tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59549492011-07-09T18:47:42.221-07:00Craig's Debt Reduction BlogTrying to pay off a peak $83,000 in debt incurred from medical training, partially thwarted by supporting 3 kids in New York - the oldest with leukemia, and a wife who lost her job in the World Trade Center. Macroeconomic and microeconomic musings. Progress (and lack thereof) reports. [Listed in <a href="http://www.blogarama.com/"
title="The Blog Directory">Blogarama</a> - The Blog Directory and <a href="http://www.blogwise.com/" alt="Blogwise - blog directory">Blogwise</a>]Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1117983528116774172005-06-05T07:51:00.000-07:002005-06-05T07:58:48.120-07:00Down again, slow but steadyAt the beginning of June, my credit card total stood at $78624.32, down $1024.03, from $79648.35 from the beginning of May. As far as finance charges go, I paid $749.43, down $296.90 from the atypically high month before, a drop due almost solely to a targeted effort to reduce my balance on the Chase Toys R Visa, on which Chase had unjustly raised the APR to a Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1115260035072742752005-05-04T19:15:00.000-07:002005-05-04T19:27:15.106-07:00Good and bad news on that Chase cardI written about this last month and previously. I'm making progress. Actually a little too much progress. I wrote a check for $2000, decided it was too much, then wrote a check for the finance charge plus $1000 ($1269) which I made by teller payment. And for some reason, I also wrote a check for the minimum which I mailed. I somehow misplaced the check for Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1114218267564802762005-04-22T17:58:00.000-07:002005-04-22T18:04:27.566-07:00Update on that dasturdly Chase VisaI previously wrote about the one card I was focusing on first, my Chase Toys R Us Visa. A one month update:To recap: March statement $11832 with a minimum $236. I immediately paid $300, paid another $500, and hoped to make another $500 payment. Actually, that last payment was actually for $1000, not $500, on the last day of the statement. True, there were some Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1114217855606392312005-04-10T17:41:00.000-07:002005-04-22T17:57:35.606-07:00Focusing on one card For the near foreseeable future, let me focus on just one credit card, my Chase Toys R Us Visa. When I first got this card, it had an APR of 14.99%. In 2001, it got raised to 19.99%, and I was able to pay the card off by selling stock and transferring part of the balance to Discover Card. The card was paid-off each month, when it was used at all, in 2002 and 2003. In early Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1112582945815563012005-04-03T19:40:00.000-07:002005-04-03T19:49:50.820-07:00My letter to HSBC (Isn't it funny how the errors are always in the bank's favor)To whom it may concern, You offered me balance transfer checks of terms of "3.9% until paid off." I took advantage of this for two checks totalling $2200 on January's statement and then a 3rd check for $80 on February's statement. Much to my dismay, you were charging me 14.15% on that balance on January's Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1109479393743334412005-02-26T20:40:00.000-08:002005-02-26T20:43:13.746-08:00Chase, an abusive relationship and good news in FebruaryIn the past few months, Chase credit cards has shortened my grace period, raised my APR, and now screwed up the on-line interface, so that it's impossible to determine how much finance charge that I paid in the most recent statement. They talk about the right relationship, but abusive relationship is more like it. Anyway, I normally look Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1109047285871351772005-02-03T20:36:00.000-08:002005-02-21T20:41:25.873-08:00February summary, some good newsUsing the combination of a January windfall, quite a bit of overtime at the end of December (>100 hrs in each of the last two pay periods), two very generous gifts from an anonymous donor, the same one as last year, and some fairly creative scrambling, I wrote a single $5000 check to Discover card, more than halving that particularcard's balance. Since the Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1106541975025645322005-01-24T00:42:00.000-08:002005-01-23T20:47:34.093-08:00My Letter to Bank One
Bank One
Account Inquiries
P.O. Box 15298
Wilmington DE 19850-5298
Dear Sirs or Madams,
Oh why do you torment me so! On no less than three places in the bill: on the envelope, in an enclosure, and on the statement, you ask me to transfer my higher-rate credit card balances to you.
