Online Broker Review and Comparison

Online broker reviews differ from site to site because every investor has different things they look for in an online brokerage.  Comparing brokers is actually the easy part, choosing the right brokerage site for you is the tricky part.  So today we have a comparison of online brokers from someone with considerable experience in the financial industry.

Online Broker Review

I was recently asked to compare online brokers and it could not have come at a better time. Recently I ended an eleven year career in the financial services industry and knew I needed to move my 401K from my former employer. I felt that I had enough experience to manage my own funds, and besides, it would be difficult to find a financial advisor to take on my relatively small retirement nest egg.

So as I started off on this path of discovery, I chose to stick with names I knew:

• Scottrade
• Charles Schwab
• TD Ameritrade
• Fidelity
• E*Trade

Fee Structures and Commissions

	Market & Limit Orders	Options	Broker Assisted Trades	Real Time Dow Jones News
Scottrade	$7/Unlimited Shares	$7+$1.25/ contract	$27/Unlimited Shares	Complimentary
Charles Schwab	$12.95+$.015/share over 1,000 shares	$8.95+$.75/ contract	$25.00+online Commission	Complimentary for active traders
TD Ameritrade	$9.99/Unlimited Shares	$9.99+$.75/ contract	$44.99	$29.99/month
E*Trade	$12.99+$.015/share over 2,000 shares	$12.99+$.75/ contract	$45.00+online commission	$29.95/Month
Fidelity	$19.95+$.015/share over 1,000 shares	$19.95+$.75/ contract	$55.00+$.14/ share over 100 shares	Not Available

	Quarterly/ Annual Acct. Maintenance Fees	Minimum Initial Deposit	No-Transaction Fee Mutual Funds Available	Account Closing & Transfer Fees
Scottrade	$0/$0	$500	1,150+	$0
Charles Schwab	$0/$0	$1000	2,000+	$50
TD Ameritrade	$0/$0	$2,000($1,000 for IRAs)	1,300+	$75
E*Trade	$40/$160	$1000	1,000+	$60
Fidelity	$0/$0	$2,500	1,400+	$0 ($50 for IRAs)

If that was all the data needed to make the decision, I’d be all set. In the fast paced world of investing, that’s not the case though. What about research? Tools? Customer Service? These are all a bit more subjective.

According to J.D. Power, customers rank research ahead of all categories when determining overall satisfaction. Again, these things can be subjective. I went to three reputable publications and their 2008 annual surveys to see how they rated each of my five in research, as well as a few other subjects:

You can spend your whole life doing research, but eventually you actually need to DO something. Choosing an online broker is different for every individual. For one person it will be all about the fees. For others, it might be the research. Yet other people will get their research from other avenues and care most about whether the company takes care of them.

Whether it’s one of these five, or any of the other online brokers out there, make sure you are choosing one for the right reasons and not because your golf buddy or the lady in the church choir uses a particular company. Just like any other investment, it has to be right for you.

Contributed by Victor Alfieri

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Short Selling Stock

Short selling stocks is a stock trading method that I’ve never used but I’ve gotten several questions about so today’s guest post takes a look at some of the details of shorting stocks.

Short Selling

Shorting stocks takes a certain amount of courage since you are betting against the long-term trend, history tells us that.  But pure gambling on stock direction has no place for successful investors when you consider that there is really no limit to your loss potential on a short position that goes the wrong way.  Therefore, the key is to focus on the short-term trend and to minimize your risk by finding stocks that may be under selling pressure for any number of reasons, whether factual or not.

Economic Sectors

The best starting place is usually to find sectors of the economy or specific industries that are experiencing economic duress.  During the past few years, companies involved in the housing industry and investment banking have taken severe hits due to the housing bubble implosion. 

The American automakers have also suffered from the rise in the price of oil, making it more difficult to sell trucks, SUVs, and other mainstays of their inventories.  Other parts of the economy have suffered a ripple effect as these key components of GDP growth have stalled and reversed.  Any of these were good candidates for short selling of their stocks.

