That when I first saw this, I thought the same thing.. (in essence.) Interesting that for the first few years of residency, however, many doctors only make 30-50 thousand a year (divided by 100 hours a week - that's just peanuts!) Plus add in a staggering loan payment each month, and they don't make that much at all!
Granted, this is just for the residents, but I assume that free pizza would be welcome to these hard-working new docs. I won't dare complain. :)
Many people are now using a real estate short sale as an exit strategy when they become upside down in equity. Not that I condone not paying your mortgage but if you owe so much more than what the house is worth then it may be a valid option.
Great post with some solid advice. Many people facing foreclosure are completely lost and totally misinformed. The more information out there that offers assistance, the better. I help people out of foreclosure as a real estate investor but I never ever prey on them. Short sales are a great way for someone who is overleveraged to get out of a bad situation.
Listen, I know what you're doing. I can recognize it as I have done it so many times myself in the past. You are gadget-lusting. You are trying very, very hard to convince yourself that this thing will save you something, somehow: time, money, whatever. The "Amazon Prime" comment is a dead giveaway... You simply *want* thing thing.
There's no way it's worth it. I completely agree with the above posters re: the ridiculous price raping going on for ebooks. There is simply no way this thing is cheaper than going the library/inter-library loan/used book route.
I guess it's kind of a neat toy, but so not worth the money. There are many devices that do much more for much less. Come on, this is WISE BREAD!
Unless you are able to perform due diligence, invest in an index fund. Consistently outperforms managed mutual funds. Also, invest regularly to minimize the effect of cycles.
To the extent that the companies are out there making things that people want to buy, their stocks do provide some inflation protection. On average, you'd expect their costs, their prices, and their profits all to rise along with inflation.
It's never that simple, of course. Some companies will see costs rising faster than inflation and some companies will find that customers won't pay higher prices. Of course, other companies will having the benefit of opposite trends. If the companies you own stock in find themselves on the better side of those shifts, you might do very well indeed.
Dividends are, to my mind, the right way to expect a return from stocks. Rising dividends are one way that stock investments can protect investors from inflation--but, of course, the rising dividends depend on rising profits.
My husband and I do a version of the 3 pot system. He has his own account and I am fine managing the joint accounts for checking, savings and emergency fund. He needs that feeling of having money set aside that he can do whatever he wants with.
Even though we don't keep the appointment every time, I have a scheduled time every 2 weeks to talk about money stuff and keep a spreadsheet of our budgeting that he can look at any time.
This is what works for us, with so many marriages and relationships ending because of money issues I don't know why every committed person does not address this as a top 3 issue in their relationship. Religion, Children and Money.
@Vicki - In addition to the suggestions of setting up a cash system, and including her in goals you could also bring up an IRA for her, life insurance planning ( not just for you, if something happens to her coverage would have to cover daycare), and the realities of how college education can bankrupt a family if you don't plan ahead. If you make it personal, and less threatening by it being a regular topic of discussion (instead of a once every few months blow up) she should give it more weight. I know if my spouse approaches me with something and makes me know how important it is to him in a quiet serious way I give it more consideration. Once we started joining our finances I found it best to go little by little and make it a regular discussion, he got overloaded quickly.
It also might be helpful to take a book like David Bach's "smart couples finish rich" and work through the chapters together. Learn new things about money together so it doesn't seem like its foreign to her and it takes the pressure off you to be the "expert".
Good luck to you I am glad to sense that you don't sound like giving up anytime soon! Having a frugal partner will be a great asset in the long run!
I recently returned from a stay in a hotel room and developed what I fear may be bedbug bites. The internet sites all say that any clothing that was in that hotel room should be washed in hot water and put in the dryer to kill any eggs that may have gotten on my clothes. Some of my clothes will be ruined if I wash them in hot water and put them in the dryer.
Someone suggested just putting them in the dryer while they are dry, and that the heat from the dryer will kill any eggs. Does anyone know if doing that once for 20 minutes or so will ruin the clothes?
I'm going to try to sit down and talk with her again about this. I just feel like she puts me out there as the finance person and doesn't want to get involved. She always has an excuse for not getting involved. She doesn't like that I have investment accounts and am comfortable with riskier investments like stocks, even in the current market. She doesn't see the value of saving money for retirement because she doesn't think it's a sure thing. I tried to explain to her that my investment money is a sure thing, but she doesn't understand that.
We have no financial goals together. Maybe that would help us out. Maybe if we sat down and did that together, we would actually be able to work together as partners with this money thing.
