FYI, I only have one post for today (other than the roundup) since I know it's a light day as many are still on vacation and/or recovering from New Year's parties. :-)
Anyway, I'll have posts on the weekend as usual and will be back to full speed on Monday. Enjoy your weekend!
Here's wishing you all the best in 2009! May your net worth climb to the sky!!!!
And may the market do better this year than last! :-)
Happy New Year!!
Just wanted to let you all know that I got my Amex statement last night and already received my free $20 credit from shopping at Walmart. Sweet!
Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all the Free Money Finance readers out there. I wish you the best of holidays!
I'm taking today off and will have only a few posts tomorrow and over the weekend. Hope you too find some time to rest and relax. ;-)
My blog-vacation starts now. I won't be posting any more today and posting in general will be light until Monday. Hope you all are enjoying the holiday and taking some time to relax as well.
We've already had 45 inches of snow this season (most of it this month) and we're supposed to get 5-10 more inches today/tonight. Our annual average is 72 inches for the season (November through April), so we're waaaaay ahead of schedule.
Anyway, I'm very, very tired of snow already...
Here's an interesting piece on one of Warren Buffett's granddaughters. Just goes to show that money doesn't buy happiness. I'm guessing there's a lot of heartache on both sides of this issue.
Here's a reminder for those of you looking for a tasty way to celebrate this holiday season while saving money at the same time. ;-)
It's amazing to me some of the financial decisions people make, but this story really takes the cake. These people are living so far away from the average person's lifestyle that their "crisis" financial decisions (a nanny or botox?) seem almost comical.
For those of you wanting to get someone a good money book this holiday season, here's a list of financial books that can change lives. Read all the way through -- my suggestions are at the end.
Just want to wish you and your family a blessed and very happy Thanksgiving. May we all take a break from talking about money and focus on the things that really make us thankful. Here's my list -- still the same after two years (except maybe the KFC part.) ;-)
The site will have a couple (at most) posts tomorrow (at least that's how I'm planning it) and one each day this weekend. After that, we'll be back to full speed ahead.
Have a great, relaxing, joyful, thankful day!
Don't have time to post on all these, but thought they were worth sharing:
Whatever you do, don't buy Sears -- Seems like Sears' lack of customer service is coming back to bite them. (If you don't know what I mean, check out why I hate Sears.)
Nightmare on the Charles -- Not even a Harvard MBA guarantees a job these days.
25 Great Gifts for $25 or Less -- Some decent suggestions for those of you stuck with no ideas.
For those of you interested in personal finance, skip this post. For those of you who blog, may have a blog at some time, have a site that's "the next great thing", have a site you want me to promote (or "mention" to my readers), have a book you want me to promote/review, etc., this post is for you.
The amount of email I get on a daily basis is becoming overwhelming, so I thought I'd write a post to let everyone know where I stand on a variety of requests coming my way. Then I can direct people to this post if need be for future reference.
Anyway, here is how I operate this blog in regards to the many requests I receive each day:
If you want to write a guest post, I'm open to that. I love to hear what others have to say. But there are some conditions. First, the piece has to offer value to my readers. Don't know what my readers like? Then read this blog and you'll find out. Second, the piece needs to be original (not found elsewhere.) You can publish it later on your site, but I want to have it to myself for at least a month. Third, I will provide a link to your site as long as it's your blog and NOT a blatantly commercial site you're trying to promote or gain in the search engines by writing a piece here and getting a link. That's what advertising is for (which is still subject to approval.)
I trade blogroll links with other bloggers once they've been writing for at least three months. I like to see what your blog is like and that you're committed to it before I put a link up. Do not start a blog and on day one ask me to link to it.
It's ok to send me PR pitches (on new sites, new research, etc.), but don't expect a response. If I need more information, want to speak to someone, etc., I'll contact you.
I'm sure your new affiliate program is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I'm probably not interested. Sure, send me the details, but I'll only contact you if I'm interested.
I do not sell links, posts, or anything similar to anyone. I also don't trade links with sites so "we can both improve our results in search engines." I do sell ads if you want to consider one, but stop asking about paid links. I DON'T SELL LINKS!!!!!
I do not review articles that you're posting on your site prior to you posting them. You can write/edit for yourself. I also don't review sites to "give you some tips." If you want tips, see what I've already written about blogging. And if you have further questions, ask the helpful bloggers at the Money Blog Network forums.
