Best job on the planet? The folks at Murphy-Goode winery in California are offering some lucky soul $10K a month for the next six months to blog, tweet and post on facebook for their wines. You even — according to the story I caught on CNBC.com – get to live at the winery. To apply go to www.areallygoodjob.com. And I assume it’s all you can drink…..
Stop stealing (and borrowing) from your kids. I’ve spent a few mornings this week doing research in the form of focus groups with middle school kids — grades 6 to 8. I’ve been astonished to hear from more than one about the petty theft that seems to be going on in homes around the country. Brothers. Sisters. Going into each other’s drawers, piggy banks, wallets and taking actual cash. Parents, it seems, are more guilty not of stealing but of borrowing and not paying the funds back. Isn’t that actually the same thing? (If you disagree — let me know.)
Going grill shopping. Brad Wilson of Brad’s Deals says that the best place to buy grills — i.e. to get the best prices — is not at your local hardware store or even a brick and mortar big box, but on the Internet. He also assures me that assembly for most grills isn’t nearly as difficult as you’d expect it would be. We’ll see…
My one word on the fraud indictment against Countrywide’s Angelo Mozillo: Finally. Read Alan Deutchman’s piece.
And have a good weekend!!
Rebalance or not to Rebalance?
A couple of months back, the legendary John Bogle of Vanguard was on my radio show and I asked him about rebalancing your portfolios to keep a mix of stocks, bonds, and cash (or other asset classes) in check. “I think rebalancing makes a substantial amount of sense,” he says. With his own accounts, though, he noted, “I don’t rebalance… I leave it alone. I have not touched my asset allocation since March of 2000.”
Hmmm, I started to wonder. Which was better for an individual – doing as Bogle said? Or doing as he did? After all, the advice I’ve been giving for years is that if you take 100 and subtract your age, you’ll have a rough estimate of the amount of your portfolio you should have in stocks. The rest should be in bonds or other safer havens. Then, each year, as you age, you take down the stock component by a percentage point. But I hadn’t tested the theory – at least not recently. More…
Many people would pay hundreds of dollars to sit this close to Stevie Nicks…but not me. While there’s nothing I like to do more than go to a good concert, one thing you won’t catch me doing is paying top dollar for tickets.
I’ve spent a whopping $15 to rock out five rows away from Bruce Springsteen. $40 to sit in the third row and be serenaded by Stevie and the rest of Fleetwood Mac (By the way…the photo at left is courtesy of my own digital camera). $50 to witness the reunion between rock gods Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.
With so many artists hitting the road this summer and lots of great shows to be seen it helps to have a few tricks up your sleeve when it comes to getting the tickets you want. Here are a few of my favorites: More…
* I told New York Magazine for their 21 Questions column that I thought Donald Trump was a pretty good father. After meeting Taylor Swift’s dad this morning, I think he may be even better.
* Maybe you have to go through a life-threatening situation in order to live life fully. At the aforementioned Taylor Swift concert I also met Kathy Guisti, founder of the Multiple Myeloma foundation, and as well as a patient. She was having more fun in the rain than most of the kids and reminded me: We are all, in our own way, terminal, and need to live life that way.
* Never cut your daffodils after they die. Simply tie them in bundles and let them wither away.
* If you can cut one car trip from your home each day, you’ll save an average 8 miles. That’s 56 a week. Or 2912 a year. With gas at nearly $3 a gallon, that’s $546 in my car. (Admittedly a gas guzzler. I’m trading down soon.)
* My dog needs a bath. I think I’ll give him one myself this weekend and use the $40 for something else.
* Chris Gardner stopped by my radio show this week to talk about his new book Start Where You Are. He argued against having a Plan B. Why? Because he said it stops you from pursuing Plan A with a vengeance. Although I could listen to Chris all day (he, better than anyone, channels Barry White), I disagree on this point. With unemployment creeping up toward double digits I think we all need to be asking ourselves the question: What Would I Do, If I Couldn’t Do This?
If your debt is overwhelming you, my first suggestion is always to contact the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. They can very often hook you up with a member credit counselor, who will put you on a debt management plan that allows you to pay off your debt within three to five years.
I mentioned this a few weeks ago, and dljimerson left the following comment:
In my case, I went to NFCC, filled out their requested info on CC bills etc (I owe about 50K in CC and car payments). I am unemployed and have been for months now, blown through whatever savings I have and unemployment covers the bare minimum to sustain life. The response from NFCC was I should seek legal assistance – which means bankruptcy. NFCC sure didn’t help me with their DMP plan. What else can I do? Is a bankruptcy my only option?
More…
For the past few months, more and more people have been telling me that they’re keeping their cash at home. I’ve been wondering, is this actually anecdotal or is it just a trend? Let me know how much cash you’re stashing at home by answering the poll below. Your response is anonymous and I will post the results in a couple of weeks.
What’s influencing your decision to keep or not keep your cash at home?
I had a Suzy Welch moment on the radio today. You know how sometimes you hear something or read something and it just strikes you as both really smart and really useful? That’s what happened to me upon first hearing Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 rule. She asks herself when evaluating a decision, any decision, how she will feel about the choice she made in 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years. And more often than not, it gets her to clarity. More…
This morning, as we were rushing to stuff lunches into already over-loaded backpacks, grab the tennis rackets and coats (because despite the fact that it’s officially spring, it was 20 degrees outside) my 14-year-old hit me with this question: “What’s a hedge fund, mom?”
I backed into an answer.
Me: Do you know what a mutual fund is?
Him: Ummmm….
Me: It’s usually a bunch of investments in stocks or bonds or both bundled together.
Him: Okay. (He turns and walks out the door and then, realizing we are having a conversation shouts,) I’m still listening.
Me: Well the whole point of a mutual fund is that if one of your stocks or bonds is losing money, the rest of them may not be so you won’t end up losing your whole investment. That’s called “diversification.” Anyway, a hedge fund invests a whole bunch of investments at the same time too, but many of them are riskier than stocks and bonds. So for the most part only wealthy people are allowed to invest in them.
Him: Do you?
Me: Do I what?
Him: Do you invest in them?
Me: No.
Him: Can you put on Z-100?
More…
