Disqus - Latest Comments for Steve (Brip Blap)

Re: The Carnival is Up!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:23:13 -0000

Thanks for the separate "shout out" to my post!

Re: Toll Hikes Coming to N.J. Turnpike, G.S. Parkway, A.C. Expressway, and Route 440

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:05:48 -0000

This is simply reason #153 why I am getting the hell out of New Jersey within the next two years. I would do it now except we have a baby on the way, but as soon as she's about 1 we're packing up and moving back to NYC or Pennsylvania or Connecticut or even Virginia or North Carolina. I've had it with this state and its taxes and its failing schools and potholed overcrowded toll roads and crime and dual-position politicians. I am tired of the whole package. Enough, already. Fix it and I'll move back in 2053, but life is too short to hang out here. NJ is a train wreck.

How to fix it? Forbid holding multiple political positions. Consolidate all municipalities less than 20,000 people with the nearest municipalities. Privatize all toll roads immediately. Raise gas taxes 100% to pay for public transportation improvements, not road improvements. Put tolls on all cars exiting the Holland, Lincoln, GWB. Lower property taxes. Fire 25% of all state workers across the board. Eliminate all state pensions, health benefits and so on and replace them with 401ks and crappy PPOs like private workers have to deal with.

New Jersey is the future of America, and the future is a widening income gap with high taxes, bad public services and corrupt politicians.

Whew! Glad I got that off my chest.

Re: The Carnival is Up!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:41:27 -0000

Cool! Thanks for mentioning my post!

Re: 3 Things You Need to Know Before Giving to Charity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:55:31 -0000

Thanks for the comments, and thanks to Flexo for the opportunity to guest post on Consumerism Commentary!

Re: Weekly Blog Roundup, One Week to Flight Edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:47:32 -0000

Glad you liked it - thanks for the link!

Re: Midweek Roundup: Roth IRA Limits, Baby Bonds, and Beer

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:05:45 -0000

Thanks for the mention - the other 3 articles were all really excellent (Lazy Man and Penelope are two of my favorites and Dough Roller's idea was thought-provoking) so I'm very appreciative to be in their company!

Re: Stupid Investment of the Week: Rich Dad Academy

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 15:32:32 -0000

I think there's a good way and a bad way to take Kiyosaki. I like some of his non-conventional thinking and the way Rich Dad, Poor Dad made me challenge some of my assumptions about money. All that having been said, most of what he says (vague as it is) about real estate is fluff. He made his money writing books and giving seminars, not investing in real estate. I'm sure he did alright but it's hard to track down his 'real' property holdings, and very easy to walk into a Barnes & Noble and see copies of RDPD.

That money would be better spent on getting a real estate license or even better as part of down payment on a real estate investment. Or buying $1000+ worth of real estate law/etc. books.

Re: aging gently

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:19:51 -0000

Thanks dong. I agree - there's definitely a point at which quality of life falls below a minimally acceptable point, and our country has got to get comfortable with that idea. How to address it, I don't know - assisted suicide, living wills, etc. Hard to say, but a good point.

Re: how a ‘regular person’ can make passive income

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:09:04 -0000

Flexo, fair comment. In a sense almost there's very little true passive income. Almost any type of income requires some effort at some point - even winning the lottery requires that initial $1 investment.

I guess my take is that some of it has the ability to continue long after that initial investment of time/energy/money, whereas earned income stops the second you stop working. If I write a book, it may take 10 years, but if people keep buying it for the next 50 years I'll still receive some income. You could very easily argue that's just deferred compensation, though.

But you're right - I'm certainly not counting on writing 15 posts and then never posting again hoping that the timeless wisdom of this blog will draw people for years :) That might be a tad bit optimistic...

Re: I will not pay for my children’s college education, part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:12:24 -0000

Elaine, my parents took that approach and it worked out OK for me, too. I recognize that different families have very different beliefs about this. One of my colleagues told me that both she and her husband had gone to college with 100% of their tuition paid by their parents, so they felt they OWED it to their children to 'pay it forward' so to speak. Hard to argue with that, since it's what's right for them. But I'm glad that you had the same philosophy and that it worked out for you and your family!

Re: I believe you have my stapler

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 06:29:55 -0000

Easychange and Lazy Man, you both have a point. Honestly, I don't worry too much myself about taking small things, and I doubt the company would either. Dollar value is probably key for most people. The question would be where the cutoff point is... $3? $30?

There's definitely a give-and-take between employer and employee, though, and no-one needs to be sitting there keeping a running tally of "minutes kept late" and "pens taken home". It definitely made me think a little bit more when I started getting paid hourly rather than getting a salary, though, because now my time is compensated minute-for-minute so there's no 'extra 5 minutes' like Lazy Man mentions.

Re: your investments will return 6% annually, probably

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 20:21:58 -0000

J, you make an excellent point on your blog. There's a lot of salesmanship going on around these funds, even the "nice" ones like the Vanguard index funds. There's no advantage for these funds to mention that after inflation they have practically no returns, which leads to a lot of false choices being thrown out in the personal finance blogs.

Re: wooden nickels

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 07:42:46 -0000

Thanks, Mike, I appreciate it.

Re: immigrants

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:18:11 -0000

I think one of the main differences between people who support immigration and those who don't is exposure. I would imagine people who are heavily exposed to immigrants on a regular basis are more pro-immigration. Not just people who are dealing with immigrants as workers, but actually socialize with and live around immigrants. I know in NYC if I didn't like immigrants I'd be a lonely man...

Re: reverse mortgages

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:47:45 -0000

I guess my parents' argument for keeping it would be that they still use it several times per year. It doesn't cost anything to maintain (practically) and since they are actually living in an apartment in my brother's house, they don't need the cash immediately for a down payment.

It's actually a very pleasant problem to have, really - not to have to worry about selling your house. Here in the New York area property taxes alone would force you to a decision extremely quickly.

Re: reverse mortgages

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:14:43 -0000

Actually one other important piece of information, specific to my parents, is that my dad - by virtue of working as a professor at a state university for his entire career - has a pension that easily covers their expenses. This is very different from my situation, for example, because even once I retire I won't have a pension so I'll be seeking any way possible to maximize my cash flow at a minimum cost to my saved capital at that point. So the reverse mortgage would be extra income but not necessary income.

Their situation often makes me really irritated about the times I was born in - having a defined benefit pension removes a LOT of worries about the future, particularly if your employer is a state (not a company) so you don't have to worry too much about them being unable to meet your payments. Unless your employer was New Jersey....

Re: down the drain

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 23:17:10 -0000

Thanks for the comment, Jon. Sometimes the local water is preferable, although I would argue that purified water vs. spring water is usually a matter of taste. You can certainly get water cheaper than $1.35 per bottle, but the cost per bottle to the environment is the same.

I think, though, that you've hit at the heart of the matter. Most people prefer the taste of cold, bottled spring water, and it's a difficult preference to shake.

Re: I will not eat green eggs and ham

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:57:45 -0000

GoldnSilver, I don't think of it as shallow. Everyone has different reasons for the things they eat, and of course taste is a primary reason. I know pizza and beer is not as good as leafy raw greens but of course I choose to eat pizza. I think if you're careful about eating food based on where it's produced or made and what's been added you're already being very discriminating, which is good.

Re: carnivals and a baby

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:16:19 -0000

FourPillars, thanks for the original link and the comment! I'm enjoying the baby-themed week so far!

Re: fireworks

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:02:36 -0000

GoldnSilver, I don't know if I was wrong to think that was a good short-term purpose, I just thought that was IT. I think it was a good idea to do it then, I just think I was a little short-sighted to think that there was nothing else. Now I'm a lot more accepting of different goals, and actually trying to reconcile my goals and my wife's and family's goals is an interesting and complicated experience. When I was younger, all I worried about was the short-term.

But you're right, maybe "wrong" is the wrong word. Maybe I should say "I know now that there are other pleasures besides the material ones" or something like that.

Re: your investments will return 6% annually, probably

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:41:36 -0000

Pinyo, you are right that "no returns" is definitely an overstatement. I guess my only counterargument to that would be that 10-11% is an overstatement as well, so the truth is somewhere in between. Investing in retirement accounts is a good way to avoid the taxes on gains but at least in my case some of the returns are being eaten up by the fees on my very limited selection of funds. Plus, I'm not 100% convinced that the IRA/Roth taxation policies are set in stone. With the looming Social Security/etc. crisis, changes in tax policy are always possible...

Re: linklings: hunk of burning blogging edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:44:18 -0000

No problem on the link, Pinyo, it was a good post. You could say that people in general should never overly focus on one thing in life to the exclusion of everything else, right? College is a good place to start 'diversifying' your life, but even after college I have been guilty of placing huge focus in one or two areas of my life at a time and neglecting other areas.

Re: flying on the cheap (for the airlines, not for you)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:57:58 -0000

The $212 was for the beers to "calm my nerves".

You know, I would really be amazed if anyone commented that they liked flying better than other means of transportations. It's become a painful experience almost every single time I fly, and when I fly a lot (3 round trips in the last 5 weeks) something is almost guaranteed to go wrong. I would take trains more often but they are so expensive coming out of NY that it's hard to justify. Driving is dangerous and costs a fortune with gas hovering in the $2.70+ range, not to mention northeastern states' toll roads.

Traveling is just tough any way you look at it, but if there are enough stories about people being stuck on the tarmac for 20 hours like in LAX or with Jet Blue back around Valentine's Day, you'll see more and more people either (1) opt out of flying or (2) demand better service even if it costs more.

Re: think before you leap (on the treadmill)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:26:22 -0000

@SD: Having grown up in the South where property was a lot less expensive I agree that it's not so much of an issue elsewhere. I'm sure someone will take it eventually, but not many people up here have pickup trucks and it's not the kind of item you would want to rent a U-Haul to get - so the prospective customer base is small...

@Bubelah: yes, yes it was a bad idea :) but the best intentions

Re: flying on the cheap (for the airlines, not for you)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:31:05 -0000

DC, LaGuardia and Detroit are in a neverending battle for Worst Airport Ever. My personal worst is LaGuardia, since it's the place where I got stuck in an airplane for four hours in the middle of July a few years ago. It was a tiny jet and it was sweltering hot - and they wouldn't let us off the plane (not a surprising story, I bet). Ever since then good old two-runway LaGuardia has been my least favorite airport. But DC is a close second. The security setup there is as painful as any place I've seen outside of the remote third world.

Re: your investments will return 6% annually, probably

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:35:26 -0000

@Lora: The biggest question about foreign investments is the stability or lack thereof of their markets. The US can at least claim fairly good stockholder protection laws. I'm sure most people feel fairly confident buying Chinese stock, but as you go more and more remote the risk you'll have your investment disappear is higher. Russia has some great investment possibilities - but then again Yukos looked good before Khodorkovsky was thrown in jail and the company was broken up.

Re: blog action day

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:00:25 -0000

Pelf (above) also has a post about the Stop Abuse campaign on her blog (an Aug 19th post) which is similar - so anyone checking out the comments should check out her website at http://chenpn.com/

@Pinyo: I'll look forward to yours, too - I'm going to try hard to come up with something really creative but at least I have a couple of months to brainstorm...

Re: Dell auditors shake things up

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:35:25 -0000

It's tough - when everyone around you is telling you "hey, it's fine, that's just the way business is around here!" and you realize that it's a difference between being well paid and average paid and that you will gain NOTHING from being principled. I've seen good people willing to "shift" a little just because that's the "way things are..."

Little bit "quote" happy there, wasn't I?

Re: Sunday poll

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:37:14 -0000

Thanks for all of the replies! Your comments all seem to confirm what I suspect, that people for the most part aren't reading.

@SD: Yeah, that would suck. I couldn't imagine not having internet access at home at this point, although I'm sure someday our high-speed will be down...

Re: flying on the cheap (for the airlines, not for you)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:44:14 -0000

@Laura - Laura, thanks for the comment - you're right, you definitely can nickel-and-dime-and-dollar on the cruises. Depends on your approach, I guess. My in-laws get on the cruise and won't pay a dime extra - they don't get alcohol, drink whatever's offered free, don't do but maybe one excursion, etc. They avoid every expense they can. I tend to go the other direction and mentally estimate an extra 30% to my base cost. But I guess the difference I would make is that the base transportation/food is all included.

Re: berry spoons

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:47:17 -0000

I love all of the kitchen tools, too, but a spoon is a spoon is a spoon... :)

Re: 6 ways to retire poor

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:29:32 -0000

I guess if you had no other resources to fall back on then you could use your retirement accounts, but I doubt that's usually the case. I see a lot of my colleagues using their retirement savings to help fund their down payment on a house. If someone needed it to pay for expensive life-saving surgery I wouldn't fault them...

Re: 7 things to consider before you buy stuff

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:43:34 -0000

MG - thanks so much, and I'll definitely check your blog out, and I encourage anyone checking out comments to do the same!

Re: find a nickel, pick it up

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:45:44 -0000

@SD: Obviously you'll be better off if you save a few more pennies, but hey - eventually you'll get a "free" cup of coffee out of it. I love that feeling, personally....

@Thomas: I think we must be talking about different Einsteins!

Re: my one money advice (MOMA)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:47:14 -0000

@everyone - thanks! I really like this meme idea. I guess we'll see how many financial bloggers there are out there before this thing's all through, right?

I need to think of a meme to start off, myself...

Re: 6 ways to retire poor

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:52:25 -0000

@plonkee: I'll probably wait until I have some incredibly expensive-to-treat conditions - would that be OK? :)

Re: COBRA eligibility – is it ironclad?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:54:41 -0000

I'll tell you what the worst damage is - not serving as a reference. Most companies are suspicious if you can't list a former boss as a reference. I left one company on terrible terms with my ex-boss, and it's been a struggle career-wise to explain.

(because I can't say he had a substance abuse problem that finally made him start cheating the company and made me quit)

Re: 7 things to consider before you buy stuff

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:50:10 -0000

I think it's all about the marketing, actually. In my grocery store, for example, the name brand cereal comes in a box and the generic just comes in a plastic bag. Both have the same net weight of cereal, but the name brand one has a half-empty box around it, for no reason I can imagine other than to advertise their brand. A USB flash card looks pretty puny on its own, after all - you need to add flashy packaging. It's all junk. One of these days I will grit my teeth and just take something out of the box there in the store and give it to the check-out cashier to dispose of.

Re: find a nickel, pick it up

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:53:41 -0000

Thanks for all the comments!
@Mike: I use Coinstar's feature where they give you an amazon.com gift certificate instead of cash. If you opt for a gift certificate it's a straight-up no-fee transaction (you get the full value). You're right, the cash option is a bit of a ripoff.

@Lora: I thought of that, too - but in general with your money it's better not to think of where it came from or where it's been or who has had it in their unwashed pants pocket before you got it, isn't it?

:)

Re: Sunday poll - popular or rich?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:58:48 -0000

Well, yeah, I agree with plonkee and Four Pillars - comments are the biggest form of short-term validation. I know I made an extreme example there, but I guess I was just wondering if I should concern myself more with building subscribers or maximizing advertisers. My gut tells me building subscribers and readers will be (a) more fulfilling to me and (b) more profitable in the long run than peppering my site with ads.

@Paidtwice: funny you mention that - that's exactly what got me thinking about the money aspect, too - trying to calculate what I need to wring out of this blog in revenue to even vaguely think of retiring from full-time consulting...

Re: another drone in the Moleskine army

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:22:20 -0000

@paidtwice: Resistance is futile. Go get a Moleskine. There is no alternative.

Seriously, you and SD should stay away from them. I'm not much of a stationery junkie but these little notebooks were so classy and so pleasant to the touch and eye that they were impossible to put down. There should be a law, to be honest.

Re: second big book giveaway!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:23:27 -0000

Mike - so you did - should've run through my bookmarks first! Great minds run in the same channels, eh? Well, it works out well for me since you're cross-promoting the book I'm giving away, then. It is a good book, and short of maybe three other books it's one of the best books on personal financial planning I've read.

Re: second big book giveaway!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:08:22 -0000

I would probably vote for "Your Money or Your Life." I think it would depend on what topic you really want - debt reduction, investing, saving, etc. But YMOYL is an excellent, excellent book that most pf bloggers would agree is a top 5er. I think Trent at The Simple Dollar said that was the book that kicked it off for him.

Re: a question regarding the cost of higher education

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:51:35 -0000

@SD: I don't think that sounds horrible at all - it's similar to what I said. If she really has a good reason to go to school X, by all means go there! Same goes for everyone else's comments - every situation is different. Happiness should be the goal.

I think everyone's more or less in agreement that as long as she understands her own situation and has a good solid motivation for doing what she's doing, she'll be fine. Too often we get caught up in analysis and cost-benefit and whatnot, when sometimes life just has to be lived. Whew, that's my brief moment of philosophizing for the night!

Re: Brip Blap around the web

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:28:08 -0000

Thanks for the comments! Now that The Simple Dollar linked to it, too, I feel like I've arrived...

@FourPillars: Yeah, I thought about that. I guess at the end of the day you could look at it this way: a blogger wants stuff on his or her own blog, to build a blog/community. A writer just wants his stuff out there. I think of myself as a blogger second, writer first - I just want my stuff out there. I want to build Brip Blap up. However, I want people to see my writing and for me it's easier to piggyback onto a bigger site and get that exposure, even if it means my Pulitzer Prize-worthy camping article is on another site (but probably USA Today and The Simple Dollar would never have noticed it on my site). But I know what you mean.

Re: ten tips for new bloggers

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 20:20:19 -0000

@Pelf: I guess maybe what I mean by link posts isn't clear. On my politics blog, I would have a post like this: Aug 30, 2004: http://www.somewheresomewhere.com/ and nothing else. I think that turns people off. Of course if you have a link post with a little bit of commentary there's no problem. I do a "link roundup" every Saturday. I try to put some commentary in there, though. Partial vs. full would be an interesting poll - but I suspect more people dislike partials than not. But you're right, people have different opinions!!
@FP: OK, I'll modify my tip to say 5 original posts per week plus some sort of activity on the weekends. I don't post any real original stuff on weekends - I do a link roundup on Saturday and a poll on Sundays. You could debate the weekend stuff but I still think when you're first starting out you need as much movement as you can get. If I get far enough ahead in my writing (a big IF) I plan on taking Brip Blap up to warp speed in September and going 3 a day (1 link roundup in the morning, and two posts in the day - a la The Simple Dollar).
@Mapgirl: I don't like scrapers since I get scraped. If I get linked back to, I won't say anything. If I don't, I get furious and plan to hire a lawyer and sue and then calm down and return to reality... I think a full-feed is critical. Most of my corporate clients block most blogs, but don't block my reader, so if I want to read blogs at work I HAVE to read a full-feed. Otherwise I can only read the blog in the evenings, and my evenings are usually reserved for family stuff (and commenting on various blogs).

Re: ten tips for new bloggers

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:56:34 -0000

You *should* post every hour - I like your blog, I'd read it...!

Re: Late linklings

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:39:29 -0000

Actually I make a pretty decent Mom. Today I fed Little Buddy breakfast, put him to sleep for his nap, took care of a messy #2, changed diapers 6 times, played with him all day, and put him to sleep this evening. Other than breastfeeding him, I figure I'm Mom material. Actually if Bubelah could get a job making my salary I would stay home in a minute and just be a stay-at-home blogger dad. That's actually my dream job... I am one of those dads who can't get enough from my child, and if I could generate enough from web work to stay home I'd do it. My desire to work my way up the corporate ladder sputtered out and died two years ago...

Re: Happy Labor Day!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:48:22 -0000

That's specifically why I said the English instead of the British - I saw Braveheart! But at least you have some anti-Man U ardor...!

Re: Sunday poll

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:44:12 -0000

Thanks for all the responses. Just to add to that discussion, if I was doing anything I wanted to it would be "full-time writer" - blogging or writing for magazines/newspapers/etc. However, just about anything that didn't require sitting around in an office environment 8-10 hours per day would be fine. I didn't have to work this Labor Day, but back in my Big 4 days I worked many, many a holiday - plus often 7 day weeks, 12 hour days. I certainly didn't love that job, although I must have had a passion of some sort for it to put up with that abuse...

And while I'm not writing as a way of making a living NOW I will be ... soon! That's my goal. So maybe by Labor Day 2009 or 2011 or so I'll be able to report back that I'm hard at work, but happy to be doing it.

Re: raises - are they for suckers?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:46:01 -0000

Great comments! I guess to clarify what I'm getting at: waiting on raises to get you rich won't work. You can work on saving, or investing, or alternative income to supplement your main income. For most people, though, if you're waiting for your salary to grow fast enough for you to become 'rich' you'll wait forever. That extra 3% per year will get eaten up by new expenses. The only way to financial independence is through frugality, investing and alternative/"passive" income (the link by moneygardener, above, illustrates how investing beats raises).

Re: Pirates of Personal Finance

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:49:46 -0000

Thanks SD, Kyle! I appreciate being told it's creative, particularly considering my post that's coming out on Wednesday... (you'll see what I mean).

Re: raises - are they for suckers?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:42:52 -0000

@Joe: I understand that there's a difference, but let me ask you - how much risk is there in an FDIC-insured high-yield savings account? Going to work does carry a risk of loss - your income stream can be cut off if you get laid off.

But I do understand it's a comparison of apples and oranges - I'm merely doing it to highlight how we settle for less of a return on our careers than we would be willing to accept in an investment.

Re: raises - are they for suckers?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:10:47 -0000

@Finance Girl - I'll be picky and say I was only talking about salary :) since obviously if you throw in more exotic compensation like options or significant bonuses (like investment bankers getting 110% of their base) you'll have a chance to do much better. I'll actually cover your 2 factors in future posts: what does getting rich MEAN for the first, and just a general mess of investing-related posts for the second.

If your 7 digits are all from salary and don't include the net worth of your home then congratulations! Yet I'll still stick by my point: if you expect to sit back and let raises get you rich, you will be waiting a long time. You may invest your money wisely or be terribly frugal or start a great business, but none of that comes to people who just spend their whole salary and wait for the next tiny bump!

Re: The carnival’s come to town

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:23:07 -0000

Don't worry, my get rich post (it's a two-parter, woo-hoo!) is on its way next week. And I'm still working on my "How To Get Rich Selling e-Books" e-Book. Trust me, if I thought someone would buy it, I would sell it. I'm not that proud by a long shot...

Re: 7 ways to stifle your creativity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:27:29 -0000

I actually thought of one more (well, two more depending on how you categorize it) - eat well and exercise (thanks to plonkee's mention of walking). I imagine if I can sit around and be a little more creative I could expand this list to 101 ways to stifle creativity - between all of you and particularly Christopher I've got at least another 10 or so already! Thanks!

Re: linkling: hands across the blogosphere edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:53:28 -0000

I'll have to confess that I haven't read Ramsey's work. I've read a bunch of the usual personal finance books but never made it to his stuff, so what I know about him is all through reviews, commentary and so on. I imagine Ramsey's advice is better for people. However, I think Kiyosaki (as you said, Brian) presents important concepts in a way people have never thought about them before, and does it simply and clearly. I still credit him with kicking off my intense interest in personal finance, even though I would never follow most of his vague advice.

But I liked the post you did, Brian - I didn't think it was too harsh, it was pretty fair to Kiyosaki.

Re: linkling: hands across the blogosphere edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:50:10 -0000

@David - I would say, at this point Sunday evening, that you were right to go with the Pats...

ARRRGH.

:(

Re: Sunday poll

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:48:51 -0000

Thanks for all the responses - I'm envious of those of you who can work from home!

Re: linkling: hands across the blogosphere edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:52:01 -0000

@Paidtwice, @David - yes, I take great consolation in the fact that the Jets came in #2 in total points scored in that game :( This is why my plans for a Trip To The Super Bowl 2007 Jets blog never quite takes off...

@WC - I need to read that one someday - I've heard about it several times but never picked up a copy. I'll get to it eventually!

Re: Dark day

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:30:50 -0000

Thanks all, and @plonkee: it's not a private grief - if I posted, it's meant to be public and hopefully provide some perspective. :)

I usually view 9-11 in terms of other tragedies I have been around. I was in Moscow during the apartment bombings - I passed through a metro station 30 minutes before it was blown to smithereens. They were all terrible tragedies and maybe worthy of retribution. But at some point someone in this world will have to be the first to forgive. It hasn't ever really happened yet, but someday, maybe it will.

Re: Getting rich, made simple - parts 2 and 3

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:34:26 -0000

I figured people wouldn't like the meat comment! :) Generally, if your meat costs less than your veggies it means you're buying factory farm meat, which isn't good for you. If you are buying free-range, grain-fed, organic poultry or natural beef/pork (hard to find organic beef/pork), it's a lot more expensive, calorie for calorie, than veggies and fruits. Meat raises cholesterol levels and has high levels of fat. I'll refer you to zen habits for a more thorough defense against the "vegetarians lack protein" misconception.

WC is right, moderation is key, but meat in moderation means tiny, tiny amounts. I think Thomas Jefferson said that meat should be viewed as a seasoning rather than as a food - a serving of meat is smaller than one's palm, and many people view anything less than a quarter pound of meat as inadequate for a meal, which is not moderation.

It's a personal choice at the end of the day - one's own belief system really determines much of what you do in regards to meat. For me, I think it helps the environment, saves money, improves health (digestion and longevity), but I understand that sometimes people just want a burger (because I do, too)!

Re: Getting rich, made simple - part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:54:23 -0000

Thanks for all the comments! I know that a mortgage is more or less inevitable if you want to be a homeowner in North America, but I think my point is still valid. Because of interest, I will end up paying almost $1,000,000 for my "$450,000" house. Ideally I would save $450K and then buy with cash, and save the other $550,000, right? I know that might mean I wouldn't buy a house until I was 45, but then again, I would have an extra half mil in my pocket...

I think you can become rich making 25K per year. TFB, I'm not sure that 500K net worth would be rich if you lived in Manhattan or San Francisco or Tokyo. On the other hand, it would be a fortune in Memphis, TN (where I used to live). I know people who live well in Memphis off 30K a year, and people who struggle to get by on 80K in Manhattan. When I lived in Memphis making 30K right out of college I was able to max out my 401(k) contributions and still had money left over for investing and all the things you mention.

I guess my point is that it's largely dependent on where you live, which is a part of your choice to spend less than you earn. Living in NYC I have consciously chosen a place where that's hard to do. If I moved to a smaller town, I think I could spend much less than I earned, even if I earned less. But it is possible, since I've spent less than I earned since I was 18. Not easy, but doable, and I earned less than 30K until 10 years ago.

Re: Dark day

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:58:40 -0000

Thanks you again, everyone, for the kind words. I won't editorialize too much about it, since it's such a grim subject, but it means a lot that you commented on what I wrote. I am deeply appreciate of everything each of you wrote.

Re: the iPhone sickness

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:47:58 -0000

@David - I guess I wonder about what apps do and don't work on the Apple. Maybe it's easier to find software than it appears to me, but if I work in an environment with PCs - and probably 95% of American workers do - it seems moving documents around, etc. would be a pain.
@Lazy - Every tech product - or even clothes, food, etc. - has price drops. But when they occur there's seldom a retroactive refund for the initial purchasers. You can't use that store credit on iTunes, which seemed like the natural thing to spend an Apple store credit on. And I base this on nothing but my reading of news articles but I doubt Apple could do much at this point to turn off the ravenous early adopters of their gadgets. People whine, but what are Apple devotees going to do? Go out and buy Toaster XP? I think they'll line up for the iToaster when it's out. There is no competition that would allow people to shun them for egregious pricing practices. But again, I'm just basing that on my own idle speculation.

@WC: That is 100% correct. You can't approach buying gadgets any better than that.

Re: Money diet

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:00:02 -0000

I follow a low-carb money diet currently, but I mean to move towards a Mediterranean one. I have a terrible habit of viewing money spent on things in a very frugal light, but not being as careful with food and services. I will spend money on a dinner out, but complain about the cost of shoes. I want to be someone who spends money on quality goods and services, but less on things that leave my life in a hurry, like food. Good food is enjoyable, but coffee at home after dinner can often be even more pleasant than an overpriced coffee after dinner at the restaurant, and I need to remember that.

Re: Money diet

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:42:58 -0000

Great comments! @Speedy, I mentioned in an earlier post (here) that a vegan diet was a key to long-term health and therefore wealth, and a number of people took issue with that, so it's interesting to see your comment on vegan diets. Speaking as someone who's gone from fat to fit partway back to fat, it's a struggle, so count yourself lucky!

@Gates, @Bubelah: I like the binge/purge analogy - you've both got an interesting take on the "ugly side" of dieting as it applies to both food and money.

@SD, @ Kyle: Funny :) we can all share some diet pizza (how I wish there was such a thing - that tasted decent) in the van down by the river - just thinking about Farley always makes me chuckle...

Re: Getting rich, made simple - parts 2 and 3

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:12:54 -0000

Well, actually it's not fair to say they have no benefits. Probably better to say that the negatives outweigh the positives. I steer 100% clear of Nutrasweet now, although for years I would have been the #1 proponent of using diet Coke, etc. to stem hunger.

I think now that the urge for sweetness is better satiated by fruit or even small pieces of natural sweets rather than Nutrasweet. The long term health effects of aspartame aren't really understood yet, and I'm leery of chemically-created compounds like that.

Personally, if I need low-cal sweet stuff I get Splenda, since it's derived from sugar. I would have a much tougher time making an argument against that, although I very rarely imbibe/eat Splenda, either.

Re: to tip or not to tip

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:42:47 -0000

@Janette - boy, I can't tell you how irritated I am that waiters are getting paid more than teachers. Not that they aren't working hard, I'm sure they are. But teachers are critical to our society, and they get treated terribly. My parents are both teachers and I originally planned to be a teacher (took the NTE, did some substitute teaching) before the big bucks of audit/finance sucked me in. I think it's a shame that teachers don't get tipped themselves, frankly. My mom (and her father, also a teacher) have always been heavily involved in the NEA and I was even a member for a couple of years while substitute teaching.

I will say that whatever NYC teachers get paid probably seems really high, but when you consider a tiny fleabag studio apartment in Brooklyn probably costs more than the mortgage on a 3-bedroom elsewhere in the US it's probably not that much, either. I don't see people rushing in to teach in the inner city NYC schools for the fabulous salaries yet. I was looking into it and even in the most highly compensated areas (which are the absolute worst schools) salaries are awful...

Re: Sunday poll

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:48:27 -0000

My biggest regret - and it's simply one of many, but a great regret - is the $4000 fee I paid to an apartment broker in Manhattan in 2001. I needed an apartment fast - after Sept. 11th the place I lived in Jersey had suddenly become almost impossible for commuting, taking me 2-3 hours each way each day. I paid a broker $4000 to basically read the "for rent" ads for me. I have always bitterly, bitterly regretted spending that money, because of all of the big money wasters in my life, this one was far and away the most blatant, awful waste of money.

Re: a building mental storm

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:31:08 -0000

Interesting comments, all.
@plonkee: You're absolutely right that it would be easier to be productive at my job if I enjoyed it more. I had one reason and one reason only for going into the world of accounting/auditing/etc. - to travel. For about 8 years I was able to travel heavily all over the world, and despite not really being interested in the actual day-to-day job that made it worth it. Now that I'm not traveling since I'd rather be home with my family I find that the day-to-day job is not appealing at all once you remove the travel. So short answer - yeah, I need to find something different, because I don't think there is anything I could find about my current job to 'reenergize' me. I'd rather be teaching...

@Mike (Four Pillars): I agree I'm not exactly "sacrificing" now, it's all been conscious decisions, but Mike-TWA's point is fair: it is a sacrifice of MY time to provide the home, stay-at-home mother, etc. The question is whether making that sacrifice is worth having a big house near the big city...

And @lazyman and @Mike-TWA: Funny you should mention moving. My wife and I actually visited a small town in Pennsylvania last weekend with the idea of relocating. We want to stay within reach of New York for family reasons, but we really want to find an inexpensive place to live that's cleaner and safer and has better schools than our current urban home. The little town (which is between NY and Philly but closer to Philly) was perfect, and we may end up doing just what you suggest - relocating to a less expensive area. We saw homes the same size as our current home going for half as much. We have a lot of equity in our very-expensive-but-normal-for-the-area townhouse now, so it's raised the interesting possibility of being able to pay cash for a house and really have the option of being debt-free and very-low-expense if we move there, meaning we might be able to get by on much less. Won't happen for another year or two but that may be our plan.

Great minds run in the same direction! :)

Re: linklings - Friday, October 5, 2007

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:46:57 -0000

Actually if I get some time to tinker with my "automated" system some more where I think others could use it, I'll post it - how's that for a "stay tuned" teaser, eh?

And yes, it's the "CommentLuv" plugin - there's a link when you leave a comment right below the "submit comment", or visit http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/commentluv-wordpress-pl...

I'm just toying with it - might be too annoying in the long run, although I'm sure no-one will complain about the link magic :)

Re: linklings - Friday, October 5, 2007

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:58:59 -0000

Still tinkering with the tool... will post it later if I simplify it a bit.

bripblap's last blog post..7 random things about me

Re: cost of war

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:01:58 -0000

Thanks for the comments!
@USAindebt: I would just take issue with the word "wasted" - I think it's entirely dependent on whether you view Iraq as a critical step in defending America against terrorism. "Wasted" is a point of view rather than a fact. If it does, in fact, divert the terrorist's efforts away from the US then it was money well spent. If the other efforts (spying, increased monitoring of terrorist groups, etc.) could have accomplished the same goal without the war in Iraq, then "wasted" would be more fair. But either way it's hard to say what could have been, other than to point out black-and-white dollars spent one way versus another.

@Jon: Fair enough, although I would argue that cancer certainly strikes at a lot of people in the primes of their lives who lived at least adequately healthy lifestyles and were blameless for getting it. 3500 people, the great majority of them women, die from breast cancer every month and many of them are not elderly. I know several people who didn't smoke, ate normally and were otherwise fairly healthy who got cancer and suffered terribly or died because of it - which means, to me, no matter how old they are there would be value in eliminating that pain for people if possible.

I really was trying not to be political! I'm simply comparing the costs of one thing (a war) to costs of another thing (health care, pensions, baby bonds). I imagine it comes across as political since the country is so firmly divided into "for it/against it" camps on almost every issue, which is unfortunate. A rational discussion of pros and cons of any issue should be possible in the political arena, and I'm afraid that increasingly it isn't because of emotions.

bripblap's last blog post..7 random things about me

Re: Thoughts on: Jordan

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:27:23 -0000

@Investing911: there definitely is a fine line between the two. You have to analyze, learn and then move on without dwelling on it.

@Ruth: What is a light bulb compared to the ability to put an orange ball through a hoop? :)

@Guiness416: I'm sure there are one or two interesting lessons you could draw from THAT Jordan, too...

Re: 6 ways you are passing up free money

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:51:38 -0000

About the frequent flyer programs - I guess my point is that almost everyone flys or stays at a hotel eventually - and if you do and you're not signed up for their program you're wasting money. It doesn't HAVE to be redeemed for the hotel/airline. I had four magazine subscriptions last year from points, for example.

I think my big takeaway from the comments is that people don't even agree on whether "free" stuff is good, or even whether it's truly free - meaning that free is a relative concept, isn't it? There's always some sort of a cost...

Re: 6 ways you are passing up free money

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:31:19 -0000

Oops :) You're right, e-wanderer. My bad...

Re: things I learned from my grandparents about money, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:17:33 -0000

That's actually a fair question, plonkee. I can't really speak to their mindset at the time, and my father has a better understanding than I do, but I know this: the condo community they lived in was well-populated when they arrived, and included many of their (elderly) relatives. As the years went by, many of them passed away, and the condo community went into decline, as well. My grandfather passed away and my grandmother (somewhat stubbornly, as maintenance fees/etc. mounted) stayed there until she had to move to a nursing home after falling and badly injuring herself.

So I guess at first they were happy. The weather was great, since they always hated even the relatively mild winters in the South. They were close to a ton of baseball, which was a gigantic passion of theirs. They were close to a lot of friends. They moved out of a house with a fairly big yard and all the maintenance that implies to a condo with community landscaping, etc.

But in the end they were pretty far removed from their friends in my father's hometown, where they lived most of their lives. They were far removed from their 5 grandchildren (although in all fairness 4 of us scattered across the US anyway). They were poorer since they traded a paid-off house for an expensive condo with heavy community fees. My dad and his brother did a lot to help, but my grandmother basically ran through all of her money long before she passed away.

But you're right - they may have considered the warm climate and the baseball and the friends they DID have for a few years worth the struggles afterwards. I'll never really know the answer to that, and to be honest, I hope I was wrong in my assessment in the post. I hope moving to Florida WAS a good move for them, when taken in total.

Re: follow the white rabbit to financial freedom

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:42:51 -0000

Mike - I am doling out blue pills to everyone. We need all the help we can get to fight the Matrix :)

Re: follow the white rabbit to financial freedom

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:23:34 -0000

Thanks everyone - since I'm a fan of the movie and thought this was a funny idea, I'm glad to hear you all like it :)

@Plonkee - not lame at all, I'm flattered :)

"The Matrix is a system. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it. "

It's amazing how closely it all fits, isn't it?

Re: the myth of the parent that NEEDS to work

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:50:34 -0000

Again, a lot of great comments and I really appreciate them all. I think Brooke made a point that I'd like to address. I did admit that there are certain parents who need to work - single mothers, etc. Now, if there are two parents and both feel a need to continue working for their careers or just for fulfilment, that's a valid choice - although one I disagree with, personally.

I respect a PERSON'S right to choose what is best for them but I would still argue that putting the child's needs first - and that means being there for them moreso than earning money for them - is a PARENT'S first responsibility. If you can make it work with one parent working full-time and one part-time, then that's fine - but I think it means that you want the work for your sake, not for your child's sake. That's your choice to make, certainly. But I still think that any time you choose two incomes over one you are making a choice for money over staying home. We lost 40% of our income when my wife quit her job. We made a choice, and it has been hard from time to time. But our choice was to sacrifice income, and frankly some of both of OUR happiness (her career, our money, my freedom to change jobs now that I'm the sole wage earner). I agree that it's your choice and I am sure you are motivated by what you think is best; but my personal opinion is that it's still choosing one thing over another.

Re: weekly linklings, october 24, 2007

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:49:17 -0000

Thanks everyone for the comments! I did just want to clarify, in reaction to SD's comment, that when I talk about reducing posting frequency I'm mainly talking about cutting out the daily link roundups I tried doing for a couple of weeks, and probably one weekend post. It just seemed like everything was getting rushed off the 'front page' so to speak. But it's a nice compliment!

Re: build your financial horcrux

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:34:58 -0000

Mr. Cheap, I can't argue that your take wouldn't have made good sense, too. That's actually an excellent way to look at it... you did an excellent analysis of a US financial problem with a British novel :)

Re: public declaration and some news

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:36:43 -0000

Thank you everyone! We're very excited and I'm sure I will have tons more to post about on this subject. Mike (Four Pillars) asked the $10,000 question: early May. We heard May 7, but it's probably going to be earlier than that if this baby is anything approaching the size of our son :)

Re: follow the white rabbit to financial freedom

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:46:52 -0000

Thanks for the comments so far - I guess I need to write "Financial Freedom Reloaded" now. Or maybe, like the producers of the Matrix, I should just stop after the "good one" :)

There is no spoon.

Re: fatherland

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:23:07 -0000

Charles, I've heard that argument, and made it myself, particularly the "at least they have a job making sneakers and not being coal mine slaves." It's probably legitimate, but like plonkee said I wish we had leaders who would stand up to China and India and say "we won't import these things unless you impose bare minimum conditions on factories for treatment of workers." If the US and its consumer might were abruptly yanked away from China, for example, maybe they'd see the need to provide basic human rights to dissidents, or improve conditions in the factories.

Then again, maybe they'd call in their treasury bonds and collapse the US economy. It is a tough call, and that's why I said that despite my misgivings I'm probably on the side of just buying the cheap stuff and sending my monthly contribution to children.org (which I do) and to rcws.org annually, and hoping that helps....

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:04:08 -0000

@Guiness416: congrats on the sixK and thanks! When you want to jump off the salary bandwagon, contract consulting awaits... :)

@plonkee: I don't know about the esoteric major. If you want to major in philosophy, fine, but just don't be prepared for huge success in the finance world. There's nothing wrong with it - my dad has a philosophy PhD and wouldn't trade it for anything - but it just simply isn't the path to corporate success in my opinion (and I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions). You're right about not having much respect for corporate workers - I certainly have a healthy dose of self-loathing going on. I guess it's not respect so much as being angry that so many talented people are sold so short. I see so many bright people at my corporate clients who are tortured with meetings and overtime and bureaucracy who could do their jobs in 20 hours per week if there wasn't this insane addiction to the clock. But I'm probably a bit too hard on corporate employees, but it's out of frustration more than anything.

@Matt: Trust me, it will be beneficial - but also trust me, it's going to be necessary to grit your teeth in the short run. No pain, no gain, unfortunately.

@baglady (love the nickname, by the way): You're right, eventually a sixK income will be the norm. I don't think of my income as particularly impressive by any means - probably half of my neighbors are at that level. And I agree with you that working sometimes accelerates earnings past others who stay in school. I personally think a master's will be less useful than certification in the future.

Re: rich mom, poor mom

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:12:32 -0000

Excellent comments! I want to clarify something that's probably not always evident in my reasoning regarding parenting, and it's important: I view everything through the lens of my own situation. Before Bubelah (who disagrees with me on this!) left her job to be a stay-at-home parent, she worked for a large investment bank. Her hours weren't awful - no dawn-to-midnight days - but she worked a lot. If she still worked, with the commute and her hours she would be gone 10 hours a day. She would have had no flexibility to leave work easily mid-day to attend to emergencies, etc. I personally have ZERO flexibility to leave mid-day for the simple fact that I'm an hour and a half commute away from home. If I leave, I'm gone for the day.

So what I'm getting at is that I am talking about a mother working in a corporate role with demanding hours and a brutal commute. Plonkee and Guiness416 and MMND are all pointing out situations in which the parent is working as (a) a teacher or (b) self-employed. Those are flexible, family-friendly situations. That is a far cry from a corporate "why are you leaving mid-day?" environment.

Probably I need to emphasize that more. I actually plan to return to teaching (I spent a couple of years teaching in grad school and substitute teaching middle school to support myself in college) once we are financially independent. That will make my schedule mesh with my kids, and hopefully Bubelah will be able to return to the job she loved so much before her stint at the investment bank (she was a refugee counselor at an airport, of all things)!

So yes, I agree - my mom went back to teaching after we were in middle school, and I am never advocating the WOMAN stay home, which would be sexist. I think that with the right job with flexible hours and a reasonable commute and supportive family nearby a working mother can do just fine.

I just view it through my own experience here in New York - lots of people with no family around, working hideous hours in demanding jobs. I shudder to see my colleagues who never see their kids Mon-Fri. So THAT's what I'm thinking about! My contract consulting is much more flexible than my previous 3-week-business-trip corporate job was, so I count myself lucky.

Hope that helps clarify :)

Re: rich mom, poor mom

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:41:23 -0000

@Shadox - "Many people find staying at home with their kids to be emotionally fulfilling and a family necessity. While others don’t. "
" Individuals should make the decisions that will make them as happy as possible in the long run. Each of us knows what makes us happy, and that is the only road we should follow."

I have read your takes on this too, and it's just a fundamental disagreement that's not really resolvable since matters of opinion are just that - opinion. Neither of us are basing our arguments on data. I think that the "do what makes you happy" line of thinking goes out the window when you have kids. Does changing diapers make you happy? Does losing sleep when they are teething make you happy? No, but you do it. The road you follow is not driven by happiness all the time. Maybe the overall happiness you feel, but day by day? No. If you don't find staying with your kids emotionally fulfilling - if you CHOOSE to stay at work 10-12 hours per day and not with your children - to me that choice of happiness is clear: your work makes you happier than your kids, or else you would not choose to do that.

@Carol, @Ruth: I agree with you both, but more than anything with Carol's statement: "If mom is always gone, they crave her. If dad is always gone, they crave him. " I wish I had written it that way, Carol.

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 05:59:48 -0000

@Will - couldn't agree with you more, actually. I wouldn't say it was my goal to be a wage slave, though. I used my years as a wage slave to shift over to contract consulting. Now granted, I'm still tied to big corporate clients and I'm not totally free of the 9-to-5 grind, but I do get overtime, I can take off time whenever I want (since if I don't show up I don't get paid, so clients are somewhat neutral about time off) and in an average year I'm taking off around 8 weeks.

So I don't feel like I'm running after money I don't need. I don't work full-time, my wife doesn't work at all and basically the main reason I'm still accumulating money is because New Jersey is expensive. Once I've saved enough (and even after all of this we save about 20-30% of my income) we'll pack off to a smaller, less expensive town elsewhere and I'll drop to working 20 weeks a year or so.

And THAT is really my goal...

Re: 2017 is the year of the bimillionaire

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:18:13 -0000

Thanks for all the comments! I do think that there's a common thread to these comments, which is that making the change to thinking of money as a tool, instead of a "thing", is key. Money has no value other than what it can be exchanged for - making the decision to exchange money for time instead of for things is key.

Multiplicity was witty, yes, but Michael Keaton plays crazy a little too well for me.... loved him as Batman, though.

Re: contest!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:19:53 -0000

@Mike - thanks!

@Marnellie - welcome! Thanks for the vote of confidence, it actually means a lot AND helps a lot.

@MMND, Mrs. Micah - I certainly do hope that people will like this contest - we'll see how it goes!

Re: public declaration and some news

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:22:04 -0000

Thanks again for the comments and good wishes, everyone! Yeah, sun therapy is something I might actually look into if I can bear to drop the money on the light box - those things are pricey. And Mrs Micah, we've already seen the little 3D ultrasounds - very odd looking but very cute in a fetal way. Amazing to imagine that our hulking 19 month old toddler son was that little a mere 2 years ago!

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:33:25 -0000

Thanks everyone for the encouragement - saying it's a good list is very helpful to keep me motivated too. I will point out that Saving Diva's comment makes me reiterate that I'm not 100% of the way there on all of these! These are all things I plan on, but a bunch of them - quit drinking caffeine jumps to mind - are GOALS. Still not there yet. Down to one cup of coffee per day, no soda, just a little green tea and a lot of herbal tea, but not 100% there yet. The raw veggies thing is close, but if you audited my food it might be closer to 30-40%, although a lot of the cooked food is just cooked veggies.

@Kevin: I know the Center for Injury Control, for example says that if a gun is kept in the home, a woman or child are more likely to be harmed by that gun than an intruder. States with higher rates of gun ownership have higher rates of homicide. In a very general sense, I believe having a gun in the home - especially with small children, like I have - is not a step towards a long life. I grew up with guns all around me, and it was obvious to me that the chances they would be used in self-defense were much smaller than the chance they'd be used against us in some way.

But in all fairness that's a matter for HUGE debate, and I'm actually not a particularly vocal anti-gun person. Just going with the stats...

Re: I want it. You buy it. Any questions?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:36:56 -0000

Just to see if anyone subscribed to comments here - I'm stealing ALL of your ideas for my Cafepress store :)

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:51:58 -0000

Wow, great comments everyone! I feel like some people feel like I was picking on English as a major. I think majoring in English is a great thing if you enjoy it - the point of my post is just that it's not a great first step to a six-figure career. Maybe a six-figure career isn't as important to you as an English major. Fair enough. I'd argue that a double major in English and finance might be worth considering if you want a six-figure job, though. And in all fairness I bet I've read much of the same literature as an English major, just on my own. I studied linguistics and Russian for a minor, too, so it's not like I'm suggesting being a business drone - but the simple fact is you'll have better luck in corporate America if you majored in chemistry than in English. I'm not saying it's fair, or right, but based on my own experience it's true.

MoneyDummy, the advice would be pretty simple - get an advanced degree in a business subject. You can get an MBA. I went back to school for one year as an unclassified student, collected the pre-reqs for an accounting master's, and then got one the next year. Not a fun year, for sure, but it made a strong combo with a math undergrad.

Ady, no doubt - net take home would be critical too. Being in a low tax state would too - 80K in Texas is worth a lot more than 100K in New York, for example. It's just a round figure for the sake of example! :)

And thanks to everyone, really, for the comments - great discussion going on here!

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:11:46 -0000

@Collegekid (#28): that's actually a great question. I started out in college with the firm intention of being a teacher (secondary or college) and even went briefly to PhD school. I suddenly realized in PhD school that I wasn't cut out for 5 more years in grad school and shifted gears.

I don't regret my choices, exactly. They led me to my life today and since I'm in what most people would consider an envious position (good pay, no travel, minimal responsibilities, great hours, new clients every 6 months, etc. etc.) I don't think I would change much. However, I do regret some of my choices within that path, and particularly regret some of the blind devotion I had to work while living in Russia. I wish I had spent more time experiencing the country and less buried in meetings.

But all of that having been said, I don't think my struggles with Maslow's hierarchy has much to do with my job. I am not a person who - I think - would find much actualization derived from ANY job. I get more satisfaction from writing, for example. Would I be happier as a teacher? Maybe. I really liked it. Would I still struggle with positivity sometimes? Probably. That's just my nature.

Great question!

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:30:13 -0000

ryan, there's no need to feel sorry for me. My job now is not a symbolic big-wig job, far from it - in fact, more or less the opposite. Many of my jobs on the way were like that, but now that I'm a full-time consultant it's NOTHING like a big-wig job. As I've said in other responses, I got to travel every corner of the world for 10 years (one of my dreams - I never would have spent 6 weeks in rural Siberia or ridden horses in Romania or walked around in the streets of Surabaya otherwise) and now I have minimal work responsibilities (no boss, just clients, and no staff) with a large salary. I am not rich, but I have a lot more freedom than I would were I not making that salary. It helps that I'm frugal, as well - I don't live like someone who makes six figures. I have not worked past 6 in 3 years, I take off 8 weeks (or more) a year. My biggest struggles, happiness-wise, probably come from feeling there is something I'm supposed to be doing that I wasn't, but a lot of that has been lifted by writing.

There's tradeoffs for everything. Being happy won't come from being a poor artist any more OR less than being a corporate fatcat. Both require that you be happy with your choices, happy with your relationships (family and friends), happy with your security (financial and physical), etc. etc. These are things that complement working at something you love, but it's awful hard to be happy if you don't have these other things, as well. I do hope you are truly happy, though. Being truly happy is something most people don't have an easy time with, so if going to art school makes you truly happy, go for it. Don't feel sorry for me, though - I'm OK :)

Re: i’ve been accepted to imaginary college!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:22:02 -0000

Ah, good point! I put a link at the end of the post - it was "Field Notes From A Catastrophe." Al Gore's books are good - I even have a signed copy of Earth In The Balance - but Field Notes is the one that really shook me.

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:20:57 -0000

@DaveC: Maybe you're interpreting something differently, but I don't think I advocate taking drugs anywhere in that list - the only mention of drugs is "steer clear of drugs," which means stay away from drugs.

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:58:23 -0000

Hank - fair enough comments. I'm not a politically oriented blog and I'm not really equipped to argue the statistical pros and cons of gun ownership. I grew up around a lot of guns. I learned to use them at an early age. All that having been said, I'm leery of keeping them in the house, even if I didn't live in a place where gun ownership is extremely difficult to legally. And yes, I have some weapons that I am familiar with other than guns to use in self-defense, in addition to a home defense system. If I ever do bring guns in my home, I'll admit I was wrong, fair enough?

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:54:52 -0000

@J: if that's what was meant - that advocating alcohol while putting down drugs is hypocritical - fine. Alcohol is a dangerous drug, but I would argue that there have been enough studies showing moderate alcohol consumption's health benefits that (a) if you are not prone to alcoholism and (b) if you really do moderately drink and not binge drink, then it's different than illegal narcotics. A primary difference between alcohol and heroin is legality, and also the lack of quality control in an illegal product.

I have no doubt that alcohol is an extremely dangerous drug for many, many people and from that point of view the wisest thing might be to avoid it altogether if you have the least doubt that you can enjoy it in moderation only. I would still not advocate any illegal drugs, simply because I'm not going to advocate anything illegal. Whether all of them SHOULD be illegal is a debate for a different kind of blog :)

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:06:02 -0000

@Mrs. Micah, @Guinness416: Some of the reactions are a little surprising, to say the least. I know that most people have strong feelings about being told what to do, though. I certainly wrote the article expressing an extremely "certain" point of view, which probably sets people off a bit. I'm not by any means a monk or a joyless person, but maybe that's the way it comes off. I just think, having lived a very unhealthy lifestyle in the 90s that I'd rather be healthy. My most fun day when I was 320+ pounds, drinking, working like a maniac and sick all the time was not nearly as much fun as an average day at 200 pounds, eating healthy and feeling relaxed.

To everyone in general who's read this far I would just say that this list is my opinion. If you feel a life without TV isn't a life worth living, this isn't the article for you...

If anyone has a good counterargument (like #11 joe about accidents or #12/#19 Hank about gun safety), hey, I am willing to admit that some of the points are open to debate.

So at the risk of sounding a bit plaintive, the purpose of the list is just to provide some food for thought. If you take it as a personal insult to your lifestyle, sorry!

Re: guest post: learning to truly love what you have

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:41:26 -0000

An excellent guest post, wasn't it? To Mike's point - I hate to admit it but in our family I'm probably the one who is hanging on to too many clothes - I hate getting rid of my old t-shirts. You never know when that REO Speedwagon t-shirt will come back in style, do you?

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:53:03 -0000

Hank, fecundity - all good points, and yes, I don't think I can do much about the Y chromosome at this point :)

Hank - way back in #7 I pointed out that I'm not 100% of the way there on all of these. I do watch TV from time to time, although I'm substantially better than I was a year ago. I used to come home and turn it on and leave it going all evening. Now I mostly watch movies, and I've been forcing myself to cut back on the blast-em-up movies that are (honestly) my favorites. I haven't had more than 3 or 4 sodas in the last 3 years, though (once every few months I may have a Sprite, but it usually disgusts me right after I drink it).

Fecundity - you're right, there are no guarantees. The real purpose of the list is to highlight - as you said - behaviors that PROBABLY would contribute to an increase in longevity. I just wanted to get people talking, and I guess I did that, at least!

Chance and genetics will play a big part in my longevity. I don't deny that at all. But someone who engages in healthy behavior has a better shot at a long life. No guarantee, but a slight edge, maybe. Nothing can help versus fate, though. I've seen two middle-aged, relatively healthy people in the last year go into the doctor and come out with a diagnosis of terminal cancer (both died within weeks). And I have seen relatives who smoked, drank and never broke a sweat for 20 years live to be mid-80s.

But who knows? I generally feel better when I do most of the things in that list, so why not keep at it? Most of it's not for everyone but it would be impossible to write a list that would fit everyone's expectations AND needs. Did my best :)

Re: rich mom, poor mom

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:31:39 -0000

Another interesting article along the same lines: click here.

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:09:55 -0000

@Email: from CNN today - these are the "top headlines":

Student: Clinton camp fed me question
Police kill unarmed man holding brush
Surgeon claims he operated on Kanye's mom
Blacks half of AIDS cases, 1% of AIDS quilt
Ticker: Terrorist attack on mall portrayed in ad
Governor calls on higher power for rain
Man tortured 10 months wants apology
WPLG: Man fleeing police killed by alligator
Blast rips off man's fingers at ball game
Chlamydia cases sets STD record
Suspect tries to flush gun down cell toilet
Time: Alicia Keys gets phished
How to keep sane on your holiday visit
Casino implodes in way-cool glitzy fashion

Tell me how many of those are "learning new things." You call it news, I call it a waste of time. It doesn't make me a hippie by any stretch of the imagination to dismiss news stories about flushing guns down toilets or casino fashions, does it?

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:50:34 -0000

@Michael - that's scary; I hope your wife is OK now. Artificial sweeteners are sold everywhere and there's not a lot of long term data on what they are actually DOING to us.

@Mike: yeah, good jogging shoes go hand in hand with "not dragging around an excess 20 pounds while running." I've had a bad running summer and I badly need to get back into race shape, not just jogging shape - which is bad timing considering winter's coming and I'm not the greatest cold weather runner.

Re: guest post: learning to truly love what you have

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:52:11 -0000

Alice Cooper has far more cred than REO. Until he started doing the Staples or Office Depot or whatever they are commercials. Ah well, he's just trying to get paid like the rest of us, I guess.

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:58:52 -0000

It did seem harsh but that's OK, I understand. I can't see that a label like 'hippie' would ever be an honor, but if it was meant to be, thanks. While I might admire some of the (stereotypical) hippie qualities like peace, love, understanding, etc. I also had a lot of problems with their ideas (again, stereotypically) about drug use and the "drop out" mentality, which I think was destructive and childish. I am not a hippie by a long shot, in appearance, actions or beliefs.

Let's define news, though. First: I say something is news if it in some way provides me with information that affects my life. Where I draw the line is arbitrary. Troubles in Pakistan may someday cause me trouble due to their possession of nuclear weapons. Fair enough. Will knowing about riots and so on in Pakistan now cause me to act differently? No. Does it help my career? My family? My relationships with others? No, no, no.

Second: the US media does not actually give us "reporting of events". They SELL us news. NBC or CNN or FOX receive money for an entertainment program. Some people enjoy the part of the entertainment program that tells them about Paris Hilton, or a triple murder, or Pakistan riots. But each of those networks are using those stories to entice viewers to watch advertising. Same with papers, or online news. There is no not-for-profit news. I also particularly pick on the TV news and yes, I dismiss it both on the basis of style AND content.

Third: the perception of the entire US media towards external events is flawed. If you saw the runup to the Iraq War it is clear that our media is unable to accurately determine the truth of events. They do not investigate. They report others' assertions. Watch any news program for 30 minutes and at least once I guarantee you'll see a reporter ask another reporter his OPINION of an event. That is not news.

I love reading history. History is also seen through the eyes of the victors and so on, but there is some sort of consensus on events after the passage of time that you can't get AS events occur. I can even start to agree that there is simply some benefit to being educated about the history of mankind in a general sense. I should know who Caesar is, who Robespierre was, who Hermann Goering was, I guess.

I simply don't think there is much value in learning too much that is not relevant to my daily existence unless I derive some other value from it. I have a lot to keep up with, as we all do. I do not find that knowing Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize is useful information for ME. I'm terribly glad, I think he represents what is best about America and I wish he was our president today. It might even just make me happier to know. Fine. But knowing he won an Oscar or a Nobel doesn't really enlighten me, or help me. Reading his book and watching his movie did. Reading about the prizes he won for them didn't. And hearing about a triple murder in San Diego or Dallas or the Bronx certainly helps me in no way, shape or form.

Out of all of this, too, I'm just skipping past the fact that 90% of the news is ridiculous entertainment junk. Britney blah blah blah.

My background is this: I used to be a news junkie. All day every day I read about death, stupid politics, the hopeless lives of so many of the world's people and the sex lives of celebrities. I filled my head up with tension and worthless knowledge. Then one day, after reading a particularly horrible series of news stories about abused and murdered and mutilated children in the Sudan and in the US, I decided enough was enough. That time I spent reading about abused children? Better spent working to make more money and give it to causes I support like children.org and the Russian Children's Welfare Society. The time spent on politics? Pointless - if you think anything these politicians say will come to fruition, go read about Bush's compassionate conservatism. Go read about Clinton's promises in 1992. There is nothing there. Time spent on celebrity news? Life wasted.

And as far as the question "who am I to decide what learning is?" I cannot learn for you, or for my wife or my family or my friends. I can only learn for myself. For others I can teach, or give opinions, but I cannot learn for them. So who am I to decide what learning is? Since I am the only person I can learn FOR, I am the ONLY person who can decide what learning is for me. I turn around and explain my position, but whether you accept it as knowledge for yourself is up to you, just the same as my decision to watch the news or not was mine.

And really, if the tone of this seems overly angry it's not meant to be, but I do feel it strongly. None of this, finally, is original thinking. Thoreau said it best:"If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter, we never need read of another.... All news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea." Thoreau had a strong opinion, and while I'm not THAT aggressively angry about it, he has a point.

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 06:58:13 -0000

@Mike: I know, I know, I feel bad that I'm such a wimp about it. My dad runs in cold weather, and plenty of people I know do. I just can never get past that cold air in my lungs. But I'll have to grit my teeth. Maybe if I buy better insulating gear....

@sfordinarygirl: Yeah, I debated gum, but there are a few that don't contain artificial sweeteners. You have to look long and hard, but there are some. Orbit has xylitol as a sweetener, and while I'll confess some ignorance about long-term effects of xylitol it is natural: Xylitol is a naturally occurring sweetener found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables, including various berries, corn husks, oats, and mushrooms. It can be extracted from corn fiber, birch, raspberries, plums, and corn.

I just found that when I had really bad cravings it was better to chew some gum than eat, despite the junk in gum. But you're right, if you're trying to avoid sweeteners gum is probably a bad idea. Ricola, too. But I figured it was trace amounts if I only chewed a couple a day.

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:35:32 -0000

@ponderific (#16): I do in fact have some views on detox diets. I am slowly working my way into a largely raw food diet, with vegetarian (cooked) food the rest of the diet and an occasional meat meal when visiting relatives, etc. (maybe once every week or two). The raw food diet is amazing to the small extent I've tried it - I've had HUGE increases in energy, digestive "calmness", etc. I have tried other detox methods with less success, although I highly recommend Dr. Natura's Colonix system (http://www.drnatura.com/) which I do once a year with fantastic results. I'll probably have a post on the subject of detoxing in general soon.

@Chad: That's a fantastic story - truly inspirational!

@Guinness416: the theory is simply that since your body starts "starving" overnight and goes after carbs, then fat, if you haven't added carbs to your system 'recently' there is a better chance it will burn through to fat. It's a very, very minor difference, granted, but I think there's SOME validity to it. Add to that the fact that most carbs are just heavier and harder to digest and it could simply mean a better digestive experience.

@Livingalmostlarge: the main success of Weight Watchers is the public accountability. You have to declare your success or failure in front of others, and it's motivating. It is terribly, terribly difficult to do with an unsupportive spouse. It is hard to quit something that bothers you but doesn't bother your spouse. If I dance around eating chocolate in front of my wife, it bothers her - if she eats a pizza while I eat a fruit salad it's tough. Having support is critical beyond belief when losing weight. I don't know your personal situation well enough to offer much advice, but I will say that negative influences are negative influences, no matter what their source, and negative influences are incompatible with support and love. Try to lean heavily on WW if that's helping you. It's helped a LOT of people.

Good comments everyone, and if this list helps ANYONE with ANYTHING I'll be happy. Email me if you have other questions, or leave more comments!

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:28:57 -0000

@johnnyB (#45): I certainly don't think English is touchy-feely nonsense. I love reading, I love writing, so there's not much about it I don't like! My only point was that if you want to increase the odds of getting a six-figure career, English is probably not the best bet. There are, of course, always exceptions that prove the rule and I'm glad in your case you've done well.

And I would still probably argue that as competition increases with the much-larger Generation Y kids hitting the workforce that technical degrees, or even English combined with something more technical as a double major, will probably still carry more weight.

@David (#42): Similar reply to the one I gave to johnnyB; not having a college degree is certainly better than not having drive and passion for your work. It's not like Bill Gates has a college degree, after all, and he makes six figures...every 10 minutes. You make some good points!

Re: the stone in the shoe

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:41:39 -0000

@Danny, you're right, real estate would be a great example of this in real life.

@Mrs. Micah, er, sure, because people in real life are so rational and always take the most sensible option...? Er.... :)

@Fecundity: Think Outside the Shoe ... good one! :)

@Guinness416: Everything I need to know I learned from A-Rod. Hard to argue with someone whose value to the world is more than 650 times the average American family of four's income and yet practically hasn't done anything ever in the postseason. Argh.

Re: saving money on books

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:43:50 -0000

@Eric, glblguy: Piers Anthony was a huge favorite of mine in my teen years: Bio of a Space Tyrant and Xanth were great, but I also really liked the Apprentice Adept series, the Tarot series, Incarnations of Immortality series and the Cluster books. I can pretty easily say I liked everything of his I ever read with one exception (Firefly - I imagine if you've read it you know why, it's very creepy and not in a good way).

@Fecundity: Battlefield Earth (the book) was a lot, lot, lot better than the movie (at least in my opinion)!

Re: site change

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:53:07 -0000

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I decided the graphical header was actually more or less unnecessary - the main thing I liked about the theme was simply the clean look, so I just ditched the header image. I think it looks pretty good that way...

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:07:32 -0000

@FiboZen: Good comment; I can't argue with your reasoning in regards to financial freedom. I would probably argue that it all depends on your comfort with - for example - investing activities. 20% savings on a six-figure salary are going to get you much faster to a large amount of savings if you can do it early in your career and - this is important - don't increase your cost of living to a "six-figure lifestyle." I could, for example, retire today and never work again IF I was willing to live in a much less expensive area (say, move from New York to rural Tennessee). I choose to keep working partially for the ability to live in the New York area.

I guess all I'm getting at is that what you suggest is completely doable if you have the risk tolerance, no concerns about children (schools, etc.) and a relatively cheap lifestyle. I think your path and mine will probably have the approximate same end destination. I personally would hate day trading for a living, so it wouldn't be a path for me - but if it works for you, go for it, keep me updated and good luck! I think it's great to hear about people who "take the road less travelled" and are happy doing it!

Re: unusual things I’m thankful for

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:21:24 -0000

@Lazy Man: Well, we beat the Steelers last week. The Cowboys were another matter entirely... argh.

Re: unusual things I’m thankful for

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:22:53 -0000

@Fecundity, Four Pillars: thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to you, too! Yeah, 01.20.09 is becoming a bit of a "meme" for bumper stickers and whatnot around my (rather liberal) area. I think almost everyone in the US, regardless of politics, is ready for a change.

Re: black friday links

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:25:31 -0000

@Guinness416: Pest! :) No, that's a good catch - I added an underline to it so it should be a bit easier to catch. It was the "visited" URLs that were shaded, but the shading doesn't show up well on the comments on with the dark background. Hopefully that underline is good enough for now. I'll tinker with it a bit more after I get Little Buddy in bed...

Re: unusual things I’m thankful for

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:56:35 -0000

@Saving Diva: I haven't tried Trader Joe's, although we have one opening up near us soon. I'll give it a shot. Main thing is organic, because for a long time I was drinking non-organic tea simply because organic was so pricey. It's more the cost than the taste....

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:58:16 -0000

@Wilma: Since it was simply a metaphor and not meant as a literal reference to Native Americans bringing fatty foods into the world, I won't really make any claim to that being a historical fact. It was just the first example of an overwhelming force that came to mind - no intention to be literal. Sorry if you took offense, but it certainly wasn't meant the way you read it!

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:35:51 -0000

@Anais: that's fantastic - losing 125 pounds is an amazing achievement! Keep up the good work :)

Re: wrapping up the holiday weekend

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:25:57 -0000

Thanks guys! @Mike - I wish I had triple citizenship in Canada, the US and Mexico and could take ALL of the holidays. I'm definitely not going to win "most dedicated worker" with that attitude but I sure do enjoy the time off, and especially the "family/friends/food" aspect of some of the big holidays!

Re: guest post: working parents are not a bad thing

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:19:53 -0000

I have mixed feelings, because I really do think it's better for a parent to stay home ... but at the same time as our second child is on the way we're about 90% decided on part-time day care for our son, since it's going to be tough on my wife to be pregnant and be active enough to chase after a two-year-old, let alone once the baby comes.

Guinness416 is completely correct - having better flextime would make a big difference.

Mike (Four Pillars) - unfortunately in the New York area 12 hour workdays are common. I, for example, leave home around 7:30 and return around 6:30 or 7 when I have an 8 hour day - because of the commute. The long commutes in major cities are the time killers.

Dong, I think that's a big concern for most people - it's not so much that it's a BAD thing, but the parents miss out on more than the kids do.

jj, I agree - it was well-written! Good job by plonkee, definitely - thanks again!

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:38:51 -0000

@Rachelle - I'm not suggesting starving or living in your car in order to be skinny. I AM, however, suggesting that canceling cable in order to eat healthy might be worth it. If you save money but stay unhealthy and overweight and die at 50, you're not helping anyone.

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:44:38 -0000

Rich - feel free to share your story, it sounds impressive. I'm sure there are always exceptions to the rule. Many people would be interested to know how you turned a history degree into 100k, so feel free to share the secret. I wouldn't say I've settled - I was making six figures after 6 years, not 1, so you have me beat there, but in general it turned out pretty well for me.

Re: making overseas experience count

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:48:00 -0000

@Plonkee: amen, I couldn't agree more - but corporations are convinced that CORPORATE jobs are the end-all, be-all sometimes. It's one of my issues with them.

Bubelah, I agree with Fecundity. You could spend 5 minutes with a financial terms dictionary and know them all easily if you needed to, since it's your native language. My point was just that if you plan on interviewing for a business position, better be ready for the technical terms. I have the opposite problem in German - I am very conversational but I couldn't talk business to save my life. It's all just context....

Re: making overseas experience count

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:43:50 -0000

"Domestic engineer" - I love that. I'd hire someone like that on creativity + guts alone!

Re: my 2008 financial resolution

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:23:53 -0000

That picture has, in fact, nothing to do with anything. I was looking for pictures tagged "goals" or "resolution" or "determination" etc. and for some reason this one came up, and I liked it. Think of it as a Friday pick-me-up :)

Re: my 2008 financial resolution

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:16:51 -0000

@Mike: Yeah, that's what I was thinking! That thing looks NOTHING like me - my RIGHT side is purple.

@Ruth: I hadn't really thought of the speaker idea, but that's another good one to put in my list of ideas - thanks!

Re: learning to walk away

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:11:55 -0000

You know, I started out thinking that the only way to invest was in individual stocks, and consequently exposed my portfolio to some pretty concentrated risks along the years. I think if I had put a bit more attention into spreading that risk across a few stocks, it would have made more sense, but I also could have just as easily invested in a broad index fund like VFINX. Someday I'll do the calculation of what my holdings would have been today had I done that, but I don't feel like annoying myself with that calculation yet :)

Re: my 2008 financial resolution

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:37:28 -0000

@Mrs. Micah, Fecundity, SavingDiva, Dividends4Life, CashMoneyLife, Moolanomy and Paidtwice: thank you all so much for the good wishes! It actually helps a lot to hear people say good luck, surprisingly enough! You are all terrific :)

Re: linklings, Odin’s Day edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:45:46 -0000

That's a great series of responses. I guess my two cents are this: wishing that everyone would get personal days in lieu of holidays is just that, wishful thinking. In the US and Canada, the chance of Christmas devolving into an optional holiday are about 0.000000%. So starting from that statement, if I was in a position to work on Christmas and would get double pay to ensure a skeleton staff, yeah, I might do it. My family is a mix of traditions, as Bubelah said, so an occasional sacrifice for double pay on a day where - frankly - I would probably surf the net for 8 hours doesn't sound so awful.

Probably the best solution is just to get more tolerant all around and give people as much flexibility in their workplace as possible. I don't care if people get Yom Kippur as a day off, and frankly if people are upfront with HR and say "hey, I really need this day" - don't even charge them a holiday.

So much trouble in this world is caused because rather than giving some people something extra, we want to take something away to equalize everyone. Honestly, I would take The International Day of the Pancake off if I got paid for it :)

Second point is that Santa can make it all around the world in less than 24 hours on Christmas Eve. If you think he can't rip into some Gwar lyrics after delivering all of those CDs, you don't know Santa like I know Santa.

The more I hear about Canada, the more I like it :)

Re: how to obtain an extraordinary job

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:08:26 -0000

Hey, that's the idea! Maybe I should've run this post on Monday morning...?

Re: how to obtain an extraordinary job

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:02:02 -0000

JimB - no problem, Mike's got a great blog, too (four-pillars.ca) so I wouldn't be in the least bit upset with being confused with him! I'm so glad you liked the post enough to comment - that's what it's all about as a blogger, after all, getting people to participate in the conversation! I agree with your points completely - not everyone can escape at age 20. Sometimes you have to put in a few years (and by few, I mean 20)!

Re: November stats

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:19:53 -0000

Thanks everyone - I appreciate it! You have all been fantastic :)

Re: teaching risk tolerance

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:02:51 -0000

Julie, I agree completely. I find that one of the toughest things as a parent is to overcome the judgments of other parents as to what YOUR child should do and not do. I try to remind myself that he's an individual and has to find his own risk tolerance level, even if other adults give ME a hard time about it. It's tough to do, and I don't always win that battle (tunnel day is a good example - sometimes I feel I have to push him to do things like that, exactly like you said)!

Re: how to be a good partner to a stay-at-home spouse

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:12:07 -0000

Great comments, everyone. The second picture is a little weird, but for some reason it just caught my attention! And yes, the pearls and martini advice will come in the followup post....

Heather had a good point, that of course any of these can be modified if you and your spouse communicate about them and agree on changing them. Maybe in your family one person just prefers to be the one who is on bedtime duty ... in any case, there are a lot of ways to manage things, and most of them just require good communication.

Re: how to be a good partner to a stay-at-home spouse

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:09:16 -0000

@John: In fact I DO intend to join your crowd, as soon as possible :)

@Marek: I couldn't agree more. Like I said at the beginning of the article I have terrible trouble remembering it all after a long day and sometimes horrific commute (up to 2 hours on a bad day, each way). However, I try every day to remind myself that sacrifices I make are not sacrifices - because it pays off in the long run with a better marriage, happier kids and a healthier home. But yeah - it's hard. Nothing good comes easy!

Re: how to obtain an extraordinary job

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:19:09 -0000

@Mrs. Micah - I read that post, and to be honest, probably somewhere in the back of my head it percolated around to writing something like this :)

@fathersez: You're right - seeing the good in everything will get you a lot further in this life than seeing the bad.

Re: Corporate coffee cost cutting

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:20:35 -0000

Thanks for the comment, Kate - you're right, it's a terrible way to squander resources, but it seems to be a disease in corporate America. I guess we just have to grit our teeth and try to punch holes and make Xerox copies with a smile... unfortunately!

Re: how to breathe

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:11:11 -0000

Thanks for all the comments - speedy, I'll check out that link and Joe, that's a good additional tip! TFB: I guess it's like anything else you try for stress reduction. It works, but only up to a point. If you're very frustrated it's going to take a while for any calming techniques to work!

Re: linklings

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:52:12 -0000

OK, well, that's a few votes FOR, I guess!

Re: down the drain

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:06:43 -0000

Kristin - glad you liked it! Having been to Jacksonville, I'd agree with you. I do remember visiting Tampa a lot in my childhood and thinking the water was smelly - but we still drank it. I remember first drinking water from bottles when I was playing sports in college - it was just convenient. Unfortunately it has become ridiculous - people will walk past a free fountain to buy...$1.50 fountain water in a bottle. I read recently that millions of water bottles are thrown away daily, and the environmental implications are dreadful.

I'm trying to stick to my aluminum bottle... so far I've been doing really well, and barely notice a difference!

Re: is college worth it? (part 2)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:26:44 -0000

@TFB: If Fred starts at 40K, then he ends up at 65 with almost $1.3 million. I chose 40K because I looked at some salary statistics and that's an average starting salary for a "finance analyst." I'm sure in big cities it's more, small cities less. One of the big variables would of course be where they lived. If Paul and Fred both lived in a big urban area - Chicago, Toronto, New York - the cost of living would be prohibitive because cheap rents would only be available with horrible, long expensive commutes, so Paul would be a significant disadvantage early on. In smaller towns it might flatten out - where I grew up, in a town of 10,000, the cheapest places to live and the most expensive were all within 15 minutes of the town center. You're right - the discipline to save 10% of your income is tough when you make very little, but judging by most of the statistics I read, making a lot of money doesn't make people more likely to find it easy to save 10%, either! Maybe the argument is in favor of finding less expensive places to live...

@plonkee: Yep, yep, yep. Your statement is 100% true. Wealth and income are two different things - people with low income can be wealthy, and people with high incomes can have a low net worth. It's having the discipline to save SOMETHING that makes all the difference.

Re: is college worth it? (part 2)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:38:08 -0000

@FourPillars: Mike, glad you liked it. Your right, Fred probably does have a much higher standard of living during that time period, although I would counter by saying that if they were to retire at the same total level of savings (i.e. both stop once they've saved $500,000 or whatever) Paul could have spent a lot more along the way.

I have to disagree completely about who can save a higher percentage of their income! Anyone can save higher or lower percentages of their income - your income level has very little to do with it after you're making enough for rent, etc. Fred might have a lot more income, but if he's got a higher standard of living - like you mentioned - then he probably spends 90% or more of his after-tax income, just like Paul. I know people who make much less than I do who still save as much or more than I do, and I know people who make a LOT more who save almost nothing. Fred has an opportunity, sure, but so does Paul - it's all just relative to the level of comfort you require. I also know people who make as much as I do but live a substantially simpler lifestyle in cheaper locations, and therefore save a lot more.

I could go on and on but I think there's a thought process that says people with low incomes can't save - there's some magic number over which saving gets "easier." There isn't - 99.9999% of the people in North America try to live up to the level of their income. If I could travel back in time to tell 1994 Steve how much he would make now, he would be blown away and figure he could save 50% of his income - but instead, even living a very frugal lifestyle (we save about 25% of our net income) there are a million ways I could cut back further, and don't, because I don't want to face life without Netflix ... for example.

That's a mini-post in the comments. Whew.

Re: is college worth it? (part 2)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:51:12 -0000

By the way, if anyone wants the actual spreadsheet I'll be glad to email it to you - although I didn't do a lot of labeling or explanation, so it may take a while to puzzle out! Just use the contact form or email me at bripblap---at---gmail * com.

Re: the myth of the parent that NEEDS to work

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:06:15 -0000

@Margaret: I agree, although it helps that my wife managed to complete her college education without taking out any loans thanks to New York's excellent public university system, which is very, very inexpensive. Learning for its own sake is certainly valid, and probably one of the two or three most important things that make one's life richer (and not in the money sense)!

Re: is college worth it? (part 2)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:37:49 -0000

To Mike (Four Pillars) comment to SavingDiva: ditto! 24 is still a looong way ahead of most of the population.

Mrs. Micah: you're right, and the argument can be made that a lot of people "waste" their college years pursuing, say, an art history degree only to get a job in banking. I say "waste" because, of course, that's all part of the journey that got you from point A to B and therefore it's never really a waste :)

Re: linklings

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:14:29 -0000

Carlos - that's hilarious, I had no idea! I thought it was funny because of the sign, but knowing it's a Vancouver strip club frequented by Hell's Angels gives it a little extra weirdness. Thanks for pointing it out :)

Re: how to start investing

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:44:34 -0000

Oh, trust me, I am King of the Overanalyzers, and you are right Mrs. Micah - it does lead to inaction. I agree with you, Mike, I love to settle down with a nice Excel spreadsheet and come up with 38 different scenarios for everything I do, but I do it far too much. It's a helpful skill if you're writing a blog, though :)

Matt, I couldn't agree more. Investing, especially at first, is definitely not any easier if you sit there palpitating every time the market goes up 1% or down 1%. Ignorance is sometimes bliss...

Re: is college worth it? (part 2)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:18:15 -0000

I'm certainly in agreement with any statements about my overgeneralizing and making broad assumptions. It's certainly nowhere near to a perfect model. Like Deepali said, a lot of studies (via Penelope, one of my favorite writers!) indicate that $40K is the breaking point for being able to save, be happy, etc. So if you assumed someone making less than $40K was unable to save effectively, that would change the model.

I'm not sure it comes across clearly, but my takeaway was the same as plonkees and JimB's and everyone else's: get an education early, do it without incurring debt, start saving early. If you do that, you're better off...period. "Paul" does better only because he starts earlier. If Fred doesn't have loans, the model lurches massively back over in his favor. The trick is to start saving very early - and that's really the moral of the story.

Re: how to start investing

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:21:24 -0000

JimB: couldn't agree more. At first the key is to cut costs and save. If you're debating investing in Citibank versus Bank of America at that point, you're wasting your effort.

Mark: You just wrote step 3.5. You're right, getting educated before getting fancy with more sophisticated investing is critical.

Re: linklings, the Jets strike back edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:58:57 -0000

Oh, I know you don't think it's an investment. Other people seem to think a Wii is an "investment" in entertainment, though.

Re: linklings, the Jets strike back edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:04:14 -0000

I predict that the Jets will do far, far better than Vegas predicts. I'm not predicting a win, but I am predicting that a team one year removed from the playoffs will not fold. I am also predicting that Guinness416 will not buy a Wii for Christmas...

Re: linklings, the Jets strike back edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:18:18 -0000

Well, it was close if you figure in a 23 point spread. It certainly wasn't the blowout everyone expected... that having been said, a disappointing game to say the least. The Pats should be worried that the Jets played so poorly yet stayed so close. Then again, 16-0 looks very, very doable now.

Re: 6 classes every well-rounded person needs

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:21:24 -0000

No, speech class was just a high school speech class. I think I may do Toastmasters soon, though.

Home maintenance would definitely be another good one, and ethics/manners would be very good. I'm amazed by how many people have awful manners in this day and age, too. Time management and sales training would be good - I could use those myself.

And to an earlier comment by Mike - I have no idea whether typing is more common nowadays. My sister-in-law, who is just finishing high school, never took it, and I don't think any of her classmates did, either. You would think they would be taking it, wouldn't you?

Re: how to obtain an extraordinary job

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:19:03 -0000

Well, thanks, Telly! I'm in a similar situation - I'm doing contract consulting and I've been in the same (very boring) position for almost a year now, with no end in site. However, the people are nice, the atmosphere is relaxed and I try to remind myself, like your friend says, that "have it made."

Re: Russian orphans and a generous December

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:30:03 -0000

Mrs. Micah, I agree - it's nice to see a core philosophy implemented in different ways year to year.

Dasha - thank you for the comment! I'm glad I was able to help you find RCWS! I just missed you by a couple of years in Moscow, since I started working there in 1996. A lot of people left in the mid-90s, though - my wife emigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1996. Moscow was in some ways the best and worst place for the poor I saw. Public services (orphanages, etc.) were of course available, but the horrific cost of living in Moscow made poverty that much worse. It's hard to believe it's now the most expensive city in the world, isn't it?

Re: linklings, the dollar’s hard knock life

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:36:43 -0000

I like controversial! It wouldn't be interesting if everyone agreed on everything...

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:19:20 -0000

Great comments. I'll try and address a few of the points!

@FourPillars: Mike, I agree you don't have to get "extra" income per se, but the idea is that for most people expenses will increase over their life, so if revenues don't, too, you'll lose ground. As you and I both know, kids add expenses for example. Not working extra hours for extra money is of course fine. Not everyone wants early retirement - many people are happy enough with the status quo, and that's not a bad thing. And I agree that spending extra time doing house maintenance, for example, is in effect "earning" extra income.

@Fecundity: Definitely not everyone can write well, and Rowling is definitely an anomaly. However, not everyone needs to succeed to her level. It's simply an idea. I could just as easily have put "write songs" or "paint pictures" or something like that. Your advice for writing a novel is good!

@Early Retirement Extreme: The law of diminishing returns kicks in for some moreso than others. If I can write a book, or invest in a business that grows and returns some of that investment to me, etc., the effort I have to put in initially in fact decreases while (hopefully) revenue grows. Selling things on eBay? Yeah, that's limited. But saving - as I said - has a firm limit of the amount of revenue you take in. I can't save 110% of my revenue. I can increase my revenue 10%.

@Ruth: That was, exactly, what I was getting at - looking for ways to take things you might already be doing and make some money off of it. I like to think I'm doing the same thing with blogging - I'm taking something I have been doing for free for years (Brip Blap was a very unsuccesful political blog for years!) and enjoying it and making a little money off of it. Win win. :)

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:19:56 -0000

(continued)
@Moneymonk: There is definitely a huge difference in increasing wealth and decreasing debt - it's two different activities. That having been said, there are some great debt-reduction blogs filled with tips on getting extra income to help reduce debt quicker.

@deepali: Ha! :)

@LazyMan: You are correct. It is probably not legal, and I actually removed the burning suggestion. That having been said, I doubt the artist gets paid when you buy used CDs, anyway, so even reselling it hurts the artist.

@DollarFrugal: Glad it helped! You're right, this is the time of year people start thinking about taxes and cleaning up for the new year and how the last year went, so making next year better becomes a preoccupation!

@HeMan: As I said to LazyMan above, you're right. And yes, it is a little utopian - it's a goal. That having been said, I do apply this in my own life. My wife and I both worked professional jobs four years ago, and lived in Manhattan near Central Park - i.e. very expensive. Since then, she quit her job to stay home to raise our son, we moved to a significantly less expensive suburb of NYC (although still very expensive), I quit my time-consuming job to become a contract consultant, and despite reducing our take-home income by about $70,000 all told we save 25% or more of my annual income, both of us started side businesses, I do freelance writing work, I'm working on a book and we are adjusting our investments to maximize future income from them. So yes, I live a significant amount of this advice. Some of it, as I mentioned, comes from friends of mine - so it's not something I do, but something I know people have success with. I know people who do almost all of these things (making the calendar was just an idea off the top of my head, I confess). I save and at the same time we both work hard to increase our "non-job" income. Other people are, of course, free to take or leave what parts of my advice they see fit!

Re: you might be a personal finance redneck if…

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:24:51 -0000

Oh, I guess I should have made that more clear - those are all original ideas by me :)

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:47:18 -0000

@D4L: Oh, you're right - you could of course increase spending and earning in tandem forever without getting ahead. It's important to keep spending increasing at a slower rate than income is increasing. Glad you liked it!

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:37:13 -0000

Thanks, Laura - that's such a nice comment. I really appreciate it! The title was meant to be a bit incendiary, for sure - I'm glad to hear it got at least one person to read it :) I'll definitely get to work on a t-shirt soon...

Re: linklings, “no Wii under the tree” edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 12:41:31 -0000

Oh, trust me, I'm not bummed about no Wii - it was actually tongue in cheek since I'm not a gamer and don't understand the fascination. I left PC gaming behind with Doom, and other than playing an occasional flash game online I never really play video games. I'd rather be investing my money :)

Re: you might be a personal finance redneck if…

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 12:51:17 -0000

ah's glad thet ev'ryone injoyed mah article an' thet (so far) nobody took offense. ah's sho'nuff ah c'd turn this hyar into a regular feature eff'n ah gave it inough thunk! Fry mah hide!

Translation: I am glad that everyone enjoyed my article and that (so far) nobody took offense. I am sure I could turn this into a regular feature if I gave it enough thought! (from http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/)

Re: what lies before us

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:58:17 -0000

The guidelines for suggesting a guest post are here.

Re: shifting tastes

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:17:10 -0000

I'll second your opinion that NY radio is subpar, FFB. The music stations in other cities where I've lived have been far more diverse and interesting. NY seems to concentrate on cringe-worthy Top 40, "soft rock" and rap stations. I'm no fan of country music but I've always found it hard to believe a city this size doesn't have a single country music station.

Re: linklings, 2007 is so passé edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:15:54 -0000

Thanks for the congratulations, everyone! We're having fun thinking of names now....

Re: linklings, 2007 is so passé edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:23:15 -0000

Oh, and as an addendum - the more I thought about it, the more I like (in retrospect) the decision by the Giants and the Pats to keep their starters in. Good for them. They didn't mail it in - they gave the fans and the NFL what they wanted. They gave us a great game to lead into the playoffs and set the stage for what might be an historic accomplishment. So the more I think about it, kudos to Grumpy Bill and Coughlin.

Re: I will not pay for my children’s college education, part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:39:41 -0000

Harry, I can't add much to that but "amen." It's amusing that someone would find it amazing that someone could actually order the same textbooks used by the Ivy League - as if there is some private Ivy-only textbook company!

Re: you might be a personal finance redneck if…

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:43:51 -0000

@Greg: Indeed - that's funny. I'm glad I DIDN'T read your post before I wrote mine since I'd be plagiarizing the plagiarization of Foxworthy's ideas that we both did :) Seriously, your list is excellent - we clearly do share a taste in humor!

Thanks to so many people for linking to it!

Re: net worth or net worthless?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:08:10 -0000

Great comments! I should point out that I don't dismiss net worth's value as a motivational tool. Weight loss is again a good comparison. If I tell you I lost 50 pounds, it makes a big difference if I weighed 250 pounds or 600 pounds as to whether it's an impressive loss.

I do think net worth is helpful as a motivational tool. I just think that it's overused as a personal finance tool. If you work in finance, you realize that equity is only one measure of a company's health. A million other things indicate growth or stagnation or decline: cash flow, return on equity, profit and loss, earnings before taxes, etc. I personally have tried to shift my thinking to "earning power" - what could I generate in cold hard cash from my assets? That's the true measure of financial freedom.

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:30:21 -0000

Thanks mbhunter, Cindy S, YooperSmith,Catherine and Debbie M! I'm glad you've found the post helpful - I like Catherine's point about attracting money into your life. You have to have the right attitude to do that. I hope some of the tips work out - let me know if they do!

Re: developing a millionaire mindset

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:55:03 -0000

@Mike: You bring up a good point and I'd like to clarify. There's a big difference between someone who disagrees but provides a useful sounding board and someone who is just dismissive. Let's say you think investing in real estate is better than stocks, and I think stocks are better than real estate. We can have a long argument pro and con and discuss stats, opinions, etc. I don't think that's a bad thing at ALL.

However, if you said "hey, Steve, maybe you should consider real estate instead of stocks because of ..." and I say "that's idiotic, Mike," then I'm not adding much to your master mind. I thought about this when I mentioned the master mind. People who support your effort but disagree with your methods can be helpful. People who are dismissive aren't helpful.

You aren't even vaguely close to getting banned, Mike! :)

@Kacie: Oh, sure, but I think my wife and I (as I discussed in my previous post on the subject) have done a pretty solid job of saving - we need to turn our attention to earning. But I don't disagree that saving should be first, because you can save today - earning may take longer.

Re: developing a millionaire mindset

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:18:24 -0000

@Guiness416: You hit on something there. We have beaten that horse to death and beyond. Manhattan has simply become unrealistic for people in our situation. (1) I make a pretty good salary, but not THAT good. (2) With a second child on the way, nanny would be prohibitively expensive, but so would Bubelah staying home. (3) Public schools in Manhattan, for the most part, suck - so private schooling would be insanely expensive. (4) Having two different-sex kids means we would eventually want at least 3 bedrooms - a near-impossibility in Manhattan.

I pick on Manhattan because we see no point in living in Brooklyn or the Bronx or Queens or the far dark distant reaches of Staten Island. We could live in Manhattan, but the lifestyle changes would be drastic and not really in line with our goals and values. It's a shame, because I truly deeply madly love Manhattan. Even though I lived the first 25 years of my life elsewhere, Manhattan felt like home at a deep visceral level when I arrived there. Bubelah, although a Queens resident, loves it too. We just can't work out how to make that work.

Our plan, by the way, is to move back to Manhattan after the kids are in college :)

Re: net worth or net worthless?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:19:53 -0000

I'm perfectly OK with disagreements with my conclusion. I think my point was more that it doesn't serve much purpose as a comparative tool, and it depends heavily on factors that aren't included in the calculation as to whether your net worth is "good" or "bad."

Re: how to talk to your teenager about personal finance

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:10:51 -0000

@Brooke: I'm not a financial advisor so any advice I give has to be taken with that grain of salt. My wife and I use Sharebuilder (which is now part of ING) for our custodial accounts. I have always been a big fan of Sharebuilder for infrequent, long-term accounts. The trades are cheap ($4) and setting up a custodial account (or any type of account) is a breeze. That having been said, almost any of the big online brokerages are probably easy to use. I'd let Bubelah's comment serve as our joint testamonial to how it worked for her sister.

@Mike: That is per year, but it does adjust each year - theoretically it will grow over time to account for inflation. It includes taxable income only (it's also just restricted to "unearned" income, so it wouldn't include a part-time job's earnings). In the US taxable income wouldn't include unrealized capital gains. Capital gains would be taxed as capital gains and would require the child to file an income tax return, where much more complicated rules start to apply (standard deductions, etc.), particularly beginning with 2008 tax returns. There's a good article on it here. It gets complex very quickly and in 2008 the rules will become byzantine even by the standards of US tax law.

The way I look at it is that if you invest in growth stocks which pay low dividends but have a high potential future value you can leave them sitting there until the kid is out from under the provisions of the so-called "Kiddie Tax." I have used VBR, for example - with a current yield around 2.5% you'd have to accumulate $68000 to break the $1700 limit (or $34000 to even start paying taxes).

Right now the age limit for the Kiddie Tax is 18 years old (after that you just pay normal adult tax rates) but in 2008 our kind and loving government has broken it into 3 different categories up to as old as 24 - probably to reflect young Americans' increasing financial dependency on their parents. I sure hope Canadian taxes are less complicated.

Re: linklings, the leap year conspiracy edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:39:56 -0000

@Patrick: We'll look forward to seeing you join Prosper!

@Pinyo: Wow, I thought it was arbitrary! Thanks so much, that's quite an honor, actually.

@Brooke: I'm only jealous once every four years :) The rest of the time I am swooning over Manhattan. :)

@plonkee: It's an excellent book - it's easy to see how Trent recommended it, although to be fair a journalist friend of mine had mentioned it to me before so Trent's post just reminded me. It made me realize that I still have a long way to go, though...

@Mrs. Micah: I think the article was pretty clear that he tried hard not to capitalize on it. I don't think anyone should be lauded for surviving adversity but Bubelah read the article and we both shuddered and said with one little baby and another on the way we are in awe of someone who could continue living after an event like that. The temptation to succumb to despair would be overwhelming. I am neutral on his politics but he's one politician who, if I ever meet him (and I've met QUITE a few being the semi-active political person I am) I would be proud to shake his hand (unlike many, many, many of our politicians).

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:13:11 -0000

@Catherine Shaffer: Speaking as someone who writes semi-semi-minor-league-professionally as a blogger, I agree completely that writing a novel would be a daunting undertaking and probably not very lucrative. That's good advice, and even though I would never discourage anyone from trying, if they want to try, I would tell them to read your advice a dozen times before dreaming of the yachts they're going to buy off their Great American Novel....

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:04:45 -0000

Emily, I'm not saying I'm not sympathetic to the sentiment at all... it just mystifies me a little! I do think people who incur heavy debt then decide to dig out should be celebrated. How does that compare to someone who never did in the first place? I'm not trying to judge, I was really just asking the question...

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:19:32 -0000

Some good answers, everyone! I think that one thing that's clear to me is that you can certainly come at this story from a lot of different directions. Personally, I have always felt virtue should be rewarded and vice tolerated or forgiven - to a point. It's interesting to see that so many of you think of this as a parents-children parable, directly relating to the relationship between a parent and (in this case) his children. I always saw the parent-child story construction as incidental - it could be friends, a nephew, etc. The importance of the story wasn't the family dynamic but the good-no-reward, bad-reward dynamic.

It is interesting that people see this playing out in their own lives, as well. I have a followup question: do you think the elder son forgave his brother? It's not made clear in the parable. The father asks him, but whether he does isn't all that obvious.

Re: net worth or net worthless?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:18:02 -0000

Thanks, JimB. That's another avenue I didn't really even get into - that the term "net worth" is being used as a marketing tool to make us feel inadequate. My net worth isn't as high as Fred's!! Let's invest in pork belly futures!

Good point!

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:18:36 -0000

Actually, plonkee, I think the opposite - "nonrighteous" indignation is the myth. Everyone tends to feel righteous when they feel indignified. Boy, if that wasn't a string of made-up words...

I don't think the parable is attempting to show "familial" love per se. It's attempting to show religious love - i.e. God's love for all, regardless of past history of sin, forgiveness is granted equally and fully. That's a religious interpretation that is not really up for debate. The bigger question is if you apply a secular lens to the question. I say a parent has an obligation to the elder son TO show favoritism. Otherwise people go insane, the system breaks down and things get hairy. I think the elder son is right to be angry, in the secular interpretation. I think the parable has to continue - as Ruth said - with the father slamming the younger son into the mail room to work for peanuts paying room and board for his bedroom. I really couldn't imagine complete forgiveness in this case (again, from a secular point of view).

It's really a fascinating story the more you think about it. Human history would be much simpler if everyone offered complete and unconditional forgiveness for all errors, wouldn't it? If you need an example, look at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. A horrible bloody civil war never happened there. It's a simple, clear concept that it seldom put into action - and that's a pity. I am not sure if it's lack of capability for forgiveness or simply too much horror to be forgiven sometimes...

Re: true diversification

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:25:14 -0000

MBB: True. I always debate, though, whether ownership of a stock (ETF) that in turn has interests in gold or whatever doesn't still expose you to market risk. Surely the ETF could be subject to pressures in the event of a really severe market downturn - lack of confidence in the overall condition of the market? It's always a vague doubt that I have about investment vehicles that REPRESENT investment in some other asset class.

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:31:45 -0000

@Steward: Very good point - in a sense, the father's celebration for his younger son might be sending the wrong message to the younger son. Complete rejection would be sending the wrong message, too, though. Finding the balance would of course be one of those terribly difficult things that spring up from time to time during our lives...

Re: your investments will return 6% annually, probably

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:21:12 -0000

Hunter, the chart doesn't assume that stocks are subject to the full income tax. It's looking at the overall trend in capital gains taxation rates - 31% is the historical norm. Recently, of course, the rates are very low, but in the past capital gains were taxed at a higher rate. In 2010 the current rates revert to the pre-Bush-tax-cut rates unless the rate cuts are extended; I do not have that much trouble imagining an increasingly debt-ridden US government increasing taxes on capital gains to make up budget shortfalls - does anyone doubt they will try?

Re: how to talk to your teenager about personal finance

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:23:06 -0000

An unintended consequence of this post was that it got people thinking, which is a cool result. I think even getting your kids interested in the concept of compound interest is a good start. Don't go for the gold - nobody needs to shoot for 35% returns for their kids' investments - but at least get things started in an ING or HSBC savings account.

Re: follow the white rabbit to financial freedom

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:23:44 -0000

Glad you both liked it!

Re: how to write gooder

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:26:52 -0000

@feministfinance: I haven't heard of that one, I will have to check it out.
@t h rive: Interesting choice. I'm not a big fan of Irving, but then again I haven't given him much of a chance.
@ERE: Orwell is tremendous. I can't think of a single thing he wrote that I've read that I haven't enjoyed. He's more well known for his vision I think - due to 1984 and Animal Farm - but really I appreciate him more for his mastery of the art of writing than for his creativity (which was impressive, too).
@Hunter: I know. I just didn't want to show off my smartiness.

Re: your investments will return 6% annually, probably

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:25:51 -0000

I don't disagree with your inflation statement. They made a simplifying assumption, and inflation is an arbitrary number in the first place (home prices and oil, for example, are not included in the government's calculation). Over a 20-30 year period the difference in a straight x - y calculation versus the correct way you mention might start to have some effect, but as I said I think it's just a simplification for example.

The 31 % tax is still correct, I think - saying "federal tax" is misleading, but they mean capital gains taxes (which, by the way, were the same rate as "earned income taxes" until the supply-siders came along in the 1980s and decided to tax wage income at a higher rate than "unearned" income).

If you look at the footnote, they are using 1990 capital gains rates, adjusted forward and back in the chart for inflation. As of 1990, the top tax bracket in the US was still paying 31% in capital gains. The lower rates we enjoy now are not typical. So no, I think they mean federal taxes on capital gains, not federal taxes on incomes.

Again, it's a gross simplification for the sake of demonstration. There are multiple tax brackets (someone with no earned income living off their investments would pay 0% capital gains now, for example). I wouldn't hold this chart up as a proof, but only as an example of what happens when you factor other variables into the "rate of return" equation - which also, in the case of mutual funds, excludes fees. It's a convenient way to confuse an unsophisticated investor into thinking they are doing better than they really are.

Re: learning how to let go

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:20:32 -0000

@Guinness416: You couldn't be more correct. When I moved to Russia I got rid of everything except my clothes and a futon and my computer desk and my bed. All the junk disappeared. I can't recommend the 4HWW yet. Despite reading Tim's blog I may be one of only 3 people blogging who have not read his book.

@Bouncing Betty: Absolutely right. The sentimental attachment doesn't even have to be positive to make it hard to get rid of stuff. Seeing an estate is always chilling - you see so much junk. When my wife and I were idly looking for a new condo a few years ago we looked at one estate sale that hadn't been cleaned up yet. That prompted us to launch into a decluttering when we got home. And 10 mugs are OK if you think it's OK :) I was thinking of my house; we have a seemingly endless collection - and it's mostly my fault!

@Elizabeth: Yeah, remembering the original cost is a big hangup. I think (I'm not 100% sure) there's a term for this - sunk cost. If you go see a movie, you won't walk out midway even if you hate it because you've already paid for it. The same thing happens (sorry to beat up on this one thing) with coffee mugs. "I can't throw 8 of my 24 mugs out! Each one cost at least $2!!!" I do this ALL the time, too. ALL the time. Ask Bubelah.

Oh, and don't worry about misspelling brip blap - you are not the first! Now if you mispelled Steve then we'd have to have words... :)

Re: learning how to let go

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:28:32 -0000

@FFB: That's good that your wife isn't a pack rat. My wife and I are both pack rats about some things and not about others - but complete different things, so the net result is I want to throw out her packrat items and she wants to throw out mine. We compromise by throwing out mine (just kidding, Bubelah!!)

@Mark: Not buying junk in the first place is far and away the easiest way to declutter, but it's a hard mindset to stay in.

@deepali: I know what you mean. We have a huge 32" TV (analog) that we use maybe 1 time per month (it's in the basement). I have tried to sell it, to give it away and even donate it. I haven't tried one last service that might take it, but if they don't I may end up leaving it next to a dumpster. I hate to do it but nowadays with flatscreen TVs nobody wants a 400 pound TV. I hate thinking of throwing anything away, but sometimes it may be necessary. I will say that the Salvation Army will take just about everything, at least where I live.

@Asithi: I love the idea of saying it has to be something that can be displayed at least! I do like buying a refrigerator magnet since we see that all the time. Digital pictures are great, too - I love watching vacation pictures as a screensaver on our laptop. We see those every day. If we had a picture album we'd drag it out once a year (if that).

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:33:45 -0000

@Randall: True, I haven't ever really isolated that one point - why doesn't the father go round up the elder son and bring him to the celebration? Why does he have to find out about it secondhand? I suppose if the father told the elder son to take the day off and come with him to celebrate his brother's return, it would have seemed less harsh. Good point.

Re: I will not pay for my children’s college education, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:51:33 -0000

@gus: Thanks very much for the compliment! I think that's a great story, simply because you're challenging what has become the thinking in America: that college is a right. I think people who work in college and pay their tuition themselves tend to be serious students, and start developing the time management and discipline that are going to help them succeed after college. Everyone wants their kids to get ahead, but making them feel like college is just high school with dorms is not going to make them grow. Learning how to manage your money and your time are just as important (or maybe more important) than the actual learning you do in class.

I wish you the best of luck - but it doesn't sound like you're going to need luck!

Re: learning how to let go

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:01:39 -0000

@deepali: Yeah, leaving stuff out usually works in most places, although I feel bad about "littering." I used to live in a place where there were a lot of homeless people around (Giuliani didn't incarcerate ALL of them) and I would leave my old clothes or coats or shoes (all washed and in decent shape) folded up next to our building. They would be gone in 10 minutes every time.

@dwr: I think the key phrase is "excellent condition" - I am fairly sure having childlike handwriting all over the back of your card like "Han is cool!" or "This is Steve's card you stole it give it back" probably makes it slightly less valuable :)

@Mrs. Micah: Again, sadly, one of my biggest problems. I have carted stuff with me in boxes for decades...

@Mr. and Mrs. Four Pillars: Mike, old CRTs are funny - they still show a picture, they still work fine with today's computers, and you can't PAY people to take them away. I never have understood why people detest old computer equipment so much!

@PLP: You were stronger-willed than I was, then! After I found a guy in Moscow's Izmailovsky Park market who could paint football matryoshkas I was sunk - but I do love my Otto Graham/Bernie Kosar/Brian Sipe/Jim Brown Cleveland Browns matroshka!

@Patrick: I finally managed to get all of the spare lightbulbs we have in one place in the garage (before we had a few in the kitchen cabinets, a couple in the bathroom medicine cabinet, one in my bedside table, etc.) and just knowing "hey, that's where light bulbs are" was a great feeling. Now if I can just replicate that for my computer wires/parts....

Re: how to write gooder

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:20:14 -0000

@WC: OK, not to make me appear any more impulsive than I need to but after I read this quote from the book: "I have seen sucrose beaches and water a very bright blue. I have seen an all-red leisure suit with flared lapels. I have smelled what suntan lotion smells like spread over 21,000 pounds of hot flesh . . " you had me at hello. I love it, I'm buying it.

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 23:25:11 -0000

@Shannon: I can't imagine why not... why wouldn't it be?

Re: learning how to let go

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:24:15 -0000

@Melissa: I had a similar experience getting rid of a lot of my fraternity stuff - I hated to, but I realized that a man in his late 30s wearing frat gear would just be sad. Doesn't mean it's not tough to get rid of it.

@DivaJean: I have heard of FlyLady but I haven't checked out her site more than in passing - but thanks for the reminder, I'll look at it more closely now that you remind me of it!

Re: true diversification

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:25:20 -0000

@D4L: I know, it's bad enough just trying to stay diversified in the market, let alone throughout your life!

Re: lazy equals poor

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:32:53 -0000

@ERE: Great line: "Being underutilized is almost as stressful as being overutilized." I know that feeling - I feel terribly underutilized daily in my consulting role, and it's terribly, terribly stressful - in a sense even worse than when I was working as a corporate employee. I guess the only redeeming point is that my days are shorter!

@Bubelah: Yep. When I'm just idly reading junk about the presidential campaign, or playing miniclips, the internet is definitely being lazy - I'm turning my brain off. It's my TV, in a sense. Reading fiction, I don't know - in a sense, if I want to develop as a writer I think there's some value in reading good writing. Some of the stuff I read is helpful - "The Red and the Black" by Stendahl was amazing and gave me a LOT to think about in my own writing, for example.

@Mrs. Micah: Speaking of LAZY, I have not yet dragged out the Buffy tapes but they are sitting there in my storage room calling - "watch me, watch me." Buffy was the single biggest time waster of my recent adult life - I was hooked on that show. I left work early to make sure I didn't miss it. I have a problem....

Re: lazy equals poor

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:18:37 -0000

@Brooke: I actually don't think time spent reading PF blogs is "lazy time"! You're learning something, most of the time, and I would say anytime you're learning something you're not being lazy.

14 hours might be a bit much for me. Might. Oh, OK, I could do it too. I'm not proud of it... but it combined vampires and kung fu. It was perfect!!

Re: a little-too-late advice on building wealth

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:55:43 -0000

Thanks everyone - I'm glad this post has been useful! ed has a good point - it's not always easy getting young people to listen to all of the advice from older people. The best thing is to throw as much helpful advice at them as you can and hope little bits and pieces stick. Some of the advice I got young stuck (financial discipline, for example), and some didn't (staying healthy - I got really, really bad before I got better). But I'm glad people gave me the advice!

Re: learning how to let go

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:14:35 -0000

@DivaJean: Ouch! That's a good example of not keeping around the sweet-but-not-very-helpful reminders! But I definitely agree that those reminders aren't going to be happy reminders, no matter how long you keep them...

Re: lazy equals poor

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:16:36 -0000

@LOD: What? Where? Huh?

@Lazy Man: To get back to watching it, all I have to do is load a VHS tape (yes, I own Buffy on VHS). I couldn't agree more.

@Pinyo: Thanks. It's an important distinction not to insult anyone...

Re: linklings 10,000 B.C. edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:22:44 -0000

Thanks all - G416, you clearly don't work for an American corporation then. My whole day is filled with the gentle lilting of buzzwords - "big picture", "deep dive", "conceptualization", "prioritization" and on and on and on. It's numbing, but one of my all-time horror phrases is "big picture." Me, personally, I am a big picture guy. I think past the details. But you want to know what that means, really? Translation: I get bored with details. Stop. Not a good characteristic for the corporate cog :)

@ERE: Don't get me started. I shudder to think what future generations will think of mercury/silver/crapfilled cell phones and iPods and teeth and whatnot...

Re: Getting rich, made simple - parts 2 and 3

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:26:23 -0000

@Justin: Fair enough. I know it's not a scientific work, but I think it's at least valuable reconsidering the possibility that alternatives to current thinking might exist. I wouldn't recommend someone use Natural Cures as a source for finding cures, but I would recommend it as a source for starting discussion. It is a recommendation based on opinion, not fact, for sure.

Re: like money falling from the sky

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:35:17 -0000

Thanks all, for the comments. There are certainly a million possible scary scenarios out there for how it could go down, and I'm enough of a rosy-colored glasses patriot to think it won't happen that way here. At the same time, I have a cynical view from my own experience in Russia - as LOD mentions - and from Bubelah's experience growing up in the waning days of the Soviet Union. Things fall apart rapidly when they start falling apart, sometimes. Americans assume - probably like Soviets, Ottomans, Romans, etc. - that the good times will roll forever. I hope they will but know they won't...

Re: a cautionary tale about organic and natural things

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:38:15 -0000

@Andy: oh, true. I should have said "foodstuffs that are advertised as organic or natural" or something along those lines.

As far as being smarter than my post, I'm not sure anyone who blithely gulps down herbal supplements believing them to be universally safe is all that smart. But I hope I'm smarter than my post. :)

Re: giving gifts in the office

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:57:01 -0000

I'm glad to see I wasn't alone on this one. I am still driven nuts - even as a consultant - on this one. I was hit up for a Christmas gift for the head of my department recently. I refused - and I told the busybody in advance not to invite me to the painful gift-giving ceremony. However, they did - publicly - and I had to again refuse.

I guess it all comes back to this - nobody at work is worth my money in the long run compared to my Little Buddy. How can I take from him and give to them? I can't! I know it makes me appear cheap and mean, but I just can't do it....

Re: a little-too-late advice on building wealth

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:05:29 -0000

@HECC: Of course sitcoms aren't a total waste. I'd be lying if I said I never watch any. Recently I've noticed that Comedy Central is playing Futurama, which I didn't see when it was actually on - I love that and have to force myself not to watch it. It's fun, it cheers me up.

But you're exactly right - moderation in all things!

Re: job jumper tip #1: create a WIDD file

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:19:20 -0000

@Brooke: I like the name "I love me" for this kind of file, too. Whatever you call it, it's handy for a variety of reasons - it's good that you pointed out performance evaluations.

@SD: That's definitely the point! Titles and generic job descriptions aren't always useful in describing what you actually did. There's no way my job offer letters that I've received ever described what I ended up doing, for example.

@plonkee: Very good point - even if you keep the same job, it (hopefully) evolves over time into something new. Chances are good that unless you have a very rote job - VERY - that your duties change from year to year.

@Hunter: Memory - at least for me - is a completely unreliable resource for things like this. Need to recall the lines to "The Breakfast Club" - memory works. Need to recall job duties from 10 years ago - nada.

@WC: That's a good idea, too. The WIDD concept could be pretty easily changed - you could 'star' items above and beyond, you could keep a separate page for highlighting superior performance, etc.

@Pamela: Thanks very much - and you're right, there is a distinction between a hopper and a jumper. If it's just someone jumping from a job making $32,000 to a job making $32,500 for no reason other than a $41.67 raise per month, they are a hopper. Someone who strategically moves from position to position to build skills, enhance their network and define their interests is a jumper. Great clarification, thanks for the comment!

@Asithi: The problem with the calendars, for me, at least, is searchability. I like to be able to search in file, or copy and paste from the WIDD to a custom-designed resume. The calendars still serve as external memory, which is good, but it is intimidating to pull out big piles of calendars and start flipping through them trying to find something in particular.

@Mrs. Micah: Keeping one to bludgeon your boss with at review time is certainly a valid reason to get a WIDD file! :)

@Jonny: That's a very good tip. Email is a good way to keep stuff organized, but I would still back it up externally. If you leave the company, you may not be able to take email history with you (they may not look to favorably on copying that .pst out - if it's even possible). I have thought of keeping my WIDD in Google Docs, though, and integrating it with gmail - somewhat similar. Your system is a great idea for preparing for a performance review.

Re: giving gifts in the office

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:28:52 -0000

23 JB { 01.24.08 at 1:03 am } This bothers me too. Also, at my workplace it’s selective, if someone is willing to organize a gift or luncheon for a person who’s leaving, having a birthday, etc. When I was a new employee I would say ‘no’ nicely, but then I honestly thought it may give me a bad impression to my co-workers, as not being a ‘team player’. By participating in the office exchanges, I feel ‘included’ and privy to inside watercooler info, that’s just me.

24 Living Off Dividends { 01.24.08 at 1:00 pm } those bastards!
i’ve always gotten emails,which I promptly delete.

I did cough up 20 bucks for a co-workers wife who was walking for 3 days for breast-cancer. I was really pissed when I didn’t get a receipt for my taxes!

25 Laudy { 01.24.08 at 3:59 pm } I was asked to donate $35 for a Christmas gift for my boss. My husband and I are working like crazy to pay off student loans and personal debt. I didn’t even spend $35 on my 4 year old for Christmas!!

26 Live from the Belly of the Beast { 01.25.08 at 8:22 am } Laudy- how do you handle that? My co-workers don’t know about the credit crisis we’re in so I can’t say no-thanks on that basis.

@JB: That's really the problem, isn't it? If it was truly optional and voluntary you could just say hey, I don't feel like participating. But there's a subtle and firm pressure to 'be part of the crew' in every office. Some offices are worse than others. One place where I worked had such an intricate and set-in-stone "who-eats-lunch-with-who" structure that it was infuriating. So you're right - if you chip in and you feel it makes it a better place to work for you, then do it. It's just unfortunate that anyone feels they have to give money to feel 'part of the in-crowd,' isn't it?

@LOD: Yeah, I always felt like a creep asking for receipts for things like that, but really - why should I feel like a creep?

@Laudy: In that case, you're stuck. It's hard to go around announcing to people that you're trying to pay down debts so you can't afford to contribute. People will grumble. "Hey, times are tough everywhere, and Laudy's just being cheap," etc. It's unfair that - again - a "gift" requires pressure. Like LFTBOTB says, if your co-workers don't know, how can you beg off?

I'll throw out a simple-to-say but hard-to-do solution: just say "no thanks." What else can you do? Just say money's tight. I know it's hard, because people are embarrassed to talk about money, but it's YOUR money and YOUR future. Long after the job is in the past, the choices you made - about how to fritter away money on gifts you didn't want to buy for people you didn't stay in touch with - will still be with you.

Re: are you ready to own a company?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:39:11 -0000

@LOD: Yep - reinvests OR (as you obviously focus on) pays it out in dividends. Coke is a decent example. Hunter, I think New Coke was part of a massively clever strategy to create massive demand for Coke Classic - it's another one of those moments in corporate history where ol' Steve straps on his tin foil hat and starts pointing at conspiracies. I still think it was all a scam to drive up consumption.

@t h rive: You clearly never saw 'Battlefield Earth.' How that got passed over for an Oscar... but I digress. :)

Re: are you ready to own a company?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:07:19 -0000

@Shawn: Well, I was right there with you until you said that if a company's product is desirable the audience will expand and grow and profits will do the same. It is not an automatic correlation. You can mismanage a great product - prices can be set too low/high, marketing can be bad, etc. I have seen awesome products that just couldn't be sold profitably... now, maybe just awesome to me, but still the great product = profitability equation isn't automatic. Seth is awesome, but I disagree sometimes with his "if it is truly great, people will come." iPods were cool, but let's face it, there was a LOT of kick-ass marketing going on there.

I would also say that the goal is profit, but some companies mistake short-term profit for "good" profit. I won't get too long-winded in comments, but I worked for a marketing-intensive cosmetics company at one point. They were VERY careful which products were named after the company and which were called by generic names. Even though the $1.99 cologne sold at Wal-Mart would sell much, much better with the "big name" attached, they didn't want to damage their other brands. So they took some short-term loss of profit to enhance their long-term prospects. A lot of companies miss this point and churn out junk that makes money in the short term, but hurt the company long term. That's a major distinction, if you ask me...

@FFB: Right! What Jobs did - in my opinion - is come up with great products but more importantly he made them profitable through marketing and demand. A Zune is practically the same as an iPod, but the marketing and presentation and 'mystique' weren't even close.

And yes, sorry, your dream of wrestling with Andre the Giant (May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993) is not going to happen.

Re: linklings, everything’s going gray edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:38:22 -0000

@sfordinarygirl: She has gotten a little better, thanks - and I couldn't agree more, positive thinking is sometimes the best (and only) thing you can do in some situations.

Re: credit card debt is not pandemic

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:30:54 -0000

@joanna: I actually like that commercial because it sums up in a phrase so much of what is wrong with consumerism.

@SD: It is lifestyle inflation - that's at the root of it. At some point in the last 25-30 years the concept of 'the good life' really exploded into a warped parallel universe. I blame the rise of cable TV, frankly.

@LOD: True, that number follows - but I guess my point was that a majority of Americans still aren't falling for it. I don't have any consumer debt, nor does anyone in my family or my wife's family. Many of my friends don't, either. I guess my point is that - like the plague of obesity in America - it's a CHOICE that's being made, rather than some irresistible force.

@Shawn: I guess what I meant was that when it comes to consumer debt, people assume the best - "I'll pay this off next year!" "This BMW will have great resale value!" etc. So people maximize their short-term gain rather than worry about a loss in the future. I see what you mean, and using your interpretation (and Seth's) your point is valid - it's just not exactly what I was getting at.

Re: 6 ways to retire poor

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:30:17 -0000

Who *doesn't* love TPS cover sheets?

(more sarcasm...)

:)

Re: to tip or not to tip

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:33:50 -0000

@Shawn: yeah, paying less than minimum wage sortof makes a mockery of the concept of minimum wage, I think. And although your anecdote about your friend was based on a racist incident, I think a lot of people feel a twinge of guilt inspired by dirty looks thrown at them by waiters. At the end of the day, we do just all have to balance our own personal finance needs with our "obligation" - if there is one - to supplement the sub-minimum wage that the restaurants in the US pay their staff.

Re: how to write gooder

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:38:06 -0000

@WC: By the way, I just finished reading A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Almost all of the essays were brilliant, but the two on tennis and the one about the cruise were above and beyond. The only stinker was the one on television - it got a bit tedious. Good suggestion!

@Nez: Glad you stopped by! Yep, feeling comfortable and relaxed with the guidelines and rules of grammar are essential to enjoying writing - and even reading. If you want to form thoughts and phrases using the written word that mirror natural spoken language you do need to understand grammar and punctuation to approximate its pacing and delivery. I'll put Lederer's book on my (long and still growing) wishlist!

Re: job jumper tip #2: be a discriminating networker

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:43:28 -0000

@Asithi: Let me put it in the context of my post - do you have something to offer this woman? Is there some reason she might be glad to hear from you? If there is, don't be hesitant to reach out.

On the other hand, if you have nothing to offer her - no friendship, no resources, etc. - then you have to ask yourself whether there's much point in staying in touch with someone you disliked enough not to come up with a way to help her.

I know that's a little bit philosophical, but it's the best way to look at it - because if all you're doing is trying to force a connection with someone you didn't really like much anyway, how long will you be able to keep that connection up?

@fathersez, plonkee, deepali: I definitely WAS a connector but I've tried to tone it back. For a while I was Mr. Touchbase with the Heyhowareya emails - but then my approach shifted to the method I describe above. I cut my address book down and tried to become a Normal Human rather that a Connector. It just felt more reasonable. Some people can do it, though.

Re: Super Tuesday

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:03:02 -0000

Thanks for the comments, all! Actually I find it fascinating that it's not clear what my political orientation is. I guess I've done a good job of masking it on this blog! But if you saw the "old" brip blap political blog - before I relaunched it and made it more of a personal finance and self-improvement site - you wouldn't have even a vague doubt. I am debating as I type this whether I'll reveal who I did vote for. I struggled right up to the minute I punched the button, but now that I made my decision I feel very happy about it. After voting and watching the Giants' ticker tape parade and topping off my lunch with a red pear I'm feeling pretty durn good.

Re: are you ready to own a company?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:00:37 -0000

@Lucky: No, no, you misunderstood - I liked Intellivision, too. I meant Atari was the perfect toy, except for maybe the Intellivision. The Atari's graphics were much worse but the games were cooler. I loved the Star Wars game with the Walkers.

And I never got into "Lost", but you've described the problem with about 99% of the dramas on TV - most of them would make excellent miniseries or long movies. "Lost" sounds like it would have made a great 1 or 2 season show, then end it - but of course that advertising money is going to keep it dribbling on to a dull and unsatisfying conclusion (like "Angel", for example).

Re: meeting my 2008 financial goals

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:24:10 -0000

@Four Pillars: Mike, for once, I have almost nothing to say. Now that I think about it you're absolutely correct. I guess the only thing I add would be that I just don't want to clutter up my site with junk ads for (a) aesthetic reasons and (b) because it might scare off better ads since in my experience Adsense and so forth had miserable payoff rates. But you're right. I don't LIKE billboards and all of those other ads everywhere, personally, but I ignore them. Hm. Good point.

Re: meeting my 2008 financial goals

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:49:51 -0000

@Emily: True, I wonder how the ads work sometimes since I read all of my blogs off readers. Maybe I need to work on monetizing my feed...

@Bubelah: I could, but I don't want to count dividends in retirement accounts and my brokerage didn't generate significant dividends (which is why I want to invest it in different things...). For the purpose of this exercise I wasn't really counting our "joint" investment income, anyway...

Re: a little-too-late advice on building wealth

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:28:28 -0000

@Steve (the commenter - not myself): It is a little preachy, and I certainly wouldn't expect someone to make a huge amount of life changes based solely on my blog. It's really intended just to get the thought process started. And I will point out it's "too late advice" - meaning it is stuff I would expect people (including myself) - to find out too late, after they missed it the first time.

That's probably why the tone is a little preachy - it's a retrospective list!

Re: job jumper tip #3: it’s not all about the money

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:29:34 -0000

Great comments - curmudgeon (great handle, by the way) - you make a great point that I missed, which is that you should consider your employers' stability, too. Honestly I have always worked for big, stable companies but it is definitely something people should watch out for, so thanks for pointing it out.

Pamela's right, too, though - try to make an internal move if that option is available. It can't hurt to try to move internally before you jump!

Re: weekend roundup, odd sign edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:33:03 -0000

@Bubelah: I did, you're right - but this service is paying serious big money. I think the one I went for was a trivial amount (but you're right, I completely forgot which company/how much/etc.)

@t h rive: Your strategy isn't bad although I think you don't always make it explicit enough that that's your aim - and unfortunately Gen Y is still pretty unfocused on long term financial goals (just as Gen X took forever and the Boomers never got it! But as Gen Yers get more focused on finances you'll be in a good position to capitalize on it - you're a lot more focused on topic than I am.

Re: brutal honesty

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:38:54 -0000

@dawn: That's a great story, because it points out more eloquently than I could have what the benefit to brutal honesty could be. Obviously in your case it helped, and I'm glad it did. Congratulations - that's a short but very inspirational story. You have a lot of guts.

@Mrs. Micah: Great post, and I guess that's something that everyone faces at one point or another - fat, skin problems, bad habits. I guess in your case I understand your frustration and would just say that it will probably never end - so your ability to absorb the brutal honesty is just a test that's been thrown your way (and it sounds like you're winning so far).

@Leah: You should tell the truth, but there's always a consideration that being too brutal can have the opposite effect from what you intended. If you can guide people gently it's often more effective than blurting things out.

@Bethany: Sure! :)

Re: job jumper tip #4: leave on your terms

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:57:34 -0000

Thanks Emily! I'll do my best to keep up with the football tidbits even though we're in the long dark offseason now... :(

Re: job jumper tip #4: leave on your terms

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:58:47 -0000

Hunter, I thought the same thing at my first job - I think everyone does. I hardly even personalize my workspace these days!

Re: job jumper tip #4: leave on your terms

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:33:35 -0000

@Writer's Coin: That's certainly a grim way to look at it, but it makes sense...

Re: job jumper tip #4: leave on your terms

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:13:01 -0000

@t h rive: I don't know - I don't personalize my car, my workspace - anything, really, except my home. It's actually a good question about human personalities - why does one person personalize and the next doesn't. I bet Curmudgeon and I are a lot more similar in our approach to work than Ruth or you, at least from a "nesting" perspective. I actually don't think either approach has an advantage - basically you should do what makes you happy. I have just never been one to have pictures and personal knicknacks everywhere. I have my coffee cup, some tea, a fork and a spoon and a single picture of my son and nothing else. Part of that is due to the fact that I'm a consultant and I move around a lot, but part of it is just due to my personality. My home is my fortress of personality. Everything else - like Curmudgeon says - is a place where I rent my time to The Man to enhance my home life.

(Says something about how much I like my work, eh?)

Re: a clear and present danger: the humanities

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:57:05 -0000

@FourPillars: Mike - I had to pick on some sort of subjects to make my point. I was a math major in college so I certainly wouldn't say it is a "non-thinking" subject. Sometimes the sciences/engineering etc. are perceived that way, but really any serious academic pursuit involves serious thinking, regardless of whether it's French poetry or nuclear physics.

@David: Wish I could have seen the angry comment :)

@Lisa: I'm sure that thought crosses all of our minds. I originally started the post with somewhat of the mindset you're suggesting, but I quickly realized how silly it sounded. There's no reason to believe an engineer is automatically going to bring more value to the world than a history major. It's all in the individual and what they do with whatever gifts they feel they've been given - they can squander or they can succeed, but it's more about the individual than the major.

@Mrs. Micah: My dad was a philosophy PhD, too, (even though he eventually ended up working in computer science - lots of AI type stuff) so I certainly can imagine Mr. Micah's mindset without much of a stretch! And similar to what I said about Lisa's comments, there will be good engineers and bad, good philosophers and bad. The important thing is to be happy with what you study, and if Mr. Micah is, doubleplusgood for him!

Re: a clear and present danger: the humanities

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:53:34 -0000

@Cindy S: I'm sure there are bits and pieces out of what I wrote that made sense, actually. Like Guiness416 and Bubelah mentioned, there are cutoffs for people who take too long to graduate and there should be for people whose grades fall too low. And I do think attending public universities should be encouraged, since they are (theoretically at least) returning some of that aid to the states' budgets.

Re: a clear and present danger: the humanities

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:55:25 -0000

@Curmudgeon: I spent a year in math PhD school and all I can say is that anyone who belittles math as being "too practical" never sat in on my chaos theory classes (I was studying pure math rather than applied math) - talk about impracticality (although yes I am sure they are going to discover warp drives eventually using chaos theory, etc.).

Re: a clear and present danger: the humanities

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:56:54 -0000

@PaidTwice and FFB: Argh! ALMOST gotcha. I suspect Mick Jagger might have done a better job with the economy than Alan "Bubbles" Greenspan, frankly.

Re: a clear and present danger: the humanities

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:00:15 -0000

@Writer's Coin: I certainly don't think that a degree is actually all that useful in finance because other than needing a good basic understanding of the subject it's such a fluid and everchanging field it's tough to say you've "finished learning finance." I took a year of corporate tax law in 1993. Think that's worth much today? Even my accounting courses have been largely superseded by new pronouncements, etc. College is for laying a foundation - if you stop learning after you leave college you are doomed to the dustbins of the job world.

Re: linklings - getting by on 3 hours’ sleep edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:36:25 -0000

Thanks everyone for the good wishes - he's doing much better this evening :) - finally!

Re: a clear and present danger: the humanities

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:09:48 -0000

Hm, I find it quite interesting that several people found it a better post non-sarcastically than sarcastically! Just goes to show you - different strokes for different folks.

Actually I'm sure there's some value to some of the sarcastic points I made, but I still feel that there is some intrinsic value in something like a French major. I think that if the US encourages comp sci or engineering, great - but I don't think we need to be so draconian to assume that music education, for example, is worthless and doesn't deserve at least some subsidizing.

I guess it's a point that can be argued either way!

Re: a brief foray into political what-ifs

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:15:33 -0000

@Curmudgeon: I suppose then it depends on how you value entrepreneurialism, but I - for example - would be more likely to take an entrepreneurial shot if I didn't have to worry about my health insurance, for example. There are other ways to encourage entrepreneurial activity, and high levels of taxation on WAGE income could always be offset by lower levels on self-employed income, for example - to encourage that risk. You could tinker with the tax code endlessly (which, unfortunately as we can see does not in the end always have a good result).

Re: a brief foray into political what-ifs

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:32:46 -0000

@Brian: I'm certainly not making a call for socialism, but if you lived in Western Europe - where the situation is largely as I described - they have hardly fallen apart. I don't see European governments racking up trillions in debt like the US, or lacking for innovative techie companies. The extreme situation you propose in #1 is the reverse of the long-since discredited Laffer curve. Consumers will spend money, trust me. Some people will still yank out the plastic to buy iPhones. Everyone in Europe still has computers. Companies are doing just fine there - no $14 billion write-downs yet.

#2: Well, of course there are a million differences, and comparing Poland (only 15 years removed from a communist dictatorship) and the US is a more extreme example than, say, comparing the UK and the US. I do think you would see a huge change in the US if we went, for example, to a single-payer healthcare system. Good or not, I don't know, but it might prevent a lot of social ills and remove a barrier to small businesses and (as I replied to Curmudgeon) improve the economic activity at a micro level. Trust me, the accountants are going to be kept plenty busy with the tax code and small businesses and audits. We (I am one) will be here with the cockroaches after the bombs fall...

#3: Socialism as a pure construct believes that the state is better at directing choice than the individual, and in most of the western world it's been accepted that this is true in some areas - for example in health care or airlines, etc. The US is certainly a socialistic country in many ways already - unemployment insurance, social security, welfare, etc. My argument is that we have a socialist taxation system without the benefits of a socialist society because it's just too much of a patchwork system that doesn't encourage overall societal welfare. And yes, government can legislate societal welfare (point #2) - see clean air acts, or traffic laws, or beef recalls.

Are you going to give up Social Security? That's a vanilla system if there ever was one. Pay in, the government pays out. People don't want to live in a society where their retirement is guaranteed to be CRAPPY vanilla. If everyone could be guaranteed adequate housing, health-care, food, care and so on in their old age in America, what person wouldn't take that? Especially if it meant you could have it guaranteed and not have to worry about the market tanking 3 months before you cash out your 401(k)?

But I do understand where you're coming from. I'm ready to make the argument that the US should withdraw all support for all social programs and reduce the taxes to zero (except, again, we have to support the most expensive war in human history).

Re: a brief foray into political what-ifs

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:41:39 -0000

@TFB: Thanks for the insight into the single-payer health care world. I guess I would argue (after just spending Monday evening in a doctor's office) that four hour waits are common where I live, too - but my four-hour wait is accompanied by health care premiums that are 10% of my salary and then on top of that 20% co-pays and $25 fees just for walking in the door. Unfortunately I've spent time in emergency rooms several times (for myself and others) and had to wait half a day, too - once with a serious illness. So we have the same problems, they just cost thousands of dollars more.

I don't think that paying for it makes it any more efficient. It just means that some poorer people show up with no insurance and make health care costs more expensive for everyone else in the US. Probably the BEST system would be a blend of public and private health care - but in effect that's what we have here in the US. Since I can afford to pay, I have to pay a huge burden for those who cannot. Preventative care is practically unknown in the US, because of the steep costs, too.

I simply think that one way or another health care is subsidized by the middle class, so I'd at least like to see it taken out of everyone's paycheck, rather than having someone who is irresponsible and doesn't have health care claiming they "can't pay" and driving up my bill.

There are ways to change behavior besides racheting up prices. I think you'll see people's attitudes towards heating houses and using water change, just like people's attitudes changed in other ways - look at smoking, for example.

Re: this thin filament

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:32:59 -0000

@RetiredSyd: Dawn actually gave an answer to your question, which is that the message has to appeal to the individual. I may think Robert Kiyosaki is inspirational and the next person may think he's a hack; someone else may find Dave Ramsey to be a genius and I might find him tedious. It just depends on the individual to such a huge extent that crafting a universal message is almost impossible - the same reason why we aren't all Christians or Muslims or Buddhists or Atheists or Zoroastrians. The 100% convincing argument on spirituality or wealth or ANY topic doesn't exist. So you're right that there's always room to provide new takes on the same stuff - I guess my point was that an awful lot of "new" content is just old content repackaged. Doesn't make it bad, though.

Great way to put it, Dawn. And Bubelah's right - I have read a lot of books on wealth but I've probably still only put about 1% of those ideas into action. A lot of that knowledge lodges itself into the "dream" section of the brain rather than the "action" section. I am trying to quit reading more "wealth building" info and start putting those ideas into wealth building ACTION myself, because it's awfully easy to read and awfully hard to do. To quote from The Science of Getting Rich (yes, I know, I'm doing what I just preached against :) ):

"Thinking in a certain way will bring riches to you, but you must not rely upon thought alone, paying no attention to personal action. That is the rock upon which many otherwise scientific thinkers meet shipwreck — the failure to connect thought with personal action."

Re: 38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:58:17 -0000

Thanks everyone! Glad the list had a few good points in it! :)

@Mike: Sorry to hear the Prosper blog was having trouble. Yeah, I understand your thinking and I guess I'd just say that the movie example was extreme, simply because it was what was on my mind at that point (I was wondering how an ordinary Steve like me could invest in one). You're right that in any case I'd want a piece of the action, just in case it took off.

And I'm sure P2P equity is on the way - why not have local stock markets? I'm sure there are some SEC regulations out there (for the US, and whatever the Canadian regulatory authority is) but surely the barriers can't be that high. I'd love to see that.

Re: 38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:14:20 -0000

@Mrs. Micah: Well, yessss, it IS helpful, obviously. It wouldn't have been invented otherwise :) Cardamom pods are an example of something where I think "perhaps I should buy the already-ground ones...". A heavy spoon and bowl seem to do the trick most of the time. I pick on the mortar and pestle because I bought a very lovely stainless steel set back when Bubelah and I were dating and she was appalled - not only that I bought one, but that I bought a very expensive and stylish one. It is my albatross :(

@Curmudgeon: True, I didn't define my terms, although I think in a sense the list gives you my definition of the word "prosperity." I think prosperity IS freedom from the things that add stress and unhappiness to your life. The definition from dictionary.com was "a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, esp. in financial respects; good fortune" which I think fits my definition and yours - so there's some room for interpretation. I find that with long lists like this people can usually take what they like out of it and ignore what they don't - my hope is that at least a few of the points inspire people to think a little differently. That's how I read most other blogs, actually - 20% of blogs are interesting 80% of the time, 80% are only interesting 20% of the time. But almost every list/post/etc. has a kernel or two in it.

And to that point, I'm trying all the time to change that mindset with stuff like this and this (just off the top of my head)! But you make a great point, and I'll try to write more to changing the mindset.

Re: boosting your career with an overseas stint

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:36:29 -0000

@DGI: Going ANYWHERE new can be somewhat dangerous, and that would certainly apply to non-Americans coming to America. There are certainly many parts of the US that I would be far more nervous in than I ever was in Europe or Russia. Americans do seem to perceive the rest of the world as more dangerous, and for Americans it often is for a very simple reason - we just don't have a lot of experience dealing with foreign customs, laws, etc. If you've grown up in Austria, for example, chances are much better that you've learned to be aware of changes in laws or behavior because you probably visited Switzerland or Italy or France or Portugal. In the US you get less of a chance to practice being in a new place. It means that going overseas SEEMS more dangerous to Americans, and often is because of a lack of understanding of what to expect.

The reality - for me - has always been that if you're careful, don't draw attention to yourself and don't behave like an idiot you'll be alright. Women certainly have a few more things to be careful about than men, though. But basically I would use the same rules for walking around Brooklyn that I did walking around Vladivostok or London.

Re: linklings, the snow has got to stop edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:59:30 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Yeah, it was weird - the snow was pouring down Friday evening when I wrote that, then it turned to rain and disappeared the next morning. It did stay pretty cold all weekend, though.

I figure with climate change it's going to be in the 70s in January in about another 10 years, though, so I just have to hang tight for now.

Re: 38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:04:46 -0000

@Brad: Hard to disagree with you there, Brad. You're right that focusing on future wealth all the time can be an unhealthy fixation, and I'm guilty of that quite often. I guess it's got to be balanced - some effort to live today, some effort to live tomorrow.

Re: the double digit myth

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:12:32 -0000

@7million7years: Actually I think in the article it mentions that Buffet's returns are about 21% annually over his "career." Not too bad - that's doubling your money every 3 years or something like that on a compounded basis.

@Elizabeth: No, you're right - 11,000 probably sounded like crazy talk in 1902. 1,000,000 in 50 years? Maybe. If I knew I'd be a talking head on CNBC, so who knows...

@emily, Mrs. Micah, Guinness416, Danny,Elizabeth: Buffet seems to indicate (and 7million7years points this out) that for most of us non-professional investors, if we hang in with the market that's better than trying to beat it (and failing). It's just a little depressing, but it's the best you can do unless you want to become a full-time market analysis.

Re: the double digit myth

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:15:09 -0000

@Hunter: Fairly simple, really - your first two points make the case. Buffet's looking at 1900-2000 (the 20th century). My guess, without researching it, is that stocks were fairly flat from 1900-1927 (not tanked, but probably minimal growth) because until the early 80s most stocks were in the single digits and had been for the previous 80 years. And second, "large caps" is a much larger universe than the Dow. The Dow changes, of course - stocks are added and removed from time to time - but to the best of my knowledge there was never a massive change of a 100 - 70 = 30 nature.

Individual stocks, or small stocks, or stocks that begin with the letter U might have done much better, of course. The trouble is that the individual investor, hoping to identify the "best" sector, is unlikely to beat the market - since most professional money managers can't, either.

Statistics, of course, are arbitrary. Vanguard has some interest in convincing people to buy index funds, of course. Buffet has some interest in convincing people he is smarter than an index fund investor, of course. I simply think Buffet's point is interesting because it challenges a dearly - almost religiously - held belief in the stock market as an automatic wealth creator and for many people it will not be true. As more and more people enter the market through 401(k)s, etc., it's going to become a more critical question for the US.

Re: 38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:34:13 -0000

@Amanda: If I could explain how I choose pictures I would, but most of them are completely random keyword searches - this one, for example, popped up on "rich" or something like that - and I thought "cool pic." No reason :)

Re: The Big Book Giveaway

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:36:56 -0000

@Ruth, @Patrick: Oh, don't worry - I didn't mean I was going to completely go over in that direction. I do think - very much like Patrick suggested - I'll just try to tie everything in around money. It's hard to maintain health/family/etc. - going all over the place - and maintain a "theme." I just meant I would try to be a little more thematic. I'm not going to wholesale go over to personal finance only - just that I'm going to try to keep my topics a little bit narrower and maybe not drift off into some of the esoteric areas I find myself drifting off into sometimes.

Then again I have an idea for a post on artificial intelligence which has nothing to do for money so it may be a short-lived resolution....

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:39:17 -0000

@Susie: I would be the last person ever to criticize people who are comfortable with themselves. As long as you are healthy - and that's a big if, if you are overweight - then the important thing is to be comfortable in your skin. I actually lost almost 150 pounds at my maximum weight loss and it was too much - I felt a lot better when I put back on some weight. So don't worry, I agree with you completely. Lose enough weight to be healthy, but don't worry about conforming to society's expectations if it makes YOU unhappy. That's a given!

Re: the double digit myth

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:41:38 -0000

@CFO: Well, yes, investing in Berkshire would be the logical thing if I really truly believed he was right. The evil little gremlin in my head still thinks I can beat everyone with my investing brains (an expectation not borne out by past results). But you're right - following the smart dudes is always a good plan (although Buffet, by his own admission, is not infallible).

Re: The Big Book Giveaway

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:42:38 -0000

@Four Pillars: No, it's not the most complicated giveaway ever - I'm sure someone somewhere made a trickier one...

And no, you have to express a preference! Them's the rules! :)

Re: spend less than you earn - the wrong way to think

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:43:33 -0000

@7milllion7years: Thanks for reconfirming that - it's something I know but need to hammer myself over the head with every day to remember - cutting is limited, earning is unlimited....

Re: a clear and present danger: the humanities

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:47:33 -0000

@deepali: Well, yes, there are a million places the US could cut back. I would actually like to see education made easily available... to anyone who meets basic requirements (grades, test scores, writing a strong essay, whatever - just something). And I would agree that education is a means to lifting people out of poverty but a big pet peeve of mine is to point out that it is not a COLLEGE education only that does that. Education can come from community colleges, trade schools, seminars, etc. The US subsidizes college education but won't give you a loan to attend a "get out of debt" workshop.

And I certainly think education in the humanities is critical for anyone - I keep my education up to this day through the boring old-fashioned method of reading classic literature and history and philosophy - sans tuition!

Re: how to talk to your teenager about personal finance

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:48:08 -0000

@AllAboutTheBen: Great! I am always glad to hear that something I've written is useful!

Re: 31 causes of failure: unfavorable hereditary background

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:38:31 -0000

@guinness416: I think all he means is that bad health is tough to remedy - but can be in some cases; a bad marriage is tough to overcome - but can be; addiction is tough to overcome - but if Lindsay can do it there's hope for all of us. Being truly mentally deficient (or whatever the correct term is) would be difficult to overcome. Like I said, I don't agree with him 100% - I have seen some smart people who can't tie their own shoes and some technically slow people who are happy, rich and popular. You really have to go to the extremes to prove out his point.

Re: 31 causes of failure: unfavorable hereditary background

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:40:12 -0000

@plonkee: I'm an optimist - I think everyone can do it. Not to be too much of a pop culture loser, but look at Forrest Gump and the Bubba Gump shrimp company thing - almost anyone with enough perseverance can succeed if they really think they will.

Re: 31 causes of failure: #2, Lack of a well-defined purpose in life

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:49:09 -0000

@Chuck Bartok: I will definitely check that out.

@Saving Diva: Trust me, I'm always struggling with it too. You will find it - we all will, if we try. It's only if you accept being a routine person that you won't find purpose. I'm trying to think of it this way these days: what would I like to give back?

@Bouncing Betty, @dawn: It's great that you're working on Purpose Set #2! Same response that I gave Saving Diva: always look at it in terms of what you can give back. That's a helpful kick start to any question of purpose...

@guinness416: Very good point. I can tell you that I always thought that having kids would flood me with an overwhelming and unending sense of purpose, that would eliminate all need for external purpose to disappear. It doesn't. Having kids is not a purpose. Having a good relationship with your spouse is not a purpose. Being happy is not a purpose. I was really bummed to discover this. Purpose seems to be external to family. I feel an overwhelming pride in my son's accomplishments and happiness and if he grows up to be a good man and a good father himself I'd die happy. BUT... it wouldn't fulfill that need for purpose. Maybe it's just me, and maybe you've given me good fodder for a future post. Sailing to Ireland isn't a purpose, but challenging yourself against the Atlantic is. People are weird. You would think having a roof, three hots and a cot would be enough but it isn't. I am already wealthier and healthier than 99.99% of the human population and I natter on about self-improvement. We are just lucky to be here at the leading edge of human history, seeking purpose instead of grubbing for calories to survive until the next day...

(end bleakness)

Re: job jumper tip #5: take a break

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:22:38 -0000

@Drew: True, although from reading Ferriss' website I'm not sure he actually ever takes a break in the way I envision taking a break! He seems to advocate continually "working" passively even when not working actively.

Not that his idea is bad at all - I am trying to work on passive income so I'm working-while-not-really-working - but he doesn't seem to be into full stops.

And enjoy Spain! My wife and I spent a couple of weeks there back in 2004 and we absolutely loved it. The Gold Coast was terrific, even though we were warned it was a tourist trap. Barcelona is great, too.

Re: I will not pay for my children’s college education, part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:28:33 -0000

@Robert: I suppose it's a matter of perspective. I work in New York, and I can tell you as someone who's been involved in hiring for Fortune 500 companies that:

(a) After your first job, WHERE you got your degree ceases to matter (except for the network you formed there) because your performance at your job far outweighs your degree to an employer. I can guarantee that's true.
(b) Assuming all other things are equal - which they can't be, really - I would say that Duke vs. NC State wouldn't be enough to sway an employer. Duke vs. Munderbutton, or some tiny institution, maybe. But here in NY you'll notice a massive imbalance in executives - the vast majority of executives in my clients are the products of city or state schools, not private institutions. Maybe if you go to law firms you'd find more private school degrees, but even at investment banks (where my wife used to work) people with city school degrees were routinely hired over NYU grads, or Columbia grads. Employers understand that a degree - by itself - does not guarantee anything about the individual.

Re: the whole life sabbatical (part 1 of 3)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:32:55 -0000

I think you're all correct - just walking away from things doesn't solve anything, but a lot of people think it might. And deepali, I'm not sure simplifying is exactly the same as walking away, although they are similar. This relates to what bouncing betty said - if you are doing it WITH purpose, to simplify, it's not quite the same as just drifting away. You didn't just abandon your car, for example.

It's actually sort of frightening when you see people just completely walk away from things - just dropping everything and leaving....

Re: the whole life sabbatical (part 1 of 3)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:23:53 -0000

@Bubelah: That's a good example - even though you didn't THINK those friends were negative influences on you, they were, because you spent so much time and effort trying to force those friendships. I thought at the time - and still do - that it was a good idea :)

@Curmudgeon: If you've walk away from gainful employment, you're a lot more carefree than most people - a lot of people have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from jobs they HATE, much less ones that simply don't fulfill their life goals. And yes, just walking away doesn't guarantee that you'll avoid a situation like that again (as t h rive pointed out). But I think you have a better chance the second time, don't you?

@t h rive: Research would be key, that's for sure. Walking away from the heroin scene to the crystal meth scene wouldn't be the kind of "walking away from it" I had in mind, for sure.

@guinness416: I haven't seen "Into The Wild" yet, but my guess from commercials is that "walking away from your responsibilities" is to "Into the Wild" as "police procedural" is to "The Departed." It's the same thing, but taken to the Nth degree...

I think everyone has that fantasy at time to time... although it would have to be a pretty big lottery win to afford Mustique, wouldn't it?

@plonkee: I agree completely. A phrase you hear every now and then is "you can't choose your family," but I disagree completely. You can choose your family. It's nice if they happen to be people biologically related to you, or related through a marriage/civil union/etc. but frankly your family can be made up of anyone you choose. And I don't think it's a different degree, really. Too much is made of blood relations. I have plenty of friends who are closer to me than some of my relatives (admittedly the slightly more distant relatives - but you get my point).

Re: 31 causes of failure: #2, Lack of a well-defined purpose in life

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:10:30 -0000

@Brian: Hm. I had a good friend who had a skydiving accident and smashed his lower leg and ankle into shreds - it took several surgeries and pins and physical therapy, etc. to get him back to speed. He said that was it for him - not because he was scared but because he couldn't risk it with a small child.

But - and this is a big but - it wasn't something he was burning with passion to do. He certainly didn't define himself as a skydiver, and he just turned himself to other pursuits. It's a really tricky question. If part of your identity - your reason for "being" - is tied up in skydiving, you have to ask yourself if you'll be miserable and a worse father and husband if you stop doing it. If you will, you shouldn't stop - maybe you can scale it back, or do "safer" dives. However, you also have to ask yourself which would be worse - missing the thrill of skydiving or missing seeing your children grow up.

I'm willing to bet you are causing your wife a lot of stress. Think about whether all that is worth it - all of THEIR stress is worth your enjoyment - and then make a decision. And if you decide to keep skydiving, make sure you are insured to the max. Don't add fear of financial-disaster-through-accidents to your family's stress, too!

Really, risk is everywhere. Getting in a careening metal box and driving at 60-70 miles per hour on roads with other metal boxes headed toward you at the same speed is awfully dangerous, too. I walked through a subway station in Moscow once that blew up and killed 80 people 30 minutes later once. Life is risky.

(as a side note, do you know more people die scuba diving than skydiving every year?)

Re: 31 causes of failure #3: lack of ambition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:09:39 -0000

@plonkee: I think the way I look at it is that winning means doing it the best you can. I don't think being the biggest blog in the world, for example, would mean you're the best. Winning is just about making sure you're 100% engaged in everything you do. I would say being passionate about something means you want to win, even if the only competition is your own expectations.

@guinness416: I think "getting rich" and "getting wealthy" - at least to me - are two different things. I'm approaching his list of causes of failures more from a goal/life perspective, and that's the way I chose to interpret the book - but I don't discount the "rich" part. Hill puts a substantial emphasis on getting rich but almost the very first point he makes in the book is that if you get rich without an intention to give something in return then you are just a heartless machine. He even asserts that without a specific purpose built around giving back you won't manage to become rich in the first place.

Hill and Wallace Wattles (who wrote The Science of Getting Rich, a predecessor of TAGR) both were emphatic that the purpose of wealth was to free up your life to achieve your purpose, and your purpose was to give back to the world in terms of charity or your talents or your knowledge. The failure to emphasize "giving back" is one of the reasons I am not as fond of new Law of Attraction works like The Secret. My idea of getting rich is so that I can become a better person, contribute more to the world and help others with my wealth - all while being happier with myself and a better provider for my family.

I like the idea of thinking as every action I do as something I can win. I can fight the battle to be more intelligent, or smarter about saving money, or become more successful at business, etc. I don't think it makes me unpleasant - it's not like I'm challenging people to arm wrestle me all the time! Sorry you don't like the posts, though...

@Dana: Great point on the "career man" - but I'll take that further and say that the problem there isn't working hard and not seeing your kids. I think it's failing to understand that there are multiple battles to win, and none are exclusive. You can't work 18 hours a day and neglect your family to be rich. You can't be the best stay-at-home parent in history if your spouse stays home, too - somebody has to earn money. This goes back again to the idea of being rich. I have several very specific reasons I want to be rich, but one of the first and foremost is that I want to be a full-time dad. I don't see any way to do that without getting rich enough to not need to work (a lot). But someone who works a lot is not winning, in my opinion, they are losing. The trick is to work smart, not hard. Bill Gates is a good example - until recently the richest man in the world, he's given $29 billion to charity, has three kids under 10 years old and is retiring early at the age of 53 later this year. That's much more effective than someone who works hard, buys a Lexus and retires at 65 once his kids are gone from home.

Re: I will not pay for my children’s college education, part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:51:28 -0000

Robert, I don't think anybody has a true formula for comparing education to school costs. I am prejudiced - I think I got a great education from a state university (in which I was in an honors college) that cost me nothing thanks to scholarships and low tuition. So I got an infinite return on investment - $0 spent on college vs. a lifetime of increased earnings.

But as to whether Duke at $20,000 per year or whatever it is now versus NC State at $8,000 per year is a bargain or a ripoff? Hard to say. Depends on the major, what you do with your spare time, etc. I personally think an expensive education is a ripoff unless you either (a) gain the skills to become very rich and pay that debt off in a hurry or (b) get a great network that helps you get rich. I personally don't understand putting myself in debt just for the privilege of studying at a university - but I'm exceptionally debt-averse.

Good question, though, and if someone answers it someday they'd have a good career as a college counselor...

Re: linklings, economic end game edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:15:35 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Oh, sure, I am sure the US economy will recover, albeit weakened. I think after Black Tuesday, the S&L; crisis, etc. the US economy suffered from a series of weakening blows. For the individual, things will probably continue apace - homes will be bought and sold, index funds will ebb and flow, etc. But I do think that the growing debt, the weakening dollar and the lack of a sensible economic strategy (health care, entitlements and the Iraq war) spell long term gloom for America. I don't see America being stronger 10 years from now than it is today. It will be weaker.

Re: why be rich?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:19:35 -0000

@Hunter, @AJC: I think we're all on the same page, but it never hurts to hear that you aren't alone in your thought process - thanks!@Matt: Admirable goal - keep me posted. If you know that's what you want at 26 you're already ahead of me - I didn't realize it til I was in my early 30s. But thanks - I sure do hope (and believe) I'll achieve my goals, too.@WC: I guess I'd argue you'd have the same problem getting poor without any goals. The trick is to have goals - but getting rich makes those goals easier to reach (usually, but not always).@Stacey: Thanks!

Re: poor kid blues

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:58:14 -0000

@guinness416, @plonkee: Oh, well, I should have added that when I'm 80 I'm going to tell everyone that I never had a subatomic nuclear drive in MY car and we had to walk 8 miles uphill each way to school and eat beans 6 days a week. That's definitely a privilege of old age!

@Curmudgeon: You boiled it down to the key point there.

@escapee: Interesting point. None of my parents' parents were "poor" in the classic sense, although one of my grandfathers had a limited education and certainly came from a fairly impoverished community (Pennsylvania-Dutch). But you're right - none of them had a "poor" mindset in the sense that nobody had the ingrained expectation of poverty. Maybe they didn't dream of wealth, exactly, but they certainly expected the comfortable middle-class lifestyle.

@SavingDiva: If you were allergic, I think your parents saved you from yourself :)

Re: poor kid blues

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:03:07 -0000

@FFB: Right - poverty is a mindset more than a state. I know rich people who struggle with their bills and poorer people who don't - it's attitude and mindset and approach.

@dawn: Dwelling on the past (even if it's a happy past) won't get you ahead in the future. I think happy people look forward, and look forward positively.

@Asithi: My mom tells a funny story about how I embarrassed her as a little kid by telling a neighbor that we didn't have meat for dinner at the end of the month because we were poor. But at the same time, you're right - any of us who are in a good situation today can ultimately look back on the past and say "hey, that's what got me HERE" - and that's a powerful indicator that the past was more helpful than hurtful, right?

@Four Pillars: Heh, no, that is not me, that's a Flickr random pic. My picture is visible on Entrecard, or on any site with Gravatars...

Re: why be rich?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:05:13 -0000

@Lazy Man: I pick on Wiis because I'm not a gamer. They have almost always bored me - except for Doom. That one game obsessed me. After that, I lost interest in gaming altogether - so it's easy for me to pick on video games. I have my vices, that's for sure...

Re: linklings, economic end game edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:07:41 -0000

@Pinyo: I'll tell you what I'm doing to protect my wealth: nothing. The market drops 300, then it's up 400. I'm staying invested in index funds, keeping a nice pile of cash like I did when the market was going great, and concentrating on keeping my spending down and paying for everything in cash. Can't go wrong with that formula....

Re: crowdsourcing

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:34:13 -0000

@No Debt Plan: True, and I guess that's a critical distinction to be made: being contrarian is more about how you use the information that you've gathered, crowdsourced or otherwise, instead of the way in which it's gathered. If I want to be contrarian about the stock market I'm still going to examine mass population attitudes (the run-up in gold is a good example of something exhibiting "dumb" crowd activity).

Re: does fidelity matter?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:42:16 -0000

@plonkee: But I guess I'd say that obviously Spitzer's private life included breaking some laws, and considering he was (a) New York's chief executive and (b) a lawyer, he clearly knew he was breaking laws, so his private life overlapped his public life. If he had a kink where he liked to dress up in a French maid's outfit when he slept with his wife, I agree - I wouldn't care about THAT. I think his lack of fidelity to his wife, as well as a lack of fidelity to his oath of office (to uphold laws) and even his responsibility for whatever wobbly code of ethics lawyers have, made him overall an unfit person.

Re: does fidelity matter?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:43:16 -0000

@Rocketc: Exactly. I didn't even get into the question of whether his ability to lead could be compromised by blackmail, etc., but that's a whole new can of worms...

Re: does fidelity matter?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:05:49 -0000

@FFB: I only put Paterson in the same boat as the other two for one reason: whether or not you're having difficulties, etc., you're still breaking the marriage vow. I may be drawing a ridiculous line in the sand, but I don't remember "faithful except when you're fighting with each other" as part of my vows. And as far as whether Charles Barkley should or shouldn't be a role model - neither he nor Giuliani nor anyone gets to choose to be a role model. WE choose role models - and based on that all of us are guilty of holding up Britney and Giuliani and Clinton and whoever as "role models" instead of people who deserve it.

@Retired Syd: Spitzer definitely set himself up - just like Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, etc. You can't throw fire and brimstone at people and then expect them to be merciful when you fall. Spitzer was a total hypocrite, and now - in retrospect - clearly somewhat off his rocker to make idiotic choices like that. And I'm glad you caught my dig about the president - I was thinking of a specific president, whom I usually refer to as the "WPE."

@Curmudgeon: True. One of the defining characteristics of millionaires in The Millionaire Next Door is "only married once." Keeping your promises means not defaulting on debts, running a strong business, etc. - so you're right, I could have gone that way.

I guess I've always looked at divorce this way: if you get to the point where you are married with kids, you need to be ready to wreck your whole life (financially and otherwise) to get divorced. That means there had better be a good, good reason and not just "we don't like the same TV shows." Of course abuse would fall in the "good, good reason" category - I don't mean people aren't in situations where they should consider it - but marriage is the new "going steady," - a vague committment easily broken.

@Elizabeth, @First-time Poster: I break promises all the time - "I'll take the trash out before I go to sleep," for example. There is a distinction. I always point out to people that I am a massive and frequent lawbreaker: I jaywalk, I go 5 miles above the speed limit, etc. It is unreasonable and rare to keep all of your promises, but it's probably a good thing to aspire to - I do. I may not get there (ever) but I'd like to see even marginal improvements in our political leaders. I don't think asking a sitting governor to keep his promise to his wife, the state, etc. by not transporting a woman across state lines for the purpose of prostitution is too much to ask. Would I be as mad at Spitzer if he got caught speeding? No, but then again, would I be mad at a schoolteacher who repeatedly taught my kids that George Washington's name was Fred Washington? Yes, because I expect teachers to know their stuff - I expect the people who are charged with upholding our laws (many of whom are lawyers, to boot) to do a better job. It's all relative, but moral relativism is a slippery slope. If you tell me 10 times you'll call me back on an important matter, then yeah, I would be suspicious of you the next time I need a call and you tell me you'll call me back. It's a small thing, but after a while it matters...

Re: linklings, failed failures

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:42:20 -0000

OK, well thanks for the feedback, all. Maybe I'll continue doing them but on a more irregular basis, or two/three at a time or something like that.

Re: poor kid blues

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:59:04 -0000

@Al: That's a tremendous comment. It is still true that the US offers unparalleled opportunities for newcomers, and (despite what many think) even for people who grew up here. The possibilities for economic growth are still far better than most parts of the world.

Re: poor kid blues

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:01:05 -0000

@stltskn: I don't think the logic is flawed, exactly, but I certainly don't back it up with statistics (other than those in the dated Millionaire Next Door). I don't think, though, that children of millionaires are likely to become millionaires in any higher proportion than others. I think you have to be in the superwealthy class to guarantee the transfer of wealth - $1 million is not going to make your kids rich, especially if you have several. But thanks, I'm glad you liked the post!!

Re: 31 causes of failure #4: insufficient education

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:03:35 -0000

@Hunter: The $5000 course is nothing, actually. One of my colleagues was sent on a 3-week intensive training course to Europe to learn the local language for an upcoming project in that country. Imagine flights, hotels, food, PLUS course costs - and I don't believe 3 weeks makes you conversational in a foreign language! But yeah, some courses can be very, very useful. There's a reason the big companies are willing to shell out the big bucks for training - they know there's an impact.

Re: fools

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:05:37 -0000

@Hunter: Oh, of course I couldn't have known, but I guess that's the trick to smart investing/wealthbuilding/getting rich, etc. - seeing something others don't. It probably doesn't make me a fool so much as just "average," but somebody knew - somebody bought. But you're right that it's all a question of timing as to whether you look like a fool or a genius - but part of being a genius is mastering timing!

Re: fools

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:07:10 -0000

@Saving Diva: I can recite lyrics to 80s songs nonstop but I can't remember my to-do list for a day (thanks, Vitalist)...go figure!

Re: fools

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:08:29 -0000

@Danny: Similar to the comment I made to Hunter, right - timing and patience (or timing and rapid action) can make the difference between seeming smart and seeming foolish. Over analyzing is my current problem, too, and I'm trying to build SOME sense of urgency back into my decision making.

Re: fools

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:10:29 -0000

@Mike (Four Pillars): Thanks - and thanks! and there's nothing wrong with being complacent with your career, as long as it's letting you meet your other goals. You're pursuing other goals - blogging, staying fit, having kids - so it's not like you're just treading water. I don't view my career as a central part of my life, either - in fact, I'm trying to minimize it.

Re: fools

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:11:17 -0000

@financialgal: Of course, being foolish is only human - sometimes being foolish IS human. :)

Re: linklings, failed failures

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:13:07 -0000

Thanks everyone, I really appreciated all the comments. I will keep going with the series, although I'll change up the format a bit. I may cover more than one at a time, and I won't post them on quite such a regular basis (maybe every other Friday or something like that) although I won't start doing them on a totally random basis!

I really, truly, sincerely appreciate all the words of encouragement more than you can know! You really made my day :)

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:14:47 -0000

@42: Excellent point! I have always been in fear of being pigeon-toed ever since it was explained to me what it was, so I try very hard to do just what you say. I roll my feet out a bit (so I wear out my shoes quickly) but I found the WalkFit inserts do a great job of almost forcing you to keep your feet facing forward. But willpower and focus is probably a far better way to accomplish that.

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:16:33 -0000

@FFB: Yeah, don't get me started on commute time. I've managed to watch several complete speeches from TED and read all kinds of stuff that I never would have gotten around to reading during my time at home. It's actually the only thing I enjoy about commuting - getting a chance to read and watch informative-type videos on my Sansa.

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:19:10 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Canada still counts as foreign, at least until we decide we need more oil fields.... but yes, you're completely right. I spent years on the road thinking "wow, THIS is my chance to have beer and french fries and pizza on the company tab! Sleep late! Put aside all other cares, because, you know, I'm On The Road." That was of course idiotic, and I wasted a lot of time and wrecked my health. And you're completely right about dressing well. I find I'm much happier being dressed up a little at work than I am if I show up in the rumpled khakis.

Re: fools

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:20:47 -0000

@Alex Le: Oh, sure, failing to take chances is sometimes the best decision in retrospect, although I would say (as you're getting at) making the conscious decision not to do something is a lot, lot better than just getting lucky through inaction.

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:22:40 -0000

@Kyle: Absolutely, that's a good addition to the list. Hanging out with positive, like minded people is good at work - but it's good anywhere. People are afraid if they don't play office politics they'll get marginalized, but you're right - mental happiness will get you further than conspiring to throw your cubicle neighbor under the bus.

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:26:35 -0000

@budgie: Turn up early but not insanely early. I have done both (show up late, leave late versus show up early, leave early) and it's a lot easier to get stuff done if you arrive early, get your tasks out of the way and clear your day for relaxed meetings, etc. But honestly, stay focused and get out as quickly as possible, regardless. I'm all for a friendly chat - and I probably do too much of it - but when you have stuff to do hammer down, do it, and leave. Too many people are too worried about putting in face time. And as far as being humanly possible - your job will always be there. I have worked on deadlines for years and years, and let me tell you - not once did anyone fire me or cut off a finger as punishment for missing one. Your job will never END, per se, so try not to sell your life to your employer cheaply. Emails will wait til the next day. Work can - 99 times out of 100 - wait until the next day.

Re: why be rich?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:28:41 -0000

@Adfecto: I just have to knock the Wii - I know everyone loves it, but somehow I just recoil at the idea of Matrix-ish virtual bowling. Go bowl! Go outdoors and throw a real baseball! It just weirds me out. But hey, I like blogging instead of writing on paper with a pen, so who am I to complain. I would pick on xBoxs but Wiis seem to be a particular weakness for personal finance junkies, don't they?

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:34:11 -0000

@KTL, thisisbeth: Thanks and good luck on hitting those two points!

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:45:41 -0000

@Dawn: Yep! I need to do it more - I can get a sullen look pretty easily when I'm mentally "somewhere else" - but smiling and making people feel more at ease makes ME feel more at ease, and consequently less shy.

I'm willing to bet there isn't a person in the world who wouldn't be better off by smiling more, no matter how much they smile already :)

Re: 2017 is the year of the bimillionaire

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:53:30 -0000

@Aaron: Andie MacDowell was definitely crushable, but in that movie? Err... better in Green Card or Groundhog Day. Heh.

I do count the value of a company I own based on current market values. I don't think anyone can count on future values as part of net worth. Your Money or Your Life (which I don't think is 100% accurate but close enough) defines it as "what if you had to sell everything you own today - how much would you have." So if the company was going to be worth that much in the future - and others would recognize that - it would be worth a lot today. If its cost is much less today, then it may be that other investors don't view it as a sure-fire thing like you might. What you take from the company as pay, however, is a rock-solid figure that is worth exactly what it is worth - dollars in pockets.

All in all, net worth is not the absolute best measure of your financial position anyway, just one of many. Cash flow is important, debt to income, etc. are also good measuring sticks.

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:57:10 -0000

@plonkee: Of course if that what suits you, stick with it. I used to be a late-in, late-out person at work, too. I slept late(r) although I've never been a late sleeper, and I felt the (slightly) quieter late afternoon was better for working.

I will say, though, that then I tried out the early schedule - forced myself to get up early for an extended period of time to really "get into it" and it felt and worked out much better.

But again, I can't really argue that if you feel comfortable with your schedule, stick to it - but sometimes it's worth it to shake up your routine a bit...

Re: 38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:08:06 -0000

@Pscherer: I haven't done an extensive study of it, but I think my argument would be that it's hard to get wealthy WITH debt. Once you're wealthy, leverage becomes a vastly different type of tool than what most of us are exposed to now (credit cards, mortgage, etc.). I am certainly willing to say that the type of debt Trump has is different than what I have (it does not put HIM on the hook, just Trump Enterprises) and his famous debt-leveraging happened long after he built his wealth - which was, of course, inherited in part. But yeah, I believe that people who are building prosperity steer clear of debt - at least personal debt.

Re: The Final Four

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:11:11 -0000

Ack! My comments thread was hijacked here! Disregard the comment above!

Just kidding. The snowflaking article is great, seriously, and I won't mind losing to a worthy opponent (not that the articles weren't worthy, the snowflaking article was just worthier...)

:)

Re: a little-too-late advice on building wealth

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:22:23 -0000

Thanks everyone for following up with the votes! :)

Re: I will not pay for my children’s college education, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:30:51 -0000

@David: I understand where you are coming from, but I didn't come from a strict family at all. I came from a family that valued independence and put a premium on my studying while in high school. I was encouraged to be active socially in high school, join clubs, make good grades and participate in extra curriculars. I got full tuition scholarships to every school I applied to (yes, even Ivy League schools). I have a young relative who is applying to university now, and she is having the same experience.

I had a great time in college. I chose a less-expensive school to attend, had good scholarships and joined a fraternity and played varsity sports, as well. I graduated with honors, and I have never regretted attending a public school on full scholarships rather than mortgaging my future (either through a miserable college experience or massive student loans) to attend an Ivy - nor would I think that advice would change.

I would certainly agree with you that nobody should take their advice from an online forum or blog or anything like that! I'm just trying to start thought processes. You have to make your own decisions about life.

Re: March Mathematics Madness!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:33:14 -0000

@Hunter: Nope, that was real! My April Fool's joke was NOT to publish an April Fool's post...

@Dawn: Actually, he was. I didn't really realize he was so kooky until I saw the movie. I only knew him from general reputation and from his work, which is quite good. I found game theory to be an amazing thing. I never have met him, although I've been to Princeton several times for business. He's supposedly a recluse, but you're right, meeting him would be cool. I should make a list and try to interview them or something...

Thanks everyone!

Re: job jumper tip #5: take a break

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:34:55 -0000

@Jaime: I'm so glad it inspired you! You are completely right - remembering that life happens now, not in the future, is a big key to happiness.

Re: brip blap getting zen things done

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:40:29 -0000

Hey, thanks everyone! I should point out that you can substitute "spiral notebook" for Moleskine and "any online calendar system" for Google Calendar. I think at it's heart there are only two components to a to-do system: date-related stuff that should go in a calendar and non-date-related stuff that goes in a list. Whatever the tools are, fine. Just don't complicate it with categories and projects and contexts and blah blah because - at least for me - that's not how my mind works, and I suspect nobody else's mind does either! I think "crap, need eggs and I need to check my brokerage account when I get home!"

As a side note, Moleskines are a very pleasant addiction :)

Re: brip blap getting zen things done

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:05:30 -0000

@Glblguy: Hmm, that's a thought I hadn't considered before, but I have to disagree. I guess my counterargument would be that the use of rapidly changing technology, which uses even-more-rapidly deplenishing natural resources (various precious metals used in chips, petroleum made into plastics, etc.) which are non-biodegradable could be much more harmful. They require energy, too - each time you recharge one you are contributing to greenhouse gases (depending on where your power source originates). And the batteries, especially for cell phones, are toxic to the environment and require recycling. There are companies that do this, so as long as you are diligent about recycling consumer electronics you'd be OK (although we all know recycling does not truly recycle 100% of the material). And unless you are disciplined about using your gadget until it breaks you're on a constant cycle of consumption and discarding. No-one is good about using consumer electronics until the bitter end - people want the "new free phone" when their phone contract needs to be re-upped every two years. I just got a "new free phone," for example. My old phone was dying but not dead yet.

I believe Moleskines are non-recycled paper based, so granted, they are not so great. My "best" solution would be to use notebooks made of post-consumer recycled paper, and recycle them once I'm done with them.

I disagree about trees being cut down, though. The problem is not how many trees are cut down, it's that new ones aren't being planted to replace them. If a responsible logging company "farms" trees - plants 3 new ones for every one they cut down - it can become a sustainable activity, which cannot be said of ore extraction or plastic manufacture. The trouble is that too many companies don't practice sustainable logging.

I bet Torbjorn would have something to say about this...

(as a side note, if you do like leaving voice notes with your phone and you have a plan with plenty of minutes, you can also set up Jott which is a very cool voice-to-text app - I love it for times when I forget my notebook!)

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:11:05 -0000

@Lori - I just wanted to say thank you - that was quite the ego-boosting comment! Seriously, I really struggled with my weight loss so getting a compliment like that means A LOT to me. I am willing to bet there is nobody on this planet who doesn't feel better when someone tells them they look "awesome".

Thanks so much, you made my day :)

Re: Can I tolerate my son’s religious education?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:31:38 -0000

Thanks everyone! That's an interesting reaction, because I get the general impression that everyone's saying "don't worry." I tend not to worry THAT much. It shocked me the first couple of times I heard my son repeat things like that, but then again he talks to Elmo, too, so his judgment is suspect.

I think Working Rachel had a very good point, which is that we should teach him about our beliefs to counter any strong indoctrination and that leads to a VERY important point: my wife and I have NO strong beliefs FOR or AGAINST religion. My wife, a product of the Soviet Union, has a vague distrust of religion that has been built in since birth by the state. I was turned off by my immersion in my mid-20s. But both of us have since come around to a belief in the New Thought movement, which is most jokingly summarized as believing in The Force.

That is not exactly a burning passion belief to counter Catholic education, is it? But I'm OK with it. I need to make my own beliefs more apparent to myself first before I start worrying about what anyone else is picking up, probably.

I really do appreciate the great feedback - I hope everyone else thinks it is as interesting as I do to hear everyone's opinions!

Re: 15 reasons why you might not want to be a consultant

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:31:57 -0000

Thanks for all the comments! I'm not sure everyone realizes that I'm going to talk about the upside tomorrow... there are a lot of negatives to consulting but I think there are some positive upsides, too, which I'll cover tomorrow.

Thickenmywallet has it right. Consulting is a good way to make a living if you've got a lot of industry experience. If you don't, you're just an impediment.

@FFB: It depends on where you live and what you do. Concentrating on the financial services industry and living in New York I have ZERO need to travel unless I feel like it - which is a nice luxury.

Re: a quick and easy way to control spending

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:24:27 -0000

@Punk cents: Being a SOX fan is one of the most important bad habits to break. Join Yankee Nation. Resistance is futile. :)

Re: 15 reasons why you might not want to be a consultant

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:50:07 -0000

@Four Pillars: I certainly can understand - I'm a consultant and a lot of consultants grate on my nerves, too!

@Fathersez: You're right, #2 seems like a good thing. By "ridiculously" I was trying (not clearly enough, apparently) to say that consultants sometimes get a goofy level of treatment that makes regular employees resent them. But yeah, for the consultant that's not always a bad thing!

@Trent: You are completely right - #5 shows up in my list of positives, too. I liked managing people, but it made it much harder to get things done sometimes.

Re: the gold rush of 2008

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:42:43 -0000

I think Hunter and Danny are both making similar points and I agree completely - unless you really knew when to get in and out of gold (i.e. actively traded) there is just NO money to be made. It's at a 20 year high now, great, but the chances it will grow at 8% per year like (theoretically) the stock market does are pretty slim over the long run, based on its history.

Better to invest in a gold mining company than in gold itself (if you don't mind ethical questions about how they mine gold).

Re: are American kids stupid about personal finance?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:52:10 -0000

@Jeremy: I'm not sure I agree completely. I never struggled with debt, and I began investing early. Clearly I didn't suffer through experience to learn how to do this - I was taught (by my parents and grandparents). I get your point, but I don't think we need to view it as a "throw the kids in and let 'em swim" question. I just think the schools aren't the place to do it!

@Elizabeth: I think there is a simple solution, which is to teach your kids about personal finance at home. The kicker is that to do this, the parents need to be educated about it in the first place. It's a chicken-and-egg question in some ways. And you're 100% right - I think personal finance (if it was to be taught in school) needs to come much, much earlier. High school is already too late.

@Trent, @Matt: I agree that self-discipline is more important in many ways than knowledge. I doubt there are smokers out there, for example, who are unaware that smoking is bad for them. But on the flip-side, it's tough to "just do it" if you don't even understand the rules of the game. If I don't know that I NEED to pay more than the minimum on my card to pay it off - if I am really unaware of the consequences - then it's going to be tough to understand the need for discipline. But a good point - experience and discipline are required to make use of "book knowledge."

@plonkee: Absolutely. Glass is half full!

@Mrs. Micah: Maybe I should have said "witches who have powers beyond the ability to wear all black and listen to goth-punk music without irony"? :)

@Curmudgeon: I'm not sure it was bias in the survey so much as just an odd view of what's important. Investing in the market is pitched with such fever in this country it's often confused with fact rather than opinion. Merrill Lynch obviously has a vested interest in steering people towards investing in the market rather than, say, starting a business of their own. It's commendable that you taught yourself. Today's students are in an odd situation - every single drop of financial information you might ever need in your life is available through the Internet, so they have an advantage over those of us raised in the "paper era." At the same time, the competition for their attention is mind-numbing - from Wiis to Facebook to 500 TV channels, they have to struggle mightily to focus. I don't envy them, to be honest.

@No Debt Plan,@deepali: Yep, you're right - same as with smoking, everyone knows it's bad yet a significant percentage of the population still do it. Knowing and doing are two different things!

Re: are American kids stupid about personal finance?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:57:10 -0000

@thickenmywallet: I would love to see the same survey applied to adults, I agree. I doubt that the results change much, to be honest, although some people obviously learn once they are thrown in the water, as other commenters have pointed out.

@SYL: I can't remember one second of personal finance except as you said maybe as a math problem. But I don't think I heard a single whisper in school about finance. Not one. Amazing, when you think about it.

@Ron: I think you said something I didn't want to say but it's completely true! In a selfish sense, I was armed by my parents and my son will be armed by me with an advantage over our fellow citizens. In a purely selfish sense, the "dumbing down" of American students in regards to personal finance is good news for all of us who do have some understanding. It's harsh, it's not pleasant to frame it in those terms, but it's true. And since the information is not exactly The Secret - at least not if you can Google "personal finance" - I guess we hope that the rising wave will lift all swimmers!

Re: 15 reasons why you might want to be a consultant

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:38:29 -0000

@DGI, Bsen, fathersez: Thanks!
@Bubelah: I do think that's the source of a lot of anti-consultant bias. They don't really have a "stake" in keeping things quiet, so regular employees get irritated with them.
@Ken: You're right. I have more trouble with it in terms of the blog (although it's less time-intensive, I do feel I need to work on it sometimes instead of spending time with my family).
@Curmudgeon: True, simply by performing a task you are in effect selling your client on the ability to do the NEXT task. I find that it's fairly easy to sell, but I do such long-term consulting contracts (2 out of the last 4 have been for more than a year) that it's a different type of selling than other types of consultants have to do.

And you're right, I work for a company that doesn't provide support of any sort (they don't give me supplies or computers or a boss or admin assistants, etc.) but they do provide two critical functions: they do "lead searches" and find potential clients for me (I have to close the deal myself) and they do bill collection (and THAT is something I would hate to do). So you are correct, I don't have to generate leads for business from nothing as a truly independent contractor would. At the same time, I am free to do identify clients on my own and I do, on occasion. It is not entirely without incentive, either - if I identify my own clients I get a kickback on the "finder's fee" normally paid to our lead generators.

Re: this monkey’s gone to heaven

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:23:03 -0000

@J: As Ruth said, I think you misunderstood the point I am trying to make. It's not that I don't think it would be bad, and it's not that I think it would have an impact on the ecosystem - I understand that there's a poorly understood and staggeringly complex interrelationship between all living things, and we have no idea what would happen if monkeys disappear.

I just meant, for the sake of argument, that the loss might SEEM minor - species disappear constantly - but it in fact would have a terrible effect on the world in general. Even small losses are losses that will never be recovered. I hope that clears up your perception of where I was going with this piece - if it didn't read the way I meant it to, hopefully this response clears it up a bit.

Re: the charity customer

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:52:51 -0000

I'm a little surprised at the outpouring of resentment against United Way! I think they are a perfect example of "not attracting the customer".

And I put the door-to-door charity work right up there with internet spam for being a ripoff. A real charity shouldn't go door-to-door begging. It's just not the way to make repeat customers happen.

Re: new feature - free magazines

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:27:01 -0000

Well, the FAQ says "While subscriptions to all the trade publications on the TradePub.com web sites are free, some publications offer a limited "free trial period" followed by a solicitation for a paid subscription should the reader wish to continue receiving the magazine. TradePub.com never invoices for subscriptions.

Doing business in today's competitive environment requires a serious commitment to stay abreast of trends and technology, and every business needs a technology infrastructure to perform effectively and efficiently. Trade publications and their advertisers want to give you information you need to do business. It's worth it to them to give you the magazine free because you have a genuine need for the information and products described therein. Advertisers need a vehicle to deliver their message to you which justifies spending advertising dollars to give subscriptions for free."

It's not my company, so I would still have to say "read the fine print," but there's no catch. Like I said, I've subscribed to CFO forever, and I've never paid a cent!

Re: what are you looking at?

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:15:47 -0000

No problem - it was an outstanding pic!

Re: linklings, black hole earth edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:28:51 -0000

Given our celebrity-obsessed culture, DB would have to have nerves of steel not to have revealed himself by now. He would be a guest on every talk show on earth and probably get away with serving 3 months in prison by now.

And Curmudgeon, I do try to throw a few pop-culture references in there to get heads-a-scratchin' sometimes, especially if I didn't know the reference until a few days earlier myself :)

Ah, Eliot. I haven't read The Hollow Men since college, but when I looked at Wikipedia I saw this little interesting bit: "Perhaps most revealing, though, is Eliot's response, a 'no', when asked if he would write these lines again: One reason is that while the association of the H-bomb is irrelevant to it, it would today come to everyone's mind. Another is that he is not sure the world will end with either. People whose houses were bombed have told him they don't remember hearing anything." Apparently it actually referred to Guy Fawke's whimpering when executed. Who knew? Learn something new every day.

Wikipedia (if it's actually true more than 90% of the time) is fascinating.

Re: how I managed to spend almost $9000 on lunch this year

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:53:45 -0000

@Trent: The more I do it, the better I find it helps, too. I think the "writing down" part helps a lot, as opposed to just tracking through Mint or Yodlee or other online sources. It's one thing to see it and another to actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and write that number down.

Re: 38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:15:01 -0000

Fair enough. As I've said in other posts, I'm no expert on real estate investing and you've convinced me that a blanket statement condemning debt isn't fair. I'd still say most people will do better without it, but you're right - if you can use leverage properly it can definitely multiply many times.

Very thoughtful comment, Thomas, and a very good analysis. Thanks! And Pscherer, I cede the point!

Re: how I managed to spend almost $9000 on lunch this year

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:43:56 -0000

@42: Haha :) and ewww :) Actually, you inspired me - I had tuna fish for dinner.
@AJC: True - although you could end up obsessing too much...
@Squawkfox: Thanks - I hope it is, at least. Actually as I mentioned I've been much better recently.
@No Debt Plan: I have found there's only one way to eat healthy if you go out frequently, which is to become a whiny jerk. In the last few weeks I've been trying to cut back on carbs and I just refuse absolutely to participate in any departmental activities that are carb-heavy.
@Mrs. Micah: $1300 is a lot although if you saw my $5 salad today you'd realize that an average of $6.50 per day in New York is not exactly buying the filet mignon, so short of bringing food I'm doing well. Today, I had lettuce, shredded carrots, sunflower seeds, olive oil, and some lentils. $5. Argh...

Re: the newest problogger on the block

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:15:00 -0000

Thanks all - it should be interesting, and as Mike said I'm sure that with two kids it's not going to be all writing and blogging! I am pretty motivated to make it work, since it's hard to have a goal of working at home if you can't force yourself to work at home when the opportunity presents itself.

But I will do my best! I'm excited about it, and more importantly excited about our baby - with spring slowly emerging it just feels like "new baby" time.

Re: welcome to New York City

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:07:40 -0000

@42: Isn't that overstating it a wee bit? It's not exactly Mordor, is it? I mean, it gets a bit humid and stuffy but it's tolerable in the grand scheme of things, methinks...

@Mrs. Micah: It is funny how people like that disappear from our lives, and how we disappear from theirs...

Re: best financial move in college, part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:28:31 -0000

@Dorian: I suppose it depends on how you want to look at your finances. My way of looking at it is that my net worth is probably further along at this point in my life than it might have been had I attended an Ivy and entered the same profession that I did (accounting). Now, if I had gone into investment banking or something of that sort, my net worth might be significantly higher, of course. But I took the question to be 'what decision made in college was the smartest one that had the best impact on my finances assuming everything else had gone the same.'

So in other words, I avoided incurring debt, still received a degree that paved the way for PhD and MBA school, etc. I did not emerge from college deeply in debt. The long-term question of whether I would have received a better job, had a different career, etc. is a separate one in my mind.

My (somewhat rambling) point is just that it made good financial sense to graduate debt-free from college. You could argue that now I might be better off in terms of gross income had I gone to Harvard, but then again I would also have been better off had I attended Hometown State's medical school, too. So that's just a different question. But given what I wanted to do, where I wanted to do it, etc., it was the best decision for me.

Re: how to be a good partner to a stay-at-home spouse

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:31:52 -0000

@Trent: Absolutely, and we're by no means perfect on this one, either. Plus it assumes that there's (a) some "price" to the chores - does washing the dishes "equal" taking out the garbage? and (b) taking care of the kids is somehow equivalent to the chores. It shouldn't feel that way but as a parent I've found that there are certainly plenty of times when sitting through an extended grumpy bedtime session with a toddler feels like work.

Of course with my (semi-temporary) move to problogging, doing the chores just got a bit easier :)

Re: linklings, dawn of the problogging empire

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:37:14 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Thanks very much, I appreciate the compliments on my Prosper post, and thanks for the encouragement on the coaching. And yeah, I think the article from Wealth Building Lessons that I linked to in the Prosper post was correct in saying a depression, in the strict sense of the word, was unlikely. People are going to talk about a depression but the government is significantly more interventionist (if that's a word) today and has more tools at its disposal to prevent the meltdown that occurred in the 30s - although I do worry about the lack of controls over the financial services sector after 20 years of deregulatory trends in the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush presidencies. But you're right - institutional failures are much less concern than mass personal financial failures. So many of my acquaintances are one paycheck from being unable to pay their mortgages that it's horrifying.

Re: linklings, dawn of the problogging empire

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:43:09 -0000

@Ron: No, no, it's no hijacking at all! It's an interesting question of whether the manager can truly motivate, or if it's simply the manager's job to create an environment where self-motivation isn't hindered. I guess I base my theory on the fact that some of the staff I've managed who were, according to their evaluations before they worked with me, sub-par managed to 'right the ship' and succeed after I managed them. Whether I did it, or whether I just gave them the environment to unleash their inner drive is almost irrelevant, in a sense. But I can't know whether I did it, or whether they might have succeeded simply because of their own mental growth or family support or whatever. It's hard to know.

I don't disagree at all about your assessment of what motivates people. I thought your post was great, and actually your comment about managing people has given me something to think about - whether creating the environment for success for staff (or for myself, frankly) is more important than trying to build the skills for success IN staff (or myself).

And really, it's hard to know what the answer is. Hey, thought-provoking posts are always good, even when you get some disagreements!

Re: linklings, dawn of the problogging empire

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:46:53 -0000

@guinness416: I actually didn't mind working for a megacorp managing people globally. It was fun (for a while) and I built some valuable organization and productivity skills that have helped me personally. I wasn't cut out for it long-term, but different strokes for different folks... and who's to say, if Ron enjoys it somebody has to do it!

Yeah, I would have a tough time giving up the tea, which is weird, considering I never drank hot tea growing up in the South. You damn Europeans got your hot-tea hooks into me in the end - now iced tea just seems weird. :)

Re: best financial move in college, part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:06:40 -0000

@Mrs. Micah: I couldn't agree more that if you want to study a particular subject and you feel that one school is significantly better than another for that subject, you should go there. It's a good clarification that you make: the number you look at should be net cost, not just raw tuition. I'm not sure anyone in this country pays list price tuition. Almost everyone I've known had some kind of combination of scholarships/grants/aid/loans/etc. that brought that number down a bit.

Re: best financial move in college, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:59:27 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Hah, funny you should mention typing - I wrote a post and named that as the #1 class everyone should take: here.

@Mrs. Micah: I have always wondered if my interest in Russian and the difficult, rules-heavy languages has been because I'm a mathematician and accountant, etc... maybe it's a left brain/right brain thing?

Re: best financial move in college, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:59:15 -0000

I agree completely on the Latin. I've taken Latin, too - a tutor in middle school/junior high, and then some college Latin. I also took French but never cared for it (although I did score in the top 5 in my state on the National French Exam). I am a language junkie - if I didn't have some incentive to concentrate on Russian to improve my communication with the in-laws, etc., I probably would learn some more because I love the challenge. And Bubelah and I still intend to learn Spanish along with Little Buddy because, well, we live in the US.

@Fathersez: Heh - well, the sports glory lasted about 8.3 seconds after I didn't make the tennis team for my university and (this is a subject for a future post) the high school grades were meaningless after the first semester in college. But I was intensely focused in high school, that's for sure - in college I let loose a bit more and let my social life expand a bit. I played a lot of club sports and one varsity sport in college (lacrosse) but in the end it's all just about being happy with where you end up at, not where you were - and I can tell you I wish I had a few of those hours spent hammering away at the tennis ball in high school back...

@Stanislav: I'm enough of a russophile that we came VERY close to naming our son Stanislav, actually :)

Re: best financial move in college, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:11:10 -0000

@Fathersez: Hey, you've been reading my blog long enough to know that I would never, ever mind spreading goodwill and cheer through it! I love it - I'm happy to see some connections being made!

@Akemi: Yeah, that's about what happened. I don't think I had any special affinity for Russian culture before I took the course, and so I'm sure I could have become just as infatuated with Japanese (or Chinese or Czech or Brazilian or whatever). I am still fascinated by Japanese from a distance - I watch documentaries and movies about Japan all the time. So I didn't completely lose my interest!

The funniest thing is that you would think I met my wife in Russia, but I didn't - I came back to the States and then met a Russian immigrant in NYC. Go figure!

And you have a great point that Americans assume everyone should speak English, and I think everyone should! I have always said that the value of a common language is extraordinary. I traveled throughout the former Soviet Union and having Russian as a common language was very helpful. If the world had decided on French, or Spanish or whatever as a common language I would learn that, but hey - if English is emerging as the common language, fine. I just like the idea that everyone in the world speaks their own language but has one more in common. I think in the end it may be Spanish or Chinese, but for now it's English - and that's fine with me. Anything to understand people better!

Re: 38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:43:44 -0000

@Thomas: I can certainly see how you could interpret point #4 that way, but I probably should have been more clear: I do think buy and hold is the best strategy, and I don't think mutual fund investing is better (although for the non-serious investor who's unwilling to put time into research, I think it is). What I meant was that if you want to be an active trader, moving in and out of positions constantly, there's not much chance most investors can outthink the professional trader, who has far more institutional ability to take on risk and who can access information that we wouldn't have access to.

But all that having been said, you're right - big mutual funds are limited by their size and investor confidence. An individual investor who's willing to study and buy businesses, rather than day trade, can beat the market.

Hopefully that clarifies what I meant! I do think buy and hold is the best strategy, even if someone applies it to mutual funds and not stocks.

Re: best financial move in college, part 1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:19:47 -0000

@Megan: Funny that you recognized it! I spent most of my time in school just around the corner :) I guess at least one person knows where I went to school, then! My secret bat-identity is at risk!

Just kidding. That's a neat building although it really sticks out a bit, doesn't it?

Re: the newest problogger on the block

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:31:46 -0000

Thanks again, everyone! I'm definitely enjoying it so far :)

Re: best financial move in college, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:32:07 -0000

@SYL: There's a lot of value in being "just familiar" with a language - I have picked up bits and pieces of languages all over Europe from my time working there. This is to plonkee's point, too - people appreciate the effort immensely even if they do speak your language.

@WC: Having parents who speak two languages is definitely a help - we are hoping that Little Buddy and his sister will both be completely fluent in my native language (English) and Bubelah's (Russian).

@Pamela: No problem, going off on this tangent has certainly given me some ideas for future posts, anyway! :) I may write more at length on this, but there are some very easy ways to pick up a foreign language. One of the simplest - if you already know a little bit of the language - is to read children's books in that language. I started reading German children's books, then graduated to comics, then to basic stuff I had read in English (The Hobbit, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, etc.) and then finally to "heavy literature." Reading newspapers helps, too. The sports section is seldom written with fancy vocabulary in any language.

I'd love to SYL's tips, too!

Re: how to be a good partner to a stay-at-home spouse

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:31:02 -0000

@wanda: it's not a dumb question, but I can't answer it - it's just an image I grabbed from Flickr, so it might be fake. I would not be surprised if it was real, though - in the later stages of pregnancy (my wife is due tomorrow) the belly skin is stretched very thin!

Re: 10 things to tell a graduating high school senior

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:32:35 -0000

@Ron: That sounds like a cool class. Oratory in general is a weird subject - people value it in politicians, business leaders, etc., yet it's not really taught or studied very often in school. But classes like that DO stick out in your memory in a way that Finance 201 never will...

Re: my latest tax deduction

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:50:14 -0000

Thanks everyone for the good wishes! We're all back home from the hospital and we're doing well, although I've had the flu the last few days (talk about great timing, and thank goodness for parents)! We're trying to settle in to our new, more complicated routine, but otherwise everything is going well. I had forgotten how much newborns sleep, but I had also forgotten how much they want to eat...

Re: linklings, no links edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:52:56 -0000

Again, thanks to everyone for all of the congratulations - it's been a rough few days for me personally since I came down with a very bad case of the flu, believe it or not - 103 fever, the works. So I haven't been much help but my parents and in-laws fortunately were around to seamlessly take care of everything, and frankly probably better than I could have, anyway! We're all glad to be home and recovering. :)

Re: 7 tips to simplify today

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:06:42 -0000

@Guinness416: no, it does not - loving to cook and actually cooking are two different things. :)

Re: 7 tips to simplify today

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:12:40 -0000

@Mom@WOW: Public transportation is tricky that way. But I guess I'd say that you're not just saying $5 in gas, you're reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that are being poured into the atmosphere, as well - you're reducing the amount of money that future generations are going to have to pay for illnesses and disasters arising from climate change, as well as contributing to more and more 110 degree days. But I own two cars, so I'm certainly not a purist on public transportation. I guess I would just say that if you can use a bus instead of a car when there isn't much difference - say, on the day when it's 75 and pleasant and you're not in a big hurry with the kids - then maybe it's worth it. Public transportation varies so much city to city in the US that it's hard to universally say it should be used, I know.

Re: giving gifts in the office

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:18:49 -0000

@supersabby: Well, I'll put it this way - if I contributed, contributed, contributed, and then when it was my turn got nothing, I think I would drop out of the contribution chain, personally. As a consultant I've always been very hard-hearted - I don't contribute anything, ever, for any reason. I think if you give sometimes and don't other times, it's tough to defend. I just politely decline every single time I'm asked. If asked why, I usually point out that I have enough expenses for gifts and whatnot in my personal life without adding office contributions. People usually don't push too much.

I would give one other piece of advice - don't call in sick, don't say you bought another gift. The next time there's another mother-to-be you'll have to dance around this again. Just get it over with - say that you just don't want to contribute. But unless you are firm and simply say 'no' you will endlessly be making up excuses and squirming out of it. Set the pattern and eventually people will leave you alone.

Re: 7 ways to mind your cash when you are abroad

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:02:52 -0000

@Kitty: Well, it's a good point that as time goes on ATM/credit/etc. cards have started to have better rates. I think it depends on so many factors - where you are, what network you're using, etc. - that I should probably just modify that to say "do some rate comparison in each country to find the best means of exchanging". My experience has always been that a good credit card is the way to go, but that's certainly not universally true in every instance.

Excellent, excellent point on the clean bills. I've had the same experience in Russia many times, and you're right - if you get a 'funky' bill you might as well just stash it away and wait until you're back home to spend it, because bills need to be near-pristine in many countries to be exchanged. Great point, I'm glad you reminded me (and everyone reading)!

Re: how to make money without a job and why you should

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:59:23 -0000

@Mike: Well, I stick by that assertion for this reason: if you think of a way to save a $1, you benefit, true. If you think of a way to add $1 to your income you benefit again and again and again. I focused on getting my spending to a minimal level but after that I gave up on finding out ways to save. Spending time trying to save money on coupons, for example, is time I can spend working on new income streams.

I hear you. You can't continually increase spending AND income, but at the same time if I increase my expenses 5% per year and my income 10% per year, I'll get ahead in a hurry. If I cut spending 5% per year, and income remains steady, there's only so far I can cut spending. There are two sides, but one side is far, far more important.

Re: the big present I gave my first employer

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:03:33 -0000

@Retired Syd: There are definitely benefits to working in a high-pressure environment like the Big 12/8/6/4/2/1 :). As I mentioned, most employers since then have assumed that I proved myself in the crucible and they don't even worry about my work ethic - they know it was forged in the fires of Hell (how's that for melodrama). I just wish sometimes that when I knew I was done I had cut back. I worked like a fiend up until the day I left, instead of scaling back. What did it get me? Nothing. We used to make fun of a fellow manager who cut out at 5 pm every day - we said he was a slacker, he was always low-rated, he never got good jobs. But you know what? He got paid 90% of what I did and he left at 5 pm instead of 10 pm every day.

I loved my staff in the Big 6. I genuinely enjoyed some of my clients. I detested the partners and like you the structure repelled me. So on balance, I could've done without it, but my career might have been the worse had I not been there. So who knows?

Re: the big present I gave my first employer

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:06:21 -0000

@Curmudgeon: You hit upon a key point: some people are entrepreneurs, some aren't. I don't think I am. I work well in my twilight zone as a consultant. I didn't like having a "boss" but I'm OK with having a client. At the same time I have yet to feel the desire to strike out on my own and hire staff and start my own consulting firm. It doesn't sound like fun to me. One of these days I may thwap myself in the head and do it, but it's hard to imagine today. But you're completely right - culture and outlook are critical moreso than opportunity. An entrepreneur will out, I think.

Re: the big present I gave my first employer

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:09:33 -0000

@Hunter: I don't know if I would say "wasted" on some reflection. Maybe "should've scaled back." As I said to Retired Syd, I should've learned that I didn't need to be billable-hours-champ. I could've done without the face time and 8 pm meetings and probably still ended up as a faceless manager in an office making an average manager's wage. It's not like when I left I was a superstar - I was a hard worker and I got a few "attaboys" but nobody said I was the next Jack Welch or anything. I could've tanked a few meetings late in the afternoon and still gotten the work done.

But you've got a point worth repeating: know WHY you are doing what you are doing. Even if you hate it, if it's getting you to a goal you want it's worth it. Suffering "just 'cause" is a bad, bad idea.

Re: how to make money without a job and why you should

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:16:13 -0000

Great bunch of comments, by the way. My problogging gig isn't' providing me with the time to respond to every comment immediately - nothing like having a toddler and an infant in the house to disrupt your schedule - but I hope my post the day after this one answered a lot of the comments!

Re: I will not pay for my children’s college education, part 2

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:59:38 -0000

@Amber: I doubt very much that I'm going to leave my kids completely high and dry for college costs. As you mention, I'll probably contribute something. I don't think that I'll send them into college saying "I've supported you for 18 years - whoops! no more!" It's not going to be a surprise. I will simply say that I don't see much advantage in their mother and me bankrupting ourselves to send them to school; if they want a private school education they'll have to do what you mentioned and take care of tuition. If they need help with rent, books, etc., sure. If they want me to pay for Private College X when they have a full ride ready to Public University Y - I'm not prepared to make that leap. I don't see that as something I need to provide them - and in fact, if I prepare myself adequately for retirement so they never need to support ME that will be a big gift to them, too.

I think we're on the same page - thanks for sharing your story that shows that people can take responsibility and pay for their own education if it's what THEY want and value, not just something their parents hand them!

Re: why you need to write your goals down

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:03:22 -0000

@Ron: I know there are always studies floating around about why writing things down works, but it's one of those things like gravity, I think. I don't need to understand WHY it works, just that it DOES work. :)

@MTP: Hey, I was thinking about Portugal today, so maybe so!

@deepali: Absolutely. I do keep my goals in my face all the time - they are written on the inside front cover of my "capture" notebook so I get reminded every time I open my notebook to write "buy eggs." Great point.

Re: why you need to write your goals down

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:05:53 -0000

@FFB: One of the things that kills me is how much we are expected to take in and remember. I have slipped back into the bad habit of reading presidential political news, for example, and the news and facts and numbers there clutter up my brain and force out "useful" information. I carry my Moleskine around all day and write almost everything I NEED to remember down - or else I'd forget it and remember that Candidate X was in Candyland, New Jersey for a campaign fundraiser. Sports do the same thing, but football season's over...

Re: why you need to write your goals down

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:06:55 -0000

@Curmudgeon: In a sense the continuation of the self would be the highest goal. I would like to visit the Forbidden City at some point, too, but yeah, survival is not a bad primary goal :)

Re: 10 career quotes, my take, and TGIF

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:36:09 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Whoa. That's a great anecdote - thanks for sharing it. Amazing. I have often worried that being "overeducated" - and I am probably overeducated by any reasonable measure of education - makes people tentative and overly analytical and therefore less prone to take risks. One story, of course, doesn't prove that out, but it does tell me that the life story of that guy could never have been my story - my analytical educated brain would've come up with a million reasons "not to do it."

@DGI: Thanks! Glad you enjoy the links - particularly since a bunch more are coming tomorrow!

Re: wealthstreaming, or snowflaking for income

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:39:19 -0000

@Pat: While I'm sure the concept even predates Dacyczyn, I think Ramsey coined the actual "snowball" term. I haven't read either of their books, and I'm relying on other sources (internet, other blogs, etc.) so I could certainly be wrong, but what I know seems to indicate that Ramsey came up with the term.

I'm sure even wealthstreaming isn't an "original" term by a long shot!

Re: linklings, stupid Internet edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:40:02 -0000

@Glblguy: You know, 5 out 6 posts per week I use Windows Live Writer, but I do some of my formatting/etc. for the link roundups in Wordpress. Ah well, lesson learned!

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:07:29 -0000

@jj: I am certainly no doctor, and it's certainly a list of MY thoughts on losing 101 pounds - I don't think I presented it otherwise. I'll stick by my milk suggestion, though - for most people, it's not a weight loss aid. The studies you refer to were paid for by the National Dairy Council (the NDC has spent $200 million since 2003 to promote the idea that milk can help people lose weight. Some research has suggested that calcium or other elements in milk may cause the body to make less fat and speed its elimination, but the studies produced mixed results.) Read more here.

Re: the simplest actions have profound effects

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:02:06 -0000

@Mike: One thing you mention is the fact that you drink multiple cups of coffee; one of the tricks with the disposable foam cups is to use them more than once. Your point about owning a mug is good, too - if you own one, use it. However, there are other costs to the use of a ceramic cup - coffee stains and a lot of people will use a LOT of water and soap to clean it. A disposable foam cup requires no cleaning. A ceramic cup, like a foam cup, will end up in the trash eventually. I have no ceramic cups I will pass on to my children, although my mom might disagree with that statement (she being a coffee cup afficianado).

It depends largely on what your concerns are. If you're concerned about the climate change implications of the expenditure of fossil fuels, ceramics use more energy (making them, washing them in hot water, etc.) If you're more concerned about trash and the implications of the creation of plastics and foams and whatnot, avoid foam/disposable cups.

I use a ceramic cup, frankly, but I'm just pointing out the disparity to show that it's not always as black and white as people might make it. When I do use a foam cup at work, I make a point to use it multiple times.

Re: how to become a billionaire

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:44:48 -0000

@deepali: It's actually something as unglamorous as the way wealth is measured. If you measured me in terms of my income I'm showing a slow steady climb. If you measured me in terms of net worth, I'm showing ups and downs from cash + investments.

I'd be willing to bet that most of the people who are based on paper fortunes cycle in and out; most of the people who are centered on assets do not. Just a guess, though.

Re: the simplest actions have profound effects

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:48:17 -0000

@deepali: I'll buy all of that - it sounds reasonable. At the same time, what's the cost of the water expended to wash a ceramic cup? A lot of that water is no longer potable since it's flush with toxic "cleaning" fluids, too.

I think if you use a ceramic cup and only wash it once a day and then just with a small amount of clean tap water you'd be on the right track. My point was just that if you must use a foam or paper cup, reuse it a couple of times and you've massively reduced your impact. Obviously using a foam cup once and tossing it is bad, but I think washing out your ceramic cup every time you drink out of it has an impact, too.

Of course it's nothing compared to taking a plane flight, driving a car, buying stuff with excess packaging, etc. You can drive yourself crazy worrying about minor effects when making one big life change - taking the bus instead of driving to work, for example - would make a far, far larger impact.

Re: 6 ways to become famous

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:45:03 -0000

@Hunter: True, although I was unable after a little brainstorming how to figure out a way to recommend picking different, more famous parents...

@FFB: I watched hardcore, cutting edge shows like Blossom - her "very special episodes" were hardcore compared to the Facts of Life....

I actually should add I have absolutely no desire to be famous, but I do admire the drive of people who do. It's all linked up to the drive to be successful, which is one of the most admirable of human traits, I think. But do I want to be famous like Lindsay Lohan? Errr, not really. But I do admire someone like Paul Potts who takes a shot (and AJC, I beat you to the punch on that one but hey, you weren't even blogging yet!)

Re: linklings, an end to freedom on the horizon edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:32:18 -0000

@Ron: And it's taking that jump that's the tough step, isn't it? I could do it - I know I could - but the consulting money is easy and good and time-consuming, and it's hard to shake it off.

Re: linklings, an end to freedom on the horizon edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:34:03 -0000

@AJC: You've hit upon my struggle: do I content myself with devoting my time to "pretty damn good" or go for more? It's tough - I have an upper middle class income, an easy consulting gig and no pressure - but I think I could do more.

Re: announcing the carnival of careers

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:53:48 -0000

@guinness416: Yeah, the Carnival of Toenail Clipping would be sadly mainstream compared to many of the carnivals out there. It's a spammy business. And yeah, you're completely right - I thought "sheesh, there are so many good career articles but they never get consolidated in one place." And then I thought "someone should do something!" And then a month later I thought "Hey! I'm someone!"

So that's how that thought process goes...

Re: the simplest actions have profound effects

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:54:12 -0000

@skube: Can't argue with that.

Re: announcing the carnival of careers

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:57:26 -0000

@AndyS: There is a "work/life balance" category which probably matches what you're talking about. And certainly don't feel the need to be TOO established - hosting a carnival is a great way to get a new blog off the ground!

Re: how to make money without a job and why you should

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:58:45 -0000

@GG: A lot of PF blogs don't say it but a lot do: a lot of the blogs in my blogroll think that way!

Re: the simplest actions have profound effects

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 26 May 2008 08:51:39 -0000

@Dana: Well, comparing non-sustainable crop farming with sustainable farm animal raising is obviously going to be a loser for those crops. Organically and - more importantly - sustainably raised crops will always be better for the environment than raising animals. To raise enough animals - i.e. protein - to feed the world's population using sustainable methods would be difficult if not impossible. So I do agree that population growth is important, but reducing our animal flesh intake and eating locally, sustainably raised crops would on balance be better for the planet. This article has some interesting facts about meat-eating. "According to the British group Vegfam, a 10-acre farm can support 60 people growing soybeans, 24 people growing wheat, 10 people growing corn and only two producing cattle. Britain—with 56 million people—could support a population of 250 million on an all-vegetable diet. Because 90 percent of U.S. and European meat eaters’ grain consumption is indirect (first being fed to animals), westerners each consume 2,000 pounds of grain a year. Most grain in underdeveloped countries is consumed directly. While it is true that many animals graze on land that would be unsuitable for cultivation, the demand for meat has taken millions of productive acres away from farm inventories. "

And as for the soap, it's similar to a discussion I had with a commentator at the Giving Hands about the soap. They claimed to use the same ceramic cup for tea all the time, to use tap water - no soap at all - to rinse it out and dump the waste water into a nearby flowerbed and put tea bags into compost. Of course if you are diligent, and use soap carefully and water sparingly a reusable cup is better. My point was simply that if anyone thinks they're doing something wonderful for the environment by washing a cheaply-made coffee cup with the average store-bought dishwashing liquid every time they use it, they might be better off using a foam cup 3 or 4 times for their coffee that day and then tossing it. Obviously (I hope) that's a case of recommending the lesser evil, rather than a recommendation for a lifetime philosophy.

Re: Carnival of Careers #1

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:24:41 -0000

Thanks everyone! The next Carnival will come out next Monday (with a submission deadline this Friday) so I hope we can keep growing it!

And Akemi, of course entrepreneurialism would qualify - it's a career, too!

Re: make money now versus make money later

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:52:28 -0000

Good comments, all! Here's more background: I have played the middle to this point. I am successful by any standard measure, but I wonder if I had gambled on the big return if I could have done better. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. The question is just whether an above-average life is really enough better than an average life that it's not worth taking a risk for the excellent life - if that sentence makes any sense.

Obviously I've played it the safe way - high level of education, conservative investing, etc. I still think it's worth considering this: should I dump 50% of my net worth, for example, into starting a business or investing heavily in something semi-risky? I might set my family WAY back, but then again I might wrap up the financial freedom 9 years ahead of plan.

It's an impossible question to answer without more information, but at the same time it strikes at the core - how much risk to take on. I wish I knew the answer.

Re: short term, long term

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:38:48 -0000

Great comments, all! I fell too far behind to respond to all of the comments individually (story of my life) but I'd still say that I understand that time spent with family, or enjoying life in general is not wasted, but at the same time - if my goal is to retire at the age of 46, say, and I don't plow massive effort into that, was that time well spent? I love spending time with my family, but if I exchange one day now for 365 days in the future, is it time well spent? To Mike's point, of course I can't know if I would have generated income or lost it, but certainly sitting around drinking Bud doesn't generate it, you know?

Anyway, insightful comments, all - I swear I need to create a Brip Blap comments blog separately :)

Re: make money now versus make money later

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:20:12 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Great question - maybe the ONLY question. I can answer it quite easily... I have only three real passions in my life, and two are quite closely related. One, my kids: I love spending time with my son (most of the time - we all have our days) and I imagine my daughter will be just the same. Two, my wife - she's my intellectual equal and I love debating, talking, arguing, whatever with her. Three, teaching. I have always enjoyed teaching and trying to "download" (to get horrendously geeky) my brain.

That's it. I have told Bubelah before that I'm a freak: I have no real need to do anything other than play with the kids, maybe tinker with the blog, and keep up with basic household chores. I have minimal (or no) desire for professional achievement.

I worry, of course, from time to time that this is a mental defect... but I've concluded that basically I'd either make a great teacher or a great househusband who writes as a hobby, not a profession. Go figure.

Re: make money now versus make money later

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:22:52 -0000

@Shawn: Well, risks are relative. Someone who knows the odds in advance takes no risks. Someone who has a good possibility of predicting the risks takes few risks. Someone with good market knowledge - products, managment, etc. - but no knowledge of the risks takes a huge risk.

And just to play devil's advocate, compound interest/investment returns and inflation have been our bywords up until the 21st century. Are we sure those models will continue?

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:25:35 -0000

@Chad: Well, I hope it's not disheartening. I like to think I'm jumping in from a position of strength. I make enough money doing my work that I'm financially free in the short term (1 year or so) to work or not work for months and months at a time. That's a luxury 90% of Americans don't have.

I'm also doing contract work - I'm in for a few months, out for a couple. Keep at it - consulting is a great path for people like me who like to natter on and make money nattering, so if you find yourself in that category keep at it.

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:27:27 -0000

@Writer's Coin: Yeah, actually, being at work gives me more career-related stuff to write about. I don't write a parenting blog, so a lot of the parenting-type observations that might have made good blog posts over the last month weren't relevant to brip blap. I do find that inspiration is the trickiest thing about writing. I can write for a long, long time after I get some inspiration.

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:31:38 -0000

@Emiliy: You loved "That's nice." ? Just kidding, I know want you meant. It's yours, steal it, I release it. :)

Yeah, your story describes it. I can't get work done with my kids around because I find it hard to put work in front of them. And you have to - work pays the bills, provides for the family and maybe (for other people) provides and adult sense of satisfaction. But I can't do it, so like your friend I probably need to keep staying out and about. It's tough, though.

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:34:20 -0000

@Four Pillars: Mike, you're completely right. If my job paid pennies I'd go for it. I'm in velvet chains, and that was exactly my point: my work is easy enough and pays enough that I feel like an idiot for refusing to go after it. Staying at home is tough. Bubelah is a trooper. One kid is a handful, two are a logistical nightmare. Our second is fairly well-natured but even the best-natured kids, when you take two, will overlap... one is calm and the other is fussy. The second calms down and the first fusses. Repeat until cuckoo...

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:35:46 -0000

@David Carter: I am banking 100% of my blogging income and approximately 1/3rd of my consulting income. We are frugal folks... we always think that living within our means is a smart way to live but making more is even better...

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:36:26 -0000

@Hunter: Don't worry - I have a plan to be back at full-time blogging by 2017!

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:38:07 -0000

@jabster: I like half-pro-blogger, but I'm not even that. If I'm making $500 per day consulting and $10 blogging, I'm no problogger in any sense of the word. But at the same time, that $10 is much more fun (if not easier) to generate, so what's the better use of my time... had to say.

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:39:15 -0000

Thanks, Mrs. Micah: I will endeavor to exceed expectations (see, my corporate days aren't entirely behind me!).

Re: alas, problogger, we hardly knew ye

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:42:44 -0000

@LODPI: Sure, I'll be a PTBlogger or something like that.

The investment bank would be a control position related to real-estate write downs: retroactively figuring out where lending agents goofed. Fun stuff, annoying everyone. What I ended up doing in the contract position is a revision of the financial close process: mucj closer to my previous experience.

Re: associating with the ‘appear-to-be-rich’ folks

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:06:38 -0000

I will just throw in an aside that I have (as FFB mentioned and Guinness416 and Telly touched on a bit) been obsessing on work and lifestyle a lot for a fairly simple reason: while I am happy with my family and a lot of the things in my life, I have been feeling like something's missing, particularly work-wise.

I think like FFB said that I'm happiest with my family, but I'll add something that Bubelah and I have talked about, and that my parents certainly showed me, too: you cannot have your life center on one thing, even if it is your wife/kids/job/dog/favorite TV show. It's not healthy. Balance is key. An obsession with money or material goods is just as bad as a obsession with frugality or debt aversion, I think.

It is tough in NYC, though. I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't be happier in Canuckistan, if it wasn't for the damn winters. :)

Re: associating with the ‘appear-to-be-rich’ folks

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:39:18 -0000

@bouncing betty: Thank you, thank you, for getting the main point - if something like The Secret makes you and me feel a little better about our lives, it's a good thing. End of story. People get wrapped up trying to determine whether there is some specific, demonstrable benefit and the main point is that it simply needs to make US feel a little bit better on our daily lives!

Re: associating with the ‘appear-to-be-rich’ folks

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:40:27 -0000

@Four Pillars(Mike): Heh, I know all about the one-arm-baby-typing. Prost! :)

Re: associating with the ‘appear-to-be-rich’ folks

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:43:40 -0000

@telly: I'm sure Canuckistan is no worse than NYC - but I'm longing after Florida. I think I'd be happy living in the Caribbean, frankly! But yeah, being bored at work is tough. I often worry that boredom is the great sin - and by that I mean that even when I was working in a horrible job for a big consulting firm in Moscow I was never, ever, ever bored for a minute because I was so horribly engaged in everything going on. Now, I can do my job with one hemisphere of my brain shut down, and it's not good. Growth, at the end of the day, makes people happy. Stagnation makes people unhappy. Ugh. Time to rest up for more consulting tomorrow.

Re: 67 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:46:38 -0000

Well, maybe not immortality - but at least a slight chance to improve the odds of living a bit longer :)

Re: death by a thousand cuts

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:02:08 -0000

I'll chime in here and say nobody HAS to pay college tuition for their kids. It's nice if they can, but if they can't, the kids will have to attend a cheaper school, work their way through college, etc. You can always sell your house and rent to avoid paying a huge mortgage. Etc. You can go out of this life having lived on your knees or standing up. Me, personally, I couldn't take getting dumped on like that. There are almost always options, as long as you have your health.

Re: updating my financial goals, July 2008

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:34:38 -0000

Thanks all - Guinness416, Lazy Man of Lazy Man and Money is clearly the Tom Brady of the Interspheres. And yes, DGI, $0.03 was pretty close to accurate. The first 6 months of brip blap were essentially income-less...

Re: happy independence day!

Steve (Brip Blap) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:56:22 -0000

@Momma: Amen, amen.
@Curmudgeon: The next President will actually cure all what done ails us, of that I am sure. And count me firmly in the camp that believes that either man in the running will spectacularly fail to address the most pressing needs of our nation within the next four years. Sigh.
@Ron: Well, yes, true, I am just using the convenient shorthand that you hear on the news and in the papers so frequently. We're a democracy at least in the sense that we've hijacked the word democracy, no?
@Geography: I was making a joke. I know Canada's a parliamentary democracy, so it was just a feeble attempt at humor on my part to say that there was one democracy in the North American continent.

:)

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:31:45 -0000

@Danielle: Thanks! Actually that's a good point, and to elaborate a bit - milk has lactose, and cheese generally doesn't. Lactose is exceptionally hard to digest for humans. So it isn't dairy so much as specifically the drink, milk. Dairy is generally OK (butter, cheese, etc.).

Re: linklings, shock the monkey edition

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:20:58 -0000

@Hunter: Yeah, it is broken - see Pinyo's explanation. I'll correct it once it's up on Moolanomy again.

Re: how to lose customers

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:09:10 -0000

@Curmudgeon: Well, I didn't want to mention the company by name since it's all working OK by now. Let's just call them Pherizon. :)

@Guinness416: You're absolutely right - I'm more likely to be stunned by DECENT customer service than anything. Good customer service is downright shocking. And the company I'm talking about knew that they had so few competitors that there was almost no chance we'd leave them - and their competitors are famous for horrible service (and prices) too.

@Bill: I think the word "capitalism" is overused in America. As you said, so many services are monopolistic: energy, telecommunications, water. In less populated areas it can be even worse. I don't know what the answer is. The telecommunications industry was famously deregulated from the monopolistic AT&T (not the same company that's called AT&T today, of course). The industry fragmented, competed savagely, then reconsolidated into regional monopolies. How do you force competition? I assume that if a local phone company was awful enough, a competitor might come in - think Vonage vs. the phone company, for example, or cell phones versus land lines. But those changes take a long time and we end up with highly inefficient systems in the meantime.

@deepali: I'm sure you know that I wasn't really trying to pick on India. It could just as easily have been the Philippines or China, of course. Here's my biggest problem with globalized customer service - I have yet to see any outsourced customer service do anything more than refer me to another number that can only be called from 9 to 5 weekdays. If they could actually fix something I could see the point - but it seems to be largely a delay-and-frustrate tactic. I do feel bad for the people in the call centers - it must be tough to deal with so much fury on a daily basis.

Re: how to lose customers

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:18:28 -0000

@Curmudgeon: I am sure they are taking massive action to ensure that their resources are allocated in a responsible and effective manner to maximize customer satisfaction....

Re: a desperate addiction

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:51:37 -0000

@Heidi: You're definitely right about being easier to say than do. After getting to work this morning, the first thing I did was read an op-ed piece on potential vice-presidential candidates. Talk about wasting my time. Oh well, the first step is admitting you have a problem, I suppose...

@James: I've voted for third party candidates for president twice, but I was living in a non-swing state. My theory is that if you live in a state that's safe for one major party or the other you can safely vote for a third party candidate. If you live in Alabama or New York, there is a very high probability that your state is not in play in any way, shape or form. Since I vote in New Jersey, there is a high likelihood that it won't be in play this time around, so I might vote third party again.

@Retired Syd: I definitely managed to quit reading political blogs and watching talking head shows. At least I'm restricting my viewing to "news" news for the most part. And it's a sad thought that this is what it's come to - like you, I'll be excited to have an English-speaking president for the first time in 8 years.

@TWC: I remember thinking how great it was when Fox News came out. I thought everyone would be so appalled at their "fair and balanced reporting" that it would discredit that type of journalism. Guess that tells you how well I can predict trends.

@Curmudgeon: I do think that at some point the trend of consumption will reverse itself in almost every aspect of our lives - oil usage will go down, obesity rates will decline, deficit spending will be reduced and eventually eliminated and so on. The question mark will be whether we get a leader who comes up with proactive solutions, or reacts to it from a position of weakness.

Re: how to lose customers

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:44:25 -0000

@plonkee: you'd think that would be the obvious solution, wouldn't you?

Re: night guy and morning guy

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:37:59 -0000

I'm a morning guy - since the day I was born I've found it SO easy to sleep within minutes (literally) at night, but I'm usually up at 6 am or earlier every day, even on weekends. Yesterday I was up at 4:30 am. I am VERY much a morning guy!

Re: corporatism

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:03:52 -0000

I'll try to address all the comments in general. I agree that the article was all over the map, but the simple fact is this: if I'm an individual in America, and I make $100, then spend $100, I owe tax on the $100. If I'm a corporation and do the same, I pay taxes on the net $0 - i.e., nothing. To DGI's and Bill's points, though, I have always been mystified by the complaints about double taxation. I'm not sure it's so much double taxation as the rate of taxation. I don't think there's any problem with taking taxes from several different revenue streams, for precisely the reason Bill mentions - we don't want one revenue stream to be totally "tax free" and therefore wildly preferable to the others. Think of a national sales tax: I am a law-abiding citizen but if I had a 30% tax on my consumption, it would be a lot easier to avoid that than our current income tax is to avoid. And even if the milk was taxed at 2%, the company shipping that milk to the store would be paying 30% more for the truck, for the materials to make milk boxes, etc. - those costs would end up with the consumer.

I personally don't think any taxation system can be "fair." I think in the US more tweaking could make the system "fairer" - but too much tweaking has been done already.

Re: New Peer-to-peer Lender for Student Loans

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:27:59 -0000

You're completely right about the 10-20 year lock-in being a turnoff. I could never imagine committing my money for such a long period without a cash-out option.

I only popped by Fynanz a couple of days ago without studying it in-depth, but I'll treat it like every other P2P so far - an interesting experiment that really needs to react to the first few big issues and economic cycles it faces before it will really take off.

Re: Get Ready for Blogging with a Vengeance

Steve (Brip Blap) — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:35:27 -0000

Hey, many thanks for the mention - I'm glad you liked the list. Good quote from Robbins, too - the guy's got a million good quotes, doesn't he?

Steve