Posted by Tim Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:36:46 GMT
GOODCalc is now more friendly. Maybe not 50% more friendly, but better handling of money and percent values were included in this update. Read about what changed, or go straight to GOODCalc and try it yourself.
Posted by Tim Mon, 06 Nov 2006 03:06:00 GMT
No, not wedding bells. Wedding bills.
October was a month of negative cash flow in the Freund household. We didn't go overboard with our wedding, but things sure do add up quickly. That got me thinking about GOODCalc, and how I haven't shown it much love lately. An afternoon with a laptop and no internet connection had me remedying the situation, since GOODCalc was the only up to date code on the computer.
Version 2 of GOODCalc is running in the wild now. An announcement with improvements listed is on Digital Achievement's website.
Want it in a nutshell? Figure out how to pay off your debt within your budget as quickly as possible. What's not to like? Leave a comment and let me know... :-)
Posted by Tim Wed, 24 May 2006 13:10:00 GMT
I heard about The Ten Cup today via BlogKC. I love the concept, especially with The Ten Percent Solution so fresh in my head. It is nice knowing that 10% of your ticket will go to charity. It makes paying so much for foo foo coffee seem more acceptable.
I’ve mentioned The Ten Percent Solution before, right? I just read it two weeks ago, and it is a nice and easy book to get through. I took three hours from one cover to the other, and it made me want to take my saving and giving to the next level. So much so that I had a strong urge to make more just so I could save and give more. One of the central quotations of the book:
Did universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable.
—Charles Caleb Colton
Posted by Tim Mon, 22 May 2006 03:41:29 GMT
I want to give a plug to HSBC’s Personal Internet Banking program. I signed up to create an online savings account two weeks ago. The account creation was dead easy, and they even took the time to verify ownership of my checking account before they would fund my new savings account from my existing checking account.
Within a week I received two letters on separate days. One letter provided my username and the next letter provided my password. I appreciate the fact that someone would need to steal two days worth of mail to successfully steal my account credentials. Changing the provided credentials was a painless process once logged in, and that’s handy since the supplied username was a 20 digit number.
Tonight I got around to setting up bank-to-bank transfers so that I can save at least 10% of my income each month. I was concerned that creating a required security key would be a hassle. Since I don’t have an ATM card I had to call their customer service number. I was even more concerned when they said that they were experiencing a heavier than usual call load tonight. Much to my delight, a heavy call load only meant being on hold for about 30 seconds, and as soon as the account representative verified a couple of items about my account I was able to access the bank-to-bank transfer page.
It is nice to save so that when life happens I can pay for it with cash rather than resorting to a credit card, and I’m looking forward to earning interest at 4.65% APR on my savings. That’s not a huge number, but it’s much better than what my savings account provides. By developing the habit of saving even at lower interest rates, I will soon be able to save and invest in accounts and properties that produce even better returns.
Posted by Tim Sat, 29 Apr 2006 18:51:00 GMT
I just pushed a beta version of GOODCalc into production. GOODCalc came out of my obsession over numbers, financial numbers in this case. I read about how making extra principal payments on a house can shave YEARS off of the term of the loan, and I wanted to play with different debt payment scenarios. One problem, none of the tools or calculators that I encountered actually allowed enough freedom. Most were mortgage calculators, and I had more than a house payment. I wanted to see a schedule for efficient pay off of my house, my car, and the bit of credit card debt that crept up on me.
The product that you see today is actually the result of a few years of incubation. I first wrote a desktop tool for my own use, and it wasn’t until a few months ago when one of my partners scolded me for not making it public that I began this web version of the same tool. It’s been a learning experience—this is my first TurboGears application. There are still some rough spots, and we will be making improvements in the coming weeks. Please, leave comments here or send me complaints or praise via email.
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