Archive for January, 2007
Thursday, January 18th, 2007
Everyone Has A Vice
Skip the Starbucks, don’t buy a new car, don’t buy that HDTV, don’t go on vacation, don’t do this and don’t do that….blah…blah…blah…Those are some of the topics from PF Bloggers I’ve read over the past week and it’s really starting to get annoying. Many years ago there was something called Usenet Newsgroup and there [...]
8 Comments » - Posted in Rants by RichSlick
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
Cascading Expense Lifestyles – Bedding
We’ve had our current mattress for a decade now and we’ve decided that it’s time to purchase a new bed. There are many bedding options: air bed, visco-elastic, traditional spring, and others. We are leaning toward the visco-elastic type bed and these mattresses cost around $2000. Unfortunately this wouldn’t be the end of the expense. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cascading Expenses by RichSlick
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
HSBC Forced The Nuclear Option – Closing ALL Accounts
I wrote a post back in November regarding an anomalous interest finance charge ($100) I got hit with midway through my 12 month 0% APR on my HSBC Credit Card. It has now been almost three months and I have yet to adequately resolve this issue so I’m using the nuclear option and closing ALL [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Financial Safety,Watch Out by RichSlick
Friday, January 12th, 2007
Are you a Road Runner or Coyote?
One of my favorite cartoons growing up as a kid was Looney Tunes’ Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote. In the cartoon series, a poor desperate coyote comes up with scheme after scheme to try to score a meal (the Road Runner). Throughout the show & series, Coyote spends a great deal of money, time [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in MMO by RichSlick
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
Dave Ramsey = Savvy Capitalist
I have never heard Dave Ramsey’s radio show nor have I read any of his books. My only knowledge of Mr. Ramsey is the singing praises from a variety of PF Bloggers out there and snippets of the type of advice he doles out. I finally decided to visit his website and check it out. [...]
17 Comments » - Posted in Easy money,MMO by RichSlick
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
Nexium – “We Won’t Be Paying For That Drug Anymore”
Last week, I ranted about the ridiculous cost of health insurance unveiled at our company. Today, we had the insurance carrier give us a walk through of all the benefits, costs and changes. One of the most startling changes was an announcement that the insurance company would no longer pay for Nexium. It was startling [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Watch Out by RichSlick
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
Venezuela Power & Telecomm – Who is John Galt?
This is my fourth post pulling recent headlines and comparing them to the scenario Ayn Rand paints in her book Atlas Shrugged. The first, second and third posts illustrated American Infrastructure calamities but today I will talk about Venezuela. Hugo Chavez recently announced that he is going to nationalize the Telecomm and Power Industries in [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Financial Safety,John Galt by RichSlick
Monday, January 8th, 2007
Writing an ETF Covered Call
I’m going to go through some of the mechanics here of writing a covered call on an ETF for a reader with some questions. First thing you need to do is own or purchase an ETF that trades options. I’m using SMH (Semiconductors) ETF as an example. When trading options remember that 100 shares = [...]
10 Comments » - Posted in MMO by RichSlick
Monday, January 8th, 2007
ETF vs. Mutual Fund (Round 2)
Last year, I put my money where my mouth was and highlighted the very big difference between investing in an energy mutual fund vs. an energy ETF. If that didn’t convince you that mutual funds = dinosaurs then perhaps round two will help illustrate my point… Back in early December, I purchased 1000 shares of [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in MMO by RichSlick
Saturday, January 6th, 2007
To All Web Savy Browser Gurus – Help
I need help solving a problem that has been vexing me for quite some time and I have yet to find a solution. I read many financial websites that almost always include a ticker symbol for a company, ETF or fund of some kind. Here is an example of such a page. The Problem: I [...]