Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with money and cash

How to get cash-back on credit cards, and other sweet deals?

idyllhands — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:00:03 -0800

My first credit card..looking for cash-back (and other sweet deals) I have never had a credit card before, and have basically no credit. I recently got a well-paying job, and am seeking recommendations for cards that offer cash back perks. I don't want to pay more than a few bucks in yearly fees, and plan on paying back everything I purchase immediately. I am just a penny-pincer, looking to make the most of my money =)
It seems most banks these days aren't offering any savings interest (a few tenths of a percent), so I figure this is one way to make some money (by saving on purchases). As a sub-question, I would appreciate any other ways to make my money work for me; I can put a few grand away for a year, but a few tenths of a percent interest doesn't really appeal to me...
I recently found out about Bing cashback, so am looking for other sweet deals like that as well.

I have $30,000 burning a hole in my pockets.

brenton — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:11:08 -0800

Where is the best place to put my $30,000 as I slowly withdraw from it over the next 2 years to pay for Grad School. As of today, I saved exactly $30,000. I will quit my job in a month, and I'm starting classes in the Fall. I won't have any other source of income for two years, besides school loans and these savings.

I currently have them in a WAMU Online Savings account, which was paying 4% interest before, but now is paying next to nothing.

Best way to get cash into my online checking account?

subclub — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:11:04 -0800

What is the best way to get this cash into my online checking account? After dealing with Bank of America for about 10 years I finally shut that account down and I'm doing all my banking online (Fidelity). I never really deal with cash at all so it has worked beautifully.

Well, until now. I just sold some stuff and have a few thousand dollars in cash that I'm not really sure what to do with. Fidelity won't accept cash deposits, even at their physical branches. I don't have an old school bank account to make a deposit with (and I really don't want one; this is something that might come up once every 2 or 3 years).

Is anyone else in the same boat? How do you deal with this? Will a bank write me a check for my cash if I'm not a customer? Should I just give the cash to a friend with a checking account and get a check from him? I don't necessarily want to saddle a friend with a big wad of cash.

Help me before I just head to the nearest strip club!

Who wants to be a multi-thousandaire?

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:47:35 -0800

My father died and we have to sell his house. I'm going to be inheriting $200,000+. Realistically, what would you do in that situation? I'm a 40-something female who has spent time actively changing her relationship with money this year (had to since I knew this was coming -- don't want to look back and have regrets). I'm starting to interview financial advisors right now (this book says to look for fee-based CFPs, any thoughts on that?). My basic goal right now is this... pay off all of my debts first, allocate 10% to create a better life for myself and the rest to build a solid retirement savings and hopefully live off of interest someday if the market ever decides to turn around. For the next fifteen years or so I plan to continue living off of my own income but I'm hoping that now I'll be able to allow myself more freedom to focus on projects I'm passionate about instead of freaking out about paying bills and being forced to accept work I don't enjoy.

I'm making lists of all of the ways I could utilize this money to create a life that will bring out my best self over the long term. I want to use this money towards things that will allow me to be a happier, better person and friend. I'm thinking up things ranging from the most mundane little things to the most fantastical (just 'cuz they're on the list doesn't mean I'm going to do them but I'm brainstorming), including things like getting my teeth totally fixed, traveling more, having a housekeeper once a month, surprising one of my best friends by flying across the country to help her pack when she moves, recording my music, doing volunteer work overseas, paying my nieces' night school tuition, finally decorating my apartment the way I want, taking a bunch of fun classes in things I'm really interested in, expanding my businesses, getting spa treatments once a month, hiring a personal trainer to help me get into shape quicker, etc.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do? I'm basically trying to see if there's anything I haven't thought of that I can put on the list so that my head is completely empty of any thoughts about this money long before I actually have the cash anywhere near me. When this money actually arrives, I want there to be no adrenaline rushing through my brain, by then I want to have already sorted through every crazy idea and have formulated a solid, unemotional game plan that I don't have to stress out about or second guess.

Hellllpppppp! :)

Money can't buy everything, it's true.

Devils Rancher — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:55:54 -0800

Is there a legal limit to the amount of cash money a US citizen can keep on their person, in their home, or in a safe deposit box? It's a hypothetical -- I'm sure I'm nowhere near that limit if there is one, but in conversation with a Swiss friend, he mentioned that he thought there was a limit in his country, due to money-laundering laws. I just thought it prudent to have a little reserve, due to these insanely uncertain times, and having to endure a run on my bank does not sound like fun, should one come to pass. I've done a couple of cursory Google searches, and maybe my Google-Fu is just off, but I find nothing. This is mostly out of curiosity, as I'm a wage-slave with no hopes of ever filing up that mason jar in the back yard with Bens.

