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Finance Findings is Binary Dollar’s periodic link dump.

• How We’re Rebalancing Our Investment Portfolio: Modifying Our Asset Allocation [Digerati Life]
• 10 Tips For Dealing With Car Salesmen to Make Sure You Don’t Get Hosed [Generation X Finance]
• Inflating Your Ebay Rating [Lazy Man and Money]
• Lifestyle Inflation – When Does It Become A Problem? [Tao]
• Colleges Sell Alumni Data for Extra Cash [Money Smart Life]
• Credit Inquiries: Hard Pull and Soft Pull [Sun's Financial Diary]
• State and Federal Income Tax Arbitrage [Five Cent Nickel]
• Free Checking Isn’t Really Free [Blueprint]
• The Cost of Being Overweight [Free Money Finance]
• A Mortgage Is Still Debt That Needs To Be Reduced [Mighty Bargain Hunter]

Send your submissions for Finance Findings to henry@binarydollar.com.

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Umbrella insurance is a type of insurance that provides extra protection beyond your auto and homeowners insurance. Let’s say that a tree on your property falls and completely destroys a neighbor’s house. You get sued and are ordered to pay $500,000 in damages, but your insurance will only cover $300,000. If you don’t have umbrella insurance, you’re going to have to cover that additional $200k out of your own pocket. Unless you like giving away a couple hundred thousand dollars (if you do, give me a call), you’re probably going to wish you had umbrella insurance. For around two or three hundred dollars a year, you can get an umbrella policy that will provide you with up to $1 million of umbrella coverage.

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Finance Findings is Binary Dollar’s periodic link dump.

• My Personal Saving and Investing System [Sun's Financial Diary]
• What Have You Got Against Credit Cards? [Tao]
• Curb Appeal: One Of My Best Investments Yet Or How I Turned $80 Into $5,000 With Minimal Risk [Digerati Life]
• Understanding the Fine Print of a Loan Can Save You Money and Grief [Generation X Finance]
• Alternative Income Streams Progress – June 2007 [Lazy Man and Money]
• Are Real Estate Agents Worth the Money? [Money Smart Life]
• The Best Online Brokers [Free Money Finance]
• Eight Things To Consider When Buying Someone Out [Mighty Bargain Hunter]
• Four Reasons You Should Get A Payday Loan [Blueprint]
• Eco-Friendly Energy Savings [Five Cent Nickel]

Send your submissions for Finance Findings to henry@binarydollar.com.

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Fidelity offers Age-Based 529 investments. Just pick a year.

The best time to save for your children’s college tuition is when your child is born. A small investment now will help them cover their college costs in the future. Say you invest $10,000 when they’re born. Assuming a 12% annualized return, it will grow to about $80,000 by the time the kid’s 18 years old and ready for college. $10,000 investment to pay for $80,000 in school costs? Not a bad price to pay for college at all.

Watch out though: You don’t want a bear market to challenge your kid’s future. You’ll want to secure that fund as cash as the child gets older. Use an age-based 529 investment to save for college.

Age-Based 529 Plans automatically adjust from aggressive (mostly stock investments) to conservative (mostly bonds and cash) as the child comes closer to their project college years. All you have to do is pick a projected year and the fund will handle the rest. The downside is that you pay a bit more in management fees since it’s an actively managed funds. The upside is that you get to spend more of your time playing with your kid instead of balancing their investments.

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Finance Findings is Binary Dollar’s periodic link dump.

• Zecco IS Cheap [Sun's Financial Diary]
• Traditional Jobs For Men And Women And The Gender Divide [Digerati Life]
• Practicing Basic Tax Diversification [Tao]
• How to Talk Your Way into Debt [Money Smart Life]
• Lazyman’s Prosper Update [Lazy Man and Money]
• Don’t Be Fooled Into Thinking an Oil Change Every 3,000 Miles Is Necessary [Generation X Finance]
• Are Inflated Shipping Charges On eBay Bad? [Mighty Bargain Hunter]
• Why You Need a Budget [Free Money Finance]
• Are You a 0% Credit Card Daredevil? [Five Cent Nickel]
• GEICO Paid Out A Fraudulent Claim [Blueprint]

Send your submissions for Finance Findings to henry@binarydollar.com.

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The sooner you and your spouse can agree on where the family money goes, the better. The best time to figure out finances is before you’re married when both of your money is separate.

I’m getting married in November. The shared finances discussion has begun. It will continue for the next few months until we’ve covered all of the ground rules. These premarital financial discussions should minimize the fights while we’re married.

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Buy books that are used. Most are in good condition. You’re buying the book for the words so don’t worry that the spine is a little bent or the pages are a bit folded. I just bought a $35 dollar book on Amazon.com for $15 bucks used.

Some people are irked by buying books used. They’re afraid that the previous owner had abused and neglected their book before putting it on the market. Rest assured: They’re nothing wrong with most used books. The previous owner is selling it because they need the money. Or they do what I do and buy books and then not read them.

[Photo Credit]

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Today’s open mic question:

Completely subjective question: How much money do you personally need to retire?

Leave a comment. The commenter’s URL doesn’t have the “nofollow” tag. That means Google juice for everyone!

Here are the rules:

• No spam.
• I reserve the right to delete spammy or trolly comments.
• Comments close at the end of the day (or whenever I feel like it).
• Say anything about anything.

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