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Dead Home Computer Update - Ninja Bill o' Doom
2008-03-14 21:53:00
"Aaargh!"I am not a Pirate, I don't play one on TV, but you would not know that based on my language lately...no not blue I have little kids. But a lot of Aargh! has been heard.Basically as I said before my hard drive drove off a cliff. Not a mechanical issue but a Windows Partition issue. Luckily, I found a great tech minutes from my house. A guy just out of college running his own business. He picked up the computer at the house Tueday and is (hopefully) delivering it back tonight. After exhaustive effort on his part, he was able to save my data (yeah!) but not my programs (boo!) as Windows had to be 100% ripped out and reloaded and new partitions set.So, if you are still reading you might be saying to yourself...NEXT Blog! But actually I am discussing this as it taught and reinforced some lessons for me that I wanted to share...Lessons Learnt (Hopefully!):Back up the data on your hard drive...and not just to another area on your hard drive! Even though mine was saved, I still h...
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Personal Finance QuickTake: Congress Sets the Stage for a $683MM Tax Increa
2008-03-14 12:53:00
Congress set the stage for a massive $683 Million tax increase for next year. Basically this is a 100% roll back of all of the Bush Tax cuts that are set to expire as he leaves office. Each Presidential candidate interrupted their campaigns in order to vote on this important declaration. The declaration is a non-binding document that does however declare intent in order to begin the planning of future budgets. Final vote on the actual budget will be for the new congress that is elected in November.These cuts would be backed by large domestic increases in spending, while still returning government ledgers to black within five years. In other words...tax and spend.In today's vote John McCain voted to keep the current tax structure in place while both Senators Obama and Clinton voted in favor of the repeal. This is sure to be a hot button issues with Democrats and Republicans alike as the country is already experiencing cost increases in most day-to-day items.Also up for vote today wa...
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71% of Economists Say We Are In A Recession
2008-03-13 22:27:00
Fully 71% of 51 Economists of surveyed agreed the US economy has slid into recession according to Wall Street Journals online edition today.Retail sales fell a pointed .6% in February as consumer spending tumbled. Consumers continue to grapple with high fuel prices, bad home value information and shrinking 401Ks due to market issues.This is a big turnaround from just 5 weeks ago. 20 surveyed felt the economy would actually go backwards for the year and that unemployment would rise to 5.5%The turnaround in opinion can be traced to the recent employment report that showed a loss of 63,000 jobs for the month. The second month in a row with negative job growth.A better phrase is probably "recessionary" as the textbook definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of GNP (Gross National Product) decline. However, I prefer the "Poor Richard" definition. "A Recession is when your friend loses his job, a depression is when you do!"Unless some stability to home and gas prices (althou...

My Blogs first 90 Days
2008-03-13 13:50:00
Monday, March 10th was the 90-day anniversary of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money. I was originally planning to post this Monday night, but then my computer died so it has been hit or miss time-wise. I really want to write this post to the person starting out (which I still am!) who is thinking about starting their own blog or just started and might be frustrated.I started the blog for a couple of reasons. One, We were just starting to get serious about getting our finances in order and the advice and stories of others from the Blogs phere was very helpful in showing us we weren't alone in the good fight. Second, I have always enjoyed writing and wondered if it was something I could do as a wider shared project.A couple key things that I learned so far, for those starting out (otherwise known as things I wish I knew when starting!):It is way harder then it looks! - Knocking out approximately 50,000 words over 90-days is like writing a book in that amount of time...albeit with ...
