Check Out My New Site!

Still working on finalizing things, but take a look around...drop me a comment on the new site! Thanks for bearing with me through this transition. My RSS feed is still having some problems so, it won't be updating until I get those issues worked out. 

I'm Done...

Posting on blogspot.com that is. I'm in the process of migrating over to my own site. During the migration of my posts and comments to Wordpress, all my formatting for my old posts on blogspot.com dissappeared. Luckily they show up fine in Wordpress. So, I'm going to postpone any further posts on blogspot.com until I have my own site up and running. I should be done within the next few days. In the meantime, please enjoy my formatless posts in archive. :)

My Home: Why Not Kansas? Free Land!

Not sure if you've seen this before, but it's been on the news a few times where I live. Free land in Kansas! Some restrictions, but for the most part, it's free. But to each his/her own...I choose to live here in Hawaii. I would consider moving, maybe, if my family and friends weren't here...but I'm not sure I would be able to handle moving to the middle of Kansas. :/

My 401k YTD Rate Of Return Is a Measily 0.4%. What's Yours?

My current rate of return (ROR) for my 401k year-to-date (01.01.2006 - 07.21.2006) is 0.4%. Not that great at all. I'm curious, how are your 401k's doing? What's your ROR? This is how ROR is calculated, per my 401k website: Normally, you analyze an investment based on its Beginning Balance, its Ending Balance, and the schedule of Cash Flows between these 2 balances. Your Rate of Return is calculated as the Rate of Return for your particular Beginning Balance, Ending Balance, and schedule of Cash Flows. A compound daily rate of return is computed by testing different rates until one is found that increases (or reduces in the case of a loss) your beginning balance and all of your cash-flows to equal your ending balance within 0.00000000001%. Then the actual account performance during the investment period is calculated.

Bull Market? What Bull Market? Oh, That Kind of "Bull" Market & Egg-vertising

Since it's Friday, and tomorrow is Saturday, and the day after that Sunday, aka the WEEKEND, what's more appropriate than a little laugh to get everyone ready for 2 days to relax--I hope. If you don't get the weekend off, then just enjoy the chuckle, giggle, or laugh. If you don't get anything out of these articles, I'm sorry. The first article is about the "bull market." If the article didn't have a picture, I wouldn't have guessed it's about a male cow...It was in the "Business" section of MSNBC.com. It's kind of funny... The 2nd article talks about how CBS is taking advertising to a whole new level...Call it "egg-vertising." Too bad most people eat their eggs in the morning before primetime.

Wage Inflation Affecting India. Salaries Increase To $5,763.

I always wondered what do the folks in India get paid. Well, I found this article that talks about how India is dealing with wage inflation. "During Infosys' earnings call the previous week, Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani addressed the twin topics of wage inflation and employee attrition, saying that the company will increase starting salaries from $5,122 to $5,763, a 12.5 percent increase, on average." Check it out in its entirety.

Surprise! "Fun Fund" Opened At...GMAC.

Yep, I've opened my "fun fund" account, and it is at GMAC. Why? Well, it offers check writing, ATM card, a fairly low min ($500), supposed fast online transfers, and a pretty competitive interest rate. Not to mention the process so far has been amazingly painless. I'll keep you all posted on the status of my GMAC account opening process. I could not find any bonus/incentive offers though...and if you have, please don't post it! I don't want to find out after the fact. Thanks. :) By the way, I did consider HSBC, but I already have an account there...Paypal, that would've been perfect, except for the possible problems with withdrawals and lack of FDIC insurance...finally, my credit union...I can still use the credit union, but I can avoid their horrid interest rates...

WARNING: Phishing Alert - eBay - But This One Is Different!

