I got my super-awesome, interest-free MBNA Platinum WorldPoints credit card about 3 years ago. As soon as I got it, I started exploring the online banking site that came with it. Though most features I found were pretty standard (pay bills, transfer balances, etc), one stood out. MBNA calls it ShopSafe.

Basically, they give the account holder the ability to generate a temporary alias credit card number for online purchases (more info). This is done to enhance security and give one the warm and fuzzy feeling when purchasing online.

They make it real easy – just enter the interval and the spending limit, and hit Create Number.

You can then use it just like a regular credit card without worrying about yet another online merchant having your information on their books.

You may also work with old ShopSafe numbers and view active.

So how did I abuse the system?

A while back, when NetFlix was still a novelty, I used these temporary numbers in conjunction with temporary emails that ended with @howtobepoor.com to create several NetFlix accounts, all on the free 2-week trial offer. Because I timed temporary credit card number creation just right (I created a new number every 2 weeks), at any given time I had at least one number that expired in 2 weeks. I gave that number to NetFlix, they gave me the free trial, I got the DVDs, in two weeks the number expired, and my account got canceled without me actually calling them. Wash, rinse, repeat … about 5 times.

All of this could have been prevented if the NetFlix developers used address as a primary key for their tables, instead of credit card numbers.

Needless to say, I ran out of hard drive space from copying movies real quick, but that’s a separate story.

So what are the goods and the bads of ShopSafe?

• Good – You are not actually using your credit card number, so you don’t worry about fraud as much.
• Good – Even if someone jacks the number, they can only spend up to the pre-set limit.
• Good – ShopSafe is a FLASH app, not a web page, which makes the details of the transaction harder to extract.
• Bad – Some vendors will ask you about the credit card number you’ve used to a particular transaction. If you don’t have your ShopSafe number handy, it’s a 10 minute scramble.
• Bad – If you buy a lot of stuff, you’ll need to build a system just to keep track of your numbers.

I’ve used this nifty feature for several years now, and never had a problem. Oh yeah, MBNA is now owned by the Bank of America. I got accounts in both, and the transition has been fairly smooth.

So I’m at a local computer warehouse-store just looking around, oggling the wares. The sound card in my desktop is long overdue for an upgrade – I’m still using a Sound Blaster Live! Value I bought refurbed in 1999. I really wanted a Sound Blaster X-Fi, but I only had money for an Audigy 2 (around $50).

As you can see, one can easily blow $200 on an X-Fi, which is something I really wanted to avoid. However, I know all of the super-fabulous features of this awesome sound card (24-bit crystallizer, 51 mil. processors, hardware acceleration, etc), and I consider it a worthy upgrade considering an amazing live music scene here in Austin AND the possibility of recording a demo here or there.

So I walked up to one of the salesmen and asked to look at one of the refurbished X-Fi’s they had. “We don’t have any“, he said, effectively calling me on my bullshit. “Guys in video said you did“, I pushed on. “Let me check“, he said and disappeared.

While I was playing with the newest GPS navigation toys (they are awesome!), he came back and put my last name and phone on the warehouse order. He then asked to go to the checkout and present the papers to one of the cashiers.

After doing just that, I walked out of the store 75 bucks lighter, but with an X-Fi in my hand.

It’s an “ask and ye shall receive” type of thing. Sure I was full of crap when asking for the card. However, I thought logically – they are a big store with large volume of sales and a compyter repair shop. They HAVE TO HAVE used parts. Also, because it was a store and not some dude off Craigslist, I felt absolutely no problem buying a refurb item.  Damn, it feels good to save $150.

Thanks to Gooooogle, I have my personal weather gloatmeter.  Every time I look at it, it makes me feel a little bit better.

I’m hearing this is the best time to be in Texas.

We all commit our own little splurging here and there. For some, it’s a soda pop from the vending machine, a candy bar here, a water there. Some do it weekly – an unnecessary takeout lunch or purchasing some random item that can be avoided altogether. Most people waste little amounts of money here and there … all the time. I do it, you do it, don’t deny it.

Even if we feel a little guilty inside after purchasing an item we don’t really need (e.g. oops, bought crap), we think or say something like “it all adds up”. One day I decided to figure out just how much “it all adds up” to.

A soda pop purchased every day at the cafeteria costs you $1.09 daily, $5.45 weekly, $22.71 monthly. Learn to drink water instead and invest that money at 8%, and you’ll have around eighty grand by the time you retire.

The present value is basically all future payments brought back to present time. It’s great for bargaining scenarios like “do you want $1,000 a month NOW or $10 million in 40 years?“. All things as they are, you’d be crazy to pass up the $10 mil offer because statistically speaking, you won’t be able to invest your money better than that. Ten mil in 40 years brought back to today results in a series of consecutive payments of about $3,000 per month.

Do we straight up WASTE $50 a month? I’m not talking eating out, etc. I mean, waste, as in, “don’t know where that money went” … I bet we all waste at least that.

… translates into $175k at retirement.

So how much per day would you have to “waste” to retire with a mil?

Turns out, around $14 per business day or $10 per weekday. That figure hovers around the mandatory “save at least 10-20% of your paycheck for retirement”.

So if that’s so easy, why isn’t everyone retiring with a nice nest egg? After all, I’m sure everyone understands that little amounts NOW turn into HUGE amounts in the future …

Skip one pop a month, and have almost four grand by the time you retire.

This is not brain surgery, and everyone understands these simple concepts. Here’s my opinion on why more people don’t retire rich:

• Laziness and complacency. It takes time to set everything up, then learn, follow up, etc.
• Low interactivity and lack of control. Wouldn’t it be nice to go to the cafeteria to buy a Pepsi, and then suddently change your mind, NOT buy the pop and instead move $1.09 from checking to IRA?

So set up some auto-withdrawal thing from every paycheck and stop buying carbonated drinks.