The following is a guest post:

Cars are part of the American dream. Owning a new car or even a pre-owned car that’s in good condition can be a great feeling, particularly for the millions of Americans who spend a few hours or more a day in their cars. Whether you need extra room and comfort for a large family or just a pleasant, smooth ride, the desire for a quality car is very understandable.

But owning and operating a car can become a huge expense, often needlessly so. Nobody can control the price of gas, but everyone is at the mercy of its fluctuations, and it can be very difficult to cut back on the miles just because of a price hike at the pump.

Understanding a car’s gas mileage before buying it can make a big difference in the monthly cost of operating the vehicle. For example, if your commute is a mix of city and highway driving, your car is unlikely to achieve its peak miles-per-gallon listed on the sticker. In this case, you should plan for a higher operating cost or seek a vehicle with higher fuel efficiency.

Although paying cash or mostly cash for a vehicle is often a good decision, few people have the money to do so and generally pursue financing options. Often, buyers focus on the sticker price and don’t anticipate major costs like taxes, registration fees and other line items that can suddenly make a monthly payment much higher. Also, extended warranties are often offered right at the time of payment. Some studies have shown, however, that the warranties themselves often end up being more expensive than the repairs they cover.

Repair costs can be hard to anticipate over the life of a car, but a little research during the buying process about the reliability of various models can save a lot of money over the course of five or ten years.

Constantly being on the lookout for good deals on car insurance can lower operating costs as well. Many consumers fail to realize that they have the ability to jump on a better deal for car insurance at no extra cost to them. Using the Internet to search for good insurance deals is one of the biggest ways car owners can control their operational costs.

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

I couldn’t help but notice today that Pfizer started the trend we’ll see from every multinational today blaming lower 2012 forecasts on a stronger dollar (CNBC).  Pfizer has lowered their revenue projections by a full $200 Million.  Two Hundred Million Dollars!  … due to a stronger dollar.  And that’s just one company.  A strengthening dollar is about to sap Billions of dollars out of US corporate profits this year.

Why Is a Weak Dollar Good for Stocks?

To break it down, companies that sell within the US only are largely unaffected (directly).  However, it’s a global economy.  So, large cap stocks benefit from a weakening dollar in two ways.  Primarily, there’s the direct conversion from foreign currency to US Dollars.  So, if a Euro was worth $1.30 in 2008 ago and was worth $1.43 a year later, someone in Europe is still paying 1 Euro for that good or service – but translated back into US dollars, the corporation is receiving a 10% increase in revenue on the same service or good sold.  It’s a total freebie!  This “weak dollar trend across much of the past decade is what helped drive corporate profits, and hence, stock market returns.

Aside from that straight conversion back to USD, a weak currency also helps the VOLUME of exports, so net unit sales increase as well.  Why?  Well, because for a given good or service, with a weak currency, the purchase is cheaper in an overseas market (or corporations are willing to slightly discount their goods and services to drive more volume, capturing market-share from overseas competitors and so-on).  So, on both volume and revenue, a weak dollar is really good for stocks. And as you just saw in the Pfizer announcement and many more to come, a strong dollar will hurt profits.

Presidents All Claim They Support a Strong Dollar…They LIE

This isn’t an Obama knock; every president has always claimed they support a strong dollar (Obama, Bush, etc.).  But their actions rarely live up to the hype.  So, why do politicians lie and pretend they support a strong dollar?  After all, a benefit of a strong dollar is lower inflation (since OUR dollars buy more imports and we don’t see inflated prices on food, clothes and all the cheap crap we buy from China).  But politicians don’t really care about inflation.  They care about elections.

What Would You Choose – slow inflation growth or stock market crash?  If you were a politician and your sole goal in life was re-election, would you care more about a slow insidious degradation of the buying power of your constituents OR the obvious panic and decline in 401(k) accounts, tax revenues, pension valuations, home prices and all the other economic factors that suffer when the stock market declines?  Of course, you’d choose inflation (hence, a weak dollar).

