And why it kicked more than my a$$ (like the family-friendly text trick there?).  Yeah, that’s right.  I was in high school.  I think it was my senior year.  I was in a band.  To protect the innocent (and because the band name was TERRIBLE) I’ll change the names of the band and the people involved.  And I’ll even change my name just for fun… I’ll call myself… Nate.  Why?  Because the first thing I saw said “Red Sox Nation…” That’s why.

Way back in the last post before this one… I talked about why I love Mondays and am indifferent about Fridays… yeah, that’s right.  Like Mondays more than Fridays.  It never used to be that way, although I’m pretty sure it was hidden in the back of my mind from my high school days and may have been knocked loose one afternoon in the hallway of my high school – like literally knocked loose.  (Note: a comment from KC from GenXFinance reminded me about where it all started).

Ahhh… the memories.  I was in a band – the drummer and lead vocalist because I had the closest thing to a singing voice out of the 4 of us.  We wanted a lead vocalist to prance around and sing better than me but for some reason it never worked out… I also think there was a little bit of me that liked “singing” so if I remember correctly, I think I was a bit against it although I knew that my voice was certainly not going to get our names up in lights….

We had a bassist.  Let’s call him Jim.  Jim was a good bassist but unreliable.  There were three core members of the band, John, Hank and me, “Nate.”  We decided that Jim had to go.  And because I went to high school and the other guys went to another school, I’m pretty sure I got to kick him out (this part of the story is a bit hazy).

I don’t remember the conversation, but I obviously didn’t take it personally and didn’t think he did because later that afternoon I saw Jim walking down the hall and didn’t think it was going to be confrontational.  Turns out I was wrong… He was walking right at me and I remember saying “Hey Jim, what’s up” or something to that effect.

Apparently he didn’t want to tell me what was up, he wanted to show me what was up.  The ceiling was up.  (This part is clear as day)  He walked over to me, said “hey” and then punched me right in the face.

I.  WENT.  FLYING.

I landed a good three or four feet right on my back.  Of course, a crowd formed around us.  The fight probably lasted a good two or three minutes and basically involved him knocking me on the ground and throwing me against the lockers every time I got halfway up.  By the way, have you ever heard the sound of a high school kid bouncing off of a row of lockers?!?!  I have.  Up close.  It’s loud. And it happened OVER and OVER and OVER again because stupid me kept getting up!

Apparently I got one good punch in and hit him in the “man parts” because they took both of us to the nurse’s office to check us out and he had a bloody nose and was a bit of pain… down there….  I on the other hand, looked pretty normal.  My $3 necklace was ripped off and missing and caused a little red line on my neck.  But other than that I looked as normal as I ever did.  The weird thing was I don’t remember hitting him even once, however.  A part of me thinks he hit himself, either by mistake (he threw a lot of punches and one of them could have missed and hit himself…) or to get less of a suspension by making it seem like the fight was somehow even.

Anyhow, an odd thing happened that day.  There was something about the way I reacted that stuck with me a bit.  There’s no question that I got my butt kicked that day.  For a long time all you heard was BOOM…ooooohhhhh (the crowd’s reaction) BOOM…oooohhhh…BOOM…ooohhhh…..BOOM…ooohhhh…..BOOM…ooohhhh…..

But I kept getting back up.  (For more?).  I didn’t curl up and grab my head and hope the teachers would get there soon to break it up.  I was being tossed around like a rag doll, given no time to prepare – just sucker punched in the hall and tossed around every time I got halfway off the floor.  But I kept getting up.  In the weeks that followed, I got more “props” for getting up than I ever did for playing in a band, having a nice car or doing any other “cool” things that high school kids admired.

I was definitely a relatively popular guy in high school if you measure by number of friends or appearances in the superlatives list in the yearbook for things like best hair and best personality, but the thing that got me the most props was just getting up.

When I realized how simple and effective  just getting up was, something started burning in me. My confidence skyrocketed and I wasn’t intimidated by much.  In my head, I kept thinking “what’s the worst that can happen?  I was tossed around like a rag doll in front of about a hundred kids at my school and by just getting back up again I proved to myself and others that it’s ok to stumble – to be knocked down.  But it’s not too difficult to get up.  And it’s not OK to stay down.  Since then, it’s been a hallmark of my personality.  And they even wrote a cheesy song about it (but not about me… unless “Jim” turned out to be a pretty successful songwriter, which he hasn’t if you trust his Facebook page…). I got knocked down, but I got up again.

