1. Gold coin purchased.
2. $500 moved to personal chequing/checking account.
3. Received e-mail from TD Ameritrade telling me that savings statements were not okay to use in setting up a Move Money application. This was confusing to me because the Move Money application sent to me said it was fine to do so. I tend to trust documents reviewed by Legal department over Customer Service Representatives responding over e-mail, don't you?
4. E-mailed Samantha Roady, Chief Marketing Officer of GainCapital.com to let her know 'alot' is not a word and to please ensure it doesn't appear in banner ads. I have not yet seen an English language dictionary that has 'alot' as an acceptable variant of 'a lot,' and I am CONFUSED as to how people come to accept it. Are dictionaries the work of the devil? Did some lousy typesetter mess up a primer that was mandatory curriculum reading for 100 million elementary school children decades ago?
5. Still no work done on the windows, nor landscaping.
6. Made $150 payment, not $125 as previously reported, extra to the mortgage. Now my total mortgage interest will be below the magic six-digit figure.
7. Captured to my iPod several applications for Direct Purchase Plans and Direct Reinvestment Plans for companies.
8. Went to the library, recorded from the Value Line (manually so as not to violate copyright laws) the safest and most timely and highest-yielding recession-safe companies. Then I did #7.
9. Received assessment from the County.

Earlier I posted about signing up for a DiscoverU.org class about investing for $25 a month, and cockily predicted the content of the course, and remarked how I was only taking the course to get a good look at the instructors: Bobbie and Eric Christensen.

Hoo boy, did I have a deprogramming. The mind had to be sufficiently open for the deprogramming, but it happened. I won't share the course content, because you owe it to yourself to take the course if/when they come to a community education venue near you. Believe me, you learn more than just Direct Reinvestment Plans (DRPs) and Direct Purchase Plans (DPPs) with those two.

I'm grateful I paid for the experience, and for their book about the 50 best investments, and that they zeroed in on my "but wait! I've been doing this and feeling smart about it! But! But! But! Non-contributory rollover IRA! Unsafe?!" I'm also glad most of my mind chatter never made it out of my mouth -- everyone else paid what I paid for the course. Many of them are lucky to have never invested before -- they won't have made mistakes. I made mistakes, and now I know where I went wrong, and I console myself with the fact that I have at least another twenty-five years, and an open mind, and that many people, like 95% of the investors out there, will continue to make their mistakes and persist in their patterns.

It's eye-opening to learn that the ten years of programming I've had from the mainstream media, personal finance books (I send a wail in Andrew Tobias's direction) and websites (I shake a fist at the Motley Fool) was indeed programming. My shadow self was beneath a table, curled in the fetal position, sucking a thumb. What was the point in reading up on profit margins, operating margins, inventory, earnings and revenue growth patterns and debt ratios? (Truth is, as dead clever as I thought I was in the late 1990s, I didn't realize until 2001-2002 that companies could LIE to analysts, and that analysts in turn could LIE to investors. I didn't realize that was AMERICAN BUSINESS AT WORK. Boy was I naive. "Gee, the numbers look good! Must be a great company!" 30 months later, class action suit notices show up in the mail.)

There were three men in the class. Many women attending the class were older than me, but maybe a third or two-fifths were younger.

I went to tea with my family and my aunt/godmother at Queen Mary Tea Room, presumably to celebrate belatedly our birthdays. She was adamant about paying. So was I.

"At least let us pay half," I protested.

I didn't know she was going to be like that: I had the spouse take out $140 to use on the tea. "I paid off my credit card!" she said triumphantly. I warmly congratulated her, shared in her moment of freedom and triumph, told her I know of the giddy anticipation that comes from being one pay period away from being fully free from the card.

"So you're insisting on paying because you're thrilled to be debt-free?" I asked.
Believe me I did fight for the bill.

"Yes!" her teeth gleamed.

"Well, under those conditions I can let you pay. Thank you."

This year has been such an exercise in dispelling illusions and shattering commonly held beliefs for me. All I can say now is that it's scary and freeing to be bucking the crowd sometimes.

Put $125 extra toward the mortgage.

Now I own some gold bullion. I traipsed to the exchange, queued, announced my intention, and the staff associate said "perfect." Then I withdrew my debit card and he said "That won't work if it's American. You'll need to get cash out from an ATM. There's one around the corner."

