I just found a random ad from a place called Uncommon Wisdom: Extraordinary Insights For Growing Your Wealth (I'm not endorsing them at all, just naming the source of this information). Basically this is a place wanting me to buy gold. But they don’t want me to buy just any gold, they want me to buy Austrian 100 Corona and Hungarian 100 Korona coins. Having never heard of these particular coins a quick internet search revealed that Corona/Korona were gold coins minted by the Austro-Hungarian empire staring in the late 1800s, composing of 90% gold by mass.
The reason to buy these particular coins, according to this ad, is because they are lesser known than more traditional gold coins such as American Eagles, or Maple Leafs, or Pandas and therefore do not command the same price premiums above spot as other bullion coins. While this may be true, it is also the biggest drawback. If you do intend to buy gold as an investment or bartering tool in the event the world goes to pot, you could theoretically purchase more grams of gold in the form of Corona/Korona coins for the same amount of money as Eagles, etc. However, because these coins are lesser known you will never be able to sell them for the same price as an equivalent gold mass of the others. And if the world does indeed go to pot, it would be unlikely that you’ll be able to barter with 100+ year-old gold coins that no one recognizes.
If someone were to buy gold for the sake of owning gold in the form of coins, something like this may be the way to go. However, know that any savings you would get by buying lesser known coins will also result in less profits whenever you decide to sell said coins. But most importantly, I would recommend NEVER buying any sort of investment (or anything else for that matter) from unsolicited ads showing up in your mailbox, either physical or electronic. Talk to a local coin dealer for more information about coins if you intend to buy coins, always shop around for the best prices, and make sure you are dealing with someone reputable.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Being Patient Pays
I found this video on YouTube and found that it makes some good points about buying cars. There is very little financial sense in purchasing a brand new vehicle. A better idea would be to purchase a slightly used vehicle (around a year old, with under 15K miles) for 20-25% less than the original price. This video below has a similar idea.
The part that is glaring to me is the average car payment of $464, which is slightly more than I pay for rent each month. The video also makes some assumptions, such as getting a 12% return on your money that you've invested in mutual funds. Yes, statistically the stock market has averaged around 12% in the long term, but saving for 10 months, 20 months, or even a few years hardly seems very long term to me so you might be looking at lower returns on your money in the short term. Other than that, it's a solid idea that would do wonders for most long-term budgets.
The part that is glaring to me is the average car payment of $464, which is slightly more than I pay for rent each month. The video also makes some assumptions, such as getting a 12% return on your money that you've invested in mutual funds. Yes, statistically the stock market has averaged around 12% in the long term, but saving for 10 months, 20 months, or even a few years hardly seems very long term to me so you might be looking at lower returns on your money in the short term. Other than that, it's a solid idea that would do wonders for most long-term budgets.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Cheaper Air Travel
Personal Financial Advice has a guide on how to get bumped from an overbooked flight. With a little bit of preplanning you can fly for free virtually anywhere. With Christmas travel this time of year, this could be useful to score some free plane tickets.
Read the full article here. The basic summary is to try to get tickets that are overbooked and let the ticketing agents know early that you will volunteer to give up your seat in exchange for a seat on the next flight, and a travel voucher for another flight.
Read the full article here. The basic summary is to try to get tickets that are overbooked and let the ticketing agents know early that you will volunteer to give up your seat in exchange for a seat on the next flight, and a travel voucher for another flight.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
McDonald's Sandwiches
McDonald’s, my favorite source of fast-food based breakfasts, currently has their Sausage McMuffin on sale for $1. This would be very good for me, except for one problem, I really enjoy the Sausage McMuffin with Egg sandwich much more than its eggless cousin. The Sausage McMuffin with Egg sandwich is still priced at $2.49 (or $2.59 at some locations around here), that’s $1.49 simply for an egg fried into the shape of a patty. That’s roughly half the price of a dozen free-range, organic, large, AA grade eggs from Amazon Fresh.
Being my usual, frugal self I asked how much it cost for the egg patty by itself. Those are 65¢. So I ordered a few of the $1 Sausage McMuffins and an equal number of egg patties. I saved 84¢, plus tax, per sandwich just by adding the egg myself.
McDonald’s would be making 84¢ additional profit by paying an employee to put that egg on my sandwich. Assuming a very slow employee takes 15 seconds to get an egg from the warming box and place it on a sandwich, and that employee has no other job requirements during the breakfast rush, that egg placer would be generating $201.60 in value per hour, minus the cost of the eggs and the local minimum wage as their pay.
Me, with experience working in very high-volume, fast-food production could probably do that egg placement in 3-4 seconds, generating 4-5x the value per hour. If they were to offer me $100 per hour I could probably bring myself to inserting myself in the machine known as the McDonald’s kitchen. Sadly, I do not believe there are any fast-food restaurants in this area that receive the volume of business required to keep me completely busy during the breakfast hours.
