Good Article

The Spending Diaries of Six New Yorkers

http://nymag.com/guides/money/2006/23490/index.html


Good idea, good timing too as i just started an expense spreadsheet this afternoon. I'd like to see exactly how and where i spend my money. Hopefully I'll stick with it.

Observation

I received an email forward just now at work, it was a typical FWD concerning religion and comparing it to other aspects of life. I usually do a quick read thru of the email and if it seems worth it i'll read the entire email but if it seems nonsensical i'll delete it. This particular one had a line that caught my attention and the more i read it the more it related to reality and society today.

Isn't it strange how we
believe everything
that magazines and newspapers
say, but we question the words in the
Bible?

That's it. One simple sentence, but its one of those that makes you think. It's damn true, we are trained to believe what we read in magazines and papers and what we see or hear on the news, but we question the words in the bible. I'm not going to go on a tangent about the Bible. I respect people's opinions that the Bible may not be fact but it's still a set of moral stories that we should live life by. But if we question such documents like the bible, but believe the headlines about Iraq and how we're winning, what does that say about us as a society?

Dave Chappelle once said when talking about the controversey with the Dixie Chicks when they expressed their shame for being from the same state as the president, he said "Who cares what the Dixie Chicks think? It's not like their political scientists or anything, they're just couple chicks who can sing good" he then went on to say "Stop worshipping celebrities, I don't even know why people listen to me. I've done commercials for both Pepsi and Coke. You want to know the truth? Can't tell the difference, but Pepsi paid me most recently, so ...taste better"

I agree with him whole heartedly. We shouldn't be worshipping celebrities because they're no more special than any of us. Just because they're on tv more than the next person we're supposed to be captivated by their appearance and believe everything they say? We have to simplify life and if that means living life based on a set of morals from a Book called the Bible, then so be it! Regardles of your belief or religion or stance on politics no one can really argue that the Bible is something you shouldn't live your life by. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe i'm crazy...or maybe i'm right or maybe i make just a little bit of sense. Even that little bit of sense, if it's enough to make a person stop and think than mission accomplished.

That's what that one line from the email forward did to me....it made me think...

November 7, 2006

Time for me to leave work early and go vote. Too bad i have to drive out to Pasco County because i'm still registered there. If i was registered in Hillsborough County I would only have to walk down the street.

But I did my job, i convinced one person who wasn't going to vote, to go vote.

I can't wait for today to be over with. No more damn campaign ads. I love the statistic that more Political Campaign Ads were shown in Tampa than anywhere else int he country. I do not doubt that for a second.

We shall see what tomorrow has in store for the media. The day after an election is like Black Friday to the media it seems.

Off to the City of Dade!!

New Motto

In preparation of my new years resolution, i've come accross a motto that i will try my hardest to live by. It's definitely one of those "Easier said than done" statements. If i can do what it says i should be on my way.

SPEND LESS THAN YOU MAKE , PUT THE REST IN THE BANK







like i said....easier said than done...let's see it happen....

Eyes Forward

So it looks like I'll be changing departments here in a little bit. I was offered a job two levels higher than what I'm at now. Decent bump up in pay , more work , more responsibility , supposedly a track/path you can follow to keep moving up in the same department. I'm looking at it with an open mind and with my vision staring straight ahead into the future. It's a good opportunity for me to move up another notch and gain more experience while at the same time getting paid more. It's still not what I want to get paid or what I think I should be getting paid, but i'm down to put in some more time. I'm down to show some of the haters and doubters that I'm not done. I'm down to succeed!!

It sucks having to leave my group now though, just because it's probably one of the most coolest and most laid back groups within the company. A group that most of the rest of the company don't really know what we do and so it gives us freedom to do what we need to do with little to no interference. I've heard bad stories about the department i'll be moving to, but I've also heard good stories. It definitely seems like one of those jobs that isn't for everyone. But I'm an Economics Major. I had to remind myself this morning what exactly that means.

Economics builds scientific models to explain why people behave the way they do. And economists use these models, in conjunction with their observations of the world, to analyze and explain why things happen the way they do.

...Even more, economics is about finding the truth, even if the truth may go counter to what you, and most people, may intuitively believe. As one economist put it, economics is about paradoxes, about providing answers to riddles that are contrary to accepted opinion yet are true.

