The stock market likes to go against conventional wisdom. This article from Marketminder.com explains why the 'experts' are most often wrong in their predictions.
12/18/2007
As they say at NPR, when we do the numbers we find that, well, it depends on how you do the numbers. Analysis is in the eye of the beholder. Just ask any finance guy told to justify the corporate jet. I prefer, with a few twists, to do the cash in, cash out method so here goes.
The HUD asking price was $39,900. I got it for $27,000 after some long negotiations. Dealing with HUD is tricky so a realtor that specializes in this is important. HUD picks the realtor and the realtor cannot opine on a bid but they will do so in code. "They may have an issue with this" means too low. "Perhaps in the ballpark" means you got it. Anyway, as I said before, you make money when you buy the house, not when you sell it.
Here are the cash flows (Sorry about the numbers going all over the place, programming ignorance):
Money out
Purchase Price $27,000
Maintenance/Repair 3,400
Property Taxes 3 Years 3,600
Insurance 600
Freddy and Celia Closing Costs 3,500
Foreclosure Legal Fees 750
Back Taxes and Penalties 3,000
Patricia Sale Closing Costs 500
Total Out 42,350
Money In
Rent $16,275
Freddy/Celia Mortgage Payments 7,920
Patricia Sale Proceeds 49,000
Total In 73,195
ROI = Cash In minus Cash Out divided by Cash Out=$73,195-$42,350=$30,845 divided by $42,350=72.8%. Not too shabby, at first glance. I held the property for 4.5 years so the annual return is 72.8% divided by 4.5 years equals 16.2%.
At this point, any analyst out there worth anything should be shouting "Wrong, wrong." And they would be right. You can't divide 72.8% by 4.5 years because it ignores the time value of money and a few other things but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
There is a more glaring error. There is no expense in there for me but let's not quibble.
Let's do look at what is in there--The cost to renovate the house was only $3,400 because I did most of the work myself. It was a controllable variable. Uncontrollable variables are property taxes and penalties ($7,600), insurance ($600), closing costs ($4,000) and legal fees ($750). Actually, closing costs can be reduced significantly by avoiding real estate agents as I did with Patricia but it ain't a done deal yet so an agent still may be necessary.
What ate up a large amount of cash was FEES and you cannot avoid them but most people forget about them. If you invest in real estate, don't forget them.
BUT we still haven't come up with the most GLARING error in the analysis. The Donald and Co. would say "Don't do it this way. Use OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY." Let's try that. You put 20% down and borrow the rest for repairs and everything else at 10%. So that is $5,400 for the downpayment and $15,350 for everything else and 4.5 years of interest payments=$31,899 plus the interest not paid you for the downpayment but let's not split hairs. Income of $73,195 minus expenses of $31,899 generates a return of $41,296 divided by $31,899 for a return of 129%, or an annual return of 29% doing it my way.
Not bad. In fact, great. The Donald is vindicated except for the fact that OPM is based on the assumption the OP are either idiots or charities because...
Who is going to lend you this money? Not HUD. Oh, there may be a government program out there that will lend you the money but I don't know about it and I wouldn't qualify. Maybe you would but I doubt it. Will a bank lend it? Lend $31,899 for a property worth currently, maybe $27,000? Remember OPM assumes you can borrow just about everything. I don't think so. Maybe Mom and Dad will lend it. Give it a try. Or private individuals may lend it but they will charge a lot more interest and take a lot more of the profits.
Please feel free to take a whack at the analysis or come up with a better one. I'm going to send this to a friend that is much better at finance than me so we will see what he has to say. For now my head is spinning and I probably made some major mistake BUT no matter how you do it you will come up with the same conclusion--yes, you can make money in real estate but it isn't as easy or painless as the guys on TV would have you believe.
The main part of the construction is finally done. There’s one minor problem to fix, but it still renders my apartment unusable at the moment. (Sort of.)
I asked my contractor to retain my original tub because of an art deco detailing that matches the building’s exterior. I had him reglaze the surface so I could keep it. Doing that costs about $400 whereas a new tub would have been $200 + installation. To me, that’s about equivalent pricing with the added non-monetary benefit of pleasing my aesthetics.
Unfortunately, my contractor didn’t have a whole lot of experience with glazing. He hired an excellent glazer through his business partner who had used this glazer on other projects. The tub looked great when I first saw the work. It was awesome and I knew I had made the right decision.