I have to admit, this phishing attempt is different. It's coming from a unassuming location. Who would think that a question from a fellow eBayer could be attempt to steal your info? On top of that, only the yellow "Respond Now" button leads to a false location. For reference...Give them some fake info: http://alice.ics.nara-wu.ac.jp/~chubo/ebays.html Return-path: Received: from spm02 (spm02) by jem01 (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-5.04 (built Jan 24 2006)) with ESMTP id <0j2o00ci4tq995b0@jem01> for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:54:09 -1000 (HST) Received: from mail.digitrain.ac.nz ([203.97.26.98]) by spm02 (8.13.6.20060614/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k6K5s0SX016030 for <>; Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:54:07 -1000 (HST envelope-from donna@digitrain.ac.nz) Received: by mail.digitrain.ac.nz (Postfix, from userid 1030) id 6A349199C10D; Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:16:51 +1200 (NZST) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:16:51 +1200 (NZST) From: eBay Subject: Question from eBay Member To: undisclosed-recipients: ; Message-id: <20060720041651.6a349199c10d@mail.digitrain.ac.nz> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/html Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit\r\n X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296, Antispam-Engine: 2.4.0.264935, Antispam-Data: 2006.7.19.223932 Original-recipient: rfc822; X-Perlmx-Spam: Gauge=XXX, Probability=30%, Report='PHISH_NO_HTML_TAG 1.25, CTYPE_JUST_HTML 0.848, HTML_MIME_NO_HTML_TAG 0.8, PHISH_SUBJ_LOW 0.5, __CT 0, __CTE 0, __CTYPE_IS_HTML 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_HTML 0, __MIME_HTML_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __PHISH_FROM 0, __PHISH_FROM2 0, __PHISH_SUBJ_PHRASE1 0, __RUS_MIME_NO_TEXT 0, __SANE_MSGID 0'

WARNING: Phishing Alert - HSBC.com

This a phishing email received today. This is for reference only. If you're bored give them some false info: http://forum.schoschonen.com/event/official-security/upgrading/HSBC-US/login.htm Return-path: Received: from spm04 (spm04) by jem01 (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-5.04 (built Jan 24 2006)) with ESMTP id <> for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2006 17:48:29 -1000 (HST) Received: from alioth.digity.it (mizar.inartis.it [83.103.90.253]) by spm04 (8.13.6.20060614/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k6K3mGI0020397 for <>; Wed, 19 Jul 2006 17:48:26 -1000 (HST envelope-from web@Alioth.digity.it) Received: by alioth.digity.it (Postfix, from userid 1001) id C7E9538F50C1C; Thu, 20 Jul 2006 05:46:51 +0200 (CEST) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 05:46:51 +0200 (CEST) From: HSBC Bank USA Subject: Important Message From HSBC Bank USA To: Reply-to: Message-id: <20060720034651.c7e9538f50c1c@alioth.digity.it> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/html Content-transfer-encoding: 8BIT X-PMX-Version: 5.2.0.264296, Antispam-Engine: 2.4.0.264935, Antispam-Data: 2006.7.19.203432 Original-recipient: rfc822; X-Perlmx-Spam: Gauge=XXIIIIIII, Probability=27%, Report='REPLY_TO_EMPTY 1.699, CTYPE_JUST_HTML 0.848, PHISH_SUBJ_LOW 0.5, __CT 0, __CTE 0, __CTYPE_IS_HTML 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_HTML 0, __MIME_HTML_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __PHISH_FROM 0, __PHISH_FROM2 0, __PHISH_LOGO 0, __PHISH_LOGO_HSBC 0, __PHISH_SUBJ_PHRASE1 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __TAG_EXISTS_HTML 0'

Off Topic: When Personal Beliefs Should Be Put Aside For the Greater Good...

I realize that people have beliefs, I have them too, but when the potential exists to help millions of people, I might have to reconsider putting my beliefs aside, just for a second, for the greater good of humankind. That being said, I really am dissappointed that President Bush has decided to veto expanding embryonic stem cell research. No matter what we decide, other countries will move forward, leaving America in the dark. Sorry my fellow citizens, this is a blow to the future of health sciences in America. Looks like we'll be on the sidelines as the next leap of health science occurs right before our eyes. Those who stand with President Bush, are you not going to use the health advances discovered when cures tied to stem cell reasearch are found? What would you do if your father, mother, son, daugther, aunt, uncle's terminal disease could be cured? Would you put your beliefs aside then?

