For a long time Ry and I had a PlayStation II as our primary gaming system. Then last year we got a Wii and had both for a while. This year we decided to consolidate down to just the Wii and sell off the of the PlayStation and our games.

It was a tough decision because there are still so many fun games on the PS2, but in the end of long discussion we decided it didn't make sense to have both, we just didn't play them enough to warrant two systems. Of course there are awesome games available for PS3 and xBox360, but I think we will hold off buying another system for a little while and stick with just the Wii.

How did we come to this conclusion?

We sat down after Christmas and talked about it for a while. We got a few items for the Wii as gifts and were excited to try them out. Looking at our collection of games we realized that we really didn't play the PS2 very often any more, even though it was still fun. Plus with the addition of the newer PS3 we knew that eventually the games would be phased out. We found Wii just more fun and overall "better" for our gaming habits. Plus we decided that we needed to "purge" our house and get rid of some clutter and things we didn't use for simplicity's sake. (Better to do this now than after 25 years of accumulation of Stuff.)

I think the answer on when to sell systems comes down to how much you still play them. I have an old GameBoy Color that I still play regularly (tetris, pacman, and Pokemon Red are my favorite games) and although it is much older than the PlayStation, I still enjoy it. I have not bought a Nintendo DS yet because I don't think I would use it enough to warrant the purchase even though they haven't made new games for the Color in years, but I keep the Color because I do play it on a semi-regular basis.

They still do make games for PS2, and it was a tough decision to let it go, but I think a wise one.

Do you have any video game systems? How many? How do you decide when to get a new one and get rid of the old?

A few months ago I wrote about a new personal finance personality: Lou Scatigna and his show, The Financial Physician. My review was unprompted, but he saw it online and as a "thank you" gave me two signed copies of his newly released book.

One of those I am happy to offer as a Holiday Giveaway!

This weekend I've been reading the book, and it's really good. He outlines the most common causes of financial problems, and via the analogy of a medical diagnosis, outlines the symptoms and solutions for each problem. There's a lot of good advice in this book, and it is well written.

There's everything from " Exceeding FDIC Limits" to "Addiction to Debt and Spending." Each chapter starts with a description of the "Ailment" and the "Diagnosis" then the "Treatment." One of my favorite chapters was "Saving instead of investing", which is something I personally struggle with - I tend to be too conservative and save more than I should. Ry balances me out and helps us maintain a balance.

If you are interested in winning a SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR copy of this new book (just released a few days ago) leave a quick comment and we will be sure to add you to the random drawing.

The names will be entered into a spreadsheet with a random number generator deciding the winner on Monday January 4th.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A few days ago Congress raised the debt ceiling, again. I really don't know why they bother with one in the first place...

Jon Stewart sums it up well:



Also - some (potentially) good news on the Congressional floor: Yesterday the House referred to the Committee on Oversight and the Committee on Reform a bill numbered H.R. 4336 sponsored by Nathan Deal of Georgia. The full text wasn't online at the Thomas.gov site yet, but the title is encouraging: To provide that pay for Members of Congress be reduced following any fiscal year in which there is a Federal deficit.

I give this bill about 10% chance of making it out of committee - but if it does, a small modicum of hope will be restored in my view of our government. Details below:

84. H.R.4336 : To provide that pay for Members of Congress be reduced following any fiscal year in which there is a Federal deficit.

Sponsor: Rep Deal, Nathan [GA-9] (introduced 12/16/2009) Cosponsors (4)

Committees: House Administration; House Oversight and Government Reform

Latest Major Action: 12/16/2009 - Referred to House committee.

Status: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

I might have to contact my Representative and Senators to express my favor for this new measure.

I am facing a dilemma and need the help of you guys, our faithful readers.

Here's the back story:

I have a coworker, T, who has a fiancee A. In the past we've hung out a few times, and I used to go to the farmers market almost every week with A in the summer. However, since she started teaching at a local high school I haven't seen her, so it's been several months. I still see T on a daily basis at work though.

The past two Christmases we've baked each other a basket of goodies as a gift and swapped them. This year I hadn't planned on doing that because I hadn't seen her in a long time - but I am worried that she will still make me something thus making me feel obligated to make something as well.

So what do you think - should I make T and A something for the holidays?

I'll leave the poll open until Thursday at midnight, since I'll have to bring something on Friday if I decide to do it.

Should I get my Coworker and His Fiancee Holiday Gifts?

Image - you can buy that basket too!

As the large and beautiful snowflakes quickly swirl outside our windows, I am reminded of the reasons I love winter. Peaceful. Still. Sparkling. Clean.

Winter, although tough, is one of my favorite times of the year.

I was going to write a post on a homemade set of gifts I made for my college friends, but instead started introspecting and decided to go for a more personal note. This kind of night always makes me think, and this year I have a lot to think about and be thankful for.

A whole lot has changed in a year; we bought a house and will be getting married in a few months, we bought a car when Ryan's old truck died, we were in a hit and run accident, my Grandpa celebrated his 90th birthday, there was the "great recession" and the failings of many iconic companies...

A while ago we posted our "bucket list" of things we want to start doing. I've been trying to start some of the things on my list and have successfully identified many birds (I have a photo album of those I could snap photos of before they flew away), and have identified almost all the trees with non-round leaves, and many of them I can recognize from memory. (I also have a photo album of these with labels and pressed examples).

