Unsecured Credit CardsTop Unsecured Credit Cards For all types of credit

Most of the readers of this blog do not know whats going on at the other end of this blog which is our questions and answers forum. Its a place where you can post any personal finance query, whatever doubts you have in mind and the community will help you with answers. You can extend the conversations untill you are fully satisfied and some amazing people on the forum will go miles to fully help you.

I want to take this opportunity to thank few key people on this personal finance forum who have gone beyond expectations and really taken up the full charge of the forum. You can say these people have taken over the forum from me and I am damn happy about it.

There are close to 2,300 questions asked till date on the forum and close to 10,000 answers are already given, which makes it an average of 4 answers per question asked, which shows a good mix of discussion.

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It’s no secret that Australians love a punt. Melbourne Cup Day isn’t called ‘the race that stops a nation’ for nothing. Whether we’re at the track or going in with friends for the weekly lottery ticket, gambling occupies a fair slice of our lives. And if you like to bet using credit, the card you use will determine how much your gambling purchase is going to cost you, or whether you are able to make a bet at all.

Cash Advance:

The Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac, HSBC and St.George all charge gambling purchases at the cash advance rate of interest.

Purchase Rate:

ANZ are the only one of the Big Four banks to buck the trend and charge gambling purchases at a purchase rate of interest. When aske

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Im convinced that the one thing that could greatly improve finances for many people is also dead simpleautomation.

Studies (heres onepdf) have shown, for example, that when an employer automatically signs up new employees to the companys 401k plan, a greater percentage of employees participate in the plan. While many of these employees would not enroll in the retirement plan if left to their own devices, they apparently also wont go to the trouble of canceling their enrollment when the employer takes the initiative.

Financial automation, moreover, has never been easier. With the internet transforming everything from online banking to investing, a fully automated financial life is a snap. Although some might still use traditional methods, there are ways to let our high-tech world do it all for us. We can automate virtually everything from our bills to our investments.

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Shopping for a remortgage involves identifying lower interest rate deals. With so many rates and deals posted in the press and online, it is hard not to be enticed. But finding the best deal from a lending firm offering refinancing mortgages takes some effort and sometimes the lowest interest rate isn’t necessarily available or always the best deal.

Financial firms looking to help consumers refinancing their existing mortgage widely advertise their lowest rates to get people to inquire. But in most cases, to actually qualify for these low rates one must have a sparkling CV relative to lender attractiveness. Just as in any mortgage, the lender will review one’s income, debts, capital, credit worthiness, job stability as well as the current equity in the property. Read more…

FYI, “bogard” is my kids new favorite slang term. It means “bogus” (at least to us — the urban dictionary has many different potential uses for the term and ours is #5. Some of the others are quite colorful.) We use it quite often to describe some thing or some one who has crossed the line in one way or another.

A couple weeks ago on a Saturday we decided to stop by Macys (despite the fact that I hate Macys) because we had been given a gift card for Christmas. My wife wanted to get a new toaster oven and they had one. The oven she wanted was originally priced at $44.99 (which is a rip-off price IMO) but it had been marked down to $19.99 (which made it a good deal.) We were dropping the kids off at our church any way, and since it was near the mall, we decided to stop by Macys to pick up the item.

Now we had tried to do the same thing a couple times previously, but they were always out of stock when we got there.

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Our Top Three Picks

Aloysa presents My Mother Was a Mail-Order Bride posted at My Broken Coin. Though not exactly about frugality, this first in a three-part series will have you enthralled. Alyosa shares her familys story of her mother choosing to list herself as a mail-order bride.

MR presents Your First Investment Should Be Fun And Exciting! posted at Money Reasons. Which is more important? A Roth IRA? A 401(k)? Brokerage accounts?

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