Words On Wednesday

For a long time, my only investing was through regular 401K contributions through payroll deductions. Recently, I made a brokerage account through Wells Fargo and I've started to dabble in stocks. First of all, let me point out that I am not a financial advisor. I am not equipped to give financial advice. You're welcome to follow my methods, but I cannot guarantee profit or financial success. This is simply what I've chosen to do with some discretionary funds. I've always treated the stock market as something like legal gambling. Yes, I realize that the market tends to increase over time, and that investing your money properly will make it grow while leaving it as cash in checking and savings account will lose value due to inflation. The problem is I don't know how to properly invest. My 401K seemed like a safe bet, and a reasonable way to prepare for retirement. I contribute some from my paycheck before I ever see it, and my employer matches that. It's a great ...

My perspective on finances is that I want to automate everything. Bills and utilities on auto pay, direct deposit paycheck, anything that reduces the likelihood that I’ll forget to pay something. The only thing that I want to keep manual is my credit card payment, so I can decide how much of a balance to keep and how much to pay off. And even in that case, I have an automatic monthly payment of my minimum required payment, just so I won’t get hit with a late fee or missed payment penalty. This generates a problematic situation sometimes, though. My various bills hit at different points in the month, and sometimes I forget about a bill that will be coming out soon. Once before, I paid a substantial amount toward my credit card, but I didn’t leave enough in my checking account to pay our vehicle payments. I postponed those payments until after my next paycheck arrived, and fortunately nothing bad happened, but it was a pretty scary scenario. I take a lot of pride in my credit and consist...

Jagex has announced  that they will be increasing the price of Runescape membership and bonds in June 2018. In anticipation of this change, I have purchased some bonds with in game currency. When I first read the announcement, I wasn’t surprised at all. Prices go up over time. When I first started playing, you could purchase membership for $5 per month. This cost has gradually climbed over the years, to the point that standard membership now is $9.49 USD per month. You can get better deals with Premier Club or other promotions, but that requires committing to the game for a year at a time. Given my spotty history with Runescape, I’m not going to pony up the cash to play for a year when I might not want to play anymore for a while after just a few months. Jagex has stated that members will keep current pricing provided their membership does not lapse for more than 14 days. That’s all well and good, but I don’t see that lasting for long. Come time for Premier Club purchases next ...

I recently started trying to find a good Army Navy surplus store around me, and I’ve learned that they have nearly gone extinct. For some reason, I got hit with the nostalgic urge to visit an Army Navy store in the past few weeks. Between their  cheap camping gear like paracord, the fact that I could use a new pair of BDUs, and the sheer joy of window shopping, I really just wanted to go to one and peruse their wares. I might pick up something if I found anything I could make use of at a good price. Military specification bags and knives are supposedly some of the best, and I’d like to try out a canvas belt like I’ve heard of some people finding at surplus stores. Plus, people seem to rave about the thermal poncho liner, or “ woobie ” as I hear it referred to among those who know of its excellence. I hadn’t gone to one in several years, so it seemed like the time to go see what any local stores had on hand. Looking around on Google Maps, I found that there weren’t many at all ...

Textbooks are unreasonably expensive, everyone is aware of that. But to couple an access code for course material with the purchase of a textbook? That just seems greedy to an unprecedented level. The Theory My opinion on textbooks is that they should serve as auxiliary material only. Tuition is expensive enough as is, and if I’m paying you to teach me, you should be able to teach me without banking on a book as well. Give me all of the course material, the assignments, the exams, and any other required material, all for the cost of the course itself. If I want extra help, the textbook should be there as an option. If you do need a book, bake it into the cost of the course. If both the class and the book are necessary, but only one of those is part of “tuition,” it’s like you’re selling me half of a product. You’re selling me a car, but it won’t run without the engine that I must purchase separately. I bought a house, but it doesn’t have any doors or windows to actually get in un...

I temporarily lost my credit card over the weekend, which resulted in a short but intense panic. However, even had I lost it for good, it occurred to me how much better it is to lose a credit or debit card than cash. Had I lost cash, it would probably have been gone for good. While there are kind souls out there who might try to return the money, how do you differentiate your bills from those that belong to other people? Other than knowing the individual serial numbers of every bill in your wallet (which, really, who would do that?), a $20 is a $20. I’ve heard of instances in which people were able to prove their loss by knowing the exact amount, but I’ll be honest, I have no idea how much cash is in my wallet at any given time. And that still depends on someone being exceptionally generous. I guarantee you there are more people who would just keep the money than those who would even attempt to return it. Similar to losing the money, what happens if you get mugged? That cash is gone. E...

Some merchants allow customers to receive digital receipts via email. Why can’t everyone? The Benefits of Digital Receipts Toys R Us is a surprisingly tech-savvy store chain. They allow NFC tap and pay, and you can even have receipts sent to your inbox instead of getting a paper copy. For me, this is amazing. First and foremost, it gives me something that I’m far less likely to lose. If I get a paper receipt, I usually just throw it in the bag with my merchandise. For items that I may need to return, I’ll put the receipt in my wallet. Either way, it usually gets lost or thrown away within a day or two. By opting for an email, I have a semi-permanent record of my purchase that I can’t exactly lose, and I can even search my email for later. Unless I delete the email, which I rarely delete emails, I have records of basically any purchase I’ve made at Toys R Us within the past few years. In addition to giving me a digital record of my purchase that I can easily find later, email re...