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Happy Birthday Harry Potter
2007-07-23 16:16:00
We'd like to take a moment to wish Daniel Radcliffe, better known as Harry Potter , a Happy Birthday ! This 18th Birthday is particularly special for Daniel, as he has now gained access to his $19 million dollar investment fund ? which he's socked away in a company jointly held with his parents. Daniel's current net worth is $23 million, with more to come as the series reaches its finale.One of the richest teens in the world, Harry doesn't seem intent on going out to blow his money. According to Daniel, " ?Even when I was very young and before any of this had happened, I remember being repulsed by ostentatious displays of wealth. People who have car collections ? I never understood that. I always thought that was unnecessary. It?s not beautiful, its not creative. Its just showing how much money you?ve got.? On growing up Harry says, "It?s not so much that they don?t want me to grow up. It?s that they?re annoyed that I?m growing up adjusted. They?d much rather I was growing up a...
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How do you stack up?
2007-07-22 15:38:00
How do DINKs stack up in the personal finance world?Given our recent financial goal, to reach $400k by the end of the year, I was curious to see where we stack up against others.Call me naive, but I never imagined that the median net worth would be as low as it is. The good news is that median net worth is on the rise, but the bad news is that the chart at the left is an improvement from where the nation was in 1998.I also came across an interesting tidbit from the 2000 US census showing that married couples had a much higher net worth than singles of the same age. Married couples had a median net worth of $91,218, whereas single males had $24,659 and single female households had $23,028. I know that for James and I that there has definitely been a spike in what we can accomplish together rather than apart.More applicable, I was able to find this chart on the overall nest egg savings of American households. Keep in mind that it says home equity is not included in these numbers. ...
More About: Net worth , Savings

Don't Get Scammed!
2007-07-21 22:50:00
So we are all know to run the other way when we get a message from Nigeria claiming that there are millions just waiting for us to lay claim to. It is also important to keep in mind that you can get scammed closer to home.I met a guy the other night who got scammed by someone on Craigs List. The scammer got this guy to cash a (bogus) check for more than the value of what he was buying ($3,500). He was selling weights for $300 and was supposedly having a friend pick up the weights and ship them across the country, thus needing him to wire the extra $3,200 to his friend. Of course the guy's friend never showed up and the guy who got scammed got suspicious. This guy I met checked his account to find that the check had bounced and he now has -$200 to his name.While I know this seems far-fetched for someone to fall for, it happens all the time. I'm still a huge fan of Craigs List, but totally advocate for cold hard cash. I've sold several items that were expensive ($3,000) and ...

Massive List of Personal Finance Resources
2007-07-20 22:01:00
Hello People,Just wanted to give our readers a quick FYI. A fellow personal finance blogger, the Frugal Law Student, has a HUGE list of useful personal finance links. If you're looking for information, calculators or a list of must read personal finance books, you might want to pop on over to his site and check it out.Best,James
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance , Resources , Blogging

6 More Ways to Save Money
2007-07-20 21:51:00
In honor of the continual search to find more ways to save money, here are a few more tips on saving money.Bring your lunch and snacks - I agree with one of our readers that bringing your lunch to work is a great way to save money. If you aren't one for making sandwiches in the morning, plan your dinners so you have leftovers for lunch. If you still prefer to eat out for lunch, consider bringing healthy snacks. Starting your week with a pile of fresh fruit, nuts and snacks will save you from spending more at the vending machine for a less healthy snack. If you drink sodas at the office you might want to consider buying a case and bringing it to the office. Chances are you'll be paying a lot less per can.Plan your shopping for sale time - We all know that sales are out there just to make you buy more stuff. At the same time, there are times in life when we need that stuff. Plan ahead and consider what your needs might be and buy items when they are on sale. This might mean ...
More About: Money , Save Money , Save , Savings , Frugal

