Hi! If you're new here, welcome - I'm Steve, the author of brip blap! Take a look at my about page and check out a few posts. If you like what you read (and I hope you do!), please sign up for my RSS feed or sign up to get posts by email by clicking here. Send me an email directly - I would love to hear from you. Thanks for visiting!

I didn’t get around posting on Friday due a massive and almost unbearable frustration bordering on fury. New furniture - finally purchased to replace our sagging, stained and old living room set - was promised for Thursday evening. In anticipation, we gave away and hauled to the dumpster our current set. Guess what happened - the wrong set showed up and we rejected it, and now we are sitting on pillows for the next week (at a minimum).

photo credit: SC Fiasco

I know in the grand scheme of things it’s a minor annoyance, but despite my best efforts I have never learned to control my rage, particularly in regards to problems with the buying and selling of things and services. To give this perspective, a friend of mine sent a detailed series of emails to a group of friends, including me, about sitting at his father’s bedside as he died from cancer. I understand that a lack of furniture is minor in comparison - yet I’ve always been fond of saying that “to everyone their own trouble are the worst in the world.” It’s hard - very hard - to remind yourself that your troubles are tomorrow’s forgotten memories.

On a side note, I am thrilled about our political process  - at least one idiotic historical barrier will now fall thanks to Senator McCain’s VP pick or Senator Obama’s nomination. Either a woman OR a black man will be in one of the two highest offices in America in January. I think that will be nice, regardless of ideology.

Link power - activate! Form of an ice slide!

My fellow Money Writer, Jeremy, has good news and bad news this week, all of which kept him from posting too much. Big congratulations on the good news, and good luck on the bad! (See what I’m talking about here.)

The Hidden Costs of Smoking: I’ve got one to add to the list: dying. That can cut years off your earning potential.

Will Honda Stand By the Quality of Their Cars? Everyone dreads car trouble, and here’s a good example of how your car company can make you a lifelong customer - or a never-again customer.

4 Reasons Why Index Investing May Not Be for You: I think reason #3 is key - index investing will never underperform the markets - but it will also never outperform. You are locking yourself into the average. If you have the temperament to research and invest in stocks, you’re better off doing that. I’m primarily an index investor, but if I had the time I’d go back into stocks a bit more.

Making Financial Preparations Ahead of Surgery: This is a grim post, but it’s worth considering. The small things loom large when surgery is on the horizon.

My Kids Tell Me Why We Pay Taxes: From the mouths of babes…

I Want To Work Smarter, Not Harder: The holy grail of most financially-savvy people is to work less, get paid more or less the same. We all recognize that if you can get paid $150,000 a year for an average 80-hour week you’re a lot better off getting $140,000 for 40. Even better is $100,000 for 4 hours per week. Even though your net’s gone down, you’re a lot better off.

My New Retirement Lifestlye Cash Flow: Retired at 29. No, really. The only negative about this article is that it absolutely kills me - KILLS ME - when I hear people talk about remaining employed just for the sake of health insurance. That’s half of the reason why I still contract through a company rather than being 100% independent - the company provides VERY good group health insurance. Without them I’d be paying $2000 per month in health care costs (assuming I wanted coverage as good as the coverage we currently have). When is this country going to get with the rest of the Western world and have single payer universal care? Socialism be damned, I want to be able to manage my career without health care being a factor.

Save Water At Home With A Few Drops Of Food Coloring.: I have to do this test. It’s so simple, it’s ridiculous I’ve never done it.

Keeping Up Motivation In The Good Times, Too: A good point - when you’re trying to achieve a goal, times when things are going great can be just as difficult as times when you struggle - keeping an even keel is what you want, but it’s hard sometimes.

Life is Infinitely Abundant: Day 14: This series is really inspiring. I’m struggling to achieve a similar mindset, but I think I will.

Don’t Go To A Private University: I’ve been making this point for a while, but it bears repeating: there is little a private school can offer that a public school can’t, other than higher tuition.

Broke Grad Student hosted the latest edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance, including an article from me.

Popularity: 2% [?]

At work today, a fellow consultant expressed amazement that I was planning to take Thursday off after having taken Monday off. He couldn’t understand how I was able to afford to take two days off in an average week - let alone two weeks before I plan on going on vacation.

photo credit: Jay Dugger

The simple truth is that I have certain rules that, if anyone follows them, makes taking time off a snap.  I have five, off the top of my head:

1.  Pay yourself first. I save money every month before it hits our bank account.  It’s gone and saved before I even realize it exists.  That makes digging into savings tricky.  It also means that I’m not worried about grubbing for a dollar at the end of the year.

