Archive for June, 2007

• Net Worth Update – June 2007

  Monday, June 18th, 2007

  With middle of the month it’s time to review my net worth. It’s a pleasure to look at this month as the numbers have been really good. Quick overview: My net worth grew from $183K last month to just under $193K this month. This is very surprising since I did a [...]

• Weekend Personal Finance Review

  Sunday, June 17th, 2007

  We’ve had some guests from out of town, so time has been at a premium this weekend. I’m lucky to get this out at all.  While I’m here, I’d like to give some thanks to all the fathers out there on father’s day.
  MoneySmartLife highlights that Chase says a credit limit is an opportunity. [...]

• I am a Monkey

  Friday, June 15th, 2007

  I didn’t intend to write about this today. I had a great post in my head about retirement that I think many of you would have enjoyed. I also had one about the value of a dollar that I think will make you think. Perhaps I’ll write these next week, but today I’ve got [...]

• We are Living in a Material World and I am a Material Man

  Thursday, June 14th, 2007

  The last two weeks have been fairly expensive ones for me. I went quite awhile without adding a lot of expenses and it was a streak that I expected to end at some point.
  I went to three Red Sox – Athletics baseball games last week. The tickets were $30 a piece, but [...]

• Travel Computer Acquired

  Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

  Last week I wrote that I was looking for a travel computer. Most people would call it a PDA, but I think they are much more than today. PDAs have gotten so powerful that they can replace a laptop in some instances.
  I kept an eye on Craigslist last week and found what [...]

• Inflating Your Ebay Rating

  Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

  I saw this interesting article on how easy it is to inflate your Ebay rating. The gist of the idea is that by selling an e-book for pennies on Ebay, you can get a lot of positive ratings, which are crucial on Ebay.  Since it is possible to sell a nearly infinite number [...]

• Are Companies that Make Payday Loans Bad?

  Monday, June 11th, 2007

  There’s a lot of negative talk in the personal space about pay day loans. In general this talk is justified as many people get trapped in loans with high interest rates. The rates are so high that sometimes people can only pay the interest on the loans. They can’t pay the [...]

• Quick Links for this Past Week

  Sunday, June 10th, 2007

  I’m knee-deep in wedding details this weekend, but I wanted to give you an idea of what I’m reading this week.

  Sun’s Financial Diary tells us how to pick stocks like a guru. This looks like a great tool, and though I’m not ready to invest in individual stocks, I’ll have to keep it [...]

• Flying by the Seat of Your Pants (literally) and some Carnivals

  Saturday, June 9th, 2007

  JC Penny is running an outstanding promotion that ends today! The skinny is that you spend $125 on pants and get a round trip ticket. Destinations are limited, but it includes a lot of major cities (including Boston and San Francisco, where I would use it). Check out the details at [...]

• Borrow Money & Lend Money at Prosper

  Friday, June 8th, 2007

  Having been a member of Prosper.com for about 16 months now, I decided to give a round-up of what I’ve learned. I’m going to break this up into three areas:

  The Reason to Borrow Money – If you have credit card debt that you are trying to pay off, you might be able to [...]