When I started No Credit Needed, “way” back in 2005, there were just a handful of personal finance blogs.  Now, there are hundreds.  Here are a few sites that can help you (and me) keep up with the ever expanding pf-blogging community.

PFBlogs.Org - If you are looking for personal finance blogs, start with PFBlogs.Org.  As I type this, PFBlogs is tracking and aggregating over 1100 blogs.  When a personal finance blogger posts new content, PFBlogs will let you know.  I visit this site three or four times a day.

PersonalFinance.Alltop - This site lists the five most recent posts from some of the most populuar personal finance blogs.  The site does not publish summary text and it has a very minimal interface.  I visit this site once or twice a week.

The Finwikian - If you like Wikipedia, you’ll like The Finiwikian.  The Finiwikian is a wiki for all things personal finance - and it’s a great resource for finding out more about your favorite personal finance blogger.  Registered users can edit entries.  Click here to view my Finiwikian page - No Credit Needed.  I visit this site once or twice a month.

PopTopRanks -  This site organizes blogs by their subscriber numbers.  No Credit Needed usually ranks between 6 and 10 on the list.  (Want to help me move up? Consider subscribing to No Credit Needed.)  PopTopRanks also lists the most recent post from each blog.  I visit this site two or three times a month.

Personal Finance Buzz - If you dig Digg, you’ll dig PFBuzz.  Like Digg, users submit articles.  Articles are then voted up or down by the PFBuzz community.  I have just created my PFBuzz profile, and I’m looking forward to getting involved with this (relatively) new site.

Fire Finance Top 100 Personal Finance Blogs -  Fire Finance ranks personal finance blogs by web traffic.  Using input from three different sources, FF has compiled a comprehensive lists.  Currently, No Credit Needed is ranked 12th.

Financial Ramblings - Who’s been around the longest?  Who posts the most often?  Who has the most readers?  Financial Ramblings has answers to all of these questions.  This new resource is pretty amazing.

Do you have a resource that you use to keep up with the pf blogging community?  Leave a comment and let the world know about it.  Feel free to link directly to the resource, but please avoid comment spam.  Comments that link to iffy content will be deleted.

• 16 Comments

The information in this post is out-of-date.

Click here for up-to-date referrals.

For those looking to open an online savings account or online interest bearing checking account, I have some new referrals for my favorite online bank, ING Direct.

Click one of the referrals below to open a new Electric Orange Checking Account With ING Direct.

Features of the account -

Electric Orange delivers the access and convenience of checking with the earning power of savings:

• Earn interest (1.75% APY on balances up to $50,000)
• Free ATM access at more than 32,000 location
• A MasterCard® Debit Card for purchases
• Free Bill Pay and automatic overdraft protection
• To receive your $25 bonus, your initial contribution must be at least $250.
• If you apply through one of the referral links below, I’ll receive $10.

Electric Orange Checking Referral

Electric Orange Checking Referral

Electric Orange Checking Referral

Electric Orange Checking Referral

Electric Orange Checking Referral

Electric Orange Checking Referral

Electric Orange Checking Referral

Click one of the referrals below to open a new ING Direct Orange Savings Account.

Features of the account -

The Orange Savings Account

• No minimum balance required. Everyone earns the same high yield.  (As of July 31, 2008, the yield is 3.00% APY)
• 24-hour access to your account - you’re always ready for opportunities.
• FDIC-insured - your money is safe and secure.
• To receive your $25 bonus, your initial contribution must be at least $250.
• If you apply through one of the referral links below, I’ll receive $10.

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Orange Savings Account Referral

Once these referrals have been used, I’ll post more.  If you click on a link and the referral does not work, then it has been used by someone else.  No problem.  Simply contact me and I’ll send you your very own referral link, straight to your email.

If you would like to open an account, but you don’t have $250 for the initial deposit, you can click here to open an Electric Orange Checking Accountor here to open an Orange Savings Account.  You will not receive a bonus, but you’ll still get the same great rates!

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As many of you know, I’m a big fan of Upromise.  Sign up for free, register your debit cards, credit cards, and grocery bonus cards, and you can earn cash rewards for your kids’ college.  Upromise encourages you to invest the rewards in 529 plans, but, I don’t use 529 plans to save for my kids’ college.  Instead, I like to withdraw my money from Upromise, once a year, and use the money to fund my kids’ Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).

From the Upromise site -

Can I withdraw company contributions from my Upromise account without transferring them to a savings plan, and if so, how?

You can withdraw your Upromise contributions at any time during your membership. To withdraw company contributions from your Upromise account, submit a letter in writing to Upromise requesting a withdrawal from your Upromise account. The letter must state your full name and exact amount that you would like to withdraw, up to total amount available in your account, pending contributions are not eligible for withdrawal.

For the protection of our members, we require that your letter either be notarized or contain a Signature Guarantee if the withdrawal request is in excess of $200. A Signature Guarantee is a guarantee you can obtain from a financial institution, such as your bank, that your signature is yours and that it is genuine.

Withdrawal letters should be sent to:

Upromise
ATTN: Customer Care
P.O. Box 55555
Boston, MA 02205-5555

Download Withdrawal Request Form (Direct Link Removed)

Checks are sent once per calendar quarter, so you should typically receive your check within 12 weeks of your request being received.

As you can see, Upromise makes it easy to get to your money, and then you can do whatever you want with it.  (They’ve even created a Withdrawal Request Form.  Print it out and mail it it in.  In about 12 weeks, you’ll have your check!)  Of course, you could leave your money in the Upromise account and invest it in a 529 plan.  Whatever you decide to do, it’s good to know that you can get to your rewards money, if you want.

Right now, I have more than $50 in my account.  I’m going to mail my letter Friday morning.  I’ll let you know when my check arrives.

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I just received an email from the folks over at Streetread.  So, I decided to take a quick look at the site.  Here are the details:

The site does two things -

1.  It aggregates headlines from several popular financial sites.  (Think Business Week, Yahoo Finance, The Wall Street Journal, etc.)

2.  It helps you gather information about stocks that you want to follow, by presenting stock quotes and the most recent headlines associated with a particular stock.

I signed up for an account.  (Signing up took about 20 seconds, which is nice.)  I only own one individual stock, so I wanted to see if the site would track my ETFs and Mutual Funds.  Unfortunately, while the ETF symbol was recognized, the site would not pull up information for my mutual funds.  Also, it looks like the site only works with U.S. stocks and does not aggregate information for international stocks.

I think the site has some promise, but I’d love to see them add support for mutual funds and increase the number of sites from which they gather information.  Check it out, see what you think - StreetRead.

Personally, I’ll bookmark the site and watch to see how it changes and evolves.  Right now, the site looks very promising, and might become a viable alternative to Google Finance.  (Oddly enough, even though Google is known for its clutter-free design, StreetRead is actually much less cluttered than Google Finance.  For someone like me, who struggles with information overload, this is a huge plus.)

By the way, this post isn’t paid for or anything.  I just thought my readers might find the site useful.

• 1 Comment

I use Upromise to earn cash rewards when I use my debit card. If you’ve been thinking about signing-up with Upromise, now would be a great time. If you sign up now, and buy something, online, through the Upromise site, you will receive a $10 sign up bonus. You can link your debit cards, grocery cards, and credit cards (boo!) to your Upromise account and receive rebates from several major companies. Check their site for more details. Click this logo to sign-up.  It’s free - and we love free!

By the way, you do NOT have to transfer money from Upromise to a 529 account. For more details about how to get Upromise to send you a check for your rebates, click here.

• 0 Comments