If you have not heard already, PayPal is offering it’s members a $15 rebate for a purchase of $30 or more from eBay or a merchant that accepts PayPal, provided you pay with PayPal. I have highlighted SOME of the caveats, but make sure you read the fine print.

1. You must register the PRIMARY e-mail address on your PayPal account here: Register Your Address

2. You must make a single purchase of $30 or more at an eligible merchant to qualify. Eligible websites include:

“You must make a purchase on www.eBay.com, www.eBay.ca or any United States or Canadian website that accepts PayPal. Purchases on www.eBay.com and www.eBay.ca must be made through the eBay checkout flow via the eBay website and must not be made through the PayPal Send Money tab.”

3. The promotion period begins on February 8, 2007 at 12:01 AM PST and ends on March 31, 2007 at 11:59 PM PST.

4. Some transactions are excluded:

“The following transactions are excluded from this offer: Send Money transactions, payments to Personal Accounts, eBay payments made to Personal Accounts, donations, PayPal Mobile transactions, payments for services, Virtual Debit Card payments, PayPal ATM/ Debit Card payments and PayPal Plus Credit Card payments not made through your PayPal account.”

5. Your rebate will be deposited into your PayPal account by May 28, 2007.

6. There is a limit of one discount per PayPal account and the account must be in good standing.

Popularity: 10%

Who: This post is for young folks who either do not have a credit card or for those who do have a credit card and are just starting to build their credit history.
What: This is an elementary post about building and maintaining a strong history. The focus of this post will be on how college students and other young professionals can get their credit ready for approval of a mortgage or another loan in the future.

Building a credit history takes time, consistency, and responsibility. I will already assume that you know why having a solid credit history and credit score is important. If you don’t, you’ll want to be sure you stay tuned for some upcoming posts about credit reports and credit scores.

So, how do you build a credit history?

It takes time. BE PATIENT. Just like you would not make an investment decision based on a short period of historical performance, credit companies will not make decisions about your creditworthiness based on a short history. There are many time related factors that affect your credit rating and they include (but are not limited to), age of oldest account and average account age.

What does this mean? It means you should get a credit card as soon as you can. This comes with the important caveat that you should not get a credit card if you will not be responsible with it. If you think you can be responsible, you should get a credit card ASAP. It doesn’t matter if you use it sparingly, just having an account on your credit report that is a half decade old once you’re out of college will be very helpful.

Be responsible. Pay on time, all the time. Late payments go on your credit report so make sure that you never miss a payment. With one credit card, this is very easy. Just put a post it note on your desk that has the date your statement closes and the date that the payment is due. I won’t go into all the different ways to remember, but I will just say that you should not miss any payments!

That’s it, seriously!

As I said before, it just takes some responsibility and some time to build an excellent credit history. Keep in mind that there are many ways to keep your credit in tip top shape that are bit more complicated than the steps mentioned here, but this is just an introduction for the young folks out there.

If you’re a college student and you’re looking for a card to build your credit history with and earn great rewards at the same time, there is no card that I would recommend more highly than the Citi mtvU Plainum Visa Card.

Popularity: 16%

Who: This is a post for people who are afflicted with or know someone who is afflicted with ATM-itis.
What: This post will discuss how to optimize your ATM transactions and avoid unnecessary fees.

Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) are everywhere. They lure you in and pretend to give you money, when in actuality, they TAKE your money. They are evil creatures with bad intentions. They show up in the most random places, even at the edge of the universe, as you can see here:

With ATMs so accessible, you know what drives me crazy? Those people that go to the ATM 2-3 times/week and withdraw $20 each time. This is ESPECIALLY gut wrenching when they are willing to be charged between $2.00 and $4.00 EACH time they make withdrawal. That is almost $5-10 wasted EVERY week.

Here are some tips to stop the ATM addiction, and save some money while you’re at it.

1) BUDGET - Figure out how much you will need for a week or for a month worth of cash spending and take the money out and keep it safely in your room! Take out how much you need every few days or every week and keep the rest out of reach! Easy, a built in ATM with no fees.

2) USE A CREDIT CARD - There are plenty of reasons to use a credit card. One of them is that you don’t need to spend all your lunch money on ATM fees.

3) KEEP EMERGENCY MONEY IN WALLET - In case of emergencies, when you may need SOME money immediately, just hide a Jefferson in a rarely used pocket of your wallet. So if you get the midnight munchies, you can take it out (but is this a REAL emergency? You tell me.)

4) GO TO A BANK TELLER, YOU ANTI-SOCIAL BUM - It may take you a few more minutes, but if you go during a non-peak time you should be able to get money quickly and easily by just speaking to a bank teller. Don’t pay those lame fees.

And, if you go to ATM’s that don’t charge you fees? Ignore this post and pat yourself on the back.

Popularity: 16%

This week, tune into the Superbowl Edition of the Carnival of Investing (#59)! You can read AFR’s suggestion to Use Limit Orders When Purchasing Stocks. The Carnival is hosted by MoneySmartLife.

If stocks aren’t your thing, then maybe you’re looking to save some money by Converting your IRA During Low Income Years, featured on The Carnival of Personal Finance #86. This week’s carnival is hosted by one of my personal favorites, the Simple Dollar.

Popularity: 10%

Who: This post is for people who are planning to have some years in the near future in which they will be making significantly less income than they currently are. You might just want to take some years off travelling, or you may be leaving your job to pursue a full-time graduate degree.
What: This post will discuss a little tip for decreasing the taxes you pay on your retirement income. The post discusses 401k’s and IRA’s so an elementary understanding of these investment vehicles is understood.

The Premise

When one converts a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, the conversion amount is taxed at the converter’s standard income tax rate. For this reason, it becomes worse to make a conversion during years of relatively high income, assuming a variable income from year to year. So why not convert during the year(s) you are in graduate school so you can be charged much less tax than you would if you converted during a time of higher income?

This post will not discuss the nuances of 401k rollovers and IRA conversions, but you are encouraged to stay tuned for future posts on the topic and/or do the research yourself. This post is meant to serve as only an outline for how to save yourself some money on taxes.

How to Do It

1) If you are planning on leaving work to go to graduate school, you should have been (or start to) contributing to a traditional 401k for this plan to work optimally. Once you leave your positive conduct a ROLLOVER on your Traditional 401k to put it into a Traditional IRA. This isn’t difficult, there is just some paperwork to fill out.

2) The next step is to wait until the year in which you made income, is over (assuming the following year is the year you expect to have very little income). For example, if you worked until August 2006 and started graduate school in September 2006, you would want to wait until January 2007 before you perform this step. Step 2 is to CONVERT your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in the year with little income. If you just want to deal with a Traditional IRA conversion without worrying about 401k’s, then ignore step 1!

Caveats and Benefits

So why are we doing this again? First of all, once the money is in your Roth IRA, it is no longer taxable. When you withdraw it (in retirement) you will owe no taxes on the contributions or the earnings! However, if they remained in a Traditional IRA, you would have to pay taxes at your retirement tax bracket. If your tax bracket now is lower than that, why not convert the IRA so the money becomes “tax sheltered”? This conversion allows you to shelter your money for less than you normally would have been able to!

Does my conversion count as a “contribution” to my Roth IRA that is withdrawable any time? Ah, wouldn’t that be nice? Unfortunately, conversion contributions are counted differently than regular contributions. There is a 5 year holding period before you can withdraw the funds without penalty! Keep this in mind if you’re just looking for a quick way to cash out some money.

Popularity: 18%