Hand outs

I think just about everyone has someone that really likes forwarding emails, sometimes commenting on them and sometimes not, but either way forwarding multiple emails almost every day.  Well, I usually read just a little bit of the email and punch delete if I’m short on time, but if I have the time I might read all of it.  The other day I got one that I thought I would share in this forum.  From Rush Limbaugh:

By Rush Limbaugh:

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound No one is really talking about it either, because you just don’t criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can’t let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you’re going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.

If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.

Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there’s a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a scre eching halt.

Keep in mind that! some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it’s not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers. (Actually, soldiers are put in harms way by politicians and commanding officers.)

We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this i s going, don’t you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It’s just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the   Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?

**However, our own US Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don’t know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn’t have to pay into the system.  If some of the military peop le stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, they may receive a! pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harm’s way receives a pension of $15,000 per month.

**I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

“When do we finally do something about this?”

So after reading this one, I thought I’d check it out.  I googled the first sentence and it took me to this page.  To keep this post from being longer than necessary, check out the link and take a look at the analysis portion.  Part of the Limbaugh monologue is accurate, or close enough, but the last few paragraphs are off.

Still, this is something to think about.  Don’t get me wrong, I feel for anyone that lost a loved one in the attacks in September 2001.  It is unfortunate for everyone involved.

But do they really think that just because Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines volunteer to serve their country and possibly die for it, that their loved ones are any less deserving?

If the government is going to pay these survivors, what is the purpose of life insurance?

Changing tunes…

First, I just realized that it has been almost a month since my last post (on election day).  I know I was thinking about posting some things, but I guess I just never got the gumption.  That gumption thing is slippery, hard to catch, and sometimes just plain dumbfounding.

I have been thinking about my tone (aka my tune).  I don’t want this blog to feel whiny, bitchy, or complainy anymore.  I’m going to try to stay more upbeat, but I’m not really sure it is in my character.  I’ve tried keeping a more upbeat attitude lately.  Not like super cheesy, but less cynical and more positive.

Basically, the idea is to put more good out into the world.  It seems like the media always wants to make things sound worse than they are because drama sells and the general population feeds off the drama to make things worse and then the media comes back to report that things are really worse then they initially reported, that things are more dramatic, so people get more worked up and on and on and on…. I don’t want to feed the drama machine.  Life is dramatic enough.

Many of my friends, family, and associates seem to think that the U.S. is just going to crumble in on itself on January 20 and ask what my opinion is and for my insights into how Army folk think about the President-elect.  This is where I started my move to be more positive.

President-elect Obama is not the end of life as we know it in America. Things are probably going to be different, but I’m not sure that is necessarily a bad thing in many cases.  Obviously some things need to change for Wall St., Detriot, the housing market, etc.  I’m not sure that the government needs to have their fingers in all of them, but there definitely needs to be some legislation or statement to help fix/motivate/beat-the-crap-out-of some of these corporations.  I don’t know who to assign the blame to and I don’t really think that it matters too much.  Everyone is going to point the finger at the other guy and say (insert whiny or belligerent voice) “It wasn’t my fault.”  My personal opinion is to let some of this “recession” crap work itself out.  There can’t be up without down.  There can’t be an economic slump without an economic boom and vice versa.  Some people are probably going to lose everything. Lesson learned, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Isn’t that something we learn as little kids listening to stories that finish up with “Moral to the story….”?

I’m starting to get into the whiny/bitchy/complainy voice again, so I’ll stop now.  I guess I had more to say for this post then I initially thought.  The bad part is that now that I’ve started writing, I don’t want to stop.  Something about “objects in motion…” comes to mind.  I think this is enough for today though.

Identity theft insurance

Okay, in an update from yesterday’s post on the collection notice I received.  This collection is another cell phone that was started at about the same time (May 2003) as the last one, but this one was in Minnesota and not Nebraska.  Thankfully I was still in Afghanistan, and living on the right coast anyways, so it would be hard to believe that it was me.

One thing I didn’t mention in the last post is that Sandy and I had started paying for ID insurance through ID Experts back in October when we started listening to Dave Ramsey and paying off our debt.  I wasn’t sure how this was going to work out when we told them that we had an issue, but so far things are working out really well.

Sandy had tried to talk to Qwest about the claim, but they didn’t want to deal with it since it had already gone to collections, so we tried to talk to the collection agency, Afni.  Of course, Afni was not helpful.  I’m sure they get a lot of people that say “it wasn’t me,” but the nice lady that Sandy was talking to wouldn’t even hold a conversation with her.  They said that they’d be in touch through our P.O. Box.  Of course, they had to check our credit in order to get our address.  Not to worry, we’re thinking about paying the extra $10 to block people from checking our credit unless they need to.

