Tonight I purchased running shoes.  I purchased $100.00 running shoes.  I am going to have feet that don’t hurt when I exercise and knees and a back that don’t kill me after having attempted to get healthy.  I will spend more on shoes, but less at the doctor.  I want to go hiking and hike a 14,000 foot mountain this summer, but my knees are going to need to be able to handle that and I don’t think they will unless I have shoes that support and work with consistent exercise to get my knees back into shape.

Don’t spend crazy amounts of money on shoes unless you’re going to use them, but watch out that your not doing damage to your body by wearing shoes that don’t cut the mustard.  I’ve got to go run to the closet and see if I’ve got something to wear to the ball.

My old dishwasher probably could have used this and when the dishwasher repairman came out BEFORE the problems got bad and suggested things he didn’t mention this as a good idea.  So if you have a dishwasher and its not cleaning your dishes as well as it should, you might confirm that this contraption exists (or doesn’t exist) on your line, and if it doesn’t, get one!  It cost me less than $20.00 to get the air gap preventer, 72″ of rubber tubing and a few clamps to make sure that my dishwasher drains appropriately.  I could have saved $389.00.  Lesson learned!

I had a realization this week as I was pondering the significance of the numbers of trillions of dollars that have been lost globally in various financial markets.  The realization was not one that I should have had to wait until 31 to have and I wanted to pass it along in case others had not been exposed to it: The stocks in the market may very well need a good washing because there are not always legs holding up their pants.  Each stock is not worth the value that is given to it on the market that day, it is worth the value the people (thankfully not germs) put on it and built into the fibers of the stock the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years before.  But unless the companies behind the stocks are actually doing amazingly good things and you’re owning a piece of a real company that is worthy of ownership, you could be buying extra crunchy pants.

You could be hard pressed to find a company that is worth the esteemed value of the stock, but it is important to remember that not each person who owns a $132/share stock paid $132 per share.  They might have paid $32.00/share and others after them paid more than that.  Obviously that’s why the investor makes money if they buy at $32.00 and sell at $132.00, but when the market tumbles and share values drop its not a loss of actual wealth, its the loss of unrealized wealth.  There’s a BIG difference.  Its not that the estimated value doesn’t matter, but instead it is important to have the principles of the theory behind the market in mind as you’re looking at the numbers.  If I buy a stock at $32.00 and sell it at $30.00 I very literally lose $2.00 per share (plus any trading fees to buy the stock and to sell the stock).  What you need to realize is that as an investor I may have also missed the unrealized reward of the stock jumping to $64.00 per share and in an attempt to ‘hold out for more’ the stock reversed and dropped me down to where I realized the stock was going to go down to less than I paid for it and by the time I could find a buyer, it had devalued to less than my original buying price.  Realized and unrealized wealth are two different things and when the media or overly dramatic persons speak about trillions of dollars in wealth disappearing, it isn’t all like real dollars going up into real smoke (we’ll ignore the carbon footprint of that smoke & money fire), it is some real smoke and some real fire shot from an impressive camera angle that makes the pants look taller than they are.  They’re standing in the corner, looking tall and legless, but they’re still pants, and they still need to be estimated at a reasonable value that reflects the worth of the company – much like pants that really, really should have been washed so that I never, ever had to hear stories of my dad’s friend’s pants that probably smelled foul.

Ewwwwww.

Those who believe in a large role for governments in the economy believe it was mostly a failure of the free markets and those who believe in free markets believe it was mostly a failure of government that compounded the problem.

This is a false dichotomy.  There is a need for us to recognize the two conceptual entities, but they operate like conjoined twins with the same heart: the people that make them up.  In the United States that is the voters and the consumers, who are not one-and-the-same, but very nearly one-and-the-same.  We elect leaders and while we don’t vote on every issue ourselves, we have an impact as a corporate group.  And as consumers we impact the buying and selling trends.  Peter of Bible Money Matters tweeted earlier today, “Does it seem like a major component of the current financial crisis is fear? Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad if everyone didn’t panic.”  The problem is that emotion controls the market to a certain degree.  I’ve written before that emotions cost me a huge amount of money.  Huge.  All because of emotions.  But I am not about to make the false assessment that the consumer and the government are only related superficially and really operate separately.  Its a simple assertion that shifts blame, but the reality is that we’re in this together.

