Flooded goose can't read the sign

After looking through our options it seems that the condo insurance covers part of the damage and our landlord's insurance covers much of the rest. What's not covered? The tenant's personal property and the cost of their alternative living while we made it livable again (7 days or so). Why is it not covered? We had a standard lease that leave it up to the tenant's rental insurance. The tenant has no renter's insurance. They have no legal recourse and they know it.

So when it came time to discuss what to do, we gave them a couple of options. We happened to find a cheaper place that they could move into while we remodel. We'd simply all agree to break the lease and keep the relationship cordial, so that they may come back when renovations are complete. Alternatively, we could let them live there during the renovations (it will still be livable).

My friend who is a real estate lawyer in MA, said the best idea would try to get them to break the lease give them back some money for damages and try to rent out a fixed up place in September. That sounds like a lot of loss on our side (months without rent, giving them money for their lack of insurance) that we shouldn't have to take in my opinion. His thought was that it's probably worth it to resolve the situation and move on. I didn't really buy it because when you barely break even on the rent, it's painful to go into the negatives. (Regular long-time readers may know that we intended for these to be our primary residence long ago, but we met each other, found much better job opportunities. Breaking even is much better than a big loss in the current market.)

The resolution seemed pretty simple. We went through the section of the lease (fire and causality) with the tenant and outlined the responsibilities of each party. We showed how we were doing our part, but that their part was going to have to be to take care of their possessions as outlined. They saw it our way. They didn't want to go through the hassle of moving (who can blame them?) and said that they'd stay through the renovations. They even offered to help let in the contractor for the renovations. They did request asked for July's rent back and we decided it was probably worth that to move on. It seems reasonable to me that they should get something back for not having the place they were expecting and having gone through this inconvenience as well. Maybe we are just a little too nice.

What would you have done?

Photo Credit: Todd Quinn

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Money Writers:

• Brip Blap posts getting a job on wall street, circa 2009.
• Frugal Dad shares seven secret places to hide cash in your home… well they were secret before this post!
• Generation X Finance says your home is NOT an investment! Don’t treat it like one.
• Are you radically frugal? Find out with Million Dollar Journey.
• Digerati Life presents best travel sites for cheap vacation deals.
• Money Smart Life discusses mortgage pre-approval when buying a house.
• Jill blogs at My Dollar Plan about how to get control of your budget!
• The Sun’s Financial Diary writes trade carbon emissions with ETFs.

More Financial Posts:

• Free Money Finance asks what is money?
• Five Cent Nickel shares some strategies to curb lifestyle inflation. What are yours?
• Consumer Commentary reveals 10 purchases that can harm your credit.

Financial Posts of the Week:

• Your Money to Keep writes a semi-serious semi-humorous post on 5 ways to get $20K by Monday
• Money and Investing blogs fixed cost vs. time and materials.
• Rich Credit Debt Loan gives4 tips to improve your finances.
• Realm of Prosperity posts 3 things to stop buying for your health and your wallet.
• Saving to Invest says there are 5 steps [you can] take now in preparation for double digit inflation.
• Blunt Money shares foreclosure from a renter’s perspective.
• Steadfast Finances asks why do we rent some stuff but buy other stuff?
• Sick of Being Poor says I resigned this morning!
• Wise Money Matters explains how to weather a recession.
• Money Under 30 presents how to create a five-year financial plan.
• Canada Personal Finance Website posts how to save money by downsizing saying it’s not always a bad thing.
• Studenomics writes how to prevent getting scammed by all-you-can-eat buffets.

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The most obvious reason why anyone would hire anyone is efficiency. Let's pretend that I like being a software engineer and I'm good at it. People in Silicon Valley would easily paid $100 and hour for this. Let's also say that I'm really bad at changing the oil in my car and mowing my lawn - especially because this is true. Together these tasks would take me an hour easy. However, an oil change is around $25 (though it takes a few minutes of my time for the quick change place) and mowing a lawn could also be $25 (depending on the size of the lawn and the neighborhood kid I hire) and might take none of my time. Each job is done better than I could have done it. The key factor is that I can write software for an extra hour... and come out $50 ahead, and feel less stress. This is especially true when it comes to hiring some housekeeping services. I'm really inefficient in cleaning and I don't really care to be more efficent - it doesn't interest me.

The same concept holds in the virtual world. While I might be able to format, edit, add a picture, and publish my own content relatively efficiently (I do for all Lazy Man branded sites), there are some cases where I can practically be in more places at one time due to the virtual assistant. It goes back to the classic stand-by... time is money. Well, I'm buying more time for my money. That comes down to the value that you are getting for your money. Without a virtual assistant, I would have to be much less Lazy... and that's a bad thing.

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I'm going to start off with my experience, which is probably not the answer everyone is looking for... I have a friend who referred me. I suppose that's how most jobs are filled. Still I have some advice if I didn't get that introduction, I'd look into these two services.

• Elance it - Elance.com has a number of people willing to help you. I employ a writer from there for side projects.
• Ask Sunday - Ask Sunday is a site that is more research-oriented. They are offering more tasks recently, but it's still not just a free-form which I use. So while I've been tempted to get a subscription from time to time, I haven't pulled the trigger.

The biggest key to a successful relationship with a virtual assistant is... the relationship. You have to know what you can and can not ask. Keep your assistant happy and he/she will keep you happy.

