Welcome to THE FINANCE FORUM/FAQ/Rules
 

Dear Slickdeals Community,

We are proud to announce the launch of The Vault. The forum is officially open for new threads- if you want to discuss anything from finding your first job to withdrawing funds from your IRA, feel free to post. (but please check out the rules/FAQ first.) Throughout the week we will be posting finance-related tips and information (such as a list of current CC rates and offers), as well as kicking off a regular series of blog entries that will cover topics ranging from paying down debt to buying a new home. In addition to a few pieces being prepared in-house, we have commissioned the help of two professional writers: Gabe Goldberg, who writes for publications ranging from the Washington Post to Mainframe Executive; and Richard Smith, a regular contributor at the Motley Fool (www.fool.com). We will release articles from both writers during this launch period; both will be regular contributors to the forum in the future.

This might seem like a bit of a departure for Slickdeals, but we plan on keeping our #1 asset- great community involvement, a priority. As a matter of fact, we need your help if this new forum is going to survive. If the idea of learning to apply a Slickdeals mindset to decisions bigger than Plasma TVs and HDMI cables appeals to you, please feel free to participate in the discussion.

Faq
 

Q: I'm considering x, how will it affect my credit score?
A: No one really knows. Generally, more inquiries and more debt leads to a lower score, but without knowing your complete credit picture, it's impossible to answer that question intelligently. Further, the actual formula used to determine your score isn't published anywhere. If it were easy to calculate, then people could game the system.

Q: How come rep is enabled in this forum?
A: Because we want to encourage helpful responses (like in tech support).

Q: Here is my resume, what should I do with it?
A: Another great question, and it depends on what you want to do with it. For the time being, we WILL allow you to post your resume here in the hopes that other slickdealers have leads for you. Keep in mind that Slickdeals isn't actively looking for resumes here, and any bit of personal information you make available about yourself on the internet makes you more likely to get spammed (or worse). If that's ok with you, post away (until we decide you can't anymore).

On the other hand, if you are hoping for a critique from other Slickdealers, make sure to indicate that in your title and hopefully someone will chime in with advice.

Q: What is the best credit card?
A: This really depends. There are cards that give reward bonuses, low APR, low APR on balance transfers, and cards that are easy for students or people with poor credit to qualify for. Figure out what your goal is, and look for the card that most closely meets your needs. Our CC thread is a good place to start.

Q: What bank account is best?
A: Like with credit cards, this depends on your tastes. Some banks offer bonuses for opening accounts, others offer high interest rates, others have relatively low overdraft fees, or pay the fee for using a competitor's ATM. Figure out what's important to you, and use our Banks thread to help make a decision.

Q: Which debt should I pay down first?
A: Mathematically, it's best to pay the minimum on the lowest rates, and put all of your extra money towards the highest rate. Psychologically, it might be better to simply pay the smallest balances first, because removing a bill altogether can be a great feeling.

Q: I have a complex legal question, or I'm considering taking an aggressive stance with my taxes, but I don't want to pay an attorney or an accountant, or even buy turbo tax, so I came here...
A: You're making a bad decision. Plus, that wasn't even a question.

Rules Specific to or Emphasized in The Vault
 

General Rules and Guidelines for Slickdeals
 

Thanks thelnel52!! Now I know what you finally do on SD!! :lol: Awesome forum. :thumbup:

So what type of tone and discussion are the mods going for with The Vault? I notice a lot of threads were pulled from The Podium and the discussion is vastly different from The Lounge or Hot Deals. I would hate to see this potential treasure trove of information closed down because people abused this discussion area. Can the mods provide some guidance in this area?

For example, in The Podium many threads devolve into technical debate, such as minutia over he said/she said and the rules of debate.

Also, what sort of ground rules are there on tone between members? When some sort of financial deal comes up in Hot Deals, people often resort to calling people idiots, stupid and other sorts of names instead of discussing the issue.