"So what kind of salary were you looking for?" What's a good answer to such a question?

krautland — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:50:26 -0800

"So what kind of salary were you looking for?" What's a good answer to such a question? I hate this moment in interviews when a potential employer asks how much I want. the range of what I could ask for in my industry is wide and the trade-rag statistics don't really help me either. so I usually go with what I think is fair. sometimes that's right-on but sometimes it's too much and sometimes it's too low.

this question is about to come up again. I'm tempted to go low because I quite like the opportunity but the potential job brings serious responsibilities with it and I don't want to suggest that I'm less experienced than I actually am. the written information I do have on the position does not state what kind of salary they are looking to pay at all.

so how should I handle this question? is there a nice way to deflect the question back to the interviewer, to suggest they should make an offer?

Help me find part time work

BoldStepDesign — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:26:19 -0800

I'm looking for a way to supplument my current income with $200-300 a month on top of current work. Any suggestions? I have tons of Photos that I want to sell through stock photos, suggestions? My Skills:
• Managing vendor contracts, working with vendors to resolve problems and managing vendor
projects.
• Extensive experience providing superior customer support via phone, email, in person,
and through ticketing systems.
• Computer system support, help main computer systems and software
• Troubleshoot hardware and software issues including, but not limited to; Microsoft Windows
XP and Vista operating systems, Microsoft Office 2007 with a focus on Office 2003 issues,
LAN/WAN connectivity, workstation and laptop hardware components and peripherals, and
printing/fax issues;
• Set up new user accounts on domain and phone system, including all group privileges
assigned;
• Experience in setting up, maintaining and managing Mac OS X and Windows XP operating
systems.
• Experience with setting up users, modifying their privileges and setting up exchange features
in Microsoft Active Directory 2003 and Exchange 2003.
• Set up new Phone users in Cisco Call manger 4.2, Set up voicemail and phones.
• Set up content restrictions in Bluecoat web filter
• Monitor and block traffic in Cisco ASA firewall
• Designing and building web sites, in HTML,CSS and working with JavaScript frameworks
• Designing flyers, business cards and other print items in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
• Providing help to users in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, answering questions, and
training them in better methods to get what they’re trying to get done.

Is it becoming the norm for people to work more than one (or even two) jobs just to stay afloat?

msposner — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:21:57 -0800

Is it becoming a more acceptable trend for individuals to work more than one job just to maintain a certain standard of living? I work three jobs (my wife also works full-time) and yet it seems as if we barely can keep ourselves afloat on a monthly basis. Help me from going crazy here! Background information: I work three jobs. Job number one is a state employee (CT) for a position that requires a master's degree (I actually will be finishing up my second one in a few months). Job number two is working as an independent contractor for a technology company (10-15 hours/week). Job number three is a teacher for an adult education program (5 hours/week).

My wife is a full-time teacher.

Together, we have little debt (<$5k) and we are hardly reckless with our spendings. Most of our purchases are related to the upkeep of our home and cars (2). We rarely eat out but we do have a house and all the associated bills. With me working all these hours, we've been able to be afloat in terms of our bills and expenses.

However, I am seeing more and more people, including colleagues in state employment looking for second (and sometimes, third) jobs just to "stay afloat." They too, claim that they don't have any really "out of the world" bills.

I am wondering what other people are experiencing, especially in the state of today's economy and whether this trend is related to the fact that I live in CT (a very, very expensive state) or if this is something we need to expect to become the norm just to maintain normal, decent standard of living.

Or it could be that I don't make enough money with my primary job ($50k/year)...

Any thoughts? Feedback? Insights? All would be greatly appreciated.

Super depressing winter murder movie.

agentofselection — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:13:41 -0800

Forgotten movie: Winter, small crashed plane in the woods, bag of money, resulting woes. Spoilers inside. I remember a movie probably 10+ years old. A man and I think his brother find a crashed small plane containing dead men and a bag of money. They take the money. It corrupts them, and one man and his wife end up killing the other, and a few other people. Eventually the FBI come to town looking for the money, which was apparently from a ransom or something. They don't catch the couple, but do disclose that the serial numbers of the bills were recorded, making the cash unspendable. In the end, the couple end up with the blood of friends/relatives on their hands, and a bag of money which they can do nothing with but burn. Anyone remember this?