Identifying Stocks

One way to scour the landscape searching for short candidates is to look at chart trends and technical indicators.  One important signal for shorting is to determine if a stock has broken below key support levels and moving averages.  Such a break can be one sign that a stock is headed into a downtrend. 

Technical analysis of chart patterns can also reveal likely short scenarios, such as when a stock forms what is called a double-top.  This type of formation occurs when a stock peaks, then retreats and makes another stab at the peak.  If the stock begins to decline after achieving a level at or near the first peak, there is a reasonable chance that it will continue to decline until it finds a previous support level.

Risks of Shorting a Stock

One of the dangers of shorting is getting caught in what is commonly referred to as a “short squeeze.”  This can occur for a variety of legitimate reasons such as a bullish news announcement, but it can also be based on rumor and outright false information.  When demand for a stock suddenly outstrips the available supply, the price can be forced higher very rapidly. 

This is more likely to happen in stocks with smaller market capitalizations and share floats.  The price rise can feed on itself as more short sellers cover their positions by buying back the stock, causing even more upward movement.  At the first sign of a squeeze play, savvy investors will most often get out of the stock before an upward price cascade sets in.

Thoughts on Short Selling

Shorting requires you to do something that may look easy, but may not be that easy for some people.  To maximize your profit, you need to hope that the company will fail; you’re hoping for the stock to tank.  The more horrible the news is about the company, the more you stand to profit. 

For these reasons, many believe there is something un-American about shorting and some believe it should be prohibited completely.  They despise the concept of having investors helping to bring about lower stock prices by selling stocks that they don’t already own.  What do you think?

Contributed by Michael Sanibel

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New Baby Girl is Making Us Sleepy

Newborn babies are a lot of work!  It’s only been a little over a week since we’ve had our little girl at home but it seems like a lot longer than that.  The days kind of run together when you’re sleep deprived and trying to figure out how to handle a new baby.

Luckily we’ve had a lot of help! My mom stayed with our son while we were in the hospital and my mother-in-law came for a week to help us get through those first few rough days.

The second baby has been easier in some ways than the first since now we know how to take care of a tiny crying bundle.  However, its been more difficult in other ways since we’re now trying to juggle two kids at once.

Time has been a really scare resource and I’m really thankful to everyone that’s contributed articles to the site. You’ll know who they are because their name will be at the bottom of the article with a link back to their own website.

I found a few minutes this morning before everyone got up to check in on the personal finance info online and ran across this cute baby video from All Financial Matters.  Here are some other articles I read that might interest you:

The Money Writers

• When a Part-Time Job Beats a Full-Time Job – Frugal Dad
• Buying High and Selling Low Continues for Many Investors – Gen X Finance
• Index Funds Are Still Not Popular, But – Suns Financial Diary
• Dividend Payout Timing for the Monthly Cashflow – Million Dollar Journey
• How To Make Cheap Phone Calls and Lower Your Phone Bill – Digerati Life
• Why I Spend – Brip Blap
• 16 Second Quarter Financial Tips – My Dollar Plan

Money Scribes

• First Personal Finance Podcast Has Arrived – Consumerism Commentary
• Use a Blog to Sell Your Home – Get Rich Slowly
• Win $200 Home Depot Gift Card – Bargaineering
• Making Work Pay Tax Credit – Five Cent Nickel
• So Your Life Sucks, But Your Finance Doesn’t Have To – Stop Buying Crap

Money Blog Network

• Dave Ramsy’s Town Hall for Hope Recap –Free Money Finance
• Some things I learned helping a homeless person – Mighty Bargain Hunter
• Several Ounces of Prevention – No Credit Needed

Around the Web

• 50 Side Businesses You Can Start On Your Own – The Simple Dollar
• Predictive & Historial Budgets – Financial Health Guy
• Establish a Proper Relationship with Your Debt – Debt Free Adventure
• Guide to the SEP IRA – Financial Nut
• 10 Ways to Green Your Finances – The Centsible Life
• Pointers on Buying Your First Home – Good Financial Cents

Okay, now it’s back to baby duty!

