Category: linklings

365 days and a roundup

I’ve survived another year, apparently - had a birthday on Friday that came and went with little fanfare, but still represented another year in the life of moi. It’s amazing looking at my kids - who look upon birthdays as a high holy day when they, for one brief moment, will be the uncontested center of attention - versus me, who could at this age give less of a hoot. I honestly don’t care. What a difference time makes. And age makes.

It’s probably better to take the childish approach and look at each year as an awesome opportunity for new adventures.

On to the links, which I neglected last week:

One24 Scam: All of these scams are ridiculous… yet people still keep flocking to them.

TradeKing Review: $4.95 Trades and Bonuses: One of these days I’m going to try TradeKing…. my broker charges significantly higher fees, but I’ve stuck with them because (a) I’m lazy and (b) I don’t trade that much. But still, it’s a tought.

12 Best Money-Saving Apps for Droid and iPhone: I have a Blackberry… so I hope these will eventually make their way to the most popular smart phone in America….

And Yet Another Example: Exactly.

Income Splitting and Permanent Life Insurance: Somewhat Canadian-specific, but an interesting approach to income.

Why an Online Masters Degree?: I think online education is awesome. Much like much of my work, there’s no reason 90% of your education can’t be delivered online. I work at a client right now who shares space in the high-rise with the University of Phoenix, and it seems to me that this is the future of education - online daily lessons, with occasional visits to “the campus” for tests and events.

What Should Your Financial Pie Chart Look Like?: Heavy on the cash, low on the debt.

Google Content Farm Update: The Aftermath: I haven’t been affected by this, much - my lack of success with search engine optimization is paying off!

We Did It! How We Become Millionaire: Awesome. Always good news to hear a success story like this. Way to go, Sun.

Start Multiple Streams of Income or Side Hustle Today: And why not? If you have one source of income, you are 100% at risk for income. That seems crazy to me.

My Smart Phone is Not So Smart: I bent to the same logic - you can be proud of an old phone for just so long, before you realize you’re leaving a huge number of improvements on the table. But I’m always amazed how the debate is Apple vs. Android when Blackberry is still the most widely used smartphone. I love my Blackberry. It’s the lack of apps that will kill it, but the device itself is far, far easier to use than any Apple/Android I’ve seen.

What To Do If You Can’t Find Your Dream Jobs: This is what it’s come to: you WILL have to MAKE your job. Not just get hired into it - you will have to MAKE your dream job.

Trent does a good review of Early Retirement Extreme and also has a good - mild - rant about “I Don’t Want to Be Your Client. I Don’t Want to Be Your Lender. I Want to Be Your Friend” - I agree. I don’t want my banker/real estate agent/grocer/etc. to be my “friend.” I want to have a nice, pleasant, collegiate relationship with them … but friendship? Not really.

Jefferson on attitude, and roundup

Thought for the week:

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
- Thomas Jefferson

I had more exposition written here, originally, but I decided it was long enough to break out into a post of its own, so it will appear tomorrow as a standalone post. Until then, read the links:

6 Tips to Eat Less and Lose Weight: Volumetrics is the idea that you should simply eat larger volumes of less caloric food. That, combined with drinking a lot of water, would seem to be a pretty solid basis of a diet that ‘tricks’ you into feeling fuller. I just wonder if you can construct a varied diet using that trick. I think drinking seltzer also helps, personally – the gas in it is, of course, non-caloric, and having a lot of fizzy water in your stomach does make you feel quite full.

Finances of the Average American: I always find these kinds of stats staggering: 25% of Americans have NO savings. It’s either an indictment of our debt-ridden, consumerist society, or it’s a sad commentary on capitalism.

A Grocery-Shopping Hiatus: How Long Can You Eat from the Pantry?: I’ve often threatened to do this – not buy any new food until what we have is completely gone – but I’ve only ever done it once, when I was single. It’s too hard to get a whole family on board with this idea.

Do You Have to Pay Taxes on Unemployment?: It seems ridiculous to me that you pay into the unemployment system then get taxed on it when you are unemployed and start drawing “your” money back out, basically, but there it is. Good thing we tax that.

Tax Deadlines Spring 2011 and Tax Software Discounts: Hard to believe that tax time is creeping up on us. I wish my broker would hustle to get my forms to me so I could get started.

