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…
Last year in this column, my incredibly prescient Magic 8 Ball — with 22 of 32 verified predictions over the past two years, for an accuracy rate of 69% — correctly picked the Green Bay Packers’ upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
With a Super Bowl success rate of 100 percent, it’s no wonder then that folks looking to make a few bucks off this Sunday’s game have been eagerly awaiting the 8-Ball’s prediction as to who will be the winner. I know New York Giants and New England Patriots fans are sitting on the edge of their seats too.
I’ll announce the winner of this year’s big game after the blog round-up — and credits & debits, of course.
Blogs I’ve Been Following This Week
Car Negotiation Coach – Auto Industry Trends: 2015 Will Be Great for Car Buyers. My Magic 8-Ball isn’t the only prognosticator in the blogosphere. Geoff makes some very interesting predictions regarding the auto industry. I do have to disagree with him though regarding Moped sales increasing tenfold when he says: Younger people will adopt the European model. It might even become trendy and the negative stigma will quickly disappear. I know. Then again, keep in mind, Geoff also picked the Cleveland Browns to win this year’s Super Bowl.
Bruce Bucks - Fees That I Hate Paying. I know what you’re thinking: Hey Len! This post is over two weeks old. What gives? True, the post may be old, but it’s still a good one. And I’m a slow reader. (Yes, I’m rehashing my old jokes now.)
My Broken Coin - Nine Wardrobe Staples to Consider. After reading this article, I now realize I’ve been guilty of an unconscionable sartorial faux pas by not having a black dress and “two great pairs of heels” in my closet to complement my usual wardrobe. Which is probably why I’ve had trouble climbing the corporate ladder after all these years.
Credit Karma - Five Tips to Avoid Spoiled Groceries. Surprisingly not on the list was the most obvious tip of them all: eat faster. Duh.
And Here’s Some Other Posts You Might Enjoy…
Monevator – Reasons Not to Go to a University.
Budgets Are Sexy - The IRS Goes Where the Money Is
Money Beagle - So You Broke Your New Year’s Resolution
Yes, I Am Cheap – Some Things Are Worth the Money
Mr. Money Mustache - Your Money Can Work Harder Than You Can
Oblivious Investor – Is a Non-deductible IRA a Good Idea?
Budgeting in the Fun Stuff - Tips for Planning Your Wedding on a Budget
Darwin’s Money – Your President Is Lying About a “Strong Dollar” Policy: Why Dollar Weakness Matters
Money Smart Life – Can’t Pay Taxes? It’ll Cost You.
Bible Money Matters – Cutting the Cord and Getting Your TV on the Cheap
Prairie EcoThrifter – 5 Ways to Find Balance in Your Life: Work, Friends, Family
The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts Of Mine You May Have Missed
From May 2009:
A Few Minutes with Personal Finance Genius Rich Livingston – I know what you’re thinking: I’ve never heard of Rich Livingston! Don’t feel bad; I had never heard of him either.
Credits and Debits
Credit: The economy created 243,000 new jobs last month and the US unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, which is its lowest point since February 2009. Hooray!
Credit: A chief economist at a financial services firm in Pittsburgh was so amazed he felt compelled to tell Reuters: “I think this is a sign that maybe the economy is reaching that holy grail of a self-sustaining economic expansion.” But is that really true?
Debit: Don’t tell that to the employees at American Airlines; they just found out 13,000 jobs are being eliminated with the closure of their Fort Worth maintenance hub. An additional 2,000 more AA employees will be cut nationwide.
Debit: Of course, there are two ways to lower the unemployment rate: 1) increase the the number of new jobs being created; 2) decrease the number of people counted as being officially in the workforce.
Debit: Unfortunately, the most recent drop occurred because 1.2 million workers officially dropped out of the workforce in January, and are no longer counted as being unemployed by the government. The end result: a falling unemployment rate.
Debit: Talk about irrational exuberance. Even the CBO is suggesting the real unemployment rate should be 10 percent.
