Those of us doing any kind of work on our personal computers know how crazy things can get when the “infrastructure” goes down. Perhaps you want to start an online business or more likely, you care a lot about what you’ve got stored in your machines. If so, then you should get into the habit of backing up your data. Once, I actually had to shell out $1,450 for data recovery when my computer crashed without a back up system in place. Ouch! On this note, I thought to share the following guest post by Millie Kay G., about a couple of software options one can look into for managing online back ups.

For a lot of us, losing our important computer files means losing money. I keep many of my documents and pictures backed up in a portable hard drive, but using a computer backup service like Carbonite or Mozy is something I’ve been considering lately. I took a closer look at these well-known services to see if they are worth trying out.

Carbonite Backup Service Overview

Carbonite is a popular choice in the data backup arena. Their service will back up your documents, emails, pictures, and even data from programs like Quicken. Once you pay for the service, you can elect to have it back up your music, videos, program files, and other types of data as well.

You won’t run into limits on the amount of data you can back up. However, if you try to upload more than around 20 gigabytes of data, you might find the process slow going. As far as security is concerned, your data is protected by encryption. So if someone doesn’t have your account password, you won’t have to worry about them snooping through your stuff.

What if you need to restore data? Let’s say you lose a file or a whole folder. In that case, you could go to your desktop to seek out your file or folder from your Carbonite Backup Drive and recover it by using the Restore option. Alternatively, if you don’t have access to your computer, you can always visit the Carbonite website to get a hold of your data backup. It won’t take more than a few minutes to recover small files or folders, but if you need to restore a large amount of your computer data, then you should plan on it taking a day or two, depending on how much data is involved.

Windows XP, Vista, and Mac users can all use Carbonite. Their website offers handy tutorials to show you the basics.

Mozy Backup Service Overview

Another computer backup service that has earned kudos is Mozy. For users who want to use the service for personal use, there’s MozyHome, which comes free with limited 2 GB of space. For unlimited storage, it’s $4.95 a month. With it, you download the backup software, then choose which files you want backed up. Your files are encrypted while they’re backed up, and they’re encrypted a second way for storage.

You can schedule when your backups happen. The first backup you make will generally take the longest, if you’ve got a lot of data to archive. After that, the backups should be incremental. As mentioned, if you’re using MozyHome for personal use, you can get 2 GB of storage for free. You can have two computers on one MozyHome Free account.

You can restore your data in a variety of ways. You can right-click on any folder that needs recovery; you can go to the Mozy website to download your files from there; or you can order a DVD of your backup. It may actually be faster to order a DVD than wait for your backup to download on your home internet connection (think of the famous saying from the annals of computer networking: never underestimate the bandwidth of a truck full of magnetic tapes hurtling down the highway).

For business users, there’s MozyPro. It provides an Administrative Console to manage backups from multiple computers, and you’ll benefit from encryption, alerts, bandwidth throttling, and more. For each server and each computer you want to back up, you’ll need to buy a license.

Now with regards to pricing: for desktop computers, it’s $3.95 as well as $.50 per gigabyte each month; while for each server, it’s $6.95 plus $.50 per gigabyte each month.
 

Before you decide on a computer backup service, keep in mind that this works best for users with high-speed internet connections due to the large amount of data involved. A free trial or account can give you a good idea if the service is a good match for your backup needs.

Why Outsource Computer Back Ups?

Why go with a computer backup service if you can do these tasks yourself? Well it’s about making the time and effort to actually do what’s needed, and frankly, for less than $5 a month, it’s something I’d rather outsource. In my opinion, the convenience and peace of mind these services provide are worth way more than several dollars a month.

Also, if you did your own backups yourself, then you’d need a portable hard drive to make it work. It could make more sense to get some “data redundancy” by opting to store data elsewhere via a backup service. Data that’s stored offsite can be easier to recover than say, a hard drive that’s been burned, drowned, or dropped during an emergency.

Clearly, the consequences of missing out on regular backups are not pretty: if you forget to back up something yourself, then you might lose your precious data to a hard drive crash, a wayward virus, or theft if your computer’s ever stolen. Rather than risk your livelihood, family pictures, novel-in-progress, or your music collection, you could rely on a computer backup service as your data storage solution.

For those who use (or have used) Carbonite or Mozy — do you have any thoughts on your service of choice?