So I go to the credit union around the corner, withdraw money and hotfoot it back to the exchange. Another staff associate takes my money, counts it, and returns with an ounce of Canadian pure gold (note, not Acapulco Gold, although I did transact on 4/20 in Vancouver).

When I meet with my friends later, they're agog to see my purchase. An immigration lawyer enters the foyer, and we seize upon her for some free legal advice. Her eyes burn intensely into me at the mention of gold. Seems she bought at $350 an ounce. "You know there's a panic. Taxi drivers are buying gold." I assured her I already had a properly allocated portfolio, and this precious metal and tangible asset stuff was at the very top.

Oh, the conversation about mortgages and credit cards we had! Canadians are as bad as living above their means as are their neighbours; however, the conservative banks up there make their revenues by high APRs and smaller credit limits, unlike here, where it's lower APRs and dizzyingly high credit limits. Canada doesn't have interest-only mortgages: one only wonders what the already ridiculous Vancouver and Victoria housing markets would look like with as much banking deregulation as has the United States.

Also read All Your Worth on the train: hoo boy I am doing most of the things wrong, according to that book. Untethered by husband and child, I floated through the shopping district, purchasing clothes (after waiting six weeks for the opportunity), chocolates, bath stuff, AC recharger for the iPod (I know, I know, it was a gift), toiletries for personal daintiness, earrings for the event that required a high level of personal daintiness, and Kiehl's, a rare purchase for me.

So Vancouver wasn't as frugal as it could have been, but I did get a free dinner, a free lunch, discounted accommodations, and almost two days to reconnect with family and friends.

I'm set on buying some gold bullion tomorrow. I missed my chance yesterday on my day off, as I have to apparently buy a minimum of five ounces at the local bullion place, and was busy getting tipsy, eating eclairs, walking listening to great music on the iPod and committing acts of moral turpitude.

I am now convinced that working in the US Customs and Immigration Service is a soul-sucking job. Five gummint employees looked at my ID, which has my DoB on it, and none of them wished me a happy birthday. I am however fingerprinted. I go to my fave cafe/bar, and a stranger wishes me a happy birthday AND makes me a drink! on the house! See, I know Americans celebrate birthdays: I know of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes, the greeting card industry, the Amazon.com wishlists -- but if you're a gummint employee I guess you're trained to view 'ferners' as application numbers with DoBs only for matching purposes, not celebratory. I go to my credit union to deposit some funds and the teller says 'Happy Birthday' to me, and I tell her, sincerely, my toes curl from the happiness she's given me. When I came home from the USCIS office, everything was sunshine and rainbows and smiles.

So tomorrow I'll be in Canada, buying gold coins, eating eclairs, walking listening to great music on the iPod, getting tipsy, but not committing acts of moral turpitude.

Also got the book All Your Worth, which I'm liking. Just five more months until the liquidity crunch vanishes! I should ask people, either on the forum here or elsewhere, what it's like to be relieved of a huge financial obligation, be it paying off a credit card balance that took years to eliminate, or a mortgage, or the last year of preschool/daycare.

Today I cave into my whims and yield into temptations:
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I cannot resist this: the theme song has been going through my head. I love the car, but you know parking that would just be a major headache.
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Bought Volume 2 of the Chaplin Collection from Amazon.com just ten minutes ago. It was on my wishlist for awhile, and we already have Volume 1. My child has been loving Modern Times, and even danced to "The Nonsense Song" yesterday, which made my heart leap with joy. The box set would arrive on Wednesday, so it's a "phantom present": what I think my parents would buy for me if they were still alive. I looked for the box set at my local fave DVD/video rental/sales store, but it wasn't where I could see it.
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it was difficult not to have unkind thoughts about the thoughtlessness of others. Like the guy who was running to catch a bus that runs every 3-5 minutes in early rush hour, and ran right in front of our bus. This put our driver in a very crotchety mood: it's refreshing to see someone who doesn't want to start his day involuntarily killing some fool who chose to abandon safety in favour of catching a bus he'd otherwise have to wait maybe four whole minutes to catch.

And the guy who opened a bus window without consulting those of us who would be affected by the extra draft. Really, if people are going to be that self-absorbed why don't they just climb into their cavernous vehicles as single occupants and stew in traffic, playing their own music, adjusting their own environment temperature and venting? Like asking people who've paid for the same privilege of riding the bus if they want the window opened before doing so is such a big imposition on one's rights and freedoms.

