Personal Finance

I came across an interesting piece at

Money.com about Ben franking and his time management which has put this on my list to read (you can read it here for free). From the article:

The book is mostly, as advertised, an autobiography -- sprinkled as most good autobiographies are with the occasional life lesson. One is astounded by all that Franklin manages to do (he teaches himself French, Spanish, and Italian in the evenings after full days of running a print shop, publishing a newspaper, and busying himself with Pennsylvania politics).

There is a steady stream of advice about interpersonal relations, the common thread of which is this: You can get a lot more accomplished if you let others take the credit. Franklin also argues that you can be more productive at work if you don't drink rum or beer all day, apparently a revolutionary concept in the 18th century...

Ben Franklin certainly didn't (achieve the organization he wanted). As a small-businessman he had to jump at the whims of his customers. Also, his interests were so many that he struggled to keep track them all. "I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order," he admitted in the Autobiography. "But on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of attaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and happier man ..."

This is perhaps the most appealing aspect of Franklin's time-management advice: He was an admitted failure at it, and yet that was ... okay. Which is just about the most inspirational message conceivable.

An interesting article over at

Money.com that says while Americans currently have a saving rate of less than zero, the Chinese have a personal savings rate of approximately 30%.

Previous Total: $162.64

Current Total: $231.18

Inventory: 1 book, 5 photos

I had another

photo sell, this time for $74.95. That means on the initial $20 investment I made for the 10 photos and 1 book, I've sold 5 for nearly $200 (not counting expenses). I need to make more finds like this!

The photos were ending in close to 12 hours and once you hit the 12 hour mark, you can't make changes to them. I knew I had overpriced them when I first listed, but wanted to make sure I didn't sell them too cheap since I don't have a lot of experience with selling photos on eBay. I spent $0.80 to extend the two photos I had priced at $99.95 and lowered their price to $74.95. One of them sold almost immediately.

There were $5.61 in fees + the $0.80 for extending the auctions for a profit of $68.54.

I'm still quite undecided on the Pearl Harbor photos - with what these other photos went for I would assume the Pearl harbor photos would go for several hundred at the very least. Then again, if I make copies and sell them I could have a constant income from them depending on how popular they are. Still need to think more about that.

At least I'm moving in the right direction again with the challenge!

For those of you that do shopping on Amazon.com, here is

a nice little tool that can save you some money. Amazon policy is that if the price of an item drops during the 30 day period after you purchase it, you can claim a refund for the difference. The problem is, who has the time to monitor the prices of the items once they are purchased? That's where this little tool comes into play.

Called the Amazon Price Watch, it monitors the items you purchased for 30 days after you have made the purchase from Amazon. You simply enter the ISBN number (for books) or the ASIN number (for all other items) and you will automatically be emailed if the price of the product you purchased decreases in price.

The service is also helpful for those who want to purchase a certain item, but want to wait until it goes on sale or is marked as a clearance item.

Previous Total: $162.64

Current Total: $162.64

Inventory: 1 book, 6 photos

For those who are looking to make some of their money for the challenge through eBay, here is a good article on a couple that is making hundreds of dollars a day virtually risk free.

A risk-free recipe for success on eBay

It's very similar to my hobby shop approach, except they are doing much larger volumes and hitting a base of customers that are much wider than me. The thing to remember is that is is often seemingly dull items that can earn you a lot.

Previous Total: $96.56

Current Total: $162.64

Inventory: 1 book, 6 photos

I just had two more of the photos I purchase sell - one for

$49.95 and the other for $24.95. Subtract $8.82 for expenses and that allows me to add another $66.08 to my total.

It looks like I will need to spend some time this weekend hunting for new inventory for this challenge...

Previous Total: $98.36

Current Total: $96.56

Inventory: 1 book, 8 photos

I forgot that I also added a four of the local hobby shop items during the campaign at $0.45 per listing for a total of $1.80 which I have subtracted from above.

I almost always list with gallery (which costs ($0.35) becasue it makes it so much easier for people viewing your auctions to navigate and find what they like. If I were selling less expensive items, I might not, but for most of my items it makes sense.

Hopefully most of the items listed will sell and I can add to my profits this week (fingers crossed).