So the good news is that an agent from ID Experts called back yesterday after we made the initial claim.  She asked me a couple of questions stemming off of how we dealt with the previous false claim and about what details I had on this one.  After talking to her for about five minutes, she’s going to take care of it.  She sent me a small packet that I have to fill out, get the power of attorney noterized and fax back to her.  She said that once she’s got that paperwork, they’ll take care of both Afni and Qwest.  How cool is that?

The Story of Stuff

I sent the link to The Story of Stuff to many of my friends, but I wanted to post it here too.  It goes right along with the Mr. Pickens post, sort of, but not really.  The Story of Stuff is by Annie Leonard.  She did some research and figured out where things come from, including where the raw materials are mined, stuff is assembled, etc.  The video is done very well and is plenty easy to understand.  It is only about 20 minutes and it is set up so that if you have to stop, you will be able to come back to where you left, give or take a couple minutes.  Ms. Leonard is obviously very passionate about the work she has done and who would blame her.

As a side note, I don’t completely agree with her statistics.  Having taken a number of statistics classes, one thing I’ve learned is that you can pretty much make stats say just about anything that you want them to say.  Just depends on how you word your “findings.”  I like to joke that 87 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot, but then again, I just made that up so who knows what the real percentage.  Even if her stats are padded to help make her point, there is enough truth there to make it scary.

Here’s a teaser on the Story of Stuff, but you can see the full video on the Story of Stuff website.

Bottom line is, don’t buy stuff so that it will make you happy for now.  If you are going to make a purchase, try to get your items from someplace local.  Not only are you keeping the locals employed and helping the local economy, you are reducing emissions since the stuff doesn’t have to travel as far.  There’s a farmer’s market her in Manhattan that the wife and I are trying to go to more often.  We won’t find everything we need there, but we find some of the items on our grocery list and it is nice and fresh.  Plus I think it’s pretty freaking cool.

Second bottom line, do stuff to help reduce this cycle of buy, use for a little bit, and throw it away. If you’re tired of something and it still has value, don’t just toss it.  Old clothes, furniture, appliances, etc. can find a new home and be perfectly happy.  Just because you are done with something doesn’t mean it needs to go to the landfill.  Try taking things to a consignment shop or thrift store or your local Salvation Army. The wife and I have started composting now and between that and recycling, our weekly trash is only a bag or two.  Pretty amazing considering that previously we’ve filled the dumpster in a week.  This week it was literally one bag from the kitchen and a couple other items.  We’ve reduced our waste and after we compost some, we’ll have healthier plants to help us reduce the amount we buy from the grocery store.  It isn’t much, but I’m sure that it has helped reduce our footprint on this earth.  If nothing else, it is a step in the right direction.

Use less, do more!

Mr. Pickens thoughts on energy

I tried to embed the player so that you could watch the non-YouTube video straight from here, but it didn’t work and I didn’t want to futz with it until I got it figured out.  So I just snagged it from YouTube and put it here.

Here’s the link http://www.pickensplan.com/ to the Pickens Plan website for more information.  The video is a whopping 4:49, so if you can’t spend five minutes watching this then maybe you shouldn’t be reading my blog in the first place and go take care of your more important things.

Mr. Pickens lays out quickly how much oil that the U.S. is going through and how much we’ve increased consumption in that last 38 years.  Then he lays out some ways for us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and start pursuing alternative energy ideas; namely wind and natural gas.  This also just reinforces the fact that we should have wind farms as far as the eye can see in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, and the Dokatas.  Why some communities are fighting the idea of wind farms still baffles me.

Do everything that you can to help wind energy and natural gas energy out.  Invest with them if you can, do whatever.  See if they have a volunteer program.  Stuff envelopes or something.  Do something that matters.

Financial Freedom

Ever think about how much you spend when you use a credit card? Ever tell yourself that you’re going to pay it off at the end of the month anyways, so it doesn’t really matter, and then finding out that you can’t quite pay it all off “this month” but tell yourself you’ll get it next month? Lastly, ever go back and figure out how much you’ve spent in finance fees, just for using your credit card? That’s money that you have to pay back eventually, but you’re paying the back to use is now. Ever get tired of paying the bank for using your money?

It’s no wonder our country thinks that it is in a recession. Look at the number of people that have maxed out all of their credit cards and can’t make the payments. It’s ridiculous. The fact that their cards are maxed out doesn’t slow them down from going to Wal-Mart though does it? I say that and you think that it is only a certain class of people (call them the Wal-Mart class) that are in financial strife because they’ve spent more money then they have and continue to do so. But how many people do you know that don’t necessarily belong to “the Wal-Mart class” that are scraping by because they’ve got everything maxed out? Everybody is always trying to keep up with the Jones’s.

