Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I’ve been extremely busy with random things here and there.
Here’s some posts in the pipeline coming out over the next week or so…
* Since when did cash become so criminal?
* Why are we willing to put up with horrible customer service?
* Build your own cool stuff!
* The difference in choosing an ETF with low expense ratios.
Roughly a year ago I signed up for the Chase United Mileage Plus card for the 25,000 bonus miles. The annual fee of $60 is waived for the first year, I forgot about it and recently logged onto my Chase account online to see a recent activity balance of $60. I haven’t been charging much to the card since I decided to switch over charging more on my Citi AAdvantage card.
So what happens next is I call up Chase and the CSR said in order for the fee to be waived I have to meet certain mileage requirements which I obviously didn’t meet. However I asked if the fee can be waived if I convert my card’s platinum status which earns 1 mile for every dollar charge to a non-platinum card which earns 1 mile for every 2 dollars charged and the CSR agreed. So in the next week or so I’ll be getting a new card with same CC number but I just get downgraded to non-platinum status.
This works out pretty well as I can charge things to the card every now and then to reset the expiration clock on my 37,000 or so miles with United until I get around to using them.
I got an e-mail from Zecco about “ZeccoShare”. Here’s the e-mail:
ZeccoShare, the revolutionary social investing network at Zecco.com, is now open to all 70,000 community members, and anyone else who wishes to join. Investors can create a profile and begin using ZeccoShare to tap into the power of social networking for their investment decisions. All for free. Get started now by activating your profile.
The power of transparency
The power of ZeccoShare is its transparency. The Zecco blogs and forums already let investors debate and share investing ideas. Now, users can elect to have their actual investment behavior verified, which ads credibility. At the same time, you and your personal information remain anonymous, so that your private affairs stay private.
I created a group on ZeccoShare called “Bloggers on the interweb” that’s open for anybody to join. I’m also choosing the option to publicly display my holdings and latest trades (for the previous 30 days) in my user profile. You don’t have to share your info to join the group so feel free.
I’m primarily a finance guy, but my never ending quest for knowledge and great interests in science, history, etc. lead to lots of random places on the inter-web. There’s an interesting little animation video located on tenthdimension.com that can found here that will get you to think a little.
The guy responsible for that little video which basically plugs his book too is Rob Bryanton. His blog, which is appropriately named if i might add, Imagining the Tenth Dimension makes a nice read too with his posts on addictive personalities and parallel universes. He also posts videos from time to time of him singing songs like Big Bang to Entropy.
I recently discovered that MC Hammer has a blog, it’s located at http://mchammer.blogspot.com/ and it’s the real deal. I thought it was a spoof at first but there are videos like this one where Hammer shouts out his blog addy.
He doesn’t seem to post much nowadays except random videos and other tidbits. He did post pictures of his son and other various pictures in the past though (look in his archived posts).
MC Hammer was way before my time but he’s no doubt famous like Mike “Iron Mike” Tyson for squandering his millions.
I’m in the market for a pocket PC or pda with WiFi. The reasoning is at work I don’t get cell phone reception(due to our thick concrete walls) and neither does anyone else who isn’t a Verizon customer (they’re the only ones that installed a repeater in the museum). However, there is a WiFi network available for use.
So here’s my criteria of requirements for the new gadget:
1. WiFi capability – This is a must since I need internet access.
2. Decent web browser – I don’t need fancy flash or anything but I don’t want a handicapped browsing experience like that of a hiptop.
3. Pricing – I really don’t want to spend too much for a toy gadget.
Here are some things that are nice to have, but when it comes down to it, not necessary.
1. QWERTY keypads – Always nice to have a qwerty keypad.
2. MP3 playback – Would be nice to have music playback here and there.
So far I’ve found a few choices I like but anything in this price range is considered a big ticket item for me so I tend to do my research and comparison shopping. A lot of the choices I found that meet my needs are discontinued so I’ll probably have to poach them from eBay.
