Chasing Yield

 As the final blow of this "annus horribilis" (as Queen Elizabeth referred to 1992 in her Christmas speech that year), my bank cut my savings interest rate by one-third.  Horribilis.  No warning, no explanation.  I had an inkling that something was afoot because I check my accounts online daily, including the accumulating monthly interest on my savings.  Mid-month the interest amount needle got stuck.  I thought it was a glitch.  Oh, how wrong I was.

I opened the account in 2014 (almost 7 years ago) and the interest rate has remained constant until this month.  I add to my account on a monthly basis, and let the interest remain in the account.  

Granted, savings account interest rates are LOW, mere peanuts.  I consolidated my online money market accounts into a savings account at the bank where I've been a checking customer since 1981 because I wanted F.D.I.C. protection, and brick and mortar access to my money at a branch that's less than 5 minutes away from where I live.  Fine and good until now.

Could I do better elsewhere?  The yield chase was on.  

First, my bank.  For a face-to-face (masks firmly in place) chat with a customer service rep.  No real explanation for the rate cut.  I figured it had to do with the Fed, but didn't say that.  I asked about cd's.  Not good.  Interest rates on cd's less than 5 years are less than the recently cut rate on my savings.  

I went online to Bankrate and other online sources.  Yes, I could get more elsewhere, but I'd lose brick and mortar access and the convenience of instant online transfers between my current bank accounts.  The miniscule difference in interest rates wasn't enough to tempt me to take action.

I remembered Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford and the lures they cast for victims for their ponzi schemes.  Stanford once said, "Just give 'em two percent more."  (Back when interest rates were much higher.)  Look what happened: Madoff and Stanford both in prison, their customers broke and bereft.

Finally, I consulted the Oracle of Omaha.  Here's what Warren Buffett said to CNBC on February 24, 2020: 

"Billionaire Warren Buffett told CNBC on Monday that investors should not reach for yield beyond their risk-tolerance, even with interest rates so low and stocks seemingly like the only place to get a return.

“If you need to get 3% and you can only get 1%, the answer is ... you should always adapt your consumption to your income,” the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO said on “Squawk Box.”

“Reaching for yield is really stupid. But it is very human,” he said, delivering sobering advice to folks near or in retirement. “People say, ’Well, I saved all my life and I can only get 1%, what to do I do? You learn to live on 1%, unfortunately.”

“You don’t go and listen to some salesman come and tell you, ’I’ve got you some magic way to get you 5%,” he added."

For the full article go here: 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/24/warren-buffett-reaching-for-yield-is-really-stupid-but-very-human.html

I like to think I'm smart enough to take good advice when offered.  I'll trust Warren Buffett's advice and adjust my consumption to my income, like Buffett does with his morning McDonald's breakfast.*

I'll stay put at my current bank.  I can live with that.

Wishing all a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Penny Pincher

*See my earlier post: What I Learned from Warren Buffett - February, 2017

Be an Elf to Yourself

 'tis the season... to spend, spend, spend... and spend some more.  It's been a horrible year; the holidays are only days away.  Spending yourself to happiness may sound like the antidote to the virus gloom that surrounds us.  But come January, then what?  Bills!  A guaranteed hangover after too much holiday cheer.

Be kind to yourself instead.  If you have debt, resolve to get it paid off as soon as possible.  The joy of being debt free will be the best gift you can give youself.  You're worth it.

Penny Pincher (celebrating over 20 years of being debt free)

Giving Thanks - 2020

 In 2020 I'm thankful for many things :

-- no hurricanes

-- continued good health

-- the 485 square feet I still call home, especially my private balcony where I can sit mask-free and read

-- another debt-free year with increased savings

I am especially grateful to be retired and having limited contact with others.  I knew one person who recently died from the virus, but don't know personally any others who have been sick or died.  I still believe the numbers are under reported, but that's not my concern.  I am concerned with my own health, staying healthy, and not putting others at risk.

I'll miss many things this year:

-- Thanksgiving feasts with a bevy of friends.  That's a risk I'm not willing to take.  I'll have my own feast at home... chicken breast, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie with lots of whipped topping.

-- The traditional Macy's parade.

-- T'day morning shopping at Kmart (I expect our Kmart to be closed for good by the end of the year); followed by Black Friday shopping a day later.  Not this year.

-- Pre-christmas arts and crafts fairs at various venues around the island; our traditional Christmas carnival ending January 6th, Three Kings Day.  Not this year.

Instead of dwelling on what I don't have, this year I am giving thanks for being alive.