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Personal Finance QuickTake: Carl Icahn
2008-03-12 22:21:00
Carl Icahn is a pretty interesting guy. Along with Henry Kravis of KKR, he was one of the most feared names in Industry. The shear mention that Carl Icahn was "on the phone to talk to you", would scare most CEOs into writing him a check to go away!60 Minutes had a great piece on him and how he makes his money, and as one of the Top 20 richest people on the planet, he does know a thing or two about how to make money. He might not make companies cower with just a call anymore, but he does know how to rattle his sabre.Icahn was one of a handful of Corporate Raiders that bought up companies with little or no cash, loaded the company with debt and would then spin then off or tear them apart. Think Gordon Gekko from the movie "Wall Street". Icahn's famous takeover of TWA in 1985 is the stuff of legends. But the Airline was stabilized and saved, at least for a time, but a lot of people were put out of work.He is now known more as a Board of Directors worst nightmare. In an era of huge CEO...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance

Personal Finance QuickTake: Stock Market Loves the Fed
2008-03-12 13:09:00
The Stock Market jumped 416 points today based on the Federal Reserve move to improve liquidity to the market. This is the largest gain for the market since July 2002. This $200 Billion flu shot, gives liquidity to an area that companies have been to afraid to buy or allow to use as backing for other loans; Mortgage backed securities. This will develop a market for those securities that have seen constant write-down, as even good performing portfolios have been painted with this tainted brush.This International Fund, backed by the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank aims to put a floor over the bottomless pit that had drained markets over 500 point in the last 3 days. Based on the large increases today, Wall Street believes that they did just that.These Central Banks are hoping that these moves prove more effective then rate cuts, which have been only temporary bandages.From the Yahoo Report: "It's not just a rate cut. I think it'...
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Are Oil Hedge Funds to Blame?
2008-03-11 20:38:00
The US is very shortly staring at $4 per gallon gas in its near future. Oil was at $108 a barrel today and given that those are 55 gallon barrels that is nearly $2 per gallon...for crude oil! The $1 Trillion Question is, Why?What has changed in 24 months in order to send oil from $50 to over $100? Is it demand? Nope, demand is rising 10%+ and will probably slow down to very low growth due to consumers driving less. Has OPEC turned off the spicket? Nope. There have been fluxes, but for the most part...no. Iraq and Venezuela have been an issue, but not enough to cut supply by half. Which is what it would take to double the price (at least in a linear fashion). This report from WTRG shows more great slides to review for yourself. From the report: The U.S. petroleum industry's price has been heavily regulated through production or price controls throughout much of the twentieth century. In the post World War II era U.S. oil prices at the wellhead averaged $24.20 per barrel adjusted fo...
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Welcome All Visitors from The Consumerist!
2008-03-11 16:58:00
Woke up this AM to an insane amount of visitors!I would like to Welcome all of theose visiting from The Consumerist , a personal favorite of mine as well. It was trully an honor to be mentioned.If you like what you read, sign up for my RSS feed! and have it delivered directectly to you free every day! Once again...Welcome!
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Banks to Bust says Billionaire
2008-03-10 21:50:00
CNBC had a great interview with Billionaire Wilbur Ross, CEO of WL Ross and Co. In the interview Mr Ross the question I have been asking; With all of these bad loans going on, why haven't we seen more bank closings?His answer: a very simple, "We Will." "I think that's going to be the next wave, and coupled with problems in the commercial real estate market; I think they'll be the next bubbles that burst." He was also asked about risk to big banks. ""I think that the big banks won't fail in the sense that they will go to zero and depositors would lose money," Ross replied. "I think the Fed and other regulators will make things happen. I think it's the medium-sized banks, and particularly some of those that got overextended with the subprime and other kind of mortgage debt. I think those are the ones that had the serious mismatch, making 20- and 30-year loans based on 90-day deposits."This matched what the Federal Reserve Chair Bernanke told a Senate committee in late February. H...
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Major Computer Crash! - Doh!
2008-03-10 07:25:00
We got back from dinner at my mom's house last night and blammo...my computer is dead! on my wife's right now but, in the words of a pirate..."Aaargh!"I'll be back up by this afternoon (hopefully!)Racer X
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Our Third of Four RSS Contest Winners!
2008-03-09 22:29:00
Our third RSS Contest Winner was picked last night. I once again used Random.org to give me a number to determine the second winner of The FruitfulTime TaskManager Software. The software selected JayMSluyter!I haven't heard back yet from JayM so I could give you a a link to their Blog! But Congratualtions!Remember there is one more chance to win the contest, next week at the same time I will pick the next winner. Just register for my Email RSS Feed, or stay registered! I look forward to picking your name next!
