The Captain Is Out to Lunch

Podcast?

2009-01-09T22:07:00.001-08:00

If you still happen to be following this blog, you probably realize that I've quietly bowed out of the Personal Finance Blogging life. Things are good. My job is going well. I've taken up podcasting. If you'd like to check it out, you can find it at www.frankanderik.com. I'll warn you, it's comedy and it's marked explicit for a reason.

RIP George Carlin

2008-06-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of my heroes has died. I had the good fortune of seeing Carlin perform live just over a year ago in Pittsburgh. As someone who spent his formative years plopped in front of a television set, I feel as though I could meter out my childhood in George Carlin HBO specials. He was profound, prolific and honest. Goodbye, George.

Suit Update.

2008-06-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

I really struck a chord when I decided to speak up about my suit-shopping adventures. In fact, I can guarantee that if you walk into a room full of men and say, "I'm thinking about buying a suit," you will surely elicit a chorus of sympathetic groans. Now, when I walk into work, the nearly every member of the staff greets me with, "how's the suit hunt going?" or "did you decide to buy that suit from Men's Wearhouse?" in a tone usually reserved for the bereaved.

Well, I found my suit. I am now set to be the sharpest looking dude at the wedding next month. I picked up a charcoal grey Hugo Boss suit from Saks. I know what you're thinking. Wasn't that a little pricey? Not as pricey as you'd think.

All hail the suit sale!

Seriously, if you're in the NYC area and you're in the market for some nice duds, go check out the 7th floor at Saks. They've got stuff marked down over 60% off and it's real designer stuff, not the knock-off stuff and pushy staff you're going to find at a place like Men's Wearhouse.

Men's Wearhouse is the Olive Garden of Haberdasheries

2008-06-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Good god, I need to stop buying so much crap. More accurately, I need to stop needing to buy so much crap. I sit around thinking about budgets and and saving and blah blah blah and then--WHAM!--it's time to buy another Metro Card. WHAM!--I need a new pair of shoes.

My finances have been taking quite a beating in recent months. Now, the next wallop to the financial breadbasket is upon me: I need to buy a suit. My good friend Andy is getting married next month and he's asked me to do a reading during the ceremony (more on this later). This will surely be an occasion for something a bit more upscale than a pair of jeans and an ironic t-shirt.

When I tell people that I need to buy a suit, the usual reaction is, "You don't own a suit!?!"

Is it really shocking that a man-child such as myself doesn't own big boy clothes? The truth is, the last time I owned a suit was when I had to get one for my First Holy Communion. It was a navy blue number with gold buttons. I rocked a clip-on tie and haven't looked quite as dashing since.

So I started out by asking for advice from a colleague of mine who happens to be a men's fashion editor. He told me to relax and that all I would have to do is head over to see his friend at Saks who would set me up with a nice Hugo Boss suit... for approximately the amount of my monthly rent.

Back to the drawing board.

So I thought, screw it, I'm going to head down to Men's Wearhouse and let them sort it out for me. One day after work last week, I walked over to the Men's Wearhouse on Madison Avenue (that makes it classy, right?). Within five minutes, I was standing there in a Calvin Klein suit, the tailors chalking it up for alterations while the salesman began drawing up a bill. Up until this point, the only thing I had said to anyone in the store was, "I'm thinking about buying a suit."

I told the salesman that I was going to need to think about things for a bit. He tried to railroad me into putting money down on it, otherwise "somebody might take it before I come back." Please. If another 6'8" guy wants to walk in and buy that particular suit within 24 hours of me, he can have it. I made it out the door without spending a penny and with a promise from the salesman to hold the suit until the middle of the week.

Then I did what every man should do when he's attempting to buy expensive clothing: I asked a female friend to come with me when I went back.

