Lazy Man and Money

The Tim Wakefield Towels

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Tim WakefieldChances are you don’t know who Tim Wakefield is. That is unless you happen to be from Boston or a huge fan of baseball.

Tim Wakefield was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He was known for throwing a knuckleball – a slow pitch that “dances” on the way to the plate – if thrown well. When a knuckleball is dancing it is almost impossible for the hitter to hit. It can be difficult for the catcher to catch. When a knuckleball isn’t thrown well, it doesn’t dance, and major league hitters tend to blast it out of the park for a home run.

Tim Wakefield was a polarizing pitcher for Red Sox fans. Some didn’t like him because he was fairly average statistically and a few bad pitches could erase a lead very quickly. Others, such as myself, liked him a lot. There aren’t many minor league infielders who go on to win 200 games in the majors as a pitcher.

My favorite thing about Tim Wakefield though was his ability to “eat innings.” That’s a baseball expression for pitching a lot. Most starting pitchers can pitch every 5 or 6 days. However, Wakefield could pitch every 3 days. The knuckleball doesn’t put nearly as much strain on the shoulder, so recovery is a lot faster. He could even be used to relieve other pitchers in between stats.

Trust me, there’s a real money lesson coming. I wouldn’t waste 200 words and your time if there wasn’t.

I always believed that inning eaters had a lot of value to the team. If the team is down 8 to 1 and there’s not much of a chance of coming back, you could always “surrender” the game with an inning eater. Why would you do that? It helps keep the teams’ best players rested. Wakefield didn’t perform this role too often though. He was good enough that you didn’t want to waste him on a lost cause game. However, because he could pitch more often there were times when the Red Sox could use a roster spot on an extra hitter. It was a great insurance plan.

The Tim Wakefield Towels

A couple of years ago, we somehow got two free Tanger Outlet swim towels. I think they were a gift to military members who signed up for their reward program. They are very thin. They’re white with a big Tanger Outlet logo on them. They are the bare minimum of what you might consider a towel.

We use those towels ALL the time. The kids have been through two summer camps with them. It’s almost impossible for anything to last through a single summer camp.

The fact that the towels have almost no value is what makes them valuable. Replacement towels would cost us actual money. If we bought good towels, I’d be concerned that they’d get ripped or lost. They get the job done and “eat” summer camp days like Tim Wakefield ate innings.

There are a number of similar items to those towels in our house. We’ve got a lot of reusable takeout boxes for food storage. I supplement it with a few from the Dollar Store. Rather than send our good silverware to school, I bought a couple of sets from the Dollar Store as well. The kids haven’t lost too many pieces of silverware, but one would be too many. The cheap metal ones are better than throwing away a bunch of plastic forks and spoons each day.

Final Thoughts

This article isn’t really about Tim Wakefield or towels. It’s what they represent. It explains how I approach certain spending decisions. If I have a need where quality plays a minimal role, I’ll get by spending the least amount of money possible. The money I save can be funneled to other purchases where quality is more important or saved for later investing.

A Killer Made Me Do It

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Today, we have another post from writer Kosmo… influenced by a killer.

My birthday is coming up later this month.  My wife recently asked me what I wanted.  Most years, I don’t have a good answer.  I pre-order Kindle versions of the books I want, and I generally don’t accumulate a lot of “stuff”.

“Stamps,” I replied.

Why am I beginning a stamp collection just as I approach my 45th birthday?  Well, a killer made me do it.

My favorite writer is Lawrence Block.  I’ve written several articles about his works over the years.  If you like mysteries, you’ll probably find a Block series that you like.  The killer who stoked my philatelic interests is a man named Keller, the subject of a five book series.  Keller is a hit man.  He travels around the country, killing people who need to be killed.  When he finishes the job, he ends up with a bunch of cash.  You can’t deposit a lot of cash without having the bank file a form 8300 with the IRS.  Nor can you structure your deposits in such a way to avoid detection.  In fact, making five deposits of $9500 each will raise more eyebrows than a single $47,500 transaction.

