Yes, that is the title of today's front page story in the Washington Post. Of course they understand how it will sound absurd, so in the story they go over the numbers for this family living in their own named house on Long Island Sound. The Post has been doing a number of stories on how the recession has been hitting people around the country, with people ending up in some really bad positions. But wow, this one sure comes at it from the other direction.

A few highlights:
A live-in nanny.
$75,000 in child support.
Her bonus will only be 90% of what it was last year.
She'll only make $50,000 on investments this year.

I don't want to be judgemental, but you can

read about it here!

Ahem, any sympathy?

Here is an interesting article dealing with some people saving too much for retirement.

How much is too much?
While I can feel there can never be too much saved for retirement, it does make the point that you need to enjoy your money a bit, if you have it to enjoy of course. Before I used to think that if I kept saving as I did, once I hit 50 I at least wouldn't feel like I had to be saving more. I would have enough that as long as I wasn't wasteful I would be fine. Now I'm not so sure about that time frame (for the obvious reasons). My home should still be paid off for before I hit 50, so thats good.

Anyway, after saving so hard for a few years, and knowing that I have a solid job now and semi solid savings, I would be happy to splurge a little, but there is so little I want now, and no one to enjoy it with, eh - what am I to do? No crying here, but sheesh, boy do I feel out of sync with society as a whole.

Well, I guess thinking outside of the box can apply to anything, but in this case it applies to my yard sale-ing. I was out yesterday, and stopped at one last spot. I saw a wall display for golf balls. Very nice, cherry, felt backed, but I'm no golfer. Probably a $15 - $20 item. However I have been wondering all summer how I could display those little gumball football helmets I have.

Hey wait a second, the helmets could go in this! I had to convince the woman I wasn't interested in other golfing gear ("you don't want this stuff to clean golf clubs?"), so I told her why I was getting it, which she thought sounded good. I got it home and set up. Turns out it would hold 30 of them, so I put the final two on top. Great display for $1. (BTW, I got most of them at yard sales as well)

And finally I'm vested in the pension plan. I certainly can't retire yet, but its good for 10% of salary at this point, so thats a start!

... and I don't have them very often. (oh, btw, it has nothing to do with the stock market insanity either).

Background: In the past two plus years I have been getting myself knowledgeable about everything financial. I read items on the internet, finance mags, newspapers, and while I am not into day trading or other esoteric things, I am trying to build a solid net for retirement in around 20 years. I really thought I knew everything (or had a decent grasp anyway) of all things dealing with personal finance. I have co-workers that ask me questions now, I know so much on the subjects.

That said, I was... well stunned... by what I read last night. I'm a numbers guy, so it takes something major to get my attention. It was in the latest edition of Money magazine (sorry, no links are avaialable yet, Page 122 - Oct. 2008 issue). It basically describes how if you are retired, have a pension or other source of income that will give you say 25K per year, for every extra dollar you "earn" (and money you withdraw from a retirement plan will be taxed as "earn"ings), your effective tax rate can very easily be 46%. And that is based on current rates, it could go higher! I spend years saving money, and then the gov't takes half! OMG! Not if I have anything to say about it.

OK, I'm calm now. Its a money mag, so what do they recommend? One word - "ROTH"! I fortunately have two old 401k's I can move into a Roth account. There is the tax hit involved, but the more I ruminate this, the more I am convinced that the next year or two I will be setting up some major Roth roll-overs.

Seriously, if you are planning on having any moderately decent retirement, you need to read this.

Well, this past month (or so) I have finally gotten around to selling items on ebay (ok, just 2 things - but still...), had a yard sale, and have sold things through craigslist. Not that I needed to make money, but I couldn't just throw out perfectly good items.

So how did it work out? Well the ebay items had cost me $2.50 and sold for $30, the yard sale brought in over $240 (and maybe 2/3 of that was pure profit from items I got free at CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens!), and I sold four items (two child toys, desk, and coffee maker) using craigslist for a total of $45 (my cost was $25 for the same items in the past 5 years at yard sales). Total revenue of over $300, and mostly profit. And I am now organized to have another yard sale before winter comes. And some extra space is now free in my house! Now if I could figure out how to sell all these books my wife left with me to make some reasonable money on them.

I guess I am bad though, in that I have probably spent about the same $300 this year on my hobby. Oh well, I guess I have to take the glass is half full view - at least my hobbies cost nothing this year!

I have a pension now. Well technically, I am not vested in my employer's pension plan yet. However I have so much built up vacation time and sick time that can be used towards pension calculations, that if I had to leave for some strange reason today (not bloody likely), I could just get in over the five year requirement for the plan.

I wouldn't get all that much in 20 years (10% of today's salary, which would be worth perhaps half or less of today's money then), but still, it's a start. Add that to SS (whatever that is worth then), and my retirement savings & investments (currently around $150K), and I think it just might work out.

My plan (as of a year and a half ago) is looking like it might happen. I want to hit 50 (4.5 years now) with $250K in retirement accounts & investments (I think I can make this number), my house paid off (should happen when I'm 49), and my pension will be worth 18% of my salary. At that point I won't be financially independent, but with no debt I won't even worry about major bills any more.

OK, maybe I'm bragging, but I worked for this. It wasn't easy.

