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Monthly Archives: November 2006

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Cash is King

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These days debit and credit cards sometimes make cash seem like a thing of the past. There are still many places around the globe that function solely on a cash basis, and where even having a bank account is hard to come by.

I’m headed out this afternoon for a business trip to Macedonia & the Democratic Republic of Congo for the next three weeks. Preparing for the trip means going to the bank this morning and getting a wade of cash. Not a wade exactly, many countries outside of the US won’t accept USD that is wrinkled or isn’t of the new print style. Big bills also earn you a better exchange rate.

There isn’t an ATM in the entire country of the DRC, so you’ve got to anticipate your costs well and hope not to run out of money. This means carrying a lot of cash in a country where security is anything but optimal. Plus once you convert the USD to local currency, you end up with very large stacks of cash. A stack of bills can equal a twenty. Then you feel like a mafia member carrying around bags of cash.

Wish me luck! I’m headed to the bank to load up. I’ll post money adventures from the road. If there are any topics you are interested in learning about just drop me a comment.

Best,

Miel

Dealmine.com

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As part of our ongoing mission to bring you the best personal finance information on the web, we’ve decided to highlight Dealmine.com. Dealmine.com is a website which aggregates discount offers from retailers and allows you to search by category. So, if you’re traveling or shopping, you can run a quick search on this site before you go on about your business. Very Handy!

www.dealmine.com

Best,

James

AT&T and Property Rights

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This June, The American Telephone and Telegraph company (AT&T) recently declared consumer information to be corporate property. The announcement didn’t get a lot of coverage, but the intellectual precedent it sets is exceptionally important.

By consumer information, typically its understood to mean marketing information like buying or voting habits, or personal identification info such as social security numbers, addresses, etc. Whats key about this is, by declaring this information to be corporate property, AT&T is claiming the right to use, buy or sell personal information as if it were thing like a house or car. In this case, its important understand that property is rarely about the actual piece of property (e.g. real estate, car, stereo, idea, etc.), but more about who has the right to do what with it.

There are two fundamental reasons why a shift to corporate ownership of personal information is problematic for consumers.

1) Its unamerican: Fundamentally, America is a individualist democratic nation. We decide our governments based on the principle of one person, one vote. Also, the basis of much of America’s contract law is derived from the philosophy that contracts can only be entered into between freely consenting individuals who clearly understand their rights and obligations.
The main point here is that allowing a corporation to declare ownership of consumer data is inconsistent with our political and legal traditions of rights vested in sovereign individuals.

2) It unfairly advantages consumers: There are two likely outcomes from AT&T’s declaration. 1. AT&T will sell personal information to others for marketing purposes. 2. AT&T will provide the information to the federal government for the purposes of anti-terrorism investigations.

The merits of both of these can be debated. However, in the first place, I do not understand why AT&T should not have to pay a fee to consumers whose information has been sold. For example, in order to live in someones house, one normally pays rent to that person. In order to use someones personal information, shouldn’t a corporation have to pay a fee to use that information? Declaring personal information as corporate property unfairly takes money out of the hands of consumers.

Thanks,

James

Keep an Eye On Canroys

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If you’ve been following the action in Canadian energy trusts, you’ve probably realized that the sector has been undergoing a complete bloodletting. Issues like PVX, AAV and HTE have taken HUGE hits to their share prices, sometimes in the neighborhood of 18% losses or more.

Provided the market keeps hammering these issues, we may have a situation where the expected yield will still be worth the risk of holding these stocks, despite changing expectations related to energy prices and unfavorable tax legislation by the government in Ottawa.

While market timing is always risky, I think it makes sense to keep an eye on this sector to see where it will go.

Happy Tuesday!

-James

For the Love of Money!

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How much is marriage worth, in particular, a fraudulent one?

I came across this article on the unfolding of a marriage scam and couldn’t help but ask a few questions. The basic idea is that a ring of entrepreneurial Ghanaians were able to pull off an estimated 1,000 fake marriages, over four years.

