Everybody Loves Your Money » Links to Love

Color Pictures from 1939-1943

Hazzard — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:29:00 +0000

Check out this fascinating collection of color photographs of people during the last years of the Great Depression. It’s really fascinating to see how people lived back then and then compare that to how people are living today. The color adds such a punch to each of the pictures.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-america-in-color-from-1939-1943/

Investment Broker Facing Sentencing

Hazzard — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:16:00 +0000

ING Investment Broker, Rhonda Breard, appeared to have it all. She owned 3 luxury homes and 27 cars, trucks, boats and RV’s. She even had her own Infomercials titled, “Help Me Rhonda”.

Unfortunately for all the investors, it was all a scam. Rhonda stole over $11 million over at least 10 years. Now she’s facing upwards of 8 years in jail. She cites the need to live like all the rich people around her (and believe me, there are plenty of wealthy individuals in the Kirkland, WA area) as much of the reason for her scams. It’s a classic case of materialism and keeping up with the Jones’ with a felony twist.

Here’s the article about her: Seattle Times

The Story of Alexandra Jarrin After 99 Weeks of Unemployment

Hazzard — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:35:00 +0000

The New York Times has an article about Alexandra Jarrin. Alexandra has spent the last couple years on unemployment. She exhausted her benefits and now is struggling to make it day to day. She has a college degree and was working on her masters but ultimately lost her job as “Director of client services” in March of 2008.

It’s always quite interesting to read about someone’s personal situation and I found myself feeling sorry for Alexandra. She has clearly exhausted pretty much all of her options, including handouts from friends.

Personal observations/opinions:

It kind of feels like Alexandra bought in to the illusion that simply getting a degree would drastically improve her odds of being employed. Unfortunately, just having a degree doesn’t necessarily solve any problems for her. At her age, I think her work experience is probably even more important and that didn’t generate $92K in debt (like her college did). Don’t get me wrong. I admire her for being so motivated to get a degree while working and I don’t want to discount the effort she put in to it. I’m just saying that I think she may have been better off avoiding the college debt and trying to improve her skills through less expensive ways. Now she is unemployed and has a $92K bill that is pretty much going to follow her for the rest of her life since it normally can’t be forgiven via bankruptcy etc. As she misses payments on the debt the fees will cause the balance to increase even further.

Like I said earlier, I feel bad for her. She tried to do the right thing and is now finding herself in a desperate situation.

Anyway, it’s definitely an article worth reading. Go check it out.

Woman Conducts IPO on Her Future Earnings

Hazzard — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:13:00 +0000

Wow. Kjerstin Erickson has decided to offer some of her future income for cash up front. She is currently seeking investors to invest $600K with her in exchange for 6% of her lifetime earnings.

It’s a very interesting approach. Two others have decided to seek $300K in exchange for 3% of their future earnings. Would you consider doing this? I guess it depends on what you thought you’d do with the $600K. I think I’d tend NOT to do this. Money is relatively cheap these days. If you have a solid business plan, it’s possible that you could find an angel investor to fund your business and let them share a bit more of the risk.

Anyway, I found it pretty darned fascinating:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100501/is-this-a-smart-way-to-get-funding.html

Want to See if Your Bank is in Trouble?

Hazzard — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:47:00 +0000

MSNBC has a feature on their website that lets you check the health of your bank or credit union. I took a look at my credit union and found that they have a troubled asset ratio of 18. That’s actually pretty good. There are over 389 banks (as of Dec 31 2009) that had a troubled asset ratio of over 100 which means that they had more troubled loans than they had money set aside to cover potential losses.

It’s definitely worth taking a look to see where your bank or credit union falls.

Most Americans Still Unprepared for Retirement

Hazzard — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:57:00 +0000

Wow. CNNMoney has an article up today about a recently released survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. They surveyed 1153 US workers and retirees older than 25 years of age in January. Here are some of the results:

54% of workers said they have less than $25,000 saved for retirement

24% have delayed their retirement in the past year

27% of workers said they have less than $1000 saved

43% have less than $10,000 saved for retirement

Personally, I think there is a reason that defined benefit plans like pensions have been such a popular thing. It would appear that the majority of people either don’t know how to save, or have never been able to put themselves in a financial position to have the extra money to save at the end of the month. Either way, it doesn’t speak well for our collective future. While I’m glad not to be in any of the statistics above, I still wonder how it will impact me.

