Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Glen Craig

Getting Free Premium Cable Channels – How Paying Attention Netted Us HBO, Cinemax, And More

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Back when we moved into our new home we had to sign up for a new TV/Internet/Phone provider as our previous company wasn’t in our new neighborhood. As far as cable goes, we like to have the basic channels but we’ve been fine without the premium movie channels.  If we wanted to catch up on a series or a movie we had Netflix.

We were able to get a good deal on a combo that would actually be a few dollars cheaper than what we were paying for from our old provider and this new deal actually included some premium channels like Showtime.  Cool, I’ll take a movie channel.  When talking with the representative I asked if the package would include channels like IFC (Independent Film Channel) and Sundance  (you ever see Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…?  Awesome music interview show!).  I was just making sure since I liked those channels and they weren’t considered premium on our previous provider.  I was told they were included so I was happy.  Fast forward to our installation day and our technician told me that IFC wasn’t included in the package I ordered.  Grrr.
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What Fees Are Part of Your 401(k) Plan?

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A 401k plan generally involves four parties: the contributing employees, the sponsoring employer, a plan administrator, and various investment advisors.

A 401k plan aims to grow employees’ contributions through investments for retirement.  To better manage a plan’s ongoing operation, once the plan has been set up by the employer for employee participation, the employer will usually appoint a plan administrator to take care of the plan with tasks such as recording keeping and accounting, providing customer service, giving educational seminars, etc…

But the actual investment of the plan contributions are managed by a group of investment companies, such as mutual fund brokerages (Vanguard, Fidelity, and ShareBuilder are a few), that the plan administrator has contracted with.

There are two major 401k fees in connection with plan administration and investment management.
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Credit CARD Act and Its Affect on College Students

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According to a 2009 study by Sallie Mae, the average credit card balance for college students was $3,173.

Only 15% of college freshman surveyed had a zero balance.

Of overall students, 82% carried a balance and had monthly interest charges.  The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 put new rules in place to help consumers better understand their credit cards and cut down on unfair practices from credit card companies.  Of those rules, there are some that college students should be especially aware of.
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ZYNC Card From American Express – Review

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Zync Card from American ExpressHave you seen the commercials for the ZYNC Card from American Express?

I’ve got to say, I was curious about the card when I heard about how you can tailor the card to fit your lifestyle.  As an American Express card user, and fan, I had to look into the Zync card further.

Here’s what I found out about the ZYNC Card: [Read more…] about ZYNC Card From American Express – Review