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Enough intro, let's get to the meat of this month's update. I made $1,507.40 last month. I have been dipping my toes into Build-a-Niche Stores (BANS) the last few months. I had some initial success, but it has since died down. Since there's plenty of information out there on Build-a-Niche Stores, I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to look into. I will say that lately it's been break-even at best, especially after paying a virtual assistant.

That leads me into another point... I've hired a virtual assistant. With full-time work paying me too well to focus 100% on all the ideas that I want to do, I've hired a virtual assistant. I pay her by the job and she helps me with a lot of miscellaneous blogging tasks that I'm just too busy to do. She's also making it possible for me to start two new projects. One project should be starting later on this month. It's unrelated to Lazy Man and Money, so I'm not sure how to announce here. More than likely, I'll announce via a third blog that I've been trying to get off the ground. A couple of people who I've talked to said that it might be bigger than Lazy Man and Money. That is encouraging. Now that I have you (and myself) completely confused, I'll shut up and just move on.

The other idea is more complex and is probably not going to be ready to launch within a month. I think it has good potential, but it's going to cost me a lot of money to get off the ground. I don't imagine making money for the first year. Maybe in year two, I'd start to break even. The idea after that is to see things ramp up and turn positive. I'm optimistic about the idea, I'm kind of neutral about the business plan behind it (others have skeptical about my business plan too). I'm just going to have to go forward with it and take the risk... at the very least I will learn something and it will be something to write here.

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Most Handsome Dog

Before I get to the links, I do want to mention something about Steve McNair, the 36 year old former NFL quarterback found dead today. I know that famous people have been dropping like flies lately, but I think Mr. McNair will be a smaller story. It shouldn't be. Steve McNair was always a great and classy player. More often than not he was playing with a dozen injuries... and won despite them. I sometimes wonder how the football world would have changed if not for a foot in the 2000 Super Bowl. It's unfair for me to only give him a footnote in this column - I wish I could say more... and I might in future days.

Now to the links which are a little older. I'll try to bring you to update later this week:

Money Writers:

• Brip Blap posts when financial behavior becomes set in stone.
• Here are some car maintenance tips to help your odometer reach 300,000 miles by Frugal Dad.
• Generation X Finance answers this reader question: “I don’t have much savings so can I use unused credit as an emergency fund?
• Million Dollar Journey presents budgeting simplified.
• Tim Parker guest blogs at Digerati Life with how to plan a wedding without getting stressed.
• Money Smart Life discusses money and your health.
• My Dollar Plan says student loan rates will drop to all time low.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary declares “I hate IGoBanking!

More Financial Posts:

• No Credit Needed talks about breaking bad financial habits - impulse purchases.
• Free Money Finance asks should women marry for money?
• Bargaineering says be successful by learning delayed gratification.

Great Personal Finance Posts:

• One Frugal Girl asks is it wrong to return every gift on your registry?
• Smart Money Daily writes about the biggest losers in these economic times.
• Steadfast Finances says sometimes the hardest (and wisest) thing to do is to do nothing.
• Credit Card Watcher posts have credit card debt? It’s time to make a deal!
• All Financial Matters asks if mortgage fraud occurred, why don’t we prosecute the offenders?
• Get Rich Slick shares the most ludicrous statement on health insurance ever!
• The Bag Lady posts raise, paycut, pay freeze, or layoff? Dealing with unease in the Silicon Valley…
• Graduate Learning After College presents layoff survival guide: what to do with your 401(k).
• Funny About Money posts older houses: living better with less?
• Rich Credit Debt Loan gives a 401k Introduction on money and taxes.
• Monevator gives five reasons to buy commercial property.

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That was a simple thought that popped in my head on the way to work yesterday. The "we" that I had in mind is the all the people in the earth collectively, not individuals. Surely, one individual can create wealth for him or herself. In Silicon Valley alone, there are numerous examples of that. The "wealth creation" that I am referring to is real dollars - not factoring quality of life improvements.

Why am I looking at the big picture and dollar figures themselves? It occurred to me that many things in life are zero sum games. For those unfamiliar with the concept of zero-sum, it's a situation where a loss from one party must be an equal gain by another. In school, you may have learned that energy is neither created nor destroyed. That's an example of a zero-sum game. Also, when your favorite sports team wins, the loss by the other team is balanced (we'll ignore the unnatural case of hockey overtime wins).

Is Wealth Creation a Zero-Sum Game?

Logically, in my opinion, it seems that wealth (in the terms of this article) can't be created. I think of a small system of a few people with money providing services. Money can move between the people for the various services they provide, but money isn't added to group. Now take the 6 people and expand it to 6 billion. It's still a closed system where money shifts around, right?

If I buy a Palm Pre, I'm transferring my money to multiple people, Palm's and Sprint's employees and shareholders, the person who leases the Sprint store to Palm, etc. On the other hand, if I write this article, and Google's advertising program determines that it's about the Palm Pre, Palm and Sprint will be indirectly paying me if I send them traffic. In these scenarios I don't see where new money is created... except by credit. However, credit is balanced by interest rates. I'm sure some of you might be thinking that the government is literally printing up money every day. That can be explained by inflation. Since there are more dollars around, each dollar buys less product.

Am I wrong? Is money being added into the system and I'm simply missing it? If I am wrong, I apologize. It certainly isn't the first-time, nor will it be the last one. If I'm right though... what conclusions must we draw?

