I think I hit break-even with my Boba Tea House T-shirt

I've used my T-shirt at least five times since purchasing it. The average purchase has been between $20 and $30 each.

Click here to see my original purchase explaining how it works.

Click here to view the menu in case you want to see what food and drinks they offer.

PICS: Pictures from our Living Desert trip yesterday

We went to the Living Desert for the second time this year. Even though the butterfly and hummingbird exhibit was closed, I was able to get some great pictures. Here are a few.

Save money with solar panels? Better do the numbers....

I would love to put solar panels on our house. It seems like the right thing to do, especially from an environmental perspective. Click here for a real-life example posted on ThisOldHouse.com.

Summary of money spent and payback is listed at $26,000. They say they now pay $500 per year in electricity a "75 percent" reduction, but at the bottom they save $2,000. It looks like it should actually be an 80 percent reduction (going from $2,500 to $500 vs. $2,000 to $500).

Here's the breakdown (as I see it).

SAVINGS:

Electricity Savings of $2,000 per year ($166.67 per month average). Reported break-even point 13 years ($26k/$2k/yr = 13 yrs)

COSTS:

Cost (paid in cash): $26,000

Cost (8% loan at 13 yrs): $41,901.48 in payments over 13 years ($15,901.48 in interest).

Opportunity Cost (if paid in cash) depends on investment return/debt repayment as follows:

• If carrying a credit card balance with national average of 12 percent rate, your interest savings would be 1 percent per month or $260 per month. Note: you are actually losing $60 per month by putting solar panels on the roof.
• If invested $26,000 with 8 percent return over 13 years, the "Future Value" would be $73,306.20. This is an increase of $47,306.20 or $303.24 per month. Subtract taxes depending on brackets/state rates and you may end up with around $200 per month.
• There are many mix/match combinations of the above. Other scenarios may be contributing to retirement plan with tax savings, changing the terms to more or less than 13 years.

It's okay to decide to put solar panels on your roof (even if you lose cash flow each month). Just acknowledge that as an additional cost for this project when making your final decision.

TAKE HOME POINT

The important thing is to weigh the cost (both direct and opportunity) and savings before taking the plunge.

2009 SmartMoney Broker Comparisons

SmartMoney just released their 2009 Stock Broker Comparisons. Click here for the comparison page where all the meat and potatoes are. Click here for the summary of the best and worse in each major category.

Top 5 rated overall were Etrade, Fidelity, Schwab, TradeKing, and then TDAmeritrade.

Some of these Brokers who are paired with a bank can offer some good deals on equity trades as long as you maintain a minimum combined balance. The only problem is that it applies only to equity trades. So before you consider jumping ship on your current account, look at the other commissions you might end up being charged for mutual funds, options, and bond transactions.

PIC: Calalilly in the backyard

This is one of my recent favorites. This picture was taking in my backyard. No post-production or cropping. Just how I see it. Love the colors and the contrast.

Money Magazine Article: How to get your spouse to stop overspending

I still am getting the paper version of Money Magazine for free (see previous post).

Click here for the online version at cnnmoney.com.

The author, Tyler Cowen's thought is that it is a control issue, so talking about it make your spouse less in control and will make things worse.

For us, it's the same couple of things.  Trying to make sure what we buy is more of a "need" than a "want."  Also, per my wife, she feels that her items are "small but add up" and my items are "few and far between, but much more expensive."

Okay, I opened a Facebook account

We'll call this an experiment. I currently have 6 "friends." My wife predicts I may have hundreds within the first month (or so).

I.O.U.S.A.: The Movie - One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.

A friend forwarded the link to this 30 minute movie. It puts things in perspective. Click here to go to the website to view.

Keep reminding yourself. Positive monthly cash flow. Needs vs. wants.

SoCal 10 year old with Breast Cancer

This is an amazing story forwarded by my wife about a 10 year-old Fullerton, California girl who was recently diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Only 0.1 percent (1 in 1,000) of breast cancer cases affects people at this age.

Click here for the FoxNews.com story.

PIC: Small green caterpillar in backyard

My older girls were playing in the backyard and noticed a couple of caterpillars. Here's a shot of one of them. This is actually taken with a Canon S5 on SuperMacro mode.

