Breaking Even, Inc.

Times They Aren't A-Changin'

In A Doom-And-Gloom Economy, There's Only One Thing To Do: Learn As Much As Possible 

Reading economics articles make me feel smart. I've included some links to some if you want feel smart too! Since schools all over the country are winding down, I thought I'd divide my findings by theoretical school subject.

Sociology

Could you live with just 100 things? It's an interesting idea, and the article makes me think of my about 100 kitchen utensils and appliances in a whole new way. Anyone want a blender?

When faced with a range of choices, most shoot for the middle. This principle from the book "Predictably Irrational" is explained with graphics by Can I Get Rich On A Salary.

There is an active moment to get Americans thinking that it's cool to save. Um, just check out the personal finance blogs and websites, Confronting the Debt Culture Conference. We've been talking about how cool it is for months, some people out there years. See this New York Times article for analysis. 

And according to the New York Times, rich people are having a hard time not getting to go on fancy vacations or wearing expensive clothes. Cry me a river.

Statistics

Can I Get Rich On A Salary had a great analysis called "What Are Your Chances of Moving Up, Really?" examining the ability to attain the American Dream of doing better than our parents. The short form: It's not where you start but how you save that determines you moving up, that and a good education doesn't hurt. The long form though includes some great charts and additional resources.

But even in a down economy, people still have their priorities: big perky boobs. (via SmartMoney)

Environmental Science

And no need to worry about clubbing baby seals in the Arctic for our oil: The Center For Economic and Policy Research outlines three ways to save consumers money and decrease our country's energy emissions. Now what are they going to do with these ideas? (via Wall Street Journal)

Home Economics/Life Skills (the more PC term)

You too can write a polite Dear John letter to the person you want to buy a home from (or vice versa). Proves the old proverb, you'll never know until you ask. (via NYT)

And you may feel like you pay a lot for rent but a little research may prove otherwise. The Baglady plugged her numbers and found she is getting a good deal. Are you?

What did you learn in school today?

1. Can I Get Rich On A Salary is a great blog you should read often. http://www.canigetrichonasalary.com/

2. The New York Times backs up the obvious, but sometimes surprises with the occasional new nugget.

3. Nicole aggregates articles like no other. (Or at least tries to).

Check out other timely personal finance articles at this week's Carnival of Personal Finance.

Image: Gee, according to Google, people care more and more about saving money all the time. Hmmm....

How I Get Motivated To Save: Reverse Psychology

Do I Really Need More Stuff? I Guess I Just Don't Care

There is a story in our family of my first Christmas, or one of them anyway. I open a gift and begin playing... with the box. After waiting awhile for me to get tired of it (apparently I wasn't), my parents show me the toy in the box so I begin playing with that. They have to practically force me to open my other gifts, which they think is pretty funny. Little Nicole would have been just as happy with the box.

I've been thinking hard of a post to submit to the Summer Savings Contest at Bible Money Matters. One of the categories is motivation to save money. So I've been giving this a lot of thought.

At the same time I'm mulling this over, I think of all the advertising I'm exposed to about Father's Day. The need to make Father's Day special. The need to find Dad that perfect gift.

You may or may not know that my dad died in November at the age of 51. This is my first Father's Day without him. "Well, at least I don't need to get him a gift." I thought, attempting to look on the bright side of a not very bright situation. But wait a minute, I don't usually buy him a gift. . .

When my dad was alive, the thought of buying him one more knick knack did not seem right. Besides going to his camp, golfing, and hanging out at home with my mother, my father had no hobbies. He didn't read. He didn't collect things. He wore the same pair of jean shorts all summer until they wore out. My gift on Father's Day or most any other occasion was often just showing up, sometimes even with a card. He never gave me any indication that this was anything but fine. He was always grateful that I could drive from wherever I was living and just hang out for the weekend.

So I play with boxes; I don't buy my father a Father's Day present; and I move all the time. What a bizarre person, you're probably thinking. There must be a point for my little stories.

Here's my point. My motivation for saving is simple. I ask myself what I'd use the money on. More stuff I'd have to pack in a box a year from now and move a few hundred miles then unpack again? A gift my father wouldn't even use or remember? If I didn't buy stuff, I guess I'd just have money which sits in a bank somewhere. I wouldn't be buying more things to strain the environment, exploit workers, or take up space in my life or others' lives. Saving becomes pretty easy when you look at it like that.

