BA

You know, there is a lot of articles out there on how to be frugal, but there doesn't seem to be as much talk about staying frugal. Like, why would anyone want to STAY frugal?

Well, it might sound like a crazy question, but if you think about it, that's the biggie isn't it? Because like most anything else in life, frugality only works best when you can stick with it.

So how does one STAY frugal? Um, I'm not sure! How about you, what do you think?

Well, I can tell you why I am still frugal, despite having been debt-free and with the net worth chugging along. The simple truth? Well, I'll tell you....

Fear.

Yeah, when it's all said and done, it basically comes down to that.... Because, look, we've all done the numbers on here, and we all know what it takes to achieve any sense of financial freedom.

And for most people, that number is actually pretty big. And I don't mean a fancy life either. Think about how much a house costs, and how much cars cost per year, and basically just trying to create a living for yourself.

And that's assuming that I will keep working without problems into the foreseeable future. Heaven forbid if I run into an accident that leaves me physically disabled or I become ill and am hospitalized for a long period of time.

And if I'm lucky? Maybe I'll even be able to work towards having passive income to replace my active income, which will eventually become necessary as I get closer towards retirement.

As you can imagine, once you know the true amount that is needed to achieve financial freedom... you can't put that genie back in the bottle.

So, even though I am doing fine right now, I am not so delusional as to think that I've got it made. Far from it. And that's why I am as focused as ever to maintain frugality and financial progress.

Some people might think I'm being overly-cautious, but I disagree. The best time to prepare for potential problems is when everything is fine and you can afford to, not when it's about to strike or is already upon you.

And if I'm wrong? Well, having a little bit too much money is the kind of problem I wouldn't mind having.

Of course, running on pure fear isn't healthy, and I do enjoy the process as well. But anyways, now you know why I am still frugal, and still here. And now you'll also know why I'll never fall off the frugality bandwagon.

So, how about you? I'm really interested to know what keeps you frugal? How do YOU do it?

I am seeing this question pop up elsewhere, and since we also seem to have several new people, I thought it would be fun to ask again, "What made you turn frugal?"

And since I asked first, I guess I'll also answer my own question. My ex-wife and I were $330k in debt and our combined income at the time did not add up to more than $40k a year. Our monthly budget was so tight that, at the rate we were going, we were literally two months from eviction. I'm sure my ex would disagree, but I kid you not we were in very bad shape.

So yes, it was complete and utter fear that drove me to frugality. I tried to turn the ship around, but my ex somehow interpreted that as me not loving her or something, which eventually lead to my divorce that by now I'm sure the regulars here are tired of hearing.

Of course, I'm still here, not out of fear anymore, but because it makes a whole lot of darn good sense. Yes, it still represents a peace of mind that I seek, but frugality is a critical component to any plans towards financial wellness.

Oh, and I am forever grateful to those who have helped me get to where I am today. I wouldn't have been here if it weren't for you guys. Thanks again, gang!

So, what about you? What was your turning point towards frugality?

Stock-related, but more general speak.

Overall, I'm just so surprised at the turnaround in financial sentiment. Seriously, it's only been a year to a year and a half going from "frugality is icky" to "frugality is chic". Even teenagers are getting in on the simpler life. And that's a great thing.

However, there also seems to be a new kind of pessimism as well. A certain sense that the government or the economy or something has somehow betrayed them. And if they are wise and mature, they will also realize that we consumers are just as much to blame for our own actions.

Regardless of the finger pointing though, it seems much harder now to "sell" the idea of actually BUYING into the market for example. "Oh, look at how the market has failed us." Ugh. Whatever happened to the good old days of just trying to convince people to be more frugal?

Ah well, despite my currently bearish outlook, I'm still going to keep buying into the market. In the end, there are still a lot of good companies out there that is still going for a pretty good price.

I could be wrong about the stock market of course, and end up losing a bunch of money. But I also think it's important to be able to see beyond what's right in front of our noses. There's great opportunities to be had!

Completely non-financially related, but a popular and controversial topic on the internet (at least amongst younger men).

Here's the link, and it's a brisk and succint read.

Now, do I agree with this? Not exactly. However, I am a guy, so it doesn't carry much weight in such discussion. Fortunately for me, since there are many women on here, and I'd be interested to hear what you think of it.

Thanks in advance!

A co-worker asked me if I had change earlier for the vending machine. I said I only had a little bit, and gave him what I had.

