It's Just Money

Blogging the Journal of Financial Planning

You should see my mailbox.  The number of publications that I receive is totally ridiculous.  And I'm just talking about the financial ones that I receive for free.  I'm not talking about my subscriptions to Men's Health, Food & Wine and Cosmopolitan.  Oops, did I say that one out loud?  Let's see, the monthly magazines that I receive include:  Investment Advisor, Financial Advisor, Bloomberg Wealth Manager, Institutional Investor, Money Magazine, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, NAPFA Advisor, and the Journal of Financial Planning.  On top of that, on a weekly basis I receive Business Week and Investment News.  Even then, I'm pretty sure I'm leaving a few out.

As you can imagine, there's no way I have time to read all of them.  So, I scan the table of contents and pages for anything that catches my interest.  I read some articles in full, but most get a partial read through.  Based on the pile of magazines currently sitting in my inbox, I think it's safe to say that keeping current on industry publications is a talent that I have not yet mastered. 

One publication that I try to give a fairly thorough read each month is the Journal of Financial Planning.  The Journal of Financial Planning is the official publication of the Financial Planning Association.  The content is relevant, and largely unbiased.  It tends to lean more on the academic and analytical, and less on the sales/soundbite format that most magazines favor, especially the consumer oriented ones.

Upon reading the magazine, I always find that there are articles for which I have an opinion to share and nobody to share it with.  Seriously, my wife is patient and a good listener, but there's only so much that I can talk about the "interesting article that I read in the Journal of Financial Planning."  I've learned the hard way that the word "interesting" is highly subjective.

What better place to share my opinions without worry about whether or not anyone will care or listen than this here blog!  So, I'm going to start a series in which I review and comment on articles from the Journal of Financial Planning.  These posts will be identifiable by the Journal's logo as seen at the top of this post.  Also, I may use some surprising words as "this is a review of an article found in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Financial Planning."  I know, totally confusing.

Home Buyer Tax Credit, Two Words... Whooptie. Doo.

So, here's my deal.  My wife and I are still renting.  We got married about a year and a half ago, and decided at that time that, for a variety of reasons, that it made sense for us to rent.  Most of the reasons were with respect to our personal situation.  For example, we had difficulty deciding on a location that made sense for us to buy.  Also, we wanted to enjoy our first year of marriage with a bit of discretionary income.  We knew that buying property would eat into that discretionary income.  Of course, another significant reason was that prices in Southern California were dropping rapidly, and we didn't feel that this was going to come to an end anytime soon.

This was in 2008.  At the time, there was a First Time  Home Buyer Tax "Credit".  The quotes around credit, because the credit was really a loan that had to be repaid over the next few tax years.  Then, of course, they came out with the new and improved version in 2009, an actual First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  Note the removed quotes.  They removed the repayment requirement, thus making it a true tax credit.  Recently, in a big coup for the Realtor lobbyists, the tax credit has been both extended (to home purchases closed by June 30, 2010) and expanded (to "move up" buyers).

Of course, there are limitations on who can use the tax credit.  Phase out begin around $125k for singles and $250k for couples, and the house must be your primary residence.  There's more, so go to the Federal Housing Tax Credit site to learn more.  If you qualify, and close on a house by June 30, 2010, you get a credit of $8,000 for first time buyers, and $6,500 for "move up" buyers.

Whooptie.  Doo.

I'm not participating in the Coinstar Promo

I have never used one of these Coinstar machines.  My thinking was always along the lines of "Really?  You want me to pay you 9% to count my change?  Am I really that lazy?"  I may actually be that lazy in a lot of other ways, but not this one.  I'll count/spend my change, thank you very much.

But a couple of weeks ago, a friend posted the new Coinstar Promo on his Facebook status.  Here's how it works.  You redeem $40 of change for  a$40 gift card, and you get a free $10 gift card as a bonus.  Sweet deal, right?  I figured I would go to the bank and ask for $400 in quarters, and go claim my free $100 in gift cards.  Gift cards include major retailers such as Amazon, iTunes, Starbucks and Old Navy.  All merchants that I am likely patronize anyway.

