The Best of 2007

Some of my favorite things to read at this time of year are the "Year In Review" articles and "Best of 20XX" lists that start to pop up all over the place. Call me morbid but I even enjoy looking at the 'In Memorium" listings that run in the magazines at the end of every year. Usually I completely forgot that somebody died, I didn't hear that the person died, or I didn't know someone's name and recognize the face when I see it in the magazine. There's usually a minimum of 5 "Oh no!" moments when I see those lists.

Anyway - this post is not about the dead celebrity lists. It's about the ever-growing "Best of 2007" lists that are coming out. Head over to Filmoculous to see a compilation of all the lists - everything from the Top 50 CDs of the year to the Top 10 Most Brilliant Innovations of 2007. Keep going back because the list will grow as more year end lists come out!

More Imitation and Flattery?!

So I'm reading this blog post today about how the city of Copenhagen, Denmark has some huge 'greening' effort underway. Pretty interesting stuff. Then, in the background, I notice some flags and such with the city logo displayed on it. Dang it if there's not more logo ripping off going on in Charlotte. This is getting ridiculous. See for yourself:

COPENHAGEN:











CHARLOTTE:









Apparently we lack original thought in this area!?

Do It Yourself

I've got a confession to make. It's painful and embarassing but it's true and I want to get it off my chest. Here goes. I'm not handy. There - I said it. I don't know how to do things that most guys know how to do. I don't know how it got to this point or why I never learned to change my own oil or fix a blown fuse. I just didn't. I can install a hard drive and I can set up a new TV or stereo but I can't do anything cool if it requires sawing/hammering/etc. and I especially can't do anything if it requires looking under a car hood.

Now that this is out in the open, I must also tell you that in the last two weeks, Britney and I have replaced our kitchen faucent and installed TWO over-the-counter microwave ovens (The first one was completely installed before we realized it was messed up. Anger ensued). Fortunately, my wife is handy and her step-dad, Bill, is uber-handy. Between the two of them, we can usually figure out how to do things that need to get done.

But - what do you do if you don't have Bill on your speed dial like we do and you find yourself needing some help? Fortunately, there are websites available for people like us who weren't born with the handy gene.

eHow.com has been around for a long while and has instructions on how to do almost anything. People post instructions on how to do all kinds of things and then users get to rate how good the instructions were. Lots of tips & categories here - but still a lot of text based instructions which may or may not appeal to you.

Now that they've finally figured out how to make video over the internet watchable (it used to be really bad), sites like ExpertVillage are popping up and thriving. This is a site chocked full of good how-to videos. For those of us that struggle with instructions like "insert carriage bolt and attach to 8/32" hex nut", video instructions and demonstrations are helpful. This site has a ton of them.

Maybe the most useful site of all is Sutree.com. Why? Because this is a site that aggregates video from all over the web and allows you to search multiple sites. If there's video available on YouTube or eHow or a TV network site, you can find it using the search at Sutree.com. Very helpful if you can't find what you want going to eHow.com or ExpertVillage.

One thing I forgot to mention when I started recommending these sites - they're not just for tips and videos on fixing stuff. There are instructions and videos on how to teach your dog tricks, how to do sign language, how to untangle Christmas lights - you name it. So - if you need some help with do-it-yourself like me or you just want to learn a new skill, check out one of these sites and you'll be on your way!!

You Need Disability Insurance

All this talk about financial planning got me thinking about an important lesson that my brother-in-law, Brock, taught me when I first got married. Brock sat me down and made sure that I understood the value of disability insurance. The truth is that prior to that conversation, I'd never given a whole lot of thought to the likelihood of getting disabled or about putting a strategy in place to protect my income in the event that I did get disabled. Consider the following:

• Most people buy life insurance - but you have DOUBLE the chance of getting disabled before retirement as you do of dying


• 30% of twenty year olds will be disabled before retiring
• 1 in 7 Americans will be disabled for 5 years or longer before retiring
• Disability causes 50% of all mortgage foreclosures - compared to only 2% being caused by death of the primary breadwinner

Bottom line - you need disability insurance and you probably need to buy it yourself rather than rely on whatever is provided by your employer. If your employer provides disability coverage (not all do), it's likely that it only covers 60% of your base salary and it is subject to income tax. Say hello to your new life living on 45% of what you earn today. That, for me, is not getting the job done. Plus, if you rely on employer provided insurance, welcome to a career with one company. If you can't take that insurance with you and you get disabled or have the slightest illness, good luck trying to get new coverage when you change jobs. Individual disability insurance (paid for by you) is not subject to income tax since you pay for it with after-tax money and you can purchase coverage for more than 60% of your income (I think it's capped at 75% but I'm not positive).

A quick note on government provided disability. It stinks. Why? Because a majority of claims are initially denied - putting you in financial jeopardy while the appeal works its way through the system (isn't that lovely). There are also qualifications about what it means to be disabled. In other words, if you can't get a job screwing toothpaste caps on with your teeth, get to work you able-bodied person and stop trying to get disability. You want the kind of insurance that kicks in if you can't do the job you're currently doing - not the kind that kicks in if you can't work at all.

More reading can be found in the links below. Add this to the list of topics you and your family need to consider ASAP and talk to your financial advisor about it soon. You never know when accidents will happen or your health might give out!!

Disability insurance: The coverage that most folks never think about

Protect Your Family When Disability Strikes

Holiday Shopping - Part 2

In my last post on holiday shopping, I covered some of the sites I use to find out about good deals. Today I'm going to talk about something I've covered before - rebate/referral sites. I've talked a bit about these sites before (see my earlier post on Ebates) - but when I started researching this stuff for this post, I learned that I'd only covered the tip of the iceberg. Prepare to be enlightened (as I was!).

The name of the game in online retailing is traffic - driving as much traffic to your site as possible. Big retailers like Overstock.com and Amazon.com spend all kinds of money on TV and print ads, etc. Smaller retailers put banner ads up on other sites, etc. Because it's costly to get traffic to your site, online retailers are willing to pay to acquire visitors. That's where these rebate/referral sites fit into the equation. They serve as the middle man in the online transaction, sitting between you the buyer and the online retailer. The online retailer pays the referral site a percentage of the total value of the transaction and the referreal site pays you part of that fee. Best of all, all you have to do is go through one of these referral sites on your way to buy something you were going to buy anyway - it's like free money!