OK, this is a bit of a re-hash of something I wrote about a few months ago, but hey, why not.

To buy Kelloggs stock online (after your initial purchase into the DRIP), you can only do it by setting up monthly purchases of their stock. To justify the automatic purchase of stock each month I have cut off my monthly garbage pickup (which locally costs $30/Mo.). To do this I have been cutting back on buying junk, composting as much as possible, recycling paper, plastics, and metals, and a week ago I had a yard sale (that's one way to get rid of junk!).

Anyway, since the summer I have been getting Kelloggs' stock each month, and just using money that went into garbage. And the net cost to me has been $0.

... at least for my savings accounts. Of course it really is my fault, so I'm not going around blaming November.

It started last year as I read about one way to maximize the power of your reitrement savings by putting in as much as possible early as possible during the year into your retirement accounts. It also mentioned that in case you felt you couldn't afford it normally that you could change your federal tax withholding so that you paid much less then you normally would earlier in the year, then later in the year when your deductions for retirement are done, you could pay extra taxes to make up for the early part of the year. This way your money worked longer for you and less for uncle sugar.

So I tried it this year, and I am on pace to max out the retirement deductions for the year in mid November. Problem is I now needed to up my withholding for the remainder of the year so I wouldn't get penalized for underwitholding in 2007. So the extra withholding will start in November and those two November paychecks will have both extra taxes taken out (over $800), and the last of my retirement money taken out. I'm happy I did it as my return so far this year is almost 20%.

So in the end it worked out excellently, and will just need to buck it up for November.

Just when you thought it was safe, you find out it isn't.

In this case, it was my assumption of when I signed up for a CD, and they gave me a paper with the rate of interest, that I would get that rate of interest. Silly me. Well I had one of many CDs mature this past week, and didn't think much of it until I put the amount into a spreadsheet and compared the results with other CDs. Then I noticed the numbers looked off, so I did a little checking. This CD got only about 2/3 of the interest it was supposed to. Boy was I surprised. I went to the credit union office (same building where I work), and gave them the original paperwork. 2 days later the correct amount showed up.

Nothing extrordinary there, except the fact that you should always check the numbers. Checkout receipts, and now even the interest you get from the bank.

BTW, the interest I "recovered" was about $40. Certainly worth it.

This may come under the category of "Well duh!", but I try to take something I do (or want to do), and use that tendency to build on other good habits. That is, using psychology in your favor.

Anyway, I have been avoiding a $30/mo. charge for trash pickups by cutting down on trash by recycling and composting, and then taking what little I have (usually a single plastic grocery bag a week) along to the county trash offload station, right near where I work. Its not much work, but sometimes you want to just stop and put it ouside and let someone else deal with it.

So how does psychology help here? Well, I have started a new DRiP (thats a direct re-investment program) and the only way to make investments online is with equal monthly payments from my checking. No optional payments So I have decided to make my trash savings go for this DRiP. I now have a $30 monthly stock purchase, which gives me a reason to keep my trash level down so I don't spend that $30. I have dubbed this my "Trash DRiP". (OK, I like the name anyway!)

I just wanted to enter this little thought for the day (or month in my case). If you're anywhere responsible with credit cards, get the ones that pay you back for your gas purchases. I mean really, why pay more for gas when you don't have to? I started my quest for cheaper gas last July by getting a Chase card that gives me 5% back for gas purchases. Its still my backup card when I don't have better options. I followed that up in September by signing up for a Shell CC. It gave me $40 back on three gas purchases. I ended up getting $70 of gas for $30. After that ran out, I got a Citgo card that gave me 20% back on the purchases. That ran out the end of the year (yeah, the good rates don't last long). Now I am on my new Citgo card (Citgo Plus). It gives me $5 back on every purchase over $15 - basically a 33% back card. This one lasts through the end of March. Next in my sights is a Hess card (10% back) or Chevron (I forget, but I think it was 20% back). Hopefully after that there will be one for Exxon/Mobil or Texaco. And maybe by next year I can start the cycle over again?

I will say having a fuel efficient compact probably helps my expenses more, but I like saving money easily whenever possible.

In my case it seems to be half full, but you can make your own determination. Last week on Tuesday my car broke down on the way to work. In goes the clutch to shift, the clutch stays on floor board. Ohhh boy, what do I do now?

Fortunately I was less than two miles from work, and only had two traffic lights between me and a parking spot. All I needed to do was keep the car moving. As I had been moving when I tried to shift, I was able to force the car into first gear and limp it to work. (I'm sure two miles in first gear really helped my car's MPG!)

I won't get into the towing bill fiasco (an EXTREME aggravation), but after getting the car to the garage I waited at work for the bad news. It turned out not so bad, a $330 bill for it. (ok, still bad, but that dealership is expensive!) But they had been after me to have the timing belt replaced, and after two years I gave in and had it done as well. My total bill was about $1,100. Yeah, a nice Christmas present.

But through it all I wasn't that upset (except for the part of catching a bus, and then riding with a co-worker to work for two days). In the past this would have stressed me something bad, but not this time. Was it due to my Ex not being around? Well that certainly helped. But here is what I think was the big difference.

For the past 6 months I have started making money with the 0% bank transfers using credit cards. And I estimate my earnings through the end of the year to be about $1,000.