EverNote provides some of the same features of Mac.com (for free)

Hmm. At the time of this post, I haven't registered for this service.

EverNote.com provides some of the same features as MobileMe (mac.com), but for free. MobileMe costs about $99 and allows about 20GB of storage and the ability to simultaneously sync files and calendars. EverNote allows the synchronization of files, pictures between mobile devices, on-line storage, and desktop/laptop computer.

Key points:

• For iPhone, WindowsMobile, and BlackBerry, you will need to download an application
• For other devices, there is a mobile website
• The free account has a limit to 40MB per month and file types limited to images, audio, ink (?), and PDFs. You'll need to pay $5 per month for the "Premium" service. Click here for the comparison table.

Golfer Phil Mickelson's Wife, Amy now with Breast Cancer

In golf, my wife just loves Phil. She thinks he's a class-act. Unfortunately, his wife, Amy (mother of 3) was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer. We will keep them in our thoughts.

Click here for the AP story on NPR.

Click here for the Breast Cancer awareness section on the Susan G. Komen Site.

Click here for the American Cancer Society's site on Breast Cancer Awareness.

Click here for the National Cancer Institute's site Breast Cancer Information.

"Mutual Purpose" sought by Barack Obama

In President Obama's recent speech at Notre Dame, he stated the following:

"So let's work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term."

(from this AP article on MSNBC)

This is a great example from the Crucial Conversations (link to Barnes and Nobles where you get 3% of purchases if you were enrolled in upromise) toolbox of creating dialoge by defining a mutual purpose that opposing parties can agree.

1% for College at Samsclub.com through upromise

Excellent. Just got an email notifying me that I can get 1% of purchases at SamsClub.com towards upromise.

Click here for my post on reasons to shop at Sam's Club instead of Costco.

This is the same deal as if I were to buy something from Best Buy. Here are the steps:

1. Log on to upromise.com
2. Choose Sam's Club to save 1% (click on the link)
3. Shop at SamsClub.com
4. When selecting items, choose the "Pick Up" option
5. Checkout and go pickup

With Best Buy, you currently get 2%. Sometimes the percent goes higher.

Click here to get started with upromise:

Banks trying to pay back TARP money. It's all about risk and reward...

...and taking advantage of anomalies in the market. Sort of like arbitrage.

Recent articles report that the banks are now trying to arrange money to pay back TARP fund and the warrants. Here's one of them from Yahoo!/New York Times.

From the government's perspective, they were the lender of last resort during the liquidity crisis. This involves higher risk than usual and they should be (as investors) rewarded. Assuming the economy recovers, their warrants (think of them as long-term options) could be worth a lot more. This would be their reward for taking on the additional risk when no one else was investing in the banks. Being such a large investor in the whole financial system, they could enact changes (legislative, monetary policy, etc) that could benefit the banks and ultimately themselves since they are investors. The government may not mind having the banks pay back their TARP funds (including the warrants) as long as they receive some benefit for their short-term investments.

From the banks perspective, they probably see a promising risk and reward profile to pay off the TARP funds now. They probably are forecasting an increase in stock share prices over the next 10 years and would like to basically invest in themselves (or their own shares via the warratns) and effectively initiate a stock re-purchase program. This would decrease the outstanding common stock and eventually make each share worth more since it represents a larger percentage of ownership.

SonicMule (smule) for iPhone

Being a musician and interested in technology, I love this concept. That is, having an "orchestra" or an ensemble of people who play their iPhones together.

IF, I had an iPhone, I would likely pay the $0.99 to get the download. More on what may be keeping me from getting an iPhone on a later post.

Click here to check out their site.

Palm or iPhone?

I don't have an iPhone. Right now I don't feel that I "need" an iPhone. Here are my current thoughts (what I like and dislike):

• Love the screen size and the interface (but my Palm Centro is working fine right now). The whole device is wider (but thinner) than the Centro.
• I know there's a hack to use the phone as a modem when I'm traveling, but the Centro is serving that purpose at around 400kbps.
• It requires a higher monthly rate than I'm paying right now, and I don't need the unlimited minutes. I'm currently paying for unlimited text, internet, phone as modem, premium on-line content for one line and shared minutes and nearly unlimited texting capability for a second line all for about the same price as the one iPhone.
• All my current software will need to be replaced (HandDBase, PowerOneFinance with Solver, etc).

