Money and Financial Business

I love animals. They're delicious!

Ted Nugent is a strange dude, as is proven by this interview. For example, his thoughts on deer:

They're only interested in three things: the best place to eat, having sex and how quickly they can run away. Much like the French

Of at least equal entertainment is the commentary of the nutty interviewer. I've never seen a "Glock revolver" myself, but Ted's British interviewer has. Or perhaps he's just fixated on the Beatles.

She Said

I have been a member of a national survey organization for over a year now or more like I have been taking online surveys on their website.Somebody told me about this website long time ago and I have been taking a few surveys when I get time.It is free to enroll and you get points for taking surveys.When you get 1000 points you can redeem $10.They also send you products to try out.I recently was sent a bottle of Easy Off BAM for my feedback.

Well it's easy enough to do and though takes time to get stuff ; it is something to do in your spare time and I don't complain when I get products for free.

Look here and you will see that Discover Card offers 0% on purchases and balance transfers for a year, as well as a decent cash back situation.

What I got in the mail today suggests however that Discover will only give me a 0% rate on purchases until January of '07, or roughly six months. On the other hand, they'll give me a 0% on BTs until August of 2007, roughly 14 months. They'll also throw in $20 after my first purchase, which I don't believe I can snag online. In addition, I'll get their best rate, which I richly deserve.

I'm not going to do it, partly because if I was going to, I think I'd go for the Discover Gas Card instead.

I haven't actually had a Discover Card since college, when that was the only card I could get, and strangely enough I think their willingness to take me when I was in college has actually biased me against them as I've moved up the economic ladder. It's as though because they were my lifeline when I was an immature student who couldn't pay the balance but wanted to go on Spring Break, I've seen other cards as more "adult" and I've not gone with Discover in a long time.

I'm going to take another look at Discover, although today's card offer is not what I'm looking for. I don't carry balances to transfer, but I do use zero percent introductory offers every so often, but only if they are for a full year. Keep 'em coming, Discover, I'm going to consider you again.

I am now the proud owner of property, something that would have been inconceivable just one year ago.

In the interest of remaining a pfblog with a slant toward home buying, I will continue to update you fine folks on my ultimate endeavor to move into Acton. (I’m just 1 town away now. :- ) I will also continue to post about the things first time homeowners do and I will continue to openly track my finances as well.

But before I forget, I want to write a series of short articles about this whole process. (First time home buying) Hopefully, it will shed some light on the issue and maybe help illuminate a process that you really have no reason to know anything about until it actually happens. Thankfully, it’s not as crucial as knowing CPR. But it might save a few people from unnecessary headaches as well as vice versa. :)

Via Lifehacker I found this article from Motley Fool. Basically it's an article that tells you to pay yourself first, start saving for retirement early, and you'll earn enough over the years to live comfortably when you're old.

The hook to the article is that instead of just being comfortable, you could also be rich. How to get rich? Be a good investor, be a student of Warren Buffett and any other big name, buy what your research tells you has real value instead of what seems to be hot, etc.

This is fine advice, sure. But easier said than done, bub. If everyone had the skill to beat the markets convincingly year after year, we'd all be rich. Warren Buffett would just be a face in the crowd.

I'm not saying the author is wrong. Undoubtedly you will be much richer if you are a top-notch stock picker and you can keep your blinders on when others are panicking. But by putting this out there as advice, it seems to encourage people who don't have the combination of time, talent and an iron stomach to get out there and start investing in individual stocks.

I'm all for people investing, but the truth is that most people will do worse than the market, not better, and they could end up sitting in retirement cursing the day they started putting all their money in individual stock picks.

Sure, you could get rich, but you could also go broke. Fund your retirement and don't play as an individual stock investor unless you're playing with extra money that you are fully prepared to lose.

Going on this year's big trip today. Won't be back for 2 and a half weeks. The trip is costly, but preparing for it isn't cheap either. I've spent over $400 bucks in the past week just getting the necessary items for the trip, including some recommended shots not covered by my health insurance. Heading to Beijing and other cities in China. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. It is my first time into China.

Some thoughts before I go:

1. Brooklyn real estate bubble? Yes, I agree that prices have come down a bit, but not drastically and sellers are not really having that hard a time selling. If it's in a good location and of good quality like this $499k 800 sq ft 1br 1.5ba I saw in April, it will not have problems selling. That apartment had 1 open house on a rainy day and is now in contract. Wow. I never even got a chance to view it.

2. I tried using Google Adsense Preview on the real estate website I built and saw too many "competing" brokers on the preview. There will be too many sites to block. So for now, that project is still on hold. Not sure if I'll ever capitalize on it.

