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Only one week until the spending orgy of the year, the wedding cake, tux, hotel rooms, reception, limo, flowers, rehearsal dinner, and on and on. If I ever become dictator for life, my first dictate:
Once it is over, back to saving!!
This morning, I paid less than $4 per gallon for fuel for the week. Will we get to $3 per gallon before 2008 is over?
After I threatened to turn off my phone line and go with DSL, SBC (now ATT) offered to double my DSL speed for free. While I don't need a landline, I will enjoy having faster download speeds.
Carpooling with my fiancé in our Toyota Corolla, we spotted a "Smartcar" at a stoplight. Although interesting to look at, the idea behind it is idiotic:
Bottom Line: The SmartCar is a vanity purchase for most people and almost always a bad idea.
A few days ago, I bought a GPS unit for my fiancé at BJ's Wholesale club. Today, Quicken picked up the charge; however, it was $150 less than it should have been. Should I go to the store to correct the error?
If I notice the mistake and I am still in a store, I always do my best to correct the error. Honesty is important to me. In this case, I am torn. Going back to the original store would be impossible (I bought it out of state) and working with the local store to fix it would be a huge hassle. My time is valuable and wasting an hour in the store to correct their mistake seems excessive.
Thoughts?
When I got home today, Quizo's sub was running an add touting the amount of meat in their sandwich for the amount charged. As part of the ad, they show a guy trying to eat a roll of coins. For some reason, they feel the need to inform watchers not to try it at home. IMHO – anyone who would try to eat a roll of coins is not smart enough to live.
Driving down the highway, I saw a convoy of SIX Toyota Priuses cutting in and out of traffic. They do seem to be everywhere. Indeed, one of my friends is waiting to take delivery of a new Prius. My dream car, an Accord sized hatchback with hybrid technology – 40+mpg. Very different from my – I want a Mustang days.
Thankfully, it looks like the days of massive increases in oil prices are over (for the short term). With consumers cutting back, the demand curve has shifted to the left enough to stabilize prices. Nevertheless, long term supply increases are unlikely (even at the high prices) and consumers need to make "savings" permanent:
At the pump today, I realized my Amex Blue Cash card was saving me over 20 cents per gallon. Unless the gas stations have a larger markup than I think, this cannot last long.
Biggest Winners in 2008:
ARLP – Coal is king with an 18% appreciation. A relatively large position, kept the portfolio on track.
HAL – Oil Services – paid off with a 19% positive move;
Cash – Dividends and Interest consisted of almost 40% of my semi-annual earnings.
Do not forget dividends and income. In a down market, they can provide a nice cushion during tough times. For the first 6 months of 2008, dividends and interest received has kept my losses to reasonable levels. Furthermore, they provide a source of cash for opportunistic purchases as discounted prices.
Six months into 2008, my biggest losers are:
AIG – minus 38%
CIT - minus 60% (luckily, I sold off most of my holdings for a profit on the trade. Unfortunately, I didn't sell it all)
My employer – down almost 40% for the year, it is also my largest loss in total dollars.
Learnings: Diversification works. Despite these losses, my portfolio is off a total of 3% in a down market. I
Although getting outstanding mileage could seem like a great idea, AAA warns of the dangers of extreme tactics.
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-hypermiling.artjun29,0,355595.story
When Murdoch took over the Wall Street Journal, I knew things would change. Unfortunately, they have decided to make subscribers view a full page ad – that requires a click through to get to content. If it was free content (see NYPost.com), I would understand. Since I pay for my subscription, I am not going to tolerate it. Unless the ads stop, they are going to lose a subscriber.
With the wedding just weeks away, it is time to raise money fast from the blogosphere. With only $22 in adsense earnings, I am asking the blogosphere to show your power by clicking on my adsense links en masse. Can we raise $20 in June? How many clicks would that be?
Actually, this post is mostly in jest; however, I strongly recommend both books on Amazon. Anyone interested in the business world should give them a read.
According to news reports, Kodak won a $581 million tax refund from the IRS. Instead of blowing it on a big screen TV, they are using it to fund a stock buyback program. Of course the Kodak execs and lawyers who won the refunds, they will be using their bonus money for ENORMOUS screen TV's.
Do it yourself is a good way to injure yourself if you don't know what you are doing or don't have the right equipment. Today, I am getting a quote to have my gutters cleaned out. A few days ago, I looked up and realized I was growing things in my gutters. J It looks like a garden. Although I can get to the gutters on the lower levels, I have one gutter 2 stories up that I don't have a good ladder to reach. Thus – outsourcing to someone who knows what they are doing. They get paid and I stay safe.
A few months ago, I decided to invest some of my IRA money in Budweiser. Even in a downturn, I expected the parent company of the King of Beer would continue to generate nice cash flows. It was intended as a long term investment. Luckily, it turned out to be buyout target and the stock shot up in value. Friday, I closed out the position and moved the proceeds to cash.
While the people who stay in through the buyout will probably make a little more money, I didn't want to be greedy and decided to take profe,its now.
Of course, the investment in AIG has not turned out so well, but that's another story.
An easy, inexpensive way to save electricitcy is to look for appliances that are "always on." For example, my printer did not come with an off switch. Although it goes into sleep mode, there is no reason it should draw any power when I am not using it. To stop this, I have it hooked up to an extra powerstrip I had laying around.
Although alternative energy sources (solar and wind) can and should be exploited, the simple fact is they will not be able to provide enough energy to power the US for quite some time (if ever). Although hydroelectric power provides clean energy, blocking rivers to provide power is no longer considered a good environmental practice. Bottom line, we need to build nuclear power plants all over the country to replace oil plants.
Sending billions of dollars a year to the Saudis and the Russians is fundamentally a bad plan.
How many people bring their own food and/or drinks to the movies? Because I prefer Coke Zero to Diet Coke, I snuck a 20oz bottle in a few months ago. Although we don't go to the movies often (1 time per month at most), we always take our drinks with us.
We do, however, buy popcorn if we are in the mood.
BTW – if you have a drive in theater near you, we recommend the experience. Two lawn chairs, a radio, and an ice chest and you get to see two movies for the price of one.
