Lazy Man and Money

Getting Ready to Buy Some Stock

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Wednesday my wife said, “You know we have a lot of cash sitting around, we should start to invest it while everything is cheap.” It’s amazing how I can write about this stuff everyday, while she spends about 4 minutes a year on it, and we both come to the same conclusion. Then Thursday happens and the stock market store just slashed prices another 7%. Friday morning, I hope to open up a Zecco account (why do people pay commissions?) and see how quickly we can get some money in the market. I say “hope”, because I expect them to give me lots of paperwork and/or ask for me to fax something. Faxes don’t work well with my Vonage phone lines.

I make it sound like an easy decision to invest. We have a long-term view and could wait out quite a bit of a downfall. I realize that earnings and cash-flow are likely to drop making stocks, even at this price, fairly valued. Still, I have to agree with Chad at Sentient Money when he says, “This market might be the best buying opportunity in the next 10 years.”.

So what would I buy? I think, I’ll stop by Vanguard and look for some cheap broad-based ETFs. My first target will be to load up on Total Stock Market ETF (symbol: VTI). I’ll add some Small-Cap ETF (symbol: VB), just to overweight ourselves in that area a little bit. I would also look to their REIT ETF (symbol: VNQ) to diversify quite a bit. I may then look to diversify more by looking at PowerShares DB Oil Fund (symbol: DBO) and PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA). These last two typically go up as oil and food prices go up. This is a great hedge and if oil goes back up to $140 a barrel, we’ll have solid stock gains to offset the pain at the pump.

Would you buy tomorrow? If yes, how would you reduce risk, but still try to capitalize on these relatively cheap prices.

Update: Looks like it might take a few days to get the Zecco account set-up. I did everything to set up an active account yet it doesn’t look like I have an account set up to fund. Once I do have an account set up, I will need to decide how to fund it. If I go with the free ACH method it’s going to take 5 days. If I going with the wire transfer it will cost $20, but be quick. I’m leaning towards the wire transfer at this point.

My Six Word Memoir

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For those of you who don’t follow such things, there’s a thing in the world of blogging (often called a blogosphere) called a meme. Basically someone takes a topic, writes about it, and then “tags” others to write about it. I suppose if you don’t write about it, you get stuck being “it.” As we learned at an early age, no one wants to be “it.”

The point of the story is that I’ve been “tagged” by credit addict. I need to write six words that encompass my thoughts. So I had six words together:

Be Ben Franklin… healthy, wealthy, wise.

However, fate has changed my memoir. I was tagged for the same meme by Fat Man Unleashed to write one for Lazy Man and Health. This means that I’m going to have to split my single statement into two reflecting each personality.

Thus for Lazy Man and Money, I go with:

Money – freedom to do almost anything

This is really what Lazy Man and Money is about. I talk about being Lazy, but that’s just one example of what is possible when you are financially independent. I feel that it strikes a chord on some level with most people.

If you are curious what my health memoir is, please check my six word memoir at Lazy Man and Health.

The proper thing at this point is to tag some others. I’m not one to support pyramid schemes, so I’m going to tag three people total from my two websites. This is a more “sustainable” meme that will help it last longer. And rather than tag the big blogs, I’m going to bring attention to three blogs that have unique viewpoints, only a handful of posts, and could benefit greatly from your attention.

These sites are:

For those people the rules are simply:

  • Write your own six word memoir.
  • Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you wish.
  • Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
  • Tag at least three more blogs.
  • Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Weekend Personal Finance Review – High Cholesterol Edition

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My wife got a cholesterol test yesterday. We’ve known that she’s had high cholesterol in the past, but this was off the charts bad. As some people know, the ratio of good to bad cholesterol is also important. Unfortunately this number isn’t on her side either. I’ve spent the morning researching what can be done to improve her numbers. Sadly, she’s doing a lot of the recommended things already. I did get a few ideas to ask the doctor about – one of which will be increasing her garlic intake.

While I’m studying, enjoy these links:

Celebrities and Money: Sarah Michelle Gellar

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Today I thought I’d unveil a new series focused on celebrities and their money. It’s not going to be a regular series – I’ll only post when I find relevant articles. If you have a link to a celebrity and money, feel free to contact me.

