I have to really say, Andrea's been the best for asking the right questions to get those kind of responses out of me and it was a great experience being interviewed by her, and for having the opportunity to do so!
Just wanted to answer a couple of things..
My husband doesn't work. It's a choice we made together because he initially offered me the chance to stay at home all day long if I wanted, and for him to go to work. But since he doesn't like to work (he calls it 'living the dream'), and I don't mind that he doesn't as I make enough to cover the both of us even without this lifestyle, I just told him to take it easy for now. In the future however, we plan on getting a house, and he's quite handy around the home, so he'll be working for the next couple of years 'full-time' to finish our house, and basically run the household once we settle down in a city (such as doing dishes, cleaning, making dinner, cutting the grass, shovelling snow, fixing our cars if need be, etc).
It will also help our relationship in the long run, because we've observed in other couples that if one partner has a high-flying career, and the other does as well, they tend to grow apart in the long run as they are both so consumed by their jobs and the stress of it.
Maybe he'll get a part-time job, or start his own business in the future, but for now, he's 'retired'.
It's a good point that he could also be a mobile employee, but the problem is finding a job that will let him truly live anywhere and be anywhere 100% of the time. Sure, he could become a consultant like myself, but most consultants need to be on client site, and if the client site is not in the same city as mine... we might as well be living in an apartment and having me travel back and forth every week. He could become a writer or a webdesigner that doesn't really require client contact, but he doesn't have any skills in either area. He's more of a hands-on guy.
We basically consider him retired, and actually that generates a lot of discounts for him, even though he's so young.
I don't blog about my work because I don't want to compromise the confidentiality of my clients as well as get myself in hot water with my parent company... just not a good idea. So I tend to stick to fashion, life, style.. mostly geared towards women (rarely men), and a lot on personal finance & how I'm getting around paying down my debt.
Guest: I can totally see what you're saying, but I was under the impression it was more of an interview and look into my chosen lifestyle as a means of getting rid of my debt, not so much a glorification of my lifestyle and/or trying to receive praise about my debt repayment methods. I'm just writing about how I'm doing it, and if others can benefit from it, all the better!
I've been wanting them to do this for so long, but not just for calories. It would be great if they would list other nutritional information too like amount of fat and carbohydrates.
It's really disconcerting going out to eat and not knowing how many calories you are eating. The only thing about it is that I think it's unfair that they only are targeting chain fast food restaurants. I think this is something all restaurants should be required to do if possible. It's just as easy to have a big steak and baked potato and consume half a day's calories as having a big mac and fries at McD's.
Another approach one could take is simply pay extra towards the principal monthly but open up a HELOC anyway. The HELOC would allow access to your equity in times of need. This will yield the same result and cost you nothing extra!
The software makes recommendations as to the best amount to use from your HELOC to pay towards your mortgage's principal such that it will minimize your mortgage payoff time as well as maximize your interest savings.
This is not as trivial as it sounds. Especially if your financial situation changes (and who's situation doesn't change over time)!
As for your example, it's really similar to my example in Post 33. And as you can see there, the saving is also minimal. But the advantages are
(1) you have access to your money at any time;
(2) your spending habit is not affected (because you are not obligated to make any extra payments, instead, you are merely parking your extra cash in the HELOC to pay it down).
> BUT, they keep claiming $1,000's of savings over do-it-yourselfers.
I'm not sure if that's their exact claim. I believe their claim is a homeowner will save $1,000's over the standard 30-yr mortgage approach and that this method speeds up the mortgage payment dramatically while not forcing a change in the homeowner's spending habits.
> As I have stated in posts elsewhere, the only advantage these
> software packages and services give you is a way to focus on your
> end goal of mortgage payoff and see how every dollar spent affects
> that goal. If you feel that is valuable to you and that you can't
> do it on your own, then paying for it would be worthwhile in the end.
I concur. But as Scott in Post 16 says at the end in item #2:
"last statistic I heard from the federal reserve is that only 12% of the loans taken out in our country are paid ahead - People need a system"
Whether he got his fact correct or not I do not know. But I'm sure a lot of people can use this approach since it really doesn't affect their spending habits.
Ok, I finally got to the bottom of the UFF projection and now I know why they had such spectacular projected savings as opposed to what I was getting on my spreadsheet.
Essentially, I told the UFF agent that I get paid bi-weekly and my wife gets paid semi-monthly. So in his analysis, he punched in those values but the net monthly income was erroneously calculated. My bi-weekly payments were mistakenly calculated as if they were semi-monthly. Once I corrected this, the math matches.