Debit: So the private sector continues to ail, but government hiring is still on a roll. For example, New York City hired 100 welfare agency workers last July and now they’re hiring another 100 to keep up with the influx of people wanting food stamps and rent assistance. I know.
Credit: While they’re at it, they should probably hire replacements for the street crew that painted “SHCOOL XING” [sic] on a local Big Apple street. (Thanks to “DC” for sending me an email on this story.)
Debit: Meanwhile, the home ownership rate continued falling for the seventh year in a row. It’s the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Not this one — the one in the 1930s.
Credit: On the bright side, landlords can rejoice as rents are generally expected to continue climbing as more people fall out of the ranks of home ownership.
Debit: Hey, the California state controller is warning that my home state is going to run out of money in March unless something is done fast. Whaaa?
Debit: The state legislature’s solution isn’t cutting government spending. Taking a page from the Illinois playbook, they’ve decided to “solve” the problem with more borrowing.
Debit: Apparently, the state legislature can’t understand how 2011 revenues fell short by $2.6 billion. I’m sure it has nothing to do with California’s high taxes, anti-business climate, and oppressive government regulations.
Debit: One thing’s for sure; California can’t expect a loan from their role model, Greece. That country needs someone to loan them another $20 billion to keep their economy from collapsing. Hey, don’t be so cynical. This really is the last time they’ll ask for more money. That’s what we’re told anyway.
Credit: Everyone in the tiny town of Sodesto, Spain is celebrating after all its citizens bought and shared 70 national lottery tickets, and then won the $950-million prize. Well, almost everyone. One unlucky man was inadvertently overlooked when town collectors went door-to-door taking up contributions. As a result, he won’t be sharing in the average payout of roughly $13-million per household.
Credit: In order to make up for their mistake, I hear Sodesto’s lottery collection committee invited the lone loser to the jackpot after-party — which just goes to show they’re not only absent-minded, but they’re sadistic too.
The Question of the Week
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By the Numbers
As previously mentioned, that quintessential de facto American holiday — Super Bowl Sunday — is here this weekend:
1 Number of times this year’s host city, Indianapolis, has hosted the Super Bowl.
0 Number of times an NFL franchise has played the Super Bowl in its home stadium.
70,000 People who will be watching the game in the stadium.
180 Countries expected to televise the game, officially known as Super Bowl XLVI.
46 What “XLVI” means in Roman numerals. The late Lamar Hunt, an NFL team-owner who coined the term “Super Bowl,” thought the Roman numerals made the game appear more important.
5 The first edition of the Super Bowl that used a Roman numeral in its title. (“Super Bowl V” in 1971.)
111 million Number of television viewers who watched last year’s Super Bowl, according to the Nielsen Co. That makes it the most-watched program in history.
Contributing Source: Yahoo!
Other Useless News – The Magic 8-Ball’s Super Bowl Prediction
Q: Will the New York Giants win this Sunday’s Super Bowl game?
A: Don’t count on it.
And just to be fair, I asked the question from the other side…
Q: Will the New England Patriots win this Sunday’s Super Bowl game?
A: You may rely on it.
There you have it; the New England Patriots are going to win the game. Dang it.
The good news is, now that you know who’s going to win, you can ignore the game and concentrate on the more important aspects of the Super Bowl Sunday — eating and watching the commercials.
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 January
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 Consumerist
3. Time Magazine: Moneyland
4. Lifehacker
5. Money Talks News
6. The Simple Dollar
7. Credit Karma
8. Budgets Are Sexy
9. Monevator
10. Kiplinger
11. Green Panda Tree House
12. Money Help for Christians
13. Lazy Man and Money
14. Frugal Under 40
15. The Millionaire Nurse Blog
16. Afford Anything
17. Oblivious Investor
18. Wisebread
19. The Quest for $85,000
20. Yakezie
21. Financial Uproar
22. Money Funk
23. (tie) Canadian Finance Blog
23. (tie) Wealth Pilgrim
25. Fabulously Broke in the City
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!