• Every dollar I earn makes someone else (or multiple people) poorer - If wealth is a zero-sum game, that's the sad truth right?
• Every dollar the US makes, makes the rest of the world poorer - I am really starting to depress myself now.
• There is no fix for a poor global economy - This is the most interesting one to me. It means that the global economy has no real booms nor real difficulties. It also means that the global economy can't be too bad - since money can't disappear.

Look at that last point for a minute. How can one imagine that the global economy is never in a good or bad state? I look back at credit. If credit is flowing around like water, it seems like there's a lot of money in the system. If credit dries up and everyone wants their money, the lack of free flowing money makes the global economy look bad.

So I don't leave you on a completely depressing note, I'd like to point to an article of a completely opposite viewpoint. The Coyote Blog says that wealth creation and zero-sum finances is a fallacy. He makes some very interesting points. The biggest one I can see is that the quality of life for everyone globally is much improved... thus we are all wealthier. I wouldn't argue this point. Obviously advances in technology is going to make life easier. We, as a human race, are becoming more and more informed of our surroundings and are getting better at adapting those surroundings to make lives better.

In that respect, we collectively create more wealth each and every day.

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Save Money on Glasses and Contact Lenses

I was cleaning my glasses the other day and like the butter fingers I am, dropped them. A lens popped out. I instantly thought, "Great, I'm going to have buy new glasses now." (I should note that I'm new to the glass-wearing crowd.) I suddenly thought, "What would happen if these glasses were broken?" How could I replace them cheaply?

With that in mind here are a few tips to save money on glasses and contact lenses:

Buy Glasses and Contacts in Discount Stores

• Buy Glasses and Contacts at Wal-Mart - This is where I got my current glasses. I decked them out with nearly every option and they came in at $200. If I had gone to a specialty store they would have been a lot more.

  I must admit that I didn't research it much at the time, but Wal-Mart has always been a "go-to" store for me when I didn't have time to research. In the business world, there's a famous saying that says nobody ever got fired for buying IBM products. I think the same could be said for saving money at Wal-Mart.

• Buy Glasses and Contacts at a Discount Warehouse - Before my most Wal-Mart purchase, I went to BJ's Warehouse to partake of their 2 pairs of glasses for $99 special. You don't get any frills like anti-glare coating, but overall it was a good price.

Buy Glasses and Contacts Online

Buying glasses and contacts online might be the single best key to saving money on glasses and contact lenses. Sure you might have to wait some time for them to reach you, but the savings can be big. Plus, I typically wait a week or more for glasses from online stores. I went to one random site and com

• Contact Lens Comparison Shopping - One place where you can compare contact lenses is at LensShopper.
• Eyeglass Comparison Shopping - A good place that focuses on glasses specifically is Eyeglass Retailer Reviews
• Buy Glasses Online - The glass I got from Wal-Mart had just about everything you can imagine. They are anti-glare and transition lenses. That cost me $200. I went to Prescription Glasses Online (who might not be reputable), and found that the same glasses would cost about $100.

You really discuss buying glasses online without mentioning GlassyEyes and his experience (hint: it's very a good one). He's got a lot of comments and even responded to one optometrist's opinion.

Another Idea

• Get a Price Match - It doesn't always make sense to start out looking for a price match (where's the savings on a match?), but it helped out CleverDude.

To finish up my story about my dropped glasses, I simple brought them Wal-Mart. They fixed them in about 4 minutes. The most interesting thing to me is that they never asked my name, never verified that I was a previous customer, nothing.

Photo Credit: BrittneyBush

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I know some bloggers might be upset about sending traffic to others. That's the wrong attitude. Give your readers the best information, even if it's not on your site and they'll come back. Also, others in the Blog Traffic Exchange are sending you back readers. If you have a quality blog (and I'm sure you do), these readers will notice and want to stick around.

The Blog Traffic Exchange aims to keep everything fair. If you receive more than you give out, you may be cut off from receiving until you catch up. (I'm hearing "will be cut off" is the better phrase, but I don't want to be that absolute without confirmation.) However, you can escape this clause a bit, by upgrading to a Pro Account.

The Pro Account gives you the ability to be a little unbalanced. You also get full stats about who is linking to you, who is clicking on your site, and who is sending traffic. Coming soon to Pro Accounts is a way to black list sites so you don't have to send traffic to a competitor's site. In short, if you are trying to monetize a blog, the Pro Account is worth every penny.

This is where the exclusive, limited-time offer comes in. The Blog Traffic Exchange will charge you $20/mo. or $200 a year, but as a wholesaler, I can give offer it cheaper... $10 a month or $100 a year. I only have 10 accounts available, so if this sounds like something you might be interested in, act quickly.

First you'll have to get the basic Blog Traffic Exchange Wordpress plugin and install it. Then you'll have to request a key which you can use in the Paypal form below to upgrade to a Pro account. I don't want to go into the full installation instructions, they are on the Blog Traffic Exchange website.