So I guess I looked at the situation thusly: Have I lost all my earnings from the 0% efforts this year (glass is half empty), or through some extra easy work was I able to have the money ready to pay a bill that would have happened sooner or later, and not hurt my savings efforts (glass is half full)? I have to think I am seeing it as half full. And while I hate paying that money, it sure is nice to have something that bad happen and not stress about it. In my mind I was prepared for it and the pain was minimal.

Yep, that works for me.

Actually there may come a time I regret passing on it, but I seroiusly doubt it. What is it? Amongst the numerous insurance I could sign up for (well until last Nov. 15 that is) was a group rate on Long Term Care insurance. As I was cleaning my desk today I came across the paperwork, and saw the numbers, and thought "would it have been worth it?"

*** Long winded math analysis ahead ***

Math nerd that I am, I decided to see if I could determine if it was a good buy. There were a number of plans, but to make it simple I went with the numbers from the $100/day benefit plan. I assumed a 10% return if I invested the money versus giving it to the insurance company. My idea was to input all the monthly payments into a spreadsheet, work the average interest and see when I would get to a point where the amount could give me a return of $100 / day.

As I did the numbers for my age, I came up with I would need to get to almost 100 before the premiums could earn that type of money, so I realized something was wrong. Insurance companies are in the business of making money, not giving it away.

Away I went back to the paperwork. Ah ha. Some very important points I missed.

#1) You need to be fully employed, or you are dropped from this plan (this means it won't help you in retirement - the most likely scenario for needing this).

#2) The max benefit was for three years, not unlimited. (That means $109,500 is the max) OK, back to the spreadsheet. Hmmmm, I didn't hit that total until I was 84. Again, while this seemed more realistic, I must be missing something.

#3) After a return to the paperwork, I noticed a very, very important piece of info. While the max benefit is for 3 years, that only holds true if you need it when you are under 62. Each year you get older, the period shrinks until you are 69, and you get only 12 months of payments. So that is I would get max of $36,500. When would I hit those payments & interest to the insurance company? About when I hit 69.

#4) There is more (no surprise). Payments are at most 60% of earnings (that wouldn't effect me much), payments will be reduced if you get workman's compensation, early employer retirement plans, ... (and the list goes on and on).

So would it be worth it? Certainly not if I was disabled after I was 69. Well, I could get hurt before then. What about that situation? I can see four most likely scenarios. Car accident (car insurance would give me more than $36K easily for a major injury), accident at home (health insurance will pay some, but I would be behind for a while), accident other locations (most places will have insurance or be liable), or illness (extremely unlikely if you keep yourself in shape).

Sorry to bore you with this, but unless you don't take care of yourself, have a known family problem, are reckless, or have a ton of people dependent on you, I don't see how this makes any sense. Yeah, you could need it, but the odds of it are so small, and insurance companies are so good at finding reasons not to pay in any case. My employer was making this out to be a great thing. I think not. I'll put the money into investments and self insure myself.

If anyone has read here before, you might have caught how I was getting money from credit cards at their 0% promo rates, and investing the money. Well that is still going on for me, and doing well (almost $200 a month). About a month ago I got another card, and I called to transfer credit lines from other cards that had been sitting around and quietly had their credit lines increased.

With this card could you not only do a credit card balance transfer at 0%, but you could get a check sent to you as well. There was a 3% fee tacked on, but still, if you get the numbers large enough, the difference between CD rates and 3% is worth the trouble. (That plus I think I was bored and missing the thrill of getting money for free that week.) So I got the check sent to me, and as I was finishing the representative on the phone asked if I would like to tranfer balances from other credit cards. I said no, not with the transfer fee (remember, 3%, no max). I was told I could transfer the same amount I had already done, and do it with no transfer fee at all. After thinking for a minute, I realized I had a card coming due next April, and with this new card the money would not be due until Dec. 2007. OK, 8 extra months of the money for no cost. Yep, that sounded good to me!

After this latest transfer all the money I have from the credit cards (except for a few thousand) is now due next December 2007 at the earliest, and some not until mid 2008. The best short term rate I can get is 5.5%, which is doing good for me.

As a follow up, I just got another one (card that is), not for tranferring money, but for another $100 sign up bonus. Ok, maybe I am crazy with this stuff, but free money with little to no work involved is just too sexy to pass up.

Dang, its been a while since I posted anything. Of course I have excuses By the way, instead of splitting all these stories up, I left them all in here. So this is a loooong post.

My computer died on me about a month ago and I have been trying to restore my system. I have everything working but my wireless router connection Hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Rant #1) I will never, and I do mean never, buy anything from Tiger Direct again. My old computer was from them and it had more problems than I could believe. I would fix one thing from them, and others would start. And previously I bought a computer from them, only to find out they sent me the wrong parts (the CPU wouldn't work with the sent motherboard - even though it was a package deal!). When I called, the rep even said that yes, they knew they sent the wrong CPU. I didn't ask why they didn't contact me, that instead I had to spend a month researching the problem before I realized it was their fault. I'm a patient customer, but thats it with them. No more.