It's Going To Hurt When I Have To Pay My 0% Balances Off...Oh, and My Credit Card Limits.

Just looking over my current financials, and the almost $32,000.00 in credit card debt just sticks out. I don't like having debt, and as much as I know 0% is playing in my favor, it still kind of sucks knowing I have to pay it off eventually. Anyway, I decided to take a look at my credit card limits (credit Claire @ Tired but happy) in hopes that my debt to credit limit ratio is fairly low. So here we go: CC1: 14,400 (used: ~10,000, 0%) CC2: 15,000 CC3: 9,000 CC4: 15,500 CC5: 16,000 (used: ~790, paid off monthly) CC6: 22,000 (used: ~20,000, 0%) <- not good for credit score? CC7: 16,200 Total Credit: $108,100 Well, that puts me at around 30% credit utilization. Unfortunately, I think it's not overall credit usage that affects your credit score, but utilization per credit card? Anyway, come the end of the year CC1 will become a zero balance credit card. CC6 is good until Sept 07.

Privatization = Better World

There was an interesting news clip on TV awhile ago on privatization and how it benefits the world. In essence, privatization equal ownership, ownership equals taking care of whatever it is being owned. Ultimately, this creates a sense of responsibility for the object being owned, and thus a better world. Students of this high school were given one cup of Hershey's Kisses that "reproduce." For each Kiss left, you get one more at the end of each "round." In the first part of the experiment, each student group had one cup and told to take freely from the cup. In the end of the first part, there were no Kisses left or sometimes one or two--generally not sustainable. In the second part, a student in a group was given their own cup and told to take as many Kisses as they want and to give them away, half of the Kisses were left in the cups--sustainable. The point of this exercise was that privatization helps because people/owners take better care of something they own, rather than land owned by a group or the public. I thought it was pretty interesting. What do you think? Should more parks and public places be owned by a private group?

My Home: Feedback From Readers Convinced Me To Make Some Changes...New Housing Requirements and Saving More For the Down.

My Home: A series about the home buying process through the eyes of a first time home buyer.

---

Sometimes reality sucks doesn't it? I've done some analysis on the real cost of ownership on my future home, and it hit me like a sledgehammer. Sorry Freedumb, try again. I got some great feedback (I was even told I'm "spoiled"). Before I go on, I'd like to refer to my post on why I want to live here in Hawaii. I realized I really needed to think about it again (an argument for blogging!). The most basic question I asked myself again, do I even really need to get a home right now? The answer? No. I'm not going to throw away my dreams of getting a home, rather I'm going to take a step back and change my requirements and my timeline. CityGirl has a great post about knowing thyself that would be worth checking out. Originally, I was excited to get a home because, well, it'd be my own place, the American Dream, blah blah blah. My dog would have a yard to run around in. I'd have something to take care of and watch as my investment grows. Then reality hit, and I got great feedback. I realized how much it would really cost to own what I want. I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck, nor do I want to dig my own financial grave. So, that being said, I've decided to put off my home purchase even beyond next summer for as long as I can wait. Why? Well, I'd like to save as much as I can to have a bigger down payment so that I don't have to borrow too much. (Thanks NCN for making me think about credit a little more) I'd also like to observe the housing market longer. I've decided to do a couple of things: 1. Create a designated "house fund" that will be for my down payment. This is so that I'll have some extra cash for everything else. I can't drop my whole savings into the house, that would be dumb. (Madame X made me think about this a little more) 2. Reduce my requirements for my house. See below.

