Category Archives: Experiment

Christmas Tipping 2016

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Christmas Tipping

In prior years around Christmas, I normally tip waitresses (and even some waiters) extra money at the beginning of November through the end of December.  There were times when my tip was as large as my total bill.  Looking back I’m curious if the servers may have thought that I was paying my bill that way and not leaving a tip all…

Merry Christmas

The problem with leaving 5 to 10 dollar tips is that it’s not that impactful and probably gets absorbed by the servers without providing much benefit for the waitress or waiter, so this year as an experiment, I tried a different approach.  To be honest, it grew out of the desire to tip a Subway worker $50 because she reminded me so much of my daughter and I really enjoyed chatting with her.  Ironically, before I was able to tip her, she had quit working at the sub shop but I decided to continue with what I have planned anyway.

So instead of giving one girl (she was seventeen) $50, I gave my next two favorites employees at the sub shop each $20.  The seemed happy at the time and I explained how I’m kind of “passing it forward” from when I was a kid (which really did happen when I was a bag-boy at a grocery store).  I still kept the fifty dollars in my wallet though, just in case I might run into the girl who reminded me so much of my daughter.  But then at a different restaurant I frequent, one of the females (she’s at least in her 20s) was ripped off when she got a new cellphone and plan.  This touched me because she was a nice young woman and seemed to be taking it hard.  So after leaving I came back to that restaurant and told her my story about being tipped as a kid at Christmas and the I was “passing it forward” concept to her.  While it didn’t cover the amount she got ripped off by the unscrupulous cell phone company employee, it seemed to cheer her up a bit.

This year is odd in that in the past I’ve mainly given out extra money to waitresses, but this year I actually didn’t tip any extra money to waitresses other than the standard 20 to 25%.  The reason I didn’t is because mainly I’ve been on a special diet where I mostly eat at Subway instead of a sit-down restaurant.  This was an expensive year, so I’m glad that I was still able to do this at the level that I did it.

My giving goal n 2017 is to give out an even $100!

Hope you enjoyed this new Christmas tradition that I’ve been doing for the past 4 or 5 years!

Don

 

The Hurdles With Helping Others Financially

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I’m all about experimenting, I guess it’s the scientist in me that keeps trying to break out of my work life that consists of a repeating grind that is way too familiar.

Recently, I decided to try a new financial experiment where I would take an attractive female or male (mostly female because I’m not a good judge of what an attractive male is), and try to teach that person what I know and set them on a course of action that would improve their financial well being. The person that I would teach would have to be willing and have capabilities beyond just good looks, so I’d have to delve a bit deeper than the surface.

So I’ve been on the lookout and came up with an idea where I would even provide the potential person with a small income stream via working for me as a contributing author to my blog. The small income stream was a side effect of another experiment that I will mention at a later date. While not much, I calculated that I would be able to provide about $40 weekly, at least at first. The idea would be that this could balloon up to something much bigger, independent of my involvement.

Most middle-class kids wouldn’t be interested in my proposal, and although I could probably find many potential candidates at local colleges in my area, I decided to hit the bars first.  The idea that a young full-time bartender would not be going to college and probably wouldn’t have the upbringing that a typical middle-class kid would have.  So while not exactly needier, the individual wouldn’t be trained in the same financial principles as the college kids probably had.  And so, that where I come to the crux of this article “The hurdles with helping others financially“.

Hurdle 1.  Approaching Potential Individuals

I decided to approach young females first.  The problem with approaching young females in a bar is that they would think that I’m hitting on them.  So often time the female bartenders are on guard and don’t really trust me, at least in a short time-frame.  If I were to attend a bar for a long time (maybe 1 year), then they might trust me, but until such a relationship exists, it’s would be hard to extend such an offer (especially with very attractive female bartenders).  I have to admit, it’s hard for me to crack this egg, and I’m not a very outgoing person by nature.

Hurdle 2.  Lack of Fun Factor

Part of the experiment would be to teach the individual what I’ve learned and in the short term, provide a very small additional income stream.  The problem is that bartending is probably pretty fun in contrast, so why would they want to try my experiment.  They don’t know what I know, so they might not see much benefit in trying what I would like to try.  I think if you don’t know that there is another way, you might be apt not to try any such suggestions.  I guess what I’m saying is it’s hard to believe when you don’t have the exposure to such a thing.  For all I know, perhaps it’s like believing in Fairy Tales?