...Why do businesses need economists? First, economists are trained to think analytically and critically to solve complex problems. Second, and relatedly, economists is a social science, and as such economists are trained to recognize human behavior in relation to work, production, distribution and consumption, the fundamental operations of most businesses.

I'm starting to realize i picked the right major for myself. Closely enough related to general business and at the same time a social science with a concentration on human behavior as it relates. I think I'm very much a people person. I get along with pretty much everyone. And I think it would be hard to find many people that actually have bad things to say about me. I hope i can continue this trend at my new position.

Like i said...My vision is forward...no where to go but up...

FOCUS , INSPIRE , MOTIVATE

Physical Evidence

Oh the life of being a mole.

What a sick and twisted game it is for kids to take a mallet and bash the skulls of innocent moles who pop their heads out of their holes to see who came to visit.

It's Official

It's officially the spending season...let the holidays begin...I love the holidays because it's just always a nicer time of the year for some reason. What sucks is how broke you get by the time the holidays are over. And let's not forget the birthdays that fall in the middle of the holidays.
Every new year we are supposed to make resolutions for the coming year. Resolutions that ideally we will follow and that should ultimately make life better or easier. Resolutions such as quitting smoking, quitting drinking, losing weight, exercising more, lower my spending and so forth. Every year I think i've either given up or simply forgotten about my resolution by mid February. I think the average person does the same by about mid April/May. Why is it so hard to follow through with a resolution til the end of the year? Who knows...but i'm already thinking of my resolution.

For the year 2007 I hope to SAVE. That's it! I just want to save and hopefully have a decent lump sum by the time 2008 comes around. So far i've tried to save, but have ended up takin money out of savings here and there for various reasons. This time i want to put money away and not touch it. Every day i try to visit some Personal Finance web sites and read some articles. Sites like Personal Finance Advice and Money Under 30. These sites offer articles mostly on how to save, or how to control your spending as well as random other topics. There are so many others out there it's ridiculous. And deep down in the back of my mind I kinda hope my blog will turn into one of those Personal Finance sites. All in due time...

Point being, (this is the meat of this post) in order to go through with my resolution, i need a means to save. If you havent seen or read lately, the High Yielding Online Savings market is pretty much booming. By booming I mean you will get higher interest rates by putting your money into one of these Online Savings account than if you went to a local bank and opened a savings account there. I have 3 accounts setup so far with 3 different companies. I'll give a brief review of the three.

1) ING Direct
- They were the first company that i heard of that did the high yielding savings account. They're currently offering %4.40 Annual Percentage Yield. It's not the highest, but they usually up the % every few months to stay competitive with the rest. What i like about them is the User Interface of their website. I think it's the best layout and design of the others. Easy to use , easy to navigate. There is no minimum deposit required, so you can open an account with $1. The other thing i like about them is if you want to withdraw money from your savings account, it will take 2-3 days to transfer from the savings to your local checking account. This makes it harder to dip into your savings. If you want to open an account with at least $250.00 , use my referral link and we'll both get a cash bonus.

2) Citi Bank Online- I found out about CitiBank when i applied for a credit card with them. They offer a higher interest rate of %5.00 APY. The only thing with them is when you open a savings account with them they automatically open a checking account also and deposit $1 into it. You are not obligated to use the checking account. Their savings account is much like ING where there is no minimum balance. However they make it easier for you to dip into you savings because they give you a debit card. What i like about them is you can use the debit card to withdraw money at any 7/11 convenience store that has a Citi ATM. Depending on the way you look at it, it could be good and bad because it gives you easier access to your savings and gives you the option to dip into your savings. I know i'm guilty of dipping because they make it easy to.

3) Emigrant Direct
- I don't really like EmigrantDirect but i still have an account with them with $5 in it. I signed up with them because they had the highest interest rate. I don't like them because they're site is usually slow for me. The user interface i dont think is that great and just overall i didnt have a very good experience with them. Although they do offer one of the highest yielding savings accounts. They also have no minimum balance.

Bottom line is I'm trying my damndest to put away 10% of each paycheck into a savings account. I hope that my new year resolution will be followed through but only time will tell. But I hope if anything i can get others to do the same because at this point, it's like....Why Not?