Are Credit Card Rewards Taxable?: This thought had honestly never occurred to me, but I suppose those rewards do represent income. It just never crossed my mind that I might need to pay taxes on them – read the article to find the answer to that question.

Simple Thank You Gifts For A Host: That’s not a bad idea.

Market Value Measures: P/E, PEG, Dividend Yield, Price to Book Ratio: Always useful to understand the basics.

A Collection of Free Kindle Resources: If you have a KindleKindle, this article can sum up the free resources – there are few alternatives, and rightly so. As Trent points out, writing a book is hard work and authors do want to be compensated. Crazy, right?

A Layoff Story: The Ant, the Grasshopper, the Honeybee & COBRA: I have a “magic number” for an emergency fund that lets me sleep well at night: $40,000. It’s fairly close to Len’s number.

Create Time to Change Your Life: You know, Leo’s blog was one of my inspirations for starting to blog myself. Then I got a little bit tired of the direction he headed with a lot of (what I perceived to be) breezy, non-helpful articles about “just look at the clouds and smile” types of subjects. But recently his blog has taken off again (for me, at least). I think removing comments helped. But I really liked this post, and his book Focus, while repetitive at times, had some very inspirational ideas in it.

Zen and the Art of Investment Banking: When Working Right is More Important than Finding the Right Work: A very good (and long) read. It is true that many of the people who ‘do what they love’ may be exceptions, rather than the rule. It may not be what you do for a living, it may just be your personality which makes it difficult for you to enjoy any type of work.

The Marshmallow Test for Retirement: I’ve heard of this study before, but if it’s true both I – and my family – are in trouble. I can’t even vaguely imagine either of my kids sitting and waiting to eat a marshmallow. Probably something I should work on correcting, except that Bubelah and I are probably the same, at the core.

the twilight of the tweets, and links

 

I do use Twitter but I’m increasingly bored with it.  I suspect all of us are going to float through various social media sites and settle on a few favorites for various reasons:  our friends/family/colleagues use it, we like the way it works, etc.  All of these forms probably will experience a peak at some point (surely Twitter’s close to its peak) and valleys as they fade away – think Friendster, think MySpace.  The only one that might have staying power – in my opinion – is Facebook, simply because it is rapidly becoming an entire internet within itself; I know plenty of people to whom "online" means "on Facebook" and little else, except maybe YouTube (embeddable within Facebook) or other media sites.

It doesn’t really matter what you use, as long as you enjoy it.  I feel an obligation to keep up with Twitter since so many other bloggers do, but I’ll confess that I usually only read other people’s tweets for 5 minutes or less per day – it’s just not a medium that appeals to me.

On to the links:

  • Prioritizing Your To-Do List: Getting the Right Things Done:  In my eternal quest for a perfect to-do system I think I may finally have hit upon my gold standard.  I keep an index card and a small pen in my pocket all day and write my to-dos down.  In the evening I put them in Google Calendar if they are time-sensitive and a text file if not, without dates, just a list.  So far, seems to be working well.
  • Save with Smart Meters and Appliance Timers:  This is on my short list – I need to get more timers to shut off things at night.  You might say I could do that manually, but really, who wants to have to go around the house turning off every single power strip… and I just made myself sound really lazy.  Nice.
  • How I Tweet:  I admire Guy, although I’m not a close follower of his work.  I will say he’s awesome at responding – we’ve traded a few emails and he responds instantly, all the time.  I think he shows where twitter is going:  he doesn’t read anyone else’s tweets, just replies and direct messages.  Almost defeats the purpose, I guess, but he’s probably more productive than he would be if he attempted to keep up with thousands of people.
  • 10 Ways to Get the Most From Your Auto Insurance Claim:  Hope you never have a reason to need this article…
  • Groupon Review – Is it Here to Stay?:  I subscribe but I have yet to take advantage of an offer – so I’m not convinced of its value.
  • American Express Daily Wish Deals:  Sounds like a good deal to me, albeit somewhat similar to the above-disparaged Groupon.
  • The 2010 Tax Deductions You Can’t Claim:  Good to know that unemployment benefits – basically a repayment of the (taxed) money you already paid into the system with your unemployment insurance taxes – are going to be fully taxed this year, while the top tax bracket didn’t. 
  • Best Cheap Date Ideas for Valentine’s Day Romantics:  Might be better to say "inexpensive."  Just a thought!
  • Best Apps to File Your Taxes with Your Phone:   I can’t believe I could get to feeling comfortable about filing my taxes with my phone, but then again in 1995 I probably thought the same about my computer.
  • When was the last time you bought a tie?:  When I bought a tie?  A decade ago, I bet.  Bubelah’s bought me a couple as gifts over the years, but even as a gift I don’t think I’ve received one in at least three years or so.

the snowball, and links

snowballs

Not that kind of a snowball…. read on.