I've always used stocks as a way to reduce inflation risk. In other words, by diversifying into stocks, I try to keep myself safer from the risk of losing spending power due to inflation. But you do bring up alternatives to stock investing for that purpose:
1) Inflation-adjusted bonds (when the after-inflation return is above zero)
2) Real estate (with a fixed-rate mortgage, only the taxes, insurance and repairs will increase with inflation, and if you stay long enough, there won't be any additional costs)
I've been annoyed with I-bonds since the fixed part of the rate dropped below 3% (and then 2%), but it seems like TIPS are something I should try.
(I have a house to live in but have very little interest in becoming a landlord. Although, I am sort of tempted to get a duplex and rent the other side out.)
Some people also use dividend stocks this way. They buy from companies who always pay dividends and whose dividends have always increased over time (so far, of course), and they don't have to care what the stock price is so long as the dividend keeps up with inflation. Of course as soon as the dividend drops, I'm sure the stock price also drops and then you're stuck, but it's another thing to add to your basket.
"Now, I could work as a true contractor, hiring myself out as part of my own business, and then I could charge an INSANE amount of money per hour to make up for the lack of benefits. I'll write more about this later."
I'm interested in learning more about contracting myself out instead of going through an agency. Any thoughts on the best way to go about this?
Also - to Ridenour's post... I was just re-reading, and I may not be inferring correctly, but it reads like she and her husband, when she was 23 and he 26, bought a $375,000 house. I apologize if this isn't a correct deduction... but in what version of reality is that a reasonable purchase?? I don't know anyone who bought a house at the age of 23, much less one that cost $375,000. Most everyone I know who got married at about that age, including myself, rented for 3-5 years before buying, giving careers a chance to stabilize somewhat, to save up a decent downpayment and still have a savings cushion to cover anything from lost wages to a broken furnace. We bought a house three years after we married, and were pre-approved by WaMu (what a shocker) for $330,000, but we knew that would be absolutely insanely too much for us, and instead bought a house, about 30 minutes outside Boston (another ridiculously high-priced market) for just under $190,000. Consequently, when I lost my job after 9/11, we were still able to pay the mortgage. Had we taken advantage of the full amount of WaMu's offer, we'd have been in foreclosure, no question. In fact, not only did we not go with the $330,000, we dropped WaMu altogether, because I didn't want to have anything to do with a bank that would make such an irresponsible recommendation to a customer.
Wouldn't we have loved a $375,000 house? Instead, we took something smaller and older, in a town that was more depressed, where prices were cheap. My neighborhood wasn't Wisteria Lane, with pretty McMansions and white picket fences, but it was safe, and it was a home for us, without neighbors above and below. We also put off having children (and still haven't had any), because we wanted to be in the most secure financial position we could achieve, in order to provide the best life we could for our kids. I still wonder if that was the right decision - but it was the bed we made, and we're laying in it. I'm not saying this to comment on anyone's choice to have kids or not... just to illustrate the point that we have made sacrifices, too. Life is about compromises, and unfortunately, some people are having to learn that the hard way, the scary way. And I know that has to be painful. But I, and others, are more concerned with the overall role of government, and what it should, and should not, be responsible for doing. This is one of those things that, for me, fall into the latter category.
Whether or not this is Ridenour's situation, I don't know, but it really is irrelevant. I think we all know people who went with the best house the bank said they could afford, without thought of the calamities that could arise down the road, and are now paying the price for that decision. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree that we should crack down on predatory lending, but that doesn't erase the autonomy and responsibility of the homeowner to know what they're signing AND to account for their own futures, and what good AND bad things might occur to affect their ability to pay.
This sounds like a very fun gadget... Oprah can afford to promote it since she gets it free for the audience- although she is very excited about this product and it seems genuine.... I think if it were $200.00 I would take a chance on it.... I too enjoy going to the library, and putting books on reserve if they are best sellers.... There is something about sitting in a chair with a BOOK BOOK..... maybe we are getting too techo...
I applaud Ridenour for making so many sacrifices to do the responsible thing, but I still maintain that it is no one's responsibility to protect people from the risks inherent in making basic life choices.
When my husband and I bought a house, we chose a house that we knew we could afford on only one income. We didn't anticipate that either of us would be out of work, but we knew it was a possibility, so we built that into our risk scenario.
Whenever you buy anything of any financial size, there is -always- risk. When you buy a car, it begins depreciating in value immediately. Indeed, just about any asset you buy depreciates. The only exceptions are certain one of a kind items (like fine art). Logically speaking, no one should have expected that real estate would always go up in value. Look at former 'boom towns' like those in the (now) rust belt. All areas have their phases of growth and recession.