Carbonite vs Mozy: Online Backup Services

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

There have been a lot of developments with Mint.com lately, the biggest of which was their acquisition by Intuit (the makers of Quicken software). Mint is known primarily for their free online budgeting tool, which we’ve enthusiastically recommended here; and if you haven’t had a chance to check them out yet, you may want to give them a try. They’ve vastly improved their software, web site, blog and overall content.

They’ve recently gone on the social media bandwagon and have leveraged the power of Twitter by developing what they call their “Money Tweets” feature, a section of their site that’s devoted to up-to-date, real time personal finance information. This is just one more handy way to organize financial content around the web in one place.

Mint’s Money Tweets Section

In this new section, you’ll find selected tweets covering various personal finance topics such as Saving, Investing, Budgeting, Loans and Retirement. There are additional tabs that share tweets that are “about Mint” and “from Mint” along with a Q & A tab, where you can tweet your answer to Mint’s Question of the Day.

And finally, there’s the cool tab that measures how certain financial topics are trending for the day: it’s a quick, visual way to see which money topics are picking up the daily buzz.

Mint’s Trending Financial Topics

If you haven’t checked out Mint yet, I’d encourage you to pay them a visit, not just for their popular and free online budgeting tool, but also for the rich multi-media content resource library they now offer for students of personal finance.

Now for additional financial resources, I’d also like to put in a word for this great Q & A resource called Cash Commons, which I just came across via Mighty Bargain Hunter. I’ve been spending some time perusing this site along with these excellent articles on finance:

Personal Finance Articles

• OneMint: List of Gold ETFs
• Brip Blap: Too Busy For Vacation
• Credit Karma: Paying Back Part of Making Work Pay Tax Credit
• Cheap, Healthy Good: 100+ Thanksgiving Recipes and Links (just wow!)
• Free Money Finance: How to Graduate from Harvard for $40k or Less
• Lazy Man and Money: Trade your CDs for an iPod or iPhone… legally?
• Million Dollar Journey: A Little Food Planning Goes a Long Way
• Monevator: The reality of making money from iPhone apps
• Personal Financier: How I Bought My Son $150 Worth of Cardboard Boxes
• Frugal Dad: Corporate Security Or Freelance Freedom?

Recent Carnivals

• Festival of Frugality: Awesome! Many thanks to the delicious blog called Cheap, Healthy, Good for selecting my post on how to lower credit card interest rates as an Editor’s Pick!
• Carnival of Debt Reduction: I’m glad I made it to John’s short list! Good list of debt management tips here.
• Festival of Stocks
• Carnival of Personal Finance

Mint.com’s Twitter Feature: Money Tweets!

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

Here’s why Scottrade is a top broker that many investors highly recommend.

Having reviewed many online brokers, I’ve noticed how many of them tend to cater to active traders and more sophisticated investors. Well stock brokerage firms are not all alike: some are really much more suitable for those people who trade frequently (see Zecco, OptionsHouse or OptionsXpress), while others are a better fit for the small (retail) investor who prefers to invest for the long term. Some, of course, try to cover all the bases.

Scottrade Review: Top Brokerage For Small Investors

One of those brokers who finds themselves comfortably in that “middle ground” is Scottrade, which is actually quite a popular and well respected company in the industry. They’re pretty well established: they are a leader in the brokerage industry and have been around longer than many discount brokers (having been founded in 1980), with 422 local branch offices around the nation. One thing I know about them, I’ve gotten many positive comments about them on this site, with many happy customers telling me they’d recommend them as a broker. So what makes them such a great choice for many?

1. They’ve won top awards.

It’s not just the word of mouth compliments that have helped out Scottrade’s reputation, it’s also the series of top awards they’ve received from the media. Here is a list of achievements they’ve managed to score well on lately:

• Fortune’s “Top 100 Best Companies To Work For”: #60 in 2009 and #58 in 2008. They snagged this award because they prevailed during the Wall Street debacle last year, and have shown strong growth over the last several years.
• J.D. Power and Associates’ Online Investor Satisfaction Survey: #1 from 2001 through 2008 for overall investor satisfaction.
• SmartMoney Broker Survey for 2009: 4 stars for investment products, trading tools and customer service.

2. Their pricing is extremely affordable.

Stock and Option Trades. The base commission fee at Scottrade is $7 a trade, which applies to stocks and options. However, for options, they do tag on $1.25 per contract to the $7 that is charged. But these great prices are only good for online trades — if you decide to use their phone system you’ll pay $17 while broker assisted calls will set you back $27 (ouch!). So it’s best to keep to online transactions!

