Bah, oh well

So we went to take a look at this house.. and I must say, I was a little taken aback. While I was fully prepared for the cracked kitchen tile and lumpy, painted-over siding, I was not prepared for the several joists in the basement holding up the central floor beam, nor for the fact that all the floors are sloped and a little spongy. Least of all was I prepared for the ladder made of 2x4's that is the method for getting into the attic (which is actually finished quite nicely and is, by the reports of Boyfriend, the nicest room in the house - I was too scared to go up the ladder since it leaned backwards somewhat.)



So just from our initial trip 'round the house, we decided this was not for us. I had been prepared to put $30,000 into this house, but not $60,000 or $70,000 - especially with the damp basement and potential house-sliding-into-one-corner problems. I had been under the impression that the house had been a rental for a few years, but apparently it had been rented out for TWENTY - and it really looks it. There are lots of repairs (like the 2x4 ladder) that look like a cheap, quick, not-particularly-durable solution to a problem. The roof similarly looked like it had been put on by an amateur with cheap materials - it wasn't evenly spaced, and we found part of a shingle on the ground. It's too bad because the backyard was pretty great for this area (yes, you really can buy a house on 1/50th of an acre) and it might be a nice house, if I had $70k. The real deal breaker though were the upstairs bedrooms, which are all quite small, and only one has a normal sized closet. One had a closet literally ten inches deep, and the third had no closet at all. So I backed away from this house - maybe in another few years. :)



So now I'm looking at places to rent, since I do want a bigger place. I found a place that looks great on paper, but I want to talk to the landlord and see what experience they have since I get the impression it's just some guy who owns a house and felt like renting it out. From the county auditor's site, I found that it sold in 2005 (presumably to this guy or someone he works for) for $228,000 - and you can do the math that the rent of $1200 is not going to cover that mortgage. So who knows what the deal is there. I also have my eye on a few other nice places, so hopefully they don't get rented out before I make the final call! My lease is up August 15th so that's a bit early for around here (most things are Sept to Sept) so I'm hoping to get someplace for August 1st, so we have two weeks to move.



In other news, CashDuck is quite busy now and I have added another person to my crew. :) At this point she's mostly helping me catch up on tasks that have been long neglected, and taking only a little workload off of me and my other crew member. Ah, such is business.. it grows faster than I can manage to hire people to take work off me. But things are going quite well. My wonderful ducklings raised $350 for breast cancer research with this month's promotion so I'm pretty pleased with that too! I am pretty much ducking when I am not eating, sleeping, or at work though. Yesterday, I took an hour to relax, which I am not good at, and watched some TV.



In other news, I fear that between my work and CashDuck and attempting to have a real life, I do not have time to administer the Under 30 Honor Roll and I'm not doing it proper justice. So for any fellow Honor Roll members, if you are interested in taking over the Honor Roll and making it the best it can be, drop me an email.

An amazing new goal

I love to travel. I'm not the kind of person who does the “if it's Tuesday it must be Paris” tours either. Instead, I like to go places and poke around for as long as possible. When people ask me where I'd like to travel, it's easier to tell them the few places I wouldn't like to go: places with active wars or genocide. That's it.

But there are some places that I want to go more than others. When I was a little kid, someone gave me an old stamp collection that had a first day cover in it. That envelope had an explanation of Admiral Byrd's expedition to Antarctica. That was all it took. I wanted to go to someplace that remote and beautiful. Just think! Antarctica! I looked up Admiral Byrd in the encyclopedia. I imagined trying to outfit an expedition of that sort. I daydreamed about penguins and huge sheets of ice. Heck I was thrilled to see penguins at Sea World in San Diego. I pretended we were really in Antarctica.

But it wasn't until recently that I realized it was actually possible for non-explorers and non-scientists to go to Antarctica. We could really go! The only thing was, for even just my husband and myself to get there, the trip would start at about $15,000. $15,000!

That's uh, a lot. Really a lot. And a few years ago I didn't see how we could possibly save up that kind of money. But now I know that we can. Even on top of our other goals.

You see, I want it badly enough. So I'm setting up the Antarctica account, and will be doing other things that will help us get there. Reaching a goal is easier when something really captures your imagination.

Stock Bias Test Results

I ran a post on Friday titled, Stock Bias Test, which has become one of the more popular pages on my site in only a few days. My site doesn’t generate a large number of comments per blog post, maybe 2 to 4 per post on average, but this topic got more than 30 people to respond (a huge success in my “comments world”). I guess I do a poor job in sparking conversation based on what I write.

