Amazon sells everything, right? Well, not everything, but all sorts of things you never would’ve expected back when they just sold books. Including some really, really expensive things. In the interest of nothing more than curiosity, we decided to find the 7 most expensive things on Amazon.

To be clear, we are only looking at items for which Amazon.com is the seller; Amazon partners are not included in this list. Here’s what we found:

1. Classic Lighting Maria Theresa Chandelier – You’ll most definitely get free shipping if you buy this $50,000+ chandelier that looks like you might find it in some disgraced, deposed dictator’s ostentatious castle from the turn of the 20th century. That’s not a knock — it’s a darn good-looking light fixture.

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2. Fluke Networks OptiFiber & CertiFiber Pro QUAD OTDR and OLTS for Fiber Optics Certification and Troubleshooting – If you’ve got $30,000 or so lying around, you can get this very expensive device that does some sort of testing of the fibers in data centers. That’s all we know, but if you are someone that understands exactly what this is for, you could buy it on Amazon.

By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

Foreign transaction fees make no sense; it doesn’t cost your credit card company anything to let you use your credit card outside of the United States. Nevertheless, many persist in charging you a 3% fee for international purchases, especially if your card does not have an annual fee.

But not all credit cards! Here’s a list of credit cards with no annual fee that don’t charge the dreaded foreign transaction fee. We’ve listed our choices for the best cards first, but all will do the job:

• Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card – Generous rewards credit card with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. Rewards include 3 points per dollar on dining purchases, travel & transit (from flights to gas stations to ridesharing), and streaming services, as well as 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
• PayPal Cashback Mastercard – This excellent credit card should broadcast its lack of foreign transaction fees, but keeps it buried in the fine print. That’s too bad, because it’s one of our favorite cards on this list. You’ll earn 2% cash back on all of your purchases with this one, a reward that’s hard to beat. Earnings go in to your PayPal account, where you can either use them or have them transferred to your regular bank account. Like all these cards, there’s no annual fee. Issued by Synchrony Bank.

• The median household income in the United States is $61,937.

This figure from the U.S. Census is actually the figure from 2018, reported in September of 2019. It is the latest figure available.

Note that technically the median is not the same as the average, though we are using the two terms interchangeably here. The median income is the absolute middle, meaning there are the same number of households above that number, and the same number of households below.

Median is actually a better representation of today’s world than the average would be, because income averages are inevitably skewed by the super rich at the top of the scale, making the “average” household appear to be wealthier than it is.

Remember that the average would be the total of all households’ income divided by the number of households. If Bill Gates’ household makes $1 billion per year and 99 other households make $40,000 – $60,000, we would not consider the average of $1 million+ to be truly representative of that group of households. That is how the super rich can alter this type of statistic. (We can see this when we look at the mean household income for 2018 of $87,864 — much higher than the median household income.)

Dog ownership can be as expensive as you want to make it. If your precious pooch needs organic food, a custom dog bed shaped like a hot rod, diamond-studded collar, etc., things can really add up. Even if you have more modest ideas of what a dog needs, dog ownership is still not cheap.

In 2020, you should figure on spending $1700 in the first year you have a new dog, and about $850 per year afterwards. If you get a purebred puppy, add 20% in the first year and 10% every year after.

Seem high? Let’s look at the likely purchases you’ll make for your dog in the first year and then later on:

Cost of Your Dog in the First Year

• Acquiring the dog: $75 (if from a shelter) and up. We’re going to assume a shelter dog here; purebred puppies will be more, maybe much more.
• Food + treats: $450 – $550, depending on the size of the dog.
• Vet bills, including vaccines, spay/neuter, heartworm & other maintenance pills: $550
• Crate & dog bed: $200
• Food bowl, collar, leash: $75
• Pet cleaner for the inevitable messes your dog makes: $50

The average yearly U.S. salary for a full-time worker is $47,788.

Technically, that number is the median salary, meaning half the population makes more and half makes less. This is a more accurate picture of the labor market than an “average” salary estimate, as a true “average” salary would be skewed higher by the very few who earn tens of millions (or more) per year.

We base this average/median off of Bureau of Labor Statistics data that report a median wage/salary of $919 per week in the third quarter of 2019.

That number represents workers across all ages, sexes, education levels, professions, etc.