Where is All My Money Going?

davidstandaford — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:30:48 -0800

What is the best online web 2.0 personal expense tracking sites? I recently started using Mint, and I'm very happy with the way it can keep track of all my money from different account in one centralized location.

I'm hoping there is something similar that I could use to keep track of how I spend my money, where I could enter in my credit and debit card info and it would auto-import all the money I'm using with my plastic. Obviously, this would require entering in cash and check expenses by hand, but I mostly use cards for day to day purchases.

If there doesn't exist any sites that will automate part of this, I'm looking for the best websites where I can enter in daily expenses by category and get monthly reports of what percent of my money goes to different categories (rent and utilities, transportation, food, entertainment, etc.) and check trends over time.

Certificate of Deposits

benji — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:32:26 -0800

What is the best place to get a CD (Certificate of Deposit)? I am looking at getting a CD for about 10,000 for around a year. Anyone have any experience with this? How legit is eloan.com (who seems to have the best rates)?

Making quick cash while waiting to hear back for a job

Kwirq — Sat, 19 May 2007 16:06:03 -0800

How can I make some quick money for groceries & bills while I'm waiting for my job interviews to pan out? Hi folks. My first and only job (six years, programming for the university) terminated in March, forcing me to look for work in the Real World. Days after I put my resume online, a recruiting agency had me in and started getting me interviews with programming companies, which seemed pretty promising.

Problem is, these companies (really just one that I'm interested in) are taking forever, and my Sweetie's paycheque isn't carrying us very far. I can see that I should have had many more irons in the fire and I would have been employed by now, but what can I do in the meanwhile to make some extra cash to keep us going?

What I've thought of:

• Temping: Can someone tell me their experiences with this? Is it a day-by-day thing or per-week or what? Do you need a car to get around? When do you get paid? The only experience I have is .Net/Web development and flipping burgers in high school.

• Selling my junk on ebay: Having taken stock of the apartment, everything falls into pretty much two categories: Stuff we want to keep, or stuff no one would buy.

• Freelancing: Is there such a thing as micro-freelancing? As in, do a few=n hours coding, make n*$20 (or whatever) that day? Or other e-labour? (The Mechanical Turk would be cool, if it paid better, and more quickly.)

Any help with the above, or other ideas, or links to relevant past AskMes that I missed, would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Investment options for the young and the restless?

killdevil — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:03:32 -0800

A friend needs to find a good place to park some money that will ultimately be used for house down-payment purposes. Help me come up with a few good investment options. My friend has around $100k sitting in a low-yield savings account. It pains me to see the cash left there when better options are legion.

Key points: the money will be invested for around 1-3 years. I think one or two good mutual funds would be a reasonable choice, but am not really an investor myself so I don't have specific funds or fund families to which I can point my friend.

Other options are welcome, of course, provided they are relatively conservative and are low-maintenance (i.e. they do not require active monthly monitoring; keep in mind that my friend is relatively young and is not an experienced investor).

Thanks!

How much is US citizenship worth?

xanthippe — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 04:48:34 -0800

What is the cash value of an American passport? I'm not asking about how much it would cost to buy a passport on the black market or anything along those lines, but rather, what is US citizenship worth approximately, if you were to put a monetary value on it?

Are ATMs the perfect machine?

TBoneMcCool — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 12:00:45 -0800

Do ATMs make errors? I realized the other day that after a more than 15 years of constant ATM use, I've never erroneously received too much or too little money from a cash machine. ATMs break down all the time, and they sometimes run out of money, but I've never heard of a cash machine handing out too much or too little money. My question is twofold: First, have any of you ever received an erroneous withdrawal amount from an ATM? Second, how can these machines operate with such an extremely low error rate? Every other electronic/mechanical device that I can think of -- cars, bicycles, computers, electric grids, airplanes -- break down or make critical or catastrophic errors from time to time. But the cash-dispensing functions in an ATM somehow seem to be immune.

It's all about the benjamins (and ulysseses), baby.

oaf — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:38:49 -0800

No bills larger than...? I manage a box office at a theatre. Occasionally, people will try to pay with a large bill ($50 or $100). Unless they're buying more than five tickets, this is not reasonable, and it has the added effect of wiping out my ability to make change very quickly (sometimes instantly). I want to develop a consistent policy to avoid this. Currently what I'm thinking is that I won't accept a $50 for a purchase of less than $25 or a $100 for a purchase of less than $50.

