miles. Nevertheless, these offers come with conditions that must be fulfilled in order to receive these bonuses. Therefore, cardholders must take several steps to ensure that they receive all of the bonus points and miles that they are entitled to.
First, customers should thoroughly read the terms and conditions of each offer. When doing so, it is important to explore all asterisks and footnotes in order to learn the complete set of conditions necessary to comply with the terms of the offer. In some instances, the entire sign up bonus is awarded upon the cardholder’s first purchase. In other
Hackers steal more than credit card data
January 8, 2012 by Charlie Stedman · Leave a Comment
Here’s a newsflash: Hackers can wreak havoc for credit card owners. As tales of identity theft and stolen credit cards become a seemingly almost everyday occurrence, you may be unclear what to do to protect yourself from high-tech thieves. And thieves thrive on your confusion.
I read about the Christmas Day attack on American think-tank Strategic Forecasting, a company that gives its clients political, economic and military analysis…all in the name of helping them reduce risk. The group that claimed responsibility was hacking group named Anonymous. The hack compromised the credit card numbers and personal information of more than 50,000 accounts of people who do business with Stratfor clients, such as Apple and the U.S. Air Force, according to CNET News.
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The reason for the attack depends on whom you ask; (a) to teach Stratfor a lesson for not encrypting the credit card information it held, or (b) to take funds from those cards and send as Christmas donations. Wh