Why Young Entrepreneurs Should Hold Down a Job After College:  If you plan on being an entrepreneur I’d imagine a job would be a great way to learn about your industry before leaping out on your own. 

SodaStream: Product of the Year 2010: I love SodaStreamas well – having a home seltzer machine has been one of the best decisions I ever made (and it’s how I quit drinking soda).

Help with 2011 taxes

Habits and lifestyle

And more:

And I’m just starting to read this book:  The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder.   I realized after reading Andrew Carnegie’s autobiography (The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie and The Gospel of Wealth) that I can get quite a bit out of a biography if it’s well-written and the subject is interesting*.  I’ve generally shied away from biographies in favor of histories, because I much prefer the ‘grand sweep’ view of a good historical book, but Carnegie was a good writer and had such an interesting life that I decided to take another plunge (not to mention it was reasonably priced on my KindleKindle.

Photo Some rights reserved by David Barrie

* I guess in all fairness that would be true for any work of literature or non-fiction, though…

small company roundup

I’m back into heavy-duty contract consulting again, after a few months of doing piecemeal work.  It’s tough, but as with any work it’s rewarding to know that you have a client who needs help doing X, and … hey, I can do X!  Here you go!  Plus I’m having an interesting experience working for by far the smallest client I’ve ever had.  I typically work for very large corporations – to give you an idea of scale, I spent a year working in Morgan Stanley’s corporate headquarters as a consultant.  So taking a brief turn here with a small company about .01% of Morgan Stanley’s size is quite interesting for me.  It’s early to make snap judgments but so far the comparison is positive.

Oh, and go Jets. 

Blogger’s Favorite Personal Finance Books: I recommended Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which should be no particular surprise to anyone who reads this blog. A few other decent selections here, too.

9 Ways to Prepare for Food Inflation: I’m not worried, but it will occur (and already has, if you like organic foods).

The Frugal Wedding: How to Save Money When Getting Married: The best way to save money getting married is to marry someone who understands what a wedding costs versus what it’s worth.

How HP/Palm’s webOS Can Compete with Apple iOS and Google Android: Well, OK. I still like the market leader, Blackberry.

Opening a Bank Account for a Toddler: Something we’ve considered but so far rejected - our poor kids keep all their hard-earned money (or gifts from grandparents) in piggy banks and "money envelopes." But it might be time to revisit that.

Vacation Without Kids: I have fantasies.

10 Wacky Safes – Home Security Safes for Your Money: Once, in Moscow, I had a fake Coke can - you unscrewed it while pressing a button on the bottom and it opened. I kept all my American dollars tucked in there. I had a big party one night and a bunch of people crashed there - friends, friends of friends; the next morning I woke up and saw someone had hacked, torn and pulled at the ‘fake coke’ with a knife trying to get it to open. Money was still there, but the fake Coke idea was, well, over.

7 Simple Tax Organization Tips To Use All Year Round and 2011 Tax Changes: I’m all fired up about doing taxes. Give me a hooah!

Eating Healthy is Becoming More Expensive Every Day: Been so for a long time. I feel it’s worth it with dairy, meat and some fruits and veggies. Not so worth it with things like juice, bread, etc. Just my medically uninformed idea, though.

25 Toughest Interview Questions of 2010: They are all tough, simply because the job market is so competitive.

What I Learned During the Year of Penury: Words to live by (reorganized slightly):

  • Your greatest asset is good health, should you be so lucky to have it and keep it.
  • You can live frugally and still be reasonably comfortable, most of the time. • No matter what anyone says about the alleged tax advantages of carrying a mortgage, when you’re unemployed a paid-off roof over your head is your second-greatest asset.
  • If you’re not in debt, you can live on a lot less than you think you need.
  • If you are in debt, you’d better have a good stash of emergency savings to cover payments.