Anyway, everyone seemed to like the exercise of analyzing the charts without a ticker symbol or frame of time.

I asked a few questions:

• Which stock would you buy below based on the nameless & dateless charts? (listed 1,2,3,4)


• How would you rank them in order of technical characteristics?


• Would you avoid buying of any of the stocks below based on price and volume?


• Would you short any of the stocks below?

Overall, many of you struck out and did not get the analysis right but I do have to say a that a few of you did a wonderful job.

The best response in the comments that I could find clearly comes from Alex who runs a blog on his google pages.

He nailed every chart (I wonder if he figured them out) as a few of you did.

#1 is the strongest buy. The last candle on #1 sets the high of the chart, therefore it’s moving into uncharted terrritory with no overhead sellers. Also, the last dip down to the 40-period line was on low and decreasing volume, thus few sellers there. Then it spiked off the 40-period MA with strong volume. Then it continued the uptrend for 5 candles.

#3 would be my second strongest buy for similar reasons, but I’d like to see what the next few candles do.

#2 & #4 I would leave alone because of the heavy selling volume on the last dips. But I wouldn’t short them because they are still above the 40-day MA.

I had to hide Aurelien’s answers for chart #3 as he guessed it: AAPL.

Steven Mac may have summed up the approach to the analysis the best by saying:

While the exercise is based upon price & volume alone or techincal aspects, for the record I wouldn’t move into a position unless I can see at least:

1) Risk-to-Reward.

2) RS Strength

3) Industry Group/Sister Stock Information

4) Fundamentals on Ownership

5) Overall Market Direction Factor

Overall – it was a great exercise and a wonderful success. I plan to do more of these in the future (possibly bi-weekly if everyone stays interested).

The original snapshots of the charts I uploaded on Friday are highlighted in blue (on the charts below). As you can see, #1 (BIDU) and #3 (AAPL) were super successful and #2 (MS) and #4 (BSC) broke down.

Proper risk/ reward setups and sell rules would have saved you from losing large amounts of money in MS and BSC so don’t worry if you got them wrong. Worry if you got it wrong and then avoided selling a clear loser.

I lied... 2008 BAH available now!

Maybe it is Wednesday already in Japan, but anothernavywife has informed me that 2008 BAH rates are now available!
We got a pretty good bump around here; the Hampton Roads area seems to have had an increase of approximately $100-125/mo., fluctuating slightly based on paygrade, of course.

Hooray!

Tips for All Your Small Space Issues

Given the size of my small apartment, space is always an issue. Our apartment is essentially one big room that encompasses our living area, eating space, office, library and pet homes (we luckily also have two bedrooms). Within our small space, I consider it an engineering marvel that my closets don't spill out the minute you open the doors. Whether I'm shopping for paper towels, sleeping bags, sports equipment or just a new hand bag, the question always pops up: "Where are we going to put this?" I considered buying an armoire for extra storage, but then realized I didn't have the floor space for it.

It's not just storage space that causes problems. Try asking two people put away five bags of groceries or simply cook a meal in a ten-foot by six-foot kitchenette. Try enjoying "Rock of Love" in the living room while someone else is attempting to write a 30-page legal paper that's due tomorrow in the same room. Luckily, despite our lack of space, B and I have managed to make our small apartment work.

And given that many of you are living in small urban spaces with roommates (or someday will), I thought you could use some tips for getting along and living in a place that actually fits your budget, if not your lifestyle.

Tip one: Give stuff away. If you like to shop, and your space is limited, you're in trouble. I have imposed the following rule to prevent my closet from overtaking my living space: If I can't fit the new items in the closet or home, I must give old stuff to friends, family and Goodwill (or the Salvation Army) to make room. (I've also heard that Freecycle is good, and certainly e-bay is another option if you have valuable things). I stay away from throwing clothes, shoes, accessories or household items in the trash if they're still usable. If I can't stand to part with anything, I don't deserve the new goods.

Let's apply this rule... if I go shopping and come home with two bags of new spring clothes, I automatically weed through my closet and pull old pieces. You'd be surprised at the old stuff lurking in your closet. I still find clothes from college (which means they're about eight years or older) in my closet. I don't wear it, but for some reason I can't let go of it. Well, tough. Now, if I'm not wearing it, I can't keep it. Someone out there probably needs my old sorority T-shirts and sizes-too-small mini-skirts more than I do. (I kid. Typically, it's my old work clothes, warm sweaters, winter coats and gently worn shoes that make their way out. I gave away the minis long ago.)

