Charles Schwab 2% Credit Card, A Review

I'm always in the market for a better credit card. Many of you will remember when last year I posted about the merits of the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Platinum Cash Rewards Card. I still love this card, and its customer service, but I think I'll only be using it for gas going forward (5% back on gas). So what's my new primary card?

My new card is the Schwab Bank Invest First Visa Credit Card. It pays you 2% back on everything. That's right, everything. With no limit to the reward. So, what's the catch? Well, the catch is that the reward is funneled directly into a Schwab One brokerage account. If you don't already have one, you have to set one up in order to get the rewards. I did not have one since I use Ameritrade as my broker. However, I was able to set up both the credit card account and the brokerage account without much hassle. I will note that they initially denied me the card, but I contacted them after receiving the denial letter and we came to an understanding (which was they will open the account and send me the card via FedEx immediately).

I have begun using the card with no issues. As I understand the 2% reward will post into the brokerage account within one month of the bill's payment. This is longer than I like to wait for my money and is a negative compared to the PFCU card, but I'm giving it a try. Another downside to this card appears to be the bill pay feature. I typically set my cards to automatically pay the bill in full each month since this maximizes my benefit of the use of their money by paying as late as possible. It also means I don't ever have to worry about finance charges or late fees. However, this card does not offer autopay in a way that allows it to pay the full bill amount. You must manually choose a date and amount, which I find completely counter-intuitive to the reasoning around using autopay in the first place. We'll see how this plays out...

One final positive to note about this card is that if you travel internationally, the fact that this card does not charge foreign transaction fees is a big plus.

Let Them Fail? Let Our Tax Dollars Decide.

I am an American. Relatively typical. I am married. I have a kid. I own a house and with it a huge mortgage. I have a job. I have some achy parts and have a few regrets. AND, I'm responsible for all of it. If and when things go wrong and something often does, the buck stops with me, and I'm fine with that. It's the way the world should work.

What I don't understand is how US businesses feel that the same approach does not apply to them. That somehow they're entitled to a bail out. A sense of entitlement is one of the few things that actually can piss me off. Just ask my 2 year old! That these businesses argue that they're too big to fail is simply ridiculous. That the US economy would fail because they are so important does not jive with my experience of how Americans truly live. In my own family, I also am too big to fail. I generate 100% of the income and if I were to fail, the entire Slug economy would fail. Does that mean I deserve a bail out if times get hard? No way. It means I suck it up and find a way or I file for bankruptcy. The same goes for US businesses in my eyes. Suck it up and find a way or file for bankruptcy, but do not come to me looking for a hand out, especially for my tax dollars.

It would be interesting if the IRS added one final question to the 1040 for this year. It would read "What percentage of the taxes we collected from you should we apportion to the financial bailout of large corporations?" Then, the IRS compiles the data, and that's the amount set aside for saving big business. Let the citizens speak.

Workout Post #3

This week I went to 3 classes which averages out to each class being a little under $2 each, and I'm feeling more fit physically and financially.

It was also a payday week. It's really dicey these days with so little cash to float things along until we can save another nest egg.

Workout Post #2

Well, today I went to my second Total Body Conditioning class. I should note that my legs were still burning from the class 2 days ago. We'll see if I can walk tomorrow. I definitely feel like I got my money's worth this week. By the way, I pay the equivalent of $5.75 per week.

Workout Post #1

So, yesterday was the start of my gym membership. I went and took an hour long class called Total Body Conditioningfull of bicycle sprints, push-ups, tricep curls, one legged squats and about 5 other exercises that kicked my butt. It felt great. I plan to go again on Friday. My goal is to make it $ well-spent.