Archive for September, 2009

50% Of Poll Respondents Chose Wal-Mart As Best Symbol Of America.

And if that doesn’t spell trouble for the old U. S. of A., then I don’t know what does. A massive retail giant that sells crappy goods that most of us don’t actually need, that don’t last the test of time and need to be replaced often, and that put a big portion of our population into debt each year as the symbol of America? Uh-oh. As if it is not enough that Wal-Mart comes into towns and puts small businesses out of business, or finds ways around paying for health insurance for their employees, or basically continues the cycle of poverty by selling their own cheap products to the very people who work there for minimum wage – now they are the “symbol of America” for nearly 50% of the respondents to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll. This is very disappointing.

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Be Frugal, But Don’t Be A Cheap Bastard.

I always talk on here about watching your spending, staying out of debt, to stop spending on useless “stuff” that doesn’t bring real benefit to your life, etc.. But that doesn’t mean you should be a cheap bastard with your money, either.

Sunday Money Roundup – Colorado Rockies Edition.

And by Colorado Rockies, I mean the baseball team, not the mountain range. While living in New Mexico is/has been fun, there is one thing I truly miss – and that’s professional sports. See, NM doesn’t have a SINGLE professional sports team, and I have never lived somewhere where I couldn’t get a ticket to a game within an hour or 2 drive. So this weekend I went to a Rockies game with my best friend and his 4 year old son in Denver and we had a blast. I miss professional baseball and look forward to the day when I can go to baseball games on a regular basis again. On to the roundup…

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Money Quote Friday – Now They Own You Edition.

You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.“

- Chuck Palahniuk

Amen. Have a good weekend.

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Earning 11.89% Interest By Lending Money At Lending Club.

Back in February 2008, I wrote a post titled “Why I Started Lending Money With Prosper And Lending Club” that outlined why I had veered from my savings account mentality into the world of peer-to-peer lending. Basically, I wanted to try to beat the rate that my online bank was offering at the time (which is even lower now – thanks ING) by lending my money directly to people who need to borrow it, skipping the middleman. ING at that point was paying around 3% interest, which wasn’t great, but it was a sure thing and there would not be anyone defaulting on my loan.

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