Archive for January, 2008

I am in a hurry

January 31, 2008 at 3:25 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , ,

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Live fast and die young . . .

January 30, 2008 at 3:03 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , , ,

That was my Uncle Bob’s motto.  Strangely enough, he died last week after a long and happy adulthood.  He told me once that he first recognized this when he saw an old black and white movie Knock On Any Door.   In it John Derek, Bo’s husband, played a young street tough who figured out early that life wasn’t going to treat him well so it was up to him to do for himself.  In the movie, told in flashbacks, Derek’s character does indeed die young.  But Derek, who both acted and later directed, was famous for his many love interests and the control he seemingly exerted over their careers.  He died at the age of 71.  Oddly enough so did Uncle Bob.

Bob was famous in our family for his peripatetic ways and successful life style.  Though he died quietly in his sleep, while he was alive, he never stopped taking chances and pushing the envelope.  He truly believed that money was made to be spent.  He made a lot.  And this is what intrigued me, he spent it all.  It wasn’t wasteful spending though.  He just knew what he wanted from life and damned if he wasn’t going to get it.  It wasn’t hurtful spending either.  He always took care of the people in his life and when times were tough they came first.  He told me he didn’t mind work as long as it was followed by plenty of play.  He was a dancer, a romancer and damned if he was ever afraid that he couldn’t solve a problem or find someone who could help him figure it out.

But the main thing I still remember about him was his way with kids.  He always talked directly to them as though they mattered.  His ability to listen made him a great teacher.  And he seemed to know instinctively how to avoid embarrassing them.  When you were with Bob, you knew he wouldn’t lie to you if you asked him questions and he wouldn’t let you act like a child just to avoid getting to the real answer.  He was frustrating sometimes because he would never answer questions where with just a little thinking you could figure it out for yourself.  He seemed to love the puzzle of things and to play with the different ways that you could see information.  When I would ask him for help spelling a word, he would take great pleasure in acting out the word’s spelling and meaning so that eventually I would end up with a dictionary in hand and learning much more than just how to spell that word. 

I think about Uncle Bob whenever I hear people say they can’t wait for something or other to happen or for time to pass so they can do something.   Bob never waited, and he died young, at the happy age of 71.

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Yeah, it’s tax time again

January 30, 2008 at 2:36 pm · Filed under frugality ·Tagged , ,

Now this is probably going to sound strange but I actually enjoy tax time.  I like summing things up and looking at where the year has brought us.  It also gives a me chance to look at my bookkeeping and decide if I need to make adjustments.  It also sets us up the information for our annual shareholder’s meeting where we look at the year past and plan the next. 

All my record keeping for our Corp and our real estate investments is kept in Quickbooks.  My version is still the QBPro2005.  There are several reasons for this.  One, QB lets me tailor the program to our particular needs and stores and reports all the info in accountant’s terms.  Two, I can use it as a file cabinet that stores all the relevant data: the bills, the sales, the inventory of equipment, the bank and credit card accounts, and the payroll and tax information.  Three, I can keep it simple.  By that I mean I don’t let the program nor the company behind it, Intuit, tell me what to do.  I am not really interested in the constant innovations or updates that the company keeps sending me.  I have learned through use of the earlier versions that like most computer programming it is designed for common use not for individuals.  It assumes to do the accounting so given certain input it is programmed to interpret and handle that input a certain way.  I am not an accountant nor do I want to be.  Luckily, QB lets me set up my company as a cash business.  That means everything we do, every piece of info I input is right in front of me all the time.  No hidden accounting practice requiring double entry.  No lag in reviewing or comparing the data.  And really, no need for the constant stream of updates.

So here it is tax time again.  With a few clicks and a quick review of the company’s finances we are on our way to our tax accountant.   Like I said, I love doing taxes, here it is January and I am already done.