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Best of the Week, Winners and Milestones
2008-03-09 13:44:00
Just Picked and Notified our third winner in the RSS Sign-up Contest. Hope to give a link and a quote during the mid-day update. Remember all you have to do is sign-up for the RSS feed HERE or on the main page, verify the email...and that's it! You are entered. If you are already on the list you are entered in to next weeks final drawing as well!Great week for Life , Liberty and the Pursuit of Money as we hit new milestones, increased readership and had great traffic. It was a great week for some of my favorite blogs as well. so without any further ado...The Best Of the Web for the Week :Brightside of Debt - This one is me trying to rally folk to go there and comment on the linked post! - Brightside is considering stopping her blogg as her Hubby found out about itand she's feeling guilty. I know so many of my readers read her blog. Go to this post and let her know how great her blog is and how you want her to stay!!!Iowa Hippie Chick -This is about her Financial Epiphany, but really...
More About: Winners , Milestones , Lock

Time For a Third Winner - Is it You?
2008-03-08 21:12:00
It's nearly time! We will be picking our third out of four total winners for our FruitfulTime TaskManager RSS Contest!All you have to do is sign up, or stay signed up, for our Email RSS feed and at 10PM PST tonight I will use a Random List generator to pick one of those subscribers as a winner!As easy as pie! 2 minutes of your time for a chance to win Free Software?Here is the Software description:FruitfulTime TaskManager is a to do list software that helps you to organise yourself. It allows you to input your tasks, split them in subtasks, keep track of notes, contacts, files and WebPages related to a particular task. FruitfulTime TaskManager also allows you to set due dates and assign reminders to accordingly. This will make sure that you will never miss a deadline again. FruitfulTime TaskManager is the best to do list software that can help you get things done and beat procrastination as recommended in this free procrastination ebook.Get signed up now! Just sign up HERE!I will e...
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Is Suze Orman's Advice Too Basic?
2008-03-08 14:29:00
First let me say I believe Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman have brought more people to consider their personal finances than most other financial writers. Orman has additionally brought more women into thinking more about their finances and take control of their financial futures. However, every time I see her (which, to be fair is not that much) something troubles me.Her advise is often very simplistic.I watched the show awhile ago and there was a segment on the show called "Can I afford It?" No offence to the people that called in, but it was like a bad SNL skit. Caller: Suze...Can I afford a Plasma TV?Suze: Tell me, do you have any cash on hand for Emergencies?Caller: No...Suze: Any Retirement savingsCaller: Yeah I have $2500 in my 401KSuze: How old are you?Caller: 50Suze: I wouldn't...get some bonds right away...That was totally made up but it isn't that far off the calls received. It isn't her problem who calls in, but the way real radio or TV works is that they feed the callers ...
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Personal Finance QuickTake:Yahoo + AOL - Microsoft Fight Round III
2008-03-07 22:34:00
According to a report from AP today, Yahoo has found another delaying tactic to keep Microsoft at bay. By delaying their Annual Shareholders Meeting, Microsoft no longer has until March 14th to nominate a new board of directors for shareholder vote.Yahoo continues to use this time to try and either find a white knight, someone they prefer to swing in, to buy them, or find another business merger partner in order to go it alone. On the White Knight side, Yahoo is apparently still negotiating with NewsCorp's myspace for an online hookup. This would fill-in each others needs nicely as myspace and other sites are becoming a key way to share and search for information. NewsCorp has made it clear that online is a major on-going concern for the company.On the merger side apparently Yahoo is talking with TimeWarners AOL. Speculation that a bought Yahoo would drive up the value of an AOL and allow TimeWarner to finally dump this anchor (my words...but maybe their's too) has been running ra...
More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance

LifeLock = Life Crock?