Chase has announced the 5% categories for its Chase Freedom card for the first quarter of 2020. They are:

• Gas stations
• Select streaming services
• Internet, Cable, and Phone Services

For more information and thoughts on the categories, see today’s video:

By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

I recently got a mailing from Synchrony Bank about their Synchrony Mastercard, a credit card offering 2% cash back on all card purchases. I had been aware that Synchrony had transitioned old Toys R Us/Babies R Us customers to this card (after Toys R Us went kaput), but had never seen it advertised as a card you could apply for directly. Now Synchrony is offering it to some potential cardholders by mail only. (You won’t find an online application as of this writing; the invitation directs you to mastercard.synchrony.com, but you need an authorization code from the mailer to apply.)

No Annual Fee and Competitive Cash Rebate

The Synchrony Mastercard has no annual fee, and its 2% “flat” cash back rate on all purchases is competitive with the Citi Double Cash card, often thought of as the standard-bearer for flat cash back cards on the market. (Very few credit cards will give you 2% on all purchases; most have a lower cash-back rate or give higher rebates in only certain purchasing categories like gas, groceries, etc.)

The cash back you receive is automatically given as a statement credit, meaning it is credited to your account to offset charges you’ve made to the card. You don’t have the option to actually get the cash in your hand.

Bonus Opportunity

You can earn a $150 bonus if you spend $1500 with the card in the first three months of having it. (At least that is the bonus offer I got.)

Below we offer a short description and review of each Discover credit card, along with thoughts on other credit cards to which you might compare them. All these cards have no annual fee.

• The Discover it Miles Card is the best Discover credit card for most consumers. It is marketed as a travel credit card, but it can just as easily be considered a cash back card. Here’s how it works: You get 1.5 “Miles” for each dollar you spend with the card. However, those miles are essentially the same as points that are worth a penny each. As an example, 10,000 “Miles” = $100 in rewards. You can use your miles/points to offset travel expenses you’ve paid for with the card, or you can simply take them as cash, making this the equivalent of a 1.5% cash back card. A nice bonus: At the end of the first year of having the card, all of the miles you’ve earned are doubled, which means you are actually getting a 3% rebate on your first year purchases, assuming you hold the card for that long (and we don’t know why you wouldn’t). Cards to compare this to: Citi Double Cash, Bank of America Travel Rewards.

By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

If you’re dreaming of a hard-won financial independence secured by multiple millions of dollars in the bank, you may be wondering how anyone gets there. You see the stories of multi-millionaires who retire by 30, 40, 50, and you think — how? Is that really possible?

Well, it’s not easy, but it is possible. And know this: the first million is the hardest.

After reaching the $1 million mark, you may be surprised at how quickly your net worth builds. It may take years and years to get that first million dollars, and then under 10 years to get the next million.

There are multiple reasons why the first million is the hardest and the next million is so much easier:

The First Million Comes Mostly from Your Income

When you are working toward that first million, a good chunk of your income is going toward your daily survival, including food, clothing, shelter and some modest luxuries here and there. You don’t have much extra to save, which means you don’t have much to invest. While you eventually will make good returns if you invest wisely, a very large piece of that first million dollars comes from your ongoing income.

However, once you have a million dollars, you have a large hunk of money that does nothing but feed on itself, growing without you doing any work. If you have $1 million in money to invest and it makes a 5% return per year, which is very achievable, you are making $50,000 without lifting a finger. And, thanks to the beauty of compound interest, the next year you’re making 5% on $1,050,000, which means you make $52,500 without lifting a finger. If your investments do better, your money adds up even quicker.

It’s time to get Dad a gift again! Yes, we know you were hoping you only had to do that once, but, alas, the occasions keep coming. Whether you’re searching for Dad’s birthday, or Christmas, or getting a jump on Father’s Day, here are some excellent gift ideas for Dad:

Bronze Dad Picture Frame – Pop a picture of yourself with Dad into this picture frame and you are sure to score with the big guy.

Uniqlo Full-Zip Hoodie – You want your dad to be a little cooler but not look like he’s trying to look 16? Uniqlo is a good brand for basic clothes that have a little style without going too far out on a limb. This hoodie is a good example — not too young, but doesn’t scream “Dad hoodie.”

Man Crates – Themed crates full of man stuff, with lots of crate types, from food to barware to tools to workout equipment. I’ve been sort of into Moscow Mules lately and would be completely open to someone getting me the Moscow Mule crate pictured above. To make this gift a little more fun, you have to open it with a crow bar, which is helpfully included with the crate.