It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe…
Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Here’s what caught my attention over the past week…
I’ve got a leaky toilet that needs fixing and I need to get to the Home Depot, so let’s get right to it this week!
Blogs I’ve Been Following This Week
Mighty Bargain Hunter - Retire in Prison … on Purpose? Do you find yourself on the edge of retirement with nothing in the bank, facing a miserable life of destitution in your so-called “golden years”? Fear not, because the Mighty Bargain Hunter has an out-of-the-box idea: commit a white-collar crime. You just might earn yourself a relatively cushy 10- or 20-year retirement in a minimum security pen if you play your cards right.
Oblivious Investor- A “Good Enough” Portfolio Really Is Good Enough. Of course, you won’t need to consider retiring to a country club prison if you simply follow Mike’s advice and start saving for retirement with just a “good enough” portfolio as soon as possible.
Budgets are Sexy – The House that Keeps Falling Apart! … And I thought my leaky toilet was bad news. Somebody better hand my buddy, J, a pipe wrench — or the phone number of a good plumber who works for reasonable prices.
Financial Uproar - Weird Ways to Save Money and Avoid Creating Debt. My favorite suggestion: feed the dog from the table. Laugh all you want, but Nelson’s logic is impeccable — which means a lot of you have been saving money all these years without even knowing it.
Money Help for Christians - 7 Ways to Kick-Start Your Faltering Budget. Says Craig: We’ve tasted of the forbidden fruit of budgeting sloth, and need to reach deep for some budgeting motivation. Yes, once upon a time Craig faithfully kept a household budget — then he quit. Now he’s having trouble finding the gumption to start budgeting again — even though he wrote this fine motivational article on how to do it. No, I’m not making this up.
From September 2009:
The Real Cost of Owning Wireless Mice and Keyboards – So how much money do I spend annually replacing the batteries for my wireless mice and keyboards? In this article, I do the math.
Credits and Debits
Debit: The US economy produced only 69,000 new jobs in May. Even worse, the employment figures for March and April were revised downward to just 49,000 new jobs created — combined.
Debit: The government also used its eraser on last quarter’s previously-reported economic growth estimate. The nation’s first quarter GDP figure was 1.9 percent — not 3.0 percent as originally claimed.
Debit: Not surprisingly, the “official” US unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2 percent, while the U6 rate which takes into account the unemployed and part time workers who want full-time jobs rose to 14.8 percent.
Debit: With all that bad news, it’s really no wonder that consumer confidence just saw its biggest drop since October 2011.
Credit: Then again, this week there was a small nugget of good news to report too: US housing prices rose in March for the first time in seven months. Hooray!
Debit: Unfortunately, the March uptick in home prices wasn’t enough to overcome the drops during January and February. Overall, prices fell 2 percent last quarter; as a result, home prices are now at post housing-crisis lows.
Debit: It ain’t much better overseas. A cash crunch in over-extended Greece now has government officials there warning of financial collapse. Too bad it took so long for the politicians in Greece to figure out their debt party couldn’t last forever.
Debit: As for the timing of Greece’s long-overdue financial hangover, some experts believe it will begin on June 18th, assuming Greece elects a populist anti-austerity government on June 17th. That will all but ensure Greece’s exit from the euro.
Debit: Meanwhile, with its own dubious balance sheet — thanks to troubled banks betting on a property boom that went bust — Spain’s borrowing costs rose to uncomfortable levels this week, threatening their financial stability.
Credit: For its part, Switzerland officially rejects the notion that financial problems in Greece, Spain and other debt-laden euro countries will lead to a eurozone collapse. So don’t panic, folks.
Debit: However, the Swiss are drawing up collapse contingency plans — just in case. Like I said, no need to panic.
Debit: Add it all up and now you know why the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its worst day of the year on Friday, losing 274 points and closing down 2.2 percent; the Dow is now in negative territory for the entire year.
Debit: By the way, I don’t think anybody will be hitting the “Like” button for Facebook’s stock; it’s still in a virtual free fall, ending the week at $27.72. That’s a stunning 27 percent drop from its $38 per share debut just two weeks ago.
Credit: Not everyone has lost money on Facebook stock. The folks who bought it at an intra-day low of $26.83 earlier this week are still in the black. For now.
Credit: Speaking of Facebook, in Australia, two robbers showed up at a teenage girl’s house after she posted a photo of a large wad of cash on her Facebook page. I know.