So my motivation is a lack of motivation to buy and need more and more and more. Is that yours as well?

See a great video "The Story Of Stuff" (as blogged by Get Rich Slowly and other bloggers)...

Book Review: Nickeled And Dimed

"That's the kind of book that old people read." -12 year old girl I know

I finished Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America in a record time of five days. It was less then 250 pages and a remarkably quick read for the subject it was about: "case studies" of poverty in America.

When one of the middle school girls I work with saw my book, she immediately could not believe I was reading it. Maybe I seem too young and hip (my words, not hers) to be reading something that seems so boring. But to be honest, it was quite interesting. Heck, they even made this book into a play.

The premise is Barbara who spends a year trying to live on minimum wage jobs (or close to) in different parts of the US. I bought the book even before I knew part of it took place in Portland, Maine (she becomes a maid with an agency similar to Merry Maids). Her detailed accounts reminded me of people I know and made me look about the people who wash my dishes, serve my food, and cash me out at the grocery store in a different way.

The evaluation stopped me dead in my tracks. A study shows that the minimum wage to pay for a basic standard of living with a home, a reliable used car, childcare at a liscenced day care, etc. should be $14 an hour. And she was using numbers from 1998-2000. Those making $10 an hour or under are part of the "working poor". My salary translates to about $10 an hour, and it's 2008.

Now until this moment, I didn't think of myself as poor. I have three college degrees and work experience that would put me in the "professional" category. This book made me a little sad and a little inspired at the same time. And more importantly (and beyond looking at my own situation), it made me see the world in a different way then I was seeing it: as a bunch of hardworking people who will one day get to the point where they can't take it anymore and do something about it.

Just a reminder that I'm giving this book away as a prize to the winner of the June Blood Drive. So check out that page for details to enter (it's easy!).

Image from http://www.hoardedordinaries.wordpress.com.

June Blood Drive

You may remember a few months ago that I gave blood at the Red Cross and thought the whole thing was a pretty good use of my time. This month alone, I've gotten two phone calls and one postcard from the Red Cross asking for another donation.

I remember my Dad getting a lot of phone calls for blood donations because he was AB negative, which is fairly rare. But I do know the Red Cross needs blood of all types all the time. In light of recent events and due to the drop in blood donations during the critical summer months, I thought I'd launch a challenge with this blog: The June Blood Drive.

The goal is 50 pints of blood for the Red Cross by the end of June. Can you give a pint? 

To let me know you've donated, comment on the blog or email nicole @breakingeveninc.com and let me know that you have. If you want to take a picture of your "I Donated Blood" sticker or you showing Oreos in your mouth moments afterward to prove your story, go for it. I could always use cool blog art! I trust in your honesty because what sick person would lie about a blood donation?

The prize is a book I picked up in Boston, pre-windshield incident. "Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America". It's a fascinating read (I'm half way through in two days) and interesting from both a personal finance and anthropological perspective.

Ready, set, give! Contest ends June 30.

Nicole's State Of The Economy Address

I'll be the first to admit that I have little to no-pull in terms of making people think one thing or the other about the economy. I do, however, come to a point where I have collected some cool links that just need to be shared.

I'll cover the economy in seperate sectors of the agreed-upon needs of all people: Food, Water, Clothing, Shelter, and Love (and I'll throw in Government just for fun!).

Food

Food price inflation may not be as bad as we thought (check out inflation explained at Debt-Free Revolution). I also read a completely hilarious blog about media mass hysteria about food prices meanwhile the average barbeque meal only cost $1.65 more than last year... if you know who wrote this post let me know, because I lost the link! Even the Wall Street Journal has reported rice futures going down.

Water

My friend Sarah sent me this fabulous SIGG water bottle for my birthday. It is amazing. It keeps my water cold and crisp and does not leave a plastic aftertaste in my mouth...and, of course, it's refillable. I don't normally endorse products but here's the store if you want to buy one.

Clothing

Apparently, the New York Times is having a hard time believing that Sarah Jessica Parker's newish Bitten line of clothes is so wonderful. They seem to think that attraction towards inexpensive clothes is a phenomenon in these economic times. Those of us who love women's magazines though have seen a "Bitten" example in every issue for at least the past year. Ok slight exaggeration but SJP (and women wanting cute cheap clothes) is here to stay.