However, my contractor told me on Tuesday that it would take 24 hours to set and then about 72 hours to cure, so I wouldn’t be able to shower in it till Friday. There were just a few more things to do like hang a towel bar and clean the work area and everything would be done. That was fine with me.
I get a call on Wednesday evening. The contractor has made a boo boo. He misunderstood the glazer. Nothing should have touched the tub for 72 hours at all. Because the contractor thought 24 hours was enough, he laid a canvas drop cloth in the tub so he could step in it and put in the plumbing fixtures. He had inadvertently marred the surface with the texture of the cloth. OOPS.
The glazer said he can’t fix this for at least a week because you can’t lay another layer of glaze down for 7 days after the first application. While I can use the tub over the weekend, it’s not perfect. So really, I’m not going to be able to move back in till June 21st after the reglazing is fully cured. YIKES. That makes it nearly 2 months since I started the project which should have taken 10-15 days.
At least I am only eating the cost of the extra labor for the surprise concrete under the waist-high tile backsplash on a spot of the walls that didn’t need tile. Yes, I went overbudget, but only by $300, less than 10% of the total estimate. And I saved a little money by buying less tile overall.
I will do an inspection over the weekend and hopefully cut a check for final payment next week. Then I will be able to move back in! YAY!
Personal finance columns drive me up a wall. Here is a doozy of bad advice. We'll take it point by point.
We spend so much of our careers doing good work, meeting interesting people, and learning new skills. But it really all starts with one moment: the interview.
Once you get there, you need to be able to package everything together for a nice, neat presentation that's memorable in exactly the right way.
Here are five mistakes a lot of people make -- even people who are great at doing interviews:
1. Not preparing for a phone interview.
Most hiring managers screen candidates on the phone before they bring the candidate in for an interview. This is to make sure there aren't any glaring problems.
A phone interview saves time. If you can't get the answers to basic questions right on the phone, there's no point in interviewers watching you botch those questions in person. Also, the hiring manager is looking for you to make a mistake that would rule you out. For example, not knowing that you shouldn't take a call with a screaming baby in the background.
So instead of thinking of the phone interview as a precursor to the real thing, think of it as something you can prepare for. Learn the rules.
MY INTERJECTION HERE--IF YOU DON'T PREPARE FOR AN INTERVIEW, THIS ARTICLE IS NOT GOING TO HELP YOU. YOU ARE ALREADY TOO STUPID TO GET A JOB.
2. Misunderstanding the point of a face-to-face interview.
Hiring managers today have a lot of tools at their disposal to figure out if you're qualified for a job. The Internet reveals your history, and often the content and quality of your work; LinkedIn can provide a plethora of references from people who have worked with you, whether you actually provide them to the employer yourself or not. And a phone screen can give a sense of your verbal abilities.
So what's left? Whether or not you click with them -- whether they like you. Remember that intangible thing that happens on a date when you decide if you like the person or not? The same thing happens with hiring.
This is what the face-to-face interview is all about. So make a great first impression, and focus on making sure the interviewer likes you.
SEE POINT 1. YOU DON'T KNOW THE POINT OF A FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW? IF YOU DON'T, DON'T WORRY, YOU ARE PROBABLY INCAPABLE OF FINDING THE OFFICE FOR THE INTERVIEW.
3. Neglecting talking points.
When President Bush walks into a press conference, he doesn't worry what journalists are going to ask him because he already has the answers he's going to provide -- no matter what the questions are. Such answers are called talking points.
Politicians want to frame an issue, so they listen to a question and then decide which of their talking points they'll use to answer that question. In this way, each question they're asked is an opportunity to get their own points across.
I once had a media trainer teach me how to stick to talking points, and it works for a wide range of situations -- including job interviews.
You control what five topics you want to discuss, so you should pick five things about yourself that you want to get across in an interview, and each point should come with some sort of story or example. You listen to each question and then figure out which point fits in well for a particular question.
You're not George W. Bush, though, so you can't totally ignore questions that don't have pat answers. But you'd be surprised how often you can answer an interview question with one of the five answers about yourself that you've prepared. This is a way to control an interview and make sure the focus is on your strengths.
A great resource for helping you understand how to frame your answer for any question is the "The Complete Q & A Job Interview Book" by Jeffrey Allen.