$10 a month:

BTE API Key

$100 a year:

BTE API KEY

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Here are some other interesting items from the Amazon Friday Sale:

• Pike Street 3 in 1 Softie Wrap/Throw - Holy switched advertising Batman. I was going to make fun of this product because the image makes it looks like you are getting your Monk on: . When you click through to buy (you may have to scroll to the chocolate color, it went right there for me before), they tempt you with a hot babe on a bed showing some serious leg. Monks everywhere must be disappointed.
• I Am Not a Paper Cup - I love this marketing plan. Let's just list all the things it's not... I am not a hammer... I am not underwear... I am not the thing your aunt gave that you don't know what it is... Bonus geek cred to any reader who gets that last reference.
• Calculator Paper Rolls, 2.25 Inches x 150 Feet, White, 100/Carton - The two people left in the world that still use calculators with paper could probably split this box of 100 rolls and have enough for 10 lifetimes... I suppose that's why they are 60% off.
• American Innovative Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock - I'm a sucker for anything with "innovative" in the product name. They wouldn't lie right? However, add in "American" in the product name and you had me at "hello." These guys just got greedy by adding executing and promising you'd never be late again. It just ruined it for me. They should learn to quit while they are ahead.
• Collapsible Pet Feeder - I love anything collapsible. We have collapsible colanders, food storage containers, funnels, pretty much anything you can think of. However, this is the first time I've seen a pet dish that does this. It looks a little flimsy for Jacoby, so I'll pass.
• Track'r Pet Bicycle Trailer - The wife is looking to start bicycling for exercise. Extra exercise and getting Jacoby some fresh air? Sounds like a win-win. However, it doesn't sound as much as a win-win as jogging with him so that he gets exercise too. He'll also outgrow this quickly so we'd have to step up to the large.

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You might know Moolanomy from his very popular personal finance blog... or one of several hundred concurrent projects he runs. Those projects range from Personal Finance Buzz, a place to vote up your favorite personal finance posts, to Blogthority, a resource dedicated to all things blogging. To be brutally honest, his lack of Laziness bugged the poop right out of me. He is very much Bizarro Lazy Man. I got over this bitterness though. We are on the same team - trying to help people better manage their money to live well and be happy.

Getting back to Moolanomy Answers, you can either ask questions, or if you think you are Mr. Smarty Pants, give a shot at answering questions. By answering questions you'll earn points. For a limited time the points could win you an iPod Shuffle. Help people out and get a chance at free music? That sounds like a win to me.

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I gave the simulator a shot and I almost reduced the state deficit in half, while increasing K-12 education to the national levels. In order to do that I turned the state into a toxic waste dump and drove out every corporation with raised taxes. I think I also had to raise the sales tax from 9.25% (in my county at least) to around 78%. Oh and I had to let all the criminals go free. Maybe the companies that make bars for windows will stick around... not that anyone can afford them with the sales tax.

I'm making a big joke of the situation in California, but it's no laughing matter. The state has some serious issues and people are going to be negatively affected (they already are). I need to commend Next10. I've always been a fan of crowdsourcing a solution and while that would be nice, the education that Next10 is giving Californians is a step in the right direction.

Did you try the simulator? Tell me the choices you made in the comments below...

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My parents divorced in 1990. They were married for 18 years. While Lazy Man and I were engaged he gave me the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki while we were on vacation in Hawaii. After I read the book, I realized that money was at the root of what went wrong in my parents' marriage.

Here are the milestones of their financial life:

• July 1972 - My parents moved out of their parents' house and into an apartment in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the Greater Boston area. At the time, my grandfather's real estate company owned the building and my father and mother lived there rent-free in exchange for being superintendents. There was no written contract signed and the compensation was free rent only, no pay. My dad worked during the day as a groundskeeper for the local playgrounds and occassionally pumping gas. My mom was a secretary. They did not have a checking account. My mom paid all the bills with money orders.
• December 1974 - My mother stopped working to become a stay at home mom. My father gave her $140.00 a week in cash for groceries and incidentals.
• 1979 - Dad was pumping gas when became friendly with the priests at the local church. They invited our family to a spaghetti supper. We went and my mother met all the neighbors and became friendly which them. The people they met are highly educated: engineers, doctors, nurses, rocket scientists, and professors at private universities. My mom flourished in this crowd and joins the parish council and the hospitality committee. My father, a high school dropout, who was illiterate until 1986 never went back to the church. My dad never went to the parties and never went to mass. He simply claimed that "he is too stupid." In the meantime, my mom went to lavish parties, and drank from fine crystal. Her friends got mink coats for Christmas. My mother naturally wanted the same. She invited her friends over for a party and spends $500 to give them the . She asks my dad for an 1100 mink coat. It doesn't end, if it wasn't the mink coat, it was something else high end. My dad sees the neighbors with high end electronics and cars. He just goes out and buys them without consulting my mother. This includes a boat for my dad enjoys fresh water fishing.
• September 1985 - My mother got in a car accident. This lead to a law suit. My parents had no emergency fund to pay the legal and medical fees. My mother went to the bank and closed my sister and my college fund to pay the fees. This savings account was started by my grandmother. It had all the money I got from our baptism and our first communion - a couple thousand dollars. My sister and I would never see this money again.
• Early 1987 - My parents constantly fought about money and spending. I remember one case where my mother bought perfume, cigarettes, and other personal items. My dad didn't approve of this use of "his money."
• Late 1987 - My mom decided to quit smoking to help with costs and go back to work as a secretary. My sister and I became "latchkey kids."
• The fights about money did not get better and became verbally abusive. The culminated when my mother got a speeding ticket. With no emergency fund, a $600 ticket is a lot of money.
• 1990 - My parents separated in 1990. My dad was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and depression. The court ordered my dad to give my mother $160 a week for my sister and I, who will start college in 1993. He routinely forgot to send the check and my mother had to get his work to send her the money directly. We stayed in the apartment and my mom, my sister, and I took over the maintence duties. Later, NBC would approach my mom about doing a sitcom based on a mother and two daughters managing an apartment My mom was too self-conscious about her writing and turned the offer down.
• Late 1990 - My dad moved back in with this parents. He bought a conversion van with a VCR. Over the next 10 years he moved in with three women... and bought a timeshare with one of them.
• 1995 - My college sent a $1900 bill for tuition. My mother was not prepared for it and states, "You can't go back, I don't have the money." She has a condo filled with decorative items for catalogues. At Christmas each year, she buys multiple gifts for all friends and hosts a party with gifts for all guests. She borrowed the money for my college from a friend. I worked two summer jobs to pay the friend back.
• 1999 - I am have financial problems myself. My externship for school required you to have a car to get to your extern site (something they conveniently neglected to mention). I asked my dad (since he was only giving me $80 a week for child support) if he could help me with gas for the car. He gave me his Exxon credit card. When the bill came, I realized he was not paying the balance on the card. I later found out he wasn't paying the balance of any of his bills - including his car payments on the conversion van.
• 2001 - My dad declares bankruptcy. My aunt and I had a conversation regarding this. We had no idea how this could have happened. He has never had to pay rent. He didn't go on luxury vacations. He never helped with college expenses. He bought a lot of items that depreciate value like cars and boats. My grandmother told me that my parents were "big spenders" and was upset about their lack of saving.
• 2007 - For my wedding to Lazy Man, my mother borrowed $5000 from her 401k plan so her 50 friends from the church could attend the wedding. Lazy Man and I strongly discouraged this. Our theory was that if you can't afford it, then shouldn't go. We wanted a small wedding anyways. However, since she was invited to their kids' weddings at the Ritz Carlton it would be social suicide if she did not reciprocate.