If you have a book you want me to review, I may or may not want to even read it. If I do say I'd like a copy, that's no guarantee that I'll write a review on it (thought I will read it.) If you want to email me a book title to think about, then send me an email. If I'm interested, I'll respond. If I'm not, I won't.
I LOVE helping readers. If you're a reader and you have a question, send it on. I'll post it as soon as I can, but it usually takes a week or two before I can find a slot for it. I will NOT provide an answer myself (I'm often not qualified to do so -- besides, I don't have that much time and often need more info), but the readers here will certainly provide some tips that will help you to decide what's best for you.
When commenting, do not leave your URL in the comment section. If you fill out the form correctly, a link from your name will be automatically generated to your site. That way people wanting to visit your site can easily click through and visit. Therefore, putting your URL in the text area of the comment section is unnecessary, a bit spammy, and will be deleted.
There, that's all out in the open. Everyone knows my thinking on each of these topics so from now on, anyone asking about any of these issues will not receive a response from me if their question has been answered here. To help people find this post, I'll link to it from my sidebar in the "About FMF" section. If people don't take two minutes to do a bit of research on what this site is about before they contact me, then that's their problem.
I'm glad that's over. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
We're thinking of buying a new flat-panel TV. With the impending digitalization of American TV coming up, I've successfully convinced my wife that we should get a new TV instead of just getting a converter for our current set. But now I have a problem -- what kind of TV should I buy?
Consumer Reports has some thoughts on LCD versus plasma TVs, but the conclusions don't seem clear cut. So I thought I'd open up the subject to all of you and let you give me your thoughts on which one is better.
A few details to help you give your best advice:
I think we're probably going to be in the 40/42-inch range.
I'd like to get a good quality set at a good price (I know, who wouldn't?)
Our main uses for our TV are video games and DVDs (little actual "live" TV, though during football season it does get a good amount of use.) So maybe we don't need a new TV?
Have at it -- give me your advice -- I'm anxious to hear your words of wisdom.
Now that we're not moving for the foreseeable future, we are considering buying some new furniture to spruce up our current home. The last furniture we bought was before we had kids and let's just say it's "well worn" (especially our living room furniture) and leave it at that. Anyway, our kids are now old enough that whatever we buy won't be immediately trashed by toy cars running over the surface, so we're in good shape there.
We've been looking around a bit -- looking at quality, price, options, etc. -- and quite frankly, we're at a loss for what to do next. We've seen the entire spectrum of furniture options: on one end there's the $39 put-it-together-yourself "furniture" that you can buy at Walmart and similar places and on the other end there's the high-priced "wood from the remains of the Mayflower" quality where an end-table can cost $2,000. Of course there's a whole assortment of items in the middle -- various qualities, styles, and prices. But we just can't seem to find "good" quality pieces at "good" prices. Seems like the prices are usually one notch higher than the quality of the furniture should warrant. Then again, maybe we're just cheap.
So I thought I'd ask all of you what you thought. Where would you suggest we look for good furniture? Any tips you can share on saving money and/or finding good quality furniture at affordable prices?
I voted today and am glad we're at the end of this campaign. Seems like we've had people running for president for four years now. Thank God it's almost over. At this point, I was almost willing to vote for Hannibal Lecter if it meant I'd be spared from the seemingly endless barrage of TV ads and political coverage/opinions.
One thing I'm NOT doing tonight: watching any election coverage. I suspect it will be long, drawn out, and could even be inconclusive for quite awhile, and I don't want to subject myself to that torture. I'll tune in tomorrow morning, read a couple pieces, and get all the news I want that way.
The good news about whoever gets elected is this: we can stop talking about proposals and "what ifs" around taxes, health care, retirement funds/savings, etc. and get down to brass tacks. Then again, if all these go south, maybe I'll be hoping for the "good old days" of the election. ;-)
Here's an update for those of you Yahoo users (and maybe others) seeing delayed/limited posts from FMF. Looks like there's a problem with the feed from Typepad and hence my "future posting" articles (the majority of the posts here since I write so much in advance) aren't showing up. Here's Typepad's response:
We have a fix for this issue that is waiting release. We should be releasing this in the next week or two.
In the meantime, you'll either need to check back here frequently, use another reader (works in Bloglines, I know), or simply wait out the issue. I know, it's so early 90's. Unfortunately, there's little I can do at this point.
