Well, it’s the day after Christmas. Again. I didn’t get a Wii. Again. Maybe next year. I have an interesting holiday dynamic since I celebrated Christmas growing up (and still do) and my wife Bubelah’s big holiday was New Year’s Eve – the biggest holiday of the Soviet/Russian year. We have both traditions in our house, so my son gets two big to-dos over 7 days. We had a muted Christmas this year since my family was scattered this year, but my son still gets Santa/Christmas on the 25th then Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost)/Novy God (New Year’s) on the 31st. It makes the days between Christmas and New Year’s feel more like a pause than a letdown, which is nice. I’m also debating the tax benefits of making a few investment moves now, which is not nice – thinking about taxes is always annoying.
OK, on to the links:
Money, Finance and Fancy: The Carnival of Personal Finance #132, Whimsical Christmas Edition
- My article “Spend Less Than You Earn – The Wrong Way To Think” was an editor’s pick at the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted this week by SVB at The Digerati Life. I also liked this article at The Investor’s Journal about setting rules for your investing since Bubelah and I were just talking about this today.
- This was more or less a guest post on Tim Ferriss’ blog. I have high hope to travel the world with my kids. I don’t think it gets easier as you have more – and we have another on the way – but I think too many people are scared of traveling with kids anywhere more ambitious than Disneyworldlandburg, so this was a nice article to read to reassure me that more is possible.
Millionaire Mommy Next Door: How to Become a Famous Blogger (or) I’m a Closet Millionaire No More
- MMND is going to be on Montel Williams’ show on December 28th. I’m looking forward to watching – not every day you get to see bloggers “live”, is it? This is a big step forward for one of my favorite bloggers.
Investing has Social Consequences Whether you Like it or Not » The Dividend Guy Blog
- Honestly, I worry about this all the time – then forget about it when it’s time to invest. I know that by investing in index funds I’m investing in all kinds of things I would rather not be investing in – defense contractors, oil companies, Wal-Mart, etc. I don’t know how to resolve my desire to do socially responsible investing with my desire to gain financial freedom. However, I’m being socially irresponsible regardless of my investments. In a sense, every time I buy a drop of gas I’m already subsidizing the oil company I buy it from, for example, unless they are selling at a loss – which I doubt.
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
Thanks for the link – it is a it is a tough thing to reconcile in my mind as well. That being said, I work for a big oil and gas company so it makes it difficult to worry about that.
The Dividend Guy
Interesting thought about travelling with kids – I’m definitely afraid of it but we’re going to do it anyways. I think the key is to change (lower?) your expectations compared to the trips that you used to do. I used to enjoy pretty action packed trips but now I have to adjust to a much slower pace. I’m sure it will be fun as long as I don’t start yearning for the “old days”…
Mike
I took my first transnational flight at the age of 6 months (and have been traveling ever since). I’m a big proponent of showing the kids the world as young as possible. That being said, you better have some strong disciplinary tactics, because a crying baby on an 8-hour flight is NOT fun (worse are the kids who kick the seats).
As for socially conscious investing – I do think about that. I divested my $$ from Halliburton, Altria, etc, as much as possible, but it’s tough with those index funds (ie, I still have Exxon stock). I guess I think of it in two ways (and maybe I’m just rationalizing): there’s the Walmart-in-my-funds issue – as long as they aren’t a large portion of it, I’m ok. And I don’t shop there.
And then there’s the Petrochina issue. Massive divestment helped end apartheid in S Africa, and I think it’ll help in Sudan. So in that respect, I put pressure on Fidelity to move away from investing in the companies fueling genocide there, and I keep an eye on the major companies there.
Oh, trust me, I’m not bummed about no Wii – it was actually tongue in cheek since I’m not a gamer and don’t understand the fascination. I left PC gaming behind with Doom, and other than playing an occasional flash game online I never really play video games. I’d rather be investing my money
There’s always next year for the Wii.
Investing is always hard. I’m planning to concentrate on indexes, and use some of my money for socially-conscious funds (with lower expectations than the index, but as a way to do some good).
Thanks for link.
Also don’t be too bummed out about no Wii. I’ve had one for over a year and Nintendo despite their massive success are still falling prey to their old problems of having no real 3rd party support. My Wii hasn’t been turned on in quite a while since there just isn’t anything to play. The games Nintendo makes (1st party games) are great, but they are few and far between.
It’s really been like that ever since the Nintendo 64. So the only time my Wii gets any action is when I have friends over. Wii Bowling + Alcohol = Fun times. =)
YOU DO NOT WANT A WII
Thanks, Steve! You’re one of my faves, too!