Life 101
325 posts
Guide to Buying a Home With a Mortgage in the U.S. "Including My Personal Experience"
Buying a home is a major life milestone no matter which country you are in. If you are planning to buy a house, it helps to start preparing early and learn about the process in adv...
Guide to Third-Party Payment Methods [Update 4/6: AMEX CHECK OUT Extra 2x Points]
You can now earn an extra 2x Membership Rewards when using AMEX Check out at eligible merchants. Purchases must be completed by May 17, and each card can earn up to 5,000 bonus poi...
Our Go-To Tool Recommendations: Get More Done with Less Effort
Here’s a roundup of the tools I use most often for account management, flights, and hotels. Hope they help you too....
Who Offers the Best Free Credit Score? [2/22 Update: Citi Now Offers Free FICO Scores to Everyone]
Citi is now offering free Experian scores to everyone, even if you do not have a Citi card. You only need to register for an account on Citi’s website and verify your identity—no c...
Apple Products (iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iWatch) Buying Guide
Sharing how to buy Apple products (iPhone, iPad, iWatch, Mac) cheaply and the way you want....
DIY U.S. Passport and Visa Photos
While Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens all offer passport photo services, they’re pretty expensive—usually around $15 for two photos. For students, that can feel like a serious budget h...
Equifax Data Breach: Over 143 Million Users’ Information Stolen, Free Credit Protection Offered
Today, Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus in the U.S. (and other countries), made major headlines after hackers stole sensitive data on 143 million U.S. residents from...
A Chinese Postdoc in Milwaukee Arrested for Reselling Gift Cards? A Gift Card Veteran Explains What Really Happened
Many people have probably seen this news story already: a Chinese postdoc in Milwaukee, FAN XIA, was arrested for reselling large amounts of iTunes gift cards to China. But the cas...
Guide to Third-Party Gift Cards Sold by Merchants [7/12 Update: Amazon Starts Selling VGCs]
Amazon is now selling Visa gift cards! Unfortunately, you still can’t pay for them with Amazon gift cards. These Visa gift cards can be used for manufactured spending, so they’re s...
Amazon Shopping and Savings Guide [6/18: Get a 2% Bonus with Auto-Reload]
Amazon Prime members can use a Checking Account linked to their Amazon account to Auto-Reload their Amazon balance (reload gift card funds to the account) and earn an extra 2% bonu...
Apple Pay Will Launch Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Transfers
Apple recently announced that person-to-person transfers will be introduced in iOS 11 in fall 2017. Apple is partnering with the “well-known” Green Dot to make this feature work. I...