From hdjsdhs:
You got a mint?
Why? Does my breath stink? (On second thought, don’t answer that.)
I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.
via Email 
I will be spending my Super Bowl Sunday playing board games with my fellow geeks
Thanks for the readin’ material!
Good for you! Just for the record, I’ll be at the buffet table guarding the hot wings.
Me too! We are geeking it out with board games, food, the game on in the background, and our square picks on hand…
Len, thanks for the include! Mopeds are definitely a guilty pleasure of mine whenever I vacation some place tropical that has ‘em. Until you try it you don’t know what you’re missing!
I agree, they are fun, Geoff! I’ve actually considered buying a Vespa to get around locally.
Hey Len – just thought you should know that the Car Negotiation Coach website triggered my virus scanner, and it won’t even let me view the site. Avast Antivirus if it helps.
Uh oh. That’s not good. I have a Mac, so I’m not too concerned about that kind of stuff.
I dropped Geoff an email and it’s all fixed now, by the way. Jesse from Personal Finance Firewall saved his bacon! Check out Jesse’s site at: http://www.pffirewall.com/
By the way, I just recommended Avast to a friend of mine yesterday! For folks with PCs, my opinion is Avast is certainly magnitudes better than McAfee and Norton. And the basic version is free.
Hey Len, just so you know, the Magic 8 Ball did it again with my question on Microsoft hitting thirty bucks, it made it this week, in only the first full month of the year….
I actually thought it would be fun to buy 30 buck out of the money call options on MSFT after the prediction, and write a guest post about it, but, alas, like most of my good ideas, I didn’t execute…
Enjoy the wangs and the game, I am pulling for the Giants since they beat my Falcons like a drum!
PS: (you do look like a Vespa kinda guy, come to think of it, I bet the Honeybee prefers the Harley look though…)
Ha ha! See. See! Dare I say, my Magic 8-Ball is quickly becoming virtually unassailable! LOL
I’m pulling for the Giants too, Dr. Dean.
And, yes, the Honeybee is most definitely a Harley girl.
Thanks so much for the inclusion this week Len. It is such an honour.
As for the game I am a PATS fan but I won’t be upset if NYG win. The PATS have enjoyed the victory a few times so they could let someone else enjoy it this year.
I wonder what it would be like to have a piece of a $950 million dollar pie?
Aww. It’s an honor having you on this site, Miss T! I don’t know what it feels like to have $13 million, but I’d sure like to find out.
Thanks for the mention!!!
You’re welcome, Crystal. It’s midnight here on the West Coast. What are you doing up so late, you party animal! To tell you the truth, I’m not sure what I’m doing up so late. LOL
*sigh* Before visiting here I’d just decided to support the Giants (I watch the Super Bowl every year with an old school buddy, despite us being British and having to stay up until 4am!)
Now I know my night will consist of weeping as New England score touchdown after touchdown.
I think I better take a book.
Bet it up big, Investor! Sorry though; I have no idea what the spread is.
The odds makers appear to be at 27-24 Patriots. Jane asked how they get so specific. I explained that the 3 points added to the Giant score is what it takes to get people willing to bet 50/50. So, like any voting process, the vast number of betting folk create the spread. Same for the 51 point total. The under/over betting says this is the total points.
Does the 8 ball predict a worthy commercial? Apple’s 1984 was so good, nothing came close since.
Len,
I appreciate the link love. You’re too kind. I think I will go with the Pats this year. The NY Giants beat my 49ers so I am a little bitter at them, but i think overall the Patriots have it in them to win it. We will see.
I’ll be doing what nobody has ever done before – watch the game.
Thanks for the shout out my man – was an incredibly interesting game!! Give my love to the kiddos.
Thanks for mentioning the Credit Karma blog! We’re big fans of yours, so it’s an honor.
Thanks for the mention, I guess the 8 ball was a little confused on this one
Ha ha! Yep. I guess you can’t win ‘em all, Ben!