Just trying to understand how this area is supposed to work. I want to see it become an excellent resource and not just another area for Podium junkies to trash. ;)

Let's not even bring the Techies here either:bulb:

~~~~~~~~
Seriously...this has the potential to be a great resource! Thanks SD! :worship:

I didn't even think about that! Think of the debates about the economics of Mac/Windows... :eek:

...pulls network cable out of nic....:lmao:

That's a good question. You're right that there isn't a consistent tone in the threads we pulled, but that seemed like an easy way to get people who were interested in various financial topics into this forum.

As to what kind of tone and discussion we are going for: above all else, we want this forum to be useful for SDers. In order to accomplish that, it has to be a little more serious (or at least less off-topic) than the lounge conversations, and a little more respectful than what the Podium can be.

To give everyone a clear picture of what we expect, a big news topic over the next few weeks will probably be the CARD Act. We hope that the comments focusing on an individual poster's IQ relative to that of Obama, or predictions related to the end of our country as we know it, to remain in the Podium. Questions regarding whether the cards will get any prettier or comments related to the time that someone's girlfriend used the card and paid for a dinner that was really good should go in the Lounge, and comments about actual changes to specific cards, or remedies for when banks don't follow the rules, should land here.

I'd say that's a pretty good bench mark.

:iagree:

And funny references too! :roll:

Great idea for a forum.

Are we allowed to discuss stock picks ? - and does the forum moderator have a bazillion dollars ;)

1. Stock picks- no. We will start a sticky thread soon that will be the only place for stock discussions, and even there we won't allow "what should I buy with x?" or "buy this, it's a good value" type questions/comments.

2. Unfortunately not.

This has been a long time coming! I am excited for where this is going to go! The slickest deal of all IS to get out of debt :)

I'm loving this forum. Good to see this is finally here.

A quick hello: I'm looking forward to writing for this great community, meeting the regulars here, and sharing/learning tips for getting slick deals...

I wish SD had a little tighter guideline on whom they allow into these threads.

I am currently looking for a job and this thread gives the option of posting resumes, but I don't need thousands of lurkers checking out my info.

Maybe I will make a modified resume and put it up.

BTW, thanks for the new thread. It's good to keep things fresh around here.

I hope this thread is as helpful as Tech Support. I know the techies get a lot of crap but they have saved my arse a number of times.

This forum is a LONG time in coming. I don't understand why SD didn't launch this forum much, much earlier. Fatwallet had the Finance forum for ages and it is the only reason I continue to visit that site.

Also, what's up with the name, "The Vault"?? I think that is a poor name and has a very ambiguous meaning. It could refer to SlickDeals cashback, some kind of online payment feature, or even job/career discussion (there is a website called Vault.com that is for career search and discussion) .

"Finance" or even "Money" would be much better, simpler, and easy to understand. I would recommend that you change the name to "Finance" or "Money Talk" or something that is understood instantly and has no ambiguous meaning.

Kharvel, I appreciate the suggestion. The reason we chose "the vault" was it keeps with our pattern for non-deal forums "the lounge, the podium, the vault". It also was a hit around the office. If you look at the comments, you are the second person to be confused by it, but the response has been mostly positive.

Got what you're saying but I suspect that the positive comments are probably from SD regulars who are used to the way SD is structured. It's the newcomers and irregulars who will be confused by the name. Just something to keep in mind.

By the way, can you let us know why it took so long for SD to create this forum? I mean, after Hot Deals and Deal Talk, this forum was a no-brainer addition given the fact that many SDers are very money-savvy and are always looking for money-making or money-saving opportunities. I'm surprised it came _after_ The Podium, Tech Support, etc. which are somewhat tangential to the primary aim of SD.

I can't speak to the sequence of forums, but I can say that we move pretty slowly here. We want to make sure that we can do something well before stepping into it, and the same is true with the vault. It's not as easy as just figuring out a name and saying "go!". Obviously there is room for improvement in here, but I think we're off to a pretty good start.

:rofl2:

Funniest thing i've read in a FAQ in a long time.

there are WAY TOO MANY sticky threads in this forum

Thank you for taking down all of the stickies threads.

much more navigable now. thanks

Thanks, you were right.