I switched online banks in May and now that I’ve had a couple of months with my new bank, Ally, I feel like I’ve experienced enough to write a well-rounded and informative review. Ally is everything you need out of an online bank. They do everything adequately and there aren’t any huge misses in their [...]
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Why I Spent $2,000 on an Airplane Ticket
I made the single biggest purchase of my life last week. After fuel charges and 12 other airline taxes I spent $2,000 on a round-trip airline ticket from Tokyo to Chicago for the 2 weeks in August. Is it an outrageous price? You bet, but as I’ll try to justify to my readers (and myself), the ticket [...]
How Much Will No State Income Tax Help LeBron in Miami?
Running a personal finance site doesn’t allow me to write about current events all too often so allow me to hop on the LeBron to Miami train and throw a personal finance twist on it. We’ve heard multiple reasons for LeBron’s final decision to head to Miami – playing with some of his best friends, [...]
Should You Buy Your Company’s Stock?
My friend was recently was hired for a new job and e-mailed me asking for some clarification about his company’s retirement plan and stock options. He copy and pasted this bit of his company’s retirement plan in to the e-mail: “(Company name) sponsors an Employee Stock Purchase Plan whereby all employees are eligible to purchase shares [...]
The FF Podcast Ep. 5: Perk Street Financial’s Rewards Checking with CEO Dan O’Malley
On this week’s episode of The Foreigner’s Finances Podcast I talk with PerkStreet Financial CEO Dan O’Malley about their checking account and rewards debit card. PerkStreet is leading the pack in rewards offering 2% back on all purchases in the form of gift cards to popular shopping spots like iTunes or Target if you have [...]
The Pros & Cons of Credit Unions
Have you ever read a Yahoo! article about personal finance and looked at the comments? There’s usually one crazy person who swears off everything about banking or investing and claims the world is ending so they’ve strapped their life savings to the floorboards in their kitchen. Banks that are FDIC insured provide security up to [...]
Why Don’t Online Banks Accept International Wire Transfers?
Last week I wrote about my experience getting denied by an online bank with an international wire transfer. I talked about the importance of figuring out if your bank allows these wires because if you need them in a dire situation, it’s going to be too late and your loan is going to go unpaid [...]
Update on My Lending Club Investments
I started investing with Lending Club in the fall of last year and have moved a good amount of money there over 8 months. For those of you who are new to Lending Club, here’s a quick intro on Lending Club and an update from March to catch you up. Since I’m not able to [...]
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Hi, my name's Austin Morgan. I teach English in Japan and write about money for twenty-somethings. Feel free to contact me with any questions and I hope you enjoy the site!