Enjoy having that song stuck in your head the rest of the week….

Until next time…. put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!

p.s. Thanks for the e-mails about my typos.  I may fix them at some point.  But a part of me likes the contrast between my “writing” here and with the day gig…. unless my writing sucks during my day gig too.  I swear I proofread at work though!

You know… I never get really excited about Fridays. It’s probably for a few reasons. First, I like my gig, so it’s not that big of a deal for me to be at work. So I guess that’s a good thing. Second, I don’t really plan personal time as well as I should so weekends are less “certain” in my world… which is exciting but also doesn’t leave something specific on the weekend to look forward to beyond playing some pretty intense games of super squeeze with the wife and kids… Finally, I really like Mondays, so I generally look more forward to Monday than Friday and it doesn’t seem fair to Monday if I give Friday special treatment too… it diminishes what Monday and I have going on…

Why do I like Mondays you (didn’t) ask? Easy. In my mind there’s a whole week ahead to get things DONE! There always seems to be a lot of hope on Mondays – at least there is with me… So I like ‘em. And it’s my blog, so here Mondays rule.

But this week I’m pretty psyched because today is “My Friday.” That’s right – no work tomorrow. And because there’s no work Monday, I’m going to enjoy today a bit. In fact, today is so “Friday” that I’m going out! I’m going to a fancy pants dinner (literally… my pants are so fancy they barely fit…). That’s right! I’ll be living it up here in NYC tonight. So if you see a guy dressed to impress and looking like he borrowed his wardrobe from his slightly smaller first cousin, you may have found me!

So live large people! Happy My Friday! (Am I the only one who uses the phrase “My Friday on Thursdays where you don’t work the next day?). And until next time, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall.

p.s. Typed this post on the run in a quick post mode…. I may have sunk to a new low on the “I’m just going to type what I think and hit “go” scale….” Let me know how many times I messed up.

Ahh… the dreams of striking it rich – like “eff yoo” money rich… Either of you readers win over the weekend?  If not, welcome back!  If so and you’re still reading, remember, this blog is for sale for the rock bottom price of $600,000!

I’m not much of a lottery player (as in I don’t “play”) but I’ve been known to try and get cards to reach 21, but no further… Won a few bucks in my day and refuse to go back to the casino now because it’s MY money now.  But I get the allure to buying a lottery ticket or two.  I have buddies who have a “rule” that they buy either $5 or $10 worth of “tickets” when the jackpot hits $100 mil.  Not me.  I’d rather keep my $10.

Well, since neither of you appear to have won, you may be wondering what else you can do to retire or whether you’re ready.  So I reached into the vaults of bankrate.com to bring you seven eight signs that now’s not the time to retire.

1. You’re just now eligible for social security.  Yeah… it’s usually not a good idea to just grab social security as soon as you can… unless you don’t think you’re going to make it to 65, 67 or 70, I guess. So unless I’m incapable of surviving without it or continuing to work, my plan is to delay getting whatever social security looks like when I’m in my 60s (by then we’ll probably be looking at 70 anyhow….)
2. You plan to work part time. Good point, Bankrate.  It’s probably easier to just keep your full time gig if you need part time income to survive because it might be tough to go back to full time.  So hang on for a couple of more years until your part time gig is because you want to work, not need to.
3. Your spouse doesn’t want you to retire.  Seriously?  So far, I’m not really impressed with the list, although they make good points.  If your spouse isn’t on board with retiring you’re probably going to do some serious damage by just quitting and coming home.  See the word I used?  I used quitting, not retiring, because if you just throw a temper fit and quit your job because you want to, that’s not retiring.
4. You don’t have a place to go.  Um…. yep.  You may need your desk to sleep under!
5. You’re counting on the stock market.  I think they’re trying to make a subtle point here that doesn’t come through.  If you need $50,000 per year to live and have $450,000 in retirement, you better hope that the stock market returns 11% per year, every year, to avoid depleting your resources. If you have $1.2 million, you’re not “counting” on the market, although you’re likely going to be able to live off off only the returns. So give yourself some wiggle room.
6. You haven’t planned for health care costs.  Who can?  I can’t even plan for this year’s health care costs!?!?!  Anyhow, the point is a good one.  Healthcare changes in retirement – make sure you gather knowledge before you leap.
7. You have financial obligations.  Yeah, I guess, but who doesn’t?  If you have $4 million in the bank and two kids in college, you’ll probably be OK….. So it’s not really about having the obligations, but for accounting for them to see if you’re ready.
8. You didn’t win the lottery over the weekend.

