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Black Coffee: Vacation Withdrawals, Early Retirement & Dubious Large Packages

By Len Penzo on July 21st, 2012

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…

With nine days in Maui behind me, I’m happy to say I’m feeling better than ever. That’s right. I’m back; completely rejuvenated, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.

I want to

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100 Words On: Why the Customer Is (Almost) Always Right

By Len Penzo on July 19th, 2012

Almost everyone has asked a restaurant, bank, or other business to redress a particular grievance. It’s debatable whether the titular idiom of this post should be credited to Marshall Field or Harry Gordon Selfridge, but it’s true nevertheless. Indeed, businesses that depend on returning customers typically bend over backwards to keep them satisfied. However, they also understandably draw the line when it comes to unreasonable, abusive and/or unethical patrons. After

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The 10 Worst Things I Ever Bought

By Len Penzo on July 17th, 2012

Last year I looked back with fond memories at the ten best things I ever bought.

At the time, I had intended to immediately publish a follow-up article up on the ten worst things I ever bought, but as you can see I got a bit side-tracked.

Anyway, after a lot of thought, I’m happy to say I finally finished.

Interestingly, this list was a lot more difficult to compile; unlike my ten

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A Day in the Life of a Low Performer

By Paula Pant on July 16th, 2012

Today my good friend Paula Pant, who is the proprietor of the terrific blog Afford Anything, has graciously agreed to bail me out while I finish up my vacation in Hawaii — so please, folks, check out her site! I’ll be back on Tuesday.

For this guy, wasting time is a full-time job.

A few months ago I read an interesting analogy in the book Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin.

The

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Black Coffee: Wily Gophers, Pasty Thighs & Municipal Mismanagement

By PK on July 14th, 2012

It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe…

I know you’re all dying for your weekly dose of Len Penzo’s special brand of snark, but unfortunately you’re going to put up with an inferior surrogate

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100 Words On: Why You Should Never Cosign A Loan for Anyone

By Len Penzo on July 12th, 2012

Cosigning for a loan is one of the dumbest financial moves you could ever make. By cosigning, you not only assume liability for the borrowed money, but you also make it tougher on yourself to qualify for large loans — regardless of your payment history — because lenders still include cosigned loans as part of your overall debt load.

The bottom line: If a lender refuses to loan money to somebody

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A Few Thoughts from Aunt Doris: The Secret to Long Life

By Aunt Doris on July 11th, 2012

This is another post in an occasional series from my dear nonagenarian Aunt Doris.

Aunt Doris

Being 91-years-old, people often ask me: “What’s your secret for getting there?”

My son says it’s fish, tea and vinegar. Maybe; I really don’t know. However, I do have a few do’s and don’ts that can’t hurt if you choose to follow them:

Eat a good breakfast. I always start the day with a good breakfast. My

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Surefire Tips for Keeping Pet Medical Costs Low

By Len Penzo on July 10th, 2012

Awhile back, we took my Rhodesian Ridgeback, to the veterinarian for what I call a pet “lube, oil and filter.” To put it another way, we had Major placed under a general anesthetic so the vet could clean his teeth and work on repairing a couple of malfunctioning anal glands. I know.

Then, adding insult to injury, Major got neutered too.

Poor pup.

Of course, when my faithful pooch finally awoke in the

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Uh Huh: The 3 Biggest Lies Stock Brokers Tell Their Clients

By Guest on July 9th, 2012

This is a guest post from Robert at The College Investor, a blog dedicated to helping young adults and college students with personal finance, investing, and student loan debt.

The sad truth is that most stock brokers are sales people. While they have a more glamorous name, their profession is sales: selling you (the investor) on a product so that they can get paid. And just like used-car salesmen, stock brokers

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