Original requirements

My revised requirements:

~ 5000-10000 sqft lot size ~ 1200-1500 sqft living space - A decent sized yard, with a portion fenced off for Brownie to run around. - Early mail delivery. Yes, I like having my mail delivered early! - Hands free faucet in the kitchen. - Target price of around $500-650K - Off major streets - Level lot - 2 car garage - Fairly up to date electrical system, if not then the ability to upgrade easily. - 10' ceilings - 4 Bedrooms (Maybe a split, two level house, so I can rent one and live in another) - Wired for CAT 6E. I'm pretty sure this is something I'll have to setup myself. - I would like a location about 15 mins from town. - Friendly neighbors...who wouldn't want that! - Decent amount of street parking - Breezy and cool location - Fairly close to freeway

~ 4000-6000 sqft lot size ~ 800-1200 sqft living space - Target price of around $450-600K - Off major streets - Level lot - 2 car garage - Fairly up to date electrical system, if not then the ability to upgrade easily. - 2 Bedrooms - I would like a location about 15 mins from town. - Decent amount of street parking - Breezy and cool location - Fairly close to freeway

Originally, I wrote: So, my monthly mortgage? @ 6.85% 30 yr loan would be $2,621.00/month. Now, to estimate everything else. I'm going to estimate on the high side.

Home Owners Insurance - Assuming .5% per $100,000 in home value = $2,750.00/year

Property Taxes - Assuming 1% per $100,000 in home value = $5,500.00/year Maintenance - Assuming larger than average maintenance costs for first year = $10,000 for 1st year, $5,000 there after. This includes a lawn that might need some care...or new flooring...things I think I'll probably change out when I move in.

Utilities - Cable, Phone, Electricity, Water - Based on how much my friend pays - $3600/year.

Initial Purchases: Equipment, furniture, appliances - $5,000 for first year, $2,500 there after.

1st year total without mortgage = $26,850.00 (or $2,237.50 / month) Thereafter = $19,350.00 (or $1,612.50 / month) 1st year monthly costs with mortgage = $4,858.50 per month Monthly thereafter = $4,233.50 per month I'm going to adjust costs to more realistic levels based on feedback received and comments from friends and family. With the same monthly mortgage @ 6.85% 30 yr loan = $2,621.00/month.

Home Owners Insurance = $2,750.00/year

Property Taxes = $5,500.00/year

Maintenance = $5,000 for 1st year, $2,500 there after.

Utilities = $3600/year.

Initial Purchases: Equipment, furniture, appliances - $2,5000 for first year, $1,000 there after.

1st year total without mortgage = $19,350.00 (or $ 1,612.50 / month) Thereafter = $15,350.00 (or $ 1,279.17/ month) By the way, I am considering once a year fees as part of my monthly expenses just for a better picture of my total expenses. 1st year monthly costs with mortgage = $ 4,233.50 / month Monthly thereafter = $ 3,900.17 / month Hmmm, still a little high, so I've increased my down payment to $200k, which would reduce my mortgage loan to $350k. My new monthly mortgage @ 6.85% would be $2,293.00 / month. With the same other expenses I wrote about before: 1st year monthly costs with mortgage = $3,905.50 / month Monthly thereafter = $ 3,572.17 / month Better. Still high, but at least that's manageable considering my current income. I'll keep trying to save even more for a down payment. The more the better. The journey continues...

How Much My Education Costed...My Entire Education From K Through College.

So I was curious, everyone talks about the price of a college education, but ever wondered what the cost is to be educated through a lifetime? Having gone to private schooling from K-12 and then a public state university, my education costed a little more than attending a public school. K-8, small Catholic school: ~$1,000.00/year (averaged over 9 years) + $2,000.00 for summer fun/school. 9-12, a different Catholic school: $4,000.00/year + $1,500.00 for summer school. College, state university (removed my scholarship): $2,000.00/year (averaged over 5 years) + $1,200.00 for summer school. Total? $39,700.00 for my total education. Not adjusted for inflation. That's a pretty penny. Now if I consider my scholarship, my total education costs drop to: $15,700.00. I hope my kids can get a scholarship! (I don't have any, but if I do in the future)

Being In Debt = Being a Slave?

