Money Blue Book

What’s the deal with status symbols these days? While I’d like to think that I’m perfectly immune from the need to walk around and carry lofty symbols of wealth, power, and status on my shoulders, sheepishly, I must admit that I’m not. I don’t occasionally wear designer clothes or don expensive apparel brands solely for the quality threads, or dream of buying a BMW or Mercedes sports sedan for crash test safety reasons alone. After all, there’s something about rarity, uniqueness, and exclusiveness that beckons each of us at some point in our lives. Whether it’s the elite acknowledgment that one gets from being an alumni of a top tier Ivy League university, or whether it’s membership into an ultra exclusive golf club usually reserved only for top celebrities and the rich and famous, I’m sure many of us secretly envy at times, those who are in this special inner circle.

Actually, the notion itself is quite silly really - the idea that simply because you possess something unique that very few other people have, or have VIP membership into some special organization, that you are somehow better off than others or worthy of admiration. But it’s simply human nature I suppose. We all innately appreciate the attention and envy of others, whether we truly want to admit it or not. Don’t believe it? All you have to do is observe the rise and popularity of television shows like MTV’s Super Sweet 16 to see how the desire to be envied and praised is very much part of our society’s psyche and celebrity culture. If it were not for our humanistic lust for all things that glitter and our natural attraction to the glitz and glamor of all that surrounds the rich and powerful, we wouldn’t have such things as paparazzis and celebrity magazines. It’s because we as a society desperately seek to emulate the rich and beautiful that there are such things as status symbol cars and multi-million dollar mega mansions.

Thus there should be little surprise that there are even such things as one-of-a-kind credit cards that only a select few have the luxury of possessing. Whether it makes any real sense for anyone to go gaga over something as mundane as a limited edition credit card is up for debate, but it’s something that’s been glorified in the rising hip-hop culture and permeating our English vernacular, calling attention to itself.

What Is the Black Centurion Card From American Express?

The American Express Black Centurion Card (simply referred to as the Black Card by some) sprung out of an urban rumor in the early 1990’s about a super secret black credit card available only to a select group of rich and powerful celebrities. While the reality was that no such card existed, American Express ultimately played off the whispers and capitalized on the rumors, quietly creating the Amex Black Card. Its exclusivity compounded the rumors over time, leading to more and more outlandish claims about the benefits and perks offered to the holder. Perhaps you’ve seen the almost mythical Black Card touted in hip hop music videos or heard it referenced in other facets of pop culture, but you rarely see it out in the open. The card is definitely not widely available and unless you hang around or work with celebrities, famous people, or wealthy individuals, it’s unlikely you will ever see one in your lifetime.

The Black Centurion credit card from American Express is definitely a rarity in the marketplace and in some circles, is considered an impact statement. First of all, the card is almost entirely black, which instantly gives it a look that’s different from all the credit cards out there, and secondly, it’s not even made of ordinary plastic like most credit cards, but rather of a special aluminum, titanium mix, giving it a different feel altogether. There have been suggestions that the titanium composition of the Black Centurion Card even triggers metal detectors at airports, but obviously this hassle is easily circumvented by transporting the card or wallet via its own plastic container through the X-ray conveyor belt scanner.

While the card imposes a hefty annual fee, for those who can easily afford it, the Black Card offers a juicy wealth of exclusive card benefits, like special concierge services, exclusive travel benefits and perks, enhanced credit card rewards, frequent flier airline miles, cashback credit card bonuses, and the ability to harness almost unlimited spending power. Perhaps I’m blowing the card a bit out of proportion and making the card bigger than what it really is, but the card is definitely not for your ordinary credit card spender - it’s meant for whales and high rollers who spend a lot - in the tune of more than $250,000 a year. But one thing to keep in mind is that due to the status implications the card seems to convey, mere possession and use of the Black Card may cause the cardholder to unnecessarily stand out awkwardly in ordinary situations. Using the Black Card from American Express in an inappropriate situation may be like showing up at a family reunion in your flashy, gas-guzzling red Lamborghini sports car while your relatives and family members quietly chug into the parking lot with their fuel efficient Honda Civics. Of course, not everyone will recognize the Black Card and many may see it as no big deal - just one of many random credit card choices out there.

How Can I Apply For The American Express Black Centurion Credit Card?

If you are wondering to yourself, how does one actually go about requesting official information or submitting an application for the ultra exclusive Black Centurion card, you’re likely going to be out of luck. Membership into the Black Card club is by exclusive invitation only, based on either your celebrity reputation or your proven ability to be a big credit card spender. However, there are affirmative steps you can take to satisfy the qualification requirements to trigger a personal credit card invite. To qualify for such an invitation based on proven financial ability, you’ll not only have to prove yourself to be a high credit card spender, but you’ll also need to have an exceptional FICO credit score and credit report history, along with a hefty personal balance sheet of verifiable monetary assets. Here are the basic requirements to get an American Express Black Centurion Card application invite based on your potential purchasing power:

1) You Must Be An Existing American Express Credit Card Holder - The American Express Black Centurion Card is currently only available to select holders of American Express credit cards. Although it does not matter which Amex card type you have (whether Blue, Blue Cash, Blue Sky, Green, Gold, or Platinum), because of the high spending requirements to qualify, you will want a card with a very high credit limit. As such, those who qualify for the Black Centurion Card tend to be former holders of Amex Platinum cards, which offer the highest credit limits of all Amex card types. If you are not already an existing American Express credit card holder, you will need to apply for one of the following high credit limit cards and start racking up significant purchases in a short period of time:

• Business Gold Card From American Express Open - This is probably the best way to get a Centurion Black card special invite as you can put all of your business related expenditures and purchases on this one card.
• Business Green Rewards Card From Amex Open - Earn 5,000 instant bonus points with your first purchase. Earn rewards with every purchase with no preset spending limit.
• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card - You get 10,000 instant points after your first purchase. Earn rewards with no preset limit.
• American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card - Get 5,000 instant bonus points and earn shopping and travel rewards with every purchase, with no preset limit.
• American Express Platinum Credit Card - Earn 25,000 bonus points after spending at least $1,000 within 3 months. Get access to American Express’ personal concierge service and earn reward points with no pre-set spending limit.

