If you haven’t established a reliable system for saving your receipts for key purchases, consider utilizing your cell phone. There’s no need for a scanner or paper filing system, and it only takes a few seconds to ensure that you have an easy to locate receipt for all your important purchases. Here’s how:

• Whenever you buy something important, just take a picture of the receipt and email it to yourself
• If you’re using Gmail, create a label along the lines of “2011 Receipts” or something similar, and archive the image using that label. You could stop there, if you wish, but saving receipts in that manner will make finding the specific receipt you’re looking for a bit difficult, so…
• Open the image, and save it to a folder on your computer, using a specific file name:

• If you’re hyper anal retentive, you could also save the paper receipt in a file folder, but why bother? You have an electronic receipt, and should you ever need it, you’ll probably need that version, not the hard copy. (If you do need a hard copy, just print out the receipt.)

A few other tips:

• If you can’t find a specific receipt for something you purchased online,  but remember who the merchant was, log on to your account and check your order history – it ought to be available.

• Likewise, if you purchased the item at a brick and mortar store with a credit card, you can download your purchase activity at the issuing bank’s website.

• Amazon makes this wonderfully easy, by the way. If you log on to your Amazon account, click on “Download Order Reports” under Order History. You can specify a date range, and in a matter of moments you’ll have a .csv file of all of your Amazon orders for the specified dates:

(I won’t mention how much I spent with Amazon since January 1st of 2009, but they ought to have my picture prominently displayed in their lobby. Yikes!)

Perhaps you have a different approach to saving receipts; if so, please add to the discussion by posting a comment. Thanks!

Watching the stock market over the last couple of weeks reminds me of The Cyclone at Coney Island – dramatic ups and downs, and all the passengers get knocked around a lot. If you’re worried about the relative degree of risk the market presents today, or at any point for that matter, there are a couple of short term measurements that have proven themselves reliable indicators of market risk.

These two indices won’t themselves enable you to realize big profits, but they definitely can help you better understand where the market stands and may help you avoid being overly optimistic or pessimistic.

1.  NYSE 10 Day High-Low Average

This indicator tracks the number of NYSE stocks hitting 52 week highs versus those hitting 52 week lows, averaged out over a ten day period.  For example, if 225 stocks reached their highest prices of the past year, and 20 hit their lowest prices, the index would be at 91.8% (225 ÷ 245).  As the chart below shows, the market is considered to be Bullish when the 10 day Average is above 85% (the blue line is the 10d High/Low Index):

This particular chart is handy in that it indicates when the reading has turned bearish, and when the trend is positive or negative.

An explanation of this index from the MarketGauge website:

The number of stocks reaching a new 52-week high relative to the number of stocks falling to a new 52-week low is a measure of the market’s breadth. In a healthy market an increasing number of stocks will make a new high as the market climbs. In the late stages of a bull market the advance “narrows”, meaning fewer issues reach new highs along with the major indexes. Similarly, the end of a bear market is evident when the number of new lows decreases even as the market declines.

If you’d like to track this indicator, you’ll find this link useful:  MarketGauge - NYSE 10 Day High Low Index

2.  VIX Volatility Index

You likely have heard of the VIX.  The CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) Volatility Index is an indicator for how much fear investors exhibit with regard to the future direction of the S&P 500.  From the CBOE:

The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX^®) is a key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by S&P 500 stock index option prices. Since its introduction in 1993, VIX has been considered by many to be the world’s premier barometer of investor sentiment and market volatility.

When the market and trader action is characterized by anxiety and fear, the VIX rises; when market conditions (and trader confidence) improves, the index generally falls. Here’s a somewhat lengthy explanation from OptionTradingpedia:

The VIX is quoted as a percentage estimating the implied volatility of the market, which is the expected annualized movement of the S&P-500 over the next 30 days. Not to get too technical, when the VIX is at 30, it means that the S&P-500 might move as much as 2.5%…  up or down over the next 30 days.

As a contrarian indicator, the higher the VIX, the more bearish the market is and conversely, the lower the VIX, the more bullish the market is.

The real question now is, when is the VIX high or low?

There really isn’t a standard to what constitutes a high or low VIX reading. Apart from using your experience and gut feel, there are 2 main ways to read the VIX. 1, Multi-years high or low. 2, VIX trend.

Multi-year highs or lows typically warns investors that turning points may be near. The above examples marked two market reversals when the VIX was in multi-year high and low. Investors and traders may consider covering or closing profitable positions when these points are reached.

The trend of the VIX also provides an indication to the trend of the stock market. In a bull market, the VIX is typically trending downwards and in a bear market, the VIX is typically trending upwards. The VIX was trending downwards steadily in the big bull run of 2003 to 2006.

