PenFed Platinum Rewards FAIL
Yesterday I got another piece of bad news from PenFed. They are reducing the cash back on my favorite card, PenFed VISA Platinum Gas / Cash Rewards Card, again! Make no bones about it I love this card for one thing and one thing only – GAS. I even wrote a whole post about it. Luckily, the latest reduction does not affect the gas rewards, but I have to think it's only a matter of time.
The letter that I got said that in honor of celebrating the new year, they were going to reduce my APR from 13.99% to 9.99%. Really? Anyone who reads this blog knows I don't give a crap about APR let alone celebrate it. You could make mine 999% and I wouldn't care because I pay my card off every month in full like any rational credit card holder should do. But I digress… In order to
"maximize the financial value we can deliver to you through this lower purchase APR, the earnings rate on non-gas purchases will also be adjusted from 1% to .25%, effective February 1, 2012."
That sounds like something right out of Bank of America's playbook, not something you would expect from a credit union that's supposed to be looking out for member/owner best interests.
It gets worse. They're using this reduction letter as an attempt to switch users of the Platinum Cash Rewards card over to the Platinum Rewards card which gives you points rather than cash back. Total FAIL. Ironically, these points actually match up similarly with what the Platinum Cash Rewards program used to offer (5 points on gas, 3 on groceries, and 1 on everything else). However, instead of the beautiful automatic redemption you get with the Platinum Cash Rewards card, the Rewards Card is like every other one on the market where you have to build points for gift card redemptions and you have the potential problem with point re-valuation. Again like every other card on the market, there's a sign on bonus (5,000 points) and 20,000 bonus points if you spend $1,000 in the first three months.
They seem to be doing this on an annual basis as my Open Letter to PenFed from last March can attest. I hope that next year at this time I won't be coming back to rant yet again that this time the card is killing our gas rewards. For now, I'll just relax and keep getting 5% back on gas!
2011 Recap
As I looked back over all the net worth posts of 2011, I have to acknowledge that it was a rough year. There's just no getting around it. A lot of things went wrong for my family that impacted us financially. Most of those were beyond our control. I wrote a nice post a while back (that no one really read) about Known, Knowable, and Unknowable Risk, and the same theme applies here to things that are beyond one's control. These events were largely unknowable, and they are going to happen from time to time. The important thing is to build a large enough financial buffer to insulate your family from the brunt of the impact. That's what an Emergency Savings account is there to do. I am thankful for all of the savings we have done during better days that helped to carry us through this year's major events:
- DW's illness, week-long hospitalization and ongoing treatment- Impact: HUGE (emotionally and financially)
- Employers failure to pass HCP tests resulting in ~$4k kicked back to me from 2010 contributions – Impact: Blessing in disguise because the liquidity helped, but the lost retirement funding is painful
- Employer gives crappy bonus to make company look better in hopes of sale – Impact: Great inspiration to get my resume up-to-date and look for other options
- Employer's decision to withhold raises from anyone receiving a crappy bonus again to make the company look better financially in a sale – Impact: Even more inspiration to consider other options.
- Stupid decision to buy a call option on Google right before an earthquake and tsunami – Impact: -$1421.49
- Start up costs for wife's business – Impact: ~-$3,000 but well worth the investment in the long run I predict.
Given all of these events and the macroeconomic conditions in the US and abroad, I had pretty low expectations regarding our change in net worth over the year. Let's check out the numbers:
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw our assets had actually increased over the course of the year. This effect is even stronger if you ignore the real estate component. A very nice surprise indeed that speaks to the value of diligently saving for retirement in automatic accounts like a 401k. On the liabilities side, I knew that the numbers would be looking good. Although the rates on my student loans are low (and lower than my mortgage), I'm actually more excited about taking them down almost 10% this year. At that rate I could be student loan debt free by the end of the decade. Overall, my family's net worth grew more than 12% in year that was filled with turmoil both at home and abroad. That feels pretty good. And, I have to say that if I had not taken the time to look at all the numbers, I would be leaving 2011 feeling like I did a lot worse this year than was the reality. Please take the time to run your own numbers. Maybe you'll end up feeling the same way.