Introducing the Hipster PDA

I've been obsessively writing these lists on spiral-bound notebooks I scatter in cars and rooms. Now I can just write them once, put them in a binder clip, and carry them around in my purse. When I get distracted: "buy uranium! invest in Canada! get another ETF!" I can look at my cards and remind myself that "hey, this investment just isn't in the cards for me."

Five year plan

Investment
* Foreign Bonds
* International Small-Cap
* Clean Energy
* Precious Metals and Mining
* Gold (ownership)
* Natural Resources
* Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities
* Water

House
* Garden: pruning
* Garden: raised beds
* Garden: planting (vegetables)
* Double-paned, energy-efficient windows
* Fireplace Insert
* Insulation: attic, maybe basement

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Homeland Security

Accounts
* Savings
* His Roth
* My Roth
* I-Bonds
* Gold
* E*Trade
* TD Am.
* Tot Coverdell
* Tot Stock
* Prosper.com

Health
* Bicycling
* Yoga
* Gardening
* Organic food
* Walking

Things That Will Happen Before Social Security Faces a Short... - Center for Economic and Policy Research, Dean Baker, June 2005.

I sense I'm in a "Red Queen Syndrome" running faster and faster to stay in the same place. If people are wealthier, as evidenced by the nicer cars and larger vehicles and electronic gadgets and trips, how can it be that the average equity in mortgages is going down?

I've also decided that it is not good for my sanity to assume that all the Americans know what I am just learning about food politics, natural living, cancer prevention, climate change, stealth inflation, federal unrepayable debt obligations, and have an unfair comparative advantage. And it's not good for my sanity to assume that all the American middle-income families (except mine) are easily managing "the 60% solution," "the 50% budget," or whatever nifty savings meme some personal finance authors and editors tout, and assume that I'm the one doing something wrong. I'm going to pretend I have the unfair comparative advantage and share what I learn online. Then if I am going down the wrong road, I am sure people will jump on me with corrective statistics, and not ideology. How well does ideology feed and prepare one, anyway?

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?" -- Rabbi Hillel

My supersmart confidantes and I agree that prices for things like cable services, gas, food, copays, daycare have not risen at the supposed low rate over the past few years as the good folks who present us the CPI would have us believe. They've risen at faster rates and cost more.

From April 13, 2007's "Of Two Minds" blog:

Here's a fun experiment. Pick a year where you have some old price information about your own household expenses and then calculate the actual inflation versus the official inflation. You can get the official number here: inflation calculator (by year) (under the heading "Get Detailed CPI Statistics")

I chose 2004, three short years ago. According to the BLS data, the CPI has risen 8% in those three years. Funny, but all the stuff I have to buy has increased by way more than a mere 8%.

Here are a few selections. Undoubtedly you have more of your own.

gasoline: 2004: $1.65 2007: $3.22 +95%

infant daycare: 2004: $1075 2007: $1350 +26% [Paulette's contrib.]

healthcare/ doctor's visit co-pay: 2004: $25 2007: $50 +50%

round onions: 2004: $.29 2007: $.89 +200%

property tax (bi-annual) : 2004: $2214 2007: $2477 +12%
(supposedly capped at 1% per annum by Prop 13)

city garbage collection (quarterly): 2004: $110 2007: $135 +22%

Comcast Cable Internet (monthly): 2004: $40 2007: $60 +50%

property insurance (monthly): 2004: $362 2007: $491 +35% [Paulette's numbers]

Anyone looking at their own checkbook will be skeptical of the "official" inflation rate of 2.5%. But the general reaction is denial. Could this be because asset inflation in houses and stocks has lulled people into a false complacency that their wealth will always increase faster than prices?

I suspected this for awhile, as daycare costs kept going up and I was thinking "why are our salaries not keeping up with this? why are our salaries not keeping up with insurance premiums?" Every year it was an attempt at a budget chopchop. Many of our clothes are worn through. We eat more beans these days. We no longer use Working Assets.

Our peers coped by refinancing their houses and taking out HELOCs. Being an immigrant insulted by stupid credit card offers ("you just haven't earned it yet baby! How does a 27.9% intro rate grab ya?") and noting how the supposed TOOL of a credit card came with increasingly anti-consumer terms and conditions, I tried to prep myself for getting by without credit.