Mutual Funds with Extra Cash
2007-06-23 17:39:00
Money, it's an issue whether you have it or not. If you don't have it you want it. If you've got it you want to figure out how best to use it. In my case at the moment, it is the later.I've got $7k in extra money and need to figure out what to do with it. I've been so busy with life these days that I've had this money sitting in my account for over a month just earning ING's 4.5% interest. While this is better than sitting under my pillow, it has still been weighing on my mind that I haven't done anything with it.We sat down this morning and discussed what some of my options are:1) Pay off some of my student loans.2) Pay off some of the principle on our mortgage.3) Max out my ROTH IRA for the year and then figure out what to do with the rest.4) Buy stocks or mutual funds.5) Go to Vegas.6) Some combination of the above.When deciding what to do, it makes the most sense to go back to what your goals/needs are at the time. All of the above, aside from Vegas, would help us ...
More About: Mutual Funds , Cash , Extra , Funds , Xtra

What to Discuss Before You Get Married
2007-06-22 22:39:00
Personal finance blogs are great places to find tips on saving money, but we bloggers tend to say less about complicated financial dynamics like the ins and outs of getting married. To help fill this gap, we're offering three brief points you might consider before tying the knot.1. Talk Money: The idea here is that you should sit down and have an honest conversation with your partner about finances. You should consider specifically discussing insurance, savings, your net-worth and your debt obligations. No joke, discussing your debt before you get together is super important. I know a guy who's marriage dissolved in 6 months because he didn't disclose his small mountain of debt before being tying the knot. - Seriously, talk about this stuff.2. Talk Housing: My mom initially raised this point. But there are right and wrong ways to start off a relationship. Finding a place to live that both people choose together means that your partnership starts off as a joint effort. ...
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The Basics of Getting Around Probate
2007-06-21 23:06:00
Today's posting is on a more esoteric part of personal finance: probate.Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of a deceased person. The word probate stems from the latin root probatus, meaning "a thing proved"(1). If there is a substantial sum of money or property to be transferred to ones heirs, the probate process is necessary to facilitate the messy logistical aspects of transferring one's wealth. For example, taxes may need to be made, payments due to or from the estate need to be settled and numerous legal documents usually should be filed to make the inheritance happen.Generally speaking, probate takes a long time to complete and the process usually entails some extra expenses, sometimes up to 5% of the total value of the estate. So, if it can be avoided, its best to do so. According to our new favorite personal finance guru, Jane Bryant Quinn, there are three ways of avoiding probate:1) Putting Property in Joint Names: If you modify your ownership status to ...
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You Should Get Paid for Pollution
2007-06-20 17:13:00
So, if you're like us DINKs you've probably heard a lot about global warming. You might also have noticed a lot of the screwy weather and super hot summers we've been having over the past few years. So, you're probably familiar with the main idea behind the global warming debate, which is the idea that pollution is putting a lot of junk in the atmosphere, thus causing the earth to heat up.Well, there has been a lot of discussion about potential solutions to this issue. But, the best idea I've heard is a carbon auction. Now the idea of a carbon auction sounds a bit dull. Right, so companies would bid for the right to pollute, thus reducing atmospheric emissions (...yawn...scratch...change the channel). But, here is where it gets interesting, instead of sending the auction proceeds to the government, the money would be sent to you in the form of a dividend check (clicky). This is a terrific solution to the problems of global warming. Here's some background before I explain why t...
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Our Experience With Prosper.com
2007-06-19 06:02:00
So, a reader contacted us and asked us to say more about our experience with prosper.com. For those of you who aren't personal finance blog junkies, prosper.com is a person-to-person money lending service. In other words, the site has everything you need to loan money to people over the internet.How it works is you create an account (this takes about a week) and then you loan or apply to borrow money by creating a listing on the site. Its a little like internet dating, but instead of trying to find that special someone, you're looking to improve your financial situation. The CEO is Chris Larson (formerly of eloans.com), who I think is successful partly because he's consumer friendly. I won't say a lot about how the site works, because that's been well covered elsewhere (1)(2).Our experience with prosper has been mixed. We initially considered putting $70,000 into the service. After some reflection, we ultimately committed about $3,450 even though the minimum was $50....
