31 Cent Ice Cream

For those of you who enjoy ice cream at an affordable price, check out the 31 cent ice cream night at Baskin Robbins tomorrow evening April 30th. See the Baskin Robbins link for more details.

Tax Rebate

So are you ready for that nice fat tax rebate stimulus check? If you e-filed your tax return, it should be direct deposited into your account between May 2nd and May 16th. If you filed a paper version of the federal tax return there is a different schedule from May 16th to July 11th. When you receive the rebate is determined by the last two digits of your Social Security Number. Check the IRS website to find out when you'll receive the rebate.

Now, the government's idea is for you to go spend the check to help simulate the economy. Whether this will actually measurably affect the overall economy remains to be seen. However, an even better way to affect your personal finances is to use it to pay off debt if you currently have any, use it to start or build on an emergency fund, invest it in a Roth IRA account. Even if you choose to spend a portion of the rebate, try to at least use some of this serendipitous bonus for financially healthy goals.

The $64 Tomato

The $64 Tomato by William Alexander

In this hilarious gardening memoir, we learn the perils of deer, groundhogs, grubs, weeds, and those ever present squirrels to the garden. Alexander began his gardening hobby in his late 20s when wanting some fresh produce not available to the locale off the coast of Florida where he lived at the time.

This began his lifelong obsession with gardening including all things vegetable, floral, and fruit. His Hudson Valley home in New York possessed an expansive back yard which he and his wife had visions of turning into a delightful kitchen garden. As they engage various contractors to complete the work, they learn some of the perils of the hired contractor market such as shoddy work, over pricing, and late arrivals or not arriving at all to perform work.

Eventually they have a workable garden and are able to proceed with planting large quantities of vegetables including many herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, leeks, potatoes, corn, apple trees, and flowers among others. They quickly learn that not only does the soil produce and nurture the desired vegetables but also a vast array of weeds which require lots and lots of repeated work to remove. The vegetables provide tasty accompaniments to their meals and allow them the ability to add ingredients to recipes within minutes of coming out of the garden.

He faces other creatures who like the vegetables such as deer and groundhogs and resorts to putting up electric fencing to help keep them out. He also has some interesting adventures in his quest to remain organic and still keep out the bugs and resourceful squirrels from his apple orchard. Eventually he breaks down and begins using pepper spray as well as netting which encompasses the entire tree. One especially funny episode occurs when a groundhog he names Superchuck takes up residence and is able to get past the electric fence and munch on the tasty Brandywine tomatoes at his leisure. Alexander resorts to numerous measures to trap or prevent Superchuck from having repeated meals in his garden. Check out an excerpt of the adventures at 64dollartomato.com.

The name of the book comes from a cost analysis he performs to determine how much they've spent over the years to support the gardening habit. With Brandywine tomatoes being a favorite from the garden, he decides to itemize the cost for each tomato for a particular year and comes up with $64 per tomato.

Whether you're an enthusiastic gardener, full time farmer, or just enjoy a good humorous read, you're sure to enjoy The $64 Tomato.

Acronym of the Day

Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth

Read it, Learn it, Love it!

Amputate the ARM

In this segment, we'll explore a bit of financial surgery. Adjustable Rate Mortgages or ARMs are a particularly nefarious form of home mortgage. People commonly get these based on the lower initial interest rate. However, in 3 or 5 years, depending on the terms, the rate will adjust and almost assuredly it will be in an upward direction. These mortgages have played a big factor in the the subprime mortgage crisis. When rates adjusted upwards people hadn't budgeted for an increase in house payment and got hit hard by the increase.

At current rates, ARMs primarily benefit banks by protecting them from having to offer low rates for a longer period of time. From a historical standpoint, the fixed rates available today are nearly as low as they have ever been. The current 15 year fixed rate posted on Bankrate.com is 5.21%. This is an awesome long term rate.

Now is the time to move if you are in an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and convert it to a fixed rate hopefully no longer than 15 years. Also factor in closing costs but all things considered this is a great time to switch over to a fixed rate.

An additional benefit of a 15 year mortgage versus a 30 year is that you will save a substantial amount of money in interest payments. We'll use the previously mentioned rate of 5.21% with a 15 and 30 year fixed rate on a $120,000 mortgage. The 15 year mortgage results in total interest paid of $53,187 and a monthly payment of $659. The 30 year mortgage results in $117,485 in interest paid with a payment $962. So we can cut out 15 years of slavery to the bank and $64,298. Where I come from that's something you can hang your hat on.

Thanks to DaveRamsey.com for the mortgage calculator.

So, go ahead amputate that ARM!