Rant #2) I got to read an article in the paper today that I was stunned to read. In the business section, this person said it was ok to tithe at your church before paying your debts, even if you are in bankruptcy. Click here to read. Now I am no fan of credit companies, but if I was owed money and instead the money was being sent to a church and they couldn't pay me, you might actually see the steam coming off my head. Some people may disagree, but I see that article as worse then irresponsible. Unreal.

Rant #3) I bought my new computer at Circuit City. While there a nice guy helped me with some questions I had about this computer, and after he headed off to do some stocking, I decided to get the computer. As I couldn't find him again, I caught some other guy, and yes, he could do my order. Seems this one was the manager of the store. As we're going through this he asks if I decided on the extended warranty. "Oh I don't know, what is it?" Now I knew I wasn't going to get it, but I thought I should hear it out anyway, just in case. Well this guy was surprised I didn't know about it, and went through the details, giving me lots of reasons, and even antecdotes of why it was the best thing ever to do. I declined (multiple times!), and at different times the guy was muttering how he was upset the other salesman didn't bring up the warranty and that he would have to talk with him. If I wasn't in a bad need to get the computer I would have walked out then and there. Its bad enough how pushy they ask salesmen to be about those things, but to go on how he would have to deal with the salesman in front of a customer, that was just plain stupid. Triple Ugh.

Found Money #1) I was checking my online credit card bill, and saw I had over $40 in cash back, which surprised me, as it should have been less than $10. After checking the numbers, I realized it was from my computer purchase. Discover has quarterly specials where buying from certain retailers would give you 5% back. Well I signed up and forgot, figuring I would never go to those stores. Well one was Circuit City, and thats where I got the computer from. So good for me!

Found Money #2) I found out last week that for the branch christmas party there will be a gift exchange where the presents should be $20-$25. I'm not a big fan of doing this, but it makes other people happy, so ok I suppose. Well I was out seeing if there were yard sales yesterday, and I found only two. But one had a nice item, still in the original plastic wrap, and I got it for a dollar. I thought I could use it for the swap, and last night I checked the only store it sells at, and it goes for $20. Score! (ok, not found money, but it avoids spending money, so it works for me)

Found Money #3) I stopped at the book store last night. When I drove up I could have sworn I saw a shiny dot as I went in to park. I got out and didn't see anything at first, but then I saw it. A quarter right next to my tire. That plus some pennies found in the store and shoot, there's money everywhere!

Frugal doesn't always work) While at the book store I went to use a free coffee coupon I had been sent. I'm not a coffee drinker, but after talking at the register I found I could only use it on coffee or tea (not hot chocolate - damn). Well I thought lets try the coffee. How bad could it be? Ugh. It was a cappachino, and I could only take a few sips before I gave up. When I got home I drank some fruit drink then used mouthwash to get the taste out of my mouth. I think that will be my last coffee for the next decade.

Why do they send me this stuff?) If anyone remembers, I like to get credit cards so I can get start up rewards, or 0% money for investing. Well I keep getting these preapproved stuff from different companies, especially now from Capital One. I guess pre-approved means I am breathing, because I sure am not approved. I applied to Capital One, and got a letter back saying I wasn't approved, and gave a list of reasons why. I'm not complaining, its their money. The reasons probably make sense to them, but come'on, why are you sending this junk out if you're just going to reject me anyway? Stuff like this is why I don't have much sympathy for credit card companies. Dumb, dumb, and dumber.

More found Furniture) During yesterday's yard sale travel I came across one of those fibre-board with fake wook laminate shelving system left outside. You know, the type with four shelves that sell at Wal-Mart for maybe $50. It was too large for fit in my hatchback, but then I realized I could take it apart and I could fit the pieces in. (Get out the tools time) It was in great shape (almost new) and the people even had left the extra hardware inside in a bag. While taking it apart the person came out and we started talking some. Then she offered me a matching unit if I would come back in a few weeks. She was very happy someone would take them, and gave me her name and number. Hey, that works for me.

Ok, let me start with the item that most people like to read about, then we will get to the more ... ummmm... interesting stuff. interesting ... yeah, thats a good word for it

I stopped at a gocery store on the way home. It was due to an offer to get $12 off of 8 boxes of cereal + an $8 coupon off a future purchase. I made sure I had coupons for 8 boxes of the stuff (general mills), and stopped there tonight. My total for the 8 boxes I got (including the $8 coupon I received, plus another $0.75 as cash back on my 5% cash back credit card) came in at just under $5. I think the original prices would have totalled around $30 for the group. Not shabby, though as a single guy I have enough cereal to last me two months now.

In other news, I went to the local branch of the credit union where I cashed my inheritance checks to get some cash. I previously had tried to do an online transfer of that money to a bank to get a high interest rate, but something got mucked up. So the money had just been sitting there. They were supposed to be looking into the problem, but nothing yet. In any case, when I arrived today I spotted a new CD offer for 9 months at a rate better than what I was going to get online. Finally, luck turned to my favor. I quickly set up the money that had been stranded into CDs with the CU. Big plus for me.

And finally: Money I got from a 0% cash advance from a new credit card arrived in my checking account today, so I called that credit union (its a different one than the one listed above), and set that money up into CDs for 12 months. The 0% offer lasts til the end of 2007, so that money is now off working for me for a year. Yeah, I know some people don't like doing this, they feel its risky. Perhaps, if you aren't organized or undisciplined, but thats not me. I have spreadsheets set up with my CCs status, along with where my money is, and what its earning. At the beginning of the year I had maybe $6k in CDs, and another $9k in various savings accounts. Now I have enough money working for me in CDs and savings that my calculations show I am getting over $10/day. Ok, it won't make me rich overnight, but the earnings are going into buying more DRIPs and ya gotta luv that.