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The DINKs June Networth
2007-06-17 20:10:00
Hello All,Yesterday afternoon we sat down and calculated our networth. June looks about the same as May. That is to say, last month our wealth was $356,000. Now its $359,000. Its not bad, but its less than 1% growth in the past 30 days.Three observations.1) We have a great deal of unallocated cash. My wife Miel received a $5,000 gift from her dad, and she has $3,000 worth of tax returns which haven't been allocated. Had we invested this 8 thousand, we might have broken the $360,000 mark. We were both hoping this would occur this month, but we may have to wait until July.2) Stocks accounted for most of our growth. The shares in our TIAA - CREF and Schwab accounts were going like gang busters in May. However this month we've seen smaller levels growth in our retirement and brokerage accounts. Although modest, most of the 3,000 dollar gain was due to our stock accounts, primarily growth in shares of AAV and PCU.3) Savings Bonds and Prosper. Well, just to give you a sense of whats NOT...
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Opportunity versus Sacrifice
2007-06-16 18:19:00
Personal finance has a certain ebb and flow about it. Long-term v. short-term. Risk v. Security. Gains v. Losses. Opportunity v. sacrifice.Rarely do we find situations where opportunity knocks and no sacrifice or risk is necessary. Even the lotto requires that you risk money on an unlikely chance for gains.The question I am mulling around today is how much is one willing to sacrifice to make career or financial gains at the potential risk to personal and family relations. On the small scale we make choices of whether to stay late at the office or attend to prior commitments with family or friends. On the larger scale there are times such as my willingness to take the risks of work travel to a place as danger as the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was for the benefit of my career at the potential risk of very real security concerns.Plenty of people make choices that result in career or financial gains against the will of their family. Note that making choices for further ...
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Jane Bryant Quinn's Checklists For Life
2007-06-15 14:32:00
So, one of the books on our coffee table is Jane Bryan t Quinn 's Making The Most of Your Money. We've been peaking at Quinn's book on and off over the past couple of weeks. Unlike many so called "gurus", Quinn's book is full of good ideas. Its good largely due to the fact that Quinn is the real deal. Jane has authored over 5 books on personal finance and has won awards for financial journalism nearly every year since the 1980s. She also helped to co-develop Quickens personal finance plug in and currently serves on Bloomberg's board (clicky).So, what good advice does Quinn have for DINKs? In a nutshell, if you've already gotten together (e.g. you're shacking up, cohabiting, have a domestic partisanship, or are married), Quinn's got a handy checklist. She says you should do the following:1. Change the beneficiary status on your contracts. Right, so if you have insurance or IRA's you need to updated your beneficiarys. Just as an aside note, my wife Miel is consideri...
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Our Portfolio: Geared for Income and Growth
2007-06-14 07:13:00
Our last few posts have been about credit cards, but as you know having a strong personal financial situation involves more than just borrowing. It also means having a healthy level of assets. In order to amuse our readers, we wanted to show you what stocks we are holding as well as the performance of each of our securities.In looking at these, we tried to balance our need for income with the prospect for growth that stocks can provide. So, some of the companies we bought for the dividends they pay. Others we bought because we thought the company's shares would increase in price. For example, AAV, CNE, ERH, HTE, SLF and PCU we all bought for the dividends.On the other had, some of our stocks, such as XOM, SSS, PRU and MAR we bought because we had an expectation that the stock's price would increase. In the case of XOM, we're up approximately 60%. MAR, SSS and PRU have also done pretty well, but not as well as Exxon.There's plenty of junk in our portfolio also. For examp...
More About: Portfolio , Income , Growth , Grow

