Posted 7 hours 9 min ago by Philip Brewer
I don't know if energy costs will keep rising. Nobody does. Even with recent growth in China, India, and elsewhere, the US still consumes 25% of the oil produced world-wide, so a severe recession in the US could easily cut total demand enough to bring the price down. Recession or not, I think the medium-term trend in energy costs is up. Just in case I'm right, you ought to have plan for that.
Posted 4 days 23 hours ago by Philip Brewer
In the Philippines, they're threatening life sentences for people hoarding rice. In the United States, grocers need to put limits on rice purchases just to keep their shelves stocked. Philippine traders are now afraid to fill their warehouses, for fear of being called a hoarder. Even ordinary US shoppers are worrying that buying a big bag of rice might make them a hoarder. In this climate, it's worth thinking about what hoarding actually is.
Posted 1 week 5 hours ago by Philip Brewer
Since 1998, the US Treasury has had a pretty good deal for small savers who were worried about inflation--the Series I Savings Bond. The interest it paid was based on inflation plus an additional return that was set by the Treasury and fixed for the life of the bond. On May 1st the Treasury announced the value of that fixed return for the next six months: Zero.
Posted 1 week 2 days ago by Philip Brewer
Every so often, I get hit in the face with two facts. First, Americans (even poor Americans) are unbelievably rich. Second, Americans (as a group) utterly lack a cultural tradition that teaches us how to eat a healthy, frugal diet.
Posted 1 week 4 days ago by Philip Brewer
Do you need a kick in the pants to get you saving for retirement? Do you need someone to wave their arms and run around screaming that your whole future is at risk, in order to motivate you to put some serious money aside and take the time to learn how your 401(k) works? If so, this is the book for you.
Posted 1 week 5 days ago by Philip Brewer
I worked at a non-profit--a local nature center--over the summer of 1979. After we wrapped up our main task, those of us who wanted to were allowed stay on for the few weeks before we went back to college, doing things like trimming branches on the hiking trails, repainting the lines in the parking lot, and working around a very old house that was to be turned into an exhibit on settlement-era homesteads. It was work that was worth doing.
Posted 2 weeks 2 days ago by Philip Brewer
My very first experience running a household was in 1980, just as the last big inflation was spiking up over 10%. My carefully constructed budget was completely destroyed by prices that were rising by 1% every month. Since then, I've given considerable thought to how to deal with just that situation. Since history seems dangerously close to repeating itself, it's a timely topic.
Posted 2 weeks 3 days ago by Philip Brewer
Early retirement is a topic I've always been interested in. The particular version of it that this book deals with--living well on less money, as a means to getting by without having to work at a regular job--is not only interesting, it's the life I'm living. Allowing for the fact that it's aimed right at my own personal sweet spot, I liked it even better than I expected. It reads like the author started following me around a year ago, figured out exactly what questions I needed answered, then carefully and thoughtfully wrote a book to answer them.
Posted 3 weeks 4 hours ago by Philip Brewer
The trend toward replacing traditional employees with varying combinations of temps, contractors, outsourcing, and off-shoring is old news now. That gives us a bit of perspective to look at the situation and come up with some strategies for employees (and, increasingly, ex-employees) to deal with the situation.
Posted 3 weeks 2 days ago by Philip Brewer
During the recession of 1990-1991, and the period of very slow growth that followed, it became conventional wisdom that it was wrong to try to retain key employees through a slowdown. If there was no work for an employee to do--even just for fifteen minutes--that employee should be let go.
Posted 3 weeks 6 days ago by Philip Brewer
When investing in things that pay an interest rate--things like CDs and bonds--it's tempting to try to get the maximum interest rate, and then to try to lock up that rate for as long as possible. There's an alternate strategy that provides good, stable returns with a lot less stress and a lot less need for predicting the future: Laddering.
Posted 4 weeks 2 days ago by Philip Brewer
One of the bugaboos of the financial doom-and-gloom crowd is the worry that foreigners (China in particular, but also oil exporting countries in the Middle-East, and others) might quit buying so many US Treasury securities. If that happened, they say, the value of the dollar would plummet, interest rates would soar, and the US economy would be in terrible trouble. I say: Bring it on!
Posted 5 weeks 6 hours ago by Philip Brewer
Interest rates for ordinary savers held up pretty well after the first Fed rate cut in July last year. There was a simple reason--banks needed the money. With the credit squeeze making it tough for banks to raise cash, the last thing they wanted was for savers to draw their money out in search of higher returns. The Fed's efforts to relieve the squeeze have been somewhat successful--banks have substantially cut the rates they'll pay savers.
Posted 5 weeks 3 days ago by Philip Brewer
Prompted by high prices (driven by demand from ethanol production), farmers planted more acres of corn last year than any year since 1944. This year, though, planned acres for corn are down 8%, and soybeans are back up to normal.
Posted 5 weeks 4 days ago by Philip Brewer
Ever notice that we have names for a period when the economy isn't growing (recession or depression), but there's no name for when it is growing? If they call it anything, economists and politicians call it a "period of normal growth."
Posted 6 weeks 1 day ago by Philip Brewer
Ever worked someplace that had an incentive plan (as in, "Hit these targets and you'll get a bonus")? Ever been a manager whose job it was to administer an incentive plan? Ever tried to create an incentive plan, hoping to get people to do more of what you want them to do? Here's a little tidbit for you: Incentive plans always go awry.
Posted 6 weeks 3 days ago by Philip Brewer
This is really a non-issue, if you work a regular job: Your employer withholds taxes. It's also not much of an issue if you're self-employed and your income is reasonably steady through the course of the year: You estimate your annual tax bill and send in quarterly estimated tax payments. If your income is unpredictable, though, it is an issue. Happily, the IRS does not demand that you be able to predict the future.
Posted 6 weeks 4 days ago by Philip Brewer
I wasn't looking forward to doing my taxes this year. They were going to be more complicated than in years past, because I left my regular job and started working full-time as a writer. I also had some other new complications. TurboTax handled it all without difficulty.
Posted 6 weeks 5 days ago by Philip Brewer
I saw this poster on the window of a store-front brokerage firm office near the grocery store. Although the firm in question has an obvious self-interest in getting you to consolidate your investments with them, the underlying message is a good one.
Posted 7 weeks 1 hour ago by Philip Brewer
You don't hear it much any more, but for a long time, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich" was a pretty effective line for the average Joe when dealing with somebody who was smarter than him. The expression has kind of fallen out of fashion lately. Nowadays, there are too many rich smart people.
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| Posts | Cmts | |
|---|---|---|
| Carrie Kirby | 3 | 2 |
| Julie Rains | 3 | 13 |
| Linsey Knerl | 13 | 28 |
| Mark P. Cussen | 3 | 4 |
| Myscha Theriault | 4 | 31 |
| Nora Dunn | 6 | 6 |
| Paul Michael | 10 | 22 |
| Philip Brewer | 11 | 47 |
| Thursday Bram | 3 | 1 |
| Xin Lu | 11 | 25 |
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