@ Kephart Ln & Wall St

Who Insures the Insurance Company? YOU!

2009-03-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

So they have hearts (and/or brains) after all. Three-quarters of the recent bonus-receiving employees at American International Group (otherwise known as A.I.G.) have given back their bonuses to the total amount of $50 million. Now I'm not sure but that may have something to do with the 90 percent tax they were potentially facing.

With all the negative publicity A.I.G. is receiving they have decided to change their name. As someone who studied marketing in college, I figured out a long time ago that they would have to undergo a name change. After spending hundreds of dollars on Starbucks the past few weeks, working tirelessly throughout the nights, the brilliant folks at A.I.G. have finally come up with the new name - wait for it... waaaait for it... A.I.U.! That name change is a perfect example of how stupid and ignorant they believe the people of this country (the U.S. of A.) to be. They really believe that you will be duped by A.I.U.! A better name change would have been I.O.U. and it's too bad they didn't ask for my opinion on the matter. The nerve of these guys! They took billions of dollars (about $163 billion) from the American tax-payer and had the cahones to let over $150 million in bonuses see the light of day? I don't think people realize how much $1 billion is. If I were to give you $1 million every day for the next two and half years I STILL would not have paid you a billion dollars. And they have gotten $163 BILLION. Geeeez! It reminds me of that friend. You know the friend. The one that you let borrow $50 bucks and says he'll pay you back in two weeks. Five months later you haven't gotten back a dime yet everytime you go out to eat or to the movies with a bunch of friends, he somehow always has enough money for his meal and enough for his movie ticket? Yeah, that friend. Now imagine seeing that friend at BestBuy buying a brand new 50 inch flat panel television. Sony. So not even a Visio or Westinghouse. Sony. And when you confront him on this he says he promised it to his kids since before he borrowed money from you. Yeah, THAT FRIEND!!!

There was/is a lot of outrage over the I.O.U. bonuses. The legislative branch of the federal government were so enraged that they successfully passed a bill to enforce a 90% tax on the bonuses. Ok, ok, so the bonuses were beyond stupid and are insulting to the American public. But let me get this right. The U.S. government did not like the fact that a small group of U.S. workers were LEGALLY paid excessive bonuses and thus raised the tax rate of just that group of people to a whopping 90 percent (2nd-highest rate ever). These people did NOTHING illegal. Nothing. Thus, the only reason they were penalized is because the government saw fit to do so. This is definitely NOT the type of precedent we should be seeing in a democratic, CAPITALIST society.

What you have to live in to qualify for government assistance these days:

*update, 3/26/09, 5:16pm - This article states that a bill was passed to charge some of the AIG employees who received bonuses a 90% tax. The bill passed only in the House of Representatives, has yet to be voted on by the Senate, and has been verbally rejected by President Obama. - The Wall St. Hooligan

At Your Own Risk

2009-03-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

If you're thinking of investing money in the stock market (or maybe you already do) let me give you one piece of advice - make sure you factor in commission fees. Most stock trading sites charge between $7 and $10 dollars per trade. If the commission fee is $8 per trade, you not only have to pay $8 for the stock purchase but also another $8 when you're ready to sell. If you're trading with hundreds of thousands of dollars or more I suppose that may not matter much to you but for the average independent investor commission fees can wreck havoc on your return on investment. I only use Zecco Trading due to the fact that they only charge commissions of $4.50 per trade. They also offer a number of free trades if you either trade at a high volume or have an account valued at at least $25,000. There is no minimum amount required to open an account.

Never trade stocks with money that you need. Of course, to many of you that sounds like a stupid statement. But what I mean by that is that you should never invest money in something as high-risk as the stock market if you're going to need that money in a few months to make a mortgage payment. If the money in your brokerage account suddenly dissipated to nothing your quality of life should not be highly affected. If so, you're trading with money you need, which will make you panic anytime something negative happens.

Are We Going Socialist?

2009-02-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

This video does not represent the views of the committee (of one) here @ Kephart Ln & Wall St.

Let's Lose Money!

2009-02-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

There's a pattern occurring. Money is being being destroyed at an alarming rate. It may sound like I'm referring to an episode of "Fringe" but in fact I am referencing our seeming ignorance to our lack of privacy in the modern era. First Jon Favreau (President Barack Obama's former speechwriter who was so fond of Hillary Clinton that he took advantage of an unsuspecting cardboard cutout of her) and now Michael Phelps (obviously inspired after watching Half-Baked). Actually, you know what? I'm not even gonna discuss this topic. Instead, I'll just hit you up with another how-to list.