2) You Will Need To Spend At Least $250,000 A Year On Your American Express Credit Card - If this amount is too much for you, you probably shouldn’t even think about trying to obtain a Black Card to begin with. With the hefty start up and annual maintenance fees, this card will only truly benefit those individuals who spend a significant amount of money on entertainment, on airline travel expenses, and on expensive hotel stays. This may seem like an impossible amount, but for those of you who run your own small business or frequently have large amounts of reimbursable business expenses to pay for, the high expenditure requirement is quite do-able. For those who have employees, paying a payroll management company via credit card and having them in turn pay the employees via check is another great way to charge everything onto your American Express card. Especially for those people like myself who use credit card rewards for Google ads and spend significant sums of money on online advertising through Google Adsense and other internet marketing programs, the $250,000 a year spending requirement is not out of the realm of possibility.

A major problem that many wannabe Black Centurion Card seekers have in reaching the $250,000 annual spending limit requirement on their existing Amex cards is that their current monthly credit card limit simply isn’t high enough to allow them to spend that much. To reach $250,000 a year, a cardholder would need to have a credit spending limit of approximately $21,000 a month give or take a few hundred dollars ($250,000 divided by 12 months). The solution to the insufficient credit limit hurdle is quite simple. Simply submit a check or online prepayment amount at the start of each month to American Express to cover your credit card expenditures for the month. For example, even if your actual credit card limit is only $10,000 or less, simply by submitting card payment of something like $11,000 in excess of the limit up to the magical $21,000 requirement will allow you to reach your desired $250,000 for the year. Of course, the assumption is that you will actually spend at least $21,000 minimum per month.

Once you have successfully spent over $250,000 a year on your American Express credit card, you may wish to contact American Express directly if they haven’t already contacted you with a Black Centurion card invitation. While there is a common misconception that you can’t actually solicit Amex for such an invite, truth be told, if you satisfy their financial spending requirements, the company will probably be more than happy to welcome you into their exclusive credit card club.

3) You Must Be Able To Afford The Black Card’s High Annual Credit Card Fees - Once you are approved for the American Express Black Centurion card, you will need to pay the setup charges and subsequent annual maintenance fees. While earlier charter members enjoy substantially lower fees, currently for new members, there is a one time $5,000 initiation fee for the primary card holder and an upfront annual fee of $2,500, for a total of $7,500 due at the end of the first billing cycle. Clearly, the Black Centurion card isn’t for ordinary middle class working folks who don’t have thousands of disposable income dollars to throw around like Monopoly play money.

What Are the Best Features and Benefits of The Amex Black Centurion Card, and Are They Worth The Significant Annual Maintenance Fees?

The American Express Black Card is available in both personal and business form, but the vast majority of holders will likely find its benefits and credit card perks to be highly business-oriented, particularly in the area of business client entertainment as well as airline and hotel travel. For those who wish to apply for the business credit card version as an individual, keep in mind that it is perfectly legitimate and acceptable for individuals operating as a sole proprietorship business unto themselves to apply for a business card using their own names as the name of their business. As a small business owner, it’s what I personally do when I apply for business credit cards.

While the detailed specifics and the terms and conditions of your program will vary somewhat depending on whether you carry the personal or business version of the Black Centurion Card, the features and benefits of the Black Card are essentially the same. The Black Centurion offers the card holder exclusive and automatic upgrades with a wide selection of airline carriers, hotel resorts, and cruise ship travel programs. But the greatest and most touted benefit is the Black Centurion Card’s concierge service and personal shopper program, which helps cardholders find anything they desire in the area of fine dining, personal and business shopping, and travel related bookings for things like airline tickets, hotel reservations, and rental car arrangements.

1) Personal Concierge Services - Those who can afford the financial rigors and high expenditure requirements of the Amex Black Card are likely accustomed to personalized service and attention, and the Black Card program is happy to oblige with its personal concierge service for cardholders. Via the services of an outsourced concierge provider called Circles, American Express provides personalized VIP attention for both its Platinum and Centurion Black credit card customers. However, compared to regular Platinum card carriers, Black Centurion members receive more dedicated and prompt attention, and are understandably given access to a more highly trained and qualified staff of concierge representatives.

Having a dedicated and attentive personal concierge allows cardholders to outsource the time and effort of purchasing airline tickets, making hotel arrangements, booking rental cars, planning vacation trips, making dinner reservations, haggling for concert tickets, and researching prices. The actual success rate that the personal concierge agent has in securing exactly what you are looking for is somewhat debatable, but presumably due to the prestige and financial clout of the Black Centurion credit card program, it stands to reason that the company likely has greater access to exclusive deals and arrangements with the top restaurants, concert shows, and sporting venues than ordinary individuals.

The personal concierge service is probably the most commonly used and most invaluable Black Centurion Card benefit for many. While some people point out that the concierge agents are not always the best at locating what the cardholder is seeking, there’s no denying that this is still a very convenient luxury to have at one’s disposal. Not only does the cardholder have access to the personal concierge service, but the cardholder’s family members, personal assistants, and secretaries have access to this card perk as well.

2) Airline Travel Upgrades - If you are a frequent personal or business traveler, you will definitely appreciate the automatic airline upgrades offered by the Black Centurion card. What this means is that if you purchase a regular economy class ticket on one of participating airlines, you are automatically upgraded to elite status - usually this means getting bumped up to business or first class based on seat availability. With business and first class seats usually being triple or quadruple the cost of ordinary coach class seats, it’s not hard to see why this is such a potentially invaluable card benefit. With automatic upgrades into the following elite airline and hotel travel programs, cardholders enjoy such perks as dedicated check-ins, priority boardings, extra airline mileage earning opportunities, and bonus hotel stay earnings:

• Continental OnePass Gold Elite
• Delta Air Lines SkyMiles Gold Medallion
• US Airways Dividend Miles Platinum Preferred
• Virgin Atlantic Airways Flying Club Gold
• Priority Pass Membership
• Hilton HHonors Gold

Black Centurion cardholders also get access to Continental Airline’s President’s Lounge, Delta’s Crown Room Club, and Northwest Airline’s World Club as well as exclusive and complimentary access to Priority Pass’ over 500 VIP airport lounges. Automatic elite car rental upgrades with popular car rental companies like Hertz and Avis are also complimentary and available to cardholders.