Mutual Fund Trades. They also have over 1,150 mutual funds that qualify as “no load and no transaction fee” (or NTF funds); these funds are free for you to buy, sell or exchange online at completely no cost. But be wary that they’ve got no load funds without the NTF designation that will cost you $17 to trade. Load funds can be purchased at no charge, but there’s a fee for selling or exchanging them (subject to some conditions). Once more, if you decide to use a broker to place mutual fund orders, you’ll be hit with an extra $20!

Other things to note: It’s easy to get started with Scottrade since you only need $500 to open an account, plus they have no maintenance fees and no account closing and transfer out fees.

3. Scottrade’s features are top notch.

We already know that Scottrade is tops for customer service and investor satisfaction. So let’s delve into some more details:

Trade Execution Quality. I’m impressed by their dedication to trade execution quality, which they’ve demonstrated by creating a proprietary algorithm called the SBI (Scottrade Best Execution Index) that measures execution speed, effective spread, and certain quote and pricing components. Scottrade utilizes this index to address those market centers that under-perform.

Stock Market Research. They provide an educational center and screeners for stocks, mutual funds and ETFs. And if you become an account holder, they promise you access to more advanced screening tools that rate stocks, funds and ETFs, and that show you dividend history along with price, industry and short interest information.

Products and Services. Their offerings run the gamut of investment products including equities, funds, options and ETFs, as well as fixed income products, CDs and bonds. As I’ve mentioned before, they’re one of those brokerages that provides great support for the average small investor, so you can also open a no fee retirement account or a Coverdell education savings account with them.

Trading Tools and Knowledge Center. For the more active traders, they have an advanced trading platform, streaming quotes and a professional options trading platform. They also have mobile support for those people who want the flexibility of checking their investments anywhere. On top of this, they’ve got a great library of investment resources which include content, reading material and webcasts for your perusal. Note that they were given 4 stars by SmartMoney for their tools and products!

From what I’ve seen, I can consider Scottrade as one of my top choices for online brokers. Their pricing may not be as cheap as TradeKing, Zecco or OptionsHouse, but they more than make up for it by being so well attuned to the needs of the average investor. The icing on the cake is their investor community, where you can learn from and connect with other investors.

Scottrade Review: Top Brokerage For Small Investors

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

You might be waiting in vain for yet another stimulus check from the government. Well, if the recession is getting you down, maybe we can offer a financial lift for one lucky reader out there. BillShrink.com is offering one Digerati Life reader a chance to write their own stimulus check, worth $250. So even if you may not get it from Congress, you might just be able to win some cash to make things a little bit easier during this downturn.

Join BillShrink’s $250 Money Giveaway

1. Visit BillShrink (www.billshrink.com) and help rename their spokesmodel who’s currently known as “Freckles”. Can you come up with something clever or creative perhaps?

2. Leave a comment with the name you come up with, in our comment section below. Explanations for the name are optional . You can simply write “Her name should be Samantha” or something along those lines.

3. That’s it!

Please note that the contest is only limited to one entry per person, and kindly submit a valid contact email address when you leave your comment. Limited only to US residents and those of legal age (sorry!), void where prohibited. One random lucky winner will be selected within the week.

Hope you get a chance to try out and visit BillShrink, to check out their tools and utilities and get to know a useful site that will help you cut costs and shrink your budget! Here’s a little bit more on them:

If you aren’t yet familiar with BillShrink, I’d like to encourage you to get acquainted with it because as its name promises, it aims to help you save money on your daily bills. You may have heard of them mentioned or shown in those Catherine Zeta-Jones’ T-Mobile commercials on television, but there’s more to them than meets the eye. Here is the concept behind BillShrink: by trying out their comparison tools, you’ll potentially save thousands on your credit card bills, phone plans and gas bills. Another selling point? Their average user saves $1,500. Sounds good? Then hike on over to their site and start saving!

Money Giveaway From BillShrink! Win $250 In Cash

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

I started investing in the stock market in my early 20’s. And during that time, I got most of my education through magazines, periodicals, books and even newsletters. The internet was just taking off during that time so the whole online investment landscape had not been widely developed. If you can imagine it, I used to make my stock trades and transactions through the phone, even compulsively checking my account balance and stock prices in this manner. Well, now that a few eons have past, saying that “things have changed” is a complete understatement. If you want to learn how to invest and make money in the stock market, there are a zillion places that you can now visit in order to get started.