For example, say I earn 1000 bi-weekly, and my wife earns 1000 semi-monthly. The MMA net monthly income was calculated as:
(1000x24 + 1000x24)/12 = 4000/month.
But it should have been calculated as:
(1000x26 + 1000x24)/12 = 4167/month (rounded for simplicity).
As you can see, that's 167/month extra income. I was assuming their net monthly income calculation was correct and using 4000 in my spreadsheet. However, their actual calculation used 4167 (although they reported 4000).
In closing, all the products out there do the same thing, IMHO, so pick the one that is easiest to use or cheapest or has best feature, etc.
I, for one, would love for restaurants to do this. About 2 months ago, I went on a diet/fitness plan that counted calories, and it was really discouraging to eat out because I had no idea of how many (mostly) calories I was consuming. Like you mention Andrea, eating at home is the best, but I'm an addict to trying new restaurants in my town.
Guest, try Calorie King for alcoholic calories. You might be surprised at the number of various liquors, beers, and wine counts they have on there.
It's a pet peeve of mine that the nutritional information is not listed on my bottle of amaretto. Just because it's a treat doesn't mean that I'm not better off being aware. I'm not allowed to distill my own (in the USA), so I can't use that method to know what I'm putting into my body. Maybe I should just give up the ETOH....
(And also it annoys me that supplements and homeopathic tinctures don't have the same labeling requirements as foods and medicines--it's going to the same place in my stomach/bloodstream/etc., right? I would guess that 80-90% of it is placebo effect--but the part that's not? I'd like to know which part that is! That should be a major basic research program!)
I'm not a big fan of name brand items either except for a few things.
But I've noticed with Sunglasses, Jackets and Shoes I like to buy name brand. Why? I actually spend less. One name brand pair of sunglasses and I treat them nicely, knowing they were expensive. Jackets I will wear for a long time, and shoes, less is better! I've noticed non-running shoes last a looong time. I'd rather have a few brand name pairs than a dozen cheap ones like I used to.
I tend to treat things better knowing how much I spent on them, how much I like them and that it would not be easy to replace them.
the trick is to just NOT buy anything on impulse! When there is something I want to buy, I search around for the best option, make a decision, and then wait a week before actually buying it. It works too well really. I stopped buying goods that I realized I liked at the time but didn't really need.
I guess I'm ready to quit looking for some magic way to apply GTD to large, organic tasks. Which is okay, really. Some things, especially creative things, just take large chunks of time. I'm good with that.
I have a strong feeling that online MCD will face possible investigation by some authorities. I would love to see class action law suit againt McD and would LOVE to be a part of it.
Its all about how you deceive people by staying in the legal limits. Its time for change my brothers and sister.
I believe I read or heard David Allen say that he regularly scheduled time to work on his books. Two or three hour chunks of time built into his schedule.
Let me see if I have this right. She has a free, upscale place to live, free food, free transportation, an obviously well-paying job, and she's patting yourself on the back and being admired because she's paying off your debt? I don't see the virtue there; it just seems like common sense. When would she pay it off otherwise?
I tried to use the calculator listed in one of the comments above but it's Java based and it wasn't working on my computer. I did find another non-Java based mortgage calculator at - http://www.mortgage-loans.net - with the amortization schedule and increased payment options for any of you that had the same problems as I did. What a difference a few dollars makes!
Actually, the McDonalds around where I live already label a lot of the packaging with the caloric value and have nutrition facts on the back of the paper tray-cover thingy.
REI is great about this, too. I don't shop there much, but when I do, I've been thankful that they are so gracious. And of course, there's always Nordstrom.
When claiming unclaimed property or lost funds from a State, typically both parties will need to sign the claim form. In your case, you'll first need to determine if the reported funds was listed as joint tennants or some other type of ownership split. If listed as joint tennants or joint tennants is assumed, you might consider asking the State to release your half of the funds only once your ownership is verified. If the State is unable to do this and you know your ex-partners current address, you should ask the State what their claim procedures are when owners of funds are no longer together.
I have to really say, Andrea's been the best for asking the right questions to get those kind of responses out of me and it was a great experience being interviewed by her, and for having the opportunity to do so!
Just wanted to answer a couple of things..
