This morning the wife and I went the grocery to pick up a couple of staples for the next week. We didn’t feel like getting all dressed up, so we put on some sweatpants and left the house to the local Safeway. We didn’t expect to find a row of Ferraris hanging out there, but that’s exactly what we saw. There must have been some kind of convention of exotic cars because there was a DeLorean and a Lotus mixed in. I found most impressed with one other car on the other side the parking lot – clearly not part of this “club.” It was Yugo. Imagine how many years that car has been driving and how much money the owner’s saved.

Some articles that I liked this week:

Golb Guru has had life deal him a huge blow. Here’s a virtual “feel better” wish for him.

Money Smart Life writes about how to spend money to save money. I’m a big fan of this thinking and it’s using something that I think about before I buy anything.

The Sun’s Financial Diary asks who missed the rally in the stock market. I benefited with the rally, but I have to say that it’s confused me. I think we could be headed for a recession, and Blueprint for Financial Prosperity got some recession ideas

The Digerati Life says you can save money by buying replicas. I e-mailed this URL to wife… about 5 times :-).

Generation X Finance reminds us that it’s Financial Planning Week.

Free Money Finance writes about 529 Plans and expenses. I like the saying of “you pay a tax on ignorance.” Very true.

Five Cent Nickel gives tips on dealing with a lost wallet. I have a friend that loses his wallet all the time. One time he knocked it off the counter into the trash. It took us forever to find it that time.

No Credit Needed writes about contributing to a Roth IRA. Roth IRAs make me sad nowadays, because I think I won’t be able to contribute to them after this year.

Sep 23, 2007

Yesterday, I mentioned how the Red Sox season was flailing out of control – not unlike Mr. Hyde. Today, it’s time for the opposite, Dr. Jekyll.

I’ve mentioned more than a few times that I’m a Patriots fan, despite all the shenanigans over the last couple of weeks. However, unlike the Red Sox, the Patriots are playing tremendous football.

How tremendous? Last week with the microscope on them, they did exactly what I said they’d do. They used the CameraGate experience as a rally point – the one ingredient the hugely talented team was missing. They quickly jumped out to a 24-0 half-time lead against what was considered to be one of the best teams in football, the San Deigo Chargers. In the post-game conference, the Chargers star LaDainian Tomlinson, was choking back tears. The Slate said, “Quite simply, no NFL team in recent memory has played a game as well from start to finish as New England did Sunday night.” and “It’s why, absent catastrophic injury, New England can win every football game it plays this season.”

It’s unheard of for me to be rooting for a team that unbiased national news sources have declared champions in just the second week of the season. It’s a happy, happy, time for the Patriots fan in me.

I’m doing something a little different this week and splitting the links up in half. There will be some today and more tomorrow. The split of links themselves is random and not related to the Jekyll and Hype situation I’m going to discuss.

I’ve mentioned more than a few times that I’m a Red Sox fan. It’s been a wonderful summer where the Red Sox have lead the AL East approximately the whole season. I believe the lead over other teams peaked around 14.5 games. The last time the Yankees didn’t finish in first place in the AL East, I was giddy about Netscape 4.0 browser (i.e. 1997). It looked like the first time the Yankees wouldn’t be a playoff race since you could say, “What’s e-mail?” or “O.J. Simpson committed a crime?” and no one would look at you funny. Okay, the second one isn’t the best example given the latest events.

As I write this that huge 14.5 game lead is down to a small 2.5 game lead. The Red Sox can’t seem to manage a win. Everyone on the team is just running out of gas. My new favorite player, Jacoby Ellsbury, who I wrote about months ago, is back with the team and playing tremendous baseball. On the other side, the Yankees keep finding ways to win. Some days they’ll win 12-0, with the contest never in question. Other days they tease me with a win 2-1 by holding on in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded. I don’t have the exact stats, but the Yankee are approximately 70-3 since the All-Star break.

In the end, the division winner is just going to get home field advantage in the playoffs. It’s a bit of an advantage, but it’s not insurmountable as the Red Sox showed in 2004. Both teams are virtual locks for the playoffs at this point. However, it’s clear that the Red Sox don’t have momentum. In the playoffs, momentum means everything. It’s a sad, sad time for the Red Sox fan in me.

What does this all have to do with Jekyll and Hyde? The Red Sox season is flailing out of control, just like Hyde. [People from Boston can probably guess where I’m going with tomorrow’s post.]

On to the links:

• Money Smart Life tells us how to quit your job in six not so easy step. I love the idea of having a goal of 2013. I really need to set a goal myself and break it down into years and months.
• Money, Matter, and More Musings has some thoughts about high-yield savings accounts.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary asks, “Are you a Better Investor?”
• No Credit Needed has an update on his goal to save $48,000 this year. Since that’s 60% of their household gross income, that’s really aggressive in my eyes. Taxes alone make it difficult, but he’s able to save a fair amount pre-tax which is certainly a help.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity says it’s okay to spend $13,000 on college preparation. I can’t argue, one of my best friends makes a living working of a company that provides a similar service.