The biggest "rationale" for "needing" an iPhone is to instantly sync my calendar that is on my phone/pda with another resource (IE mac.com) so that my wife can instantly view it OR we both sync to the same resource so that when my iPhone calendar changes, it will show up on her iPhone. That would be cool (but also more than $200 per month or about $2,500 per year for that).

No iPhone at this time...

Possible GM and Chrysler deals in the next couple of weeks

It looks like most of the 789 Chrysler dealership that received notices will be motivated to get rid of their inventory by June 9.  According to this article on Yahoo! Finance, it may still need to be approved by a Bankruptcy judge.

 

Even though it may be a deal, with the economic cycle we are in, it is still important to "need" the car before seriously going to look to acquire one.  

 

Again:  Needs vs. Wants.

Sam's Club or Costco Membership?

Well, I said I was going to discuss this later, but I didn't know it would be so soon.

Ran into this article posted on Yahoo! but originally from SmartMoney.com that compares some of the commonly purchased items at regular grocery stores vs. BJs, Costco, and Sam's Club. Read at your convenience.

Here are the big reasons why our Family goes to Sam's Club.

• Expanded hours for business club members. Starts at 7:00 AM. At this time, they have things such as danishes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and coffee for those who shop that early. If the kids are with me, they get to eat as well.
• Way less crowds during the above times.
• Costco has "business" hours, but it is the same time as the regular public hours.
• Click 'n pull (or Fax 'n pull). I haven't used this service, but if I ran a restaurant or other retail business, I would be using this all the time. You can place orders beforehand and they'll pull all the items and place them on a cart for you. Talking about a timesaver.
• They take any MasterCard. Compared to Costco where they take American Express (steep annual fee). It's easier for me to place purchases on my MasterCard and pay it off in full at the end of the statement period.
• Sam's Club Gas Stations take MasterCard. Costco requires ATM or American Express.
• Sam's Club is slightly closer to my house and work (not a really good reason), and is also closer to the BestBuy store (not a really good reason either).

Since we're in California, there aren't any BJs around this area.

The only reason why I personally go to Costco is the once a year coupon to save on TurboTax. I think between my family and myself, we go to Costco less than 5 times per year. So this year we actually decided to not renew our Costco Membership. Costco actually sent me another coupon booklet even though we aren't members. I think they were trying to see if we would renew based on the coupon booklet offers. Not right now....

PIC: Red Roses for Mother's Day

Here's a pic of roses we gave to mom for Mother's Day. Around $20 from Sam's Club. I'll need to post why I like Sam's Club much more than Costco later.






Canon 50D, 50mm f/1.4, Canon 580EX II

upromise update

upromise has started sending me updates on how my 529 contributions are doing (not the accounts, but how much I've been able to send to the accounts). We started participating almost 9 years ago after our first daughter was born. According to them, they have placed a little over $2,300 towards our accounts.

Overall this is good and bad. Good in the sense that we try and optimize all our spending to create these contributions. Bad in the sense that there is always an expense or spending of money in order to create these contributions. This is a similar thought process to "saving taxes."

Don't spend money just to get the 529 contributions. Spend money because you "need" something.

Click the following button for more information:

H1N1 Influenza - CDC guidance on public gatherings

I posted some previous guidance here on May 1.

Click here for the most up-to-date CDC guidance for public gatherings. Specifically they recommend the following:

However, given the current information on disease severity and spread, CDC recommends that:

• Persons with influenza-like illness (ILI) (i.e., fever with either cough or sore throat) should be advised to stay home for 7 days after the onset of illness or at least 24 hours after symptoms have resolved, whichever is longer. See additional guidance for persons with ILI.
• Persons who are at high risk of complications from novel influenza A (H1N1) infection (for example, persons with certain chronic medical conditions, children less than 5 years, persons 65 or older, and pregnant women) should consider their risk of exposure to novel influenza if they attend public gatherings in communities where novel influenza A virus is circulating. In communities with several reported cases of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection, persons who are at risk of complications from influenza should consider staying away from public gatherings.
• All persons should be reminded to use appropriate respiratory and hand hygiene precautions.
• Based on currently available information, for non-healthcare settings where frequent exposures to persons with novel influenza A (H1N1) are unlikely, masks and respirators are not recommended.