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Credit Reports & Credit Scores – Choosing the Best One for You

If you’ve ever applied for a loan, credit card, or mortgage, you know your credit score plays a major role in your approval. Having a good credit score is the key factor in buying a car or a house, or obtaining a credit card with a lower interest rate and better terms than those who have questionable credit.

So how do you know which agency and score is the best one for you? First, you have to understand the various types of credit scores that the three main credit reporting agencies use.

Credit Agencies & Credit Scores

There are three credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each credit agency keeps its own set of credit reports, so the information on each report varies. There are also many different credit score calculations available, but there are three main credit scores used by reporting agencies and lenders.

FICO

One of the most popular and comprehensive credit scores used by lenders is the FICO score. Created by the Fair Isaac Company in the 1950s, this credit score is calculated based on your payment history, your debt balances, the length of time you’ve had various types of credit, the variety of credit you have (credit cards, student loans, car loans, mortgages, etc.), and your ability to establish and manage new credit. FICO assigns a percentage to each of these credit factors and calculates a credit score ranging from 300 to 850. The higher your credit score, the better.

BEACON®

Equifax and Fair Isaac created a model where it assesses the account information provided in a credit report to determine the risk of the consumer accounts going delinquent in the next 24 months. The risk score assigned is referred to as the BEACON score. When a creditor requests your BEACON score, the risk is assessed at that point in time. It’s like taking a picture of your credit report and the BEACON score is based on the picture. This means that the BEACON score changes as your credit situation changes. Some lenders use the FICO and BEACON scores together to make a lending decision.

PLUS Score

Developed by Experian as a response to the need for consumers to better understand the importance of their credit score and what goes into calculating a credit score, this score uses a calculation formula similar to the one used by lenders. Experian collects credit data based on two million consumers in the U.S. Along with analytic resources it calculates a credit score that ranges from 330 to 830. Similar to a FICO score, the higher the score, the better.

Essentially, this score is similar to the FICO score, but it’s calculated by Experian rather than Fair Isaac.

Questions to Ask Your Lender

With three different credit agencies and a multitude of credit scores, how can you determine which agency and score is important to you? To come up with the right answer, you have to ask the right questions. When applying for credit with a lender, ask:

• Which credit reporting agency (ies) do you use to pull a credit report?
• Do you request one credit score or do you use more than one credit score?
• Which credit score do you use to qualify me (FICO, BEACON, etc.)?

Ideally, you want all of your credit reports to reflect a good history and your credit scores to be high. By asking the right questions, you can determine which agency and score is important at the time you’re applying for credit.

Contributed by Kristie Lorette

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FNBO Direct Online Savings Account Good for the Environment?

FNBO Direct mentioned their online savings account as an easy method of “going green” in their latest email newsletter.

I guess I’d never thought of online banking as being good for the environment before but it makes sense that electronic delivery of bank statements helps to cut down on paper waste. Here’s a statistic they quoted in their newsletter:

“If every U.S. household stopped receiving paper bills and statements, 687,000 tons of paper would be saved every year, enough to circle the Earth 239 times.”

They also pointed out that using online bill pay, whether through FNBO Direct or any other service, helps to cut down on the number of paper bills and checks each month.

Another obvious environmental savings from online banking is that you don’t have to drive to your local branch for deposits and or withdrawals (FNBO Direct ATM).

Of course, there is certainly energy required to fuel the servers that make the online banking system and document storage run but I was impressed to read that the data center for First National Bank of Omaha is powered by fuel cell technology.

Online banking with FNBO Direct, ING Direct, or any other online bank certainly isn’t going to save the world, but combined with other small changes, like being environmentally friendly at work, it can make a difference.