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Emails versus Readers

January 25, 2008 at 5:29 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , , , ,

I guess I’m old fashioned but my preference here is for the email.  I like receiving letters and really like responding to them.  But that being said, it appears to me that the preference amongst most bloggers seems to be for readers.  That way they can go to one site and scan their lists of blogs for items that they might want to read and respond to and they are done.  That, of course, is a guess on my part since I have never really met another blogger to ask what they prefer.  I guess I could do a poll but that just leads me to have to find out how to set up a poll on my site.  I probably should do that anyway.  Meanwhile, this whole question brings me back to the email vs. reader deal.  Some of the email subscriptions I have are just naturally made for email.  Alternet.org, Truthdig.com, Investipedia.com, in fact, any of the news type blogs that carry a variety of authors, all to me are best suited on email.  However, some people use their reader like a self-designed daily news service and thus simply open it up like a newspaper they can scan for their favorite authors or to find new news. (ha ha)

Anyway, I only pose this because I am trying to figure out the way to get more subscribers for either.  Ah well.

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Live and learn, Stoozing

January 22, 2008 at 7:36 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , , , ,

Well, we all woke up to a increasingly troubled financial market and as Trace Adkins pointed out on Bill Maher last week, “even though we’ve all seen it coming, it still seems like it just blew up all of a sudden.”  So today the fed announced another interest rate cut down to 3.25% which should (they hope) affect the economy in a stimulating way but meanwhile, the way the stock market is careening all over the place doesn’t bode well for any instant changes.  However, T and I are Stoozing about 50K and today we have to think about how this will affect our ability to refi.  We have 5 props all mortgaged at between 6% and 6.825% and fixed for 30 years.  But refis are now coming available at 5.25 and even lower for 15 yr loans.  We have no debt aside from the mortgages and the three Stoozes and our FICO is at 760 and holding.  Still, we are a little doubtful about the viability of a refi once the lender looks at the newest hits on our credit cards.  One thing that I think at this point works for us is time.  We can pull and pay the Stoozes off quite quickly.  Then if the credit environment stays the same as now, with our solid employment record and long list of assets we should be able to take advantage.

On the other hand, on a less personal note.  What good will all this financial maneuvering do if the whole economy tanks?  We have savings and emergency funds but they are in banks.  And what I’ve been discovering lately is that the domino effect that most of us used to laugh at back in the day when the war hawks used to use it to describe why they needed to keep bombing Vietnam is actually a good way to look at the financial trouble we are all in.  The whole thing is one big series of Stoozes and it all relies on the original concept of keeping the principal stable and liquid.  I am not sure but it may well be that this has gotten so far out of hand that countries, banks, lenders, investors and the people that run them may not even know anymore who owes who what.

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Surfing the net

January 22, 2008 at 4:15 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags

Today, I decided to just read around the net and see what is happening.  My first stop was at the news links on my Google Home Page.  I really am in a quandry as to what to believe.  On the news side, the stock market is plunging and the world market is responding by falling too.  But the liberal point of view looks at the stats and claims one thing while the conservative side looks at supposedly the same info and claims another.  Five percent unemployment rates, the libs say we are in trouble, the cons say that means 95% are employed.  Foreclosures up 15%, libs say more to come, cons say 85% own homes. 

 Meanwhile, the real fun is in the poking.

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It’s morning and I’m ready to Stooze

January 18, 2008 at 8:50 pm · Filed under frugality ·Tagged , , , ,

Well, maybe not ready to myself but definitely ready to oversee T. as she works at it.  And definitely ready to share with any readers their experiences along the Stoozing trail as she and I go forward.  BTW, I should mention that most of the info we are gathering appears to be from England, though I know the Aussies are using it too, so don’t get thrown off when the money amounts are expressed as pounds instead of dollars.

Anyway, so there it is.  Right in front of us.  A brand new income stream funded by manipulating the very system that the credit industry has been using to rope us in.  We hope.  Frankly, that’s why T. and I are such good partners.  She gambles where I would not.  I gamble when she would not.  But we never gamble when we aren’t in agreement about the consequences.  We always talk them through.

Unfortunately for me, that means I’ve got to spend sometime researching the whole idea while she runs off to find the best offers to take more advantage of.  I like the things I’ve found out so far but beware of something for nothing keeps running through my thoughts as I check out Wikipedia and then start reading at www.stoozing.com.  Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide how much of a review to give the site that sits behind the stoozing.com one that looks to be a combination of information and sales.  Hmmm. 

Stoozing is a way of making money by exploiting credit cards which have an introductory period during which no interest is charged.
There is fierce competition in the credit card industry, so many lenders have introductory periods of between 3 and 18 months during which they charge 0% interest on the card balance. This allows the Stoozer to borrow money for ‘free’ and to move it into a high interest savings account.

