Author Archives: Money Reasons

About Money Reasons

A offbeat personal finance blogger that comes from the tech world.

Financial Benefits of Having a Fuel-Efficient Car

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Are you thinking about buying a new car, or perhaps you are buying your very first car?

Well, I’m here to remind you to take into consideration the financial benefits of having a fuel-efficient family car as a viable, prudent option!  Personally, I know that in the past, I at one time would just looked at the total price tag when buying cars as the primary basis of my purchasing decisions, (much to my chagrin).  Today, a more “wiser” me, take many more variables into by buying decisions.

Today gas prices are incredible high!  In fact gas prices are so high that as a car buyer, you must take into account the financial benefits of having a fuel-efficient car versus just buying the cheapest option.  Oh sure, the fuel-efficient car will be more expensive out of the gate, but after a few years, the fuel-efficient car will usually be the winner!

Honda Accord

Honda Accord

In may ways the fuel-efficient car versus the cheaper, maybe used car is much like the race between the tortoise and the hare!  At the beginning of the race the hare (the cheaper car) is way ahead, but after a few laps and many gas station refills later, the tortoise manages to catchup and pass the hare in terms of overall financial benefit!

Now that you know that after a few years, the fuel-efficient car beats the used or gas guzzling car, let me list a few additional benefits of a fuel-efficient car!

  • More than likely, the fuel-efficient car will be newer and possible under a warranty.
  • Hopefully the new car will be much cleaner without any odd previous owner smells (did they smoke?).
  • The repairs of a newer fuel-efficient car will be minimal and in the unlikely even such a repair is necessary, it’s covered by the warranty!
  • Since the fuel-efficient car is newer, it should look nicer and be more in tune with your individual taste in car styles.
  • And let’s not forget, less trips to the gas station!  In my case (yes I’m looking for a new car), it would literally cut my gas station visits down by half.  In the winter months, this is truly a reward in and of itself!
  • And finally there is handling, comfort, looks and pride of having a new fuel-efficient car since you’ll be helping the environment in your own personal way!

In a future post, I’ll break down the math, but for now it’s worth it to note that my gas expense would be cut in half with the new fuel-efficient car for the family, when compared to my existing vehicle.

 

Bests,

Don

Are Laptops and Smart Devices Worth It?

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By now, if you read my site, you know that I’m about acquiring assets that make money!  But one grey area that I think it worth considering is electronics!  My question is:  Are laptops and smart devices money losers?

In my particular case, I own a laptop that has enabled me to do work in places that I wouldn’t have though that it would be possible!  For example, I was able to crank out a few posts at my local drive-in!  During the movie “Ice Age something”, I was able to crank out articles while the family enjoyed the movie!  Normally, that would be a waste of my time, but with my handy laptop, I was able to pretty much ignore the movie and get my work done!  Actually, my laptop has made me both a more versatile and mobile person!  I’ve written many an article at libraries, coffee shops and while being inconvenienced while waiting from something (like doctor visits).

Apple iPhone

Smart devices make it possible

I find it very refreshing that I’m productive while at these locations (especially the doctor’s office).  Time is valuable, so why waste it!

So in my case, I think my laptop has more than paid for itself, and even though it will be obsolete in a few years, I think it was definitely worth the cost!  I’m very satisfied with my purchase.

Now onto smart phones…  I currently don’t have one (other than the one provided by work), but they are probably similar to my laptop.  In fact, I’m positive that I would use my phone for tweeting and other forms of socialization!  That said, I sure I wouldn’t be able to do the in-depth type of work I can do with my laptop, so I’m not 100% sure that a cell phone would be worth the costs (especially the monthly charge).  One could make the case that it would be cheaper to buy a smart device and use a wireless router for talking at home or common hot points.  Then buy a cheap phone for actually talking (or IMing).

Another problem about smart phones is that the technology is obsolete much more quickly than my laptop.  It seems like smart phones have a life span of about 1.5 years, and they cost as much as my laptop!  Still I see that they can have value, but not near as much as my laptop does!

Do you think that my justification is flawed?  Are they making you money or wasting your time?

Bests,

Don

 

 

Using the Right Tool For The Job

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Having the Right Tool For The Job

I don’t consider myself a wimpy man by any means, but last summer what I was working to replace the rotor on my front braking system, I couldn’t for the life of me, get a nut off.  Now matter how hard I pulled or pushed or how many of the tricks I tried, the nut wouldn’t budge!  At one point in desperation I even took a hammer and was taping the wrench handle with it, trying to get the nut to loosen.  I know this was a dumb move, but I tried it anyway, realizing that there might be the possibility that the screw that the nut was on might break.  Still it wouldn’t budge!  This is when I learned that instead of “brute forcing” a problem, to instead use the right tool for the job to make the task quicker and easier!

