Getting a New Wallet

I am one of those guys that uses a wallet way too long.  I've been using the same one for at least 5 years and maybe as long at 10 years. I just wait too long before changing out my wallet. An old wallet is confortable to me and if it isn't broken, I keep using it. By the time I make a change, the wallet is all bent out of shaped from being stuffed with various receipts and business cards. 

It's not that I don't have a new wallet ready to use.  When I was working in Asia, I took the opportunity to purchase several replacement wallets in Korea, where leather goods are priced relatively low.    I have at least seven new wallets.     So I should be changing wallets very 4 years based on a typical life expectancy: -)

So today, I cleaned out my wallet, moved over the frequently used items (credit and membership cards) and transferred the cash.  I will keep the secondary items in the old wallet, allowing me to have a more compact wallet for everyday use.

For more on  New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

An Appreciation for Modern Appliances

"Good appliances are well worth the cost for the time saved." ~ retired research fellow at my company

Every summer, we do a relatively primitive camping trip in a tent and sleeping bags. Although we bring in food, there is still a lot of work to prepare a meal and clean up afterwards.  We usually spend a large part of the day gathering wood, starting a fire, cook and then cleaning up.  In addition, we can only take in about 2 days worth of food since that's how long the ice lasts.  It has given me a great appreciation for all the modern appliances we own.

• Stove and oven.  I spent a lot of time gathering or purchasing sufficient firewood, building a fire in advance, and then ensuring there was sufficient heat to cook.  Quite a difference from just turning on the stove and oven to cook.
• Refrigerator.  Our camping trips are usually limited to two days since that is about the storage life of food in a cooler with ice.  My spouse generally plans excellent gourmet camping meals, which means fresh meat, egg and vegetables.  We do use some frozen foods, e.g. vegetables, to save cooking time. 
• Dishwasher. Cleaning up is a tedious and time consuming task when camping.  There definitely isn't a dishwasher nor is there a sink with running water.   We usually use a large pot of heated water to was and rinse our cookware.   For reference, we do use paper plates and plastic utensils to minimize the number if items that need cleaning.
• Washing and dryer.  Of course, we usually can pack enough clothes for two days, even if we do get them dirtier than normal.   In addition, no one really notices dirty clothes when camping.   The tough part is drying out clothes when they get wet, especially if it's raining.

Based on our camping experiences, I realize that not having these appliances could easily add 4-5 hours of extra work to our already busy day.  I am glad to live in a society where access to these appliances is relatively easy and low cost.  (However, I must admit that I didn't have a dishwasher for most of my single adult life :-)

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Am I Better Off Than My Parents?

For now (age 53), the answer is yes.  Here were some of the factors that helped:

• Education.  My parents helped me get an education at a very good university.  I contributed by majoring in Chemical Engineering which helped me get a high paying job right out of college.  For reference, my dad also had a degree in Chemical Engineering (B.S. and M.S.) and Nuclear Engineering   (PhD).
  
• Career.  I worked for a Fortune 25 company for all of my career advancing to the top 5% of management.   My dad advance to first level management in one the top privately held companies for which he worked.  Advancing further in management definitely helped our finances.
  
• Later marriage.    My parents were married at 30 and had two kids almost right away.  I didn't get married until my late thirties and didn't have our child until my mid forties.   Marrying and having one child later definitely helped our finances.
  
• Retirement.  I retired at 49.  My wife stopped working at 38.   My dad retired at 72.  My mom stopped working at 32.  Early retirement helped our quality of life but not necessarily our finances.

All these factors helped me be better off than my parents at the same age until now.  However, going forward, I don't know if I'll continue to be better off than my parents when I reach 70, mainly because my dad continued to work until 72.  Unless the current economic conditions change significantly, our saving and retirement accounts will not likely grow to level my parent had in their seventies.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday  for a new segment.


This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Minimizing Our Portfolio Volatility

EU saved or EU will fail.   The market is being whipsawed everyday by the current perception.  The market direction is hard to project because a single event can change the market trend significantly.   My short term goal is to minimize volatility as much as possible.  Here is how I am doing that:

• Cash.  There is zero short term volatility for cash.  Of course, it won't grow.  However, it doesn't get smaller either.    In addition, I will have funds to purchase stocks when the market falls.
  
• Defensive stocks.  If I buy stocks, I will stick to good dividend paying stocks from strong companies.  These types of stocks don't fall as much in a down market.
  
• Short poor performing companies.   I don't want to be mainly short since a positive perception can cause the market to advance significantly.  However, by being short some stocks, our portfolio decline will be minimized when the market falls.