2008-03-07 14:40:00
I was reading some of my favorite blogs and I came across a post about how the blogger had just signed up for Life Lock and they were very happy to have their credit protected for $198/year for the family. Now, I applaud taking extra measures to protect yourself, and I had heard the radio ads so I was interested in what this was all about.But after I read the post, and then checked out their website I was concerned. Here is there 5 point plan from their website:Here is what LifeLock Offers YouProactive Identity Theft Protection Reduce Junk Mail Reduce Credit Card Offers $1 Million Service Guarantee Only $10 per Month The only problem with that is that is a free service that the credit bureaus offer. People can easily place a fraud alert on their own account, for free, by calling Experian at 1-888-397-3742. A Fraud Alert blocks your name being rented to Credit Card Companies which reduce the junk mail, the proactive protection is LifeLock working with Experian to set the free lock.So...
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Homeowner Equity Lowest Since End of WWII
2008-03-06 22:44:00
The amount of equity Americans have in their homes fell below 50% for the first time since 1945, according to an AP Report on Yahoo. That was the first year the Fed began to track that data.Per the report:Home equity, which is equal to the percentage of a home's market value minus mortgage-related debt, has steadily decreased even as home prices jumped earlier this decade due to a surge in cash-out refinances, home equity loans and lines of credit and an increase in 100 percent or more home financing. Economists expect this figure to drop even further as declining home prices eat into the value of most Americans' single largest asset.The threat of so-called "mortgage walkers," or homeowners who can afford their payments but decide not to pay, also increases as home values depreciate and equity diminishes. Banks and credit-rating agencies already are seeing early evidence of this. On Tuesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested lenders reduce loan amounts to provide relief to belea...
More About: Federal Reserve , Equity , Homeowner

Forbes Richest List Out - Big Changes
2008-03-06 14:03:00
The Annual Forbes List of the World's Richest is out and there have been some big changes. First off, for the first time in 13 years, Bill Gates is not Number 1! He is replaced by a fellow Omaha native, Warren Buffett (Go Huskers! :) )Mr. Buffett watched his fortune jump $10 Billion in 2007, to reach $62 Billion. Berkshire Hathaway continues to be the company to beat for long term investment prowess. His friend and List buddy Bill Gates saw his fortune jump $2 Billion to $58B, not good enough to even hold on to #2. Gates slipped to number three behind Mexican Telecon Kingpin, Carlos Slim Helú, who has seen his fortune double to $60B in just two years. An amazing financial run.Mr. Helú is part of a growing International trend to the list. Four of the Ten Top Billionaires are from India. In comparison, two years ago, 10 of the Top 20 were from the US, now only four are. The US still leads in total number of billionaires with 42% coming from our shores.However, Russia becomes the num...

A Great New Personal Finance Wiki
2008-03-05 21:29:00
Continuing my thoughts with the Wonderful World of Wiki 's (tm); The talented Mrs Micah has used her knowledge to launch The Finwikian - Your Two Cents.Wikis are a wonderful thing it is a great way to share interesting information between interested parties. From a companies wiki on tracking software bugs, all the way up and through the uber-est Wiki of all...Wikipedia.This one will grow over time, especially if you participate, but already there is a wealth (or at least wealth building) store of information there. Especially great is a listing of over 125 great Personal finance blogs that shows who runs it, how often it is updated and links to all. We are included as well!I wholeheartedly endorse and thank her for her effort, and encourage you to visit, then Ctrl+D!
More About: Personal Finance , Finance , Great

I Can't Afford to be Trusting
2008-03-05 14:37:00
First let me say...I love Wikipedia . I like to go up there each day and learn something new. Whether it is telling you it is Lei Feng Day In China (w00t!), in 1770 American's pelted British Soldiers with snowballs and that led to 5 dead or even that the Euro hit an all-time high today.Sure I know the jokes about the inaccuracies (and here is a good one!): How do you know what 40% of Wikipedia's Facts are lies?...You take out the 60% that are blatant lies and it is what's left over :) (joke!)Hey, but I love the goal of trying to contain all of the collected knowledge together in one place! Just for the betterment of mankind.Well, allegedly the betterment of one kind. Jimmy Wells. Apparently, again, there are alleged incidences of improprieties with expenses, including a $13,000 Steak Dinner! This a bit after finding out that the Wikipedia Foundation had hired a Convicted Felon as their Chief Operating Officer (COO).It is also in the same report that Wells changed his own listing m...