Chase Freedom Cash Back Categories 2012
Chase Freedom has announced their 5% cash back categories for 2012. There's really nothing surprising in this list though. Here they are along with my thoughts:
January – March
- Gas stations – I will still be using the PenFed card. It's the same reward level, and I like credit unions better than big banks.
- Amazon.com – this is better than Amazon's own card which gives 3%, but it's not as good as you can get buying Amazon gift cards at the grocery store with your AMEX Blue Case Preferred card which will yield you 6%.
April – June
- Grocery stores – I will be using my AMEX Blue Case Preferred card instead since it pays 6%.
- Movie theatres – I watch about 1 movie per year in the theatre (on my birthday). Unfortunately, my birthday is not in this quarter.
July – September
- Gas stations – Again, I will still be using the PenFed card. It's the same reward level, and I like credit unions better than big banks.
- Restaurants – I love it when the restaurants are at 5%. I don't eat out more often because of this, but I get a bigger kickback when I travel for work and get to expense my meals.
October – December
- Hotels – I will probably stick with my Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card. These stays are all reimbursed anyway since I really only travel for work.
- Airlines – This I will probably use.
- Best Buy – Wow, I wonder when the new Nintendo is coming out…tempting.
- Kohl's – I like Kohl's a lot. Many of my dress shirts, belts, and ties come from that store. I also like the 70-80% off deals on kids clothes.
PerkStreet Sign On Bonus!
If you are considering leaving your big bank, would like to go the debit card route, or want a rewards checking account, there's never been a better time than now to sign up for a PerkStreet Financial℠ Visa® Debit Card* because now there's a $25 bonus to sign up, and you know how I love sign up bonuses!
To receive your $25 cash back bonus all you have to do is:
- Apply for your account online by 11:59PM EST, December 25, 2011 and fund the account with $25 or more.
- Use your card to make 3 purchases within 30 days of opening your account.
They will credit $25 to your Perks Account within 10 business days of your third purchase. This offer expires at 11:59 PM EST, December 31th, 2011.
As I've mentioned before, when used as a credit card, users can get a rebate of either 1% if the account balance is below $5,000 or 2% if the account balance is above. Additional categories occasionally receive 5% rebates. No interest on the account. Be sure to read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of my review for a more complete discussion.
*PerkStreet is a sponsor of this site.
Quest for a Million – Net Worth – 12/2011
November kind of sucked. My son was sick…again. I was sick…again…twice. The house down the street sold for a ridiculous price per square foot because of their carpeted garage and dragged the Zillow estimate on my home down almost $10k causing unnecessary distortion in my net worth. I'm whiny and sleepy tonight, but let's get into it anyway.
My wife's business did well in November. I'm pretty sure she garnered receivables in excess of her rent so she is break-even in month 2 with limited marketing. December will be a light month with the holidays, but fortunately human anguish becomes amplified during this time so I'm hoping for a big January.
My job remains stable. The potential retention bonus I mentioned last month is still viable, and I will likely pick up a direct report or 2 in the coming months. Everything is clicking along reasonably.
On the asset side, savings is flatter than a pancake. Next year, this goal is going to get more attention. It's driving me crazy that I can't get this higher. It's actually worse than it appears because I still owe another $5k into the Roths before April 15. Retirement accounts rose 3% and are 12% higher for the year thanks to dedicated 401k investing and some market gains. Overall, total assets fell by 1% since last month, but that's due to the Zillow effect I mentioned earlier more than anything else.
On the liabilities side, it's the same story I tell every month.Credit cards are still getting paid off every month, variable rate student loans are still getting paid down aggressively, and 1.08333 mortgage payments are being made. Liabilities reduced by 1% again this month. Oh, and Xmas shopping is done too!
Overall, somehow we're still managing a positive 2011….but tax time is coming soon!
What about you? How's your net worth shaping up this month? How does that look year over year?
Ready for TAX Season?
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