Reviews

Review: Fidelity Investment

Mar 2nd, 2007
by Sean.
4 comments

Last fall, I was trying to find a business bank account with checking and interest-earnings. I looked through many banks. At that time I had a free Business Checking account with HSBC. Unfortunately, HSBC did not offer interest on money in the checking account.

After much searching, I finally found Fidelity. Fidelity offers interest for business accounts with check writing. I saw a promotion for $100 with a $10K deposit. I moved all my money from HSBC to Fidelity. In Fidelity, they offered different money market options. I chose the FIDELITY NY MUNI MONEY MARKET (FNYXX). The fund is tax-exempt from federal, state, and city taxes.

Fidelity provides more than just a brokerage account. I realized I could link all my accounts together with Fidelity. It gave me the idea of account management in one place. I started a personal account with them as well. I told them I was an active trader and they gave me the lowest commissions’ schedule, which is $8 per transaction. The $8 commission is usually reserved for those with 120+ trades/year and $25,000 in household assets, or $1 million in household assets. I did not meet their requirements at the time, but told them that I would be doing a lot of trading and they granted me the lowest commissions’ level.

For market research, Fidelity is rated amongst the top for having the best research tools in the industry. Fidelity’s Research section offers a comprehensive list of reports that is not available in TD Ameritrade or Scottrade. Fidelity also offers IPO trading, a very hot selling point for me.

Fidelity’s customer service is excellent. Compared with TD Ameritrade, Fidelity’s customer service representatives are professional, knowledgeable, and patient. They take the time to listen and  answer my questions. It makes me feel like a first-class customer and makes me want to try Fidelity’s Privilege services.

I would definitely recommend Fidelity Investments.

Rating: 5/5
SmartChoice? Yes

Note: I am not affiliated with Fidelity and I do not work for them.

Product Review: 686 Smarty Complete Snowboard Jacket 2007

Feb 2nd, 2007
by Sean.
No comments yet

686 Enterprises Smarty Complete 2.5 Ply Snowboard Jacket 2007 Model

Outer: 20,000mm waterproof / 15,000gm breathable with Westech-20DT coating
Lining: complete layering system package with zip-in fleece liner and base layer thermal shirt

Features:
Fully taped seams
Wrap-around lower body side panels
Water-proof zippered front handwarmer pockets with Invisi-pull hidden hem drawcord adjust
Radio pocket with window on left sleeve
Goggle pocket with snap-in goggle chamois
Laser-cut and welded pocket construction
New internal multi media (cd/md/mp3/iPod) pocket, mesh miscellaneous pocket and credit card/id pocket
Zip-off hood with stealth front hood with “quick-draw” hood bungee adjustment and single-pull back peripheral drawcord adjustment
Weather-guard rain gutter hood brim and easy-on & off stretch hood panels
Full front zipper with external center front storm flap + internal draft flap with magnetic closure on external storm flap
2-way center front Vislon zipper with custom 686 center front zipper pull
Peached tricot chin guard
2-way zippered pit vents with dual storm flaps with new “smooth-operator” mesh vent gussets
Easy-access chest vents with waterproof zippers
Partially elasticized, adjustable wrist cuffs with Lycra wrist gaiters
“Stash pass pocket” left cuff tab (patent pending) and vanity mirror on right cuff tab
Zip-off, adjustable powder skirt with jacket-to-pant-connect snap tabs
Multiple attach hooks & clips
Available in Black and Burnt Orange
Sizes: SM, MD, LG, XL

Comments:
I bought the 686 Smarty Complete Jacket online from Daddies Board Shop for $264.95. The retail price is $359.99 and I almost paid the full amount in another store, but luckily they ran out of stock. I’m glad I found the jacket for a better deal. The outer layer of the jacket is waterproof and the inner layer is breathable. The jacket also comes with a thermal base layer. The threes layers make the jacket insulate heat very well. I took the jacket on a skiing trip. The 3 layers and a vest kept me warm on the slops even though it sub-30 degrees F and windy. The technology is where the jacket shines. The breathable material regulates the temperature and doesn’t make me feel too hot when I’m actively skiing. The base layer supposedly wicks the sweat away so I won’t feel wet. The outer shell is wind proof and was very helpful when I was skiing rapidly down the slopes. Overall, the jacket was very helpful, plus it has a nice design to it.

Rating: 4.5/5
SmartBuy? Yes

Product Review: Sony Ericsson W810i Phone

Jan 26th, 2007
by Sean.
No comments yet

I signed up with Cingular in November of 2006 and chose the Sony Ericsson W810i. The phone is free for me, but I had to pay $250 up front and receive $250 in rebates three months later.
The Sony Ericsson W810i has a nice design and a bright, sharp, large screen. It comes with a pretty good camera, but I wished it had the three megapixel lens in the Sony 800i. The phone shines most in the music arena. It has great sound and the speaker really blows you away. No wonder it’s called the Walkman phone. I bought a 2GB memory card and use the phone as a MP3 player everyday. It can also play radio stations, a big bonus. If I run out of music, I can just tap into the radio. I also take advantage of the speakerphone feature for handsfree conversations. It is a huge improvement for me, because my old phone, the Sony Ericsson 610 doesn’t have a speakerphone feature and I hate holding on to the phone with my hands or neck. Now, I can engage in a phone conversation while typing with both hands and looking straight at the monitor with my head untilted.