The big 'A-HA' moment I had when looking up information for this posting was realizing that there are sites out there that do more than just give you a cash back rebate. There are referral/rebate/reward (whatever you want to call them) sites that give cash rebates, some that give frequent flyer miles, some that put money in college savings accounts, some that give you US Savings Bonds - there are tons of them and they come in a bunch of varieties. But how do you now which one to use and how do you find them? I'm here to help with that.

If cash rewards - whether they be in the form of cash rebates, savings bonds, college savings, whatever - are what you're interested in, the chart posted at Comparerewards.com is an invaluable resource. You can get it HERE.

What the chart shows you is a breakdown of retailers and rewards/rebates sites - highlighting the best site to use for each retailer you're interested in. So, for example, if you're trying to shop at Buy.com, you'd look at the chart and see that BondRewards.com is paying the highest referral fee for Buy.com - so it makes sense to click through that site on your way to do your shopping. FYI, the chart compares 21 different referral sites:

BabyMint, BondRewards, ClubMom, CreationsRewards.net, Ebates, Extrabux, FatWallet, Freeride, Greenpoints, iBakeSale, Jellyfish, LittleGrad, MedicalRewardsNetwork, Memolink, MrRebates, MyPoints, MyTroops, QuickRewards.net, QuizPoints, SunshineRewards, and uPromise

That's a lot of programs and a lot of info to digest!

If you are interested in other types of rewards (things like airline miles) or aren't into searching through charts listing a bunch of percentages and want something SIMPLE, head over to Evreward.com. This is a new site that does the searching for you. You type in the retailer you're going to shop and it tells you all the different deals/referrals/rebates you can get for that retailer. It's really easy.

So - back to the Buy.com example - I type in Buy.com and the site tells me about all the cash back sites I can use, but it also tells me that I could be getting 2 Delta miles for every dollar spent or 3 AMEX Rewards points for every dollar spent. The site also includes coupon codes and hot deals that are displayed in your search listings. This is a cool site and, if you're just getting started in the referral site game, where I would start.

Happy shopping! Enjoy the free money/rewards!

Imitation - The Sincerest Form of Flattery?

I was riding to work the other day and a billboard caught my eye (yes, I ride the bus). It was advertising the 2007-2008 Charlotte Bobcats - trying to drum up interest in single game tickets. Those of you familiar with Charlotte know that this was, once, big basketball country. When the old Hornets entered the league in 1988, they led the league in attendance. Tickets were the hottest thing in town! The Bobcats - not so much. I follow them because I'm a big sports fan but there's very little interest in town. Maybe it's because they're bad, maybe it's because they have really ugly bright orange uniforms, maybe it's because the name stinks (Bobcats - named after owner Bob Johnson - I'm glad his name isn't Steve or Gary or something).

Anyway - they have a new logo on the billboard and I can't help but think that it's stolen directly from another team in the NBA. It's an improvement over last year's logo (redesigning logos in the team's 4th year?!) - but still a blatant rip off.

This new logo is a really lame rip-off if you ask me. You be the judge.

Finding a Financial Advisor

One of the things I recommended in my post yesterday about International Investments was that you work with a financial advisor. I actually had someone email me a question about how I found my financial advisor (WHOO HOO! A real life reader!!). So - here is what I think you should do to find a financial advisor and what services you should think about asking for when you find one to work with.

The most important thing to look for, in my opinion, when considering a financial advisor is someone that has the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. CFP is your guarantee that the person you're taking advice from SHOULD know what they're talking about. To get CFP designation, you have to sit for an intense examination that includes all types of planning related concepts - investment planning, risk management, insurance planning, tax planning, wills & trusts, education planning, etc. In addition to sitting for the test, CFPs must meet certain education guidelines, must have experience in the financial industry, etc. Basically the point is that it's not easy to get this designation so people that do it have put a lot of time & energy into knowing what they're doing. You can search for CFPs in your area on the CFP Board of Standards website: http://www.cfp.net/search/

Once you've identified some potential candidates, you'll want to reach out to a few, tell them about your situation (where you are financially, what you're looking to do - retirement planning, insurance planning, etc.) and see what kind of response you get. I'll tell you right now that some of these people only work with high net worth individuals - so don't be upset if you get no response or a response indicating that you're not in their 'target client' demographic. When I reached out to folks, I went ahead and included a note saying "if you're not the right person, could you point me in the right direction or recommend someone that would work with someone with my goals & needs". That seemed to work well.

After you get your list of potential candidates, I'd suggest having meetings and/or phone conversations with them. This individual is going to have a major say in what you do financially so you need to 'click' with them and like their personality. You're interviewing them for a job - the job of managing your money - so ask tough questions and get comfortable with them.

Once you've narrowed your list down to someone that meets the CFP requirement, wants to work with you, and has a personality/style that appeals to you, it's time to consider a really big issue - how this person gets compensated. There are several ways that financial advisors make money and some, to me, are more appealing than others. I don't want to work with someone that gets commissions on my invesment moves. That, to me, creates a motivation for the advisor to move in and out of investments frequently to try to ratchet up the commissions and that doesn't appeal to me. I would much prefer to pay for the financial advice in a pay as you go manner or pay a yearly fee for their services. My advisor gets a yearly fee as well as a small percentage based on the total assets he manages for me. That, in my mind, creates a good scenario - he's motivated to make my assets worth more as he gets paid more when that happens.

A good financial advisor will help you get your financial house in order and can do things for you that you either can't or don't have time to do for yourself. Mine has helped me shop for the best life insurance policy/rate, helped me get an education fund started for Bailey, helped me reallocate my assets based on my specific age and risk tolerance, and given me peace of mind that I'm doing the right things financially. I can't recommend this enough - plan today and you'll have a better tomorrow! Good luck!!

Baylor Football - A Sad State of Affairs

Most of you know that I'm from a family full of Baylor Bears - my mom & dad, my wife, my sister, my brother, one of my aunts, and one of my uncles all went to Baylor (as did Willie Nelson incidentally). You may also know that Baylor is terrible at football. That wasn't always the case. Believe it or not, I was in attendance when Baylor pummelled Clemson in the 1979 Peach Bowl and was also at the 1981 Cotton Bowl when Baylor got smacked 30-2 by Alabama (but hey - there were in the Cotton Bowl!). After another losing year, they fired their coach recently and were, by most accounts, ready to bring back Mike Singletary, one of their all-time greats, to serve as the new head coach. Strangely, however, he recently removed his name from consideration. Rumor has it, however, that Baylor AD Ian McCaw might've removed Singletary because he wasn't willing to just be a yes-man and fund raiser. That's pretty pathetic. If the guy in the video below isn't the right guy for a school like Baylor, I'm not sure there's much hope for a return to glory on the gridiron.