Debit: When it comes to high tax burdens, between 1977 and 2006 there was only one year when New York wasn’t ranked first in the nation. Maybe that’s why the Empire State has lost 3.4 million residents over the past ten years.
Debit: Then again, maybe it’s because they’re tired of seemingly having everyday life decisions dictated to them by guys like Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He’s planning to ban all sugary soft drinks over 16 ounces to eliminate obesity. Heh. Like that will work.
Debit: First salt, then smoking at parks and beaches, now sugary soft drinks. Apparently, the citizens of New York City never get tired of being treated like they can’t think for themselves. Ironic, considering it’s home to the Statue of Liberty. Just sayin’.
Credit: What’s going to be banned next by their government masters in the name of public health? Double-scoop ice cream cones, perhaps? Or maybe large pizza pies?
Credit: A Georgia jury awarded $3 million in a medical malpractice suit to the estate of a married man who died during a threesome (not golf-related) with another couple. And people wonder why medical costs are so high.
Credit: The award was originally $5 million but the decedent was found to be 40 percent liable for his own death. Forty percent! Simple math says the guy should only be 33.33 percent liable. I guess he was a real tiger in the sack.
The Question of the Week
Loading ...
By the Numbers
A few facts on the beleaguered euro:
17 Eurozone countries that use the euro as its sole currency. In all, those countries represent 326 million people.
1999 Year the euro was introduced as an official accounting currency.
23 Countries that peg their national currencies to the euro. (Sixteen of them are in Africa.)
$1.24 Euro exchange rate at the close of trading on June 1, 2012.
$0.86 Euro’s all-time exchange rate low point (February 2002)
2 Rank among the world’s reserve currencies. (The US dollar is first.)
Source: Wikipedia
Other Useless News
Hey! If you happen to enjoy what you’re reading — or not — please don’t forget to:
1. Click on that “Like” button in the sidebar to your right and become a fan of Len Penzo dot Com on Facebook!
2. Make sure you follow me on Twitter!
And last, but not least…
3. Don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed too! Thank you. 
Top 25 Referrers for May
It’s the first weekend of the month, which means it’s time once again to thank the top 25 referring websites to Len Penzo dot Com.
1. MSN: Smart Spending
2. The Simple Dollar
3. Kiplinger
4. Money Talks News
5. Budgets Are Sexy
6. Lifehacker
7. Time Magazine: Moneyland
8. Oblivious Investor
9. Consumerist
10. Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
11. Monevator
12. PT Money
13. Financial Uproar
14. Fabulously Broke in the City
15. The Millionaire Nurse Blog
16. Wisebread
17. (tie) Money Help for Christians
17. (tie) Wealth Pilgrim
19. Afford Anything
20. Green Panda Tree House
21. Credit Karma
22. JoeTaxpayer
23. Money Funk
24. Out of Your Rut
25. KrantCents
Thank you to everyone who refers their readers to this little ol’ blog! It’s much appreciated.
Letters, I Get Letters
Every week I feature the most interesting question or comment – assuming I get one, that is. And folks who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbag get their letter highlighted here whether it’s interesting or not!
This week, “Colonel Gino B.” — who claims to be from the US Army’s Third Division — had a proposition for me:
In 2003, my men and I found over $900 million in Saddam Hussein’s hideout in Baghdad. I need someone to help me get the package out of Iraq. You will receive 25% of the money (if you can) find a safe place till [sic] I leave.
Sorry, Colonel, but I’m already busy helping an orphanage priest in Nigeria secure $266 million from the bank account of a dead guy in Hong Kong.
I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.
via Email 
Best month to take a summer vacation: as early and often as possible.
Assuming you can afford it, of course.
I’ll second that!
When my kids were on an all-year school schedule, we used to take our “summer” vacations in early October. Here in Southern Cal, the weather is still very much summer-like at that time (daytime temps still in the 80s) and the crowds are all gone.
I wonder if the other two in the threesome performed CPR? How much time passed before they called 911? Did they take a shower first?
Only in America can you (or your heirs) get wealthy dying from a threesome or spilling hot coffee in your lap.
Now every time my wife says “aren’t they a cute couple.” I’ll be wondering if she is secretly encouraging and planning my demise…I’m onto her shenanigans now…
I thought this story perfectly illustrated why we need healthcare tort reform, Dr. Dean! Only in America can the irresponsible get rewarded for their own incompetence and utter lack of personal responsibility. I wonder if any of the jurors on the panel who saw fit to hand out that egregious award also complain about the high cost of healthcare.