Disqus - Friends of WealthBoy

Re: A question for the readers

Steve — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:58:53 -0000

I think there's a distinction that needs to be made between angry comments like "you are awful" and reasoned counterpoints. Ryan's article inspired a lot of people to forcefully disagree with him. I do - I'm a Gen Xer and I think he is going to be in for a rude and brutal awakening in his mid 30s. But that's far different than if I lashed out by calling him a name. Penelope suffers from being on Yahoo, which is just behind the NY Times for apparently attracting professional trolls. I think Penelope's writing style is great even when I don't agree with what she says. Ryan has a ways to go to get the same tone down, rather than sounding (as he often does) a little smug for someone who's just starting out in life. Just my opinion.

Re: Musings On Spending $3 On A Candy Bar

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:53:14 -0000

I think you're exactly right in this post and exactly wrong. You could probably have had the same experience with a $1 candy bar, or a homemade cookie, right? But at the same time, if the moment seizes you, go with it. If it isn't a pattern, you can forgive yourself. Life is made of plenty of precious moments when you have a toddler, and I don't think you'll regret that $3, ever.

Re: Looking For A Way Out: "Can't Quit" Syndrome, The Value of Job Happiness, And How To Escape - The Simple Dollar

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:17:03 -0000

It's a problem that I constantly feel ashamed of: I hate my job but I make so much money at it that I would feel like a complete fool for leaving it. Everyone who knows how much I make think I'm insane for complaining. I hardly do any work and make more money than anyone I know. But the work is mind-numbing, everyone I work with acts like they hate their job too, and I dread getting on the train for work every day. I know a lot of people would love to be making the money I make for being bored and unfulfilled, so it's a problem I keep to myself. Keeping a blog has helped a lot, though - this was one of the 3 sites that inspired me to start writing a blog and it's helped a lot, actually, just to unload some of my angst and practice my talents. The first dollar I earned from AdSense felt like ten thousand from my day job. Thanks Trent!

Re: Three Fears I Have About Moving

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:47:39 -0000

Kathryn had a good comment on setting aside some money each month for home repairs. We effectively did this as part of our emergency fund, but there will always be a thousand "small things" that aren't really emergencies but need to be done. As big city apartment dwellers my wife and I were a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff we needed to buy for a house. I didn't own a shovel, and you need a shovel for the yard if you do any sort of yardwork. We needed to buy a big trash can for hauling trash to the dumpster instead of dumping it in the apartment's trash chute. We had to buy tools for the little around-the-house chores (if you don't own a wrench, for example, the first loose nut on a toilet/sink/etc. is going to be a nightmare). The toilet bob breaks, a key breaks off in a door lock, etc. etc.

Owning a home is a lot of work and a lot of expense compared to an apartment. Worth it - but be prepared for many, many more unexpected expenses!

Re: Rural Ideas For An Expensive Housing Market

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:44:44 -0000

I own a place in metropolitan New York City (well, right across the Hudson in New Jersey, so 15 minutes by public transportation from Manhattan). It took a lot of hard work, a single-minded focus on saving for years beforehand, and some luck. If you want to live IN NY, SF, Boston - you had better be a two-income family with at least one of you earning 200K+ per year OR you should be willing to live in a substandard box. Or rent. But if you look at the market and can't afford it even in your dreams with massive saving, etc. - get a higher paying job, settle for a small, out of the way place in Jersey or Long Island, or move. New York has so much more to offer than the rest of America (110% JUST MY OPINION) that people are willing to pay off-the-chart premiums, and that's just the way it is.

Re: Retirement Savings Or Debt Repayment: Which Is More Important?

Steve — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 01:50:25 -0000

I had a different take on this on my blog. I think the key issue is ownership; whether the debt is for something owned versus something not owned. The example I use is a mortgage (not owned, the bank can take your house) versus a student loan (no-one can take that diploma back). If you look at it that way I think it affects whether there's an urgent need to pay down the debt as much. Good points by Terry M. above, too.

Re: Genius – You Can Be One Too!

Steve — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:34:08 -0000

I got it! This article was a joke! Good one, Lifehack! Heheh.

I am appalled that Lifehack, normally a great read, let something like this article slip through.

Re: One Thing You Can Do Today That Will Put You In Better Financial Shape Tomorrow

Steve — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:51:59 -0000

@slc - I don't think it was meant to last for a month. Maybe just a "spending holiday" once a week/month/whatever. Personally, I'd be doing well if I could do it once a quarter.