Calorie King

If you are so inclined to eat healthily, are interested in getting in better shape, or would simply like to know nutritional values of different foods, check out CalorieKing.com. It provides basic nutritional information on a wide array of foods including those from restaurants. Sample information includes calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbs, fiber, sugar, protein, potassium, calcium. As an example the stats on a medium sized apple are:

Calories 72
Total Fat 0.2 g
Sat. Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 1 mg
Total Carbs. 19.1 g
Dietary Fiber 3.3 g
Sugars 14.3 g
Protein 0.4 g
Calcium 8.3 mg
Potassium 147.7 mg

Certified Financial Planner Program

Hello faithful readers of The Wisdom of Dre. A few weeks back, I began an online program with Florida State University to complete the education requirement to become a Certified Financial Planner. The course work should take a little over a year and I will then be eligible to take the CFP board examine. Obtaining the CFP designation is approximately on par with the professional designation of being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Long term, my goal is to get into financial planning/advising/counseling as a profession so this is a step in that direction. If you ever have any financial types of questions, please feel free to throw them my way as I really enjoy this type of thing.

Other than knowing about this new endeavor, this affects you by the possible reduction in frequency of posts. I still maintain a goal of one post per week but the volume of reading required by the program is proving fairly ginormous and may slow down the amount of wisdom, fun, musings, and miscellaneous pursuits seen here. Keep checking back though, I plan to be in action with relative frequency.

Tinyurl.com

If you ever have a long web address to give someone but would rather not send such a long string of text, consider using the website Tinyurl.com. It uses a smaller url and redirects the user to the original website. Simply enter your original url at tinyurl and they'll provide the new address.
For example,
https://communityfaces.kcstar.com/?action=viewall&id=1037&expand=0&s=1&ac=1&ct=1&pc=1&fs=1&stf=1 is a very long and unwieldy address at 96 characters. By using tinyurl, I now have the address http://tinyurl.com/2e7nu3 of only 25 characters, which will take me to the exact same ending website.

Westport St. Patrick's Day Run

Today I shot some pictures for the Star's Community Faces at the Westport St. Patrick's Day 4 mile run. Approximately 3,000 runners this windy Saturday morning. The main race was followed by a kids fun run. There were runners from age 1 to 88 involved in the event which also included an appearance by a leprechaun. Click on the link in the CF section for more photos.

Quote of the Day

"A hound dog can't chase but one rabbit at a time" John Bichelmeyer (butcher)

Upward Basketball

Saturday, I took pictures for Upward Basketball at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. For those unaware of how the program works, it provides a great way for kids to learn basic basketball skills as well as hear about Christ. The games are structured so that every kid on the team should get equal playing time. This was also an assignment for Community Faces and the link is posted in the CF section to the right. Be sure to check it out for more pictures.

The Beardstown Ladies Common Sense Investing Guide

The Beardstown Ladies Common Sense Investing Guide by the Beardstown Ladies

When you think of your grandma do you associate her with being savvy with the stock market? This group of 16 women aged primarily in the 50 to 80 year old range began an investment club in the early 1980s for the purpose of learning more about the stock market and as a good social outlet. Among the group was a school principal, a secretary, a pig farmer, and assorted other professions.

Some of them had a general understanding of the stock market prior to meeting together and some did not but all of them gained a much better understanding of investing and business in general over the course of the club meetings.

The structure was such that they met once per month to discuss various companies and the pros and cons of investing in them. They used various financial metrics on income statements, balance sheets, and analyst opinions to make informed decisions about stocks to invest in. Each member contributed $25 per month to the club and when enough money had accumulated shares of stock were purchased.

Each member of the group was assigned a company to track and perform research on through various methods such as observing local businesses like Walmart, reading the Wall Street Journal, watching financial shows on television, and the nightly news.

From 1984 to 1993 they claimed to have earned more 23% in the stock market but later audits revealed the actual percentage to be closer to 9%. Regardless of the actual return the women became substantially more knowledgeable about the stock market and much more savvy about investing.

The club also provided them with a great social outlet where they swapped recipes and stories in addition to investing money. Many of these women were widowed and the club gave them a great deal more confidence when managing their finances.

The first half of the book describes the club structure and how they originally started and the second half deals primarily with their investing principles and how they went about selecting stocks to buy, hold, and sell. Interspersed throughout are the ladies personal comments about various investing and other topics. There is also a recipe section towards the end of the book.

This book provides a good vehicle for learning how investing clubs work as well as general tips on growing one's knowledge of the stock market and how to evaluate individual stocks. The beginning investor would do well to first thoroughly research mutual funds and their benefits prior to investing in individual stocks.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link.