Feeling left out menfolk? Please don't: LL Cool J has got your back! (from USAToday.com)

Shelter

If you want to understand how this whole housing debaucle happened, listen to this hour-long program from This American Life. Great storytelling, which you can expect from TAL but makes this whole thing way more understandable.

And if you're a renter, feel free to get angry. Read this fabulous post by Baglady to see why this housing crisis will effect us all whether we rent or not.

Love

Ah, poor Anne Heche. She may love her kids but can't afford to pay child support. OK, if she can't afford it, I think that pretty much lets everyone else off the hook, too. (I have no sympathy for celebrities who make more money in one day then I have in five years then waste their money. Where I'm from we call that gaspilleuse!)(from People.com)

But in the good news bin about love, people apparently love and appreciate small businesses enough to actually pay in a pay-as-you-wish situation. (from Freakonomics blog)

And according to a recent Gallup poll,almost 50% of us are happy and thriving. How happy? People are working on an index for that! (from Freakonomics blog)

Government

Haven't spent your new government stimulus check on a new Wii or a crazy night in Vegas? Good for you! Here are some more productive things to do with it. (from Mighty Bargain Hunter)

And guess what? The government is doing something about credit card companies (from Debt-Free Revolution).

Need even more government fun? Now you can actually prove if you could do a better job then your Congress people. Balance the federal budget...it's a new game called Budget Hero. (Freakonomics blog)

To summarize: things may or may not be as awful as we thought, but we certianly can't control everything. Might as well smile and wave...

Image from www.shorpy.com.

 

Getting Up In My Business

SMBIZ4ME Governor's Regional Business Conference Was Interesting, Worth A Day Off

I took the day off work Wednesday to attend the SMBIZ4ME Conference for a few reasons: 1) It was only a half hour's drive away. 2) I heard it was going to be good from a few people. and 3) It only cost $25 and one day off to attend. As someone who has already heavily invested in my brain but knows little about business, I figured the price and the opportunity to network with people in the area would be invaluable. It was.

The vendors set up over breakfast and gave me something to do when I first walked in and was getting my bearings. (I can be social; I just sometimes need to ease into it). I made a few good connections with some Maine publications that were at least theoretically interested in my writing as well as met the guy behind Mainecreates.com. Mainecreates is a social networking site for Mainers involved in the creative economy. (I got on the site to set up a profile when I got home but I see I will be charged for it after a year, which I'm not really down with. But it is a good idea so I set up my own account there.)

In my first seminar, I met Melanie Brooks, who just got hired at MaineBusiness.com. It's a division of MaineToday (another newspaper) but it's focused on business content. She's a blogger, I'm a blogger. She suggested I crosspost on their site. So I'm trying that out to see if that'll be a good use of energy. (Really I want to end up as one of their featured bloggers, I'm competitive like that.) Melanie was fun, energetic, and into blogging; she seems like the kind of person I'd hang out with if I lived closer to Portland, though though the blogosphere can at least be a virtual friend.

All this happened in the first two hours. Did I mention there was all the free coffee I could drink and croissants I could eat? (Out of restraint, I had one croissant, ladies and gentlemen, with an apple chaser).

Meeting a lot of people who are all either thinking about or running their own businesses and having to give my "elevator speech" about my blogging consulting/web content creation business allowed me to not only realize that I actually did have a good, original idea but that I do really believe that I can do it.

As with any event of this nature, there is some golf clapping, boring speech listening, corporate sponsors to thank profusely, and a couple snotty people but that was all minor. (One PR woman in my last seminar seemed ridiculously jealous of me and conducted herself in such a way that I wondered, is she actually a PR person?)

Overall though, I met some wonderful people and got some great ideas. I left feeling energized, even though being nice and civil to people you barely know all day can be fairly exhausting.

Have you had a rockin' professional development day recently?

Best Advice You Ever Got?