How to Lose Money in 10 Days

1. Create a Facebook account. It's a must-have for this process. Everyone has one these days anyway, even this guy:

2. Perform unethical activities with really good friends, but mix in a few random people you barely know just to spice things up.

3. Pose for pictures so that your friends can upload them to their

Facebook accounts. Also, stay out enough in the open so that the randoms you're with can take unobstructed pictures of you on their camera phones.

4. Wait. After your friends "tag" you in the photos and the randoms you barely know sell the camera phone pics to some tabloid (or just go pro bono and show them to everyone for free), money will start to go missing IMMEDIATELY.

This doesn't just apply to the rich and famous. Anyone can use this four-step plan to not get a job, get fired from a job, be kicked out of some expensive private school, destroy a relationship, come out of the closet, etc!

Anyone want to calculate how much Michael Kramer lost because of this camera phone?

*this video is not posted with the intent to offend anyone

Class Still in Session

2009-02-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't have left you without a dope beat to step to but you'll eventually forgive me (hopefully). Some of you may have thought I had given up hope on the future of the world's economic situation and gone into hiding. I promise you I am absolutely NOT writing this from a bunker, filled with cans of McNabb chunky soup, spending my days equipping my BMW with Titanium alloy armor and a 100 gallon gas tank. However, we can all agree that times are rough. If you're thinking to yourself, "I don't even feel the recession," then consider yourself fortunate as there are millions of people who do feel it and have been victims of the current crisis. Over three million jobs (3.2) have been lost since the start of 2008. If you multiply the jobs lost by an average annual income of $30,000 you're able to get a better understanding of how these losses affect the economy (it comes up to almost $100 TRILLION dollars lost). For those of you in college but coming upon graduation, you may want to consider staying in school a bit longer. Doing graduate studies can only help (as long as you can afford it) your future career. The economy should be in a much better situation by the time you're ready go job hunting in 2010 or 2011. Anticipation generally builds when coming close to graduation of being completely done with school and being able to now make a good living. But, lets "Curb the Enthusiasm" for now and go hunting when there are actual prey in the wilderness. Enjoy the life of limited responsibilities and 24/7 aimless socializing for another year or two. Ok, now back to riot proofing my house (I do live in Benton Harbor, MI).

Gimme Mah Mohnay!

2009-01-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

Tax season is upon us in full swing. If you paid income tax last year PLEASE file your taxes. And don't pay someone to do it for you when it's unbelievably easy to do yourself. Last night I filed both my federal and state taxes online and should have $449 transferred to my checking account. Hopefully Geithner doesn't mess up by refund since obviously he's not good at doing even his own taxes. If you're smart enough to fill out an online application for a Myspace, Facebook, or Gmail account, you're smart enough to file your taxes yourself. For the young people out there: you probably earned less than $30,000 in this past election year which would qualify you for a FREE preparation and efile of your taxes. I would recommend the TurboTax Freedom Edition which even lets you prepare and efile state taxes for free (depending on the state). A list of other sites that offer free tax preparation and efiling if your adjusted gross income was $56,000 or less is available here. For anyone who made more than $56,000 I would encourage you to still file your taxes yourself. Even if you bought and sold stocks, or have rental properties, tax preparation software is advanced enough to get you the maximum return possible (or the minimum amount owed possible). TurboTax Deluxe or Premier edition has all the tools you'd need. So all of you out there in internet land, grab the IRS by the neck, look it in the eye and say, "GIMME MAH MOHNAY!"

