brip blap

all about loans

Steve — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:54:14 +0000

Once again here’s an infographic, thanks to Ellipse BeautyLight.

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back to the future, and links

Steve — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:14:18 +0000

I’ve been swamped with kids’ parties and kids’ events and worrying about the Facebook IPO. Things happen, right? If I took one thing away from Friday’s IPO of the horrible-rate-of-return social media site, it is that people don’t understand return on investment and that speculation (also known as “gambling”) is really the heart of our stock market, if not our whole economy at this point. Speculation is a horrible basis for an economy – I prefer investment in companies that produce things, even old-fashioned things like “income”. Sigh. Back to the late 90s.

I Love Eduardo Saverin’s Move to Become an Ex-Pat: I agree. I’m a bleeding-heart, tax-the-rich liberal but I still agree: if you are willing to renounce your citizenship and you are legally entitled to do so, kudos. If the Congress gets into the business of punishing individuals for legally avoiding taxes, we’re all doomed.

» Heard Anything Interesting about Facebook Lately?: Wildly unsuccessful IPO? I’m thinking Facebook is the next MySpace. My bets are on Plurk. Then again, I invested heavily in AOL.

The Financial Dangers of Being a Mail-Order Bride: Interesting read, on a subject that most people probably haven’t considered.

20 ways to outlive 106 billion people

Steve — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:00:28 +0000

This post was updated (there was a mistake in it earlier). Thanks to Ellipse BeautyLight for making the infographic!

frugality or decluttering, or both

Steve — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:00:54 +0000

Some people don’t care for the word “frugal.” their opinion is that it combines the virtues of being resourceful, buying quality items to avoid replacing them, and saving on unnecessary purchases with the vices of a poverty mindset and denying yourself too much in the present for a future that may or may not occur. I don’t have much trouble with the word, but considering I’ve just watched a large amount of the money I’ve saved over the years disappear into thin air during the recent market contortions, being frugal in order to save for the future is much less attractive than it seemed in the past.

I know all the arguments – the market always makes money over the long term, Social Security won’t be there for us and consumerism is sucking our brains out through our wallets. As someone who’s never been in debt other than a mortgage I’ve never needed to be frugal to “get back to zero.” As I child, I lived in a frugal household (woe was me) but since I’ve been an adult the sole purpose of frugality in my life has been to set aside money for the future, with the added benefit of avoiding the purchase of things I don’t need.

Now that we have a four-person family I’ve noticed that I avoid purchasing things more and more out of a desire to declutter. I am as much of a sucker for a cute toy or book for the kids as anyone, but the toy-strewn landscape of our sun room and living room are serving as great deterrents these days. I sold dozens of books on eBay and gave hundreds more to my parents, friends and anyone who wanted them, but our bookcases are still stuffed full. I have a lot of clothes that I seldom wear. We have a far larger house than we absolutely NEED but as with any living space our stuff slowly creeps into every corner.

So frugality has yielded as a driving force in our lives to decluttering and some (but probably not enough) concern for the environment and how much trash we create. I’ll be honest: I don’t clip coupons often, although I do on occasion. I probably should do so more often. We fail in frugality in many ways – we buy organic foods even when no real evidence exists that they are better. I am comfortable in this market saving a small amount of my earnings and then forgetting about the rest; we reduce spending to the point where we can contribute that level of savings and then forget about saving any more than that.

But now when I look at a big TV or a new book and think about buying it, the desire to avoid more clutter is much more of a decision factor than the desire to be frugal. Clutter keeps us from buying things we don’t need. That works for stuff, of course, but experiences (eating out, traveling, entertainment) are another matter; but even there the “clutter” builds up in your days. It has a temporal presence even if it doesn’t have a physical presence.

Frugality has its place. Most people need to be more frugal. I probably still need to be more frugal. And if you’re in debt, you definitely need to be more frugal: you don’t need a new pair of shoes or a flat screen TV. But for me, frugality is increasingly an afterthought to clutter, environmental concerns and the need to keep searching out wealth instead of finding new ways to squeeze out diminishing rates of return on savings.

photo credit: sindesign

recent carnivals catch-up…

Steve — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:59:59 +0000

I’ve been included in quite a few recent carnivals, so I wanted to give a quick mention for all of them:

Best of Money Carnival #153 hosted by Prairie Eco Thrifter

Financial Carnival for Young Adults #10 hosted by 20’s Finances

Carnival of Money Pros hosted by Money Cone

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #31 hosted by 101 Centavos

Carnival of Retirement #16 hosted by Broke Professionals

Carnival of Money Pros hosted by My Journey to Millions

Totally Money Carnival #64 hosted by My Personal Finance Journey

It’s always great to be included in carnivals, and you’re probably going to find more good content there than anywhere else.

stability and desperation

Steve — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:53:00 +0000

The same people who crave stability and the idea of “never being without a paycheck” are often in the most unstable positions – they just don’t realize it. They are so dependent on the next paycheck that they can’t begin to imagine even two or three weeks without a paycheck. There are other people who never anticipate a paycheck – they are always working on freelance gigs or alternative income. I’m somewhere in-between; I welcome the chance to work on my alternative income streams when my paychecks from clients run low. For me it’s a challenge, and I think it’s largely because I’m willing to think of life without a paycheck. Too many people think that life without a paycheck almost literally means death and despair.

Many of the employees around me are in total terror of a single week without a paycheck. Their expenses continue without pause and their income stops at the drop of a hat. I am much more comfortable knowing that some of my income will trickle on even when my consulting income stops, and far more comfortable knowing that I have a long-term plan of succeeding with my alternative income – something far too many of my colleagues don’t even admit is possible. Most are consumed with worrying about their IRAs and 401(k)s that they aren’t eligible to touch for years and years. Their time would be better spent worrying about what they can do to make more money on the side, NOW.

What all of these people fail to realize is that the instability they feel in uncertain times like these arises from their own lifestyle, and not from the government or the corporations or “the economy.” Learning how to build prosperity, not just surviving paycheck-to-paycheck, is a big first step. Learning to live within your means gives you a more stable life. Learning to think more about making money than saving money helps create stability. Creating alternate wealthstreams in your life gives you stability. Getting a paycheck twice a month doesn’t guarantee any sort of stability at all.

Desperation arises naturally when people face an unknown future with limited choices for action. Creating more choices for yourself is the best way to avoid desperation. Being an employee is a necessary evil for a lot of people (and there are still, believe it or not, people out there who love their jobs). Health care benefits are a big reason. The idea that being employed is “more stable” is hammered into many of us from school age. Even an entrepreneur can tie up too much of his or her wealth into one stream. The real answer to desperate times is to constantly look for ways to start new “wealthstreams.” Just as a chair with four legs is more stable than one with three, a person with multiple income sources is always going to be more stable than someone with only one income source – regardless of who makes more in total.

Photo Some rights reserved by Horia Varlan

7 things you don’t want to skimp on

Steve — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:21:29 +0000

You don’t always want to save as much as you possibly can on everything. I can think of at least a few examples where spending the least amount possible is not always a great idea.

1. Education. I am a huge proponent of public education for two reasons: 1, the involvement with your community, both for parent and child, is going to happen somewhere – there is no sense in insulating yourselves from it; 2, you’ve already paid for it (through taxes). That having been said, education – particularly college, but also secondary and elementary – is not a good candidate for finding the cheapest option simply because it’s cheapest. That might seem to contradict some of my earlier pieces. But I don’t think it really does – I simply think that far too many people choose the most expensive college just because it’s the most expensive, and that’s wrong, too. At every level you need to find options that are good for you and that really address your goals.

2. Health care. This one is tough. Of course you don’t want to overspend, but I can tell you that when you are seriously ill, most – not all, most – thoughts about money go right out the window. Of course in the case of lingering illnesses, you still have to worry about the person’s family’s future – will the cost of health care be too much to allow them to keep a house, for example? And it’s a sad state in this country that we have to worry about the cost of wellcare. But in general, when you are really sick or injured, you don’t stop the hospital from doing procedure X because it costs too much. The hospital or insurance company may stop it, though.

3. Cars and related expenses. When you read people suggesting ways to save money on cars, I always think “this is a metal box that you get in and drive around in at 60 miles per hour – do you really want the cheapest car you can get?” I want the safest car, with reasonable mileage that keeps it from being an outright assault on the environment. I’ll pay a bit extra for the good tires, even though I could get reconditioned ones cheaper. I drive a Prius, so I’ve placed a premium on mileage. That’s a bet that may or may not pay off.