The American Express Black Card also provides members with a companion airfare program that offers cardholders free guest airline tickets when the Black Card is used to purchase tickets. Currently, you can request up to 4 complimentary companion airline tickets a year. Of course, there may be a few airfare restrictions and blackout dates.

3) Hotel and Resort Lodging Upgrades - Along with automatic airline travel upgrades to elite status, the Black Card also offers automatic hotel lodging upgrades at all participating hotels and luxury resorts. Through partnerships with over 500 worldwide luxury hotels and resorts, chances are you will likely enjoy elite upgraded status at most premium hotels and resorts like the Starwood Group (Le Meridien, Four Points, Westin, Aloft, Sheraton, Element, St. Regis, and W Hotels), Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, Hilton, Leading Hotels of the World, Amanresorts, and Centurion Villas.

Unfortunately, a few of the greatest and most coveted Black Centurion Card perks of past years have since been eliminated from the program. Until a few years ago, Hyatt’s Diamond Elite Status and Starwood’s Preferred Guest Platinum status were automatically offered to cardholders. However, Hyatt Hotel has since left the program and the Starwood Platinum status privilege is no longer offered to card members - a great disappointment and upset to many cardholders as the Starwood frequent guest suite upgrade program was indeed one of the best around. Now, cardholders will no longer qualify for automatic free Starwood Preferred Platinum status, but will receive Starwood Preferred Gold status instead, which offers substantially less upgrade opportunities for members.

4) Retail Shopping and Entertainment Benefits - More likely than not, American Express Black Centurion Card members are likely prolific shoppers, whether for personal reasons, or for business purposes. Coupled with the dedicated and personalized concierge service, card members can solicit the services of personal shoppers and price researchers to help them locate any product or custom merchandise they desire. For those who enjoy frequenting luxury boutiques and high end retailers like Bulgari, Escada, Gucci, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, personal shoppers are available at such retailers for VIP attention. In some circumstances, entire stores may be reserved for your personal shopping pleasure so you can bypass lines and avoid crowds. For those who desire reservations at exclusive restaurants, tickets for hard to find entertainment shows and sporting events like the Super Bowl, your Black Card concierge is there to help you secure such coveted tickets. American Express has deals and exclusive arrangements with hundreds and thousands of restaurants to reserve tables for card members. With the Black Card, you will have greater access to so-called Gold Card events and premium luxury seating at concerts and events not ordinarily available to the general public.

Members also get automatic subscriptions to “Black Ink” magazine, an ultra exclusive publication that caters to the materialistic fancies of like minded wealthy clientele discussing such indulgences like luxury performance vehicles and exclusive dream vacation destinations. On occasion, as yet another complimentary benefit for coveted Black Card holders, American Express sends out free gift cards worth in excess of $500-$1000 to a variety of exclusive high end retailers. Amex has also been known to send out to Black Card customers, such gifts like expensive digital cameras and high end women’s jewelry.

Is The American Express Black Centurion Credit Card Worth The Hefty $7,500 Initiation Fee (One Time $5,000 Plus The $2,500 Annual Fee)?

First of all, if you are even asking yourself if the Black Card is worth the cost, this card’s likely not for you. Remember, to even qualify for an exclusive invite or to even satisfy the financial requirements to request membership, existing American Express card members need to spend at least $250,000 a year worth of credit card purchases. If your business or personal situation allows this type of high spending, chances are, a comparatively small $7,500 fee is unlikely to even register as a blip on your financial radar. Keep in mind, the American Express Black Centurion card is all about exclusivity and rarity. It’s a coveted financial item and the ultimate status symbol because it is only held by a limited number of wealthy individuals. The card should be regarded as a personal branding tool for those who can indeed afford the cost of carrying it. The automatic travel upgrades and complimentary perks and credit card rewards are certainly appreciated by card carriers, but it’s probably the exclusivity and status symbol of the Black Card that cardholders who can afford it covet the most. For ordinary consumers who do not have thousands and millions of dollars to throw around, the Black Centurion Card is a symbol of great excess waste and unnecessary decadence, but for the higher income types, it’s akin to driving around an expensive luxury sports car - it’s an attention getter for many.

But speaking from a cost benefit analysis perspective, are the benefits of the Black Centurion Card worth the one time $5,000 initial setup fee and the subsequent $2,500 fee year after year? After speaking to a few actual Black Card carriers and picking their brains a bit about what they find so useful and indispensable about the card, I have to conclude that the card is indeed worth the hefty annual fee, but only if you are a heavy business traveler or one who frequently engages in airline travel and hotel stays. The Amex Black Card is primarily business oriented and most of the airline and travel perks are geared towards upgrading existing travel accommodations into more comfortable elite offerings. For busy business types, the airline and hotel upgrades over the course of a year may very well cover the cost of the annual fee alone.

For those who primarily use the personal concierge services of the card for shopping research and entertainment reservation purposes, the cost benefit of the annual fee is more debatable as the cost is a bit harder to quantify. While American Express tends to provide better customer service for its cardholders than that of other credit card issuers, I think the concierge services is likely only useful in certain circumstances. For example, purchasing airline tickets is a breeze online and I find I can probably do a better job myself with a few keystrokes online than any concierge representative who isn’t as skilled at bargain hunting and deal finding. But for busy business types who have little time for mundane things like shopping research and price comparison, having a personal concierge at one’s beck and call certainly may be worth the cost of card membership.