Wishing all the bounty of the season.

Penny Pincher

What was she thinking????

Here's the story:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/he-paid-for-all-our-first-class-travel-my-boyfriend-76-said-hed-take-care-of-me-i-gave-up-everything-then-he-dumped-me-am-i-entitled-to-anything-2020-09-29?mod=home-page

There's a lot we don't know:

-- Was her house fully paid for?  Encumbered by a mortage?  Underwater?  How long had she lived there?

-- What was her job?  How long had she been working?  We know it was part-time employment.

What we DO know is this:

-- This is a woman who placed little value on her home and her job and thought the grass was greener in someone else's yard.  She was looking for someone to pick up the slack in her life.  I'd call her a gold digger.  And a whiner.  I have no sympathy for stupidity.  Or greed.  The final paragraphs in the article say it all.

One of the things I love best about this article is the graphic and caption: "Here's a full list of everything that life owes us."  Amen.

-------------------

Digression.  If you have any doubt about the truth in the air-borne spread of virus molecules, consider this:  when I sit on my second floor balcony (not wearing a mask) and someone walks by in the parking lot below (about 10-20 feet away from me), within seconds I can smell his/her aftershave/perfume.  

Stay well, stay safe.  Please wear your mask.

Penny Pincher

MYOB/STFU

 I recently added a new rule to my list of rules for successful condo living:

1. Be considerate of your neighbors.

2. Follow the rules/regs.

3. Pay your bills promptly. (That one backfired on me recently, I paid my condo fees/utils before the bill was officially rendered and under-reported my water use by 20 gallons and was presented with an $0.80 bill. How does one write a check for 80 cents???  I figured it out.  Better that than being hit with a late payment fee and (gasp!) charged interest on my unpaid $0.80 balance.)

Here's the new rule:

4. MYOB/STFU.

Mind my own business/shut up about it.  No whining, no complaining, no tattle-tale, no "if you see something, say something."  Nope.  Not going there.  No one died and made me the hall monitor.

There are too many people who take it upon themselves to police others and tattle about it.  No thank you. I sit on my balcony, book in hand, iced tea within easy reach, and I'm grateful for what I have.

Stay well.  Stay safe.  Wear your mask.

Penny Pincher

If I Ran the Zoo...

The opening words of  Dr. Seuss in his 1950 book "If I Ran the Zoo" go like this:

"But if I ran the Zoo," said young Gerald McGrew, "I'd make a few changes, that's just what I'd do..."

It's a good thing I'm not running the zoo, because I haven't a clue what I'd do.  There are too many places in virus driven lockdown that rely on tourism for income.  The last thing on my mind these days is travel.  Plane or boat, no thanks.  I want no part of hacking/sneezing/wheezing travellers. 

I don't trust the virus numbers.  I think they're under-reported.  I feel like we're living in Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" waiting for the virus laden cloud to infect us all.  And while we wait, businesses are dying, the economy is tanking and people are looking for government handouts to make everything all right.

If masks are the answer, make masks mandatory:  "No mask, no service.  No exceptions."  Open the bars, the restuarants, the beaches, the tourist havens.  Open the stadiums, the ball  parks, the golf courses.  Let the people decide what risks they want to take. 

That's what I'd do, if I ran the zoo...

Penny Pincher

My New Normal

The media says we're at the 100 day mark in the virus pandemic.   Call it a little over three months since the world shifted into a new normal from what I'm beginning to recall as The Good Old Days. 

Aside from my morning walk, sitting on my balcony, driving in my car, I now wear a mask everywhere.  I made my own mask from a bandana and 2 rubber bands to hook it over my ears.  The mask lives in my car next to a pair of rubber gloves.

Life is beginning to reopen on my island... hotels are now accepting reservations, stores are reopening under strict guidelines of "no mask, no service" and other limitations.  The local government (which in previous years enacted bans on plastic bags and plastic soda straws as harmful to the environment) is now enforcing a plastic cutlery only rule for local restaurants/bars.  I shake my head at the contradiction.  I'll continue to eat at home.

My new normal isn't much different from my old normal.  Perhaps I was preparing myself for the change without knowing that change was coming.  Who knows?  I mostly limit my interactions with the outside world to trips to the grocery stores, post office, laundry, and infrequent stops at the flea market to replenish my book supply. 

About three weeks ago I wrenched my lower back - doing something stupid, which won't be repeated - and was confined to my apartment because of my very limited mobility.  I was grateful to be living in a small space, and having a full freezer.  Now that I'm fully recovered I'm glad I'm able to be out and about, but happier at home.