Well, at 29.24% (up from 27.74%), you are my higher rate card, at least 10 Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1106519446536016862005-01-23T14:25:00.000-08:002005-01-23T14:30:46.536-08:00Maybe the economy is better than we think
I pick up change from the sidewalk. I'm not ashamed. I save it up and have it counted at Commerce Bank, which has free coin cointing. I've documented it, and will do again when I get my digital camera set-up back in action, we'll go back to sponsoring the guessing contests. Have a few bottles in the queue.
Anyway, we're usually talking pennies Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1105935743995484112005-01-16T20:07:00.000-08:002005-01-16T20:22:23.996-08:00HSBC's pathetic Letter to me
In response to my Letter to HSBC on 12/12/04, HSBC denied all of my requests cold. But I finding their reasoning interesting, if somewhat pathetic, and I quote: In most cases, the charge [that's the 3% transaction fee] for this service is significantly less than the standard $28 fee charged to your checking/savings account if you don't have overdraft protection and Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1105327781166649372005-01-09T19:18:00.000-08:002005-01-09T19:31:59.326-08:00The World's worst credit card offer.
I get this offer more or less monthly. The last one came in an unmarked envelope. I'd be ashamed, too.
I'm tempted not to give the name of the company because somebody might be desperate enough to try it, but I will, and I hope that by the end of this note, you'll realize that nobody should ever be this desperate (but I guess some are, they make enough for Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1105247144067155072005-01-08T21:00:00.000-08:002005-01-09T19:33:28.740-08:00Discover Card sees the light
Having received my letter to discover card previously posted here last month, Discover gave me a call, and after a bit of to-and-fro, first agreed to lower my 21.99% rate back to the 17.99% rate that it had been a few months ago, but after more conversation, agreed to lower it to 15.99%, which is still 1 percentage point higher than the rate I enjoyed until the Fall Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1105246772513842262005-01-07T20:54:00.000-08:002005-01-23T20:48:47.436-08:00End of December update
This post will be revised and extended later
As of my last credit card bill of 2004, I owed $83022.00 (yes by coincidence, the total comes to an even dollar). In the last three months, this total has been: $84303.98, then $84414.97, then $83022. Doing the math, that means I owe $1281.98 less than I owed at the end of October.
I paid $1254.84 in finance charges last month Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1104391288742281372004-12-29T23:19:00.000-08:002004-12-29T23:21:28.743-08:00The irony of it all...
When I balanced my checkbook last week, I thought that the health insurance had been paid, and mailed all my bills. The next day, I saw that the check for December's health insurance cleared that day. The check for $1156.91 that I had subtracted was actually November's, cashed quite late, so now I was $1000 in the hole and things were going to bounce. Fortunately, I Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1103916262975898252004-12-24T11:24:00.000-08:002004-12-24T11:24:22.976-08:00Yes, Virginia
The New York Daily News reprints this as an annual tradition.
On Sept. 21, 1897, The New York Sun published what was to become the most widely read letter to a newspaper.
It was sent by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, who lived with her parents in Manhattan. Below is the full text of that letter and the reply written by Sun editorial writer Francis Pharcellus Church.
Dear Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1102908606260291852004-12-12T19:25:00.000-08:002004-12-12T19:33:39.506-08:00My Letter to Discover Card
Discover is the only card that I ever had a late payment reported to a credit bureau. This was back in the fall of 2000, Clinton was still President, and it was because I never received that particular statement in the mail. They finally lowered my rate last year, not to what it was, but roughly halfway from what they had raised it to. Then, three months ago, out of Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1102908294480355942004-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:002004-12-12T19:24:54.480-08:00My letter to HSBC
This is regarding an overdraft line of credit. It used to be overdrafts at HSBC, as they still are at Chase and Commerce, were free of transaction fees and were charged 14.65% interest, 1% higher than their credit card rate. That changed recently
I am not challenging the higher rate. But by charging
a 3% finance charge, minimum $5, you change the entire
meaning of an Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1101584458548676112004-11-27T11:36:00.000-08:002004-12-11T17:38:01.116-08:00Split decision - finance charge down, debt up a little bit
At as my last credit card bill in November, I owe $84414.97, up but only $110.99 from last month, still down $691.76 from two months ago. The sum of finance charges was $1154.96, down $33.26 from a month ago, mostly because MBNA used an unusually short billing cycle. I'm still complaining to Discover for raising my APR from 17.99% to Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1100821149883293102004-11-18T15:32:00.000-08:002004-11-18T15:41:20.070-08:00More taxes and most taxes
I said on Oct. 2 that I was within $1773.42 of paying more in federal taxes than I have ever paid in a previous year. That number was actually as of 9/25's paycheck. Well, with the help of one extra check of back pay, as of 10/23's paycheck, I am over by $311.93. That's over $2000 in federal taxes in under a month. I can't help thinking that if I took home my gross Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1098883194125013802004-10-27T04:42:00.000-07:002004-10-27T06:19:54.126-07:00The streak is up to 3 months
For the 3td month in a row, my total debt has dropped, albeit only a little bit. As of the last bill of the month, credit card has dropped to $84303.98, down $802.75 from September, and the lowest total since April (which was $83562.65). Finance charges likewise dropped to $1188.20, down $36.66 from last month (but still higher than 2 months ago by $39.47).