Updated List Of The Best 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards Below

If you stumbled onto this page through Google or one of the popular search engines, then you’re likely looking for a compilation list of the top recommended 0% APR balance transfer credit cards. Well you’ve come to the right place then.

After performing quite a bit of reading, research, and comparison of credit card deals and promotional offers, the following categorized list contains what I believe to be all of the best balance transfer credit cards available. For those of you who track this sort of development, you may have noticed that the more lucrative 12  month 0% APR no balance transfer fee offers have seemingly disappeared. Unfortunately, the balance transfer promotions out there seem to rise and fall with the credit market so as the credit market has tightened, so has the exclusive list of lucrative balance transfers. But given enough time, I’m confident the 12 month no balance transfer fee cards will return eventually. But for now at least, the following are the best deals currently available in the credit card market.

So What’s The Point Of Using A Balance Transfer Credit Card Anyway?

For those not certain as to why 0% balance transfer credit cards are so heavily sought after and used by credit card consumers, one only has to look at their versatility and multiple range of possible uses.

For those who are credit savvy and financially responsible, using a balance transfer is an excellent way to borrow interest free money for various financial planning purposes. One of the most common uses for balance transfers is to use low interest rate or 0% APR balance transfer credit cards to pay off high interest credit card debt. Another common use for balance transfers that people like myself frequently use is to incorporate them as part of an emergency fund. Properly used, they can help carry the cardholder through difficult financial times when the cardholder is temporarily cash strapped and in immediate need of a temporary infusion of interest free money to pay off short term liabilities. On the other end are balance transfer arbitrage seekers who utilize 0% balance transfer cards to make money by obtaining interest free balance transfer funds and investing the money in a high yield savings account for credit card arbitrage profit.

Whatever goal the balance transfer applicant is looking to achieve, there is likely an appropriate offer out there for him or her. Just make sure you know what is a balance transfer and educate yourself on knowing how to make a balance transfer properly without committing a risky or costly financial mistake. Remember, 0% balance transfers are powerful financial tools - meant to be used only by those who know how to handle the logistics of credit card debt management.

Unless otherwise noted, all of the credit cards listed below offer 0% balance transfers for up to 12 months at a minimum. Many of the longer 12 month balance transfer offers impose a nominal balance transfer fee of 3%, but many do cap the fee at somewhere between $50-$100 (please read all terms and conditions carefully). For those looking to transfer a high credit card balance, having to pay a one time capped balance transfer fee is usually worth the price of getting a long term interest free credit card loan. I’ve also specifically noted the 6 month 0% balance transfer offers as well, due to the fact that most of the 6 month offers provide the additional benefit of having no balance transfer fees associated with them.

Without further ado, here is my list of the Best 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards For Up To 12 Months:

Advanta Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. Advanta Platinum Business Card With Unlimited Rewards - (15 months)
2. Advanta Platinum Customized Business Rewards - (15 months)
3. Advanta Kiva Business Card - (15 months)

Bank of America Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. Bank of America Bass Pro Shops Outdoor Rewards Platinum Plus Visa
2. Bank of America Boat U.S. Platinum Plus Visa Card
3. Bank of America Cash Rewards Platinum Plus Card
4. Bank of America Ducks Unlimited WorldPoints MasterCard
5. Bank of America Elite Rewards World MasterCard
6. Bank of America Major League Baseball Extra Bases Card
7. Bank of America NASCAR RacePoints Platinum Plus Visa
8. Bank of America NFL Extra Points Platinum Plus Visa
9. Bank of America Accelerated Rewards American Express Card
10. Bank of America Wyndham Rewards Master Card(SM)
11. Bank of America Visa Signature with WorldPoints Rewards
12. Bank of America World MasterCard with WorldPoints
13. Bank of America WorldPoints Platinum Plus Master Card
14. Bank of America Financial Rewards Visa Platinum Plus - 6 billing cycles
15. Bank of America Pet Rewards Card - 6 billing cycles (no balance transfer fee)
16. Bank of America Platinum Plus Card

Chase Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. Chase Flexible Rewards Platinum Visa
2. Chase PerfectCard MasterCard
3. Chase Platinum Master Card
4. Chase Visa Platinum Card
5. Chase Business Rebate Visa
6. Chase Platinum Visa Business Card
7. Chase Business Cash Rewards Card

Citibank Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. Citi AT&T Universal Savings Platinum Card
2. Citi AT&T Universal Savings and Rewards Card
3. Citi CashReturns Card
4. Citi Diamond Preferred Card
5. Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card
6. Citi Platinum Select Card
7. Citi PremierPass Card
8. Citi Platinum Select for Students - 6 months
9. Citi Driver’s Edge for Students - 6 months
10. Citi mtvU Card For Students - 6 months

Discover Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. Discover Card Miles
2. Discover More Card
3. Discover More Card Clear
4. Discover More Card American Flag
5. Discover More Card Wildlife Collection
6. Discover More Card Sealife Collection
7. Discover More Monogram Card
8. Discover Open Road Card

Fia Card Services Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. Fidelity Investments Rewards Visa Signature Card

IberiaBank Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. IberiaBank Visa Platinum Rewards Card - 6 months (no transfer fee)
2. IberiaBank Visa Gold Cash Back Rewards Card - 6 months (no transfer fee)
3. IberiaBank Visa Classic Card - 6 months (no transfer fee)

Pulaski Bank Credit Cards With 0% Balance Transfers

1. Pulaski Bank Visa Card - 6 months (no balance transfer fee)
2. Pulaski Bank Gold Visa Card - 6 months (no transfer fee)

That’s everything. I will update the entire list as regularly as I can. Please let me know if there are additional balance transfer offers out there that I may be missing.

It’s not too often that I get to travel overseas to visit my parents, but this time I had to. My dad’s job is taking him on a new foreign assignment to another continent, one that might be less accessible, so I decided to make the effort to visit them sooner than later.