Do We Need Earthquake Insurance?

Hazzard — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:09:00 +0000

This is a question I’ve struggled with over the years and have posted about in the past. I’ve gone back and forth on whether I should have earthquake insurance. A few years back, I decided that the odds were against me and I bought some. The premiums are $370 per year which is not that bad for a $315,000 house.

A few things help me keep the price down. My house is on a level lot, it’s pretty much all wood and is newer construction that incorporates a lot of the more current earthquake reinforcements.

What brought this up for me again is CNNMoney has an article that talks about who should consider getting the coverage. Since I live in the “RED” zone (Pacific Northwest), it just reinforces my decision to have earthquake insurance. There is no question that we will have a large earthquake here. The only question is when. Paying $370 per year gives me the peace of mind that I can put my house back together if we have the “big one”.

Check out the map and see if you live in a hot zone.

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Your Money: The Missing Manual

Hazzard — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:17:58 +0000

JD over at Get Rich Slowly has written a book that is due to be released shortly. JD has built up a massive following at Get Rich Slowly and his writing style is top notch. If his book is half as good as his blog (I’m sure it’s just as good), it should be a great read!!

You can pre-order it on Amazon.com right now!

Here is the description of the book:

Keeping your financial house in order is more important than ever. But how do you deal with expenses, debt, taxes, and retirement without getting overwhelmed? This book points the way. It’s filled with the kind of practical guidance and sound insights that makes J.D. Roth’s GetRichSlowly.org a critically acclaimed source of personal-finance advice.

You won’t find any get-rich-quick schemes here, just sensible advice for getting the most from your money. Even if you have perfect credit and no debt, you’ll learn ways to make your rosy financial situation even better.

Get the info you need to make sensible decisions on saving, spending, and investing

Learn the best ways to set and achieve financial goals

Set up a realistic budget framework and learn how to track expenses

Discover proven methods to help you eliminate debt

Understand how to use credit wisely

Win big by making smart decisions on your home and other big-ticket items

Learn how to get the most from your investments by avoiding rash decisions

Decide how — and how much — to save for retirement

Anyway, based on what I know about JD, it’s definitely worth reading!

Bob’s Red Mill Owner Gives Company to Employees

Hazzard — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:51:00 +0000

In a sign that not all people are capitalistic monsters, Bob Moore, the founder of Bob’s Red Mill in Oregon, has decided to give his company to the 209 employees that work there. Bob could have sold the company for a large sum of money but decided that money isn’t everything. WOW!

Bob has turned down a number of buyout offers over the years and the business continues to grow steadily. A company news release shows that they are growing over 20% annually.

In order to qualify for a stake in the ownership, an employee needs to be vested over a three year period.

I’ve been down to their retail store in Oregon and was very impressed with the operation. I have purchased a number of their gluten free products and have never been disappointed. It’s a great company!

Anyway, I just love reading stories like this. It seems to blur out many of the other negative stories out there about “profit at all cost”. I bet Bob sleeps pretty darned good at night!

Family Gives Up Their Lifestyle to Help Others

Hazzard — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:13:46 +0000

Parade has a great article about a family that moved in to their dream home but ultimately sold it, bought a house that was much smaller and half the price, and then donated the difference to charity. One thing that I found interesting about their story is that doing this didn’t hurt their family, rather it actually helped them become closer.

It doesn’t sound like they’ve regretted one bit of their decision. We also live in a house that’s too big for us and I’ve often thought about downsizing. While we’ve thought about it, we haven’t made any moves and certainly haven’t considered the incredible sacrifices that this family made!

Here is the article:
http://www.parade.com/news/2010/01/17-why-we-gave-away-our-home.html