I haven't been blogging since nothing much thrilling has been going on. Some little news and notes:
Yard sales are still going strong, even with much cooler temps. In fact there have been more lately, though I can't figure out why. Got lots of kids clothes for friends for almost nothing. Got lots of soap, again for nothing or close to it. Not much for me, but maybe that means I don't need anything any more.My credit union is giving me problems now. I'm trying to transfer money to my new online banking account, but nothing is transfering, not even the trial deposits. Everything has been verified, but nothing. Now they are down for the weekend upgrading their computer system. Hoepfully this will get resolved soon And now for my rant on stupid financial articles. I just finished an article saying how it is hard to determine your retirement expenses. Ok, nothing new, but the examples are dumb. First one retired at 51 and has been going cross country visiting friends for 9 years (as well as entertaining them when they visit), and now her expenses (taxes, insurance, health care) are too much. "Hey, lets retire young, and then spend my time traveling. Yeah, that should work, and cost nothing." Ugh. Another one retired at 44 years old nineteen years ago, and now taxes are too high for him. Oh gee, you think he might have retired a tad bit too early? And taxes never increase, right? Duh. And the last one retired at 65, but decied to buy a condo after renting for 10 years. She says now she forgot about the expenses of owning a home. Sigh. Actually its not the worst article in the world, here it is if you want to read it: Click hereOh, and the last payment to my ex wife for the divorce settlement went out today. Now I can put serious money into my investments - well I guess thats good news at least.

And no, I don't mean comics (sorry to disappoint anyone). I was reading the mail after coming home, and in it was an advertisment for how to use the bonus points on one of my credit cards. I actually do use this one for purchases (rather than 0% Bank transfers). I do so because I get 5% (or actually 5 points per dollar) at gas, grocery, and drug stores. With my purchases that qualify for the 5% cash back, I figure I can get $100 back in about a year and a half.

Anyway, I would normally get cash for the points, rather than their over-priced items. For cash, it comes in at $100 cash back for 10,000 points or $50 for 6,000 points (booooo!). Actually this didn't surprise me. But right below it was the funny part. There is a section for using your points towards paying off your mortgage with the company (it is Chase Manhattan). To get a $100 reduction on a mortgage payment with them, it will put you back 11,000 points. I think I read that 5 times. I just *had* to be misreading that. But no, that is what it says. In effect it will cost you more to use your points to pay down your mortgage with them, than it would to get the cash, and then use it to pay your mortgage. Who in their right mind would do that????

I suspect though that there are people out there that would do it. Actually I can think of a few acquaintences that might do it. Oh well, I just have to put it down to one of my philosophies, that there should be a stupid tax, and this qualifies as just that.

Just a few thoughts before I talk about the water bill.

I've been reading some personal finance bloggers and some talk about they feel bad sometimes in that they can't get everything they want, and how savings is a drag. They talk about seeing things on TV, and wanting them badly, but stopping themselves. Well here's a thought: save money, don't pay for cable, and watch less! You'll see less commercials, want less, and live a better life. Duh. I guess you gotta give them credit for working on their finances while torturing themselves by seeing all those commercials. I think the behavior is dumb, but then again I've never been considered one to run with the majority.

I set up my latest online banking with E-Loan today. 5.5% interest, not toooooo shabby. One of these days I may hit the point where I have too many accounts to track, but I haven't seen it yet!

The dresser I rescued a few weeks ago is now finished and in service. Not perfect, though you would have to look close to notice the problems. That's the problem when you have made furniture - you notice flaws others wouldn't care about.

Finally, I got my water bill for the third quarter yesterday. I'm certainly not complaining, it was only $20.50. Now I do try to not be wasteful, but its not like I don't use water. Anyhow, with the bill was the company propaganda, including a rate hike for next year. It comes out to about a 3% increase, and I certainly can't complain about that. The interesting part was they described how this would effect an "average" consumer's bill. I am guessing a consumer means a single household. Based on the numbers I back-tracked and worked out the average usage. It is 8 times what mine was! Now my bill was for two people, but you gotta figure the average household is around 4 people. What does this average family do to use 4 times what I do per person? BTW, that average bill would be $125! You mean a lot of homes pay more than this??? Maybe this isn't earth-shattering, but it sure was surprising to me when I ran the numbers.

Not the best title here, but who cares. OK, my last post brought up the question of what my DRIPs are. Instead of answering in the responses, I thought this deserved a lil post.

For some background ... there are different ways to look at investing, and getting the most bang for the buck. For the micro investor, its really hard to have a good plan. It turns out I have had a little plan in my mind, even if not really thought out. Maybe a week ago I read someone who was proposing that investing for yourself (preferably through DRIPs) would be the most cost effective for large cap companies, whereas mutual funds would be better for everything else (small cap, foreign, REITs, etc...) This is due to the cost of research and knowing what you are buying. For the little investor, it probably makes sense to stick with larger companies you know.