How the US Government Weakens Our Dollar Further

The only reason the dollar is strengthening these days is because the Euro is the only other stable, legitimate major currency and Europe is crumbling under the weight of decades of deficit spending, record high unemployment and slow economic growth.  So, in comparison, the US looks rather acceptable.  That’s causing the dollar to rally.  It won’t last forever, but for now, the safe money is flocking to US Treasuries, driving up the exchange rate.  To keep the dollar weak by destroying the monetary base, the Fed and the administration (and yes, the prior administration) have continued to print, print, print.  Quantitative easing, utterly stupid stimulus spending, bailouts and all sorts, and negative ROI tinkering is helping to stave off a dollar that would been even stronger were it not for this incompetent tinkering.

Why Does It Matter?

Well, it’s important that you understand how various policies impact our currency, how a strong or weak dollar may impact your personal situation and if you cast your vote on the issues that matter – you know, national security, fiscal/monetary policy, tax policy and such… rather than social issues alone, then you’re informed.

Do You Care About the Strength or Weakness of the US Dollar?

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

In any other year, Mitt Romney’s financial experience might be a selling point for his political campaign. Anyone in finance knows the private equity business, and many more know the firm Romney led – Bain Capital.

But now Wall Street has a marketing problem. Given America’s love-hate relationship with the wealthy, his experience in private equity is a tough sell.

Private Equity 101

Private equity is one of the main money centers of modern finance. Private equity firms raise funds – not all that different from mutual funds, really – from wealthy individuals, pensions, and other investors to buy out underperforming firms as a private owner.

The difference is the fund’s short life cycle. Typically, funds are opened and closed within a decade. Within this short period of time, private equity managers buy out whole companies and resell them years later, often after stark improvements in the company’s business model.

There are a few inherent benefits to the private equity model:

1. All or nothing ownership – Owning a whole firm is naturally much more valuable than being one of many shareholders. As a sole owner, a private equity shop can implement changes it wants to see without any pushing back by Wall Street. While shareholders do have the right to submit proposals for a vote for most public companies, proposals that receive a majority vote by shareholders are not legally binding. But, if you buy a whole company – you own it.

 

2. Synergy – Not just for sales pitches and resumes, synergy allows private equity shops to use their newly purchased firms as effectively as possible. To give an example, a private equity firm might purchase a company for $300 million that has business processes, talents, or patents and trademarks worth $1 billion or more to another company in its portfolio.

 

3. Leverage – A controversial feature of a small segment of private equity, the leveraged buyout allows private equity managers to buy multi-billion dollar firms with less than a few hundred million dollars in cash.

In one classic leveraged flub by Bain Capital, it purchased retailer KB Toys for more than $300 million. Bain leveraged the position, putting up only $18 million in cash to buy the company. Within the year Bain paid itself a cash distribution of $85 million, making a return in excess of 300% in a single year. Later, over-levered and without enough liquidity to attempt a turnaround, KB Toys would file bankruptcy.

Bain’s creditors were caught holding the bag. Employees went from routine paydays to unemployment lines. Bain Capital, of course, came out with a massive return for its investors.

Bain Capital’s Brain Capital

Bain Capital was a pioneer in hiring brains over brawn. The private equity management company believed that if it could hire really intelligent people – even people with limited experience – their creative capacity could make for a much better performing company and fund.

Mitt Romney was a perfect recruit. He graduated in the top 5% of his class at Harvard Business School, and had an interest in improving and designing new business models.

A story from the Economist highlights why Bain’s brains made it such a powerful force in private equity. It also leads into why this story is such a negative story for Romney’s campaign. The article states that before Bain, most companies believed in the idea that “management was just a matter of applied common sense.”

A New Kind of Capitalism

Imagine a Midwestern manufacturing company run by a 40-year veteran of the company who worked his way from the graveyard shift to the CEO’s desk. He probably knows everyone’s names, their favorite color, and even the names of their children and grandchildren. He greets everyone by the first name, and expects the same of his workers. He’s been there and done that; he knows his company, his business, and the people involved in it.

Now imagine that same company ran by the best 20-something engineering and economics students from world-class universities from the Northeast.

This might just be the very definition of a culture clash. Economists and engineers have no tolerance for inefficiency. Lost profits take over the feeling of “doing good” by workers. Why bother manufacturing a product in the United States when it can go overseas?

The old boss might have kept an under-producing arm of the company so as not to create strife with a family he’d see at church later that week. As for the new boss from miles away and with no connection to the firm? He sees inefficiency, lost profits, and the potential for a blockbuster turnaround for his newly launched private equity fund.

