The Wolves of Wall Street

This morning I read an excellent essay in The New Yorker by Rachel Syme, titled "The Great Fratsby."

Read it yourself here:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/12/wolf-of-wall-street-great-gatsby-dicaprio.html

A few months ago (June 2013) I posted a brief essay about The Great Gatsby as the ultimate high school reunion fantasy.  (Scroll down this page.)   And a few months prior to that (May, 2012) I posted another essay here titled "If it Walks like a Duck...Run the other Way."

I will confess I have no plans to see the Scorsese ode to excess.  It offends me in ways I cannot describe in polite society.  Not the excess per se, but the means used to achieve it.  And the complete disregard for the sacrificial lambs who financed the excess with hard earned savings squandered by a hedonist.  It is the ultimate example of getting screwed without a kiss.

I'm not going to belabor the point, except to quote a Polish proverb from the 1972-1974 tv series Banacek:

"A wolf that takes a peasant to supper probably won't need any breakfast."

Wolves beware: this peasant is packing pepper spray.

Penny Pincher

P.S. Here's another article worth reading, by the daughter of one of the wolves:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/12/wolf_of_wall_street_prousalis.php

and another article:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/12/jordan_belfort_real.php

and yet one more:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/12/jordan_belfort_victims.php

Before you waste your hard earned money on a ticket to see this movie, remember: CAVEAT EMPTOR

Making a Wish Reality

'tis the season of wishes and dreams...

Whether it's a carefully crafted letter to Santa -- extolling the virtues of the sender (I have been very good all  year etc.) as a prelude to a lengthy list of  "I wants" -- or an unexpressed thought that it would be nice to have a _______ (you fill in the blank), everyone has a holiday wish.

The unexpressed wish in my head was for a new-to-me vehicle.  My present car, purchased second hand ten years ago, is becoming a problem child.   A very needy problem child.  And making me less than comfortable every time I get in it, patting the dashboard "good car, good car" for luck as I turn the key in the ignition.  The problems came to a head a couple of days ago when I was stuck in Friday afternoon traffic and my car began to overheat.  Again.  And I'd just added antifreeze a few days earlier.  I finished my errands and went home to let the car cool down overnight before adding more antifreeze.

Saturday I woke with a mission.  I was going car looking.  Not car shopping.  Just car looking.  After my third stop I was aware that the selection was very sparse and prices were higher than I expected.  Remember, I live on an island.  It has its limitations.

But sometimes events conspire, the stars align, and fate steps in to make a wish reality.  My last stop was a dealership within walking distance of where I live.  I parked my car a short distance away and walked to the upper display area.   Still just looking.  Don't want a truck, don't want an SUV.  Want something compact.   A salesman finished his conversation with another looker and approached me.  We talked and he said he had something in another area I should see.  I followed him.

There, glowing in the sunlight like the emerald in Romancing the Stone, was exactly what I wanted: a four door compact with a VERY roomy trunk.   It was the car I had in my head.  My wish list come to life.

My present car is a hatchback; but I've discovered in owning two hatchbacks that the hatch supports don't last, eventually I end up holding the hatch aloft with one hand while fishing inside with the other.  I carry my kayak equipment with me and need storage room for paddles, life vests, seat backs and assorted other stuff.

After exploring the trunk, I sat in the driver's seat.  Comfortable reach to the pedals and good visibility over the hood.  The car and I were a good fit.  But the price???

Did I have a trade-in?  I pointed to my car a short distance away.  "We're going to make this happen for you today," he said as we went to look at my car.

Back inside the dealership to crunch numbers.  The sales manager approached.  "We're going to make this happen for you today," she said as we walked to my car for her inspection.

More number crunching.  The bottom line was more than I'd planned on spending, but doable with a cash rebate and a generous trade-in allowance.  Again, events conspired.  I never carry my checkbook but had a spare check tucked in my coin purse.

I pick up my new car Monday after work.   It's a car I paid for by quitting smoking six years ago, brown bagging it for lunch every day for eons, and just plain skinny living.  Saving my $$ for the big thing, rather than frittering it away on little stuff.

However you celebrate the holiday season, may it bring you joy; may your new year be filled with peace and prosperity; and may your holiday wishes become reality.

Penny Pincher

Being Thankful

'tis the season for being thankful.  I'm thankful for:

-- The 485 square feet I call home.

-- The job that makes all things possible.

-- Good physical and mental health.  

-- Being free from want.

-- Being my own person.

-- Staying debt free.

Penny Pincher

Today's Stupid Spenders = Tomorrow's Bag Ladies

I tell myself it's none of my business... but inwardly I'm recoiling from the stupid spending I see around me.

-- A woman who has a take-out lunch every day at work but can't/won't pay her four figure company charge.

-- A woman who has been whining for months about not feeling well and won't go to a doctor because she has no health insurance and can't afford a doctor visit, but keeps buying expensive electronic toys.