This is not an endorsement of McDonald’s as either a healthy meal option, nor as a good value for your money. Their breakfast food merely tastes good to me, and therefore I am writing about my experience.
Being my usual, frugal self I asked how much it cost for the egg patty by itself. Those are 65¢. So I ordered a few of the $1 Sausage McMuffins and an equal number of egg patties. I saved 84¢, plus tax, per sandwich just by adding the egg myself.
McDonald’s would be making 84¢ additional profit by paying an employee to put that egg on my sandwich. Assuming a very slow employee takes 15 seconds to get an egg from the warming box and place it on a sandwich, and that employee has no other job requirements during the breakfast rush, that egg placer would be generating $201.60 in value per hour, minus the cost of the eggs and the local minimum wage as their pay.
Me, with experience working in very high-volume, fast-food production could probably do that egg placement in 3-4 seconds, generating 4-5x the value per hour. If they were to offer me $100 per hour I could probably bring myself to inserting myself in the machine known as the McDonald’s kitchen. Sadly, I do not believe there are any fast-food restaurants in this area that receive the volume of business required to keep me completely busy during the breakfast hours.
This is not an endorsement of McDonald’s as either a healthy meal option, nor as a good value for your money. Their breakfast food merely tastes good to me, and therefore I am writing about my experience.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Who Profits When You Buy Gas?
How much money does the oil company make per gallon of gas sold? Let’s find out.
For this calculation I am using ExxonMobil, since I have their 2008 annual report sitting on my desktop at the moment. In 2008, ExxonMobil had total revenues of $477.36 billion. Of that, they paid $36.53 billion in taxes (≈7.65%) and had net profits of $45.22 billion (≈9.47% margin). Using these figures, we’ll calculate the profit on the average gallon of gas sold in Washington State assuming the sale cost is $2.999 per gallon.
Assuming we buy one gallon of gas for $2.999 at an ExxonMobil gas station:
18.4¢ is paid to the Federal government in fuel taxes
37.5¢ is paid to the State of Washington in fuel taxes
I do not believe we pay sales tax on top of the fuel tax (I could be wrong), and I am assuming no additional, local taxes are added to the bill.
After these taxes are subtracted from the original $2.999 sale, ExxonMobil keeps $2.44 per gallon. They then pay an average of $0.187 in state and federal taxes on that revenue, the 7.65% calculated above. ExxonMobil will spend $2.253 per gallon in operating expenses; drilling or buying crude oil, refining the oil into gasoline, transporting to the gas station, operating the gas station, etc. That leaves the 9.47% margin calculated above, or $0.231 per gallon.
When the governments make more than three times as much per gallon of gas as the oil company does, I think we have a problem. The government isn’t doing the work, yet they are receiving the most financial benefit. I see a problem that must be corrected. And the inmates that are currently running the asylum think the "evil" oil companies aren't paying their fair share? What is "their fair share"?
For this calculation I am using ExxonMobil, since I have their 2008 annual report sitting on my desktop at the moment. In 2008, ExxonMobil had total revenues of $477.36 billion. Of that, they paid $36.53 billion in taxes (≈7.65%) and had net profits of $45.22 billion (≈9.47% margin). Using these figures, we’ll calculate the profit on the average gallon of gas sold in Washington State assuming the sale cost is $2.999 per gallon.
Assuming we buy one gallon of gas for $2.999 at an ExxonMobil gas station:
18.4¢ is paid to the Federal government in fuel taxes
37.5¢ is paid to the State of Washington in fuel taxes
I do not believe we pay sales tax on top of the fuel tax (I could be wrong), and I am assuming no additional, local taxes are added to the bill.
After these taxes are subtracted from the original $2.999 sale, ExxonMobil keeps $2.44 per gallon. They then pay an average of $0.187 in state and federal taxes on that revenue, the 7.65% calculated above. ExxonMobil will spend $2.253 per gallon in operating expenses; drilling or buying crude oil, refining the oil into gasoline, transporting to the gas station, operating the gas station, etc. That leaves the 9.47% margin calculated above, or $0.231 per gallon.
When the governments make more than three times as much per gallon of gas as the oil company does, I think we have a problem. The government isn’t doing the work, yet they are receiving the most financial benefit. I see a problem that must be corrected. And the inmates that are currently running the asylum think the "evil" oil companies aren't paying their fair share? What is "their fair share"?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
More Cheap Eats
Although getting good prices on groceries is always rewarding, it doesn't beat getting fresh produce from your own garden. Whether you have a large garden in your yard for growing, or grow plants in pots by the window, anyone can garden. Fresh veggies from your own garden also contain no synthetic fertilizers or pesticide residues, unless of course, you added them yourself.
A quick guide to maximize your garden harvest can be found here.
A quick guide to maximize your garden harvest can be found here.
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