I took special interest, having been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, but there was something else that caught my eye. It’s understandable that Ghanaians would pay $3,000 to gain US citizen, but who are the Americans that they are recruiting for 500 bucks to get married.

Given my recent experiences at the courthouse for my name change, you couldn’t pay me $500 to stand in line more than once at the courthouse. Not to mention the hassle and stigma related to having been married and divorced. A potential future spouse might learn something about your decision making capabilities based on your previous marriage. Additionally I’d be really concerned about financial liabilities of getting married. They could run up credit card debt and all sorts of fun misadventures. Can’t see how any of that is worth $500. It seems there are folks out there who might think otherwise.

I appears that some of those folks are from Home Depot. They had an inside guy to recruit potential spouses for $50 for each ‘spouse.’ I could be wrong, but for the risk I think you’d be making more money selling weed than spouses, and probably have more takers!

For the Love of Money!

Miel

The Feminization of the Super-Wealthy

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Monday brings some good news on the gender equality front. Apparently a recent study of British millionaires conducted by a UK investment management firm has come out. The results of the report are that the number of female millionaires has reached an all time high in the UK.

According to the studys findings, the results are driven by 1) changing patterns of real estate ownership and 2) increasing numbers of female entrepreneurs. More women own property and business directly, rather than jointly with their husbands.

Interested in reading more? Click Here for the Herald.

Best,

James

Return Policies – They are your Friend!

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We all know that consumer purchases aren’t the way to build wealth. At the same time, they are part of life. My opinion is that you get the most out of your money by shopping wisely. One way to do this is to be conscious of the return policies at the places you shop, and don’t be afraid to use this when you need to.

This week has been one of running errands, as I’m about to depart on an overseas business trip. Here are a few examples of places I’ve saved money by using the the return policies:

  1. REI – They have have a FABULOUS return policy. You are much better off buying outdoor equipment here, just based on the fact that you can return it for just about any reason. I received a pair of sandals this summer for my Birthday from my mom and could never keep them on my feet. I returned these and found a perfect pair on sale for $35 off the full price and got a new pair of sandals for my trip for $4.99.
  2. Victoria Secret – I made a purchase several months ago and accidentally got one pair that was the wrong style. I could have just said whatever and worn them anyway, and they would end up at the back of the drawer. Instead, I put this aside for returns and finally made it back to the mall to take care of it.
  3. Banana Republic – I found our bridesmaids’ dresses last year in Hawaii and wasn’t sure about the sizes for two of the ladies who were currently pregnant and would be breast feeding at our wedding. The sales woman let me know that it was in my best interest to buy extra dresses and return the ones that didn’t work, since they were seasonal dresses. This worked great, as we didn’t know until the last minute which dresses would work. They’ve just reduced their return time, but it is still a long period of time.
  4. Ann Taylor Loft – I bought two pairs of tights and realized that one was the wrong size and returned this right away. Plus, I by then I figured I only needed one pair.
  5. Bed Bath & Beyond – a good one to keep in mind for great return policies
  6. Nordstrom’s – a given for great returns.
  7. Target – A big pain! You’re lucky to get store credit!
  8. Speciality items – We bought my wedding ring at an antique store in Portland, Oregon and the side baguette fell out only two month’s later. I had remembered that there was a no return policy, but when I called to let them know what the situation was, they were happy to fix it. Considering that I’ve had estimates where the lowest price was $750, that was my best value this week!

The point is, don’t just keep something because you bought it. One of the great things about the American way is that you can return things. You might as well use this to make sure you are getting the most for your money. The same goes for gifts you don’t love or need!

Happy returns!

Miel

The DINKS November Net Worth

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For your reading pleasure, we are displaying our November net worth. Our net worth in November is $292,399.75. This means that our wealth has slightly declined from our last posting, when we were worth 304K. The declines are largely due to three factors:

1) Increased borrowing to fund our studies
2) Stock market losses in our Canadian energy trusts
3) Increased interest expenses for our investment property

Feel free to check out our figures below:

Best,

James

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