I was reading some posts around the web discussing how it’s common place to live at home with mom and dad. Is it really that common? Have I lost touch with reality, yet again? After four years of college, where there are just ridiculous amounts of parties and unspoken amounts of fun, who on earth goes home and lives back with mom and dad?
Even if I was unemployed, I’d pay several hundred bucks and rent the sofa in my buddy’s living room or something. Is there no shame in living at home with parents as a grown adult? Perhaps not. Right on my street, live three 26-27 year old young bucks with grandma. Come on, how can these guys live with themselves living with grandma? After 25 years old, that’s 3 years after college to find independence. So I got to thinking, perhaps it is feasible to live at home with mom and dad, or grandma and still get girls!
STRATEGIES FOR GETTING GIRLS WHILE LIVING WITH MOM & DAD Read more…
There’s a whole world out there of financial products I have very little understanding about. Apparently, there’s a market for buying and selling “structured settlements” for cash after you win big money after a court case. The following is a guest post by Jason from JG Wentworth which pays people cash now for settlements which are paid over time. Interesting concept and something which is worth learning about.
When a plaintiff settles a court case and is awarded a large amount of money, it may be decided that the settlement will be paid over time in installments rather than a single lump sum payment. This type of arrangement is called a “structured settlement”.
The advantage to having a structured settlement is that the money is tax-free if set up properly. Structured settlements can also be beneficial because they provide a source of income for the recipient well into the future, where as lump sum payments will more likely be spent if the recipient does not manage their money responsibly.
Structured settlement payments can also be a disadvantage, trapping the recipient into periodic payments when they may want cash now. Many settlement recipients choose to sell their settlement payments for a lump sum of cash to start a business, pay for college tuition, purchase a home or other various financial reasons.
Handling a large lump sum of cash can be exhilarating. And it can be a little unsettling, too. Money causes people to worry, and worry spins half-truths or unfounded myths about financial issues at hand. Selling your structured settlement into a lump-sum payment is an opportunity to increase your net worth — not limit it. All it takes is a little guidance from a reputable structured settlement buyer and a plan of action for your cash to breakthrough any doubts.
Apparently there must be some controversy about structured settlements and Jason is here to help clear the air.
MYTHS ABOUT SELLING A STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT FOR CASH Read more…
I ran into one of my golfing buddies the other day while waiting for a colleague. Greg the golfer is an every day fella who so happens to be worth north of $20 million dollars. I don’t know exactly how much he makes a year, but it’s likely at least $3 million during normal economic times. He’s a powerful man who deserves everything he earns, but sometimes he’s just vexing.
We got to catching up about the latest gossip on tour when he asked me if I wanted to grab a coffee at Starbucks. I told him I was good, largely because coffee hurts my stomach, not to mention I’m supposed to be waiting for my colleague at this exact spot and time to attend a meeting. Greg responds, “Of course not, you are so cheap!” in a snide, but joking sort of way. Unfortunately, every joke has a meaning, and being called cheap is one of the most annoying things to ever hear.
Last night I got a written notice in the mail informing me that my tenant of 2.5 years is moving back East! Can you believe it? How could he leave paradise to move back home to the sweltering heat of New Jersey? I will never know. Anyway, I’m really sad to see him go because he was as close to the ideal tenant as possible.
Ned paid on time, was quiet, held no raging parties, and never bothered me to come fix anything. OK, so there were several times when he needed an extra week or two to pay rent, but in the end he always delivered.
As a landlord for many years, here are the basics of what I’m looking for: Read more…
The reason why Warren Buffet is so great is because he’s able to distill the most complicated financial topics into very simple terms. Lucky for us, there is someone like Warren in the economics world. Regular reader, Investor Junkie who disagrees with the government’s unemployment insurance extension, but agrees with the cessation of rising taxes, highlights a fantastic video by the great economist Milton Friedman about four different ways of spending money.
Professor Friedman’s examples are simple and perfectly to the point. In an environment where we are spending other people’s money on someone else (deciding how other people’s tax dollars are spent), we don’t maximize the value of the dollar because we simply don’t have much at stake.
Professor Friedman highlights that people spending someone else’s money on others is a “distributor of welfare funds.” Strong words with a certain amount of truth wouldn’t you agree? In “The Ultimate Solution To A Fair Tax Policy In America”, I discuss the concept of limiting the voting ability of the 47% of non tax paying Americans on raising taxes for the other 53%. Don’t worry, voting rights for everything else is status quo. The reason why I suggest this rational solution is because it makes sure the country isn’t overrun by those who have their cake (don’t pay taxes) and get to eat it too (enjoy the benefits).
One can easily see an America where 90%+ of citizens don’t pay taxes and stick it to the 10% rich because it’s rational to look out for your own interests. It’s up to balanced people who believe in equity to continue fighting for those who perpetually get unfairly blamed for our economy’s problems. It really is ironic, because if everybody studied hard in school, volunteered their time to help others, and were self-sufficient (doesn’t have to be wealthy), America wouldn’t have nearly the amount of problems we have now!
The 4 Ways Of Spending
1) Spend your own money on yourself.
2) Spend your own money on somebody else.
3) Spend somebody else’s money on yourself.
4) Spend somebody else’s money on somebody else.
Readers, do you agree or disagree with Professor Friedman’s thesis that the 4th way of spending is the worst way of spending? If you do agree, why do you think people feel it’s OK to spend other people’s money as they wish?
Regards,
Sam @ Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”
You guys know that the one and only data point I track religiously is the 10-year yield right? Well, after the 10 year yield dipped below 3%, I went to the bank with a buddy of mine to go see how much money we could borrow. The wiry banker sat us down like a loving couple and asked us to go through our finances at which point I kindly stepped out of the room and let him go first. Five minutes later, he came out with a grin on his face, so I curiously went in.
I proceeded to disclose some of my finances, and he proceeded to tell me some curious news. “Look here Sam, you can borrow up to $1.5 million dollars at a 5 year fixed rate at 3.75%!”
Holy moly really? You mean little old me, just like that can borrow that much money at that low of a rate? “So what’s the catch?”, I ask.
“Zero points, and $2,500 in closing costs. But don’t worry, we are giving you a $500 credit for being a preferred member, and frankly, if you guys both take out loans, I’ll throw in another $500 credit,” said the banker.
“Done! Where do I sign?, I ask as I think about the new Audi R8 I plan to buy with just $150,000 of the $1.5 million. Or maybe I should be more conservative and spend $100,000 on the new 2011 Porsche 911. Or actually, I heard the 2011 BMW 335i coupe is coming out for only $55,000 this fall. With all the money “saved”, time for a bachelor’s trip somewhere fun! (I’m still thinking to myself here).
As far as I’m concerned, the US economy is recovering handsomely. How could it not with packed restaurants, and traffic that makes me want to pull your hair out? The most anticipated IPO of the year is Facebook, which may very well go public for $20 billion plus dollars. Meanwhile, the whole world is hooked on Apple products with iPads ($500-800) and iPhones ($200-300) selling like hotcakes. Who needs yet another computing device? I guess millions do!
There is so much money flowing into the Bay Area, it’s hard to imagine another financial crisis on the wing. Yet, I’ve read plenty of posts on “steps to take when the next financial crisis comes” and I’m scratching my head. Am I living in a parallel universe where every other car I see is a fancy German vehicle, and I can never get a reservation at my favorite sushi joint? I feel like I’m living in a little optimistic bubble where the world isn’t falling off a cliff and is actually doing well. Tell me if I am, because bubble living is delusional living at its finest.
The stock markets, although highly volatile have recovered some 50% from the bottom and generally serve as as a leading indicator for the economy. Yet people are still talking about a double dip recession. Yes, the biggest worry is stubbornly high unemployment, but you’ll never be able to tell if you walk the streets of San Francisco.
My nose plugs up and I can hardly breathe when I’m around cats too long. I don’t know why I’m allergic, I just am. One time I stayed over a friend’s place with three cats, and I woke up with red hives. It was a surprise that I was able to fall asleep at all, because I could have sworn I sneezed over 100 times until the underside of my nose bled.
One of my best friends invited me over to visit her childhood home this fall. Her mother lives near Boston, and unlucky for me another downside of East Coast living is the enormous pollen count. I remember countless days when I couldn’t go to work because my allergies were so bad. Ever since moving out West, my reactions have been much tamer. The San Francisco Bay acts as a natural filter, sucking out stagnant air to sea.
In addition to being out East, my friend’s mother also has a couple of dogs and cats! She sees this trip as a fun homecoming to introduce me to where she grew up. To me, I have no attachment there and it’s like going to a gas chamber for vacation. Imagine only being able to breathe through your two front teeth. That’s how I feel sometimes when allergies attack. You can’t get enough oxygen, so you aren’t able to speak. You lose energy and let sleep take over even though it’s in the middle of the day.
Thanks to the invention of blogs and social media, you can intimately feel the summer malaise upon us. To participate in the change in moods, I’ll be lightening things up a little bit. I’ve always been kind of a joker and all this structured writing with beginning, middle and end is oh so well….. structured! Also, to invoke Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man from AP English class is going to the extreme of stiffness, right? I’m not sure many really connected with the reference at all.
Who wants to read about the struggles of an African American man in the oppressive 1950s when everything is so hunky dory and harmonious nowadays. I do, but I think most others don’t. Does anybody even read the classics anymore? A little Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut or Crime & Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky anybody? Yeah, maybe 20 years ago, but not now. Now, all we read are gossip magazines and blogs with bad punctuation (yours truly) that tickle our guts with spurts of information.
Hence, from now until the end of August I’ll be throwing a little wasabi on the teriyaki as they say in Japan. I just made that up, but thought it sounded good. You might read a little more rambling and a lot less structure as I attempt to change writing styles. The Yakezie.com project is well underway and now is my time to goof around a little bit.
One of my best friends is blessed with skinny genes. At 5′ 3″ tall, she weighs all of 105 pounds. When we go out to eat, she doesn’t just order a glass of iced tea and salad with dressing on the side. She goes all out with mash potatoes, creamed spinach, BBQ oysters and then a nice juicy ribeye for a main course! I gawk in amazement at her appetite while secretly groaning at trying to keep up towards the end. After all, shouldn’t she eat 40% less than me if she weighs 40% less? Guess not!
Despite my friend’s envious genetics, she isn’t exactly iron woman when it comes to sports and outdoor activities. After three miles on a 10 mile bike ride, she’s pooped and waves at me to take a break. Meanwhile, I’m going “lah, lah, lah” in my head, not even breaking a sweat as I soak in the glorious views of the Bay. I let her catch up and we take a five minute pit-stop where she catches her breath as I go do some stretches and sit-ups.
Every year, there’s inevitably a headhunter or a competitor who gives me a ring to ask whether I’m interested in leaving my current firm for a hefty salary increase. And every year I turn them down because I respect the people I work with, like the camaraderie, and believe in my firm’s management and future. My 10th year anniversary is coming up, and just like how I freaked out for a couple days before turning 30, I’m starting to wonder whether I’ve become too content and also too comfortable with what I have.
Dodging bullets is a myth, but I can safely proclaim that I dodged at least one bullet by not taking an offer from a firm that inevitably went bankrupt. Phew, I sometimes remind myself. But, what about the other firms I wonder. If I joined them, would I be making more money and doing more in my career than ever before? Maybe, I don’t know. What I do know is that many who have job hopped have indeed made an incredible amount more and rocketed their careers than if they had stayed.
May retail sales drop 1.2% or the most in 8 months as more and more people turn to personal finance bloggers for frugality advice! I’m pretty certain nobody has ever come up with this statement, but think about it for a little bit. Why is it that the public should take personal finance advice from BusinessWeek, for example? The articles are written by relatively well-paid writers who are on a mission to report the news. They do a fine job at that, but perhaps not as fine a job making things visceral like the personal finance community. What’s more personal than a real person like Jeff delivering pizzas to get out of debt? Not much!
It’s very hard for the mass media to compete against a team of personal finance bloggers such as the Yakezie. We’re real life people responding to comments and putting ourselves out there. There’s a two-way street with us. If I were Editor in Chief of any mass media publication, I’d go out and hire an bunch of influential personal finance bloggers and put them on my payroll. $75,000 a year will do or perhaps $150,000 a year if you want us to write an article a month exclusively for you. By doing so, the Editor will inject new life, new readers, and therefore a wealth of new advertising dollars to the publication.
As evidenced by May’s retail sales figures, we are creating the news with our frugal ways instead of just reporting the news. There’s a movement underway, can you feel it? Maybe we’ll band together and talk about how we should never buy new cars again, causing June’s new car sales to dip. Or maybe we’ll discover how amazing one person’s unsung journey is to fight poverty in Uganda and direct millions of dollars their way. That counts for something. Let’s make a palatable difference with the words we write. Someone is out there listening.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Regards,
Sam @ Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”
Any rational person would agree that living on the West Coast is better than living on the East Coast. Anybody who tells you otherwise probably has never experienced West Coast living long enough to understand the difference. I’m rational, and I’ve lived on both sides for many years and I don’t believe there’s really much of a debate. Who doesn’t want to live in more moderate temperatures where the sun is always shining? Unless you like super cold winters and uncomfortably muggy summers, the East Coast isn’t for you.
When your family and friends are on the East Coast, it’s hard to leave I understand. We’re afraid of change. I know I am. But, this is not a post to bash the East Coast. This is a post to understand what truly makes the East Coast and other uncomfortable climate zones special.
You see, a friend of mine is thinking about relocating to New York City or Washington DC for a little bit of adventure. I think she’s a little nuts leaving our California sunshine behind and I’m trying to understand why, and maybe even a why not.
Dr. Thomas J. Stanley wrote a great book called “The Millionaire Next Door” where he surveyed a bunch of folks and discovered millionaires for the most part are pretty simple, everyday people. The next door millionaires drove second hand cars, shopped at Walmart, and lived in sub $500,000 houses which were of course, all paid off. Part of the reason why Dr. Stanley’s book is such a big hit is because he appeals to a mass audience and shows us we can all be millionaires because there’s nothing really special about them!
Hence, like getting your college degree, is becoming a millionaire by the time you retire fast becoming a rule rather than the exception? The answer is “yes” if you ask Dr. Stanley and all the next door millionaires. In fact, they are probably all shaking their heads at those who can’t get there because it’s so easy for them. Success skews reality proclaims Roger at The Amateur Financier. So true. If you’re rich, you think everybody is rich or should be rich.
Like clockwork, I top-ticked the markets when I wrote “The Good Times Are Back Again” this past April. The markets have since fallen about 9% as the Euro Zone goes bonkers over debt problems. But, at least the message from the post is that it’s exactly during the good times where we need to be more disciplined in our finances, because we never know when the bad times will return. Now that the bad times are back, is now the time to party like it’s 1999 and spend counter-cyclically? Nope, because with the amount of volatility, by the time you finish reading this post, the markets might be surging again!
With this market correction, it’s pretty clear that everything isn’t peaches and cream. US leading indicators have turned downwards, unemployment figures have stopped improving, and people are wondering whether Europe will be like the US, but much worse. If you’re American living in America, look at the bright side of things: the US dollar is strengthening, and the 10-year yield has declined to 3.1%, which is leading to lower rates yet again! The 10 year yield and all its glory really is the most beautiful figure to watch. It can tell the story of everything and anything.
The USD will always be a global safe haven currency, no matter how hard we try and mess things up. It’s good to see that we aren’t the only basket cases as investors sell the Euro faster than they can say tapas! What’s going on now is that money is shifting towards US assets, namely the property market. Combine an asset shift with cheap debt, and rental yields above the current risk-free rate of return (3.1%), you realize why smart money is moving into the US property market again. Only a minority will agree with the attractiveness of the US property market, and therein lies the opportunity.
During bad times, it’s always good to re-evaluate your finances. I’m not convinced the bad times are back and am actually quite sanguine about the economy. All the same, here are some suggestions just in case things get ugly for longer.
TOP 5 THINGS TO DO WHEN THE BAD TIMES ARE BACK AGAIN Read more…
Loan Great loan offers from loanrater.co.uk we search 100`s of loan offers to find you the best loan for your needs
Household Insurance Household insurance is there in case the worse happens so you can get quickly back on your feet.
Property Prices Zoopla has property prices in your area. Click here to find out more
Best Mortgages UK You need to make the right financial choices, so click here for the best mortgages in the UK.
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I was reading some posts around the web discussing how it’s common place to live at home with mom and dad. Is it really that common? Have I lost touch with reality, yet again? After four years of college, where there are just ridiculous amounts of parties and unspoken amounts of fun, who on earth goes home and lives back with mom and dad?