4. Insurance. If you live in a flood zone, you can save some money by skimping on the flood insurance. When the flood comes, though, if your insurance isn’t enough to rebuild your place or buy a new one, why did you bother? What was the point of saving that money if you can’t use the insurance when you need it? Make sure you’re insured against financial catastrophe. Life insurance is important. Having a $100 deductible on your auto isn’t.

5. Babyproofing equipment. I think the choice here is clear. If you want to skimp on gates at the top of the stairs for your child, then I don’t think you have your priorities straight.

6. Food. This one may be a little more contentious, but I think trying to save money on certain types of food is ridiculous. If you eat meat, try this experiment. Go buy some heavily processed, dyed, factory-farm raised chicken, and buy some organic free range chicken. Prepare them both the same way, but don’t overdo the breading, herbs, spices, whatever – keep it simple. Try both of them. Tell me which one was a better use of money. If you aren’t a meat eater, try buying organic, locally produced tomatos and then buy a Mexican imported tomato from the supermarket. In both cases, the more expensive option is likely to taste far better, therefore it satisfies you better meaning you’ll eat less, enjoy it more and be less tempted to let it sit in the fridge until it goes bad. It’s probably healthier, too, but I won’t even use that argument.

7. This one is the tough one – making money. If you are starting a business or investing, you don’t necessarily want the cheapest possible option. Undeveloped property 80 feet from the road with no plumbing or electricity in Montana might be cheap, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good investment. If you are starting up a restaurant, you don’t want to serve the cheapest possible booze.

I guess the purpose of these examples is to show that sometimes the mania for frugality and savings isn’t always the best idea. Saving money can’t always be solely about retiring or financial freedom. Between now and then there is a life to be lived, and lived safely and comfortably.

society and the individual

Steve — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:25:08 +0000

All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.

- Albert Einstein

I love pop culture, as long as it is MY pop culture. I love Star Trek, Star Wars, the Matrix and the Lord of the Rings and don’t care much for American Idol. Loving one and not caring for the other won’t make me much better or worse as a person; there is nothing in Star Trek that makes the fans of that show “better” than the fans of American Idol. Yet I feel that there is some value from the one show not possible from the other. I feel that liking one over the other makes me more of an individual.

There are many opportunities for the individual to disappear in a society. In a totalitarian society, the disappearance of individual is a survival instinct. In a command economy, it’s the easiest action. In a capitalist society, it’s not the way to wealth but it may serve as the avoidance of poverty.

If you stop and think about the ways in which you can live a “life fully lived”, either through commerce or service or self-improvement, the individual is key. I imagine Donald Trump gets the same sense of satisfaction through commerce as a community organizer does through service to others, although I can’t be sure. But the opportunity for development accorded to the individual makes or breaks a society.

Do you want your neighbors to succeed? Your city? Your state? Your country? Your world? At each point you’re concentrating less on your own self-development and more on a larger ideal. As a family man, I concentrate less on my own self-development (reading, contemplation, exercise, etc.) and more on my family’s development. I think others expand this to concentrate more upon their neighbors’ development, and so on. It’s not a bad thing, but I think every time you set aside your own self development for society’s, you eventually will suffer.

Boil it down to real life? Killing yourself to guarantee your children’s college education? Paying exorbitant taxes to support a dying city? Working to support a corporation? Destroying your own health to support a family? All are self-defeating in the long view. Each will eventually undermine the initial reasoning; working long hours and wrecking your health to support your family will fail to pay off when you die young, for example.

Most people can’t make that difficult choice to concentrate on their own self-development. I’ll be honest: I can’t. It’s hard to say that you need to work on your own happiness or health or prosperity now to ensure your family (or friends’, or community’s, or whatever) betterment tomorrow. Sacrifice is tough in the short term. America hasn’t demonstrated much stomach for that in the last decade or two, and we’ll pay the price in the next couple of decades. But if you want to help others often the best way is to learn to help yourself first.

photo credit: pvera

top 10 healthy and frugal foods

Steve — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:18:43 +0000

If you are concerned about your health and also concerned about your money, you’re often going to be concerned that the two appear to be in conflict. It’s tough to eat healthy on a budget (but the opposite isn’t true: it’s easy to eat horribly while spending a lot). There are heart-healthy foods anyone can eat that don’t cost a fortune. The trick is simple. Don’t eat processed foods, and eat smaller portions of the pricier foods. Thomas Jefferson said ”I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables which constitute my principal diet.” That’s good advice for the most part, both from a financial and health point of view. Eating less meat will save you money and – by and large – won’t hurt your health. You do need protein, and humans have for most of their history obtained that protein from animals, but the current consumption levels for the average American have become ridiculous. I’ve had plenty of conversations with friends who don’t think they’ve eaten a meal unless the largest part of that meal was meat. That’s not a good way to live. As Jefferson said, meat should be a side dish, not the main dish. It’s good for your wallet and your waistline.

