2008 Honda Accord

Wasn't planning on buying a car anytime soon, but unfortunately wrecking our 2001 Acura Integra = me purchasing a 2008 Honda Accord for the folks.

Parents are going with the top of the line EX-L V6 w/ Navi trim. Lucky me!

Been using some online sites to get some quotes including: http://www.edmunds.com/, http://www.autobytel.com/, http://www.cars.com/ and have gotten the hassle of salesmen calling me at work all day.

Current outlook is for a pricepoint of ~$29,000 OTD, including all fees, destination, other junk. Hopefully the price will come down in a bit with the summer driving season and the intro of the new 2009 models.

I'll keep ya posted.

One Love,

Look

Interest Rate Freefall

Long story short. Fed cuts overnight interest rates from 5.25% to 4.75%. Result: Interest rates fall off a cliff.

Glad I locked in a 5.36% 12 month CD at E-loan before the carnage, but kicking myself for not locking in for 18 months. Unfortunately 2 CDs expired after the freefall and blah. My Wamu CD i rolled into a 4month CD @ 4.65% APY (They were offering ~2.7% for all other maturities!). My Emigrant Direct CD I transferred into my savings account earning 4.75%.

So there's little options out there as all banks seemed to have followed suit. There are higher rates at Countrywide and IndyMac, but their exposure to subprime worries me. Although they are FDIC insured, I don't feel like the small bump in rate would be worth the headache should they fail. So for now I'm going to sit tight and see how the rates play out in the coming weeks.

In other portfolio news, I'm roughly 50% cash which is way to conservative for my age bracket. Sadly, this is probably the lowest cash ratio I think I've ever had for my porfolio showing my uber conservativeness. I've been ramping down this cash number, however. I set up an auto-investment with Vanguard into my VTRIX mutual fund. I'd invest more, but with the market so hot right now and everything trading at all time highs, I'm hesitant to do more.

Well I guess we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

One Love,
Look

Pearly Whites

So in an impulse buy to get me to $49 for free shipping on Drugstore.com, I decided to get some Listerine Whitening strips. All the years of soda drinking has been catching up in my old age, and I've noticed some yellowing in my teeth. I've been wanting to do something about this for a while (started with drinking more water instead of soda), but I finally made the plunge to actively reverse the yellowing. I was going to spring for the Crest Whitestrips, but I was a little hesitant about hurting my gums after reading some of the reviews, so I went with the less drastic choice.

Some pros for the strips: easy to use, no trays and stuff to mess with, subtle change in teeth coloring

Some cons for the strips: as with all whiteners - possible damage to enamel, sensitivity in the gums, questionable noticeable difference in shade

My order's been processed and the package should be on its way soon, so I'll let you know how it goes.

One Love,
Look

Bowflexin'

So since switching jobs I haven't had much time to go to the gym. Paying $80/mo. @ Equinox didn't seem like a worthwhile investment so this weekend I visited Sports Authority to get some gear.

Long story short, I went with the Bowflex Selecttech 552 dumbbells. The major appeal being a compact, multi-weight option that saves space and is easily interchangeable. I pondered getting plated weights but the spinlock never seems to stay locked and its a bit cumbersome to change weights. Other options were similar Bowflex-style quick changing weights, but none of the options had the same quality as the Bowflex ones. In the end paid $399 for the weights + tax, but I also got the "free" stand thrown in. Some possible worries however is the quality as the salesperson tried hawking the 2 year extended warranty because of problems with the spinlocks...

Seeing that I also needed a bench I went with the Bowflex 3.1 Bench. Kinda regretting this pick up as I could've probably gotten a cheaper bench for about the same price, I just kept it within the Bowflex family. O wells.

A review to follow after I put together the bench and start workin it out.

One Love,
Look

Free (or Almost Free) Verizon LG VX8700 Ringtones

With a little bit of work, you can side step Verizon's crippling of the LG VX8700 to make your own ringtone.

Step 1: Choose song
Step 2: Cut song to about 30 seconds (use a program like Adobe Premiere)
Step 3: Convert song to an mp3 with a bit rate apprx 80kpbs (should be about 300kb or less)
Step 4: Email yourself the song or put it on your SD card
Step 5: Send yourself a pix message with the song attached
Step 6: The message should be waiting in your inbox... Open and save as ringtone
Step 7: Enjoy! (Will be free if you have unlimited TXT/PIX. If not, will still be cheaper (tho more work) than buying a ringtone from their site.

One Love,
Look

Chase Freedom: Free Money

So seeing that I need to build my credit history I decided to sign up for another credit card to add to my Citi Professional Card. I was waiting for a card to give me a signup reward and a worthwhile cash back program. Enter Chase Freedom.

While reading slickdeals.net @ work, I came across the post for a $250 signup reward when applying for the card. I was hesitant at first seeing that you only saw the signup on the landing page occasionally and on the application form there was no mention of the bonus. Regardless, some posters had detailed their success in getting the reward so I took the plunge.

Weeks passed and I was worried whether or not I'd actually get the card. I gave my email address and everything, but I'd had no word from Chase for a good two weeks or so. Eventally the card came but no mention of the rewards. I quickly signed up for the online account and scoured the pages for the reward. Nada.

So I thought I'd been screwed, but low and behold when checking my account balance one day the rewards showed up in my account. Clicked on "redeem" and received my $250 check in the mail about a week later.

So what's the good and the bad with the card?

Good:

• Accumulating $200 in rewards is good for a $250 check (Otherwise you can cash out $50 in rewards for $50). Effectively that's a 1.25% cash back instead of 1.00% if you can wait to accumulate $200.
• 3% on Gas, Grocery and Quick Service Restaurants. I rarely buy gas or groceries, so that really doesn't matter for me. I do go to places for lunch, but I've yet to see getting 3% back at the delis and sandwich shops I go to... I wonder if its only for fast food which I've been trying no to eat...
• Online account is easy to use. No hassles

Bad:

• Ridiculous APR. I pay my balances in full every month, but if you miss a payment on this baby you're screwed. So definitely sign up for the email reminders when your bill is due.
• No 3% back on regular restaurants.

All in all, I think I'll use the Freedom card over the Professional for everyday purchases and the like and reserve the Professional for restaurants. In the meantime I'll be on the lookout for possibly another card with a different type of reward.

One Love,
Look

The Incredible Falling Interest Rate

The Fed announced today that the fed fund rate would remain unchanged for the time being. So what does that mean for interest rates? So far online savings rates have stayed the same. E-Loan remains at 5.25% and Emigrant at 5.05%. In recent weeks, however, the CD rates at these two institutions have dropped to 5.26% and 5.10%, respectively. E-Loan had a huge drop from 5.41% to 5.26% over the last week or so, while Emigrant has been holding at 5.05%. My CD at Emigrant expires tomorrow, so what to do? Open an account at E-Loan and hold it at 5.25%? Or will the rates drop at E-Loan too and converge to the rate at Emigrant? Sigh.. Missing the rate hike!

or

I'll let you know!

One Love,
Look