In pursuit of financial independence and personal fulfillment

Category: Technology

This is why we CAN have nice things

You see that ding? That pea-sized dent in the pristine stainless steel facade? Notice the scratch below it? Those just got me a brand-new refrigerator that’s at least twice as nice as I would have gotten.

You’re looking at $2,300 of damage right there, believe it or not. Let me explain. Continue reading

My credit card company almost paid to fix my phone

A few months back, I wrote about “The credit card superpowers you probably forgot about.” I pored over all the benefits tucked away in the information booklet you get when you sign up for a credit card, including travel protection, life insurance, and an extended warranty on most purchases.

So when my cell phone started dying with more than half the battery life remaining, I figured it was time to put this warranty business to the test. Continue reading

Review: Cinch – a fintech fiduciary to put you on the right path

Note: This is a sponsored post. I received compensation to provide an honest, accurate review of this product.

UPDATE: As of Oct. 2, 2018, Cinch has discontinued its individual accounts and shifted toward an institutional-based approach. Consumers may no longer sign up for Cinch on their own.

If you’re just starting to get your financial house in order — or you’d like to get started and don’t know where to begin — a new entrant in the financial technology space may be just what you’re looking for.

Cinch bills itself as “the future of autonomous personal finance,” a product that strives to serve its customers first and foremost by taking a fiduciary approach to its recommendations and analysis. I was asked to join a closed beta to take Cinch for a spin and see what it could do. Continue reading

Forget Equifax, you should be worried about your craptastic passwords

Would you stay at a hotel where every room could be opened with the same key? Or would you smile at the desk agent, get back in your car and drive to an inn with at least a basic sense of security where you could feel safe staying the night?

If you’re like most people, you have one — maybe two — passwords that you use across all of your online accounts. One key to rule them all!

Oh sure, sometimes you make slight variations to add numbers or capitals as each site requires. Your password “bumblebee” becomes Bumblebee, Bumblebee123, or bumb1eb33. You’ve also got it all written down on a piece of paper taped to your monitor or under your keyboard. Rock-solid security!

The Equifax breach got everyone all excited about security. But there’s another glaring problem most people overlook. What happens when one or more of your accounts, say like Yahoo, LinkedIn, or Adobe, is compromised and your user name and password are sold along with millions of others on the dark web? How many doors can that key open, and what’s behind them? Continue reading

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