While I hadn't looked at it that way, that has been pretty much my strategy. I figure I can invest myself in the large companies, do it on the cheap, so even if my return isn't quite up to snuff, when you figure I don't pay any maintenance fees, I should come out ahead of most any large cap fund returns. I let my 457 plan get full of small cap growth funds, and international funds, and hope the managers know better than me what they are doing.

So, with that said, here is a high level view of what I have (Drip - Market Category):

Dominion Resources - An energy utility
Aqua America - A water utility
Disney - Entertainment
Home Depot - Durable Goods (I think)
Heinz - Food

Well thats the list, and they don't total $10k yet, so I'm no tycoon. I have been trying to diversify, looking for stocks with a good record of dividends in different market sectors. Its hard to do without tons of money.

Anyhow, banking is another area I wanted to start in, and Bank of America has good dividend rates, and most analysts are high on it right now. Some other companies (areas) I have wanted to get started in (at the right price) include Pfizer(pharmaceuticals), Johnson & Johnson (consumables?), Anheuser Busch (Food & Entertainment), Norfolk Southern or BNSF (Transportation).

One area you might notice isn't included is defense industry. That looks like a good area for now, but may falter down the road. But in any case, thats not why its missing. I have an old 401k from when I worked for a company bought out by a defense contractor, and their stock fund became a defense contractor stock fund. So it holds about $6k in their stock, and I am using it as a pseudo DRIP right now for defense stocks. Therefore I consider that area covered.

Some other notes here. J&J won't let you start a DRIP without already owning their stock (as well as Coke), so for now I have passed on trying to start DRIPs with them. Down the road... perhaps.

OK, any ideas here?

A while back I mentioned that I might be getting a small inheritance in the near future. Well my relation decided to give some of the money out while she was alive and I picked it up this weekend. It was a little more than I expected, but nothing huge. Still, its nothing to sneeze at.

So it leaves me with the question of what to do with it. Some plans competing in my mind have been:Fully fund a Roth IRA for this year - This is one I know I should do - but who should I set one up with?Buy some new DRIPs - Bank of America has been in my sights as a new one to startSet up new CDs - There is a new online bank (ELoan) that has 5.75% CDs available for one year. While its a good rate, the min requirement would swallow my whole windfall, and there would go my Roth IRA for 2006. They do have a savings rate of 5.50%, so maybe I can split the difference?Up my 457 retirement savings to the max for the year - I could do it, but that would mean my take home pay for the rest of the year would be some ridiculously small amountBuy a lightly used car - ok anyone believing that one should go to the back of the class

Right now I'm leaning towards the Roth / Online Savings split, with leftovers going toward setting up a new DRIP. At the moment there is a hold on the check until next week, so I have the weekend to decide. And sorry if it sounds like bragging, but this is the first windfall I have gotten since .... well ... forever.

Today I took my recycling along with me on my way to work. Also took two small bags of garbage that were left by my renter (he moved out yesterday). I don't know what he was doing, but he filled up by himself two big bins just full of bottles, and they could barely hold them all. Doing this and not paying for garbage pickup saves me $30 a month.

Anyway, thats not what "paid" me today (although it is a help in the finances). The smaller of the two garbage bags I took seemed extra heavy, and I couldn't understand how it could weigh so much. It was a tied up grocery bag, and it looked like there were papers inside. So, I thought... "Why don't I open the bag and put the papers in with the recycling?". (See, I am a good person sometimes) At the next light I untied the bag and pulled out a number of apartment guides he had been using. Then I noticed a zip-loc bag at the bottom. I picked it out and it was full of coins! No wonder the bag was heavy.

Apparently he kept the coins in case he travelled toll roads or went through tunnels (He was going through Baltimore). This bag had coins, and not that many pennies either! At work I took the coins out and counted. It came up to $8.73 I'm not going to get rich with them, but hey, it was certainly worth the trouble.

So you never know. Recycling can come up with furniture for the house (see my last post), or even coins of the realm.

Hmmmm, spending the weekend out of town was tiring but worth it. Of course, what does this have to do with finance? Not much, except for tracking gas prices as I made a 200 mile round trip. I didn't quite know what to think. I found gas prices where I was staying about 25 cents less than at home (it was 2.79 when I left), so I filled up when I started back on Sunday. OK, that was only 4 gallons, but I thought it would be worth it. Ooops. As I travelled, the prices kept getting less and less. First 2.49, then 2 miles later 2.43. About 10 miles later I saw 2.39. Finally at the half way point (say 45 miles) I saw one station at 2.25. After that the numbers zoomed back up to hit 2.75 near my house. As I drive a 35 MPG hatchback, I'm not too concerned about getting the absolute lowest price, but wow, those numbers were all over the place. Next time I make that trip I will pay more attention to the prices on the way there.

Today I got my Shell gas card. Real low limit for purchases, not that I care. I just want to get that $40 back after 3 purchases. With prices dropping, the gas is going to be mucho cheaper.