Current Day

My Dad: When you are married more than ten years your spouse is entitled to a percentage of your retirement if your spouse doesn't remarry. My mother has not remarried. She has a boyfriend, but is too set in her ways to remarry. My dad does not want my mother to get 18% of his retirement. His answer is to "work until he dies."

My Mom: She is also worried about retiremennt. Borrowing from her 401k for our wedding doesn't help matters. I told her she would have to sell her condo which is now worth 3 times what she bought it for. She put my grandparents' house in her name. When my grandfather dies, she will have that money - at least $200,000. Today, my mother still has no emergency fund.

My feeling today is that Lazy Man and I should not be involved in helping them. They made the bed... they should lie in it. If you couldn't tell, I am extremely bitter about the college fund wipeout and my dad's lack of support during my college years. Maybe time will heal that wound, but there's always going to be scar in my eyes.

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5. Rich Dad, Poor Dad I've been

Now that I've thoroughly depressed everyone, let's switch to a more happy topic... the new iPhone came out this week. My office is abuzz and of course a couple of people had them on the first day. I've been loving my Palm Pre. (The drawback is fairly poor battery life - even after implementing the suggestions from around the web). One of the more interesting things that I've found is that people ask me what amazing thing the Palm Pre thing that the iPhone doesn't do. Personally, I'd like to just say "work on Sprint which is a lot cheaper." It's funny these people only seem to care about the price of the device... and these are the smart, mature ones.

I've come up with a new demo though to why the Palm Pre is great. I pick up the phone and slide it open and start typing in "Ted Williams." It's great to show how the first few types of "Ted" show options to dial 314 (the same number keys on the Pre), as well as my contact list. I finish off the Williams and then hit the Wikipedia button. In 6 seconds I've finished my typing and in around 10, I'm at Wikipedia reading about Ted Williams. I can't think of a faster, more direct way to get the information.

There's a bit of a rivalry coming along between the two devices. Fans of both sides are starting to compare the two devices. I've been a little drawn in by them on sites like:

• Anandtech's Review - According to them the new iPhone's web browser is 22% faster than the Pre and other applications load a lot faster.
• YouTube is Faster on the Pre - The YouTube application starts up faster, gets to the video at the same speed, but is much higher quality.
• Palm Pre Wins CNET's PrizeFight - The part where the Palm Pre loses here is boot up of the phone - something that I've done about once a month on average.
• More Browser Wars - The iPhone seems a little faster here in a place with poor Pre coverage and great AT&T coverage (i.e. it's not a fair test), but the iPhone flubs up the wifi test and has to be completely restarted while the Pre continues showing the page

Before we get to the links, I have a short money story to share:
In other news, I was doing some cleaning this weekend when I my wife suggested that I use the Clorox Ready Mop pads with the Swifter we have. I take it out of the box and ask, "How does this clean?" The answer, "It doesn't, you have to put down cleaner first?" My response, "You mean we paid money for paper towels on a stick?" It seems we did. They didn't even absorb very well.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my wife is surprising me with doggie daddy pizza. Yay!

Here are the links for this week:

Money Writers:

• Brip Blap examines the four(ty) hour workweek. What would you do with 36 hours of empty time a week?
• Frugal Dad writes the path to contentment.
• Your car is making you poor and what you can do about it over at Generation X Finance takes a good look at American car ownership.
• Million Dollar Journey shares an early retirement story of a man who retired at 31.
• My credit card account got closed says Digerati Life.
• Money Smart Life blogs about day trading vs. long term investing.
• My Dollar Plan provides a shopping list for a newborn baby.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary asks where is gold heading to?