I think the general principle would be not to take cash or a credit card out for a day. Of course everyone is spending money every minute of every day - rent is effectively being paid, utilities, etc.

Good idea, and surprisingly hard. I try to do it once in a while and almost always fail because I really need a bottle of spring water or have to pick up dry cleaning or something...

Re: A Primer On Once A Month Cooking

Steve — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:54:20 -0000

The general principle is to fix multiple servings at once. I don't have the patience to cook multiple servings of multiple dishes in one day, and certainly don't have the freezer space unless I invest in a freezer unit for the garage. But no-one should cook a single serving dinner - even if you're single you should cook enough for 3 at once. Just don't eat it all at once!

Re: Why My Father Takes Out A Lighter And Burns $200 Each Month

Steve — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:42:52 -0000

Really, that's a heartbreaking story, and it could be applied to anything - gambling, drinking, drugs, day trading... everyone struggles with their bad habits, and overcoming it is really tough. Even the lack of things can be an expensive bad habit (lack of exercise, lack of spending discipline). I sure hope your dad sees the light, and he'll need plenty of support from his family for that, too, so good luck to you, too.

Re: Why My Father Takes Out A Lighter And Burns $200 Each Month

Steve — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:45:10 -0000

And sorry to tack on another comment, but be glad he doesn't live in New York, too. I don't know exactly but I think cigarettes are $7+ per pack up here... at least the city had the sense to put a tremendous tax burden on smokers here to subsidize their own future health care needs (plus scare some people off of it).

Re: aging gently

Steve — 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: Kicking My Candy Bar Addiction In The Foot - And Saving Big Money - The Simple Dollar

Steve — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:37:10 -0000

The fruits and vegetables may be more expensive in the short run but dentists' bills, doctors' bills and buying new fat clothes are more expensive in the short run. Everyone has bad expensive food habits and bad dietary food habits. I like having a nice fresh salad for lunch every day but it costs $8. A Subway sandwich is $4 and a sandwich from home is even less, but not as healthy (lots more carbs). It's important to balance health and money. Personally, I don't think you can ever spend too much on your health. It's a cliche, but if you don't have your health what do you have?

Re: Make Sure The Left Hand Knows What The Right Hand Is Doing: The Simple Dollar's Guide To Assigning Priorities - The Simple Dollar

Steve — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 01:43:11 -0000

It's a frightening concept to think how many people are trying to do their best to save while managing horrific debt. I think paying down debt (unless it's student loan debt OR a mortgage) is always first priority, then save. To some extent that's just my own opinion, but I really think that letting someone else have "true" ownership of your assets is crazy. I wish I could pay off my mortgage and then I would be literally debt-free, but I've chosen to keep that debt and invest my money elsewhere. I do sometimes wonder, though, if I should plow all of my savings into making myself COMPLETELY debt-free. Tough story.

Re: The Ten Biggest Money Mistakes I've Made Since My Financial Meltdown - The Simple Dollar

Steve — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:25:20 -0000

Good list. I still struggle with #3 - it took me a while to figure out that my favorite brand of cream cheese cost 3 times as much as the store brand and that they were barely indistinguishable. That sortof leads into #8 (gourmet eating) related to #4 (hobby spending). I like gourmet cooking, too, but if you want to save money you can't eat filet mignon for dinner at home on a regular basis. I am trying to learn to cook fancy meals with non-fancy ingredients... not always easy, but doable.

Re: Are Inflation Rates Accelerating? How Should I Plan For It? - The Simple Dollar

Steve — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:50:05 -0000

I think Michael and j2r had good points. If you look at inflation as a whole it's tolerable in the US. But in some areas (energy, education and health care) the growth in costs is much higher, and could really affect retirement planning. I think health care, in particular - who knows what means testing might be in place for Medicare in 20 years? That growth means that I will definitely be taking the 'assume the worst and hope for the best' scenario in my retirement planning.

Also, having lived in Russia during a period of hyperinflation I can say that there's nothing so demoralizing as paying 10 for a thing one day and 18 for it a week later, let alone 340 a year later.

Plus, having your currency denominated in thousands is depressing - paying 27,000 rubles for a Big Mac was just psychologically unpleasant, even though as an American my underlying salary was dollars and it didn't affect me as much as my Russian colleagues. I hope we never, ever see something like that in America.