3. Tenant confirmed ending the lease in June. I will try to rent it out again. If I can't get good tenants, I'll sell it and maybe move the gains to another property that's closer to where I live. To be honest, I'd rather sell than rent it out.

4. Still taking a beating on the stock market. Still clueless why a stock behaves the way it does. Purchased LQDT at $12.xx. It trades today at $19.xx, up over 50%. Why? I don't understand. What are people seeing that I am not??? Too bad the gain doesn't cover the losses on the ETFs I bought. Put a stop order GTC for $18 to cash in on the gain while I'm away.

5. Prosper.com - Did not look too much into it, but was wondering if someone can be both lender and borrower. With good credit, can this not be a money making idea?

That's it for now. Happy pf-blogging.

I have a couple of posts that I've been saving up, but things have been hectic with job-switching over the last few weeks. Now that my income has changed, I'd like to re-evalute my budget and get started using all the advice I've received so far. Stay tuned for that one. For now, I'll ask for some more advice. This time for a good friend of mine. If I don't get any responses here (though I am hopeful!) I may try asking Single Ma. She seems to be full of good info. Without further ado...

My friend, we'll call her 'A', is 37. Currently she works full time making about 400$ a week. I know she puts 15% into a 401k and she also takes 100$ a month and puts it into an account at the credit union (which just sits). At the end of the year she takes the credit union $$ and puts it into an IRA.
She owns her home with a mortage payment of 1200$ a month. She has very little debt (I believe she said under 1000$) which is on credit cards shes pays down every month. She told me she also has an emergency fund, but I didnt get the $ amount on that.

She and I have talked before about different things she could do with her money, and ways she could get it to work for her, but since I'm certainly no expert, I was wondering if someone could give me any ideas for her.

Thanks much!

I'm pretty fortunate to have not been directly affected by addiction. There's no easier way to screw up your life, and annoy your family, than to develop an expensive, self-destructive habit. It's tough to save money when you start treating capital assets as potential income sources to support a habit. Except for lead slinging, the cats, and the recreational use of gasoline, Mrs. Random and I are lucky not to have many expensive habits.

So, having only peripherally witnessed other peoples addictions, I found Kevin Smith's description of Jason Mewes' beginning, bottom, and eventual end of drug use fascinating. It's a great read, especially if you are a fan of Kevin Smith's movies (except for Jersey Girl).

Two warnings: It's quite explicit, which you could probably guess if you've ever seen Clerks, and the tale is spread over a whopping NINE sections!

Me and my Shadow, Part 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; Conclusion, Part 9

Are You Panicking Over the Emerging-Markets Slide?

"Fears Over Interest Rates Send Emerging Markets Tumbling"
"Dealing on Indian Exchange Suspended"
"Worst Emerging Markets Run Since Russian Default"

"These alarming reports, which appeared in the May 23 editions of The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, indicate the depth of the slide in emerging markets around the world. And while those items referred to a single day's carnage, the decline has been going on for weeks now."

This article got me thinking that the sharp falls in emerging and secondary markets in the past week or so are probably due to reduced levels of liquidity and hot money closing out secondary positions to maintain their core holdings. Hedge funds have long been blamed for causing stock market volatility by quickly moving around money chasing gains or fleeing falls. As volatility continues, one would expect most fund managers to continue doing so, exacerbating market moves. The secondary markets are usually the ones to react first and give clues as to the direction of the 'tide' of money and mood of investors or market makers. Perhaps they are sending ominous signals.

Market Crash
http://mktcrash.blogspot.com/

She Said

We have been looking for furniture for our new apartment for about a week now.We came across an offer on Craigslist for a living room/dining room set which included a dining table with 4 chairs,a 3 seater sofa,a sofa chair,2 glass end tables and a glass coffee table(below are the pictures)for $ 750.After we were done negotiating we settled for $ 650 with them delivering the furniture to our apartment(which was so great) for no extra charge and the lady threw an area rug in for free.The sofas come with a lifetime warranty and though it needs some cleaning he and I are very happy with the whole thing.

We wanted to know your opinions on it.Would you call it a deal or no deal?

There are a few non-financial benefits of spending much of my free-time on my most hated of activities. All the landscaping I've been doing has helped me appreciate what's actually in the yard.

Perhaps it was due to the mild winter, but the yard looks pretty good. Trees planted when we moved in are doing well. Deer-eaten plants have sprung back and bloomed. And I've passed one litmus test* of being a fine Southern gentleman, the herb garden has mint growing in it.