Romney’s Effective 14% Tax Rate

Adding insult to injury for many people is Romney’s effective tax rate on his earnings from Bain funds and later investments. Seeing as the fund was a buyer and seller of companies, earned income from the funds is passed on to investors like any other financial distribution. The earnings aren’t income; the earnings are dividends, and thus taxed at the favorable 15% rate.

Early in his career with Bain Capital, Romney would enjoy capital gains taxation rates even without fund investments of his own. As a partner, he stood to make millions in fees for his active participation in buying and selling companies. Even as active as Romney was in the business, his income is not personal income in the accounting sense, but capital gains. Yes, this includes the money he earned in fees as a partner of each private equity fund.

(Read: Romney certainly worked for much of his income, but he didn’t and does not pay into the traditional income tax brackets for working wages.)

In an election year of tax discussion, Romney’s light tax bill won’t win him too many voters. I, for one, pay 15.3% on my non-interest income just to cover Social Security. Romney managed to pay an effective tax rate of 13.9% in 2011, meaning his last dollar was taxed at a lower rate than my first dollar earned. Overseas holdings allow Romney even better returns and lower tax bills thanks to accounting and legal teams.

Readers,

Should private equity partners enjoy low capital gains tax rates on income they earn in fees?

If Romney and I both worked for a living in any given tax year, why should his earnings be taxable at the capital gains rate and mine at the appropriate federal income tax bracket?

Article by JT at MoneyMamba, a blogger who wouldn’t mind being part of private equity’s big paydays.

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

Over the past 2 weeks, I went kinda nuts running around the house seeking out cold air drafts and plugging them up.  This might sound like a stereotypical PF topic, but seriously, I found areas in my house I’d never even considered (and no, this isn’t a real post LOL – segue way into my weekly roundup).  For instance, I re-caulked some windows that had little cracks around the corners (I could feel the cold air even with tiny little cracks!).  I installed those little insulated cutouts behind outlets against outside walls.  I even identified that our sliding door has a big channel at the top with nothing in the center but cold air coming through and plugged that up).  Finally, I bought that cheesy looking yet effective plastic covering to blow-dry on our dining room windows.  My wife hates how it looks but I reasoned that we’re NEVER in that room anyway, so who cares?

(doesn't look that bad does it?)

My only regret is that I waited until January to do all this stuff.  At least we’ll get the benefit through March.  I have some other ideas for sealing up leaks in our basement at bit and perhaps adding some more insulation myself in the attic (paying for the service is like a 15 year payback by my estimates).

Why the energy savings kick?  Why not?  I figure the ROI is quite high and the time required to do some of these little jobs is like 20 minutes here, 30 there, so not a huge time drain either.

With that, here are some reads from the week as well as a shout-out to sites hosting my content:

Great Reads from Around the Web:

Arbor Investment – Return on Enterprise Investing Model

Money Mamba – Warren Buffett Lies

Money Crashers – Asset Protection Strategies

The Burning Platform – Paychecks, Propoganda and Power

Invest It Wisely – The Tools of the Blogger

Retire By 40 – What we Spend on Coffee, Gas and More

Oblivious Investor – Tax Exemptions vs Allowances

101 Centavos – Kiss Real Estate Goodbye

Financial Uproar – Kiss Ethics Goodbye

Len Penzo – Making Ends Meet w Limited Income

Carnivals That Featured My Content Lately

Carnival of Personal Finance
Yakezie Carnival at Little House in the Valley
Carnival of Financial Camaraderie at Financial Success for Young Adults
Totally Money at Passive Income to Retire
Festival of Frugality at Squirrelers
Carnival of Wealth at Control Your Cash
Carnival of Financial Planning at Credit Cards Canada
Yakezie Carnival at Prairie Eco Thrifter
Carnival of Financial Camaraderie at My University Money
Totally Money at Family Money Values
Festival of Frugality at The Frugal Toad
Carnival of Wealth at Control Your Cash
Carnival of Financial Planning at Skilled Investor Blog
Carnival of Retirement at Retire By 40
Yakezie Carnival at Broke Professionals
Carnival of Wealth at Control Your Cash
Carnival of Financial Planning at Skilled Investor Blog
Carnival of Retirement at Passive Income to Retire
Self-Directed Investing Carnival
Carnival of Personal Finance

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

So, I don’t normally post anything on women’s apparel :>, but my wife shops at Limited a lot and I’m taking advantage of this crazy 1 day deal.  No, this isn’t a stupid store sale; there are actual gift cards 25% off face value TODAY ONLY.  So, if you have a special lady to shop for, a gift for a teacher or whatever, you can pick it up at a huge discount here.