Two Great Carnivals to See
2008-03-04 22:40:00
A quick post, because today is crazy busy!!!Two great must-see Carnivals are going on. The ever popular Carnival of Personal Finance is being held at Baglady! There is a really interesting slant on this one, probably a carnival if seen in real-life that would scare kids! But its on the net so it can't hurt you!Next, the Carnival of Debt Management is running at Credit Card low-down. These are laways jam-packed full of goodness, and this one is no exception.As a blogger these are really great way to let others see your great work!Back off to crazy-town!
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Aligning Goals with Reality
2008-03-04 14:39:00
Well we are two months into the New Year. Still early, yet 1/6th done. Trends are appearing. The rush and promise of the New Year feels quaint, while new visions of tax rebate check...sorry stimulus checks, dance in your heads. The big question is how is it going? Especially Budget and Goal-wise.I firmly believe a good plan executed is far superior to an excellent plan in a drawer, but even better is the adequate plan that fully recognizes that the battle plan needs to be fluid. I like to do a look every two months at my goals to see if they are still on track, are achievable and even make sense given whatever has gone on.This is so important for your finacial goals and budgets. Did you really think you would spend $14 a month on eating out when you had been spending $100? And now you are spending $125, because you also cut the grocery money in half!So time to breakout the old checkbook and write yourself a check...a reality check. Grab two months worth of data, one month is too sho...
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Personal Finance QuickTake: The World According to Ram
2008-03-03 22:16:00
Ram Charan is one of the leading experts in the world today in advising businesses. Frankly, he is in the rarified Air with Buffett and Drucker IMHO. He isn't boisterous, he isn't a Hacksaw sort of guy, he isn't a guru. He IS someone that lets you see past where your focus usually is.As you can see I am a big fan. Yahoo ran a series with Ram called "What Every Company Should Know." Given that most reading this run a blog, which IS a business if you have ads up!I really how Ram breaks down topics that feel huge to great bite-sized morsels that you can really learn from. My favorite in the series was, "The Basics of Money Making" where Ram takes you through all what is takes to make money. And really whether you are a business or an individual, there are great lessons here.Read and Enjoy!
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The Active Veil Of Consumerism
2008-03-03 14:02:00
We have a family budget meeting at the end of every month. For February we discussed the good progress we made, when a question came up from our middle child, our 10-year old daughter."If we have $2000 in our Emergency Fund and $3000 saved on taxes, that $5000, right?" "Why can't we use some of that to go to the mall like we used to?"After some chuckles I noticed that others were thinking along the same lines...and probably me too. See when we would get money in before we would allocate some of it for "fun." We would buy something on our list that we had all agreed we wanted. New TV, DVD player, etc.. But not this time.What we were all feeling was the break from the past.Before we would "celebrate" our wins more. We would look forward to bonus as it meant a second Christmas, albeit with more expensive gifts! Although this was an illusion...what I call the active veil of consumerism. Sure we had debt, check out the Pinball machine. No retirement, Trip to Vegas. But every grain of sa...
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Our Second of Four Winners...
2008-03-02 22:31:00
A bit past 10PM last night used Random.org to give me a number to determine the second winner of The FruitfulTime TaskManager Software. The software selected Funny About Money! I haven't heard back yet from Funny so I could give you a a link to their Blog! But Congratualtions none the less!Remember there are two more chances to win the contest, next week at the same time I will pick the next winner, Just register for my Email RSS Feed, or stay registered! I look forward to picking your name next!
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February's Top Traffic Drivers and Commenters!
2008-03-02 21:11:00
We are 2/12th through the year already! Before we March into the new month, it is a great time to recognize those that have help my blog the most in February. We saw a bunch of milestones hit and a couple crushed!First I want to recognize those that sent the most traffic to Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Money in February.Top Traffic Drivers in February:ShoeMoney pfBlogsJohn ChowIowa Hippie ChickBankerGirlPaid it Down and Moving ForwardMy Open WalletMrs MicahMy Dollar PlanThe Digerati LifeThe traffic drivers are really important, because without them no one would see the blog! However, once they are here it is important the they feel they can jump in and comment. That were the next group come in...The Top Commenters for February! Thanks for starting and joining in the conversations!Top Commenters For February:Fiscal MusingsPaid it Down and Moving ForwardMrs MicahCatherine LawsonIowa Hippie ChickThank you all for commenting and hope to see even more in March!Last, But Definitely not le...