A couple days later, my friend LT came with me. I tried on the suit and the look of horror on her face said all I needed to know. I tried on a couple more suits under her supervision to no avail. The salesman, used to dealing with clueless lunkheads like me, kept promising that this or that could be altered to make the suit into what I was looking for, but LT was unflappable. LT is a Shopper. Unlike me, the oppressive overhead lighting doesn't sap her energy. It invigorates her. She doesn't have the impulse to climb into the middle of a clothing rack and hide. She's too busy looking for deals. She doesn't feel pathetically indebted to sales people the moment she walks in the door.

We are very, very different creatures.

The salesman knew he was no match and eventually wandered off while I changed back into my regular clothes.

That about brings us up to speed. I am still without a suit, but I'm heading out after work today for more grueling shopping.

So Where's This Captain Guy Been Hiding Out?

2008-04-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

First off, many thanks to everyone who has been inquiring about my well-being. Not to worry, I haven't flipped my lid or slipped into some depression spiral. I've just been super busy. I swear I'm going to try to get back on the ball here.

Financially, things have been at sort of an even keel for the last couple months. I haven't made much progress, but I haven't really dug myself in any deeper. I suppose things could be worse.

I joined a street hockey league here in New York and the season started a few weeks back. So far, it's been an awesome experience. It's nice to get out and run around in the sunshine and to expand my social sphere beyond people who work in my field. When you spend 99% of your time with your nose right up against a computer monitor, you tend to forget how much fun it can be to spend a day running around, chasing a little ball with a big stick.

Work has been going pretty well. I managed to round up a few freelance assignments in the past month or so, which means more clips in the ol' portfolio and who knows, maybe they'll even get around to paying me.

I still haven't gotten my economic stimulus payment.

I have become a somewhat prolific Twitterer. You can follow me here.

I threw a huge surprise party this past weekend for my roommate's birthday. There is a Mostly-SFW video of it here.

I was recently interviewed for a story in The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper. I almost forgot it even happened. They called to interview me while I was really sick and I was all doped up on cold medicine and they never got back to me to let me know if the story was even going to run. Well, it did. And they, of course, failed to provide a single link to my blog. It's a good thing I'm fairly googleable (that's right, first search result! Take that, Bukowski!)

I think that's basically it. I hope life is treating all of you as well as it's treating me.

I have been sick as a dog.

2008-04-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

So my bad for not giving my blog the love it deserves. I swear, I'll be stumbling out of this Sudafed haze any day now. In the meantime, here's a funny finance video from our friends at CurrentTV.

Debtsy on AOL's Walletpop!

2008-03-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

Check out the Walletpop post about the Debtsy beta!

Marie Claire Blogs 401k Action

2008-03-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

One of Marie Claire's bloggers, Sarah Wexler, posted about signing up for her company's 401k program last night.

I felt like a financial superhero just by agreeing to squirrel away 6% of my income. Yes, it would be a hit to my paycheck, but I’d be a noble, PB&J-eating, strong-ass woman, never to be reliant on some lame Sugar Daddy. Empowering? Hell yes. Despite the wildly fluctuating financial markets, it felt great to sign up, like pampering my finances with a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a bubble bath.

Way to lead by example! Though I probably would've crafted a more tough guy metaphor, like "As I signed up for my company's 401k, I felt like John McClain and my financial future was one big, towering Nakatomi Plaza, filled to the brim with Eastern European terrorists. My retirement was my estranged wife, Holly. And that 401k? You guessed it. A pistol, cleverly duct-taped to my back. Yippee-kay-yay, Captain Finance."

link

Previously: Marie Claire's Investment Diaries

Debtsy Beta On The Way!

2008-03-11T16:03:00.001-07:00

As some reader's already know, I've been hard at work on a new personal finance project. Well it's time to do a partial unveiling...

*drumroll please*

Debtsy.com is a personal finance community. Many readers have contacted me in the brief time that I've been a PF blogger to tell me how much they would like to get started doing a PF blog of their own, but they weren't exactly sure how to get started with a blog, especially setting up all the bells and whistles like progress bars and net worth tracking (you know the fun stuff that you can obsess over and tinker with constantly). At Debtsy, we take care of that for you. In a matter of minutes, you can set up a profile and start blogging, tracking your finances and, most importantly, start interacting with other users. Debtsy allows you to connect with users who have similar goals. Maybe you're trying to pay down credit card debt, live on a budget, pay off student loans or learn to invest--at Debtsy, you'll find communities springing up around those goals. In those communities--much like I've found out here in the personal finance blogosphere--you'll find other users who understand exactly what you're going through.

