Happy Birthday, Abe!

Happy birthday, Abe! Yes, today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. And what an inspiration President Lincoln is. He is one of my favorite historical figures and also one of my favorite presidents.

Abraham Lincoln’s life should be an inspiration to anyone. Did you know that he lost his job in 1832 and was also defeated for state legislature in the same year. In 1833 he failed in business. In 1835 his sweetheart died. He had a nervous breakdown in 1836. In 1838 he was defeated for Speaker. He was defeated for nomination for Congress in 1843. He lost renomination in 1848. In 1849 he was rejected for land officer. In 1854 he was defeated for U.S. Senate. Abe was defeated for nomination for Vice President in 1856. He was again defeated for U.S. Senate in 1858.

Wow! That’s a whole lot of failures. I don’t know if I would have run for public office again after losing that many times! But guess what? He did. And Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States in 1860. Not only that, he changed history as President and is regarded as one of the greatest Presidents of all time.

“Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.” Abraham Lincoln

“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.” Abraham Lincoln

Just Paid Off All My Student Loans!!

Woo hoo!!! I just paid off all my student loans!!! Piece by piece. Bit by bit. Day by day. Step by step. That’s how you get out of debt! Today I’m one step closer to being completely debt free!!! I’m on schedule to be debt free by September of this year!!! I can’t wait! All I have left now is credit card debt (all at 0%). Time to knock that out, too!

Christian Finance Blog Inauguration Day Coming!

 

Today may be Inauguration Day for President Obama, but Christian Finance Blog is going to have its own Inauguration Day on Presidents Day (February 16 this year for the uninformed). Get ready for a brand new theme, a grand reopening Presidential Giveaway and much more! You can check out a preview of the new design at www.christianfinanceblog.com. Remember that it’s just a preview right now.

I gave up on designing my own theme after the coding proved to be too difficult with the limited time that I have. Make sure you subscribe to the feed to keep up to date on the upcoming changes and huge giveaway! I’ve got lots of goodies to give away. You don’t want to miss it! Mark Presidents Day on your calendar! CFB Inauguration Day is coming!

Happy New Year and Get a FREE Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! And what a great year it’s been! Here’s wishing you another great year for 2009! It’s never too late to get out of debt, save some money, and give some money away! Speaking of giving…

Chick-fil-A is giving out free Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits on New Year’s Day! All you have to do is visit your local Chick-fil-A and get a free chicken biscuit with any purchase!

I love Chick-fil-A and especially their chicken biscuits! Try it with some jelly or jam (depending on where you’re from)! And remember that Chick-fil-A is Christian owned! Hallelujah!

Last Chance to Win TaxCut 2008!

Tomorrow’s your last chance to enter into the free giveaway for the 2008 TaxCut software worth $35! There’s only ## people signed up right now, so you have a great chance to win! Go over to the post and comment now!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday, dear Jesus.
Happy birthday to you!

Today marks the most important birthday in the history of the world! Jesus Christ was born on this day (or at least that’s what we celebrate) and entered into this world 100% man and 100% God (wouldn’t that be 200%?). He was born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary in an impossible birth only made possible by God. And He’s my savior! He’s my friend! He’s my father! How ’bout you?

Jesus changed the course of history on this day and Jesus can change your life, too! If you just let Him.

Missed My Plane

Well…what do you know. I missed my flight for the second half of my business trip. I printed my boarding pass the night before like I always do and of course they changed the gate on me and I didn’t realize until it was too late. The flight actually left earlier than it was supposed to in the busiest airport in the country! So I have about five hours to spend in the airport. Fun! I can watch the Terminal or maybe I can write some articles for the blog while I’m waiting. After all, I had to pay $8 for wireless internet. It should really be free.

So here’s some free advice. Always double check your departure gates at the airport! I’m normally on top of things like that but I was too engrossed in my solitaire game on my iPod.

Sorry…

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I’ve been on a business trip and the Internet is not quite as easy to find as most places. I’ll try to do some updates next week when I have better Internet access. I’m on the business trip until the 31st of October.

Why Bank of America is Too Big

With all this consolidation and shrinking of competition in the banking industry comes huge corporations that are too big to provide any kind of customer service at all.

You would think that a bank as big as Bank of America would make it easy to open an account online. After all, I am trying to give them my money. I went online to open an account because there was a coupon code that I found that supposedly gives $100 for opening an account with no direct deposit requirements and $25 minimum deposit (WGSUOISI808, but YMMV – your mileage may vary). So I decided to open an account online.

First sign of trouble was a warning at the top of the screen saying that due to high volume, accounts were being processed 3-5 business later than usual. That seemed a little strange for one of the largest banks in the country. You would think that they would have the systems in place to be able to handle higher volume. But the opening process online went smoothly. I put in the code for the $100 and went off on my way.

Several days later, however, I receive an email from Bank of America stating that my online passcode was reset. That’s funny. I never even set up my online passcode. So I called the customer service number and after navigating the horrible phone tree which I could not get out of (it kept asking for my account number that I didn’t have), I finally spoke to a customer service rep. Well, guess what? He was a part of the east coast call center which apparently cannot handle west coast accounts. So after I was on hold for twenty minutes (for nothing), I was transferred to the west coast call center back in the same phone tree and on hold for another fifteen minutes before I spoke with someone else.

The CSR then asks for my account number again (which I don’t have). She verified my account with some other information. The nice lady on the other line listens to my problem and looks into it. She says that apparently when it says that the passcode was reset that it doesn’t mean it was reset. It means that my passcode was set up. Well, why didn’t it just say that my passcode was set up then? If you can’t tell, I’m a little annoyed at this point.

So she gives me my online ID and passcode over the phone (I’m not sure if they’re supposed to do this or not) and I’m able to login to my account. My advice to you: skip the hassle and the lack of customer service and stay away from Bank of America!

BofA, you can keep your $100. I don’t want it. It’s not worth it to open an account with you. Where has all the customer service gone? That’s why I opened a WaMu account way back when. Because at least they had a little hint of customer service. I hope it stays that way with the acquisition by JPMorgan Chase. The other “big” bank that had a little customer service was Wachovia, I mean, Citi Bank, err… Wells Fargo? I don’t know. Now I’m annoyed and confused. 🙂

Banks are Failing! It’s the End of the World! Jesus is Coming!

Failing banks, government bailouts, corporate bankruptcies, huge buyouts. It must be the end of the world! Jesus is coming soon! We should all take our money and stuff it in our mattresses.

Just in case you couldn’t tell, I was being a little bit sarcastic. People everywhere seem to be panicking and thinking the end of the world is near. It is not the end of the world. Let me say that again. It is not the end of the world! Everything’s going to be just fine. Your money is safe.

You don’t need to pull any money out of any bank. The FDIC insurance (or the NCUA) will cover your deposits up to $100,000 or $200,000 for joint accounts. The FDIC covers savings and checking deposits as well as certificates of deposit. They also cover cashier’s checks, interest checks, and more. Check the FDIC website for more information.

Although the FDIC doesn’t cover money market accounts through brokerages, the US Treasury Department earlier this week established a temporary guaranty program for them. Lasting one year, the government will cover any principal in a money market account. You won’t be insured for any interest but you’re guaranteed not to lose any of your money that you put in.