So, what’s a hit man to do with all this cash?  He plows it into stamps.  They sit in albums, slowly appreciating in value (although Keller is quick to point out that it’s difficult to recover the purchase price very quickly, due to dealer markup).  Block tends to weave a lot of actual knowledge into his books (particularly the Keller and Tanner series).  So I was able to pick up the basics of collecting from Keller.

Block also wrote articles for Linn’s Stamp News.  Those were compiled into a book called Generally Speaking.  I read it when it initially came out, despite having no interest in actually collecting at that time.  The book was recently updated, so if you’re interested in the hobby and haven’t read it, this is a good time to read it.

But enough with the free advertising for my favorite author.  What do I hope to get out of stamp collecting?

It’s certainly not a profit motive.  While Keller can invest in high dollar items such as Martinique 2 and Martinique 17, I’m going to be buying considerably lower dollar items, such as this lovely set from the Ross dependency.  (What’s the Ross Dependency?  It’s the section of Antarctica that belongs to New Zealand).  I’m doing it purely for the enjoyment.  I’ll periodically spend small sums of money and expect the collection to never be particularly valuable.

Speaking of money, there are a lot of things you can buy when you’re getting started in the hobby.

  • Catalogues – If you want to have an idea of what’s out there and what to expect to pay, you’ll want a catalogue.  Scott is the dominant force in the market.  There are a variety of catalogues, depending on your area of interest.  Expect to pay about $100 for a new catalogue, or many hundreds if you collect several countries (especially if they are in different part of the alphabet).  There are some free online catalogues, such as Stampworld and FreeStampCatalogue.  However, everyone has their own numbering scheme, and most seller use the numbers from the Scott catalogue (or sometimes Stanley Gibbons).  So if you don’t have a Scott catalogue, you may have to do a bit more research when you’re buying or selling.  I’ve opted not to buy a Scott catalogue, at least for now.  Instead, I spent $15 on a used copy of a book about New Zealand’s stamps.
  • Tracking software – You probably want to track what you actually have.  These are generally subscription-based services.  I opted for StampWorld’s VIP membership ($30 per year) which includes tracking of your collection.
  • Magnifying glass – If you want a close-up look at your stamps, you’ll want a magnifying glass.  My close vision has been getting worse in recent years (as a normal part of the aging process), so this will be a must.
  • Tongs – You shouldn’t touch stamps with your fingers, because the oils on your skin can harm the stamps.  Instead, you should special stamp tongs to move stamps.
  • Storage – There are a different ways to store stamps.
    • You can spends hundreds of dollars on nice albums.  There are albums for various specialties.  If you’re collecting newer stamps, there will be supplements each year, for the stamps that were issued during year.  The album will have a specific space for each specific stamp in your collection.  You use mounts or hinges (older method, less expensive than mounts) to attach your stamps.
    • Stockbooks – Stockbook pages contain a number or vertical strips.  Simply slide your stamps under a strip, and you’re done.  It might not look quite as nice as a pricey album, but it’s less expensive and it’s easier to move stamps around (for example, if you get a higher quality version of a particular stamp).
    • DIY – I’m actually going to buy some Stockbook pages and put them into a three ring binder I have.  It’s a nice, big binder that was originally purchased for my baseball card collection.  It ended up going into storage and never got used.  Finally, it gets to shine.  I’m going to buy some stockbook pages and put them into the album.  You can buy pages with a various configurations, because stamps vary in sizes.  Additionally, some collectors collect “covers” (envelopes with the stamp attached) and those naturally take up much more room.  Stockbook pages usually have a lot of holes, so that they can be used in a variety of binders.
    • Glassine envelopes for short-term storage of stamps.  Glassine is a semi-translucent paper.
  • Stamps – I knew I was forgetting something.  Now that you can store and handle stamps, it’s time to buy them.  You can buy from a dealer, or on Ebay or stamp auction sites such as HipStamp.