So what are the healthiest foods for your heart, and how can they be good for your finances, too?

1. Oatmeal. Providing omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, potassium, folate, niacin, calcium, and soluble fiber, oatmeal is one of the top foods for health. But it’s also a great budget meal. It’s seldom expensive, it’s easily complemented with fresh fruit or a variety of spices (think cinnamon and nutmeg) and it’s one of the cheapest items in the grocery aisle.

2. Black beans. With B-complex vitamins, niacin, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, and soluble fiber black beans are a great source of nutrition and practically free compared to most processed foods.

3. Nuts. Almonds provide omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E as well as heart-favorable mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Walnuts do the same. While nuts are nutrient-dense, they are also calorie-dense. Make sure you snack on nuts, rather than making a meal out of them. They aren’t cheap, but if you remember that they are supposed to be eaten in very small portions they are very reasonable.

4. Tea. With catechins and flavonols (flavonoids), tea is probably the best drink you can imbibe other than water. If you’re concerned about caffeine – and you should be, caffeine is not a healthy stimulant – drink green or white tea to get all the health benefits without any of the downsides of black tea (or coffee). Tea’s cheap, too – you can get excellent organic teas for less than the cost of a 12 pack of high-fructose corn-syrup-laden soda.

5. Tuna. With omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and niacin, tuna’s a great meat choice if you have to eat meat. Make sure you get dolphin-friendly tuna that’s packaged in water, not oil. It’s one of the least expensive meat options you can find, and it can satisfy all of your meat-related nutritional needs. without breaking the bank.

6. Tomatoes. The tomato is a rich food, with beta- and alpha-carotene, lycopene, lutein (carotenoids), vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Here’s the catch: tomatoes aren’t frugal. They tend to be among the most expensive produce items you can buy in a supermarket. But you can grow tomatoes. They tend to be some of the easiest things to grow, and you can often grow them indoors. The health benefits are worth the slight bit of effort to grow them on your own.

7. Brown rice has B-complex vitamins, fiber, niacin, magnesium, and fiber. I’m not a huge fan of carbs, but for basic nutrition and calories brown rice is hard to beat. In moderation it won’t cause much weight gain, and its nutritional benefits (and extremely low cost) make it a food worth considering.

8. Carrots. Alpha-carotene (a carotenoid) and fiber make this a great food. It works for rabbits, right? There’s little reason to avoid carrots. They are sweet, crunchy, and healthy. They tend to be some of the least expensive produce you can buy, making this a great choice for healthy food.

9. Spinach has lutein (a carotenoid), B-complex vitamins, calcium, and fiber. Dark leafy greens are always good for you, and particularly good for heart health. Spinach tends to be one of the least expensive leafy greens, so it’s a great choice for health and wealth.

10. Red wine. Wine’s debatable for a number of reasons. It can cause health problems if not taken in moderation. If you get into fancy wines, it’s not good for your wallet, either. But wine does provide catechins and reservatrol (flavonoids). Both have been shown to have potent anti-aging effects, so consider hoisting a glass or two for health. And inexpensive wines have come a long way in recent years. You can have excellent wines without spending a fortune.

It’s not easy to be healthy and frugal, but it can be done; give these 10 items a shot! And suggest more if I’ve missed a few….

License Some rights reserved by epSos.de

carnivals

Steve — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:04:53 +0000

I didn’t manage a link roundup this weekend, but I did submit to a few carnivals. Here’s the list of the ones that reminded me to link back (!). Check them out… you’re always likely to find an article or two you’ll be interested in if you visit the carnivals.