One other cool idea: A friend of mine had a bunch of clothes, accessories and make-up in great condition that she had shrunk or just didn't want to wear/use anymore. She invited us all over for dinner and drinks, then opened up her closet and let us all pick what we wanted. I got some amazing work clothes and she got much-needed closet space back. It was a win-win for all.

Tip two: Buying stuff isn't always an option. I would really like a tent for when we go hiking and camping, instead of always borrowing my parents' huge old complicated one. But I seriously have nowhere to put it, so I can't buy one. Same goes for my eating nook (I really want an actual table, with chairs that have backs), kitchen appliances (we have the smallest coffee maker EVER), seasonal apartment decorations, a treadmill, a rocking chair, a bigger TV screen, an entertainment center... you name it, I can't buy it. And that's fine by me, because I probably can't afford it anyway. What I have fills my living space to the brim. And that's enough.

In terms of household items, I would like to be able to buy some non-perishable things in bulk, like paper towels, toilet paper, soaps, shampoos, etc. But for now, we just have to say NO! because we can't handle it.

Tip three: Organize with removable shelves and bins. Is there any storage problem that Rubbermaid can't help with? Check out their Web site for new ideas for your closet, junk drawer and shared spaces. I optimize all my space with extra sliding drawers, bins, etc. Come to think of it, I will be buying more today to organize my coat/cleaning supplies/wrapping paper/board games storage closet.

Tip four: Keep it clean and uncluttered. I am never in a worse mood than when my apartment is cluttered or untidy. And with only one main living area, that seems like always. The slightest amount of clutter - office papers, coffee cups or junk-mail - on one surface makes it seem like my entire apartment is in chaos. Not only does a messy apartment make me cranky, it also makes me feel like I want to move to a bigger, more expensive one. Keeping the place clean goes a long way towards making me feel content, so if you feel trapped in a tiny apartment, try cleaning and uncluttering before you think about getting a bigger place or buying before you're ready. It might help you stick with your lower rent place.

Tip five: Understand your personal space needs. I grew up in a family of six. In college, I never lived with less than six people. I like a full house, I like contact, I like constant conversation. B, on the other hand, was one of two kids, and prefers to be a little quieter, a little more solitary and have a little more space. Our different upbringings play out like this: If he's in our small kitchen, I like to be standing a few feet away from him, chatting. He feels claustrophobic if we're both standing in the tiny kitchen together.

When we first moved in together, I think we were both surprised that the other felt so differently about personal space. But we talked about where our needs come from, and we respect them. In the end, I learned the value of having quiet time to myself (which sometimes requires me to get outdoors for a walk or just sitting down by myself with a good book), and B learned to appreciate having someone nearby with whom to communicate.

Whether it's roommates or a loved one, living together can be difficult. Living together in a small space can be even tougher. Communicating about, understanding and respecting personal space needs will help make life easier.

.....

I could probably ramble all day, but I hope these five top tips will help you better appreciate your small, tight, unloved apartment or condo a bit more before you grow out of it.

In addition to the tips above, here are some sites that can help as you look to furnish or rework your small space:

• Tiny Living
• Domino Magazine
• HGTV: Small Space, Big Style Gallery
• HGTV: Small Space ideas
  
• Ikea
• Nate Burkus' Small Space Miracle
  

For those of you with small-space love, give us some of your best tips!

Gratuitous publicity, or something

My blog was recently reviewed on debtconsolidationcare.com, a site which claims to be "the internet's first get-out-of-debt community" and boasts ninety thousand or so members. While this may be the case, not a single hit on my sitemeter has come from this community since this review was published. :-) I cannot vouch for the Debt Consolidation Care's expertise or competence, and my browser settings really don't work well with their page, but maybe you'll have better luck than I did. I use Mozilla Firefox with ad-block on Windows XP, and have blocked most video sites by default. Nonetheless, some of the scripts affiliated with the site kept hanging my browser. Just be cautious.
I *can* tell you the Debt Consolidation Care community is based out of Calcutta, India, based on the time of the emails received (usually after 10PM Pacific) and my site stats, so take that as you will.