So there you go.  I do have to admit that number 8 – the Nick original – is really the only set in stone rule, isn’t it?  If you won the lottery over the weekend and have a cool $600 million in your pocket – or even whatever obscenely low lump sum amount of $370 million, netting you only about $200 mil after taxes – you’re ready to retire.  If you didn’t, you’re probably not.  The rest have way too much wiggle room.

Maybe I should take over Bankrate.com.  I’ll have to put a few calls in.

Until next time…

OK, it’s no secret that I’ve been posting much less frequently over the last few months.  Long story short is the day gig combined with dos niños has kept this guy a bit busier than expected… So instead of working my tail off to be sure that each post here includes a pretty picture, a few hundred words and a message that Confucius would be jealous of (what, you didn’t get a message that Confucius  would be jealous of in every post! I gotta tell you… it must be you… because everyone else did.  I mean, I probably get two or three thousand e-mails a day asking if I would be willing to put out a line of fortune cookies… the only thing stopping me was the “learn Chinese” part on the back side because I only speak Chinese… I can’t write it…).  END OF SENTENCE. (Yes, I know that sentence is incomplete, but I decided to just end it.  It’s my blog.  If you want complete sentences go somewhere else… somewhere warm… really warm…).

CONTINUE SENTENCE. See how I did that?  I broke up a LONG sentence by just ending it and starting over here. Pretty “smaht” right?  Back to the point (yes, there was a point). Instead of going nuts and spending too long trying to make posts readable, I’m just going to type a short message about what’s on my mind and click GO.  The hope is it will “staht” a conversation. The bet is it will just fill up some screen space and embarrass my kids when they’re old enough to read this crap.

Onto the post – yeah, I know I’m the last person to write about this… but that probably means I’m also the only person writing about it now.  (See how I turned that negative into a positive?). But what the heck happened with this guy? I mean what’s (let’s use the word “sillier”) than losing your life’s savings at a carnival game?  I’ll tell you what!  It’s going back and getting $600 and a big banana!  Wait, there’s more!

What’s “sillier” than going back and getting $600 and a big banana?  It’s advertising that you just lost your life’s savings at a carnival and then posing for a picture with the banana for the world to see!

That’s it. No message. No fortune cookie message.  But if you really want to learn Chinese, here’s the first search result for learn Chinese.  Have at it.

EDIT: (It’s actually not an edit because I typed it at the same time as the post. So I’m going to just not proofread this post. In an ever effort to put out more posts, I’m going to leave the heavy editing to you folks – sort of an “open source” thing. We’ll call it: “Call out Nick for all of his typos and grammatical errors in the comments.” Here in NYC, we call it “if you see something say something.” We’ll even give out a prize for the reader who points out the most errors. Maybe I’ll keep a (fake) running score that I’ll include in future posts with a link to your website if you have one. It will be highly scientific. When I’m typing, if I seem to remember someone helping out a bunch, I’ll just include them as the (fake) leader.  If you actually help and I miss you just let me know.  Don’t forget to call me a moron.

Until next time… you know the drill.

Happy Monday!  So I’m continuing the Financial Simplicity Carnival this week here at Step Away from the Mall (hence, the “Pete, Repeat” title).  In the past I’ve used  other blogs to host and I’d still love to do that.  But because it took a while to get the carnival back up and running, I’m going to do a few at the beginning here to get some momentum built up for the carnival again.

This week we had a TON of great posts submit.  I was a bit selective on who I included, trying to keep the picks to a top 10 (yes… if you count it’s actually 12, but I couldn’t resist…). We got some great posts in here as the weather finally turns sunny and my Boston Red Sox (yes… Sox fan in NY) turn some doubters into believers….

Let’s dig in!