YOU CONTROL THE INTERVIEW? SORRY, NOT TRUE. SURE THERE ARE SOME POINTS YOU WANT TO GET ACROSS BUT IF YOU START TAKING OVER THE STAGE, YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF AN INTERVIEW FOR THE HIRING MANAGER IS TO SEE IF THIS PERSON IS GOING TO FIT IN. BE YOURSELF. IF THEY DON'T LIKE YOU, TOO BAD. IF THEY DON'T YOU ARE PROBABLY BETTER OFF NOT WORKING THERE ANYWAY.
4. Thinking the job description is set in stone.
When you start an interview, find out what you're interviewing for. Typically, the person who writes and publishes a job description is not the person making the hiring decision. Ask the hiring manager what the goals are for the position, and ask who the new hire will work most closely with so you know who'll have the biggest say in whether or not you get hired.
And, if you get the job, remember that it could change all over again. Immediately. So don't ever assume you know what your job is until you investigate. The only constant about your job description is that you must be invaluable to your boss in order to succeed.
DOES THIS PERSON UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ABOUT CORPORATIONS? I DON'T THINK SO. THE PERSON DOING THE HIRING PROBABLY DID WRITE THE JOB DESCRIPTION OR GIVE THE INPUT TO HR SO THEY CAN PUT IT INTO THEIR PET FORMAT, SO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THE HIRING MANAGER IS SAYING. THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ANY SENSE IN THIS ARTICLE--BE INVALUABLE TO YOUR BOSS!
5. Failing to close.
A job interview is a sales call, and all good salespeople know that you don't have a deal until you close it. An almost-deal is not a deal, in the same way that a good interview is not a job.
So toward the end of the interview, if you think things are going well, say, "Do you have any reservations about hiring me?" Most hiring managers will answer this question truthfully, and it'll give you a chance to assuage their fears.
This is a hard question to ask, because you'll be faced with your weaknesses right there in the midst of the interview. But if you don't take the time to explain how you'll overcome those weaknesses it won't come up, and you're much less likely to get the job.
THIS IS SO DUMB--DO YOU HAVE ANY RESERVATIONS ABOUT HIRING ME? WHY, SHOULD I? IF SOMEBODY ASKED ME THAT QUESTION, I WOULD ASK FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE JOB, SAY SO AND THEN TELL THEM WHY YOU CAN DO IT. JEEZ, THIS IS SO STUPID.
SORRY BUT THIS KIND OF STUFF WILL KEEP YOU UNEMPLOYED FOR A LONG, LONG TIME.
Remember when I blogged about (here) my relative whose ex-husband got their joint $600 rebate (they're retirees, due $300 each) even though they both sent in 1040As as married filing separately? Apparently, that's happening to other folks, too.
According to this MarketWatch story, "Even as millions of people are anxiously checking their mailboxes and bank accounts for their stimulus payments, others have received more than their fair share."
So what's a person to do if they get the excess money? Don't spend it.
The IRS is likely to eventually discover the mistake and want the money back. And since it wasn't properly the taxpayer's to begin with, the agency is within its rights asking for repayment.
This story talks about such instances; it refers to refunds, but the problems and procedures are the same for the economic stimulus payments.
In the case of my family member who's involved in a wrong rebate amount situation, her ex-husband got the erroneous $600 that was meant for joint filers and my relative, the former wife, got her separate, correct, $300 amount a couple of weeks later.
So the ex-husband should be prepared to come up with the overpayment amount. Not that I hold a grudge or anything, but nyah-nyah!
Some extra checks are correct: The MarketWatch story also notes, as did I in this previous blog, that some second stimulus payments are OK.
In these cases, the IRS is making up the rebate shortfall that about 350,000 taxpayers experienced because their original stimulus payments did not include the bonus money for eligible children.
Learning process: This whole rebate process has been a learning process for both taxpayers and the IRS.
Because of the eligibility specifics (you can read about whether you can expect a check here), many filers were confused and sent in incorrect forms that resulted in incorrect rebates. Many of them will be able to correct the mistakes on their 2008 returns they'll file next year.
But some of the screw-ups fall squarely on the IRS.
I know politics played a part in rushing these payments through the system. But still, there are some things the IRS could have done better.
So here's my unsolicited advice for the IRS if it ever has to deal with rebates again.
Trash the timetable: The whole delivery schedule idea. Good intentions, bad PR move. So scrap it!
Remember the 2001 rebates? Those were distributed the same way as these 2008 checks, using the last two digits of Social Security numbers. But seven years ago the IRS didn't put out a firm timetable. That worked OK.
