Everybody Loves Your Money

I have to admit. Personal finance is not the only thing that interests me. Luckily I work in computing and absolutely love technology. I’ve mentioned before that I could easily spend everything I’ve got on electronics and computers. Our house has a high “PC to person” ratio, mostly because I’ve got a few older machines besides our current ones. I justify the money that I do spend on PC’s and software by the fact that I do this for a living and the more I learn about computing, the better I can perform in my job.

The best thing about computers is all the free stuff that you can get on the web. You can really find some pretty interesting stuff out there. I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite free items that I use. Maybe you’ll see something in the list you haven’t heard of, and go download it for yourself, for free of course.

http://earth.google.com
This is one of the most amazing products I’ve ever seen. If you have a reasonably current computer, go download Google Earth and try it out. You can spend hours and hours virtually flying around the globe and zooming in on things. You can literally see cars on the road from a web of satellite photos. (not real time but usually current within a couple years). There are even sites popping up that help you “Google Earth Sightsee“

http://www.konfabulator.com
Yahoo just purchased a company that has a product called “Widgets”. Basically Widgets are simple applications that will sit anywhere on your desktop and perform a variety of tasks. The graphical icons are very nice and there are over 640+ apps that you can check out. I’m using a battery monitor, wifi monitor, analog clock and a couple others on my laptop and love them. Yep. It’s all free. Once you download and install this program, be sure to check out the Widget Gallery to find others you can use.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox
Firefox is an alternative browser to Internet Explorer. I like it because it feels less bloated and is faster than Internet Explorer. It also supports some pretty neat “plugins” including things like “BugMeNot” which allows you to log in to sites that require subscriptions anonymously. Firefox is pretty much all I use now. And it’s completely FREE.

http://www.comcast.net/security
Are you a Comcast customer? If so, you can download and use McAfee virus scan and other security products for free as part of your Comcast service. This can save you $40 a year for their subscription. If you don’t have Comcast, check with your internet provider. They might also offer free security software.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Go check out the “Powertoys” at Microsoft.com. These are applications that people within MS have written to enhance XP. I especially like the customizations you can do with the “TweakUI” app, and also like that I can resize photos with the “Image Resizers”. There are a few other applications that you may like as well. Oh yeah, and it’s all FREE.

Lavasoft Adaware Spyware Removal
Just about everyone I know has Spyware on their computer, whether they realize it or not. I HATE spyware. I think it should be illegal. The best application that I’ve found for removing spyware is Lavasoft Adaware. It’s easy to use and does a good job of removing all that spyware. Most people are amazed at how much faster their computer is once they get the spyware removed. If you aren’t using any spyware removal software, this one’s worth a look. Yep. It’s FREE

Those guys over at NetworthIQ (assuming they are “guys”) are making good progress. Not only can you input your net worth and make it public or private, but you can also now compare your networth with others that have made their profiles public.

You can sort by:
Age
Income
Education
Occupation

You can also view the most popular, and highest net worth individuals. Good stuff. The more we can slice and dice it the better. I was especially interested in viewing the correlation between education and net worth levels.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, or lately, go over and look it over. It’s worth a few minutes of your time. http://www.networthiq.com

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/25/pf/millionaire/rp_johnson/index.htm

CNN Money has a new Millionaire in the making profile. These folks are doing VERY well. Might have something to do with their very nice income level, but it’s obviously also due to their aggressive savings rates. I know most people that make their income level, also spend at that level. Congratulations to them for figuring this out early!

Check it out

I wanted to follow up my post from the carnival of personal finance with more articles and some resources for teaching kids about money. Below you’ll find a few articles about how the tide seems to be slowly turning towards getting our kids prepared for their financial lives. The last link has lots of resources to take it the next step.

http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=14703
Ideas to make your kids money managers. This is a short article from Readers Digest that gives a couple of Robert Kiyosaki’s ideas for teaching kids how to be good with money.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/general/2005-03-24-mym_x.htm
Slowly but surely, it seems like we are starting to see an emphasis on educating our youth in high school and college.