-- A woman who was evicted for non-payment of rent, is on food stamps and currently living with a friend because she can't find affordable housing, has four pets she feeds and pampers.

Where are their priorities?   Today's stupid spenders = tomorrow's bag ladies.

I think it's about not loving yourself enough to be an adult about finances.  I wasn't always smart about money until I met a man who taught me right from wrong by his own stupid spending.  He was well educated, earned many times more than I, but was on the verge of bankruptcy because of stupid spending.  And he was looking to me to bail him out.  I bailed all right.  Right out of the relationship.  But his shaky finances taught me a valuable lesson.  Get out of debt and stay there.  That's exactly what I did.  Went on a strict financial diet - ate more hot dog omelets for dinner than I care to remember - and in less than a year was debt free.  And have stayed that way for over 15 years.  Each year I watch my net worth grow.

If you're always paying for the past, you can't build for the future.

I don't know how much is enough and there's no guarantee I won't outlive my money, but tonight I'll sleep trouble free.

Penny Pincher

When a Plan Comes Together...

I recently had a birthday.  One of those significant, ends in zero, birthdays.  This was one I'd been anticipating since my last truly signficant birthday, when I turned 21 and could, legally, order a drink.  And that was also the age when I could go to the polls and vote.  A banner birthday.

Since then... nada.  Anything that gets you ice cream and presents can't be all bad -- and I do believe in celebrating -- but there was nothing significant about any of those birthdays.  Until now.  This was the birthday when I'd maxed out my social security benefits.

It was always my plan to wait to apply for benefits.  I've worked part time or full time since I was 16 and I'm still working full time.  Why apply earlier?  "You'll get less each month, but more in the long run," said well meaning friends.  I listened politely, crunched the numbers, ran scenarios in my tax prep software, and stuck to my original plan.  Wait.

The morning of my recent birthday I went online before going to work (On my 21st birthday who envisioned the personal computer?  Western Union was still delivering telegrams by hand and, upon request, singing on birthdays.  Computers were part of movies like Desk Set, a personal favorite.) and completed the benefit application in less than fifteen minutes.  In two days I received notice my application had been processed and two days after that my first benefit payment was deposited electronically in my bank account.

That's a birthday present worth waiting for.

Penny Pincher

The Great Gatsby...the Ultimate High School Reunion Fantasy?

I've been thinking about The Great Gatsby recently (is the new film version already yesterday's news? it should be) and now view it as the ultimate high school reunion fantasy.

Poor Boy meets Rich Girl, loses Rich Girl to Rich Guy, Poor Boy decides to win Rich Girl away from Rich Guy by being even richer (and more tasteless) than Rich Guy.  Which in a high school reunion fantasy goes something like this: Nerd meets Cheerleader, Cheerleader falls for Football Captain, Nerd decides to win Cheerleader by becoming richer than Gatsby.  Comes the much anticipated high school reunion.  What happens on the big night?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.   Cheerleader is (still) vapid, Football Captain is (still) a blowhard, Nerd is (still) a social wallflower (in a pink suit). It's deja vu all over again.  The fantasy fizzles to ash.  

Nick Carraway was on the mark when he told Gatsby: "You can't repeat the past."  Gatsby's mistake was thinking he could.

Why would anyone want to repeat the past?  Repetition doesn't guarantee a better ending.

Penny Pincher

Living the Life You Have Imagined

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined." -- Henry David Thoreau

I was thinking about that quote this morning... a few months ago I copied/laminated it for a friend who is moving to Thailand next month.  It's a move he's had in the planning stages for a year.  I thought about my own move to the tropics eons ago, a dream I lived with for seven years that carried me through some very cold winters.  This morning when I went outside to water my plants and gaze at the ocean, I said to myself, "I AM living the life I imagined."

Are YOU living the life you imagined?  How can you make it happen?  

As Thoreau also said:

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

Penny Pincher

Does Cyprus Scare You? It Should.

The monetary crisis in Cyprus scares the pee out of me.

Forget that it's "over there" (Cyprus?  where IS that exactly?)...forget that it's part of an economic union that was ill-conceived (if you are solvent, why would you join monetary forces with potential deadbeats?)...forget any thoughts about the REALLY BIG depositors (Russians? who cares? those money launderers get what they deserve)...and focus on what's happening to the people who went to work every day, lived below their means, and saved their money.  100,000 euros may sound like a pie-in-the-sky fortune, but it's about $130,000 U.S. or L85,000... think about it.  If you've been socking your money away for an emergency fund, retirement, your 401K, IRA's, YOU may have that amount or more.  And now you're in danger of having a portion of it taken from you without your consent.  I call that robbery.  It's also a violation of trust.  You put your money in the bank, you trust you can get it out whenever you want.  Not true if your money is currently in Cyprus where the banks are closed, ATM withdrawals are limited, and cash is now king.  CASH, not credit cards, not debit cards and certainly not checks.  Cold hard cash.