(Warning: serious sarcasm ahead) And my last item (and only other item in the mail box) is an "offer" for a "smart banking package". FYI, this offer is from HSBC. Lets see, what all does it offer? Interest checking is highlighted. Of course to avoid monthly fees you need to have direct deposit, and have at least $3000 deposited. OK, not terrible, though not appealing. Sooo, reading the fine print, what is the current rate with the checking account? An APY of 0.15%. That's right, if I were to deposit, ummmm $10,000, I would be able to get $15 after one whole year!!!. I could get a whole half tank of gas! Who needs those silly 6% CDs when you can get rates like that? Then it mentions you can have free internet banking with Bill Pay. But in the fine print it states that this service is free to all HSBC customers. Well, that certainly makes this offer sound appealing. It comes with other things like home equity line, which according to their own numbers would cost from 8% to 10%. Be still my heart. Oh, and to top it off, it comes with a free debit card - truly stunning. LOL. Even the one thing that sorta sounds appealing - one free night for two at a Marriot hotel has a serious flaw. Reading the fine print shows that they will report the cost of the hotel room on an IRS form 1099. After you pay taxes based on the "no discount" rate, it will cost little less than getting the room at discount. Sheesh. Seriously, this might have been a decent offer 10 - 20 years ago, but come on guys, this is 2006. (On second thought, I wouldn't have been impressed 20 years ago either.)

Warning: A bit of bragging here.

As the title says, the check has been deposited. What check? Oh right. That is, a check with cash from my credit card at 0% through my March 2008 statement (a balance transfer to another CC). A $6k amount I should be able to set up with a CD at 5.35%. Yumm, another $25+/mo. free cash.

My latest credit card endeavour is from Shell gas, where I am supposed to get $40 back if I make 3 fill ups in 2 months. If I only do the three purchases, that is $13 off a tank of gas. I normally do 3 tanks every 5 weeks, so no problem there. If I get this card (I'm waiting to hear from them), with prices of gas dropping, a fill-up for my hatchback is currently about $30, so I could fill up 3 times for a net of $17 each time. Yep, that sounds like a winner to me.

What is the saying? "Nothing is constant but change?" Something like that anyway.

While I wait for the hurricane to blow through, I get to consider what I am going to do starting next month. Why? Because my finances are going to be getting an extreme makeover. OK, that's a lil extreme, but there will be changes, and I need to consider what I am going to do, if anything.

What's up? Here is the list:
My renter (a room) is moving out by the end of September. There goes $475/mo.My earnings from 0% bank transfers should hit $180/mo. (3 months ago it was $0)I should be getting a raise of around $100/mo.My payments to my ex wife end in October. That will free up $1,000/mo.With the renter gone, the utilities will probably drop $25-$40/mo.

Ok, that looks like it for now. Overall its a positive (~$800/mo.), but having my renter leave will cut back on the gains I was hoping to start in November. I could get a new renter, and may very well do that, but I am not in the tight situation I was in when he moved in about 18 months ago. But if I am going to start dating again, would having the house to myself be better than having that extra $500/mo.? I dunno. Its no rush, but dang I got lots to think about this weekend.

Ok on that silly change of a phrase, I can assume some of you know what I am going to mention. For those that don't, there is a site I have read up on based on some finance blogs. It is propser.com. It is a very interesting site where you loan money directly to borrowers (or borrow directly from lenders based on your point of view) and the rates are better for both sides of the equation. The idea is to cut out the middle man (ie. the bank).

I have been extremely wary of trying this type of setup, the risk just seemed too great to me. But as I have read more about it, I'm beginning to think putting a small amount in to try increase my return from my investments might be worth doing. At least I could learn the real worth of this activity wihtout too much risk. And if I lose some money I'll learn my lesson.

Sorry, this was just some out loud musing on my part. If anyone has suggestions or wants to pass along their experience, please lets hear it.

(I don't care if anyone has this phrase trademarked, I'm using it anyway!)

Just a quickie on some of my financial doings of late:

The Good:

Got another $5.5K in 0% BT funds for 19 months. Ok, it won't get me rich, but given I can get a 6% CD right now, that means I can make another $27 / mo. I think this puts me up close to $175/mo. free money on those things right now. The first one I did runs out next April, but this one runs out April 2008!

Last weekend's yard sales were another odd set. Mostly nothing, yet I came up with two train sets (my weakness) on the same day (I rarely find one all year). A small scale one for $3, and a big scale set for $15. Not fabulous deals, but not bad. That and a few toys for kids was it. Hey, its better than buying junk that you find out you didn't really want anyway.

The Bad:

I've gotten a few credit card offers this week, every one ranks as an "ugh". Each one offers some special thing like you can get rebates on purchases and free airline lounge availability. Of course there is a yearly fee on each card, so you have to do a lot of work to break even, and much more to make it come even close to a cash back card. Noooooooooooo thanks. Unless my job requires me to fly 20 times a year (ain't happening), these cards definitely aren't worth it to me.

Last weekend I went to the book store to use some store credits to buy a DVD set. The computer went haywire (I think) and said that the card I used had so much money on it, it paid for the set, and now had more on it then when I gave it to the cashier. I was honest and told the guy at the register that can't be right, and I would use another store credit to pay for it. He insisted that it said it was paid for and I shouldn't worry. ~shrug~ Well that was different anyway. (OK, this is good, but its sorta disconforting when the system can screw up that way. The next time might go against me.)