Air 1

I've recently discovered a new radio station called Air 1 the positive alternative. Here in the Kansas City area, it plays on 91.9 FM. The format is alternative Christian rock music. I really enjoy stations such as Calvary 88.5 and K-LOVE 97.3 but their style sometimes leaves out good music with an edgier sound. Air 1 plays popular bands like Mercy Me, Third Day, Newsboys, and the David Crowder Band that you hear on the other stations but they also have music by bands such as Switchfoot, Sanctus Real, Reliant K, Lifehouse, and Hawk Nelson. This really fills a hole and can be a great ministry tool for people who enjoy the edgy sound and slightly more rock oriented style. Be sure to let your rock star friends know about it. You can also listen online at air1.com.

Prayer and Breathing

Prayer should be like breathing to us, as frequent and constant and necessary as the next breath. In it we find our sustenance and strength, our life line to God. How awesome that the God and creator of the world desires intimate communication with us. As you breath, pray and draw life from the giver of it.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things which you do not know." -Jeremiah 33:3.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This is a beautiful story about a young lad from Spain embarking on the journey of life. After completing his formal education, he chooses to become a shepherd in order to help see more of the world. He learns the ways of shepherds and sheep for several years then has a dream about treasure near the pyramids in Egypt. He sells his sheep and travels to Africa where, upon arrival, all his money is stolen by a thief. Back to nothing, he doesn't lose heart but is industrious and trades cleaning services at a crystal shop for lunch. The shop owner offers him a job and he helps grow the business over the next year.

At the end of the year, he has enough money to return to his home and purchase twice as many sheep if he so desired. This however, is not his calling or "Personal Legend" as the book describes it. He instead hooks up with a caravan traveling to Egypt. On the journey, the caravan stops at a town in an oasis. While there, the boy sees an omen warning the town of an attack.

An alchemist subsequently approaches the boy and plays teacher and sage to the boy in his quest to find the treasure. The alchemist helps him see beyond the physical desires of man and go much deeper to the elemental core of man's true desire. He helps him see that sometimes choices involve taking a chance. Though one's current position in life may be comfortable and relatively safe, it can fall short of his or her dreams and Personal Legend.

The boy eventually arrives at the pyramids where he begins digging and is promptly robbed in the process. The evil doers ask him why he's digging and he tells them he had a dream that treasure was buried there. One of them says he also had a dream that treasure was buried under a tree at an abandoned church in Spain but that traveling across the desert would be too long and foolish to follow such a lark. The boy recognizes the church's description and returns to ultimately claim the treasure. His great gain was not in finding the treasure but in developing character and experience through the journey he embarked upon.

Religious elements from the major world religions are woven throughout the story. The boy had training in Christian studies so this is his base but he then works with and interacts with many Muslims so learns about their faith. Also ever present are the philosophies and teachings of Buddhism which seems to be the predominant current running through the book.

Even setting aside the religious elements, the story is a great lesson in seeking out goals and dreams and not settling for the status quo.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link
Article also posted at Helium.com.

Kansas Caucus

This weekend I went to the Kansas Republican caucus. It was my first time at a caucus and was interesting overall. A caucus differs from a primary election in that everyone voting comes together then listens to speakers promoting each candidate. After politicking and electioneering, each person casts their vote. There were tons of people at the site I went to in Overland Park, Kansas. The candidates with the most visible supporters were Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. People had all kinds of signs, shirts, stickers, and paraphernalia promoting their candidate.

This was also an assignment I completed for the Community Faces section of the Kansas City Star's online website Kansascity.com. As a service to Wisdom of Dre readers, a section in the column to the right has been added which provides links to the most recent photography assignements. Be sure to check them out and if for some reason you're interested in purchasing a picture for the low low price of $2.50, please do so. I'll get a massive paycheck of $0.63 per picture downloaded and purchased.

Bringing Down the House

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich

Is it really possible to beat the casino at black jack? This true story by Ben Mezrich chronicles how a team of MIT students studied Basic Strategy and developed an intricate queuing system designed to capitalize on favorable odds and ultimately win money from the house. The book reads like a suspense thriller novel with all kinds of twists and turns, mutiny, subterfuge, dark alleys, shady men in dark suits, complex video surveillance, private detectives, false identities and pretty much anything you've seen in your basic thriller centered around Vegas.

The story follows Kevin Lewis who begins as a straight A MIT engineering student and is recruited to be a member of the MIT black jack team. He learns how to count cards and determine ways to increase the probability of winning at blackjack. If played by oneself, a skilled card counter may have a 2% advantage over the house. But when working in tandem with a team, much larger returns can be made.

