More on the breaking news below:

According to Justin:

If you haven’t heard, the government has decided to bail us bloggers out. The exact value of your bailout check is determined by the following attributes:

• Incoming Links
• Alexa Rank
• PageRank
• Technorati Rank

There are also a few secret things that can affect your total bailout amount but these have not been made public yet.

Sounds good. So what was my final blog bailout figure?

A paltry $119,554. Oh well, every little bit counts and I’ll take it!

Maybe if I get a bailout it would swing the tide of the entire economy, considering I am a professional good luck charm!

Head on over to MoneyPath to determine how much blog and twitter bailout you deserve. Let me know how you do in the comments below.

What enables me to make this claim?

Glad you asked, check out my stats/credentials for the past eight years:

• Three New England Patriot Super Bowl victories
• Two Boston Red Sox World Series titles
• Two USC Trojan College Football Championships
• Two UNC Tarheel College Basketball Championships
• One Boston Celtics NBA Championship banner

That’s ten major sporting titles for five of my teams in less than nine years. Has anyone ever had that stellar of a sports fan run with so many different teams in such a short period of time?

I think not.

But the proof does not end there.

Perhaps the most compelling proof of my positive influence on an organization is my two and half years at the State Street Corporation. I began working there in mid to late October 2005, and ended working there towards the end of March 2008. Let’s take a look at their stock chart over that time period:

I worked there from October '05 to March '08

Chart of STT by Google Finance

Note how when I began working there, the company’s stock price began trending upwards, while nearly right after I left their stock price plummeted. Coincidence? Or am I a good luck charm?

Honestly, I think the real truth is that I do have an overwhelmingly positive impact on organizations, but wouldn’t call myself a good luck charm. When I’m part of a team or group I ensure we stay on track and achieve our goals, which often leads to success.

In either case, if you’re lucking for success, send me an e-mail and we’ll discuss how your organization can become a winner.

No really, that’s it! Just write a comment and you’re automatically entered to win $42. No catch, no spam, all ease. It’ll take you less than a minute and you might win $42, so you have literally nearly nothing to lose. If you don’t win, all you lose is a minute of your time but you discover a great new blog and consulting firm!

So don’t delay, the contest ends on April 8th at noon (EST).

It’s one of my favorite sketches from Saturday Night Live, mostly because it’s wicked funny but also right on point! Stop spending money on stuff you can’t afford and watch that debt fall away. Amazing.

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

I love this video. Watching it makes the countless bailouts and other federal financial shenanigans slightly more bearable.

And yes, the government should most certainly stop dumping money into a giant hole (A.I.G.).

Two bucks saved is two bucks earned!

I discovered this tip a few days ago while perusing the Kashi web-site. If you head on over there, you’ll see a button in the upper right corner urging you to “join the community“. If you click the button, you’ll be taken to a form asking for your name, e-mail address and to choose a user name.

Click the Wheat Sprigs!

Kashi has a unique spam bot verification system where they ask you to click the pictures of two wheat sprigs, so don’t skip over the pictures! Once fill in your info, read and confirm to their terms, and click the wheat sprigs, you’ll be taken to your user page with a button prompting you to view and print your $2 coupon!

Pretty painless way to save two bucks and get a great tasting pizza.

Income tax is avoided by the rich and paid by the middle-class

Photo credit to OhioProgressive.

In the superb state of Massachusetts, where Mr. Money currently resides, three ballot questions lie alongside the state senators, representatives and presidential candidates. These three ballot questions propose to eliminate the state income tax, decriminalize up to one ounce of marijuana and ban dog racing. Mr. Money will most likely vote yes across the board, but for the purposes of this site, let’s discuss question #1 and its pros, cons and why Mr. Money is voting in support of eliminating the Massachusetts state income tax.

Amongst this vast vault of reasons, avoiding taxes is simply not one of the reasons. Shockingly, it affects me in no way, as Mr. Money will have such a low taxable income this year [due to being "retired" for most of the year] that all my income taxes will be refunded. So it’s not a hatred of taxes that drives Mr. Money to vote yes on question #1, rather it’s a love of freedom and a firm belief that government should not tax positives, like a worker’s wage, but rather should tax negatives, such as pollution, traffic and drug addictions (e.g. increase cigarette and alcohol taxes).

