30 
27 | § ¶Computer Cost of Ownership
-- Costly little beasties.
Early in the year my wife bought a new computer for her side business (real estate management). She wanted the computer to last quite a long time so she bought a fairly up-to-date one, with enough disk capacity, CPU, memory, printer/fax/copier to serve her well into 2008. Last week, the hard drive broke, loosing all recent data and leaving the computer useless.
The computer is back to normal operations, but we have reflected about some Computer Cost of Ownership issues.
Read More 24 38 | § ¶It Converts Into Food
-- Realities about a job.
A very senior engineer in a financial company once said: "It converts into food" (in an ironic way to make sense of the reasons his manager asked him to do a useless task). My wife often says: "Work is so bad, that someone pays you to do it".
In my opinion, both phrases are full of wisdom. Although we all desire a job that is full of joy and satisfaction we often are faced with the following options:
- Sky is the limit: Work hard to get the highest paying job, regardless of job satisfaction. It may provide the level of saving/spending you want for you and your family at the expense of having a hard time at work.
- Achieve a balance: Find a job that pays the bills, and is satisfying and enjoyable at least half the days. As with any compromise, it is difficult to have everything perfect. Probably job satisfaction and compensation will be both mediocre.
- Enjoy what you do: Have a job that you enjoy most of the time, regardless of pay. This may mean lower spending level than you may have dreamed.
16 24 | § ¶Mt. Washington Dreams
-- Once you complete a goal, you choose another one.
After completing Mt. Katahdin on July, and taking a hiking vacation of almost a month, we decided it was time to get back to hiking. This time, a taller goal: Mt. Washington (6,288ft), the highest of New Hampshire 4,000 footers (or White Mountains 4k), another trophy to add to my White Mountains 4,000 Footer Scorecard. (9/27 Update: Mt. Washington climb will probably happen on 2006, as weather and comittments haven't made it possible this year).
We will attempt it this coming weekend. This mountain is rumored to have the most unpredictable weather in North America. It is not uncommon for people to have to turn back and try it another day. Hopefully we will do it on the first try before the Fall season makes it too cold for us.
To prepare for such hike we decided to practice with some of the other New Hampshire 4,000 footers: Mt. Moosilauke (4,802ft), and North and South Kinsman (4,293ft and 4,358ft respectively). Read the story below.
33 40 | § ¶Real Cost of Car Ownership
-- Surprise: Gas cost is still low, in comparisson.
Most of us have been hit hard by the rising gas prices. For the
first time in my life I have filled up my car with more than $30 (9.741
Gallons, at $3.119/gal, for total of $30.38 on September 09, 2005 in
Marlborough, MA). My car performs at roughly 25 miles per gallon,
so that means I am spending almost 13 cents a mile on gas only.
Sounds impressive that every time you run a mile you pay 13
cents? Not so when you compare it to the cost you incur in other
things.
When you take into consideration the cost of the vehicle itself (miles
slowly destroy vehicle value), depreciation (getting old and wear and
tear), financing, taxes, fees, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and
others, you end up paying around half a dollar for every mile you run.
24 34 | § ¶Argentina - Savings are Ready!
-- An example of short terms savings and debt avoidance
I will be visiting Argentina on November for around two weeks. I may even get a chance to visit Chile and Uruguay. This is exciting for me, as I have never gone to the lower part of South America on vacation (it has always been to work, and it has been in Brazil). I will also go to Patagonia to see active glaciers. To avoid incurring into credit card debt that haunts me long after the vacation memories start to fade I have to put my finantial life in order first. And this Sunday I finished doing it!
Read More 18 41 | § ¶IRA Participation
-- Why So Low?
The Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contribution statistics
are concerning. On 2000, at the height of the finantial services
boom, less than 10% took advantage of these retirement
instruments. Unfortunately, the government hasn't been able to
provide statistics for later years (slow statistics system), but I do
not have high hopes the number would have improved dramatically.
Year 2000: (source: IRS.gov, published in 2004 - government is kind of slow)
Year 2000 taxpayers: 179.6 million.
Year 2000 taxpayers elegible for contributing to an IRA: 159.9 million.
Year 2000 taxpayers who contributed to an IRA: 15.1 million. Only 9.4% of those eligible.
In this article, let me stress the importance of
contributing to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), and lets start
a discussion on why people don't take advantage of this vehicle.
Can we help bring this statistic up?