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Here are some personal finance stories submitted by readers like you:
W.C. Varones pointed me to Dr. Housing Bubble’s article about the invisible mortgage hand, an analysis of a society that forces you into debt. The author looks at the cult of credit scores; the cost of cars, education, and housing; and at the median U.S. family income. “Is it any wonder that we are in a massive credit bubble?” he concludes. (Ignore the mega-annoying “ContentLink” ads — this is an interesting article.)
Here’s a large list of free software, primarily for Windows machines. The programs are organized by type, and the site includes a brief description of each.
In the comments to my post on do-it-yourself home repair, Dickey45 shared her boyfriend’s recent kitchen remodel. “If you figure hourly wage, it is probably pretty low for how much extra we will get in selling the house. But I figure it is cheap compared to a monthly gym membership or just rotting in front of a TV.” Another reader wrote to share their home improvement blog.
.jpg "The Money Blog Network - Improving your bottom line")
September 11th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
http://freshmeat.net/
http://sourceforge.net/ (over 1,900 entries for financial software alone!)
Beyond these, simply do a Google search on the terms “shareware”, “freeware”and so on.
It’s a big world and there are a lot of talented and nice people in it.
September 12th, 2007 at 1:58 am
The favorite for Mac OS X software will always be http://www.versiontracker.com although http://www.macupdate.com is pretty strong too.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Hmm, Dr Bubble’s article is interesting, but I think its too flawed to be much of a good example of anything other than the thesis that “Living in SoCal is expensive”. No kidding, tell us something we didn’t know. The rest of the country is not nearly as bad as he lays out.
Furthermore, his hypothetical budget isn’t exactly frugal. $447 car payments? Sending your kid to Georgetown (and paying 100% of the bill) when all you can really afford is Pasadena CC? I mean come on. I could easily write an article about how I really want to buy solid gold rocket cars but our society sucks because it won’t let me afford it. I’ve been to SoCal recently by the way, and my analysis is its not even that expensive (excluding their ridiculous shelter expenses of course). You know what I was told when I asked why don’t people just take the bus? “Only Mexicans and people with literally no money take the bus”. I went to grocery stores and restaurants and the prices were mostly the same as what they are here on the east coast. Gas was actually miraculously cheaper. All I’m saying is the only one to blame for spending yourself into oblivion to keep up with the Joneses is yourself.
Here’s one solution: move. Buy your $200 jeans at one of the many outlet malls. Drive your freaking lexus for more than 1.5 years. Better still, take the damn bus!
As much as it feels like it must be true, nobody is forcing you to live large (again excepting your outrageous mortgages/rent/insurance). Its all the bad choices you are making.
I would have posted this comment to his article but can’t be bothered to register with blogger. Plus there’s a crap load of other comments there already.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:36 am
First off thanks for the link to the Dr. Housing Bubble blog - I can’t stop reading it.
I think icup is missing the forest for the trees.
The point of the article is that the system is broken. Corporate America has convinced people that $447/mo car payments are ok (especially on 60 and 84 month loans!) Sure, smart people should see through this, but I’m reminded of one of the best lines from the movie Men In Black. “..a person is smart, but people are stupid.”
Sure we can all feel smug in our frugal little world, but dismissing the rest of society for being dumb will only make it hurt more when the actions of idiots ruin it for us all.
September 12th, 2007 at 10:27 am
The Invisible Mortgage Hand article also lacked focus. He goes from talking about the overuse of FICO scores and the cost of a college education to complaining that people eat out.
The fact that the majority of people have $400 car payments doesn’t mean they have to. If society is really forcing people into debt, make that point with things people have to take out a loan for or go without. College is a pretty decent example, because even the state schools are tens of thousands per year. The cost of housing would be good if he’d used the national median rather than the hyper-expensive SoCal price. But cars and restaurants and credit cards are not in the same ballpark.
If you want to buy a house, you pretty much have no choice but to go into debt. If you want to buy a car, you have a lot of options beyond making $400 a month payments. I have never had a car loan. That is a personal choice. A mortgage and students loans aren’t, you either go into debt or you don’t get to play.
