My Job Kind Of Sucks, But I Still Do It. How and Why.

If you're like me, then you really don't enjoy your job, but then again, you really don't hate it either. It's just, well, okay. There are up days and down days...seemingly more down days. But my benefits are good...pay, working from home, and my coworkers. But customer support is probably one of the least glorious of all technical positions, right below testing in my opinion. Of course, poor customer support means lots of lost revenue and customers, so it really is important, just not well recognized. Sales and development always seem to get the recognition, but my post is not about the job itself, but how I deal with it. So how do I deal with the lowly drudgery of dealing with other people's problems everyday? When I graduated from college, I worked 8-6 at the office, and then went home and did more work. I even worked on the weekends. My boss loved me, but I swear my mind has lost a few gears since then. I can't seem to keep track of as many things, and this is only 5 years ago! So, in order to keep my sanity, I had to take a look at my life and what is important. First of all, I take deep breaths, and I don't let people aggravate me. It's not my problem, but it is my problem. I do what I can, when I can. I work smarter, not harder. Don't get me wrong, I still do a good, thorough job. But I won't hit myself in the head trying to perfect everything I do. I've come to accept a few slip ups here and there. In the past, I wouldn't have. I understand the fact that if I want to be the best in my field, I can't accept slip ups, but that's not my goal. My life takes priority over my job. My work is just as good as it was, but now I put in 25% less effort. As time goes on, I'm thinking I can get that down to 50% so that I can spend more time enjoying life. If you can't take a deep breath and see the big picture, then, my advice would be to take a day off from work just to do nothing except think about what is important. Put a few signs on your office wall reminding you of these. You only live once, and so you might as well make the most of it. It's not all about work and money. Funny, growing up, I heard the exact opposite, life is not all about play. How the tables turn.

11 Billionaires and a Few CEOs Under 35 Years Old!

"Among the 793 billionaires Forbes found in 2006, only 11 of them, or 1 percent, were under the age of 35. Of those, five inherited their fortunes, like Prince Albert. The other six created their own wealth." Nice to hear that 6 actually created their own wealth, and pretty darn impressive! Read first article. This next one talks about CEOs under 35.

Hey, I'll Sell You 5 Pennies For 6 Cents!

Now that's a deal! The US Mint is considering dropping it. Coined, no pun intended, the "nuisance coin," it's funny that only a third of Americans want to actually get rid of them. So next time you have a penny, keep in mind, you probably could get more for it by melting it down than taking it to the bank. Just be sure to also keep in mind that it's illegal to destroy federal property. Read the article.

Opening Up a "Fun Fund," Can You Recommend Which Savings To Go With?

Alright, I have a hard time spending money, which is great, but this often leads to aggravation...of myself. You see when it comes time to buy gifts or spend money during a vacation, I just can't do it. I always think about how much it's impacting my net worth, how much I've worked to earn that money, and everything else that goes with spending money. So in order to combat that problem, I've decided to open a "fun fund." This money will be allocated to be spent on gifts, for others and myself, and on vacations, nothing else. Well, if necessary, an emergency emergency fund. But really the whole point of this account is to have it at 0 at least a few times a year. That's right a zero balance in a savings account. This fund will not be tracked in my net worth. It will be considered an expense before it's even actually spent. My requirements for this fund is that it is online, no minimum or very low (less than $100), has a fairly decent return, and can perform regular automatic deductions from another account. I am planning on funding this account with an initial $500.00 and then $100 per month thereafter, but that could change...what do you think is reasonable? I currently have two online savings account one with ING and the other HSBC. I guess having too many account is not a bad thing as comments on my previous post indicates. So which online savings bank to go with? Emigrant? Citibank? VirtualBank? GMAC? Some comparisons I've found: MyMoneyBlog Bankdeals I'd like to sign up for one that gives me some incentive to join. Right now I'm leaning towards Emigrant, just because they are the last of the "top 3" online savings accounts I don't have an account with yet. It also meets the requirements I stated above and MyMoneyBlog is giving away a signup bonus. Please leave me some feedback. Do you think this is a bad/good idea? I'll let you know which I've selected in a few days.

What Can 28 Million Buy You In Las Vegas?

Not much in my opinion: Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 5 full baths, three half baths Size: 12,041 square feet Yikes! Not to mention monthly homes sales fell 24.8% compared to last year! Wow. Read the article in its entirety here.

What If the US Went Cashless? The World?

