Spend, Spend, Spend!

Tis the season to be jolly! Extended time spent with the family can either be joyful or hellish. Luckily, Thanksgiving dinner was somewhere in between this year. The last three years, we've been on vacations during Thanksgiving week but fell behind in vacations this year so here we are stuck at home. The turkey dinner itself couldn't have been easier as I simply ordered a whole turkey meal from Marie Callendar. I knew that the turkey would be cooked and just needed to be heated up but I didn't expect it to be a packaged Foster Farms turkey that I probably could have bought at the supermarket. Nevertheless, it was moist and tender. I comtemplated shopping early on Black Friday. This year in particular, retailers were incredibly competitive and the Black Friday ads were "leaked" to the public on numerous internet sites. Fights that broke out a Walmart of $400 laptops made national news. I decided to head to Staples and Radio Shack at 8am on Friday to pick up a couple of items. I'd actually never seen so many people at a Radio Shack before (that doesn't mean much as there are normally only a couple of customers there at any given time). The item that I wanted at Staples, a 256MB USB memery card was sold out. I was silly to think that I'd beat the housewives that don't mind getting in line at 5am to save $20. Of all the things that were advertised, nothing really sounded that appealing to me and so I've spent a total of $0 on holiday shopping so far! As the ultimate consumer, I'm practically dying to spend money on something, anything that is new and clever. Can someone say j-a-d-e-d?

Monday 11/21:
$12 lunch at Fire Dance
$0 frozen dinner

Tuesday 11/22:
$4 lunch at Viet takeout place
$32 dinner for 2 at Coco's
$109 clothes at Mervyn's

Wed 11/23:
$0 company meeting lunch
$5 2 movie tickets and concession (Harry Potter, had two gift certificates)
$0 leftovers for dinner
$13 airphones online

Thurs 11/24:
$45 gas
$90 take out Thanksgiving whole turkey meal from Marie Callendar's

Friday 11/25:
$7 drive thru Starbucks
$5 drive thru breakfast Farmer Brothers at (saved $5 Entertainment coupon)
$50 semi-synthetic oil change (saved $8 with coupon)
$15 Trader Joe's
$0 leftovers for dinner
$3 Starbucks again

Saturday 11/26:
$24 lunch with sister at Chinese place
$11 coffee and dessert for 2 at Starbucks
$0 skipped dinner because of late lunch
$36 Jason Mraz Mr. A-Z CD, Madonna Confessions on a Dancefloor CD, 20 Ads That Shook the World book by James Twitchell on Amazon

Sunday 11/27:
$53 supermarket (saved $11 in coupons)
$0 leftovers for lunch
$32 TJ Maxx Homestore
$0 prepared dinner

What a nice goat you have!

Is this what getting old feels like? Just turned 33 and already having lower back pains. Dubious about the benefits of chiropractice but going to see one that is recommended by several colleagues in the office. Pretty uneventful week otherwise. The biggest thing that happened was the grand opening of Trader Joe's down the street (it used to be an old, musty LA Fitness). Also, went looking at properties for sale in the neighborhood today for the first time in several months. As always, the prices seemed ridiculous for dated houses starting from $650k that needed serious remodeling. One house in particular will be difficult to sell. Not only was the floorplan awful (garage was converted to living room, knick knacks everywhere, bedrooms that led to other bedrooms) but some backcountry 4H neighbors were out of place next door. They actually have a small corral with 2 big goats and some chickens. And this is in a solidly middle class suburban neighborhood. It's unbelievable that county animal codes allow for goats on a 8000 sq ft residential lot. Sheesh.

Monday 11/14:
$7 lunch at Oki Doki
$2905 Edward Gordon giclee on canvas of The Guest House

Tuesday 11/15:
$18 treated friend to lunch at Greek place
$0 can of Campbell's for dinner
$5 padlock for gym

Wed 11/16:
$10 chiropractor co-pay
$0 lunch with customers
$400 2 sprinkler timers
$0 prepared dinner

Thurs 11/17:
$0 lunch with customers
$0 frozen dinners

Fri 11/18:
$0 expensed lunch ($8)
$31 gas and drink
$5 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
$26 dinner for 2 at China Palace (saved $10 with Entertainment card)
$43 grand opening of Trader Joe's

Sat 11/19:
$110 Marshall's
$22 dinner for 2 at Mexican
$40 two tickets for play at Long Beach Playhouse

Sunday 11/20:
$0 prepared lunch
$60 Ralph's supermarket (saved $15 in coupons)
$30 Trader Joe's
$0 prepared dinner

How High Can You Go?