I'm obviously not getting paid to write this review, but am doing at the request of one of their staff members, one Liza Jolie, who has been, shall we say, very relentless in her emailing. So here it is. I'm sure my link to their site will make a huge difference in their traffic. ;-)

House Flipping In The Real World-Part 4-Back In The Hood

The fourth part in the sad, sad story. See previous posts to get up to date.

My lawyer called on the first Tuesday in December and said the foreclosure was final, or almost. Freddy and Celia had 24 hours to get out or we called the sheriff and he threw their stuff out on the street. Pretty harsh but my patience was pretty thin. The lawyer had sold the house on the courthouse steps and I, since I held the note, was the buyer. There is much made in real estate flipping books about buying houses on the courthouse steps. Unless I am really missing something, don't waste your time. What happens is this--the mortgage company sends notes to the owners saying they will be foreclosed on unless they pay, the owner can't or won't pay, the house is sold on the steps and the highest bidder will be, in 99 out of 100 times, the mortgage company because the mortgage company holds the note. Now, if you want to outbid the mortgage company, feel free as the mortgage company will be ecstatic since they will get paid when you buy the house because they have the mortgage but you won't get much of a deal. A bit complicated but makes sense if you think about it. The bottom line is don't waste your time hanging around the courthouse steps.

I gave Freddy and Celia 48 hours and showed up on Thursday. Since I hadn't been in the neighborhood for awhile we had a bit of a reunion. Mercedes and Hector were home for lunch and waved. The couple up the street, an elderly brother and sister team, came over as well as the two women living across the street, Cynthia and Alice. Carolyn, who lived on the other side and was never out of her robe and cigarette, came over as well. Carolyn's mother, Jennifer, was my first and best tenant and I asked about her. Got a laundry list of medical problems and doctor opinions. Told Carolyn to give Jennifer my best.

Finally it was time to go inside. We all huddled on the back porch, leaning forward, trying to peek inside. I put in the key, pushed and heard the tinkling of broken tile. A groan went up from the crowd. I got a look saying Push Harder and gave the door more shoulder and heard a sound that indicated the need for a new door in the near future. We all pushed our way inside half expecting to find a dead body or a live body with a gun but all we found was a really messed up house. The tile in the kitchen and bath was shot, it looked like somebody had rolled refrigerators back and forth. There were holes in the ceiling in the kitchen, bath, one bedroom and the living room. Seems Freddy fancied himself an amateur electrician but couldn't hook anything together that worked. An attempt at interior decorating failed as they painted the whole inside peanut butter brown. Three kitchen cabinet doors were off their hinges. And there were no doors. There were no doors left to any of the rooms, including the bathroom. Carolyn asked the obvious, "Why the hell did they do that?" Nobody had a clue.

Carolyn turned and said softly, "You poor man." which made me a feel a bit better. Actually I have seen houses in a lot worse shape and said so. Carolyn said, "You poor man" again.

We went out of the house and into the garage which contained the front end of a truck with no wheels. The bed of the truck, also with no wheels, was in the backyard. Randy, Carolyn's husband who worked at a convenience store, had now joined us and said Freddy had been running a chop shop. Carolyn had thought Freddy was building choppers and had to be brought up to speed on the difference between choppers and a chop shop. "That explains a lot." she said.

Carolyn also said softly, "He beat her." Cynthia chimed in "And she just took it. Should've thrown the bastard out but she alway let him back in." Freddy was exposed. And I hoped Celia had enough sense to finally leave the guy and go home to Mom and Dad but I doubt it.

A moment of silence and then Randy broke the ice. "What a f**king mess."

Tears For Lehman Brothers

While Lehman Brothers attempted to put on a strong face at the height of foreboding rumors about its financial condition and criticism from short selling hedge fund managers, inside the firm nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Far from feeling like would-be masters of the universe, Lehmanites were struggling to contain their feelings of fear and desperation. At one point, tears were shed.

"I was reading these stories and crying at my desk," a young associate who was drinking at a small bar on the lower east side last night.

She was not alone. From fixed income traders to equity analysts, Lehman Brothers employees report that two weeks ago the firm was, well, emotional.

"You'd get on the elevator and it was like you could cut the tension with a knife," a longtime Lehman vet told DealBreaker.

Lehman employees exhibit a high degree of sentimental attachment to their firm, an attachment they say was only strengthened by recent difficulties. "I think we all kind of pulled together," said the associate. She then turned back to the bar and ordered a couple of shots.