Ever since I reached my financial independence milestone and declared freedom from my parents, I’ve thrived in the openness of my own free will, taking fairly decent care of myself. It’s been so long since I’ve had to live under my parents’ shadow and watchful eagle eyes, so having to do so now, even for a few weeks has been rather difficult. I’m not the same little boy who used to depend on my parents’ guidance and tutelage when I lived with them, so living with them now is taking some getting used to. Since we’ve lived so physically apart for numerous years due to the sheer oceanic distances that separate our jobs, I always feel like I need to get to know them again for the first time and get accustomed to their quirky living habits every time I see them. Even for the purposes of a relatively brief couple of weeks stay, I always find I learn something new about them that I didn’t notice before (perhaps it’s because I get to view them through a refreshed set of perspectives).

What Is Compulsive Hoarding and Why Does It Lead To Excess Clutter and Household Planning Inefficiency?

Having lived with my parents for a week now during my little visit, I’ve noticed something very interesting, but rather troubling - they exhibit the traits and qualities of obsessive compulsive hoarders, particularly my mom. This made me re-examine another member of my family - my brother. Only a few weeks ago I had helped my brother move into his new apartment and remarked on the piles of useless trash and excess clutter in his home. The signs and telltale indicators were all too readily apparent, I just hadn’t noticed them before. Apparently, habitual hoarding is a trait that runs in the family.

For those not familiar with the concept or the terminology of hoarding, it’s the practice of collecting, retaining, and stockpiling material possessions and household supplies to great excess, and the refusal to relinquish them despite common-sensical reasons to do so. This type of personality trait seems to affect a lot of older people in my non-professional opinion based on my own personal observations, but then again, I’m not a health expert. But I wouldn’t be surprised if most people can readily cite their own aging parents or grandparents as active practitioners of hoarding. I wonder if it’s because older people tend to be more old fashioned or more set in their ways, making them less open and amicable to adopting new ways of organizing and de-cluttering their lives through technology.

While most of us probably hoard basic household items to some degree by stockpiling today to take advantage of bulk wholesale prices in anticipation of future need, what separates us from pathological hoarders is the great degree to which they often take things. Obsessive compulsive or pathological hoarders tend to stockpile items that have little to no utility, or they obsess about collecting boxes and bags of possibly useful items but simply don’t know when to stop.

My parents’ apartment has huge stacks of brown storage boxes everywhere. While some of the boxes contain priceless family photo albums, expensive jewelry, or various family keepsakes, the vast majority contain pretty useless junk. While helping them pack for the job relocation, I stumbled across many sealed boxes and bags filled with old newspaper clippings, unused department store paper shopping bags, plastic twisty ties, huge containers of rubber bands,  and enough office supply pens, pencils, construction paper, paper clips, and erasers to stock an Office Depot. The tremendous number of boxes are not neatly tucked away in storage closets, but rather, occupy multiple bedrooms to the brim, spilling out completely into the living room, dining room, and partially blocking most hallways and some entrances. You can’t walk into their apartment without immediately noticing the huge stacks of boxes and newspapers everywhere. Some of the newspaper clippings and stacks date as far back as several years.

While I’ve pleaded with them to start throwing useless bags and boxes away that contain items with no foreseeable useful purpose, my parents refuse to budge, clinging onto the outdated notion that it would be terribly wasteful to throw away perfectly good supplies, while simultaneously extolling the virtues of saving, recycling, and not wasting money. Obsessive, old fashioned hoarders like my parents seem to find some irrational comfort or security in knowing that they have an endless supply of everything in the way of home office and home maintenance supplies should the need ever arrive. The problem with their faulty rationale is that as the supplies grow and the stockpiles of boxes and bags pile up, one inevitably starts to lose track of what one has in his or her inventory. My parents at this point have no idea what they have stored away in their massive stockpile of boxes, but yet, they continue to insist on drowning themselves in supplies and recyclables - useless junk in my opinion. After all, what’s the point of keeping around hundreds of pens, rubber bands, staples, and scraps of computer paper if you can’t even remember if you have them when you actually have a need? Despite the numerous boxes of department store and grocery shopping bags my mom already has and despite the fact fresh ones are very readily available from any retail location, she continues to collect them everyday, neatly folding them flat and storing them away, rationalizing by suggesting that they’ll come in handy someday.

Thankfully, in the area of personal finance and family accounting, my parents’ obsessive hoarding ways have not completely stifled their ability to manage their financial life properly. However, it has made it very difficult for them to keep track of their financial activities at times. Because of their old fashioned ways, my parents continue to retain paper copies of every conceivable document, receipt, and billing statement. My mom keeps huge filing cabinets filled to the absolute brim with almost every receipt and document she’s ever come into contact with. She simply will not throw anything away, believing that every major purchase receipt needs to be kept for future reference (just in case). She keeps all of her papers neatly archived, despite the fact I highly doubt she ever looks at them anymore. They simply become excess clutter, causing gridlock to what could be an otherwise streamlined and efficient existence.

How To De-Clutter Your Life and Streamline Your Personal Finance By Going Electronic and Digital

Embracing the paperless, digital, and electronic revolution is the key to living an efficient and orderly life in this day and age. It’s time to do away with paper documents, paper receipts, and old fashioned outdated ways of keeping important documents and tracking your finances. While some paper documents ought to be retained - such as birth certificates, passport documentation, and car titles, the vast majority of files and papers should be digitalized and electronically organized. Here are some of the best ways to clean up your household and arrange your financial life to make it more efficient and systemized.