The Ugly:

And then I get a letter from the IRS saying I wasn't eligible for a "damaged spouse" portion of last year's IRS refund. The letter made no sense, as it only told me I wasn't eligible as I didn't withhold more taxes than I owed. Well they did take my refund (meaning I did pay more), so I don't know WTF they're talking about. I used the form exactly as they described, showing I should get about $200 back. The letter said I could appeal for up to 6 years. I dunno, but I am considering it. Maybe I really shouldn't get the money, but it would be nice if they sent along a real explanation as to why!

The above is my 2nd argument with the IRS. The first was maybe 20 years ago. They came back months after I filed and said I did not include earnings from so-&-so, so my taxes should have been $X more, and now I needed to $X more plus another % again. Turned out they were right, though I never got the paperwork from the employer, and had forgotten about it. However they couldn't be bothered to notice that meant I also under reported my withholdings. I had to write back to point out their mistake now. Finally they agreed and I sent in money, but only about 25% of what they were originally looking for. Gotta luv that superior IRS work. :P

... but its all mine.

I had read on a blog where someone was maxing out their 401k, but to maximize it they were hitting the maximum contribution ($15K) by about the middle of March. Whew, that's really putting everything in right away. The idea is that you can put your money into conservative investments early in the year and guarantee an ok return. I think maxing out early only to put the money into conservative funds wastes the effort.

So I was thinking... Next year I should be able to max out my 457 plan (a 401k clone) and have a little money to spare. Should I try this - at least put the money in early to get more time for it to grow? Well I started thinking on how I could make it easier on me. And then it hit me (not too hard). I can let the government help me.

How? Here is my idea (and I have yet to find a problem with this plan). Unlike being self employed, when you work for an employer, all you need to worry about is did I get enough taxes taken out by the end of the year to not have some penalty. Nothing says (that I know of) that the money needs to be taken out evenly the whole year. So why don't I pay myself early, then pay Uncle Sugar later? I'll put into retirement at a rate I will max out the plan at about the half-way point of the year. I can change my tax form to have 2 (or maybe 3) personal deductions for the first half of the year, then 0 deductions for the second half. It wouldn't hurt me much, because I would take net more money home the first half of the year (and I'll be putting it into retirement), then in the second half I won't be putting into retirement, but instead will be catching up on my taxes for the year. In the end the tax man gets what he wants, but I get to use the money earlier. Done right, this could mean an average of 6 more months earning on $15K - depending on the market I could get an aditional $0 to maybe $1.5K in the best of years. OK, I could lose money on this technique, but more years than not it should work in my favor (more up years than down).

OK, any problem with this idea? The only one I can think of is if I were to lose my job mid-year, but if that happened, my taxes would be lower for the year anyway, so it might be a wash.

ADDED: I want to point out that after searching I find that the IRS frowns on this sort of thing. However, there is also the point that if you are not too greedy it'll probably not be an issue (at least what I read on some forums). So as someone said on a TV show once, "let's all be safe out there." My point, be careful and don't use me as any source, I'll disown any knowledge of this. YMMV

...when you have everything running smoothly? That is, once you have cut your wasteful expenses, maximized your earnings on savings, fine tuned other expenses, and so on. That seems to be the point I am at. I can only think of two things I can cut back on, the cell phone (I'm thinking of going to a pre-paid plan), and the car insurance (I really should comparison shop when its time to renew).

I'm not upset, but the past few weeks have been nothing special (OK, I did get a few great deals at yard sales), but I am running out of ideas for making things work better. I guess this is not such a bad thing, I'm saving money, and not having to worry about my finances.

Actually I have one idea, but it will need to wait until the end of the year. I hope to post it here in a few days.

You know 'em. The ones you see on TV, hear on radio, read in the paper. The "expert" on ... well whatever it is they're talking about. Sometimes they're an expert due to their life experiences, sometimes its due to education (quite often dubious, but let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt). Then there is the ones that for the life of me I think they pick off the street. The ones that like to hear themselves talk.

I can hear you thinking, "What got this rant started?" As well you should think that. So what was it? I tend to listen to "Marketplace" on NPR radio each evening (ok, usually 2-3 days each week). They often will have someone read a little one to two minute speech on their thoughts on the economy or sometimes just anything at all. Today they had a .... ehm ... "wonderful" commentary by some woman that thinks she knows how to save. What's her secret? Its to save money on the big ticket items and ignore everything else.

Her advice? You spend $4 on a latte every day? No problem. Brown bagging a lunch? Why bother? Giving your husband a haircut? Boy are you missing the big picture. Is someone telling you to save money this way? Roll your eyes (but only when they're not looking.)

She is the co-founder of some "group". If I start a group, can I be an expert too?

Lastly, I should say that when the time comes up, "Yes - Oh holy Yes" you should pay attention to the big ticket items. You certainly can get a big advantage when the big ticket items come up. But ignoring the rest is stupid, stupid, hello is anyone home? stupid.

Oh, and finally, if anyone from NPR is reading this, I just formed the "High Impact Saving" Group (tm). If you need an expert commentary, don't be shy to ask.

(Oops, almost forgot, here is the link:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2006/07/25/PM200607257.html)

PS: Perhaps I shouldn't.... aaaaaaaaah, I can't help myself..... but her group is the "business talent group". Just what exactly is their talent???? (bad blogger, baaaaad blogger)