I took out a HELOC, but haven't used it yet. I took it out as a preemptive measure because this daycare-retirement-mortgage-living liquidity crunch wasn't helping me be secure about the short bouts of unemployment -- we weren't keeping enough in an emergency fund, thinking "oh well, there's always a retirement fund or a house to borrow from if an emergency comes up."

My supersmart confidante said over breakfast, "you've gone through worse than this and you haven't been over your head in debt. When you've gone into debt you pay it off before the interest charges take effect. You'll get through this upcoming crash/depression/downturn okay, because you're prepared."

And I'm going to put that on an index card as an affirmation. I'm going to be okay. Because I know what I have to do to be prepared, and although now all I can do is take baby steps, that's a big advantage over those who don't have a plan and who are not aware. And in September, we can take bigger steps.

My County is still in housing-appreciation mode: my property and building assessment came to $334,000, a 13.4% increase over last year, so a 13.4% increase in property taxes am I looking at for 2008. Nice to know something I own has gone up double-digits. My noncontributory Rollover 401(k) has not moved much over six years: there's something wrong there.

Convinced the hubby to knock down his 401(k) contribution to the minimum to receive the employer match. He'll be renewing contributions toward his Roth IRA.

Hubby helped boy spend ALL of his Easter money on toys. Not impressed.

I've often wondered why I have the situation I have, and what lessons from it I'm to share with the populace. I've often wondered also how people in my income group and demographics and zip code can manage.

The only other person I know a dysfunctionial and unstable family situation similar to mine and grew up in poor circumstances elsewhere to reach at least a level of self-sustaining comfort and complete autonomy over his work and career died thirty years ago. I wish there was someone like that I could talk to -- okay, I could talk to the aether and pretend it's him but even I'm not crazy enough to think he'll respond. Maybe the problem with me is that I can relate to his childhood but I can't relate to his adulthood, which has been so legendary and phenomenal and successful I can't measure up. I don't even know how I can measure up to my childless friends. I don't think I can, and that's why I withdraw. I imagine they have some insurance, some deus ex machina, some ace in the hole I'm not privy to.

Maybe I need clearer examples of why security and freedom are mutually exclusive: I crave both, and this craving makes me unhappy. I note my godmother and mother-in-law tell me I have everything: decently funded retirement fund, decent credit rating, paid-for car and bikes, house, spouse, job, almost-normalish kiddo, health but do my childfree peers? Nope.

I wish I knew people who, like me, are not only attempting to raise a child and "catch up" to their "we have always been in the middle-class" friends but are also preparing for:
* interest rate risk
* risk of still-falling US Dollar
* mortgage implosion
* peak oil

and are asking themselves what the worst case scenario they need to prepare themselves for. Maybe my acquaintances have already prepared themselves and told their friends, and left me out of it. I've tried to have this conversation with them and they're not interested.

If you can't tell, I'm looking for the Guiding Light with a Bell-Clear Voice to tell me if I'm on the right path. Am I on the right path if I'm coaxed by tax breaks to put my money in mutual funds that invest in companies that oppress other citizens and plunder the earth's resources at an alarming rate? I'm not the guiding light for my ex-social circle.

Good things:

1. Not expected to cough up long-term care costs for parents! More disposable income for us in our 50s and 60s!
2. Payday!
3. Getting a full night's rest knowing the bills are paid is also a sign of success.
4. Overtime! (see #3) Which means I can't see "In Debt We Trust." Blast! However, I'll be getting $250 extra overtime, which I can put toward any of the usual goals.

Bad things:
1. Motorcycle has "sound-wonkiness" from the rear. Not (yet) negatively affecting riding performance, but I won't risk a trip longer than 25 miles before it is corrected. So, it's in the shop, awaiting brake pads. $151.18. Affordable.

2. Out of shape. Ran in motorcycle boots two blocks to flag a cab. I was walking back from the motorcycle dealership's service department to work/hoping to catch a bus en route when I saw a Yellow Cab. Must start bicycling again. So I'll be better prepared for peak oil and in better shape. Also, might have to accompany kid to his new school by bike. He won't ride on the scooter (yeah! His father's sense of self-preservation has kicked in!) and taking the car for a mile ride is wasteful.