Making Money

Harry Campbell presents How to Cash in Your Change For Free with a CoinStar Machine posted at Your PF Pro.

Call Me What You Want Even Cheap presents Would You Be A Human Guinea Pig For Money? posted at Call Me What You Want Even Cheap.

Michael presents How to Make Money at the DMV posted at PT Money.

Jeemy presents Guide to Starting a Blog posted at Modest Money.

Spending and Budgeting

Emily presents Money Advice for Soon-To-Be College Grads posted at One Smart Dollar.

Girl Meets Debt presents Girl Meets Debt, No Longer a Shopaholic posted at Girl Meets Debt.

Emily presents Republic Wireless Review posted at Evolving Personal Finance.

Darwin presents Extreme Early Retirement – Mainly a Myth Except for Hippies and Drifters posted at Darwin’s Money.

Paul Vachon presents How to Control Spending in 5 Easy Steps posted at The Frugal Toad.

Investing

Jason Hull presents The Index or the Dartboard? The S&P 500′s 2012 Performance by the Numbers posted at Hull Financial Planning

Debt

Miranda Marquit presents How Do I Get My Free Credit Report and Score Online? posted at ReadyForZero Blog.

Edgar presents Student Loan Series: Loan Forgiveness posted at Degrees and Debt.

Anyone up for a long trip to the DMV?  Might be a good place to sit with a book all day instead of my living room (where I would be distracted) and make some coin while reading… Wonder if the DMV would frown upon it.  Imagine if it caught on so well that the room was full of spot sellers…

Until next time, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!

Welcome back to the Financial Simplicity Carnival, where we take the best ten to twenty posts in four categories from your bloggers that highlight how easy financial success can be. 

For more information about the carnival click here.  Enjoy the show!

Making Money

Jeff Rose presents Most Profitable Small Businesses to Start in 2013 posted at Good Financial Cents.

Harry Campbell presents Why Should I Donate Blood? posted at Your PF Pro.

Spending and Budgeting

Kaitlyn Johnson presents HOW TO BUDGET FOR HAVING YOUR FIRST BABY posted at Newborn Care.

Jason Price presents Guide to Finding the Best Children’s Savings Accounts and Teaching Children How to Save Money posted at One Money Design.

David Leonhardt presents Quirky ways to save money on your car posted at Self-help Happiness Blog.

Investing

FMF presents Build a Dividend Growth Stock Portfolio in 4 Easy Steps posted at Free Money Finance.

Michael presents Stock Splits: What’s the Deal? posted at Financial Ramblings.

Bryan presents Teaching Kids About Money posted at BryanMaltier.com.

Dividend Growth Investor presents Pure Dividend Growth Stocks I wish I owned posted at Dividend Growth Investor.

Blogging Banks presents Top tips for first home buyers posted at Blogging Banks.

Debt

Edgar presents Infographic: Ten Tips to Improve Your Credit Score posted at Degrees and Debt.

GD presents Cosigning A Student Loan – For Parents posted at OneCentAtATime.com.

Gary presents What Is A Good Credit Score? posted at Gajizmo.com.

That’s it for this week!  Tune in next week for some more great posts from around the web!  And bloggers, if you want to submit a post for consideration click here!

Until next time, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!

Like what you see here? Tell your friends by sharing it with one of the buttons below. Post this to Facebook or Tweet it to help your friends and family, too. And don’t forget to send me an e-mail or comment to say hello. I love hearing from you.

Also, please join our recently-started Facebook community where I hope to build a place where we can all share thoughts, successes and support.  And don’t forget to follow me on twitter

Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How many times in the last year have you heard that we have seen the last of the middle class!?!?!  I haven’t done the math, but my guess is I’ve heard it at least a hundred times, possibly more.  Although it’s probably technically impossible to see the last of the middle class (right? won’t there always be people in the middle…), I get the point.  And if you wikipedia ”American middle class,” apparently “income is one of a household’s attributes most commonly used to determine its class status” even if that’s not always the best measure.

So when incomes shrink except for those making a ton of cash, people start to fear the rich getting richer and the “middle class” moving on down… End result?  No more middle class.  Meh… I’m not much of a doomsday guy.  And I’m not much of a “class” guy.  (I know… I gave you a softball with that last sentence… feel free to make all of the “no class” jokes in the comments…).