So, how come I'm not participating?

Infomercials fascinate me. And I just bought something from one for the first time.

I actually really love infomercials.  From the early infomercial days of Tom Vu, Carlton Sheets, and Tony Robbins, I have always loved infomercials.  It's really fascinating to me that marketers create a half hour long commercial with the expectation that people will sit through the entire thing, and some of them will even pick up the phone to order what they are hawking.  It's even more fascinating that people actually do.

So, now I'm one of them.  A few weeks ago, I ordered the P90X workout program.  I'll give my review later.  First, I'm going to ramble a bit.  This is the first thing that I have ever bought from an infomercial, despite hours of watching the early personalities of the craft.  Of course, infomercials of the 80s and 90s were a bit of a different animal.  Back then, you only caught infomercials at 2am, when you couldn't sleep.  The airtime was cheap, and the marketers must have figured that the sad folks who were watching TV at 2am were prime targets for "get rich quick" schemes, "lose your gut in 7 minutes a day," or the coolest cooking device that lets you "set it and forget it."

Don't get me wrong, the products haven't changed.  Sure, they're more modern and there's more of them.  But at the end of the day, they help you get rich, lose weight, cook, or feel better about yourself.  No, the real difference between infomercials of yesteryear and today is the internet.

In 1986, you called the 1-800 number, gave them your credit card number, or ordered COD, and agreed to pay your five easy payments of $19.99.  All you had base your decision on was whatever the silver tongued salesman said on the infomercial, and the paid actors providing testimonials.

I'm totally obsessed with the e-book readers

Seriously, am I just a big kid who gets suckered into every slick new must have toy of the season?  "Oooh, shiny new toy!  I want it! I want it!"  Yea, don't ask my wife, I think I know the answer.

It seems like it was about a year ago this time that I was totally yearning for a Kindle.  The biggest drawback to me was being a captive Amazon user.  Not that it really matters that much.  I mean, almost every book that I have bought in the past five years has been from Amazon.  I just don't like the idea that I would not own my books, and wouldn't be able to move them to a non-amazon device in the future if I decided to leave them.

There was one other thing that bothered me.  There is no built in reading light.  One of the reasons that I want it is to be able to read in bed after my wife has fallen asleep.  I know that I can buy a $5 clip on light that will do the trick.  But, in my mind, if I am going to spend nearly $300 on an electronic device whose sole purpose is to make reading easier, more convenient and even more enjoyable, reading in the dark MUST be part of the design!

So, I punted.  I didn't put it on my Christmas list.  Didn't go out and buy it for myself, like a big boy.

Then we travelled to Thailand this past summer.  I had along with me two fairly weighty books.  You know, one that I was in the middle of, and another just in case I finished the first one.  And I saw a woman on the airplane holding a slim, elegant Kindle 2.0.  And there it was again, "Oooh, shiny new toy!  I want it! I want it!"

The Invisible Hand

Funny stuff by the folks over at Salon.com:

 

Well, funny if it weren't so true!

Going out like a Rock Star

Andrew Lahde, manager of a hedge fund that profited enormously by speculating on the failure of firms that made major bets on sub-prime mortgages, has called it quits.

His "so long, and thanks for the fish" comes in the form of this letter.

Enjoy.

Isn't it sad that Hank Paulson is a household name?

Back in 2003, a friend said to me, "isn't it sad that we all know who Donald Rumsfeld is?"

"Bizarre," I thought.  Why is it sad that we know who the Secretary of Defense is?

Well, the point was that my group of friends, while intelligent and educated, did not follow most of politics closely.  So, the fact that we all knew Donald Rumsfeld was seen as a sad state of the political environment.

Case in point... 

Quick, name the three men who served as Secretary of Defense under Clinton!

Very few of you were able to rattle them off.

And now Hank Paulson is a household name.  Quick, name the three Secretaries of Treasury under Clinton!