Awesome Personal Finance Posts:

• Mighty Bargain Hunter asks how much is that gold jewelry worth?
• Consumer Commentary blogs on the new consumer financial regulation.
• Five Cent Nickel shares the following benefits of homemade household cleaners.
• Your Money 2 Keep comes up with some of the simplest and stupidest ways to save money!
• My Money Blog wonders if my car qualify for the Cash for Clunkers program?
• How many stocks are needed for a well-diversified portfolio? Find one answer at The Skilled Investor.
• Savvy Frugality posts the top 5 unnecessary expenses.
• Master Your Card says these are 10 things I would never go cheap on… again!
• My Two Dollars blogs when spending the money is worth the cost.
• Joseph Sangl also lists ways on how to NOT save money.
• Fabulous Financials writes on why the poor pay more.
• Pay Less for Money shares How to Eat Healthy, Lose Weight and Save Money at the Same Time
• Rich Credit Debt Loan offers this guide to saving money in five minutes flat.

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What does the job entail? It's simply marketing the lifestyle of wine country via the Internet. You'd be expected to connect with Facebook and Twitter users, create videos of your experience on YouTube.

What makes this such a fabulous idea? A couple of things:

• The Publicity of the Job Itself - What's it worth getting news coverage for this job? Hell, in a tiny, tiny way I'm contributing to the value that Murphy-Goode is getting by writing this post. I'd bet they received more than $60,000 worth of free advertising before they even choose the Lifestyle Correspondent.
• Getting the Brand Spread Consistently - Part of me can't imagine people will follow the correspondent. However, I can imagine the correspondent will have a lot of Twitter followers and a lot of Facebook friends. This is surely a quality asset for Murphy. They'll increase their mind share, especially if they can keep it going with promotions it's followers.

I work with a company that employs a social media consultant. I don't have any firm statistics, but I'm fairly sure that the company doesn't get the same value for it's dollar as Murphy-Goode is going to. Then again, the product isn't quite as sexy. It's not very obvious to me how they could extend a similar type of promotion.

For a little while, I thought of applying for this position. I ended up skipping it because I'm not very good with the video camera. Also, it would be about 3 hours away from my wife and puppy. While they may be able to come with me, I'm sure my wife wouldn't appreciate that commute. However, it's not too late for you. If you hurry, there's still time to apply for the job. It ends on midnight Friday night.

Recommended by Lazy Man: Zecco.com - Join now and trade stocks for free (no commissions).

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Money Writers:

• Brip Blap wonders will people change?
• Frugal Dad writes on extreme saving when you are young: how much is too much?
• Learn how to do a mid-year financial checkup - things to think about this summer over at Generation X Finance.
• Million Dollar Journey posts this helpful guide to high end chequing account comparison.
• One million dollars down the drain… or thrown in the dump. Read the full story at Digerati Life.
• Money Smart Life warns about credit card telephone scammers.
• My Dollar Plan talks about the tax credit for first time home buyers.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary posts a new PineCone Research sign up link.

More Finance Posts:

• Mighty Bargain Hunter comes up with five more great ways to slam the door on your customers.
• Free Money Finance blogs about a wasted opportunity.
• Bargaineering provides a few mobile banking safety & security tips.

More Awesome Posts:

• Experiments in Finance is still suffering from Bay Area housing price sticker shock.
• Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge says if I buy a new car…
• How many stocks are needed for a well-diversified portfolio? Find one answer at The Skilled Investor.
• All Financial Matters discusses flawed thinking…
• Rich Credit Debt Loan writes building wealth when the economy is slow.
• Studenomics shares how to pick up girls in college when you’re broke.
• The Baglady asks does raising a boy cost more than raising a girl?
• Gather Little by Little shares ways to save even more money on your electric bill.
• Bad Money Advice examines the idea of saving $71,000 on your mortgage.

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Save Money on Groceries

Though prices have come down as the economy has slowed, there's not much doubt that food is much more expensive today that it was in the past. It seems way out of line with inflation. Experts have cited many factors for this. Some say a change of eating habits in China and India towards more expensive foods is the reason. Others say it's been poor weather conditions. Still others claimed it was the expensive price of energy (which obviously comes into play shipping food). It is probably a combination of all the above. While things are better now, I think we are going to have to live getting used to paying more for your food.

It doesn't have to be that... there are many ways to save money on groceries:

General Tips

• Coupons - Coupons can save you money, but there's a danger. You may buy things you ordinarily wouldn't. You also might find that are spending your time just to get a name brand product. The store brand might be as cheap. Then again, I've been known to clip a coupon on occasion.
• Watch for Shrinking Portions - Companies have been known to reduce portion sized to maintain the same pricing points. The idea is that you'd notice a raise in prices more than you would a shrinking of portions. Yogurt comes in 6oz now instead of 8oz. The half gallon of ice cream has gone to 1.75 quarts and then to 1.5 quarts. Even propane portions are pathetically puny.
• Don't Shop as Often - Ever go shopping and pick up one or two extra items? Well if you go shopping often enough, that's a lot of items. If you limit your trips, you'll limit the amount of extra buying that you do.
• Make the Most out of Leftovers - I'm not that creative when it comes to food. I don't think about how to make tonight's meatloaf into tomorrow's sloppy joe. However, I don't mind have leftovers for lunch (or even breakfast) the next day. I'm weird, but I've been known to eat the same thing for a week. If you aren't like me, there are plenty of creative things to do with leftovers, but that's a study in itself.