About an hour later, he came back saying he didn't need my change. However, he gave me a penny more than what I gave him. I told him that, but he said to just go ahead and keep it.

Hey, money's money and that still works out better than some of the stock trades I've made in the past.

So, I've been tinkering with this

retirement calculator. I changed the years to 30, but left everything else alone. The good news is that I have 100% chance of success! Great!

However, if I up the expense ratio to 1%, my percentages falls down to 96%, and at 2% ER, it my chances fall down some more to 91%.

Sure, it's only an arbitrary retirement calculator, but it's enough to show that your expense ratio do make a difference!

Not really stock-related talk, but just wanted to say something quick about probabilities.

In an earlier entry, I've talked about

the Monty Hall problem. On the flip side of the coin-- gee, aren't I clever-- there is also something called the Gambler's Fallacy.

Anyways, what both of these mathematical fallacies point out is that, in order to understand your true probabilities, you have to have the correct grasp of the problem itself.

For example, if you want to flip a coin three times in a row with heads, then yes, your probability will be 1 in 8. However, if you've already flipped a coin twice and got heads, then your probability of getting a head with your third flip is in fact 1 in 2.

As you can imagine, this sort of thinking is vital when it comes to assessing stock trades, or really, anything in life. Because the fundamental lesson is to make sure we understand the true context of the question before we can ever hope for an answer. Or at the very least, it's fun to talk about.

Wow, reading the blogs lately, it seems like everyone is having rather eventful lives, though sadly, not all are over good news.

So, I guess I feel kind of lucky that not much is happening to me, because no news is better than bad news!

Well, there is one piece of bad news. My car broke down again. Something wrong with ignition. Starter or faulty wiring maybe. Not sure.

We took it to someone and thought it's fixed. Within 24 hours, it died again. My mom has a friend who is a really good mechanic, and I hope he can fix it sometime this coming week.

Either way, at 192,000 miles, it's time to think about a car replacement fund. I have been lazily working on one, but I think I better push up the priority on it.

For giggles, I did look into Cash for Clunkers, but alas, I don't qualify. It would appear that Corollas are just too fuel efficient.

Ah well, I'm really hoping the car will last at least another year or so. Hopefully, I'll have the funds to replace it by then.

My electric bill just came in, and in the last month, I've used 499 kWh and cost $61.98.

During the same time in 2008, I've used 1192 kWh, and cost $125.77.

In 2007, I've used 955 kWh, and cost $100.87.

Also, notice how the cost per kWh has gone up. In 2007 and 2008, the cost was roughly $0.10 per kWh. This year, that cost went up to about $0.12 per kWh. That translates to 20% increase in my electric bill! 20%!

Despite the rate hike, I am still saving $40 to $60 in this one month alone! I have to say that the switch to room AC has been a smashing success.

According to the usage history, I have another good month to go for the summer heat, but because it has proven itself by now, I won't be making any more updates on it.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Oooh, I just realized that I forgot to add my current 401(k) to my net worth! How's that for passive investing?

I wish I could remember what the numbers were in the past, so I could retro-actively update my previous entries. Alas, I do not, so July has a very nice bump to it.

While I'm here, I kind of wish Networth IQ would allow us to create, delete, and label our own assets and liabilities. For example, I would love to have one for 401(k), one for rollover, and one for Roth. Unfortunately, this isn't possible so I am substituting annuities for my 401(k) because I'm not going to have an annuity anytime soon.

Maybe I'll go hit networth IQ up with an email, and maybe even look for alternatives. Anyone have any suggestions? How are you tracking your net worth?

So, I was hanging out with this crazy friend of mine again. Yes, the one that I am trying to minimize contact with. He's gotten a lot better... or maybe it's because I've seen him less often.

Anyways, he appears to be fairly involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses. We always end up talking about money, and again, he brought up how the lust of money is evil. (Yes, that guy.) And I said that I agree, and therefore, could never understand why people pursue money strictly for money sake. Rather, money is only a means to get through life, and perhaps to even pursue our hopes and dreams. He seems to be OK with that secular point-of-view.

But in the same conversation, he also lamented about how he wants one of those new iPhone 3GS. Hmm? I thought Jehovah's Witness was against materialism and temptations? Or maybe current generation smartphones are OK? I tried to ask him about it, but all I got was how he doesn't like to carry two devices like me. Even after I pointed that it will cost him much more money in the end. And why specifically iPhones? Why not... a Blackberry or Palm Pre?