I came across this recipe for Mint Julep a few weeks ago. I'd never had one before, but was familiar with the concept. Mix sugar and bourbon with crushed mint, serve over ice, and sip on the porch, preferably while wiping sweat from your brow with a handkerchief. Bonus points for plotting a gold heist. And for the ladies, stupid hats are optional.

It's not quite as disgusting as it appears. I've found that using a little less bourbon than the knock-you-on-your-ass 4 oz. called for in the recipe helps. I also use a garlic press to pre-crush the mint leaves, which saves a little time.

And with the temperature today above 90, it's just getting into prime Mint Julep weather.

* Other tests passed: I own a truck, I own a gun, I live in Virginia, and I actually like Mint Juleps.

Lee Eisenberg has an excellent thought about the value of money.

The greatest uncertainty of all may be the uncertainty over what money is good for. We bury this uncertainty under a million cliches. Money can’t buy happiness. Oh, no? Money can buy time and opportunity to do the things we most love. It can help us fulfill our obligations as parents to our kids and as kids to our parents. It buys quality health care. But somehow or other, we get our knickers all twisted up when it comes to figuring out the real value of money. Could it be that in the end the reason we don’t plan is because we don’t have anything meaningful to plan for?
— Lee Eisenberg, The Number

Via: Debtspiration.com

One of my favorite PF bloggers is Adventures in Moneymaking. It's a refreshingly different perspective than the typical "save money, pay down debt, look what's on sale at blah blah blah". Today's post is on a bounced rental check. He offers some harsh advice:

It never pays to be nice to your tenants. They just take advantage of you. Remember your tenants are not your friends. You are not in the welfare business. If they can't pay their rent, they need to ask Uncle Sam for help.

Mrs. Random and I are preparing our house for rent. One key difference is that this action is NOT an investment. We don't expect to make much money on the rental, if any at all. But it is our home, and we'd like it to still be in decent shape when we return.
So, how do we motivate our renters to not trash the place without being a little bit nice to them? I hope we find out.

Forget the Prius or the Insight or the Honda Civic hybrids. I want my alternative fuel car to run on vegetable oil, the kind that you use to deep fry twinkies and onion rings (what you've never had a deep-fried twinkie?).

My grandma, always the first to know of the latest technological innovations, told me she had heard about a company that was selling kits to convert your car so that it could run on vegetable oil for only $800. I did a quick search on google and found the website she was talking about.

The company, Greasecar, sells a self-install kit that converts your car to run on plain old vegetable oil. You don't even have to pay for the vegetable oil because most restaurants have to pay a disposal fee to get rid of the vegetable oil they use for frying. If you could find a good local restaurant that uses lots of cooking oil, you could convince them to give it to you for free to save them the hassle and all you would have to do is filter the oil. Assuming that you pay $100 in gas a month, the kit would pay for itself in 8 months.

I was almost ready to buy the kit when I realized that the kit can only be installed on diesel engine cars. Boooo! I knew I should have bought the diesel Jetta!

Most diesel cars available in the U.S. are either older models Mercedes, big pick up trucks, or newer Volkswagens. I definitely don't want an older car that will have to be in the shop all of the time, I am not necessarily a pick-up truck kind of gal, and even though I already own a Volkswagen, I don't think I could trade in my Jetta for a diesel version without acquiring more debt.

My deep fried car project will have to wait for now but as soon as I get out of debt and I have some savings, I'll be looking to trade my car for a car that will relieve me from being at the mercy of gas prices. And gas prices aside, wouldn't it be cool to tell people your car runs on cooking oil?

When investing either as debt/equity investor assuming you like the business model and management team you have to ask yourself three questions: How much is needed? How long will it be needed for? How am I going to get out it? In this summary, you will find the answers to those questions of Assets, Time, & Liquidity. Below the Bank Guarantee version, Stand By Letter of Credit version, and finally the practical applications of the program which can work in tandem with any financing program currently employed.

Well, as a continuation of my previous post, I went ahead with my 0% balance transfer plan. Just to recap, I've extended myself a $33000 line of credit from MBNA that will go straight to a GMAC savings account and earn interest until January 2007 at which point, I will pay off the entire balance as the 0% offer expires.

As part of a little experiment, I wanted to see how much doing this would affect my credit score. While obtaining a credit report is free from annualcreditreport.com, obtaining your FICO score is not and can run up to $45 to obtain all 3 scores.