Ok, this is off topic, but I thought it would be fun to see what everyone is doing for Halloween tonight. My family is going to our church's "Kid's Carnival" where we'll run one of the games for an hour and a half, then we'll stuff ourselves with free pizza (for volunteers only). After that, we'll go play some of the 30 or so games and/or bounce around on the inflatable "rides" they have (yes, all inside -- it's a big church.) Afterwards, we'll go home and I'll "appropriate" a portion of their candy for myself. ;-)
FYI, I wanted to go as Batman or Darth Vader, but my wife put the kibosh on those ideas. So I'm going as a 40-something dorky blogger. :-)
So, what are you doing tonight for Halloween?
If you read this blog by subscribing via "My Yahoo", you may be seeing only a fraction of the posts I've written the past few days. For some reason, only the posts I write "live" and publish immediately are showing up on my personal My Yahoo page. All the posts I wrote a week ago and slotted to "go live" this past week (which are the majority of my posts), are not making it through for some reason. I have a help ticket into Typepad to ask about it, but I'm not sure they'll get to the bottom of it.
Just thought 1. I'd let you know and 2. see if anyone else is having the same problem.
I was at a party the other night talking to a friend of mine who was a dentist. He told me that people are putting off trips to see him because of the economy -- even if they have insurance. He said they "don't want to spend anything -- not even a co-pay."
He noted that his business was down 30 percent versus this time last year.
I realize that going to the dentist is no joy ride and you can skip a trip here and there with little visible problem, but are things really that bad -- that people are now putting off regular medical trips?
After our heated discussions yesterday on Obama's "spread the wealth around" comment and who pays for what in the US, I thought we'd have a whole host of people today wanting to comment on how to address poverty and the issues around giving. After all, much of the thinking yesterday was centered around how we can help those less fortunate, and the topic of giving was mentioned as a potential part of the solution. And yet no one seems excited about talking about giving today (based on the handful of comments they each have so far.)
Hmmmmm. Maybe no one else sees a connection? Maybe you're tired from yesterday? Maybe no one cares?
It's just interesting to me that we can be so spirited around how someone else (other than ourselves) can or can't pay for something that "the government" deems we need to address, but people are much less excited about themselves personally giving to address those same issues.
...that the price of gas is dropping like a rock? We were paying over $4 per gallon a few (couple?) short weeks ago -- now it's in the $3.20 per gallon range. I hope it keeps dropping!
I'm going to be taking some time off in a week or so. If any bloggers would like to write a guest post or two for FMF during that time, drop me an email and we can discuss specifics.
As some of you may notice, I have a new sponsor on Free Money Finance (see the big pink ad to the right.) It's SmartyPig -- the online piggy bank and social networking site. Anyway, since they'll be around for awhile, I thought I'd ask if anyone out there uses SmartyPig and if so what you think about them. And if you don't, why not?
Interested to hear your thoughts...
The following is a public service reminder from Free Money Finance...
Now that the market has melted (though coming back a bit as I write this) and housing is in crisis, is there any debate left about what is your greatest financial asset?
As long as you have your job, enough time, and you spend well below what you earn, you'll be able to weather almost any economic storm.
The preceding has been a public service reminder from Free Money Finance. ;-)
A couple months ago a friend emailed me an invitation to preview Fireproof, a movie that's scheduled to come out at the end of this week. He told me that the movie dealt with a couple facing divorce (which it does) and some of the reasons why dealt with money. As such, he thought I'd like to see it and give my thoughts on FMF.
I'm not going to say much about what the movie is about other than it's a "Christian" film from the makers of Facing the Giants. If you're interested in seeing the movie trailer to find out what it's about, click here.
Here's my take on it:
Personally, I liked it. Then again, I got in for free.
I'm interested in hearing what you think. If you do go see the film, please stop by here and leave a comment with your thoughts.
Yeah, all of our investments have taken hits over the past month or so, but how would you like to be this guy:
If you thought Bear Stearns’ Jimmy Cayne or Lehman Brothers Holdings’ Dick Fuld had a bad case of the SWILs, consider the plight of former American International Group chief Maurice “Hank” Greenberg.
Mr. Greenberg, ousted as chief of the giant insurer in 2005, owns shares of AIG through Starr International and through his personal holdings. Starr, which he runs, owned about 243 million shares as of July, according to SEC filings; Mr. Greenberg owned about 12.9 million shares personally, as of a May filing.
Starr’s AIG shares were valued at about $15.8 billion at one point last year. Mr. Greenberg’s shares once were valued at more than $700 million.
