A Cliff Jumping Roundup

We’ll start this week’s roundup with If Everyone Jumped Off a Cliff … from Paula Pant at Afford Anything. You see, in response to one of Paula’s articles, she received a note, “If everyone did that, society would collapse.” Now, the funny thing is, that’s true. If everybody went in one direction, whether it be savings, investing, or any spending habit, there would be consequences. As much as the financial blogging community promotes frugality, the truth is, if everybody turned frugal, spending would slow us right into another recession. An interesting thing to ponder.

Lazy Man tell us about his One More Refinance. He’ll be at 2.75% 15 years, and saves from both the lower rate as well as the extended time on the loan, from the remaining 13 years left on the prior mortgage. The key thing is that he knows the difference. What’s remarkable is the comment suggesting that he continue to make the same payment to retire this loan even faster. This rate is below the rate of inflation. Even ignoring taxes, this rate is as low as it gets.

Next, Len Penzo offered A Simple Trick for Getting Credit Card Interest Charges Waived. And I’m not one to ruin the punchline, well, not since I told my sister Soylent Green is people, so you’ll have to read Len’s full article to understand how it’s done.

Cash Flow Mantra discussed Apple vs PC — What Should You Buy? The decision isn’t simple, it’s a chunk of change and a decision you’re likely to live with for a few years. What will your next computer be?

At The Hill an article caught my attention this week. Obama budget to take aim at wealthy IRAs. The devil is in the details which are a bit thin in the article, but the one line is what got me – Under the plan, a taxpayer’s tax-preferred retirement account, like an IRA, could not finance more than $205,000 per year of retirement – or right around $3 million this year.  What will be the method to cap the accounts? Forced withdrawals? Taxation of the excess? I suppose if a cap is coming, this figure is tough to argue with, it’s almost an anti-Mitt-Romney bill from where I sit.

We’ll close this week with two posts regarding Costco, at Bargaineering,  Why We Think Costco is Worth the Membership Fee, written in response to The Wealthy Turtle’s Is the Costco Membership Fee a Bargain or a Scam? My take on this? Know your prices. There are three groups Costco prices fit, (a) the items are always better than any supermarket price, (b) Costco is usually better, except for a good sale at the supermarket, and (c) the price really isn’t good, the supermarket usually better. For me, it’s that simple.