So I’m afraid I may have been scammed again, and this time by a fundraising organization.

ENJOY THE CITY http://www.enjoythecity.com is a Fundraising company that allows you group or organization to sell fundraising books to earn money for whatever it is you are raising money for.

For Example, a group at my church was selling these coupon books for $20, and I believe that the church group gets to keep 50% of that money, or $10.00.

Initially, these books with hundreds of restaurant and other coupons seems like a great deal…mostly because they have several pizza restaurants involved that actually offer you a coupon for a FREE pizza is you meet the manager.

For Example, Today I drove 40 minutes to Happy’s Pizza at 6045 S. Cedar St. in Lansing, MI to use my “Enjoy the City” coupon the says the following “MEET THE MANAGER SPECIAL:  ENJOY ONE FREE LARGE TWO-TOPPING PIZZA”  No purchase necessary, carry out only!  Valid through December 31 2012. I was VERY excited to use this coupon to try a new pizza place, and truly, these types of coupons was EXACTLY why I bought the coupon book in the first place.

When I go to use the coupon, the girl at Happy’s Pizza tells me the following, “We are not accepting these coupons!  This is fraud, and we never signed up for this program.  We feel terrible, and have upset a lot of potential customers.”  I was very upset, and she told me the following…”The coupon book companies phone number is 1.866.359.2489, you can call them to complain.”

I, of course, try to call ENJOY THE CITY to ask for my $20 back…but as you can expect, no one at the company will answer the phone.  My only option was to leave a message…we will see how that goes.

This seems a little bit like my Restaurant.com problem!

Has anyone else had a problem with the  ENJOY THE CITY Fundraising program?  Let me know!

Thanks,   -TAM

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Recently, as I’ve been surfing the Internet, reading financial blogs and yahoo finance forums, I’ve started to notice an interesting credit card trend.

The major banks are getting REALLY aggressive with their credit card rewards programs.  It seems like I’m seeing an ad on ever site I visit tempting me to open up a new credit card account with Chase or Citibank…and their are offering me 50,000 Bonus Points, and more, if I take the plunge.

This is a pretty amazing deal!  These bonus points are very easily turned into cash or gift cards at almost any major retailer or restaurant.  The catch is that generally you have to spend around $3000 on the card, in the first 3 months that your new account is open, t0 get the bonus rewards.

In addition to the bonus, you still get the normal 1%, or somethings 2%, rebates on all of your purchases.  The free stuff can add up fast if you are a big spender and if you pay off your card in full each month.

Conclusion:  The best offer that I’ve found at this point is from Citibank.  Check out http://www.citi.com/rewards

Remember, USE CREDIT CARDS WISELY!  If you buy a bunch of stuff you don’t need, or carry a balance and pay interest, you will never get ahead…and you could be stuck being an “Almost Millionaire” forever

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If you’re trying to save or clear old debts as a family, then you may have recently decided to keep your spending within the limits of a budget. However, this is often easier said than done, and making financial sacrifices can by tricky. Here are a few tips which may help you to stick within the limits of the budget which you have set.

Firstly, it is important to make sure that you are clear about your budgeting goals. How much are you aiming to save each month, and where will the remainder be spent? After all, even if you’ve got a great credit card deal from somewhere like lovemoney.com, you will still need to prioritize your outstanding payments above the money which you might otherwise allocate to various leisure activities. Rather than being vague and simply suggesting that you ‘budget’ in order to ’save’, you are far more likely to achieve your aims if you set specific goals and limitations on your overall spending.

Another good way to stick to your budget is to try and use cash wherever possible. Paying by card can sometimes be much too easy, and you are more liable to forget that the money which comes out of your account can be eating into your budget. By handing over physical cash, you will be automatically more aware of exactly how much money is changing hands each time you make a purchase.

Rather than just wandering around various stores when you are picking up your family’s groceries, make a list of what you actually need while you’re at home, and then stick to it. It is also a good idea to hang on to your receipts, so that you can keep a record of exactly how much of your budget has been spent, and where.

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On May 15, 2009, I asked my readers a question…

Is Quicken Loans a Scam?

I had had a relatively good experience with a mortgage refinance with Quicken, and had suggested Quicken to a friend, but my friend felt like Quicken Loans scammed him out of $750.00.

As of today’s date, this question about Quicken Loans has lead to over 110 comments…and most of them are truly worth taking the time to read.  Many of my readers have left rather lengthy accounts, and sadly, many feel they were duped by “mortgage experts” at quicken loans.

