There are countless methods of manufacturing credit card spend, but the basic principles are simple: generate a credit card purchase (usually at some cost), liquidate the purchase back to cash (usually at some cost), and use the cash (plus any costs paid) to pay off the credit card balance. If you generate more in credit card rewards than you pay in costs, the technique is … [Read more...] about Manufacturing transactions is harder than you think
Inverted yield curves, rate expectations, and floating-rate certificates
As in my wont, I was browsing through depositaccounts.com to see if anything interesting was happening in the world of consumer-facing interest rates. I was surprised to see a few new borrowers at the top of the interest rate league table, with Merchants Bank of Indiana and Workers Credit Union offering 5.65% APY on 36-month certificates. The products used a term I hadn't seen … [Read more...] about Inverted yield curves, rate expectations, and floating-rate certificates
What are the most lucrative things you can do with free transportation?
Become a Patron! A few years back I wrote a goofy post trying to look at car ownership not as a personal consumption expenditure, but as a productive input; as a profit center, not a cost center. For the last few months I've been fooling around with our local "micromobility" services, in particular the Bird dockless electric scooters and Capital Bikeshare bikes which I have … [Read more...] about What are the most lucrative things you can do with free transportation?
Free and discounted “micromobility” services
Become a Patron! One of the most bizarre things to emerge from the era of free money were the so-called "micromobility" companies, which have littered the streets and sidewalks of major American cities with their cumbersome scooters and e-bikes. On the one hand, these companies have not and will not ever make any money. On the other hand, the scooters are kind of … [Read more...] about Free and discounted “micromobility” services
How to think about stockpiling Series I savings bonds
Become a Patron! A reader whose financial savvy I highly value surprised me the other day by saying that he'd been maximizing his Series I Savings Bond purchases for many years. This surprised me since the "fixed" portion of the semi-annual composite interest rate had hovered between 0% and 0.5% APY since 2012, and the "inflation" portion of the composite rate between 0% … [Read more...] about How to think about stockpiling Series I savings bonds