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Earth Day 2009 – 8 Ways to Save the Environment from Your Cubicle

Many of us spend the majority of our day at work so here are a few tips on how you can celebrate Earth Day every day while slaving away in your cubicle.

Reduce Waste

1) Use a ceramic or travel coffee mug rather than a Styrofoam or paper cup.

2) If you’re eating something other than a sandwich for lunch, use a non-disposable plate and silverware. It doesn’t take long to wash them, and you won’t have to throw away anything afterward.

3) Make sure to recycle used printer cartridges. If you’re not sure where to take them, visit RecycleSpot.org.

Reduce Emissions

4) Bring your lunch to work or walk to a nearby restaurant instead of driving. Find restaurants near your office by using Google Maps. Simply enter your zip code or address, then click “Search nearby” in the dialog box. You can type in “food” or “restaurant” in the field at the top to see what options are near you.

5) When off site arranging meetings, try teleconferencing instead of meeting face-to-face.

Conserve Paper

6) Think before you print. Use electronic documents when possible and try reading, editing and storing your files electronically.

7) When necessary, print double-sided documents. Reuse paper that’s only been printed on one side, and recycle unusable paper.

Conserve Power

8 ) Turn off your monitor if you will be away from your desk for more than 30 minutes, and turn off your computer when you leave for the day.

Earn Money with Green Ideas?

Many businesses these days are looking to save money with “green initiatives”.  If your company offers rewards for employee ideas that help the company profitability you might be able to make a little money by coming up with other ways your company could go green.

Happy Earth Day!

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Best Personal Finance Software Online

The best personal finance software sites are free!  This review of personal finance budgeting online takes a look at sites like Quicken Online, Mint, Wesabe, and others and how you can manage your money online for free.  Thanks to Kelly Whalen for doing the research and compiling this list.

Money Management Online

Recent news suggests savings rates are on the rise and use of credit is declining. it’s clear many Americans are changing the “charge now, pay later” attitude. One way to combat overspending is to create a budget. With dozens of free sites offering money management tools online, we have a new way to keep track of our money. But which one is worth your time?

I examined several of the big names in online money management, which will help you find the right fit. Unless otherwise indicated, each of these sites is free to use.

Favorite Sites

Mint – Many people swear by Mint, and rightly so. The site offers a clean interface, and easy to read graphics. Inputting info is easy, and Mint sends a weekly financial snapshot email, as well as an email to let you know when your credit card payments are due.

Great tools for budgeting, tracking past spending, totals for all accounts, networth calculator. Mint has a clean, easy to read interface, tracking for investments, and it is easy to set up.

The only drawbacks are the advertising to “save” you money, slow response time for problems/issues with the site, and the site doesn’t play nicely with all banks. Despite these points I would recommend this site to everyone.

Wesabe – If you aren’t on the Mint bandwagon, chances are you would like Wesabe. Wesabe offers many of the traditional tools (tracking for all accounts but loans, and a cash account feature), but also has created a manual uploader for the accounts it does not currently support. They also are ad free!

Wesabe offers one of the best customer support models available. Users interact with the team at Wesabe and can submit suggestions, and feedback. Another great feature is their “Groups” feature which allows you to talk to other users, including folks like CEO of Wesabe, Marc Hedlund.

Wesabe is recommended for those that want a community with their personal finance software, excellent and interactive customer service, and more control over categorizing expenses.

Quality Option

Quicken Online – Signing up for Quicken Online is an easy and quick process. Quicken ties in to TurboTax so managing deductions at tax time is easy. QuickenOnline gets high marks for their future transactions feature. A big, bold area in the middle shows “What you earned – What you spent = What’s left.”

They support investment accounts, loans, credit cards, savings and checking accounts. During my user test QuickenOnline locked me out of one of my accounts several times, and customer service took several days to clear it up.