This year, however, folks are apoplectic because they didn't get their rebate money when the IRS said they would. Sure the agency has some legitimate reasons why the delivery dates weren't met, but because they gave folks specific date hopes, they basically invited angry reactions from every person who didn't get his or her check on schedule.
Next time, and I'm sure Capitol Hill will come up with a next time sooner or later, use the 2001 no-delivery-dates method.
Make sure the system is ready to go: Secondly, and most importantly, don't send out checks until you're absolutely, positively sure they are right. If that means the process starts a bit later or takes somewhat longer, so be it.
In the end, people will be happier. Sure they'll complain about the wait, but at least when it's over, things will (should be) correct.
Again, the deadline pressure might have contributed here. In trying, at the constant urging of the Administration, to get the money to taxpayers ASAP, the IRS learned that valuable haste-makes-waste lesson.
True, most folks are getting their checks -- their correct checks -- and in reasonable time. But those who didn't (or aren't) are making life miserable for the IRS, their accountants, their family and friends, for everyone!
From this whole process, the IRS needs to take heed of a basic business lesson: It's much easier and less expensive to do the job right the first time and keep customers relatively satisfied than it is to clean up after your mistakes and make unhappy folks happy again.
Tracking down your correct check: If you filed your return and your rebate delivery date has come and gone, contact
You can check out the agency's various Web pages, such as Where's My Rebate? or the IRS' consolidated links found here, for more information. Or you can call the IRS' toll-free Rebate Hotline at
Please don't read that headline as flippant. It's not. It is, however, a distressing possibility for a fellow tax blogger.
Joe Kristan, the CPA who pens Roth & Co.'s Tax Update blog, announced on Friday that because of potential flooding, he and his colleagues had to leave their downtown Des Moines, Iowa, office. Before he departed for drier ground, he posted a photo of an already soggy downtown intersection.
I join Taxprof and I'm sure many other tax and finance bloggers in wishing Joe and Roth & Company well. Here's hoping that all weather-stricken areas get back to normal soon.
Remember my post about a month ago that examined why some folks' rebate checks are showing up short or not at all? One of the main reasons is that the money was diverted as part of the U.S. Treasury offset program.
Through this special collection process, state tax departments and other government agencies can collect from federal tax refunds any money they say they are owed. The money comes out before the taxpayer ever sees a penny from the IRS.
Well, as noted earlier, it applies to rebate checks, too.
Down in Georgia, tax collectors are being particularly aggressive this rebate season.
And it's looking for more. Georgia tax officials say the state's list of tax delinquents covers 1,300 pages. That's 36,000-plus people whom the state says owe it a combined
As for the current economic stimulus payments, Georgia Public Broadcasting news reports that the state ranks third nationally for number of rebate seizures. (It doesn't elaborate on which states have seized more; I'm still checking.)
In the five years that Georgia has participated in the federal offset program, according to GPB, the state has collected a total of
You can listen to a report on the offset program in general and the Georgia situation in particular at this National Public Radio Web page.
Somebody over at Tower Perrin doesn't have enough to do as evidenced by this 'study.' I struggled through it but not sure I can draw any conclusions except that Mexican companies have the greatest percentage of 'engaged' employees. From what I saw in Mexico they are engaged because they just feel damn lucky just to have a job.
Interesting remarks about Japan as well. Well, interesting if you are in Human Resources.
On the 'road to engagement?' What is that?
Read on and figure out your own conclusion. Please share any insight because I'm not sure I get this. Or even want to.
Few workers are 'engaged' at work and most want more from execs
Sunday October 21, 10:28 am ET
By Andrea Coombes
|
"Happy employees don't necessarily create better financial results, but there is a definite link between engagement and a company's financial performance," Gebauer said.
The survey found 21% of workers worldwide are engaged, and another 41% are "enrolled," which means they're on the road to engagement, Gebauer said.
More than 80% of the engaged employees say they contribute to the quality of company products, services and customer satisfaction, while only 40% of disengaged workers agree.
Engagement helps retention too: About 50% of engaged employees say they have no plans to leave their company versus 15% of the disengaged.
"The notion of engagement is really a dollars-and-cents issue. Organizations that have employees that are highly engaged deliver better financial results than those that don't," Gebauer said.