Seems simple when you say it like that.  Take those damn tempting offers and instead of going into debt start earning income from them. 

At the end of the 0% introductory period, the money is withdrawn from the savings account and used to pay off the full credit card balance. The interest gained from the savings account is your ‘profit’. As with any other savings account interest, taxpayers need to pay tax on the interest earned.

Also, you have to be aware of two other things.  One, there is usually a one time fee for the use of the money, either 3% or $99 whichever is higher.  Two, there are three types of offers, 0% on money for a limited period, 0% on balance transfers, and 0% on purchases for a limited time.  Beware of the balance transfer and save it for part two of the Stooze. 

Part Two:

Rather than pay off the credit card directly from the savings account at the end of the period, the Stoozer would normally have another 0% credit card lined up to pay off the first one. Thus, the borrowed money could stay in the savings account for a considerable amount of time.

A Stoozer would typically earn between $400 and $2500 per annum from Stoozing.
Why not put some figures into the stoozing calculator and see how much you could earn?

That’s the part where if you want to be accurate you have to check out the current exchange rate or you can just do like I did and use the numbers in the calculator as a guestimate.  Stoozing has been around for a relatively short time but investors and banks have been doing it for a long time in something called the carry trade.  Even so at the stoozing.com site this caveat is in place:

However, before embarking on Stoozing for the first time, please read our risks section. This is important because you need to be aware of the effects on your credit history and because not everyone has the attention to detail necessary for successful Stoozing. Once you have understood the risks, take a look at the full guide from the pull down menus or click an option below.

One last item for today,  once a month T. and I host a financial game night where we play Cashflow 101 and discuss different financial strategies culled from personal experience.  One person came to a meeting last month and wanted to talk about a new mortgage paying strategy that was being offered by an Australian Bank.

An alternative way of making money from Stoozing is to put the borrowed money into an offset mortgage instead of a savings account. This reduces your mortgage payments, ‘earning’ you money in that way; usually tax free.

We talked about this quite abit at our meeting but could come to no consensus.  No one at the time saw the connection to Stoozing.  And one of the things that I’m discovering is that there isn’t much information about Stoozing in the U.S.  So this  statement from the stoozing site seems apt.

Partial reconfigurations of the offset mortgage are being introduced in the United States, however due to differing US mortgage policies and accounting practices as well as US tax laws these programs are generally not effective.

So that’s it for now.  In a couple of days I’ll take a look at what T. has found out and share it here.

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Another version of obsolescence

January 16, 2008 at 10:38 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged

Today, I opened up my email to find another message from Office Depot.  A glowing colorful reward offer, two pages long, that all I had to do was print out and then take with me to my nearest dealer when I went to buy my next whatever.  10% off on supplies, 15% off on furniture, $25 off on my next purchase over $75 excepting computer equipment.  It would seem that Office Depot really does have my best interest at heart. 

But two things about this offer cause me consternation.  One, I don’t actually need anything from OD right now and the offer is contingent on a time frame.  Two, I don’t know about you but I’ve learned over time that printing out pages of color docs is a quick way to use up my printer cartridge.  Of course, at OD I can get a replacement cartridge for just $39.  Hmmm?  Is there some sort of covert op going on here?  I’ve already discovered to my dismay that the cartridge dries up even if I don’t use it over time and now Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Office Depot, et al, all insist on sending me discount offers that require me to print them out in order to use them.

Actually, I don’t really suspect these companies of some subversive attempt to bring me to their door.  I think that they are just using the online nature of the retail world to make a sale.  No fault there.  What  I do think they are missing though is that keeping up a constant bombardment of sales pitches via ads and promos is bound to wear out and on the target audience.  We all are showing the signs of the strain.  Pepper Spray at the Australian Open.  A 5 year prison sentence for a man convicted of cutting down his neighbor’s trees so he could see the Las Vegas strip.  Bush offering $20 Billion in weapons to bribe the Saudis to lower oil prices.  

I know that as an individual I can do things that will temporarily reduce the strain:  Turn off my tv and computer, walk or ride my bike instead of drive, spend time thinking instead of talking, all of these things will temporarily give me some space.  Automate my bill paying and bookkeeping.  But the world, of course, isn’t going to go away.  People will still jostle me at the check out line, the clerk will still look over my shoulder to serve the next customer at Starbucks after upselling me just in case, the road rager will still finger me out of her way as she races by to get into the freeway traffic jam, and someone will come up with a new blog I just have to add to my reader list. 

The only thing that keeps me from wearing out on a permanent basis is something quite familiar to the personal finance world.   By planning my time and sticking to that plan, I can screen the new information, categorize it and deal with it on my own schedule.  By planning when and where and how I want to deal with things and sticking to that plan, maybe I can plan my own version of obsolescence.

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Fascinating stuff . . .

January 14, 2008 at 8:22 am · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , ,

One has to wonder about the way this world works when best selling books are designed not to educate and elucidate but to provide more fodder for the continuing battle between the liberals and the conservatives.  Why do we buy into this crap?  I only ask because I came across this quote from an interview with Jonah Goldberg the author of a new book entitled Liberal Fascism which ought to please TRM over at D=S no end.

SCARBOROUGH: But you’re not suggesting in this book, though, that you can draw a line from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton or Mussolini to Barack Obama, are you?

GOLDBERG: Well, I’m saying you can draw a line, but it’s not a straight one. It goes all sorts of different places. I’m not saying that today’s liberalism is the son of Nazism or the son of Italian fascism. I’m saying it’s sort of like the great-grandniece once removed.

[laughter]

GOLDBERG: They have some common DNA, some common themes, some family resemblances that come up.But we also have them in the Republican Party today. I think compassionate conservatism is essentially a right-wing progressivism, and it’s very scary which way that can go.

BRZEZINSKI: Oh my gosh.

Luckily, the only media that seem willing to take him seriously are those on the conservative side.  Gosh, I wonder why?

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Telling Yourself What To Do

January 10, 2008 at 1:54 am · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , , ,

I have a hard time with bosses.  I don’t react very well to being told what to do.  You could say that I am a contrarian in this.  You know how people say if you tell someone not to do something then that is what they’ll end up doing.  Well, I am the other side of that coin toss.  Tell me to do something and 9 out of 10 times I am going to do it but differently than you asked for.

So where does this leave me in regard to New Year’s resolutions?  I think I am even worse about this when it’s me telling me what to do.  I say for instance that I am going to control my spending in the new year.  So what do I do, I spend as though there is no reason to control anything.  I use the gift cards as an excuse but really it’s just me seeing how far I can go before I get caught by my own empty bank account.  Or I say to myself this is the time of the year to diet, eat less and weigh less.  So what happens is suddenly I can’t stop snacking, a handful of almonds, a piece of toast with jam, a box of cheetos, a Pepsi or two, and suddenly I ain’t so thin anymore.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that in order for me to set up my New Year’s resolutions I actually have to not set them up.  I have to let them happen instead of make them happen.  For example, T. has been wanting to join the Y for about six months but since she knew about the new membership offer coming in January she put it off.  Then last week she joined up and pulled me along with her.  Now we are set to join a walking class, arrange a 12 week personal fitness program, and use the workout equipment whenever we can.  So I don’t have a New Year’s res that says Set up  a workout plan but I do have a workout plan now.

The same thing sort of happened with my diet.  T. is all into Dave Ramsey and his Total Money Makeover, so this month, she started itemizing expenditures and naming her dollars and of course since we are in it together I have started doing it too.  The big change that has sort of sneaked up on us is that we now eat at home about 80 % of the time.  And since we shop together more often we sort of help each other stay in line.  When I reach for the Pepsi, she points out the Calistoga if I really need the carbonation.   When she searches the cracker isle, I can explain the way Volumetrics would help her with her choice.  But no, I haven’t written it down somewhere, Plan your diet so that you lose 35 lbs by May yet that may very well happen.

Okay I did do some things but that’s probably just because I told myself not to do them.  So we have a Goals wall set up in the dining room/office and the new calendar is already filling up with appointments and ideas and things to do through February.  But this all happenstance and in line with what we normally do around this time of year.  So what am I going to do about my New Year’s resolutions, this year I guess I’m  just doing’em.

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