We got a new camera and have been learning how to take advantage of some of the customizable settings. Ryan got a tutorial on how to use all the features and we've been slowly reading up on them.

I baked a cake from scratch. This wasn't really on my list - but it is something I had never done and wanted to. I am really starting to love cooking and baking and making things that you "normally" buy from scratch by myself. I also signed up for two CSA's, one that delivers bread to my office weekly and another that will give fresh vegetables in the summer months.

Already college seems a lifetime away, and life is moving on - I hope that next year is just as happy and fulfilling as this year has been, with at least as many happy memories.

Happy Holiday's Everyone!


image credit

I recently got an email from my dad with a bunch of Won Park's origami money creations. They are truly awesome. You may have seen them before, but they are still inspiring. I think I might try and do this with some of the money I have laying around so I am less tempted to unfold and spend it. My favorites are the koi fish, camera, spider, and toilet.

Check out a few of his creations:











And the best part? He lives in a garbage truck that has been converted to an apartment.

The other day, in the midst of preparing for final exams and presentations, I happened to listen to Marketplace on NPR. The story that Kai Ryssdal opened with really infuriated me, and I knew I had to write a post.

Remember all the way back to that other lifetime that was October 2008? The economic crisis had just come to a head, and everyone was screaming that if something wasn't done - and Quick! - the entire economy would collapse worse than the Great Depression. Housing prices were falling faster than ACORN's respectability, while unemployment was rising faster than a large helium balloon without a boy inside. And in the midst of a very close and contentious presidential election!

The result of all this turmoil was the $700 Billion stimulus bill, now more commonly called TARP.

Although there was quite a bit of pork in the bill, the main document was spent outlining how the government would buy "troubled assets" from struggling banks, and issue loans to haul financial institutions over the river of total ruin. From the outset there were screams of how much money the taxpayer would lose in this deal from the fiscal conservatives, and screams of it not being enough help for "Main Street" from the fiscal liberals. This was effectively President Bush's last big bill in office before President Obama came in with the second $800Billion stimulus bill.

Now fast forward to December 2009, just over a year later. "Only" $454.3 Billion of the allocated $700Billion was spent by the end of October 2009, although the rest is allocated for use in the future. The banks that were "saved" by the government are starting to repay the loans as quickly as they can - they don't like all the strings that the government attached to the loans. As Kai summed up so well:

The TARP, the bank bailout, was budgeted last fall at $700 billion. A couple of months ago best guesses were taxpayers would lose about $240 billion on the deal. Well this coming Wednesday morning we are going to get a report from the Government Accountability Office that says, in fact, we're only going to lose about $40 billion. Do a little government accounting of your own, that means the White House just found $200 billion to spend.

Yes - you heard that correctly - the government is only going to LOSE $40,000,000,000 of your (the taxpayers) money, and now is looking for a place to spend the returns on the investments in financial institution repayments. This is money that the banks were supposed to pay back; it was temporary - a last resort. The rate of return was originally estimated at a loss of close to 50%, and now is "only" a 10% loss, since not all the money originally allocated was distributed,

When TARP was conceived Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke assured the public at the passing of the bill that "[...] the $700 billion allocated by the legislation is not an authorization to spend but rather an authorization to purchase financial assets." (source: federalreserve.gov archives.) And yet now the money will be used for spending.

Maya MacGuineas at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, sums up one of my issues with this idea:

The problem in Washington is that anytime something comes in better than expected, or a new money source opens up, it gets spent three ways instead of doing what we should be doing with it, which is repaying those funds.

Currently the idea being proposed by Democrats is to divert about half the $200-billion "windfall" into infrastructure projects, tax breaks, and more unemployment benefits, as well as government job creation.

What the government seems to forget is that a loss of $40B is still just that - a LOSS - not windfall profits to spend on something else. And this money that will supposedly go towards helping "main street" came from main street in the first place! Perhaps the best way to help would be to give it back and get the long sticky government fingers out of the involvement.

Also - TARP was scheduled to end on December 31st, 2009; looks like Hank Paulson has extended it for another full year. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) also sums it up quite well: "What was supposed to be an emergency capital injection to thaw frozen credit markets has morphed into a revolving bailout fund to advance the Democrats; political, social and economic agenda.”

This was my problem with TARP from the beginning: although there were assurances that the money would be paid back with minimal loss to the taxpayers, I just didn't believe it would happen. Looks like I'll be making yet another phone call and email to my Senators and Representatives expressing my grave concerns.

image credits: welcome the light, ritholtz, political humor.com

The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.



Naval History and Heritage Command


Remember our Veterans.

I learned tonight that Jim Rohn has died after an 18 month battle with Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Since finding his material a few years back, Rohn has affected almost every area of my life in one way or another - my philosophy, my perspective, my outlook - in the least sense he taught me to constantly record, evaluate, and improve, in the greatest sense he helped me to completely tear up one life plan and create another. Yes, some things are sensationalized or common sense, but for some clueless yokel like me, his ability to wordsmith and craft life changing ideas can be rivaled by none.

I often get stuck, fall into ruts, and more often than not seem to be pulling myself out of something rather than traveling toward somewhere, but with his introductions I've begun to develop the sense to distinguish between the two and a set of questions to keep me challenging my path.

If you sometimes find yourself stuck or are not sure what direction to take or what the purpose behind something is, I would suggest reading a few of his quotes (you will see many at the top of our site) or checking out some of his materials.







“Whatever good things we build end up building us.”