As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and more!

May 2006

Verdicts for Enron’s Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling

by Luke Landes

If you haven’t heard already, the verdicts were passed down for Ken Lay (who, at the left, looks a bit like Colin Mochrie) and Jeffrey Skilling’s involvement in the “Enron debacle.” The best coverage is probably over at the Houston Chronicle, so take a look over there to have any questions answered. By the way, ... Continue reading this article…

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Thank You For Supporting The Troops (of the Spanish-American War)

by Luke Landes

Good news! The Spanish-American War is over. Mission accomplished! We can now stop paying the government for it. There has been a 3 percent tax added to long distance telephone service charges since 1898, before income tax took effect. The funds from this tax were used to pay for that particular war. While it seems from ... Continue reading this article…

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Six Steps to Being Your Own Boss, Part 3

by Luke Landes

I’ve been developing a series about becoming your own boss, and this is part 3 in that series. The information is based on an article from MSN, but I’m pulling in information from other locations as well. Step 3: Fight Inexperience With Advice Step one was to gain experience. It will still be difficult for ... Continue reading this article…

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News Items

by Luke Landes

I haven’t had time to write lately, but here are some news articles that caught my eye in the last few days. Hedge your portfolio against inflation, which is trucking along at 3.5 percent. Here are the 100 fastest growing tech companies. I like Red Hat and SanDisk in the top five. How about a living ... Continue reading this article…

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Six Steps to Being Your Own Boss, Part 2

by Luke Landes

Yesterday, I wrote about the first step to being your own boss, gaining experience. Working for oneself is a dream many people in this country have, and here is the second step for reaching that goal, according to MSN. Step 2: Build A Winning Team The article says that you should find people whose skills ... Continue reading this article…

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Strong Hurricane Season Approaching

by Luke Landes

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting a very active hurricane season (June 1 through November 30) this year. The organization is encouraging people living in the affected areas to begin preparations. For the 2006 north Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA is predicting 13 to 16 named storms, with eight to 10 becoming hurricanes, ... Continue reading this article…

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Six Steps to Being Your Own Boss, Part 1

by Luke Landes

Many people dream about not having to answer to someone else’s rules, not having to rely on someone else for income, and not getting the hated response to any question, “You should just be happy to have a job.” The dreamer who wishes for an existence free from these shackles wants to be his or ... Continue reading this article…

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Tom Hanks to Help Blu-Ray’s Success

by Luke Landes

I saw this tidbit thanks to pfblogs.org and the Japan Stock Blog, part of the Seeking Alpha Network. Ever since the two next-generation video disc formats, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD were announced, I was pulling for Sony‘s Blu-Ray to come out on top, simply because it allowed for more storage space and fewer security features. Sony ... Continue reading this article…

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Quicken Fanatics

by Luke Landes

Over a year ago, I switched from Microsoft Money to Intuit Quicken for managing and recording my personal finances. I wouldn’t call myself a fanatic of either software. Neither one is perfect and does everything the way I want. There are people out there who are Quicken fanatics. According to one site, there is a ... Continue reading this article…

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Money Stats for Twentysomethings

by Luke Landes

A feature on MSN Money looks at finances of people in their twenties. The feature includes statistics such as median net worth, median income, percentage owning homes, etc. with which you can compare yourself if you happen to be in this particular demographic. At age 29, I was doing well compared to these averages, but ... Continue reading this article…

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Time for Student Loan Consolidation

by Luke Landes

It’s time again for everybody’s favorite game show, Let’s Raise Student Loan Interest Rates! I’m your host, Guy Smiley. At the end of last year, Congress announced that student loan interest rates would increase on July 1, 2006. That day is quickly approaching. The increase is going to be significant. Stafford Loans will have an ... Continue reading this article…

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Carnival is Up!

by Luke Landes

The Carnival of Personal Finance #49 is up at Frugal for Life. Dawn did a nice job of presenting the Carnival in a newspaper-like format. I liked Beware of Mortgage “Rescue” Firms, Your Money or Your Wife, and Here Comes Medical Quicken. Next week’s Carnival of Personal Finance will be hosted by Madame X at ... Continue reading this article…

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Suze Orman’s Money Smarts Quiz for Graduates

by Luke Landes

I’m not exactly a Suze Orman fan. I find her unnecessarily rude to callers on her television show, and I don’t always agree with her advice. However, she has something worth mentioning every so often. For example, last year, I live-blogged her Young, Fabulous, and Broke special on PBS. On Yahoo Finance, Suze has created ... Continue reading this article…

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Da Vinci Code is Second Largest Worldwide Release

by Luke Landes

Did you see The Da Vinci Code? I didn’t see it, but apparently a lot of other people did around the world. It was the second largest worldwide release, following Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The movie earned high numbers in spite of numerous protests around the world. The other day, I passed a ... Continue reading this article…

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Chicago Tribune Mentions Personal Finance Blogs

by Luke Landes

Carolyn Bigda with the Chicago Tribune‘s Your Money feature, mentioned a few personal finance blogs in an article yesterday. Blog writers, many of whom shield their identity, say it’s easier to discuss their finances online than with friends… Readers, in turn, benefit from seeing how peers with similar financial goals go about managing their money. ... Continue reading this article…

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Good and Bad for Barbaro After Preakness and Surgery

by Luke Landes

If you were concerned, it looks like Barbaro, a Kentucky Debry-winning horse that competed in the Preakness Stakes, is faring well after his surgery. Apparently his long-term prospects are less certain; the article gives Barbaro a 50 percent chance of surviving. I don’t like those odds. The strapping 3-year-old colt sustained “life-threatening injuries” Saturday when he ... Continue reading this article…

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Buying My Way In Shape

by Luke Landes

In January, I wrote about one of my goals for this year: getting in shape. Now that I’ve posted a recent photograph of myself, you can see that getting in shape is a worthwhile issue. My lifestyle is sedentary, involving a large amount of sitting at computers and driving (commuting). My girlfriend already expressed interest ... Continue reading this article…

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From Other Blogs

by Luke Landes

Here is what others in the MoneyBlogNetwork (and beyond) have been writing about this week. Free Money Finance says stop talking and start listening to do well in job interviews. JLP at AllFinancialMatters wonders if anyone has heard of this scam involving letters and stocks. Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity points out that appliances ... Continue reading this article…

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Investing in Banks is Boring But Sexy

by Luke Landes

Fortune Magazine is happy about bank stocks, and it comes down to dividends. The dividends bank stocks pay to their shareholders beat the averages and increase every year, far above the rate of inflation. Presumably banks can offer this because they don’t necessarily need to reinvest earnings in much research and development, like a technology ... Continue reading this article…

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Flexo on Mulholland Drive, Overlooking the Valley

by Luke Landes

To satisfy curious minds, here is what I looked like last month while in California on vacation. Behind me is a view of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, and the photograph is taken from a viewpoint along the famous Mulholland Drive.

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