September 12th, 2007 at 11:37 am
@Derek- At first I agreed that the system is broken, but then I thought about it a little. Its not the system’s fault that people are living beyond their means. When I was in SoCal last week, the cost of normal things, things you need to survive, like groceries, gas, clothing, etc. was not astronomical. It wasn’t even that much more expensive than my home in PA, IF you aren’t looking at buying luxury goods.
If the system were broken, people would be forced to take out loans for groceries, gas and clothing. People are taking out loans for things like Lexus cars, Georgetown tuition, and Lucky Brand Jeans when there are things like Saturns, State schools and Levis readily available. Are you trying to say that we should somehow be trying to prevent “the system” from offering these luxury items? I don’t think you are.
I do see the author’s point about housing and tuition being expensive to a point, but even in LA there are options: a $400K 3 bedroom townhouse vs a fashionable $1.5 million 3 bedroom 2 story for example is quite doable. Going to community college rather than Georgetown is also quite doable. there are in fact people in the rest of the country that do live within their means you know, and its not even that hard to do.
Also, I’m not trying to say that people are stupid, even those that live beyond their means, so I apologize if I came across like that. Its more like I’m trying to say that the original article was sort of like a heroin addict complaining about the price of heroin, and that somebody should step in and do something about it, when the real solution is to go to rehab and stop taking the drug (ie stop buying Lexus cars, Georgetown tuition, and designer clothing).
Finally, the moment you step out of SoCal, its easy to see that most people in fact do not think there is anything wrong with driving a domestic car older than 18 months, going to a state school, and wearing Levi’s jeans.
So my conclusion naturally works out to be that its not the system thats necessarily broken (although clearly the systems does need some ongoing tweaking) so much as its the author’s perspective that’s broken.
September 12th, 2007 at 11:52 am
@Aleks -
“A mortgage and students loans aren’t, you either go into debt or you don’t get to play.”
I agree to a point. a person can still work hard and get scholarships. They can work after class and work all summer long. They can join the army. Their parents can get a 529 when they are born. For housing, even in LA, they can get a mortgage on a modular home or townhouse, they can move someplace less expensive. There are tons of options. Maybe they aren’t all *luxurious* options, but there are still lots of options.
My main complaint with the article was that the author seemed to be saying that because we all can’t go to the best most expensive out-of-state schools, and drive 1.5 year old Lexuses regardless of our income, “the system” is somehow broken. Once you go outside of LA, NY, and VA, I feel that the situation changes drastically.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Maybe “stupid” is too strong of a word, but I think a fair amount of people don’t know any better. They see the latest iPod while watching American Idol drinking their Coca-Cola and think they gotta have it.
“Ooo, it comes in new colors!”
My guess is the average GRS reader knows better.
Either way, the commentary regarding the Visa commercial depicting the inconsiderate jerk who has the audacity to use cash is spot on. Get outside of LA & NY and people are still spending way beyond there means mainly because credit companies will let them.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
“For housing, even in LA, they can get a mortgage on a modular home or townhouse, they can move someplace less expensive.”
Of course, but my point is that even if you go with the less expensive option or move to an “affordable” area, you still have to take out a mortgage. Actually saving up and buying a house with cash is unheard of these days, and graduating without any student loans is pretty rare. Whereas buying cars without a loan is a perfectly viable option, even if it’s not common.
If the author’s point was that society forces people into debt, then he should’ve stuck with examples where the options are more limited. Scholarships are by definition not available to everyone, working part-time and in the summer will pay your expenses but it won’t come close to paying tuition even at a state school, and having your parents set up a savings plan for you at birth is one of those things you have no control over. And I would put joining the army down as at least as much of a liability as taking out loans, but maybe I’m overly protective of my limbs.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
@Derek-
I don’t disagree with you, actually, although I have seen some interesting situations while vacationing in LA that makes me believe that people might have their acts together better than commonly believed.
I think when the recession hits next year, as some say is inevitable, we are going to find out who is smart with their money and who is ’stupid’. 10, even 5 years ago, I would put myself in the stupid column. I guess next year I’ll find out if I deserve to be in with the smart.
I haven’t seen the Visa commercial btw, but I do get annoyed when people pay with a check and take a long time, which I guess is the same thing. I myself pay cash for just about everything else BUT groceries.
September 12th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
@Aleks-
The point can be made though that we’ve always had to take out loans to pay for mortgages, and to a lesser extent for college tuition (although I graduated in 1999 when tuition was still reasonable, I opted for loans to cover what grants didn’t. Loans I’m still paying for
).
