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Many GRS readers have urged me to take a more active role in charity and giving back to my local community. So when my friend and colleague Chris Guillebeau asked me if I’d be willing to help with a local cause, I decided now was a great time to make the leap.
On Friday, October 23rd, Chris and I will attend a benefit dinner and auction to support Sisters of the Road, a local non-profit that fights homelessness and poverty in Portland. If you’re in the Portland area, you’re welcome to join us (and our wives) for this event. Registration is $85 per person and includes dinner, drinks, an auction — and a lively hoe-down. There’s more information at The Art of Non-Conformity. If you’re in the area and feel inclined to join us, we’d love to see you there.
Meanwhile, here are some financial articles that have caught my eye recently:
This morning, USA Today ran an article that made my head spin. I can’t decide if I love it or hate it. Their story on how to rebuild an investment portfolio after a recession actually contains solid advice — for a year or six months ago. “Don’t go to cash,” the article says — advice that investors ought to have been heeding last February, not now.
To me, it feels like the article is completely ignoring the fact that the market has soared since March. In the past seven months:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 48.64%.
- The S&P 500 Index is up 55.89%.
- The NASDAQ Index is up 65.81%.
Yet this USA Today article is offering advice as if the market just hit rock bottom. Baffling. Still, as I say, the article’s worth reading because its investment advice is solid. It’s just a few months late.
On a more timely note, Liz Weston posted an article at MSN Money about the rude new tip-jar economy. This summer, I’ve noticed a proliferation of tip jars, too: at the ice cream parlor, at the deli, and at the pizza parlor I walk to every Tuesday. I don’t necessarily think tip jars are rude, but I do agree that it’s fine to ignore them in almost every case. (For more on this subject, check out Mighty Bargain Hunter’s response.)
Finally, at Wise Bread, Kelly Whalen explores the question: Can you survive with one car in Suburbia? She’s wanted to try the one-car lifestyle, but her husband has resisted. But when their second car needed $2500 in repairs, they decided to give it a shot. “What has worked for us may not work for everyone,” writes Whalen, “but trying to use your car less has many benefits. The main one for my family has been that we are happier and healthier, and we’re staying away from stores when we don’t really need something.”
Before I head home for supper, here’s a round-up of the recent personal finance carnivals:
- My Life ROI hosted Carnival of Personal Finance #224.
- Moolanomy was the master of Best of Money Carnival #18.
- The Modern Tightwad curated the Carnival of Money Stories #21.
- Funny About Money featured Festival of Frugality #197.
- The Military Finance Network marshalled the troops for Money Hacks Carnival #84 and for Carnival of Financial Planning #109.
- Control Your Cash hosted the 20-Something Finances Carnival #70.
A blog carnival is a collection of the week’s best posts on specific themes — in this case, money. Visiting a carnival is a great way to find financial information from a variety of viewpoints.
This article is about Giving, Spare Change Tuesday, 6th October 2009 (by J.D. Roth)
October 6th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
re: surviving with one car - I just got a call from a headhunter today about a possibly interesting job. The work is solid and sounds interesting and it also sounds like they’ll pay reasonably well, but one big plus for them is that it is near where my wife works. Currently, she heads south and I head west to our jobs. It isn’t very practical for us to share a ride. But if this job works out, I could see us going in together almost every day. A quick calculation says I’m using about a gallon of gas/day for my commute, so at current prices of around $3/gallon, I could save about $15/week or $780/year in gas alone. I think it will be a bigger consideration than it would have been in the past.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Thanks for the mention JD!
October 6th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I love that you call it ’supper’ and not dinner!
October 6th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
J.D. - You might get a little more out of charitable giving if it coincided with your interests (personal fincance empowerment, that is, not comic books). Have you checked out microfinance loan sites? Kiva.org is a good place to start. I’m just starting to try to find out about what I can do to help microsavings for women in developing nations, as well. You know in many developing communities banks will charge interest to hold money instead of paying it? Up to 40% annually!
anyway, food for thought. thanks for all you do
October 6th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
My first comments at this site ever …
“To me, it feels like the article is completely ignoring the fact that the market has soared since March … Yet this USA Today article is offering advice as if the market just hit rock bottom … It’s just a few months late.”
So you may have missed the runup??? Is it too late to make adjustments for hopefully what will be a nice recovery? An investor invests. A speculator times the market. Your comments lead me to believe that one would know the exact bottom and probably the top as well. It is never to late to make adjustments to your portfolio. One should invest in solid companies and forget trying to time the market.
October 7th, 2009 at 4:33 am
this are a nice set of links. but i have not yet entered the carnivals….i think its procrastination and i am planning to kill it off.
October 7th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Regarding the tip jars, I have definitely noticed the same thing. I don’t think it’s rude at all, and I’ve never encountered someone that gave me a funny look when I ignored their jar.
We Americans are very funny about tipping and will do it under what most would consider bizarre circumstances.
My girlfriend sells cupcakes at farmers markets on the weekends and she puts out a tip jar. Most people don’t even give it a thought, and there are no hard feelings about it, but some will drop their change in it rather that put it back in their pocket or wallet. It’s an easy way to collect an extra $20.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:06 am
I like the one car in Suburbia article, I’d like to try that sometime - maybe as a week long or 30 day challenge. I may have to add that to my life list.
Kudos on the charity thing, JD, let us know how it goes.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I’m fine with tip jars — in fact, I was sad when one disappeared from a counter service food establishment I lunch at frequently. Workers in such places are often at minimum, not living, wages, and yet at this spot in particular are really good at their job, I was delighted to have the option of recognizing that.
But at a tea/coffee shop that I also go to often, I never used the tip jar — because of their weird policy of having a frequent coffee card (buy ten get one free) but no equivalent card for tea drinkers. In that case, I figure the coffee drinkers can tip, I don’t have to!
October 7th, 2009 at 8:29 am
While I like the idea of attending a charitable event, I don’t consider that an “active role” in charity. To me, an active role would be volunteering on a committee that puts together the benefit (it takes a LOT of hours to put something like that on) or volunteering at the benefit. I’m not knocking going to the benefit–just the term “active role” in this instance.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Thanks for the mention!
We’ve had an easy week with one car since my hubby is out of town. I’m happy there isn’t a 2nd car just sitting in out driveway.
Wish I was in the area to participate in the charity event, you and Chris are 2 people I’d love to meet.
October 7th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I really enjoy this blog, and felt compelled to comment on this entry.
First of all, congratulations on making the leap into being more involved with community service. You will not regret it. You will also quickly find that the statement “it is more blessed to give than to receive” is 100% true.
Secondly, my husband and I have never had two cars in our entire 13 year marriage. Ever. We got married in college and always figured out creative ways to manage transportation. Even now, 2 kids (one school-aged) later, we still are dragging our feet on buying a second car. And that is not to say we live “close” to work, either. It is 15 miles one-way to his work, and sometimes I have to drive another 30 miles one-way to a field office for my employer. Granted, spending 3+ hours in the car every day is not fun, but it is nice to spend that last 20 min or so getting caught up on everyone’s day while we’re all together.
October 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
@Sheila #10. I totally agree. Spending money to attend a charity event, or even buying something at the auction is no different than paying for some other form of entertainment. You’re getting something of value for yourself with the money that you spend. While appreciated (I’ve been organizing events for years), it’s nothing like giving your time, or writing a check expecting nothing in return. THAT’s real charitable giving.