My point is that, while my heart goes out to people who have suffered/are suffering, and I appreciate the fact that (it seems like, though we don't know all the details) people like Ridenour are doing all they can, the government should not be in the business of mitigating the risk that people are exposed to when they have a run of bad luck. The effects of bad luck can and should be mitigated by the individual. Rent, don't own, if you don't have a substantial cushion of savings. Home ownership is not a right guaranteed by our Constitution. Put 3-6 months of savings away BEFORE times get tough. Move to a place with a lower cost of living, if you can. What you save on living expenses will more than compensate you for plane tickets to visit friends and family.
What next? Government bailout for bad luck at Texas hold 'em? Life itself comes with a litany of risks. You have to prepare yourself as best you can for those risks, but it is not the government's responsibility (or mine, via my tax dollars) to compensate anyone for bad luck, nor would I expect to be compensated for my own.
I WAS JUST EMPLOYED IN 11/01/2007 AND REC.6.00 SHORT OF THE REQUIRED 3000.00 TO GET A STIMULAS CHECK .I CLAIMED MY TWO KIDS ONE 14 AND 17 MY 17 YEAR OLD WILL BE 18 IN NOV.2008 WILL I STILL BE ABLE TO CLAIM AND GET A STIMULAS FOR 2008
This was helpful. I'm going to shut off my DirecTV next month after the election... it's going to be my last toke of tube and then OFF. I'll keep the equipment around for games and DVDs, etc., but I think it's going to be nice not having the safety net of 24 hour entertainment around. Then I can also arrange my furniture into more of an imaginary campfire layout, instead of the "face forward and don't talk" elevator-style layout many living rooms have.
I have a good idea of how to win this thing (not the online version).. well not all of the winnings but still.. If we all came together and discussed the pieces we have..If we found a winning combination between some of us here we can split the money.. Let me know what u think.. There should be a website where all people can have this opportunity to collaborate so we can make sure all the winning pieces are won.
How silly. I need Boardwalk and have Park Place! *twitches involuntarily* DUH?? Call me!
That when I first saw this, I thought the same thing.. (in essence.) Interesting that for the first few years of residency, however, many doctors only make 30-50 thousand a year (divided by 100 hours a week - that's just peanuts!) Plus add in a staggering loan payment each month, and they don't make that much at all!
Granted, this is just for the residents, but I assume that free pizza would be welcome to these hard-working new docs. I won't dare complain. :)
Linsey
Many people are now using a real estate short sale as an exit strategy when they become upside down in equity. Not that I condone not paying your mortgage but if you owe so much more than what the house is worth then it may be a valid option.
This is the stupidest promotion I've ever heard of.
Free food for the upper middle class, during an economic crisis.
It's like Bush's tax cut for the rich.
corollas are bass ass
Great post with some solid advice. Many people facing foreclosure are completely lost and totally misinformed. The more information out there that offers assistance, the better. I help people out of foreclosure as a real estate investor but I never ever prey on them. Short sales are a great way for someone who is overleveraged to get out of a bad situation.
Well Done! Our world has an ever growing appetite for "The Hero" with the word popping up in print, Super Hero T.V. shows, movies and merchandise.
Thank you for sharing your powers for good - creativity, vision, genorosity and voice.
See you on your blog Julie
Listen, I know what you're doing. I can recognize it as I have done it so many times myself in the past. You are gadget-lusting. You are trying very, very hard to convince yourself that this thing will save you something, somehow: time, money, whatever. The "Amazon Prime" comment is a dead giveaway... You simply *want* thing thing.
There's no way it's worth it. I completely agree with the above posters re: the ridiculous price raping going on for ebooks. There is simply no way this thing is cheaper than going the library/inter-library loan/used book route.
I guess it's kind of a neat toy, but so not worth the money. There are many devices that do much more for much less. Come on, this is WISE BREAD!
Unless you are able to perform due diligence, invest in an index fund. Consistently outperforms managed mutual funds. Also, invest regularly to minimize the effect of cycles.
To the extent that the companies are out there making things that people want to buy, their stocks do provide some inflation protection. On average, you'd expect their costs, their prices, and their profits all to rise along with inflation.
It's never that simple, of course. Some companies will see costs rising faster than inflation and some companies will find that customers won't pay higher prices. Of course, other companies will having the benefit of opposite trends. If the companies you own stock in find themselves on the better side of those shifts, you might do very well indeed.
Dividends are, to my mind, the right way to expect a return from stocks. Rising dividends are one way that stock investments can protect investors from inflation--but, of course, the rising dividends depend on rising profits.
