Archive for May, 2005
Monday, May 16th, 2005
Ok, I’ve gotten off track from my close examination of my family budget. In Part 1, I went over monthly fixed expenses. I’m glad to say I cut $6/month in fixed expenses already. Now I’d like to move on to variable expenses. First, gas. Although prices are dropping right now, they still represent a significant part of most people’s budgets. In April, we spent $117 on gas for two cars (and we were gone for a week). We currently just go to the Shell station near our place and get regular gas when we need it. Is it really worth the extra effort to do anything else?
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Posted in Budgeting, Frugal Living | 4 Comments »
Sunday, May 15th, 2005
I know, it’s too early for a quiz. But it’ll be fun! =) Vanguard has a quiz on investment knowledge with 20 questions. The questions are pretty good overall, some good questions that probe common misconceptions. I scored 95%. I know, I’m hot stuff. That’s pretty good - according to Vanguard:
“Some 1,000 investors completed the 20-question 2002 Vanguard/Money Investor Literacy Test in May and achieved a mean score of 40%, which is a modest improvement over the 37% score on a similar test administered by Vanguard in 2000.”
Yeesh, 40%? If you score that low, I’d recommend either more coffee or go read Random Walk Down Wall Street or Informed Investor. Which one did I miss?
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Posted in Investing | 4 Comments »
Sunday, May 15th, 2005
One thing I really like about personal finance software is the ability to see performance over time. So I decided to plot my net worth over the time I have been tracking it. I only started this blog in December 2004, but I also remembered that I calculated my net worth back in June at $30k. Here are my results:
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Posted in Goals | 1 Comment »
Saturday, May 14th, 2005
Ok, so my project this Saturday morning was supposed to go through my mmb e-mails (I have been have problems with my spam filter), and also to update my links list. I totally get that everyone wants others to link to their site (I do too), because, I mean, as fun as typing for nobody to see is, it’s much more fun with readers! My policy is to link everyone who’s site I read at least once in a while, and has had a bit of a track record of posting finance-related stuff regularly. But it just gets so tedious typing html…
Then I ran across BlogRolling.com. I love it when I find the exact thing that I want at the exact time when I want it! (I know, this has probably been around for years, eh?)
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Posted in General | No Comments »
Friday, May 13th, 2005
So I just saw a new purchase of a co-worker: a Metallic Black 2005 BMW 330Ci with Performance Package (basically the M3 minus the 333HP motor). We’re talking a $45,000 MSRP car here. And this is no GM $3k-below-invoice vehicle, this car commands MSRP. Envious? Uh, Yes. I like cars, but my 95 Nissan is all stock, and my only indulgence is my $10/yr Car and Driver subscription.
According to BMWUSA.com, I can lease this puppy for $2,500 down and $540 a month. I can swing that, right?
[Insert text about how this is a bad idea here.] I still want one.
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Posted in Frugal Living | 3 Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2005
I’ve taken a break from playing with Money and Quicken for awhile, to see if I can get away with just downloading files once a month, versus inputting every transaction every day (latte, $3… latte, $3…). In the meantime, I’ve been trying out GBI Home Finance Manager (GBIfin), a personal finance manager that is completely online so you can access it from any computer. It’s based on phpfin, an ‘donationware’ program that is freely downloadable but you’ll need to host it yourself and do your own tweaking. GBIfin hosts the program for you, and also provides some enhancements to the original program as well as support. The company seems to be based out of the U.K., but I haven’t had any real issues (the only main differences I can see is the choice of different currencies, and the fact that the dates show as dd/mm/yyyy instead of mm/dd/yyyy.)
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Posted in Budgeting | 5 Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2005
Got half-decent credit? Is $150 worth dinging your credit score about 10 points for about 6 months? It is for me. FrugalGirl reports on two credit cards that give out $150 and $100 respectively on successful application and usage (one purchase):
Charles Schwab MBNA Visa | Sony Visa
No annual fees on either. Neither of these cards are really special otherwise, they both have mediocre reward programs (unless you really like Sony products). I plan on applying, using them once, and throwing them in a drawer. Shhh.
* $150 offer is not available to New York residents. Dunno why.
Posted in Deals & Offers | No Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2005
Got half-decent credit? Is $150 worth dinging your credit score about 10 points for about 6 months? It is for me. FrugalGirl reports on two credit cards that give out $150 and $100 respectively on successful application and usage (one purchase):
Charles Schwab MBNA Visa | Sony Visa
No annual fees on either. Neither of these cards are really special otherwise, they both have mediocre reward programs (unless you really like Sony products). I plan on applying, using them once, and throwing them in a drawer. Shhh.