Currently, we are still mostly in cash.  However,  I have started to buy some defensive stocks and have shorted one stock.   For example when the market was down today, our portfolio was down, but the losses were mitigated by two defensive stock that were up and gain from the stock which was shorted.  When the market rises, our gains will likely be lower than the overall market, which I'm willing to accept as the price of lower volatility.

For more on  The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every  Wednesday  for a new segment.


This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #57

Welcome to the fifty-seventh edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Shamelle presents FBinfluence Facebook Course – How To Do Facebook Marketing The Right Way posted at Better Blogging Ways, saying, "Facebook is already approaching 1 billion members and is the site where everyone online is spending time. The truth is most successful business depends on people, to be in business you got to have people interested in what you got to offer and this is one of the main reasons why you simply can’t ignore Facebook."

Investing

My Journey presents Regardless of Faith Is Sharia or Muslim Based Investing For You? posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, "My skepticism is whether one can actually invest in American companies that truly follow the rules of Shariah."

Kevin presents How I Made $150, Lost $200, and Re-learned a Valuable Lesson posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, "Never buy physical gold or silver as an investment! Absolutely the worst idea ever. Ever. For one thing, you can’t go short. For another, the bullion dealers charge a huge markup."

Kanwal Sarai presents How Can You Sleep At Night With All Your Money In Stocks? posted at Simply Investing Blog, saying, "Someone recently asked me, 'How do you sleep at night, knowing that all your money is in stocks?' I sleep very well, because I ignore the media noise."

Dividends4Life presents 10 High-Yield Stocks With A Low Price To Book posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "When looking for value-priced stocks, the Price-To-Book (P/B) ratio is one that I like to focus on. P/B is calculated as share price divided by book value per share. Book value is most often calculated as Assets less Liabilities."

Mike Piper presents What are Muni Bonds? And Should I Own Any? posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "Municipal bonds offer interest that's free from federal income tax. But are they a good fit for *you*?"

Investor Junkie presents Could Disney Make a Good Addition to Your Income Portfolio? posted at Investor Junkie, saying, "Even though income is important to an income portfolio, it’s worth considering companies that will provide earnings down the road. Disney just might be one of them."

Dan Ekstrand presents How to invest in the stock market posted at What can I do about ___?, saying, "A intro to asset allocation and some simple strategies that
have done well in turbulent markets."

Living Frugally

Jason@LiveRealNow presents Future Me Returns posted at Live Real, Now, saying, "This is a conversation between me and my future self, if my financial path wouldn’t have positively forked 2 years ago."

Mr. Money Smarts presents Appreciate What You Have, And Enjoy It! posted at Smart On Money, saying, "In this Christmas season it can be so easy to forget about what’s important in life and start to get caught up in all the consumerism that is so rampant in today in our culture.So while we move into December and start to focus on our upcoming Christmas gatherings, what can we do to have a happy holiday?"

DJ presents Easy Ways To Save Money On Glasses and Contacts posted at The Family Wallet, saying, "Over the many years that I’ve had to purchase contacts and eye glasses, I’ve tried lots of things. Here are some ideas I have for saving money on them:"

Tim Chen presents Make Your Miles Count: Getting Creative with Travel Rewards Cards posted at NerdWallet Blog - Credit Card Watch, saying, "Sometimes the best way to use your rewards miles isn’t obvious. There are some neat tricks you can use to make your miles a worth a little—or a lot—more."

misst presents Home Improvements That Pay You Back posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "For those of you less green and money conscious folks, I can tell you that being green also saves you money. Eco- friendly methods are proven to be cost efficient. Today I wanted to share with you how you can be green in your home and at the same time make money. Here is how:"

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents 6 Tips for Eliminating Food Waste posted at Money Mum, saying, "Using leftovers and budgeting wisely can save money – and resources. Learn to become cognizant of how much food you really do dispose of, and then consider these tips to improve the efficiency of your kitchen:"

Control your Cash presents 控制现金”人造橙色鸡 posted at Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense, saying, "We’re here to argue that eating at a restaurant, in our example one a step below P.F. Chang’s “upscale casual” category, can be financially savvy."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents How to Eat Healthy on a Budget posted at Frugal Living, saying, "Eating healthy doesn’t have to cost more. Here are some tips for staying healthy on a budget."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Four Tips for Saving on Transportation Costs posted at Wallet Watcher, saying, "For people who have places to go but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to maintain a car, there are several great alternatives to traveling alone in your car:"

Rodney Maley presents Winter Energy Checklist posted at Life-fficient, saying, "This article presents a quick summary of important items in your home to be checked to prepare for the winter months."