No matter how good of a performance at a concert, you can only enjoy it in proportion to how far back your seats are. On Friday, we saw the Stones in San Diego. Petco Park is in it's second season as the Padres new home. Our seats were in the second to the top row. Sure, we could see Mick Jagger strut and swagger on the multiple big screens. But even on the big screen, you could barely make out the craggy lines that give away that he's over 60. With a combined income that puts us, statistically, in the top 1% of household incomes, it's hard to imagine that 40,000+ attendees shelled out a minimum of $60 a ticket and upwards of $1000. Next time, we're definitely splurging to buy much better seats so that the show is memorable for the right reason.

Friday 11/11:
$0 company lunch meeting
$4 drinks in drivethru at Burger King
$150 2 tickets in the nosebleed section for Rolling Stones concert at Petco Park (first concert held there ever)
$135 room at Sheraton on the harbour
$16 Sheraton parking
$10 parking for concert
$20 concessions

Saturday 11/12:
$23 breakfast in Hillcrest diner
$18 drycleaning
$117 Costco
$0 prepared dinner

Sunday 11/13:
$23 Asian supermarket
$13 supermarket (Albertson's)
$80 massage and tip
$200 interest payment to mom (Tip of the Week: It's cheaper to borrow money from family members who otherwise hide it around the house than the bank.)
$6 coupon organizer on eBay

Jittery Investor

Not everyone can sleep well at night when their money is invested in real estate. About 16 months ago, I referred my boss to an opportunity to reserve a new home to be built in Corona with the expectation that it would appreciate in the 12-16 month construction window. During that time, the value has increased approximately $100k. While his intent has been to immediately sell the house, I offered a solution that would have been a win/win situation for both of us. The tax rate on short term investments is one's personal federal and state income tax rate. Long term capital gains tax rate for investments held at least 12 months is 15%, significantly lower than his income tax rate of 33%. My suggestion was for him to lease the property with an option to buy in 12 months at today's price. During that time, I would sublease and manage the property as if I were the owner from tenant selection, maintenance and rent collection. I would pay him a higher rent to cover the mortgage and property taxes so that he would not have any negative cash flow. The benefit to him would be that when he sells it to me in one year, albeit at today's price, he would net a higher amount due to the lower taxes and a significantly reduced real estate commission. The benefit to me would be lower property taxes for the one year and the ability to "own" a house without it being on title or mortgage. Alas, he can't sleep at night knowing that a good chunk of their savings is tied up and his wife is pushing him to sell it as quickly as possible before a real estate meltdown. Ah...amateurs!!

Mon 10/31:
$0 leftovers for lunch
$12 Halloween candy
$0 frozen dinner
$31 stuff for rental at Marshalls
(Yes, worked until 10:30pm on Halloween completing cleanup of the rental so that new tenant could move in the 1st.)

Tues 11/01:
$0 business lunch
$18 Marshall's
$19 drycleaning
$1350 Sony LCD TV at Pacific Sales
$0 leftovers for dinner

Wed 11/02:
$0 expensed $30 lunch
$6 Starbucks
$0 skipped dinner

Thursday:
-$130 returned stuff to TJ Maxx Homestore
$7 lunch at Nick's
$41 3 seasons of TV show DV
Ds on Amazon.com (saved $20 with rebate)
$0 prepared dinner

Friday:
$450 3 day real estate seminar by John Schaub
$4 lunch Carl's Jr.
$20 dinner Pizza Hut

Saturday 11/05:
$9 lunch at George's Thai Bistro
$300 3 set audio DVD of real estate seminars
$24 shower curtain rod from Bed, Bath & Beyond (saved $6 with coupon)
$68 dinner for 2 at French 75 (disappointed in the food, wasn't bad but was expecting better, manager comped $22 entree)
$22 Barnes & Noble

Sunday 11/06:
$0 brought lunch for seminar and went to gym
$73 supermarket (saved $35 in coupons)
$130 undershirts and socks at Target
$0 prepared dinner
$6 USB cable kit (saved $25 with rebates)

Monday 11/07:
$9 lunch at Gypsy Den
$0 prepared dinner

Tuesday 11/08:
$9 lunch at Thai Specialty
$9 takeout dinner for 2 from KFC

Wednesday 11/09:
$0 expensed lunch for 3 at Rubio's ($23)
$2 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
$0 prepared dinner

Thursday 11/10:
$44 gas
$3 Starbucks
$7 lunch
$10 takeout dinner from Albertson's