CK Blog

Awhile back, my sister-in-law was writing a report about Emmis Communications (EMMS), which owns radio and television stations as well as some magazines around the county. Being familiar with it and having being sparked by her questions and report; I decided to invest a little in it. I logged onto my Sharebuilder account and picked up a few shares.

A few days ago, I got a notice from Sharebuilder announcing a special shareholder meeting and included the proxy to vote my shares. I have never attended a public company’s shareholder meeting; I have usually just sent in my proxy if I remembered about it. Since I was in town and had some free time I decided to attend in person and see what the fuss was about. Maybe I might even learn something in the process? Naah.
(more…)

It seems the biggest rage in the credit card industry for a while has been the 0% balance transfer deals. The theory behind the deal is rather simple; you take a new or empty card and transfer a large amount via direct deposit or convenience check into your bank savings account. You make the minimum payments until the deal expires and then payback the transferred amount while enjoying 6 months or a year of free interest on the credit card company’s dime. Some possible downsides to this type of deal need researched before trying it. Check Fatwallet’s Finance forums for some stories about this.

I finally took the bait and did this type of deal with a discover card, but for different reasons. Over the past few years, I had racked up a bit of credit card debt (I know the lectures, but as they say you always ignore your own best advice) and realized I was not making much progress on getting rid of it. The math of course is not hard, paying 0% interest is a heck of a lot better than say 20%. The downsides were the balance transfer fee ($50) and starting in September I will have to make a few purchases every month to keep the rate. Nevertheless, I figure I will be better off than otherwise.
(more…)