Here are some posts that have piqued my interest this week:
–Best Rewards Cards of 2014 by Mike Jelinek: This post provides a good overview of what to look for in a rewards card and gives their take on what are the best cards. The author clearly favors the Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard (evidenced by the NINE sign up links present in the post). It is a good card, but the annual fee greatly decreases its value after one year considering there are many cards that offer at least 5% back on lots of categories. I don’t think there is ONE good card for everybody, but the Arrival is a decent choice.
–Save Money on Health care: The Benefits of an HSA by Catherine Hawley: Nice and informative post about Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s). Opened my first one this year so we’ll see how it goes. HSA’s have great tax advantages as you contribute to them with pre-tax income, they grow interest tax free and they can be withdrawn and used tax free for eligible healthcare expenses.
–Start the New year by Saving Money by Arthur Murray: Nice and easy to digest money saving tips for the new year. Love the recommendation and possible savings of a good credit score.
–5 signs your credit card sucks by Bargaineering: I talk a lot about the characteristics of awesome credit cards, but a lot of people would benefit from just getting rid of their terrible cards. This post gives the main traits of crappy credit cards. Avoid them.
–Say No to a Boring Retirement with These Alternatives by MoneyNing: Retirement is traditionally viewed as just chilling at home and watching TV for a few decades. This should not be the case as people are living longer and sometimes with not enough money to whittle away their golden years. It’s important to stay active once you call it quits from your traditional work, and this post gives a few ways to do just that.
I have noticed a big trend with the Barclays card, I tend to think they have a handsome referral bonus for bloggers. Thus the reason why its promoted so much in the past month. HSA are great tool if you have the flexibility to move the funds to another account in the future, and not lose the money. Some providers offer this feature while others do not.
Yeah I have noticed that trend as well, but I’m not going to fault anyone for trying to make money off of referrals as long as it’s done in the right way. HSA’s can be very helpful for a lot of people. Thanks for the comment.