This site is best for people who already use Quicken, or those who want a tie-in to Turbo Tax.

Functional but Not Outstanding

My Spending Plan – This tool was nixed as soon as I signed up, the “interview” process which is supposed to help you create your spending plan was really just a way to show you advertisements. Once I got beyond that, the features were decent, but not as good as other sites.

Geezeo – No spam, but plenty of ads, a confessions tab, and tracking for goals and networth. Features include creating a budget and goals, as well as automatic uploading of account info were all the usual features. The site had a bland look, ads take up a lot of space, and did not offer much of a community.

Other sites:

Mvelopes: (pay) Free 14 day trial, monthly fee afterwards. Includes BillPay for folks who don’t have it at their bank.

Buxfer: (free) Simple, clean financial site, no bells and whistles.

Rudder: (pay for extra transactions) 200 Transaction maximum, updates and advertising sent through emails.

The bottom line? Tons of options out there, so you’re bound to find one that works for your specific needs.

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The Credit Crunch, Financial Crisis, and Stimulus Packages

While some pundits have referred to the current economic situation as the Great Depression 2 or some other similar crisis situation, the fact is we still have a long way to go before we get to that point. Nevertheless, we are now in what appears to be the most significant financial crisis since the 1930s. While we may not see soup lines around city blocks anytime in the near future, it is, nonetheless, a very serious situation.

How did the American financial system get to this point? What caused such a tremendous downturn so seemingly quickly? The fact is, each segment of the economy is dependent upon the others. Those who realize this can make smarter decisions when it comes to their money.

Home Mortgages
So how does it all fit together? For those who own a home, at some point in time they had to approach a bank about taking out a mortgage loan. In the past, an approval usually meant the borrower and lender were in a relationship with each other for 20 to 30 years, substantially longer than many marriages. This is no longer true.

Now, as little as minutes after the loan closing, it may be bought by a different company. In many cases, it goes to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and is repackaged with other loans in what are known as mortgage-backed securities. These are then sold on the secondary mortgage market.

It is not necessary to understand the minute details of mortgage-backed securities, but it is necessary to know they are groupings of mortgages sold as a package. The companies now at the root of so much of the problems — such as Bear Stearns, Lehman and Merrill Lynch — were heavy investors in the secondary mortgage market and bought up many of these mortgage-backed securities.

So how does this affect an insurance company like AIG? They, along with others like them, were responsible for insuring the mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also insure mortgages.

The Crisis
From 2001 to 2006, the mortgage industry was experiencing a very prosperous time. Interest rates were at all-time lows causing a boom in the housing market and everyone was reaching a state of euphoria. In some ways, it was like the Roaring 20s. But like the Roaring 20s, the bottom fell out. During that half decade, banks made loans to certain individuals, sometimes regardless of the risk, believing that they could always refinance later if things got too difficult. Often, these mortgages were variable rate mortgages with increased payments after a few years.

When those individuals ran into tougher times and could not find the money to make the monthly payments on the mortgage, it defaulted and went into foreclosure. In some ways, this is not a huge problem for the economy has a whole. Foreclosures happen all the time. However, with the housing industry slumping, mortgage holders were not getting back what they had invested. More was owed on the homes than the current market said they were worth.

Therefore, companies who invested heavily in these mortgage-backed securities suffered heavily. It will take a tremendous amount of effort, and probably a fundamental change in the way they do business, before they see any relief.

Mortgage-backed securities are generally considered safe because there are a lot of them. Some may pay off early and some may default, but the vast majority stick to the terms of the loan, making it very profitable for those who hold the securities. While the conventional wisdom says there is safety in numbers, these companies were finding out there could be devastating effects in those numbers if many borrowers started going under at the same time.

The Bailouts
With these companies facing mounting challenges and collapsing at alarming rates, the federal government stepped in and take control, buying bad mortgages and getting these liabilities off the books of these troubled companies. It first spent $700 billion on a Wall Street bailout, then an auto makers’ bailout. The latest bailout, referred to as the Obama stimulus package, is a massive collection of public works projects.