1) Stop Buying Crap and Stop Hoarding Useless Junk - I’m not a big fan of collecting things that cannot be construed as art. For those of you who collect material articles like shoes and purses, I don’t get it. Will you really put those hundreds of purses, hand bags, basketball shoes, or hats to use, or will they end up at the bottom of some dresser drawer someday, lost and forgotten? At the very least, if you insist on shopping and buying lots of stuff, learn to adopt healthy habits to de-clutter your life. Here are some basic tips to help you keep your home, office, and sanity organized when it comes to material possessions:

• Stop Using the “I’ll Use It Someday” Excuse - Trust me, you’re not going to use it someday. More likely than not, you’ll eventually forget you have it in the first place and wind up buying it again. Unless it’s something that’s rapidly consumed in most households like toilet paper, napkins, and certain things like canned foods, there’s no sense hoarding or stockpiling. Don’t buy more than you’ll need at this very moment. Yes, there’s a slim chance you may need it a year from now, but chances are, your taste or needs may very well change during that period of time.
• Stop Holding Onto Nostalgia and the Past - Unless it’s something like photos, baby video tapes and DVD’s, or priceless family heirlooms, there’s no sense clutching onto useless clutter like old clothing or broken items you plan on fixing someday. I’m sure you have fond memories of that old wacky T-shirt or sweater from childhood, but unless you plan to wear them again sometime in the very near future, it’s definitely time to get rid of them. Learn to share the wealth by giving things away - it’ll make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside for having performed something altruistic and beneficial for society. For those of you with boxes and crates filled with old, but still wearable clothing in decent condition, try donating them to a charitable organization like the Salvation Army - you may be able to receive a charitable tax deduction for clothing donations. As for holding onto broken electronic gadgets like busted stereo systems hoping to fix them someday, like my mild hoarder of a brother is currently doing, learn to let them go as well. You’re not going to find time to fix it, and chances are it’s just taking up valuable space and pointlessly occupying your mind and thoughts in the meantime.
• Learn To Throw Things Away As You Buy New Ones - Some call it the “in out rule”, but basically, as you purchase new items, learn to throw away the old versions they replaced. If you buy a new pair of shoe to replace some old, worn out pair, feel free to keep a pair or two for dirty activities like painting or yard work, but please don’t keep every single old, worn out shoe you’ve ever owned. Throw them out or give them new life by donating them away.

2) Understand The Importance Of Going Paperless - Compared to electronic transactions and digital archiving, paper is a terribly inefficient and clutter-prone way to transact business and maintain an organized financial life. Paper products and paper documents have a way of adding up and compounding quickly. By their very nature, they are very heavy and sometimes difficult to keep categorized and stored in a way that is easy to access again. The goal is to get used to the idea that paper is the enemy. Ideally you want to go the way of a paperless office and keep all documents and accounts in electronic and digital form, accessible with a computer. These days, almost all online bank and credit card issuers offer the option to view billing statements online and the choice to opt out of paper bills and transactions through the mail.

If you have an important purchase receipt that you are retaining because you want to protect yourself in the event you need to return the product, by all means do so, but after the lapse of the return period, instead of keeping the receipt for all time, why not use your digital camera to snap a photo image to store away on your computer, or use a digital scanner to convert the paper receipt into an electronic PDF or JPEG image file? I use my scanner and digital camera all the time to keep digital copies of important documents like speeding tickets, paperwork for computer purchases, and certain old school papers and essays for future reference. I organize them into neatly labeled computer desktop folders under My Documents instead of keeping them piled into cumbersome brown boxes or filing cabinets. Currently, because I’ve converted most of my paper documents into computerized digital format, all of the remaining important paperwork I possess easily fit into a single standard size box container, enabling me to have an extremely clutter-free workspace.

3) Switch To Online Banking - If you are not yet banking online, it is time to do so. While concerns about recent online banks going bust and FDIC insurance coverage are legitimate, and worries about bank identity theft, and online scams are very real, they are manageable and easily mitigated with some common sense. I’ve been banking electronically since 1998 - and things likes ACH transfers, automatic debit payments, and online bill pays are all second nature to me now. Like all new technology and new methods, it takes some getting used to, but the learning curve is reasonable and not prohibitively steep.

Online banking allows you to access your money faster and monitor your personal finance with 24 hour precision and real time accuracy, instead of relying on old fashioned paper based checkbook balancing. If you don’t already have one, it’s time to open up an online checking and high yield savings account, and start getting the hang of online banking account management. If you have accounts with multiple banks, discount brokers, and credit cards, you may want to consider managing them with an online account aggregator service like Yodlee or Mint. I personally use Fidelity Full View, which is powered by Yodlee’s account consolidation service, to visually follow my financial account balances on a daily basis. Plus, it’s nice to know where you stand at all times and it’s great for budgeting purposes.

4) Start Using Credit Cards and Learn To Manage Them Responsibly - I’m a proponent of credit card usage. It’s certainly not for everyone, but I think it’s ultimately the best way to spend money and track expenses. Not only do credit cards offer all sorts of unique usage perks like extended credit card warranties, credit card protection against bankruptcy loss, free credit scores, and all types of free airline miles and cash back credit card rewards, all of your transactions are archived into your online account, sorted, and displayed into easy to understand purchase categories for practical management.

Instead of having to dig through piles and mounds of accumulated cash purchase receipts stuffed into folders, filing cabinets, or boxes, I rely heavily on my online credit card accounts to trace, track, and fine tune my purchase habits to fit my budget. Because I use my credit cards to buy almost everything (even for onetime $1 packs of gum), I can always calculate my usage for any given time frame and type of spending - like how much gas I spent this month, or how much I spent eating out at restaurants for example. Of course, I want to strongly emphasize a caveat - credit card usage is not very everyone and some people, due to their uncontrollable shopping habits and irresponsible use of credit, have no business even touching credit cards. However, for the vast majority of consumers, they’re invaluable and powerful tools to have.

5) Stop Using Cash If You Can Help It - Yes you heard me right - stop using cash and learn to use credit or debit cards responsibly from the start. Unless you’re admittedly irresponsible with credit, have a history of credit related troubles, or are simply too immature or financially ill informed to handle revolving debt, it may be time to wean yourself from a cash only lifestyle. For those of you who have had issues with unpaid credit card debt or have a knack for engaging in shopping trips gone wild, you might want to stick with cash only for now. For everyone else, please consider the benefits of credit usage and the downsides of cash. Cash is inherently dirty to handle as it’s often touched and handled by all sorts of people. There’s a reason why our moms always tell us not to put our fingers into our mouths after handling money - cash is incredibly filthy.