The phone comes with lots of features. There is a sync feature with Outlook Contacts and Calendar. It comes with one game, JC Does Texas. The game was fun for a while, but I beat it in a week. Battery life is very good in my experience. My only complain is that the buttons in the center are too closely packed together. It’s very easy to hit the wrong button. Other than that, it’s a very neat phone. This phone is definitely a nice upgrade over my old Sony Ericsson 610.

sony-ericsson-w810i.JPG

Rating: 4/5 stars
SmartBuy? Yes

W810i
 
Deluxe Walkman® phone
Mobile phone and music player for audio connoisseurs. Great sound quality, advanced communication features, sleek style.
Go music
Music on the move with style to spare. Easy-to-use Walkman® phone with fast Web connection for quick downloads.
Compact music kit
Neat, petite phone with music player, management software and accessories to make mobile audio pure pleasure.
Video is the radio star
Make your own fun with still pictures and video clips. Or listen to the FM radio and get into someone else’s groove.
 
Screen
  • 262.144 color TFT
  • 176×220 pixel
Memory
  • Memory Stick PRO Duo™ support
  • Phone memory 20MB

Networks
  • EDGE
  • GSM 850
  • GSM 900
  • GSM 1800
  • GSM 1900

Available colours
  • Satin Black
  • White

Sizes
  • 100 x 46 x 19.5 mm
  • 3.9 x 1.8 x 0.8 inches

Weight
  • 99 gr
  • 3.5 oz

Data from Sony Ericsson website.

Disclaimer: No compensation was received for this review. The contents on the post are entirely opinions of the blogger.

Review: Dyson DC 14 Bagless Vacuum

Jul 28th, 2006
by Sean.
2 comments

I have been looking for a good vacuum for a long time. I have wall-to-wall carpeting in my apartment. I need a vacuum that would be easy to use and could do a great job at the same time. I have had a few vacuums before but they were cumbersome to move around and they did a lousy job.I have seen the Dyson vacuums on commercials and read many online user reviews. According to the reviews, many say Dyson vacuums do a great job. One of the reviewers named Dyson, “the Mercedes-Benz of vacuums.” That is a high praise. Dyson is built with advanced technology to maintain the same suction power from start to finish. They claimed, “no suction power lost from obstructions.” So, I decided to buy the Dyson DC 14 All Floors Upright Bagless Vacuum. To save some money, I bought the factory-reconditioned version.

I received the Dyson this week and I tested it out yesterday. I can tell you, Dyson really lives up to its name. After one session, the dirt chamber was almost filled up. My carpet has not been that clean for a long time. Surprisingly, it was not that hard to use at all. I rolled the vacuum around my apartment with relative ease. I highly recommend a Dyson vacuum now. The Dyson made me feel good after cleaning. My carpet collects a lot of dust, and the Dyson picks them up.  I can feel the difference after one vacuum session.

For paying $289.99, I would say, it was well worth the money.

Disclaimer: No compensation was received for this review. The contents on the post are entirely opinions of the blogger.

Fidelity Website

Jun 7th, 2005
by Sean.
2 comments

I’m exploring Fidelity’s website and want to see what kind of investment options they offer. Fidelity is well-known for actively managed funds. They seem to have a nice online trading website with a wealth of tools.

I see they have something called Registered Investment Advisors (RIA). If anyone know about or have experience with these type of services, let me know.

I know some wealthy people hire investment advisors or money management folks to invest their money. Where do they find these people? And what do these adisors and folks do to make money?

Product Review: Microsoft Money

Mar 25th, 2005
by Sean.
No comments yet

I have been using Microsoft Money for a few years and I have to say using a software to keep track of expenses is really helpful. I put in all my financial accounts, whether it’s banks, credit cards, investment banks or loans, and I keep track of all the transactions on each account. The best part of Money is its reporting features. I can run a report to see how much I spend each month and in what categories or track my net savings over time.

Money is fairly easy to set up. After you install the software, it walks you through to set up all your financial accounts. You can customize the categories and payees. I suggest setting up a cash account which you will use to keep track of your day-to-day cash activities. This way you know where your dollars are going.

The only downside to Money is that if you don’t keep your activities updated, you’ll defeat the purpose of using the software. When I started using the software, I didn’t update my spendings frequently and there were times I forgot about it. That caused a huge gap in the time periods and my ending balance for each account. To sync the balance, I had to put all the difference in a category called adjustments. This kills the accuracy of my reports when I want to see how much I spend each month and on what.

Therefore it is important to update your software often. I make it a habit that I put in my daily spendings and it doesn’t take that long once you get used to it. Also, I have my credit cards and bank accounts on electronic update so transactions from those places are electronically downloaded to my software.

Money also has a tax calcuator. I entered all my income information and my tax payments. It lets me know if I’m withholding enough and if I should expect a refund. There are also other very nice features, like loan payment calculator and investment tools.

Overall, Microsoft Money does live up to its expectations and has proven to be very useful for me. I have to say this is a solid product from Microsoft.

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