A Little Philosophy About Money And Life

CNN Money recently had a slideshow of financially successful people all answering the same question "What was the best advice you ever got?" The answers are what you'd expect: kind of general, a little profound, and applicable to money and life in general. Here are a few favorites:

Focus on things you do different than others. (Peter G. Peterson)
Get out of your comfort zone (David Petraeus)
Always be the person who signs your checks (Tina Fey)

To be honest, a lot of other people I didn't know. A lot of older white guys who run large companies (at least I'm assuming, a lot of the companies were not recognizable to me). I would have liked to see a broader spectrum of different types of successful people.

Most of the advice that was stated came from fathers or bosses. I wish I could remember advice my father gave me. He was pretty tight lipped on finances in general. (According to the New York Times, it's a movement among young people to not keep their finances to themselves but with the popularity of personal finance blogs, I'm highly doubting it's just younger people.) I had long wanted to pick my dad's brain for financial advice in particular because he ran a successful business and was loved by his family and community at the same time. How did he build his money early on? What were the best things he did for the business and for his life? But sometimes you can't wait too long to ask... As far as bosses, I do remember an old boss who taught me how to "manage up", meaning to manage yourself when your direct supervisor can't or won't give you feedback.

The slideshow is a little superficial but does the job of getting your mind going on what you've gotten for financial advice (both good and bad).

What I always keep in mind, in finances and in life: 1) Everyone is doing the best they can. and 2) If it will make a good story, you should try it.

(And from the Freakonomics blog, some computer-related proverbs for these technological times.)

Have you gotten any really good advice? Maybe CNN Money forgot to ask you but I certainly won't.

Will A Recession Make Us Fatter Or Skinnier?

So the economy is in stagflation mode, not recession mode as of yesterday (Debt Free Revolution). Food prices are soaring and are expected to be inflated for at least two more years (CNN Money). What I want to know is does recession make people fatter or skinner?

You'd think that having less money available would mean less food available, which would make America as a whole skinner. (Interestingly enough, car's are actually lightening up these days. Ford introduced it's car that lost sixty pounds to gain some gas mileage (CNN Money). Maybe if we lost weight on our bodies that sit in our cars, we'd also get better gas mileage?)

In short, recession should slim us all down. There is, however, much more evidence that a recession/stagflation will make us all a little porkier. The Simple Dollar delves into how recession triggers poor food (and other) buying decisions while Sense to Save has reviewed a cookbook born out of a phenomenon: The 99 Cent Only Store Cookbook.

Also in a nation of comfort food, where people are depressed about the economy and watching more television (the most accessible "free" entertainment), it seems we are headed towards getting fatter.

What can we do? In short, shop smart and cook more. If you are totally not excited about cooking or don't know where to start, this is a great post for you. And if you want to know how and why this food crisis is happening (and what you can do), check out this great post at Cheap Healthy Good.

In short, the recession will only make you fatter if you let it. Start cooking and thinking ahead about food purchases and you should stay your healthy self.

Other posts at Breaking Even, Inc. that may be of interest:
A Look At Extreme Grocery Shopping
The Grocery Game Review
A Week In Food (good healthy meals for less than $10 per dish)

Free Business Workshop Series

I don't have a self improvement category on this blog because I think (or at least hope!) the vien of self improvement runs throughout. I think if you are reading this, you either appreciate my quest towards self improvement or you constantly work towards self improvement yourself.

My friend Jessica told me about a series of seminars being given at our local community college called The Basics Of Starting A Business. This morning is the last morning but the three week course has forced me to learn more about the business behind writing.

Now I may have three bachelors degrees but I have never taken a business course. (Though, don't get me wrong, a geology major and being able to speak French together have been pretty fun at parties, and have collectively gotten me where I am.)  I have not been implicated in my family's hardware business. In short, no knowledge and not much experience in business.

I have, however, always enjoyed jobs where I could set my own goals and schedule. In those environments, I have worked hard and really thrived. Also I've always wanted to write and be paid for it. Launching a part-time freelance business seems like a logical thing for me to be doing. I figured a free seminar may help keep me on track and working towards really doing this.

The class is being given by Women, Work, and Community, though even if this organization isn't in your area, you should try local community colleges and business women's organizations for possible resources like this. The series of three seminars and three hours at a time and have forced me to do things like finally buy a shorter domain name (Read more about the changeover to Breaking Even, Inc. here.) and figure out how much I should charge people for my work (if you're a freelance writer, here's a good collection of links I happened upon about how much to charge).