While it is acceptable to debate the wisdom of these bailouts, the alternative may have been much worse. Without these actions, a number of the nation’s most storied financial companies and manufacturers would no longer exist. In itself, that may not be much of a problem. However, the further collapse of these institutions and individual investors would amplify the losses already being experienced. A depression may even develop.

While the government may have had little choice but to act, the spending will likely lead to further difficulties. The budget deficit will increase and oil prices may go higher, as the dollar is further weakened. Of course, in this situation, there may be no good answers.

Contributed by Ken Black

What Have We Learned?

The main lesson I’ve learned from the “Great Recession” is to build a bigger financial cushion.  This means putting away more money in an emergency fund and also buying smaller houses, less expensive cars, and less stuff.  If you lose your job and have a $1500 a month house payment you’re in much worse shape than if you’re laid off and have a $700 a month house payment.

Another lesson is to try and diversify your sources of income.  If your whole family is reliant on one salary and that job goes away then you’re in major trouble.  If you can add even a few small extra income sources then at least you still have a little money coming in if your laid off.

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Baby Tips on Life

Babies can teach you a lot about life.  Although they can’t talk and have no intention of doing anything but getting their needs met, being around a newborn baby can teach you, or at least remind you, of a few key points in life.

We’re back from the hospital and that smiling face you see is our new little daughter!  An unlikely teacher, here is what I’ve learned from her in the few short days we’ve known each other.

Life Moves Fast

When our almost three year old son came to visit his new little sister, he brought along pictures of when he was first born.  It brought back memories of how uncomfortable his first night of life was for us and how we’d thought it would never end.  But then I realized I was actually looking back fondly on the memories of our tiny boy and all the grief he had caused us.

Here he is almost three and I’m sad that all of those experiences we had with him are over.  Now when our little girl cries in the middle of the night, even though my body screams at me not to get up, I remind myself to cherish the crying little creature with skinny legs and a tiny head because someday soon she’ll be a cruisin three year old who will have no interest in letting me hold her tight.

What I’m reminded of is not to wish away the uncomfortable times in life because more often than not, something “uncomfortable” is happening. If we always focus on getting through the rough times and looking forward to the “good times” then we’ll end up glazing over a lot of neat experiences in life.

Health Matters

Epidural’s sure are expensive but according to my wife they’re worth every penny : )  Of course an epidural is an elective procedure but I think it represents our willingness to spend the money we need to make our loved ones comfortable and safe.

I would spend whatever I needed in order to keep our little girl healthy and growing.  Of course there are some things we simply couldn’t afford, which is why I have to make sure our family has insurance to protect them in those scenarios. I feel so badly for the families with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.  I can’t even imagine how painful an experience it must be, and if you had no money to pay for needed treatment it would be agonizing beyond belief.

I guess this is a two part lesson, the first is for me.  Always have good health insurance for my family.  The second part is for our nation’s politicians.  Focus your efforts on the health care system because it’s a problem that isn’t going away.  People will continue to have babies, they’ll continue to get old and need treatment.  The problem isn’t going away, it’s only getting worse.

Practice Makes Perfect

Although the last few days have been rough, they haven’t been as jolting and exhausting as the first days after our son was born.  Some of it has to do with things out of our control but part of it is that we’ve been through the process before and knew how to prepare/react.

Having a baby is certainly scary.  Especially the first time through, you don’t know what to expect or exactly what to do.  But eventually you figure it out and if you decide to do it again, you’re better at it.  This is no different than many new things in life.  They may be scary but the only way to figure it out is to give it a shot. 

If we’d have decided not to have a baby because we were afraid of having and raising a kid we’d have missed out on some of the best experiences in our lives.  I have to remember that next time I’m faced with a decision that I’m scared of making.  I can’t avoid things simply because I don’t know how to do them or what to expect.  I have to get them a try and remember that practice makes (semi) perfect.