Hurdle 3.  Perseverance and Follow-thru

What I would be teaching would require a lot of skills and disciplines that my target might not possess currently.  The individual would have to do all of the following:  Believe that it’s possible, have the perseverance to not cash your accumulated money, and stick to a strict wealth-building routine.  Continue with the program that I would set up for them, even when I wouldn’t be there to offer encouragement.  Perhaps by teaching understanding and coolness towards money, this hurdle might be overcome with some hard work?

The above are some of the main hurdles I would face with this experiment.  I’m sure that I can provide benefit to others, but I might have to reconsider my candidate pool.

In the meantime, I’m running out of bars and bartenders…

More to come hopefully,

Don

Dividend Stocks, Free Lunch Experiment #10

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I thought my experiment would have a setback with the downturn in the market, but surprisingly, since my last update, it’s still up.

Dividend Experiment

Dividend Experiment Update

It’s been two months since my last update, and I after some passive thinking, I’ve come to the realization that my goal for the experiment has change on me.  I no longer want to spend much on lunch, and going out once a week would be just fine with me.  My lunches are now a production time where I work on blogging.

So the question is, should I continue to use the dividends on spending?

I’ve decided yes I should, but instead of lunches, I’m going to spend the money better foods for my family.  I will use the money to make more nutritional food at home.  I’ve been wanting to expand into this area for a long time, and this money will help both me and my family (at least at a nutritional level).

 

Dividend Stats.:

Dividend Stock’s Lunch Experiment
Stock Name Anworth EV Energy Chimera
Stock Ticket ANH EVEP CIM
# of Shares 260 45 600
Orig. Price $7.84 $23.25 $4.01
Curr. Price $7.20 $54.04 $3.94
Orig Cost $2,038.14 $1,046.25 $2,404.80
Curr Value $1,872.00 $2,431.80 $2,364.00
Annual Yield 12.22% 5.63% 17.26%
Act. Div/Qtr $57.20 $34.20 $102.00
Total Dividends $773.60
52 weeks 52
Dividend / week $14.88
Total Gain in
Stock Apprec. $1,178.61
% Change 21.47%
Amt Loaned to myself: $1,726
Amt paid back to date: $1,726
Amt Still Owned: $0
Totals
Cumulativie Stock Value: $6,667.80
Dividend Payout / Yr.: $773.60
Dividend Payout / Qtr: $193.40
Dividend Payout / Wk. $14.88

 

On with the Update:

  • Overall, the “Total Return” of my investments since investing in 2009 is up 21.47%.  Note, the change is not per year, but simply the percentage gain of what was originally invested vs the current value.
  • The ”Cumulative Value” of my investments equal $6,667.80!  This is money that would have went to the restaurant owner and to the waiter in tips.  But now it’s sitting in my brokerage account earning me a dividend!
  • With a dividend of $14.88 a week, it appears nice, but it’s based on dividends that may not be sustainable.

 

Since I’ve change the goal of this experiment, I don’t think I will need as much as I use to need on a weekly basis.  So, I’m thinking about shifting some (if not all) of my investments into less risky (from a dividend perspective) stocks.  I’ve had a great ride, so I’m not in a rush to do this, but since the goal is more serious, I think that my investments should be too.

As far as the experiment goes, it’s been a great success and exceeded my expectations.  The change in my lunch rituals was an unexpected surprise and one that will get me one step closer to a purer state of frugality.

Cheers,

MR

Dining Out Alone Experiment

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After being inspired by the book “The Art Of Nonconformity” by Chris Guillebeau, I decided to venture out and go to a nice restaurant by myself.

I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy skipping out on the rest of the guy to go to a restaurant by myself, taking only a book to read.  But I thought it would build character.  After driving around for over 20 minutes, I finally decided to stop at a restaurant called “Ginger House” restaurant.  Luckily, the restaurant only have 3 tables of people at them.  I was lucky because the place looked very nice:

Ginger Cafe

 

I was a very pleasant experience with a very great waitress.  I ordered “Pad Thai” and a coke, and it was a great meal.

Now you might be wondering why I decided to go out by myself, instead of taking along with the rest of the folks I’m working with in CA.  Well, I wanted to go something entirely by myself while I was out there, so it was a personal challenge, or training for the future.  I figure if I every do travel some day, it would be good to develop the comfort levels to be able to go out to a restaurant by myself.

While I was there, I forced myself to read 3 pages of the book I’m currently reading (yeah, I’m starting out small).

Surprisingly, it was hard for me to focus, but I mucked through it anyway. 

While this exercise wasn’t earth shattering, it was still a good experiment and comfort level builder.

Best,

MR