Previous Total: $55.50

Current Total: $98.36

Inventory: 1 book, 8 photos

I've received a number of emails asking me exactly what I'm selling. I'll likely write a post later on explaining exactly how I got into selling Japanese collectibles, but currently my main focus is on pre WW2 collectibles. For those that are interested in seeing what I sell,

you can do so here.

It was an interesting day listing items on eBay and I did manage to get up over 50 fixed price auctions, but of those, only 6 are for the $20 Challenge. This is what happened.

I've haven't done a lot of selling of WW2 photos in the past, but when I saw a group of photos and book for $20 -- and knew the book itself should sell for more than that -- I figured the photos were a bonus. Trying to price them was the challenge since I don't have a lot of reference in this area from past experience. I decided that I would list then for a minimum of $24.95 each with a couple at $99.95. The higher priced photos are probably a bit over-priced, but the subject of both of them is pretty unique and I didn't want to under-price them. I can always adjust them later if they don't sell.

One listed, two of the photos sold right away: Japanese Soldiers Marching In Singapore and Empire Dock Japanese Soldier Banzai - for $24.95 each. After expenses of placing all six on auction and the final value and paypal fees, it leaves me with a profit of $42.86 and my current earnings look as follows:

Since the sale of those two photos more than paid for the entire purchase, any sale from now on will be pure profit. In addition, there is an extremely interesting twist with the photos:



What surprised me was that the 4 additional photos I didn't put on are photos of Pearl Harbor and I'm pretty confident that they are original Japanese Navy issued photos (from the way I obtained them to the differences I've seen from other photos posted online). Looking on eBay, there are a few people selling reproductions of these photos for $5 - $10 each. So the question I'm faced with on these is whether to make reprints and sell them at a cheap price, but that can last forever, or sell the originals that could probably command several hundred dollars if not more.

Another reason I'm fairly confident that they are original is that although the photo above is well documented on the Internet, some of the other photos I purchased I have not been able to locate at all on the Internet. If they were reproductions, I would assume that they would be easily found. The photos that are not well documented on the Internet especially have the potential at being being resold over a long period of time - a different type of passive income. I will definitely have to consider how I want to approach this to maximize the profit from this lucky find.

Although I'm a bit wiped out from listing all the items, it looks like the effort was well worth the time. 10 of the items I placed up have already sold and it looks like this one day will generate enough so that I don't have to worry about auctions for the rest of March if I don't want to.

Previous Total: $55.50

Current Total: $55.50

Inventory: 1 book, 10 photos

I have been out of the challenge for a bit now working on these blogs and other things with the sites, but it's definitely time to start doing it again and get back on pace. I was going to let March bring me back into the swing of things, but I just received an email from eBay saying that 2/28 is a $0.10 fixed price day.

If you have things and you know what their worth, start piling them on eBay. Especially expensive items since this will greatly reduce your shipping costs. I plan to list at least 50 items including the book and photos I have in inventory, all the items I can get at the local hobby shop and I may make a quick run to see if I can find a few more things to put on.

I will also be moving all the items in my eBay store out and onto the fixed price platform as this is a method I've used successfully over the last few years. Going to be a bust night, but hopefully it will add a lot to the challenge by the end of next week.

The TV Media doesn't think very - a quote from Geraldine Laybourne, the head of Oxygen Media, speaking out against the a la carte cable TV plan.

“TV viewers often don't know what they want to watch until it's there for them as an option.”

Well, there you go. We don't know what we want to watch so we should pay more to figure it out. Did I miss some logic somewhere?

A new article in

USA today reminded that I wrote about this a couple of months back - being in Asia when the SARS outbreak happened probably makes me a bit more paranoid, but with it spreading widely in Europe now, it seems just a matter of time. This is what the USA Today article recommends:



Food: Items that can be eaten without cooking (in case the power is out), such as peanut butter and crackers; canned meat, fish, fruits and vegetables; baby food and formula; dry cereals; protein bars; beverages; and a manual can opener.

Medical needs: Prescription medicines such as glucose and blood pressure monitoring equipment; anti-diarrhea medicines; a thermometer; and fluids with electrolytes (such as Gatorade or Pedialyte). Stock up on personal needs such as toilet paper, baby diapers, feminine supplies and hand-washing supplies.

Activities: Home-learning supplies, in case schools are closed, and toys, books, games and DVDs to keep people occupied.

Other supplies: Flashlight, portable radio, batteries, trash bags, bleach, paper towels and matches.

and what I previously recommended:

1. Buy a good supply of surgical masks: You can get these at your local drug store or home improvement store. Once the outbreak happens, there will be a run on these at your local stores and they soon won't be available. Supply and demand will cause their prices to rise quite a bit in second hand markets like ebay. How do I know? That is exactly what happened in Japan when the SARS outbreak occurred.



The masks are not so much for preventing people from coughing directly in your face as keeping your hands away from your nose and mouth. The virus is much more likely to be transmitted as follows than you getting coughed on directly in the face:

-- Someone with the virus touches his nose getting the virus on his hand

-- He opens a door leaving the virus on the door knob

-- You opened the same door after him getting the virus on your hand

-- you unconsciously touch your nose contracting the virus

Which brings us to number

2. Get in the habit of washing your hands regularly: As a former teacher with lots of kids running around with runny noses, you learn to wash your hands constantly to make it through the school year without getting sick. If you have kids, get them in the habit of washing their hands several times a day (the more the better). Once the flu comes, if they aren't in the habit of washing their hands often already, you aren't going to be able to teach them in that short period of time.

3. Wash thoroughly: From what I've read, bacterial soap in itself won't kill the flu virus, but the main reason to wash you hands isn't to kill it.

"The soap isn't meant to kill the bug, its purpose is to make your hands slippery, so the virus slides off under water."

That means taking the time to wash hands thoroughly so all the virus slips off.

4. When the outbreak occurs, change your habits: You're not going to be able to lock yourself inside when the outbreak occurs since it will last a full season (several months), but avoiding crowds will be a good habit to get into. Crowds are always an easy place for the flu to spread. If you have kids with play groups or other activities, you'll want to consider cancelling them for a season.

5. Get the vaccine immunization when available: I doubt the government will have enough medication to go around when the flu outbreak occurs and the limited supplies they have will go to high risk patients (elderly, children, those with compromised immune systems, etc). The fact is, antibiotics don't work on the flu virus (they work on bacteria), so there is little the doctor can do once you get sick. Since the virus will be totally new, even the drugs that doctors think may help in reality may or may not, so you don't want to count on these (thus prepare not to get it in the first place). Once the virus is identified, however, they will culture it to make a vaccine. As soon as that vaccine is ready and available, get immunized with it.

While nobody hopes that this happens, experts say it's only a matter of time - if not this avian flu, then some other. Preparing and stocking up now will not only better your chances of avoiding the flu all together, preparation will save you a lot if prices spike due to panic.

One of the true joys (**sarcasm dripping all around**) of living in a foreign country is that you not only get to do your US taxes, but also the taxes in the foreign country. Japanese tax forms are actually a lot less complicated than US tax forms except for one teeny, weeny factor... they're in Japanese!.

I struggled with my Japanese taxes until 4:00 AM (made a promise to my wife to have them done) so I'm a bit sleep punchy today. At one point I just needed a few laughs to get me through the process and came across these tax quotes I had gathered a couple years back. If any of you are struggling with taxes, hope these can bring a smile to your face:

1. "I owe the government $3,400 in taxes. So I sent them two hammers and a toilet seat." - Michael McShane

2. "Day in and day out, your tax accountant can make or lose you more money than any single person in your life, with the possible exception of your kids." - Harvey Mackay

3. "There's nothing wrong with the younger generation that becoming taxpayers won't cure." - Dan Bennett

4. "I'm proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is—I could be just as proud for half the money." - Arthur Godfrey

5. "Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents?" - Peg Bracken

6. "Worried about an IRS audit? Avoid what's called a red flag. That's something the IRS always looks for. For example, say you have some money left in your bank account after paying taxes. That's a red flag." - Jay Leno

7. "If you get up early, work late, and pay your taxes, you will get ahead -- if you strike oil." - J. Paul Getty

8. "On my income tax 1040 it says 'Check this box if you are blind.' I wanted to put a check mark about three inches away." - Tom Lehrer

9. "What's the difference between a tax auditor and a rottweiler? A rottweiler eventually lets go." - anonymous

10. "It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta." - Dave Barry

It's always a nice break when I come across a piece written about personal finance or saving money that has a bit of humor in it (I think that is one aspect of personal finance education that is almost non existent - if you could write a personal finance book that also incorporated humor, you'd have a great tool to teach plus make a lot of money)

In my daily reading I came across this article titled

The Cost of Saving Money Is Adding Up: After a careful review of our household finances, I have come to the conclusion that we can't afford things that pay for themselves.

Once we have the new furnace installed, I consider having all the windows replaced, because it seems like a shame to have all that brand-new heat going outside. So I call a window company to come out and give us an estimate. The estimate is about 4,000 times higher than I expected.

"I know it sounds expensive," the salesperson concedes, "but these windows will pay for themselves."

"How soon?"

"Well, depending on various factors, no more than 20 years."

"I won't be living here in 20 years," I reply. "In 20 years I'll probably be living someplace where they come along every couple of hours and wipe the applesauce off your chin."

While the article takes jabs at investing in appliances that "pay for themselves" over time, it brings up a valid point and one where you need to seriously consider how you will be using the items you purchase. Buying the cheapest doesn't always save you money if it costs more to run while investing in an appliance that will "pay for itself" doesn't make sense if you're not going to be there to benefit from the savings (this is not taking environmental factors into account which would be a separate argument).

If you've been reading a lot of personal finance lately, take a short break to read this and put a smile back on your face before tackling more articles...

I came across

this post about a dollar store that is increasing its prices:

On my last visit (to my local dollar store), I saw a sign on the door, telling us customers that owing to the cost of things generally and energy specifically some prices would be raised to $1.25 and others to $2.

Part of the marketing that makes dollar stores work is the idea of a simple, low cost amount. It doesn't seem to work well when you start changing that. I understand that these stores must be under extreme price pressures with the increase in costs, but if they leave the original marketing approach, I think they will have even more trouble surviving.

I think that anyone who writes hopes that those who read the writing find the information useful and worth their time. For me, often the best gauge on whether I have accomplished this is when others take the time to recommend one of my sites. It's the ultimate compliment when someone is willing to tell others that visiting here is worthwhile. I was recently informed about a nice write-up that I received from

Harbor Credit:

Financial wisdom. It’s something that can only be gained through experience. And, it is that kind of wisdom that we at Harbor Credit want to make accessible to our customers – been there, done that kind of advice. That’s why we've added PFAdvice.com to our Weblog listings. For more than a decade, moderator Jeffrey Strain has been writing about pertinent financial topics, from loans to taxes to investing, while only occasionally slipping into promotions and "entertainment value" quotes. For the most part, his PFAdvice.com Blog serves as a valuable forum for anyone interested in getting their finances straight.

With the huge number of personal finance writers out there from which to choose, I'm happy to see that my writing is useful enough to get the above recommendation.

This post is from Liz from

Everyday Goddess about her experience signing up with prosper.com to try and get a loan to pay off some credit card debt and I thought the information might be helpful to some of the people here:

As a personal blogger, I blog about my romantic life, my childhood traumas, my bad days and the band that's playing downtown this Saturday. I'm sure a whole lot of it seems really, really intimate. But what's truly the most intimate, what I find most difficult (read: terrifying) to blog about, is my finances.

See, I'm not in the best financial situation (read: debt-ridden). I struggle to make good choices and to learn from my mistakes. I have credit cards and loans and school debt. Sometimes, I screw up. Sometimes, I have a small financial success. And I blog about it because I'm betting that I'm not alone.

Sometimes, I blog about it because high-interest rate credit cards are evil. Oh, I've stood at the edge of the whirlpool. In fact, it's still right over there.

The trick, of course, is lower interest rates. You know, those great rates all those financially solvent people get? They make it MUCH EASIER to actually pay off debt. Ever so slowly, I've been trying to roll all my debt into lower-interest rate loans.

So I was particularly interested in prosper.com.

The premise being, individuals funding individuals. Adding a level of personal connection. Bypassing the corporate behemoths.

I decided to check it out, and I decided to give it a try. As a borrower, of course.

The first thing I did was extensively check out the site. It all seemed simple enough. Most important, I learned that the loans are all three-year loans. So you have to borrow an amount that you can afford to pay off within three years. I also did the basic site registration (just setting up a user name/password). And I learned that payments are made through automatic monthly deductions to your bank account. Cool.

Next, I explored the "groups" on Prosper. This is one of their basic concepts. That people will form groups, and overtime, groups will gain a good payback reputation and therefore earn lower interest rates. Also, groups will provide a personal connection which creates social pressure for people to pay back their debts.

That all makes sense, but I couldn't really find a group. First of all, it's not like I know anyone in any of the groups. Still, maybe if there was one for my school, or a professional organization that I belong to. But it's new, so there's not, and I'm not interested in forming my own either. Further, I thought, a good group leader would probably call me, and I didn't want to talk to anyone! A group that just accepted me without contact - probably destined to not be a good group. This is also why I didn't want to start a new group. Because to do it right, I would want to really talk to anyone before accepting them, and I don't want to deal with that.

So, I decided to stick my toe in the water on my own. Onto the real registration I went. Social security number. Driver's license. Income.

And before long, I had a big, fat "C" rating, and I was looking at my 27% debt-to-income ratio. "Wow. I totally suck," I thought.

To make matters worse, my highest financial priority is to roll a debt that is currently at 10%. There's an account opened long ago! See, it has an ex-boyfriend on it, and it's not his debt. But because my situation is much worse than it was back then, any opportunities I've had are at higher rates. They've closed the account for me, but they won't remove his name (read: his liability). So, I chip away at it every month. And I've got three more years to go.

I took my "C" rating, and my hefty ratio, and I decided to lead with that. I like to aim high.

Creating the listing was quite easy. I even went back and forth between the various steps a few times to change things. At first, I listed at 10%, but with the Prosper fee, it became more like 10.6%, so I went back and changed it to 9%, so that it's closer to 10% in actual. You're given the opportunity to add pictures, but I wasn't sure how I felt about putting a picture of myself up with it, so I used a dragonfly graphic. (I did wonder if pretty girls get better rates!) Best of all, you get to write out your request and talk about what you need and why, etc. I thought about linking to my blog - kinda like, hey, you'll know where I live - but, for this go 'round, I didn't. Honestly, it was a bit of wanting to stay more anonymous on the site. Of course, then I went and blogged about it on my not-private blog. That's personal bloggers for you!

So my dream listing is up. As of writing this, I have a nibble! And twelve days to go on my listing.

The site is brand new, and I really like that. Getting involved and jumping on and participating helps get it rolling. Plus, if I can get a loan at this early stage and start paying on it, as the site matures, I assume that my good payment habits will look good for me. I can build a history. Maybe join a group. And just like on ebay, I got my user name locked in. Yeah, baby!

Finally, it is my hope that someday I will turn the tide, and I will have the ability to be a lender on Prosper. Because it's brand new, and already it feels more like people than behemoth.

I received an email regarding my earlier

introduction post about Prosper.com and whether it would be a good place to consolidate her credit card debt:



...I have a little under $10,000 in credit card debt where I'm paying about 27% interest on three different cards. The payments are killing me and I've been trying to consolidate them at a lower rate, but because my credit rating isn't good, I can't get a lower rate card to transfer the balances to.

I saw your post about Prosper.com and I think this would be a good way for me to pay off the high interest credit cards and be able to pay a lower rate. That is what Prosper is for, right? To get loans like this...

While you need to make your own financial decisions based on your circumstances and I can't tell you what to do, there are some issues that you need to seriously consider.

While Prosper may look like an easy way to consolidate high interest loans, it's important to run the numbers to see if it will truly help out with your current problem. If it is the current monthly payments that are "killing" you, Prosper may be the last thing you want to do. Why? Because prosper offers a three year loan. Depending on the percentage your credit cards are currently requiring for the minimum payment, getting a loan from Prosper may actually increase your monthly payment even if you get a better interest rate.

Let's take the following example. If your current credit card requires a 3% minimum payment per month and the credit card balance is $9,500, your minimum monthly payment would be approximately $285. Now if you get the same loan from Prosper at 14% (highly unlikely if you have high risk debt - you would probably have to pay more), your monthly payment would be approximately $325 or $40 per month more than you currently are paying.

Before you look purely at the interest rate, it's important to make sure that the monthly payments can be met and aren't going to increase your monthly costs.

Sorry, I couldn't let this one go and I'm interested in getting the opinions of others on this. Let's just say that my eyes were rolling a tiny wee bit as I read this article over at msn titled

Why the Donald gets all the girls?

Why do beautiful women keep marrying Donald Trump?

Most people -- at least most people who aren't billionaires or supermodels -- will answer that question with an insult directed at the latest Mrs. Trump. It's an insult that probably can't be printed on this Web site, but it rhymes with "because she's a bore."

We know why rich men marry beautiful women: for the sex, naturally enough, maybe even the love, as well as the companionship and perhaps the social status that marriage confers on a companion. (Grown men, particularly wealthy ones, can have mistresses, but there's something childish about a billionaire with a girlfriend.)

No one cuts women who marry rich men the same slack. We refuse to believe they honestly find these men attractive -- after all, the men they're marrying are usually decades older, and long past their looks-good-naked-in-the-daylight expiration date. Models and actresses who marry obscenely wealthy men, everyone agrees, must be interested in the money alone, and the power and the status it brings. They get through the sex by gritting their teeth or thinking of other, more pleasant things. (Like, say, their new credit limits.)

Maybe I'm filled with the milk of human kindness, or perhaps I have a soft spot for supermodels -- I'm a gay man, so I have at least one soft spot for supermodels -- but I actually believe that it's possible for a beautiful, young woman to fall in love with an obscenely wealthy older man.

Hmmmm, I guess the way I feel about it is that if she really does love Donald for who he is, I would have less respect for her than if she was just after the money...

While my counterparts will be

spending well over $100 and deciding between candy, an evening out with their significant other, flowers, jewelry and gift cards (gift cards???? - even I know that is a sure to pour cold ice on a romantic evening - "here honey, a gift card just for you because I love you so much" - if you're a man and you were considering the gift card, time to step back and think again). Anyway, it doesn't matter because I don't have to do any of it!



I have no doubt that whoever brought St. Valentine's Day to Japan must have been a man. There's no way it could be any other way - the Japanese Valentine's Day is a dream come true for men. That's because there is nothing for men to do on Valentine's Day in Japan. Yep, you read that correctly! Men do absolutely nothing. It's the women that bring chocolate, candy, etc to the men. Speaking from a man's point of view, this is pretty darn hard to beat.

Now men don't get off completely free in all of this. I'm sure that Japanese women soon figured out that this whole deal was a bit backward compared to the rest of the world, but once it had been established, there was no way the men were going to make the switch. Instead of fighting men tooth and nail on this, women instead made up a new day - called White Day - celebrated a month after Valentine's Day. On White Day men purchase chocolate, candy, etc for women. While men would have preferred to have come out of the entire process without any obligation, they acquiesced on this one point figuring they still came out well ahead in the deal compared to men everywhere else in the world.



Men in Japan quickly realized the advantage of having White day a month after Valentine's Day because it gave them something every man needs - basic guidelines and time to prepare. First, men are only required to give chocolate back to those who actually give them chocolate. Even better, since men get to see the gift given to them first, they have a pretty good idea exactly how much effort they need to put in and what they have to spend on the return gift. This makes the entire Valentine's Day experience a lot more enjoyable (at least for men).

So while the rest of you are trying to decide whether to purchase that heart shaped box of chocolates or the teddy bear on your way home at the drugstore on February 14, I'll be sitting on the couch watching TV with a beer in hand wondering what nice surprise I'll get. Hmmmmm, maybe living in Japan isn't all that bad after all...

This post has already gotten me in trouble with my wife, but I swear it was necessary research!

Big Mike was kind enough to inform me that:

"The problem with this (simple investing) plan is that it’s boring, and if it’s too boring people would rather spend their money on a new car than the investment plan, and they’ll never get to that $100,000."

Boring?!? Hmmm, obviously there are people who visit here that don't think that my writing is sexy enough and I wasn't going to sit around and do nothing about it. Research - I needed to do lots of in depth research (yes, you can now see why this post got me in trouble with my wife ). What I found wasn't promising. According to this piece, saving money is just not sexy:



We’re told money isn’t everything. It can’t buy love, happiness, talent or respect. But while we like to say we trust such ideals, popular culture suggests otherwise. After all, it’s only after Scrooge opens his wallet that he obtains friendship and approval.

A silly dichotomy exists in our current culture of mass consumption. First, the stereotypical savers, who put on a sweater rather than adjust the thermostat and are afraid to have any fun, opt to squirrel away nickels and dimes for distant rewards – education, retirement, travel. As in Monopoly, personal wealth is itself the goal, and millionaire status can be obtained through a lifetime of pinching pennies.

Second, the suave spenders, who shop their way to glamour, thrill and status with carefree spontaneity, indulge in immediate pleasures like fast cars, fancy clothes and frequent excitement.

It’s true – saving isn’t sexy. But the credit-based, material-girl lifestyle norm isn’t healthy.



So obviously with my saving money as the best investment you can make theory, I'm up against some pretty strong stereotypes in trying to convince people that saving money is sexy. To solve this problem I decided I needed to embrace the tools that are used to create the culture of spending and apply them to saving money. If a commercial can convince bald, aging men that they can have sexy cheerleaders doing cheers just for them if they buy the right kind of beer, I can convince my readers that saving money is sexy by simply posting lots of scantily clad women among my writing! (you can see how this project was getting me in even deeper trouble with my wife)



Realizing that a good portion of my readers are women, I also needed to place a token scantily clad male subject within the writing too (for some strange reason, there was no complaint from my wife at this...)



I also decided that it was important to place in at least one sexy link to add to the sexiness of the entire post.

So there you have it. I have transformed my simple investing plan from a boring tutorial into one that will ensure that every person that follows it will have scantily clad women or men all around them (depending on your preference). It's amazing what you can accomplish with a little bit of marketing association wizardry.

Saving Money Is Sexy! (and for some strange reason, my wife now wants to go through my recently bookmarked pages...)

As you can imagine, your taxes aren't quite the same as Bill Gate's taxes. According to a report I

found here, Gates says:

"My tax return in the United States has to be kept on a special computer because their normal computers can't deal with the numbers," Gates told a Microsoft conference in Lisbon, according to a report from Agence France-Presse. "So I am constantly getting these notices telling me I haven't paid something when really it is just on the wrong computer. Then they will send me another notice telling me how bad they feel that they sent me a notice that was a mistake."

Nice to know that the IRS doesn't discriminate when it comes to causing people headaches with their taxes...

I was reading the latest Millionaires in the Making and wanted to point out a smart money move that they made that most people would never consider:

"Most people move into a bigger house when they have kids. Not the Lees. To both give their two children a good education and continue saving for retirement, 13 years ago the Lee's downsized from a new 3,200 square foot, 5-bedroom colonial to a 30-year-old, 2,200 square foot four bedroom home...

The smaller house was in a better school district and thus avoided the need to send the kids to expensive private schools. Instead they plowed that money into their 401(k)s..."

With everyone always thinking "more and bigger" it goes to show how doing something a bit different can have a huge impact on your finances.

You have no will power and you know it. You have therefore cut up your credit cards keeping a single one frozen in a block of ice in the refrigerator just in case of an emergency. You finally gotten the monkey off your back that comes with easy access to money you don't have that a credit card provides. But wait. Retailers aren't going to let you off that easy.

It won't be that far off when you can pay with your finger. I started hearing about this a couple of years ago and it looks like it's

a lot closer to reality on a large scale. Here is the part that will send shivers down the spines of all those that can't control their credit card spending:

Within three months of a pilot program at four Piggly Wiggly grocery stores, 15% of its customers who normally did not pay by cash enrolled in the Pay By Touch system. Those users increased their store visits by 15%, which translates into an additional 7,350 transactions a year. Not only did they come more often, those shoppers also spent 12% more on groceries.


The problem? It's not quite as easy (and a lot more painful) to cut up your finger and if you freeze it in a block of ice and leave it in your freezer in case of an emergency, the neighbors will likely call the cops on you...

If you came out of 2005 with more savings (or less debt) than you began with at the beginning of the year, give yourself a huge pat on the back. You were one of the few. The Commerce Department reported today that consumer rose more than double the rise in incomes which left the 2005 savings rate at the lowest level since the Great Depression: negative 0.5% This is the first time the savings rate has been in negative territory outside of the Great Depression

While there are a lot of experts putting on the spin that the reason people spent more than they had in disposable income was due to "soaring housing prices which made them feel wealthier," I'm not buying it. I think it is an attitude change where people don't believe that they have to save anymore. A perfect example is the huge increase in no down payment mortgages for homes.

When I was talking to some friends the other day about saving for a down payment, they looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language (and I swear I wasn't speaking Japanese at the time). There attitude was, "why save for a down payment when there is no need to?" Their basic logic was that they can get a loan for no money down so they must be making enough money to afford it - an extremely dangerous assumption.