In the Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1096765196274408312004-10-02T17:49:00.000-07:002004-10-02T18:06:25.216-07:00Taxes, and more taxes.
I noted on a post on Sept 1 based on a pay period ending in early August that if I paid another $2614.76 in combined Federal, State, and local taxes that I would pay more in taxes than I made gross (pre-tax) income my first year of Residency, that is, my first year as a doctor. Well, I've done that and more. I exceeded that number with the check covering through Sept. 11,Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1096764322149569172004-10-02T17:40:00.000-07:002004-10-02T17:47:59.450-07:00At last, 2 consecutive months of good news.
As of the end of September, my credit card debt stands at $85106.73, down $1889.83 from August and $2378.72 from July, where it peaked at $87485.45 .
This drop in debt was in addition to the payment of a whopping $1224.88 in finance charges, up $76.13 from last month, but down $52.80 from the peak of $1201.55 the month previously. Discover Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1094276550995783812004-09-03T22:17:00.000-07:002004-09-03T22:42:45.056-07:00If can't obsess over dollars, obsess over shares
To review, back when I first realized that my annual social security limit was within my grasp, I calculated that I needed to earn $51,000 to make a certain goal within my pension, all other things being equal. When I finally hit that limit, a recalculation of the amount needed to earn was $49,000, less to be sure, but the $2000 difference was a Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1094105855845392802004-09-01T23:04:00.000-07:002004-09-01T23:19:08.740-07:00So, what else to obsess over?
Having proven unable, due to market fluctuations, to do a consistent countdown of money needed to earn in order to acheive numeric parity between a 19.99% APR credit card being replaced with a 5.25% loan against a 403(b) pension, I sought other numbers to obsess over. And I found two.
My goal this year is to pay more in taxes than I've ever paid before - and to do Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1094105019599163562004-09-01T22:50:00.000-07:002004-09-01T23:03:39.600-07:00So much for borrowing against the pension, for now...
When I calculated on July 12 that I needed to earn $16,393 to stop paying Social Security for the year, I also calculated that I needed to earn about $51,000 more so that my pension account, against which I can borrow half, would equal a nice round number which coincidentally was numerically almost exactly double the outstanding balance of my Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1093769164375179962004-08-29T01:40:00.000-07:002004-08-29T01:51:18.443-07:00September Progress Report
At last, not a regress report. Nothing dramatic however. My credit card total stands at $86996.55, down $488.90 from last month. The finance charges totalled $1148.75, down $52.80. Now, while down from last month, these numbers are still higher than June's. Now that I've exceeded my social security maximum, that should be worth a few hundred a paycheck. Also, I've Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1092190014533260172004-08-10T18:58:00.000-07:002004-08-10T19:07:11.106-07:00Social Security takes a holiday
As I mentioned in a post on July 12th, this is the first year that I will hit my Social Security maximum employee contribution in a single job. When I calculated the number then, I had $16,393 left to earn. When I calculated from my most recent paycheck (which has a 2+ week lag from the earning), it was down to 7 shifts worth, and with the copious time on my Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1091327877911095082004-07-31T19:34:00.000-07:002004-07-31T19:37:57.910-07:00Monthly Summary for August 2004 (Can't really call it a progress report)
The cash flow crunch continues at our household. The important thing was that all the credit cards were paid on-time, but that very few supplemental payments above the minimum were made. The total debt crept up $528.27 to $87485.45. Payments included $1201.55 in finance charges. Now you see my focus on APRs (as opposed toCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1090425492205293942004-07-21T08:47:00.000-07:002004-07-21T08:58:12.206-07:00Good economic news that you can't spin.