Money Saving Tip: International Investing

Before I get started on my latest money saving/making tip, let me start off by saying that I am not an investment guru. My advice to anyone that does not have significant time to devote to following the investment markets is to hire a professional money manager/advisor to work with. I've tried to manage my own investments and, even with an above average education in all things financial, can't do nearly as good a job as my financial advisor does. That said, what I'm going to discuss is a concept that you can take and discuss with your financial advisor - as they tend to listen to all of your ideas and either validate them or tell you why they're bad ideas given your current state of affairs.

Now that my caveat is out of the way, I want to mention an idea that I've been thinking about for quite a while and have actually seen articles about in recent days. It seems like all we're hearing about these days is the flagging US economy, how we're sliding toward recession, how the dollar's hitting all-time lows, etc. Those things are, for the most part, true. The dollar is down this year against 15 of the 16 major trading currencies (all except the Mexican Peso) and some countries are actively seeking to reduce their holdings in dollars to limit their exposure to the fluctuations we're seeing in our economy. As an investor, the question everyone seems to be asking is this - what can I do to weather this storm and not take a beating?

My answer - buy stocks of companies that derive a majority of their profits overseas. Think about it this way - many economies are doing quite well as our economy suffers. Europe, Latin America, and Asia are all seeing growth while we're seeing declines. If you invest in a company that derives a majority of its profits in those markets, you could actually get a double win - you get the growth that the company experiences in those hot markets AND you get the benefit of the exchange rate as the company takes the profits made in foreign currency and trades that currency for the weak US dollar! Remember - we're talking about companies based in the U.S. that make most of their money elsewhere. Those are the ones that will be seeking to bring their profits back to the U.S. and will need to trade back into dollars.

How do you find companies that fit this profile? Believe it or not, a ton of big name US companies derive a majority of profits overseas. Consider the following list:

• Intel - 85% of profits from overseas
• Coca-Cola - 71% of profits from overseas
• Texas Instruments - 87% of profits from overseas
• Exxon - 69% of profits from overseas

These are household names we're talking here. Next time you talk to your financial advisor (or if, God forbid, you're managing your own money), consider parking some dollars in companies that are making their money outside the U.S. You may be glad you did!

Holiday Shopping - Part 1

I had planned on doing a huge post about the step by step guide to holiday shopping. I realized, however, that most of my readers don't want to read a long, 3 page post on which websites to hit and so forth. So - I've changed my plan. I'll be doing the step by step guide - but I'm breaking it up into smaller posts. You'll have to read the whole sequence to learn my super secret strategies for saving big $$$.

This post is for those of you that don't know exactly what you're shopping for. Often times, particularly when I'm buying for adults, I have no idea what to buy. I could go to Amazon and browse around for an hour and potentially hit on something good - but I don't have the patience for that. What I usually do is try to find something nice that's selling for a good price or is a good 'deal'. How do you do that? You go to one of the sites below:

Dealnews.com is probably the best of the 'deal' sites (in my opinion). Its layout is easy to follow, it ranks the deal from one to five stars based on how good a deal it is, and it gives you the ability to sort deals by category.

Dealcatcher.com is another good 'deal' site. This one has some features that the others do not. It partners with Pricegrabber.com (one of the price comparison sites I recommended last week) - so you can compare prices from here. You can also search a huge list of rebates to find out if what your buying is not only on sale but also has a mail-in or online rebate! This site also has useful links to Sunday paper ads and printable coupons.

What you'll find when you start dealing with these 'deal' sites is that most of them list the same deals. Dealnews and Dealcatcher often have the same deals listed but their user interface makes them worth going to because they're easy to use. Slickdeals.net is not as pretty - but often has deals that other sites don't and often lists deals first. Some of the other sites are what I call 'aggregators' - meaning that they don't break the news, they just collect it and list it. Slickdeals.net breaks the news - so I often start here even though it's not quite as pretty. If you know how to use forums (post questions, converse with other people about deals, etc.), they have good ones!

Finally, if you are super-cheap and/or are desperate for a good deal, go over to FreeAfterRebate.info. This is a site that lists, as the title implies, items that are 100% free (or close to it) after rebate. You can actually get some pretty good stuff here - usually computer software or computer accessories - for free if you're willing to jump through the rebate hoops.

More information to come - stuff like finding the best coupons, using referral sites (yes, more about Ebates), etc. Enjoy Cyber Monday!

Make Better Food Choices

I came across an interesting article in Men's Health recently (a magazine that I used to subscribe to but canceled because it seems like every edition is a repackaged version of the previous one?!). Anyway - this is a pretty good article about 12 foods that most people buy because they think they're eating healthy. The truth, however, is that many products that are labeled as 'light' or 'fat-free' are loaded with additional sugar or other undesirable ingredients. If they were fat-free and didn't have this other stuff, they'd be virtually inedible! Go to Men's Health and read up on what to STOP buying and switch over to the alternatives they propose.

For those of you too lazy to read the article, here's the list of 12 foods that are discussed:

• Yogurt with fruit on the bottom
• Baked Beans
• California Roll
• Granola Bars
• Pasta Salad
• English Muffins
• Croutons
• Fat-Free Salad Dressing
• Fruit Cocktail
• Reduced-fat Peanut Butter
• Pretzels
• Corn Oil
  

2008 Presidential Election - What's Your Issue?

You've seen them already and you'll be seeing more of them in the days ahead. The candidates for President are already slinging mud and spending money like crazy trying to ensure that he or she gets his/her party's nomination. I've already seen a couple of friends pick their chosen candidates and Britney & I have already started discussing our options. But how do you decide who to vote for? How do you know what these people are truly about given the fact that all you get in debates is 1-2 minute snippets and commercials are, well, commercials. Here are my recommendations for sizing up the candidates:

If your primary concern is where the candidates stand on the environment, climate change, eco-issues, etc., head over to Grist.org to find out "How Green is Your Candidate?".