Stay safe.  Stay well.  Wear a mask.

Penny Pincher

Cleaning House

Last Saturday our condo homeowner's association had its annual meeting.  This year, because of the virus and the local stay at home orders, it was held on Zoom instead of sitting side by side outdoors under our towering mango tree.

It was the first time I'd used Zoom.  Interesting experience.  I turned off my computer camera, muted my computer microphone and just listened to the 3 hour meeting.  Listened, filed my nails, made and ate a salad, watched telly (close captioning on, sound muted)... and realized at the end of the meeting that it was something I never needed to do again.  I'll receive copies of the board reports and financials in the mail, including the minutes from the meeting I just listened to.  Deja vu all over again.  Yawn.

It's called cleaning house, resetting my priorities, eliminating the crap from my life.  This week I looked at the list of candidates for our local elections coming up in November.  Same old, same old.  I won't be wasting my time at the polls.

Same goes for people.  I realized there are some people around me who do not enhance my life.  They bring with them nit-picking negativity I don't need or want.  Bye-bye.

I feel better already. 

What can you clear out of your life?  What do you want to be YOUR new normal?

Spark joy in your life.  Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Stay well.

Penny Pincher

Your Best Defense Against the Virus?

It's you.

You don't need the government to tell you what to do.  Use common sense. 

I live on an island where our current case load is 12 (with no deaths) in a population of 50,000.  Of those 12 cases, 9 were exposed through travel, 1 through the community at large, 1 through contact with a confirmed case, and 1 case is currently under investigation.

What does this tell me?  Be smart.  Stay safe.  Stay home.  This week I will grocery shop, and go to the laundry.  That's it.  I'll be there when the grocery store opens - in/out, quick shop with a list.  Laundry?  I'll be there when it opens, will sit outside and read until the laundry is done.

I go for a walk every morning at sunrise when no one else is out and and about.  Then home to read, watch telly, play cards on computer, surf the net, cook, sit on my balcony.  It sure beats being sick.

Stay smart.  Stay safe.  Stay home whenever possible.  Stay well.

Penny Pincher

How do you survive tough times?

How do you survive tough times?

Foresight.

This article brought it home to me:

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/488906-coronavirus-reveals-financial-irresponsibility-of-americans

To paraphrase T S Eliot's epic poem, "The Hollow Men":

This is the way the world ends 
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a sneeze.

Stay well.  Stay safe.  Stay solvent.

Penny Pincher

The Kindness of Strangers

Cheap plastic isn't as sturdy as it used to be.  Two of my moulded plastic balcony chairs succumbed to sun and salt air fatigue and had to be replaced.  Getting them to my car for transport to the dump was fairly easy, if a bit awkward.  But they fit easily in the back seat and off I went.

At the dump a very nice man took them from my car and threw them into a dumpster.  Adios old chairs.  I thanked him and drove on to find replacements. 

At my third stop I struck gold.  A pair of steel frame/mesh seat and back chairs at a two-pack price for little more than I'd  paid for plastic.  Perfect.  Stackable.  Fairly easy to get to the checkout and then to my car. 

Then I hit a snag. 

The damned chairs wouldn't fit in my compact car.  I cleaned out the trunk.  Nope.  Wouldn't fit.  Tried the back seat.  Nope.  A man about to get into a nearby truck noticed my dilemma.  Could he help me?  Absolutely. 

It took about fifteen minutes, moving car seats and opening windows but at last the chairs were in my car.  One on the back seat, the other in the front passenger seat.  Oh, how I longed for the days when I had a hatchback.  I thanked the man profusely for his help and asked if he'd like to follow me home to get the chairs out of my car.  We both laughed.  Off we went in different directions.

I drove home at a snail pace.  Getting the chairs out of my car was a lot easier than getting them in.  One at a time, out of the car, up the stairs to my condo, and out to the balcony.  I hope they last forever.

I am grateful for the kindness of strangers.  Otherwise I'd still be in the store parking lot.  To the man in the truck, thank you.  Your kindness saved my day.

Penny Pincher

When the Universe Answers

I believe in the Universe.  I believe that when you put something out there, the Universe answers.

Mostly the Universe answers me with books.  It happened to me again today.  I'd been thinking about Paddington, Little Women and Fantastic Mr. Fox.  And what appeared today in the book room at my local flea market?  Not there when I last visited Thursday, but there two days later.  All three. Total cost $4.00.  A gift from the Universe.

Call it what you will.  I call it magic.

Penny Pincher