But apparently, the end of the middle seems to be working its way to people’s balance sheets, too, most notably on the liability side of the ledger, at least according to this article over at CNBC.  Apparently, the percentage of US households carrying any debt dropped to 69% in 2011 from 74% in 2000!  Not too shabby.  But doesn’t 69% seem really high?

Since 29% of homeowners own their home outright, at least according to Zillow, you would think that you would start with 21% of the population being debt free (After all, the folks who owned their homes outright would likely not be in a pile of other debt, right?).  So only 10% of renters are debt free under that (admittedly flawed) logic.  Seems low.  You would think more than 1 in 10 would be able to avoid consumer debt…

Aaaanyhow…. while we’re trending in the right direction percentage wise, apparently the average debt rose from just over $50,000 to $70,000.  That’s a lot of coin!  Looks like it’s the end of the middle of the debt class if this keeps going…

What causes the shifts?  Apparently hosing debt for seniors, rising education and student loan costs, older folks “helping” adult children and medical debt.  But credit card debt is shrinking… not bad from the credit card side., I guess.

I for one have much more debt now than in 2000 (hopefully not for long, as I’ll talk about in a follow-up post).  In 2000, I had approximately $20,000 in debt.  In 2011 I had an incredible multiple of that – light HIGH six figures!  Crazy, right?  Well there’s a whole bunch of stupid tax in there and, of course, all of those student loans I love so much…

The good news is I haven’t actually borrowed money since I bought the rental property other than to refinance a mortgage or two… So I haven’t done much additional damage.  But boy am I on the wrong side of the stats… I am a first-class debtor, at least as of now.

How about you?  Have you gotten out of debt since 2000?  How does your debt load compare?

Until next time, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!

Like what you see here? Tell your friends by sharing it with one of the buttons below. Post this to Facebook or Tweet it to help your friends and family, too. And don’t forget to send me an e-mail or comment to say hello. I love hearing from you.

Also, please join our recently-started Facebook community where I hope to build a place where we can all share thoughts, successes and support. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter where you’ll find most of the posts, random thoughts by me and more. See you there!

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Good morning ladies and gents!  Bankrate had an interesting post the other day I wanted to share with you listing 6 worst home fixes for the money in a tight little slide show.  I think you may find a few that surprise you.  Let’s dig in – with my obligatory two cents, of course:

1. Home office remodel.  Apparently homeowners spend an average of $28,888 and expect to recoup about 45.8% at resale.  Three reactions.  First, what the heck do you need a $30,000 office for – on average!?!?!  For $30,000 I could fancy up a home office with a murphy desk and sit on a pile of hundreds to do my work!  Second, who the heck is spending $30,000 on a home office?  Isn’t a home office all about making money?  And aren’t home offices mainly for folks not hosting clients regularly, so you can get away with a simple, comfortable setup?  Finally, I was surprised that people would recoup even close to 45.8% at resale – for some folks it could certainly be a selling point (at least a reasonable office could be).  But for others it could take away from the value – one bedroom down and having to spend some money ripping out bookshelves or whatever.  
2. Backup power generator.  We got hit hard by Hurricane Sandy and a lobby generator in our building saved the day (long… long… story).  So I’m a bit partial to generators… maybe over here there would be some value to advertising a backup power generator.  Maybe the home would sell faster at least.  Anyhow, again, not sure you need to go crazy spending $15,000, which is what the average cost reported by Bankrate is, recouping 48.5%.  Again, not surprised by the number.  Maybe a reasonable generator could recoup more value.  But for me, it would be about the security – the value to me – of a simple generator, rather than resale value.
3. Sun room addition.  Meh… not a big sun room guy (living in Jersey, there’s not much sun, haha!).  Again, the “average” person spends over $75,000 on a sun room and recoups 48.6%.  Yeah… makes sense.  Maybe if you did something simple you could recoup a bigger percentage.  Or, if you’re going to do a sun room  maybe you consider adding an extra bedroom – complete – with a screened-in porch on the outside.  I’m no construction guy, but my guess is you would spend around the same (maybe less – less windows) and end up getting “mo money” on the back end.
4. Upscale master suite addition.  I suspect this varies geographically.  But apparently the “average” cost is over $232,000 recouping 52.7% of the value.  Let me just say something here – if you spend $232,000 on a master suite addition you better have a LOT of money.  If not, and if you’re doing it because you think you deserve it or you think it’s a good investment, you’re probably a little (a lot) crazy.  Again, I think this is all about reason.  When people go crazy and build this monster, “upscale” master suite they’re probably going above and beyond what a reasonable buyer would want – and they’re probably building to their tastes rather than something marketable to everyone.  So they get more money on resale, but only about half.  Again, a little more “reason” on the front end and you’ll likely end up getting a much better return on your investment on something you can still enjoy…
5. Bathroom addition.  ”For a moderately outfitted additional … figure parting with about $21,695, according to the Remodeling report.”  Upscale can cost over $40,000.  The return?  53%.  Silly.  I get the point, but wonder whether you can accomplish what you want and a better return by using existing space and plumbing – taking square footage from existing rooms – to add a bathroom and then adding a simple extra bedroom or living room, requiring much, much less plumbing and wiring.  You get your square footage and bathroom but limit your costs.  My bet is you’ll end up with a better bang for your buck.
6. Upscale Garage addition.  You see a trend?  ”Upscale [insert indulgence] addition” doesn’t seem to have a good bang for the buck.  It’s also possible (likely?) that people are doing this have the money and don’t really care.  Apparently there are some folks who spend over $90,000 for a garage with all the “trimmings” and get a return of about 53.6%.  Silly unless you have the cash and can blow it on a toy.  Unless you are doing some sort of business where you need an upscale garage, it seems silly to even think of an “upscale garage addition” as an investment….