So I signed up for a 30-day free trial credit monitoring service provided by Experian which also provides what they call a PLUS score which I had never heard of. According to Experian, it ranges from 330-830 so I thought it is a very similar scale to the FICO score. Now, I think paying a monthly fee for "credit monitoring" is a waste of money; if anything, credit card companies should provide this service for free since they will benefit most from it from not having to absorb any fraudulent disputed charges. Nonetheless, I plan on canceling my free trial but I did obtain my credit score pre-0% balance transfer... a score of 784.

It's amazing how many different credit accounts (many closed) that I have listed on my report. Just my student loans alone are something like 7-8 accounts although I long ago consolidated them into one. Back to the main point. The line of credit has shown up on my MBNA credit card statement but has yet to be transferred to my checking account.... I'll keep updating..

The 50th Carnival of Personal Finance is up at My Open Wallet. Take a gander when you have a moment, the color coding is excellent for scanning through what you’d like to find by topic.

McDonald's has (re-?)introduced a line of sundaes. Mrs. Random wasted no time and drug us there on Saturday. They are quite yummy. After eating my "Apple Pie A la Mode", she pointed out that what I just bought for $2.29 could be purchased as components for only $1.50, with some assembly required.

Today, we put this to the test. We bought two apple pies, and two caramel sundaes from the dollar menu. Total cost (with outrageous 7% Fairfax city tax), $3.21, vs. $4.90, a savings of $1.69, or more than a third! And we got two free packets of peanuts. We did have to assemble the "sundaes" ourselves at home. But they were just as yummy.

Of course, even with the DIY method, a sundae still costs 6 times what a McDonald's ice cream cone costs in China.

Instead of going anywhere, Mrs. Random and I spent the long weekend working on landscaping projects. A few big projects got knocked off the list, and the last of the major outdoor projects is now underway. With a bit of work in the evenings, we should be done outside by the end of the week.

We also remembered the whole point of today's holiday, which was too much to ask of Google. They do know about Percival Lowell's birthday, though.

I'd argue it's stuck in a bad equilibrium. There is no reason that Swarthmore, PA should not be a place full of pleasant restaurants and coffee shops. After all, Williamstown, MA has about the same number of students and, if anything, fewer professionals not associated with the school. Yet it manages, apparently, to sustain many nice restaurants and such.

What's Swarthmore's problem? It's stuck in the suburbs. That is, in Williamstown people and their money are stuck in Williamstown and so businesses open and cater to them. In Swarthmore, however, people can go elsewhere: Philadelphia, or other suburbs. So the money of the residents of the Swarthmore is not stuck in Swarthmore proper. Rather, it gets distributed among other suburbs and the city.

Why won't this change? Well, if you are a restaurant person thinking of opening a nice restaurant, where are you going to go? Given that people already leave Swarthmore to find a restaurant -- no one would consider staying in Swarthmore on the off chance that there might be a nice place in town -- your best bet is to locate where the people go: some other suburb or the city. Even if some people would stay, a good portion of people would by habit go off elsewhere for nice food. And you certainly aren't going to get random people from surrounding 'burbs visitng Swarthmore for food. This is very different from Williamstown, where the people, and the money, are de facto trapped.

How did this equilibrium come to be? I don't actually know, but I'd speculate that is has to do with a) the Borough of Swarthmore not allowing the sale of alcohol in its boundaries and b) the downtown being smaller than other downtowns.

I'd further claim that this has something interesting to say about international trade or urban studies: somehow placing a town in suburbia versus the middle of nowhere can lead it produce much lower quality services because of the opportunity for people to go elsewhere.

Explanation 1: The wait time for the bus follows a normal distribution with a mean of t and some variance. You have some sense of the mean, and perhaps the variance. Once you have waited that mean amount of time, you start to get impatient and want to give up on the bus arriving. However, the probability of the bus arriving at t+1 is much greater than the probability of it arriving at time t+2 and etc. So as you wait past time t, the probability of the bus not showing up very soon becomes vanishingly unlikely.

Redoing this with, say, an exponential process would yield very different results.

Explanation 2: Once you are about to give up, either the bus comes and the bus has arrived just when you are about to give up, or else you do give up and you walk or take a taxi or something. Point being, that it is definitionally true that the bus arrives just when you are about to give up, because otherwise you give up and you never find out how long it takes the bus to arrive.

A drive from Philly to DC makes me realize that your lane is always the slow one because lanes vary in speed randomly, but you're only aware of your relative speed when your lane is the slowest. At the moment that your lane is the fastest, there is a failure of empathy and you don't look around and think, wow, I'm going faster than those poor shlumps. You only look around when you think, poor me, my lane is the slowest. So you only register relative speeds when your lane is the slowest, not when your lane is the fastest. Hence, your lane is always the slow lane.