Say It Aint So

2009-01-25T19:10:00.000-08:00

Judgment Day, Armageddon, apocalypse, Ragnarök, The End of Days. Is this what we are now upon? We doomed ourself the day we made the smart phone. Video player, music player, portable gaming system, digital camera, maps and gps, organizer, web browser, toaster, AND phone all in one pocket-sized device? The iPhones and BlackBerries (do you use "ies" for the plural of BlackBerry? Makes it seem more fruit than phone) of today are the EXACT devices that we all used to dream about "them" making for us. But back then, at the turn of the century, it seemed like we would never get what we desired. So now that they've made the ultimate device, society has reached it's pinnacle. We've topped out and there's nowhere to go but down. Curse you Steve Jobs for bringing about the End of Days prematurely! I look around and all I see is more and more job cuts, brought on by a recess of consumer spending. With more people losing their jobs there's only bound to be even less consumer spending leading to more job cuts and thus even less consumer spending leading to more job cuts and even less... (sigh) Personally I believe that once enough people have lost their jobs to the point where supply drops down to the current reduced demand we'll start a rebuilding process where companies will once again become profitable and thus start hiring once more. It sounds harsh but all these government stimulus packages do is attempt to make our fall more structured and balanced. What they (I love using the ominous "they" and by it I refer to everyone with more power than the average citizen) won't tell you is that there's absolutely nothing they can do to reverse the current recession except what we do with ANY storm - wait it out. But I do give them credit for at least trying to efficiently help unlike back in the FEMA/Ninth Ward days. But that's ok; Brad Pitt's got it under control. Now if we don't recover at all and this is the beginning of the end, here are some things you'll want to have to survive the apocalypse and the post-apocalyptic world.

1. Canned Goods. A meal a day will be a luxury many will not be able to enjoy. You, however, will eat like royalty with your supply of canned goods. Don't worry about planting fruits or vegetables because you don't know how long you'll be able to stay in the same spot.

2. Magnifying glass and a pot. You'll need one to use to start a fire when needed and boy will you need it! The pot will be used for cooking stray dogs and other animals you may encounter as well as for boiling water to drink. And no, you cant bring one pot for water, one pot for food - that's too much to carry in the event you have to ditch the next item on the list.

3. Post-apocalyptic wheels. You'll use it mainly as your home-on-wheels but then there will also be times when a sticky situation calls for you to high-tail it out of there! This is when your PaW (post-apocalyptic wheels) will especially come in handy. I suggest arming it with weapons such as a big cannon that shoots out rocks at high-velocity. Make sure to sway the traditional wheel and tire combo for titanium wheels sans tires. You wont find a Discount Tire Co. around to swap rubber when you get a flat. Gas will be hard to come by so only drive when absolutely necessary for survival and be prepared to fight to get more of the precious liquid.

4. Weapons. Get over your pacifism as the time for that luxury will end. Weapons will be needed not just for self-defense but also for hunting prey. Please do not waste the meat of anyone you kill in self-defense. It's not cannibalism if you didn't intend to eat them before they died. I recommend a bow-and-arrow (please be sure to retrieve arrows after shooting them), katana, and at least one gun that you only use in emergencies. Start stocking up on bullets now.

If they start laying off police officers and there are less cops to patrol the ever-growing swarm of unemployed, fed-up people, don't say I didn't try to help you safely maneuver through the coming storm. These guys will be ready, will you?

Imagine What I'm Gon' Do

2009-01-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

As Barack Obama has today taken an oath to serve and defend our country, I feel it is time the American people also take an oath. An oath to defend our financial security and to be wiser, more responsible with our investments in 2009 than ever before. An oath in which Americans decide to stop settling for the annual percentage yields (APY) offered by banks for traditional savings accounts. There are many other options that go unused by millions of people who should be taking advantage of them. High-yield checking accounts work the same as a normal checking account, but with a significantly higher APY. Many people have checking and savings accounts at specific banks because they feel some sense of loyalty to the bank. Maybe there's a friendly teller that they enjoy talking to or maybe they gave you your first auto loan. Loyalty shouldn't be a one-way street and you should do what's in the best interest of yourself financially (long as it's ethical and legal) when it comes to banking. Standard checking/savings accounts with interest usually have an annual APY of 0.01% - 0.20%. If you had $10,000 to put in a savings account with an APY of 0.20% you would have earned a whopping $20 worth of interest after a year. $20 after a full 365 days! 5 cents a day with $10K! THAT'S TERRIBLE. It would be a complete waste of your money to settle for such lousy returns. United Federal Credit Union is currently offering a 6.01% APY high-yield checking account. With only $333 dollars invested for a year you would receive the same amount of interest as someone that invested $10,000 into a savings account for the same amount of time with a 0.20% APY. Check out www.highyieldcheckingdeals.com for a list of financial institutions offering good rates in your state. The downside to high-yield checking accounts is that they are generally limited to a maximum of $25,000. If you're wanting to keep money that you're saving in an account separate from your checking account or you have more than $25,000 to deposit, a Certificate of Deposit (CD), Money Markey Account (MMA), or high-yield savings account may be right for you. APYs of around 3.50% to 5.00% can generally be found. CDs are the least liquid of the three as you are unable to withdraw funds until a certain period has past, whether it be 6 monts, a year, two years, etc. MMAs are a bit more liquid as you can often withdraw a certian amount each month. If you need high liquidity in case of emergencies, high-yield savings accounts have that to offer. Bankdeals.blogspot.com offers an amazing listing of all three. You can find national offerings as well as local offers from banks and credit unions.