These numbers come from a column by Lawrence Kudlow. Actually, I should say one number, because I'm fixating on the number that income tax withholding collections are up 9%. There are a lot of economic data that you can fudge or spin, like the big arguments between Kerry and Bush over whether 103.2 million is under 2 million less Bush) or over 3 million Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1089641932941050952004-07-12T07:08:00.000-07:002004-07-12T07:18:52.940-07:00Two new numbers to obsess over
Jack Maple's famous observation was that "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it," although in my case, I'm having an easier time measuring it than managing it (it being debt). I am currently, with each paycheck (and/or monthly statement) now obsessing over the following numbers.
There is a limit on how much salary is subject to social security withholding, Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1089641196343832742004-07-12T06:54:00.000-07:002004-07-12T07:22:20.883-07:00July summary or This is the summer of our discontent
I just realized, of course, that I neglected the May and June updates - just as well, they would have catalogued a deteriorating situation. As of July 1, 2004, I owe $86957.18, which is $1312.48 more than the previous month, and considerably more than the $80219.71 reported on April Fool's Day. Hopefully, the major causes of this Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1083967771077179722004-05-07T15:09:00.000-07:002004-05-07T15:13:59.640-07:00An interesting take on good economic news...
From today's Best of the Web Today:
"U.S. employment surged for a second straight month during April, adding another 288,000 to payrolls, as jobs were created in nearly every sector at a pace that handily outstripped expectations, a Labor Department report on Friday said," Reuters reports. This is good news for both President Bush and John Kerry, Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1081118523775642372004-04-04T15:42:00.000-07:002004-04-04T15:45:46.590-07:00OK, a bit of a dilemma
In the middle of last month, I gave my wife my least desirable credit card (From First Card, since bought out by Bank One, it only has $1000 credit limit and charges 22.99% APR) so she could make a point-of-service payment at a doctor's office and then at the pharmacy. That was about $400. However, in the week after that, she maxed out the card with a series of online Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1080967401198315242004-04-02T20:43:00.000-08:002004-04-02T20:47:01.590-08:00Update, April 2004
As of April Fool's Day, I owe $80219.71, which is $4405.41 less than last month, but still 1029.47 greater than the beginning of the year. It represents a partial recovery. It would have been better, but I got dinged by severe bracket-creep. Because those last two checks were abnormally large, I calculated that I had an extra $3908.21 in federal income tax withheld than if I Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1080924994221070312004-04-02T08:56:00.000-08:002004-04-02T09:01:16.293-08:00Waiting on pins and needles...
March 31st, I checked my bank balance, and realized I had miscalculated. I
had 0.52 cents left in the account, and $228 in overdraft protection left. I also have a life insurance premium check that I mailed three days ago for $304, which as you can see is more than $228. My biweekly check, particularly large this time because I worked extra sessions (let's just callCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1080660293453966802004-03-30T07:24:00.000-08:002004-03-30T07:29:56.356-08:00Net Collection Ratio: 0.53%
Sometimes you get something that just has to make you laugh. Now, one of my part-time jobs is Infectious Diseases consultations on hospitalized patients. It has no salary or benefits on its own - it was part of my former full-time job and I've been kept on per diem because they have nobody else to do the work (but also no funds to pay me a salary). Basically, I do Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1079837539711172122004-03-20T18:45:00.001-08:002004-03-30T07:17:07.873-08:00$3908.21, more or less...
