O, happy day! The FedEx man brought me a package this morning containing The King is Dead, the new record album from The Decemberists. The Decemberists are a Portland band, and have been my favorite group for several years. I love that they put their new music out on vinyl, so that I can listen to it on my ancient phonograph player.
The King is Dead is mellower than much of their past stuff. I like it better than their last album (The Hazards of Love), but not as much as The Crane Wife or Her Majesty. But it’s still new to me, and it’ll take a while for me to learn all of the songs. I’m up to the challenge!
Still, you folks don’t come here for music reviews. You come to read about personal finance. Here, then, are some of the stories I’ve been reading elsewhere this week:
First up, Kiplinger Personal Finance is again sponsoring Jump-Start Your Retirement Days. From 9:00 to 18:00 Eastern on January 21st and 25th, you can get free advice from a real-life financial planner by calling 888-919-2345. GRS readers have reported mixed success with this service in the past, but it certainly cannot hurt to call if you have questions about your future.
Next, I enjoyed this discussion at Ask Metafilter about eating at fancy restaurants when broke. I’ve written before about how to eat at a swanky restaurant without blowing your monthly food budget, and many of the suggestions at Ask Metafilter echo mine. In fact, I’m going to put some of these tips to work tonight; Kris and I are joining some friends at an expensive restaurant for a birthday dinner.
SVB at The Digerati Life has a tip for handling your New Year’s Resolutions. In order to get organized for 2011, she recommends setting up a personal financial calendar. I think this is a great idea, actually, and it’s something I’ve been meaning to do. (I was just telling Liz Weston yesterday that I can never remember when I last pulled my credit report, which makes it hard to know when to do the next one!) I’ve bookmarked SVB’s post so that I can refer to it when I find time to make my own calendar.
Wallet Pop has a nice article about what you need to know before paying cash for a new vehicle. Paying cash isn’t as straight-forward as it sounds. This article explains a few of the things you should consider.
Finally, I enjoyed this story from One Frugal Girl, who says, “I am not stealing!” She says she’s not an extreme couponer, but she does find some creative ways to get good deals now and then. She finds it frustrating that when she plays by the rules, sometimes the stores get cranky. (Well, not the stores, but certain cashiers.)
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Hey thanks for letting me know of a group who puts new music on vinyl. We just got a record player for our son for Christmas and it will be fun to build his collection. Now to see if it is okay for younger ears…
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Re buying cars with cash.
I did just that last year (new Toyota), and I learned a surprising thing.
The dealer still forced me to jump through all the hoops as if I was buying on credit.
Even though I had a cashier’s check for the total purchase price, they needed to run a credit check and approve me for a loan … in case the cashier’s check from B of A bounced (!). I asked if actual dollar bills would change the answer, and they said no – could turn out to be counterfeit money!
They sand-bagged, insisted I fill out a full loan application that they would then cancel if the check turned out to be valid. Didn’t even apologize, said it was their policy.
I was rather angry about this, and nearly walked away but they would not let be buy the car without applying for the loan, but I wanted that specific car and had run out of patience of dealing with dealers. That specific car was the only model in the next 150 mile radius that fit my criteria.
I watched my credit report like a hawk after the transaction, and the loan never hit the report (was cancelled as promised).
Not sure if this was unique to my dealer (multi-location regional dealer) or is typical?
I am sure that dealer did this as a risk mitigation strategy to create a paper trail and have some leverage if funny business happened, but I thought it was a very disappointing customer experience.
If this is typical, it means that folks with crappy credit can’t buy a car even if they pay cash.
Bizarre.
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In regards to the eating at a fancy restaurant, I have a suggestion. Be honest, don’t try to hide the fact that your trying to eat cheaply. “I’m trying to stay within my budget” “I’m saving for a trip to Europe.” One of the big problems with consumerism is that we all try to pretend that we can spend whatever we want. Usually when I use this tactic, I get a lot of “I wish I could do that” or honest discussion about money. The more frank discussions about money we all have, the better off we’ll all be.
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I really hate the “let’s divide the check” game. I hate it when I spend much less than others, and I hate it when I’m the one who spent more.
My trick? Bring plenty of cash, and be the first to duck out. Throw enough cash on the table to cover what I had (plus tax and a generous tip, just to be sure no one balks), then take off. Then you don’t have to play the stupid game. As long as you are sure to leave more than enough, including tip. Don’t be that guy who skimps and takes off. Everybody will hate you.
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Huzzah for the king is dead!
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Okay, maybe I’m just an idiot, but I can’t seem to find the page J.D. is referring to on kiplinger. All I see is the archive for last year’s event.
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Thanks for the reviews…I especially liked Eating at Fancy Restaurants When Broke…basically because I do like eating at fancy restaurants but don’t like to shell out so much money.
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I started reading through some of the suggestions on the “eating at fancy restaurants” post and just gave up. Why on earth does anyone care what he or she will look like to others? Someone this concerned should avoid the fear altogether and not go. Or order exactly what you want and prepare to write off the “friends” who seem to be taking snobby mental notes.
