Money Archives

17 March 2007Fees Reveresed
I finally got around to talking to US Bank about their outrageous fees for foriegn currency exchange and they agreed to reverese the charges for the two most egregious line items--more than 80 dollars for two transactions. Chris, the customer...
02 March 2007Kiva Success
Dear Andrew Hecht, The business you have loaned to, MAWUPEMO, has made a repayment of $166.00. The total amount repaid up to now is $500.00. The payment was collected and deposited by Microfund Togo. This repayment will be divided...
19 January 2007Why I Hate Credit Card Companies
I used to be the case that when you traveled abroad, the best way to use your money was with your Visa or American Express. You'd get the best exchange rate. You wo uldn't have to worry to much if...
28 December 2006First of the Kiva Loans
The first of the Kiva loans starting being repaid today. Mr. Kouassi Houessou began repaying the 500 bucks he borrowed for a new freezer for his ice cream business in Togo and Madam Akossiwa Agbemaple made a repayment of 75...
12 December 2006Kiva Update
I received an update from Kiva this morning from one of the loans I helped fund, Tienda Ronny, a going concern run by Elsy Santana Guayaquil, Ecuador: Elsy emprendedora muy trabajadora. Su crédito lo invertirá en la compra de inventarios...
29 November 2006Conundrum
Yesterday I received a $500 award for excellence at work. It's the second one I've received in the last 2 months. It feels pretty good to be recognized, even better to get 500 bucks for doing nothing more than what...
15 November 2006Kiva Update
The first of my Kiva loans were funded this morning which means Kouassi Houessou's ice cream business and Akossiwa Agbemaple's charcoal business, both in Togo, just received an infusion of cash and should start to grow. Pretty damn exciting....
09 November 2006Microfinance: A Little Goes a Long Way
I first heard about microfinance when I was living in Samoa. There were a few NGOs in country dispensing tiny loans, less than a 1000 US dollars, to various groups and people to get small businesses off the ground. It...
13 April 2006The Good News & The Bad News
The good news is that the taxes are done. Finished. Complete. And ahead of schedule. That's a serious load off. The bad is that between state and federal, I wrote almost 5 grand worth of checks. 4,888.00 to be exact....
07 April 2006Taxman Cometh
I'm pretty done with my taxes. Like just about every year, I did them myself on Turbo Tax. The difference this year is that I made a lot of money in the market last year, so I have some short...
30 August 2005CVX
I don't know what gas prices are like where you live, but here in Alameda, the cost of unleaded has shot up from 2.82 to 2.96 in the last two days. Is it the effect of Katrina? Is it our...
01 August 2005Rethinking Retirement
I probably think about retirement more than I should. I'm not in any hurry to grow old and grey but I am looking forward to not working while I travel around the country and the world. Since travel ain't cheap,...
15 April 2005Mr. Taxman, Can You Hear Me?
I'm done with my taxes, federal and California, and in the nick of time. I don't usually leave it to the last minute like this, it's such a headache when you do, but there was some things that I had...
09 December 20049/10
When a penny can't buy you anything and there is a move afoot to get rid of them altogether, why do gas stations still list their prices in tenths of cent? It's asinine. And the thing is, as stupid as...
08 December 2004Currency Markets Hate Freedom
01 December 2004Free Credit Report
Not a few days after I paid for a credit report I got word from my friend Ursula that starting today, people in western states can get a free credit report from any one of the 3 major reporting agencies....
01 December 2004Activision Tops October Techworld Charts With 4 Top 10 PC Games
After I was laid off from the Electronic Arts back in 2001 (right after 9/11), I didn't have much faith in the company (can you imagine?), so I sold my stock options and put most of it into our main...
27 November 2004Credit Fubar
I got a credit report for the first time in my life and, big surprise, it's fucked up. I need it apply for an apartment, so I went online to TransUnion and once I jumped through the hoops of self...
01 April 2004End of an Era
Did anyone notice that there was a change to the DOW components today? AT&T, Eastman Kodak and International Paper were dropped in favor of Verizon, Phizer and American International Group. Not that this major shakeup is going to affect anyone...
16 March 2004Minor Panic Attack
I had a minor panic attack this morning when I looked at my portfolio and it said that Activision was at 13 and change and my net worth was down and mere $7,000 before I came to my senses and...
07 February 2004Go Activision!
Yesterday Activision, the main competitor of my former employer, Electronic Arts, and a huge component, not coincidentally, of my portfolio, surged almost 5 percent, returning my net worth to levels not seen since before 9/11....
05 February 2004Taxes Are Done (Yea!)
This is earliest I have ever finished my return (thank you Turbo Tax online). Ironically, for the first time since I was a teenager, I didn't even need to file. According to my W-2, I made $2,302.50 last year. That's...
28 January 2004Can Someone Explain the US Dollar to Me?
Can someone please explain the US Dollar to me? I don't get it. I must have mised the day we talked about currency in Macroeconomics. I've always had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that the US...
01 January 2004Stocks at the New Year
I'm just listing all my major stock prices on New Year's Day so I see how they track during the course of the year. I have high hopes for both ADSX and ATVI. I hope that Ed holds it ground....
13 May 2003Weak Dollar Sucks
1 US Dollar = 2.98800 Samoan Tala 1 Samoan Tala (WST) = 0.33467 US Dollar (USD) This is the current exchange for the US Dollar against the Samoan Tala. The rate has been on a downward spiral since we arrived...