Part of getting educated about the stock market and the whole topic of investing involves picking up the theory and the knowledge behind these activities. Part of it also involves getting the experience as an investor. These days, I’m picking up a lot of my knowledge (or at least supplementing it) through online resources that are (mostly) freely available. I’d like to use this post as a platform for discussing those online investment resources. I’ll start off with a list of investment tools, software and sites over here, and if you’ve got more to add, please feel free to do so!

Free Investment Tools, Software and Resources

Most investors visit Barron’s, Smart Money and Motley Fool for their investment information. But why not add these other sources to your resource list?

1. Online Stock Brokers

Sign up with online stock brokers to get access to free tools and resources. Technically speaking, you may not have to get an account with a discount broker to begin learning about investing. Brokerages such as TradeKing, ETrade and Zecco already provide rich resources for investors and traders in the form of tutorials, webinars, reading materials and a built in investment community (via forums). But some of the more sophisticated tools may be available only if you sign up and become a customer at these brokerages.

The kind of tools you’ll find on these sites range from stock screeners, charting software and virtual trading environments and may be of particular interest to more active investors. There are also brokers like OptionsHouse and OptionsXpress that cater more towards traders and have outstanding tools that help you pick up skills and knowledge for dealing with both stocks and options.

2. Morningstar

This company is an investment research firm that’s in the business of stock market analysis, research and education. They offer investment products for retail and institutional clients and is an awesome source for independent market analysis and data. They cater to investors of varying knowledge levels, from novice to experienced. One of the free tools I’ve used from Morningstar is the Instant X-Ray, which allows you to evaluate your investment portfolio, and tells you how it’s weighted. This is particularly useful if you’ve got mutual funds and are wondering about how much their underlying assets overlap. You might also like their Morningstar Mobile iPhone application which you can download to receive quotes, news, ratings, etc through your iPhone. For more information, check out Morningstar here.

3. INO.com

I’m a member of INO.com and have been privy to their investment materials and resources for some time now. They are an online company that also provides investment research and tools for their customers. I’ve also written about their free stock charting tool in some detail and covered some of their free videos on occasion. If you decide to sign up for their free analysis tool, you’ll be able to monitor your virtual portfolio and receive email alerts for quotes and other investments that you’re following. They also have a free investment video channel you may want to peruse.

4. Zacks

Yet another familiar name in investment research, Zacks offers a free membership for you to check out stock recommendations, market commentary, wealth management tips, strategy screens and stock analysis reports. A free registration will get you some basic services such as a daily newsletter, news, charts, research and use of a portfolio tracker and email alerts. Their premium and elite subscriptions offer much more (such as targeted recommendations, stock lists, research reports and stock screenings and rankings), which you can review through a free trial here.

5. UpDown.com

I like the premise of UpDown; they describe themselves as the “leading social platform for virtual investing”. It’s a place where you can improve your stock trading and picking skills without having to risk your own money (think: fantasy football meets trading floor). They also host regular stock market contests which you can join for some nice rewards (how does a few thousand dollars sound?) — if your portfolio performance wins out, of course. Beat the S & P and earn some money!

6. WeSeed

Here’s another virtual trading platform brought to you by the same people behind OptionsHouse, that low cost options broker. Their goal is to empower people to understand the stock market better by providing an investing and trading platform for virtual portfolios and fake money. Check them out here.

There are many more tools out there that are available to budding and experienced investors alike. What we’ve listed is just a sampling! If you’re interested in additional resources and education along these lines, you can, of course, also try out investment periodicals like Investor’s Business Daily and The Wall Street Journal. If you want the perspectives of a recognized “financial guru”, you can check out newsletters, subscriptions and books by some of them. I particularly like the works of John Bogle and dabble a little in the world of Jim Cramer; I find that different “gurus” allow me different perspectives and views of the investing world. This keeps me learning new things all the time, something I appreciate as a lifelong stock investor.

Investment Tools, Software and Resources You Can Get For Free

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

The following is a guest post by Satellite TV Guru, where you can read about everything you want to know about television. As a couch potato, I can definitely appreciate his site!

In hard economic times, usually the first thing that has to go are the items in your life that aren’t necessities. And while television and entertainment are of some importance to overall happiness for a good number of us, let’s face it: they’re not necessities. But if you cut down the average cost that you spend on television and movie shows, you may just be able to squeeze by without ditching the fun things in life. You can cut your entertainment costs without sacrificing the entertainment by reading this article on free ways to watch television online. And of course, there are also the tips I offer below!