New York Times article
Another article about getting a curriculum in schools to help kids prepare to manage their finances for the rest of their lives.

http://credit.about.com/od/teachingourkids/
Great resources for teaching your kids about money.

*Updated* — New link added:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BD9EABCCE%2D59A4%2D4E71%2DB414%2D7D6283F17D2F%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=
What can I say. Everybody loves your money. More profit for them, means more of your money in their pocket. Credit card spending is up, and AMEX has an increased number of customers. Glad it isn’t me.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/233883_boomers25.html
The first of the official baby boomers just became eligible to retire. Let all the worry about the economy begin now. My guess is that the majority of the boomers won’t retire yet due to their net worth.

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com
The Carnival of Personal Finance part 6 is up at Free Money Finance. Yours truly has one post up there. Check out all the interesting personal finance blog links up there today.

http://www.marketwatch.com
Should you choose your funds like you choose your cereal? Pretty good article about mutual fund investing.

Normally, I’d say it’s a cheap night if I’m home putting up some ramblings on my blog, although, the catch tonight is that my wife is out with a couple girlfriends from college. Probably won’t be too expensive though. She doesn’t drink much and is always watching her spending, so I can’t complain.

Time to Ebay a few things. I just got a heck of a deal on a new laptop from Dell. Over 50% off with all the online coupon codes so it only set me back about $600. I have a serious electronics “fetish” that I continually struggle to control. On the plus side, I’ve had a lot of luck selling items on Ebay for a profit. I’m planning on selling a few items to offset the money I spent on the new laptop. Additionally, I worked some overtime last week which will cover the rest.

So, I’ve got that purchase covered without impacting our budget. I’m chalking it up to “living a little now” spending. For the hardcore savers out there, I’m sure this is pure heresy. I have to admit, there is a part of me that thinks I’m nuts for buying this laptop, but I’m sure I’ll get over the buyer’s remorse. Luckily my income level lets me do a little of this without derailing my financial goals. I know i could reach these goals faster if I buckled way down, but I just don’t think that would be the right decision. We’ve got to splurge a little now, rather than save everything for a point in the future that might never come. We tend to cut ourselves a little slack since our savings rates are quite high. (We are only living on 65% of our income and only have mortgage debt)

Anyway, I guess I’ve done the best I can at rationalizing this purchase. Worst case scenario, I’ll sell it on Ebay and get all my money back if I find I’m not using it enough, or just can’t get over the guilt of spending the money.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/22/pf/ask_expert/index.htm
This article addresses the reality of many, many people in our society. What do you do if you are nearing retirement and you haven’t started saving for retirement yet?

This is a perfect example of the value of educating young people in high school about compound interest and what a drastic difference you can make in your retirement by saving early.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/20/pf/shopper_0508/index.htm
A few other bloggers have linked to this article, but I wanted to put it in here just in case you haven’t seen it. This article, is amazing. It really highlights how our consumption based society can really screw a person up. I’m struck with how big of a hole this woman built for her family and noticed that they really could make a lot more progress by changing their lifestyle even further.

http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/050721/14173.html
6 mortgage myths that can save you money. The term of the loan, and the type of loan are a critical thing to consider when buying a home. Based on your short and long term goals, each loan has it’s benefits.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4705899.stm
Credit card companies are building information sites that can help you identify what card is right for you. Hmmmm. Isn’t that a little like a drug dealer recommending either the crack, the meth, or the heroine? I’m not sure I trust them.

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/7/emw263778.htm
Article talks about the fact that many people who are in foreclosure also have lots of high interest debt. Also talks about how some companies are raising their minimum payment which may trigger more fees for the households that can’t afford it. Seems unethical to change the terms on money that you already borrowed. They can’t do that in the mortgage industry, but with no regulations on the credit card companies, it’s open season.