First off, I commend and respect NCN's stance on refusing credit. The principle is good, and I agree many people in today's society are often in over their heads in debt. But putting all formlities aside and being honest, that is the individual's fault, and no one else's fault but their own. There are circumstances where I believe the decision to go into debt might have been extremely difficult, and I'm in no way trying to put that lightly. I believe that some honest hardworking people who are trying to now pay down their debt are "in over their heads," and I hope the support and help is there to help them get out. I'm not being insensitive, just stating the truth. Now if a creditor took advantage of people by using confusing terms, tricks, lying, etc. that is a whole different story, and not one I'll get into. I believe there's a basic fault in the premise that having credit equals being someone else's slave, because as people, we all owe someone something, regardless of how much we think we made it on our own. I'm not talking just money here obviously, could be time and labor to help move, could be someone looking after your shopping cart while you went to find your kid, could be anything. My point is just because you owe someone something does not make you their slave. I sometimes pick up the tab for lunch or dinner for my friend knowing that later down the line they will do the same. I don't think of them as slaves, and if I happen to pick up another tab before they do, I don't count. If that is the case then, you my friend, need to find new friends. Here's a statement I have a problem with:

I'm pretty radical. I refuse to borrow money. I will not borrow money from anyone, not even a friend or a relative. I will humbly accept money as a gift, or proudly take money as salary for a job that I have done, but I will not borrow money. I will not borrow money for a car, for a house, for a boat, for a sandwich. I will not borrow money... Why? Because, I refuse to be anyone's slave...

But come on, borrowing money for a sandwhich equals being a slave? That definitely is a little too radical for me.

I will not bow down to the gods of CitiBank or Bank of America or Ford Motor Credit. I do not care how they "reward" me, entice me, trick me, or invite me. I will not be seduced by their promises and their plans for my future. I have a brain of my own. No amount of "cash back" is worth giving up my freedom.

CitiBank, BofA, and Ford Motor Credit are FAR from gods. The foundation of freedom in America runs much too deep for even the hands of CitiBank to dig up.

Off Topic: Getting Off Blogger and Blogspot.com - A Mini-Guide

Alright, for those interested in moving off of Blogger.com (I hope I don't lose my account lol), Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary is generously offering 5 lucky bloggers their chance at having their own domain name hosted! FYI, Domain name registration not included, unless you'd like to pay Flexo to have him set it up for you. It may already be too late though, since it was first come first serve I believe. Go there and read the terms he set out... I haven't setup hosting for Financial Freedumb yet, but I am thinking about doing it in the future. I'm slowly in the process of moving over already actually. I don't want to impact my readers too much in one shot, so I'm taking it slowly. Here are my plans, if you have any tips on minimizing the impact on my readers and my exposure, please let me know! 1. I'm using Feedburner. This way, I can point my feed to a new "source" without affecting the original RSS location. Readers already subscribed to my blog should not be affected, no need to resubscribe. The last thing I need is to lose 1 of my 10 subscribers! :D 2. I've purchased the domain name, financialfreedumb.com, and have it redirected to my http://financialfreedumb.blogspot.com. This way, I can always reference financialfreedumb.com as my blog address. Then when the switch over happens, it should be fairly painless. 3. I plan on posting a few times before the switch over to request bloggers to switch over links to http://www.financialfreedumb.com instead of http://finacialfreedumb.blogspot.com. 4. Finally, I plan to keep my blogger account alive, but change my template to point users to my new site. All old links will work, but notify readers of my new location. That's it. If all goes well, impact to my readers should be minimal, and that's goal number one. Can you tell I work in customer service and have been brainwashed for long enough? If you're interested, please signup through my referral link...I host at dreamhost.com, and they're awesome! They have this "one-click" install which lets you setup Wordpress. Very convenient! Or just pay Flexo. :) Maybe you can convince him to start a "fee-for-migration service."