If you choose candidates based on religious leanings, where he or she stands on the separation of church and state, etc., head over to The Pew Forum to read each candidates relgious profile and find out their leanings on relgion-related issues.

If the war in Iraq is really what you care about and you want to know how each candidate voted (if applicable) and where they stand on the continuation or ending of our initiatives in Iraq, you can find that information in the profiles in the New York Times.

If you just want a general overview of the candidates and want to know, at a high level, what they're all about, find that type of profile at the Washington Post.

Finally, if you are the type of person that really does their homework and wants to know where each candidate stands on every issue under the sun, you can find that information too - head over to OnTheIssues.org and get your fill.

Now - go get informed!

Money Saving Tip: Improve Your Grocery Shopping

In all likelihood, one of the biggest items in your monthly budget is food. If it's not, that's probably because you don't have kids yet or because you eat like a bird. With gas prices on the rise, food prices are following and we can all expect to be paying more at the grocery store sooner rather than later.

There are several sites that I know about that can help you improve the way you shop for groceries.

If you are a coupon clipper, you owe it to yourself to check out TheGroceryGame.com. This site is all about using coupons and maximizing their value. It started in Southern California but now has store listings nationwide - meaning that the site tracks what's on sale at stores in your area, what coupons are available in your paper, and then tells you when the time is right to put those coupons to use. It offers the first month for free and then costs $5.00 per month thereafter. If you have the patience to cut coupons and hold onto them for a while, this site will definitely save you money. If you're not a coupon clipper and/or are not willing to do some planning ahead, I'd say skip this one and move on to my next recommendation.

GroceryGuide.com is a new web site that addresses one of the biggest problems we have when it comes to grocery shopping - our hesitance to switch stores. You know this is true! You find a store that's convenient, you get used to the layout, you're familiar with the store brands and you stay there forever. This, friends, is a big mistake. Britney and I were recently in a different grocery store looking for something that our store did not offer and we were shocked at some of the price differences. GroceryGuide.com exposes those differences for you. Compare specials at multiple stores in your area to find the best deal and, perhaps even cooler, look at the price history for the items that are on sale. That will tell you whether the special is a great buy or just a decent buy.

If you're willing to do a little comparison shopping and are willing to venture out of your comfort zone to get a good deal, you CAN save money at the grocery store! Good luck!!

How Rich Are You?

Obviously one of the goals of this blog has been to point out ways to help you save your hard earned money. If you're like me, saving money is always top of mind - primarily because I always feel like I could use more of it. If you stop and think about it, however, you will quickly realize that if you're reading this blog - whoever you are, wherever you are, you're likely in much better financial shape than almost everyone else in the world. Consider the following:

• Three BILLION people in the world live on less than $2.00 per day (less than $730.00 per year)
• 1.3 BILLION people in the world live on less than $1.00 per day

If that doesn't hit home with you, consider thinking of it like this:You, in all likelihood, are at the front of the line when it comes to wealth as compared with the rest of the world. If you want to know exactly where you stand, head over to Global Rich List and find out. While you're there, take a look at some of the ways you can share your wealth.

Take Advantage of Travel Pricing Mistakes

Today's recommended website is one that you can use to take advantage of price mistakes in the travel industry. TravelGlitch.com is not a 'low fares' site like LastMinuteTravel.com or CheapSeats.com. TravelGlitch.com is a site that constantly monitors the airline, hotel, car rental industries and publishes pricing MISTAKES on their site so that you can take advantage of them. Price mistakes include things like hotel rooms being listed for $10.00 instead of $100.00, errors in currency conversion (posting a hotel for 500 pesos per night instead of $500 US dollars), etc.

Recent 'glitches' include:

• $12.00 hotel rooms in Las Vegas
• Using Wyndham hotels best price guarantee to get a hotel in the Bahamas for $0 per night
• $100.00 off United Airlines purchases

On the website, you can get on a mailing list that sends you an email every time a new pricing glitch is found/posted. It may take a while before you find one that you're interested in taking advantage of but without a site like this, you'll likely never find these types of deals. Good luck!

Follow Up: Basketball Player Found Dead

If you read this blog on Friday, you saw my link to the article about the strange disappearances of three basketball players. One of those mysteries was answered this weekend when the body of former Washington State basketball player Tony Harris was found outside of Brasilia Brazil. You can read more here.

Improve Your Googling

I'm sure we all use Google for our internet searches (if you're one of the people still searching with Yahoo or Alta Vista, I want to know why!). I don't think many of us, however, would consider ourselves knowledgeable about Google's advance search functionality. Most of us type in a search term, maybe we know that you can search for an exact term by using "quotation marks" - but that's about it. If that's all you ever do, you are missing out on a lot of advanced functionality that could help you get better search results.

Head over to Hybridsem and read up on how to improve your Google searches. If you are one of those Yahoo searchers, the article also has tips for you!

Article Recommendation: The Strange Diappearances of 3 Basketball Players

Head over to 100% Injury Rate to read the strange story of three basketball players who have disappeared never to be heard from again. Interesting story - particularly the details around the disappearance of former NBA player John Brisker (shown in black & white).

Stay Informed

In thinking through what topics I could be writing about that would be helpful to the dedicated readers of this blog (both of you), I realized that I often quote/site articles from newspapers. Most of you probably don't have time to look through a bunch of daily newspapers and, if you did have the time, you may not even know where to look to find the papers you could be reading. I'll try to help in today's post.

Onlinenewspapers.com is a great place to start if you're interested in reading online news. The site is essentially nothing but a repository for links to newspapers around the world. It is broken down by region and contains links to almost every online newspaper (and these days virtually all newspapers are online) around the world. For international newspapers, the site even indicates the language the newspaper is printed in - a very helpful feature!

Newseum.org is another great resource because in addition to providing links to 570+ newspapers in 50+ countries, it also provides a picture of the frontpage of all of these newspapers. You can head over to Newseum and browse a newspapers front page there and then, if you see something you'd like more information on, the site provides a link to the newspaper's site. You can browse 20-30 front pages in a very short amount of time and cover a lot of ground quickly!

Collegefrontpage.com is a very interesting site because it provides the front page browsing features that Newseum provides - but all the papers are college newspapers. Read your alma matters newspaper or browse the front pages from the Ivy League to see what those crazy kids are saying. Often you'll find a different perspective on top news stories!