In a separate study, Towers Perrin assessed data on 40 global companies over a three-year period, measuring employee engagement at a certain point and then looking at the companies' financial results over the ensuing three years.
Companies with highly motivated workers enjoyed a 3.7% increase in operating margins and a 2% rise in net profits, while companies with a lower level of worker commitment saw both measures decrease slightly.
In the U.S., 29% of workers are engaged and 28% are disenchanted or disengaged, while in Mexico, 54% of workers are engaged -- the highest among the 19 countries surveyed -- while 16% are disenchanted or disengaged.
The lowest portion of engaged workers on the list is Japan, where 3% of workers are engaged and 72% are disenchanted or disengaged.
Still, other reports find higher levels of worker commitment among U.S. workers, at least. A separate survey finds that 72% of workers would recommend their company as a good place to work, up from 62% two years ago, and 64% say their company values them as employees, according to a survey of 2,000 U.S. workers in September by Rasmussen Reports LLC, a research firm, for Hudson, a staffing and recruitment firm.
From the Towers Perrin report, here's the full list of engagement levels by country:
| Region | Engaged | Enrolled | Disenchanted | Disengaged |
| Global | 21% | 41% | 30% | 8% |
| Mexico | 54% | 30% | 13% | 3% |
| Brazil | 37% | 38% | 22% | 3% |
| India | 36% | 46% | 15% | 3% |
| U.S. | 29% | 43% | 22% | 6% |
| Switzerland | 23% | 50% | 23% | 4% |
| Canada | 23% | 44% | 25% | 7% |
| Spain | 19% | 35% | 31% | 15% |
| Russia | 18% | 46% | 30% | 7% |
| Germany | 17% | 47% | 28% | 8% |
| China | 16% | 51% | 27% | 6% |
| U.K. | 14% | 42% | 33% | 11% |
| Belgium | 13% | 47% | 31% | 9% |
| Netherlands | 13% | 47% | 32% | 7% |
| France | 12% | 41% | 35% | 12% |
| Italy | 11% | 40% | 36% | 13% |
| Poland | 9% | 37% | 39% | 15% |
| Korea | 8% | 45% | 40% | 7% |
| Hong Kong | 5% | 36% | 46% | 13% |
| Japan | 3% | 25% | 56% | 16% |
Rather than using "the blunt instrument of pay," Gebauer said, companies should survey their work force, much as they might study their customers, to assess what employees are seeking.
The top 10 drivers of employee engagement across all 19 countries are a mixed bag that includes both the behavior and actions of senior management and individuals' own actions and abilities:
Many employees "are looking for a greater demonstration of senior management's interest in their day-to-day work," Gebauer said.
"What employees are looking for is open communication, communication that reflects the fact that senior management really understands how the work gets done, and recognizes and appreciates that," she said.
Senior management's interest in employees can be expressed in a number of ways, Gebauer said, "including organizations' willingness to help employees balance work and activities outside of work, to sponsor competitive benefit programs, to focus on career development and training," she said.
"Those are things that will translate to employees as senior management being interested in my well-being," she said.
Communication helps, too, even the electronic kind. "CEOs who will provide a monthly Web cast or a voicemail just letting people know about key developments in the industry and in the company -- those are some of the things that help employees put at least a voice and a face to senior management," she said.
The study's findings refute other studies that find workers' immediate supervisors are most important to employees' sense of well-being.
"It's not to say the manager isn't important, but imagine the best manager in the world working in an organization that doesn't have a good performance-management system, doesn't have good advancement opportunities," Gebauer said.
"How is that manger going to help the employee navigate through an organization that is actually not working so well?"
Beats the hell out of me.
Frankly, it’s a lot easier than you think it is and it kind of makes me wonder why I pay $5 at the farmer’s market for a 1lb loaf of bread. Since I haven’t bought a loaf from Grace’s Bakery at the farmer’s market in almost a year, it was time to give it a try. (Plus the yeast sock puppets on Alton Brown’s Good Eats show make me laugh.)
I’ve made one batch of About.com’s Master Bread Dough recipe. It’s nothing to be afraid of.
The top 3 things that scare me about baking bread:
1. Killing the yeast so the bread doesn’t rise.
2. Overkneading.
3. Impatience.
I’ve had some bad experience in Home EC as a kid so I always thought yeast bread was hard to make. But one of my close friends made yeast bread in the dorm kitchen all the time for awesome late-night bread and honey snacks. All of these fears can be overcome fairly easily.