I see the author’s point that housing and tuition can be insanely expensive, but I disagree with the idea that reality must adjust to the expectation of the individual, rather than the individual adjust his expectation to fit reality. What you are saying is that most individuals refuse to accept reality (that they cannot afford an ipod), and some other individuals make a pretty good living telling them they can. While I agree that this is despicable behavior, there is a certain amount of responsibility on the individual to not buy what he cannot afford.
I don’t disagree with you that it sucks that these things are so expensive by the way. I would rather not have to pay so much on my mortgage too. I just choose to take a differing perspective mostly to help my own self cope with it a little better.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
“The point can be made though that we’ve always had to take out loans to pay for mortgages”
No, that point can’t be made. Mortgages like we have now were introduced in the 1930s. Prior to that you couldn’t get a loan for more than 50% of the purchase price, and an 80/20 mortgage meant 80% down payment. The term was typically 5-7 years.
It was only with the creation of the FHA as part of The New Deal that the sorts of long-term, high-ratio mortgages we know today became common. So the point could be made that the availability of large mortgages over the past 70 years has inflated the housing market to the point where such loans are a requirement. However, the author didn’t actually make that point, instead choosing to bitch about the price of a house in Southern California. Unless you’re involved in the film industry, living in SoCal is a choice–one that carries very obvious costs.
I think there’s some validity to the author’s original point, I just don’t think he backs it up at all. Education is a good example, because there are serious negative aspects to choosing not to get a college degree. Similarly, there are real implications in some fields to which school you get your degree from. If you want to be a big-time lawyer, you have to go to one of the prestigious schools. You can get a law degree at a smaller school, but the big firms will never hire you. That’s the sort of thing I wish the author had said.
The reality is that the majority of household debt is a result of people living beyond their means, not something intrinsic to society. The only societal aspect is the peer pressure to “keep up with the Jonses”. A large part of the reason houses have gotten more expensive is that they’ve also gotten bigger, with more frills. If you actually bought the type of house people bought 70 years ago, with less than 1200 square feet, two bedrooms, one bathroom and no pool or hottub, it’s still pretty affordable (or will be once the bubble deflates).
September 12th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I totally agree with ICUP about DrBubble. He was on the cusp of something interesting, but overall, just came off like a cable news show host, abusing facts and figures to meet a questionable objective.
The average car in the US is 8 years old. Even if it had a $400 dollar payment at some point, that point is now long past.
A REALLY GOOD UNIVERSITY EDUCATION does not even come close to requiring a private school, and legitimate colleges and ju-cos are more than affordable.
So, sure, I agree that *the best of everything* is expensive, and is asked of (demanded, required) everyone in commercials. But if you have that little of self-control and need the best in every aspect of your life, then pull out your checkbook and quit crying.
That’s what I really love about GetRichSlowly actually. The hyperbole and outrage meter are at the *right* (whatever that means) level.
I get the idea that DrBubble is trying to scare me into buying something (a put instead of MasterCard’s call if you know those options terms), whereas GetRichSlowly is asking questions and looking for solutions.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
ok final comment since I dogged DrBubble: His “real homes of genius” feature is excellent. It is filled with facts stating his case, and is pretty funny to boot.
So he just needs to focus on a single point in an article, and when he does, he is excellent.
September 13th, 2007 at 1:01 am
Another great place for Freeware for the mac is freemacware.com Awesome resource.
I’ve got my credit card down to $150. Very soon it’ll be 0. Yippee!!!
September 13th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Vacationing in Los Angeles is a little different than living in Los Angeles…
September 14th, 2007 at 6:37 am
Great free software reference, J.D. Hope everyone gets a chance to check it out. I just want to give a shout out to the open source vector editor Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org), which is now listed on the downloadpedia.org site (wikis FTW
) It’s still a bit rough around the edges, but myself and others use it professionally on a regular basis. I primarily use it in Linux, and the Windows version is very nice
September 14th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Here are two CDs ready-filled with high-quality software. The target user is a college student on a tight budget, so it includes an office suite, music players, etc., but it’s good for just about anyone.
It’s all either open source, or freeware. There is a Windows and a Mac version.
http://softwarefor.org/downloads.html