In a truly democratic society, we should not discourage people from working hard. The income tax does so by punishing someone for earning an income by taking a portion of that income. The income tax thus encourages individuals to lower their taxable income and find ways to avoid paying a tax. Usually, this income tax is avoided by the richest amongst us. They are either rich enough to hire the best tax attorneys and accountants who can manipulate accounts to severely lower or completely eliminate a tax bill or stingy or greedy enough to straight out cheat. In other words, an income tax most directly harms the middle class as they are the ones most likely to pay it.

So if you live in Massachusetts, send a message to the state government and vote yes on question #1. Truthfully, the government will likely ignore the public, even if we do pass question #1 so vote yes on it knowing that public services will not be affected. Mr. Money believes a tax is necessary, and proposes taxing the negatives of society as noted above, including pollution, drugs, crime, traffic, over-consumption (via a non-essential goods sales tax), and even possibly an excessive wealth tax. However, to directly tax an average worker’s wages is immoral and counter-productive. Let’s find a better way Massachusetts!

Google Bench Ads

Photo credit to alesh_.

You may have noticed recently that Google ads are now shown on this site. Though I am Mr. Money, my last name does not pay the server bills! Do not worry faithful readers, the ads will be kept to a bare minimum and as unobtrusive as possible. For now only the one 250 x 250 advertisement block will run in the far right sidebar. We’ll watch the monetization results over the next month or so and go from there.

From crunching the numbers, the one ad should suffice, though the more love this site gets on the social networks (thanks reddit and stumbleupon visitors for the recent love) and across the various inter-tubes, the less often you’ll hear me talk about the ads!

Google Ads infiltrate Wolfenstein 3D

Photo credit to buggolo.

My digital door is always open, so feel free to send me an e-mail or leave a comment if you have any concerns, questions, suggestions or just wish to chat.

The dragon knows to save...do you?

Photo credit to m.prinke.

As I mention in my about section, my online savings account brings in $50 a month, which is no giant treasure, but it pays for almost my entire monthly iPhone bill. Considering the recent crashes in the stock market, I’ll gladly lose the extra 2% or so the market generates over time for the guarantee that my money is safe and secure. Over the course of history, the stock market generally returns a 5-6% rate per year. As these online savings accounts are right now offering a rate around 3% and were up to 5-6% earlier in the year, they’re a great way to save and at least keep up with inflation, all while knowing that your money is safe and sound with the FDIC’s guarantee. Mr. Money advocates taking risks in order to get great returns, but first we must have a safety net and an online savings account is a great way to build that net.

Personally, I’ve used HSBC Direct and ING Direct and have had nothing but pleasant experiences so far. Even if you’re only able to put away a few dollars at first, eventually the savings will build and snowball and by then you’ll be encouraged to put as much money as possible into the savings account since you’ll actually see real results quickly. Sure, there are higher yield investments out there but considering that these savings accounts are FDIC insured and that the interest is guaranteed, it’s quite difficult to beat these accounts as a no hassle way to passive income. Here’s a run-down of three quality online savings account:

1. HSBC Direct
   • Branches in some states.
   • Refunds 100% of other banks’ ATM fees.
   • no minimum balance
   • $1 to start
   • No fees
2. ING Direct
   • No physical branches
   • $1 to start
   • no minimum balance
   • No fees
3. FNBO Direct
• No fees
• $1 to start
• no minimum balance
• Branches in some states.

Any of those banks would make a fine choice for an online savings account. They all offer a similar savings rate with no fees and no minimum balance. Personally, I’m a big fan of HSBC Direct and their policy of refunding all ATM fees. The important thing is that you open an account now and start savings. If the economic news of the past month has taught us anything it’s that savings accounts are important to individuals and our economy as a whole. Living credit card to credit card is no way to live and I urge all my readers to save, even if it’s only a few dollars a month. Your future self will thank you!