Finally, I was telling a friend at work and he said why not just go to Autozone and borrow a breaker bar?  A breaker bar is a swiveling socket attached to handle the length of a small broom!  Sure enough, I borrowed that (Autozone has a great policy about such things), and with just a bit of pressure applied, sure enough the nut twisted off like it was taken off the day before (which obviously it wasn’t, lol).

breaker bar

My experience ended well, but such is not always the case!  I was luck to have a friend with a great suggestion about I tool I forgot about and never used previously.  But back when I worked for a construction company, I saw something that task that ended up being an expensive operation for another construction company.

You see there were two building that were fairly close to one another and something between them needed dug out to be fixed or replaced.  While I was working with the construction company that I was working for at the time, I noticed a few guy daily going into this narrow strip and digging and wheelbarrowing out loads after loads of dirt.  It look like a hard process and they were still working on it the construction job we were working on was finished.  I remember thinking there must be an easier, quicker way of going that task.  Later, I was looking through a magazine and came across something called mini excavators.

mini excavator

mini excavator

 

These handy little machines would have been perfect for the task that I saw the other company’s construction men working at.  I think if it were me, I would have rented one of those bad boy mini excavators and did the job in 1 day with just 1 guy doing the job (or maybe two days at the max).

Now I understand that planning and a little bit of research can you find the tools to make a job smoother, better looking, and less labor intensive!

I guess my stories could be summarized as “look before you leap”, meaning get the right tool for the job before you start the job!

Best,

Don

 

Is The New York Government Extortionists?

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Asking the question “Is The New York Government Extortionists” actually saddens me quite a bit.

Here is the problem, the New York Attorney General is displaying bullying like behavior, and actually stands to benefit financially by going after financial firms.  Now if a company is crooked, I say go for it, but I’ve seen them go after quite a few companies that were innocent and even stalwarts in the financial industry, and any reasonable person with common sense would be able to see that their lawsuits don’t make sense.

Let’s take their most recent lawsuit against JPMorgan…  JPMorgan (which is one of the few companies that really didn’t need to take a bailout and runs a pretty tight ship overall, excluding the London whale fluke) was a savior during the “Great Recession”, taking a bailout that it didn’t need, and acquiring obviously toxic assets (from Bears and Sterns) to save the economy.  They weren’t bottom feeding, the were acting in the best interest of American and doing their part to save the country!  The government came to them (since the government realized that JPMorgan was solid) and asked JPMorgan to basically help save the economy, which JPMorgan did (actually the original JP Morgan has a history of saving the country, check out this article: Panic of 1907: J.P. Morgan Saves the Day).

So basically, JPMorgan was a critical element that help divert a financial systemic collapse of the economy!  They took the broken company Bears and Stern, and basically worked on fixing the problem with that company, and at a loss to boot!

Now the New York Government, who by all accounts should know that the Bears and Stern executives aren’t managing the toxic assets anymore, and obviously have to know that JPMorgan company is like a hero to the country, are attacking the saviors, one of the saviors of the “Great Recession”!

To me, it looks like such a government offices are crooked and acting like extortionist!  Perhaps honor really is dead, at least in the New York government system?  To me they seem cold and unappreciative!  To use an analogy, it’s like a person starving, ready to die, JPMorgan (Jaime Dimon) give that person food and shelter, then that person (much like New York) assaults and robs their house!

I have to admit, it really makes me question the intelligence and logic of the government in New York.  I wonder if they don’t understand that the executives that ran Bears and Sterns was the problem, not the JPMorgan management team?  Shoot, I even wonder if they are rational humans?  They sure don’t appear to be on the surface.

Jaime Dimon and JPMorgan didn’t have to pick up the Bears and Stern’s toxic assets!  And after such an attack said he probably wouldn’t do so in the future if the government asked him to do it again!  Read his full comments here: JPMorgan’s Dimon hits back at government over Bear Stearns suit!

Mr. Dimon, having foresight even back then, said the following to those government folks asking him to buy the poisonous Bears and Stern’s assets:

Dimon went on to recount how he warned a senior regulator at the time of the deal to “please take into consideration when you want to come after us down the road for something that Bear Stearns did, that JPMorgan was asked to do this by the federal government.”

He added that JPMorgan, which will report its third-quarter earnings on Friday, will come out fine in the end. But if he is ever put in a similar position again, he said he “wouldn’t do it.”

“I’m a big boy. I’ll survive,” he said. “But I think the government should think twice before they punish business every single time things go wrong.”

To me, this is just another way the government is taking money from the shareholders and putting it in their own coffers.  I honestly think that it’s an invisible tax or a form of extortion!  I say extortion because most companies settle out of court because it’s cheaper that way.

What do you think?  Isn’t it unjust when a government attacks companies because they know that the can extort money out of them in the form of a settlement?  Please tell me if I’m missing something about JPMorgan?

Don