My husband doesn't work. It's a choice we made together because he initially offered me the chance to stay at home all day long if I wanted, and for him to go to work. But since he doesn't like to work (he calls it 'living the dream'), and I don't mind that he doesn't as I make enough to cover the both of us even without this lifestyle, I just told him to take it easy for now. In the future however, we plan on getting a house, and he's quite handy around the home, so he'll be working for the next couple of years 'full-time' to finish our house, and basically run the household once we settle down in a city (such as doing dishes, cleaning, making dinner, cutting the grass, shovelling snow, fixing our cars if need be, etc).
It will also help our relationship in the long run, because we've observed in other couples that if one partner has a high-flying career, and the other does as well, they tend to grow apart in the long run as they are both so consumed by their jobs and the stress of it.
Maybe he'll get a part-time job, or start his own business in the future, but for now, he's 'retired'.
It's a good point that he could also be a mobile employee, but the problem is finding a job that will let him truly live anywhere and be anywhere 100% of the time. Sure, he could become a consultant like myself, but most consultants need to be on client site, and if the client site is not in the same city as mine... we might as well be living in an apartment and having me travel back and forth every week. He could become a writer or a webdesigner that doesn't really require client contact, but he doesn't have any skills in either area. He's more of a hands-on guy.
We basically consider him retired, and actually that generates a lot of discounts for him, even though he's so young.
I don't blog about my work because I don't want to compromise the confidentiality of my clients as well as get myself in hot water with my parent company... just not a good idea. So I tend to stick to fashion, life, style.. mostly geared towards women (rarely men), and a lot on personal finance & how I'm getting around paying down my debt.
Guest: I can totally see what you're saying, but I was under the impression it was more of an interview and look into my chosen lifestyle as a means of getting rid of my debt, not so much a glorification of my lifestyle and/or trying to receive praise about my debt repayment methods. I'm just writing about how I'm doing it, and if others can benefit from it, all the better!
I've been wanting them to do this for so long, but not just for calories. It would be great if they would list other nutritional information too like amount of fat and carbohydrates.
It's really disconcerting going out to eat and not knowing how many calories you are eating. The only thing about it is that I think it's unfair that they only are targeting chain fast food restaurants. I think this is something all restaurants should be required to do if possible. It's just as easy to have a big steak and baked potato and consume half a day's calories as having a big mac and fries at McD's.
Another approach one could take is simply pay extra towards the principal monthly but open up a HELOC anyway. The HELOC would allow access to your equity in times of need. This will yield the same result and cost you nothing extra!
The software makes recommendations as to the best amount to use from your HELOC to pay towards your mortgage's principal such that it will minimize your mortgage payoff time as well as maximize your interest savings.
This is not as trivial as it sounds. Especially if your financial situation changes (and who's situation doesn't change over time)!
There are many nasty residues in film containers. Dont ever put anything food wise in them.
First, to clarify, I'm a guy, not a gal.
As for your example, it's really similar to my example in Post 33. And as you can see there, the saving is also minimal. But the advantages are
(1) you have access to your money at any time;
(2) your spending habit is not affected (because you are not obligated to make any extra payments, instead, you are merely parking your extra cash in the HELOC to pay it down).
> BUT, they keep claiming $1,000's of savings over do-it-yourselfers.
I'm not sure if that's their exact claim. I believe their claim is a homeowner will save $1,000's over the standard 30-yr mortgage approach and that this method speeds up the mortgage payment dramatically while not forcing a change in the homeowner's spending habits.
> As I have stated in posts elsewhere, the only advantage these
> software packages and services give you is a way to focus on your
> end goal of mortgage payoff and see how every dollar spent affects
> that goal. If you feel that is valuable to you and that you can't
> do it on your own, then paying for it would be worthwhile in the end.
I concur. But as Scott in Post 16 says at the end in item #2:
"last statistic I heard from the federal reserve is that only 12% of the loans taken out in our country are paid ahead - People need a system"
Whether he got his fact correct or not I do not know. But I'm sure a lot of people can use this approach since it really doesn't affect their spending habits.
Ok, I finally got to the bottom of the UFF projection and now I know why they had such spectacular projected savings as opposed to what I was getting on my spreadsheet.
Essentially, I told the UFF agent that I get paid bi-weekly and my wife gets paid semi-monthly. So in his analysis, he punched in those values but the net monthly income was erroneously calculated. My bi-weekly payments were mistakenly calculated as if they were semi-monthly. Once I corrected this, the math matches.
For example, say I earn 1000 bi-weekly, and my wife earns 1000 semi-monthly. The MMA net monthly income was calculated as:
(1000x24 + 1000x24)/12 = 4000/month.