The Lifestyle You Want: I am a long way from walking away from TV entirely, but I have come to recognize that advertising is a clear and present (and continuing) danger. It corrupts almost everything about your life, whether you think it does or not.

Caring for Aging Parents: Something us Gen Xers are going to be facing. Later rather that sooner, hopefully, but we will.

Betelgeuse to be second sun for Earth as supernova turns night into day: And finally, in the ‘holy crap’ category, we have the prospect of months without night. A supernova might cause endless sunlight for months! It’s a funny story, because the kicker is the tiny addendum I’ve seen at a few different sites stating that Betelgeuse might explode anywhere between this year and a million years hence… making the probability of a current-year explosion, eh, slightly remote.

lights! camera! roundup!

Three utterly unrelated short thoughts:

On Roundups and Linklings

1.  I’ve stopped calling these things ‘linklings’ – which I thought was clever enough but probably confused some people.  After some intense discussions amongst the Money Writers this week, though, I decided I needed to try to put a bit more effort into these roundups, so enjoy the next few weeks before I lose enthusiasm or get busy and go back to just dropping 10 links in a post!

On Inception

2.  Inception may have been the most disappointing movie I’ve seen in years.  I finally caught it on DVD and maybe I was just overexcited after seeing The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan directed both movies) but I liked Inception better when it starred Keanu Reeves back in 1999.

On disarming

3.  I am sure it will be obvious what I’m referring to here.  Kurt Vonnegut (one of my favorite authors) put these words in the mouth of a character in his novel Deadeye Dick*, shortly after his pregnant wife was killed by a rifle shot:

My wife has been killed by a machine which should never have come into the hands of any human being. It is called a firearm. It makes the blackest of all human wishes come true at once, at a distance: that something die. There is evil for you. We cannot get rid of mankind’s fleetingly evil wishes. We can get rid of the machines that make them come true. I give you a holy word: DISARM. **

* Note 1: not an affiliate link, I would not want to profit in any way from this particular event.

** Note 2: any political commentary on that event or related to it won’t make it through my comment moderation.  Go on over to Daily Kos or Red State to hash that out.  Normally I’m happy to debate things but I’ve seen how this conversation goes.  But I was saddened and thought all of the political furor on both "sides" was inappropriate.  The issue above is at the core of the problem.

On to the links

Abandon resolutions. Stop looking for a soulmate. Reject positive thinking: An interesting take on resolutions and how to make positive changes in your life. Not sure I agree, but certainly made me consider a few things differently.

4 Lessons Learned from Job Search in 2010: A relatively new blog to me - these are some good lessons and quite appropriate for the job seeker in 2011, as well.

Forecasting The Stock Market Is More Art Than Science: I’ve thought this for years - the stock market bears a closer relationship to the weather than to physics or chemistry. The actions and reactions within the stock market have more in common with the chaotic interplay of global climate patterns (think the Butterfly Effect) than they do with Newton’s Laws, for example.

I Just Lost My Job! How I’m Downsizing My Household Expenses: I guess the only comment I’d make to be a spoilsport is that many of these sound like good ideas even if you haven’t lost your job - why wait until you lose your job to cut out unnecessary expenses?

H&R Block Free Federal Premium Tax Filing: I have used TurboTax for years or else I’d be jumping on this offer.

Why I Joined a Gang: I’m in the same gang; I wouldn’t be writing this blog today if it weren’t for my gang, frankly. I think I might have given up by now.

» On gratification:  In this very Seth-Godin-like post, Jacob makes a good point, although I’d argue that unless you inherited the wealth, you must have done something ELSE to pay for it.  But I get his point – it’s easier to be proud of the direct result of your own efforts than it is the indirect result of working at something else in order to afford to pay someone else to build/create/do it for you (my comment is longer than his post!), which is valid.

Destroying 7 Money Myths:  I have an issue with #4, since I do believe the markets are unfairly manipulated – and as someone who’s worked at various investment banks and private equity firms over the last five years as a high-level audit consultant, I think I have some insight into it.

And a few other good ones:

the double-threat holidays, and links

It’s been a hectic week for me; when you have an American family who celebrate Christmas as the big family holiday of the year, and a Russian family who celebrate New Year’s Eve as the big family holiday of the year, the week between the two ends up being fairly frenetic, too! So catching up on a few links:

crappy jobs, Wal-Mart and links

florida sky

This week I came across a couple of articles that I had something to say about, and a couple I simply enjoyed for reading pleasure – plus a bunch of others that might be useful to you or that just caught my attention for one reason or another.