Citi reports nearly all TARP money used for loans

This article reports that Citigroup is using $44.75 billion of its $45 billion in TARP funds to fund loans.

This is what they are supposed to be doing.

Disclaimer: no direct investment in Citigroup. As previous, do have XLF which is an ETF that does have some Citigroup in it.

Used Boba Tea Shirt yesterday!

The sign wasn't posted, but the employee said that I still get 10 percent off of my order. Yeah!

Women beat men in investing...by 1% per year

In this article, Jason Zweig says that women tend to trade less and more risk averse than men are. They also beat men by 1 percent per year. In any given short-term period, 1 percent isn't alot, but over a typical 30 to 40 year retirement portfolio, that will add up to large sums of money.

USPS: First-Class mail costs $0.44 now

Read this article this morning. I guess I missed all the hype around the price increase. It is effective today.

You can always check the cost of mailing envelops and packages via USPS by going to their official website by clicking here.

Boba Tea House T-shirt gets me 10 percent discount!

I've posted the local Boba Tea House menu previously here.

Also, at the local "Tea House," I purchased a T-shirt.  I'm not sure if the promotion has a scheduled end-date.  It cost about $13.00.  The T-shirt is pretty nice.  The logo is actually embroidered and not silkscreen or printed.  From a financial perspective though, it appears that you will need to buy at least $130 worth of products to count it as "free" because at that point you will have saved around the $13.00.

I put "free" in quotes because it actually isn't free if you weren't planning on spending that kind of money (at least $130) at that store.  You never spend money just to save money....

Reminds of IRS tax deductions (not talking about credits).  You never want to "spend" money for the tax deduction.  Why spend $1,000 to save about $300 to $350 (Federal and State combined)?  You are still out more than $600.  Keep the $1,000.

Picture of Toddler with cigarette and lighter

I can't believe this picture on Flickr.  It has a picture of a toddler with a cigarette in their mouth and a lighter in their hand....

Good News/Bad News: Per County Assessor, Home is worth less than when purchased

I wasn't sure the exact process, but I requested my County Assessor to decrease the value of our house to slightly below the value of what we purchased it for in 2004. It came back about 20 percent below that value.

Good news: will be saving on property taxes this year (not sure how it will work on future years).
Bad news: current home value is below what we paid for it five years ago.

Sons of Lwala - Inspirational Story

Saw an inspirational presentation by these two "sons" of Lwala, a village in Kenya.  Click here to go to their official site. One is an Internal Medicine intern and the other is a Medical Student at Vanderbilt.  It appears that you can purchase DVDs and arrange for showings of their documentary in your local community.

You can also view their documentary trailer on YouTube by clicking here.

You can click here for the Lwala Community Alliance.

Bank of America likely will make it

Disclaimer:  I don't directly own Bank of America stock (BAC), but do have holdings in the ETF XLF which has BAC in it.

Click here for the AP article on Yahoo! Finance.  Looks like a combination of asset sales, conversion of preferred stock, and common stock issuance will prevent need to convert the Government program to common stock.

I suspect that bank stocks are all a lot higher today compared to when they received TARP money.  Remember that the government wants the price of the bank stocks to go up (do they have a conflict of interest?) because that means that their "investment" via the TARP funds will be worth more.

Yahoo! Surveys how people are cutting back during this economic cycle

Click here for article.  The top ways people are saving money are cutting back on:

• Travel
  
• Eating out
  
• Electronics/Gadgets
  
• Shopping
  
• Gifts
  
• Concerts/Artistic events

How are you saving?

Odd Day Contest 05/07/09

From the same guy that brought you "square root day" (02/02/04 and 03/03/09), he has created a contest and website for "odd days" 01/03/05, 03/05/07, and now 05/07/09.

Click here for more information.