I give you this update because this morning I found This Quicken Loans Article online and it made me sad for my readers who have complained.  I don’t know anything more about this West Virginia fraud case, but my suggestion is to do your research before giving Quicken Loans, or any mortgage company, any upfront deposit money.

Again, I personally had a very good refinancing experience with Quicken here in Michigan in 2009, but there is quite a bit of feedback here that stopped me from using them a second time, when I refinanced again this week.

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It has been over a year since I started using FirsTrade.com for my Individual IRA Account.

The basics of FirsTrade.com is that they offer $6.95 Stock Trades, free real-time quotes and research tools. The company has been very good to work with. I have had to call customer service only once, and I had a real person on the phone within 5 minutes…which is acceptable.

FirsTrade.com has a clean, easy to follow trading platform. The only issue that I’ve run into is that when I try to place a market order, I get an error message, and I’m, basically, required to place my order as a limit order. Other than that, I’m quite impressed with FirsTrade.com and have recommended them to friends.

My only suggestion to the company is that they allow you to make a trade order, and view a real time quote, on the same screen. As their software is currently configured, you are sent to a different screen when you request a quote.

For what it is worth, I had been sitting on about 50% cash in my retirement account for almost a year.  I went heavy into the market on last Wednesday after the “mini crash” that we experienced.  I picked up some great companies at pretty nice discounts to what I feel they are truly worth, and I’m hopeful they will grow nicely over the long term.

I would love to have a comment about what you were investing in last week!!!

Happy Trading and Investing!

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So I bought my first gift certificate from Restaurant.com today.

What a big, fat waste of time and money!

Restaurant.com advertised that I could buy a $25 Gift Certificate for a small restaurant located near me…The End Zone…in Horton, MI FOR ONLY $10!!!

What a great deal, I was excited to try a new place!  I loaded up my 4 kids, and my wife, and jumped into the Ford Expedition for our mini road trip.

So we get to The End Zone, order drinks, and immediately give our gift certificate to the waitress.  We are excited to try $35 worth of food and drinks (that is a stipulation of the deal, our gift certificate clearly says that to use the $25, we need to spend at least $35…not hard for a family of six!

The waitress frowns and tells me that The End Zone in Horton, MI, DOES NOT participate with Restaurant.com, and that I’ve been scammed!

I WAS MAD!  How does this happen?  Restaurant.com seemed like a legal website.  Are they selling gift certificates to restaurants WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE RESTAURANT OWNER?

Please let me know if this has happened to anyone else!!!

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Not much to say about this video, except that technology is amazing!  It has been a big week for my family.  My oldest daughter learned to ride a Segway…and more importantly…a bicycle!  She is very excited to be able to cruise without training wheels.   AND my 4th child and only son started crawling this week, at 7 and a half months old…everyone is getting mobile!  Life is good!

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Well…I hate to say that I told you so…but I will   As many of you remember, I was buying Silver a couple of years back (Investing in Silver) and it has turned out to be quite a strong investment!

The question now is, at $50 per ounce, is it time to sell my silver holdings and lock in significant profits?

I have a history of selling at the completely wrong time!  Recent Example:

Bought Apple @ $87 per share in about Nov. 2008, and sold it at $175…just to see it rocket to $350 about a year later.

Is silver going to do the same thing to me that Apple stock did?

All the reasons I was buying Silver in 2008 seem to still be in place.  For example, our government continues to print money and kill the value of dollars at an alarming rate!  And I suspect they will continue to do that, as the best way to pay off down our $15 Trillion of dollar denominated debt is to significantly lower the value of US dollars…which means Silver could keep running up.

Anyways, I’d appreciate the input of the financial wizards who visit this blog, so PLEASE, let me know what you think!

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If you are like the majority of the population, you love to earn money. There are countless ways of doing so in the world today, many of which can be achieved online. A great type of income that can be made online is passive income. The brilliant thing about passive income is that it gives you the ability to keep earning money on something long after you have done the work or made the initial investment. There are many different ways to make passive income online, and most are easier than you may think.

1. Writing

If you like to write, there are many ways to make passive income online by doing so. Certain sites, like About.com, HubPages, and Triond allow you to publish your writing online and keep getting paid for it, long after you have written the information. These sites make it easy to get your writing published, and you usually make money every time a person views your articles or web pages.

