I have been on the verge of literally pulling all my money out of the banking system and moving into US Treasuries because every month, we keep discovering how deep the hole is in the financial system. We’ve gone from Bernanke telling us that everything was “well contained” back in August of 2007 to G7…
Month: April 2008
Debunking Myths: Indexes Return 10% Per Year On Average
Let me officially state that Indexes probably do return 10% per year on average but that doesn’t mean you’ll be getting that return personally.   The assumption that is made is that a large lump sum of money is invested at period x and 30 years later that lump sum of money is worth x *…
Patriotism Killed His Profits
Years ago when I was heavily into Forex trading, I was a member of a rather large forum where people would post comments and exchange ideas on the currency markets.   You would think my most memorable experience would have been learning about forex charts, fundamentals, technicals or even how to read the news and Federal…
Why I’ve Been Hoarding Food
Over the past months, I’ve been shopping at Costco and been purchasing items by the case load and storing them at home. I purchased cases of corn, soups, beans, rice, wine and other non-perishable products. My wife always questioned the wisdom of storing so much food in our house since we really didn’t have enough…
I Will Only Own 4 New Cars in My Life
The perpetual debate over whether someone should buy a new car or used car will never end but in honor of Earth Day this week I decided that what I am trying to do is reduce my carbon footprint. So how does buying a new car reduce my carbon footprint? I purchased my first new…
Environmentalism Hijacked by Consumerism
Buy Green! Switch to Hybrid! Buy! Buy! Buy! Consume! Consume! Consume! I’m getting tired of seeing those Wal-mart commercials asking us to buy compact fluorescent bulbs promoting so called “environmentalism.” So let’s look at this request from a purely logical point of view: 1. Rip out you existing bulbs which consumed a great deal of…
Debunking Myths: Home Gardening Saves Money
I am an avid gardener. I have an appreciation for lush green environments and over the years I’ve grown all sorts of veggies along with flowers, bushes, and trees but there seems to be a myth lurking in the pf blog sphere that growing your own food is a way to save money. Over the…
Is It Possible To Short Your House?
I was reading an interesting article this weekend over at Slate.com discussing the next wave of housing foreclosures that will likely involve prime borrows vs. sub-prime borrows.  The one paragraph that really caught my eye is below: Consider, too, that, yes, going through a foreclosure kills your credit rating and makes it a lot harder…
The Simple Dollar’s $0.99 Double Cheeseburgers Math Redux
I was combing through some old posts gathering research for an entirely different topic when I came across an old post that connected so many dots, I figured I had to write this post to try to paint a picture for everyone. Back in September 2007, Trent over at the Simple Dollar wrote this post…
The Riddle of the Slick
What tastes bitter in the morning, sweet and delicious in the afternoon but poisonous & fatal in the evening? Hint: In American society, this will ALWAYS be with you regardless of what anyone tells you and it relates to personal finance of course. The answer is debt. Most people get themselves in trouble during their…