In simplest terms, when the VIX gradually declines from levels in the 20′s or higher down to 20 or below, it usually indicates a stable market and low volatility – and is thusly considered bullish.  Higher readings – say 35 or higher – are a sign of increased volatility. To put things in perspective, the VIX hit its all time high of 89.53 on October 24, 2008.

If you’re interested in tracking the VIX, click here for a 12 month chart:  VIX 12 month chart

I hope you find these two indices helpful as you sort through your investing options and try to make sense of where the market is headed.

P.S. Coincidentally enough, this from today’s MarketWatch:

All information provided in this post is for informational purposes only.  Practical Hacks makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, suitability or validity of any information in this post or on this site, and will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information or any damages arising from its display or use.  Please seek the advice of a qualified investment advisor before making investment decisions.

As each year draws to a close, I find myself in a reflective mood, reviewing how the year went, what I achieved – and didn’t – and my plans for the following year; I imagine many of you do the same thing.

I usually have several days off during late December, and take advantage of that time to perform a sanity check on various aspects of my life and take care of some year-end business.  Here are five of the things I do at the end of every year…

1.  Run a credit report . It’s a great idea to make this an annual habit:  go to AnnualCreditReport.com and request a free credit report from one of the 3 nationwide credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion.  Your report (actually, a “credit file disclosure”) provides a thorough review of your credit and payment history.  If anyone’s applied for credit using your identity, it’ll show up here.  Note that a credit report will not include your credit score, or FICO; to get it (by no means necessary!), you’ll have to pay ~$8 or $9.

Also:  do not go to FreeCreditReport.com; although you can receive a “free” report, in order to do so you have to sign up for a 7 day trial of a credit monitoring service.  After the initial 7 day period, it’s $19.95 per month.  Beware!

2.  Change critical passwords . I imagine many of you received emails recently regarding the fact that user logons and passwords were compromised at Gawker Media.  If nothing else, the event served as a potent reminder that everyone ought to change passwords on some sort of periodic basis, and that using the same password across several sites is nothing short of idiotic.  If you haven’t updated your passwords recently, take this opportunity to do so, and make sure you use strong passwords.  If you’re worried about remembering them, use a password manager like RoboForm.  “RoboForm Everywhere” enables you to securely sync passwords across multiple computers, by the way; no, I don’t work for them nor do I have any connection to the company!

3.  Reallocate/rebalance your investment accounts . The end of the year is also a great time to thoroughly review and rebalance your investments, whether they’re modest or extensive.  Here’s a link to an excellent article on this topic, from the SEC:  Beginner’s Guide to Asset Allocation, Diversification, and Rebalancing.

4.  Analyze your spending . Whether you use a spreadsheet to track your spending, or simply look at annual summaries of credit card spending and your online bill payments, this is a great time to spend a little time thinking about how you’re actually spending your hard earned income.  You may want to look at insurance coverage, media spending (cable, dish, internet, streaming video, etc.), or wherever your expenditures seem heavier than they should be.  In our case, I switched our auto insurance coverage from a company we’d been with for literally decades, to another.  I also canceled several credit cards during the last week, having no need to pay annual fees on cards that are used infrequently.  I’m also reviewing our life insurance policies, and we’ll probably adjust my wife’s coverage.  Take a few minutes – or an hour or so – to make sure you are spending your money where it’s truly needed!

5.  Make final charitable donations . This is a clear win-win situation:  you get to help someone who could use a hand, and gain a tax deduction at the same time.  I know the economy hasn’t been particularly stellar, but it’s been even tougher for those who are a bit less fortunate.  End the year by helping out someone else.

How about you?  What’s on your year-end To Do list?  Please share by commenting.

As I write this on Sunday morning, it’s difficult to believe that I was playing in a golf tournament a week ago.  It snowed Friday night in The Middle of Nowhere, and this morning the temperature is 27°F.

As a result, the weekend has been devoted to cooking (pulled pork, Cajun seafood over linguine, corn chowder – in other words, comfort food), watching the President’s Cup, and working on the blog a bit.  Yesterday I added a plugin which enables commenters to respond to one another, creating “nested” or threaded comments; to take advantage of this feature, click on the small “Reply” link at the bottom of an existing comment.  Oh, and I’ve done one other thing this weekend – I found several posts I think will be of interest to you:

Everyone loves getting airline upgrades, yes? A few days ago I stumbled across an article by Jonathan Marks titled “How I Almost Always Get a Flight Upgrade.” Jonathan offers a few good tips and his post is certainly worth a read; for a completely different perspective, check out this FlyerTalk thread – the original poster was a United gate agent for years:  Operational Upgrades from a gate agent’s perspective.