Reading Broken Arrow's comment has crystallized a weeklong angsty "what's wrong with me?" theme. I am indeed one of those full-time working mamas/wives/domestic CFO/homeowners who finds plenty of things that need to be done but not much time to socialize and build those integral local support networks. However, with the tot nearing kindergarten, things are looking up. I just need to remind myself that there are other men and women like me, and the reason I don't see 'em is because their unpaid time is spoken for much like mine is. Not everyone is riding the "I married a man who makes 3x what I do, so I'm a SAHM/early retirement thanks to stock options/trust fund" luxury ride in the Seattle area.

Considering getting a MCSE certification and back more into client/server programming: the money and credentials would help me accomplish the "mortgage-free by 45" goal, which is looking uh... challenging at this point.

Irritated with Charles Schumer's call for a subprime bailout. Tax cuts for the rich, but let's not do away with the AMT, nor raise the household AGI that ensnares the middle income. Oh and Congress removing the capital gains restrictions so people can flip real estate more readily. Subprime bailouts for poor credit risks, but pass the Bankruptcy Act of 2005. What matters is indentured servitude: makes the world go round.

Are most US voters poor or rich but not middle-income? Is that why it's hard to get a majority of legislators who support through enactment of laws a middle-income class?

I reviewed my payment history over the past 24 months at my mortgagor's Website. I will have paid under $100,000 in interest for my home at the end of the amortization term. I am also going to be mortgage-free one month earlier than I predicted.

I see that on average, Americans have maybe 54% equity in their homes, a historic low. I have maybe that much equity in my home, after eight years. How lovely to have worked our way up to a historic low. But how many people earning the median income buy their first house in a HCOL area and have instant 50% equity? My friends were IT workers and all put down less than 20% back then: we had the largest downpayment. And the slowest appreciation, because we live in an area with a high % of renters, and a high % of seniors, and we're in the early cycle of a revitalization plan. Swell: not. But at least we never were given the opportunity to be cocky about fast-rising appreciation. My experience living in a past boom-bust-boom-bust area (Vancouver) also contributed to our hesitancy to do much of a Mortgage Equity Withdrawal, outside of a $2500 addition to our refi (lower rate, shorter term) for closing costs.

I am comfortable predicting a 30% reduction in home sale prices over the next five years. OFHEO predicts 1-3% decrease for this year, but I'm certain that the comps in my area have gone down 10% since August. Seasonally they do dip in the winter. Maybe 54% equity after the house plummets 30% in market value is a safe place to be, with a year's mortgage payments available, earning money somewhere safe.

Great Safe Withdrawal Rate Debate

Consumption Smoothing

Behavioral Finance Insights -- Actually PassionSaving.com is new to me, and seems to be highly worthwhile.
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I'm still working out ideas in my head about what to save for when there are more goals than money. Still torn between snapping up precious metals funds, TIPS, or just cash.

If you ever had some disposable income, and an arm's length of goals to save for, how many at a time did you choose, and how did you allocate $ for each? For instance, if you had $5000 and eight items, did you rank and prioritize the eight and fund imaginary or real accounts in descending quantities like Goal #1 gets $1000, Goal #2 has $750, Goal #3 500 and so forth; or did you give them equal amounts to begin with, or did you supply the goal with the nearest end date with the largest amount of money?
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Why can't I get the notion out of my head that only renters and people who have over 60% equity in their fixed-rate mortgages, or a paid-off home will be the least scathed with the housing bubble?



Gee, only a 72% YOY increase in Notice of Trustee Sales in our county from 04/1/2006 to 4/10/2006 and 04/1/2007 to 04/10/2007.

Over the past 6 months: 11.7% increase from same term in 2005-2006.
Over the past 3 months: 12.7% increase from 2006.
Over the past 30 days: 35% increase from 2006.
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From The Book of the Bath
and Simple Pleasures of the Home

Pine Bath Oil
-- skin softener. Pour a little into your bath under running water.