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Best Deals Sites Online – FatWallet

This is the third in our series of best deals sites online. We’ve already discussed Slickdeals and Hot Coupon World and now take a look at FatWallet.

FatWallet

(Thanks to Christy from Art of the Coupon who shares her money saving expertise with us in this series of posts.)

FatWallet is another site that is successful because of member submissions. Like Slickdeals, they divide their site into forums which focus on different types of deals. Fat Wallet forums feature:

Hot Deals: The deals posted here are usually the same as the deals posted on Slickdeals. However, FatWallet has some exclusive relationships with certain stores, and offers coupons available only to their members. Those types of deals are authored by the site owners, instead of by regular members. They are always listed at the top of the forum, and prominently advertised as FatWallet Exclusives

Travel Deals is a forum dedicated to finding deals on plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other tips for traveling for less. While Slickdeals has these types of deals, they are mixed in with the general Hot Deals and are not as easy to find.

Online Auctions is a forum featuring tips and tricks for successful selling on ebay. This forum is of limited interest to anyone who doesn’t sell at online auctions, although it does offer some information for buyers on fees and taxes they might incur if they buy from certain online auctions.

One Time Use Coupons is a forum where people post coupons they receive which aren’t for general use. They usually give these coupons away to specific members who ask for them within the discussion, so if you aren’t an active contributor to Fat Wallet you may not have much success getting any deals from this forum.

Free Stuff is similar to the Slickdeals freebies forum. Many of the same offers are posted in both locations. However, Slickdeals has separated this category into Surveys and magazines, so it is a little easier to find exactly what you are looking for on Slickdeals.

Finance is probably FatWallets best forum, although it is catered to a specific audience. Here, people post general financial questions and tips for things like investing and real estate. There are also threads dedicated to good credit card offers, or to offers for free money when opening bank accounts.

If you are looking for a new credit card, or a 0% balance transfer offer, this thread can be invaluable to you. If you have a tax question, a question about your credit report, or an investment question, you can also get advice here (but take the advice with a grain of salt, because it is coming from strangers on the internet, after all).

Navigating FatWallet

– When you open a forum, you can select a Subcategory so you see only posts you are specifically interested in. For example, when you open the Hot Deals forum you can narrow your search to see only books, computers, flowers, gifts, or a number of other sub-categories of items.

– Just like on Slickdeals, there are comments from other users to help provide you with more information about the deals.

– You can subscribe to topics of interest here so you can see a list of topics that have been updated with new comments when you sign on

– You can add a post as a favorite, so that it is featured at the top of the list of topics within the forum.

– You can set a Topic Alert with specific keywords so you are notified whenever someone posts a specific deal within a certain forum. You can decide to have this alert sent to you once a day, or instantly every time someone posts a deal with that keyword so you never miss out on an opportunity to buy. You can also subscribe to different forums via RSS here as well.

Who Should Use Fat Wallet?

One of the key features of FatWallet that is not offered by Slickdeals, is Cash Back. FatWallet has a list of over 100 stores that offer cash back. If you are going to purchase anything from one of these stores (and you don’t already use a Cash Back site like Ebates or MyPoints) then you should definitely go to FatWallet first. By simply going to this list and clicking through to the store before you make your purchase, you can get anywhere from 1% to 15% of your money back.

The list is alphabetical and very easy to browse, either by category or store name. If you are just interested in general deals and freebies, FatWallet and Slickdeals are almost interchangeable as I mentioned above.

In addition, the Finance forum on FatWallet is very useful to people who open bank accounts to get free money, or who are interested in playing the Balance Transfer game on their credit cards. There is a wealth of information that can help you in these endeavors that you won’t find elsewhere. The travel deals are also organized best at FatWallet, so if you need a good rental car discount code, this should be your first stop.  

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