Next time you’re on the road to some exotic (or not so exotic!) locale, these tips could be handy:  10 Tips for Taking Great Street and Market Photos (from Uncornered Market)

Speaking of which, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger has another excellent blog called Digital Photography School; here’s a post in which he covers what to bring along on your next trip (from a camera/gear standpoint):   Travel Photography – What to Take in your Kit

TripBase blogger Katie Erica offers up some good recommendations in Tips to Avoid a Disappointing Vacation at CheapOAir.com  Odd, she doesn’t mention avoiding New Jersey.

If you haven’t had a chance yet to pick up Rolf Potts‘s excellent Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, you can get a taste of his writing on his blog, Vagabonding; in a recent post, he thoughtfully explores the value of the custom of saying goodbye:  Traveling and the art of goodbye

I usually hate articles with lists about essential travel gadgets because a lot of such gadgets (my opinion) are crappy, but this one, from Matador Network, includes a number of worthwhile tools:  Top 10 Useful Travel Gadgets & Accessories (I’d personally leave the radio at home, but most of these are solid.  I assume the author is talking about compact binoculars – not the gargantuan ones shown in the photo.)

If you know someone who’s engaged in a job search, please pass along this link from Freelance Folder:  How to Build The Ultimate Job Finding Dashboard with Google.  Hardly a substitute for networking, this is nevertheless a great idea for anyone’s search.

Finally, a product I happened upon as I was composing this post (read:  ADD).  If you’ve ever struggled with keeping your earbuds’ cord straight while exercising or otherwise, check out the Magneat:

See it here:  Magneat ($12.90 + shipping)

That’s it.  Have a great week!

The Fine Print:  I have no connection to any of the companies mentioned in this post, nor does this post contain affiliate links

The (plain old) telephone system most of us are familiar with was developed in the early 20th century.  Since the 1930′s, the most significant  changes have been the addition of touch tone (in the 60′s), and improvements in capacity and quality.  But the fact remains:  using  a land line in your home today is an experience not much different than what your great-grandparents did.

In the last couple of decades, serious challenges to traditional telephony have surfaced:  cellular technology and VoIP  (Voice over Internet Protocol).  Most significantly, the large cable companies are now bundling cable TV, high speed internet, and VoIP phone service.

Up until a week or so ago, we’ve had a land line in our home.  This has bugged me for some time, and after looking into several options, we’ve finally made the leap.  No more local phone company, and no more phone bill.  After paying the local telephone company in each of the towns we’ve lived in for the last few decades between $35 & $60 per month, (please don’t do the math; I don’t want to know) I canceled our service.

We’re now using ooma – a voip service with which all local and long distance calls within the U.S. are free; international calls range from 1 to 4¢ per minute.  Our upfront cost for the ooma system was $189 (I bought it on sale at Amazon; the “regular” price at Amazon is $219; “List Price” is $249).  Installation took about 15 minutes.  Voice quality is superb.  If a land line is 10 out of 10, this is 9 out of 10.  Most calls are absolutely indistinguishable from those made with a land line.   I’ll occasionally hear a little electronic background noise, and my wife has mentioned a delay on local calls; both are rare, though.  And, ooma is loaded with features…

ooma standard features

• Caller ID
• Call Waiting
• Voicemail
• Voicemail notifications via email
• Use your own corded or cordless phones – no special equipment needed
• Anonymous call block (block callers who don’t reveal their caller ID)
• The “ooma lounge” – an online resource where you can set options, listen to voicemails, and review call logs
• Enhanced 911 service (Note:  for ooma to operate, your computer doesn’t have to be on, but your modem must be powered)
• In most cases, keep your old phone number (Note:  this was not the case with us!)

What you need in order to use ooma

• A high speed internet connection
• A regular phone (cordless systems work great)

The basics

The heart of the ooma system is the ooma Hub (on the right in this photo).  The Hub is located between your cable modem and router (or computer, if you’re not using a router).  With DSL internet connections, the Hub is placed between the modem / integrated router and your computer.  (This location is important, as the Hub will prioritize calls over computer data transfers in order to deliver the highest possible voice quality.)

After connecting ethernet cables from the modem to the Hub and in turn from the Hub to your router (or computer), all you need to do is connect a phone to the Hub and a phone line from the Hub to your phone wall jack.

By the way, the tab you see at the top left of the Hub is the ooma “tab” (click on the image for a close up) – when illuminated blue, your internet connection is live and you’re good to go.  If the tab is blinking red, you press down on it and the buttons on the device serve as diagnostic indicators, pinpointing the issue by lighting up in a variety of patterns.  Very neat, and easy to use.