Big Ways To Save Money On Cable Television and Satellite TV Services

1. Get what you need out of your television service.

Check out what you are paying for on your cable or satellite bill. You may have extended cable or movie channels that you probably have never even channel jumped to. Figure out exactly what you want from your cable service — what are you planning on watching? For some of you, having cable beyond a basic package is a waste of money.

But here’s where knowing what you need comes into play. Call your cable or satellite company and lay it on the line. Not only can you opt for a more basic package, but you can also opt for a more basic price. In hard economic times, I’d be willing to bet that many people cut their cable expense first. That’s good news for you, if you are looking to get a bargain. Call the billing customer service and ask them for a discount. But be prepared: you should know some ballpark market rates and find out what competing local cable companies charge for their cheaper services.

Stuck on what to say? Try this, as I just used it myself two weeks ago:

You: “Hey, cable or satellite company! I’m in a financial bind and looking for ways to cut costs. Unfortunately, your bill is too high and I may have to cut it. I’ve been a customer for a really long time and hate to do that, but other cable or satellite tv companies are offering me a more reasonable deal! I thought I’d see if you could offer me any discounts on my bill?”

Really Nice Cable Company Employee: “SURE!”

See how easy? Of course, it may not turn out that easy all the time. But knowing how your money is being spent on cable is half the battle.

If for some reason your cable or satellite company can’t offer you discounts and you’re not contractually obligated to staying with them, you may want to consider checking out Dish Network along with cheaper plans from DirecTV or Comcast.

2. Skip Pay Per View, always.

So you want to rent a movie or catch that special viewing only on Pay Per View. But the cost of Pay Per View is enough to make me cry. Usually, movies start at about $3.99, which is similar to the cost of renting a movie for three to seven days! If it’s a special event that you really want to splurge for, that’s a bit more forgivable, but do think about it. If you like to watch a movie every Friday night, you are adding about $16 to your monthly bill. That’s quite a difference!

3. Check out video rental services.

If you do find yourself frequently scanning the new releases, then check out video rental services. Services like Netflix or Blockbuster Online can be a great way to save on your entertainment costs. Netflix has service options available for as low as $4.99 a month. For those who don’t watch television frequently and are very busy, this option could even replace your cable costs.

Think about it: for just $16.99 a month, you receive unlimited movie rentals, online movie streaming capabilities (also unlimited), and on top of this, you can also have three movies out at a time. This is an amazing deal! Especially if you have an XBox 360, where you can now rent Netflix from and stream directly to your television. You can even purchase a Roku player for a one time $99 fee; with this, you will have the capability to stream directly to your television. For those of you who don’t mind waiting to catch your favorite television series on DVD, this is something to strongly consider. Check out this full Netflix review.

4. Make going to the movies more affordable.

For some of you, going to the movies is a pretty important event. This is something I can understand. Being a movie buff can be pricey though. So for some basics: skip the snack bar. I know, I know. The popcorn smells absolutely delicious. But not only is it high in calories, it’s high in price. So instead, pack a wide variety of snacks from home, including drinks, and tuck it in a bag.

Skip the more expensive, night time movies and opt for a matinee. It’s cheaper and usually quieter!

Look out for coupons to the theater and check their website: your theater may offer cheaper prices for tickets purchased online. Sometimes, Fandango has promotional deals; however I wouldn’t recommend buying your tickets there on a regular basis because they charge an extra $1 a ticket as a fee.

Image from WCCA TV13.

5. Check out other resources.

A lot of people forget about other local resources in their neighborhood. Particularly in the summertime heat, a lot of local towns and organizations may offer free movie viewings in the park. Check out what’s playing, pack up a cooler, and take your blanket. What better way to watch a flick than to do it for free? This is also a great option for those of you with children who aren’t quite ready to take their kids to the theater just yet. It’s certainly a nice way for the family to enjoy a show (outside of the house).

Check out your local library. Many libraries have a wide selection of DVDs available for check out. While they may require that you return the movie sooner than your books, it’s another great (free) option.

Finally, organize a movie night with friends! Everyone can bring a favorite movie and snack to settle down, hang out, and catch a movie. It can be a great way to see new movies that you may never would have tried to see, plus getting together with friends is just plain fun!

Don’t let the cost of entertainment and cable get you down. Just look for alternative, new ways around this and who knows, you’ll probably make your life that much more exciting!