Now, for those who are Jehovah's Witnesses, please understand that I am not knocking against the religion. All I am saying is that I have a crazy friend who seems to have his own selective interpretation of the "gospel truth". What's more worrisome (for his sake) is that the selection is only used to reinforce only what he wants to believe in while dispensing the rest, rather than to help him open his mind.

Maybe I am being too critical of my friend here, but I also have other friends who does not make me scratch my head like this. Well, whatever it is, I think I need to keep avoiding him (because of a lot of other stuff that he believes that is not related to finances).

There are a lot of wonderful podcasts out there, and I probably don't even know most of them.

But for those who may be new to podcasts, they are basically audio talk segments that you can download off the internet. In the simplest terms, radio-on-demand!

There are lots of ways to grab podcasts, but the easiest way, I think, is to simply download and install iTunes, and then subscribe from their online store. Most of it is free!

This gets even better when you have an iPod of some kind that you can download and listen to it. I know it's crazy, but I actually prefer to jog to

NPR's market place than listen to music. More importantly, I don't always catch their morning market report on my drive to work, and this really helps me get up to speed.

Other noteworthy podcasts include a section from Kiplinger, Vanguard has a section as well, and there's this personal finance woman named Money Girl if you prefer something more personal.

What's more, if you're the adventurous type, you can also create your own podcast content, but I won't go into that here since it veers off from personal finance topic. I've toyed with the idea of creating my own personal finance podcasts before, but I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas for content. I mean, it's hard enough just to think of stuff to write about on the blog!

Although podcasts have been around for a long time, it wasn't until more recently, when trying to stay caught up on market news that I've really latched on podcasts. They have completely changed the way I view radio just as Hulu and Netflix has changed the way I view television.

Are there any podcasts that you listen to?

Just found something funny from Abstruse Goose. Maybe "funny" isn't a good word for it because some might be going through something similar and hit too close to home. But the author is specifically poking jabs at himself and his lack of preparation more than anything.

What I find particularly interesting in that comic is that he stuck "IRA withdraw" above using credit card. Yikes! But eh, it's a comic, and you can't take it too seriously.

Here's a bonus comic that you guys might find amusing.

Wow, it sure is hard to blog when you have a boring life. Everything is going smoothly, I am (currently) drama-free, and so, I just don't know what else there is to say?

I hope to have many more days like this.

You know, it's funny. I am starting to not remember the drowning, crushing sensation of being neck deep in debt and feeling hopeless in terms of my financial future. Don't get me wrong though. I still worry about money, but only as much as it makes sense to do so.

However, I am reminded of the despair earlier today when I was talking to a couple of co-workers of mine. One told me how the spouse likes to control all the money (even though this co-worker is interested in the budget, good with numbers, and is a conservative spender). The other co-worker is having serious issues about the spouse hiding debts from this co-worker because the spouse is afraid of a divorce due to money troubles after being recently laid off. And the debt amount is huge too....

Yes, I'm deliberately using gender-neutral terminology here. But that's because, believe me, it can happen both ways.

Both co-workers make reasonably more money than I do, but here's what kind of blows my mind. Relative to the level of money issues they have at home, and the amount of debt they have to deal with, they actually keep much, much less than I do! Nevermind that, it doesn't seem like they have any financial peace at all!

Wow. Of course, hearing their stories brought back a flood of memories about my own trials and tribulations, but then it occurred to me just how lucky I am right now. They're the past! I no longer have headaches and twitching eyes due to stress and depression over my financial future.

On a related note, I decided to check out payscale.com to see if I am indeed making as little as I am. Much to my shock, I am actually above the high range of my profession! Seriously, I think payscale.com might be shooting a bit low there.

Now, that doesn't mean I still make bank or anything like that, but I guess I can't really complain too much either.... For now, it would seem that I am doing better than my poor co-workers, who are really are good people and I feel bad about the position they are in.

I think it also shows that the recession is far from over. Certainly not on a personal level.

So, my parents stopped by again. This time, they wanted to set my dad's trading account password. (They forgot what it was and had to reset it with a temporary password.)

In the process, I also got a chance to see his two stock positions, Citigroup and Home Depot. Home Depot is -22% and Citigroup is -93%. Wow.

They've pulled the rest of their money out except for those two stocks, because they believe that so long as you don't sell, the loss is only on paper.

This is true. And this is often times what I've had to tell myself from selling when I shouldn't be selling.

