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I’ve been a member of the BoA cult for the better part of a decade now, happily earning 5.25% on “category” purchases with the Customized Cash Rewards card and 2.625% on “non-category” purchases with my BoA Premium Rewards card. However, I recently jumped on the US Bank 4% Smartly card bandwagon for my “non-category” spend, … Read more

Today, I helped my 17-year-old daughter file her taxes. Since she doesn’t earn much income as a teenager, we opted to use TurboTax for its free federal and state e-filings. While I don’t love TurboTax, I’ll grudgingly use it when it’s truly free—which is the case for my teens. After submitting her return, we were … Read more

Our oldest kid came back from school with a terrible earache today. Given the time of day, it was too late to get into our primary care physician. My wife scheduled an appointment at our local CVS Minute Clinic for this evening, but I explored telehealth options first. A few Google queries were rather unsuccessful, … Read more

*** Edit 7/30/25 *** The following post is now obsolete. An updated post is here: https://frugalprofessor.com/us-bank-smartly-credit-card-bait-and-switch-smartlier-solutions-from-a-finance-professor/       Update 4/14/25: On 4/14/25, U.S. Bank essentially neutered this card for new applicants. The $100k balance must now be held in a checking account rather than a brokerage account (and thus incurring a ~$4k/year opportunity cost … Read more

64 years old. Gone too soon. She was a wonderful mother and grandmother.

The 2024 version of FreeTaxUSA is now live: https://www.freetaxusa.com/ Usual disclaimer: the name makes it sounds like a horrible scam. But it is my favorite tax filing site, found through my favorite resource on the planet for all things personal finance: the Bogleheads forum. If you need to adjust your W4, now is the time … Read more