1. Killing the yeast so the bread doesn’t rise: The recipe I used says heat the milk, water and butter till there are bubbles around the edges, which is how people did it before they had home thermometers. But don’t be stupid like me, just BUY AND USE a thermometer and don’t add the yeast if it’s more than 130 degrees F. Trust the recipe. I heated the mixture till there were little bubbles on the edges and it worked just fine.
2. Overkneading: If the recipe says knead it 20 times, or 10 times or 5 times, do just that. If it says knead for 8-10 minutes, do it just for 8. If you want to knead bread for therapy, make a separate batch or divide your recipe in half since many recipes are for 4+ loaves. (NO KIDDING! I read like 10 recipes before I found one for just two loaves, i.e. the recipe above.)
3. Impatience: Ah Grasshopper. This is what timers and internet surfing is for. Give it at least an hour to rise on the second rising, but the dough is forgiving here. Often recipes say to let the dough rise till it’s doubled. But I’ve found it’s actually up to me. I can put the bread on the counter and run a few errands. I can put it on the fridge and get slightly shorter rising time. Or I can put it on the front porch in Sunday afternoon heat and get an even shorter rising time (like 30-45 minutes).
Some other notes:
1. I used Silk Vanilla Soy Milk
2. Time is your most expensive ingredient. I made the recipe knowing I would only make 1 loaf and freeze the other half. That was fine for me. I had a bad headache last week and came home early in the afternoon. It was enough time to make a loaf of bread for dinner. I had no idea when I’d bake the second loaf. I thawed it out in the fridge on Saturday night into Sunday morning. I thought I’d wake up early and have fresh bread for Sunday brunch. But I didn’t wake till after noon and we left the house to hit the farmer’s market. Instead I shaped the dough and put it ON the fridge before we left. When we returned, the dough was still cold and hadn’t risen. I put it outside with a tea towel on top. In the heat of the day, it rose 75% in 30 minutes. Because I was pressed for time to complete another errand before dark, I baked it without the full doubling, but the texture of the bread was equal to that of the first loaf.
How cheap was it? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. But if Sistah Ant’s statistic of $3.30 a loaf is any indicator, then it was damned cheaper to make my own. Everyone keeps flour, sugar, and salt around. I’m sure it’s not hard to have some milk and eggs either unless you’re vegan. (eew.). If you make a grocery list, getting some yeast at the supermarket can’t be too hard. Remember, a lot of recipes are also for multiple loaves, not just one. So even if I spent the equivalent of $3.30 on ingredients for this recipe, I got two loaves at $1.65 each which were tasty and delicious. (As of this week, Hodgson’s Mill yeast was 52 cents a packet or 3 for a dollar at their website. But I have a preference for Fleischmann’s
The other thing is that I’m much more inclined to eat the whole loaf if I make the bread myself. Often in the summer heat, cheap bread goes moldy on me before I can eat it all. I can assure you that every crumb of my two loaves was eaten and never had a chance to grow mold.
My next experiment in bread baking will be with whole wheat.
Create a “tickler” list to remind yourself of infrequent financial tasks that should be completed each year. That way the tasks won't slip by unnoticed. I do this for things that I wouldn't otherwise receive notices for. Having a master list makes it easy to add the tasks to my calendar. Here's what my tickler list looks like:
January - Write down beginning mileage on car on January 1st. Research properties for potential tax lien bids & register for auction.
February - Bid in tax lien auction. Make appointment to have heat pump inspected; check electric provider first for special offers and discounts. Pay semi-annual property taxes (due March 1st). Schedule treasury bond purchase if desired.
March - Make appointments for eye exams in May.
April - File income taxes or extension. Review withholdings to be sure they're still adequate. Last chance to max out IRA for prior year if not already completed.
May - Schedule treasury bond purchase if desired.
June - Pay subtaxes on unredeemed tax liens. Review will & trust to be sure nothing needs to be updated. Get car emission tested mid-month (if necessary.)
July - Review adequacy of homeowner's insurance coverage.
August - Schedule treasury bond purchase if desired.
September - Pay semi-annual property taxes (due October 1st).
November - Schedule treasury bond purchase if desired.
December - Check credit reports at www.annualcreditreport.com. (Although many people prefer to check just one report every few months instead.) Review health insurance coverage and make any changes necessary during open enrollment. Sign up for flexible spending. Write down ending mileage on car on December 31st.
