You Can Do It Personal Finance Blog

Online Brokerage Firms

(YOUCANDOIT) — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:42:55 PST

Do you have all your investments through one firm?

Who do you use and why?

I am trying to streamline things so it it easier to keep track of, is this wise?

Great savings

(YOUCANDOIT) — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:12:28 PST

Wow, spent $26 for $99 worth of stuff tonight. I even impressed myself!!!!

NEED ADVICE on tracking my holdings in mutual funds . . .

(YOUCANDOIT) — Tue, 15 May 2007 10:37:00 PST

We have several mutual funds held in 401k and Roth IRA's and every now and than we purchase stocks. So, does anyone know a good site to track the holdings in each?

I just recently purchased a stock and didn't realize that it was one of the biggest holdings in 2 of our mutual funds.
Thankfully...

Question on Home Value?????

(YOUCANDOIT) — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:17:33 PST

What percentage do you use when figuring home value from the tax roll figure?

Or how do you figure out your home's value - without doing a new appraisal?

Thanks in advance for all your answers!!!

YOUCANDOIT

15% return in 5 weeks!!!!

(YOUCANDOIT) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:08:14 PST

I purchased Gamestop on Valentine's Day and what a sweet stock it was. I sold today with a 15% gain. A nice return for only 5 weeks in the market.

Figuring how much life insurance - - -

(YOUCANDOIT) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:28:40 PST

I've always struggled with this one. I've read you should have 10-20 times your income in life insurance. But, to me that is so general. What about those that don't have debt, or very little debt or those that are in over their heads?
But, I was going through the Suzeorman.com...

529 opened and UPromise

(YOUCANDOIT) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:29:49 PST

Okay. I opened up a 529 account to get the cash out of the UPromise account.
I opened the Iowa College Savings 529. I was able to open it with $25 and don't have to contribute if I don't want to. But, the money that was in my UPromise account will be put into the new account.
So,...

TD AMERITRADE ACCOUNT

(YOUCANDOIT) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:17:30 PST

Went ahead and opened up an account to get the more than 16 percent ROI.
The account was really easy to open and took no more than 15 minutes. Easy money.

8 months of Emergency Cash???

(YOUCANDOIT) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:42:44 PST

Suze Orman says to save 8 months of emergency cash. I currently have 3 and feel more than comfortable.
What do you have?

Women and Money - Suze Orman

(YOUCANDOIT) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:50:52 PST

Bought the new Suze Orman book. I just couldn't resist. She was the first personal finance book I read many years ago. Back when we had credit card debt. I give her the credit for how far we have come. I think she's great for people who are just learning.
I bought the book because...

UPromise and 529 plans

(YOUCANDOIT) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:41:38 PST

Have a UPromise account that has been accumulating free money. I didn't want to open a 529 plan a while back because you had to contribute every month. I don't really want to put anything in the kids names, as I think this will hurt their chances for aid when the time comes.
But,...

Gave notice - - - - - -

(YOUCANDOIT) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:24:17 PST

Well, one of my Mom's gave notice that she will not be needing me any longer. I knew it was coming, since she moved quite far away and was still making the drive to my home. But, still a bummer losing a sweet little baby and of course the income that comes with it. So, I put an...

Pay personal loan or invest????

(YOUCANDOIT) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:18:03 PST

Okay. I know we all struggle with this one. The personal loan was taken out with the agreement that we would pay it off when we sell our rental home. Now, I am thinking that if the renters that are there now, decide not to buy it next year -- we could rent it out again instead of...

Doubled cash back reward

(YOUCANDOIT) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:59:59 PST

Changed my electric and cable bill to Citi Dividend card to get the 2% cash back reward. Previously had both billed on another card and was only getting 1 %. So I was getting approximately $48 back a year, now I will be getting back $96 back. Not a lot but the way I see it it's...

Best place to learn to do Tax Returns?

(YOUCANDOIT) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:43:57 PST

Ok. So, I want to learn how to do other people's taxes. Obviously, not for this year. But, I am thinking into the future.
I do not have a degree. I would be willing to do some schooling -- either at night or online.
I am really just looking to use my brain and of course it...

FEBRUARY UPDATE - $20 CHALLENGE

(YOUCANDOIT) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:08:57 PST

Wow, it is amazing to me how much extra you can save when you put your mind to it.

Here's how we made out for February on our $20 challenge:

$540 extra child full time care for month
$100 late fee for rental property
$160 drop in child care
$32 vendor coupons savings for...

Smartmoney.com retirement calculator

(YOUCANDOIT) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:18:58 PST

Checked out this calculator on Smart Money
and found out that with the amount we have saved, if we didn't save any more - and made 8 percent interest on what we have so far -- we would have $26000 a year income in retirement.

Obviously, we are going to keep on saving, but it was...

Market Looking OK today

(YOUCANDOIT) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:24:03 PST

Okay. We took a nice beating yesterday. But, all seems to be doing all right today. It's time to take this opportunity to buy low.

OUCH -- ugly market day.

(YOUCANDOIT) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:39:46 PST

Scary what can happen in a day. UGLY

Restaurant.com

(YOUCANDOIT) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 11:17:43 PST

This is pretty neat. Restaurant.com you can buy $25 gift certificates to restaurants for $10.

I checked it out for my area and it seems like most are the newer restaurants. Since I am a picky eater and we don't go out to eat that often -- we tend to stick with our favorites....