Let’s be for real: money is important. It’s nice to think it’s not important, but it is.
But it’s not the only thing that’s important.
Lance Armstrong in the audiobook Every Second Counts states that all that having a lot of money meant was that they didn’t have to worry about money anymore. In fact, sometimes having a lot of money also means an increase in stress and responsibility.
To me, what’s really important, no matter how well or not well my investments go, is just doing the right thing, and being who you are.
It’s really not just about dollars.
I’m writing this at Good to Grill, a local eatery in Honolulu that I would likely never have frequented except for Twitter.
I just finished off their $9.99 prime rib special for lunch on a weekend–that I would not have heard of if not for Twitter.
Earlier today, I gave some tech support over Twitter. And I heard about 4 gigabyte flash drives for $10 at WalMart on Twitter.
There’s a lot of financial power in my life afforded to Twitter.
I’m still delving through mom’s finances as I try to figure out what she’s been paying for and how to streamline the processes. I’m finding interesting if not totally surprising issues and been able to cut a few dollars here and there.
Some observations:
Mom would pay everything with a check that she could; the only exception is at the supermarket where she’ll use her debit card.
Mom would also send those checks through the mail.
Mom would rather pay regularly (like every month) than once a year, even if paying by the year would offer a discount.
Mom would rather be ahead in payments–sometimes months ahead–rather than pay right on time.
Some of these have already been changed.
For instance, anything I can charge, I will–think card timing–and things I can’t, I’ll pay online, provided it doesn’t cost me anything to make those payments. I’ll take any discount they will give–even if it means I need to let her newspaper subscription lapse and start one in my own name to get that discount. I try to avoid stamps whenever possible, which helps to keep the costs down. And there’s no way I would pay in advance.
It’s interesting so far, and it’s also taking more time and energy than I want it to. I’m hoping that this gets more efficient soon.
I recently took over my mother’s finances, so in addition to my own, I have a whole other person’s income, expenses, and assets to look over.
In a few words: it could have been more of a mess.
The first steps of all of this happened years ago when my father died after a stroke. I’m listed on some of my mother’s accounts and my sister is listed on the rest. As a side note: if you’re concerned about long range planning for the elderly or those with health problems, doing that as well as completing advance health care directives will put you ahead of 80% of the people in the country.
The next steps were assessing the general situation. This is not unlike anyone else’s situation: how much money in the bank, how much income, what do expenses look like? All of those questions need to be answered. Also, bills that are excessive or expenses that could be trimmed are things I’m trying to find.
In mom’s situation, she’s still largely glued to the tried and true old school method of using checks and the U.S. mail to pay bills. I’m going to be changing that as time goes on.
As time goes on I’ll be adding to this series because I’m sure I’m going to find things that are going to be surprising–and things I’ll learn from.
Professionally, my colleagues often say I am very conscious of ethics. I take this as a compliment.
Similarly, despite my desire for frugality, I try to be ethical doing it.
There are times when frugality can be unethical. For instance, borrowing a neighbor’s WiFi is (at least some places) illegal, but definitely not ethical. What about using the WiFi from a McDonalds or a Starbucks without paying for an item there?
Or, for instance, needing a piece of equipment for one event, buying it, then returning it for a full refund after the event is over?
I will admit that I have done some of these things, at least in the past. This week I actually even had the thought come through my head to go to a local cellular phone company, sign up for a mobile hotspot, use it for an event this Wednesday, then return it for a refund.
But that would not be the right thing to do.
So yes, there are ethics with frugality.
British Petroleum is the company at the center of a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not clear yet what the extent will be of the environmental, financial, and other effects will be, but it’s clear this is not a great thing.
In response, BP’s stock price has nosedived, and more and more consumers, disappointed with their response, are shunning their retail gas stations.
Since the April 20, 2010 explosion which resulted in the deaths of eleven people, the stock has lost 55% of its value, the company has suspended its dividend, the spill is still going on, and the company has lost tons of goodwill.
It’s possible that this would be a fine buy at the reduced price, but given all of their issues and their poor response to the incident, I’m reluctant to buy this stock.
I booked flights for my mother and aunt to go to Seattle on Thursday for five days to attend my late aunt’s funeral. The total was a bit over $1,000. Arrangements for housing were made with the family, so my mom and aunt will stay with my uncle. It is traditional for those from Hawai’i to give money at funerals, and since my uncle gave $1,000 when my father passed away, my mother wished to reciprocate in kind.
She also wanted me to send her to Seattle with $5,000 total.
I told her this was an exorbitant amount given the fact that her ticket was paid for and she would not have housing or transportation expenses otherwise, so I sent her there with $2,500.
Granted this is not a vacation, but how much would you take on a trip of this length?
As I blogged the other day, my aunt in Seattle passed away, somewhat unexpectedly.
I don’t know that part of my mom’s family really well, since they live so far away (and I have never been to the Pacific Northwest) but my mom does, and she is going up for the funeral. Only problem: she doesn’t have the cash to do it.
So that’s where I come in with my emergency fund. I think that is, indeed, a true emergency.
A four figure amount later, my mom and aunt who live here have tickets to get to Seattle and enough spending money for close to a week’s stay.
Still, the issue isn’t having the money right now. The issue is paying it back into the fund–and hoping I don’t face another emergency until that’s done.
It’s quite possible they could be going bankrupt. In an interesting story, Blockbuster (BBI) has gone from virtually eliminating the local small video store (except for pornography, which Blockbuster won’t carry–and that part of the local small video store’s business was largely eliminated b, ironically, the Internet) to being eliminated by mail delivery and the Internet.
The video rental business in America has changed drastically. VHS tapes are essentially dead. DVDs are slowly giving way to Blu-Ray (after a protracted war with HD-DVD) but is facing stiff competition from streaming online services. Netflix’s initial business model of DVDs by mail is still going strong (their stock has absolutely soared in recent months) but where they’ve really hit home is with their online streaming video. Redbox is doing pretty well with their $1 kiosks. Blockbuster’s brick and mortar stores are not doing so well.
I know many folks who are using Netflix’s streaming service. I’ve yet to hear of a single person using Blockbuster’s On Demand competitor.
I’m a bit concerned that Blockbuster is soon to go the way of Circuit City and CompUSA.
The Honolulu Advertiser, one of Honolulu’s two daily newspapers, is closing its doors today after 154 years. It is now being merged with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the other daily, and will be known as the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
I have a lot of friends who work in the newspaper business locally, so this directly affects them (and indirectly, me). It’s been known for some time that newspapers are in trouble–the largely free content of the Web combined with low (if not free) advertising on Craigslist has taken away both subscribers and advetisers–the top two sources of income for newspapers.
On one hand, newspapers have always had a social mission for their readers, but on the other hand, newspapers are also businesses, and if businesses can’t make money, they won’t stay in business.
I’m not sure I would say that newspapers are dead men walking, but if I was going to choose a profession right now, it wouldn’t be journalism.