I’ve gotta say…

Two articles are going to prompt a few comments from me. First came Life’s Too Short for a Crappy Job. I wrote a fairly lengthy comment at the end of this post, so hop over there to read it, but the gist of my comment (and the post) was this: do not kill yourself for a job. Work hard, sacrifice, fine. Endanger your health, your sanity, or your mental stability? Never. Times are tough – I’m having a terrible time with my consulting business – but don’t assume that a job that is going to hurt you in the short term, or the long term, is something you need to pursue.

The other article was “Wal-Mart Saves You Money Even if You Never Shop There.” Well, of course it does. It depresses local communities so buying power is lower. It uses near-serf labor from developing countries for many of its goods. It doesn’t respect unions, or help with health care costs like most major corporations. It’s a bargain. I’ve come all the way from being a Wal-Mart shareholder – I made a lot of money off their stock in the 80s and 90s – to refusing to shop there. Companies like these simply can’t be the future of American capitalism. Don’t shop there for the holidays. At least shop at their marginally more responsible big-box competitors like Costco and Target (and of those two, Costco is far better).

And then a few more comments…

Using a Health Savings Account to Lower Your Medical and Health Insurance Costs: Health care costs are on the rise. Learn how a Health Savings Account can help you save money.

Should I Use a Debit Card or Credit Card? Frugal Dad examines the pros and cons of both credit cards and debit cards.

I’m switching to e-bills and e-statements: No more paper for this guy!

Best Small Business Credit Cards - Have a small business? Consider one of these cards to help provide the cash flow flexibility to meet the needs of your growing small business. Provide purchase protection and earn rewards too.

6 Things To Consider When Moving For A Job. Moving for a job can be a bad thing, or a great thing. Make certain you make that decision with your eyes wide open.

What Is Peer to Peer (Person to Person) Lending? - A description of what peer to peer lending is and how it works. Best Military Movies Giveaway. Share your favorite military movies and enter to Win $100 in Amazon Gift Cards!

And lastly, the grab bag:

the war on Christmas, such as it is, and links

kris kringle criminal

kris kringle criminalConsumermas (yes, I’m that clever) is upon us – the pressure to buy is there, big time. Even if you aren’t a “War on Christmas” partisan (I could care less if people say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” or “December Rocks, Dude”), the overwhelming materialism of the season is getting to be a bit much. I’m always slightly relieved when I have December 25th in the rearview. Part of it is being adult, no doubt – I’m sure it’s still a magical time for my kids (who get the double fun of Hanukah AND Christmas). But people really do need to tamp down some of the consumerist fever; the commercials are getting crazy. I don’t need to be reminded about how I need to buy my loved ones a new phone to show my love.

The Case Against Buying Christmas Presents: This strikes me as a “line in the sand” decision. Opposed to the occult nature of Halloween? Well, you’d better not let the kids dress up and trick-or-treat. Opposed to the commercialism of Christmas? Pretty much need to opt out altogether. It’s a tough sell - particularly if your kids watch TV, have friends who celebrate Christmas and so on. I don’t think we overwhelm our kids with materialism, but they certainly get presents on birthdays and Christmas (and, in our odd family circumstance, Hanukah). I honestly don’t know what the answer is - reject gift-giving or just try to moderate it.

Why You Should Not Get Married (Financial Speaking): Some good points, although - at the end of the day - getting married is not really a financial decision, any more than having kids is.

How Do You Like Your Coffee?: Black as the depths of night. Since my 20s I’ve taken coffee only one way - uncut, without dairy.

Celebrating 4 Years of Million Dollar Journey: Congrats! A few good prizes to be had, too.

Bought a New Television Today… Finally: We had a 19-inch LCD for about 3 years before breaking down and buying a 40″ LCD. Honestly, I don’t understand TVs. I watch maybe 2 hours per day (for myself) and I usually enjoy it - and then feel ashamed of enjoying it. I imagine TV is just another one of those things that I could give up if I had a little bit more of a spine.

Synonyms For Love: Appreciation is a great synonym for love. You can’t love something if you don’t appreciate its existence and presence in your life.

The open road: Outstanding insight. As usual with Seth’s stuff, it make take a minute for it to sink in, but his point really, really resonated with me.

How to get a workplace spouse: I’ll just say…hmm, don’t agree, but a lot of interesting responses…

Making the Most of What We Have: Memories are made by people, not by weather. 🙂

Why You Should Ignore Politics and Politicians: I allow myself to succumb to this type of thinking from time to time, and then I remind myself that President Gore probably - PROBABLY - wouldn’t have invaded Iraq. Whether you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you, but in 2000, who won probably did make a difference.

What Other People Think IS Your Business: It does matter what other people think of you. I’d like to tell my kids “it doesn’t matter what other people think about you” - but in truth, it does.

The Quick and Easy Guide to Coming Out as a Minimalist: Interesting thoughts. I feel I’d meet some resistance if I decided to head down this path, so this was an interesting post to read.

And more:

Some rights reserved by kevindooley

Florida, the Hornet’s Nest, the Batman and links

This is the time of year I’m happy to be in Florida; I was able to walk around outside in flip flops and shorts all day without feeling cold. We had the windows open and the Alvin and the Chipmunks playing (can’t have everything you want – have to concede to the kiddies on the music). One of the posts below really got me thinking, though. I need a definitive goal in 2011: make a concerted effort to read more.

Don’t get me wrong – I read a lot, but it’s mostly online short-form stuff – articles, blogs and so on. Blogs are fine, but I realized that I really need to hammer my brain into shape on the anvil of long-form writing… books. I do read books, but it has been in bits and spurts recently; two books in five days then three weeks before I read the next. It’s a habit that’s easy to fall into (and out of) and now that my parents gave me a Kindle as a gift, I have no excuse not to be reading like a maniac. I just finished reading Andrew Carnegie’s autobiography, which was fascinating in parts and horrifically dull in others, but I think next I’ll tackle fiction – just because I’ve only read one fiction book in the last several months (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, affiliate link). The Millennium trilogy made for a decent read, but I’m sure there are contemporary fiction novels out there that would appeal to me more than the sometimes-graphic Swedish thrillers.

Link it!

Drive Like They’re Crazy. Blog Like They’re Lazy: Don’t take Pat’s advice the wrong way, but he’s made a great point here. One of the best mentions I ever had was this one from Hunter, who wrote on “The 10 Most Readable Blogs (That I Like)“. I thought it was great that I wrote so simply, to be honest.

TIME GOES BY | REFLECTIONS: On Elitism: Any time a Pulitzer Prize-winning author mentions your blog, it’s a good thing; and it’s a good artist that reflects my feelings on elitism quite well.

Have You Forgotten That Stock Markets Go Up? : I’m not sure, myself - I still feel we may be facing an adjusted paradigm. But be that as it may, this is a compelling argument for investors who think the market will inevitably resume an upward overall trend.

What Are Your 2011 Goals?: Still working on mine. Time to lose weight again, develop my writing skills and start reading BOOKS - not the Internet, but books - more frequently.

The Federal Reserve Plunders America: Do yourself a favor - read the article and watch the video. The Fed’s a tricky beast.

Let’s do the curbside hustle: This one’s a few weeks old, but it’s an interesting thought. I doubt it’s as easy to do a side hustle as many might think; consulting business is slow for me right now and I’m not just jumping out there to rake leaves or anything. It’s a tough mental adjustment. But I suppose it’s one that more and more people are going to have to be willing to make.

And more:

And if you’re in the mood for Batman YouTube parodies, this one is great for the true fan (click through to the article if you’re reading via RSS or email):

the turkey, the Hof, and links

Happy belated Thanksgiving – a holiday all about giving thanks for what we have, followed now by an orgy of attention on Black Friday to what we DON’T have. Lovely. I’d argue Black Friday is approaching Thanksgiving in popularity, and that’s not a good thing. I said about a year ago on Marketplace Money that I didn’t think this recession would change spending habits, and I think this holiday season will prove that out. Americans love their cars and credit cards as much as Germans love David Hasselhof. And why shouldn’t they (the Germans, I mean)?

What Simplicity And Minimalism Isn’t About… : Amen. I do like minimalism, but some of the posts on “ditch your fork and spoon, a spork is better” can be a bit much. The general idea is dead on, though: less stuff is almost always a good thing.

