It’s all about the Contract

A couple days ago we got our monthly electric bill and I was looking it over and first was glad to see that it went down almost $100 from the month prior.  (It’s hot in Texas in August)  So I was checking out the rate per kwh and was trying to think back at what we used to pay just a couple years ago.  Seems like it’s always going up (just like everything else)

On to page two and the energy company has a killer new deal.  (Maybe to some)  I start reading this new deal that they want to offer us.  Reading through the offer they say we can get a guaranteed rate of 14.9 cents per kwh.  Ok that sounds pretty good, I check our current rate and it’s only 15.7 and for peak 16.5 .. hmmm  I’m not even saving more than .01 cent.  To humor myself I continue to read and of course you have to sign this contract which will guarantee this rate for 2 years, which is also the contract length.  OK so you want us to lock in for two years.  So I read the fine print..

If you disconnect or cancel your service before the 2 years is up we will charge you an early disconnect fee of $295.00  .  Uh WHAT..!

No thanks Mr. Energy Company.  Not going to sign that for very, very little savings.
I don’t want to get stiffed by you for that amount.

Anyone else run across stupid or ridiculous contract break fees?

Auto Insurance Time

It’s about that time of year I either blow it off (pay the same) or compare auto insurance quotes.  It’s Auto insurance time.  I usually like to start off online to see what company will offer us the best rate within the same limits.  Of course the cheaper it is the better, but not at a loss of coverages though or higher deductible rates.  Back in the spring I was rear ended at a stop light and the damage was pretty minimal.  However the guy didn’t have a license or insurance so instead of dealing with it, I’m living with it.  Again you can hardly notice.  But what if I had a high deductible?  I would then have to pay for it out of pocket.

So it’s time to start shopping around and see what we can come up with and compare some rates.  Not sure if we will really switch since we currently get discounts since our home is with our auto.

Thinking back about Stocks

After all the recent talks about the market, etc. I was thinking back to when I actually did some rather small online trading in my attempts to make some money.  Now I did make some but not a whole lot really as I never invested more than $1000, and after looking back over the years I probably should have just kept that money in the account and put it on some long term growth accounts, but I was younger and obviously I didn’t care.

Now I really should be looking into some type of retirement fund so it can start building over the next 30 years.  Crap I still have 30 years to go, wow, that sounds horrible, lol.  Anyways my goal in 2009 is to get back to investing somewhere so we are actually trying to earn something with our money instead of spending it.