Save Money on Cable Television and TV Services

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

Have you seen this new internet search site yet? I got to playing with this fun, visual search web site called Spezify, which promises to be colorful, though I’m not sure if there’s anything more value added here, other than the cosmetics. Well technically speaking, it’s not a search engine per se, but a site that serves as a pretty front for your searches. Here’s an example of some results I got when I searched for myself:

I find it pretty neat — it’s definitely a novelty, but I’m wondering just how practical and functional it is. It reminds me of that Wordle thing I played with a while ago in this post. I like the cool presentations and the creativity here, and I can see the appeal of these applications on those who can appreciate some great visuals. I’m already thinking of the implications.

As for internet searches, what do you folks think of Bing? Is there finally a reason for Google to look over its shoulder? Here’s looking forward to more online competition, especially among the search engines! .

Now on to some great financial articles for the week!

Personal Finance Articles

• Wise Bread: Would You Accept $200,000 If You Didn’t Know Where It Came From?
• Ask Mr. Credit Card: Airline Transaction Gone Bad
• All Financial Matters: Watch Those Expiration Dates on Rebate Cards!
• Almost Frugal: Know Where You’re Going
• The Financial Blogger: Think Outside the Box Before Quitting Your Job
• One Mint: Indian Budget
• Personal Finance Playbook: For Those Of Us Who Hate Change
• Lazy Man and Money: Amazon Friday Sale – “Hammock Finally?” Edition
  
• The Sun’s Financial Diary: June 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• Brip Blap: There Is No Cost To Good Health

Recent Carnivals

• Carnival of Money Stories: It’s getting harder and harder to make the Editor’s Choice in these carnivals, so when I make the cut, I am truly excited! Thanks to My Journey To Millions for choosing my story on how my credit card account got closed as one of his top picks! Make sure to stop by his carnival (it has a great theme about the richest Americans).
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Festival of Frugality
• Carnival of Debt Reduction

Internet Search Site For The Visually Inclined: Spezify

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

I’ve been covering a number of online stock brokers here including the likes of Scottrade, TradeKing, ETrade and many more, as an exercise in discovering which sites out there are supportive of investors and traders alike.

I remember the “old” days when I’d call up my stock broker or when I’d visit my local Charles Schwab branch to talk to a representative who could help me work out the kinks in my investment portfolio. These days, there are slick new investment sites (online brokerages and mutual fund companies’ sites) that are available for us to use, providing us a highly convenient platform for our own investing activities.

OptionsXpress Review: A Broker For Stock Investing and Options Trading

Well there’s a stock brokerage for everyone. If you happen to be looking for a stock broker that focuses its support on the more advanced aspects of investing and trading, then you may be interested in a site like OptionsXpress.

If you check out our post on the latest discount broker survey by SmartMoney, you’ll see how well OptionsXpress ranks among all other online brokers. This brokerage has received generally high marks, and here’s why:

Awards

OptionsXpress has one of the cleanest sites around, but do they measure up to their “look”? Well, here are their notable honors:

• Barron’s “Best Online Broker” for several years straight (from 2003 to 2006)
• Among the best brokers in 2002 and 2007 for certain categories (Trade Experience, Technical Trading Tools, Usability, Research and Customer Service Access)
• Forbes “Best of the Web”
• Smart Money “Best Discount Broker” in 2004

It seems that they were tops in the broker race for sometime until ETrade took over in recent years. I’m going to attribute their momentary eclipse to the fact that ETrade has expanded their investment product offerings and banking area, thereby coming across as the more “all around broker”. In broker surveys, customer service and banking services are areas where OptionsXpress can improve, while they score pretty highly for their technical tools and the customer trading experience they offer.

Pricing

With regards to pricing and rates, I’d classify them as middle of the pack among online brokers with commissions in the $10 range per options contract; but pricing gets progressively cheaper the more you trade. Same thing goes for their price per futures contract ($2.99 if you’re a high volume trader). As for stocks trading, they’re in the same boat as ETrade, at $9.95 per trade.

Investment Products and Virtual Trading

OptionsXpress clearly shines in the areas of options and futures. They’ve got strong technical support in these areas, but also offer a great environment for those investing in stocks, ETFs, bonds and mutual funds. They allow perks such as free broker-assistance, free account transfers ($100 credit if you transfer a minimum of $2,000 to them) and the ability to open any account type. You’ll also get free Morningstar reports, stock tools, access to over 4,500 no load funds and a well-integrated bond platform that gives you access to municipals, corporates, treasuries, CDs, etc.

And here’s another bonus: I like how they have a “Virtual Trading” feature that allows you to trade without risk: if you open an account with them, you can then set up a virtual trading account where you can practice trading as much as you want!