A Message from Ali G

2009-01-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Airplane!

2009-01-18T10:28:00.000-08:00

Airline stocks have taken a bit of a swan dive since this recession began way back when in December 2007. It isn't coincidence that the drop in airline stocks prices have coincided with the rise in the price of oil. On July 11, 2008 the price of crude oil hit an all-time high of $147.55 (does the fact that 7/11 is also my birthday mean that I'm cursed?). Since that day, oil has been the one doing the swan dive. The cost of fuel is no doubt one of the largest operating cost of airlines. The Air Transport Association estimates that annually, every dollar increase per barrel of oil drives an additional $445 million in fuel expenses for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines. So, when you're paying fees for extra luggage (some charge for even your first checked luggage) just know that the airline isn't really trying to 1-up you. They're merely trying to stay in business. The industry experienced a large amount of turbulence and the plane definitely did go down. But like the Miracle on the Hudson that took place just this past week, there was no loss of life. And like Chesley Sullenberger, the hero pilot of US Airways flight 1549, the airline industry will fly again. With oil prices hovering around the upper $30s lower $40s since December, the airline industry is now ridding itself of a huge burden. A burden so large that it destroyed some airlines and brought the surviving others to their knees. A burden even larger than the Bush's Baked Beans dog has to bear of keeping the secret recipe! Will oil prices go back up? Some analysts have said so but the truth is that no one knows. However, since 1970 world oil prices (with inflation factored in) have averaged $32.26 per barrel. That's even lower than we currently are with oil prices at $36.51. What I've concluded is that airline stocks are a smart play for at least this year and possibly for the next few years. It's difficult to find many stocks to recommend for those traders looking for gains within the next six months to two years. But this is one. At least until the prospect of high-speed trains running across the country becomes a more concrete plan. Obama, get on it! Southwest Airlines Co. [LUV] and Delta Air Lines Inc. [DAL] are two stocks that I consider to be good picks. These two are going to take off. Pun definitely intended.

Zipcar - American Innovation

2009-01-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

Owning a car while living in a big city can often be inconvenient. Take New York City, for example. Insuring a car in New York City can be VERY expensive. Many people pay more for their car insurance each month than their car note. There's a highly-efficient public transportation system and you can use it for most of your transportation needs. But, every now and then you may want transportation with the independence a car provides. This is where Zipcar comes in. An uber-creative, original idea of car sharing in which you can reserve the use of a car by the hour or day. Prices are as low as $7 an hour or $50 a day. You simply reserve the car then pick it up when it's your time to use it from a designated spot in the city. The car unlocks when you hold your Zipcar membership card to the windshield and the keys will be in the ignition. This is such an amazing concept that has now been successfully implemented. It's even available at some of the larger universities for students and faculty to share vehicles. It cuts down on the number of cars on the road which is a plus for the environment.

Buy a New Tie

2009-01-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Congratulations! You've just graduated from college. You've got your bachelor's degree and a job waiting for you in Baghdad, i mean Dearborn, MI with Ford Motor Company [F]. Even though your job security is about as tight as President John F. Kennedy's the day he was assassinated in Dallas, TX, at least it's your dream job. So now you need a car. Of course you absolutely HAVE to get a new car. 1, you have to show everyone that you can afford a new car. And 2, you're sick and tired of driving that beat up junker with 200,000 plus miles on the odometer. So I can empathize with the desire for brand spanking new wheels, fresh out the factory. However, it's time we come up with a different philosophy. You can save thousands of dollars by purchasing a car that's two to three years old. Or, if you're dead set on spending a certain amount and could care less about saving money, you can often get a much better car if you spend that money in the used car market. Here are some prices so you can see what I'm talking about. A 2009 Honda [HMC] Accord LX Sedan costs $21,705 (msrp). And that's the lowest model without choosing any of the available options. A 2007 Honda Accord LX Sedan with only 25K miles can be purchased for as little as $12,500. That's a difference of $9,205! Or, if you don't like saving $9,205 you can go ahead and spend $21,705 but at least spend it on a 2007 Audi A4 with only 33K miles. So please, let's stay away from new cars. Leave them for those who are blinded by their wealth and those who are unfortunate enough to not know the url for this blog. Instead, buy a new tie. Buy a new pair of shoes. But please, not a new car. Both used vehicles listed in this post have factory warranties remaining on them. For those of you who highly appreciate the peace of mind a warranty provides I would recommend purchasing a 3rd-party extended warranty if you ever buy a used car without the factory warranty remaining, or for when that factory warranty eventually runs out. Warranty Direct is one of the highest rated extended warranty providers in the U.S.

