Personal Seat Licenses

A friend and I went in on two PSL's and season tickets to the New York Jets. Our plan is to attend 1-2 games per year and to sell the rest of the games on Stubhub. Hopefully, we will get enough for our tickets to pay for the PSL cost.

While it is a risk, we hope our "investment" pays off.

Lane Bryant Ad Controversy

It is nice to see clothes built for real people. Unlike the sickly thin women modeling most clothing, the woman in this ad has real curves. For Lane Bryant, getting banned was the best thing that could have happened to them – free publicity.

Lane Bryant Youtube Clip

SEC Charges against Goldman Sachs

Simply put, I think the charges against Goldman Sachs are weak. Paulson went short the mortgage market and ACA and IKB went long. Paulson was right and made a fortune. The others were wrong and lost one. That is what happens on Wall Street. ACA and IKB need to put on their Big Boy Pants and move on.

If there was any fraud, it was by ACA and IKB management. They told people they knew what they were doing and that they did due diligence on their investments.

Example: http://dealbreaker.com/2010/04/ikb-told-investors-it-drills-down-on-cdos/

TIPS Auction Today

Today, the treasury holding its auction for 5 year TIPS. If you are looking for an income investment with some inflation protection, these offer an excellent opportunity. Most brokers will allow you to invest without any commission.

Shopping For Baby Furniture

If anyone has any good ideas/advice on baby furniture, I am all ears.

Why we chose our 529 Plan?

Because our state does not provide any tax benefit for 529 contributions, the high fees associated with our state's plan (broker-sold) made it a poor option. Since I wanted a low-fee plan, I looked at Vanguard, USAA, and Fidelity. Vanguard has some great plans; however, they had account maintenance fees and requirement for a large initial investment. USAA's plans were OK, but not great. Ultimately, we went with Massachusetts's 529 U.Fund Plan for the following reasons:

1. Since they are not broker sold, we don't have to pay any load to investment advisors.
   
2. The overall fee structure is competitive. In particular, they do not charge an account maintenance fee;
   
3. I like the investment options;
   
4. We have accounts at Fidelity and their service has been very good over the years; and
   
5. Our Fidelity Amex Card earns us 2% Cash Back which I will direct into the fund.
   

We started our fund with $500 and a $50 per month investment.

Having a Baby – Opening 529 Plan

For my readers, I apologize for not posting in some time. My wife and I received the wonderful news that we will be having a baby soon. In addition to fixing up the house, we are opening a 529 plan with Fidelity for our child. No maintenance fees and low fund fees. You have to love that.