Seriously, you need to read these posts.
Steve at Adventure Money parodies CNNMoney's Millionaires in the Making with his story of Hundredaires in the Making.
Jim at Blueprint started a fun meme, My Best and Worst Money Moves Ever (so far)! Eight other PF bloggers have joined in the fun, including myself. They're all worth the read!
Frugal at My First Million at 33 shares his thoughts on the markets. All of them, from equities to bonds to commodities to housing. It's a very sound analysis. I highly recommend giving it a read.
Frank has been doing some work on his net worth goals. It started with some thoughts about how he can reach his goal of $4.5 million by 45. He then delved into the assumed growth of his assets in two parts, the first about retirement accounts and the second about real estate.
That's all. Now for my college football picks for the week. Last week was a good week for me, going 7-3. That puts me at 22-17-1 overall since I started picking against the spread.
All times Pacific, rankings are LAMoneyGuy Rankings, and point spreads per Bodog.com.
Thursday, 4:30pm, ESPN, (3)Louisville at (6)Rutgers, line: Cards -7.5. Okay, so it's one thing for the game of the week to be a Thursday night Big East matchup of Louisville and West Virginia, but Louisville Rutgers? These must-see Thursday night games are really costing me, "I thought you only watch football on Saturday" points. I'm telling you, the Scarlet Knights are for real. Louisville is in position for the BCS title game. Win out and they're in. They have the schedule strength and human poll strength to take the #2 spot after the OSU/Michigan game. But they have to win out. Rutgers has one of the best running backs in the country in Ray Rice. Strong, good speed, almost never goes backwards. Louisville is simply fireworks on offense. If they get things going they could win going away. Rutger's passing game is far less impressive. So, what makes Rutgers so good? Simple, line play. Their most impressive set of stats: 3.75 sacks/game (3rd nationally), 8.5 tackles for loss/game (4th nationally), 0.75 sacks allowed/game (3rd nationally). If Louisville's offense hits their stride, it could be a big win for the Cards. I believe Rutgers will play a conservative ball control game and keep it close. Take Rutgers plus the points.
Saturday
9:30am, ESPN Plus, (43)Georgia at (9)Auburn, line: Auburn -13. How far the mighty have fallen. Georgia is a 13 point dawg? Wow. Let me say this, losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky are horrible. However, their game have all been close. Seven point loss to Florida, four to Kentucky, two to Vanderbilt. Their only big loss was to Tennessee, a 51-33 loss in which they took at 27-24 lead into the 4th quarter. Auburn has blown out lesser foes. As much as Georgia has struggled, they still have enough talent to keep the game within 13 points.
10:00am, (70)Vanderbilt at (46)Kentucky, line: Kentucky -2. This is a fun game. Can you imagine the pre-game coin flip and handshakes, "Congratulations on beating Georgia." "Right back at you. Pretty sweet, huh?" This game is a virtual pick 'em, with the spread based on home field. Kentucky has a good passing game and will win this one, covering the spread.
12:30pm, (2)Ohio State at (94)Northwestern, line: Buckeyes -23.5. At first glance this looks like a no-brainer. Ohio State is the team of the year and has covered the spread in every game this year until last week. Northwestern has had a brutal season, going 3-7 including a loss to 1-AA New Hampshire. However, the last three weeks have seen an entirely different Wildcat team. They beat a good Iowa team. Didn't just beat them, but shut them out in the first half, and outgained them by almost 200 total yards. They stayed within 14 points of Michigan, and lost to to M State 41-38 only after a monumental, historic comeback by Sparty. I'm taking the Wildcats to cover.
12:30pm, (34)South Carolina at (5)Florida, line: Gators -13.5. Since an early 18 point loss to Georgia, the Gamecocks' last three losses have been by 7, 7 and 6 points. Those were all to teams comparable to Florida. The Gators, despite their success, has not been winning convincingly. I would take the Cocks and the points.
12:30pm, ABC Regional, (10)Cal at (63)Arizona, line: Bears -14. Since the season opening melt down against Tennessee, the Bears have been one of the most impressive teams in the country. Arizona has been hot and cold, but overall failing to live up to their pre-season expectations. I would expect Cal to cover the points.
12:30pm, ABC Regional, (26)Nebraska at (17)Texas A&M, line: Huskers -1. Nebraska needs this game to stay in the hunt for the Big XII North title, setting up a rematch with Texas, whom they came awfully close to beating in the first go 'round. A&M is coming off a one point loss to Oklahoma. A&M has had some close wins over not as good teams, like Baylor, Kansas and Army. Look for the Huskers to win on the road, covering the point.
3:15pm, (29)Oregon State at (67)UCLA, line: Beavs -2. I think this is the curious spread of the week. The Beavs are coming off a four game winning streak, including one of the biggest wins in its program's history, over USC. The Bruins are coming off of a four game losing streak. Yes, the UCLA was in the thick of the toughest part of thier season, playing Oregon, Cal and Notre Dame on the road in 3 of 4 weeks. But they lost all three and at home to Wazzou in there as well. The loss to Wazzou is the most disappointing. The Cougs were 4-3 when they came to the Rose Bowl to win by a convincing 17 points, outgaining the Bruins by nearly 200 yards. The Bruins need two wins in the last three games to become Bowl eligible. They don't want to go into the season finale against rivals, USC, needing a win to go to a Bowl game. They need this game. Sadly, I don't see them getting it. Beavs to cover.
4:00pm, ESPN2, (16)Tennessee at (15)Arkansas, line: Hogs -5.5. These are some interesting programs. The Vols are coming off of a heartbreaking loss to LSU that took them out of the BCS title game race. The Hawgs only loss was a lopsided one to USC in the season opener. Curiously, they are on their third quarterback of the season. I think the SEC slugfest continues with the Vols not only covering the spread but winning outright.
7:15pm, Fox Sports, (25)Oregon at (4)USC, line: Trojans -8. Oregon still has a shot at the Rose Bowl if they win out and Cal makes it to the BCS Title game. USC still has a shot at the BCS Title game if they win out and Louisville and Florida lose. Yes, they're behind more teams than that, but trust me, the math works out. There's a lot at stake in this game. In a curious scheduling quirk, the Ducks have not been to the Coliseum since the 2000 season. Back then the Ducks had Joey Harrington and were competing for national championships. USC was dialing in their first Pac-10 last place finish ever. Things have changed, but Oregon is still very good. In another scheduling quirk, this is only the Trojans fourth home game this season. In recent years, the Trojans were a lock to cover in the Coliseum. This year has been different. Oregon features a powerful dual threat QB in Dennis Dixon. No, he's no Vince Young. But he's good. The Ducks cover, as the Trojans claw their way to another close win.
12:30pm, (2)Ohio State at (94)Northwestern, line: Buckeyes -23.5. At first glance this looks like a no-brainer.
I'm a big OSU fan, and even I don't think it's a no-brainer. 24 points is always a hard win to come by in the Big Ten, number 1 ranking or not.
Posted by: S/100/30 | November 09, 2006 at 08:15 AM
True, I'm just saying at first glance it's easy to say, "are you kidding me? Northwestern? They're going to get killed." Especially to those of us not in Big-10 country. As you can see in my pick, I think that first impression is misleading.
Posted by: lamoneyguy | November 09, 2006 at 09:02 AM
Don't miss out on the exciting part three: miscellaneous category :)!
Thanks for the mention.
Posted by: frankyj | November 09, 2006 at 11:56 AM
Quick comment on "Best and Worst" topic:
My best money move ever was going getting the GI bill and using it. In boot camp my pay was low enough I really didn't want to give up another $100/mo especially when I wasn't sure if I'd ever actually use it. Here's the return on investment:
$100/mo X 12 mos from Feb 1989 - Feb 1990
Started college in Jan 1998 receiving $800/mo back from GI bill. The amount increased to $1000 over the next 4 years for a total 36 months (only get paid during school, not breaks) at average $880/mo.
I've never actually calculated ROI but I'm sure it's huge. Plus I got that education which is paying huge dividends.
Worst move was buying a "HOT" stock then watching my money go down the toilet. I will say though, between the best and worst I've still come out ahead.
Good stuff, keep on blogging.
Posted by: AdamC | November 11, 2006 at 07:47 AM
They weren't on TV, but it was probably a great thing. I don't think I could stand to watch the carnage. The Devils just murdurdered the Cougs at Sun Devil yesterday. I haven't checked, but it was probably one og WSU's worst offensive outputs (less than 200 yards) in recent history. Not to be outdone, the WSU defense let the Sun Devils march all over the field for over 500 yards. All in all, a sickening sight for us Coug fans. What happened to the team that beat UCLA and Oregon, in back to back weekends, just three short weeks ago? Well, hopefully we'll have better luck in Pullman for the Apple Cup next weekend. Also, what's happening to the UA Wildcats of late?
Posted by: Debt Free | November 12, 2006 at 10:24 AM
Well DF, as you said it, at least no one outside the stadium witnessed it. The middle of the Pac-10 baffles me this year. No, make that the entire Pac-10. If you guys can beat Oregon but lose to ASU, and USC can lose to OSU, and Stanford can find a way to win a game... Nothing more would surprise me.
Well, you guys are bowl eligible with a very winnable Apple Cup coming up. That would put you in a tie for 3rd with either Oregon or OSU. What bowl does third get you, Sun, Vegas? Either way, a bowl win would cap off an 8-5 season. Much better than most anticipated going into the season. Best of all, it takes Doba off the hot seat. He's my favorite Pac-10 coach.
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