Mr. Obama Goes to Washington

2009-01-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

The President-elect Barack Obama ran a campaign which could be summed up in one word: change. A change we can believe in. A change in the way business is conducted in Washington and more specifically, the Oval Office. Now I'm not running for office. Though, the legend is still told by many of the time in which I defeated the most popular girl in school for the position of high school Senior class PR officer (she was so bitter!). Though I lack an office for which to run for, I do have a campaign. A campaign to save you money in the year 2009 and beyond. It's time we show more love to our nation's first president, George Washington, instead of tossing him away at any and every chance we get. George needs just as much love as we give to Ulysses S. Grant and Mr. Benjamin himself (who has a rap song and movie that are "all about" him thanks to P. Diddy and Ice Cube respectively). One thing the people of this country have shown is that they CAN change. If not for some high ideal, ethical reason, we sure as heck know how to change out of necessity. Just look at the huge decrease in the demand for gas and the fact that people are shunned by the public for not being "green" enough. It's funny to me that the same people who carried around Aquafina and Dasani water bottles more as a fashion statement than anything else are the same ones that'll chew you up and spit you out for doing the same today (in the most obnoxious voice you can hear in your head: "Don't you care about the earth?!? You're contributing to landfill! The polar bears are dying, blah blah blah, Al Gore"). We have now reached the threshold and saving money is no longer a want, but a need. So, with all of that said here are a few tips to help you do just that in the new year.

1. Stop using cash. While most feel that they're using it as currency, its main use is as a Jason Statham-esque transporter of germs. Debit cards are your friends and they're begging to be used - just like your friends. Any respectable financial institution offers free online banking (if yours doesn't please seriously consider banking somewhere else) where you can see a constantly updated list of your transactions. This is useful as proof of a purchase but also serves as a great way for you to keep track of how much money you're spending each week, month, year. Being able to see how much you spend on unnecessary things each month can help to bring about that change we spoke about earlier.

2. Shop online and when doing so search for coupon codes. Many online retailers have a section during checkout in which you can input a coupon code. ALWAYS search for a coupon code before placing your order. Whether you're buying new threads or a new television for that Blu-Ray player you got for Christmas (lucky bastard), it's always nice to save 15 to 20 percent or get free shipping on your order. CouponCabin and RetailMeNot are two sites that offer coupon codes. For those of you that haven't started shopping online yet, you're missing out on many great deals. You don't have to settle for the prices you see at physical retail outlets! Here are some sites to get good deals. For electronics check out Sony's outlet store (refurbished products but they come with a warranty) or PriceWatch.com (very useful for computer electronics). For clothing check out Forever 21 (for their men's clothing click here). Another good option for clothes is Target (don't knock it 'till you at least check out the site). They have unbelievably cheap suits for those of you getting ready for those job interviews.

3. Eat before you leave the house. And if you're going to be gone for a while, pack a lunch. If you eat fast food three times a week it costs you about $858 a year (without taking into account money spent at dine-in restaurants which is truly more of an entertainment cost than a food cost). If you can limit your weekly fast food visitations to 1.5 times a week for a year it would save you $429. Even though a Whopper is just sooo delicious, it's a lot easier to resist it's whispered sweet nothings and cat calls with a full belly.

4. Change the moviegoing philosophy. For one, don't see bad movies. I cant believe we let "The Love Guru" make $32 million. Unbelievable! If you're an avid moviegoer like myself who values being able to see a good movie on the big screen, you probably spend a good amount of money on movie tickets each year (especially those pricey IMAX tickets - The Dark Knight!). Money can be saved by watching movies on weekend afternoons instead of Friday or Saturday nights. Matinee prices are often two to three dollars cheaper than the regular ticket price and the savings quickly add up! It seems to me like a better alternative than sitting in front of your 17 inch monitor with a warm bowl of Ramen watching the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on some site that streams movies. Can you even make out the Autobots from the Decepticons on that type of quality? C'mon, people!

Just so you know that I do think "going green" is worth it: Save the earth!

