Archive for December, 2008
Monday, December 15th, 2008
Oh Crap! My Broker Called Again
It seems every time I get a call from a broker asking me to consider dropping some of my money with their brokerage, the market drops about twenty percent so this can’t be good. I’m getting concerned that this particular brokerage might be on their last death throws too but what can anyone do right [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Financial Safety by RichSlick
Monday, December 15th, 2008
Will Socialized Medicine Spur Capitalism?
Over the past couple of years I’ve contemplated starting various businesses but have been reluctant to do so for a variety of reasons. I briefly had a partnership in a consulting company many years ago but had to sell my portion off because of the heavy toll of commitments in my life at the time. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in John Galt by RichSlick
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
An Infrastructure Project For President Obama
The New New Deal seems to be talked about a great deal these days and if President Obama will embark on massive infrastructure projects I’d like to request something be done about the frail utility grid. It seems anytime a snowstorm blows through the north or a hurricane blows through the south, there are millions [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in John Galt by RichSlick
Saturday, December 13th, 2008
Belated Thanks For The Accolades
I’m such a dunce but WordPress is to partly blame because of their ever changing interface with every upgrade that seem to come out more frequently than I can keep up with lately. I just noticed some incoming links that I hadn’t noticed for a while because of the recent WordPress upgrade I did a [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Raves by RichSlick
Friday, December 12th, 2008
Warning: US Treasury Bubble Ahead
If you haven’t kept up with the news, US Treasuries are now returning a whopping 0% return which means that investors are lending the US government money and simply expecting a return of their principle and sometimes even a little bit less than their original principal. The US Treasury market actually had bid FOUR times [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Financial Safety,The Fed by RichSlick
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
The Run On Thermal Underwear (No Pun Intended)
I’ve been in the market for some thermal underwear as we plan on going to the mountains for some relaxation soon and I’m shocked to find that thermal underwear is a hard commodity to find these days. I visited a few stores locally then opted to check online and while a few places here and [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Observations by RichSlick
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Accounts Receivable, The Undiscovered Country
Companies are getting desperate for cash at a greater velocity now. I know of a few companies that are now predicating year end bonuses on the successful reclamation of accounts receivable departments in cash/check collection. Most companies operate on net 30 terms but in reality, most companies pay on 45 to 60 day cycles simply [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Observations by RichSlick
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
U.S. Treasury Market On The Brink?
An excellent article by Helen Avery over at EuroMoney that summarizes some of my concerns as to why I made the decision to reduce and halt 401k and 409a contributions for the 2009 calendar year. There are two major underlying problems: First, the US Treasury settlement system seems to have completely broken down with a [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Financial Safety,The Fed by RichSlick
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
The Deed Is Done
The 401k deed is done. After some number crunching I’ve decided to lower my 401k contributions from max of $16,500 for 2009 to 6% with a 6% match for the 2009 year which will be ~20k for 2009. I also decided to push all new contributions and matching funds into money market and a bond [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Money Management,Slow Wealth by RichSlick
Monday, December 8th, 2008
Planning on Halting 401k & 409A Contributions
Although I haven’t officially done it yet, I am seriously contemplating halting all 401k and 409A contributions for the 2009 year. First, let me state that I fully invested in 2007 the max to my 401k and 409A as well as fully investing in 2008 so I bought the Dow at the peak and I’ve [...]