"For Lehman," she said as our glasses clinked together.

custom homes

Custom home building is a very expansive field. Sometimes, all of the decisions you need to make can be incredibly overwhelming. For people like me, a pre-set floorplan may be a better move. I found this page about Schumacher Homes and it was pretty helpful. Anyone else have other recomendations?

tags: home building, home builders, home construction, house construction, real estate, homes, houses, builders, construction, contractors

Machinations

I'm feeling very pleased these days about my retirement contributions. With the new job came a healthy pay raise, and since my involuntary contributions as well as my workplace's contributions are done on percentage, they've gone up 30%, to $814 per month. I'm also putting in $500 per month myself, so I'm now getting nearly as much in retirement contributions as I am living on. This is astonishing to me.

I've got an automatic contribution of $200 per month to the Roth, and I'll max it out by the end of the year. And I'm now saving plenty of money. So I'm casting around for ways to get more money into my retirement accounts. I don't want to contribute so much every month that I have to rely on other money to live, but the 403(b) is the only other option after maxing out the IRA to get more money into a tax-sheltered account.

So here's my plan. I use about $1800 per month to pay all the bills, rent, groceries, contribute to the Roth, etc. So my plan right now is that once I have a comfortable amount saved up, I'm going to change my retirement contribution amount for that month from $500 to $2000 or $2500 - essentially my whole paycheck after about $470 in pretax required deductions - and live on my saved-up money for one month. Then I'll change it back the next month and save up my money again. Then when I get another $2000 or so saved up, I'll have another "no-income" month and put it in the 403(b).

This sounds pretty good to me but I'm also kind of chicken about not having the money coming in. But I think I can prep ahead of time and make sure the bills money is in the bills bank account, and the living money in the living expenses bank account, and I've got my ING debit card in case there is an emergency. So perhaps next month... :)

Cold Weather, You're Out

Dear Chicago:

I don't know what I did to piss you off, but I'm writing to let you know that I've absolutely had it with your attitude. I WILL NOT, no matter how cold, snowy or downright nasty you get, WILL NOT wear my down parka another minute until at least October. I refuse! You may have gotten the best of me this winter by jacking up my heating bills to over $200 each month, leaving permanent salt stains on all my clothes and shoes and halting my driving lessons with your "ice storms," but mark my words, frienemy, your frosty days are numbered.

Watch out Chicago. Because as soon as your cold snap ends, I will be out on your town with a vengance.

Regards,
Nicole

Start planning for your final expenses now

I know this post topic is kind of morbid, but this issue is very important. Recently, Mr. Dimes and his family had to bury his grandmother, who died suddenly but not unexpectedly right around Christmas. She had a modest funeral and burial, and her final expenses clocked in around $8,000. My mother-in-law fronted the money and will eventually be reimbursed when the estate has been settled, as the grandmother did have some real estate and other assets which could be sold to cover the expenses. Not everyone is so lucky, though.
I recently had a client whose mother died unexpectedly who was requesting over $16,000 in funeral assistance. Her mother owned no property, had no life insurance, and had done nothing to prepare for her final expenses in advance. While the client has siblings, neither individually nor collectively can they afford the costs of the burial. Their mother desired to be buried in the family plot in an area where real estate is very pricey and the burial costs are over half the cost of the funeral. I had to help a grieving client find an alternative to the burial she wanted in order to have something she could afford. This was not a particularly fun experience. Please, for the love of your survivors, do not do this to them. Plan for your final expenses now and let your family members know where they can find any information about plots, policies, final wishes, etc. Deaths are difficult enough without creating financial stress and trauma for a grieving family.

Here are a few ways to ease the financial burden on your survivors:

• Consider prepayment of funeral expenses: If you know where you want to be placed upon your death, consider buying a plot in advance, and make sure your survivors know where it is. You can also prepay for the funeral, casket, and other mortuary services rather than requiring your relatives to front the expenses at the time of your death.
• Have a life insurance policy specifically for funeral expenses: Both my client's mother and my husband's grandmother had small ($10K-$25K) whole life insurance policies to pay for their funeral expenses, but for one reason or another had let them lapse and when they died, there was no money. If, however, you make sure that you (or someone else) is paying on them and don't let the policies lapse, they can be sufficient to cover burial and funeral costs.
  
