When we first moved into our new home here in the mountains, one of the first things we did was order satellite TV. We didn’t go with a large package, just a basic one with local channels and a few kids channels. Expensive enough though. We have Dish Network, and the cost (even with bundle savings) is $64.77 per month or $777.24 per year.
Well, this was a weird week for me. I really struggled with not publishing articles on my normal daily schedule. Everyday I didn’t publish an article, I had this nagging feeling that I forgot to do something. Just goes to show that if you do something long enough, it becomes habit. Ever since July 2nd 2007, I’ve written an article everyday for Gather Little by Little. As of the time of this article, 621 articles! Wow.
My disdain for credit card companies and their unethical practices isn’t a secret. I’ve written quite a few articles here on Gather Little by Little about how I dislike them. The unfortunate reality for many of us that previously lived in the land of stupid for too many years (or maybe even still do) is a large amount of credit card debt that we’re stuck with until we can get it paid off.
Thanks to you, you my article, Do you appreciate what you have? has now made it to the “Elite 8” in the Free Money Finance March Madness contest. I cannot believe my article has made it this far!!! Wow!
I’d really love to win the overall March Madness, as if I do, FMF of Free Money Finance will donate $500.00 to the charity of my choice. Regardless though, if I win this round, a donation will be made.
I selected the American Diabetes Association, and the donation would be in honor of my 9 year old son (pictured above) who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in November of 2006.
In the financial world, we often talk about investment diversity and how important it is when investing to not place all of our eggs in one basket. Why? Risk mitigation. If one area “flops”, chances are other investments won’t.
People with even the smallest amount of investing experience recognize this strategy and practice it. What amazes me though, especially in today’s economy, is that these same people work one job, for one company. If by chance something happens to that job, their income stops.
Now that we live up in the mountains and things aren’t just a short 5 minute drive down the road, we’ve been using mail-order services far more than we ever have in the past. One of the services we’re tried recently is Omaha Steaks. We’ve been talking about trying them for years and just never did. Given that our the local grocery store that sells good quality meat is a about a 40 minute drive round-trip, we decided to finally give Omaha Steaks a shot.
It can be really intimidating to talk to a professional adviser sometimes. They know the lingo and you may not. And of all the confusing financial concepts, the relationship between bonds and interest rates can be uber-confusing.
It’s critical to understand this relationship for a few reasons:
Seems that the sickness time of the year has once again come upon the “Gibble family”. I spent all of last weekend and Monday and Tuesday down and out with what I think was the flu combined with bronchitis. I was miserable. I’m still not 100%, but certainly feeling a whole lot better than I did. No sooner did I start to feel better, my wife now has the same thing and my 6 year old son came home from school early on Wednesday and has been diagnosed with the flu.
Every so often, I like to write a post that asks a question to you. You guys are smart and I really appreciate and value your opinions on things. One of the purchases I’ve been trying to decide on whether or not to make is regarding a few magazine subscriptions. I really struggle with magazines as I love reading them and love the information in them, but the fact that you have to pay for them and that they use paper bothers me. I’d rather be able to read the information online for free that’s supported by advertisers.
I received an email from ING this week making me aware of a new site (or at least new to me) they have called ING Compare Me (www.ingcompareme.com). The site is basically a tool that allows you to compare your savings and debt against others like you. To be honest, I’ve never really gotten a great deal of value out of comparing myself to others, but thought I would check it out as it sounded interesting.