WatchingAmerica.com - The final site I'm recommending is unique in that its sole purpose is to provide coverage of what's being said about America in international newspapers. This site is great because it translates the stories before posting them - a feature that is really needed since many international papers do not provide an English translation. Go here to find out what our friends and enemies really think and read the viewpoints that the American press does report on. Be aware - you're probably not going to like all the stories here!

Money Saving Tip: Never Buy a Watch Battery Again

This is just cool. So - you know those watch batteries that you buy periodically that are flat and round and cost like $5.00 for one battery? You'll never buy one again after watching this video:


-

Turns out that some batteries are composed of other batteries and if you buy one (the cheap one), you can get the other (the expensive one). Just watch it and you'll understand what I mean.

Get a Personal Assistant

We've all heard about the whole 'outsource jobs to India' craze that has hit almost every sector of the US economy. The latest one that I've heard about is outsourced personal assistants. Believe it or not, this thing sounds pretty cool!

The LA Times featured an article recently about how well the model actually worked for the writer. The personal assistants obviously can't run errands for you or pick up your kids from school. They can, however, do a LOT of things. Services offered include:

• Schedule doctor appointments
• Book travel
• Give you directions
• Find local service providers (maids, gutter cleaning, whatever)
• Do your online shopping
• Look up phone numbers
• Settle an argument by looking up something for you

The list goes on. Basically anything that you do over the phone, the India-based personal assistant can do for you. They are reachable 24 hours per day and can be reached via website, email, and US-based phone numbers. The two primary sites offering the service are:

AskSunday.com is probably the largest of the companies in this space. Plans start at $29.00 per month. For this fee, you get 30 requests per month. Each request can take no more than 30 minutes to complete and must be able to be accomplished from a distance. Sign-up online, give some information about your service providers, location, etc. and you're ready to start using your own personal assistant!

GetFriday.com is another big player in this space (apparently these companies like to name themselves after days of the week!?). The service works in a similar way - contact them via email and/or phone and they will do administrative tasks for you - things like online research, daily wakeup calls with weather reports, reading bedtime stories to your kids via phone (!?), etc. Their service appears to be a bit more expensive ($10.00 per month and then $15.00 per hour) but they do have more plans and payment options. One of the services they list is Document Creation. I'm assuming that means that they'll create documents for you - not that they'll document how creation happened. I suppose you'll have to ask that question for yourself after you sign up.

If you don't want to pony up for the India-based personal assistant but you could use some reminders and help with your schedule, IWantSandy.com could be what you need. This FREE service is a new web-based service that emails you reminders based on what you tell it to do. You email Sandy things like:
"Remind me to refill my prescription tomorrow" or "Remember that Joe's birthday is 4/14" and Sandy will email you to remind you of things. You can even manage your entire calendar on the site. It allows you to opt in and out of emails, manage lists of things to remember, etc. on the site and then all you have to do is sit back and get email reminders. Pretty nifty little service - and I think that Sandy might be related to Archie's girlfriend Veronica!

So...if you need some help getting life organized, give India a call or see if Sandy can help!

Money Saving Tip: Comparison Shop

As we prepare for the holiday season, I thought I'd do a few more posts on how to shop online. In the coming days I'm planning on doing a step-by-step guide on how to shop online and get the best deal. That, however, is going to take some time to prepare, so in the short-term I thought I'd suggest another money saving tip: Comparison Shopping.

One of the greatest things about the internet is that it makes comparison shopping so easy. Back in the old days, about the only thing people compared prices on was cars. The investment was so large that it was worth your time to go to a few different dealerships to see what kind of deal you could get. Today, the internet gives you the ability to comparison shop on virtually anything you buy. You can do it on your own - surf around to a few sites you know and trust and compare prices. Or you can use sites that do it for you - like the ones I recommend here:

Pricegrabber.com is your standard price comparison site. You type in the name of the item you're looking for (IPod Classic 80GB for example) and it goes out and compares prices across a ton of sites. It details the item price, the tax, shipping charges, and recommends the best overall deal. If you know exactly what you're looking for and just want to find the best price, start here.

Pronto.com offers a little different functionality than just the standard price comparison. It is a 'social' shopping site - meaning it allows people to create profiles, post user reviews, etc. Why would you use this? Perhaps you have an item that you already own and like. You don't know exactly what you're shopping for and you want to find out what someone else who owns and likes this item recommends. Pronto gives you that functionality. It also does some other cool things like allowing you to filter by region - so you can see what's is 'liked' in your area and allowing you to build a 'network' where you and your network can share opinions and reviews amongst yourself. A little different spin on the whole comparison shopping experience.


Dealio.com - Now this is a cool comparison shopping site. Why? Because in addition to searching all the online stores, it also searches Ebay for both 'Buy it Now' auctions and traditional auctions. I mentioned the other day that Ebay is often a great source for deals and this site allows you to find out if the item you're looking for is being offered at a great price on Ebay. The other comparison sites don't do this - so if you're willing to buy something off of Ebay (remember - you can get NEW merchandise there), try Dealio.com.

There are a number of other comparison sites out there: MySimon, Shopping.com, Smarter.com, Shopzilla.com, the list goes on and on (and grows all the time). What I've tried to do here is recommend three sites that offer different spins on comparison shopping - as most of the ones out there are pretty similar. The point is this - if you're shopping, you owe it to yourself to compare prices across sites. Make sure to read the reviews of the retailer before you buy - a small few of the online places are kind of shady. Even if you're headed into the mall to buy something, online comparison shopping can help you know whether you're overpaying or not.

Good luck!

The Fattening of America

Have you ever wondered why it's cheaper to eat fast food than it is to eat something healthy? Why do they charge more for the fruit than they do for the french fries? The sad truth is that our government puts laws, taxes, subsidies, etc. in place that make the system work that way. Consider the following picture:

This picture compares the federal subsidies given each year since 1995 to the Federal Nutrition Guidelines. As you can see, the 9 servings of fruit and vegetables we're supposed to be getting each day are supported by 0.37% of the federal subsidies paid to farmers each year. Pretty sad!

Do you think it's by coincidence that 1 in 3 children born in America today will develop diabetes or that the United States ranks 38th in the world (UNBELIEVABLE) in life expectancy? A large part of why these statistics keep trending toward the negative is because our government has rules in place that make cheeseburgers artificially cheap and fruits and vegetables artificially expensive in comparison.

So - other than the obvious 'wow that's pretty bad' response this might evoke, why is this important and why am I bringing it up? It's because this year, 2007, is a cyclical year for the discussion of what's known as the Farm Bill in the US Congress. This bill is discussed every 5 years and subsidies, laws, etc. are either held up or altered based on the discussion. Unfortunately, it's starting to look more and more like this year's discussion is going to do more for the hydrogenated oil and high-fructose corn syrup industries than it is for the average American consumer. Democrats are stalling because they fear losing seats for freshman legislators from farm states and Republicans are trying to load the bill with extras (more money for the war, etc.).

If you haven't been paying attention to the news or didn't know what they meant when they mentioned the impasse over the Farm Bill, now you know. If you're interested and want more coverage, the San Francisco Chronicle has been covering the bill extensively and has running commentary here.

What I've Read - 2007

One of my goals for 2007 was to read more. I'm definitely doing better than I did in 2006! Here are the books I've read this year:







I didn't love every one of the books, but I think that, with the exception of Drama City, I would recommend all of them. I'm embarassed to say that there are about 25 more that I've started and put down for one reason or another. I'll get to them all eventually!

My 'Green' Posting for Today - 11/14/2007

I recently read an interesting article in a UK newspaper about whether it was 'greener' to use the ubiquitous paper coffee cups offered at every coffee shop I know of or if it made more sense to use the ceramic coffee cups that they offer and then wash/re-use. The answer really surprised me.

According to a research study done in the early 1990s (Dr Martin Hocking - Reusable and Disposable Cups: an Energy-Based Evaluation), you would have to use a ceramic cup over 1,000 times to break even, from an energy use standpoint, with its paper counterpart. Why? Because the kilns that are used to produce the ceramic cup are extraordinarily energy intensive, because you have to use energy to run the cups through a dishwasher, and because ceramic cups break. So, given that fact, Starbucks is doing the right thing by offering their coffee in over 2.3 BILLION paper cups per year right? Not so fast.

The problem with the paper cups like the ones used at Starbucks is that they are coated with a polyethylene plastic - the stuff that keeps the coffee from soaking through the cup and burning you (thus allowing you to sue Starbucks for millions). Most recycling plans do not have the ability to separate the plastic coated inside from the paper shell - rendering these cups unrecyclable. There are also those little white plastic lids to account for. Those things, for the most part, are also unrecyclable.

What should you do given all of this? Take your own cup. My Starbucks fills up my coffee tumbler for $0.43 - a savings of $1.50 each time I use it. I wash this thing by hand (because it says I have to) so there is no dishwasher energy consumed and less likelihood of it breaking. So - the next time you have the choice between paper or ceramic, choose neither and hand them the cup you bring for yourself!

Book Recommendation: Twelve Mighty Orphans

Some of my favorite memories are the times I spent with my dad listening to his stories of playing football in Texas in the mid 1950s. He drove me to school everyday from 7th to 9th grade and we spent a lot of time talking about his experiences and teammates from Waco High. He told me about the greats that he played with and against during that era. Guys like Paul Dickson (who went on to play for the Minnesota Vikings and was part of the 'Purple People Eaters' defense) and Wahoo McDaniel (who went on to star for the Miami Dolphins before becoming a famous professional wrestler!). This book, Twelve Mighty Orphans, brings to mind those stories that dad used to tell.

It is the incredible story of the orphans from the Fort Worth Masonic Home who captured the interest of the entire nation during the 1930s. Led by a half blind coach and fielding a team of only 12 players who were so poor that they often practiced without shoes, the team from the Masonic Home rose to the highest level of high school football in Texas and, in the process, received national attention and acclaim. The story is primarily about the successes the 'Mighty Mites' enjoyed on the football field, but it also tells the sad stories of many of the kids who were orphaned or given up by their parents during the Depression.

Verne Lundquist is quoted as saying that this book may be the single greatest sports book ever. I definitely would not go that far (I can think of 3 or 4 off the top of my head that I liked better), but it's an interesting book and a remarkable story.

Mark Another One Off My List

We can now officially remove 'travel to space' from my list of things to do before I die.

Scientific American

Do you use Ebay?

Everybody and their brother has heard of Ebay - but do you use it? I know a lot of people that are, for some reason, scared to use Ebay. I've been using it for about 8 years now and can tell you that, with only 1 or 2 small exceptions, I've never had a problem with anything I've bought or sold (one lady sold me a pair of pants once that were shorter than listed and wouldn't give me my money back - but thats' about it).

I used to sell books and cds on Ebay but decided that the listing process for those types of items was easier on Amazon. I still, however, sell things other than books and cds on Ebay. It's the world's largest marketplace and you can sell almost anything there. The listing process is easy and there are many tutorials on the site for how to create a listing, so I'm not going to waste time telling you how to do it here.

I primarily use Ebay to purchase things. I purchase all of my shipping supplies (for the cds and books I sell on Amazon) there for far less than I could get them locally. I also buy gifts on Ebay. Many people think it's just a flea market for old/used things, but people sell new stuff on Ebay all the time. You can also use Ebay to find collectible and hard to find items - stuff like a picture of my mom's high school, a cool collectible to hang on the wall in my office, or a lucky rock.

I have a few 'secrets' that I use when I shop on Ebay and today, for the first time ever, I will reveal them to you for your own personal use. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the bidding process on Ebay. I typically purchase the items that are marked 'Buy It Now' (assuming it's a good price) just to avoid having to wait for the auction to end to see if I won it or not. If, however, the item does not have a 'Buy It Now' option, I'm forced to bid. When this is the case, I resort to AuctionSniper.com.

AuctionSniper is a website that can be used to 'snipe' an auction at the last possible second. You simply go to the site, create an account, enter the item number on Ebay that you'd like to bid on, enter your maximum bid on the item, and tell the site how much lead time you want to give (I use 3 seconds before auction end). The site handles the rest. At whatever lead time you specified, AuctionSniper will hit Ebay with your bid and, assuming your maximum bid is not under the bid price at that time, you'll get your bid in at the last second and your competition will not have time to respond. The site will also email you if, at any time before the auction ends, your maximum bid is no longer high enough - so you can go back and raise your bid. The site works like a charm. It's great for auctions that end at a time when you can't be on the computer or for auctions you don't want to monitor (I hate sitting there hitting refresh to see if I won or not only to find out that someone else has sniped the auction!). Try it out! There is a small fee for using the site, but it's worth it.

Another trick I use on Ebay is searching for misspelled items. Believe it or not, many people can't spell. It's true. And I exploit this weakness for my own gain. Missing-Auctions.com is a site that makes searching for these misspelled items easy. You simply go to the site, type in the term that you would search for on Ebay (example: basketball) and the site searches Ebay for all sorts of misspellings of the search term. I just looked and right now, there are 156 auctions on Ebay where the word basketball is misspelled. That means that those auctions get far fewer looks, far fewer bids, and the bid price stays lower as a result. Try it out next time you want to buy something and you can often find a good deal!

Good luck and happy bidding!

Christmas Ideas

Britney reminded me yesterday that people are already asking for Christmas lists and ideas on what to get us this year. To assist you, I have found a way for you to kill two birds with one stone. Baby Wit offers gift sets where you can buy shirts for mom and baby. I've included two for your consideration as you think through ideas for Britney & Bailey.

Sign Me Up for Two

I'm fairly certain I've stumbled upon the most ridiculous piece of jewelry on the market. It's the new Ten Commandments Diamond! It features the Ten Commandments laser inscribed into a diamond that has been cut into the shape of tablets. With this beautiful piece of jewelry, you can keep the commandments close by at all times and, with the aid of a magnifying glass, can read them anytime you wish. It's available in Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish versions! Sign me up for two!

Do You Have a Savings Account?

Well do you? I'm hoping your answer to that question is NO. That's right - I hope you said NO because if you said YES, you're money is atrophying away. Take a look here. What this shows you is that a typical Savings account offered by your standard retail bank (Bank of America, Wachovia, BB&T, whatever) pays an interest rate of.....wait.....wait....0.35%

Holy cow - that's unbelievably terrible. That means that if you give them $1000, they give you $3.50 in a year's time. And that's before you pay tax on your gains! My advice to you is to get your money out of that kind of Savings account immediately. Otherwise you're losing money every day because inflation is AT LEAST 3% per year (which means you better be earning more than 3% on your money or you're losing value rather than gaining it!).

But, you say, where shall I go for better returns and higher levels of satisfaction? Take heed dear friend. I'm here to help you. Look HERE. What this list shows you is the institutions offering Money Market High Yield accounts. The difference between a Savings account and a Money Market account is minimal and equates to basically one key thing:

• Savings accounts are usually a little more liquid - you can move money into your checking account online in real time whereas in a Money Market account it takes about 3 days for money to go from your checking account to the Money Market and about 3 days for you to get your money back out

That's it. Otherwise, they're both places to store your money. Except one grows your money (Money Markets) and one withers your money away (Savings accounts).

So - look at that list of institutions offering Money Market accounts, choose one with a 4-star rating (shown under the bank name), make sure there are no fees or minimum balances, and surf on over to the bank's website to get the account opening process started. I've got 3 different online Money Market accounts that I move money between depending on which is currently paying the highest interest rate. Mine are at ING Direct, Emmigrant Direct, and HSBC Direct. I can vouch for all three of them.

One last thing to keep in mind before you start following my sage advice and moving money around. Keep in mind that FDIC insurance (the government) protects deposits up to $100,000. That means that if a bank goes belly up (like NetBank recently did), you're money in a deposit account is protected up to that amount. So - long story short - don't put more than $100K in any single account or some of your money won't be covered by the FDIC insurance.

Now - get your money moving!

Article Recommendation: Two Athletes, Two Soldiers

I subscribe to Sports Illustrated magazine. I have for quite a while. I used to read it cover to cover but as I've gotten older and the demands on my time have increased, I find less and less time for magazines. Many of the ones that I subscribe to and still enjoy often go unread or just flipped through before they get tossed out.

Recently I happened to grab the October 22 edition and stuff it in my bag to read on the bus on my way to work. In it there is an article by Jack McCallum, a Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated, called "Two Athletes, Two Soldiers". It tells the story of Jack, his best friend Bobby, and a small town hero from New York named Mike. Bobby died in Vietnam nearly 40 years ago. Mike died in Iraq in 2005. Jack never went to Vietnam, never got to say goodbye to Bobby, and never knew Mike. Take a couple of minutes and read it. It is sad and moving, heartfelt and sincere.

Two Athletes, Two Soldiers

I Love the Internet - Part 2

I'll admit it - I watched a lot of TV as a kid. Either that or I just have a good memory because I seem to have all these random shows floating around in my head and nobody else seems to remember them (at least nobody that I've asked about them). Again, the Internet comes to the rescue and proves that, while I may have watched a lot of bad TV as a child, I am not hallucinating when I describe these shows to people.

Shazam


Come on - you don't remember this show about this teenage boy and this creepy old man (his "mentor" whose name, incidentally, was Mentor!?) that traveled around together in a Winnebago? All he had to do was yell out 'Shazam' and he'd turn into a middle aged guy in a tight superhero suit. You don't remember that?! HERE is a much clearer video. I feel sure you'll remember when you see the awesome special effects.

The Space Giants

I remember when we first got cable and WTBS was just getting going. Ted Turner must've gotten this show cheap because it was flat out terrible. I watched a lot of it though. Who doesn't love badly dubbed Japanese shows about a 50 foot robot and his electronic space family? The special effects on this show made the special effects on Shazam look like they would've won an Academy Award for special effects.

In the News

Now I know you remember this. You're sitting in front of the TV with a big bowl of Frankenberry and watching Superfriends and all of the sudden this thing comes on. I probably would have never watched one of these segments except the enormous remote control we had could only turn the gigantic wood paneled tv on and off. I think they figured out that kids hated these because it seems like they were replaced by the Schoolhouse Rock segments.

I love you Internet.

While I'm At It

I figured that while I'm in 'predict the future' mode, I might as well share one more prediction with you. Do you read the newspaper? If so, do you read any newspapers other than your own city's paper? Try reading some global newspapers sometime and see what issues other countries are dealing with. Take a look at these articles:

Much of U.S. Could See a Water Shortage
China Blames Warming for Growing Water Shortages
Water Shortage in India

My prediction is this: if we are already seeing this issue in 2007, in 2037, the wars we waged over oil, a resource we can eventually live without, will seem inconsequential.

