Get new posts by email:
  

Short Takes: Credit Card Payoff Calculator

1. Preet gives us a credit card payoff calculator. Hopefully this will inspire people to pay off their high-interest debt and not cause them to give up because it will take too long.

<< Previous Post Next Post >>

Comments

  1. Grand Homme CajunJune 26, 2009 at 6:40 AM

    Thanks for the mention, have a superior fin de semaine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael JamesJune 26, 2009 at 10:44 AM

    CC: Thanks for including me in your list. I almost didn't recognize your picture -- you're almost always smiling in person :-)

    Thicken: Thanks for the vote. I count your blog among the more thoughtful and useful blogs as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MDJJune 26, 2009 at 11:52 AM

    Thanks for the link Michael and congrats on the G&M coverage!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Four PillarsJune 26, 2009 at 11:12 PM

    Congrats on the Globe and Mail mention.

    I'll be reading that book as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.comJune 27, 2009 at 12:10 AM

    Thanks for the link Michael - you got my vote in the poll. Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Even Dimensional Fund Advisors Struggles with Inflation Statistics

Inflation is a risk we have to face in financial planning, particularly in retirement.  We need to measure inflation risk correctly to be able to make reasonable financial plans.  The best guide we have to the future takes into account past inflation statistics.  But the field of statistics is full of subtleties, and even Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) can make mistakes. DFA creates good funds, and their advisors tend to do good work for their clients.  I’d prefer to find errors in the work of a less investor-friendly investment firm, but they provided a clear example to learn from.  They misapplied a statistical rule, and as a result, they misinterpreted the history of inflation over the past century. I discussed this issue with Larry Swedroe in posts on X.  I respect Larry and have followed his work as he tirelessly explains evidence based investing to the masses. A Simple Example To explain the problem, let’s first begin with a simpler example.  So...
Read more

Short Takes: InvestorLine’s HISAs, 24-Hour Trading, and more

I recently moved some cash into BMO InvestorLine’s high-interest savings accounts (HISAs) that are structured as mutual funds.  Their designations are BMT104, BMT109, and BMT114, and they purportedly pay 4.35% annual interest (which they can change whenever they like).  However, the way they report the monthly interest payments is so baffling that I wasn’t able to sort it out in my first 15 minutes of trying.  A further complication is the following text in the HISA description: “The Bank may pay, monthly or quarterly, compensation to your Dealer at an annual rate of up to 0.25% of the daily closing balance in the BMO HISA.”  I couldn’t find any evidence of such a charge, but I haven’t been invested for a full quarter, and I can’t yet say that such a charge isn’t buried somehow in the confusing reporting.  I have more digging to do before I can recommend these HISAs. Here are some short takes and some weekend reading: Preet Banerjee explains the dangers of Robi...
Read more

A Misunderstanding About Taking CPP Early to Invest

Recently, Braden Warwick at PWL Capital created an excellent CPP calculator that we can all use.  One of the numbers this calculator reports is the IRR (Internal Rate of Return) you’ll get between your CPP contributions and the CPP pension you’ll collect.  Some financial advisors (but not Braden) decide it makes sense for their clients to take CPP as early as possible (age 60), and invest the proceeds.  Their reasoning is that they believe they can earn a higher return.  Here I explain why this logic compares the wrong returns. The return you’ll get on your CPP contributions depends on the contributions you and your employer have made and the benefits you’ll get.  These amounts depend on many factors about your life as well as some assumptions about the future.  Typically, the return people get on CPP is between inflation+2% and inflation+4%.  (However, it can go higher if you took time off work with a disability or to raise your children.  It al...
Read more

Archive

Show more