Best of Money Carnival Carnival #149 – April Fool’s Edition | Budgeting In the Fun Stuff
Totally Money Blog Carnival #62 – Easter Edition | StupidCents
Dewey’s Treehouse: Festival of Frugality #330: Before You Take Out a Lion Edition

Photo Some rights reserved by kevin dooley

so it goes

Steve — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:49:40 +0000

before and after I lost 100 pounds

“So it goes.” - Kurt Vonnegut, in Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death, by Kurt Vonnegut, a Fourth-Generation German-American Now Living in Easy Circumstances on Cape Cod [and Smoking Too Much], Who, as an American Infantry Scout Hors de Combat, as a Prisoner of War, Witnessed the Fire Bombing of Dresden, Germany, ‘The Florence of the Elbe,’ a Long Time Ago, and Survived to Tell the Tale. This Is a Novel Somewhat in the Telegraphic Schizophrenic Manner of Tales of the Planet Tralfamadore, Where the Flying Saucers Come From. Peace.

I’ve always loved that title, that book, that author, that quotation. I can’t think of better words to describe a healthy lifestyle, at least from a mental point of view… but I’m actually thinking more about the physical.

Speaking of that, I’m going to make an attempt to write more about health on this blog, and the effect of health on (and against) gaining financial independence. I was an exceptionally healthy guy who’s now slid into, well, unhealthiness, even while doing well financially. I’m going to write more about getting healthy again and how that affects finances. It’s a fairly good niche, although it’s been covered before, but it’s the biggest single challenge facing me, and since I need something more specific to focus on, that’s it. I’m making good money, I have a good career, but health is becoming a challenge thanks to a desk job (you don’t think when you’re healthy that you’re going to get early signs of carpal tunnel syndrome…) and my own poor choices, and I’m going to write about getting back to success in health and fitness. I’ve written about it before in 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds and you’ll see more of it soon. It’s going to have to be my focus, even exceeding finances.

I was in a couple of carnivals, and one article I’d like to mention:

the regulatory pendulum and links

Steve — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:13:44 +0000

In the wake of the wildly popular – at least with hedge funds, investment banks and tech firms “JOBS Act” (read about it: jobs act – Google Search) we’ll see an explosion of interest in investing in small companies in the US. I suppose it was only a matter of time until the next bubble was created. I am paid to monitor this type of regulation and assess its impact, and I think we’ll see a huge small company investment bubble over the next few years. You’ll read about how hot the market is for small company IPOs and hear about how the US is the most unregulated, and therefore most friendly, market in the world. Inevitably, it will end. We’ll have another Enron, or Worldcom, and we’ll start all over again on the other side of the pendulum. Regulations that were created in the 2002-2003 post-Enron reactionary period are being rolled back now in favor of “growth.” It will create growth, of that I have no doubt. Will it create real growth, or the phantom growth of the Madoffs and MLMs of the world pushing “investments” on unsophisticated investors? Time will tell, but I bet on the latter. Hedge your bets. A bubble is coming.

Links… all worth reading…

And a couple of carnivals I participated in:

Photo Some rights reserved by prayitno

back to school (the imaginary kind)

Steve — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:08:38 +0000

This is an old article from brip blap – almost four years ago – so in case you missed it the first time, here it is again…

I have given some thought over the years to going back to school. Ah, to be back in the fraternity, drinking Schlitz, playing lacrosse and sleeping from 4 am to 2 pm. Oh, you thought I meant for the classes and the knowledge? Are you kidding me?

[In 2007] I was invited to participate in a meme: to devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. I was supposed to pick one of the courses that the person who ‘tagged’ me for the meme chose, as well, so that we can skip classes and copy each other’s notes. Just for the sake of being different I’ll attend 7 (imaginary) courses.