Six Painless Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill: I read this and then was inspired to go out and find a Sunday paper, although apparently in a small town in Florida the big city (Jacksonville) Sunday edition is sold out by mid-afternoon.

10 Ways to Invest $1,000 Dollars, Without Putting a Dime in the Stock Market: I don’t blame people for doing this, but first, consider a surprising fact. Despite the rantings and wailings from the Tea Party and Wall Street and so on, Obama has been the best president for the stock market in a half century: Does the Obama Bull Market Have Years to Run? — Seeking Alpha. Now is not the time to get out – that time was when the “pro-business” former administration was in office. You should’ve gotten back in during 2009.

The Best American Express Credit Cards For Your Business: I like Amex; I know they really hammer merchants with fees, but for a consumer there’s no card that offers better protection and service.

Generation Earn by Kimberly Palmer Reviewed: Lazy Man takes issues with screw-top wines (I’m a box man, myself), but other than that he gives a glowing review of Palmer’s book.

How we Paid off our Mortgage in 3 Years: A little bit of luck and a lot of smart budgeting, spending and earning. Kudos – I’m envious!

1099-K Form & Small Business Tax Reporting: If you have a small business, something to be aware of.

10 Inexpensive Christmas Gifts Under $10 and 10 Cheap Ways To Get A Great Gift For Under $5: Let’s take the horrific consumerism out of Christmas – some of the gifts my kids enjoy the most are the little dinky toys their grandfather gets them, rather than the “big ticket” items (which, incidentally, we are eliminating this year).

The End Of Free Checking: Hardly surprising, but disappointing nonetheless.

21 Reasons You Should Work for Yourself: A great list, although obviously there are advantages to working for someone else, like never having to worry about security (except when layoffs come), benefits (except when they are taken away) and perks (except there aren’t any anymore).

What Are Your Core Activities?: I think if you had 2-3 core activities – things you had to focus on, to the exclusion of other activities – you’d be successful. In the autobiography of Andrew Carnegie that I’m reading, he mentions several times that single-minded focus on a goal is the one great key to success. His beliefs, of course, were the basis for Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (from whose book my 31 causes of failure series arises).

This is What I Call Passive Income: I’ve written about wealthstreaming and how to make money without a job, but passive income is of course the real goal.

another week, and links

In Think and Grow Rich and in the autobiography of Andrew Carnegie that I’m currently reading, one of the causes of failure – which I’ll cover eventually in my 31 causes of failure series – is a lack of focus. If you have a wandering mind, you’re not going to succeed at whatever endeavor you’re aiming for; in my case, it’s being a successful blogger/writer. Hopefully these links are inspirational; I get a lot of inspiration out of the articles I read online, and hopefully at least one or two of them will inspire you, too.

What is Quantitative Easing?: I grumbled about this recently, and the simple fact is that whether or not you agree with the economic theory behind this type of manipulation, it IS manipulation and therefore tough to control – and therefore something to be wary of. I understand the reason: we don’t have a level playing field with the Chinese (and frankly, even with the Europeans). But the main point is that something’s going to change with monetary policy – it’s going to come soon, and it’s going to be drastic.

“For all its material advantages, the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven’t forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood.” -Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot. From The Whole World is Our Home, In A Lot of Ways:

A good article, but more to the point: man, do I miss Carl Sagan. His Cosmos series really deeply affected me as a kid; he was an amazing person.

The False War On Debt: Absolutely. The war on debt is not the war to reduce debt already incurred, but to stop people from incurring it in the first place. Debt is wrong. Start with that. Yes, I know student loans, mortgages, etc., but start with the idea that debt is wrong; avoid it at all costs. Don’t worry about paying down the “bad” debt; worry about not incurring it in the first place.

* 5 Tips For Buying Individual Health Insurance: A subject near and dear to my heart, as I continue to struggle – even post “health care reform” – with being a self-employed person who has to buy his/her own health care insurance. One of the few times I’ve actually voiced this thought: when buying health care insurance, it sucks to be American.

4 People You Should Never Hire: Great tips, although I disagree with one: housekeeper. We had a housekeeper for about 4 years, and although we don’t now, I’d highly recommend it if you have even a small amount of disposable income. The amount of time and marital discord avoided by hiring a housekeeper is worth its weight in gold, and then some. Get a housekeeper, and then use that time saved on housework productively – either on family time, or generating income.

And more:

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