Essentially, the course is forcing me to write a business plan. It is also forcing me to meet other people in the area starting their own businesses that I would have not otherwise met. I know I could go online and find a web page on it but having to have homework done is making me finally put things on paper.

I hope you take advantage of free education opportunities where you live. (Not that I'm biased or anything but a good place to start is your local paper's community calendar.) Many free cultural and learning opportunities probably exist that you never even knew about. Keep learning always; your mind (and perhaps eventually your wallet) will thank you.

Three Things To Make You Mad

Ignore Them Or Learn About Them: One Way Or Another, They Aren't Going Away

So there were multiple things going on in the news this week that would make even an even keeled optimist like myself fume just a little. You have the option of ignoring these things but personally, I'd rather know. Here are the three issues of the week that really got my goat:

Bear Stearns: Their Ridiculously Spending And Decisions That Got Them In Trouble
The Satellite Sisters (who have a great talk radio program whose podcast I listen to often) broke down the Bear Stearn's money wasting ways (pre-stock crash). Julie put it the best I've heard it yet on their March 28 show. Below is an excerpt.

Bear Stearns: The Fact The Fed Bailed Them Out With Our Money
Here's some great audio from Marketplace about us paying for the bailout of a huge coorporation who would never do us the favor in return. (There is also text to the story if you don't have the means to listen.)

And Straight To The Dark Ages, Women Still Make Less Than Men
In Maine (and probably other places), things are still a little sexist, though slightly more sexist if you don't have a college degree. See the article here. Sadly, this got little more than a mention on news programs and in newspapers.

So I don't know what effect hearing about these three things in a row will have on you but you are probably pretty fired up! I hope you can harness just a fraction of that energy to do something positive for the world (or even for yourself). Because there is plenty of good out there but apparently, we may need to provide it!

Money In The News

For your midweek news roundup...

Gold is through the roof...

You'll be getting that rebate check by May 16...

Some people are hoarding...I mean investing in copper...

75% of Americans think we're in a recession, but it won't be official for awhile...

Restaurant eating is down 0.3% and chefs are making higher profit meals (pasta dishes, cheaper meats) to compensate...

Grocery stores are noticing people buying less beef and more store-brand products...

Interest rates were cut but everyone seems to think this is just a drop in the bucket...

Oh Dollar, Why Don't Thou Go Up?

A Falling Dollar Gives Us All Something To Panic About

According to the financial buzz online, no one is sugar-coating the whole dollar tanking issue anymore.

Dollar's Fall Is Scary but Not a Reason to Panic, Kiplinger's tells us the dollar will plummet but eventually rebound. National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell has said the falling dollar is a weakness potentially expolitable by U.S. rivals, especially those with energy reserves we want and need. CNN released an article yesterday about the dollar value reaching a 12-year low vs. yen and how it's at an all-time low versus the Euro (which to be fair has only been around for a few years). Plenty of people are talking about this, but our government officials are noticeably silent. It's like people are only supposed to think we are in a recession/crisis if Ben Bernacki says so. But why would he?

Anyway, I've been watching all these doom and gloom dollar headlines all over the web the last few days and had to round some of them up for you all. Experts are all predicting how low the dollar (and how high the oil prices) will get and when things will turn around.

To me, this sounds a lot like predicting the outcome of a sports game, or deciding who will win an Oscar. There are clearly some of us with more information than others but all opinions are still on the table. Pre-Superbowl, I watched three out of four pros in really nice suits pick the Patriots as the winners. I picked the Colts and was within two points of the final score at the end of the game. I saw no football the whole season (and know nothing about the sport in general) and somehow, I made a better call than "the experts". Of course experts can't always be right. That's why we watch the Oscars even if insert-movie-here is the predicted winner. We can speculate just like the experts because no one really knows for sure.

In the end, the market goes up, the market goes down. It's cyclic in a way no one can know for sure. So in part because I'm an optimist and in part because I have my own ideas, I think I'm just going to sit back and watch how this all plays out...Heck, I may even make some popcorn, because at the very least, it should be an interesting show.  

Is It Getting Hot In Here Or Are We Playing The Stock Market?