If You're Gonna Jump Off the Ledge Do It Right

2009-01-06T17:03:00.000-08:00

The people have lost their faith and I'm not talking about just Cubs fans. Housing foreclosures. 401K's lower than the total amount contributed. The stock market down more than 35%. High gas prices (though that's kind of tapered off as of late). People getting loans for a $500K house when making only $20K a year (no joke - this happened in New York). But, I believe Cicero when he said "while there's life, there's hope." With that being said, it would also be wise to heed the words of Benjamin Franklin when he said "he that lives upon hope will die fasting." And so, I would like to assure all readers to keep the faith in the stock market. Or, if you never had much faith to begin with, to start now. And there is more than just blind hope that guides me to persuade you of this. Take a look at the following chart which shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1929 to January 6, 2009.

Over the past 80 years or so there have been numerous ups and downs. No one can predict when the market will decide to pull a Manny Ramirez and tank on us. But, just like the aforementioned Major League Baseball player, there are possibilities for high rewards also attached to the risk. If you look at the chart, you can see that out of the numerous times the market has experienced a major decline it has never failed to recover. No one knows when the market will fully recover and continue it's upward trend but the question is undoubtedly WHEN and not IF. For the market not to recover we would have to experience some sort of apocalyptic event leading to a world similar to that of Mad Max, Judge Dredd, or Escape from New York/LA. The whole nation would have to basically turn into one big Detroit. I don't want to downplay the ginormous economic downturn the entire developed world is currently experiencing. However, if we continue down and never recover, your money will be useless anyway. But, when we DO recover, if you had been taking advantage of all the undervalued securities available, you will be happier than one of those people receiving a new car in the Lexus holiday TV spots. Nevertheless, if, for some reason, you have indeed completely lost your faith and now seek a ledge from which to thrust yourself into oblivion (and all of your negativity along with you), at least go out in style:
Much thanks to Lehel for showing me this video.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane... Wait, It's Not Even DC!

2009-01-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

Marvel is about to become the KING of successful blockbusters. Not only was both Iron Man and Hulk major successes, but they would have done even better had the folks at Marvel not cannibalized them by releasing them so close together. Idiots. However, it's a mistake that will not be made again and with another Iron Man movie in the works, and Captain America, Thor, Wolverine, Magneto, and Avengers all getting their own movie franchises the amount of dough these guys are gonna be rolling in will be on par with the Pillsbury Doughboy himself. If they somehow get the movie rights to Spiderman back from Sony in the next few years this could be one of the most successful companies period, regardless of industry. This is definitely a viable investment for the foreseeable future. If you want some guaranteed (guaranteed and stock market don't go together but don't mind me - I'm just Lennan's more rational and safe side) cash money by May of this year purchase Marvel stock consistently until the week leading up to the release of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Then liquidate all shares each week over the following four weeks. Don't say I didn't try to help you out because if people took my advice with the Iron Man release... well just check the charts.

Goodbye

2009-01-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

Normally the first blog on a site should be one of welcomes and hellos. I would tell you my name, where I live, what I like to do, and why the heck I'm writing this blog. But for there to be a beginning it would only be fitting if there were also an end of something that preceded it. And so, the first blog is one of goodbyes. Goodbye to bad personal finance advice such as was given by my ethics professor to the entire class on the last day of the semester. I'll resist the urge to quote him directly but his statement was to the effect of: never purchase a house but instead rent because loans are all bad. I cant begin to tell you the horrible fallacies in that statement so the topic will be saved for a later post but I can assure you that I had nightmares for a week straight of young, delicate minds being twisted by this blindly misguided professor, living out their days in duplexes and flats due to his advice. We say goodbye also to bad stock advice from people who are actually paid cash money to give it to you (I will use the term 'cash money' fairly frequently when I deem it fit to do so - just warning you in case you suffer from aRAPniphobia - a fear of rap music and all terms, cultural norms and customs that are derived from it). All stock advice given in these blogs are guaranteed to be good options - a guarantee for good results is, however, not offered due to the fact that anyone can view this blog which will undoubtedly lead to readers who suffer from a lack of common sense (common sense and intelligence are sadly starting to become one in the same these days). Finally, we will say goodbye to a lack of knowledge of the town of Berrien Springs, MI - population 1,924, THE flyest city this side of the St. Joseph river. My name is Lennan and you'll find out more about me in blogs to follow. Hopefully the site is useful to you and it will continue to evolve over the next few months.