Check out my Deals section for other ways to save money.

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

We’re all taught to be confident from childhood.  You know, those confidence boosters like getting a trophy no matter where you placed, parents telling you that you can do anything in life and so on.  On some level, having confidence in yourself and what you can achieve does allow you to think big, stretch your limits and achieve great things.  On the other hand, over-confidence is the single biggest predictor of disastrous results and people seldom hold themselves accountable for their bias toward overestimating themselves.  Not sold?  You will be soon:

Here are a few common examples demonstrating how people are overconfident in their abilities and the disastrous results that ensue.

Test Scores:  Rather than provide you with all anecdotes, I’ll include some studies and sources as well.  When it comes to students, time and time again, studies have shown that students tend to believe they scored or placed much higher on a grade or comparative basis than they actually did.  Why?  They’re overconfident in their performance and abilities.  (Study and another Study).  What are the implications?  Well, we all know how important academic achievement and performance is to financial success later in life.  The implication is that students will often tend to procrastinate, slack, underestimate the effort and requirements to prepare for assignments and exams, and ultimately, not realize their potential.

The Financial Collapse:  This is perhaps the most important and impactful evidence of overconfidence in recent history.  More than anything…bad regulations, bad bankers, bad loans or lying on mortgage applications, the single biggest cause of the EXTENT and damage done by the financial crisis was OVERCONFIDENCE.  The biggest banks in the world hired the smartest kids from top technical and math programs like MIT and Harvard.  These quants were to redefine financial innovation.  They were brilliant.  They were so smart that they figured out how to combine and repackage risky mortgages into AAA debt instruments and sell them to clients, while managing their risk with CDOs.  They were so confident in their models that nobody bothered to challenge them…or ridiculously, even notice that the spreadsheet cell for home price appreciation only had the ability to enter a positive number.  Seriously, some models didn’t allow for an entry to show a decline in real estate prices.  Brilliant.  Anyway, this overconfidence in having these really smart quants that “figured it all out”, and then executives who continued to be overconfident in their firm’s risk management and cash positions ultimately led to the worst crash most of us have ever seen.

Fights: Most guys (and some feisty gals) can relate to this.  We all think we can kick pretty much anyone’s ass, especially when you’re a teenager.  You know, some kid’s being a jerk, one thing leads to another and next thing you know, you’re on the ground looking up with someone laughing, saying “he just got knocked the F&*# out hahaha”.  So, if 95% of guys think they can win a fight, but obviously, only 50% actually WILL win a one on one fight, there is a huge asymmetry there.  Lots of kids (myself included) end up with a trip to the ER or worse because they were overconfident in their abilities to best their opponent when they should have just walked away.  Aside from all the ancillary reasons why getting in fist fights is detrimental to your finances, your reputation and your health, the sheer statistics should make you think twice… but we don’t.  We’re overconfident.
Your Own Personal Finances:  I’ll tell it to you straight.  Most of you are overconfident in your financial future.  I’ve been.  Here are 6 common financial miscalculations you should assess.  On top of that, many of us (myself included) used leverage to buy into a crashing housing market and over-estimate how our investment returns will fare (and also foolishly believe investment newsletters will “beat the market”).  Chances are, when accounting for inflation and a lousy job market, your income in the future will not be what you think, your investment returns will be worse than you think, and you will incur expenses that you couldn’t have imagined in your wildest dreams.  Overconfidence will cost you dearly.

Drunk Driving:  Why do people drink and drive?  A large part of it is overconfidence.  You think a) you’re not really drunk, b) you won’t get caught, and c) your driving will not at all be influenced by the delayed reaction that alcohol causes.  You’re a great driver after all, better than most other drivers.  You’re only driving 5 miles home.  And next thing you know, you’re in the police station.  I’ve had a few friends nailed for drunk driving.  Thankfully none of them killed anyone.  But it was quite costly.  Loss of license, thousands of dollars in legal fees and insurance increases.  All for what?  Overconfidence.

What Is the Takeaway?  

