When Asians Blog… — Oscar Wilde. This is the archive of my old Xanga site… my brief stint as a blogger. Man, I wrote a lot about nothing!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
My Official Journey as a “Professional” Blogger Begins
Hello Fellow Xangans, My time with Xanga has been a rewarding one. When I started blogging back in 2003 with Xanga, I had no idea how much I’d enjoy writing or if I was any good at it. I have to thank Xanga for fostering in me a love of writing that I never knew …
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Roth IRA or Emergency Savings? Yes!
When I speak to young twenty-somethings about their (usually limited) finances, one of the biggest issues is what’s the best place to put what little extra cash they have. One of the big choices is whether they should fund retirement or to try to build up 3-6 months’ salary in savings because they can’t do …
Donating Stock: How to make your giving worth more
Last year I did something I thought only millionaires did. No, it wasn’t swimming in a pool filled with gold doubloons… which actually sounds pretty painful if you ask me. I donated shares of stock to a charity. A few years ago I bought shares of BIDU when it was at around $128 a share. …
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Pros and Cons of Flexible Spending Accounts
How would you like anywhere from a 20 to 40 percent discount on all your medical expenses without having comparison shop, clip coupons, or volunteering for drug testing? Many employers offer medical flexible spending accounts (FSA) as a benefit to their employees. How it works is that usually you have a certain dollar amount taken …
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Too Good to Be True Refinance?
A friend and co-worker approached me the other day saying that her bank called and asked if she would like to refinance her mortgage with them at a lower interest rate and no costs. She felt it was too good to be true. Why would a bank want to lend you money at a lower …
(Really) Simple Ways to Slay the Energy Eaters in Your Home
The first bill I receive from the utility companies after the first cold snap or heat wave of the year always makes me cringe as I open it. After being lulled into complacency with months of mild weather and dormant air conditioners and furnaces, we’ve all experienced this sort of sticker-shock. So for the following …
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Tax Topic: Should you itemize your deductions?
Ah, the days of using the one-page 1040EZ tax form… life was simpler back then. There were no mortgages, no student loans, no retirement plans. My biggest decision come tax time was – do I use a pencil or throw caution to the wind and use a pen on my one-page tax return? Twenty years, …
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Dear Charlie…
Dear Charlie, The closest your stone-hearted father came to tearing up in the last month was while watching a Google Chrome commercial called “Dear Sophie” (look it up in your future version of YouTube), so I was inspired to totally rip it off. If you don’t cry while watching it, you definitely inherited my tin-man-ness …
Cell Phone Companies Are Evil
I’ve always said that one of my biggest pet peeves is someone, be it the government, mass media, or corporations, taking advantage of the ignorant. No one does this more than the cell phone companies. They don’t sell phones… they sell data. Picture this… Imagine I’m selling you a car. The car is cool, sexy, …