My acorns are not in Cyprus; they are in financial institutions to which I have immediate access, but questions arise... if I were to cash out today, where would I put the acorns?

Don't think that the Cyprus scenario couldn't happen to you, think that it COULD and think about the alternatives.

I think I need a bigger mattress.

Penny Pincher

Frugal Doesn't Mean Deprived

My latest power bill was waiting to be paid this weekend:  $44.38 for 29 days, total 75 KWH used.

As I've said before, where I live power is EXPENSIVE.  When the 2011 U.S. average cost of electricity was a jealousy inducing $0.12 per KWH, my present rate of $0.59 per KWH is exorbitant (and more costly than Hawaii.)  However, I regard any month with a power bill less than $50 to be a time for celebration.  I rejoice that my average daily consumption is down from 4.13 KWH in December to 2.59 KWH in March.  A small victory.

But I know that power consumption will rise in summer with fan use to combat the heat, and the total bill will also increase because of a rising fuel surcharge.  The good news is that the tankless water heater I had installed has had no measurable effect on my power bill and I've been blissfully enjoying HOT showers this winter.   When the water is tepid in summer I won't be using the tankless on-demand water heater.   Life is a trade-off --  water heater in winter, fans in summer.

Storage is now ancient history.  I was appalled to see how much c/s I'd boxed.  What was I thinking?  I ended up keeping only a 20 inch x 14 inch x 13 inch metal box and what could fit inside (which included a handmade double bed quilt) and shipping it home via the USPS.  The rest I dumped.  All gone.  Toast.  Good riddance.  But the experience has made me rethink future acquisitions.   "Love what you have, have what you love" are words I live by.  I find I'm walking out of the flea market empty handed more often than not.   That's a good thing.  I don't feel deprived in any way, I feel liberated from the tyranny of stuff.

Penny Pincher

The Albatross of Stuff

I envy the turtle.  It goes through life unencumbered with its home on its back, never needing to change shells; unlike the hermit crab constantly in search of a new dwelling as it grows to maturity, discarding the shells it has outgrown.  

The reality of my life is I have been a squirrel.  Nuts here, nuts there; nuts, nuts everywhere.  The squirrel equivalent of stuff.  This week I was made painfully aware that being a squirrel has not been healthy for my bank balance.

I have stuff in storage.  There, I said it.  Stuff in storage.  For more years than I will admit in polite society.  Is it the squirrel equivalent of a hollow tree full of nuts?  For a real squirrel, nuts are money in the bank; a hedge against famine.  My hoard is just stuff of no real value to anyone.  Put into storage at a time when it was expedient to do so.  Since then, I've been paying monthly; believing that as long as I kept writing the check, I didn't have to do anything.  Out of sight, out of mind.   Pay and forget about it.  My attitude definitely channelled Scarlett O'Hara... "I won't think about that now, I'll think about it tomorrow at Tara."  But the problem was always there, nagging at me that one day I'd have to do something about it.

The full knowledge that the albatross of stuff was tightening around my neck was triggered by a change in storage unit management.  A management that cannot keep its records straight and is now raising its rates next month... to several times what I had been paying.  That was my wakeup call.  Deal with it.  NOW!  

I will be spending more money to make a trip to dispose of the stuff I should have donated to a thrift store or put in a dumpster instead of a storage unit.  Lesson learned.  But at last, I will be free of the albatross of stuff. (And the monthly storage payment.)   All of my possessions will finally be contained in one place.  The 485 square feet I call home.  My little pyramid.

Henry David Thoreau said it best:  "Simplify, simplify, simplify."

Penny Pincher

I Sing the Bank Electronic

I cannot bring myself to buy a Kindle or a Nook or any form of e-reader.  The bibliophilic Luddite in me craves paper and ink and shelves full of real books of varied sizes and colors that entice me like treasure boxes.   (I have a cartoon vision of an electronic library:  A stack of empty shelves with only a single e-reader facing forward.  No caption necessary.)  Part of this is deeply personal.  I am an author.  One of my happiest memories is being handed a fresh off the press copy of my new book by my editor.  Would it have been the same if he'd given me an e-version on a memory stick?  I don't think so.

But I have fallen head over heels in love with electronic banking.  Swoon.  It's so immediate.  No waiting for a bill to arrive at the post office, going home to open it, sitting at my desk to write a check and hunt up a stamp, going back to the post office to drop the return envelope in the outgoing mail slot, then waiting for my payment to be credited to my account.  No more.  The bills are posted online, I enter a few keystrokes et voila!  Instant payment.  Instant receipt.  Instant debit to my checking account.  Over/done.  Bliss.

Which leaves me more time for reading.  And more $$ to buy books instead of postage stamps.  I call that a win.

Penny Pincher