Laws of Finance does it...SingleMa does it, and I do it. So why doesn't everyone do it? I'm not sure. Hard to break old habits I guess? I love change--for the most part anyway. The idea of a cashless society intrigues me, almost as much as national sales tax. The reasons are many, but here are some I've thought of. It would have a huge impact on society, a positive one I think. Of course we eliminate some evils, and we introduce some new ones, but hey nothing is perfect. We just strive to be. PROS + Imagine all those tax dollars saved because we no longer have to print out money. Nor do we have to save, store, destroy old currency. + It will probably reduce petty crime. Stores can no longer be robbed for money. Drug deals would have to become more sophisticated. Prositution would be a little awkward. Illegal purchases made by younger kids could be automatically declined. Couterfitting will probably be eliminated, uhhhh, since there's no money to counterfit! + No more handling paper money means a much more hygenic society. Money has traces of bacteria, drugs and a host of other germs. Take a look at this...Dirty Money. CONS - Government/Companies running cashless systems would have a tremendous amount of information on individual habits. NEUTRAL - Affects on industries could be huge. Banks could change dramatically, retail would be simplified, coins would no longer have to be counted. The list can go on for miles. Society will change drammatically. This could be a pro too, but the impact on careers will be mixed. We can dream can't we? Bold moves like going cashless, a national sales tax, green cars, smaller portion sizes at restaurants, smokeless society, changing to metric, investing in medical research all takes, as SingleMa points out, vision. I hope I get to see a few of these introduced before I die. So pick something folks and go for it!

Friday! Update: Fantasy Football, Ads = Sell Out? 07.07.2006

Alright, this will be a short and sweet Friday! Update. Read my post on fantasy football. Only bloggers in debt are allowed to "sell-out." Would you agree? I don't. EDIT: I want to clarify that Him @ Make Love, Not Debt argues that getting paid to write about a specific topic by payperpost.com is really just another form of spam and "selling out." I agree somewhat, if you get paid to write about something, that may be a form of selling out, but I think you have to be fair and really weigh the perspective the writer is coming from. If they just falsify their writeup to make money, then yeah, that's not good. But heck, if someone came up to me and asked to take a look and write something for a fee, I'd do it. It'd be honest though...if they don't agree to that condition, then I wouldn't do it. Also, I'm not going to even sign up or look through payperpost.com. If someone makes the effort to contact me, that's a different story. What do you think of my new layout? Have a great weekend! -FF (I told you)

Housekeeping - Blogs Removed

I guess there comes a time when people lose interest, find other things more important, can't dedicate time...whatever the reason, everytime I find blogs that haven't been updated in awhile, it's kind of a shock. These 4 blogs were there before mine, and I found some good posts on them. If you have some time check them out. Just because I'm taking them off the list, doesn't mean they are not great reads. They still are. Except for Gay Finance because well...the blogs not there anymore! If any of you come back, please let me know. I'd like to add you back on to my blogroll. Whatever you are doing now, best of luck to ya! Financial Train Wreck Gay Finance Blog Kirby On Finance Young Professions Financial Blog I plan on doing this quarterly or so from now on...

Do You Look Like Your Net Worth?

A couple of my friends look a lot more expensive than they are financially worth. I'm just talking financially here...As friends, they're worth more than money could buy. So don't go all crazy on me for this post. What do I mean? Well, they buy expensive clothes and bags, but they are in debt and live paycheck to paycheck. To each his/her own, but that brought up a question in my mind, do you look like how much you're financially worth? I'm just talking about the clothes, car, and entertainment kind of worth. I know I don't. For example, some people may eat out at expensive restaurants, drive expensive cars, but be heavily in debt. I like wearing old shirts, not new old shirts either...Shirts that I have owned for almost 10 years now. They're so soft and comfortable. I like leaving my hair uncombed. Considering I work at home, I guess it's okay. Some people would be embarrased, and call me a slob. I don't think I am. I clean up when I need to, but I'm not overly concerned with how I look. Hmmm, that could attribute to why I'm single. Hah. But hey, I'm not complaining, I like single life. A while back, Him @ Make Love, Not Debt, wrote Metrosexual Expenses. I was pretty shocked...I'm looking for the cheapest haircuts. So, do you look like your net worth?

Fantasy Football and Some Tips From Freedumb So That You Can Make Some Money

THANK YOU FOOTBALL GODS! The season is upon us! I love football. Pro more so than college. And by the way, I'm not talking about soccer, the other football. Rather, I'm talking about NFL football. Football is going to start hitting high gear in a few months, and there's no other sport like it. Especially when it comes to making money! So many ways to place friendly wagers, but by far fantasy football is the most addicting and exciting form of "fantasy" sports. The sport just fits well...scoring, the amount and frequency of games, the technicalities. It's not too confusing like fantasy baseball can be, and it's not overwhelming due to the number of games like fantasy baseball or basketball. I'm in a league for almost 8 years with a group of friends. It's great fun. Being in a group with your friends makes fantasy even better. I don't think I would've kept in touch with many of them without football. Okay enough of that, on to the good stuff!