I finally sat down with my three latest pay stubs, the one I got on 12/31 that should have been on 12/24, the mother of all paychecks for 4+ weeks of back pay, and the most recent one that had the rest of the back pay on it. Had the latter two artificially large checks had federal taxes withheld at the same rate as the most recent normal check, the total withheld taxes Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1078526487975034082004-03-05T14:41:00.000-08:002004-03-05T14:44:29.793-08:00March update
At we pass the end of February 2004, the long dry spell is over. I finally got back on the payroll again (See below.) At the end of February, I got a check covering 28 of the 32 back sessions, with the first check of March bringing me up to date, at the expense of thousands of extra dollars in extra withholding of federal taxes that I won't see until next April. My total debt is Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1075957132474550862004-02-04T20:58:00.000-08:002004-02-04T21:01:13.763-08:00Waiting for the Mother of All Paychecks
I write this having not been paid since December 31st. This arose as a bit of a human glitch. Although I have been employed as a per diem physician at my current site of employment since 2000, it turns out that I was never hired, credentialled yes, hired no. At the time, though, I was already employed there in a different position, as a fellow, a Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1075316499739268052004-01-28T10:48:00.000-08:002004-01-28T11:06:06.903-08:00February update
OK, this comes a little early, but the last credit card bill comes on the 24th, so that really marks the end of the tallying
As of the end of January 2004, my debt stood at $76040.30, down $2642.78 from the month before. The number that I really care about, the sum of monthly finance charges came to $752.29, down $26.25 from last month, but only $4.62 from the month before, and Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1073797772722831452004-01-10T21:05:00.000-08:002004-01-10T21:09:53.456-08:00A reminder and an appeal
As described on my web site www.craigwerner.org, I'm offering 5% interest to anyone who helps me pay off my credit cards (all but one of which charges more than 5%). The site explains why I am a much better credit risk than my total debt load would otherwise predict. I also sponsor the CyberDonation Fund where you can help others, or by annuity donation, help me and Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1073797405937264272004-01-10T20:55:00.000-08:002004-01-10T21:04:00.430-08:00January 2004 Progress Report: down $2600 last month
At the end of December 2003, I was back below $80K, $79190.24 to be precise, $2600 less than the month before, but still above my $78762.98 minimum since I started keeping track here. I paid $756 in finance charges, also up a bit - but starting next month I'm getting a break from Discover (finally!). I'm transitioning from the loss of my primaryCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1071764725742252082003-12-18T08:25:00.000-08:002003-12-18T08:25:40.030-08:00Monica Crowley (WABC Radio) made a great case for this the other night. Because let's face it, if any organization deserves a donation this year, it is the USO (Slogan 1: Until Every Once Comes Home; Slogan 2: America’s Sons and Daughters in Uniform Need Your Help)
http://www.uso.org/pubs/8_18_23.cfm is the Donate Now! page.
http://www.uso.org/ is the main page.Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1070422837873956492003-12-02T19:40:00.000-08:002003-12-02T19:41:14.203-08:00A Microinvesting success
Back in October, I extolled one of my tricks at forced savings, microinvesting $10 with SaveDaily every time that I work an overnight shift (ranging from 3 to 7 times a month), then cashing out $500 when I hit $600. Well, I did it again, although I lost a bit of nerve about cash flow, and sent MBNA $250, then another $250 a week later after my paycheck came. And this isCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1069906123241307362003-11-26T20:08:00.000-08:002003-11-26T20:08:52.180-08:00If you are reading this last to first, then skip to the next item, read it first, then come back
If a tree falls in a forest... a quantum perspective.
The old philosophical saw asked "If a tree falls in a forest, and there's noone there to hear it, does it make a sound." While the definitive treatment of this was handled by Shel Silverstein, there have also been some modern physics ruminations onCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1069905687092862592003-11-26T20:01:00.000-08:002003-11-26T20:04:18.916-08:00Originally posted to Yahoo group Cyberbeggar Tuesday night, November 25
In case disaster strikes...
This morning I looked at my on-line bank balance and saw that a check that I thought had cleared earlier had in fact cleared yesterday, which meant that I actually had checks in the mail totalling more than available funds (although none had hit their destinations yet), so this afternoon I took Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1069474614018308472003-11-21T20:16:00.000-08:002003-11-21T20:18:05.233-08:00Micro-investing, revisited
Back in October, I mentioned how I used micro-investing by savedaily.com to accumulate the occasional $500 to pay down my most egregious credit card at the time. Briefly, for every overtime shift I work, I deposit $10 (cumulatively, once a month), and then when I hit $600, I remove $500. This, I've done twice now. I should point out that the fund has also yielded Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1068350828519134902003-11-08T20:07:00.000-08:002003-11-08T20:07:12.870-08:00What was Marquis thinking?
And now for some comic relief:
In early September 2003, I got a letter from Marquis, the publisher of "Who's Who" asking me to update my bibliographical entry to be considered for the next edition of "Who's Who in _Finance_and_Industry." (Yeah, as if!)