Stop Being So Damned Confident!  
Be Scared.  
Be Conservative in Your Assessments.  
Be REALISTIC.  

You’ll Thank Me Later.

Thoughts?

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

Let’s imagine the easiest way to make a bunch of money for providing virtually no actual value, having very little accountability, and having the capability to scale your scam as much as you could ever imagine.  Here are a few common “business ventures” that come to mind:

a) Virtually any of the top selling affiliate programs and ebooks you see on numerous blogs. You know, the “make money online” genre, “natural” remedies and cures, diet solutions and workout programs.  Why would so many blogs promote the virtues of ebooks and programs that are worthless?  Well, that’s what affiliate marketing is all about!  The crappier the program, the more they charge for it and then give an ever-increasing cut to bloggers for each sale!  Often upwards of 50%.  Many bloggers don’t really think twice about promoting horribly useless and often, harmful advice for lucrative payouts like that!  Why do you think those reviews are so convincing?!

b) Multi-level marketing of pretty much any sort.  MLM is one of the most vile “business” ventures in existence.  You basically convince other suckers in your downline to be scammed into the same useless system you were just scammed into so you can leach off their exploits as well.  At the end of the day, the goods and services sold through MLMs are invariably overpriced, useless and misleading and a few people at the top get rich.  Within months, the vast majority of all the “suckers” realize they’ve been suckered, they’ve run out of other suckers to recruit, and they quit with loads of time wasted and dollars spent.  Usually, they don’t talk about their lousy experience because they feel so ashamed for enthusiastically promoting something within their social circles and family members only to bail after such a short period.

c) Investment newsletters. Really?

Investment Newsletters: As Useless As FREE Investment Advice, But You Get to Pay for It

Here’s the thing about investment newsletters that makes them so appealing – incredible claims!  This newsletter “predicted the market crash” and that one “beat the market”; meanwhile, this one’s written by a “market guru”.  It’s all nonsense (generally, save for probably 1-2% of older more established and respected newsletters with proven track records and advice).  Here are some key reasons newsletters aren’t worth the time or money:

• Absolutely no Accountability – When’s the last time you’ve heard of the SEC prosecuting newsletter peddlers for making false claims?  They have their hands full with more politically sensitive cases like Ponzi schemes and Insider Trading.  I couldn’t help but notice a great piece in the Wall Street Journal this week about a “celebrity-endorsed” newsletter.  As if Suze Orman didn’t have her hands full pedaling a widely criticized card (and then calling personal finance bloggers “idiots” for criticizing it), now I’ll be looking forward to her defense of this newsletter report.  Since bloggers in my circle have recently been the targets of lawsuits from high profile celebrities for simply repeating something reported at larger, legitimate news sources, I’ll just let you read about it at wsj.com and form your own conclusions.  Just consider whether this newsletter met its claims.
• Genius…Just Genius.  Here’s a really ingenious way to get around worrying about performance and accountability.  Let’s say you’re a newsletter peddler and you want to tout your best and brightest investment performance and sweep your losers under the rug.  Here’s a classic.  You issue several different newsletters over some period of time, say the last year.  Out of the ten different newsletters with whatever circulation you chose (perhaps zero), as long as you were issuing the newsletters and have proof (timestamps, cached in google or whatever), your newsletters are legit, right?  Well, let’s say 8 of the 10 underperformed the market, 1 tied it and 1 greatly exceeded last year’s market returns.  While this may have been due to sheer luck (random probability actually, since I don’t believe in “luck”), you can legitimately ignore the 9 and promote the 1.  Here’s a common claim, “The Tiger Newsletter beat the S&P500 by 12% last year! Subscribe now for just $39 per month!”.  So, all you’re really buying is last year’s performance history in what was arguably just random probability.  This one newsletter is no more likely to outperform the market THIS year than the 9 that didn’t that aren’t be promoted.  But legally, this newsletter peddler is totally within their right to promote this one newsletter.  After all, they have the performance and the timestamps to prove it!  They just conveniently don’t promote the losers.  It’s quite a lucrative and innovative proposition!
• If They Were REALLY This Good…Here’s the most obvious one that people seldom ask themselves when paying for “exclusive” advice.  Given the ability to use leverage, the power of compound returns and the infinite universe of investment options, if a given individual were SOOOOO gifted at picking stocks, why on earth would they share this priceless advice where they could be making millions running their own hedge fund or investing for other big-money investors (or themselves) rather than peddling $29 newsletters?  I find this to be especially obvious with some of the broadly advertised radio spots and CNBC ads on satellite radio.  You know, that “trader that made millions during the market crash”?  So, why wouldn’t he just keep making millions more, tens of millions more, in future years with such foolproof advice himself instead of making probably a few hundred grand, max, selling these “stock market secrets”?  It just completely defies logic.
• You Can Get Plenty of Similar Advice for FREE – If you’re considering a paid newsletter that focuses on data, advice, ideas and whatnot, chances are you can get that sort of information for free.  Why?  Given the thousands of finance and investing blogs sprouting up daily, it’s a virtual race to the bottom.  Bloggers who once enjoyed pricing leverage years ago are now finding themselves in a sea of thousands of other similarly-themed outlets and have to resort to either the “freemium” model, or just outright writing good, useful commentary and using their blog to either make money with ads or promote their books or services.  But the net delivery to the reader is free.  So why pay?

