Daily Links: Spring Cleaning Edition Print
Sunday, 20th April 2008 (by J.D.)This article is about Spare Change
I’ve written before about my haphazard blogging method. On this computer, for example, I currently have open eight different browser windows, each with 8-10 tabs. Each of these tabs contains some page I think is worth sharing with Get Rich Slowly readers — someday. The trouble is I never find the time to write about all these great resources. So, inevitably, many of them find their way here, to the daily links.
For example, here’s a piece from Real Simple about how to negotiate anything. When they say “anything”, they really mean “the ten things we’ve listed here”, but still…this is a good companion to the negotiation articles at Get Rich Slowly recently.
“What would Buffett buy?” asked Business Week recently, describing a stock-screening tool that attempts to answer this question. The most recent version of the screen yielded sixty stocks. (My favorite? PepsiCo is on the list but not Coca-Cola. This is mildly amusing because of Buffett’s stake in Coke along with Coca-Cola. (Thanks, Derrick, for the correction.))
I get a lot of questions from people wanting to know how much money they should have saved by now. U.S. News & World Report recently ran the numbers to determine 401(k) savings by age-groups. They break the numbers down by salary and by job tenure. My retirement saving is actually about average, though I intend to increase it in the coming years. This is an interesting way to peek at how other people are doing.
Finally, Flexo at Consumerism Commentary has been churning out great post after great post lately. Last Thursday he wrote about unintended consequences and money, citing the role ethanol has played in rising food prices. Be careful what you wish for… Earlier today Flexo wondered, “Is ‘follow your bliss’ good advice or bunk?” Great stuff.
Now it’s time for me to do some real spring cleaning. I’m going to purge my closet of some of those ratty clothes I’ve been holding onto…

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April 20th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I find my self above average for my 401k savings but, I am not sure that I will have enough to retire on when the day comes.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
JD,
Coke is on the list it is about 18 or so from the top of the list
Derrick
April 20th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I love the daily link editions! The 401(k) numbers are really interesting.
I’m probably about 2/3 of the way through purging books and magazines. Oooh! My husband just called and told me the stacks of books he turned in from this decluttering got us $30. I smiled every time I saw a “used” sticker on a book I was giving up, and smiled even bigger when one of the books was going right back from where I bought it, Half Price Books.
It is simultaneously difficult but freeing to rid the house of excess stuff! I hope your spring cleaning went just as well.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Regarding your blogging method, why not try del.icio.us or another bookmarking site that supports tagging to help organize your research? I find it helps me reduce the clutter, and Firefox’s memory usage, by storing articles away with a @read tag that I can pull up later.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:12 am
@Josh - I read this post via RSS and was about to comment the exact same thing!
Another technique I use is the Read It Later firefox extension. It uses a local favorites folder to store its set of URLs which you can read and “check off” another time. Combined with Foxmarks for bookmark syncing, my list of things to read follows me from computer to computer.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:27 am
Thanks for the 401(k) link, that was interesting. I’m almost exactly average for my pay scale, but above average for my tenure (by a lot).
I just did a big purge on my closet and books as well, and I think there’s still stuff to go.
I love Half Price Books, about half the purchases I make there end up being rent, because I sell it back in a year or two.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:10 am
That’s a great article about unintended consequences - the whole “a butterfly flaps it’s wings” thing has always facinated me.
As far as “real” spring cleaning goes, just remember that you’re paying extra to store all that stuff, heat and cool it, shelter it, etc. etc.
My solution was to change the way I looked at the things I owned, so they’d stop owning me:
http://theartofzenliving.com/2008/04/the-tyranny-of-stuff/
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:57 am
I think the 401k link was interesting as a comparison, but I wish there had been analysis - people age x have y in the bank and that’s good/bad/fantastic/dangerous.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
@Matt - I’ve used the same extension. It is pretty handy.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I also found the 401(k) numbers interesting. I’m shocked at the asset allocation numbers they give, especially for the 20s group. Only 50% in stocks? Wow. Accepting risk is hard, but you’re risking a lot more by settling for low returns!
May 27th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I’m frustrated that these retirement statistics (and more common with online retirement calculators) seem to be focused on an individual. Perfect for those who are single but what does it mean for those of us who are married. How often do married people contribute equally to their retirement funds? I know we don’t and I doubt its very often.
I’d love to see some “How much should I save for retirement” | “Am I on track for retirement” calculators actually take into account a 2+ income family.