2.  Consider whether you need it. Bubelah and I make dopey purchases - we are not ultra frugal.  At the same time, we do not buy useless things on a regular basis.  It doesn’t take much - try not buying overpromoted fashion and consumer electronics for a while and voila, savings.  A little time off is worth passing on the iPhone, isn’t it?

3.  Pay in cash. I use a credit card, for the sake of cash back bonuses, but for all intents and purposes I pay cash; we wait until we have cash in hand to buy anything.  I mean anything.  We paid cash for a new Honda this year.  I paid cash for new rechargeable batteries today.  We don’t buy anything without the means to pay for it.  We never have to worry about the upcoming credit card bill.

4.  Diversify your income. I blog, and I work on a couple of other income streams.  My “other” streams make up maybe 5% of my income, but at the same time that means I’m making 105% of what I would be making on consulting income alone.  Better than nothing, I think.  But that 5% away from work means I can take 5% off my normal work and still come out even, right?

5.  Pick your battles. I have never understood people who won’t take off a beautiful day in summer.  Listen, 20 years from now that extra $100 for a day’s work won’t make a difference.  A day in the sun making a stab at accomplishing that wee bitty thing called life will be worth it.  Maybe it’s better to stay late in the office in February and ditch in summer.

I feel sorry for so many of the employees and consultants I see around me who will complain about “needing” to work one minute and then about their new plasma TV the next minute. Not because I think they made a bad choice - because it’s not my place to judge - but because they seem unhappy with their choices.  Nobody is every happy trading their time for crap.  Put yourself in a position where you can forgo money for time and you’ll be a happier person.

Popularity: 4% [?]

From bookstatistics.com:

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

If you’re like me, you read that with a chill running down your spine. You read blogs, so you’re reading a lot.  You like reading.  You think other people ought to like to read.

photo credit: Duquesa Mercedes

One of my fondest childhood memories is reading “The Hobbit” along with my dad. We had a big illustrated edition - a lot of the cheesy Rankin-Bass stills, where Gollum looks like a frog - and he read it to me in installments.  I don’t remember how many times we read it or how old I was, but I read “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (on my own) before 3rd grade, so it was probably when I was 5 or 6.  But my point is simple:  I remember being almost insanely excited with the idea that another chapter was going to unfold.  A picture would be painted in my mind - by me - and the next day another picture would be drawn.  I would go to sleep in the bunk bed I shared with my brother, my mind filled with trolls and dragons and dwarves.

I read to my son a lot, and have done so since he was born. I’ve tried to with my daughter, with less success since every time I start to read to her my son runs over and insists on sharing (which means reading to HIM).  But I think both kids have an early love of reading.  I don’t read to them for any other reason than a long-term attempt to inspire a love of books in them.  Books have been some of my truest and dearest friends throughout my life, and I think children need to learn early in their lives that a life can revolve around books without TV, video games or the internet.

Bubelah and I talked about intellectual curiousity this weekend, in relation to things I’ve said about a college education. I argue that for most people, college is a crutch.  Their intellectual curiosity is sated by four years in college - they read, they take interesting courses, they graduate and 58% of them never read a book again.  Bubelah thinks college is necessary for growth, and that college forces people to expand in ways they never would on their own.   I say that college can only assist growth - intellectual curiousity, if someone has it, won’t stop with college.  We didn’t decide the argument, but we did agree that there is no excuse to quit learning, ever.

I know my coworkers are weirded out that I sit and read a book in the office pantry while I eat lunch. They are doubly weirded out that I read history, or graphic novels, or fantasy/sci-fi.  The idea of reading anything other than a newspaper or magazine seems trivial or immature to them.   Even though I am not enamored of either of the major parties in the US, every time I hear someone (and it’s usually a Democrat) mocked for being “an intellectual” or “an elitist” I cringe.  When did intellectual prowess or a curiosity about life become a characteristic to be mocked?  I care about history, space exploration, politics, ethics, literature.  I’m a pointy-headed intellectual - and I drink beer and love pro football, too.

Reading is the gateway to knowledge. Of course you can gain knowledge through experience, or discussion, or other avenues - but reading is so freely available and simple that it can only be deemed a great failure of any society that doesn’t encourage it as a core virtue.  I’d like to see America become a place that’s proud of intellectual curiosity, but too often intellectual curiosity is mocked and belittled by people whose idea of culture is determined by TV executives.  Knowledge should be a lifelong goal, not something satisfied by four years in college.

Popularity: 11% [?]

This post is part of The Money Writers‘ college student finance tips group writing project.

