I’ve recently had my eyes caught by a few articles that I thought I’d pass along.  Please consider reading the following articles because they’re either informative, well written, or both.

Fivers - check out the details on the new five dollar bills.  If you don’t, someone else will!

Extravagant Spending -  Is extravagant spending even remotely insane?  If you’ve ever watched a show like Pimp My Ride, Cribs, or any of the many copy-cat shows that are out there to show off (estimated) wealth, then you’ve wrestled with some of the neat toys and known you couldn’t afford it and feel right about the expenditures.

Watch Your Laundry Maker -  A handy article about doing laundry the right way: measure twice, wash once.

Fully Funding Accounts - How much does it cost to fully fund various savings accounts and retirement accounts?

The Home Shopping Brainwash Network - A great analysis of the Home Shopping Network and how they market to their watchers.  This stuff scares the snot out of me because I know there are people at home just sitting there waiting to spend money they have, don’t have, or should keep.

I had someone hit this site looking for, “Would you sleep with me for a million dollars?”  I can’t believe that people would consider this, but then again, its people we’re talking about: the anonymous mass of Internet users who don’t have to be identified and so asking such a question doesn’t come with the stigma that asking it of your friends and classmates might.  The question that begs is this: What is a million dollars worth?

In our modern relativistic culture there is little value placed on sexuality within marriage, and the sanctity of marriage (sanctity being the setting aside as special) .  Sex is not worth a million dollars, that cheapens it, it is invaluable.  A million dollars is a lot of money, but it isn’t enough money to offset emotional scars, the fact that you’d be engaging in prostitution (see: Eliot Spitzer).

Various people have posed nude in magazines for money, taken jobs that they didn’t agree with because of a high paying salary, and of course there’s the age old televangelist schtick as well.  Money is not important if it is gained in an ill gotten fashion.  Having standards, focusing on the long term impact (how many women did something pornographic and then had children and were mortified that their children would find out?  What about parents finding out?).

A million dollars won’t buy you happiness, love, or a long term financial state (it is just as easily lost on frivolous activities and spending).  What’s a million dollars worth to you?  Is it worth your dignity?

If you’re a newer reader you may not be familiar with the Credit Rate Reduction Rally.  One of the purposes behind the rally was to build a movement that is about optimizing interest rates for people paying off debt.  In my case doing this on one of our cards reduced the interest we’re paying per month (which also includes a lower balance from making payments) by $125.00 a month.  That would be like saving roughly $1,400.00 in one year’s time [calculated loosely with the assumption of a reducing balance with minimum payments].  Or three Nintendo Wii’s, several car payments, a very, very nice bottle of wine, a Mac Book with memory upgrade, or a nice donation to a charity.

Have you sat down and calculated how much money you might save by getting your interest rates reduced?  Be persistent, be consistent, and make them change your interest rate.  It could change your future!

My wife and I were both approached by people in need in the same week. People who appeared to be genuinely in need instead of folks simply pan-handling to be lazy (which is a bit of a generalization, and I apologize). One of the things that we wrestle with this is that we want to be generous, we want to look for opportunities to help others, and we really like the idea of serving people as Christians. However, we’re paying off debt because as a moron (instead of a Christian) I allowed the family finances to get way out of whack. That being said, we’re considering pulling $40.00 aside from somewhere to setup someone else’s emergency fund. That is $20.00 for each of us to help others in an emergency.

We don’t anticipate tapping into it regularly, but the opportunity to serve is great, and sometimes we may have the ability to use our finances when others are in a teachable moment. Of course, in those same moments we need to remain teachable, but we’re glad to have learned to live on less than we make. What do you think? Would you create an OPEF category in your budget?

I’m reminded of Bob at ChristianPF and his story of compassion.  God uses us, others needs are met, and we can learn something.  That’s worth more than $20.00 to me.

I finished doing our 2007 taxes today. Papers are printed out, two checks need to be written, and on Monday we’ll mail the taxes and checks out to the federal government and the state of Colorado. I was hoping that our checks would be smaller together, but I am proud to say that our federal check is only $100.00. Given that I have had to send thousands in past years, this means that we’ve managed to calculate, pay and balance our tax cycle. Our state check was higher, but next year I think we’ll have it nailed pat. Furthermore, since we are sending in less in taxes we’ll have more money to put down on our debt reduction snowball!

I don’t love taxes, but I sure do love having gotten the numbers closer this year. As weird as it sounds I can’t wait to find out about next year’s taxes because I’m ready to be even closer (or possibly get a very, very small refund check because we maximized deductions and credits). I believe there are a few more things that are certain besides death & taxes, but I’m glad to have 2007 behind me.

Bonus: The number one thing that ended up saving me more than I expected (for some ignorant reason) was donations.  We donated stuff to Goodwill as well as supporting various missionaries, our church, and World Vision.  If you’re looking for ways to make your 2008 count, this may be a good way to do so.

Every time I go to an evening doctors appointment I end up springing for dinner for my family. Usually around $30.00 or so (we’ll pick a place like Jason’s Deli which is potentially more nutritious than a fast food restaurant, but not much more expensive). The evening appointments cost the same as the day appointments at the doctor’s office, but I can avoid missing a lot of work time during the day. The nicety of going in the evening is offset by the eating out, but when you’re sitting there at the restaurant having spent more money than you’d like for the evening you have to account for your choices.