Before you start just buy stamps randomly, you’ll want to figure out what you want to collect.  This may be a particular country or date range (worldwide pre-1940 is a common specialty) or a topical subset, such as stamps that feature fish.

My primary focus will be on New Zealand, pre-1970.  In recent years, I have adopted New Zealand as a country of interest.  (Executive summary: I wanted to bond with Indian co-workers over cricket.  I somewhat randomly picked New Zealand as my favorite team and got hooked).  It seems like production of stamps really proliferated after about 1970, and I don’t really care for a lot of the newer stamps.  In addition to New Zealand itself, there’s also the Realm of New Zealand –  Ross Dependency (in Antarctica), Tokelau, Cook Islands, and Niue.  So there’s plenty for me to collect without going beyond New Zealand.  If I do branch out further, it will likely be into the non-Australian portions of Oceania.

I’ll also have a few topical subsets, just for fun.  I’ll collect baseball, cricket (the sport), dinosaurs, tigers, and elephants.  I’ll probably also delve into covers a bit.  There are some items from the Ross Dependency that have postmarks from the actual location in Antarctica, which seems pretty cool to me.

How many philatelists are in our midst?  What have you found most enjoyable about the hobby?  What advice to you have for new collectors?  And, if you don’t mind sharing, how much money have you sunk into stamps over the years?

Comparing the Cost of Different Coffee Brewing Methods at Home

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The following is from a new author who offered to write a piece on the most talked about liquid in personal finance – coffee!

Million Dollar Coffee Talk

If you’re like 83% of adult Americans, you’re probably a coffee drinker. You might be even enjoying a cup of Joe as you read this.

We all know that brewing your own coffee at home equals savings, as opposed to buying it from your local Third Wave café or your local Starbucks. Different strokes for different folks.

There are countless devices that make brewing coffee at home pretty much a work of art, with each device having its own pros and cons as far as cost of appliance and its subjective differences in taste.

Here is some food for thought, though – have you ever thought how much your everyday coffee habit costs you every time you make it at home?

Let’s take a look at what the cost of making coffee at home amounts to depending on which device you use to brew it.

Drip Coffee Makers

Drip coffee makers, as their name implies, employs a system of brewing that directs water through a layer of coffee grounds in a paper coffee filter. It’s an easy, cost-effective method employed by conventional electric drip coffee makers which have been in use since 1954, when the Wigomat was first invented in Germany as the first drip brewer powered by electricity.

As far as taste is concerned, however, your mileage may vary. Drip coffee makers do not enjoy a lofty reputation as far as creating coffee complete with all its essences and oils like other methods would. Some swear by it. Coffee snobs won’t. Those of us who just want a quick caffeine fix will find it just right.

It’s a great choice for frugal coffee drinkers, because it helps them save money over time. Ground coffee can be had from $10 per pound – working out to approximately $0.45 per cup via this method. Using beans and something to grind them would lower that number to $0.33 per cup

A drip coffee maker can’t make you the perfect espresso or a latte macchiato, but it’s one hell of a frugal way to get your coffee fix. And it works for many. And that’s fine.

Capsule Coffee Makers

Capsule coffee makers are a flavorful, fast, and extremely convenient way to enjoy a decent espresso, but aren’t necessarily equating to cost savings. While capsule coffee makers are certainly cheaper than those huge rigs that take care of all of the work from start to finish in terms of cost, coffee capsules might be an issue if you’re trying to save. Nevertheless, capsule coffee pods taste much better than drip brewed coffee – but coffee pods are significantly more expensive than coffee beans, whether pre-ground or otherwise.

It’s the convenience that makes it expensive, and that is just exactly what you pay for. Cost always depends on your consumption or your household. One coffee pod will set you back anywhere from 50 cents to $2 depending on the quantity and the brand you choose.