But it should have been calculated as:
(1000x26 + 1000x24)/12 = 4167/month (rounded for simplicity).
As you can see, that's 167/month extra income. I was assuming their net monthly income calculation was correct and using 4000 in my spreadsheet. However, their actual calculation used 4167 (although they reported 4000).
In closing, all the products out there do the same thing, IMHO, so pick the one that is easiest to use or cheapest or has best feature, etc.
I, for one, would love for restaurants to do this. About 2 months ago, I went on a diet/fitness plan that counted calories, and it was really discouraging to eat out because I had no idea of how many (mostly) calories I was consuming. Like you mention Andrea, eating at home is the best, but I'm an addict to trying new restaurants in my town.
Guest, try Calorie King for alcoholic calories. You might be surprised at the number of various liquors, beers, and wine counts they have on there.
It's a pet peeve of mine that the nutritional information is not listed on my bottle of amaretto. Just because it's a treat doesn't mean that I'm not better off being aware. I'm not allowed to distill my own (in the USA), so I can't use that method to know what I'm putting into my body. Maybe I should just give up the ETOH....
(And also it annoys me that supplements and homeopathic tinctures don't have the same labeling requirements as foods and medicines--it's going to the same place in my stomach/bloodstream/etc., right? I would guess that 80-90% of it is placebo effect--but the part that's not? I'd like to know which part that is! That should be a major basic research program!)
I'm not a big fan of name brand items either except for a few things.
But I've noticed with Sunglasses, Jackets and Shoes I like to buy name brand. Why? I actually spend less. One name brand pair of sunglasses and I treat them nicely, knowing they were expensive. Jackets I will wear for a long time, and shoes, less is better! I've noticed non-running shoes last a looong time. I'd rather have a few brand name pairs than a dozen cheap ones like I used to.
I tend to treat things better knowing how much I spent on them, how much I like them and that it would not be easy to replace them.
the trick is to just NOT buy anything on impulse! When there is something I want to buy, I search around for the best option, make a decision, and then wait a week before actually buying it. It works too well really. I stopped buying goods that I realized I liked at the time but didn't really need.
I guess I'm ready to quit looking for some magic way to apply GTD to large, organic tasks. Which is okay, really. Some things, especially creative things, just take large chunks of time. I'm good with that.
Fabulous ideas, folks! Keep 'em coming.
I have a strong feeling that online MCD will face possible investigation by some authorities. I would love to see class action law suit againt McD and would LOVE to be a part of it.
Its all about how you deceive people by staying in the legal limits. Its time for change my brothers and sister.
I believe I read or heard David Allen say that he regularly scheduled time to work on his books. Two or three hour chunks of time built into his schedule.
Patagonia can't be beat in terms of quality and their product guarantee.-
I didn't edit very well when I changed my pronouns, but I hope the idea got through
Let me see if I have this right. She has a free, upscale place to live, free food, free transportation, an obviously well-paying job, and she's patting yourself on the back and being admired because she's paying off your debt? I don't see the virtue there; it just seems like common sense. When would she pay it off otherwise?
I tried to use the calculator listed in one of the comments above but it's Java based and it wasn't working on my computer. I did find another non-Java based mortgage calculator at - http://www.mortgage-loans.net - with the amortization schedule and increased payment options for any of you that had the same problems as I did. What a difference a few dollars makes!
Yes, some McDonald's do this. But how helpful is it to see the caloric info AFTER you've received your food?
Actually, the McDonalds around where I live already label a lot of the packaging with the caloric value and have nutrition facts on the back of the paper tray-cover thingy.
Sears will replace any children's clothing item if it wears out before they outgrow it! Details here:
http://www.sears.ca/gp/browse.html?ie=UTF8&node=16397051&no=16397281&searsBrand=core&me=A10FHFRJZ0GJG3
REI is great about this, too. I don't shop there much, but when I do, I've been thankful that they are so gracious. And of course, there's always Nordstrom.
We had a snowsuit zipper break in it's third year (and second child) and they replaced the suit. Free.
When claiming unclaimed property or lost funds from a State, typically both parties will need to sign the claim form. In your case, you'll first need to determine if the reported funds was listed as joint tennants or some other type of ownership split. If listed as joint tennants or joint tennants is assumed, you might consider asking the State to release your half of the funds only once your ownership is verified. If the State is unable to do this and you know your ex-partners current address, you should ask the State what their claim procedures are when owners of funds are no longer together.