Plan Ahead

When it comes to saving money, there's little substitute for planning. This is true in many aspects of life and groceries are no exception.

• Keep Inventory on your Fridge - I've been intending to get a laminated spreadsheet of everything we use and stick it to the fridge. The idea is that I could use a water-based marker to check of the items that I need (as I need them), bring the list shopping with me, then wash and reuse it. I've been Lazy with this though, so instead I clog up my brain with details about what to get. My clogged brain system works fairly well for me, but I wonder how much more efficient I could be if I wasn't storing information about how much milk we have in our fridge.
• Do a Final Once-Over Before Shopping - It never hurts to give the final look to make sure that inventory is right.
• Prepare Meals in Advance - While it might increase your grocery bill, planning your meals in advance will save you money by avoiding spending on convenience foods. Recently, I've been making what I call chicken bowls (chicken rice Rice-a-roni, chicken , diced tomatoes, and pinto beans all mixed together) and beef bowls (beef Rice-a-roni, ground beef or cut up steak, diced tomatoes, and pinto beans) and having them on hand.
• Grow Your Own Vegetables - Though it's not the Lazy way, it's a way to save some signficant money.

Buy in Bulk

There are is a lot of money to be saved by buying in bulk. Not only can you get great prices, you can cut down on the number of trips to the grocery store. The only problem is that many groceries expire. Here are some tips to get around that.

• Get a Foodsaver - I found that a FoodSaver does save you money. Foodsaver bags can get expensive, so I'd suggest getting a FoodSaver wide mouth jar sealer and some wide mouth mason jars. You'll be doing the environment a favor by reusing as well.
• Get a Chest Freezer - The perfect companion to the Foodsaver and mason jar is a chest freezer. Now I can prepare those beef and chicken bowls months in advance. I can also stock up when boneless, skinless chicken is under $2.00 a pound.
• Be Careful About Too Much Bulk - Few families really need a keg of mustard. It simply makes them buy a bigger refrigerator or house.

Get the Best Deals

It's time to finally find the best deal when you are at the grocery store. Here are some tips to do that:

• Have a Head for What Things Cost - Some people have a price notebook and use that to keep track of what's a good price. I tend to clog up my brain with that information. The good thing is that if you limit the products you buy to just a few, your brain gets use to it.
• Know Where to Shop - Some stores always seem to have bargains on certain things. For instance, I know I can always get Charles Shaw (2 Buck Chuck) wine at Trader Joe's (a great way to save money on wine). Wal-Mart has great prices on Sam's Choice diet soda. I know that when I'm walking into these places, I'm going to be stocking up. For produce, shopping at farmer's markets are an excellent way to save money. For those in the military, commissaries offer deals. For other tips see my article, Saving Money on Groceries: Picking the Right Store
• Stock Up on Non-Perishables - One of the biggest ways to stretch your dollar is to stock up on non-perishables. Sometimes you can save 50% easily. That's almost like getting a 70% raise (since you have to pay tax on it). There's a risk of going overboard. My mother has Windex that has to be from the early mid 1970's. I'm sure she got it for 9 cents after some double coupon promotion. She gave it to us, but we are convinced it has CFCs and don't know how to recycle it.
• Look at the Weekly Circulars - They often put the best deals right on the first page to entice you come into the store and do all your shopping there. That's convenient because you know what's really a deal right away.
• Use a Store's Card - Many grocery stores have a card where they'll give you a much better price for swiping it. Sure you are trading your personal information... unless you gave them a fake name to begin with ;-). Not that I'd suggest doing something like that...

Change Your Eating Habits

I know this isn't the easiest or best way to save money. However, it's worth noting that you can control these factors which can save you lots of money.

• Drink Water - Water is quite cheap. Even if you buy a Brita slim pitcher it will still beat the cost of other beverages like my aforementioned diet soda. You'll also feel fuller as drinking water may help you lose weight.
• Avoid Processed or Frozen Foods - Convenience often comes at a price. Sometimes it's monetary, but other times it's the use of ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup that deliver little nutrition. These processed foods are typically located in the center of the store. One can avoid them by usually walking along the perimeter where the meat, eggs, produce, and milk, etc. are.
• Eat Less - Many Americans eat too much. Not only can you save money by eating less, but calorie restriction may help you live longer.
• Look for Cheap High-Quality Food - Beans are excellent sources of fiber and protein... and they are cheap. Eggs have gone up in price, but they are still reasonable sources of quality protein. You don't have to be a body builder to know a tub of whey protein can go a long way to making milk a quick breakfast.

That's all I have folks. What other ways do you save money on groceries?

Photo Credit: dionhinchcliffe

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Before I start, I should give a few caveats. I'm not a tax-advisor. I'm not even a financial planner. This is just one person's opinion based on some research. If you have knowledge in this area and I'm off, please let me know. In the upcoming weeks, I'll talk with my tax advisor about what do for real. My theory is that it can't hurt to come in prepared. If I know the pros and cons of each plan, the meeting will go that much quicker.