In the Wikipedia section that talks about Debt it is interesting to see how they assert that over-bearing debt leads to a downward spiral of financial catastrophe.  There has been a common mindset in the last several decades that debt lubricates the system and keeps the machine of industry going.  While I will agree that it can help facilitate in some situations, it doesn’t keep the industry going indefinitely and debt that is unchecked clearly leads to collapse or major, major turmoil.  This is true in the American household and also proves out in business and government.  Germany after World War I was so financially beaten down by war debts that their money was hyper-inflated.  The debt killed their economy.  Our current United States dollar is flailing in the water due to its being produced ‘cheaply’ and flooding the market.  Our debt is costing us.

Money Supply is next on the list at Wikipedia.  Interestingly enough the philosophy held by at least some is that the central bank controls the supply of money and that during the great depression the supply of money available on the market was trickled down to a fraction of what was available earlier in the decade.  The problem is that inflation is happening by ‘over-supplying’ the money.  So if over-supply stops the economy from slowing down, but causes inflation, which causes other economic issue you still have to answer the question of why supply of money being more liberal (by which I mean more readily available and am not talking about politics) is overall a better thing?  I imagine that like many things this comes down to moderation.  If the Federal Reserve had loosened things up back in the 30′s it might have been beneficial, but not as loose as they are now, in which case we’ve seen an extreme pendulum swing.

My Own Personal Philosophy

I had a boss at a Christian Book Store in College who made a statement that has set in my mind as an axiom of truth: Good businessmen pay their employees wages that respect the needs of the employee.  This is to say that if the employee needs $1,000.00 a month to live and provide for his family, then that’s what the business person pays the employee.  The business person knows that its better to take moral comfort in knowing that you provided for your employees, and the employees know it, than to drive an insanely expensive vehicle, to live in a mansion, or to die rich, but still be dead.  This is not anti-capitalist.  It is not anti-wealth, it is just encouraging fiscal responsibility.

Furthermore, employees should be willing to work dilligently to make the business profitable or more profitable and not just do the least amount of work possible.  This respects the business person’s leadership and provision.  I work as a contractor for a group of four men who own and operate a company with roughly 50 employees and contractors.  Their respect and care for employees is stunning.  Part of why I have chosen to continue my relationship with them for more than 8 years is because they take care of me.  I work hard to take care of them as well.  They have earned my respect and so I work hard to make sure that their needs are met or exceeded where possible.

The crash of 1929 and the following great depression have some similarities.  Government doesn’t deserve all of the blame, neither do the masses of consumers, or the big businesses.  Instead we all own this responsibility.  We all fail, or we all succeed together.  If this is a recession, a depression or any other financial scenario it is something that we work through as a global community, a nation, a state, a county, a city and a neighborhood.  We work on it together and we grow – that’s something that we need no matter the time.

“Um, 3 hours of watching girls that think they can play… girls that really can play and girls that have no skill but are there because someone said that they were good once.  And then at the end of the week: cutting them.”

I would be the player that thinks he can play.  I am not the player that knows he can play, I am not the player that anyone ever told that I could play.  I would be the self-decieved player.

But the good thing about the self-decieved player is that the player has intentions.  Good intentions.  Intentions that are tied to potential.  Not in a ‘motivational poster that is so unreal that nobody would buy it’ sort of way, but with the passion that may some day turn into an acceptable utility player that isn’t the team captain, or the super-star, but is the person who keeps the team going with drive and is one of the many.

I’m the guy who is picked last.  But I’m working on being the guy you’d pick 5th.  I’m OK with fifth because at least its a step up.  I’m OK with being picked last as long as I’m picked.  Right field is awesome, catcher is awesome.  I don’t need to be the star, I don’t need to be the slugger, I just need to get on base.  Our finances have slipped some recently and I’m the guy responsible for that.

We’re not staying here.  We’re going to kick this into high gear.  We’re going to kill our darlings.  We’re going to plug the leaks and batton down the hatches.  We’re going to mix our metaphors until the cows come home.  But we’re not going to stay last.  We’re going to stay home – instead of eating out.

So, take off your dumb consumer shirts and burn them.  Throw them in the trash.  At least hang them up and don’t put them on very often.  Look at what’s broken, and if you’re not sure, find out if anyone you know is willing to help you trouble shoot the problem, and hopefully fix it (my neighbor helped me with some of his electical tools so we could pin-point the roaster’s issue).  There is no need to have the consume, destroy, replace mentality, despite what the marketers tell you.