How was that for a pitch? But seriously, this has been a labor of love for everyone involved and I'm really hoping that anyone who is interested will give it a try.

Debtsy will soon be opening to the first round of beta testers. If you are interested in giving us a hand by becoming an active member of the site, I encourage you to sign up at Debtsy.com.

Using Your Tax Return Wisely

2008-03-09T10:33:00.001-07:00

The Washington Post has some tips for how to use your tax return wisely, using a number of example scenarios to illustrate the point. Definitely worth checking out.

Which reminds me... time to do those taxes, huh?

link [thanks Sarah!]

I Removed All the Ads

2008-03-07T19:27:00.001-08:00

Just to let everyone know what's going on, I decided to get rid of all the Adsense ads. It seemed like every time I looked at my blog, I was advertising something that was in direct conflict with what I'm trying to promote here.

For the record, payday loans are a bad idea.

Welcome New Readers!

2008-03-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a little tidying up around here and I noticed that there's been quite a few new people stopping by. If you're new to my blog, here's some posts you might want to check out...

A Little Bit of Luck [Lottery]
Her Life is in Your Hands Dude, Her Life is in Your Hands [Overdraft Fees]
Bill Figures Out What's Up With Our E*Trade Savings Accounts [E*Trade Savings Tips]
I'm Kicking Around an Idea [Student Loans and Credit Cards]

Of course, there is plenty more. While you're at it, don't forget to subscribe to my feed!

My Quarter-Life Crisis

2008-03-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

I have gotten way out of shape. My good friend Michael emailed me a picture of myself from about 4 years ago the other day. The difference is quite, um, dramatic. Four years ago, I was buff. Now, I'm doing the Truffle Shuffle.

Now, granted, I had a completely different lifestyle back then. I was in college, so it didn't cost me anything extra to go to the gym. And I was only working part-time, so it was really easy for me to schedule a visit to the gym around work and classes.

But seriously, folks, that is no excuse.

This is basically how I wound up shlepping a 40lb set of dumbells through Times Square the other day to the subway at Bryant Park. It's amazing how tough you can pretend you are when you want to convince everyone on the crowded sidewalk surrounding you that you're not sweating it, huh?

I realized that there is absolutely no way I can afford a gym membership. It's just not happening. So I'm going to make an effort to watch what I eat and do a little lifting at home. I've got some dumbells, a folded up towel to cushion my tailbone while I'm doing sit-ups on our hardwood floor and with any luck, I won't tear down our building's sprinkler system while I try to do pull-ups (and by "try" I mean huffing and puffing with my arms stretched over my head, swinging around like a drunk monkey). I've also been trying these things called Hindu Squats, so now I'm out of shape and limping around like an old man.

Feel free to share your tips for staying in shape on the cheap in the comments!

Tips for Handling Your Student Loans

2008-03-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

CNN's Right on Your Money series featured an article on how to handle your student loan debt today.

If your money problems are more long-term -- say your career path doesn't pay well -- there are some alternate payment plans that you can explore. An extended repayment plan could lower your payments while increasing the life of your loan up to 30 years. Just remember that stretching out your payments will increase the total amount you repay over the life of the loan.

It looks like there is some good tips in there for anyone facing some financial set backs, or if you're just getting on your feet. Me, I'm knocking on wood. And bookmarking this one.

link

Yahoo! Live how-to in Mac|Life

2008-03-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

I wrote a how-to article for using Yahoo! Live for Mac|Life magazine. It was posted to their site today.

link

I'm selling my iBook.

2008-03-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

My iBook G4 was my primary computer up until a couple days ago. I love this thing. I managed to get a good deal on an upgrade, so we're going to have to part ways. If anyone is in the market, here's the link to the auction.

