Funny : Who makes more money - Drink or No Drink

Who makes more money

Wealth Statistics

Wealth Statistics: How Do You Measure Up Vs. the Average "Wealthy" American? Issue # 452

Good information about how you stack up against the odds

thanks mlebuf - diehards.org

Information : Free Morningstar Reports and X-Ray

Morningstar - A research company that rates the performance of Mutual Funds and Variable Annuities.

Old News: Most people know they can access Morningstar website from library
New news for me : You can access morningstar free from home if you have a library card and live in wake county

Last week after some reallocation of retirement funds i was craving for Morningstar X-Ray, so i went to library to request morningstar access. The person in charge explained to me that i can access Morningstar and other resources from home. You should have a library card and pin (library access code ). I live in wake county, please contact your county library for more information.

Wake county library database

Wake county morningstar

OT: Poem about personal integrity and management

I am trying to learn some management skills to improve my career. The "If" poem caught my attention long time back and still my reference guide for personal management.

"If" poem by Rudyard Kipling same person who wrote jungle book

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Lines in Bold are my favorite
Disclaimer: If any copyright violation, Please contact me.

Question :How to allocate retirement money?

Before my company started to offer Roth 401k, it was easy split of money

401k up to match
Roth IRA
Then max 401k

Now Roth 401k in picture there is no concrete plan how to allocate money. There is no crystal ball to find out what will be the tax situation in the future.

So i am thinking of following the patterns below

Pattern I
401k - up to match
Roth IRA - Max
Roth 401K - Max

or

Pattern II
401k - 50% Max
Roth 401K - 50% Max
Roth IRA - Max

Pattern I Reason
Have most money in taxable account
social security ppl will check only 401k
I can move my roth 401k to roth ira if i leave

Pattern II Reason
Just Hedge on all the side.. you will be average at the end

At the end i decided to go with Pattern I until i can read more about the retirment allocation. As i am reading there are so many factors change equations everytime.

Good conversation about this topic - Die Hards

Issue: Target credit card

Subject: Target red visa card allows only 2 payments per week.

We got married last year so I am trying to consolidate all the accounts.

My wife hold a target credit card with some balance and the rate is 22.74%. When I saw the rate I decided to pay all the balance.

Issue: I keep my money in different places so to pay all the balance in need to pay from 3 different accounts. After I paid from 2 account target displayed message saying only 2 payments allowed per week...Um interesting I send a mail regarding the issue we will see what happens.

Understanding my wife's spending habit

Saying in India

you can find the depth of the ocean but not what girl is thinking about

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Learntobudget/P145741.asp

May the link above will help me to understand my wife's past spending habits...may be

Question : WIM questioned why i want to know about my wife's past spending habit..
My Grandfather used to say if you want to solve a problem always look in to the past it will provide so many lessons. Never bring up past actions only the lessons you learned...

Question - Indian Parents Health and finance

I am living in US ( green card will be a citizen in 2 yrs ) and my parent are in India. Dad age 60 mom 55.

Question:
1. I am planning to bring my parents are how to provide health insurance?
2. How to talk with indian parents about finance?

Any ideas

Review - The Grocery game

My wife and i try to cook in all the time to reduce eating out. So i searched the net to find out where i can see the comparison about different grocery stores, i stumbled upon thegrocerygame.com site

what they do: they give you a list of stores near your zip code and compare with newspaper coupons to give you compared list

How much : I think they are $15 to start

Pros: New concept for me
Useful for a large family
cons: I did not see a store which is just in front of my house
I am not using as much to justify $15

i am not afiliated to thegrocerygame.com. I am just an user who write stuf....

Review - Sunrocket - Step 2

I enrolled to sunrocket for the past 2 months, it is good to call canada and to know my phone is paid for a year
Pros:
Call canada
Bill paid for a year
Sound quality is ok

cons:
Sometimes i can hear myself ( echo - i am not taking any drugs )
I am trying to transfer my old phone number it has been 2 months now.
Reason: my phone company is not in the transfer list page
Sunrocket did not get my faxed sheet
Resolution: i need to escalate the call to escalation team and now it is in process

I will keep posting my next step in a month about sunrocket

Fence - Part II

Fencing around my house is done. I chosse Lowes do to my fencing
Reason :
1. Cheaper than Home depot by 800$
2. They accepted my 10% off coupon for materials

So now i need to plan to sell or rent my wife's house....

What you need to look for reducing fecost?
1. Do you really need fence?
2. Can you connect with next door neighbour
3. Get estimate from 3 sources Lowes, Home Depot and local fencing guy
4. Use any 10% off coupons
5. I am totall against credit.. but if you are good in repaying the money check for any 12 month 0% plan..

Roth 401K analyzer

Some companies start to offer roth 401k. If you want to analyze how your contributions will affect you net pay, Please use the link below.

Roth Analyzer

The report takes around 3 to 5 minutes to load in a T1 line. So don’t kill the site by refreshing.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to the company mentioned or Roth

---
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
...
You’ll be a Man, my son!
--- by RK

VOIP - Sunrocket - Step1

I enrolled to sunrocket today
Reasons
1 Call to Canada free
2. No contract cancel any time
3. Save Money


Enrollment is step 1. Now i need to transfer my phone line after i am satisfied with the quality..
Why sunrocket not Time warner or Vonage.
They seems to have annual plan and reviews are 60% good.