Does this seem reasonable? There's no legitimate reason to try to pay for $20 worth of tickets with a $100, especially since no ATM I've ever been to actually dispenses bills that large; you've got to be trying to impress someone by carrying around huge denominations like that.

(The only other thing I've thought of is to keep a wad of $2s stashed in the safe, and then to give change for large bills entirely in $2s if possible. Because nobody but me likes them.)

Check my cheque

acoutu — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:28:58 -0800

What do I do if the wrong name is on a business cheque (check)? I run a small business and I met with a new client today. To my surprise, they gave me a cheque for the full amount of our project. (I was just expecting a deposit.) When I got home, I noticed that the cheque is made out to my company and not me.

For the past 8 or 10 years, all my business payments have been made out to me. However, about a year and a half ago, I formally registered my business under a name, although the only place I usually use that name is in contracts. This new client took the business name from the contract and used that for the cheque.

The problem is that, due to a complicated pregnancy and maternity leave, I haven't had a chance to set up a business account yet. All the work I've done in that time (a scant amount) has been made out to me, as opposed to my business, so I wasn't too worried. I was very busy with more pressing issues. And my accountant said it was silly to set up a bona fide business acccount when I only use my personal account for cashing cheques from clients anyway and a business account would be one more thing to track and pay for. (He said that the government doesn't care whether I have a business or personal account as long as I keep proper books.)

So...short of making an appointment with a bank and dragging my baby to the bank to open a new business account, is there any way I can cash this cheque? The contract does say my name d.b.a "ABC Company". I'm guessing the bank would refuse to cash the cheque unless I open a business account. But I honestly don't have much time to do that right now and I'd hate to pay for a business account when I am really not planning to do much work in the next year.

(Yes, I know I could call the client and ask them to re-issue the cheque in my own name, but that would look profoundly unprofessional.) Thanks.

Selling my house and keeping the cash - possible?

cubedweller — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 13:22:24 -0800

Selling a house and keeping the cash - my wife and I are in the midst of selling our house. When all is said and done (fees, taxes, etc all paid) we're going to get $250k. The expected thing to do is move to another house and use that money as a down payment. But we're playing around with the idea of taking the money and travelling for six months - can we? More Inside... Are they simply going to hand us a check for $250k and that's it? Or is it transferred straight into the next real estate transaction to avoid tax implications? If we do just take the cash, will get screwed on taxes? We're in California if that helps at all.

Creative summer & side jobs

koenie — Sun, 22 May 2005 19:48:30 -0800

Summer is coming. I'm a student. I'd like to earn me some dosh in as pleasant a way as possible. Additionally, since I'm already sitting behind a darn desk for the whole friggin' year, I think it's time for a change. No coding. No system administration. No data entry. No QA. I think you catch my drift. One possible option I've been considering is that of becoming a lifeguard. Training only takes a month. Sun. Water. Money. It can hardly get any better in my humble opinion. Do you have any additional suggestions? By the way, don't limit yourself to summer jobs.

ATM Windfall

Danf — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 13:23:54 -0800

I just went to my corner credit union ATM and made a $15 withdrawal. The machine gave me $80. Reflexively, I went into the branch, and reported it. They were appreciative. Two people virtually raced over to the back of the machine to shut it down.

At the time, it was a no brainer. But I am wondering if, since the receipt I got indicated a $15 withdrawal, and the cameras usually focus and faces, what would the traceability of it have been? I wonder if Diebold might have been stuck with the mistake. . .Maybe my honesty could have been turned into a political act, if Diebold would have lost out on the money. . .

How much cash do you have on you?

Jaybo — Sun, 07 Nov 2004 18:37:11 -0800

How much money do you typically carry with you at any one time?

Better to change pounds to USD in London or Los Angeles?

Optamystic — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 10:57:34 -0800

Money changing. (More inside) I'll be traveling from London to Los Angeles on Thursday, and I will have a goodly amount of cash in pounds. I don't have a UK bank account. Am I better off changing this into dollars while in London, or should I wait until I get to the U.S.? Either way, should I do it at the airport, or offsite?

Are there any international virtual currencies?

dabitch — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 04:12:58 -0800

There's Paypal, eGold, amazon bucks et al. Is there a "net-cash" system out there that people from all over the world - from Aruba to Brazil to Zimbabwe - can use?