As per my offer of every sign-up to Zecco I donate $25 to Kiva as noted in this post. The first sign-up was today and as soon as the referral is confirmed I’ll fund the donation. Thank you whoever you are.
Buy Stocks Online for $0. Trade stocks for free on Zecco.com. The Free Trading Community. www.zecco.com
Netflix never has been popular with kids in my age group 18-22. However I’ve grown to love Netflix over the years.
I was introduced to Netflix when my brother and I use to live together. The actual experience of having DVDs delivered through the mail was extremely convenient. This was when we still had dial-up internet access. My brother moved and I decided to nab a Netflix subscription of my own.
A lot of people my age usually download their movies illegally or go to a movie theater to watch their movies. Some actually buy their DVDs to watch… say once. There are a couple problems with this, for one, ethics aside, quality varies when you’re downloading illegally. Choices are limited too when choosing the illegal route. Netflix recently recommended Scent of a Woman and I loved it. That’s definitely one of those movies you’d have rather a difficult time finding available for download.
Going to the movies? Eh, it’s never been my thing. Watching movies at an actual movie theater has always been more about hanging out with friends than watching a movie none the less. The price gouging ($10/ticket) hits the wallet pretty hard too.
Here’s where Netflix comes in as a cheap source of entertainment. I rent at least 12 movies a month on my 3 dvds out at a time plan. The current price of the plan is $16.99 divided by 12 and that’s $1.42 per rental. Talk about cheap!
IRAs are individual retirement accounts. My preference of choice for socking away retirement dollars right now is a roth IRA. A roth IRA is a type of retirement account where you essentially contribute after tax dollars in return for your investments growing tax-free and being able to withdraw them later on without incurring additional taxes.
Since I’m young and work essentially part-time, my income is taxed at the lowest brackets. Therefore contributing after-tax dollars to a roth IRA makes a lot of sense for me. People with higher incomes may not be eligible for contributions to a roth IRA and in certain circumstances wouldn’t be the right choice for them.
Certain investments are more tax efficient with an tax advantaged account. For example, generally REITs (real estate investment trusts) pay out nice dividends, however these dividends are taxed as ordinary income, not at the 15% reduced dividend tax rate. In my opinion, REITs should be held in your IRA since each dividend payout would normally incur a tax liability. My roth IRA is heavy in REITs right now through Vanguard’s REIT index fund (VNQ) and various other REIT holdings. This allows more income to compound tax-free.
A couple weeks back I went out to dinner with my brother at the Peking Duck House in Manhattan. After an extremely tasty meal the bill came with a fortune cookie.
The cookie read: “Perhaps you’ve been focusing too much on saving.”
My girlfriend (err “friend” .. whatever it’s complicated now) got a kick out of it when she saw it in my room. So is the fortune cookie right? I’m 20 years old. Have I been focusing too much on saving? I have roughly…
So for someone that makes $10.25/hour and works 3-4 days/week plus school… am I saving too much? Honestly I don’t think so. Here’s why: I still enjoy my life.
I don’t mind work. I’m content with social life, although it is somewhat more limited nowadays as I’m busier. But being busy for me allows me to stay more focused.
I’m a calculating person. The great unknown of life and where it takes you intrigues me but scares me at the same time. That’s why I need an emergency fund. I may die tomorrow, a week from now, or 60 years later… but I won’t die broke.
Historically the stock market has always been one of the best asset classes for investment over the long term. So why not start early? I’ve always been a big advocate of having your money work for you. My thinking is that if I plant the seeds to my money tree now, life won’t be as hard later on. My expenses now are extremely limited compared to what lies ahead (marriage, kids, etc.). I want a comfortable future, where my kids can learn the value of a dollar but it won’t be because for lack of it.
One of the key reasons for me to attain a level of savings has been to do what many people my age (or some people throughout their entire life) haven’t been able to do. That’s to get past the designer jeans, the fancy cars, the latest gadgets, etc. Those things don’t say anything about you besides how much you’ve spent, not how much you’re worth. My thinking is it’s always better to have money, than look like you have money.
So Mr. Fortune Cookie, you’re wrong…
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