Re: The Connection Between Financial Choices And Personal Values: The Kind Of Parent I Want To Be

Steve — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 10:48:35 -0000

I don't think that story was tragic, either - I think it was actually pretty nice. I shared a room with my brother until I was about 10 or 11 years old. Our room was so small we had to have bunk beds, because two beds wouldn't fit side by side. If we hadn't moved to a much smaller town where housing was cheap enough for my parents to afford a very, very small 3 bedroom house I doubt I would ever have worried about it too much. My wife (her family are immigrants), her sister and parents lived in a two-bedroom apartment in New York when they immigrated. She has never had a room to herself - she lived at home until we were married and now (obviously) we share a room.

Your friend's condition and her sleep problems are not to be envied, for sure, but at least she's lucky to have relatives to help, a lot of people don't have that (we don't have any near enough to help out).

So while there's a lot to be sad about in that story, I also think it's a good story about a strong family where the parents are sacrificing to provide a good home for their kids. It's admirable that they are avoiding the temptation to run up their debt.

The tragedy is probably that the husband is having tours extended at random, which as far as I can tell is going to keep happening for many years. Unless the war ends some day, the real risk your friends will face is not the temptation to incur debt or troubles with child care, but that their father will be killed in action, depriving his kids of a dad. Whatever you think of the war, that's the true (potential) tragedy. I really hope that he stays safe for their sake, and his.

Re: Stupid Investment of the Week: Rich Dad Academy

Steve — 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: how a ‘regular person’ can make passive income

Steve — 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 — 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: Baby Steps For Individual Stock Picking

Steve — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:03:57 -0000

Owning individual stocks takes a great commitment of time and effort and risk tolerance. I used to own a lot of individual stocks and spent hours reading reports, analysts, opinion pages, etc. It was a waste of time. I was competing against giant investment banks with Cray computers and armies of analysts working 18 hour days with billions in funds to influence markets. In my opinion, your best bet in the market is to buy broad-based index funds with very low fees and hope to float along with the broad trends.

I ended up cashing out all of my stocks and making a nice 30/30/30/10 split between Vanguard domestic index funds, European/Asia Pacific funds, bond funds and REIT funds. I check it once a week to make sure there's no surprises, rebalance twice a year, and reinvest dividends/gains. It has saved me time, money, and headaches and my returns are better now that I'm not trying to out-Jim-Cramer Jim Cramer.

And Lori, I hear you on the social conscience, but treasury bills are going to support Halliburton, for example - some of that US debt is being incurred to fund a war. I divested my Wal-Mart stock holdings a long time ago because I don't like what they are doing to their employees, but I fully recognize that my Vanguard index funds hold at least a few virtual shares of Wal-Mart in them. It's tough to invest in any market with a social conscience unless you're willing to have a little cognitive dissonance in your life and accept that somewhere, somehow, some of your money is going to bad people doing bad things. It's admirable that you consider it, though. For a long time I would have invested directly in Landmines 'R' Us if the returns had been good enough (fortunately my mindset changed).

I work as an audit consultant for a lot of Fortune 500 companies and I agree 100% - if most investors knew what was really going on in these places they would be uneasy. Maybe nothing technically illegal, but there's a LOT of pressure to "gently nudge" numbers. Invest in the market at your own risk and recognizing the nature of the beast!

Re: Fighting Despair And Keeping Focus On Being Debt Free

Steve — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:33:19 -0000

I think in America we've grown too accustomed to thinking that the kids need to be protected from the outside world as much as possible, unfortunately due to the fact that the outside world - murders, wars, etc. - is so grim. But that doesn't mean that your children need to be protected from family finances.

People are afraid to let their kids think that everything isn't perfect. In the status-conscious area I live in, people are afraid to admit that "hey, I don't see the need and can't afford the latest gadget" for my kids. If I had a dollar for every parent of a teenager who's told me "I HAD to get my kid an iPod" I would be as rich as Steve Jobs (which, I guess is why he's as rich as he is, right??)

Re: How To Set Up Multiple Savings Account Funds Within ING

Steve — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:01:06 -0000

One day HSBC and ING will start offering instant withdrawal* and all of us who use them for emergency funds and whatnot are going to go nuts!

*I understand they won't since that's where they make their money...

Re: Going Into Debt To Invest Money?

Steve — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:48:14 -0000

I had to laugh when I read this article - first, because using debt to invest is laughable, and second, because I just finished writing a post about this right before this post appeared on The Simple Dollar, and now I'm going to look like a copycat! Talk about timing. Mine will have to sit on the bench for a while now.

Can't echo it enough - bad, bad idea.

Re: I believe you have my stapler

Steve — 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.