Tip #247: Finance - How to Avoid ATM Fees

Remember when a cellphone "feature" was free long-distance calls. When you got it, it was like, "OMG, I can now call anyone!!" You still only had local friends, but the freedom you felt knowing that when you did get that friend in San Francisco, you could call them, for free.

What about ATMs? They've been around since the 80's, but sadly this feature has never been introduced. In fact, people usually go with *insert large Bank Name Here* simply because of their availability of ATMs.

What if you could use any ATM? Imagine the feeling of freedom! Sure, you'll still probably only use the one near your home/work, but that one time you need to get cash in that *insert too hip bar that only takes cash for some reason*, you're gonna feel like a king not paying a $3 transaction fee.

Well this feature is available, but no one told you about it. So I figured I'd share the wealth, so to speak:
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking

Enjoy.


*This magical system works because Charles Schwab doesn't charge you an ATM fee, and when those a-hole ATMs do, CS automatically reimburses you each month. No minium balance, no limit on fees. Simple, magic.

Remember Half.com?

I recently listed a lot of my books on Half.com, in an attempt to get rid of some of my crap. Do you remember Half.com? It used to be a big deal back in the day. Turns out, it's still around and kicking - and man there are some cheap books! Take Catch 22, which I've been meaning to read, $6 will get me a book at my door in good condition. Anyways, just thought I'd share.

Bringing the Aaahh to Online Reading

Most of us read news online, and we've gotten used to how it's presented to us.

However, in David Pogue's 'Pogie Awards' [link] I was introduced to a web simplifying tool called Readability - lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability.

-You simply add it to your Bookmark bar, and then click for calm.

-Don't worry, you can always go back to the original version.