2009 Stock Market Recovery Starts Now?

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Recently, people have begun to draw all the wrong conclusions about the stock market for all the wrong reasons.  It is a common phenomenon and it happens every time the stock market moves up or down long enough for the average citizen whose only market investments are in IRAs or 401(k) plans to notice. The first bad conclusion is that now is the time to pull money out of the market.  While this market has fallen long and fallen fast, it is almost always the case that when the average person looks to get out of their investments, they have already fallen significantly which means that getting out now just means locking in losses, especially because precious few of them have any idea about when or how they will get back in. The second miscalculation that continuously happens to virtually everyone who is not a seasoned investor is the mistaken notion that the stock market is moving and pricing based on now, as in today.  It isn’t. The stock market is now, and has always been, priced based on the future.  Investors buy stock not because the stock will be higher today, but because it will be higher in the …

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Review Citibank Rewards Points Elite Level Premier Pass Card

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The Citibank PremierPass credit cards offers higher point earnings for frequent travelers, but comes with a steep annual fee.  And, most cardholders were recently nailed with a steep increase in interest rate even if they had good credit.  Do the PremierPass pros outweigh the cons?

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Earn Points Citi Premier Pass Card

The basic Citibank rewards points chart looks like this.

  • 2 ThankYou Points earned for ever $1 spent at Grocery Stores, Gas Stations, Drugstores, Parking, and Public Transportation like subways.
  • 1 Thank You Point earned for all other $1 spending.
  • 1 Thank You Point earned for every mile flown on any airline, including other people whose tickets you bought with the card.

ThankYou Points Redeem Chart

Points / $ Travel Reward* Spending Required Cash Back Equivalent
Grocery, Parking, Drugstore, Gas 2 Points / $ 20,000 points (for $200 ticket) $10,000 2%
Everywhere Else 1 Point / $ 20,000 points (for $200 ticket) $20,000 1%
50 / 50 Split 1.5 Point / $ 20,000 points (for $200 ticket) $15,000 1.5%

* Since there is no fixed flight option anymore, I tested a couple of flights through the booking system and it appears that tickets are pricing at approximately 100 points per dollar.

Reward Value is average unless you maximize shopping at the 2 for 1 points locations.

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Quick Money Saving Tip

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home-house Christmas is over, but the bills might not all be gone.  Plus, Uncle Sam is going to want his kickback, that’s taxes to you and me, by April.  Throw in a recession, and it is probably a good idea to look at saving some money.

If you’ve been through your budget and you don’t find anything out of whack (tip: if your cell phone bill is more than $60 and you aren’t a traveling salesman, it’s time to re-evaluate) then we need to pull out some less used tips.

Homeowner’s Insurance Deductible

The dirty secret about homeowner’s insurance is that filing claims will get you and your policy dropped by the insurance company.  Those same claims will keep you from getting a new insurance policy with another company.  Sometimes, as little as 3 claims in 2 years will get you dropped like a hot potato.

Since there is nothing you can do about how insurance companies behave, the next best thing is to work smarter within their system.  Only file large claims and use your savings to pay for the nickel and dime stuff like a few shingles blown off the roof.  Of course, if you aren’t going to be filing smaller claims, then you shouldn’t be paying for the coverage.

Raise your homeowner’s insurance deductible to at least $1,000.  Chances are a $1,500 or $2,500 deductible won’t lower your rates that much more, but check anyway.  Saving $10 a year to raise your deductible $1,000 doesn’t make much sense, but if you can save $50 or $100 then that’s something to think about.

If you are the very responsible type and you have the recommended 3 to 6 months of living expenses tucked safely away in an emergency fund that you never touch, you can even consider a $5,000 deductible which could significantly lower your home insurance.  But, do the math first.  It will likely only make sense if you have a high value home.

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Also, do a homeowner’s review with your company if you have made any improvements or security upgrades.  The new alarm system might be worth a discount.  The same goes for removing anything that raised your rates.  If you don’t have a dog anymore, make sure they know that too.

Be careful that your insurance agent doesn’t use your review to sell you other insurance, or even more home insurance.  You are there for home insurance only, and you don’t want to talk about life insurance, car insurance, or any other insurance, no matter how good of time it is, or how great the deal is.  You especially don’t care if rates are going up next month (a common insurance salesman line). 

Also, there is no need to insure your home for full replacement value.  Laws very from state to state, but generally, a homeowner’s insurance policy provides for 120% or so, of coverage should your whole house need replaced.  But, that kind of event is relatively rare.  Even if you have a fire, chances are you’ll be repairing the house, not rebuilding it from scratch.

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How Safe Are Municipal Bonds

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People are always asking me how safe municipal bonds are.  The answer is: They’re Safe. Note that we are talking about BONDS here, NOT Notes, which are a whole different deal.  Unless you are an expert or near-expert bond trader, you should stay away from any and all notes of any kind except those from the US Treasury. But, that can’t be the end of it.  After all, there are some examples of muni bonds going sour, most notably Orange County’s default on some of its muni bond debt.  And, of course, various municipal bonds which were pegged to specific projects or revenue streams have gone belly up.  Of course, it is pretty easy to spot which ones have that kind of risk.  Bonds fully backed by the state, county, or city are generally as safe as you can get without investing in a US Treasury.  Also pretty safe are bonds back by utilities (water and sewer especially) since people have to pay for those one way or another.  The ones you have to watch out for are the ones that are for building a specific project and then funded with the revenues from that project.  Common examples are things …

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January 2009 Stock Market Update

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To no one’s surprise, all of the major stock market averages ended January down for the month.  This has drawn out the media to file their annual (when the market is down in January) stories about how sometimes January being up or down can predict how the year goes as well. This is about as accurate as which conference wins the Superbowl, the AFC or NFC, predicting how the stock market will perform for the year.  That is, not accurate at all. The flaw in both is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of mathematics and statistics.  Just because something is true 75% of the time in no way makes it a reliable predictor of anything, and yet, here we are. I’ll write up an article on this later, but for now just keep in mind that smart investing is about facts, not old wives tales, and arthritic knees predicting the weather.  Watch the numbers, not the headlines. By the way, don’t expect February to be any better, but after that…well, we’ll just have to watch the numbers.

In-Depth Information on Banking Crisis

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The Economist magazine has a 14-page report on the stat of  banking and the future of finance.  I happens to be a bit less alarmist than the reporting you typically see, and as a British publication it also has a solid look at how the current situation affects more than just the United States. If you are interested in the current situation and want more in-depth coverage than you normally get, it is a good read.

Citibank Credit Card Rewards Thank You Network Update

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According to an email received this week, the fixed flight option will no longer be available as of March 1st. Quick Summary Before 3/1/09 – Great deal for flights between $200 and $400 (the closer to $400 the better the deal).  Still a good deal for flights over $400. After 3/1/09 – Deal Gone.  You pay 100 points per dollar.  Average travel reward at best. Check here for updated information about 2011 Citibank rewards credit card programs. Look here for an updated review of the Citibank rewards catalog 2011. Fixed Point Travel Flight Option What does that mean for Citibank credit card holders?  A worse deal. Until 3/1/09 you can get a domestic flight reward on “virtually any airline” for 20,000 ThankYou Points, up to $400.  If the ticket is more than $400 then it is 5,000 points for every $50. That works out to 50 points per dollar for a $400 flight and then 100 points per dollar after.  That, of course, only works at exactly $400, but any flight over $200 costs you less than 100 points per dollar. Even if you go over $400, you are still getting a good deal because that first $400 comes at …

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