Postal Workers get 23% more than last year - Best and Worst paying jobs

From this web article which references the Forbes list of the 25 best and worst-paying jobs in America.  It barely mentions cost of living references which is important to consider whether a similarly paid position is truly worth the move.

 

Click here to access links that take you to the best and worst lists.

Environmental Working Group - Which Sunscreen?

Heard about their site earlier today.  They have a section just for parents.

 

Here's a section on Sunscreen usage. Click here to go directly to their best/worst lists (which is searchable).  Important to read since the sunny months are on their way.

 

Click here to go to their home page.

Ford is on track. GM may collapse?

Disclaimer (none):  I don't directly control shares of either GM or Ford.

 

I thought I heard that GM's stock was going to collapse with the recent reverse split proposal and conversion of the Government's preferred stock to common stock.

This article from Yahoo! Finance reports that Ford is on track with the current plans for restructure.  Ford has benefited in the recent months.  Just look at their 1 year stock chart.

SmartMoney Article: 10 things your pharmacist won't tell you

Click here for a nice short article. I guess the first two items make the most sense in this cycle that we're going through (and that's why they're the top 2).

In general it's always nice to get generics if possible. You can also save money by having your doctor prescribe pill sizes twice the size and cut them in half (for non-extended release types).

50 Tours of a Lifetime

Another magazine I've been getting sent to me free (disclaimer) is "Traveler" as part of the National Geographic organization. In a recent issue, they have "50 Tours of a Lifetime" which is divided up into Active, Cultural, and Classic types.

Ahh, to have excess resources (read Money, Time, older kids)....

They also have tours from 2006, 2007, and 2008 linked there as well.

If you're reading this post, which one would you go on and why?

PIC: Boba Tea House Menu - Side by Side

The menus at my local shop have been updated.  You can view them by clicking here.

Click here to see how you can support me.
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Previous post:

The following two shots were taking (with verbal permission of course) of the local Boba Tea House. I can never remember what all they offer. So here it is for myself (and everyone else as well). You can click each picture to view the full-screen version.

If you appreciate this, please support me whenever you buy something online like at Amazon, eBay, BN, NewEgg, and many others.  Click on the right to support me.

Left side of menu:

Right side of menu:

Forgot my own advice....

I was busy today at meetings and forgot to get my boarding pass for my return SWA flight.  See previous post recommending that you get it as close to 24 hours before the flight leaves.  

Oh well.  I'm in the B's again.

PIC: Staying at the Holiday Inn - Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland

I'm on this trip and this is the place and here are some pictures of my room. So far, so good.

California Department of Public Health Hotline for H1N1 Influenza / Flu Information

The CDPH (click here for website) has implemented an toll-free hotline for information.   It is available in English and Spanish (and possibly other languages as well).  

The phone number is (888) 865-0564.  Click here for more info.

Southwest Airlines Experience

I can't remember the last time I flew Southwest Airlines (SWA).  I'm in the middle of a trip to Baltimore and the flight times that SWA had fit best for leaving and returning.  It was still about $80 more than other carriers (US Airways, Continental, United, and American), but the timing was worth it.

 

Key points. 

• You can get your boarding pass 24 hours before the flight leaves.  Do this so that you can get the "A" group. It is divided into groups of 30 (A1-30, A31-60, B1-30, B31-60, C, etc).  I was in the B 31+ for both legs today.
• The flights were on-time or early.
• The service was great.  As an example on the second leg I fell asleep, and the attendant remembered that (for good or bad....what happened when I was asleep or was it just good training?) and made sure that I received snacks and a drink.
• Still hilarious announcements, impersonations, sound effects, etc.
• Peanuts.  With a daughter who has a peanut allergy, this may be an issue and something that would prevent us from taking SWA.  SWA at one time was the largest purchaser of peanuts (they may very well still be).  They do have a policy on their site on what to do if you have a peanut allergy and you can view what they say about this by clicking here.

Overall, I am looking forward to my return flight (will check-in as close to 24 hours before my flight this time) and I would fly them again (as long as my daughter isn't coming along).

CDC website for H1N1 (Swine) flu updates and information

Just in case anyone needs or wants information about the H1N1 (formerly Swine) influenza, check out the CDC's website.