Second Winner Picked Tonight - You Can Still Win!
2008-03-02 00:03:00
Hey all! We will be picking our second out of four winner for our FruitfulTime TaskManager RSS Contest!All you have to do is sign up, or stay signed up, for our Email RSS feed and at 10PM PST tonight I will use a Random List generator to pick one of those subscribers as a winner!Easy Breezy!Here is the Software description:FruitfulTime TaskManager is a to do list software that helps you to organise yourself. It allows you to input your tasks, split them in subtasks, keep track of notes, contacts, files and WebPages related to a particular task. FruitfulTime TaskManager also allows you to set due dates and assign reminders to accordingly. This will make sure that you will never miss a deadline again. FruitfulTime TaskManager is the best to do list software that can help you get things done and beat procrastination as recommended in this free procrastination ebook. Sign-up now, Get your friends to sign up HERE!I will email the winner tonight and let them know they have won. I will als...
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February Financial Month in Review
2008-03-01 14:32:00
End of a longer then usual February , and pretty good progress this month. Not too many Ninja Bills, out side of taxes but still OK there. We got our high yield E*Trade Savings Account (currently 4.1%) going and we have now funded half of our 2008 Property Taxes already!Here are some highlights:Net Worth Increased $5019 - Huge Increase! $3000 was from Tax Return, rest from debt reduction. Take that out and still a good month!Debt Reduction of $1692! - Included over $500 off of Credit Card Debt!Tax Return - Direct to our E*Trade Complete Savings Account. Not one Dime spent. This is a big deal here as we always "talked" ourselves into a little here a little there.Went to dinner and a movie to celebrate last night (used our allowance! Not Breaking any rules! Semi-Pro!) and we both commented how far we have come over the last few months. We are really trying to move forward on these goals and look forward to completing Baby Step #2 - The Elimination of Consumer debt.Points to work on:Foc...
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Being a Target - "College the Poor Kids" Way Follow-up
2008-02-29 22:10:00
All I can say is wow! Today my traffic exploded to where at 9am this morning I had my biggest day ever all ready!This is all due to the coverage by msn's MoneyBlog on my piece "College the Poor Kids Way." It obviously stirred up strong emotions as I thought it might.First off, regardless of your opinion thanks for visiting! I really appreciate anyone who has clicked over to see more about the blog and perhaps read a bit more. If you like what you are reading, or just what to be notified to when I might annoy you again, sign up for my RSS Feed. It is free, and if you signup using your email account you could win FruitfulTime TaskManager software with a MSRP value of $50!Now for a quick follow-up to the posting:Some background on me, as some believe this is driven by my background:Paid for College 100% by myself, but lived with family (Aunt and Uncle). So no room and board costsParents couldn't afford support other then moral, which was great!Worked at minimum wage jobs in LA - Pizz...
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Is Grandma Coming to Live with Us?
2008-02-29 14:54:00
As more baby boomers retire there are going to be some parents that are not going to be in the position of just being able to make it. Starting late with 401k's, higher then expected health costs and frankly, longer life will add to this phenomenon. This is the flip side of the coin of kids waiting longer to leave. We may end up living with our parents, between homes over half out life! Don't get me wrong, I love my Mom and Mother-in-law, but I could end up with both!Personally this is not a burden I want to put on my children. And to be fair it would be child...singular, it is always one that is the go to person, either due to closeness geographically or responsibility. level.Are we ready to become multi-generational home dwellers like many other countries?My opinion is that, I think a lot of this will be avoided as people work longer and live better then previous generations. 100 becomes the new 80. People are vibrant and sharp, because they have to be. I also believe that the ...
More About: Live , Grandma