But you know what? Sometimes, if you still need to sell according to your investing style and risk tolerance, you might as well sell. Because, even when a loss is on paper, it will still have that much more for your positions to recover, much less make a gain.

Again, that's only if your investment style and risk tolerance has changed. If not, then I say "full speed ahead". That said, theirs have clearly changed.

However, I didn't tell them anything. It was tough enough just to explain the Vanguard index funds to them, and to get their passwords reset.

Honestly, they should let me manage it. Oh well, whatever is going on, it's very clear that these two stocks are only a fraction of their entire portfolio. They certainly don't act worried. So, I'm sure their nest egg is bigger than what I am aware of.

Wow. My parents just stopped by to specifically ask me about retirement investing. I couldn't believe it, especially from my dad. He's never done that before, so he must be serious. He's been really disgusted with the way his Citigroup stock has performed so far.

He's even out-right stated that he's not really interested in researching stocks and keeping up with the market, so he's looking for something maintenance-free. I immediately steered them towards Vanguard's index funds. I really do think that it will suit them the best.

I wrote down some contact numbers for them so they can get their ID and password from their old investment company, along with Vanguard's contact numbers to do the fund transfers. They said they'll take care of it tomorrow.

I really feel good about all this. It's not just the fact that I've been worried about my parents' retirement nest eggs, but the fact that they're actually listening to me! Wow! You have to understand that, even though I am their son, my advice is essentially flying against the face of everything else that my dad's friends and even his brother (my uncle) has told them. So, for him to actually go with my idea... well, it's an amazing compliment. Of course, it also "helps" that they've already lost a substantial amount after listening to them....

But wow, yeah! My parents are moving (part of) their nest egg to Vanguard! Woohoo!

Woohoo! A combination of benign market performance and just crazy savings made this month a banner month! It even made up for last month's drop!

So, what's next? Well, August looks to be spendier. There may or may not be some major expenditures coming up. We'll have to see. I'm hoping not because I'd hate to have worked so hard one month, only to lose it all the next.

Oh yeah, I also keep track of my cellphone minutes, and I've had one of the busiest months so far. Total usage was about 127 minutes, or about $11.43 in cost. That's actually over-budget. But it's still dirt cheap for a cellphone.

Cellphone aside, if I can just have ten more months like this....

Just got rid of my Wells Fargo holding. I came out with only a tiny profit (due to my bad timing on the buy), but when it's time to sell, it's time to sell. Why did I sell?

I am skittish about the state of commercial real estate, which unlike residential real estate, has yet to "burst". Knock on wood, it will not because the ramifications to the entire market is huge. If that's not bad enough, Wells Fargo itself has a large holding in commercial real estate as well, which puts me at a much greater risk exposure than I am comfortable with. Plus, the stock has only been holding lately, and yet, the dividends have been cut. So... there was simply no reason for me to stay and all the reasons to leave.

Now, mind you, I still think Wells Fargo is a solid company. It's not that. It's just that, from a trading point of view, the bottom line is, "Are you going to make money with that or not?" And the answer that I am coming up with is, "Right now, I really doubt it." So, today, at a 9-month high, it seemed as good of a time to bail as any.

Now to search for my next buy... if any. I am leaning towards either REIT or select corporate bonds. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Haven't posted for a while because there is simply nothing to post about. My life is booooring. To give you an idea of how booooring it is, I recently reduced my Netflix plan from 2 DVDs at a time to just 1. It turns out that I just don't "consume" enough to need 2 DVDs at a time. I still like having Netflix around though, so I'm not canceling it.

But yeah, there's nothing going on in my financial life, but that's not surprising considering my plan for this entire month was to simply save like crazy. Fatten the piggy bank. And... that's what I'm doing.

Net worth update is coming up, and I think the numbers are going to look pretty good. We shall see.

Well, last night was a momentous night where I transitioned back to DSL! Yes, I am an internet junkie, and I must have my broadband!

My cable was doing just fine though, so why the switch? Well, basically I finally got dry loop DSL (which is a fancy term for DSL without them trying to sock it to me by requiring a land line bundle that adds nearly $20 more per month). Now, the DSL still ended up costing more than cable, but for basically $8 extra a month, I'm getting double the speed without having to share it with the neighbors.

Yeah, I know. Paying more seems counter-intuitive, but I really do think this is the best value deal for me. Even if it costs more. This is an especially big deal since I don't have cable TV, and rely on Hulu and Netflix.