For those looking to streamline their finances and promote a clutter free household and office space, a credit card is immensely better at accomplishing that than compared to cash. Cash usage has a knack for creating massive amounts of loose change. Unless you can get in the habit of quickly exchanging those loose coins for consolidated and larger sums of money at free coin counting locations like Coinstar, you might wind up with loose coins all over the place - on kitchen counters, inside sofa cushions, and randomly stashed away in bedroom drawers and forgotten piggy banks - losing precious interest earning income in the process.

Meanwhile, credit cards are not only hygienically cleaner than cash, they are also inherently more streamlined and much more amicable to online and electronic expenditure tracking, resulting in no residual coinage trash like cash does. Not only can the wise use of credit cards help you improve important financial factors like your credit score, but the savvy use of card benefits such as balance transfer periods can also help you weather difficult but temporary financial emergencies without the need to seek out additional loans from banks or resort to something as potentially destructive as loan sharking payday loans. If you can handle the responsibility of using and managing card based payments, they are certainly the way to go in my opinion. Credit cards and bank cards are integral components of how I streamline my paperless life and how I effectively manage my personal finances.

Ask yourself this question - when was the last time you balanced your checkbook? Do you even know what balancing a  checkbook entails? The fact of the matter is, writing checks and issuing payments in the form of paper checks is a steadily dying practice, thanks to the tremendous growth of the Internet and all of the new fangled technological advancements in the area of electronic and automated telephone banking (even phone banking is getting phased out in favor of the web). Much the same way the future of newspapers and the outlook of traditional forms of written news are being called into serious question, and much the same way they are being slowly rendered irrelevant by the overwhelming convenience and cost efficient benefits of the World Wide Web, so too will the practice of check writing and manually balancing accounts ultimately go the way of the dodo bird.

Personally, I can barely recall the last time I actually went through the hassle of balancing my checkbook manually. The tedious bean counting practice of manually comparing my own personal account records with the recordation information provided by monthly bank statements is simply not something I’ve readily adopted over the years. The last time was probably in high school when my mom sought to teach me about basic account management by forcing me to watch her go through the motion of recording transactions neatly on the gridded transaction register that comes with each set of checks. But other than that first initial lesson, I don’t think I’ve ever done it in real practice. After all, I bank online almost exclusively, and other than the monthly rent checks I write, I seldom glance at my checkbooks anymore. In fact, I highly recommend readers do the same. We are entering the new technological age where efficiency, speed, and identity security are paramount concerns. Electronic banking and online bill pay offer the type of convenience and security benefits that paper checks and manual payment systems simply are unable to provide.

Write Personal Checks Sparingly To Minimize The Risks Of Becoming An Identity Theft Victim

If you asked me, checks are nothing but potential identity fraud cases waiting to happen. After all, you wouldn’t go about your daily life randomly handing out slips of paper with your complete personal identification and financial information scrawled on them would you? But that’s basically what you’re doing when you open up your checkbook and issue a personal check. Personally, I write very few checks nowadays, and here’s why. When you write a personal check at your local Safeway or CVS, or when you cut out a check to your local pizza delivery guy, you are opening up a tremendous security risk by leaving the check behind. On that check is your name, address, phone number, bank’s name and address, bank account number, bank routing number, and even your actual handwritten signature. Oftentimes, as is the case at most supermarkets and department stores, cashiers even request additional identification from you and write the information directly on the face of the check. This additional ID request can include sensitive information such as your driver’s license number, your social security number, and even your birth date.

While many banks eventually mail the used canceled check back to you, not all banks do. Some merely scan the checks and upload the displays onto your online account for you to see. It’s almost impossible to know how many sets of eyes have viewed the check and how many scans or copies were made. What’s exceedingly apparent is that anyone who sees the front of your personal check has sufficient information to open fraudulent bank and credit accounts in your name. One very unknown fact about checks is that anyone can take an account number and routing number off the bottom of a personal check and create new fake checks with them. The name displayed on the check doesn’t even have to match the actual customer name on the underlying bank account in question. Oftentimes, retailers and banks simply don’t check to see if the numbers on the check match up with the right names for that account.

While I personally abhor writing checks, viewing the practice as not only archaic but outdated, there are still limited circumstances when I simply can’t get around it. Because I lease my current condo apartment from an ordinary pair of mom and pop landlords, they’re not properly equipped to handle credit card payments. As such, each month I’m obligated to mail a personal check out to them to cover my monthly rent. Sometimes, you have few alternatives and must write out checks, and that’s acceptable in limited circumstances like paying your rent, your mortgage, or paying your monthly credit card bill. But if some traveling salesman or pizza delivery guy comes to your door, don’t write him a check, because all you’re doing is giving him a potential tool (a blank check if you will) for trouble. Even if it’s the seemingly innocent girl scouts selling cookies at your door, I recommend paying by cash instead of paying by check so long as the sum is not too prohibitive. Avoid check payments if you can unless you’ve already established a history or measure of trust with the person or company.

Online Banking Is Truly A Much More Efficient Way To Balance Your Checkbook and Track Your Account Finances

The actual practice of balancing your checkbook is a method to verify and confirm that your own personal records accurately match your monthly bank statement transactions. The purpose is to catch mistakes and unauthorized transactions as they happen. While most bank transactions are processed and recorded accurately, sometimes mistakes occur. Usually, bank customers have anywhere from 30-60 days to bring the accounting error or unauthorized transaction details to the attention of their bank. Failure to notify the bank in time about any account discrepancies may result in forfeiture of the bank’s liability to pay you money to make up for the difference. That’s why it’s generally important to balance your checkbook, or reconcile your account balances as accountants like to put it. The best way to do that is to get in the habit of banking online, particularly with the aid of Internet banking aggregators. Online banking not only affords you accurate and real-time updates of your bank accounts on demand, it also provides a variety of account history information to help you budget your spending.

