Money Reasons

Smart Reasons to Save, Use and Invest Money

Archive for May, 2010

Goldman Sachs Is Being Used as a Whipping Boy

May 21st, 2010

Today, I was reading a post by Jeremy Seigel about Goldman Sachs, and most of his viewpoints reflect most of my own (see Crucifying Goldman Sachs, Start of The Witch Hunts). I have to note that I don’t always agree with the famous author (who wrote “Stocks for the Long Run“), but on this topic, I mostly agree with Dr. Seigel. Please I encourage you to read Dr. Seigel’s article to get the lowdown and a very logical and realistic explanation of events.

I have a feeling that as the SEC and US government digs deeper, they are going to realize that among the banking bunch, Goldman is one of the good guys! I guess they couldn’t attack a company that had greater involvement that caused the issue because they are still in a fragile state? So I guess the logic is attack one of the few companies that made the correct moves…

I think it’s funny, Government is focused on punitive actions instead of preventative actions. Not to mention the continual job drain that is occurring. Why don’t they focus on the problems with Americans continually losing jobs to offshore? We already lost a huge chuck of our manufacturing business overseas… Isn’t that a great example of losing jobs to cheaper foreign labor? Why let the service industry go overseas too?

I know these last few post at www.moneyreasons.com haven’t been totally personal finance, but if we don’t have jobs and companies to supply jobs… Well then, we really don’t need to worry about money, because nobody will have money…

-MR

3 comments »

Posted in Economy, Employment

Tags: Goldman Patsy Goldman Whipping Boy Government witchhunt Seigel Goldman viewpoint

Why Government Officials Should Think Things Through

May 20th, 2010

I just read that Los Angeles California decided to boycott Arizona Business. This is a move that I would not consider taking if I were them in a normal sense, but even more so considering that fact that LA has a dependency on them. This is where you hear that old saying “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”. In many ways, I think some people are just to sensitive!

You see, Los Angeles is depending on Arizona for 25% of their electricity. Arizona could quite easily turn off the power so to speak, and why not. If L.A. is planning on sabotaging the Arizona economy, why shouldn’t Arizona do the same.

Where you agree or disagree with Arizona, when you throw out threats, you really need to consider the consequences. This is why I think, in general, most of the government officials are short-sited (especially in LA)!

Really most people are like the government officials in L.A. They forget the relationships that they have and do stupid things to show off.

Another great example is France. We keep bring up the fact that we helped France during the last World Wars, and act like they owe us. But really the French were instrumental in us becoming a free nation. I know that it’s not that simple, but we should still be at least a little bit grateful!

4 comments »

Posted in Economy

Nascar Is Too Expensive For Me

May 19th, 2010

When I was younger, I had an Uncle (in Delaware) that tried to get me exposure to different experiences. During one of my stays there, he paid for me to go in a helicopter ride. To date, this is the only time I’ve ever been up in a helicopter, it was great! But I digress, during one of the summer stays in Delaware, I went to a car race. Other than the hot dogs and demolition derby, I was bored to tears. It was loud and monotonous. Although I was young, I just wasn’t impressed.

But to be completely honest, I can’t afford to attend the event…

Here are the cost calculations:

Ticket cost from $52 to $2,243 dollars! Wow, $2,243 dollars for 1 ticket! Geez
The drive down and back, maybe $250.00
Hotel cost? $100 a night minimum (and most of the people I spoke to are staying down for 2 nights
Food? Just a conservative guess maybe $150 per person (for 2 days)
Beer at the event? your guess is as good as mine? maybe @20.00?
Going out to the bar scene? This is probably optional, but I know at least 1 friend that is doing this! I’m not going to guess a price.

So taking the minimum numbers listed above, the conservative cost comes out to be almost $800. and that’s just for 1 person to go down! Note, that the 2nd person would be less expensive because of the gasoline required to travel down would not increase (much) nor the hotel costs!

The ironic thing is most of the people I know going down to attend this even are not in anywhere nears as financially secure as I am. Most are in debt big time. I’m willing to bet that most Nascar viewers (at least the ones out of state) owe a decent amount on there credit balances!

I would like to say it’s okay and if that’s what you enjoy the live how you want to live, but I can’t! If you want to become debt free (let alone financial independent), you’ll have to stop spending money and practice a little restaint. There are plent of things I’d like to do to, but being financial secure is more important!

13 comments »

Posted in Entertainment

Tags: Nascar is expensive nascar too rich

How I Got A Deck Table And Chairs For 25 Percent of The Cost

May 18th, 2010

Last year, at the end of summer, I bought my wife bought a $200 or $250 table and chairs set for our deck for at total of $50.00

How did she do this?

Well, she bought the set at the end of the season, and it was the display model. We usually don’t buy such sets, but for the price it seemed like too good of a deal to pass up.

So what’s the catch?

A few of the non-critical screws were missing, and the plastic end feet for the table are missing. So for the time being, we used felt feet for the table. this won’t last long, but it will prevent our deck from getting too scratched up. Eventually I’ll buy some screws and plastic feet that will work with the table.

Both my wife and I enjoy getting bargains on the things we buy. An example would be the WII pokemon game that we bought my son for his birthday. He wanted this (at the time) expensive pokemon game, but I just didn’t have the heart to buy a $50.00 game that I knew he wouldn’t play for long. So instead, I fired up my old friend Mr. eBay and searched for the game. Surprisingly, all of the new games were still $50.00… So I found a slightly used one for $12.00. Which ironically would be about 25% of the in store price of $50.00

While I spent full price for for my son’s DS, I bought a slightly used on from my buddy at work for $50.00. You might be wondering why I bought a used nintendo DS for my daughter.?. Well, it’s electronic and I heard that the nintendo DSi was coming out soon at that time. Technology typically only have a lifespan of perhaps 4 or 5 years, before it becomes obsolute.

I find tha tI have a hard time paying a premiun price from what I think it’s worth. I’m usually the last to buy technology, because I know that the price repidly drops each year the purchase is prolonged! This is why we still have CRTs instead of flat screens.

The key is to look for bargains during off seasons times so that you can get the best deal, or buy the product slightly used!

-MR

4 comments »

Posted in Frugality, Savings

Tags: purchase savings

People That Are Rich But Act Poor

May 17th, 2010

Do you know people that are rich but act poor?

Why do they do that? I often wondered that myself. At first, I thought maybe they were acting poor to fool people. That way, when they do business they can play the “I’m just like you” card, “I’m just trying to feed my family”…

Next, I thought maybe they were trying to blend in with their friends, kind of like a chameleon. Perhaps they are afraid what their friends will think, knowing that they are rich. Or perhaps, they want to fit in with their family, and avoid brother “Billy” from asking for money to borrow.

The two reasons above might ring true, but personally, I think they act poor because that is how they were raised and it’s the habits that they are use to.

Ironicially, it works out well for them, because they still fit in with their middle class background and even save more money. Of course, this enables them to become richer and richer since they don’t have to support a highfalutin lifestyle.

I often wonder if I would be the same way or not. I always thought that if I were rich, I would definitely travel more (and I still do think this), but maybe to fit in, I wouldn’t do it as much as I initially believed.