(For the record, I'm in Marquis' database because they publish the "Directory of Board-Certified Physicians" of whichCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1068071514547414572003-11-05T14:31:00.000-08:002003-11-05T14:32:25.160-08:00Announcement: The Cyber Donation Fund
I have founded, and made the first donation, to the Cyber Donation Fund, which after it collects a minimum amount of donations, will begin to make micro-grants to cyberbeggars.
I have also pledged to donate $1 a month to the fund, which will enable it to begin making grants no later than April 2004, even if no other donations are made.
Of course, if a Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1067977362008906112003-11-04T12:22:00.000-08:002003-11-04T12:23:44.023-08:00Windfall at Commerce Bank
At or around 9 AM last Thursday, I took the jar of nickels to the Commerce Bank on 85th and 3rd, where I placed the contents into the counter, and came up with a total that was clearly wrong. For one, it was about $30 more than I expected, and two, the cents part was not divisible by 5. Being honest, I actually complained about my good fortune, and when the machine was Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1067018410735397772003-10-24T11:00:00.000-07:002003-10-24T11:02:21.920-07:00Another web site that I maintain (probably to the exclusion of some
productive work) is In Praise of Regime Change Magazine, as an avid fan of WABC Radio's Batchelor and Alexander program. Currently, I am focusing on (as is OpinionJournal.com's Claudia Rosett, the criminal conspiracy of evil that is North Korea. As The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (www.hrnk.org), puts it, The Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1066881914275066432003-10-22T21:05:00.000-07:002003-10-22T21:05:14.376-07:00Interest on $1000
On the Yahoo Group Cyberbeggar, I recently made an offer. Since if somebody lent me $1000 to pay off my odious debt with MBNA, at 5% interest, I'd be paying $4.17 a month (not really, as since I compound, I'd be paying $12.60 every three months - the extra nine cents being the result of compound interest), I offered to get in the habit and pay out $4.17 monthly to the most Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1066746688626190692003-10-21T07:31:00.000-07:002003-10-21T07:31:36.420-07:00Micro-investing
Another trick I use for surreptitious saving is micro-investing. The service I use is SaveDaily.com, and no, they don't have an affiliate agreement, so I'm not making any money on this. For an annual fee of $12, they allow you to electronically transfer money from a checking account to a mutual fund in amounts as small as $5. And while there is a 3-5 latency on transactions, Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1066603661554528432003-10-19T15:47:00.000-07:002003-10-21T07:14:32.493-07:00Saving Coins
One trick that I've used as a means of passive saving is to save my pennies, nickels,
and dimes (Quarters being too useful a laundry, payphone, and vending machine tool for such treatment). It has been made easier by the expansion of Commerce Bank into the New York area, with its free coin-counters (It would have been a painful experience with Chase, for instance, which requires Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1066535155556131832003-10-18T20:45:00.000-07:002003-10-18T20:45:55.136-07:00The power of paying early
I just did a spreadsheet to test the hypothesis that paying early in
the month's cycle saves money over paying just in time. (I get the amount
due off the Web and generally have sent the check before the bills come
using the prior month's envelope).
I chose an extreme example of terms, but one that Next Card once tried
to foist on me (which is one reason why they are Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1066395993785769182003-10-17T06:06:00.000-07:002003-10-17T06:06:33.916-07:00Good news
After years of total unresponsiveness, Discover Card, which raised my A.P.R. from 12.99% to 16.99% back into the fall of 2000 after due to erratic mail delivery I didn't get a few statements, and so I didn't pay two consecutive bills on time (I've since been much more paranoid about payment due dates and checking online statements, almost to the point of obsessive-compulsive disorder), Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5954949.post-1066395562128469552003-10-17T05:59:00.000-07:002003-10-17T05:59:21.486-07:00New blog. I've been making comments about my progress of debt reduction (by the unromantic method of making more and spending less) on my site, Asking to borrow money. Will pay 5% interest, a.k.a., www.craigwerner.org, which is also an appeal to lower my carrying charges by replacing 5% interest debt to kind strangers for my current credit card debt ($78,987 - down from a peak of $83,196 - at Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673415182811353116noreply@blogger.com0