My husband and I do a version of the 3 pot system. He has his own account and I am fine managing the joint accounts for checking, savings and emergency fund. He needs that feeling of having money set aside that he can do whatever he wants with.
Even though we don't keep the appointment every time, I have a scheduled time every 2 weeks to talk about money stuff and keep a spreadsheet of our budgeting that he can look at any time.
This is what works for us, with so many marriages and relationships ending because of money issues I don't know why every committed person does not address this as a top 3 issue in their relationship. Religion, Children and Money.
@Vicki - In addition to the suggestions of setting up a cash system, and including her in goals you could also bring up an IRA for her, life insurance planning ( not just for you, if something happens to her coverage would have to cover daycare), and the realities of how college education can bankrupt a family if you don't plan ahead. If you make it personal, and less threatening by it being a regular topic of discussion (instead of a once every few months blow up) she should give it more weight. I know if my spouse approaches me with something and makes me know how important it is to him in a quiet serious way I give it more consideration. Once we started joining our finances I found it best to go little by little and make it a regular discussion, he got overloaded quickly.
It also might be helpful to take a book like David Bach's "smart couples finish rich" and work through the chapters together. Learn new things about money together so it doesn't seem like its foreign to her and it takes the pressure off you to be the "expert".
Good luck to you I am glad to sense that you don't sound like giving up anytime soon! Having a frugal partner will be a great asset in the long run!
I recently returned from a stay in a hotel room and developed what I fear may be bedbug bites. The internet sites all say that any clothing that was in that hotel room should be washed in hot water and put in the dryer to kill any eggs that may have gotten on my clothes. Some of my clothes will be ruined if I wash them in hot water and put them in the dryer.
Someone suggested just putting them in the dryer while they are dry, and that the heat from the dryer will kill any eggs. Does anyone know if doing that once for 20 minutes or so will ruin the clothes?
Right now they are offering trick or treats for just a $1.00 you get twelve coupons for free stuff anywhere from a hamburgar to a drink, ck it out.
Steve, thanks so much for your advice.
I'm going to try to sit down and talk with her again about this. I just feel like she puts me out there as the finance person and doesn't want to get involved. She always has an excuse for not getting involved. She doesn't like that I have investment accounts and am comfortable with riskier investments like stocks, even in the current market. She doesn't see the value of saving money for retirement because she doesn't think it's a sure thing. I tried to explain to her that my investment money is a sure thing, but she doesn't understand that.
We have no financial goals together. Maybe that would help us out. Maybe if we sat down and did that together, we would actually be able to work together as partners with this money thing.
Interesting, as usual.
I've always used stocks as a way to reduce inflation risk. In other words, by diversifying into stocks, I try to keep myself safer from the risk of losing spending power due to inflation. But you do bring up alternatives to stock investing for that purpose:
1) Inflation-adjusted bonds (when the after-inflation return is above zero)
2) Real estate (with a fixed-rate mortgage, only the taxes, insurance and repairs will increase with inflation, and if you stay long enough, there won't be any additional costs)
I've been annoyed with I-bonds since the fixed part of the rate dropped below 3% (and then 2%), but it seems like TIPS are something I should try.
(I have a house to live in but have very little interest in becoming a landlord. Although, I am sort of tempted to get a duplex and rent the other side out.)
Some people also use dividend stocks this way. They buy from companies who always pay dividends and whose dividends have always increased over time (so far, of course), and they don't have to care what the stock price is so long as the dividend keeps up with inflation. Of course as soon as the dividend drops, I'm sure the stock price also drops and then you're stuck, but it's another thing to add to your basket.
"Now, I could work as a true contractor, hiring myself out as part of my own business, and then I could charge an INSANE amount of money per hour to make up for the lack of benefits. I'll write more about this later."
I'm interested in learning more about contracting myself out instead of going through an agency. Any thoughts on the best way to go about this?
Also - to Ridenour's post... I was just re-reading, and I may not be inferring correctly, but it reads like she and her husband, when she was 23 and he 26, bought a $375,000 house. I apologize if this isn't a correct deduction... but in what version of reality is that a reasonable purchase?? I don't know anyone who bought a house at the age of 23, much less one that cost $375,000. Most everyone I know who got married at about that age, including myself, rented for 3-5 years before buying, giving careers a chance to stabilize somewhat, to save up a decent downpayment and still have a savings cushion to cover anything from lost wages to a broken furnace. We bought a house three years after we married, and were pre-approved by WaMu (what a shocker) for $330,000, but we knew that would be absolutely insanely too much for us, and instead bought a house, about 30 minutes outside Boston (another ridiculously high-priced market) for just under $190,000. Consequently, when I lost my job after 9/11, we were still able to pay the mortgage. Had we taken advantage of the full amount of WaMu's offer, we'd have been in foreclosure, no question. In fact, not only did we not go with the $330,000, we dropped WaMu altogether, because I didn't want to have anything to do with a bank that would make such an irresponsible recommendation to a customer.