• Consider less expensive methods of body disposal: Burials are getting to be insanely expensive, and so are funeral plots. Cremation, on the other hand, is a more frugal alternative to standard burial, and is less harmful to the environment. Some people don't like the idea of cremation for religious or other reasons, but it definitely costs less. It also has the added benefit of allowing for portability of remains; for example, if you want to be buried a great distance away from where you died, ashes are much easier to transport than an intact corpse.
  
• Have a specific set of assets designated for funeral expenses: This would definitely require either a will or a joint account with a person most likely to survive you, but it could solve the problem of a family member having to front expenses and then wait for reimbursement. If you create an account specifically for funeral expenses, then a family member or the executor of your estate should be able to access those funds in order to pay for your funeral. If you're going to do this, you might as well make your wishes known as well as what should be done with any money that remains, in order to keep your relatives from donating your body to science and then flying off to Cancun with your funeral money.
  

While not fun, death is an inevitable (and expensive) part of life, and you can help your family tremendously by making provisions for what to do when it happens.

Woo Hoo! Free Beer!

I love company-sponsored Happy Hours. I drank less than I would have normally, but it was darned hot yesterday.

I came back to my boyfriend’s house to change my shirt. I got salad dressing splatters all over the front of it trying to scarf down a yummy $7 salad from Chicken Out. (Milan Cutlet salad with the tasty tasty balsamic dressing) Not really the way I wanted to meet the rest of the team working the global contract, know what I mean?

Then I walked to the bar the lads had picked out since it was in the neighborhood and proceeded to order a Shandy. I have no idea why bartenders do not know what a Shandy is, but it’s pilsner and lemonade, and the Brickskeller in DC has it printed on the menu. (Therefore nearly everyone in DC should know about it because nearly everyone has been to The Brick at least once. But I digress.) I love them on really hot days. It gives you a good buzz and refreshment without making you stupid too quickly. (Always important at these corporate networking events.)

I paid the for the first one while I waited because I don’t carry my corporate credit card around and I wasn’t expecting to be the senior consultant attending. I had a second Shandy and called it a night, but it was easily 20ozs of beer in the two drinks I had. More than plenty to lubricate a good conversation with my fellow employees.

If you like beer cocktails at all, I HIGHLY recommend a Shandy. I suppose you could do it with a hefeweizen as well. I’m the kind of person who squeezes half a lemon in mine and not just a single wedge so I flip for lemonade.

All hail the summer drink you can drink all night, avoid not look like a teetotalling prude no one wants to know, and still not get *too* drunk. (Opting for a Shandy may reduce Foot-in-Mouth Embarassment, but I don’t guarantee that it will stop it 100% of the time.)

ps- I then did Indian take-out dinner for me and the boyfriend and walked home. It was just over $25. I gave the waiter $30 and instead of $4+change, he just gave me $5! YAY! And because I had that huge salad at lunch, I only ordered lamb samosas for $6 instead of a full $12 entree. Portion control AND money well-spent. Total food budget was $37, adding in $4 for the Shandy and $1 tip, and a merry little walk!

Now up to 6 ING accounts...

I am a huge fan of ING Direct and have been for a long time - I joined in June 2001, the summer before I left for college, and my first account was named the "oh shit fund". (It is still called that.)

Well, I am now up to six accounts with them, having opened an Electric Orange account a week or so ago, and yesterday opened yet another savings account in order to hold my credit card payoff money. I have about $5700 on a 0% balance transfer and decided to just save it up and hang onto the money until it expires next December to earn a little more interest. Once it's paid off, I may start doing some 0% balance transfer arbitrage stuff to earn more, but we will see. But to keep that money separate, I opened another account. You can open as many savings accounts as you want under one customer number, and give them all different names, and they will have different account numbers so you can direct deposit into specific accounts. So right now I have my "oh shit fund", a house fund, a credit card holding account, an Electric Orange checking account, and two accounts for CashDuck which hold tax money and business savings. This should be enough accounts for me in a while.. I just do so love to have every dollar in its place!

Oh you temptress, TIAA-CREF

So I wrote previously about how I am trying to structure my contributions to cram as much money as possible into my retirement accounts this year. Well, TIAA-CREF just sent me a letter about this year's contribution limits for my 403(b).. and my 457(b). What what now?

Apparently I have BOTH a 403(b) and 457(b) set up for me through my work plan. I am not sure what a 457(b) is, but it appears to do the same thing that I am doing with my voluntary contributions to the 403(b). And my maximum limit on it is $14,740. Which means, total between the two, I could put away $30,240.