And now? At the $2.21 price of this morning, Starr’s shares were valued at $470 million and Mr. Greenberg’s shares were valued at about $28 million.
He's still got a lot of money, of course, but that's a pretty big hit -- even for a very high roller.
Dow is up 410 points today. Still a long way down overall, but nice to see some bounceback.
But wow, what a rollercoaster ride, huh?
Way, way, way off topic here, but I need help and thought someone out there may be able to give me some advice. The situation:
Thanks if you can help.
I'm investing all the way down and I expect to reap the benefits in a couple decades...but this market is BRUTAL!!!!!!! I intend to be strong, though. -)
BTW, here's what to do if your broker fails (appropriate piece for today.)
Check this out:
Stores will offer two pre-packed quarts of any Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavor for $9 and three quarts for only $12. The chain will also feature special ice cream flavors this fall, including Apple Pie à La Mode and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
Ok, at the best price (buying three quarts) this equates to $8 per half gallon. You can buy that amount for much less at a grocery store -- or buy much more for the same price if you prefer. Not really a great deal, huh?
Completely off topic, so move on if you're only interested in financial stuff...
Anyone else watching America's Got Talent? It's probably likely that some of you are as it's one of the most popular shows on TV now.
We don't watch much TV (as many of you know, we don't have cable), but we seem to get hooked (at random) on one reality show/competition per year, and this year it's AGT (last year it was The Biggest Loser.) Anyway, they're down to the top 20, and I thought I'd list my top candidates to win for fun (we'll see how I do in the next couple weeks.) Here's my list:
1. Neal E. Boyd
2. Nuttin' But Stringz
3. Eli Mattson
4. Queen Emily
Anyone else have a different opinion? Anyone else care? ;-)
A bit off topic, but exciting news for one FMF supporter...
As many of you know, Moose Tracks ice cream is the main sponsor of Free Money Finance. On Friday, VP candidate Sarah Palin asked for a scoop of Moose Tracks at a campaign stop and it made for big news -- hitting the NY Times, LA Times, NPR and more! (Yes, it was a slow news weekend.) For those of you interested in details, check out Palin Loves Moose Tracks on the Moose Tracks website.
The piece notes that they're asking Obama/Biden to try their flavors as well. ;-)
Anyway, congrats to our friends at Moose Tracks!!!!
Just wanted to say "Happy Labor Day" to my readers in the U.S. I hope you are enjoying a day off -- and basking in the glow of some of the last days of summer.
I'm not blogging today -- plan to spend time with the family today. I'll be back tomorrow with more money news, commentary, tips, and thoughts.
I'll be leaving for vacation tomorrow and be back on August 18. There will be a few articles here each day (many great guest posters as well as some I've done and set to run) but not nearly as much as usual. I may check in from time to time but in general I will not be around. If you email me and I don't respond for a couple weeks -- you now know why.
As always, thanks for reading. You all make this site a million times better than if I was doing it on my own and you certainly keep me on my toes! ;-)
For those of you who feel so inclined and have a few moments, please stop by and visit my friend (and fellow money blogger) NCN who has a daughter sick in the hospital. I'm sure he'd appreciate you leaving him a few words of encouragement, as would I.
I'm going to be taking 10 days of vacation in a couple of weeks and I'd like to keep this blog going with fresh, new content. If anyone out there would like to write a guest post (which would include a link back to your site), then email me and we can set something up.
FYI, I'll need the completed posts by this Friday, so if you're interested, please don't delay.
I listen to my iPod quite often when in the car, walking the treadmill, mowing the lawn, etc. -- so much so that I'm hungering for more content to keep me entertained/learning during these times. I've checked iTunes, but haven't found anything there, so I thought I'd ask you all for your podcast recommendations. Here's what I'm looking for:
As far as topics go, here are some I'm interested in:
Anyone know of anything in these areas? Or maybe you have a favorite that fits the length, etc. but isn't in the topics listed? If so, suggest away. I'm always interested in hearing about great podcasts.
Anyone off the see the new Batman movie this weekend? If so, you better get there early. Sounds like it's pretty crowded in the theaters.
A co-worker of mine said she's going and has heard reports that the show has been sold out and running constantly since 12:01 am this morning. She's hoping to see it this weekend.
I plan on seeing the movie in a couple weeks -- once the traffic has died down a bit. I certainly want to see it on the big screen, but I HATE watching a movie in a totally packed theater. Not my idea of a good time. I know that some people thrive on a big crowd -- not me.