Trading Tools and Resources

Here’s where OptionsXpress rules. If you visit their Tools Center, you’ll see their tools neatly lined up with learning videos and tutorials that are classified according to customer experience/education levels. This part of the site is extremely well organized and comprehensive. Here’s a taste of what they have:

• To help you FIND your next investment, check out their whimsically named tool called the “Dragon” which is their powerful search engine for options and stocks. Other applications help you screen for analysts’ recommendations and for investing opportunities based on market sentiment, trading patterns and chart patterns.
• To help you ANALYZE your investment positions, they’ve got applications that include a Trade Calculator that helps you gauge risk vs reward, an Option Pricer that shows you how market conditions can influence options pricing, and your standard systems for Quotes, Watch Lists, and Alerts.

Investment Education and Research

Like many new-fangled brokers out there, OptionsXpress gives you a free investment education once you sign up with them. I like how they categorized their “education tracks” according to what it is you want to learn about. For information on any investment product (options, futures, stocks, bonds, ETFs and mutual funds), they have video tutorials that cater to the novice, intermediate and advanced investors. There are also demos, newsletters, webinars and live events you can attend to beef up your knowledge. They also go the extra mile by giving you access to a “Personal Coach” who’ll provide you weekly one-on-one coaching sessions, self-tests, training materials and a hotline.

Usability, Ease of Use

Can this broker’s website be any slicker? This broker prides itself for being one of those rare sites that gives you one central account login to access ALL their investment platforms. I once worked at a couple of financial institutions where behind the scenes, I dealt with a spidered network of systems that had to be integrated. Generally, systems integration and data processing behind the pretty broker screens aren’t as tight as what you may be led to believe. So this ability to trade everything from options to bonds in the same account is actually a plus. I’ll take it!

Closing Thoughts

OptionsXpress is geared for active traders and investors, particularly those who’re interested in advancing into other types of trading (e.g. commodities, futures and options), although I don’t see why the typical investor can’t work with them. Still, for long term investors, you may also want to consider brokers like Scottrade, ETrade or Sharebuilder (the latter two have well developed banking and money management platforms), or a mutual fund company like Vanguard or Fidelity.

OptionsXpress Review: Stock Investing and Options Trading

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

With Microsoft Money software no longer being offered, you may be wondering what other budgeting software products and tools may be available for use. The good news is that there are a lot of great alternatives to MS Money.

Here are a number of popular budgeting tools that you can check out:

Budgeting Tools and Software Products For Your Desktop

• Excel Spreadsheets: If you aren’t an Excel user, could it be because you’ve deliberately decided that spreadsheets are just too much of a bear to use? But it may be time to revisit how Excel works. I personally use this tool for my financial management needs. While it’s the most basic tool out there for your money (some desktop products are actually based on it), it’s also the most flexible one you’ll probably ever come across.
• You Need A Budget: I’ve covered the YNAB tools to some extent before — just check out my review of YNAB (You Need A Budget). YNAB Pro is a highly rated desktop budgeting tool which incorporates a methodology that strongly encourages you to stop living paycheck to paycheck. The product enforces a strategy that allows you to create a savings buffer while you budget. You can check out more details here.
• Quicken: This software is probably the best known alternative to Microsoft Money. On occasion, there’s a Quicken software discount offered on Intuit’s products that range from $20 to $50 off (depending on the product). The latest sales promotion will become available from June 15 to June 28 when you’ll be able to receive the aforementioned discounts. Quicken products include Quicken Deluxe, Premier, Home and Business, and Rental Property Manager, which you can pick up here.
• iBank: From IGG Software, we have this financial management software application for the Mac. The full version costs $59.99 and the software comes with a 30 day guarantee. It has some interesting features, including the ability to sync up your data with your iPhone, and the ability to manage your loans and investments. It’s also compatible with tax applications, allowing you to export your tax records to software like TurboTax.
• Moneydance: Here’s another software product that you can download. It appears to do the standard stuff that other products do, but there’s one thing that stands out about this application: the fact that it’s open source financial software that runs on a lot of software platforms such as the Mac, Windows, Linux and various Unix operating systems. Moneydance is also one of the fewer products that can support multiple languages and currencies. The downside? I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve read that it comes with less features (bells and whistles) than more popular products of its kind. Could simplicity be a good thing? It’s available for $39.99 as of this writing.

What About The Free Financial Tools?