If you’re using a cordless system, the cordless base station plugs into the Hub (you must switch off the answering machine feature on the base station).  Your cordless extension phones will work just as they did, pre-ooma.

To add another phone, you simply plug an ooma “Scout” into a phone jack in another room, and of course plug the phone into the Scout.  That’s it!  Here’s a shot of the Scout (one comes with the system package) in our bedroom with a different cordless phone.  Note that the ooma “tab” is illuminated blue; the same diagnostics as described earlier can be performed on the Scout.  In fact, the Scout features voicemail playback.

As I mentioned earlier, it took no more than 15 minutes to have the system up and running.  Oh yeah:  the ooma system comes beautifully packaged.  The manuals are nicely illustrated and well written.  All the necessary cables come with the system.   ooma customer service, I should mention, seems to be headquartered in Mumbai or thereabouts.

If you wish, you can keep a land line for making 911 calls, should your internet service go down.  In this case, you simply plug an extra phone (corded, should the power go out) into a phone jack.

One other point:  your computer does not have to be on for ooma to work.  Just the Hub and your modem need to be powered up for the system to work.

Did I mention?  No phone bill!

All of the above is yours with the ooma system.  With ooma, all  local and long-distance calls within the 50 U.S. states are free. There are a few exceptions: ooma does not support 900 numbers and phone chat services. Directory assistance (411) calls will be charged to your prepaid calling account and cost $0.99 per call.  (I suggest you use a service such as 1-800-FREE-411 (you’ll have to listen to a 10 second ad) or 1-800-GOOG-411 (FREE, and it’s from Google!).

What about International users??

Direct from the ooma website:

The ooma system can be used anywhere there is a high-speed Internet connection. Regardless of where you use it, calls to the US will be free and calls outside the US will be subject to low-cost international rates. If you plan to use the device overseas, be sure to use a phone that meets US standards, and be aware that the power supply that comes with the ooma Hub is built for US power specifications. Also, if you choose to install and use the ooma system outside the US, you’ll be solely responsible for compliance with international laws and subject to all associated fees, taxes, tariffs, and legal penalties.

ooma Premier

I won’t go into all the Premier features in detail, but for an annual fee of $99, you can get a lot of enhanced functionality:

One thing I should mention with regard to our specific ooma experience.  No local numbers were available from ooma.  As a result, we had to choose a number that’s local for a town about 45 miles away.  Friends who live in our town who have land lines have to make a “long distance” call to reach us.  As most of our friends use cell phones or have unlimited long distance, this isn’t too big a deal.  We considered sticking with a stripped down land line for this reason, but ultimately decided to ditch it altogether.  Eventually, more and more people will opt for ooma or something similar.

Another issue:  in most cases, ooma can “port” your existing number, so you can retain it.  We couldn’t do this, either.  Keep in mind that we live approximately 32 miles from The Absolute Middle of Nowhere, and the local telco is notorious for not releasing numbers to competing entities like ooma.  But, in our case it’s simply a matter of letting our friends and a few businesses know oomathat our number has changed.  Given that I’m going from $60 a month to $0 a month, I can live with this short term inconvenience.

The alternatives – and why I chose ooma

In researching options to our traditional phone service, I looked at Vonage, Charter phone (VoIP), and Skpe in addition to ooma.  I am aware of Magic Jack, but never seriously considered it, given the user reviews I’ve read and a friend’s experience with it.

In the final analysis, I relied upon user reviews more than anything else.  I read at least 80 ooma reviews. (Click here to read ooma reviews at Amazon.)

What sold me on ooma were three things:

• Positive user and professional (The New York Times, USA Today,  The WSJ, etc.) reviews
• I could use my existing phones
• Price.  The upfront investment will be recouped in a little over 3 months, and after that, ooma is free

Even if I opt for ooma Premier (the ooma system comes with a 60 day trial), I’m still WAY ahead of the game.

Bottom Line

I couldn’t be much more excited about our switch to ooma.  Our initial impressions are quite positive, and frankly ditching the land line has been a liberating experience.  It’s really bothered me to shell out ~$700 a year for technology that’s been around for a hundred years.

When we’ve got a few month’s experience with ooma, I’ll write a follow-up post.  Right now, we’re lovin’ it.

ooma is available at Best Buy, Costco, Rat Shack, and Amazon

If you have any questions or have had experience with ooma or any of the other options mentioned here, please comment.

Finally, a video from Computer TV that covers the ooma basics:

The Fine Print:  this post contains Amazon affiliate links