Thanks man, have a blessed holiday over there, okay?

Thanks for keeping up a great personal finance blog! I always enjoy seeing what J$ is up to.

Haha, you know what’s funny about your examples here? They all made me appreciate cold hard numbers even more ;) A 500% return or 4% cash back/etc are all sexy – I agree 100% (ya see what I did there?), but to me it just doesn’t feel *as* good as $125 or $36 or whatever the numbers are. It’s like when I find a penny on the ground one day, and the next a quarter. Percentage people would LOVE to see a 2500% difference! But to me, it’s still only 25 cents, haha… (now for manipulation reasons I’d TOTALLY go with %’s as they paint a more drastic picture, but for my own cold cash I’ll stick w/ the numbers…)

I guess at the end of the day we’re all drawn to one side or the other more for whatever reason. But having BOTH numbers and percentages makes it even *better*.

Thanks for stopping by, brotha. Really enjoyed reading this :)

Current savings accounts rates all over the nation are at anemic levels, usually 1% at best, and averaging a painfully measly .06% (according to CNN Money, Oct. 2013, http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/01/pf/savings-account-yields/). Through my cash back credit cards (yes, I pay them off in full every month) I’m earning ~4% on my spending (yes, my SPENDING)! That’s significantly better than anything I can get in a savings account right now.

Another example. I just recently signed up for Capital One’s Black Friday promotion, offering $75 for funding a savings account with $500 (or more of course), and $125 for opening a checking account and making 5 debit purchases within 45 days of opening. That $75 for $500 ends up being a 15% return on my investment! It’s rare these days to get that kind of return. And if I use my new debit card to make five $4-$6 purchases buying coffee at Starbucks (which I plan to do) I’ve just earned a HUGE return on my money. Let’s say I spend about $25 at Starbucks with my new debit card. That’s a 500% return on my investment when I get that $125 bonus!

Last example. As some people have noted in here, the stock market has done unusually well this year. In the long run, stocks will return 7%-8%. But this year, there have been months where my 403(b) has posted double digit returns, as high as 15%! Not too shabby at all!

I can definitely see the reason why people prefer the cold hard numbers. They prefer the “gut punch” of the loss, or the fantastic high of the gain. But to me, these mean little when not compared through the scrutinizing eye of percentages.

I’ll have to agree with your statement 1800% more than the one before it ;)

Well luckily you can have your wish in most cases :)

Haha true. Who wants to do double the work? :)

For sure. Context is very good so having both is ideal.