And in my defense, there are speeds that are much faster than what I just got, but of course, they also cost more.

The amusing thing about this is that the cable jack is located on one side of the room, but the phone jack is located on the other side. So, I actually spent the entire night moving and rearranging the entire room so that my desk would be located next to the phone jack. And if I am doing that, I might as well clean, dust, and vacuum while I'm at it. So, that's what I did all day yesterday, but it sure is nice to have a clean room!

Again, because I am running a room AC this year instead of the central AC, I am keeping an eagle's eye on my electric bill.

The electric bill finally came in this morning, and the total was $69.75.

To me, that's really high, but 2008 cost $108.43, and 2007 cost $83.07. So, there has been some savings, but not as wide of a gap as last month's bill.

This, despite the fact that I also have a small home theater setup now, which means I've personally consumed more electricity than in the previous years. Apparently though, that's still not as demanding as running central AC.

I think context is a highly under-rated and extremely powerful concept. One that should be constantly studied and scrutinized to the best of our abilities.

To take it a step further, context helps us see the truth hidden in lies, and see the lies hidden in truths.

To give you a simple example, I've-- well, I don't want to say "chastised", but commented upon-- in more than one occasion for salting and peppering foods before I taste them.

They will share a rather interesting parable about how Henry Ford would take prospective managers out to dinner, and if he sees that they salt their foods before they taste it, he will not hire them.

The moral of the story, of course, is that it is wise to test something before changing it. That and don't salt foods before tasting when dining with Henry Ford.

I love this parable by the way. I agree with the general logic, and I have no problems with it... except the context in which it was given.

You see, in all the occasions that it was brought up, it was at dining places that I've frequented for years. In fact, the one place where this conversation came up was at Golden Corral, the big daddy of assembly line foods. Therefore, if you consider the context, you could say I've already "back-tested" there dozens upon dozens of times.

Perhaps it's still a bad idea to salt first, but come on, putting salt on my mushrooms shouldn't turn into an allegory questioning my managerial potential or even my ability to grasp simple cognitives.

If I was at a less familiar place, of course I would taste my food first before adding condiments. I'm crazy, but not that crazy!

Of course, it doesn't just relate to foods, but it also relates to everything else we do in life, including money. One example of this is our sense of financial savvy. It's just that, there are a lot of people in my real life anyway, that swagger and boast about how they "know money". But honestly? Their financial life seems like a mess to me.

Oh, I know I'm not one to talk, but at least I acknowledge that my own financial house is far from complete. And I honestly do worry about that....

On the other side, you have a lot of people on here for example, who are extraordinarily financially savvy, and yet, I don't even know if they realize that. It blows my mind that there are even some, whom I think are good enough to host seminars, would still ask questions!

Context really is an amazing thing. But more than anything, I hope that people will also consider not judging lest ye be judged? Because life is short, and I will salt my mushrooms any way I see fit!

* So, I'm planning to move back to DSL. Found Dry Loop (internet without landlines) for a competitive price. In fact, for roughly $7 a month more, it's basically twice the speed and not having to share with the neighborhood. It is worth it to me.

* I'm still having trouble with my darn personal finance software. There is one recurring transaction in PocketMoney up that for some reason I can not delete! And yes, I'm doing it right, hitting the big, red "delete" button. In fact, that works for other recurring transactions.

According to their website, it most likely has something to do with OS 3.0 not playing nice with the application. Seriously, this is turning out to be a huge headache.

* Have you guys noticed that the VIX is dropping? Even "stable stocks" are starting to behave like... stable stocks.



Oh, but I think this recession is far from over. In fact, the weather has worsened a bit since May. Still, at this point, I'll take whatever I can get.

* Completely non-financially related, but do you dream in sound as well? I do. It's weird. When I am deep enough in sleep, I also hear music. And it doesn't sound like gibberish either. Usually, it's pretty catchy, and they're all original works. The range varies too, anywhere from elevator music to full symphonies, all the way to deep jazz. Did I mention that they're all original works?

What is seriously interesting is the "quality" of the music since I have upgraded my speakers a little while back. Now my dream music sounds like that too! Very wild. I wish there was some way of recording that music.

Ever do something that you just know crosses the line between frugal and cheap?

A few days ago, there was a vendor show at work, and they brought us a bunch of yummy delicious sandwiches. I stuffed myself silly!