Last year the Army handed me a bonus, just for committing to a couple more years. Sandy and I didn’t know what we were going to do with this cash, as we’d never had that much on hand at one time. That’s when our friends JD and Bonnie told us about Dave Ramsey.

Dave has his own website and has turned the idea of not using credit cards into a business. That’s right, NOT using credit cards. I’m not being paid to say this, I promise, but I want to tell everyone I know to listen to him. Many people have heard about him through their church, or they’ve at least heard of Financial Peace University. If you know Sandy and I, you know that we’re not that churchy, but it doesn’t really matter at this point. We listened to Dave’s free podcasts and have started paying our debts off. When I say started, I mean that we’re down to nothing left but student loans, and it feels awesome! We should be done with the student loans by this summer, and then we can start our money making more money, just for us. We’re pretty excited.

We’ve both read Dave’s book, The Total Money Makeover, and I’m going to sum some of it up here. First, credit is bad. Think about when you buy a car, you negotiate and haggle down to what you think is an acceptable monthly payment. Now, you’re usually only thinking about how much your monthly payment is, and never actually add up the $575 (or $425 or whatever) for 60 months. The dealers don’t want you to because you’ll realize how much you’re actually committing to spending on that car/truck/SUV. It is way more than you thought.  Stop using credit cards or taking loans, unless you really need them.  Sandy had a friend that would put her cards in a cup of water in the freezer.  Makes you really think about it while you’re waiting for the cards to thaw out before you can use them.  Just don’t use them or, better yet, get a plastictomy.  Destroy those puppies and don’t look back.

Second, make a budget. On paper, on purpose, every stinking penny that you’ve got coming in. Once you know exactly where each cent is going, you might be surprised what things you don’t “need” all the time anymore. Sandy and I found roughly half of my paycheck was just petering away every month.  We’re still not sure exactly where it all went, but we know where it is going now.

Third, build an emergency fund. Things are going to happen (ref. Murphy’s Law) and you’re going to need cash that you initially had budgeted for something else. For most people, $1000 is enough. For some, you can get by with just $500. Get this saved up and put it in a separate savings account and don’t touch it unless you truly need it.

Fourth, start paying things off. This is the debt snowball. We call it a snowball because you start paying off the smallest debt first (i.e. the $225 Home Depot credit card), and once you get that paid off, you work your way up until you get to the biggest debt you’ve got. It’s weird, but you start finding more money as you go. After figuring out our budget, we started finding cash so we could pay more things off more quickly. You may think that paying off the $225 Home Depot card first violates some common sense because its at zero percent for 6 months, but it has a lot to do with changing your attitude and mindset towards money. Sandy and I wrestled with this one quite a bit. “Such-n-such is at a higher APR, shouldn’t we pay it off first and then pay off the smaller one.” NO! Attack the debt, pick on the little guy until he’s gone. Pay the minimums on everything except for your smallest debt and work your way up the food chain. The shovel you’re using to dig yourself out of debt will grow as you go, and you’ll start digging faster. (Caveat, a mortgage is not included in the debt snowball. Its too hard to feel like you’ll never get everything paid off if you’re looking at the 6 digits of your mortgage too.)

Fifth, build your emergency fund up more. The $1000 got you through the snowball, but you don’t want to end up needing more and resorting back to credit cards. $1000 was just temporary to get you through while you were digging yourself out of debt. Now build up 3 to 6 months worth of your paycheck and put that into a savings account or something with no risk.  Since Uncle Sam pays me, Sandy and I are probably just going to put enough away for 3 months pay. This is the “oh crap, I just got handed walking papers and don’t have another job lined up” emergency fund.

Sixth, start using your money to make money for you. There’s a lot more to this part, but if you’ve gotten this far, you should be listening to Dave’s free podcast or have read his book by now. Our copy is loaned out right now, but you can borrow it if you want to. Trust me, I’m really tired of paying the bank. They need to start paying me.

Sandy and I are really excited about getting things paid off. I really wish that we had gotten smarter about all this when we were younger. My economics instructor told me this when I was in college, but I didn’t listen then. I think I’ve paid enough for not listening, but now I’m trying to get everyone else to listen to me.

When you don’t have debt, things are a lot easier. Debt collections is one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. They aren’t calling our house though. If for some reason you don’t think that credit is a problem, check out the documentary Maxed Out. Here’s the link, (when I originally posted this, you could watch the video for free online, apparently things have changed). Sandy and I watched it as part of her Freshmen seminar class last fall, and it scared the crap out of me. It is a little bit long if you don’t like sitting through documentaries, and you’ll see some of Dave in it too, but it is really interesting if you’re worried about your credit/debt/life.