2. Photography

Many people love taking photos, but don’t always know what to do with them once they’ve taken them. If this sounds like you, you should try selling your photos online. Many people, such as advertisers, writers, and graphic designers, are always in need of quality photographs for their projects. They will pay you a one-time fee for photos they want, and can use them however they wish. You can sell photos on your own website, but often times you don’t even need your own site to do so. Many sites, such as iStock, will display your photos for you, but will keep a portion of your sales.

3. Music

If you enjoy making music, you can sell your creations online, much as you would with photographs. Various businesses, websites, and directors are continuously on the lookout for music that would enhance their projects. Again, they pay you a one-time fee for tracks they want, and can use them anyway they choose. You can do this through your own music store website, but many sites exist that will sell them for you for a cut of the profit. You basically keep making money on tracks that you have already created, which is a cool concept.

4. E-books

If you believe you have some information that people would like to know and learn about, you can write an e-book detailing this information. If people are interested enough, they will buy your e-book. There are great benefits to writing an e-book, like not having to wait for a publishing offer, and not having to worry about the physical aspects that go along with real books. You can create your own sales page for your e-book, where you would receive all the profits, or you can sell it through a website like Amazon.com. If you choose to sell it through another site, they will again be keeping a percentage of your sales.

5. Affiliate Advertising

If you have your own website, you can make money by promoting other people’s goods and services on your site. For example, if your website is focused on gardening, you can partner with other companies that you think would be of interest to your followers. These may include gardening supply companies or seed companies. You can place advertisements of these companies on your site, and each time a visitor clicks on their ad and then orders something or fills out a form, you receive a commission from the company you advertised.

6. Drop Shipping

Drop shipping is a fairly simple method for earning passive income online. You basically get paid for selling items that you never physically see. You display the items on your website, and each time someone purchases something, the order gets forwarded on to a wholesaler that physically has the products and ships them for you. Your main job is to create a brilliant, memorable website that catalogs all your products. You will also need a few wholesalers that will work with you. In the beginning, you may have to pay a fee to these wholesalers, but from there on out, everything should be profit. Drop shipping is quite genius because you personally hold no stock of products, meaning you only pay for what you sell.

7. Designing Products

Working with sites like CafePress, you can create various designs, choose what type of products you want your designs on, and CafePress makes them. These products may include t-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers. All you have to do is promote your products, send your design to the company, and they take care of the manufacturing and shipping of the products you wish to sell. They keep part of the profits from your sales, and you get the remainder.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes for InsuranceQuotes.org.

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Believe it or not, I may have a found another company trying to pull a fast one on the hard working people of Michigan.

A couple of years ago I signed up for Volunteer Energy as my natural gas supplier here in Michigan instead of Consumers Energy.  I was told that Volunteer Energy had a track record of saving their customers approx. 15% when compared to Consumers rates.

I was told that my rate would change month to month based on the price that Volunteer Energy paid for the gas they were selling me.

Until yesterday, I had basically forgot about this switch, and assumed that Volunteer Energy was a reputable company and was going to give me the best rate that they could each month.

YESTERDAY, I get an e-mail from a company called Revolutionary Wireless.  This company is apparently a marketing company or sales company that represents Volunteer Energy.

THE SLOGAN ON TOP OF THE SALES MATERIAL THAT WAS SENT TO ME SAYS “START WITH TRUST” This is interesting to me because I did trust that Volunteer Energy was going to give me the best rate on natural gas that they could, each month, in an effort to keep my business and let me know I made a good choice when I left Consumers Energy for my natural gas.

IT APPEARS MY TRUST WAS NOT WELL PLACED.

The sales material I was e-mailed from Revolutionary Wireless lists and compares 15 months worth of Natural Gas prices between Consumers Energy and Volunteer Energy.  FOR EXAMPLE, The sales sheet says that in May 2010 that Consumers Energy was charging $6.8426 per MCF of Natural Gas, but Volunteer Energy was charging $5.49 per MCF of Natural Gas…a 20% savings!  APPARENTLY NOT TRUE FOR ME THOUGH…

I printed off my Gas bill for May 2010 and it clearly says that Volunteer Energy charged me $6.49 per MCF for my natural gas.

I then checked other months, and in April and March of 2010 I was also charged significantly more that what Volunteer Energy is advertising as their rates for those months.

Needless to say, I’m upset and will be calling the company tomorrow.  This seems like a scam to me…telling customers that you charged a certain amount in the past to try to get them to switch over…when in reality, your current customers didn’t receive the published savings…what do you think?

Please let me know if anyone else has had this problem with Volunteer Energy!  It is probably a good idea to check your energy bill today…then leave a comment and let me know…maybe it only happened to me!

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