I've been away from the blogging world for a while now due to the moving in process and a few other things. Thanks, everyone for all the kind words!


Things That Have Been Done So Far:


Here's the breakdown to help me remember what I did to this place when the time comes to sell in five years:

• Laminate wood flooring: $ 2,200
• Kitchen, hallway, & bathroom recessed lighting: $800
• Two bathroom remodeling (floor, cultured slabs, sliding doors, tub, & toilet): $ 5,700 (original $5,000 estimate/overboard by $300 and $400 for putting in ceramic tiles for both bathroom floors.)
• Interior Painting: $ 200
• Miscellaneous (replacement of screen doors, dryer hookups, other labor costs, etc): $100

Regrets:

• Not getting multiple estimates for the work. I got lazy and got only two estimates.
• Being lax with the contractor. They really did take their own sweet time.

Slowly, I'm building my emergency fund again.. it's now at $4,567.56 and gradually building up. I have stopped contributing to the Roth IRA for now, while I build up the emergency fund up to $20,000. $20,000, because it's approximately 6 months worth of mortgage and cost of living.

Slowly but surely, I'll get there.....the hare may pass me... heck, even the turtle may pass me, but I'll get there.

As you can see from the report below, the housing market is continuing to adjust.  We now have a 6.4 months supply of homes for sale today, and that number is likely to continue to increase.  Pending Sales, or homes that have accepted offers but have not yet closed, as still behind last year at this time while the inventory for sale today is up 40% over the same time last year: Weekly Market Activity Report - May 22, 2006

What does this mean to you as a consumer?

If you are selling your home, expect it to take 60-80 days to receive an acceptable offer.  If you price your home even a little high, buyers are likely to make an offer on the houses that are priced appropriately, rather than try and negotiate you down to the level of the correctly priced homes.

If you are a buyer, you now have more options available to you than this market has seen in many years.  There are likely 2, 3, or more houses that are in the price, location, style and condition you are looking for.  While this does provide you with many options, it may make it tougher to make a decision on just one.  If you’re having problems deciding, it may be easiest to do a side-by-side comparison between the two homes and weigh the pros and cons of each.

June 10-11, 2006 I will be participating in the MS 150 Bike Tour from Duluth to the Twin Cities.  This bike ride is 75 miles each day Saturday and Sunday, with a stopover Saturday night at Hinkley.

The reason I ride: there are more than 7500 people in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin afflicted with MS.  While much has been learned about this disease, there is not a complete understanding of why it happens and there is no cure.  MS strikes healthy people at all ages, in many situations a person with MS can be perfectly fine one day and not be able to get up the next.

To contribute to my ride, please click here.

Reminder that Bankrate's Frugal U's tips runs a monthly contest for the best money-saving tip. The best tip wins $100. This month's contest ends on June 1st, so check out the entries so far and vote for a favorite, or wait to enter your best idea until June 2d.

May's winning entry for $100:

Winning tip: When you're finished pumping gas in your tank, turn the pump off and then squeeze the pump handle. You'll get the extra little shot of gas that was left in the hose. You've already paid for it so you might as well take it!

Enter here at Bankrate.

While out of the country traveling in the Mediterranean, we watched the DOW climb and crash. Now home, I'm reviewing my portfolio, which contains a good share of foreign and emerging market funds. One of my favorites, and a great performer, has been T. Rowe Price's Emerging Eastern Europe and Mediterranean fund (TREMX).

This story at Smart Money caught my attention, as the NAV has fallen by $6 in a few weeks: "Emerging-Markets Run Ending?"

In part, the story narrates:

"Still, even with the impressive economic gains in developing nations, emerging-market investors must be prepared for the possibility of complete implosion (recall, for instance, the Russian debt crisis of 1998) that is mostly foreign to investors in established markets. And if interest rates continue to rise, emerging markets will likely be hit the hardest, as investors grow cautious and corporate spending dips.

Does that mean there's no place for an emerging-markets fund in your portfolio? For long-term investors, no. But it does mean now is not the time to be chasing returns and the age-old advice that one should only have limited exposure to this group should be closely followed. (Dollar-cost averaging is a tried and true way to avoid buying at the peak). And if you're sitting on substantial gains from your recent forays into Latin America and Eastern Europe, now might be a good time to think about paring back. "

The fund screen used in this story includes TREMX. Since I've harvested some gains during the past couple years and reinvested in other sectors, I'm still watching to see how emerging markets perform.

