Handling Finances

I’m traveling to London next week, and between a crazy work schedule and preparations for the trip I plan to take a break until June.  I’ve put a lot of my financial transactions on hold for the last month (i.e. retirement saving and saving for other goals) to build up some cash in my checking account for the trip, and while I was going to try to write a pre-trip article or two, I think I could use a break from writing altogether.

So goodbye until June and I’ll be sure to write about travel financing when I return!

I’m not interested in discontinuing my blog, but I’ve come to realize that I’m starting to stretch to meet self-imposed deadlines.  Regular posting was quite valuable as a tool to get me started, and I’m reaching the point where I must either start relating tiny personal details or simply recycle other bloggers’ content to stay as active.

I will continue to post 1-3 times a week which will let me focus on topics that I think haven’t been covered everywhere else and to put more research into each post without skimping on the rest of my life.

In other news, I’m not alone in thinking that buying in bulk isn’t always the best or even the most frugal option as I wrote about here.  It’s good to know I’m not alone in my difficulty with sugary (or any snack really) cravings.

I’ve seen a lot of blog posts offering $25 to sign up for Revolution Money Exchange. Revolution Money Exchange is attempting to compete with Paypal — the leading money transfer site which has been plagued by complaints of poor customer service and issues with frozen accounts. Revolution Money Exchange could significantly improve the quality of online money transfers, but in order to be successful they need volume. To combat the classic “chicken or the egg” problem where they need users to attract merchants and they need merchants to be useful for users, they’re offering $25 through April 15th.

Sorry, but I’m not biting.

There are a lot of referral programs out there — I especially like ING bank so I’d happily give referrals for their $25 sign-up bonus. I’d get a kickback of $10 and my friend would get involved with a service I know is worthwhile. I haven’t heard a single negative thing about Revolution Money Exchange, but I’ve noticed that there’s little mention on financial blogs of the downside of giving out information for small “rewards.”

You have to give out some pretty private information — not just your bank account, but your address, phone number and social security number! I’m not overly worried about identity theft, but I am very wary of giving my private information out to any company before I know I will be using their services! $25 is just not remotely worth the added risk of throwing your personal, financial information to a startup company you may never use.

The referral program is not evil.

Again, I have heard nothing bad about revolution money exchange. I do have an account at Paypal that I use very sparingly for ebay purchases, so I might sign up in the future if it becomes popular on ebay, but at once every six months or so, the remote risk of problems with Paypal doesn’t entice me. If you make a lot of purchases or sales on ebay — definitely consider this new service (and sign up now to get the $25)! I’m not offering referrals, but if you want to send kickbacks to other bloggers, by all means visit the sites linked above (you can also get the $25 without sending kickbacks if you’re feeling particularly cheap).

Similarly, if you would honestly use Revolution Money Exchange to settle the bill for pizza or to pay your babysitter (as advertised on the site) then by all means, sign up and get a few bucks back! Honestly, I love the idea, but I don’t know a single other person who I’d exchange money with so again, I’d just be selling my social security number for $25.

Bottom line — referrals are great, and I’m a big fan of bonuses for services I use. I have a cash-back credit card and first was attracted to ING by the referral bonus (as well as the great reviews). That said, $25 just isn’t worth the risk of throwing your personal information into yet another company’s servers. Wait until you know you’ll use the service — yeah, you might miss the limited-time bonus, but you definitely won’t risk your financial information unnecessarily!