Am I A Hypocrite? 

You might question the notion of a personal finance and investing blogger trashing newsletters.  Well, if you check out my portfolio updates, even when I beat the market (which I often did during last year’s reports), I always made it a point to highlight why – not because of my prescient skills and stock-picking abilities, but because I was holding high Beta stocks in an up market.  I also highlighted my WORST Trades.  And finally, I’m not selling you this information.  I make it clear that I’m not a registered investment professional, but I blog and invest as a side-gig hobby and not a profession.

Is an Investment Newsletter EVER Worth It?

Surely, there are some good pieces of advice to be gleamed from some newsletters.  General market commentary and news is worth something, right?  I mean, we pay for newspaper and magazine subscriptions after all.  But we know what we’re getting there – news, commentary and ideas.  Not a portfolio selection that is sure to beat the market.  Sometimes, a technical analysis service may have some promise, but those services could also be prone to all the same problems cited above.  And then, there’s always the FREE newsletter.  As long as it’s really free and doesn’t require some sort of subscription after a free trial and it isn’t loaded with affiliate products they’re looking to sell you, how could you say “free” isn’t worth it?  By its very virtue, it has no cost, so I suppose it’s tough to argue it “wasn’t worth it”.  I have only subscribed to a handful of free newsletters in my lifetime and of those, I found a couple to be mildly useful just from an “idea” standpoint.  I never put much stock in actually following trade recommendations verbatim…since I’m a skeptic.

Do You Have Any Experience With Paid Investment Newsletters?

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

My wife was checking out Christmas stockings today at Pottery Barn to buy them at a discount after the season and couldn’t help but notice the exact same stocking with a “dark-skinned doll” and a “light-skinned doll” at dramatically different prices. Evidently, you can buy $16.99 for the light skin doll but get a whopping discount down to $9.99 for the dark skin doll quilting.  I find this to be an odd stance to take both from a marketing standpoint and from a public relations standpoint.

Here’s a screenshot from this morning’s shopping session:

Free Market Economics or Racism?

On one hand, a pure free market capitalist would say that all prices in the market should be dictated by supply and demand.  Hypothetically, if there’s an abundance of dark skinned doll stockings and very little demand, perhaps it is financially justifiable to charge less compared to the “in-demand” white doll stockings.  I dunno, are light-skinned Americans more likely to buy Christmas stockings than their dark-skinned brethren?  I have no idea.  However, from a broader corporate perspective, this seems pretty offensive.  I thought we’ve moved past skin color by now, it’s 2012.  We’re still charging different rates for different products that are exactly the same other than skin color?  What’s really in it for Pottery Barn?  Is the excess inventory volume for dark-skinned doll stockings that insane that clearing a few extra bucks in inventory is worth offending their customers? (Perhaps their forecast accuracy needs a little work then if this is a known phenomena; it’s not exactly the first Christmas season in history).  Personally, I think it would be tough to justify the impression conveyed that people with differing looks should pay different prices for their products which surely have the exact same cost to produce, market and ship.

Here’s the link to the product page.  We’ll monitor over the next few days to see if they change their pricing to be more “equal”, ya know, because it’s 2012.

What are Your Thoughts?

Have You Seen Other Occasions Where White Products are Less Than Dark-Skinned Equivalents?