SEP IRA: Self-Employed Retirement Plan Benefits and Basics

In looking at retirement programs, I found 5 areas that I should focus on:

1. Contributions are tax-deductible - My tax rate this upcoming year with the full-time consulting looks to be fairly high. I can avoid that high rate now and take a chance that I'll have a lower rate at age 59 1/2 (or later). Usually that's a good bet since income and hence your tax rate typically drops in the retirement years (right?). Still it's something to consider that it might not be the case.
2. Low administration costs - A little like keeping the expense ratio down on a mutual fund, low administration costs automatically save you money off the top.
3. Choose your own investments - SEP IRAs are like other IRAs, so you can invest in the same way as you would anything else. For instance, I could get a brokerage account at Fidelity
4. SEP IRA contribution limits - The contribution limit isn't as straight-forward as you might expect. According to Wikipedia the contribution the limit is 18.587045% of your net profit. That 18.580745% may sound like a crazy number, but it's actually derived from accounting FICA tax and other limits that are over my head. It seems like there's an top level maximum of $49,000 in 2009. This complexity is exactly why I have tax people to help. For me this 18.58% number is looking like it might be a good thing. I could potentially be able to squirrel away more tax-deferred money with the SEP IRA than I could with a 401K plan.
5. SEP IRA contribution deadlines - The deadlines seem the same as other IRAs, so I should be able to simply wait until I have my taxes done in March next year and write a big check. However, in general, I probably want to be contributing a little every month and then just finish up with a bigger check to the limit.

Caveats of SEP IRA

SEP IRA's aren't all rainbows and puppy dogs... and it's certain not a pot of gold. Here are some of the things I'd have to think about before jumping in:

• All employees must receive the same benefits - Since I'm the only employee this is an insignificant factor for me.
• 18.587045% of net profit - I'm trying to invest back in my business with web sites so I've been thinking about intentionally keeping my profit low. However, my full-time consulting is essentially all profit, so that could be a significant amount.
• SEP IRAs are not a free lunch - By going with a SEP IRA, I'd only be deferring paying taxes. It's not like I get out of paying tax altogether. Then again, when looking at retirement vehicles, nothing is a free lunch, so this is to be expected.
• 10% early withdrawal penalty - If I try to access the money before age 59 1/2, I'll pay a 10% penalty on the money. Do I really want to lose access to this money for the next 26 years?

In the end, I'm thinking that a SEP IRA may be a strong contender as a place where I should put my money. The fact that it's relatively easy get up and going is a huge plus for someone as Lazy as I am.

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The income from this month was $1415.88, which is definitely a low point. I would like to blame some of that on the tax season going away and people enjoying the good whether. Additionally, I have been focusing on earning a name in the real world with day job. However, things are looking for up for the next month in a couple of ways. You can see the MoneyStrands ads that I've thrown all over the site (please support me and click them and sign up). That's going to help the upcoming month.

The big news is that I slipped my third anniversary of writing by you. Yep, I've been writing for Lazy Man and Money for more than three years now. The first person who can e-mail me mentioning my completion of the fourth year of writing earns $25 in Paypal, Amazon, or Ebay gift certificates. Just mention this post. I was purposely quiet about the third year, because I have what I feel is a bigger milestone on the horizon... in the next month or two. I'm sure some astute person can figure out what that is. I'm hoping to do a big giveaway (maybe multiple giveaways) and perhaps have a few announcements to make.

Recommended by Lazy Man: Zecco.com - Join now and trade stocks for free (no commissions).

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Sprint had managed the release really well. Everything was extremely well organized. However, they were activating so many phones nationwide at the same time that their computers went down. It took them over an hour to provision my phone.

The Sprint people (who were really, really nice) decided that I waited much to long and offered me 50% off of one accessory. I quickly asked for them to set me up their Touchstone charger - a very cool induction charger. They quickly realized they couldn't do that. Not only that, but they said to provision the phone they had to have me on one of their newer plans... the cheapest of which were $25 more than I pay a month now.

What do I get for that $25? The network is still the same. I'd still get the same unlimited Internet that I had before. I'd still get the same text messages. What I get is to lose the grandfathered plan that I've been in for 8 years, because Sprint decided to rebundle, rename, and reprice the feature set that I had before. Fantastic!

I'm planning a call to Sprint retentions tomorrow. Obviously, it's hard to get too far with them when you are waiting in line to buy the hot new phone - and the guy there didn't have the power to help me - especially in the chaos of their computers going down. We'll see how that works. I've had luck with that in the past.

Here are some articles to keep you busy. I might not get an article out as my wife undergoes some minor foot surgery.

Money Writers:

• Brip Blap comments on the statement “I’m debt free, except for the (insert blank.)”
• Frugal Dad looks into the gift of equity
• Million Dollar Journey offers 8 ways to keep your kids busy this summer without going broke.
• Digerati Life comes up with a list of the best places to retire for cheap.
• Money Smart Life presents stock dividends 101.
• My Dollar Plan gives the floor to readers to share Lending Club returns.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary asks is the Fed going to determine savings account interest rates?

More Finance Posts:

• Five Cent Nickel offers five suggestions on how to pay off your mortgage early.
• Bargaineering posts the average net worth of an American family.
• Six great ways to slam the door on your customers by Mighty Bargain Hunter is on what not to do--consider it customer service suicide.
• Early Retirement Extreme presents my 4 hour work week.
• Money Crashers shows readers how to adjust your portfolio for inflation.
• The Dough Roller blogs about the myth of good debt versus bad debt.
• Rich Credit Debt Loan asks should you pay for your child’s college education?
• Our Personal Finances says a retirement calculator puts the market decline in perspective.
• Steadfast Finances posts examples of kids using Facebook & MySpace to make millions as teenage entrepreneurs.
• All Financial Matters wonders if 41 miles per gallon enough to justify buying a smart?

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