Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

There were a plethora of NPR stories this week on personal finance topics.

Banks trying to stem mortgage foreclosures, plus legislative discussions for action.

Financial counseling so you don’t end up with a mortgage foreclosure. This just reinforces my thought that everyone who wants to buy a house needs to learn about mortgage products before they look at houses. It isn’t just a house you’re getting, but a financial burden. Picking the right one will make all the difference in your enjoyment of that house.

University professors are making more, but still less than football coaches.

Tax fraud through identity theft. Fascinating story. Of course, he did end up getting caught.

Summer gas forecast. My boss is playing a game. We’re betting on the summer’s high gas price at the Exxon near our office. I said $3.82 just for kicks.

And Joshua Bell plays in the DC Metro. It’s not really about personal finance. I just love him. I’d marry him in a heartbeat. He’s very versatile. He played Bach’s Chaconne in the metro one of my favorite pieces, but he likes American music too, like bluegrass. [Link is to another NPR story on the Chaconne.] The one personal finance angle is that in a hour, he can make $40. That’s about what I make. Of course, I don’t own a crazy gazillion dollar Stradivarius.

Hat tip to Madame X. This one is great. Why people leave their jobs.

Boston Gal on Identity Theft. It’s usually done by family members who are privy to your details.

Hat tip to Amanda at Young And Broke for pointing me to this article about a ‘Potemkin life’, and generally regretting overspending and keeping up with the Joneses.

Savvy Saver is traveling on business. Her advice on expensing things is wonderful. I admit, I’ve gone overboard in the past when I had an expense account. I also admit, that I also have saved my company money by staying with friends instead of at hotels, done the Saturday night stay to save on airfare etc. Then I didn’t feel so bad maxing out the per diem and paying the rest out of pocket to take my host out for an excellent meal. Using her criterion, was it a place where I would have spent the money anyway? Yes it was. I wish I could name the place in NOLA I went with a friend. He had a La Crema Chardonnay in hand where we went and dragged me to Pat O’Brien’s for a Hurricane. (He gave me no choice but paper cup or souvenir glass. The restaurant was past Audobon Park and was called something like Nat & Jenny’s.)

Free Money Finance tries his darndest to convince me that moving out of a major city is the prudent financial thing to do. He may be right working the numbers, but I’ll never, ever, forget going to hear Kiri Te Kanawa in recital. She sang a Puccini aria for her encore and I got chills. The ticket cost me about $75, but was worth every thrilling penny to hear her sing. Yes, you can get opera on the cheap. There is Opera in the Park, student recitals at conservatory, etc. But a superstar, well. That was worth the money.

College Grad on trying to get a student loan forbearance. It’s not as easy as they would have you believe. But then again, consider if your loan is private or government. That seems to be the difference.

Kira at Penny Foolish, she’s one to watch. This a great post and it goes with my old post about increasing blog traffic.

Her at Make Love Not Debt asks if she can charge her rent and make rewards benefits. I think that’s a great idea if you can get it. Her commenters have great solutions.

Bestest. Kid. EVAR. SingleMa is doing something right!

Heads up if you are from Ohio and have used the Ohio University’s health system. Credit Bloggers.com has the story. I have a few people from OH who read this blog and I’m sure they are going to care about identity theft. Especially of deceased relatives who were treated at those facilities. Those are valid SSN’s ripe for identity theft.

FiveCentNickel asks when is an in-state check and out-of-state check? Read on. Basic lesson? Open a local checking account and save yourself the headache when moving across state lines. Take it from me. I moved 7 times in 2 years, including cross country to three different states. Just open a new account. It’s a lot easier.

Did you know you can buy coverage with a homeowner’s policy? It’s about $25 a year. I’m sure there are all sorts of conditions on it, but I decided I would like to add it onto my homeowner’s insurance for a little protection.

After hearing this story, you have to wonder how your personal and private information circulates on company laptops. I know that for home healthcare visits, that may be most practical and a risk you have to accept. But for accounting stuff, you really have to wonder.

Geez, a little more laptop protection by people would probably make a difference. Throw your laptop into the trunk when you leave work, not when you reach your destination. Deposit your laptop some place secure when you arrive at home. Hide it in a drawer, etc.

CNNMoney looks at what really saves gas, through their content provider, Edmunds.com. I find it fascinating. They recommend cruise control to prevent ’speed creep’. I try to use cruise control as much as I can and I’ve been parking myself in the far right/slow lane as much as possible lately. Driving a manual, I coast to red lights all the time. Seems to work for me. The only problem is that I have *always* driven this way, so I don’t save any more money.

2 Cents Worth has a great post about monetizing your blog.

ID Theft from airline boarding passes. I use them as bookmarks on my flight reading material, so usually I end up bringing them home.

And it wasn’t through GEICO!

What did I learn through this?

1. Shopping around is worthwhile.
2. Higher deductibles will reduce your rates.
3. Homeowners insurance is cheap if you don’t have expensive stuff.
4. Identity theft riders are available for homeowner’s insurance.
5. Affinty group discounts are worthwhile.
6. Knowing your net worth is good, because that will help you figure out how much liability insurance you need to carry.

I got a solicitation from Liberty Mutual through my university alumni club. I usually toss these things out, but it was timed perfectly. My auto insurance expires this month. The other incentive to call was a $5.00 Visa gas card just for getting a quotation.

I increased the deductibles for comprehensive and collision on my 5+ yr car. I found out they run a CLUE report, Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange to find out if you’ve ever filed a claim. This is different from your insurance score, an Isaac or Beacon score.

I was paying over $900.00 for auto insurance through an insurance company that does not sell homeowners policies in VA. With this new company, I was able to save myself $60.00 a year, getting just as much auto insurance for higher deductibles, and a homeowner’s policy on my condo which also includes a rider for identity theft at $24.00 a year.

I’m super happy about all this. If you like, I’ll give you the name of the nice man on the phone. He has a direct line. He explained what CLUE was. He’s the one who advised me that in the future as my assets build, I may want to increase my auto liability insurance because I should protect those assets. When I get more assets, I’ll think about it. But as you can see, I don’t need much right now since my net worth is so low!