I think I may try taking an afternoon appointment in the future and make up missed work time in the evening because it’ll still cost me less than appointments and dinner. Its time to do investigative surgery and at least try the other approach and see if it saves the money it should save. Hopefully a lesson learned and we’ll just move forward from here.

The home owners association in my neighborhood is trying to improve the appearance of the neighborhood I live in by getting taxes levied so that the city can build a nice brick fence around the neighborhood and make it look much, much nicer.  I’m actually all for it.  It’ll cost $385.00 more a year in taxes, but that’s a mostly good thing.  You see my neighborhood is older, its almost forty years old and it needs some gentrification pretty badly.  There’s very little about its older state that would draw people in other than low cost housing.  That is, in fact, what drew us into the neighborhood.  The Denver metroplex is very expensive and I haven’t got the money to live in the high-priced parts of Denver proper.  This house works just fine for me and my family.

The community is pretty split on this fence issue because the rise in taxes means some older folks on fixed incomes would suddenly find their homes going up in value (potentially) and their taxes going up.  The folks who want their properties to go up or maintain value want the fence, and those who want to keep their taxes low just want to leave things ‘as is’. One problem is that there has been a propaganda war going on and I got a flier this last weekend stating that “Property taxes will go up an average of $385 per year for 20 years.”  This is blatantly false.  The accurate statement would be that your property taxes will go up by $385.00 until the fence is paid off in 20 years.

Propaganda is nasty, its is like marketing from the devil :)  If you find yourself with an issue that impacts your finances and involves a community like this make sure that you fairly represent the scenario, it will be good for you, it will be good for the community, and it will allow you to be honest no matter which side you’re on.

Note: This podcast may be defunct seeing as there have been no new episodes since September.  However, David’s name is well known and there is a good chance people will respect his advice if the show comes back online.

Name:David Bach’s FinishRich Minute
Host(s): David Bach
podcast file type(s): mp3
Average File Size(s): 1MB
Average Length: 1 minute
Format (single concept, multiple concepts, multi-format): single concept
Production Quality (excellent, good, acceptable, bad): excellent
Type of Content (practical content, philosophical content): practical content starting with an advertisement and then giving a short bit
Site URL: http://www.finishrich.com/db_minisite/finishrichminute.php
Feed URL(s): http://www.bigcontact.com/finishrichminute/rss
Subjective Review:
David’s material is well known, but I have somehow never really read his material.  The concept behind these podcasts is to give people a short little tidbit of financial advice so that they can do something quick and hopefully accomplish something in a financially savvy way.  The shortness of this material makes it hard for me to recommend.  Sure, a short podcast is easier to follow than a longer podcast, but I prefer a bit more depth.  Each podcast also pitches another product from David that costs money.  This is more about advertising than it is about your real personal finance well being.

Context:  I listened to four podcasts dated from 9/25/2007, 9/27/2007, another 9/27/2007 and 10/1/2007 on 1/29/2008

There’s a reason why money is taboo: its often very, very, very personal.  This weekend as I was taking a walk down my in-law’s neighbor’s dirt road I saw this sign: Private, Dead End.  I didn’t actually trespass in case anyone was worried that I saw the sign, took a picture and kept walking.  What I was thinking about as I took this picture is that personal finance is private on one level or another.  At some point in time you are more than likely going to draw the line between what is acceptable to communicate to others, and what is not public knowledge.

Where do you draw the line?  I personal don’t speak of my income to various people I work with, but some family members know that information.  I have been timid to share the actual amount of debt we have or how much I pay in taxes on this blog and pretty much everywhere else I’m speaking about personal finances - again, a few family members know.  One thing I’ve been able to perceive about this - private or not - is that as a personal finance blogger I don’t feel comfortable dumping out everything I’m thinking or doing just to be open.  I would much rather present principles that are useful than numbers which may help you gauge where I’m at, but not communicate the concepts which matter.

My personal financial state isn’t where I’d like it to be - and I’m assuming that unless you’re a billionaire, you, too, are working on improving your financial state.  I’m reducing debt, preparing to understand more about investment opportunities and generally trying to be wise with my family’s finances.  I tend to be a very open person, in the past it has gotten me into a discussion with my wife about being too open, but when it comes to personal finance I’m not concerned about your numbers.  I don’t want to know them.  I do want to know what your operating principles are, though, so let me know where you draw the line with sharing personal finance information.

What if you lose everything that makes you financially wealthy? I am going to explore some of this in a video podcast soon, but I wanted to share a story I heard recently that just hit this point home. I know a person who had a tremendous job that promised above average income and a whole list of benefits - but that job came at a cost: it began to affect his relationships.

A time came when the financial pursuits and the relational pursuits had come to a very strong and intense decision making point. The person had to ask himself: what matters most? The way he put it was very powerful: if you lose something and it hurts, you’ve given it priority. The question that he had to ask himself was whether or not his priorities were right.

His story ended well because he was able to continue to earn a solid income, and maintain his relationships as well as strengthen them. This isn’t always the case, but you need to be prepared to let go of what doesn’t matter - and as much as this blog is about personal finance money should not be your number one priority.