The first feature comes from an unlikely source (at least for the Lazy Man)… Self magazine. My wife has subscribed to the magazine for the past couple of years. While doing a little re-organization of the junk that I’m too lazy to clean, I came across the October 2007 issue. It features Sarah Michelle Gellar on the cover. As an obsessed fan of the Buffy the Vampire series, I was curious what she’s up to nowadays. I lost track of her career when she started doing Scooby Doo and The Grudge.

Well it seems like Scooby Doo, The Grudge, and some cartoon voices were the big career things. The article focused more on her life outside of work. This is what people want to read anyway. While some magazines make headlines out of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, Self took Sarah (I’ve watched enough Buffy to pretend I’m on a first name basis with her) and her relatively boring life.

Here are the money related from the magazine:

  • Her transportation – For the first season of Buffy, it was a Chrysler LeBaron… “You hear about people… get their first pilot and get the Porsches…, but I just couldn’t do that.” Now she just uses a bike to get around New York City, “It’s bright pink, with the bell and streamers… it has Hello Kitty tires.” You can’t beat the frugality, but the image just made me throw up in my mouth a little.
  • Upbringing – “I was raised by a single mom. Finances were tight.” She took up acting at age 4 in an attempt to make a little extra money for private school. She notes, “100 commercials still doesn’t cover a private school education.”
  • Frugality – While she has birthday parties on two separate coasts (I suppose it’s tough to have half your friends in NYC and half in LA), she saves money just like us. “I take my reusable bag to Whole Foods, so I get a discount. I go to Bloomingdale’s on double-rewards days. I always print my dry cleaning coupons before I go.” I guess all of us can’t afford to shop at Whole Paycheck, but other than that, you have to commend her.
  • Charity – She chooses to support CARE whose main mission is to fight global poverty. The only way Sarah would do the interview is if she got to promote the charity which, of course, Self had no problems with.

One can never be sure if all the things said of stars are true. However, I believe there’s some truth to every story. I’m inclined to believe that Britney and Lindsay have “some issues”, while, in general, Sarah is a money-smart star.

Erin Burnett: Why I Would Not Impress CNBC’s Anchor

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For a variety of non-financial reasons, I like to read Men’s Health from cover to cover each month. I know it’s not as entertaining as Maxim Magazine for a lot of people, but I still like it. Though it has a ton of advertising and is one of the few magazines where it’s impossible to get cheap, the content is usually well worth the cost. I’ve even found the articles about money fairly interesting. In the Jan/Feb edition, I found one such interesting article. Unfortunately, I can’t say it’s very helpful to their target audience.

On page 123, there is an article 8 ways to impress me by Erin Burnett. Let’s go through them one by one and look at why Men’s Health would put this (with other articles) under a page titled, “Let Your Money Grow.”

1. “Any guy who can plan a trip to an exotic locale… would impress me” – That doesn’t sound pretty cheap does it?
2. “Buy me a new atlas and globe… I love to travel and hope to eventually set foot in 100 countries.” – An atlas and a globe, I can handle that. Stepping in 100 countries, well that could get pricey.
3. “…round-trip business-class tickets to Australia and New Zealand for my parents would earn you big points” – Assuming they live near NYC, that’s probably more than $5,000 gift for just the airline tickets. That sounds like a good way to “let your money grow”
4. “…I’d be impressed if you thought to send a yoga instructor to my apartment for private sessions.” – In NYC that’s got to cost at least a $1,000 a month right?
5. “Finding an exercise bike at my door would be great…” – This is something that’s a pretty reasonable one-time cost. Of course, getting exercise equipment for a woman you want to impress is always smart idea. If you can’t smell the sarcasm in that last sentence, I can’t help you.
6. “Reading is a passion of mine, so a gathering with some of my favorite authors… would make for an exceptional evening.” – When she started with reading, I thought it would surely be a way to earn some major points on the cheap. That was one big curve-ball she threw though.
7. “Hiring a personal chef to prepare meals… would be unforgettable.” – You know I really would love to do this. While I’m at it, let me get you one for your new yoga instructor.
8. “A long weekend spa getaway for my sisters and me would be perfection” – My money is multiplying just reading this…

I realize that Erin Burnett probably makes a great income. As part of her career she rubs elbows with CEOs who have multiple millions of dollars. It seems that this is poor choice for the average reader of Men’s Health – especially if you going to run the article on a page with other tips about helping your money grow.