So, yeah, this is a bad habit of mine. Often times, I would gorge myself so I would not have to spend more money on food later. Or if I do eat, it tends to be unhealthy junk food. And when it comes to buffet restaurants, it's actually not as hard to do as it sounds.

I don't know, I'm going to try to space out smaller meals throughout the day, even if it ends up costing a bit more. So, care to fess up anything you do that you know is cheap as well?

I am often times amused at just how "knowledgeable" people in real life are about the aspects of money, particularly with frugality. Everyone knows that you should "spend less than you earn". Yes. It's true that frugality isn't conceptually difficult to understand.

And so, it's very easy for many, especially in this hard economic times, to say, "Well, I know what to do." But, like so many things in life, it always seem that to actually DO it is the hard part.

Oh, but I am no holier than thou when I talk about this. True, I do exercise frugality, but I'm not as frugal as I could be. I am also just as guilty when it comes to diet and exercise. I KNOW I should eat better, but I don't. I KNOW I should exercise, but I don't.

What I wanted to point out is that I think there is a danger when people fool themselves into thinking that they are able to do something, or that they're even doing it, but in reality, little to nothing is actually being accomplished. These types are much more dangerous than even the wide-eyed doey types that AT LEAST acknowledge they may not be doing anything. You know what I mean?

For example, I remember a co-worker once that can go into the technical minutiae of dieting and carb counting, but in the end? He doesn't do anything about it. For that matter, I can talk all day long about money matters, and even post blog entries, engage in forums, pull up charts and whatnot, but if I am not actually saving and investing, then even if I manage to fool everybody, including myself, I will still be no better off tomorrow.

My point is, whenever we face an issue, the first place we should check for problems is in the mirror. We have to make sure that we are not lying to ourselves about our situation. We have to make sure that we are genuinely and honestly making a difference in our lives. Otherwise, we will only wake up older, but not any better off, and wishing we could do things differently.

I am writing this to remind myself more than anything, but I hope that you too will choose to lead an examined life. It may not be the easiest path, but I believe it is the surest way towards a better, more fulfilling life.

I'm off the soap box now.

It originally started out as quickies, but ended up not so quick....

My ex
I don't want to get too much into this, partly because it's been nothing but a well of negativity, and partly because I don't think this the end of it, but rather, it's only the beginning. Suffice to say, she was extremely nasty to me over the weekend....

Seriously, she'll say something like, "Oh, you just don't like people changing something on you." and I'm like, "No, I'm only upset because I don't like being lied to." And she'll keep going, "No really, come on, you're just upset because you don't like to change." Huh? I'm standing there telling her the truth about me, why won't she believe me? Change happens, and it had nothing to do with why I was upset.

And she even insulted my parents this time! Calling them (including me) "a bunch of money grubbers"! The honest truth? My parents helped pay for her college tuitions and even our mortgage when we were struggling! Yes, it's embarrassing for me to say that, but it's true. We were really bad with money once upon a time. My parents only demanded money back for a loan they gave her a long time ago for her upside-down car, but that's only because they found out that she was cheating on me. And for that, they're called money-grubbers?

And when I later confronted her about why she was being so nasty, rather than an actual apology, her excuse was, "I was really stressed out." I said that I understand, and hope that things went well with her family. But seriously, still no apology? And why the hypocrisy where I am blamed for all eternity for things I've said or done out of stress, stuff that I've already repeatedly apologized for, but is still used as the reason why I am such a terrible person that she had no choice but to... commit adultery?

I used to just gripe about her, but then let it go, but honestly, she really has gone too far this time. Especially about the remark about my parents.

I think she has finally decided that rather than ignoring me, she wants to fight now. Good. I'm tired of trying to work with her. I really am sorry that my heart has to blacken like this, but from here on out, I will not stop fighting until she stops treating me like dirt.

Frugal meetup
Oh, I keep forgetting about posting this, but there is a local frugal meetup that seems to come and go. It went, then came back with a new organizer, and now, she's gone as well and the group is probably going to be disbanded again.

They had one meet, which from what I understand, included an actual SA member! (Not a regular, but I've seen her post once in a while.)

So, why didn't I go? I completely forgot about it. Yeah, sad. Oh well, they were just swapping coupons anyway....

Annual fee
I just checked my credit card account, and I can't believe that only NOW did they finally charge me the annual fee on my credit card.

This is July! I don't remember them charging me this late before. I also like the way they tack it on the very end of my statement, so it's harder for you to see it.

I checked my previous statements to see if I got double charged, but as far as I can tell, I haven't. Hmm....