Yahoo Live

2008-02-28T18:46:00.001-08:00

I'm experimenting with Yahoo Live for an article I'm writing. If anyone would like to join my little internet cocktail party, I should be on between 10pm and 11pm EST tonight.

live.yahoo.com/erikprice

[UPDATE] I'll be messing around with this tonight (Friday) and sporadically throughout the weekend if anyone wants to swing by and give me an internet high-five!

A Little Bit of Luck

2008-02-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

Few things depress me quite like the lottery. Over the years, I've worked a number of crap jobs. As a frequent peddler of man's many vices, I've worked in tobacco shops, beer distributors and a couple of gas stations. One thing all those places had in common was a lottery machine. The physical act of running the lottery machine repulsed me. I've run lottery machines in Pennsylvania and Florida and they were all the same. The same unsatisfying, soft-bottoming-out of the machine's keypad (I don't know what psychopath designed that thing. Anyone who has spent a minute at the helm of one of these beasts knows the sheer inhumanity of removing the satisfying click from a button-pusher's job. It's diabolical.) The incessant scream-click, scream-click, scream-click of tickets being printed. It is horrible.

But that is nothing compared to what the lottery does to my soul.

Growing up, my dad would often take me along for his Friday after-work trip to the beer distributor. We'd walk to the back of the store where they kept the real rotgut that keeps the factories in our area running smooth and he'd throw a case of Piel's Light on the handtruck. He'd tell me to hop on board and I'd sit on top of the case with my skinny little legs folded Indian-style. He'd tip it really far back to scare me before pushing this whole idiot-rickshaw up to the counter where he'd buy me a chocolate-covered pretzel rod. After he paid for his beer, we'd start rolling toward the door, but there was always one more stop before the bouncy, teeth-rattling ride across the parking lot.

My dad always played his numbers.

He favored local route numbers. My dad prides himself in his encyclopedic knowledge of NEPA's system of roadways--924, 309, 930, 940. To this day, whenever I go home to visit, I try to be vague if I have plans to go somewhere. If I happen to mention plans to go somewhere specific, then the old man's head tips back and he lapses into a weird, trance-like, semi-autistic state, rattling off numbers as though he's plucking them from the air above his graying head. He played them all. Occasionally he won. $80 here, $40 there.

Now, my dad is on the home stretch to retirement (at any given moment he can tell you exactly how many hours he has left) and I know that between his pensions from the reserves and the foundry, he worries about having enough money to live on.

I can't help but think about the fortune he'd be sitting on if he passed on the lottery tickets all those years and dropped that money into a mutual fund.

Years later, I watched people on the other side of the counter at my various jobs doing the same thing. Occasionally I'd go off on some convoluted rant about how all they were buying was false hope, how they were giving away their hard-earned money for the bullshit notion that maybe, just maybe, the hand of fate would reach down and pluck them from the assembly line and drop them off in Margaritaville.

That's where the true evil of the lottery lies. It creates and enforces that notion that you are alone and that your future is a roll of the dice. It teaches you to stay blind to the fact that it isn't just you forking over a little bit of money. It's your whole community shoveling over money faster than the government can snatch it up, the same government that tells you, surprise! now that you're ready to retire, social security is about to go the way of the dodo. Perhaps you should try your luck at, you know, the lottery.

Lottery is a regressive tax. End of story.

Invisible Ink Radio Zine, perhaps my favorite [now defunct] public radio show, did an amazing episode about gambling, where my own thoughts on the lottery were echoed in far more eloquent, articulate terms. I encourage you to check it out and to pass it along to anyone you know who just can't pass up buying their numbers.

link

Once you pop, you just can't stop.

2008-02-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

This is totally unrelated to personal finance, but the other morning, as I was walking from the subway to the building where I work, I saw this seven-foot guy walking down the center of 8th Avenue, wearing a muscle shirt and jogging pants and totally housing a can of sour cream and onion Pringles. I mean, straight-up, dumping them into his face, Cookie Monster-style, while cars were all beeping their horns and swerving around him. I couldn't help but think, "now there's a guy who's livin' life."