1 cluster pine needles
1 cup baby oil

Put pine needles in a glass container with a lid. Cover completely with baby oil, and cover the container tightly. Store in dry, cool place for 4 weeks. Strain the oil and decant into an attractive glass bottle. You can add fresh pine needles for decoration. Makes 1 cup.
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Facial Sauna
2 drops fennel essential oil
2 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops lemon essential oil
2 drops orange essential oil

Mix oils together and pour intoa bowl of steaming water. Drape a towel over your head and the bowl and sit, allowing the steam to penetrate your pores. Be careful not to put your face too close--this should be a luxurious feeling, not a painful one.
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Soothing Lavender Bath
1/2 ounce dried lavender flowers
1/2 ounce basil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 pt. witch hazel

Make a powder of the herbs in a mortar and pestle. Steep them in the witch-hazel for 2 weeks. Strain and add to warm bath water as desired. May also be used as an after-bath splash.
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Jasmine Bubble Bath
1 Tbsp. mild liquid soap
2 tsp. oil of jasmine
2 tsp. witch hazel

Combine ingredients and add directly to fast-running bath water.

Jasmine bath #2
2 drops oil of Jasmine
1 cup distilled water

Combine ingredients and add to warm bathwater. Float camellias or gardenias on the surface of the water.
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Lavender Facial Steam
1/4 cup lavender
peel of 1 lemon, dried
2 tsp. rosemary

Add the ingredients to the porcelain bowl, pour in boiling water and steam for as long as you wish.

I was feeling very rundown and tired today, until about 6 pm. Then I thought "hey wait, every time I wear these jeans I don't eat much and get tired and fussy. How about I not wear the jeans?"

I switched to yoga pants with a drawstring waist band. I may have to kiss my size 10 Levi's goodbye. I'm fine with that: I look healthy and a little curvy. What I'm not fine with are salespeople's expressions and reactions when I tell them I'm size 12 and am heading into "L" territory. I know my measurements. I'm not ashamed of it -- it's natural and normal for a woman my age, at a sedentary position, who had a big baby move her hips out, to have her metabolism slow and her curves begin to show. I just don't need the rebuttal, especially from sales people.

But yeah, yoga pants, one salad with roasted red peppers, garbanzo beans, red wine vinegar, mint, capers, olive oil and parsley, and maple syrup/apple cider vinegar -- feeling way energetic already. That eclair helped too.

What's this got to do about money, other than I am waiting for a weekend when I can shop for replacement pants that fit or take my dress pants to the drycleaner? I dunno. I don't like shopping for a new size, but I don't like my postnatal gut peeking out of my stretchy tops and formerly well-fitting shirts. It's a drag going to vintage stores for 'chic little handmedowns', because I feel like Margaret Dumont in there: women were so short and tiny decades ago -- I'm sure the obsolete girdles helped! My mom was 5'8.5" and now I wonder if she had to make her own clothes... c'mon, modern nutritional monstrosities like high fructose corn syrup and Big Macs can't be solely responsible for size 12 and above...

Yesterday my son opened his Easter card from the grandparents, who thoughtfully put $30 in cash. "Wow, money!" he said.

I shared with him the saying: "a penny to lend, a penny for a friend and a penny to spend" and tried to teach him division and addition. Despite working full-time outside the house, I do look for the "teachable moments" with him.

Ten dollars to a bank account, ten dollars for fun, but I don't know about the $10 for a friend... maybe he can make an Easter offering, or donate to a homeless shelter for parents and their children.

It's astonishing that my son has more money in his accounts at age five than his grandmother did at age thirty-five...
Edit: sorry sorry sorry. I mentioned my late mother to make an anecdote that my kid was better provided for than she was, without mentioning she has passed on. Different circumstances. Money's not much good to her now, so that's why I was thinking perhaps my kid would like to consider donating to an organization which helps less fortuante families.

Freddie Mac has an interesting table, "Quarterly Refinance Statistics" of refinance activity from 1999Q3 through 2006Q4. Except I don't see what percentage of refinances resulted in shorter terms.

2003Q3, when we refinanced, has the most superlative statistics: lowest ratio of new rate to old rate; shortest median age of refi'd mortgage. 2003Q2 has its own share of superlative statistics, but we missed out on that. Just over a third of refinancers chose an amount at least 5% beyond their initial refi. Compare that to 88% of refinancers who cashed out for more than 5% of the original mortgage amount in 2006Q2.

Another link: Herb Greenberg's blog. The comments almost make me want to become a CPA...

Personal position: 25% tax bracket. I'm asking these questions because the CPA I wanted to use for my 2006 tax return is a leetle busy.

