I mentioned before that we were involved in a volunteer trip to Haiti, and part of it simply involved donating a bunch of unwanted clothing. We also went to a bunch of different Salvation Army’s and Goodwills to find some additional cheap clothing to give away. While doing so, I noticed something that in retrospect is obvious - the stores next to the country-club type neighborhoods have the nicest stuff. There was name-brand clothing and shoes everywhere. We picked up some like-new Polo jeans for $6 - it was like shopping at Buffalo Exchange but 75% off. I’m sure the more fashion-savvy could probably pick some stuff up and re-sell it on eBay for a profit.
Another less-exciting discovery? You can buy used underwear at some stores. We’re talking tightie-whities here! 
I suppose they serve a need, but who donates lightly-used underwear anyways? I don’t think I can bear to do so myself, but next time I do a donation run I will be sure to throw in a new pack of Hanes.
Posted in Frugal Living | 19 Comments »
Tired of juggling multiple phone numbers? Or just need an extra one? You should check out GrandCentral Beta, which offers all kinds of new tricks with phone calls by utilizing VoIP and the internet. First and foremost, they offer you a free local phone number from 47 states.
One Number For Everything
I think the main idea behind the name is that this free phone number will become your only phone number. This way, if you move or change jobs you can keep the same number forever, or at least for as long as you like. To entice you to do so, they add in some cool features. For example, when a person calls your GrandCentral number, you can:
- Have them call different phone numbers in order, for example home, then work, then cell phone. So people only need to know one number to reach you anywhere.
- Immediately redirect them by Caller ID to a specific phone number. Maybe certain friends just go straight to cell phone?
- If they are a known telemarketer, you can set the spam filter to not ring your phone at all.
An Extra Number For Personal or Business
The way I’ve been using the free number is as my new business phone number. This way, you have a separate business number to give out to customers, but it can ring your regular cell phone. You can know that it is a business call by setting the caller ID to display your “Biz” GrandCentral number, and answer professionally.
They even have a cool WebCall button where a customer can click on your webpage and call directly you for free.
Avoid Long Distance Charges
Added: I haven’t worried about long distance for a while now, but you could also use it to avoid long distance charges for your friends (or yourself), by getting a number in one area code and forwarding it as needed to another area code. Thanks to commenter Ross below for the tip.
Get More Free Minutes With T-Mobile MyFaves or AllTel Circle
Both T-Mobile and AllTel have plans where you get unlimited calls to and from a few select numbers. So here, you would set your “Personal” GrandCentral number as one of your favorites. Then, just tell everyone to call the GrandCentral number instead, which will redirect to your cell phone, giving you unlimited minutes! It would seem that you would lose the ability to see who’s calling, however.
They also offer store your voicemail all in one place with unlimited storage, and have a ton of other features that I’ve never used yet. You can record phone calls, switch seamlessly between your home phone and cell phone to save more minutes, screen calls by name, and more.
Will This Stay Free?
It seems like unlimited inbound calling will remain free, but I’m sure they will start charging for some of their premium features, like calling outbound. From their FAQ:
Will GrandCentral always be free?
Yes, we’re excited to say that we will always offer a free version of GrandCentral, even after beta. Our free version will include unlimited inbound minutes, unlimited voicemail (up to 30 days old), and access to all of our core features.
During beta, we’re giving everyone unlimited access to our premium features. In exchange, all we ask is that you send us your feedback (good or bad) to beta@grandcentral.com. We’ll read every comment.
Got a better idea of how to take advantage of this service? Please share in the comments.
Posted in Deals & Offers, Entrepreneurial | 32 Comments »
John (Jack) Bogle is both the founder of the low-cost mutual fund company Vanguard and the creator of the first index fund available to the public. These days he spends his time speaking about corporate ethics and how index funds are great investments for the vast majority of people. But what does he invest in?
According to this Morningstar article An Inside Look at Jack Bogle’s Portfolio, the answers may surprise you.
Overall Asset Allocation?
“My current asset allocation overall is about 60% bonds and 40% stocks. There’s a fair amount of money involved here, and I feel no need whatsoever to overdo equities. After all, if stocks (surprisingly) soar–I’ll do just fine, not in percentage terms but in dollar terms.”
Stocks - Active or Passive? Value or Growth?
The article is a bit cryptic, but by how I interpret it he seems to be split down the middle:
50% Passive - Total Market Index Funds
50% Active - Vanguard Explorer, Wellington, Wellesley Income, and Windsor Funds
So Jack tilts his portfolio to the value side of the style box. That style tends to be more conservative and puts more emphasis on stocks paying dividends.
Bonds
The bonds portion seems to be conservatively invested in 50% Short-Term Bonds and 50% Intermediate-Term Bonds.
Last time we talked to Jack, he had shifted away from long-term bonds and GNMAs. This time, we see that Jack is moving into TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities). “In fact, the only investment change I’ve made in the past few years is a move of about 6% of combined assets from Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond Index VBILX to Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities VAIPX . The latter is essentially a similar index fund, but with a possible advantage if inflation heats up more than the present discount suggests. I probably should have added to my holdings in the inflation-protected fund earlier.”
Even though this article isn’t the reason, I am starting to rethink my bond allocation to add exposure to inflation-indexed bonds. This would provide an additional hedge against some unexpected inflation.
Before anyone uses his portfolio as a model, consider the following:
- He’s 78 years old (76 at the time of this article), and even though he had a heart transplant, is still working. This guy likes his job.
- He has enough money that he doesn’t even need to withdraw anything to maintain his lifestyle. I would imagine he’s probably just trying preserve wealth as much as achieve growth.
- Since he’s the founder of Vanguard, he may have some sentimental or loyalty reasons to hold certain funds, and states as much.
I doubt many people reading this are in a similar situation 
Really, the only thing that I can take away from this is that there really is no “perfect” portfolio for everyone. But it certainly satisfied my curiosity; I wish more investment personalities would share their actual portfolios. You can see my imperfect portfolio here. I’m going to attempt to simplify it a bit sometime in the coming months as well.
Posted in Investing | 13 Comments »