Attention High School Seniors: Tell Your Parents to Start Working Under the Table.

2008-02-26T09:48:00.000-08:00

The Times reported today that Brown is dropping tuition for students whose parents earn less than $60,000 a year.

Brown University is eliminating tuition for students whose parents earn less than $60,000, after decisions by fellow Ivy League universities to bolster financial aid as their endowments grow.
The university, in Providence, R.I., said on Saturday that it also planned to substitute grants for student loans in the financial aid packages of students whose families earned less than $100,000 a year. The new program cuts reliance on loans for all students regardless of family income, the university said in a statement posted on its Web site.

This immediately makes me think a few things:

I got shafted, hard.
Good Will Hunting is going to appear far less compelling without all those odds for Matt Damon to be up against.
My future offspring won't be able to blame me for not being able to go to an Ivy League school. Take that, future resentful children! Now leave me alone! Daddy's drinkin'!

link

When Credit Cards Put You in Jeopardy (Always)

2008-02-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

CNN had an interesting little feature in their "Right on Your Money" section the other day titled When Credit Cards Put You in Jeopardy. I thought the article had some interesting trivia about those little plastic beasties lurking in your wallet.

The overall credit card debt grew by 315 percent from 1989 to 2006, according to public policy research firm Demos.

To compound the problem, fewer people are paying their credit cards bills on time. The percentage of people delinquent on their credit cards is the highest it's been in three years, according to CardTrack.com.

and

The principle is not the only problem, it's also the interest you're accruing. If you have a $2,000 balance at a 14 percent interest rate -- and make just the minimum payments -- it will take you more than 14 years to pay off that debt plus the interest.

Snap!

I hate my credit cards.

Her life is in your hands, Dude. Her life is in your hands.

2008-02-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

It seems like about once a year I do something stupid that results in an avalanche of overdraft fees on my checking account. This week got my 2008 obligation out of the way. Apparently because of the holiday, a whole bunch of charges cleared on Tuesday morning, which nudged me just into the negative digits. Did I notice? Of course not! So there I was, buying bagels and coffee in our cashless cafeteria all week, RACKING UP A $35 CHARGE EVERY TIME.

So, of course, after realizing that I spent a quarter of my rent on coffee and bagels this week, I started to panic. I called the customer service number for my bank a few times today and after a few people promised to call me back (and of course never did) I finally got someone on the phone who agreed to refund half my charges. And then they told me that this was the last time they could "do me a favor."

Are you joking, HSBC employee? You're doing me a favor? Is your name HSBC? Are you loaning me this money right out of your piggy bank?

They tried to pull the ol' "maybe we can waive more of your fees if you sign up for a credit card" song and dance, to which I politely replied, "Nothin' doin'."

The problem here is that I had to do my negotiating over the phone. Normally under these circumstances, I would go right into the office and give them my whole "enormous guy who looks incredibly unstable" routine, coupled with an Oscar-worthy speech that goes a little something like "No sir, this is not the bank's decision. This is your decision. That is your finger on that button. You're deciding whether I can pay my rent or not this month."

Bank employees rarely want to take on that responsibility. If they do, they'll rarely do it right in front of your face.

Anyone else have any stories about negotiating their way out of a mess like this? Maybe crying?

Building a Life From $25

2008-02-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

Adam Shephard is the most recent American writer to join the time-honored tradition of rich white people pretending not to be rich white people and writing about the adventure. Shephard, a college graduate from North Carolina left all of his comforts behind for the untamed wilderness of a South Carolina homeless shelter with nothing but $25 to get him started.

During his first 70 days in Charleston, Shepard lived in a shelter and received food stamps. He also made new friends, finding work as a day laborer, which led to a steady job with a moving company.

Ten months into the experiment, he decided to quit after learning of an illness in his family. But by then he had moved into an apartment, bought a pickup truck, and had saved close to $5,000.