May brings a huge decrease in net worth for me, due to a paper adjustment of the likely value of our home. It's gotten harder and harder to determine what our home might be worth. I know what the mortgage company accepted as the value of our home just a couple of months back, but I also know the prices of various homes that are for sale in the neighborhood. And they're all over the place. In fact, there's a $110,000 difference between the highest-price home and the lowest-price home — and they are the same models! I don't think either of those are representative. But since I don't have access to actual comps on recent sales, I decided to just drop the paper value of our home dramatically and play it safe.
Also, my liabilities have actually gone up. Our first house payment with the new mortgage company doesn't happen until today, so that liability has stayed stagnant. And I bought a few plane tickets using my American Express that will be paid for on this coming billing cycle. Even though I know the reasons behind the increase, AND that it'll only be that way for a couple of weeks, I still dislike seeing the liability portion go up.
Here are the stats for May:
Assets: Down $16,441.47
Liabilities: Up $464.34
Change in net worth over previous month: Down $16,905.81
On the plus side, my overall spending has decreased and the amount I've put toward investments and savings increased. With luck they will continue to trend in those directions. Finally, even with this recent drop, my net worth has increased by $10,038.86 over a 12-month period.
$$$ How to make $100,000 by 11 a.m. [Master of None]
$$$ Carl Icahn's letter to Yahoo! [DealBook]
$$$ "Why The Pattern Day Trader Rule Proves The SEC Rivals Osama Bin Laden In Terrorism" [TS]
$$$ Blockbuster Inc. (BBI) and Circuit City Stores, Inc. (CC) [WallStrip]
Bengie’s in Baltimore (hon!) runs a weekend triple-feature called ‘Dusk to Dawn’. For $8 bucks a person, you can see three first-run films with vintage cartoons for intermissions. For another $8 bucks you can bring your own food. (But no alcohol.) The snack bar was pretty good though. ($6.25 gets you a huge bucket of lightly breaded chicken fingers.) There’s a special deal for classic cars on Sundays, the driver gets in free! Go early before dark so you can see the classic cars on display near the snack bar.
Boyfriend and I took the Jeep up and put the softtop and windshield down for a really awesome clear view. While it was a little chilly late at night, the bigger problem was the bugs, which weren’t too bad. (But it’s Monday and I still itch.) So take some bug spray. I took a US Army surplus wool blanket (flea market find for $15) and I was cozy all night. Boyfriend thought I was crazy to bring it till he was cold at 1am.
Guys and gals and kids and pups turned out for the show. It’s a very family-oriented event and the bathrooms weren’t too bad. They just get REALLY crowded when a film ends.
The triple-feature linenup:
Speed Racer - A visual treat, but not the greatest plot. That’s ok though since the old TV show was a lot like that anyway. Things I loved: The little nods to the original show like Trixie appearing in frame upside down, Spritle’s obsession with candy, etc, and other stuff like Boy in Paul Frank pj’s with monkey in little boy motif pj’s.
Indiana Jones 4: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Disappointing. But there was no way I wasn’t going to see it. If you liked the first three, yes, go see this one. The little nods to the first three are there and it becomes a fun guessing game to see which things will turn up. But Karen Allen is a bad actress and the plot is weak. Also, the soundtrack to the film was lifted from American Graffitti. I swear to God.
Iron Man - Absolutely the best of the three we saw. Boyfriend is typical boy and likes comic books so he tipped me off to some of the insider stuff to the original Marvel comic books. However, we didn’t stay for the scene at the end of the credits which hints at a sequel. (Of course there’s going to be a sequel!) I have the hots for Robert Downey Jr. He certainly doesn’t have a heroin addict’s body in this film. Watch for Pepper Potts’ line early in the film about taking out the trash. It’s total catfight material. (And Gwyneth Paltrow looks fab as a red-head, or should I say ’soft auburn?’)
Earlier today we mentioned a legal battle between a nineteenth century gossip rag called the Flash and a stock-broker named Myer Levy. It seems that Levy's good looks, or perhaps his reputation for whoring, led to him being nicknamed "the Adonis of Wall Street."
That's definitely a nickname that deserves to be dusted off, as one of our commenters pointed out. So who should be the new Adonis of Wall Street? Earlier votes have already been cast for Jamie Dimon, whose success at running JP Morgan Chase and Greeky good looks have many women on Wall Street rating him as crushtastic.
