Received very cryptic letter from Citi today.
“Dear Suzy:
As of March 15, 2009, we are changing some of the terms and conditions that will affect your ability to earn and redeem ThankYou Points. They listed about a million conditions under which I could lose the points I’d already accrued, but the first one was the big one: “ThankYou Network may be revised in a manner that may affect your ability to use the ThankYou Points you have already accumulated.” i.e. we can “revise” the program to eliminate what you’ve earned, pretty much whenever we feel like it.”
I immediately went on to the ThankYou Network website and ordered a $50 giftcard to Banana Republic with my 6,000 points. And will check in one more time to cash out before this curious March 15th deadline. And then we’ll see what happens after that…
When I’m not satisfied with any other service or company, I just end the relationship. And yet with credit cards, I fear doing anything that will impact my credit score, and I would think closing this account would. So I will just deal, charge a tank of gas on it a month, and spend more on my other cards that give me better rewards.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A Few Good Reads...
A few non-financial notables I’ve been perusing lately….
Bottlenotes
This website is still getting off the ground, so there’s not a lot of activity, and some of it is simply promotional at this point, but I think this has potential to be a real community for those so inclined. Just filling out the introductory survey was moving for me – from radial button answers to ranking grape and sensory preferences in wine – to open-ended questions like When did you first taste wine? and When did you first love wine? they really sparked my memory and capacity for nostalgia. Something wine itself does. They also help you identify great promising new wines by price range, which is helpful when you’ve graduated from the two-buck-chuck at Trader Joe’s but are still budget-conscious.
Beanstock’d
The mission of the website is intended to incorporate ecologically sensitive information and green-propaganda into the delivery of pop culture gossip and news. Sort of like a Green E! channel. The combination is sometimes clumsy. But like all gossip networks, it’s sort of addicting prose. And as I don’t currently read anything else of that nature, I can somehow justify having it in my Google Reader.
TED
I feel a little embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of TED before a few weeks ago when a friend of mine sent me the link and recommended a few. The premise: tap amazing talent to give the talk of their lives in 20 minutes. In some cases that really means a talk about their life, and in others, it means a talk on the subject that fuels their life, and literally the best and most inspiring talk they have given and will ever give. Such a bold challenge for the boldest of characters living in this age inevitably produces inspiring little pockets of 20 minutes. My favorite so far in getting through the archives has been hearing Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, talk about genius.
Bottlenotes
This website is still getting off the ground, so there’s not a lot of activity, and some of it is simply promotional at this point, but I think this has potential to be a real community for those so inclined. Just filling out the introductory survey was moving for me – from radial button answers to ranking grape and sensory preferences in wine – to open-ended questions like When did you first taste wine? and When did you first love wine? they really sparked my memory and capacity for nostalgia. Something wine itself does. They also help you identify great promising new wines by price range, which is helpful when you’ve graduated from the two-buck-chuck at Trader Joe’s but are still budget-conscious.
Beanstock’d
The mission of the website is intended to incorporate ecologically sensitive information and green-propaganda into the delivery of pop culture gossip and news. Sort of like a Green E! channel. The combination is sometimes clumsy. But like all gossip networks, it’s sort of addicting prose. And as I don’t currently read anything else of that nature, I can somehow justify having it in my Google Reader.
TED
I feel a little embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of TED before a few weeks ago when a friend of mine sent me the link and recommended a few. The premise: tap amazing talent to give the talk of their lives in 20 minutes. In some cases that really means a talk about their life, and in others, it means a talk on the subject that fuels their life, and literally the best and most inspiring talk they have given and will ever give. Such a bold challenge for the boldest of characters living in this age inevitably produces inspiring little pockets of 20 minutes. My favorite so far in getting through the archives has been hearing Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, talk about genius.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Big Financial Blunders
When I think back on what I would consider my big financial blunders since graduating from college, they don’t seem so bad. When I tried to think about them, I actually only came up with two:
+ Last minute flight a few years ago to DC to visit a friend on a whim $550
+ Falling prey to the super-expensive “spa-like” dentist and having two fillings there $800
In the long run, lessons learned, and not that big of a deal. Both are somewhat justifiable in the name of friendship and health, despite the upcharge.