There you go.  Any surprises?  Bathroom addition caught me by surprise at first – then I thought a bit and, well you see my two cents.  I thought an upscale master suite would have a better return, although I am pretty “anti-upscale” for investment purposes generally, so it doesn’t surprise me too much.  For me, I’m all about “reasonable” investments into properties.  You know, the old adage, don’t overbuild (or over improve) the neighborhood.

My two cents.  Keep the change.

Until next time, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!

Also, please join our recently-started Facebook community where I hope to build a place where we can all share thoughts, successes and support. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter where you’ll find most of the posts, random thoughts by me and more. See you there!

Image courtesy of Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Growing up, whenever we drove by a sign advertising a house or car “for sale by owner,” I’d laugh and ask – out loud, of course – who else would be selling it?!?!?!

Well, it turns out that the phrase makes sense.  At least when referencing a house, for sale by owner just means that there was no realtor involved.  Essentially it advertises to other people that the seller is one of a few things:

1. naive – “why give a Realtor 5% when I can just look at comps and pocket the entire sales price”;
2. greedy – same;
3. dumb – “Realtors don’t do anything to earn 5% so why pay them” or “I can do what they do, so why waste the money”;
4. desperate – “I only have 5% equity so I can’t afford a Realtor”; or
5. ignorant – “I have no idea what I’m doing or what my house is worth, so I’ll likely either give my house away or set a price so high that nobody’s going to look at it”; or
6. not very motivated – they want to sell their house if they get their price, but don’t want to deal with super marketing and open houses by Realtors.  They just want to let people know their house is for sale if they want to pay their asking price.

These blend together, for sure.  But conventional wisdom is that a good Realtor sells houses faster and for a higher price than for sale by owner.  But I digress….

With all the drama over the Instagram’s proposed changes to their terms of service that people thought would result in people’s pictures for sale to the highest bidder, there is quite a bit of sensitivity about selling information about your customers.

But this post over at Bankrate suggests that at least one of the credit reporting agencies is “making big bucks from selling how much you make to third parties.”  And apparently, at least seven members of Congress have sent a letter to the head of the agency requesting more information.

The concern was apparently whether the information was being provided to debt collectors.  Bankrate reports that the information was not provided to debt collectors, but is provided to lenders and prospective employers.  Still a bit creepy if you ask me.  And potentially devastating to the old “let me say I make a bit more than I actually do, so if I switch gigs I’ll start out at the new place with a sweet raise” game…

Of course, there are a ton of “fairness” arguments.  For example, is it fair for potential employers to know what we make but not for us to know what “the most they would pay” for the position is?  Or if they know what I make now, then should they be forced to tell me how much the guy or gal I’m replacing makes?  Or if I’m not replacing someone, how much do they pay comparable employees?