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How does fantasy football work? Fantasy football leagues are generally 8, 10 or 12 team leagues. Where each team composed of various football players from different skill areas. Each team should be owned by different owners, otherwise it could make for some cheating. These teams then compete throughout the football regular season, usually a fantasy football season is 14-15 weeks long, ending a couple weeks before the end of the regular football season. This is mainly because the end of the season is bad for fantasy football players as many teams will bench players or adjust the normal play times based on whether that game is important or not. For example, if a team is 14-1, and already locked the division's top spot in the playoffs, then why risk injury? Thus they bench their star players early. This is bad for fantasy football teams. I'll explain why later. What are skill areas and how does the scoring work? Each week you face another owner. Each owner manages a team of fantasy football players. The number of players varies according to league rules. For example, league ABC consists of 8 fantasy football players. The players are broken down like this: 1 Quarterback, 2 Running backs, 2 Wide Receivers, 1 Tight End, 1 Kicker, and 1 Team Defense = 8 players. These 8 players get points, and the sum of the points equals your team points. Whichever team in the head-to-head competition that has the higher point total wins for that week. Scoring varies according to league rules as well. One simple example would be, 6 pts for each touchdown (passing, rushing, or receiving), 1 point for each 10 yards rushed or caught, etc. Okay, so how do I get my team? Do I just get to pick players? Sort of. Just like real football, there's usually a draft. However, there are also variations here, like a auction system draft. Most drafts, though, are typically setup as "rounds," where each round consists of each owner picking one pick. The order of this draft is pre-determined, and the position you have can greatly affect your team. For example: Round 1 1 pick: Owner A 2 pick: Owner B 3 pick: Owner C 4 pick: Owner D 5 pick: Owner E 6 pick: Owner F 7 pick: Owner G 8 pick: Owner H Round 1 9 pick: Owner H 10 pick: Owner G 11 pick: Owner F 12 pick: Owner E 13 pick: Owner D 14 pick: Owner C 15 pick: Owner B 16 pick: Owner A Notice how the draft order "snakes." This is a typical draft system. So now you are ready to get started! Okay, maybe not, but hey I'm not done yet...so keep reading. First off, start by checking out a few of the "free" fantasy football sites, like Yahoo! Sports Fantasy. Just sign up and join up a random league. It's a great way to learn and meet people. Of course use Google! Some sites to check out: http://www.fftoday.com/ http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/frontpage http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1 http://kffl.com/ http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/default.htm My tips: - Get a couple magazines. The Fantasy Football Index is a must for any fantasy football player. So get this at least. Buy it online to avoid sales tax and get free shipping. The second magazine is not a must have, but I like the Pro Forecast and Pro Football Weekly. Which one to get is your decision. I don't think it makes much sense to get more than 2 magazines though. Keep in mind by the 4th week in the regular season, most of information is outdated anyway. You'll be using it as a reference and for info on backup players and team schedules. - Your draft strategy should be based upon:

--Scoring system. This could change the value of a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, etc. --Number of teams in your league. If you have a large league, than running backs become much more valuable! Keep in mind each team usually has one primary running back while there are two primary wide receivers. --How many really good players are there in each skill area? If you have a dedicated Tight End position, then consider that there are only 3 or 4 really good tight ends. The rest are, well, blah. This makes those 3 or 4 players much more valuable. But don't overvalue them either! Nothing makes me giggle more than a tight end being taken in the 2nd or 3rd round of the draft. --What's the drop off in quality between players? For example, the difference between quarterbacks are usually fairly small with a few exceptions like Peyton Manning in 2004-2005, but then the rest of the quarterbacks are all almost the same. --Know you draft position! The first pick is great, but keep in mind that you have no more picks for quite awhile! "Bookends" or the last pick in the first round also has benefits since you get two picks in a row. --Remember, you can always trade. If a valuable player is sitting there, but you don't need them, you may be able to score two players for that one, so it may be worthwhile to draft that player anyway. But don't lose site of the possibility that a trade may not work out. --Think about the offense. A high scoring offense will add value to offensive players. Also, a running offense means runnings backs are good bets on that team. A passing offense means quarterbacks and wide receivers are good bets. --Think about the team's schedule and division. A weak division is usually a good thing for a strong team, thus a good thing for fantasy players. --Consider a player that was good the last last season, but flopped. They made be picked up later, but give you a high return.

- Don't overanalyze. - Never sit a stud. In other words, even if Shaun Alexander has two bad games in a row, you don't bench him for Thomas Jones. -There are more tips, but I don't want to give away all my insider knowledge. :P If you want to join a BIG league fantasy football league, then check this out, WCOFF--we're talking $1495.00 per team! No kidding. But if you win it all, you get $200,000.00. Not bad. There are tons of other ways to place wagers and make money with football, like the grid or playing 10 number blocks. Or a friendly work pool where each person gets one team which is randomly selected. The person who's team has the best record at the end of the season wins. Just make sure you have tie breaker rules, like head to head record, most points scored in a season, etc. Unless you are okay with multiple teams winning. Well, stayed tuned for some tips for the regular season. Just 2 more months! Mark your calendars, September 7th is the official beginning of the regular season! I even considered starting up another blog, but I don't plan on posting that many articles on football. I may just create a new series here.