Convinced my marginal tax rate will rise -- think it's too small anyway, 34% would be better, am hoping for a state income tax. I am very very very unlikely to rise to a higher tax bracket unless the tax code changes significantly -- I'm not privy to the ways of a 60% return on my annual income and at my tax bracket I'm not likely to become privy.

Considering Yanks are living longer, and the attempt to salvage Social Security will be made, and the attempt to pay for the war and to pay down the deficit will also be made, should I be expecting a 50-60% tax rate in my golden years? Is it stupid of me to be contributing to a 401(k) account while I have a 25% tax bracket if chances are very good I will be in a 50% or greater tax bracket when I withdraw my 401(k) funds?

If making significant contributions to tax-deferred retirement accounts place me in a lower tax bracket currently, doesn't that reduce the value of mortgage interest? Should I also then be working to prepay my mortgage? If Social Security isn't going to be around for me when I retire, does that mean I don't have to be worried about a substantial increase of funds and benefits that become subject to federal income taxation?

If homeownership w/mortgage interest payment deductions, and the tax exemption for having a kiddie are reduced when my tax bracket is low in my child-raising years, am I a sucka for contributing as much as I do to a 401(k) plan? Should I just back off enough to get the employer match and grab the energy tax credit instead?

Which is better: living in a currently low-tax country for forty years where I'll have to eventually pay twice as high a marginal rate, or moving to a wealthy, industrialized, resource-rich country ten years from now where I can expect to pay 38%?

How horribly unfair would it be to have a Roth IRA with no annual caps on what one could contribute to it, for a worker who earned under $50,000 a year?

Should I ease off the retirement contributions, currently 10% 401(k) and $4000 Roth IRA, to build the emergency fund and enough resources to adequately start a taxable investment (with margin) account?

Oh yes, the source of my anxieties: "Who Gets Paid to Save?"

It's rough to challenge the popular belief that you'll be okay if only you'd make a 10+% contribution for your retirement, yet we have faithfully done that, and our liquidity is constrained. And don't tell me my liquidity is constrained because of my mortgage, because renting a house where I am is $150/month extra beyond my utilities, principal, tax, interest and insurance, and I'm paying $27 less than what I was prior to refinancing.

Another tough question: how does an Economics Ph.D., no sorry, make that SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CLEVELAND, or perhaps TENURED PROFESSOR AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY make it through twenty-three years of English-language schooling without knowing the difference between the verbs 'lose' and 'loose'? My mother and father never made it through high school and they knew better.

My Gentile family and I went to "Bobo Wonderland" (if you read David Brooks' Bobos in Paradise, and if you are familiar with where I live, you'll know what shopping complex I mean, the one closest to the synagogue, to stock up on Kosher Coca-Cola. For Passover! And the 2-litre bottles were on sale, for $1.66 a bottle. We'll need to have ice cream parties so we can use a bottle without it going flat.

But oh boy, did we out ourselves. We looked in the carbonated beverages section: no yellow-cap Coke. We looked in the Kosher section: no yellow-cap Coke. I ended up asking, and lo! huge display of Kosher Coke in the frozen foods aisle!

King Arthur Bread flour was on sale too, and my Achilles heel: potato chips.

So why would U.S. Gentiles rush out to get Kosher Coca-Cola? Because there is no high fructose corn syrup in Kosher Coca-Cola! The last time I had a Coca-Cola was in October, in Canada. Before that it was a Mexico-bottled (cane sugar) Coca-Cola in a local movie theatre. And it's cheaper to drive to the local Yuppie Shoppolis than it is to drive to Canada...

Yes, I swiped the link above from the comment gallery at the calculatedrisk.blogspot.com

You know that my savingadvice.com blog is the paper bag into which I hyperventilate, yes?

The first week of the month is always scary for me, with the high-powered flush of daycare and mortgage. The first week of April is more ravaging on the heart circulation too: between the IRS and the IRA, I R Broke.

Another bright beam of financial sunlight: without me making any extra payments to my mortgage, my interest over the amortized term would be $100,009. And the Treasury Department has already deducted from my bank account my 2006 1040 tax statement amount owing.

Of course I'm going to make an early payment, just to see that six-digit figure drop to five-digit. That's just the competitive, obsessed debtor I am.

If you think we're heading for a recession/depression, but not an all-out collapse. I really hope we don't have a collapse. If we do, at least we have memorized the movie "Modern Times" to know that a person can live creatively and intelligently on next to nothing, and a sunrise is just as beautiful whether you're a multimillionaire with your own movie studio or a shabby vagrant.