Do You Find This to Be Unnecessarily Offensive or a Complete Non-Issue?

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

This is a guest post by comparethemarket.com:

If you are like so many other people today, you have made the decision to be more proactive with your finances. One of the best ways you can really take control of your finances is to reduce spending. This is easier said than done, though, as there are some things that you need to have in your life and others that you just don’t want to give up on. The good news is that the internet is a valuable resource that you can put to use to save money on a regular basis. Here are five things the internet can help you save money on:

1. Insurance. Insurance is one of the major expenses in a person’s budget today, and this includes the cost of life, health, auto, and property or renter’s insurance. Insurance companies regularly adjust their rates, and so it does pay to shop for new coverage on a regular basis. You will find that most companies offer online quote requests that you can use to generate fast and easy quotes. By making a regular habit of shopping for new coverage every six to twelve months, you can save yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars over the course of a year.
2. Credit Cards. These are a vice you likely wish you didn’t have, but the fact is that most people do use credit cards regularly, and many carry outstanding balances that are not paid off each month. You can use the interest to compare the best credit card deals available. When you compare the best credit card deals, you are looking for the lowest interest rate as well as the lowest fees, as these costs add up significantly over time. Just watch out for those special offers that hook you with a low up-front interest rate and then quickly adjust the rate higher.
3. Food. Between groceries and dining out, food is a major budget item, too. The internet is filled with resources that you can put to use to help you save money on your food bill. Consider using online coupon sites for both restaurants and groceries. Search restaurant menus to check out prices before you walk in the door. Get recipes for budget-minded meals and snacks for your family. Most people have room to shave off a large chunk of money from their budget by making adjustments to how they eat at home and at restaurants.
4. Gas. For many people, the gas bill for fueling a car or cars is a major expense as well. Depending where you live, what kind of car you drive, and what the ever-fluctuating current gas prices are today, you may be paying between $60 and $100 each time you fill up your tank. The internet can be used to help you locate a gas station close to you that has the lowest price on gas, to find a carpool buddy, and to provide you with tips on fuel efficiency such as driving with your windows up.
5. Utilities. In most areas, you are permitted to choose which utility companies you use for certain items like electricity and even gas. Certainly you have control over your cable or satellite provider and phone company, too. You can use comparison websites to shop for the lowest rates in your area with ease. You may find that devoting a few hours to research in this area can help you to save hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.

©2012 Darwin's Money. All Rights Reserved.

Last week, there was a 20% surge in mortgage activity driven primarily by refinancing activity from record low rates.  The mortgage banker’s association said seasonally adjust refinances were up 26% while home purchase loan activity was up 10%.

Something’s Working

While I tend to be skeptical of reports indicating the economy is improving/growing given all the negative news and sentiment (ya know, Europe imploding, 45 million Americans on foodstamps and continued layoffs), evidently, the low-rate policy that has been killing income investors is certainly rewarding to borrowers.

Rates are at historical lows below 4% on a 30-year and approaching 3% on a 15-year (mortgage rate table for your area) and with people looking to preserve cash and shore up their finances, a no-cost refinance is starting to make a lot of sense to people where they can close without any out of pocket expenses while realizing lower monthly payments from their refi.

Am I Missing Out?

I’m not a proponent of just going out and buying a home because rates are low.  After all, home prices could fall further and saving $100 a month pales in comparison to closing costs and capital losses.  However, if you CAN refi and you haven’t, it’s something to seriously consider.  I also took advantage of the low rates recently and closed on a set of college campus houses with a partner.  We had to get a commercial loan at a higher rate, but apparently our 5.5% is way better than the 7% or so commercial loans were fetching just a year or two earlier.

I wrote a post recently on no-cost refinancing which I’ve been heavily considering since I don’t want to blow another $4,000 on yet ANOTHER refinance, but for me, it only makes sense to go down to a 15 year from my 30.  I don’t want to extend my loan out again now that I’m a few years into my 30.  However, even with the 3.5% or so I could get on a 15 year WITH the lender paying all my closing costs, our monthly payments would be higher by a few hundred bucks so I have to convince the wife it’s worth it.

I guess between personal home purchases, refis and investment properties, there are plenty of avenues to take advantage of the low rates.  The question is whether you’re missing the boat.

Are You Benefiting from Low Rates?

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