It's Just Money

A New Millionaires in the Making is Up at CNNMoney.com

I wish they had these more often, they're always an interesting read.  It's also something of a measuring stick.  It's fun to see how other people are doing, and see how I stack up.  Most of the people profiled are doing rather well, otherwise they would not have sent their story to cnnmoney.com.  This young couple is doing very well.

Rich Toscano of Piggington Goes Head to Head with a Realtor

One of my favorite blogs is piggington.com.  Rich Toscano presents Evidence of a California Housing Bubble, and Risks of a Serious Home Price Decline together in what he calls A Bubble Primer.  Among his charts, the most shocking is the rate of Real Estate/Construction related jobs versus non-Real Estate/Construction related jobs.  Between that and the liquidity generated by home equity withdrawals in the form of HELOCs or cash out refinancing, it is clear that much of the economy is dependent on the real estate boom.

Recently, Rich was invited to appear on Take 5, a San Diego talk show on the WB.  He appeared opposite Lee Sterling, a veteran realtor and real estate attorney.  Lee is more comfortable in front of the camera, but stumbles several times as he tries to rebut the data that Rich presents.  For a media novice, I would say Rich did a rather good job.  It's broken up into two clips.  See below...

CNNMoney.com Millionaire in the Making

I always look forward to new Millionaire in the Making stories on CNNMoney.com.  Let's be honest, I like to compare how I stack up, and feel good if I believe I am doing as well or better than the couple or family profiled.  I'm not doing badly, but most of the time, I don't win.

Last edition, for example, they profiled the Martins, 34 and 31.  They have $240,000 in savings, five years from a pension that will yield an annual income of $25,536.  The net present value of this pension, assuming they begin payout at the beginning of the sixth year and continue for 35 years, is $276,655.  They own a rental that does not appear to be cash flow positive, and they do not give an estimate for the value.  So, not including the real estate, they have a greater than $500,000 net worth.  They are three years older than my Fiancee and me, but I don't think we will catch up in that time.

The most recent edition, however, was not as impressive.

Welcome MSNBC "Clicked" Readers

MSNBC runs an ongoing blog by a fellow named Will Femia called "Clicked.  On Line and Off the Grid."

I was lucky enough to receive mention in today's article.  He happened to click on two of my posts, What if We Weren't so Private about our Personal Financial Lives? and If rising interest rates causes the Real Estate Bubble to pop, will you be any better off waiting to buy?

So, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the readers of Will's MSNBC column.

While you are here be sure to go to my Welcome Friends link where I kindly offer my most popular posts.  Also, there are many terrific personal finance bloggers, which you will find on the right side.  Please feel free to leave comments.  Lively discussion is always welcome.

Creepier: Mimes or Clowns? Nah, forget it. Carnivals are up!

We stepped outside the box this week and participated in a couple of carnivals that are not our usual.  Let me start with the ones in which we have become regulars:

2Million hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance.  Check out Mover Mike's story about jewelers trying to keep up with the price of gold.

TechieDay hosted the Carnival of Business.  Professor Bainbridge takes on Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Carnival of Investing was hosted by InvestorGeeks.  Laws of Finance thinks that Dividend Reinvestment Plans are Over-Rated!

Then, there were the carnivals that we don't normally participate in...

Do you frequent any personal finance message boards?

The number of message boards on the internet is pretty insane.  There are a few sports related boards that I occasionally drop in on.  There are boards to discuss just about anything out there.  Are you a huge Jack Bauer fan?  There are boards for you.  Can't get enough American Idol?  You'll never get to everything out there.  Whether it's sports, money, entertainment, politics, or relationships, there are numerous boards for you to chat with like minded people.

So, of course there are loads of money message boards just waiting for you.  Here are a few of the most widely used message boards about money:

Fidelity Survey: 83% of Americans say they are not saving enough for retirement, and Fidelity says that's a good thing

Three toads sit on a log.  One of them decides to jump.  How many are left on the log?

Should you Boycott ExxonMobil?

ExxonMobile has long been a primary focus of environmentalists ire.  However, with gas prices creeping up by the day, and headlines hard to avoid, Exxon and their brethren are facing increasing scrutiny.  With their Gross Profit and Net Income lines increasing substantially each of the last several quarters, the high pump prices appear all the more outrageous.

What impact would or could a boycott of ExxonMobil have on the company itself, and the industry as a whole?

I got $10 from MySurvey.com

I'm pretty skeptical of a lot of the "take surveys for cash" sites that you see around the internet.  But I can vouch for NFOMySurvey.  I probably joined about two years ago, and have made around $140 over that time.  Not too bad for mindlessly clicking through surveys while watching TV.  Some of the surveys are even kind of interesting.  They will show pictures of a product about to be released, and ask your opinion of the packaging, whether it is appealing, etc.  A few months later you may see it on grocery store shelves and say, "hey, I took a survey about that!"  Maybe you even influenced how they packaged or marketed the product.

How does it work?

The root of all evil is...

You'll be glad to know that it's not money.  Well, money is one of them.  But can there really be more than one root of ALL evil?  Wouldn't we just say that money of one of the roots of some evil?

I went to the definitive source of all knowledge.

I googled, root of all evil.