Why It's Time to be Concerned

Are you concerned about the economic news we're hearing lately ? Do you understand what's going on in the economy and what the implications/long-term effects are? I'm betting that most people don't. People get bogged down in Dow Jones Averages and Interest Rate Cuts and tune out. Most people are not economists or bankers and, thus, don't really even understand what that stuff is. Now - I'm neither an economist or a banker. I do follow this stuff with interest, however, and I'm going to attempt to give you my explanation of what's happened to get us where we are and what we may be in store for

The Housing Boom - we all heard about it and people rushed to get in on it. Home flipping shows, what can you buy for $XYZ shows, etc. started popping up all over cable. The real estate market has been hot for about the last 5 years. People lost money in the dot com bust and were looking for a place to invest and real estate was where they landed. As a result, builders built more houses & lenders lent more money.

Mortgage Backed Securities - when banks lend you money for your home, they rarely keep the loan. Typically banks pool a bunch of mortgages together and create what's called a Mortgage Backed Security. This essentially is a big pool of mortgages that they sell off in pieces - just like a mutual fund is a big pool of stock shares that is sold off in pieces. This helps diversify the risk - if someone defaults, all the shareholders are impacted a little instead of one lender being impacted a lot.

Lowering of Standards - as the real estate market got hotter, more people wanted in. Banks started issuing loans to less credit worthy individuals - these are the now famous "Subprime Loans". Now you've got people that aren't very solid financially taking out loans for homes and often times they don't even understand what they owe. They take out adjustable rate loans that allow the lender to up the interest rate every so often and suddenly there's a whole bunch of homeowners that can't pay the money back.

Ripple Effects - so...people can't pay back loans and go into foreclosure. Banks now have a lot of bad loans on their books that nobody wants to buy (when they're turned into securities). Securities buyers (most of whom, in this case, are European and Asian banks) now hold securities that are worth less than they paid for them since people aren't paying back the loans. Suddenly the impact of the subprime market starts being felt around the world. Now a bunch of countries have loans/securities that aren't worth what they paid for them. Companies start writing off losses. Stock prices go down. Investment portfolios lose value. Around the world. Remember the adage - When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.

Government Response - banks get scared and start setting higher standards for loans. Many people can't borrow money or can't afford to repay what they've got, so in response, the government cuts interest rates to make debts cheaper to repay. When interest rates go down, foreign investment leaves because they can get a better/higher interest rate elsewhere. The dollar goes down in value against foreign currencies. Americans pay more for imported goods (which we have a ton of in this country).

Right Now - So, in a nutshell, that's where we are right now. Now - one of the big problems that remains to be resolved is the fact that banks aren't good at figuring out exactly how much bad debt they have on their books. If they could've modeled who wouldn't repay loans, they wouldn't have issued the loan in the first place! So now they're trying to figure out what losses are going to actually be. And those numbers are going to be higher than they are right now. Markets are jittery as financial institutions go through this. We're seeing bank runs in some countries and people leaving markets in others. All of these activities serve to make the problem worse.

What's Next - We're in for a rough ride at least in the short term. Oil will definitely be more expensive because the dollar is weak and we have to pay more to bring it into the country. Food prices will go up because it takes oil to transport and manufacture food. Home sales will be next to impossible - you're not going to get what you want to get for your house because there's a glut of new construction (200,000 - 300,000 homes!) that still need to be sold and aren't moving. Interest rates will go down more - the government will continue to lower interest rates to try facilitate borrowing/repayment so that the whole system doesn't freeze up. That means your investments in things like CDs and Savings Accounts become worth less. Consumer confidence will drop - people will spend less, manufacturers will lower output to meet reduced demand, stock prices will slide.

What Should We Do? - This is a big mess. I think the election next year will have some positive effects as consumer sentiments usually change with a change in leadership. One thing we can all do is pay close attention to the Presidential race and vote somebody in with some good ideas on resolving this crisis. Make a plan now for what you'll do if gas prices go WAY up (ride the bus, carpool, etc.). Work with your financial adviser if you're nearing retirement age and can't afford to take a big hit in your portfolio in the short term. It may be time to switch into some different types of investments with lower, but guaranteed, returns.

That's my opinion on where we are, how we got here, and where we're going. Sorry it's not super positive. The good news is that we all have disposable things in our lives that we could cut out without much impact to our lifestyle and we live in a country that has seen this stuff before (the Depression, Inflation in the 70's, stock market crash of 1987, etc.) and we've got some measures in place to prevent a total economic collapse. That said, get ready for some choppy waters!!

I Love the Internet

I often ask Britney what life was like before the Internet. I honestly have a hard time remembering what I used to do to find information. I guess I sort of remember spending a lot of time in the library looking at reference books. Not good times. On that same subject, what did people do at work before computers? I guess you filled out a lot of forms by hand and typed a bunch of stuff on typewriters?! I digress...

One of the things I like most about the Internet is its ability to confirm things that I think I know but am not sure about. Today, I confirmed the existence of two movies that I thought I remembered seeing when I was a kid but was not absolutely positive that I hadn't just made them up (I saw them both when I was sick and home from school so I thought maybe I'd had some kind of fever-induced dream).

Bad Ronald (1974)

You can't blame me for not knowing if this was real or not because this movie was just flat out weird. This kid accidentally kills another kid and his mom ends up hiding him in the house by walling him into a pantry closet. The mom goes to the doctor for some routine procedure and ends up dying, leaving this kid living in this house to spy on the family that moves in next. Trust me - it was weird. But I did actually see it!

Bless the Beasts and the Children (1971)

I've heard the theme song enough times to know that this was a real movie. What I couldn't be sure on was whether or not I remembered the plotline correctly (I did!). It was about these misfit kids (some of them teenagers?!) that did stuff like wet the bed, so they get sent away to summer camp to be around other weird kids and they end up going on some crusade to free a bunch of corralled buffalo. I tell you, they don't make 'em like this anymore. Thank God.

The Baseball Bunch

This was just my favorite show to watch on Saturday mornings. I'd watch this show and then go put on my baseball uniform - even if the game was at like 4PM and the show went off the air at 8:30AM. Then I'd go outside and throw tennis balls against the house and wake everyone up so I could practice catching fly balls. Good times!