Bet you thought today was going to be a “Post Christmas Roundup.” Well, my good friends to the north are celebrating Boxing Day today, and it’s a holiday in its own right.
I just found a deal, Coinstar with give you a $10 bonus gift card when converting $40 in coin to one of the many gift cards they offer. If you were planning to buy an iTunes, or other store cards, this is free money. No fee involved. Some time ago, I had some negative remarks about Coinstar, a fee of 9% to turn coins to bills made no sense to me. I called the fee an idiot tax. Now that they’ve offered a number of gift cards instead of cash and a fee, I’m ok with them. And their Redbox service is pretty decent. Last time I flew, I was able to grab a DVD at one airport, take a flight, and deposit it after I landed. A jusr released movie for $1. Not bad.
At The Tax Foundation, they asked Does Lowering Taxes Increase Government Revenue? Well, if you don’t know what the Laffer curve is, you might want to read this article. Can we ever know where we stand on the curve? And despite the evidence, will people go for it?
Russ Thornton at The Wealthcare Revolution started a seven part series on Understanding Monte Carlo Simulation. He’s up to the 5th installment, but it’s a great series you can read from the 1st installment. Monte Carlo Simulation is a way to predict long term market probability, often used to determine how a specific investment strategy will payoff over one’s retirement years. A complex topic, a great read.
The Financial Buff offers The Backdoor Roth IRA: A Complete How-To. Here is a step by step on how to transfer your post tax IRA deposits to a Roth without impacting your Pre-Tax IRAs. A sneaky but legit method, I like the idea.
Last, this week, a guest post on Len Penzo’s site, from his daughter, Nina on Why I Love Christmas: A Guest Post from My Daughter, Nina. I wonder if he paid her. When my daughter guest posted, she got a $1 per comment and that post got a record number. Anyway, Merry Christmas to you too, Nina.
Joe
Thanks for the mention, Joe.
I’ve gotten good feedback on my “Understanding Monte Carlo Simulation” series and plan to post part 6 tomorrow morning.
Hope you’re enjoying the holidays with your family.