Art of Persuasion 101 is the class I’d like to share with her [Melissa, who originally tagged me]. Why? Who doesn’t need this skill? Is there any way that’s NOT a useful skill to have? I can think of a million ways that could be useful, but in particular being able to persuade my son to eat his breakfast would be a HUGE benefit!
Car Maintenance for Your Post-2000 Car 101: When I was younger, I managed to do a lot of car maintenance on my 1976 Mercury Comet without too much trouble. Nowadays I open up the hood and don’t see much that I can distinguish from the guts of my Toshiba computer. I’m nervous just adding wiper fluid. Hopefully this imaginary life-fixing college would have an imaginary community college campus where I could take a class like this one.
Simplification 101: As much as I do try to simplify, there is always something new to complicate my life. I’d like to have a magic bullet – as much as I know there isn’t one – so why not take a course like this?
Yoga 102: I have been to a yoga course, and I liked it. I like the idea, I like the fact that many pro athletes rely on it for conditioning, and I like the promised stress relieving benefits. Yet… I never do it. I need a class to convince me once and for all that I need to engage myself fully in yoga.
Real Estate Appraisal/Inspection 101: OK, the real estate bubble burst. OK, this isn’t your typical college course. However, I can’t imagine any way, shape or form it wouldn’t be handy to have a good understanding of how to appraise and inspect and evaluate real estate. Even if you never invest in real estate, being able to help family and friends or even look at your own home would be a hugely useful skill.
Environmental Studies 202: I’ve read a lot about the environment. One book in particular shook me terribly, but I sometimes feel that I could use a twofold course about the environment: 1, the detailed science around global warming, 2, a detailed examination of the environmental threats faced by urban dwellers and 3, how to protect your home. Fortunately most of this information is available through blogs and websites so I’ve got a lot of resources to fall back on.
Getting Off the Grid 101: I get really worried sometimes that I’m “out there” too much…hence the semi-anonymous blogging. There may be too many people with too much information about me. I think a thorough course in how to “disappear” myself as much as possible would probably be handy later on in life. I may actually soon de-anonymize (is that a word) brip blap [ed. note: since 2007 I have...], so I probably have to be careful about this…

I suspect as I look at that list I may have been too narrow minded – these are hardly grand themes to fix my life, just tweaks. I just thought that something like “Perfect Retirement Planning” wouldn’t be as interesting to read. In any case, these courses would fix parts of my life.

And one more course for nothing more than my own enjoyment, Astronomy 103b “Just the Cool Stuff.” I love astronomy – discovering planets, dark matter, Voyager and Pioneer trivia, quasars, and on and on. I am really, really fascinated by the Pillars of Creation. Oddly enough, I never took a course in astronomy while at college and have never done more than show a layman’s fascination. I think in an alternate lifetime I was an astronomer, though, because I could read about this stuff for days. Nothing close to earth like the space shuttle or the space station, but the crazy far-off stuff just fascinates me. It won’t fix my life but it might make me happier… so that might be a fix, anyway.

Tags. Hmm. I tagged a bunch of people recently so maybe I’ll stretch past my normal blogroll and tag-ees and go to some blogs I haven’t mentioned much (or at all) before, but that I do read: Variable Interest and One Money Dummy Getting Smarter. And as always, tag yourself if you feel so inclined!

Recommended Reading

Photo Some rights reserved by kschlot1

8 steps to a six figure career, the infographic

Steve — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:00:50 +0000

One of the most popular posts on brip blap was my post “8 steps to a six figure career” which now, thanks to The Gap Partnership is now in infographic form. I don’t ask this often, but if you like this you could definitely help me show this off with a Facebook like or a Pinterest pin or whatever other social media you like to share on! Thanks!

what message are you sending?

Steve — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:48:53 +0000

Here’s a tshirt I saw on a little girl once, which read:

1. I want it.
2. You buy it.
3. Any questions?

I doubted the kid chose such a ridiculous shirt – I know from personal experience that kids are more likely to clamor for Angry Birds or Cars t-shirts than they are for ones with words – so what parent would buy such a shirt?

My first reaction was to hope that it was meant just the way it sounds – as a joke. My son (who was a reluctant napper in his toddlerhood) had a t-shirt that said “Naps are the enemy.” It’s a joke. I put it in the same category as “I’m with Stupid” t-shirts. But part of me thinks that this message, humorous or not, is going to be repeated again and again around the child, to the child, and (because it’s funny) approvingly. I don’t want my kids to think naps are a bad thing, and I don’t want this girl to think she gets anything she wants just because she asks for it.

That t-shirt summarizes an awful lot of what is wrong with the debt/consumer society. Could you imagine what kind of values that little girl is going to have if she continually sees her parents whipping out the credit card to buy her every little toy (now) or shoes or makeup (later) when she demands it? She’s going to be a financial wreck when she finally goes out on her own. The saddest thing is that her parents probably think they are being nice. There is a saying that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” If a parent thinks they are being nice to a child by giving in to their every desire – giving them a “perfect childhood” – they are laying the groundwork for the road to (financial) hell.

So what would you put on a t-shirt? Would you wear this one:

let me tell you how to be rich

step 1: spend less than you earn
step 2: figure out how to earn more
step 3: start over at step 1

It’s not funny, because I couldn’t think of anything clever, but give me some ideas – there has to be a cute or clever way to get this message across. “My piggy bank can kick your piggy bank’s a**?”

What’s the slogan for your t-shirt?