I could go on (I won’t, don’t worry).

The point is, information is for sale all over the place these days.  And it’s not “for sale by owner.”  It’s for sale “by people or companies with terms and conditions that allow them to do this.”  So if you’re “out there,” there’s probably information about you for sale.  Kind of creepy, I guess.  But if you read the terms and conditions for all of the sites out there that you join, it’s not surprising.  And you’ve likely agreed to it.

So what do you think?  

Would you feel better if the information is for sale only to potential employers and lenders?  

Does withholding the information from debt collectors make it significantly better?

I don’t know where my opinion lies.  It’s a bit creepy for sure.  But at the end of the day, I’m not sure I care that much.  It doesn’t really affect me that much, because I don’t borrow money and have worked for the same company for almost a decade, so that might be why.   But I certainly understand how some people might not be happy.
Like what you see here? Tell your friends by sharing it with one of the buttons below. Post this to Facebook or Tweet it to help your friends and family, too. And don’t forget to send me an e-mail or comment to say hello. I love hearing from you.

Also, please join our recently-started Facebook community where I hope to build a place where we can all share thoughts, successes and support. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter where you’ll find most of the posts, random thoughts by me and more. See you there!

Image courtesy of pichart99thai / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Happy Friday everyone!  I know, I know.  It’s been a while, right?  I’m sorry.  It’s not you, it’s me.  I swear!  For the old school readers of SAFTM you’ll know that sometimes I disappear for a few weeks or a couple of months.  Usually the reason is because the day gig turns into a “day and night” gig and then sometimes a “seven day and night” gig.  Well this was one of those times where since October it’s been a “seven day and night” gig.

But I finally got a break.  And I’m back.  I’ll be making sure to check in pretty regularly these days and will touch in even when work’s kicking my tail on a regular basis even to just say hello.  It’s funny – I don’t want to just post some crap I throw together in ten minutes just to keep in touch with “y’all,” so I just don’t post.  Then every once in a while I look back at my posts and it reminds me that even when I take my sweet time putting the posts together, I write like a six year old… but I guess that’s my charm, haha.

Anyhow, what got me fired up enough to check back in is something I’m sure has been kicking around cyberspace for the last day or so.  Turns out Americans who are 35 and younger are carrying substantially less debt than they were before the 2008 crash, at least according to this article over at CNBC. Really.  Cool.  Stuff.

But before you get too excited, it’s not all “wise spending” that’s going into the trend (the article points this out, too).  For example, people are postponing getting married and having kids more, which means fewer home purchases and mortgages.  Also, banks are more hesitant to lend, so it makes it a little tougher to get into debt.  Also, people are keeping their cars and other big-ticket items longer, putting off borrowing to make those purchases.  (This, for my Spanish friends, me gusta.)

But the news isn’t great for the older folks – over 75.  Apparently their debt has doubled on average.  Ouch.

From my perspective, as a “barely” under 35 year old, I definitely have a lot less debt than in 2008.  I still have (but have saved up enough to pay off) my student loans.  (Here’s why and a bit more about my debt).  But the regular payments have paid them down significantly since 2007.  We also sold my wife’s condo and paid down my mortgage I have on an investment property a bit.

But we have a “grand plan,” which should be settled in the next six months or so.  Once the dust settles on some lifestyle design issues we’ll be ready to announce it here.  It’s a ways away for now though.

Until then, things seem to be trending in a good direction for the 35 and under crowd.  It’s possible that it’s all “access” and “fear” that’s reducing the borrowing.  Let’s hope there are also a few “lessons learned” factors built in.

What about you guys?  Owe more or less than you did pre-2008?  Why?

Like what you see here? Tell your friends by sharing it with one of the buttons below. Post this to Facebook or Tweet it to help your friends and family, too. And don’t forget to send me an e-mail or comment to say hello. I love hearing from you.

Also, please join our Facebook community where I hope to build a place where we can all share thoughts, successes and support.  And don’t forget to follow me on twitter where you’ll find most of the posts, random thoughts by me and more.  See you there!

Image: ddpavumba / FreeDigitalPhotos.net