How about you? Are you going to see the Caped Crusader this weekend?
I'll be on vacation from Thursday through Sunday and will be back at the blog on Monday. Until then, I've lined up a few posts per day to keep you all occupied, but there will be "only" four or so per day. ;-)
If you send me an email or make a comment you want my response to, I won't get to it until early next week.
Have a great weekend!
Just want to say a big Happy Fourth of July to all of you out there. I hope you're having a great day off (like I am) celebrating the freedom we enjoy in the U.S.
I'm off today and on vacation the end of next week. So while things will ramp up a bit starting on Monday, don't look for as many posts as usual next week. I do have a few posts set up each day to keep you entertained, so you probably won't even notice that I'm gone. ;-)
I'm out of here for today and will be off tomorrow. Looking forward to celebrating July 4th with my family and eating TONS of Moose Tracks ice cream. ;-)
For those of you diehards still wanting more personal finance news and articles, here are a few pieces I found today that you may want to check out:
Single? Looking for a financially sound mate? Then check this out!
Closing the loop on this story, DigitalRich had his check sent back to him.
If you're interested in reading what this is about, here's a summary:
The Saturday before Memorial Day, we went to Walmart. After spending an hour in the store and having a cart full of $130 of merchandise, we made our way to the front of the store to find the following:
No human checkers for carts with more than 10 items.
The "10 items or less" lane was open and had seven or eight people waiting to be checked out. The only other option -- self-check-out. Are they kidding me?
We had $130 worth of stuff. It was various sizes (bag of fertilizer, etc.) that don't really scan well. We aren't trained as scanners. We don't want to be scanners. There were tons of other people wanting to check out -- where were the checkers??????
I was furious! I don't save enough money at Walmart to then have to wait in a crowded line, check out my own purchases, and, during the process, wait even longer because we don't know how to use the scanner and/or the one person monitoring the four self-check-out scanners was helping someone else with problems.
That's it -- I'm done with Walmart. We have a Target that's closer to our house anyway and their prices aren't that much different than Wally World. We also have Meijer as an option. Walmart has sunk so far down the scale on customer service that I wouldn't be surprised to see the ghost of Sam Walton come back and take out a few of their executives. It's simply hideous! And they've lost my $2,000 or so of business every year! I've had enough of them!!!!
End rant.
My son and I were looking at video games in Walmart last week. I looked down on the floor and found a $5 bill. I know, it's not a fortune, but still, it's the principle of the matter -- what should I do with it?
In my mind, I had three options:
1. Keep it.
2. Look around for the owner.
3. Turn it in to the "authorities" (store personnel.)
I quickly dismissed option #1. If it was a dollar, then maybe I would have just kept it. But $5 is important enough that someone could really need it.
So I went to option #2. There were people all over. There was no way I could identify who was the potential owner (what was I supposed to do -- go around asking people if they'd lost $5? At the first dishonest person, my quest would be over.) Besides, what if it had been there for a few hours? Maybe the rightful owner was not even in the store.
So I went with option #3. I took it to the cashier in the electronics section (literally one aisle from where I found the money), told her where I found it, and left. There -- my responsibility as a good citizen was over. She probably pocketed it, but by the looks of it, she really needed the $5.
After thinking it over a bit, I thought of another option: leave it where it was. Maybe the true owner would come back and find it.
Anyway, do you think I did the right thing -- or does it even matter (because the amount was so small)? What would you have done?
Heard this comment from a friend the other day. Thought it was cute and on target so I wanted to share it with you all. He said:
Many purchases these days are a waste. They are simply people buying things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like.
;-)
Anyone out there getting ready to follow Euro2008? I'm excited to see how it turns out. I usually cheer for England in these sorts of events, but since they didn't make the cut, I'm going for either Russia or Italy (I have connections with both countries and have visited both as well.)
If you're going to follow the tournament, who are you cheering for?
Had a great, relaxing weekend. Here's what we did:
Overall, it was about as good of a weekend as could be imagined.
How about you? Did you do anything special over the long weekend?
Just wanted to say Happy Memorial Day to everyone (it's a holiday where we remember the service and sacrifice of our veterans and enlisted men and women for those of you outside of the United States). Like most others in the U.S., I'm taking the day off -- I'll be back tomorrow.
Thank you to all our veterans, enlisted personnel, and their families. Words are inadequate to express our great appreciation for your service.
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