The Emerging Markets Fund Screen Recipe

Fund Classification = Emerging Market
Annualized 3-Year Return (%) = Top % in Fund Classification = 50.0
Rank in Classification (%) (3 year performance) = Display Only
Annualized 5-Year Return (%) = Top % in Fund Classification = 50.0
Rank in Classification (%) (5 year performance) = Display Only
Expense Ratio, Bottom % in Fund Classification = 50.0
Load Fund (type) = No Load
Minimum Initial Investment <= 5000 Open to New Investors = Yes Total Net Assets ($ millions) >= 50

Having just returned from Europe, we can confirm that the dollar keeps losing value against the Euro. During our travels in Greece during May, we found the exchange dropping dismally, if by pennies, each day.

Foreign currency often feels like "play money" therefore it's always wise to fix firmly in your mind what items or services cost in dollars. How much is that 33 euro pashmina scarf is USD$? Multiply by .25 and find the true cost is over $40.

Several ways to exchange currencies while in-country:

1. Cash exchange. Check both the exchange rate and the commission. Often hotels will change money for guests without charging commission.

2. ATMs. Money can be withdrawn through your ATM checking or credit card and automatically exchanged. Make sure you use your own network provider; fees and commissions are a shot-in-the-dark as they are not generally disclosed prior to the transaction. Save your receipts.

3. Credit cards. Cash can be withdrawn as a cash advance. However, most cards charge an exchange fee of approximately 3%. Contact your credit card company before you leave home to do two things:

a. Find out the exchange fee;
b. Advise your credit card company you're leaving the country. Many companies now automatically do not authorize purchases unless you've advised them you're leaving the country.

I signed a few dozens pages of some legal document. :-D

w00t!!

NEW YORK (AP) — Martha Stewart, who completed a five-month prison sentence a year ago for lying about her sale of ImClone stock, has decided to fight rather than settle civil insider trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an 11-page response to the SEC complaint filed late Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Stewart denied allegations that she used non-public information when she sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems (IMCL) stock in December 2001. Instead, she said she "acted in good faith."

Fighting the charges offers Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO), the chance to reclaim her CEO and chairman titles. But another public trial could deal a blow to the company and reverse the turnaround that it has made so far over the last year.

What I find interesting in this story is the risk she is willing to take to reclaim her CEO and Chairman positions in the company.  To my way of thinking it's instructive in that generally saavy business types like Martha Stewart, Donald Trump, Warren Buffett, etc., won't take a risk like this unless they feel there is either no downside or that the negative consequences of inaction are worth taking the risk.

"Certainly we're surprised," a shaken Lay said Thursday after a jury capped a four-month-long fraud and conspiracy trial and in its sixth day of deliberations returned guilty verdicts against him and Skilling. "I think it's more appropriate to say we're shocked. This is not the outcome we expected."

Besides all six counts in the main trial, Lay, Enron's founder, also was convicted of four charges of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake related to his personal finances.

Skilling was convicted of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading at a trial spawned by one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history, the toppling of a high-profile energy trader that once was the nation's seventh-largest company.

I personally find it insulting.  He either believes that the general American population is either dumber than he is or he's smarter than all of us.  Either way it's evidently the same way of thinking that got him into trouble in the first place.

Is there a cure?  One can only hope that some serious jail time (20+ is getting off light as far as I'm concerned) will help to cure the ailment this poor victim suffers from.

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Stay on top of news like these with the Wall Street Journal

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I've only worked on fixing up and selling small condos. It's been fun and I would do it again if I find something good to work on. I think eventually, I'd want to work on bigger projects. A good next step to take would be to convert small buildings into condos, and I think this could be an interesting project to pursue.

First, check out this listing. It's a 4 story building with a full basement and a 5 car garage. Each floor is 20' x 40' but actual sq footage per floor would be around 700 to account for the hallway and staircase. Top floor would be larger since there won't be another flight of steps going up to the next floor. Asking price is $1,325,000. I've seen it listed for $1,250,000 not too long ago, so maybe the price was pushed up to let potential buyers negotiate down to the original asking price. Whatever.. let's suppose I purchase it for $1,250,000.

Here's how I'd want to chop it up.

• 1st floor would be a studio cut out to have the front of the building. It would be about 550 sq ft. The back of the building will have laundry and bike storage and an entrance to the outdoor space which I will built on top of the garage. The outdoor space will be a wooden deck and is used by all occupants of the building.
• 2nd and 3rd floors will be 1 bedroom apartments.
• 4th floor will be 2 small studios.
• basement will have 5 storage rooms and a separate utilities room for the building mechanicals.