Everyone likes to think that with the passage of time they become an expert. Simply by virtue of their own experience, they become an expert in an area that could be the subject of full-time study.  That’s what giving financial advice to students seems like to me - but I’m going to give it a shot as part of a group writing project by The Money Writers.  I only have three, and in all fairness it’s really only one idea broken down three ways.

1.  Consider if you really need to go to THAT (or any) college. I’ve thought about this idea a lot recently.  I have a relative who’s going to school for art.  A very expensive private school… for art.  Does that make sense?  I suppose it might.  Maybe you interact with other artists, you get to hone your skills.  But do you need an expensive private school education in art?  I majored in mathematics.  I needed help - you need instructors to explain things.  If you’re a writer, you need someone to teach you how to spell, writer gooder, and so on.  If you want to be a dentist, you aim (I hope) on attending dental school.  But if you want to work in accounting, trust me - the Big 4 are hiring just as many people out of state schools as private schools.  You will all make the same.  And if you’re an artist - maybe you should give a couple of years over to art before going to school.  Just sayin’.

2.  Choose a major based on your needs, not your idle ‘wants’. A recent commentator said that they needed to attend a $40,000 a year graphic design school.  If you want to be a doctor, you can afford to gamble on taking on student loan debt.  Your future earning potential is high.  If you plan to be a high school teacher, you might want to think twice about taking on huge debt.  Choose a major based on your needs - or more importantly, go back to step 1.

3.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew. I imagine this is the simplest advice, but the most often ignored in our status-hungry society.  If you cannot afford a $50,000 per year education - if you have to scrape and pull together every last dime - ask yourself:  could you go to a less expensive school?  Would it cripple you beyond belief?  Will people revere your Yale biology degree and mock your Michigan biology degree?  I doubt it.  Take a look at what you can afford.  Remember:  your education will help you land your first j

I rejected a lot of prestigious schools to attend a state school and - very honestly - have never had a moment’s regret for my decision.  My choice would not be for everyone.  But in today’s world, with an uncertain economy, an unsure future and unrealistic expectations, I have to ask:  wouldn’t the best financial tip be not to waste money on more education than you need?

Check out the rest of The Money Writers‘ college student finance tips:

• Lazy Man & Money
• Money Smart Life
• My Dollar Plan
• The Digerati Life
• Million Dollar Journey

photo credit: lucianvenutian

Popularity: 3% [?]

I remember once being at a conference in Indonesia, of all places. I had dragged myself down there from Moscow, suffering (as I would later find out) from pneumonia.  The semi-tropical climate was nice, and I felt much better - but I was still suffering.  I knew that the return flight (Surabaya-Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur-Frankfurt) would be excruciating.  Traveling on Lufthansa on the way to the conference I had been placed in the smoking section, which was - as you can imagine - tortuous for someone suffering from a lung ailment.   I dreaded the return flight, and called my partner to prostrate myself via an international phone connection.

“Please let me upgrade to business class,” I asked.  “I am very sick and I’m headed to the doctor the second I get back.”

“It’s not in policy,” he responded.  I was a mere manager, and managers traveled coach, and didn’t get to complain when they were shoved in seat 76B of the smoking section.  “Take Monday off when you get back.  You’ll be fine.”

Of course I was tortured on the return trip by Dieter and Friedrich’s filterless cancer sticks. My pneumonia tripped and tra-la-la’d into double pneumonia and I passed out at work before being told by my doctor that I was in serious, serious health trouble.  The end result?  I packed it in, quit the firm and left Moscow a year before my contract was up.

I had an extremely good relationship with one of the clients of the firm; this client happened to be one of the biggest and most prestigious clients the firm had. They quit the firm soon after I quit (not solely because of me, of course, but I’m sure it didn’t help). Other than that, of course, life continued on for both me and the firm.

Companies need to realize that it’s not always just about the “big things” like salary and titles. Little perks can make a big difference, and they aren’t always just perks. Letting employees take time off for doctor’s appointments, or letting people come in a hour later and leave an hour later if that suits their lifestyle better. I think in today’s business world, the idea is that you can treat people like dogs (or worse than dogs - dogs have gourmet organic food these days). You can charge airlines passengers for tap water. And in my opinion soon you’ll see the final “perks” start to go as more and more companies decide not to offer health insurance.

Treating people (employees OR customers) like this won’t be sustainable. The human spirit can only take so much abuse. People get tired of feeling like their company’s only recognition of them as human is the biweekly paycheck. Small things don’t cost companies much in comparison to the constant turnover of key employees (or loss of customers). Somehow it all became about the bottom line, but maximizing the bottom line is only going to go so far.

photo credit: WTL photos

Popularity: 2% [?]