* $150 offer is not available to New York residents. Dunno why.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 3 Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2005
The good news is that everyone got their 1st choice! Here are the psychicly-enhanced winners of the MyMoneyBlog Giveaway and their prizes:
1. Joshua K - Featured Link: check out his new site, Wealth Today - “Financial Advice On How To Be Rich and Invest Wisely”
2. Lori - Starbucks Gift Card
3. Ev - CD: “Pink Panther’s Penthouse Party” by Various Artists
4. Fox - CD: “Here’s Your Sign: Reloaded” by Bill Engvall
5. Beezer - CD: “Thankful” by Kelly Clarkson
All prizes are either up, shipped, or ordered as applicable. Thanks for the fun, and hopefully we can do it again, with more prizes and more participants!
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005
I ran across this website recently, Pac Equities, Inc. It seems like they do private equity funding - that is, lend money to real estate developers who cannot get funding via conventional means (aka a bank?). I know nothing more about this than what their website told me, but my interest is piqued. It looks like you get a 10% annual return, including all expenses involved. Your investment is secured by “A legally recorded Assignment of Beneficial Interest in a Deed of Trust”, which I guess mean you are one of the primary lienholders on the property. According to them, “Pac Equities? own money, a minimum of 10% of the total loan made to each project, is invested along with your investment.” Anyone out there want to weigh in on this?
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Posted in Real Estate | 15 Comments »
Tuesday, May 10th, 2005
This is not good. According to various sources, including this article at ABC News and one in the SF Chronicle, E-Trade is looking to buy Ameritrade. Boo. I especially like the quote “Every one of these brokers has customers because of a negative experience with another broker”. So true.
I have had bad experiences with E*Trade Brokerage (here, here, and here), and I have always liked Ameritrade’s “simple, but just works” model, along with their superior customer service over E-Trade. E-Trade seems to have a major focus on very active traders as well (although Ameritrade also has their Apex program). But Ameritrade has lower minimums, slighly less services, and less overall fees than E-Trade.
I personally use Ameritrade I-Zone now, with $5 trades and online-only access. I’m happy with it, and would really hate to see it go. Something to keep an eye on.
Posted in Investing | 4 Comments »
Sunday, May 8th, 2005
Ok, so The Informed Investor by Frank Armstrong III has been sitting on my nightstand, often being overlooked for my Car & Driver magazine for a couple months now. Not because it is a bad book, but mostly because all the money I plan on investing for now in stocks and bonds is already invested, and because the book covers a lot of stuff that I’ve already read about in books like The Four Pillars of Investing and A Random Walk Down Walk Street. Accordingly, this book is aimed at the general non-financial public who is wondering on how to invest their retirement money.
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Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments »
Saturday, May 7th, 2005
The winners of the inaugural MyMoneyBlog Giveaway are (along with their guesses, winning number was 40):
1. Joshua K (42)
2. Lori (38)
3. Ev (38)
4. Fox (35)
5. Beezer (34)
Ties were broken by who posted first, as the rules stated. All winners have been notified via e-mail given, and must reply by Tuesday 5/10 to claim their prize. If you are a winner, and did not get one, please contact me. Thanks to all who humored me, and congratulations to the winners! Actual prizes announced next week.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 2 Comments »
Saturday, May 7th, 2005
I called up TiVo and told them that I was trying to save money and was thinking about switching to Comcast DVR, which was cheaper. After some more discussion about how I really liked TiVo but just felt it was too expensive, they offer me a reduced rate on my TiVO subscription, for $6.95 per month, down from $12.95 per month. Forever! (Or until they get bought out I suppose.) That’s a simple savings of $6 per month, or $72/year for simple phone call. Sweet.
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Posted in Deals & Offers | 2 Comments »
Friday, May 6th, 2005
Every Friday, Chuck Jaffe at CBS Marketwatch posts an article about a shady investment opportunity, aptly named the Stupid Investment of the Week (this week’s article).
I first ran across this column while researching an ad I saw in the local newspapers Business section, advertising 8% to 11% annual returns on unsecured “investment notes”, by a company called ABFS, or American Business Financial Services (ABFIQ.PK). Chuck’s timely column helped me (and probably many unsuspecting others) realize that this company was bad, bad news (sub-prime housing lending. Can you imagine the rates they were charging if you were even getting 10%??) . See the article here (7/04).
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Posted in Investing | 8 Comments »