I'm wondering what type of spin the experts will put on if the savings rate is still in negative territory and the housing market isn't growing as much as it has been - my prediction for 2006. For all of you taking the time to visit the personal finance site and get your finances in order, give yourself a huge pat on the back. You're obviously in the minority at the moment...

I came across this little piece about an ID Theft scam that goes to show that you really can't trust anyone these days:

"For Aisha Shahid and dozens of others who went to an advertised job fair in Chattanooga and got offers of nightclub work in Atlanta, Memphis and Miami, the "dream jobs" turned out to be an identity theft scam...

A man who identified himself as record company and music group president William Devon took applications and personal identification numbers from more than 100 people January 13th and 14th...

The man took many of the applicants' drivers licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards and even a diploma.


While obviously I'm not going to be applying for a nightclub job (like anyone would hire me if I did), I began to think about the concept. If I heard about a job fair and someone said they represented a reputable company, was dressed in the appropriate attire with name tags and materials from that company to give away and after talking a bit asked me to fill out an application, I would probably do so without thinking twice - and that would turn over a lot of my sensitive information including social security number, birthday, driver's license number, contacts, address and probably anything else that was asked on the application.

If an ID scam like this took place, it's only a matter of time that something like what I just described above also takes place. It's another reminder (especially to myself) that you do need to be extremely careful to whom you turn over your sensitive information to.

Previous Total: $55.50

Current Total: $55.50

Inventory: 1 book, 10 photos

Okay, I have moved all the posts from the forum into this blog. Nate said he'd be setting up a system where all the $20 Challenges will display together so I hope others make the move soon so we can set that up.

The last couple of weeks I haven't been able to work on this challenge becasue of all the work getting these set up and beginning the financial challenge again. Hopefully now that both of them have started I will have some more time to devote to this challenge.

Previous Total: $55.59

Current Total: $55.50

Inventory: 1 book, 10 photos

Hmmmm, I really don't understand why the other Coca Cola sets haven't been selling. it's one of those things that you can never tell with eBay. I thought they would do well, but for a second time they ended without any bids. This despite the fact that there were a number of people who had placed them on their watch lists. I think I'll take a break for now and see if I can find better timing to put them up.

I did relist them in my store which only cost $0.09. Maybe I'll get luck and someone will pick one up from there.

The good thing is that I didn't buy any of these. It's never fun having stock around your house that you can't sell.

Previous Total: $75.59

Current Total: $55.59

Inventory: 1 book, 10 photos

The items that I have put on auction haven't been selling so it's time to look at another way. Since they are all free, what I'll do is simply leave them on the side for whenever ebay has a sale of some type and I can list them for cheap.

I did find a book and some photos the other day that put me back $20 but I'm hoping will sell well. I will place those on auction later today - still need to take photos and write up a description for them. I'll update again once they are on auction.

Previous Total: $78.44

Current Total: $75.59

Inventory: none

None of the other Coca cola sets (partial world cup pin set, key chain set and bottle cap set)I placed on auction sold although all had people watching the items. I decided to give each of them one more try this time as an auction instead of as a set price. We'll see how they do. The listing price for all of them was $2.85 which I have deducted from my total.

I will also be going to some stores today where I may be able to find some things to sell. I'd rather stay with stuff I'm somewhat familiar with as it just takes a lot less time to list - and I'd also like to go for multiples so that I can sell the same thing over and over again without having to write a new description each time. Those are tough to come by, but can be quite valuable and save time all at once. Fingers crossed on that. Finding a few things would be good as it would help jump start the earnings a bit more.

Previous Total: $52.41

Current Total: $78.44

Inventory: none

Some good news and some bad news. The good news is that another of the complete Coca Cola pin sets sold today. The bad news is that when I went to the hobby store to pick it up and was planning to by the fourth set they had, the last set had already been sold (so a loss of an easy $25).

The cost of the Coca Cola pin set, Paypal fees and ebay end of auction fees minus the $49.95 it sold for leaves me with a profit of $26.03. Sad that these have all been sold as it was a good money maker and I assume they would continue in popularity through the world cup. I do have partial sets, but I haven't sold one of those yet and the profit margin isn't as good.

I do have a bit in the fund now so it's time to find some items to invest in. I'm hoping to have a little time to do that this weekend and I'll continue to hope everything continues to sell as well as it has thus far.