No Spend Day
Yesterday was a NSD for me because a few vendors showed up at work, and they brought a lot of sandwiches. So, I stuffed myself silly and didn't have to eat for the rest of the day.

Ah, I know this is unhealthy, as I tend to gorge myself and then not really eating the rest of the day. Yeah, I kinda do this on a regular basis.... Or, if I do eat later, it's junk food and that's not good either.

I don't know if anyone else here have those certain places where they actually cross the line into the land of the cheap, but that's definitely my flaw here. Whenever I see foods, especially buffets, I have a tendency of eating as much as I can so I don't have to pay more for food later.

Yeah, I know it's not healthy.... So, does anyone else have any unhealthy money habits they want to confess?

* Google recently announced Chrome OS. Oh my, talk about fighting back at Microsoft. Anyways, it's based on the idea of "cloud computing" or that most of the stuff you want to do can be done online, and the OS itself should be more like a lightweight shell. Unfortunately, it's not slated to come out until late next year. However, it should be free!

* Speaking of tech, I've been staring at tech stocks. From well-known names like MSFT to lesser-known ones like FDS. You know what though? Tech is just... too volatile for me. Even AAPL, which is suppose to be Wall Street's tech darling, it's all just too much for me.

* Speaking of stocks, I've been looking over Berkshire's 13F (Q1 2009 holdings), and I have to say, for a stock picker, he's actually very diversified. I mean, he's holding 40 or so companies.

But what about industries?

The bottom that got cut off is suppose to say, "Consumer (non-cyclical)". Anyways, I find it interesting that I thought he had a bigger stake in financials than this.

Of course, it isn't just what he holds, but when he bought it as well. As a value investor, most of his capital is coming from stuff he bought when it was still cheap.

* By the way, I'm also looking at Medtronics (MDT) as my next buy. Anybody want to comment on this? It seems like a great company, and most are complaining that it is greatly under-valued. In fact, here's a reuters article where the CEO is complaining it's under-valued, and yet, he has to defend why he is giving low guidance. I'm sorry, what? Isn't it usually the other way around? Wow. What is the opposite of "hype"? "Buy"?

This entry is probably going to sound like gibberish, but this is the issue-of-the-moment that's confounding me right now....

Anyways, you'd think that I would have my personal financing software nailed down by now, but wow, no, I guess not.

I don't want to bore you guys with a laundry list of gripes, but suffice to say, Pocketmoney's budget view turned out to be wonky looking, Spend doesn't do transaction tracking (not really), Checkbook's transfers doesn't work quite right, and I still have Splashmoney, which is what I had weird glitches in the first place.

I'm not asking for much, but what I do ask for is admittedly very exacting! But it has to be because it's also how I track my entire personal finances so....

Basically, I'm down to two options. Either I hack my own budget into Pocketmoney (by turning some accounts into budget line items), or I split certain budget items into certain accounts. I've decided to do both and let time tell me what ends up working better....

Please skip if you're not into this.

So, I've been trying to make sense of Robert's Schiller's PE theory. The basic, layman gist that I am currently understanding is that if the market always regresses to the mean, then it's a matter of calculating how far the market is currently off from the mean right?

Now, Schiller is a smart guy. I don't deny that. It's just that... well, there's a lot of controversy surrounding the question of HOW effective this sort of back-testing is. Could 10 years, or 20 years, or 30 years of historical market performance give us an insight as to whether the current market is over-bought or over-sold? (Remember me talking about a serious investment troll? Yeah, that's what this is about, and I hope he doesn't find me here.)

Ignoring the issue of what exactly does "predictiveness" mean for a second, I came across a study that suggests that while PE/10 (/20, /30) has some predictiveness, there is another measure, Tobin's q, that is much more predictive.

Now, if you do buy into this, both Schiller's PE and Tobin's q suggest that the market is supposedly, as of the month of June, over-valued at somewhere around 15%. Not exactly beaming news for traders. (I'm still buying and holding though.)

Anyways,

here's the link to the PDF, so please feel free to peruse it and tell me what you think. I myself will try to sit down and read it over the weekend, if I get a chance.

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On the lighter side of the investing news, I just found out that there is an index that measures the consumer sentiment of millionaires and the "affluent" (those with net worth greater than $500k). Known as the Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index (SMII) and Spectrem Affluent Investor Index (SAII). You can find their June graph here.

Hehe, I guess there is an index for everything.