I have read so many different personal finance blogs, and left quite a few comments because I find it really interesting to have dialogue with others that share my interest in personal finance. In an attempt to create more dialogue, I thought I’d post questions once in awhile for everyone to answer by leaving comments. I’m hoping to find that the most interesting items to read will be in the comments that everyone leaves. So here it goes. I hope you’ll offer your input:

You’ve all heard it before. “Everyone should save 10% of their income”. Here’s the question:


What would happen if all of a sudden, starting tomorrow, every single wage earner in America saved 10% of their income?


Think big.
What would happen to the economy?
What would happen to different industries over time?
What would happen to people?

Your honor. The charges against my client are ridiculous. All the evidence is circumstancial. The paint? What paint? Oh, that paint? Uhhhh, he simply fell in a puddle of gold paint. That has nothing to do with these paint sniffing charges:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0721051gold1.html

Okay, so it has nothing to do with personal finance, but I did find it funny.

Jonathon at Mymoneyblog had a really good post that described his background. He got a lot of comments from that post and it was pretty apparent that people found his background interesting. (I know I did)

I thought I’d post my background to give people an idea of who is blogging here.

I come from a blue collar family from Washington state. My family owned a struggling small business for many years (about 17). I was a child, and then teenager for many of these years and started helping out in the store at the age of 13. By the time I was 16, I was running the store on the weekends so that my parents could have a day off. About minimum wage was all that they could afford to pay me then. Through those years, I watched my mother struggle to pay the bills each month, sometimes even taking from one place, to pay another. Prioritizing the bills (as to which got paid first) was a standard practice. I can remember worrying about what would happen if the bills didn’t get paid at the age of 14 years old. As I got older, I struggled to get through junior college, while still helping out at the store (so my parents could have a day off) and also holding down another job during the week. Neither of my parents had gone to college and hadn’t pushed me to go either. I paid the cost of going to college with money that I was earning at my jobs. At the time, I was also driving a commercial truck locally. The store finally went out of business and my dad took a maintenance job at a large office building. It was about that time that I decided I had to finish college. I saved over $14000 while living at my parent’s house, and then gave notice at my job. I was headed over to college to finish. I can still hear my father’s voice telling me that he didn’t know if that was the right thing to do since I was making more money at the time, than he had ever made. At the time, the hardest thing I had ever done was to quit that job. I had been making $30000 per year, which felt like a lot of money. Then, to go to school and watch the savings deplete with no source of income, was extremely difficult. I managed to pull it off though. (I ended up working on campus to slow the depletion of my savings) While it was the hardest decision I had ever made (to go off to school), it was also the best decision I had ever made. That college degree gave me the springboard to be where I am today.

These experiences are what set me on a path to being financially secure. The amount of dread and worry about finances that I had at such a young age has stayed with me all these years. I vowed to never worry about whether I was going to lose my job, or have enough money after payday to cover the bills. I used to save up paychecks, just to see how many I could save without cashing them. By doing this, I felt like I had options. I look back now and feel grateful that I have had these experiences. It caused me to seek out information that has taught me strong money management skills. I learned all about “The Rule of 72”, and compound interest, and saw, at the age of 19, how powerful it is to start saving early. I didn’t come from money and I know that the majority of the population didn’t either. I guess that’s why I have taken such an interest in personal finance blogs. I don’t think I know everything, in fact, I readily admit that I’m an amateur. I can’t figure the net present value of something off the top of my head and I don’t understand the markets very well, but I do understand what I consider to be the “basics”

-Spend less money than you earn
-Invest as much as you can as early as you can (front load)
-Don’t be consumed by our materialistic society
-Recognize that most of those people you think are successful, are most likely just in debt
-Don’t try to keep up with the Jones’
-And a bunch more that you can read on just about any of the personal finance blogs

I’m excited to feel enlightened and in control of my finances and I wish the same feelings for everyone else who weren’t blessed with a silver spoon in their mouth. Once you experience being in control of your financial future, it really is addictive. That’s why I enjoy blogging about it. If anything I’ve written gives someone even one new idea, or point of view that helps them get the addiction to being financially “free”, then I’m happy.