For your money management needs, there’s also the free online stuff that you can blame for the demise of Microsoft’s money software. So what are some of the buzzworthy online personal financial tools out there?

• Quicken Online: We’ve already discussed Quicken desktop products, but if you’re looking for an Intuit product that’s available at no cost, then try out Quicken’s free online version.
• Mint.com: This online personal finance tool is one of the most recognized in its space. I’ve actually covered them a little bit on this blog. Find out how Mint stacks up to similar tools in the following articles: Mint vs Thrive and Mint vs Wesabe.
• Wesabe: This is another great money management tool that comes with a highly regarded online community. They’ve got some cool forums too.
• Thrive: With this tool, you’ll be able to do the basics: make a budget, manage your spending, manage your savings, plan for your future and get a credit score. Check out my Mint vs Thrive post for more insights.
• moneyStrands: Yet another financial site to help you set up a budget, control your spending, and start saving… you get the picture. I’m sure there’s more where this came from.

With online banks, online brokers, free personal finance tools, sites and other desktop personal financial software products to compete with, Microsoft Money could no longer compete in the budget software marketplace, but hopefully the alternatives we’ve provided will make for good replacements.

Budgeting Tools and Software Products in Lieu of Microsoft Money

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

More ways to lower your health care costs.

I’m starting to get to that age where the need for medication is beginning to creep up on me. And I’m starting to notice just how much prescriptions and medications can quickly add up and infringe on our carefully structured budget.

10 Ways To Cut Costs On Prescription Medication

When you’re young, your budget for health-related items tends to be quite low; your expenses usually relate to diet, exercise and the occasional visit to the physician. But over time, medical matters start adding up.

A few years ago, I was combating a mystery condition that cost me upwards of $275 a month from prescriptions and doctor’s visits. To this day, I have never found a diagnosis, but luckily, a lifestyle change seems to have vanquished my physical symptoms (could it have been stress?). Back then, I definitely could have used a few tips to manage my costs. For those who continue to live with the need for ongoing medication, here are some suggestions to control your budget. Here’s my countdown to cheaper medicine!

10. Ask your doctor for options. Generic medications are considered by the medical community to be as effective as brand name alternatives.
9. Order prescriptions by mail. Mail order prescriptions can be relatively cheaper than those picked up in your pharmacy.
8. Keep fit with diet and exercise. Remember that an ounce of prevention is always the better deal. Check out these affordable ways to stay healthy and these cheap ways to exercise!
7. Buy generic or over the counter if it’s possible.
6. Buy in bulk if you’ve got an ongoing need for a specific medication. It may cost less at some places like at shopping clubs.
5. Should you cheat? Some people suggest splitting pills or taking medication less frequently. But this would entail altering the suggested dosage. Check with your physician before attempting this strategy: make doubly sure that you aren’t tampering with your medication’s potency or that you aren’t making it less effective.
4. Buy the same medication abroad. Some countries have the same drug products at less cost.
3. Use your health savings account at work in an optimal fashion. Check with your HR department about how to best use the health benefits you have.
2. Comparison shop and keep your eye out for discounts.
1. Use Medtipster! I just stumbled onto this cool new tool which I’m introducing below.

Get A Cheap Prescription and Discount Medication Using Medtipster

Medtipster has a really great premise, and so far, I found the features very helpful. The success of the site will hinge upon the quality and quantity of data it’s got in its database. If you need to do some basic research on a particular drug or prescription, then this is a good place to start. Here’s what Medtipster will try to give you:

• It will identify discount generic programs for the prescribed drugs you need. Many programs offer discounted prices at $4 or less.
• It will specify which pharmacies in your local area carry discount programs, along with prices/costs.
• Not all drugs can be found at discount, but the site will notify you when discounts become available or if there are other options you can consider.

Here are a few snapshots I took when I searched for the drug “Synthroid” (a thyroid medication) in my local area:

Search Results

Pharmacy Locations for Discount Programs

Other interesting features and notes about Medtipster:

• You can use the site to search for pharmacies in your area that offer shots, immunizations, health screenings and mini-clinics.
• The site promises to incorporate non-pharmacy locations in the future.
• You can reach a registered pharmacist on call for Q & A via email or phone (on a given schedule). Her name is “PharmaSueAnn”.
• There is a medical tips section as well as a forum.

Medtipster certainly looks like a promising resource for those of us having to deal with prescriptions. Hope you can share with us how well (or not) this tool works out for you!

Find A Cheap Prescription and Discount Medication Using Medtipster

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci