Disqus - Latest Comments for plonkee

Re: Who Do You Blame When You Lose $6 Million Overnight?

plonkee — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:52:53 -0000

I guess that he wasn't thinking properly. You know a lot of people think that the company they work for (or used to work for) is immune from market falls. Yeah. That's not really true though. When I acquired some company stock I sold it as quickly as possible - partly because it constituted about 2/3 of my total net worth at the time.

Re: Guest Post: Quality Clothes for Less than a Buck

plonkee — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:20:31 -0000

I would say save on socks, the more expensive ones that I have don't last any longer than the cheap ones.

Re: 10 Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund for Fun

plonkee — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:42:09 -0000

I have always said that if I win the lottery I'll be emulating scrooge mcduck. How many coins do you think would be needed to fill a swimming pool?

Re: The Cost of Buying a Home Over 30 Years

plonkee — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 05:36:47 -0000

I think that one of the overlooked benefits of buying rather than renting is to stabilise housing costs as noted by hamburger flipper. My rent is liable to increase roughly every three years, whereas my mortgage payment is at worst roughly constant. This also means that the cost of my housing is partially eroded by inflation.

Re: 6 ways to retire poor

plonkee — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:50:42 -0000

Of course what I really want you to do is to abuse your health and then move to the UK and use our universal free health care. That'll make my day.

Re: Sunday poll - popular or rich?

plonkee — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 11:26:20 -0000

Rich. Seriously, comments are everything so I don't like either scenario.

Re: a question regarding the cost of higher education

plonkee — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:14:40 -0000

Note that you don't have to pay for grad school in the hard sciences - they'll pay you (not a lot, but enough).
I believe that some private colleges can work out to be cheaper than public universities, if you get scholarships and so on. I know in particular that Ivy League institutions meet total assessed (by them) need which could conceivably work out a better deal than a state school which can't afford to offer the same package.
She should apply to colleges that fit, including one she can be certain to both get into and then afford. Once all the acceptances and financial aid packages are in it will be easier to make a good decision.

Re: raises - are they for suckers?

plonkee — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:36:24 -0000

I've averaged a 7.2% annual rise since I graduated, but then I'm only in my late twenties. I expect it'll slow down significantly from this point. Which is ok, I'm not really into being rich through my income.

Re: Sunday poll

plonkee — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:53:07 -0000

Sadly, I actually did go to work for several hours on Bank Holiday Monday last week. Even though I love my job, its sad because no one should let their job define them.

Re: Happy Labor Day!

plonkee — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:13:01 -0000

We do indeed have no revolutionary ardour. The last time we had a revolution, in England it simply consisted of asking a new king to come over (the same is not true in Scotland or Ireland). And I also dislike Manchester United and all there non-Manchester based fans

Re: 7 ways to stifle your creativity

plonkee — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:51:20 -0000

I find it hard to be creative and notice that I do better when I walk home from work. I can't easilyread or write anything down and my thoughts tend to randomly drift. I find that the level of switched-off-ness I get from doing this improves my overall creativity.

Re: achieving greatness

plonkee — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:22:00 -0000

FWIW his accent isn't at all strong. A trace of Bristol / West Country I guess, but nothing to write home about.

I'm not into reality tv / talent shows so I didn't watch this in the original, it don't think it shows that talent will out, but you're right that without the passion he clearly has, the talent would never have been seen.

Re: Dark day

plonkee — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:03:50 -0000

I feel like I am intruding on a private grief, but posting is a public statement and I want to respond for my part.

I wouldn't exactly say that you are overreacting, just that your instincts are right, in terms of global tragedy the direct events of 6 years ago are probably a relatively small thing. Reactions to them might prove to be different, but the actual event was another example of tragedies that occur and have occurred continuously somewhere around the world. I also think that its always worth trying to understand the why of human actions. Learning more about what makes people do good things and do bad things probably won't make anything worse and it might make the future better.

Finally, it is helpful to hear that you weren't worried about your 401(k) and so on in the face of disaster like this. It reminds me that there are more important things than the trappings of civilisation and if it came down to it, there is a chance that I could retain sufficient presence of mind to function through this scale of tragedy.

Re: Sunday poll - problem solved

plonkee — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 09:13:15 -0000

One problem that I'd like to solve in my personal life would be to simultaneously live where I do and also live within easy reach of the rest of my family. This is not something that's likely to be solved without the help of magic.

If I could solve a problem for the whole world, I'd like people to start doing what they think/know is right and stop doing what they think/know to be wrong.

Re: linkling end of the earth edition

plonkee — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:32:00 -0000

I also want to go to Ulan Baator, but I'm pretty sure I'll get there someday. I've got a semi-plan involving taking the Trans-Sib Express. The place I'd love to go to but don't think I will ever, is probably Pyongyang. I only want to go there whilst its a closed Communist dictatorship, and they don't let in tourists.

Re: Sunday poll

plonkee — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:38:31 -0000

I wish I'd thought that I should learn a little about investing before jumping straight in and buying shares. I didn't really mess up in a big way, but I could have made a lot more money if I'd been a bit more sensible.

Re: today is better than the day before

plonkee — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:08:44 -0000

Despite being English, I can't stand tea.

I really like this list, I think I'll start trying to do some things.

Finally, what can I replace potatoes with?

Re: a building mental storm

plonkee — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:17:16 -0000

Does this mean that I won't suddenly start exercising if I don't make myself do it?

When you don't like what you do (or some aspect of it) I find it easy to concentrate on that, its much more productive to focus on what I want to do instead. Is there anything about your job that you do like? Or anything else that you are really passionate about? Once you've got a destination clearly in mind, its easier to work out how to get there - especially if you have bills to pay.

Re: linklings - Friday, October 5, 2007

plonkee — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 07:14:36 -0000

If you get this automated thing to work, let me know how you do it. I really want to do more linking posts (in addition to my regular ones), but it just seems too time consuming.

plonkee's last blog post..making money whilst i sleep

Re: belated carnival mention

plonkee — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:19:40 -0000

I'm glad that you liked my post. Its too easy to forget how great our own lives are and that if we want to change things we can.

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

Re: cost of war

plonkee — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:45:50 -0000

War is pretty much always a waste of money. By definition, you spend a lot of money blowing things up, and then peace breaks out and you spend a lot of money money rebuilding it.

Re: how to become a billionaire

plonkee — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:03:38 -0000

Are you sure they can't shoot lasers from their eyes?

In all cases if you want to be very wealthy, you need some luck - at the very least an absence of bad luck as well as all the hard work and so on.

Re: 6 ways you are passing up free money

plonkee — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:32:06 -0000

"Credit card companies are not our buddies."

This may win the understatement of the year contest.

I'm guilty of being too lazy to get my loyalty card out to swipe the stupid thing at the supermarket.

Re: the myth of the parent that NEEDS to work

plonkee — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:30:49 -0000

From my point of view its complicated. I don't have any children and I'm not particularly likely to, yet thanks in no small part to people like your wife, there's still an expectation that I'm likely to give my job up in a few years cos 'thats what you [women] do when you have kids'.

Re: the myth of the parent that NEEDS to work

plonkee — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:06:05 -0000

I guess expectations differ in different places.

There is a general thought here that after 2 kids, someone will drop to working at most part-time and essentially give up their career (if not their actual job), and its never expected that the man will do it.

Anyone who thinks through the decision and knows, understands and accepts the choice that they are making, is almost certainly doing the right thing. There certainly isn't a perfect solution to the question.

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

plonkee — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:21:08 -0000

I wonder what your grandparents thought about of their move. After all, what to you may have felt like a bad move might have been a great one to them.

Re: follow the white rabbit to financial freedom

plonkee — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:32:48 -0000

You are awesome. Wow, this is such a lame comment. Sorry.

Re: carnivals, guest posts and links

plonkee — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:58:33 -0000

I'm trying to do the same link roundup strategy, I hadn't noticed that I'd copied it from The Digerati Life.

I haven't decided to move anything else from my sidebars yet - I'm kind of attached to my blogroll as I used these a lot when I was first getting into reading about personal finance. I also like to use the recent comments on other people's blogs to see where interesting conversations are up to.

Re: fatherland

plonkee — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:49:12 -0000

I've wanted to read that book for ages, I might put it on my Christmas list.

I know that I often pick the cheaper choice over the more responsible one. It can be difficult, because although I deplore the human rights abuses in China (as they are deplorable everywhere) I don't know that boycotting Chinese products won't be counter-productive.

I personally think that the difference between the developed and less developed world causes justifiable anger, because well, we have it so good. What the best response to that is (on either side), is less clear. I think the thing that I'm most clear about in my own mind, is that I should vote for the candidate / party which is best for society (and in the era of globalisation, that includes the whole world) rather than best for me.

Re: spooky links, 10-31-07

plonkee — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:24:49 -0000

Hey, thanks for highlighting my post. Overall, I'm on the fence about Dave Ramsey, but then he isn't famous over here so I don't really have any pre-conceived notions. I'm sort of aware that he has a Christian emphasis and to the extent that it influences his advice it would annoy me - I'm not a Covey fan for a similar reason.

Re: 8 steps to a six figure career

plonkee — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:14:37 -0000

I think if you go to a good college, you can probably pull off an esoteric major. It's in the same vein as taking a weird job, it makes you memorable.

Sounds like you don't have a lot of respect for those of us living in the corporate world. Probably a fair cop.

Re: rich mom, poor mom

plonkee — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:09:55 -0000

I'm also with guinness416.

In my family the older siblings had a full-time stay at home mother, and the younger ones didn't. We've all had great childhoods and turned out to be happy, well-adjusted adults but my mother was happier at work than being a stay at home parent.

Re: saving money on books

plonkee — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 08:32:10 -0000

My books are keepers if and only if I have/am/will be rereading them.

In practice this means that I have and read a lot of children's books and genre fiction. Not very highbrow I imagine, but then I'm not studying literature, I'm reading for pleasure.

Re: the generational contract

plonkee — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:23:47 -0000

We have this in my family. My dad's parents chose to retire back to the place that they are originally from, which is a long way from where my dad (an only child) lives. I know that either of them would hate to leave their house, but also that it's unlikely to be practical or enjoyable for my dad to move there to look after them.

In this case, I'm mean. They chose to move there, knowing that this scenario was and is a possibility. I think that they should have to put up with whatever works best for everyone, not just them.

I don't think you have any obligation to introduce your kids to the religion etc of your childhood, but I think lots of people do it because they think it will be good for the child.

Re: why do hippies hate the news?

plonkee — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:38:50 -0000

I think I'd have enjoyed being a hippie. Although I can't be doing with new age crystals and healing and so on.

Mostly the news is rubbish, and I don't normally listen to or watch it. Sometimes I browse the news in various high-brow, left of centre media sources. It's kind of interesting, but I've become quite ambivalent about it.

Re: Q&A with Millionaire Mommy Next Door

plonkee — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:30:00 -0000

I love the parental mission statement. I imagine that it's easier to say than do - but probably even harder to do if you haven't really formulated your principles in your own mind.

Re: “the tool of the future” linklings

plonkee — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:48:35 -0000

Aaah something to make link posts easier. I'm gonna have to check it out.

Thanks for mentioning my commitment. I had some delicious fairtrade chocolate yesterday, and have avoided all the unfair ones so far.

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

plonkee — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:10:26 -0000

Thanks for running my post.

I think that one of the things that's interesting about parents today is that a lot of them must have had two parents working, yet you don't see many people complaining about such a childhood.

Re: making overseas experience count

plonkee — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:10:54 -0000

I think that any non-corporate overseas experience should look valuable to employers.

Ignore whether you got paid for the work or not, who wouldn't want to hire somebody who was self-reliant, could lead a team, was used to interacting with a wide variety of people, could speak Spanish...

Sometimes it seems like because someone's experience was enjoyable and was done for non-commercial / non-financial reasons they themselves discount it. Always seems like a mistake.

Re: is college worth it? (part 2)

plonkee — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:16:15 -0000

I guess it illustrates the concept that it's not what you make, it's what you keep that really determines your wealth.

And also I think that it shows that if you go to college you might have more potential to be rich, but potential is nothing if you don't deliver.

Re: is college worth it? (part 2)

plonkee — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:16:58 -0000

Actually, I think that Paul (the non-college guy) is probably spending about the *right* amount for his income. I mean the standard rule of thumb is that you need two-thirds of your salary in retirement.

If you spent 4 years at college and accumulated debt, then you need to save a lot more than 10% of your salary to maintain the constant (but slightly lower) level of expenditure throughout your life and into retirement.

Re: 6 classes every well-rounded person needs

plonkee — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:13:00 -0000

Yes, to typing. The amount of practice I've had means that I can practically touch type by now and at a good pace, it's not super fast but it's good enough. The number of men that I've seen that are still practically at the hunt and peck stage is pretty abysmal.

Re: cash rules

plonkee — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:45:15 -0000

I've been brought up to ask tradesmen if they have a *cash discount*. I'd be lying if I said that I thought that was truly legit.

Re: developing a millionaire mindset

plonkee — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:02:36 -0000

The first one is important to me and I'm making changes there now. I haven't actually got any plans to retire before retirment age, but I don't want to stand in the way.

My plan is to shift some of my retirement savings into my stocks and shares ISA - this is a British investment wrapper that works like a Roth IRA, but there is no age limit on withdrawals. This should work out ok whether or not I retire early.

Re: linklings, the leap year conspiracy edition

plonkee — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:26:06 -0000

I also bought On Writing Well recently (on the basis of Trent's review) and I think it's going to be one of those books that I turn to again and again.

Re: true diversification

plonkee — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:55:14 -0000

I agree. In fact I especially think that investing in society and investing in personal happiness are important. Some of that is via money, but more by time and thought - which nearly everyone should be able to do.

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

plonkee — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:26:39 -0000

For me the key line has been "everything I have is yours". This isn't ignoring what's gone before, it's taking one meal to celebrate the return to the fold. In the morning, everything will still belong to the elder brother, and the younger will have to start from scratch.

But, I also think that once you get started, it's actually easier to get out of debt than it is to build wealth. There are inbuilt milestones and a real target to aim for. I just need to keep reminding myself that I would rather start the future here today with my small positive net worth than try to do it handicapped by debt.

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

plonkee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:46:35 -0000

In the story, it's not made clear what happens to the younger son after the celebration. He certainly gets more than he thinks he is worth, but whether that continues beyond the one day or not, is not exactly stated.

I'm aware of how it is traditionally interpreted, but it's a story, you should interpret and apply it as you read it. And I actually think that it's right to celebrate people (including me) overcoming their own mistakes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you then give them the family farm, or whatever.

Re: and lo, at the Outback they rejoiced

plonkee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:31:36 -0000

"even when we sit in unrighteous indignation at the actions of others."

Sometimes I think that righteous indignation is a myth.

Re: learning how to let go

plonkee — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:49:07 -0000

I would say that it's ok to leave stuff for another time. Once you've done one pass of decluttering, you'll be amazed what you can get rid of the second and subsequent times.

Re: like money falling from the sky

plonkee — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:01:25 -0000

I remember the fall of the Berlin wall, and the end of communism, it surprises me even now.

It takes a lot for a country to succumb to hyper inflation and most of the examples I can think of were linked to political and structural instability. It's unlikely to happen in any stable democratic state, but it's not impossible. The good news is that hyper-inflation doesn't last. At the end of the day, money isn't real it's a token to exchange for things of value and it's possible to change the token.

Re: can wealth be fair?

plonkee — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:20:51 -0000

It's more important to me to err on the side of ensuring people don't go without unfairly than ensuring that people don't take more than their fair share.

I do think there needs to be a grown up debate about when the cost of medical treatment is too much - and that's even more important in the UK because of our state funded medical care.

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

plonkee — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:27:23 -0000

I'm so glad I've been doing this since I graduated, I think it's helpful no matter what your job is. Very few people do exactly the same things day in day out, even when they keep the same job duties.

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

plonkee — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:33:51 -0000

My problem with this is that it feels to forced. I guess I'm not thinking about it right and I don't actively network. I'm probably naturally the reverse of a connector. :(

Re: Super Tuesday

plonkee — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:08:02 -0000

Clinton.

But if you're a Republican, there is no contest, the only acceptable candidate is McCain.

Now that I've given you my pronouncement, you can go and vote. :)

Re: preparing for the cost of dying

plonkee — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:02:51 -0000

Don't forget to leave some decisions for your loved ones to make. Many people find planning things like readings / music etc for the funeral of a loved one to be very helpful - and of course, a funeral is meant to be (at least in part) a comfort to those left behind.

Re: 31 causes of failure: unfavorable hereditary background

plonkee — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:41:45 -0000

There's a difference between have a specific learning disability, or being uneducated, and not being intelligent.

There are plenty of people (a minority, but they still exist) whose lack of intelligence is going to put them at a serious disadvantage in making money.

If a lack of intelligence is combined with other disadvantages, then it might actually be almost impossible for some people to "think and grow rich".

Most/all people reading this blog are not going to be in this category, though. If you're bright enough to do that, you can learn to do anything.

Re: the whole life sabbatical (part 1 of 3)

plonkee — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:54:11 -0000

This reminds me of the 70s BBC comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, where he abandons everything, only to end up with it all again anyway.

I'd add that your family doesn't necessarily have to be relatives, for some people their friends are their family. Whilst it might be easier to abandon your friends, it's still the same thing, but at a different degree.

Re: 31 causes of failure #3: lack of ambition

plonkee — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:05:56 -0000

I'll preface this by saying that until I met up with some pfbloggers in DC a few months ago, I'd never heard of Napoleon Hill and I still know nothing about this book.

I disagree. I'm not sure that there's anything I'm in to win. I'm certainly passionate about my blogs, and my work, and many other things.

I act on that passion, but at the end of the day I don't need to have the biggest blog in the world (for example) to make me happy. In fact, trying to win in that way is likely to make me unhappier in the long run.

Maybe I'm missing something?

Re: poor kid blues

plonkee — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:59:03 -0000

This is true. But when I'm old and I've made it, I reserve the right to say that it's not the same as in my day to all the young people about. I'm claiming it as a privilege of being over say, 80.

Re: poor kid blues

plonkee — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:21:00 -0000

@brip blap

Don't forget that every time you tell the story the distance to school gets longer, the weather gets worse and the quantity of food decreases.

Re: does fidelity matter?

plonkee — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:21:48 -0000

Although I agree that business fidelity matters, in practice, I think there's very little correlation between marital and business fidelity. I don't care what someone gets up to in their private lives - I prefer to judge them on their (often limited) ability to do the job.

Re: 15 ways to make your 9-to-5 a 10

plonkee — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:22:46 -0000

It's funny, I'm not a morning person at all. And, it doesn't matter what time I get in, it never feels like time to go home until at least 5:30 - I try and get in for 9 so that I'm not spending my entire life at work. I'm just not into having my early evenings at home, it's my most productive time, and I've got nothing important to do.

Re: my contribution to Luxembourg’s GDP

plonkee — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:32:01 -0000

Much of the debt in the UK is property related, but if you've ever hovered over a personal finance blog text link it's nearly always to a British site. There's a reason for that, I'm sure.

Re: Can I tolerate my son’s religious education?

plonkee — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:31:04 -0000

At the pre-school age, it's not that important in the great scheme of things. He's going to find out who baby Jesus is eventually anyway. It also seems to have prompted you to consider what you do want, so that's good.

As he gets older, I'd say that it depends entirely on whether everyone else in school is Catholic. If they are, then it will be hardcore indoctrination (which many/most people later leave behind anyway). If not, it'll be fine. Religious studies is after all an academic discipline.

Re: are American kids stupid about personal finance?

plonkee — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:59:57 -0000

I think it's encouraging. People aren't going to do it if they don't know that they should.

Optimism, folks, optimism.

Re: the charity customer

plonkee — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:07:05 -0000

Any charity whose workers approach me whilst I'm in the pub is on the blacklist. It's not so much that I'm drinking and socialising and don't want to be interrupted (although that is true). It's that the people involved strongly give the impression that they don't care about the charity and wouldn't know anything if you asked them anyway. They feel like scams.

I think that the whole *sponsor a child* thing is a bit of a waste of money. All those photos and letters and so on cost money. That money essentially comes from your donation - it's like buying pretend friendship, why not just get a penpal (write to a soldier or a prisoner or whatever) and donate to a charity.

Re: best financial move in college, part 2

plonkee — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:44:01 -0000

My experiences with learning Dutch (I always seem to pick something weird) at night school reminded me how hard it is to learn any skill if you don't have the opportunity to practice. Fortunately, a few years later, I can still order beer, and food and so on which is the important bit, and actually impresses Dutch people quite a lot.

Re: best financial move in college, part 1

plonkee — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:20:54 -0000

I reckon this anecdotally proves that it's true what they say about people that reject Harvard - they'll do at least as well as those who actually attend.

Me, I couldn't have stayed at home for Uni, and moving 100 or so miles away (hey, that's a long way in England) is one of the best things that I did. Not as cheap as staying at home though.

Re: 10 things to tell a graduating high school senior

plonkee — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:09:33 -0000

Another maths graduate. Brilliant. :)

As for picking a subject, do whatever you like, but then spend some time figuring out how to make it work, whether that's classes in other subjects, transferable skills from employment, or volunteering.

Living life to the fullest is the most important thing. That, and be yourself.

Re: linklings, no links edition

plonkee — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:11:54 -0000

Congratulations, and good luck with your new daughter.

Re: 10 career quotes, my take, and TGIF

plonkee — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:55:18 -0000

I pretty much agree with everything, apart from the America thing of course ;) .

I'm so glad that the geometry of groups defeated me before I started on my plan to do a PhD at Northwestern. It would have been that much harder to admit that a research/college career wasn't for me when I was several thousands of miles from home, and without marmite.

Re: sharpen your soft skills

plonkee — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:55:36 -0000

Skills like these are much better rewarded in your current job than in trying to get a new one. One thing I've noticed is that I've become somewhat known for my good editing/proofreading skills (which have improved a lot since I started blogging). This means that I get asked to proofread a lot of bids and things, which is great because I get a heads up on a lot of the strategy/business stuff that I wouldn't normally get as a pleb. You never know where your soft skills might take you.

Re: short term, long term

plonkee — Thu, 29 May 2008 07:35:46 -0000

Don't regret anything. If you're going to have a day having fun, then just do it and don't look back. If you want to evaluate whether you're doing the right things or not, then you need to look at the big picture, not the noise of one day, or one week. It's about how you spend your time overall, rather than how you spent it just the other day.

Re: associating with the ‘appear-to-be-rich’ folks

plonkee — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:49:55 -0000

I have a good friend who's always going on holiday with his partner. We're talking nice hotels probably six or seven times a year at least (in Europe, but they live in the UK too). Although I know that they do it in ways I couldn't or wouldn't - credit cards, friends who work for British Airways, or can get them cheap hotels - I still find it inspiring that they take the time and effort to do things that really make them happy. It encourages me to do the same, even if it is a more sensible frugal way.

Re: death by a thousand cuts

plonkee — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:17:30 -0000

I can't speak to the show, but on the 1000 cuts, I think that one of the best ideas is never to become your job. And since that guy isn't going to leave, and isn't going to do much for the company either, they're just shooting themselves in the foot. Markets aren't always efficient when the companies are so big.

Re: how to be a location independent family, part 1

plonkee — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:57:33 -0000

I also want to go to places that I haven't been to before. It feels like every time I here of a place, I want to go there. But I don't know that being location independent would suit me full time. I like to have a home as well.

Re: how to be a location independent family, part 2

plonkee — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:42:11 -0000

I'm another person who's in favour of abstract science and mathematics, but I think that what's going to be put forward is the idea of learning about science and maths in a predominantly practical way - by observation and experimentation. Whilst rote learning of your times tables has its place, I'm not sure it's the best way of inspiring a love of maths.

Regarding the actual point about raising a family in a location independent way, I actually think that one of the issues is whether you, the parents, care that your children won't have a home location. I don't think it matters that much to the kids, but how upset will you be if they don't exactly feel like they're from America/New York/anywhere.

Re: more or less a one year anniversary

plonkee — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:48:52 -0000

Excellent, congratulations and here's to many more years blogging. I lookd forward to opening my reader each morning and finding that there's a brip blap post and I'm usually rewarded with a corker. Cheers.

Re: i think she knows

plonkee — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:09:02 -0000

Meh, I agree that it's not a good sign, but on the other hand I bet a whole bunch of people figured that they're not going to let a major financial institution go under already. When the British government bailed out Northern Rock several months ago, it seemed kinda obvious to me, so it's no suprise when it happens elsewhere.

The best idea is still to invest sensibly - even if it's not as great as it used to be, it still probably beats the alternatives.

Re: work-life balance is a false choice

plonkee — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:03:45 -0000

Hmm. I more or less agree, I think that you want to get to a position where what you do all day is more or less what you enjoy. Seriously, there's almost no chance that I'm going to be able to stop selling my time for another 20, 30 or 40 years. It just isn't going to happen. I may as well stop trying to balance work and life, and start treating work as part of my life and do something that I enjoy, with interesting people.

Re: less than three weeks to live

plonkee — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:14:45 -0000

Hmm. I'd get all my papers in order, and probably go home and spend the weekend with family (siblings, parents), and try and catch up with friends as much as possible. But really, 3 weeks isn't long enough for me to do anything. I think I'd need to cut back severely on sleep in order to allow me to experience as much as possible. And take a lot of half days from work.

Re: how to lose customers

plonkee — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:17:39 -0000

I was reading somewhere about how outsourcing and globalisation is key to cutting costs, but that savvy companies are realising that they shouldn't be outsourcing customer support, but backend functions. Save money and don't annoy customers at one fell swoop.

Re: 5 signs your job sucks

plonkee — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:08:30 -0000

Usually I ask myself whether this is a temporary blip in the job, or an actual dislike of everything involved. Then, there's splitting out whether it's this company that you don't like, or this job role, or this career. The first two being more easily cured than the last.

Finally, there are the practical considerations. I went through an awful time at work a couple of years ago and ended up sticking it out. Partly this was because I thought the situation might be temporary (it was) but also I was due a large bonus (think more than half my annual salary) if I stayed another 6 months.

In addition, the other career that I was considering was being a librarian. That would involve moving to another city (and then moving, and moving again), taking on a lot of debt to do a degree, and having a lower paid, and not necessarily more enjoyable job. That's a big change to make on a whim.

Re: conflict and personal finance

plonkee — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:58:32 -0000

I too am trying to keep away from the news. Not because I don't care, but because it's just too much and there's nothing I can do about it.

I know as much as I'm ever going to about what wars are like without living in a conflict zone - people die, and nobody is really right, and the causes of the conflict date are old (tens/twenties/hundreds of years old) it's just all the same.

It reinforces my understanding that no one can rely on the Americans, and that I'm really, really lucky to be more worried about whether my investments are doing well than whether my home is likely to be hit by airstrikes.

Re: conflict and personal finance

plonkee — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:28:37 -0000

@deepali:
It's not so much that I disagree with you, just that I don't need to watch the news to do those things. Well, if I'm voting maybe, but it will be one of many issues that I'm considering when I choose from a >2 but still limited number of candidates.

I do wonder sometimes whether I'm washing my hands of things too much. But I still don't keep up with the news.

Re: conflict and personal finance

plonkee — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:55:11 -0000

@Bubelah:
Excellent point. Every nation only does what it thinks it can get away with, but for countries that think they are superpowers (like the USA, Russia, China etc), that's a lot of stuff. Not everything, but a lot.

Anyway, I'm much more interested in what's going on in South Ossetia and about breakaway states in general but I think that's just because I like unusual places.

Re: corporatism

plonkee — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:18:56 -0000

I don't know the answers to any of these questions, and I suspect that I'm remarkably ill informed. But, I wonder whether this is along the lines of people questioning whether it's possible to have a functioning economy without a large manufacturing sector?

Because I've always wondered what people thought about industrialisation 150+ years ago. Then we went from having a huge agricultural sector to having a huge manufacturing sector and have never gone back. In fact no one has that I know of. Large manufacturing sectors turned out to be as sustainable as large agricultural sectors.

Re: how your education and lifestyle keep you from changing

plonkee — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:27:14 -0000

I'm at work myself at the minute so can't watch the video - I'll have a peek later.

The whole *you can do anything* self-help stuff is rubbish because (1) there are some things that you are not capable of doing, I don't care how much you want it and (2) most of the rest you just aren't going to do.

I mean, I enjoy travelling. I would love to spend a year going round the world overland. I'm quite capable of doing it as well. But I'm almost certainly not going to, because I have other things that I want to do as well. Instead I'll probably work a regular job and take exotic vacations every year. It's not perfect, but it's close enough. Where's the self-help book that is that realistic?

Re: searching for water on mars

plonkee — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:02:01 -0000

You can look at other people's children and deeply say that the experience is not for you. I have no doubt that they change your life deeply, it's just not a change that I'm interested in.

Broadening is good. Of course you don't need to leave home to do it, but you really should. Everyone, but everyone should go abroad, everyone should experience being in a visible minority, everyone should end up discussing the foreign policy of their own country with a much better informed person from elsewhere. Experience is everything.

And, if you can't get excited about new things, what's the point?

Re: college student finance tips

plonkee — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:22:14 -0000

I guess there's the somewhat obvious comment that private college need not be more expensive than public college if you have scholarships. (And even then, the cost of attending UC Berkeley is $27k per year, in-state).

I agree with guinness416. I would make the same choices again without a problem, but at 18, I didn't really understand the ways in which they would at once constrain me and also liberate me.

Finally, I'm always surprised that gap years aren't as common in the States as they are in the UK. It always seems like the perfect opportunity to *find yourself* without spending lots of money.

Re: college student finance tips

plonkee — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:18:20 -0000

I think that there are other, better, ways of getting the right contacts, but most people aren't that bright.

I don't know what it's like in the US, but over here most art that you see for sale in galleries is by people who came to art as a career later in life. They may or may not have been to art college, but they had another career first.

Re: when does intellectual curiousity stop?

plonkee — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:52:26 -0000

I generally think that I don't read that many books. But I do love to read, I can't imagine life without books.

I don't get how reading a book is immature, although I do think that reading a newspaper is also fun, and of course blogs are great. Don't these people crave a longer, more detailed piece of writing to get their teeth into?

I also can't imagine not being curious about the world. Guess I'm a born/made reader and that's not likely to change.

Re: 5 ways to take time off work

plonkee — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:58:13 -0000

I take time off all the time. This year instead of selling some of my slowly accumulated extra leave days I decided to take them, and have 1 day a month dedicated to just catching up on home stuff and blogging.

It's worked really well so far, but then I have 5 weeks standard vacation entitlement. European life is great.

Re: holding hands, and stupidity

plonkee — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:58:51 -0000

I also fail to see how gay marriage damages anybody, but what would I know, I live in a country where it is effectively legalised and the sky hasn't fallen in.

I think the key thing to learn is that hatred is never a positive quality. At best it might be understandable, but rarely.

Re: holding hands, and stupidity

plonkee — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:09:47 -0000

@guinness416:
Oh, no I'm not a big fan either and happy to admit that when they're people in the public eye the hate comes easy. I just don't think that hating them makes me a better person.

Re: the common thread in your bad jobs is YOU

plonkee — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:50:45 -0000

Yes, I think this is true.

It's actually not really a work related thing, but I've noticed that everything I do is rubbish. I don't seem to be able to exploit the same opportunities that everyone else can. I don't win. I have friends, but I'm not as popular as other people. People don't listen when I talk.

I have known for a while that the common thread is me, I just don't know how to fix it.

Re: a day away from the edge

plonkee — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:20:27 -0000

As I was waiting for my door to be repaired yesterday, I was watching the breakfast news. I felt sorry for the people at Canary Wharf who turned up to find that they had no jobs, but they were still in shock so weren't depressed yet. Worse were the images from Wall Street with the quite young kids taking out their things in cardboard boxes - so forlorn.

Re: building wealth in an age of thieves

plonkee — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:17:04 -0000

You can't have it both ways. Index funds are invested in shares. It's either a good idea to do that, or it's not.

The problem with both real estate and a business is that they have a lot of risk attached - on a small scale, they aren't normally diversified.

In the long run, everything will be fine. I mean at least the US economy is relatively diverse, the British economy is strongly weighted towards financial services so we're scuppered.

Re: building wealth in an age of thieves

plonkee — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:07:23 -0000

If you're close to retirement, and have all your money invested shouldn't you have moved much of it over to safer investments by now?

Part of the thing here is that I'm so far away from retirement now, that other than the basics (move to safer investments) I'm not sure that I've actually got a feel for how you manage your move into retirement. Hopefully that'll be something for the personal finance community of the future to talk about.

Re: timing the bottom

plonkee — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:01:10 -0000

Does this mean that I should give up my blog, since it's so unlikely to take me to world domination ;) ?

As usual, you're spot on. Although some times are better than others, procrastination is often a bigger problem in practice than poor timing. Pity I'm a natural procrastinator.

Re: hazard pay

plonkee — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:06:06 -0000

I'm thinking that people that want to do this, aren't particularly thinking of the money. I mean, people in my company get seconded to Dubai, and although it does pay better than the UK, really they're partly doing it for the lifestyle. The riskier the place, the greater the adrenaline junkie required.

Re: frugality versus self-sufficiency

plonkee — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:08:41 -0000

Aah, the pitfall of stupid expenses. If only I realised that they were stupid at the time, it'd work out better.

I'm still plugging away on the stockmarket, paying down the mortgage and keeping a healthy emergency fund. What else can you do?

Re: have MBAs been devalued by the crisis?

plonkee — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:11:48 -0000

Hmm. I don't know, normally applications to graduate schools surge during a recession as people without jobs find something else to do with their time.

Who's to say that in 2-3 years time, we won't be out of this mess anyway.

Re: ostrichism

plonkee — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:31:25 -0000

I'm thinking that pretty much the worse that is likely to happen is that money invested in 2006 (say) won't see a +ve return for 20 years. Money invested earlier and later will probably not do too badly. I've got 40 years until retirement, and my parents have final salary pensions anyway, so I'm not too worried about that.

Rampant inflation or deflation would be more of a concern, but people got through the 1970s, right?

Re: losing it

plonkee — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:43:04 -0000

Steve, you'd make an awesome life coach. It's definitely something you should put into the nearer rather than later future.

Personally I find that tiredness is a barrier to doing anything and once it starts, things slide so much that the effort required to begin again can be overwhelming. I keep telling myself that I don't have to everything all at once and when I can't be bothered I try just to do the things that will make me really happy (rather than pretend, eating ice cream happy).

Re: the math hurts

plonkee — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:57:39 -0000

I feel confident that there will be one or two more bubbles and crashes before my retirement at the very least. I'm just not planning on overexposing myself to any of them.

If this crisis is anything like the depression it'll take about 18-20 years for your stocks to recover. On the bright side things that you buy during that time will be cheap and rise in value.

Of course it could all end up like Japan and just stay flat for years and years. Not every stock market in the world averages a positive return over the medium to long term.

Re: a zero-sum worldview

plonkee — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:52:25 -0000

Most things are not zero-sum games, even in game theory. That's what makes life and maths interesting.

Even if you consider buying a house, it's possible to increase its value relative to the rest of the market if you improve it - people will pay more than it costs to avoid the hassle.

Re: Can You Eliminate $500 of Your Expenses Each Month?

plonkee — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:19:59 -0000

Food. I think I could save money on food, but I too have accepted failure at bringing my own lunch and I'm actually just too lazy (although I like to call it tired) to cook for one person.

I could also cut back on the amount of money I spend socialising, but I'm not going to. I stay in often enough as it is, and catching up with friends over a few drinks is just one of the things that I want to do with my money.

Re: The Envelope at Work: Do You Give (In)?

plonkee — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:40:33 -0000

We have these at work all the time. And we tick our names off so that you don't get it passed to you twice.

I always sign the card. If it's someone leaving, getting married or having a baby and I know them, then a put a couple of £ in (say the equivalent of $5 or less). Why not? If I haven't got any change on me, then I don't bother.

Someone would have to be pretty sick before I'd contribute money for that.

Re: What is the Value of a Human Life?

plonkee — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:40:46 -0000

I think it's a reasonable methodology for determining the value of life in $. Since it has to be done anyway (maths with infinities in gets too complicated) why not?

Of course in a joined up government, you'd expect different departments and agencies to be working from the same number, but who lives in a country with a joined up government?

Re: Question of the Day: How Much Vacation Time Do You Use?

plonkee — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:31:09 -0000

I'm in the UK and get 25 days as standard - I can sell up to 5 days and buy 15. We have to use all bar 5 of them each year. Last year I had 25 days and used 20. This year I have 30 days and plan to use 27 or 28.

Re: Would You Tell Your Boyfriend You’re Rich?

plonkee — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:14:15 -0000

So, definitely before you move in with someone. They should also probably have a reasonable idea once you've decided it's really quite serious. That doesn't need to mean specifics, more like the level of precariousness of your finances, and any major plans you have.

Someone can't use your money if you don't let them.

Re: Your Job as Your Identity? Not For Me, Thanks

plonkee — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:17:53 -0000

I guess I don't define myself by what I do. I have a job that I really enjoy and I couldn't do it as a hobby. On the other hand, I get to write on my blogs and elsewhere, I play music, I don't really think of any of these things as my labels though. I am, me.

Re: Most Wealthy Individuals Earned, Not Inherited, Their Wealth

plonkee — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:22:56 -0000

Well, surely there's not a great deal you can do about whether you inherit wealth or not. The only thing you can really control is whether you make money or not (and even then, there's still luck).

Re: Study: Payday Loans Cause More Bankruptcies

plonkee — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:46:02 -0000

My best guess at a plausible explanation is that people who can get payday loans out are more likely to have recently had sufficient credit to take out other loans. Chronic debt coupled with one emergency is often enough to push people into bankruptcy.

If you don't have the debt (or the ability to acquire any), you may still be in serious trouble if an emergency occurs, but bankruptcy is unlikely to provide any relief.

Re: Jung Typology and Finance: Introversion vs. Extraversion

plonkee — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:24:24 -0000

Actually I don't think that introvert/extravert makes that much difference to someone's success in managing money. I can see how it might change the method, but I think the other continuums would have more effect.

Re: Overspending for the Kids

plonkee — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:40:35 -0000

I think I must have had a very hard upbringing. I can just imagine what my mother would have said to the idea of me having any of those items.

Seriously, it's bad for kids to get what they want all the time, just as much as it's bad for them to not get what they need all the time.

Re: Holiday Gift Guide, Part 4: Frugal Homemade Gifts

plonkee — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:01:12 -0000

Home made objects are great gifts if the recipient will like the item in question. Otherwise it's not really thoughtful at all, it's just having a hobby.

I've been the recipient of a few too many home made gifts that I really didn't want. I do feel bad that someone put in effort into something that just isn't right for me.

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

plonkee — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:23:49 -0000

I think that asking for help can be good. I'm not the maths phobe amongst my friends and family, and I'm always willing to explain things to people where I can.

Re: Retirement Income Rule of Thumb Debunked

plonkee — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:01:47 -0000

I think the typical rule of thumb is that you want a lump sum that's at least 25 times the size of your annual expenses (so that you can account for inflation).

So that would mean that you'd need about $1.75 million for retirement.

It might be as well to cut down on expenses.

Re: Weekly Blog Roundup II, $1 Headphones Edition

plonkee — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:49:01 -0000

Thanks for mentioning my post. I agree that financial return isn't the be all and end all - but some sort of 'happiness return' probably is.

Re: Investigation: Russ Whitney Should Resign as CEO and Chairman

plonkee — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:47:52 -0000

I'm also wondering how I can get into that racket whilst still maintaining a semblance of ethics. Are we really sure it's not possible?

Re: Gay Men Earn 23% Less Pay Than Married Men

plonkee — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:15:47 -0000

I wonder if there are significant differences in the types of jobs that gay men are taking up. I know that this is has an impact on why women are paid less.

More research clearly needs to be done. We should have got past discrimination on anything other than ability to do the job now.

Re: A Sexier Retirement: 10 Exotic, Affordable Retiree Havens

plonkee — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:51:32 -0000

Of course you need to speak Spanish to live in most of South America. That's kind of the fun of living abroad.

Beware that if you retire to Malta, you will be sharing the island with a whole load of British retirees. Especially now that it's part of the EU, it's possible the best of all worlds for the elderly Brit abroad.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

plonkee — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 06:46:37 -0000

If only I'd been more interested in high finance (and decided to do a phd). Ah well, in my next life I might try this.

Re: Debunking 13 Retirement Myths, Part 1

plonkee — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:12:53 -0000

I think that as far as Social Security type programmes are concerned, all we need to do is blackmail younger generation into paying in when its our turn to get money out.

Re: I Won’t Sell Email Addresses

plonkee — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:34:08 -0000

If you were in the UK, this would probably be illegal. As businesses aren't allowed to pass on email addresses and so on without permission from the individuals.

Re: Where’s the Line Between Taking and Taking Advantage?

plonkee — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:24:55 -0000

Fraud, I don't agree with. Claiming benefits that you are entitled to is fine. Although I don't want people to cheat the system and I think that it should be written as fairly as possible, its more important that people get the help they need.

I mostly equate it with tax. I don't think its ok if you lie on your tax return, but I don't expect you to pay more that you owe either.

Re: How Many Earths Would it Take to Sustain You?

plonkee — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:08:38 -0000

I'm also on 3.5 caused by food. I was hoping that my lack of a car would help me a bit more than it does, but I don't think my non-recycling is that great either.

Re: The Fall of the American Empire

plonkee — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:21:00 -0000

The American empire is nothing like the Roman empire. Mostly because there is more elsewhere.

Re: Ben Stein’s Tips for New College Students

plonkee — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:23:13 -0000

I say no to having a significant other. If you happen to meet one, then that's fine, but I wouldn't go round looking too much for a semi-serious one in college when you could be more carefree and single.

Re: Should You Accept a Counteroffer?

plonkee — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:16:53 -0000

If you are considering moving jobs anyway then I agree that its probably not a good idea to take the counteroffer. Money is never the only thing that makes you move.

If truly the only reason you want to move is for more money, and they don't offer you any more until you want to hand in your resignation, then do they really value you anyway?

Re: Taking a Gap Year Before College: Good Idea?

plonkee — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 07:15:36 -0000

Being in the UK, when I went to University there were lots of people who had taken gap years. They seemed much more grown up than those of us who had come straight from school.

All of them had done something in their year that could be turned into a credible addition to a cv - for most it was simply travelling to India, SE Asia and/or Australia.

I don't know of anyone amongst my peers who took a gap year and never went to University. I do know people who took gap years after University and never got a 'proper' job - but they do have lifestyles that make them happy.

I don't think the expense of taking a gap year is comparable to the expense of having children, or choosing a non-lucrative major. And like both those lifestyle choices, it can be good value for money, depending on the individual concerned.

Re: Go to College Without Going Into Debt: Impossible?

plonkee — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:35:18 -0000

Speaking as a Brit, I can tell you that we don't really have many scholarships, grants or work-study programs. And all courses at all Universities pretty much cost the same (max allowed by government) - the only variable is the city in which you study. This is because until 10 years ago, University was free and everyone was entitled to means-tested grants.

I realise that things are different on the other side of the pond, but since your sources were British, I thought I'd chip in.

Re: What Are You Talking About, Willis? High-Interest Loans.

plonkee — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:05:02 -0000

I've had junk mail advertising loans with 147% APR. In my case, I think they actually are loan sharks with a letterhead.

Re: Battle of the Riches: Good vs. Evil. Which Side is Money On?

plonkee — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:58:47 -0000

Money is simply a way of comparing apples and oranges.

Having said that there is something in the 'rich people are evil'. To get very rich or get rich quickly you generally do have to relax your ethical standards. I can see how that mindset doesn't help people, you can be monetarily comfortable with high ethical standards more easily that without them.

Re: Fear of Throwing Money Away Keeping You From Quitting?

plonkee — Thu, 31 May 2007 13:37:41 -0000

I have in fact not left a company because within a year was I would receive a large sum of money (approx equivalent to 6 months salary). And I hated the work at the time.

Since then I haven't left as the work has improved and the people are as great as they always have been. Should it turn sour again I might hesitate to stay though.

Re: Comparing a Lump Sum With an Annuity

plonkee — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:11:45 -0000

Interestingly in the UK, at the age of 75 it practically compulsory to purchase an annuity with your retirement pot(s). It sounds like the same kind of annuity as well.

Re: Bank of America Will Offer No-Fee Mortgages

plonkee — Wed, 09 May 2007 04:27:53 -0000

Whether or not this is a good deal presumably depends on how much you are planning to borrow. For example when I was shopping for my mortgage, I looked at the combination of fees and interest over the time period I'm likely to keep the house and/or mortgage and picked the lowest, which turned out to be neither the lowest fees nor the lowest interest rate.

Re: Governor Jon Corzine Voluntarily Pays Ticket

plonkee — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:38:28 -0000

Always. I've seen the crash test dummies.

Re: Should High Schools Require Money Management Classes?

plonkee — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 07:10:16 -0000

Why would high school be the best option? Thats for 14 to 18 year olds right?

I was thinking that maybe having it earlier in school life (in a kind of little and often way) might be better. Anything related to money management that we did at school came in a subject called "Personal, Social and Health Education" where we also did some stuff on nutrition, relationships, bullying, first aid, etc. This class was about an hour a week for 3 years (it did cover a massive bunch of stuff).

Re: the riddle of steel

plonkee — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:54:25 -0000

The thing about a savings account having been better in the last 5-10 years than the stockmarket is only important if you're cashing out now. Otherwise the question is do you think it will be worth more or less in the future than it was when you bought it? Or what it's worth now? If less, cut your losses, if more, ride it out.

Re: I know I shouldn’t be happy to get laid off, but…

plonkee — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:11:05 -0000

What are you going to do about finding work that you enjoy?

I don't know whether you want to do pro-blogging really, or you want to be a life coach, or you want to have a patchwork career, or take longer breaks between clients, but it doesn't sound like you're all that happy with the current set-up.

I want you to be happy with your job, because I'm happy with mine and it makes such a difference to the rest of my life. Given what you write, I'm sure you can make something work so you're not in this position again.

Re: what has changed in personal finance?

plonkee — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:10:30 -0000

I think the second point is the most important. If you're blaming high taxes for your own failure, you were doing it wrong in the first place.

Besides which if you really hate it, vote with your feet and move countries.

Re: what desperation looks like

plonkee — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:26:35 -0000

I think I agree with your general point, Ine of the problems that most people have in developing new income streams is that if you have a full-time job, there are only so many hours in the day. And, not many income streams are truly passive - I wouldn't like to do my day job, and blog, and have rental properties for example. I'd struggle to leverage even a second paying website out of my current free time.

Re: why you’ll be richer without kids

plonkee — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:46:28 -0000

Yay for not having children.

I'm thinking that the most important expense is the opportunity cost - mostly because it's insidious.

I quite like your ideas for compensating. I reckon resisting consumerism is the hardest and most important as it's continuous. If you don't resist it'll work out very expensive.

Having an adult kid at home shouldn't cost the parents any money - they should be charging rent to cover at least food and extra bills. But, my siblings (some of whom live at home) reckon I'm hard-hearted.

Education is a difficult thing. I personally wouldn't phrase it that you won't pay for private education. Presumably, it doesn't matter which accredited school that they go to, you'll only pay for whatever Rutgers costs. Otherwise, some public schools (UCalifornia / UMichigan) are more expensive than many private schools if you're from out of state. Insisting a kid goes to public school when a private school is as affordable (say, via scholarships) is just reverse snobbery.

Re: rebuilding the idea of elitism in America

plonkee — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:19:54 -0000

Hmm. I'm not sure what I think. I'm quite a proud liberal in many senses of the word, and you're sort of implying that you'd never be so low as to stoop to being politically liberal. Hopefully that's not what you meant, you were simply trying to state your actual position accurately.

I've often thought that voting tests would be good, possibly including questions on which newspapers you read and believe. But, as the US experience in the southern states shows it's too easy to rig such tests to disenfranchise some group or other unfairly. In Britain, it used to be the case that you had to own property to vote - I believe, though, that's one of the things that the American founding fathers didn't like.

A meritocracy would be really nice, but that's because I am intelligent and well-edicated. One of the problems we have over here (which may or may not be true in the US) is that middle class, elite parents would hate to admit that their child was actually not all that bright - if people come up though, it stands to reason that some must go down as well.

Re: rebuilding the idea of elitism in America

plonkee — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:30:10 -0000

@bripblap:
That's ok, I'm forever qualifying words I use about myself. I normally end up saying that I'm liberal by every definition - because it's kind of true, not better.

I think it's funny that I claim to be well educated, and yet failed to spell it correctly earler :)

Re: are you fit to be a citizen?

plonkee — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:02:25 -0000

I might not be a US citizen or have any desire whatsoever to become one in the near future, but I thought that 4th July didn't celebrate the defeat of Britain, but the delcaration of independence in 1776 - Britain wasn't defeated until the early 1780s.

We just started having citizenship tests in the UK. The questions are similar, but obviously different. I know quite a lot of trivia so I did quite well at a practice test.

Re: what if saving was stupid

plonkee — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:48:20 -0000

As things stand, it's going to take me between 20 and 30 years to pay off my mortgage. I can't overpay enough to cut down the mortgage term by more than a couple of years. I'm effectively prepared to bet that over the next 20+ years the stockmarket will perform better than 5.5% per year on average. There's no risk that I will lose more than I put in, and I am on track to pay off the mortgage on schedule anyway.

The advantage of this approach is that money invested in the stock market is accessible if required (although I would be loathe to take it). Money that I overpay on the mortgage is gone forever.

Of course it's possible that the money and investments I have could become worthless overnight but it's not likely (I am diversified internationally) and in practice the best mitigation against this is investing in myself which I would do anyway.

I just don't see the current economic situation being a good reason to change my long-term strategy. It might well be different if I was older and closer to retirement.

Re: wait until tomorrow to change

plonkee — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:13:52 -0000

This post spoke to me because I am still passionate about my day job, but I often think that I should have gone in to finance (one of my teen heros was Nicola Horlick). My job has comfortable pay, but I'll probably never earn 6 figures (in 2008 $). Maybe more money would make me happy.

I don't feel like a lemming just because I'd rather not work for myself though, just aware of my own limitations and security levels. Besides I couldn't do my job without working in a larger organisation.

Re: paying for a missing item

plonkee — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:00:20 -0000

I suspect that I would do the same as you. Not question the bill, and then berate myself later. I agree with Deepali - we're wrong to do this. If it feels unethical to me, then it basically is unethical to me, and so I shouldn't do it.

Re: free time does not translate to massive productivity

plonkee — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:33:39 -0000

This, I think is true. And sort of ok, except you probably still need to do certain things whether you *really* want to do them or not.

Also it looks like more free time is like earning more money. Earning more is not by itself a solution to overspending, and free time is not, by itself, a solution to getting things done.

Re: looking through new eyes

plonkee — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:05:22 -0000

I'm notoriously bad at being able to change my beliefs. I don't really seek to challenge them because it gets annoying. However, one of my strongest beliefs is that being open-minded is important, so everytime I think someone is an idiot because they disagree with me, I try to remember that it's more important (to me) that I give them a reasonable chance.

I engage others to challenge my beliefs sometimes, but since everyone else is defending their own views, sometimes it can feel very isolating (it's hard to feel worthwhile whilst you're an atheist trying to be open-minded with a religious minister).

Re: lending club, my best investment of 2008

plonkee — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:40:29 -0000

I agree that diversification is key. I think I'm likely to be looking at having the same income as last year but greater expenses (and that's at best). But I feel better knowing that even if I lost one source of income, I'd still have another - I should probably work on further ideas though.

As for whether you'll continue to get amazing rates from P2P - I'd say not. I suspect that there will be as many defaults on P2P as there are on regular loans, maybe more, but you should be able to afford to have some defaulters and diversify within P2P as well as outside of it.

Re: trickle down

plonkee — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:23:30 -0000

Yes, it will probably affect those at the bottom of the chain more than those at the top, such is the way of life.

Over here, I'm concerned that the problems with housing and repossessions will mean that more people become homeless - as those at the bottom end up shuffled off the housing ladder as we all move down. We already have a big enough problem with housing as it is.

Re: i saw what you spent last summer

plonkee — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:56:42 -0000

Although I'm not really a frugal person either, I have made life choices that save money (live in a cheap area, no car, don't spend on clothes / gadgets). However, I'm just not at the stage where I can afford not to panic if I start losing income.

Perhaps it's mostly my personality, but whilst I've already figured that I could probably stretch to several months without any income at all, there will still come a point where I'll be unstuck. That's a fairly unlikely scenario, but when money equates to security, it's a big problem in my own mind. I feel that I haven't yet had the time to get to be rich (or close), and I'm worried that it's all going to collapse about me anyway.

Generalised Anxiety. We do not love it.

Re: the appearance of competence

plonkee — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:55:00 -0000

I generally know nothing about how to predict the future of the economy. On the other hand, I do know that during the industrial revolution, particularly in Britain, people said that an economy couldn't survive without being based on agriculture.

Re: alea jacta est

plonkee — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:00:39 -0000

Holy guacamole, you don't do things by halves.

Sounds like it's going to be fun. New situations call for new decisions so you'll have plenty to write about.

Re: the pursuit of wealth for the sake of others

plonkee — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:17:32 -0000

Just the other day, I was thinking about what I'd do if I won the Euromillions lottery (which I don't play but has huge prizes). Sure, I'd keep £1.5m for myself so I'd never need to work again, but I'd love to be able to give huge sums away and I was daydreaming about contributing £500k to Oxfam (third world development charity) to be earmarked for adminstrative costs. I know people don't like too much overhead, but I figure that you can't do everything with volunteers.

I take this daydreaming as a reminder that I should be giving to charity all the time and have upped my charitable donations. I don't do enough, but at least it's heading in the right direction.

Re: intelligence and wealth

plonkee — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:10:34 -0000

I think it's as simple as not all intelligent people have what it takes to be wealthy. But there probably is some correlation between intelligence and wealth even if it's not strong.

Being intelligent is neither necessary nor sufficient for wealth, but it can help if you want it to.

Re: something has changed

plonkee — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:14:26 -0000

In the UK, there's the same sort of phenomen with London as you're noticing with New York. Thing is, as far as I know over here it's a perpetual and ongoing problem. London and the South East are like massive attractors - as more and more people become attracted to the lifestyle and the jobs they both push costs up and make it more desirable which attracts more people etc. There are other cities in the UK, but they don't have the same pulling power.

As for New York, wasn't there a big house price crash in the early 90s? And before then, people were leaving the city in the 60s-80s. In some ways, the current situation makes me think about life before affordable transportation. You had to live close to where you worked, which put the cost of housing up, and everything else (since all the people running business had to live nearby too increasing their costs). When things like the subway, and buses were invented in the late 19th century it made a massive change to most people's cost of living. I'm not sure what's going to help now though.

Re: the loss of a job and the reconstruction of identity

plonkee — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:55:00 -0000

It's not surprising that what you do for money forms a large part of your identity - most people spend getting on for a quarter of their time working, and it earns your a certain status. I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that, and if you can be an auditor who writes in his spare time, then you can certainly be a writer who audits in his spare time if you want to be. I hear writing gives quite a lot of spare time.

Re: preparing for snap decisions

plonkee — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:06:27 -0000

I'm rubbish at quick decisions like that. I once had a job interview that clashed with a client meeting at my existing job. It took 22 hours of thinking before I decided to call the interview people up and ask if I could reschedule it. As soon as I made the decision it felt obviously right, but it just isn't something I could be sure of being right instantly.

Most of my decisions are made in a split second, but after quite a lot of seemingly unproductive mulling. Not sure what that's about :) .

Re: everything will be fine

plonkee — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:29:00 -0000

I strongly disagree. Everything will turn out ok in the end. If it's not ok, it's not the end. Now, that doesn't mean everything will be exactly the same as it was before, but it will be bigger and better and brighter. Eventually.

If you (or anyone else) thinks that's not the case, then we should be doing something about it. No one gets to write the future but us.

Wow, I'm optimistic today ;)

Re: five crises, part 2

plonkee — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:36:37 -0000

I made a similar choice to you, although I realised prior to starting a PhD (but after getting a masters) that pure maths research was not for me. One of the reasons that I feel like I failed is that I know that I am clever enough to get a PhD, just not good enough / interested enough in maths.

I went on to pick a career that I enjoy, which I have been contemplating giving up to be a full-time writer (employed). We'll see.

Re: giving up on your career

plonkee — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:14:57 -0000

Using the amount of time and so on invested in a career as a reason to stick with it sounds like sunk cost fallacy to me. There are of course issues about the cost of retraining and the loss of salary that might happen, but the fact that you have been doing something for ages is kind of irrelevant to the question of whether you want to continue doing it in the future.

Re: health and taxes

plonkee — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:55:03 -0000

Your tax burden is about the same as it would be over here in the UK - that is netting between 50% and 60% of gross pay. At lower incomes (below £40k ~ $60k?) it would be more like 60% to 70%. And the equivalent of moving to Florida, is moving to Spain, where the weather is nicer and the cost of living is lower - I think Canadians are probably stuck with the snow and rain.

@Four Pillars:
I generally think that the socialist / non-socialist divide that exists in some Americans' minds is misleading. Stuff costs money. Some things are essential (housing, utilities, healthcare, police forces, schools etc) and the way you pay for it doesn't really affect how much it's going to cost you as a society.

Re: all that is valuable

plonkee — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:54:29 -0000

I'm not sure whether it really is better to concentrate on your own self development at the expense of your family or your neighbourhood. I mean that there should be a balance - some people focus too much on the external, but others focus too much on the internal. I'm more of an internal person myself.

Re: COBRA premium reduction

plonkee — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:41:56 -0000

@Four Pillars:
It was me, or at least I often say it.

I'm surprised anyone that's single is self-employed in the States because of the healthcare / insurance issue. It's notable that most or all of the Yank pro-bloggers are married, and the majority of them are married to people who work in the public sector (school teacher, crime lab scientist,military, etc).

Not really very pro-capitalism if no one can afford to be an entrepreneur.

Re: Can we drown the atheist "movement", please?

plonkee — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:22:19 -0000

So, the only thing that we can do is take sides, and we shouldn't. That sounds like a Catch-22 to me.

Like every other atheist I've met, I don't consider myself to be part of the atheist movement. I stick up for other atheists, but then I try to stick up for people being unfairly criticised in general. What should I do?