June 26th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
Uncategorized |
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Just found a useful little link for checking traffic/weather around the city. Those of us forced to commute (until the light rail kicks in!!!) might find this link useful.
Weather Bonk - Live Weather, Forecasts, WebCams, and more on a Google Map (85004 )
As a side note, I have decided (after nearly completing yet another required reading for law school) that laws are intentionally designed obfuscate the true intention of the lawmaker. Mostly I believe that lawmakers don’t know what they are doing. Lawmakers just want to appear busy to convince the constituency of all the hard work and effort that goes into (insert government office of choice here).
June 25th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
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Uncategorized |
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Bernanke and Fed try to avoid that ’70s show - Stocks & economy- msnbc.com
I’ve been saying it for 2 years now. We will be in a 1970’s maelstrom by the time the Fed stops cutting rates. Look up the term “stagflation”. At least it looks like Greenspan was smart enough to jump ship before being forced into this precarious position. Lord knows I wouldn’t want to be Bernanke right now.
Also, I heard on NPR recently that if we were to calculate inflation by 1970’s standards, we would be running at something like 11%-13% annually and not at the artificially deflated 2%-6% percent.
Thrilling ain’t it?
June 20th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
Uncategorized |
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June 20th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
To do in Phoenix |
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June 10th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
To do in Phoenix |
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Setting up twitter because Roger is being insistent.
March 24th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
Decisions |
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The Government as a Business
It appears to me that, at least recently, American politicians have taken to touting their business acumen when initializing a campaign. Since most professional politicians have no strong stance on any topic other than that which they were born with or which God they chose (Woman Presbyterian, Old White Guy Protestant etc.), I often notice a group of mostly middle-age men using their “prior business experience” as a sort of golden ticket to the seat of power.
This clever ruse seeks to correlate running a business with running a government. As if the two had anything to do with one another.
And here’s the great part, Americans really swallow the hook on this lie. Heck they love it.
Let’s think of it this way: If American government is a corporation, who then are the citizens?
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March 6th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
Economics, Personal Finance |
2 Comments →
Unless you have lived under the proverbial rock for the last year, you may have noticed that housing prices throughout the country are plummeting. This is due to a number of reasons. From over-supply to over-inflation, there has been a price correction something akin to 15% conservatively here in PHX and the ‘burbs. As I am always looking for bargains, I was thinking about picking up another townhome/condo to live in.
If you are wondering, I already own one townhome but it is on the wrong side of town from my work and everyone should know how much I hate driving in rush hour traffic, particularly in this town, particularly with gas prices at their current levels. So I currently rent out the condo at just enough to cover my costs and rent a cheap apartment not too far from work.
With housing prices currently on the downswing, I have thought of picking up another place close to work so that I’m not just eating the rental money like miss Presley on an afternoon eating binge.
So I ran some numbers.
At my current income, with my bills all paid off, I am able to save a substantial amount of money. This is due, in the most part, to the fact that apartment living is super-cheap and I don’t have to heat/cool a massive house. Combine the cheap bills with the fact that I have no upkeep costs, and I’m almost rolling in dough.
In fact, I would have to gain a significant percentage per year on my initial house investment just to get back to zero. (My previous experience in the mortgage industry informed me that I will pay 12-18 percent above the house price in bank fees and commissions thus starting with a negative balance on investment).
So why would I buy a place? If I throw away all of the sentimental reasons, it doesn’t really make fiscal sense at this point. It does go against the Millionaire Next Door motto of buy and pay off your home. But I could theoretically save up enough money within the not too distant future and buy a small place for cash.
So I have a dilemma: I want to purchase a place of my own, I feel that there will be no better time that in the next year or so, but I don’t think it will be a worthwhile investment of capital or time. I’m torn between sentimentality and responsibility.
March 4th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
Economics, Personal Finance |
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As we find ourselves on yet another verge of spring/summer time driving boom and the gas prices are hovering around averaging about $3.16/gallon of unleaded, I often get to thinking about oil, its refinement into gasoline or heating oil, and its effect on consumers.
Oil and Oil Refinement
I am no economist and I surely have no training in the massive inner workings of the oil industry, but it seems to me that we regularly have 2 times a year in which gas prices, for no other reason than “Hey, it’s that time of year”, seem to go up. This happens fairly regularly around Fall for the heating oil switchover, and around Spring for the Summer driving season.
I can pretty much understand the laws of supply and demand and understand that, more homes using more heating oil equals less supply and higher prices. Easy. More cars on the road in the summer equals more full tanks equals higher demand and lower supply thus an increase in prices at the pump.
Driving Solutions
Needless to say, at $3+ per gallon(and likely increasing to $4) and living in a city with zero public transportation opportunities (try living in/around PHX and not having a car, good luck), I find myself toying with different ideas of how to get around and/or how to reduce my driving time.
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March 3rd, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
Personal Finance, Couples Finance |
1 Comment →
The Start
For many young couples, making enough money to cover the bills takes up most of their concern. Savings, investing and making large purchases all come a distant second to just putting food on the table and making sure the lights stay on.
During this struggle, many couples come up with their own unique, and often not-very-well-thought-out, banking and bill paying structures. This obviously leads to the ubiquitous “money argument” that couples go through….about every 2 weeks or so.
As a person who is rather money conscious, and admittedly quite money-selfish, I decided early on that the single unifying account for a dual wage earning couple would not work.
The Setup
Primarily, working on the assumption that all things are equal in a relationship, all bills are split 50/50.
One checking account is created at [insert banking institution of choice] from which all bills will be paid. Quite separately, yet at the same institution, one checking account is set up for one wage-earner’s direct deposit and a different one for the other wage-earner.
All of these accounts are linked together and accessible by both.
At certain times of the month, money is transferred from the individual account to the bill paying account for, you guessed it, bill paying! YAY! At most banks, these transfers can be setup automatically and without any fees.
The Analysis
Tim, why so complicated? Why not just one account?
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February 28th, 2008
by Timothy Saffles
in
Economics, Credit, Personal Finance, American Culture, Sales |
1 Comment →
EXERCISE:
After writing about account balances of nations, I started thinking about individual account balances (both personal and assumed account balances of friends and family). Since it seems like the only American tradition we currently observe is spending more than we make, I thought perhaps a little personal tuneup was in order.
So, for today’s excercise, I am doing a little monthly expenses checkup on myself:
Household Expenses
| Bills |
Amount |
| Rent |
|
| Cable |
|
| Electric |
|
| Rent Ins |
|
| PO BOX |
|
| Car |
|
| Gas |
|
| Discover |
|
| Mastercard |
|
| Gym |
|
| Food |
|
| TOTAL |
|
| TOTAL Monthly Income |
|
| NET TOTAL |
|
This is my little table for personal expenses. Just fill in the blanks and sum it all up. Feel free to add to it as I’m sure I have forgotten something… 
It’s amazing how few people will track their expenses per month. I assume people fail at this simple task because they are afraid of the results.
Since most people live with others and share joint expenses, add another column on the right and divide out their share.
Once this is completed, you will have a monthly cash flow chart all to yourself! Aren’t you proud!?!
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1st year law student busy reading the coming semester's texts. Aspiring politico. Internet businessman. Interested in the socio-cultural aspects of American society, changes that affect the "little guy", use of authority (and abuse of it), Intellectual Property law and Criminal Law. For added flavor, I also play drums in a trip-hop band.