Which reminds me that it’s often the smaller things – not the big things, that really tend to get you off kilter financially – just eating out too much, shopping too much, little by little. Like this month… having already gotten through 80% of my discretionary spending in 50% of the days. Sigh. What are your past financial blunders, recalled?
+ Last minute flight a few years ago to DC to visit a friend on a whim $550
+ Falling prey to the super-expensive “spa-like” dentist and having two fillings there $800
In the long run, lessons learned, and not that big of a deal. Both are somewhat justifiable in the name of friendship and health, despite the upcharge.
Which reminds me that it’s often the smaller things – not the big things, that really tend to get you off kilter financially – just eating out too much, shopping too much, little by little. Like this month… having already gotten through 80% of my discretionary spending in 50% of the days. Sigh. What are your past financial blunders, recalled?
Monday, February 16, 2009
Starting Salary Figures Can be Deceiving
Some new Payscale research just emerged about post-MBA salaries. According to Business Week, who released the findings along with a handy table comparing schools, a lot of MBA programs highlight starting salaries, which are only one part of the picture. Equally, if not more important, is the salary range throughout your lifetime. They try to give you a sense of the ROI of your investment in going back to school. It’s a little deceiving as it only includes base salary (not stocks/options/benefits you could receive), but it’s still interesting to compare. For the two schools I’m deciding between it seems like Harvard is a better bet on every metric… but money’s not the ONLY motivator for me, clearly.
Harvard
Starting Salary (medians): $134,000
5 Years Out: $150,000
10 Years Out: $184,000
15 Years Out: $227,000
20 Years Out: $230,000
Stanford
Starting Salary: $128,000
5 Years Out: $139,000
10 Years Out: $148,000
15 Years Out: $179,000
20 Years Out: $202,000
Harvard
Starting Salary (medians): $134,000
5 Years Out: $150,000
10 Years Out: $184,000
15 Years Out: $227,000
20 Years Out: $230,000
Stanford
Starting Salary: $128,000
5 Years Out: $139,000
10 Years Out: $148,000
15 Years Out: $179,000
20 Years Out: $202,000
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Valentine's Day Under $20
This year the Guy and I planned the perfect romantic weekend:
+ Museum Talk on Elizabeth Peyton’s new exhibit: “Live Forever” (which just moved from NY to Minneapolis) – FREE, $4 for parking, footed by me
+ A white tablecloth Valentine’s Evening at Whitecastle – $13.40, footed by the Guy Mmm slyders!
+ Dessert: coffee cake and a bottle of wine at home, while watching the NBA slam dunk competition and Garden State
+ Joint Donation to the Dana Farber in Lieu of gifts - $150, split evenly between us
Total Spending: $84/person - but mostly for a good cause! The rest was under $20, and completely memorable...
Friday, February 13, 2009
A Sad Commentary
So my company is impacted by the recent peanut butter recall (we do not actually have products to recall, but people think we do… that whole “better safe than sorry” mentality). Plus consumers don’t have time to check the company websites of every product they pull off the shelf. So our consumer insights group commissioned a quick study on the matter and one of the findings was that more people are aware of the peanut butter recall (87%) than the worsened state of the economy (84%)!
Wow, which really just goes to show you how oblivious people are and how little people like to think about money!
"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like 10% unemployment"
… er, I mean, unrequited love – sorry Charlie Brown.
Wow, which really just goes to show you how oblivious people are and how little people like to think about money!
"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like 10% unemployment"
… er, I mean, unrequited love – sorry Charlie Brown.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My Tax Refund Savings Stimulus Plan
The good news is in: $1696 Federal and $444 State for a total of $2140. Same as last year, but still feels like an unexpected relief. $1000 will go toward my Business School deposit, $500 to maxing out my Roth IRA (stretch goal, done!), and the rest to beefing up my emergency fund. Yay!
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