I'm In A Couple That Knows The Meaning Of Romance

Some young couples buy their first piece of furniture together, or buy land to build a house. Sean and I have gone an even more romantic route and bought stock together as our first jointly owned item.

I've long wanted to enter the stock market game. But buying stock in some small unknown company or just a company I couldn't get excited about never seemed interesting to me. Yet that was precisely what I could afford.

I've talked about wanting to "own Google" frequently enough. At work, we use a lot of their software and I like that they are a company who treats their workers well. (I also think they are going to figure out television on the internet before anyone else but that’s just my hunch.)

When I inquired at dinner one night whether one could buy half a share of stock (GOOG was approaching $600 at that point), Sean offered to go in on it with me. We submitted money to eTrade and waited while it cleared. (Unlike their Superbowl commercials that promised instant stock purchasing, there is a nine business day waiting period on new funds.)

Meanwhile, Sean became interested in a company called Luminex that he likes and uses a lot at work.

As of two days ago, we are proud owners of 1 share of Google and 4 shares of Luminex (Sean has less expensive taste in stock than I do). We have a romantic dinner wager on which stock will do better, which we will evaluate six months from now.

And while I’ve always felt cheated that I couldn’t play the stock market game in high school economics class, I get to play it now.

Of course Google tanked and Luminex slightly tanked yesterday. I’ve decided for personal sanity reasons to take the little stock graphs that update every 15 minutes off my Google homepage. While I’d love to think I’m going to get rich off GOOG, I think this will just be a fun way to hopefully grow my money in the long run and allow me to learn more about markets firsthand.

I’d love to know how you’ve played the stock market game and how much you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy it.

Image from: http://btr.michaelkwan.com/2007/10/09/google-stock-breaks-600-will-anything-stunt-its-growth/

Do You Cost? Determining Net Worth

I was surfing the New York Times web site and happened upon their personal finance calculators. Now I love online calculators because they give you fun figures and you have to do a minimal amount of work. The first calculator I used determines how wealthy you are compared to “others in your age range”. The variables you input are your age, your income, and your net worth.

The third variable got me. How much am I worth? Friends and family would say a million bucks because they are sweet but also delusional (you know, in a fun way). Here is a link that’ll help you calculate your net worth to the actual world. Meanwhile with my car, various possessions, savings, and retirement investments, I’m worth about $55,000.

All told, according to the calculator, for my age and income, I am 0.962 of the Desired Net Worth, meaning that people my age making my salary are worth a little more than I am. The only reason I am worth even close to what my peers are is that 1) my parents started a retirement account for me earlier than I ever thought of it and 2) my grandfather died last year, leaving me some unexpected money. To be an average accumulator of wealth, I need to be making at least $29,000. Hmph.

To make myself feel better, I did the simple savings calculator. If I’m able to continue putting away $50 a week into my retirement over the course of 25 years (even at a merely three percent) for $70,000ish I will have invested, I'll have acumulated $45,000 in interest. Yay compound interest. But that means I have to keep at it.

Do you know of any good calculators for personal finance? Leave them in the comments for others to see! Until then, have fun with some numbers, knowing that the more you can save, the less you'll cost yourself in the long run because in some ways, it's good to be a cheap date. Happy 2008.

An Introduction

Money is boring.

I think many people think it is. It seems elusive to some and in too much abundance to others. But money effects us all in profound ways. It affects the way we see the world, who we interact with and how we interact with them, what we do and don't do with our time. Whether we want to think it or not, economics drive our lives, determine our opportunities , decide our material comfort level and if our basic needs are met.

I am a young person. I don't make a lot of money. Actually, I make a little less than $10 an hour. I'm trying to pay my living expenses, plan for my future, and have fun. I think many other people are in this same position, too. Sometimes I look around and wonder how a lot of us are even making it. But we are.

I don't think this is a problem unique to young people. No matter how much money we make, I think we all know what it feels like to deal with what we feel is a shortfall.

I am not an economist but I like to read, write, research, and talk to people. I find economics facinating yet practical. I think it is important for everyone to know about money and how to make it work for them. Knowing more is empowering and can save a lot of time and effort. Also, I don't think there is much information out there for people like me. So I've decided to create it. I hope you find it useful and interesting. Your communication is welcome and your readership appreciated.

Now let's bring home some bacon...