The teams used different role players such as spotters, gorillas, and big players. Spotters sit at a table and play the minimum bet while counting face cards and low cards. Low cards are 2 through 6 and receive a point value of positive 1 and high cards are 10 through Ace and receive a value of minus 1. The 7 through 9 cards have neutral value. Each time one of these cards is played the spotter either adds or subtracts from the total to determine the probability of drawing a high card. High cards favor the player over the house. So when the count gets high, the spotter signals the big player to come in and put down big money. This allows large bets with high probabilities of winning. The big player then leaves the table when the count drops back to unfavorable odds. In casino play, they commonly use 6 decks of cards at a time so the counter improves his or her ability of predicting favorable outcomes the deeper into the deck (or horseshoe) that the game goes. The best hand is if the player hits black jack or 21 which pays out 1.5 times the bet. By working as a team, wins are maximized. The system doesn't guarantee winning every time but over a long period of time allows for a good team to win and make lots of money.

The team would fly to Vegas on weekends strapped with as much as half a million dollars strapped to their bodies going through airports and play in the big casinos. Eventually the casinos began to notice patterns of players who consistently won and would ask them to leave to stop the outflow of money. Casinos hire private investigating firms to help identify cheaters and card counters. Eventually, the MIT team is found out and begins getting barred from playing in any casino. They try to circumvent this by developing disguises but these end up failing in time as well.

Some of the members of the team ended up walking away with hundreds of thousands of dollars up to as much or more than a million dollars in winnings over the course of a few years. Card counting is perfectly legal and is not considered cheating since it does not alter the outcome of the game. Casinos clearly do not like to lose money so try to limit losses by identifying card counters.

The amateur should not think he or she can emulate the success of these MIT students. They practiced and practiced countless hours and memorized charts, patterns, signaling systems, and dealt many many hands of Black Jack before even entering a casino. Keep in mind that they were also some of the most brilliant students at MIT which speaks for itself.

The reader should be cautioned that there is a good bit of graphic detail about the seedy side of Vegas, the gambling industry as a whole as well as some moderate violence. If the book were a movie, it would easily be rated R.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link.

Multiplication Trick

In the spirit of mathematical quirks, here is another trick. When mutiplying by 9, hold up both hands and put down the finger corresponding with the number you're multiplying by. Then count the number of fingers to the left and right of the finger that is down and you'll have the respective ten digit and single digit number for 9 times X. So for example if I were multiplying 9 x 7, I would hold down the index finger on my right hand. There are 6 fingers/thumbs to the left of the index finger which is down and 3 fingers to the right. So 9 x 7 according to our finger calculator is 63. Doing a little math by hand, if you will.

The Rule of 72

A quirky little mathematical trick you can use to determine how long it will take a sum of money to double is called the rule of 72. The way this works is say for example you put $1,000 into an investment growing at 8% per year. Divide 72 by 8 which is 9. This means that your investment would grow to approximately $2,000 in 9 years if growing at a rate of 8%. This formula will closely approximate the number of years for the majority of growth rates that are commonly seen. So a 10% growth rate would double an investment in roughly 7.2 years. It stops working when using exorbitant growth rates or very, very tiny growth rates.

More Than Enough

More Than Enough by Dave Ramsey

This book by Dave Ramsey has much of the same basic principles contained in his books Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover. The main difference comes in that More Than Enough is oriented towards his philosophy on life. The state of arriving at "More Than Enough" is the end goal for the path Ramsey encourages the reader to follow. This place does not necessarily mean material wealth but is more a state of consciousness and arrival at contentment. The way one arrives at "More Than Enough" is by taking ownership of contentment.

Ramsey says: "When you have contentment you can easily get out of debt. When you have contentment you can easily save and invest. When you are content it changes your giving habits and your relationships. When you are content it brings an inner strength that will push you into another zone. You are able to move fast or slow, and you are able to have patience or intensity when you are content. "

He further discusses this concept by talking about happiness and what it is and what it's not. He says, "Happiness that is dependent on someone else's actions or on the purchase of stuff is not real happiness, and chasing happiness there shows you haven't reached true contentment." This can be so difficult to remember as we go through life and are constantly bombarded with advertising and media trying to convince us we need something bigger or better. Our own human nature also gets in the way of this and can prevent true happiness and contentment by a “gotta have a little bit more or a little bit better” mentality.

The main sections focus on topics such as goal setting, having patience, being accountable to others, discipline, and being generous with one's time and resources.

A feature of the book that is also present in Financial Peace is the "Thoughts from Sharon" section in which Dave's wife Sharon provides some of her insights on the preceding topic. This helps to add color and a slightly different feel to the book than if it were absent. Another component included from the other books is the financial planning forms. These allow the reader to walk through his or her current financial situation and determine net worth, budgeting, paying off debt, planning ahead for big purchases, and generally arriving at a state of financial peace. Another similar component to Financial Peace is the inclusion of steps at the end of each chapter which summarize the key concepts. In More Than Enough , Dave terms them “Keys to the More Than Enough mansion.”

Much of the material is repeated from the other books but it does move beyond the strict focus on money and financial decisions. The order of Ramsey’s books that I recommend is first Financial Peace followed by The Total Money Makeover and then More Than Enough.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link.