Warning

Before I start, let me recommend that you don’t try this. The potential savings you gain from using pre-tax Commuter Check cards likely won’t be worth the pain of actually trying to buy something with them. Return the cards to your employer and ask them to enroll in another option for funding your commute costs pre-tax!

Update: The Autoload program via Clipper works great. Instead of buying a pass in person with a commuter check card, you tag on/off once at the beginning of the month to load a new pass.

Goal

Use two Commuter Check cards issued by an employer (each containing $100) to purchase a zone 1-3 monthly Caltrain pass on a Clipper card (for $179).
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Working for a startup usually means putting in more hours than others. Recently, I spent two days on less than 3 hours of sleep in order to push out our new Pulse.me release. This doesn’t seem strange to me and didn’t make me unhappy. In fact, it was one of the most exciting and fun things I’ve done in a while. However, after mentioning it to some friends, I realized not everyone understands why it can be good to spend so much time “working” to build something you believe in.

Upon hearing about my sleep deprived state, my friend sent me a link to the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed along with the comment “you might need this.”  I appreciated the link and enjoyed the reminder to live life to the fullest, especially with regards to keeping in touch with friends and loved ones. I also realized that my friend didn’t understand that for me the long hours I put in are all about fulfilling my dreams of creating new technology and impacting the world in a positive way. According the article, not chasing after dreams is people’s #1 regret.

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There has been a lot of coverage in the news lately about payday loans and check cashing services. They routinely take advantage of people in hard financial times, charging them interest and fees up to 300% per year. Because of the predatory nature of these services, there has been a strong push for legal oversite.

But these types of predatory practices are much more widespread than one might think. Consider credit cards. The way a credit card company makes a lot of money is when someone can not afford to pay off what they charge and must maintain a balance for an extended period.

Large car manufacturers are also in the game.   Continue Reading »