Espresso Machines

An espresso machines is, as the name implies, a device that is designed to make you the perfect espresso from coffee beans – the way Italians take it. A good machine will make you artisan-level coffee and save money at the same time, all in the comfort of your own home.

Granted, espresso machines can cost you a pretty penny, but that’s not the purpose of our discussion. We’re looking at the price of making homemade coffee depending on the brewing method.

Well, turns out, you can actually save over the long term with an espresso machine, because all you’ll need to buy are the coffee beans. Espresso beans can range anywhere from $10 to $60 per 2.2 pounds. Assuming you purchase a good brand (~$25 per 2.2 pounds), it would equate to $0.20 for each shot of espresso you make.

French press

A regular 12oz pack of coffee beans equates to approximately 340g worth of it. A single cup requires about 20g on a regular French press, which can then be broken down to about 16-17 cups of coffee per 12oz bag.

Assuming each bag of high-quality, premium coffee beans costs you $15 at 340g, this will work out to 88 cents per cup using one of the most enduring coffee-making devices that is held in regard by many a coffee purist. It’s even cheaper if you purchase decent, middle-of-the-road coffee beans.

Considering the average cup of coffee costs more than $2 at your local neighborhood coffee shop, you can imagine the savings you can make employing this method, all while getting to enjoy a good single serving of joe. Very useful if you just need your daily morning perk, and very tasty too.

Aeropress

The Aeropress was developed in 2005. It’s a device that’s gaining increasing popularity, and offers a bevy of ways you can enjoy your coffee using it. It goes without saying that this method, like every method we discuss, has its own dyed-in-the-wool fans who say you can make the best-tasting coffee with it, while you will hear others who don’t have too much of a high opinion of it.

Regardless, it’s similar in principle to a French press in terms of ease of use as well as the method of immersion. The main difference is that an Aeropress employs pressure to brew coffee, similar to how an Espresso machine does.

It’s really simple to use – all you need to do is to fill it with water and fine-ground coffee, and voila! You can stir it and let it sit, pour it through a filter into your cup, and there you have your Aeropress-brewed cup of joe. You can then mix it with whatever accoutrements you prefer your coffee with, such as milk for latte, a bit of water for a strong Americano, or simply straight from the device as an espresso. It’s self-cleaning, it’s portable, and robust to handle everyday wear and tear. And you might just find it makes the perfect cup of coffee according to your requirements. That said, you can expect to pay the same as you would with a French press, depending on your choice of beans.

Percolator

Nothing screams old school like using a coffee percolator. And, like each one of these coffeemaking devices, coffee percolator fans will say that their way of brewing coffee is the best. Now, that is of course a matter of preference. Percolators offer robust flavor, particularly when done the right way.

Using a coffee percolator is easy and foolproof – but it takes time to master it to an art form. While you won’t probably impress your local neighborhood coffee snob, it’s the most economical method of brewing coffee, and will give you the perk you need. And for perc fans, that’s good enough. How much is a cup of coffee made via a percolator? Assuming you purchase decent coffee beans at $10 per pound, your cost per cup would equate to less than 25 cents per 12 oz cup. That’s some impressive savings.

Again, it’s all a matter of subjective preference – we are spoiled for choice when it comes to the methods by which we can enjoy coffee. If your coffee spendings won’t change your financial situation, our best advice is to use whichever method gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling you need to start your day.

More Fees, More Fees, and… No Fees?

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Over the past week or so, I couldn’t help but notice that there’s been a cluster of news reporting around fees. What I found interesting is that two industries’ fees keep going up and up… and the third industries’ fees have gone to zero. Specifically, ATM and cable company fees continue to rise, while brokerage trading fees are disappearing.

As consumers of these services, being aware of these trends can help us make wiser financial decisions. Of course, it’s not always clear what’s going on behind the scenes, so let’s take a look at each in more detail.