I'll spend about $30k per unit to put in new walls, floors, kitchen, and bathroom. $15k for the deck, $10k for the basement. Another $75k to turn the building pretty and structurally sound.

How I'd price the units:
2 top floor studios at $275k each
1 ground floor studio at $300k
2 1-bedrooms at $375k each
5 garages at $40k each
Total: $1,800,000

Cost of renovation: $250,000
Cost of building: $1,250,000

Profit before fees and other costs: $300,000

The hard part is to figure out how much all the other stuff costs!
Carrying cost, lawyer's fees, condo declaration fees, broker's fees if used, closing costs, architect plans, etc etc.

This project is way over my head right now, but hopefully, through education and experience, and perhaps finding the right people to work with, a project like this can be a reality one day.

Today's the last day for the $50 Freshdirect.com promotion I posted about a couple of weeks ago. Be sure to place your order by today!

Once you're done with your first order, remember to place your second order by 6/16 to get your second $25 off!

Here are the codes once again: FIRSTFREE for $50 off first two orders (new customers) and FREEDELTRY for free delivery (existing customers).

Oh and one more way to save on food: using fatwallet cash back and restaurant.com

The latest restaurant.com code is on the right hand column!

From: Small Business Finance Blog

Cashflow Idea No. 1. Use ‘cashflow’ sales checklists.
For sales people, get them to ask every single customer to make another ‘add-on’ purchase with the one they’ve already made. A great way to do this is to have a shopping ‘checklist’ of what the customer could buy.

After pondering for several days, I finally decided to take advantage of a 0% balance transfer offered by one of my credit cards, MBNA. Now, I pay off my credit cards every month and never carry a balance, but have come across the notion of making money off balance transfers from other bloggers. It works like this... my credit card sent me a mailer with checks and a 0% balance tranfser promotion. The offer gives me the option for them to either pay off a pending balance or to make a direct deposit into my checking account. I have 0% APR on the balance transfer until January 2007.

The cost: $75 fee for the transfer. And a ding on my credit score because it will increase the percentage of credit I have outstanding relative to my overall credit amount. According to FICO, this will affect 30% of my credit score... how that translates numerically is unclear to me.

Now, I am planning on purchasing a car in the next 6 mos; however, I will likely have my wife apply for any financing that we might do as I likely lowered my score by these antics.

The payoff: I will transfer $33000 to GMAC bank which is currently paying 4.75%. I opened up a new account just for this balance transfer to keep it separate from my other money. This will translate to approximately $130/month or ~$900 in FREE interest for the next 7 mos. It will be slightly less than this as I have to pay 1% of the balance per month to maintain the 0% APR.

The fine print: Pay 1% of the balance on-time every month. Purchases do not qualify for 0% APR. If purchases are made, any payments will be applied to the LOWEST APR first.

What I really debated was whether doing so was worth a ding in my credit score. What I might do is obtain my credit score now pre-balance transfer and then after my balance-transfer to see what happens to my score. If it drops it to < 700 I'm going to be pissed off.

Fidelity Observer spotted this guarantee, linked on the front page of Fidelity.com. Fidelity has apparently retooled its anti-fraud policies, and will "reimburse your Fidelity account for any losses due to unauthorized activity." The page details what is and is not covered by the guarantee:

Read more news like this from PFBlog Network, the personal finance bloggers' network..

Against my own advice, I ventured into the murky depths of the mall today. I normally try to stay as far away from them as I possibly can but I suffered from a temporary lapse in judgement. First of all, I was searching for a birthday present and thought if I could walk around the mall I might get some ideas on what to buy. Second of all, my clothes have started to get that too-tight look that means that my body is expanding against my will. It is a sick cruel joke my body plays on me; every time I try to lose weight I end up gaining weight. Maybe I should try to gain weight in order to lose weight? And, it has been ages since my last hair cut and I felt the need to splurge on a nice cut and color.

The good news is that even though I went to the mall with every intention of spending money, when I looked at the price tags I almost fell to the floor in shock.

"HOLY bejezus, $130 for a pair of jeans???"
"$40 for foundation makeup? $28 for blush? Bless their souls; they have lost their damn minds!"
"They want me to pay how much for this serving tray? That must be $9, not $90."

These were my inwards conversations as I made my way through the mall, just aching to spend some money but not quite THAT much money.