Wouldn't we have loved a $375,000 house? Instead, we took something smaller and older, in a town that was more depressed, where prices were cheap. My neighborhood wasn't Wisteria Lane, with pretty McMansions and white picket fences, but it was safe, and it was a home for us, without neighbors above and below. We also put off having children (and still haven't had any), because we wanted to be in the most secure financial position we could achieve, in order to provide the best life we could for our kids. I still wonder if that was the right decision - but it was the bed we made, and we're laying in it. I'm not saying this to comment on anyone's choice to have kids or not... just to illustrate the point that we have made sacrifices, too. Life is about compromises, and unfortunately, some people are having to learn that the hard way, the scary way. And I know that has to be painful. But I, and others, are more concerned with the overall role of government, and what it should, and should not, be responsible for doing. This is one of those things that, for me, fall into the latter category.
Whether or not this is Ridenour's situation, I don't know, but it really is irrelevant. I think we all know people who went with the best house the bank said they could afford, without thought of the calamities that could arise down the road, and are now paying the price for that decision. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree that we should crack down on predatory lending, but that doesn't erase the autonomy and responsibility of the homeowner to know what they're signing AND to account for their own futures, and what good AND bad things might occur to affect their ability to pay.
With a sense of humor too.
LOL @ the "faggots" part. ;D
This sounds like a very fun gadget... Oprah can afford to promote it since she gets it free for the audience- although she is very excited about this product and it seems genuine.... I think if it were $200.00 I would take a chance on it.... I too enjoy going to the library, and putting books on reserve if they are best sellers.... There is something about sitting in a chair with a BOOK BOOK..... maybe we are getting too techo...
I applaud Ridenour for making so many sacrifices to do the responsible thing, but I still maintain that it is no one's responsibility to protect people from the risks inherent in making basic life choices.
When my husband and I bought a house, we chose a house that we knew we could afford on only one income. We didn't anticipate that either of us would be out of work, but we knew it was a possibility, so we built that into our risk scenario.
Whenever you buy anything of any financial size, there is -always- risk. When you buy a car, it begins depreciating in value immediately. Indeed, just about any asset you buy depreciates. The only exceptions are certain one of a kind items (like fine art). Logically speaking, no one should have expected that real estate would always go up in value. Look at former 'boom towns' like those in the (now) rust belt. All areas have their phases of growth and recession.
My point is that, while my heart goes out to people who have suffered/are suffering, and I appreciate the fact that (it seems like, though we don't know all the details) people like Ridenour are doing all they can, the government should not be in the business of mitigating the risk that people are exposed to when they have a run of bad luck. The effects of bad luck can and should be mitigated by the individual. Rent, don't own, if you don't have a substantial cushion of savings. Home ownership is not a right guaranteed by our Constitution. Put 3-6 months of savings away BEFORE times get tough. Move to a place with a lower cost of living, if you can. What you save on living expenses will more than compensate you for plane tickets to visit friends and family.
What next? Government bailout for bad luck at Texas hold 'em? Life itself comes with a litany of risks. You have to prepare yourself as best you can for those risks, but it is not the government's responsibility (or mine, via my tax dollars) to compensate anyone for bad luck, nor would I expect to be compensated for my own.
I WAS JUST EMPLOYED IN 11/01/2007 AND REC.6.00 SHORT OF THE REQUIRED 3000.00 TO GET A STIMULAS CHECK .I CLAIMED MY TWO KIDS ONE 14 AND 17 MY 17 YEAR OLD WILL BE 18 IN NOV.2008 WILL I STILL BE ABLE TO CLAIM AND GET A STIMULAS FOR 2008
Dave.
Ramsey.
looking for the actual code that has been unused
This was helpful. I'm going to shut off my DirecTV next month after the election... it's going to be my last toke of tube and then OFF. I'll keep the equipment around for games and DVDs, etc., but I think it's going to be nice not having the safety net of 24 hour entertainment around. Then I can also arrange my furniture into more of an imaginary campfire layout, instead of the "face forward and don't talk" elevator-style layout many living rooms have.
--
I have a good idea of how to win this thing (not the online version).. well not all of the winnings but still.. If we all came together and discussed the pieces we have..If we found a winning combination between some of us here we can split the money.. Let me know what u think.. There should be a website where all people can have this opportunity to collaborate so we can make sure all the winning pieces are won.