ATM Fees Keep Rising

ATM fees have reached a new all-time high. According to this this USA Today article, the average cost of an ATM withdrawal is $4.72. That’s crazy.

I haven’t been following ATM fees too much because, as the article notes, fewer people are using cash nowadays. My bank, USAA, reimburses us for ATM fees since they don’t have a network of their own. However, for a significant percentage of people, this can be a pretty big hit. That’s why I recommend having a bank that reimburses some or all of the ATM fees if at all possible.

Cable Companies Hide Increasing Fees from Consumers

The headline from Ars Technica was shocking, Cable companies use hidden fees to raise prices 24% a month. Or maybe it’s not shocking since we are talking about the cable industry here. I’ve written about Cox’s banana pants pricing, anti-competitive behavior, and shady pricing tricks.

I don’t mean to single out Cox, Comcast wasn’t any better when I had them as a cable service. Consumer satisfaction surveys repeated show that people hate their cable provider. The system was designed to eliminate competition, so most consumers must accept whatever pricing and terms they can get if they want high-speed internet.

I’ll now step off that soapbox and get back to the news of the 24% increase a month. The news mostly comes down to disclosure, but there’s some interesting fees in there too. For the disclosure part, if a company sells you on a service for $99 it should be $99. If there are government taxes involved, they could clearly state exactly what those are up-front in the advertisement. It shouldn’t be, “$99, plus fees that happen to be ~25% more.”

The interesting fees that I mentioned above are not necessarily government fees. For example there’s broadcast TV fees, which is what you pay to watch NBC, ABC, CBS, etc. that you could get for free with antennas. This is a touchy subject for me. I don’t think I should have to pay for something free just because of a technology hack.

Another fee mentioned is the regional sports fees. I watch a lot of regional sports, so I don’t mind paying for it, but they used to be part of the cable package. For people who don’t watch regional sports this is just wasted money. An easy solution would be to make it a package you can optionally buy. However, why give people the choice when you can just charge them all?

It’s worth reading the full Consumer Reports PDF here.

Brokerage Fees Go Zero

In the last couple of weeks, a group of brokerages have eliminated fees for trading stocks completely. It seems like it started with Interactive Brokers Group, but I’m not familiar with them. The big news was Schwab going commission free. TD Ameritrade and E*Trade followed suit. Then Ally Invest joined the party. Literally hours ago (as I write this) Fidelity decided they’d go commission free too.

I’m old enough to remember when a stock trade could cost hundreds of dollars. Typically it was done over a phone call (gasp!) with a stock broker. You had to deal with messy fractions. With the expansion of the internet in the mid-late 1990s, E*Trade and other brokerages brought stock trading to the masses with commissions that ranged from around $10-15 a trade.

I feel this movement to commission-free trades is another revolution. I hope that it encourages more people to invest. Some people are very fee adverse (*raises hand*) and this removes that. It’s also one less thing to explain to someone new to investing.

Part of the reason of the drop to zero commission fees is the success that Robinhood has had. It’s hard to get someone to pay for something when someone else is giving it away free. That’s specifically why I opened a Robinhood account for my kids years ago. As we’ve learned in other areas of technology, something free sometimes costs you in other ways.

Consumer Reports highlights a couple of the catches:

  1. They are trying to get new customers to sell them products with higher fees. That’s something to be aware of.
  2. You may not earn a good interest rate on the spare cash in your account. The brokerages can use all that money and earn more interest. The good news is that with zero commissions, you could invest almost all the extra cash into a very conservative investment like Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (NASDAQ: BND) paying a 2.5% yield (or interest rate for practical purposes). That’s what I’ll be doing.

I don’t mind these catches at all since I can control both cases well.

Final Thoughts

I find it interesting how all these fees are trending. The cable company fees are going up because of a lack of competition (among other things). The brokerage fees are going down because of fierce competition. This isn’t a surprise, but the contrast of the two industries makes it clear that regulation matters greatly.