This has opened up whole new possibilities of cramming money into the account! I am tremendously excited. (Especially since I found out that you can only change your allocations once a quarter, and thus must plan more carefully.) So I think I will wait and see how things shake out in the next couple months as there may be some changes in my life going on, but I might be able to get a whole lot more money in there! (This would also save me a fortune in taxes, given how much self-employment income I have.) Very interesting...

Is The GOP The Anti-CEO Party?

Is John McCain trying to make headway with the activist investor community? Activists have been among have been among the vocal critics of lavish executive pay packages at public companies, and most of the biggest names among the activists favor Democrats in this election. (Carl Icahn, who said Barack Obama would be a terrible president, is an exception.)

Today John McCain is speaking to a small business conference on economic issues. He is expected to hit the usual Republican notes, calling for lower corporate taxes and opposing hiking capital gains taxes. But he's also going to take a shot at "excessive" corporate pay and severance packages.

"Americans are right to be offended when the extravagant salaries and severance deals of CEOs ... bear no relation to the success of the company or the wishes of shareholders," his prepared remarks released in advance of the speech say.

It's not just talk. He's going so far as to endorse the hardest versions of the "say on pay" proposals that would require shareholder approval of a CEO's pay.

"If I am elected president, I intend to see that wrongdoing of this kind is called to account by federal prosecutors. And under my reforms, all aspects of a CEO's pay, including any severance arrangements, must be approved by shareholders," he will say.

McCain wants low corporate taxes, regulated CEO pay [Reuters]

Tax Time

Phew! My taxes are filed. I'm glad to be done with them for the year. If you haven't filed yours yet, get moving. You only have about a week left!

I filed my taxes using H&R Block online. As many of you know, my lovely Aunt Mary usually files mine for free, but I ran out of time to send them her way this year so I filed online. For those of you accustomed to having financially savvy relatives or friends do your taxes, the experience was little daunting; I wasn't 100 percent certain I did everything right. Still, it was very convenient to file, took less time than making a trip to the nearest tax place and included a computer-generated error checking system, which comforted me a bit. It was difficult, but I only filed a 1040-A. I'm sure if I had more complicated finances, I'd use a professional.

So... now that you're all filed, what are you doing with your double whammy tax return and tax refund this spring? I'm predictably putting into the savings account, which will be a nice bump towards helping me achieve my savings goals this year, but I'm sure others have bigger, more exciting plans (exotic vacations? new refrigerators?). Share them!

Avoiding Life’s Worst Debt Traps

Building personal wealth is not hard if you understand math. All you have to do is take in more money than you spend. Yet, life isn't as simple as a math equation and there are various personal factors that can uproot even the best-laid plans. Cash, for instance, may be plentiful when we are single and working, and become scarcer when we are married with several children as dependents. Life also can have a way of throwing unexpected curves like layoffs, disease, divorce, and more. For those occasions, we have to turn to savings or loans to help us through the rough patches. So, how can we make the road a little smoother if we're not blessed with stunning good luck? Good financial planning can help you stay ahead of the game.

Financial Planning

The time to plan for your future is now. You may be in college, just graduated, or just divorced - it doesn't matter! There are certain milestones everyone wants to achieve and can plan ahead of time to finance. Things like a wedding, the birth of a child, or retirement are all events that can be planned ahead. Begin to learn how financial products work and how you can make your money grow. The earlier you start, the more it will grow through the power of interest. Find a financial counselor and get a financial check-up yearly.

You should review your insurance needs with them to see if you are covered enough in case of an accident, a health emergency, or the death of a spouse. Insurance is one area that many people fail to investigate until it is too late. Look ahead, and find out what insurance you should be carrying and make sure it covers you in case something unfortunate happens. This is the best way to help you smooth out the path ahead, when the future is murky and you don't know how good your luck might be.

Word of Mouth Doesn’t Work.

Hey, check out this shampoo.? Look at this new game.?? Try the ice-cream there.? How often do you get recommendations and actively seek them out?

Sure there is a chance that your word of mouth marketing efforts might bring you business and branding, but how many times do they work?

Seth Godin has a few thoughts on why sometimes there are problems in regards.

Sometimes, what you do is done as well as it can be done. It's a service that people truly love, or a product they can't live without. You're doing everything right, but it's not remarkable, at least not in the sense of “worth making a remark about.”

What's up with that?

He then goes on to list some reasons why some things spread virally work out better than others.