Embrace the fixit mentality.  Think about the actual costs involved, and if you don’t know, do the research.  If your time is money, figure out what its worth.  Some tiny appliances can be replaced cheaply, but some are a little more high-end and should be repaired if possible.  Some repair places make it hard to repair for less than the cost of a new item, but sometimes you can do it yourself, in which case: do it yourself.  I believe smart consumer shirts are available, but you’ll have to hunt because most retailers don’t want you to have one

Once upon a time there was a boy, we’ll call him me.  His name won’t be me, but I’m going to share a little about myself.  And actually, I wasn’t a little boy.  I was a grown man.  Well, I guess I still am.  But this story is about the idiocy of temporary pleasure verses the wisdom of thinking a little longer term, or very long term.  I had wanted to save money by spening less on the luxury of non-broadcast television and switched from Cable Television (with Comcastic service) to Satelite service DirectV from the stars… or some such nonsense.  I would save money and get the better programming of directive DirecTV.

Except that I had to agree to a two year contract to pay DetecTV monthly during that two years or else pay a penalty fee to infecTV for each month remaining in the contact.  Being a cheerful dolt, and not ever thinking that I would ever not want to get derelicTV, I agreed to that lovely penalty.  The world was grand and there were weeks of Food Network to watch with the added benefit of children’s cartoons, educational television, and news broadcasts twenty-four hours a day slevin days a week.  The fun and entertainment we would have due to DefecTV was endless.  Until we actually wanted to end the service.

Fast-forward a year and a half and I still have half a year left of paying more a month than I need to because we’re in a bundled package from our phone/internet/smellovision provider.  Locked in for two years of promised payment even though better deals could be had (and I would actually dump my land-line phone as well, thus futher reducing my monthly outgo towards communications and entertainment).  So the young boy who was me, who I am now -  as an adult, made a dumb choice because what he wanted then was what he was obviously going to want for two years.

The moral of this story, other than avoid the shoddy equipment that comes with the ‘awesome’ package at insecTV, is that you shouldn’t commit to a contract unless you’re really, really, really, really sure that its what you need, its what you want, and that you’re going to want it in two years with just as much passion or excitement.  There are a lot of companies that masquerade as your friend until they lock you into a contract and then you discover that you’re really bound, like so many periodicals, to servitude, slavery, and to eat pudding with cement mixed into it.  And after watching enough episodes of House on satellite television, I’m confidently going to announce that I’d no longer like to eat cement, I’ve seen what it can do to your intestines, and I don’t want to undergo that kind of surgery to get it out of me.

What do you want now?  What do you think you will still want in two years that you want now?

You can download the video here.

Links to the articles in this video:

Should You Debt Snowball Directly into a Savings Account?

Money Tips from Consumer Reports

I Want to Buy a House With Cash

The symptom of debt is actually a symptom of the root problem: lack of self control.  If you understand where your finances are and you maximize your use of the card within the constraints of your budget, you might be able to pay for your family’s vacation in rewards.  James, a long time reader of my blogging (I don’t recall how James found me, but I’ve been grateful for the things I’ve learned from him and his commenting), actually left a comment stating that’s what he does some time ago.

My dad, a financially astute guy, uses his Discover card for as many expenses as he can and maximizes his rewards this way.  I have to admit to thinking this was crack smoking crazy until I realized that I was putting the blame on the wrong thing.  I’m not recommending everyone get as many credit cards as they can or that folks use credit cards if they can’t control themselves when they have access to the credit cards, but I am saying that I recognize that my previous stance was legalism.  As Romans 14:23b states: “…whatever is not from faith is sin.”  Don’t spend a dime that is not spent in reliance on the Lord.  This could be spent virtually with a credit card or literally with cash, but if you’re doing it out of compulsion and not in the abiding life of Christ, then its not the right attitude or way to be spending money in the first place!

This isn’t just a paradigm shift, this is a right-aligning with what the word of God teaches about walking by faith.  If I make a law about credit cards then I have failed to see the fullness of my relationship with Christ in the area I have created the law in.  I died to the law and the nature of the law when I was identified in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.  I’m going to pay off my credit cards, cancel all but one, and then as I abide in Christ, I’ll focus on my heavenly relationship, knowing those earn eternal rewards, and use the Discover to maximize the earthly rewards which might just be used to help those in need (Romans 12:13).

Why did repair cost so much on a computer that should have only needed a new display and keyboard? Because puke is a bio-hazard. Shipping and handling of the computer suddenly sky-rocketed because the laptop had been violated of sanitation. Of course keyboards and computers are notorious for harboring germs, so this seemed a bit of an over-statement, but company policy is company policy. The new computer is almost up and running with what I need to take the Mac Book Pro out of service. I have to install some more software for development work, and some Adobe graphics stuff. It’s not how I wanted to spend this money, but at least I had it.

The moral of the story is that when you travel with a laptop you risk its damage or loss. Don’t discount kids, thieves, other passengers or travelers. Real life happens and having an emergency fund is just about one of the smartest things you could do.