The worst was when I went to go get my haircut. I had bargained on about $150 for a cut and color. Boy, was I ever wrong. Thank goodness I asked before I took a seat in the chair! Apparently, haircuts at this salon run from $85 for a "Stylist" to $135 for a "Creative Director" and anywhere from $145 to $205 for a color. I tried to maintain my calm and composure while she was explaining their pricing, and as soon as she looked away I ran as fast as I could.

Have I really been not shopping for that long? When did everything get so expensive????

Here is an interesting BusinessWeek interview with John Talbott:

The Growl of a Housing Bear
Author and real estate maven John Talbott says the bubble has stretched about as far as it possibly can

"We are in for a fairly rough ride in the housing market for the next five to seven years."

"What do you think is happening to the housing market right now?
The smart money is getting out. The inventory of homes for sale is increasing dramatically across the country. That's typically what happens before you see price declines...."

"How much do you think prices will decline, and how long do you think it will take?
I think that it's a worldwide phenomenon, and in the 25 cities that have had price run-ups, which make up 40% of the market, we'll see corrections of 40% to 50% in real terms over the next six years. It has already started, and you'll see it happening in more cities in the May-June time frame."

"What happens to the U.S. economy if the downturn you predict really happens?
I think it will be a disaster. Not only will people in fields like banking be unemployed but consumers themselves will spend less. They're spending a lot now because they think their house is worth a million. If they find out it's only worth $400,000, they'll spend less. As foreclosures increase, the banks will get hurt and pull back on lending. That can drive the country into a recession."

I still haven't downloaded our photos from China. But, the Pentagon's annual "China is coming to get us" report is out. I will say that while we were in China, we saw a few recruiting posters around town. I'll have to go through our photos to see if I have an image. You wouldn't think China would be hurting for recruits, though.

In other news, Bush has, again, called for new nuclear (nukyular?) power plants.

For the sake of economic security and national security, the United States must aggressively move forward with construction of nuclear power plants. Other nations are.

Let's hope someone pays attention this time. Too bad they didn't five years ago, or ten years ago, or 27 years ago.

Tell me something I didn't know. When we were poor college students, we'd have dinner at Costco once a week.

At present, the federal fiscal year commences on October 1st of the preceeding calendar year. And until fiscal year 1976 the fiscal year commenced on July 1st of the preceeding calendar year. This means that between fiscal year 1976 and 1977 there was a transition quarter which does not belong to any year. Oh the fascinating things one learns in Washington.

I have been a long time fan of the conservative WSJ columnist, but my unquestioning loyalty is beginning to wane. There are two recent points I have taken with his issue with.

My wife and I found out last night that our family will be growing once again. Instead of being able to play man-to-man or parent-to-child in this case, we will now be forced to play zone. It is still very early but also very exciting. If this pregnancy goes like the first two, the arrival date should be right around Christmas. Just in time to reap the tax benefits of having a child.

Whatever reversal has occurred up until this point is now over and done with. NDX-100 posted a very promising rally at 1580 level and the brutality of what followed carried a truly ominous undertone.

We've sold most of our NDX calls into that rally and into yesterday's decline. The sales were not pretty and I have to say we're still reeling from the unforgiving and relentless blows dealt by the market.

Housing sector favored a bit better where several spikes gave decent exits to our long call positions but even then none were anything to write home about.

Something wicked this way has come and while I am as convinced as ever that this is a massive opportunity, I think it pays to take a safe stance and trade new lows as opposed to acquiring large lots in anticipation of a prolonged rally. The rally will come, but the idea is to remain at least solvent, if not outright profitable, until it does. :)

Currently we're cautiously selling credit spreads in Oil equities and some Housing names. Our long strategy is gaming new NDX lows for a trade.

Stay on your toes folks. This is a tough environment so don't let frustration cloud your judgment. Emotions aren't helpful in any market. And they are deadly in this one.

Cheers,
/Dmitry

GM announced that in California and Florida they will be capping gas prices for consumers who purchase one of their gas-guzzling hogs. People who purchase a new 2006/2007 Tahoe, Suburban, H2, H3, or Yukon will get rebates on their gas prices over $1.99. To receive the rebates they will have to sign up for OnStar but this still seems ridiculous to me. I have very little sympathy for someone having high gasoline bills when:

a. They chose to buy a living room on wheels as a status symbol
b. They paid $40,000 - $50,000 for the vehicle to begin with

Why is GM catering to the rich assholes that are going to drive like idiots, ride my bumper in traffic, and weave in and out of cars in the snow like 4x4 means instant stopping?

Please advise.

From BusinessWeek
America’s Oldest Business Heirlooms — from bells and brews to canvas and food, here are 10 of the longest-lived family businesses in the country.