Retirement

Super Saver presents Retired California Teacher Pension - WOW posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "I read about a teacher/administrator in California who retired at 59 after 36 years and will receive a pension $174,308 a year for the rest of his life. Wow, what a deal."

Saving

Lisa presents Emergency Fund: Necessity or Overrated? posted at Thriftability, saying, "Life never completely goes according to plan–the car breaks down, someone loses hours at work, school tuition increases. Creating an emergency fund sees you through these “what ifs” without dramatically impacting your budget. In addition, an emergency fund provides a financial cushion – outside of your normal budget – so that you do not need to use your credit cards and rack up debt in times of crisis."

Bucksome presents Are You Piddling Away Your Money? posted at Buck$ome Boomer's Journey to Retirement, saying, "There are so many habits that can sneak $100 out of our account each month! And ultimately, $3.94 million dollars is wasted."

Taxes

BIFS presents Essential Tips to Hiring the Right CPA posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff, saying, "Don’t be in a rush to hire someone and be sure to start your search way before the tax season begins. Taking the time to hire the right person will benefit your business in the long run."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from December 6 - 12, 2011

Here are the links to the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from December 6 - 12, 2011:

Festival of Frugality #308

The Wealth Builder Carnival #56

Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Schizophrenic Market

Buy, sell, hold, sell, buy --- whatever.  This market is extremely volatile.  After convincing myself this weekend that the markets were in an short term uptrend, investors lose confidence is the EU actions and the market drops 2% and closes about 1.34% down.

I've decide to go back to sidelines.  I'll keep the longs and shorts that I have for now.   However, I'm waiting out this week before taking any more long or short positions.


For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday  for a new segment.list


This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Stocks: Buy Now or Later?

With all the events of the past week and the lack of a sustained market rally, I have convinced myself again that waiting to buy stocks is the better decision.   So I returning to my original buy point of a Dow 10,200 and reinvest 10% of our retirement and savings accounts.

For now, I will continue to hold the long and short positions we have.  I will start making a list of good dividend paying stocks to buy when the Dow reaches 10,200.

For more on Strategies and Plans Ideas, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Expecting a Short Term Rally

Although I still think there are significant problems in the EU zone, the market's fears have been appeased in the short term.   With the coordinated central banks action and the agreements by EU countries on Friday, it appears the sovereign debt defaults and a breakup on the EU zone may be prevented, or at least delayed.  I believe the markets will react positively and continue to rally in the short term.

I have already started buying last week: IBM, McDonald's, Eli Lilly, Core Labs, and Stericycle.   While IBM McDonald's and Eli Lilly pay nice dividends, I chose Core Labs and Stericycle for having good upward trends since January 2007.  This week, I will continue to consider buying other good dividend paying stock such as Abbott Labs, Phillip Morris, Freeport-McMoRan, and Intel.  

Disclosure:  Our personal investment accounts current have positions in IBM, McDonald's, Eli Lilly, Core Labs, Phillip Morris and Stericycle.  We have no positions in Abbott Lab, Freeport-McMoRan and Intel but may make purchases as early as Monday, December 12.
For more on New Beginnings, check back every  Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial  or investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Retired California Teacher Pension - WOW

In a CNBC article, I read about a teacher/administrator in California who retired at 59 after 36 years and will receive a pension $174,308 a year for the rest of his life. Wow, what a deal. 

First, stories like these cause me to question the formulas used by governments to calculate public employee pensions.  For example, when I worked for a county organization as a summer part time worker, I learned that my pension formula was a percentage times years of service times the average of my three highest paid years.    So if I worked part time for 27 summers and then worked full time for 3 years, my pension would be based on my three full time years, even though the majority of my service was at a much lower pay.

Second, many public employee pensions are underfunded by about $690 billion, meaning the difference will likely be made up through higher taxes in the future or reductions in pension payouts. It seems that governments ought to consider what many private companies have done in moving from pension (defined benefits) retirement plan to a 401K type (defined contribution) plan.  That way retirees will truly get what they contributed, the company match, and the earnings.

Finally, I recognize that the person identified in the CNBC article is probably not the norm.  According to this article, the average California teacher pension is $40,000/year with only 2% of pensions exceeding $100,000/year, mostly for management retirees.    However, given the issues for the first and second points, its probably time for state and federal governments to review the feasibility of retirement pension benefits, as the private sector has done long ago.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.


This is not financial or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC