Personal Finance Midweek Review – PayPal Reports Edition

PayPal has new reporting features that allow users to get a good overview of all their online financial activity for a specified time period. I use PayPal for the majority of my online transactions so I was eager to try out the new reports when I saw them announced today.

The report I looked at this morning is the PayPal Financial Statement, it organizes the activity on your account into Sales Activity, Fees, Transfers & Withdrawals, Purchase Activity, & Other Activity (Debit Card Cashback or Money Market Dividends). You can specify the time frame for the report up to a 31 day time period. It has the capability to download the report as a csv file or you can drill down past the summary to get a detailed list of activity, which is also downloadable.

PayPal introduced several other reports which I haven’t had time to look over yet but I’m glad to see they are improving their product. The enhancements are probably spurred in part by the looming threat of Google Checkout, competition is good for consumers! Here are some personal finance articles that helped increase my money IQ, maybe they’ll do the same for you.

Golbguru thinks there should be a credit card qualifying test. Not a bad idea, I’m sure the credit card lobby would have something to say about that.

Five Cent Nickel tells us how to invest like Vanguard’s John Bogle.

Silicon Valley Blogger lets us in on 5 things your banker never told you.

Free Money Finance discovers that Nobel prize winners use index funds.

Sun reveals American Express plans to allow card holders to pay their mortgage with their credit card.

Ask Dong wonders if private colleges are worth the money.

My Money Blog speculates that long-term stock returns may be under 8% over the next 25 years.

Only two more work days until Memorial Day weekend. Almost there!

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

All posts by Ben Edwards