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Speaking of articles to enjoy and coincidences, I read a piece entitled “Cash the King is Dead.” It was about how savings rates are sucking so much air lately, that it doesn’t make sense to hang on to the cash but pay of debt, etc. I’ve been feeling the same way so I made a big extra payment on my mortgage the end of last year. Getting 1% wasn’t helping me much, but shortening my debt chains would help.
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@Sonja – I haven’t heard this album yet, but would guess that it’s probably not suitable for young ears. Based on the past albums that I HAVE heard, most songs seem to be about death; many are about murder, rape, and other very dark topics. My husband and some of my friends love this band, and I can only assume that they don’t really listen to the lyrics. The music itself is lovely.
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If you like the pared-down Decemberists folk songs set among real adult characters in the real world — think “Red Right Ankle” and “Grace Cathedral Hill” — you’ll love “The King is Dead.”
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I have a minor bookmark hack that helps me with my credit reports. Since there are three agencies, and you get a free one per agency per year, I’ve split them into parts of the year and bookmarked in my browser thusly:
Oct credit report – transunion
Feb credit report – equifax
June credit report – experian
Each bookmark brings me to the same place (annualcreditreport.com) but I know which provider to select.
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Bethh, I like your bookmark idea for each of the three credit bureaus, will set that up for myself today. I checked our Equifax reports on New Year’s and then applied for a new credit card with a 12 month 0% interest Balance Transfer rate and NO Balance Transfer fee. I used that to transfer over credit card debt that will go from 3.9% to 7.9% in February. Will be able to finish off our credit card debt in 2011 and not pay any more interest. Very happy about that!
As for eating out with others and the coupon users out there, I bring cash, know what I can afford and go with the group sparingly. I was pleasantly surprised when we went out to eat with a co-worker that was leaving due to a career change and he presented us with buy-one-get-one coupons for the restaurant he had chosen. Loved that! For my husband and I, our eating out usually involves a Groupon or some other discount so we can still justify eating out until we finish paying our credit card debt. And even after we are done with debt, why pay full price if you don’t need to? It’s brought us to new restaurants we did not yet know of. It’s a win-win for the restaurant and us!
I agree with many of the other comments that it would be a lot easier for all if we were more open and honest about what we can truly afford. It is the least we can learn from the current state of the economy.
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Why hasn’t anyone called J.D. out on having a personal finance blog while still receiving packages by Fed Ex? Was this album really something that couldn’t be delived by a cheaper method?
J.D.’s note: I didn’t have a choice. FedEx was the only option. But that’s because I spent a small fortune on the deluxe set ordered directly from the band itself. So, I wasn’t frugal — though I made a conscious choice to buy this — but my unfrugality had nothing to do with shipping.
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Yankee Bayonet (off The Crane Wife) is maybe my favorite song ever and I love the Laura Veirs/Decembrists collaboration. I had no idea they were from Portland, thanks for the tid bit!
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@Jake (#2): Sounds like the dealer was trying to pull a fast one, but didn’t because you seemed to be on your game. I, too, bought a car for cash from a dealer (Honda dealer in 2008) and encountered none of what you described. They did send me to their finance guy, who also handled taxes and licenses with the state. He asked if I would rather finance than pay cash, I said no and we moved on. I never had to fill out any forms other than what the state required to changed ownership and apply for a new tag.
I’m in Florida. States are different and YMMV, but I wouldn’t trust a dealer that asked what yours did. And, because I never fall in love with a make/model/color/options, etc., I can and have simply walk away when something doesn’t go my way in a car dealership. I live in a big city; there are many other dealers out there.
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Hey, J.D.
LOVE that you love the Decemberists, and LOVE that you bought them on vinyl. I think you should let your inner music reviewer fly…I’m sure you could tie Colin Meloy’s melancholy lyrical themes back into finance somehow. Those tangential stretches for themes are often the best.
I forgot you were from Portland. My girlfriend and I are planning on moving out there this summer…if you’d ever care to write some similarly off-topic entries about local culture, I’d be thrilled.
Thanks for all you do!
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Side note: “Hazards of Love” requires a lot of attention to get into. If you ever have a spare hour (like anyone ever has one of those!) try doing nothing but just sitting and listening to it, free of distraction. It’s a really great album if you can get into it.
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Thanks for the link J.D.! I’m a long time reader of Get Rich Slowly.
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@Clint (#8) –
I hear you and completely agree!
Unfortunately, I feel it’s not always so cut and dried as you make out. For example, we often dine out with my fiancee’s friends (a real range of incomes) and splitting the check (plus paying for the birthday boy/girl) on birthday dinners etc. is just the norm.
Those with the highest salaries (lawyers, teachers who still live with their folks etc.) always spend the most and are essentially expecting other people to pay for a share of their dinner, which really annoys me!
Still – what are we to do? P*ss off the host and eight other diners for the sake of saving £10? Unfortunately the concept of fairness and real life frugality/saving concerns doesn’t seem to enter the world of restaurant dining…
Excuse my French, but I strongly dislike paying a share of someone’s dinner when they have spent twice as much as me. A perfect example would be a recent meal where one guy had two starters, the dearest sushi main/entree on the menu and dessert (versus my small starter and bowl of noodles). Grumble grumble…
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