Just Say No To Credit Cards
2007-06-12 07:16:00
We evidently seem to be experiencing some controversy surrounding credit cards this week. My wife is generally in favor of having one. On the other hand, I am not. Since this is an issue in which reasonable people disagree, I wanted to make my thoughts plain.Generally speaking, you should pay off your credit card debt, get rid of your cards and switch to using a pay as you go system with a check card. Why should you do this? There are four compelling reasons.1) Industry Sleaze: The credit card industry engages in some seriously sleazy business practices. Theses are well known, so I'll just briefly recap them here: fraud, confusing contract wording, failure to fully disclose arbitrary fees, universal default, abusive fees, abusive and deceptive interest calculations, repeated and confusing changes in due dates. These are just a few, but the list is endless. What makes these worse is that the fees are generally not disclosed by the industry, this suggests they are intent...
More About: Credit Cards , Credit , Cards

Credit Card Debate - The Other Side
2007-06-12 07:11:00
Well I've kept my mouth closed for long enough and figured that it was time to chime in. Initially when James started to discuss his opinions on credit cards I listened and figured it was best to let him rant and rave, even if I don't entirely agree.Now that the whole world has come back in favor of the almighty visa, I figured that it would be good to give my two cents worth.1) Credit Card s to improve your FICO. On the one side I can see the argument that the system is flawed to encourage the use of credit cards, particularly for those with bad credit. That being said, life is all about figuring out how to play the game. Since using a credit card appropriately can improve your score, then I advocate you use this in your favor by charging wisely. Please note that this doesn't necessarily mean that you need to charge your whole life on a card. Merely putting a bit on auto pay and then auto paying the bill will do the trick to help your rating. This is a good step for those ...
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Why Smart People Still Use Credit Cards
2007-06-11 16:58:00
Okay, this posting is a bit of a rant. In some our previous posts we've outlined problems with abuses in the credit card industry. So sometimes I'm mystified why smart people use credit cards even though they know they shouldn't.Nearly all finance professionals will tell you to dispense with your credit card debt. Everyone recommends this; David Bach, Eric Tyson, Loral Langemeier. Pretty much most of the credible personal finance writers will tell you to pay off your credit card debt. Heck, even Warren Buffet says you should pay off the balance on your cards. Since pretty much everyone agrees on this point, getting rid of your credit cards should be a "no-brainer".But, millions of people still use credit cards, despite the obvious good sense in avoiding them. I've been putting some thought into this. While I'm not an expert in psychology, the following reasons might explain why people continue to use their cards:1) Overconfidence: People seem to feel its okay to use their c...
More About: Credit Cards , Credit , Smart , Cards

Five Guys
2007-06-09 16:19:00
There is a new burger joint in our hood. You can call me late in the game, as this is the first time I've heard of Five Guys . As it turns out, Five Guys Famous Burgers & Fries seems to be all the rage up and down the Eastern corridor.James & I checked it out last night, since I had been impressed with their prices and quality. It was the perfect answer for a meal on a hot and sticky night with nothing in the fridge and we didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for your average DC restaurant.Aside from the great burger, for the rock bottom price of $3.09 plus tax, the best part was meeting one of the part owners. We were checking out an article on the wall about Five Guys when the manager asked if there was anything else we needed. We got the scoop from him on how they select locations and where they have been most profitable. Another interesting component was that the franchise uses a model where the line crew are eligible for bonuses for good customer service.The story abo...

The Case For Wealth
2007-06-08 02:34:00
At last count, there were over 71 million blogs. Many of these are devoted to topics like real estate, personal finance and investing. That is, there are hundreds of thousands if not more people writing about, money, wealth and everything that has to do with it. This leads one to ask: Why should one put time and energy into obtaining money? Aside from needing currency to pay for basic things like housing and food, there some compelling intangible reasons to acquire wealth. Power: For all its advantages, America is inherently an unequal place. Some people live in better neighborhoods than others; some people have better jobs than others. Some have arrest powers; some have positions which allow them to make laws. Others are disproportionately subject to those laws. Power is inherently unequal in America. Acquiring wealth allows one to obtain power. For example, if you are wrongly arrested or cheated by a company, you have the option to sue for redress if you can af...
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More Free and Legal Movies
2007-06-07 06:31:00
Hi All,A while back we blogged about a couple of websites that have free on-line streaming movies. Well, as part of our mission to provide our readers with the best in free and legal on-line entertainment, we found another site that also provides free and legal movies.The site is called Like Television...only better.According to them, the movies are licensed to be streamed by the general public. The only problem is that most of the films are pretty old. That said, just because something is old, doesn't mean its not good. For example, films like the World War II flick "A Walk In the Sun" and the Kurosawa classic "Yojimbo" are well worth watching.The best part about it, you don't have to sign up for a thing, just grab some popcorn and select the movie you want!Best,James
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SchoolHouse Rock - Walkin' On Wall Street
2007-06-06 01:24:00
Okay, this video is moderately amusing, so I'm passing it on to you. The clip is a brief animated blurb on selecting stocks. The narrator is a blue pigeon, so it shouldn't be too hard to understand. Best,James
More About: Wall Street , Rock , Street , Wall , Walk

Successful Couples Discuss Money
2007-06-05 17:51:00
Hello All,We DINKs are back from our trip to California. It was really an interesting visit, California is a huge prosperous and picturesque state. We spent most of the time visiting family and touring some of the more scenic parts of the state.Since we're big into finance, we ended up discussing our blog and money a fair amount with our families. One thing I noticed on the trip was that in terms of our relatives, our more economically successful family members generally communicate more openly about money.For example, my aunt and uncle control nearly a million dollars worth of real estate. They have a house in Marin County (if you don't know the Bay Area in California, Marin is pretty swanky), as well as shared interests in real estate in Washington state and Mexico. Also, over the past 4 years, they've managed to nearly quadruple their income, from $40,000 to $140,000. In addition, they've got a fair amount in stocks and mutual funds. But what's more important is that th...
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California...knows how to party!
2007-05-31 20:05:00
This posting has little to do with money, but we thought our readers would be interested in our travels and a few tidbits here and there.Yesterday we traveled down from the Lake Tahoe area to Yosemite National Park. We had been staying in our family cabin that James' grandfather bought in 1964. It is in a beautiful and exclusive area since it is the only private land surrounded by the Desolation National Forest. The rest of the cabins in the area are on a 99 year lease, so we feel pretty privileged to have the slice of nature. A great time to spent time with family and reconnect.On our travels down here via highway 89 (gorgeous) and 395 we saw the highest price of gas at a whooping $4.17 a gallon! Yikes! We are headed toward E on our tank and looking out for cheaper prices than that. We also checked out Mono Lake, which is pretty incredible if you are in the area.We also stayed last night at the Tenaya Lodge just outside of Yosemite. A couple of tips in booking the place, a...
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Galavanting Through California
2007-05-28 07:34:00
Hi All,We DINKs are currently visiting family in California ! So our postings will be somewhat spotty for the next couple of days until our return later on this week! Thanks and please stay tuned for our regular programming !Best,James
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Power Plan Appears to be Paying Off
2007-05-25 07:35:00
Hi All,It looks like it's going to be a busy memorial day weekend, but I wanted to give our readers an update on the situation with our power bill. A few days ago we blogged about the escalating situation with our power bill. Well, it turns out that this month the bill came at $38.56, far less than the $120.03 we got charged last month. We were both pretty happy about this. So our readers can consider what they can do to copy this success, we did the following: 1) Turned off the AC. The weather in DC has been pretty mild, so we haven't been obligated to turn on the air conditioning. This has been partly because Miel bought a very light quit for the summer, which has changed our habit of sleeping with the AC on. 2) Lowered the Temperature in Our Refrigerator & Freezer: We turned the cooling down a notch in both the refrigerator and the freezer. This seems to have made no impact on our food and the fridge us still plenty cold, so we recommend that you try this as well. 3) Replaced O...
More About: Power , Plan , Pears , Ears

Wealth Transparency
2007-05-24 19:23:00
Last weekend my mind got to wandering at a crab shack on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I got to thinking about how interesting it would if finances were more transparent. Given social norms, finances are one of those things that we deal with each and every day, with quite a variety of people, but we still keep so much disclosed in the process.Think about it, we buy things at the grocery store, go out to lunch, buy stocks, pay mortgages, get paid, all in a process that is largely void of any real transparency. For instance, we all have an idea of what our friends attitudes are towards going out, shopping, travel, etc. Yet while we divulge quite a bit of information in a variety of ways, few people would adequately be able to access someones financial circumstances in their entirety. There are always bound to be dirty secrets, hidden treasures, or surprises you wouldn't presume to encounter.While the reality is that opaqueness will continue to remain the norm, it would be inte...
More About: Wealth , Transparency , Spar , Tran , Pare

Conscious Spending For Couples
2007-05-23 08:55:00
Last weekend I was at a used book outlet in rural Virginia and I came across an inexpensive copy of Deborah Knuckey's Cons cious Spending for Couples . Knuckey is a free lance author and marketer. She's written a number of interesting articles on a wide variety of topics. For example, she's penned on extreme dating, politics, laser facial rejuvenation and - our favorite - personal finance for couples. More importantly, she's been on Oprah.To make a long story short, Knuckey says couples should do seven things:1) Plan Together: Set your goals jointly and come up with a realistic financial plan.2) Create Simple Financial Structure: Whatever one's situation, a simpler account structure limits fees and makes it easier to get things done.3) Get Into Good Habits: To minimize friction and expenses couples should avoid frittering away cash and and stay focused on managing big bills. 4) Communicate Through Conflict: Most fights are about what money is spent on. To avoid meltdown...

The DINKS May Networth
2007-05-22 17:23:00
After dragging ourselves home from work yesterday, we sat down and added up our net worth. We are happy to report that our wealth has grown to $356,000, an all time high. While we'd like to say that we've been particularly clever, most of our $27,000 gain over last month has been due to the terrific performance of the stock market.Otherwise, we avoided incurring further student loan debt and since we dumped our adjustable rate mortgages a while back, we've been able to attack the principle on our housing loans. Also, while we haven't put a great deal of money into prosper.com, the value of our portfolio has increased by 7 percent over the past month. While this is only $300, every little bit helps!For the details on our networth, check out the picture below
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Thoughts on Choosing a Financial Advisor
2007-05-21 16:00:00
For many people, getting started in personal finance can be daunting. The ins and outs of asset allocation, goal setting and deciding how to structure one's money can sometimes be overwhelming. Because of this, many people choose to hire someone to help them with their cash. While we are not experts in this topic, here are some things you might consider when choosing an advisor.1) Be Cautious:Its not an accident that caution is the first point in this posting. Most advisers are actually salespeople. That is to say, they are primarily interested in selling you products like insurance or annuities. This is a conflict of interest because the advisor is usually compensated by a third party for selling you these investments. This kind of reimbursement arrangement means you inevitably come second in the advisers mental calculus. Some people recommend fee-only or fee-based advising to avoid these conflicts of interest. Fee only advising is also problematic. Fee-only advisers are pa...
More About: Financial , Thoughts , Finan , Fina , Advisor

Blogger Spotlight: Financial Tip of the Week
2007-05-18 16:14:00
Hello Everyone!While nursing my morning coffee, I came across a website you might be interested in. The page is called "The Financial Tip of the Week " and it's run by Mark Oleson. Oleson has a PhD in family financial counseling and is the financial aid guru at the University of Colombia-Missouri.Oleson's webpage has a lot of great information on student loans, tax issues, consumer protection resources, etc. Also, it doesn't have any ads, which is a refreshing change from many blogs (ours included). If you're a student, have student loans, or are generally on the lookout for solid personal finance info, you should check out his page.Have a great Friday!James
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