By giving you instant access to your account balances at all times, online banking  helps you plan accordingly. Failure to know how much money you have in your checking or savings account on a regular basis may lead you to blindly spend more money than you have, through ATM withdrawals, excess check writing, and debit card purchases, causing you to incur unnecessary bank fees and charges. Protecting yourself from overdraft and bounced check fees is a must when it comes to sound financial planning.

There are a variety of bounced check and insufficient fund fees that banks and merchants levy when there isn’t enough money in your bank account to cover your authorized checks. A single bounced check can easily cause $50 or more as not only the bank will charge you a $20-30 processing fee, but the merchant who received the paper check from you is likely to charge you an additional $20-30 merchant fee as well for passing a non sufficient fund check. Without knowledge and daily tracking of your checking account balance, insufficient fund and late payment fees can quickly add up and spiral out of control. For the overdraft prone, many banks currently offer overdraft protection to ensure that your checks never bounce and that all ATM and debit transactions still go through. While you’ll still have to pay the bank’s overdraft or bounced check fee, at least with overdraft protection you can avoid having to pay the merchant’s return check cost, and stay in good standing with the payee and the people you do business with.

Another service many banks now offer is the option for customers to link their checking accounts with a savings account. In the event the customer accidentally exceeds his or her available checking account balance, funds from the linked savings account will automatically be used to satisfy the shortfall. While there is usually a small transaction fee for this automatic coverage via the savings account, the charge (around $5-10) is often substantially less than having to pay a non sufficient fund charge to the bank and an additional bounced check fee to the merchant.

While some banks also allow checking accounts to be linked up to credit cards as a backup source of funds in the event of a cash shortfall, I don’t recommend this option. In the event of insufficient checking account funds, the overdraft becomes a cash advance on your credit card. Oftentimes the cash advance fee is levied immediately and cash advance interest charges start accruing immediately. The better option is to utilize the linked savings account alternative, mentioned above.

View Your Online Bank Accounts Daily and Mentally Keep Track Of Your Balances Throughout The Day As You Spend Money

When I speak of balancing my own checkbook, I’m not actually talking about sitting down with wads of purchase receipts and manually matching handwritten checkbook transactions to information found on my monthly bank statements. That would be much too unwieldy and time consuming of a regular task to undertake. In this day and age, between writing checks, swiping credit and debit cards, and using online bill pay, it’s simply too much work and too cumbersome to carry around a paper register and write down every single transaction. However, that doesn’t mean I am not tracking my finances and transactions at all times - I’m simply using a broad mental tracking method to keep tabs on my check, debit, and credit expenditures as opposed to using a manual recordation approach.

The whole point of keeping those accounts balanced is primary to catch those rare but pesky bank recordation mistakes and to ensure that you have even funds in your actively used checking accounts at all times to handle payment requests. For those who want to adopt the same mental tracking method that I use, it’s actually quite simple - all you have to do is get in the habit of viewing your online account balances on a regular basis. Ideally, you’ll want to check your bank account balances every single day. There’s nothing particularly obsessive or compulsive about that. After all for example, if you’re looking to lose weight or count your calories, you would want to step on that bathroom scale regularly to track your progress. In the same way, you want to know where your bank account balances stand at all times. You want to always have a mental figure for the day and make sure you spend well below that amount. If you are new to the practice of mental tracking, you may want to keep a small transaction log (like the ones used for checkbooks) on your person until you get the hang of it. But ultimately, the goal is to rely on mental tracking instead of wasting time and effort writing down every single day to day transaction.

Since all of my credit card, checking, CD, and online high yield savings accounts are linked together on the web and enabled to make automatic monthly debit payments without my continuous oversight, I always make sure I have sufficient funds in my checking account to satisfy all upcoming bill pays. For those who utilize automatic debit payments to handle recurring bills as I do, It’s important to establish a sufficient monetary cushion in your checking account to handle unexpected ATM withdraws and debit card uses to avoid having to pay insufficient fund charges or late fees.

Some banks like Bank of America offer special enrollment programs to help customers better track their spending by rounding up purchase amounts to the nearest dollar. With the Bank of America Keep The Change program, each time you use your Bank of America check card (essentially a debit card) to buy something, the purchase amount is rounded up to the nearest dollar denomination and the difference is automatically deposited into a linked savings account. Not does only does the program greatly promote savings, it makes it a lot easier to mentally keep track of daily purchase transactions as you don’t have to contend with adding up cents.

Using Credit Cards Is Actually A Smarter Way To Manage Your Money Than Using Checks or Debit Cards

The practice of using bank debit cards to manage money is a growing trend as society steadily moves away from cash and check transactions. However, the reality is that most people don’t manage their debit card spending very well and most don’t balance their debit transactions daily, either in written form or mentally, like I do. Personally I’m not a big fan of using debit cards. In my opinion, debit cards are simply check writing in glorified plastic form, minus some of the potential identity theft issues discussed earlier. While it’s substantially safer and more secure than writing paper checks, debit cards still come with the same problems inherent in check writing - payment amounts are withdrawn from your checking account immediately and thus you have to make sure you stay within your checking account limit at all times or face having to pay over the limit fees.

The better solution is to go with a payment mechanism that does not rely on immediate account debits - like credit cards. Due to grace periods inherent with credit cards, compared to debit and check payments, there is less worry when it comes to insufficient fund requirements and bounced payment requests. Credit cards also offer substantially stronger fraud protections against unauthorized transactions and charge mistakes. Oftentimes a quick phone call or an explanation letter is enough to get unauthorized credit card charges removed from your bill, and the best part is that you don’t lose any money while the billing dispute is going on.

Ideally, credit card usage usage is the way to go in an otherwise perfect world. In a perfect world, all cardholders would be responsible credit users with the self control to not spend wildly beyond their means, and would be able to always make sure they have enough money to pay off their credit card balances every month. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world we live in and not everyone is qualified to use credit cards as their primary method to pay for things.