Updated Doggie Costs

If you haven't read about Brownie's not so fun encounter with d-i-a-r-r-h-e-a, check it out. He had an unplanned vet visit due to it, but he's much better now. Poor guy had the runs like I hope no one ever has to go through. Main post has been updated if you're interested in seeing where all the money spent on Brownie has gone. Total cost to date: $4,301.79.

My "Fun Fund" Will Not Be At Emigrant. Here's Why.

So in deciding where to open my "fun fund," originally Emigrant had been my favored institution, but recently, I read a post on Bank Deals that stated, Emigrant downgraded to 2 stars. No big deal right? They are FDIC insured. Ummm, not completely. If I have a choice, I'm not going to put my money in a bank that might be insolvent, however unlikely that may be. Of course, I haven't done a ton of research into Emigrant, but really, I'm not looking to do so. I just want an easy place to put my money to spend, and one that I don't have to worry about. Even if it's not completely true, there has to be some truth behind it. That being said, my current consideration list is: - My current credit union's savings account. A fairly low savings rate, but it's convenient and easily accessible. I can also get traveler's checks for free. - Paypal (thanks LAMoneyGuy). Might be a good mix between a full fledged online bank and my local credit union. Transfer is much quicker than HSBC, that's for sure. Plus no minimum, and I can use it to buy things online, although I'd still probably use my credit card. So that point is moot. And rates are very competetive...I was surprised actually. At 4.95%, that's pretty impressive. I'm going to be out playing a round of golf today (yes, I'm taking a half day from work...I am not play hookie). I haven't hit a golf ball in over a year, but this will be for a school benefit, which is why I'm going. It should be very interesting. I won't be posting anymore until later today if anything.

Silver, Buffalo & Wheat In Your Pocket?

Did you know that some valuable coins are still in circulation today? They could even be in your pocket! I just thought I'd share the little I know about coins...there's a huge world of coin collecting I'm not going to go into. I don't know enough, and as much as I would love to get into it, I don't think I have enough time right now. Although, had I invested in coins earlier, considering metal values today, I would be one rich dude. Let's start with the penny: Ah it's a penny. Look for odd looking ones. Even if composed of rare metals, it's pretty small so there's not much in there. Although, if you do find a 1943 copper penny, that penny could be worth $200,000.00+!! The nickel: Look for the buffalo or nickels dated from 1942 - 1945, known as the wartime nickels. These are composed of 35% silver! I think early nickels are composed of nickel...that's why they are not worth that much except for the buffalos and the wartime nickels. The dime: If you have a dime dated 1964 or earlier, keep it. Could be worth something. Unless you have a 1965 silver dime, which were made with silver by mistake, it could be worth more than $9000! The quarter: Same here...the magic year is 1964. 90% silver! If you find a quarter severly misstamped...KEEP IT! It's worth $400-3000 USD! Check this post out if you haven't already... So there you have it. Dump out the change in your pockets, sift through the jars in your homes, empty out those ash trays full of coins in your cars. You could strike it rich! If not, roll them up or go to a coin counting machine...They earn no interest sitting there. Oh and if you find a super valuable coin, be sure to send Freedumb a piece of the change. I'll write up a thank you letter for the world to see on my blog. Trust me, the exposure on my blog is priceless. ;)

Who Still Keeps Money Under the Mattress?

Just reading something at Consumerism Commentary, and the question popped into my head, "Who still keeps money under the mattress (or some similar hiding area)?" I have a couple hundred, maybe three hundred at most, lying around in various places, but honestly, I only remember the location of a $20 bill. I put them there mainly because, well, I just needed someplace to put them, and they stayed there. Some of my cash has been stashed away since high school. Do you hide cash away?