Sometimes there’s just not enough wood in the world to knock on. I found this out the hard way earlier this week. It took less than a week for my post about the 2001 Patriots to come back and haunt me. For those living in closet, or not interested in sports, the coach of the team was caught breaking the NFL rules in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage. It’s unclear how long they have been breaking the rules, but in the court of public opinion the team has been presumed guilty.

Just before that article, I posted some lessons from the NFL which included some advice for what to do in a crisis. The final step was “get back to putting your energies into what was important before the crisis.” That’s what the Patriots will try to do this Sunday when they play an exceptionally talented San Diego Chargers. In a weird twist, this will turn into a great motivator for the whole team. The need to win to prove to the world that they can beat the best without any illegal perceived advantage. In fact they need to go out and win a Super Bowl to really redeem any level of respect. There was always a lot of talk about how Coach Belichick found ways to motivate the players each week while they were winnings and considered the best team in football. I’m sure this isn’t what he had in mind, but he unintentionally put the Patriots in a position where they’ve always thrived – as a team which no one respects.

For those a interested on how I’m dealing with all this, I’ve gone through all 5 stages of grief. You could read Bill Simmons article if you are really interested because I agree with everything. I have three points from my rationization phase that I haven’t read anywhere:

• The Patriots legacy was their defense. You can’t stop the “Greatest Show on Turf” from stealing <b>defensive</b> signals
• Some of the <a href=”http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/29/60II/main683747.shtml“>2004 Carolina Panthers took steroids before the 2004 Super Bowl</a> against the Patriots.
• Could a team not employ someone from the bleachers to record signals? Simple grab a set of telescoping binoculars and replace it with a bigger SD card. At halftime flip the SD card down to the locker room. From all the rules that I’ve read this would be fine. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Patriots need to hire me – wink.

I want to thank Mighty Bargain Hunter for sending me the YouTube.com clip that follows this round-up. In a week of depressing football news it really helped me to see something uplifting. And now to the links:

• Nickel’s got a new cell phone. I’m happy he found the Sprint SERO plan. It’s the plan my wife has. I’d have it myself, but I’m grandfathered into an even better deal. Anytime anyone mentions cell phone, I quickly recommend the SERO plan. I have a little Treo envy with as I only have a 700P. I should focus on enjoying what I have instead of trying keep up with the Nickels.
• Silicon Valley Blogger shows what’s holding up in the real estate market. I was watching the new the other night and there’s another split real estate market in Silicon Valley. In fact some markets are still rising while a lot of California is falling.
• Money, Matter, and More Musings is starting to finally investing his ginormous pile of cash. (He doesn’t really say if it’s ginormous, I just like to use the word ginormous, since it’s really a word now according to a few dictionaries.) He went a little crazy with the ETFs in my opinion, but at least he did it in Zecco account, so he didn’t have to pay commissions. There’s an interesting note that Morningstar considers a near 50/50 US/foreign stock allocation as aggressive. While any all stock portfolio is aggressive, I think this mix of foreign/US is far safer than the usual recommendation of 80% US stocks and 20% foreign stocks.
• Money Smart Life is writing a sales tactic series. The first tactic is don’t miss out. This is famously used when looking at timeshares. We bought it hook, line, and sinker.
• Generation X Finance gives a visual guide to Morningstar’s mutual fund comparison tool. Because I’m too Lazy to read, this visual guide is just the thing for me.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity has Seven Credit Card Secrets to share.
• FreeMoneyFinance shows you how to earn money back from various credit cards
• No Credit Needed is running a series on how to save money and reduce debt. This article is about understanding the big picture. I think too many people lose site of that.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter continues his series on making money with an Ebay store. This one is helpful to people who don’t sell on Ebay – it’s about obtaining a product at the right price.

And the uplifting football moment that I promised you:

Rather than tell a boring off-topic story, I’ll just get to the links this week.

• The Digerati Life wants to retire early and live on one income. I want to too. More on that in the upcoming weeks.
• Sun is Considering a 401k rollover.
• Generation X Finance gives a few reasons why you should pay your taxes. I was surprised the article included more than the one word, “prison.”
• Money Smart Life uses Flicker to save money on children’s books. What a fantastic idea!
• Money, Matter, and More Musings is amused by the idea of helping out a burglar a little to keep your valuables hidden.
• Five Cent Nickel has a guest that writes about the high cost of low risk investing. I’ve said this time and time again. People are often afraid of risk, but what is the real risk here?
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity is not going to be an AT&T/Cingular customer anymore. Sometimes I laugh when they upset someone with a huge reader audience. My guess is that they lost a lot of customers that day, not just Jim.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter writes abour reducing your debt with person to person loans. Sounds like a job for Prosper.com? if you ask me.
• Free Money Finance asks if you have the right investments for retirement.
• I was included in this list of top ten personal finance blogs. Thanks Kyle.
• I was included in two festivals this past week. Advanced Personal Finance hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance with my article. Bean Sprouts hosted the festival of frugality with my article.