Some of the reasons are fairly obvious.? Perhaps it's not something that you would talk about naturally, or perhaps you're with the wrong group at the time.? Anyways, this is a quick little article and I would recommend it.

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Porn tax proposed in California

You knew it was just a matter of time. State lawmakers all across the country have tried piecemeal taxation of various sectors of the adult entertainment industry.

Now some California lawmakers are going for the whole enchilada. They want to tax all aspects of the Golden State's $4 billion a year adult entertainment industry.

Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Montebello), the bill's chief sponsor, says the 25 percent tax could raise as much as $665 million in tax revenue a year.

It would be imposed on pornographic movies, strip club fees, pay-per-view films, sex toys and the like.

The money from the so-called porn tax then could be used for anything related to education, law enforcement, health care and social services, basically anything paid for from the state's general fund.

Similar but unsuccessful proposals have been made in previous legislative sessions. This year, however, the idea is attracting more interest from lawmakers due in large part to California's $15 billion budget deficit.

Porn tax pros and cons: Supporters say the proposal is akin to existing "sin taxes" on alcohol and tobacco.

Opponents say the tax, which would be added to corporate and sales taxes they already pay, would force many in the adult entertainment industry to move, probably to neighboring Nevada.

There's also the constitutional question. Legal opinion on taxation based on content is mixed.

You can review the California bill, AB 2914, yourself here. Read other blog and media comments on the proposal at:

• The Volokh Conspiracy ;



• Freakonomics ; ; ; ;



• New York Times ; ;



• Reuters ; ; ;



• Stockton Record ; ;



• OC Register ; ; ;



• Modesto Bee
  

Pole tax possibilities: A similar, but more limited, tax on adult entertainment was enacted here in Texas last year.

Lone Star State legislators authorized a $5-per-patron fee, aka pole tax, on strip clubs. The money, an estimated $40 million a year, is to go to anti-sexual-assault programs and health care for the uninsured.

However, in March an Austin judge found that the tax infringed on First Amendment rights of freedom of expression and declared the tax on exotic dancers unconstitutional.

Judge Scott Jenkins wrote in the March 28 decision that the fee, "while furthering laudable goals, violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and is therefore invalid."

Texas is still collecting the tax while the case is on appeal.

And that setback has not dissuaded at least one Pennsylvania state representative. In fact, Paul Clymer, a Republican from Bucks County, plans to introduce a similar measure for Keystone State strip clubs in the coming weeks.

Clymer has reworked his proposal, paying attention to the problems found in the Texas law, and says, "I'm in full confidence we've made the proper refinements for this to pass constitutional muster."

Join the business, drink the koolaid!

During the first meeting, I learned that I was talking to a sort of affiliate marketer.? I also learned that there was a startup fee, as well as a monthly fee for the program.? Once you are in the system, you can make money in two ways.

First, by selling stuff and collecting an affiliate fee.? Secondly, you can recruit others to sell the junk and collect a referral fee.? And it's only going to cost you a set up fee of $126 and a monthly fee of $50 to keep your website running.? I don't know about you, but this has bad idea written all over it.? Especially when I got to the second meeting.

This time there were two people involved in selling me this system.? The same person from the previous meeting, and someone higher up the food chain came to talk to me.

They began talking, and half an hour later they were repeating themselves profusely; however, their circumlocutory speech was not the real issue.? They mentioned that setting up your business, and getting sales would pay for itself in the first month.? “Okay,” I asked, “So how do you get sales on your site?”

The two looked at each other, then at me before saying, “Well, how would YOU get sales?”

I mentioned I would find some relevant keywords and bid on them in Google Adwords to direct people to my targeted pages.

The two looked at each other, then at me.? They had no idea what I was talking about.? So I asked again what they did.

The way they get products sold from their site is to buy it themselves.? Now at 10% to 50% commission that means they are buying somewhere between $100 and $500 on their sites each month.? All this was to gain some sort of PV (or Point Value in their strange little world) witch somehow gets transformed into cash back.

The money with this is made of course once you get enough noobs under you to buy their own products.? Then you will get a small chunk of change from their sales.

I asked to see the backend of one of their sites.? I wanted to take a look at how much control the pupetmasters gave them.? But of course this must lead up to another meeting!? So I'll let you know what happens if this meeting ever does.

I feel bad for all of the people who drink the koolaid without knowing what they are getting themselves into.? Which sounds like a lot of people are doing with their ‘pie in the sky' wishful thinking.