Where is my idea?

After another colleague announced he is leaving the company, this one to take a job in Mexico, I spent most of the morning contemplating what I would do if I left. I'm happy where I am, but every time I close my eyes I see Sergey and Larry (Google.com's Founders) or Chad and Steve (Youtube.com's founders). There's nothing wrong with day dreaming about being nerdy guys in California, except that these particular guys all had an idea (make searching online or posting video online easier) that made them lots of money. And I have to say I'm a little jealous. All morning I've been racking my brain for an idea; some company I can start to; something I could do to make it "big". And this isn't the first time I've tried this. Countless hours have passed while I wait for inspiration. Occasionally I'll have a good idea, only to find that it's already been done, usually for awhile. Someone once told me that it you stop and look around, everything you see on your desk, (stapler, tape dispenser, phone, computer, etc.) has made someone wealthy. The trick is to find something that no one has thought of, convince everyone that can't live without it, sell the sh*t out of it. I'm paraphrasing of course, but the general idea gets back to that one idea. hmmm....I still got nothing.

Good Advice

Found this on AllFinancialMatters blog this morning. I think all of these are true. The article was about traits entrepreneur's have.

1. They are risk takers. They are not afraid to move forward with an idea that could fail.

2. They know themselves. They know where their strengths lie and surround themselves with people who can fill in the gaps where they are weak.

3. They have a need for achievement. Building a concept into a business gives them great satisfaction.

4. They embrace autonomy. They want to be their own boss and are willing to work long hours to build their business.

5. They won't stop at one venture. Whether their first concept succeeds or fails, they're likely to continue a cycle of building new businesses.

nothing to report

I have nothing to report. Have a great weekend.

Use the Emergency Fund!

In the mail yesterday, I received two large (to me) bills.   They weren't entirely unexpected but they definitely were not in the budget. One is a doctor's bill for $146 and the other is $460 for the heating bill. We have an oil furnace that needs to be filled every six months of so.The oil company automatically comes and fills it so I never know when it will be filled. I was thinking later in the year but oh well.  If you ever buy a house with an oil heater, that should be on the of the first things you update. It's ridiculously expensive. Since we rent our house we don't have the option of switching it out.

After paying $600 on the car on Monday, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with bills. That's where the emergency fund comes is. At first I was tempted to not use those funds but after further reflection (and an empty checking account) I realized that this was an emergency. Yeah for an emergency fund.

On another note, with the credit card payment yesterday our cc debt is down to $6,628!

Finally...

...recieved my expense check. Deposited it yesterday only to see it vanish today into paying down my credit cards. oh well. For a wee moment I was a "rich" man.

Update

My networth has gone down from August which is never a good thing. But that's how it goes when you continue to use your credit card for work stuff. Anyways on a positive note, this blog was added to the Under 30 Honor Roll. Woohoo! In the right column you should see some links to other Under 30-ers (except right now b/c the link isn't working). Also, I was recently allowed into the Yahoo Publishing Network, Yahoo's response to AdWords.

Frequent Flyer Miles

Last weekend was my first experience using frequent flyer miles. I flew on Alaska to Denver to visit a friend. The whole trip cost less than $150. My flight was basically free, only a $7.50 handling charge, then there was golf, dinners, drinks, blah blah blah. I've decided I want to rack up as many frequent flyer miles as I can to get more free trips. Unfortunately, earning more miles will take several years (It's been 3 years since I opened the account and this was the first time I've used it). I recently got the Alaska Air Visa card which adds a mile per dollar spent. It takes about 20,000 miles (or dollars) to fly somewhere. What other ways can I get more miles???

Miles for R.E.

Intersting concept. Miles 4 Real estate claims to give you miles when you buy or sell a home. Nor sure how it works exactly but this is from the website:

Miles4RealEstate.com has partnered with the Airline Industry to award air miles to sellers & buyers of real estate. On local & national levels, buyers & sellers earn miles when working with participating service providers.

When sellers & buyers register with Miles4RealEstate.com, they earn 10,000 airline miles per $100,000 of real estate transaction value. Simply click on "Get Miles!" & submit your registration at no cost. A Miles4RealEstate customer care consultant will contact you. Unlike many real estate websites, you will face no storm of telemarketing calls.

• Buying or selling properties.

• Getting a home loan to buy new property.

• Refinancing an existing property.

• Escrow and title service service.

• Relocation services.

• Home Inspection and Home Appraisial Service

$7,582.92

Take a guess what the number in the title represents. It's my total credit card debt. Even though paid off one of my credit cards, the aggregate total has increased. This is due to a class I'm taking for work. My employer is paying for half of the cost and I'm paying the other half. So even though this number will go down by at least $850 when I get my reimbursement check, it's still a little depressing. Also, I'm not doing a good job of tracking month to month how much my debt is changing. Starting this month I'm going to keep a running tally on "The Number" in the right column of this blog. Others have done this before so I'm stealing the idea, though I can't recall where I first saw it.

Just what I needed

An article on the yahoo finance's home page asks the question "do those that drink make more money?" The article's answer was yes, generaly drinkers make 10-14% more than non-drinkers. Fantastic! Just another reason to waste money on alcohol. 

Save on Gas

Here's some ways to save on gas. Most are common sense. The Tuesday-Wednesday thing I did not know about. Thanks to Freemoneyfinance for posting.

• Lose the roof rack. Unless you often carry skis or luggage, it's only hurting your aerodynamics—and wasting fuel.

• Back off the "bling." Oversized tires, brush guards and other showy add-ons add weight, reduce aerodynamic efficiency and steal mileage.

• Gas prices usually are at their lowest at midday Tuesday and on Wednesday morning. Avoid filling up on weekends and during a big holiday, when lots of folks are traveling.

• Find the busiest gas stations. They're often the least expensive, and they're more likely to have fresh fuel, free of contaminants.

• Avoid gas stations on toll roads and off the side of a freeway, where they can stick you with a stiff premium.

Buying House with no money down?

One of the things I want to do is buy a house. But where I live the median house price is Seattle is $405,000. That is way out of my league. I've been thinking (not too seriously) about the no money down offers I see everywhere. FreeMoneyFinance has a good answer to whether that type of loan makes since. NO!!! That's what I was leaning towards as well. His post is based on a Kiplinger Report that lists the following reasons for not buying a house with no money down:

• Saving for a down payment will lower their costs and give them both security and flexibility.

• Equity in your home also gives you a source of cash in an emergency.

• The bigger the down payment, the lower your monthly payments, which may mean one of you can afford to stop working, if you wish.

• Buying a house with no money down comes at a price. With less than 20% equity in a home, you'll generally have to buy private mortgage insurance, which costs up to 1% of the loan amount.

Makes sense to me.  The three things I really want to do is payoff our debt, have a decent sized emergency fund and have enough money to responsibly buy a house. Though our debt is a long way from being paid off, we do have $1000 set aside for an emergency. It's not much, but is better than nothing. That'll pay rent and buy us food for a month or so. It doesn't look like we'll be able to pay a house anytime soon.

 

Boglehead's October Project.

JLP at AllFinancialMatters has started the first ever chapter by chapter book review writing project. A differnet blogger will review a chapter of the book "Boglehead's Guide to Investing". JLP reviewed the first chapter. I haven't read the book, but from his review the books seems pretty fundatmental, again this is only the first chapter so hopefully it'll get more in depth. I did like the recommendations that come at the end of the chapter.

Finally, Chapter 1 closes by recommending three steps that people should take BEFORE they start investing.

1. Graduate from the paycheck mentality to the net worth mentality.

2. Pay off credit card and high-interest debts.

3. Establish an emergency fund.