He goes on to explain that he was inspired by Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, a book that was all the rage back when I was in college. Back then, I found the book fairly repulsive. I wasn't sure what I found more insulting: that Ehrenreich seemed to think that she was having an authentic experience or the people on campus who went on and on about the book as if they somehow now understood the plight of the working class.

Shephard talks about how all he took with him was $25 and how he didn't use his college education or any existing contacts. (Money isn't the only currency in this country, bro.)

Let me be clear, I have no well-thought-out position on this. Shephard and Ehrenreich seem to have opposing conclusions. Ehrenreich found herself doomed and Shephard is all "You can do it!" but both rub me the wrong way.

As someone who grew up very much working class, I resent Ehrenreich's implication that we're all screwed. And I'm suspicious of Shephard. His conclusion provides some dubious cannon fodder for a "Well if I could do it, why can't you?" debate.

In college, I tried to articulate my feelings about Ehrenreich's book to someone by saying, "Where does this rich person get off pretending to be working class?"

And their reply was, "Well who else is going to do it? Who else is empowered to write that book?"

Those words have stuck with me for years. I imagine explaining that sentiment to my father who--as I type this--is grinding away bits of iron in the same foundry where he has worked for the past 35 years. I imagine him working alongside Shephard or Ehrenreich for a few weeks and then being told that those people understand how hard he works. I imagine what one of those books would look like in his huge hands, as rough as 40-grit sandpaper.

I haven't had a chance to read Ben Hamper's Rivethead, but I suspect it'll make me far less uneasy.

link

The rain on my car is a baptism. The new me. Ice Man. Power Erik. My assault on the world begins now. Believe in myself. Answer to no one.

2008-02-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

Did everyone have a lovely Valentine's Day? I certainly hope so. I hope you were all up to your ears in chocolates, flowers and naughty presents from Spencer Gifts.

Last night, after I opened the Valentine's Day card that arrived in the mail from my mother, I was sitting alone on the couch with a reheated bowl of chicken fried rice in my lap and I got to thinking about my finances. In particular, how much I've been letting things slide. I've been buying a lot of lunches in the cafeteria. I've been going to expensive bars on the weekends.

All of this must stop.

I'll be updating my net worth tomorrow and though I haven't started crunching any numbers, I'm expecting a blood bath.

I'm planning to do some shopping at Trader Joe's this weekend and to meticulously plan out next week's meals. It's the food that always gets me. Saving money would be so much easier if I was a robot.

Crappy Weather, Assscat!

2008-02-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

[Amy Poehler @ Assscatt! - Image via brandon king's Flickr stream]
I'll make this complaining brief, but jeez, this weather sucks. Last week it was warm enough to wear a sweatshirt on my morning commute and this week the city is coated in one big dirt-flavored slurpee. Show me some love, New York. I don't have any water-tight shoes.

My cash flow is still at a steady trickle. I don't have any freelance work lined up at the moment, which means my margin of error is slightly smaller every month. Hopefully this will improve sooner than later.

Our DSL has been restored, along with my will to live.

I finally got a chance to check out one of the best free shows in the city on Sunday night. My friend Billy and I went to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater to check out Assscat!, a weekly improv show that tends to attract some rather big names. The 9:30 performance is free each week if you can handle standing in line outside. Luckily, Billy knew one of the performers so we got to skip the line and stake out some primo seats. The way the show works is that someone from the audience shouts a word. Then a performer delivers a monologue based on that word. Then the improv group performs sketches based on that monologue. This week, the group included Amy Poehler, Seth Myers and Jason Sudeikis (all of Saturday Night Live) along with writers from SNL and Conan.

Assscat! is every Sunday night at the UCB on West 26th. The 9:30 show is free. The 7:30 show is $8.

Here are some videos of Assscat performing live at this year's San Francisco Sketchfest.

Aside from all of that, I've basically just been hiding out in my apartment, laying down some ukulele tracks in Garageband and trying to stay warm.

I do want to remind you that we're about a week away from the launch of a new personal finance website. There are still invitations for the first round of beta testing available, so if you're interested, email me for more info.