Keep in mind that this list is plagiarized. When I find a source I'll attribute it.

1. Rail investments.
2. Oil and gas drilling service companies. Their equipment is going to be in high demand.

3. Uranium companies, especially ones that are building mines. Uranium companies in Canada and Australia would be best.

4. Solid gold and silver. Can't be nationalized. Will grow in value as the cascading collapse of the world's financial system goes forward.

5. Mortgaged properties. During the Depression, the U.S. made laws that said that people who go bankrupt can't be evicted from their homes.

6. An orchard in an agricultural area where there is a regional shortage of the fruit.

7. Insulation for your home.

8. A green house or hydroponic grow room for your home. Nobody can steal food that is grown indoors as long as they don't come inside.

9. A law degree. After the crash, civil lawsuits will skyrocket as people start defaulting on all debt.

10. A medical degree. There will always be demand for doctors and nurses.

11. A High-efficiency motor vehicle.

1. I hadn't yet been out in the sun to pull up weeds. I chose to pull up weeds as a tiny action indicating that yes, I do want to improve my environment and yes, I am deficient in Vitamin D and want that sunlight!

2. I went through a purge -- shredding financial statements we don't need, and found a budget book. I tallied first our income, feeling pretty proud of myself for earning the wage that I do, and then tallied our expenditures:
* a friend's morning wedding in Vancouver, so an overnight stay is in the cards;
* the IRS payment of $860.72 -- bah on me for getting it in two weeks earlier;
* the non-refundable deposit for putting the munchkin in kindergarten: $170/month full-time, and this is a BARGAIN compared to $50,000 of past childcare expenditures;
* my birthday, and I will be one very spoiled princess/goddess with my bitchen waterproof warm imported motorcycle jacket;
* the last hiccup of $750 for my 2006 Roth IRA contribution;
* my kid's social communication playgroup: $40/session, and I haven't kept up payments since the facilitator/therapist moved operations to where there's no billing receptionist;
* thought I might try paying the mortgage every four weeks, so inked in a double payment.

3. I'd been getting to sleep well enough without melatonin and 5-HTP the last few days, but my serotonin reserves got depleted.

This, along with other expenditures like insurance, heat, utilities, food, came to $7800 for the month. This is well above what we bring in. Sure, I put in $450 as a savings category for the vacation, and yes, we have savings, and the tax/mortgage/childcare payments can go through our chequing account without overdraft, but what about the 2007 Roth IRA or the windows or the gardening/landscaping I wanted done for my survival/victory garden? Poof. So no double payment of the mortgage, obviously.

Thanks, Lux Living Frugalis, for the Daniel Quinn recommendations and verbal bouquet. I do have a lot of fallow time at work, so I'll get the Ishmael books after I finish Road to Serfdom.

And thanks for the "there theres" and understanding that I really just want to participate in a spectrum of advice and experiences, and present some bulletins that people may find useful for re-engineering their spending. Like Club Orlov's 'Closing the Collapse Gap' slideshow. Some may think this may never happen; some may be unsettled; others may be thinking 'oh good, I'm not the only one out there thinking this way, maybe I can cut down on the Wellbutrin or Fluoxetine.' The important thing is that we're putting our brains to use taking in and analyzing data and choosing between action and inaction.

And this is mostly for me, but if you find use in it, then it's for you too:
"May today there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith EXCEPT BANKS -- DO NOT TRUST THEM OVER YOUR SPOUSE. THE BANKS SHOULD NOT BE YOUR OVERLORDS!.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you."

I know now this [the gaudy CSS layout] is an April Fool's joke, and so well done you won't read this unless you're so desperate for a non-ugly page to render in your browser.

I feel very compelled to disengage from blogging. I'm overwhelmed by the "to-do" list I make to ensure my financial survival, and maybe it's all going to go to waste anyway. Let the fascists and psychos and greedheads deplete everything. I've tried for ten years to understand and assimilate to my environment, including therapy, and I've failed. Al Gore has his "inconvenient truth" and I have my "uncomfortable reality." He's getting richer from his though, and I'm wasting away. Maybe I'm having a meltdown and need an intervention. Maybe I'm tired of my questions not being answered. Maybe I'm getting more noise than signal right now. I'm feeling very defeated.