Disqus - Latest Comments for ElBueno

Re: Not Invented Here by Bill Barnes and Paul Southworth

Ray Merkler — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:53:49 -0000

Man, I have a coworker who reviews like that. She's doing it to me right now, in fact.

OMG Garfield is just like MY cat.

Re: The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : Some last-minute thoughts

Ray Merkler — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:41:41 -0000

Well said, FSJ. It can be overwhelming when something you've created gets out of your control, and you're handling it all with the utmost grace and have turned it into something constructive. Well done.

Re: Whoa, Hold Up, Wait a Minute

Ray Merkler — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:50:50 -0000

Actually, I didn't know my car was going to need repairs, but my car issues were only one example. Obviously, you can't foresee when a medical emergency or a layoff is going to occur -- that's what makes it an emergency. It emerges. :-P

Which is exactly why an emergency fund is necessary. Who would think to save money to cover such crises? Not many people, but everyone should. You don't have to plan for emergencies -- They are going to happen, that is as good as guaranteed. The only uncertainty is how much these emergencies are going to cost, so you stash away 5-10% or so of your paycheck every week, just in case.

Look at it as paranoia money.

Personally, I try to keep three months worth of living expenses set aside at all times, just in case I do lose my job. Ideally, I'd have six months worth of savings, but I'm working on that. I figure six months is more than enough time to find a new job, even with the job market being what it is right now. Even three months is doable if you really bust your ass to find a new job. No one getting fired today is unemployable. They were simply employed in expendable, unnecessary, or unsustainable positions.

Now, is it possible for someone to just snap his fingers and have a six month emergency fund? Of course not. It took me a good six months to scrape together three months worth of savings, and most people are probably going to take longer, especially right now. But it has to be done.

And there are plenty of ways to make it happen. First and foremost is to make yourself as valuable as possible to your employer without letting it seriously impact your work-life-balance. You can also get a second job, or freelance, or find a way to monetize your hobbies. My fiancee plans to start selling stuff on Etsy after our wedding, for one example, and I'm working on an iPhone game, for another.

People act like they're worried most about losing their jobs, but I think the main problem is that they're worried they're going to have to work harder from now on. Unfortunately for them, that's exactly the case. If you do lose your job, the next one is almost certainly going to be more work, and actually finding it is going to be even more work than that. But everyone can find a job. There will always be work to do. It's just a matter of people being willing to do it.

Re: Whoa, Hold Up, Wait a Minute

Ray Merkler — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:08:23 -0000

I pay off my balance every month. I know, you addressed that. Stay with me.

Paying off your balance every month is always a good thing, but it isn't the only thing you need to do. As you said, emergencies happen. My car is a timebomb, so I had to spend quite a bit on it in the past year, and I'm going to have to spend even more to replace it entirely when it finally dies for good. Most people would put the repairs on a credit card and finance the new car, and then pay it all off bit by bit over the next several years, racking up interest in the process.

It doesn't have to be that way. Instead of those monthly payments that you're inevitably going to have to make when an emergency hits, make those monthly payments now to yourself by anticipating the emergencies, making the most pessimistic estimate you're comfortable with of how much these emergencies will cost, and setting that amount aside in a savings account every month.

To which I'm sure many will respond, "Not everyone can afford to do that."

If you cannot afford to put money into an emergency fund every month, then you also cannot afford to pay the bill on emergency related credit charges every month. And yet, people will pay those charges anyway. They'll adjust their spending (hopefully), and make it work.

Why not make it work now, before the emergency hits, before you're forced to?

The simple truth is that we the people got ourselves into this mess by abusing credit. Yeah, we can blame the banks for predatory lending, but what does that accomplish? We should focus on what we can do, not on what the lenders shouldn't have done.

And what we can do is this: Save. It's a choice between setting the money aside now and making a little interest off of it, or charging it later and paying a lot of interest. The former will require sacrifice, but I can guarantee you that the latter will require even more.

Re: Why I Stopped My 401k Contribution

Ray Merkler — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:12:18 -0000

That's a tough one. My initial reaction to this was, "Gah, whu--- Muh? No, bad!" But there is merit to your argument.

Not investing when the market is in a downturn is definitely smart, certainly smarter than selling. Those stocks will most likely recover eventually, so it makes sense to keep your money someplace safe until the upswing comes, and then throw that money in to take advantage of the correction.

BUT, I have issues with applying this same philosophy to a 401(k). By paying down your credit balance, you're effectively getting an immediate return equal to the APR, which is always a good move, but by cutting your retirement contributions, you're denying yourself the match you get from your company. In my case, the company matches 50% of my contributions -- I don't imagine anyone has a debt that has a higher APR than that.

It depends on what your views are on what the market is going to do in the long term. Myself, I believe that it will recover in full, and so I disagree with cutting retirement contributions to focus on credit card debt. If, however, you think that the market will never recover completely, then focusing your income elsewhere is the right way to go, but it has to be NEVER.

Re: Should You Ask Your Fiance About Their Debt and Credit Status?

Ray Merkler — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:48:04 -0000

I highly recommend a book called "Smart Couples Finish Rich" for all couples. Trent at The Simple Dollar sums it up better than I could: http://www.thesimpledollar....

I think talking about money, debt, and credit before marriage is extremely important. My girlfriend, Mel, and I are 100% transparent with each other about our finances. I even track our individual and combined net worths every month. We have a plan for how to tackle our respective debts (mortgage in my case, student loans in hers) in the long term, and we both have a good handle on each other's philosophies regarding money, savings, and debt.

It wasn't easy talking about money at first. I was a little too gung ho about it, and she just wasn't ready to dive into money issues yet. We definitely had a disagreement or two in the beginning because of this, but we've got our ducks more in a row now. We haven't fought about money in many, many months, and I don't see us having more than one or two disagreements over the next few years.

Re: More Comcast Grumbling

Ray Merkler — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:20:24 -0000

Comcast is able to get away with sucking as hard as Comcast sucks because people are convinced that they cannot live without TV.

Re: My Television Crisis with Comcast

Ray Merkler — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:36:00 -0000

Last year, I tried canceling all but my 13-channel basic cable with Comcast and just getting my shows on iTunes. That ended up saving me a good $400 for the year. This year, I'm not even bothering to get my shows on iTunes, and just catching them online if I miss them (it helps that Lost and BSG are the only shows I still watch religiously).

One thing that really worked out in my favor: my neighborhood doesn't have a hard switch for downgrading your cable lineup, so they had to give me a cable box that they said was intended to let me access those first 13 channels, but in reality prevents me from accessing everything else. So I just don't use it. Now I'm getting full basic cable for $12 a month, which I barely watch anyway.