My Money Blog

Calculating and Comparing Treasury Bill Returns

Posted on April 27, 2006 // 33 Comments

Just like when teaching class, if one person asks question, usually multiple people have the same question. Unless it's that annoying person who always ask questions like "Do I have to put my middle name on the exam? Will you mark down for … [Read the rest]

No Grocery Shopping For A Month

Posted on April 26, 2006 // 28 Comments

During our move, we were shocked by the vast amount of food we had stored away in our cabinets. In addition to staples like flour, sugar, and coffee, we have canned food galore, dried pasta, jarred sauces, rice, stuff like Rice-a-Roni; it was like … [Read the rest]

Liability Protection and LLCs / Corporations

Posted on April 25, 2006 // 2 Comments

On my list of Reasons to Incorporate or Form an LLC, #2 is limiting personal liability. If you are a Sole Proprietorship, there is basically no legal distinction between you and your business. If your business owes Bob's Hardware money, you owe … [Read the rest]

Stock Market Observations

Posted on April 24, 2006 // 8 Comments

While checking in on my IVV order, I noticed Ford is having a bad day. Check out these market caps: Ford (F): $13 Billion General Motors (GM): $12 Billion Google (GOOG): $130 Billion Ouch. Google could buy both Ford and GM and not break a … [Read the rest]

Emergency Cash In 6-Month T-Bill Ladder

Posted on April 23, 2006 // 8 Comments

Where's my cash? Back in December, I started forming a ladder of 6-month Treasury Bills by buying $1,000 of T-Bills at the beginning of each month. Soon, I will start reinvesting the first matured T-Bill into another 6-month T-Bill, thus having … [Read the rest]

20/20 Real Estate Hindsight

Posted on April 23, 2006 // 7 Comments

Our old house officially sold a few days ago. We toyed with the idea of buying it ourselves, but once I found out how much the owners were asking my jaw dropped. When I found out they got an offer for full price my jaw hit the floor. Craziness... … [Read the rest]

I Want A Beater Truck.

Posted on April 22, 2006 // 9 Comments

We moved a bunch of our stuff over to the new house today, after borrowing our friend's truck. It was a great little early-90s Toyota Pickup (that's really what the model was called - "Pickup") with 150k miles, manual transmission, and not much … [Read the rest]

Quickie: How To Buy A Treasury Bill

Posted on April 21, 2006 // 25 Comments

There seems to be some interest, so here's a very quick example of what happens when you buy a 4-week $1,000 T-Bill. 1) Open an account at TreasuryDirect, link up checking/savings account. 2) Login, and select your amount and maturity date … [Read the rest]

Don’t Forget About Treasury Bills To Keep Cash

Posted on April 20, 2006 // 16 Comments

People who are looking for the next best place for their cash now that ING's Winter Sale 4.75% APY sale is over, and HSBC Direct's 4.80% APY promotion is soon ending, should not forget to consider Treasury Bills. You sacrifice some liquidity, but … [Read the rest]

Confession: I’m Trying To Time The Market

Posted on April 20, 2006 // 10 Comments

I am usually very skeptical when people try to time the market. But I must confess, I have been trying to do it this week. As part of my new portfolio, I need to buy $11,000 of IVV (an S&P 500 ETF). That's a big order for me. On Monday I saw … [Read the rest]

Everyone’s Complaining About Gas Prices…

Posted on April 19, 2006 // 50 Comments

...but I'm not. Funny how small talk with people has shifted from the weather to complaining about gas prices these days. From the grocery store to neighbors to well, the guy pumping my gas! The reason I don't really stress about it is that … [Read the rest]

Predicting the New I-Bond Rates: Yawn.

Posted on April 19, 2006 // 4 Comments

Just like last October, using the information in my How To Predict I-Bond Savings Bond Rates post, we can now try to predict the upcoming I-Bond rate announcement on May 1st. For more information on savings bonds, check out my Savings Bond category, … [Read the rest]