The outlier is the ATM fees. They are going up because fewer people are using cash. It seems like that would mean that they have to physically fill the machine with cash less often. That’s logically what the fees should go towards. If that’s the case, the fees shouldn’t have to increase. I suppose the fees should also cover the rent for the physical space they take up which is a fixed cost.

The movement of these fees have been gradual over time. If not for all the news coming out at the same time, I wonder if I wouldn’t have even noticed it? Sometimes, it’s helpful to step back and look at something fresh and think about how we got to where we are.

I Got a Year of AT&T Service for $20/mo (and you can too!)

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I love a good bargain, but sometimes you really do get what you pay for. When it comes to cell phone service, I’m always looking for something cheaper than my $35/mo Cricket Wireless plan (which includes a $5 discount for autopay). It’s a pretty competitive price for a no-compromise service in my opinion.

I’ve tried a few other carriers to reduce my bill… and it didn’t work out. I actually felt scammed by Red Pocket Mobile. My attempt with Mint was an incomplete and that’s on me. I plugged in the sim chip and got dozens of spam SMS and calls almost right away. I think it got better, but I put it in a super cheap phone (instead of my real number) and then didn’t want to carry two phones around. I also didn’t want to deal with a slow phone when I had a fast one.

Today I come with a cell phone deal from a company you have probably heard of… AT&T. For fair disclosure, I personally bought this deal and I will make no commission if you decide to do the same.

Simply put, you pay $300 upfront for a year of service. Get your yuks in with my bad math while you can. It gets effectively cheaper, just keep reading.

I always give credit where it’s due, so I found the deal through this CNET Cheapskate article. A reader found the promotion and he thought it was good too. Don’t blindly follow that link and sign up yet though. There’s more money to be saved.

I love saving money, but the thing that made me go for it was something many people may consider minor. It’s what we’d call an “edge case” when I was a software engineer. It’s not likely to impact a lot of people, but it impacts me greatly. (I feel my life is a giant edge case, but that’s a different article all together.) This deal included mobile hotspot at no additional charge. On my current Cricket Wireless service (same AT&T network) it is another $10. I don’t need a mobile hotspot. However, my kids love Pokemon and Pokemon Go and we can use some old phones lying around to play… if they have a mobile connection while we walk around. For the 2-4 hours a month we’d use it, it’s hard to spend an extra $10 on a mobile hotspot. Also, I’m certainly not buying a 5 and 6 year old cell phone service.

So instead of paying $45 a month for Cricket with a hotspot, $20 is much, much better.

Ugh, there’s my bad math again. It’s time to fix that.

I Tweeted out this deal and the Awesome Jackie Beck saw it and bought it. She said that if you download the Honey extension for your browser, you’ll get 20% back. I did it and they promised me 20% back, so I expect that it will be legit. I’ve heard of Honey before and it’s reputable, just like Ebates (or Rakuten as it now has been rebranded by the new owners). That 20% back ($60) would make it effectively $20/mo.

If for some reason Honey doesn’t come through, I’ll happily pay $25/mo. It’s still a great price. At a minimum it saves me $10/mo. and solves a problem in my life (the Pokemon Go thing). At a maximum it saves me $15/mo. and still solves that problem.

Other than the saving big money part, perhaps the best part is that you have a full AT&T account. You can go to a store and get good customer service. You won’t find a store for Red Pocket Mobile or Mint.

What happens in a year from now when it expires? I always have Cricket Wireless to go back to. There are almost always deals in the wireless space, and maybe a new one will surface.

I should note that this may be for new AT&T customers only. They won’t just let you switch from your existing plan it seems. However, if you do what I do, have your main phone number ported to Google Voice, you should have no problem. Let me know how it works for you.

How do you actually get the deal? I tried to find a direct link, but couldn’t find a good one. I just used the CNET Cheapskate link, but with Honey installed.

What do you think? Is $20-25 a “buy it now”? Let me know in the comments.

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