Black Coffee: The Internet Dress Edition

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

There has been a lot of controversy floating around lately about Len Penzo dot Com. As such, I feel compelled to set the record straight: My website is predominantly green and white — not blue and black.

Okay, off we go …

Credits and Debits

Credit: Well, it took 15 years, but on Monday the stock market celebrated as Nasdaq finally closed above 5000 for the first time since March 2000. The Dow and S&P also hit new records on Monday.

Debit: The celebration on Wall Street didn’t last long, however, as the Nasdaq steadily lost ground over the next four days before finally settling on Friday at 4927. For the week, the Nasdaq was actually down 0.7%, while the Dow and S&P were both off approximately 1.5%.

Credit: The Nasdaq wasn’t the only index reaching levels this week that haven’t been seen in more than a decade: The US dollar ended the week at its highest point in more than 11 years.

Credit: Of course, if you poke your head out of the rabbit hole, it’s easy to see that the dollar isn’t “strong” at all. It’s just the least-sickly fiat currency among those in the dollar-index basket. The truth is, the dollar is on borrowed time; pun intended.

Credit: Even so, said “strong” dollar is currently making imports — and European vacations — a real bargain for Americans. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Debit: If you live in California, you know gasoline is skyrocketing faster than the US dollar index. In fact, pump prices in the Golden State have risen 100 cents during the last 30 days. No, really.

Debit: According to GasBuddy, the average price of gasoline in California is now $3.44 — that’s currently 33 cents more expensive than the average pump price in Hawaii. Yes, that Hawaii.

Debit: You think I’m kidding? I wish I was; but I’ve got this handy dandy GasBuddy heat map here showing US gas prices on Friday, March 6th to prove it:

Debit: On the other hand, maybe gas prices are irrelevant now considering that so-called “hyper-luxury” automobiles — think: Bentley, Lamborghini, and Rolls Royce — are now selling faster than “normal” cars like Fords, Hondas and Kias. It truly is a Bizarro world we’re now living in.

Credit: You know … I think you should go back, reread the previous Debit, and then ponder what that really means. Go ahead; I’ll wait.

Debit: I’m sure federal employees who fill up their tanks in California aren’t batting an eyelash at the rising gas prices either. I only say that because 17,000 government workers earned more than $200,000 last year. Wow. Who still thinks public servants are underpaid?

Debit: Then again, it’s too bad everybody can’t have a government job. As ZeroHedge points out: “The three biggest single-category jobs the US economy added in February, were also the three lowest-paying ones: Leisure & Hospitality, Education & Health, and Retail.”

Credit: Frankly, when it comes to our government servants, it’s hard to tell who is serving whom anymore.

By the Numbers

Here were the five biggest-selling vehicles in America last year:

1 Ford F-150

2 Chevy Silverado

3 Dodge Ram

4 Toyota Camry

5 Honda Accord

Source: Kelly Blue Book

The Question of the Week

[poll id="51"]

Last Week’s Poll Results

How many siblings do you have?

• 1 (38%)
• 2 (25%)
• 3 (14%)
• 4 (8%)
• None (7%)
• 5 (5%)
• 6 or more (3%)

Almost 400 Len Penzo dot Com readers weighed in for this week’s survey and, not surprisingly, most of them had a single sibling. For me, the biggest surprise is that there were more people with three and four siblings than only-children. According to Parents.com, 20% of all kids today have no siblings (compared with just 10% in 1950). It turns out that only 7% of people responding to this poll are only-children. I’m not sure what to read into that, if anything. If you have an idea, let us know in the comment section!

Other Useless News

Programming note: Unlike most blogs, I’m always open for the weekend here at Len Penzo dot Com. There’s a fresh new article waiting for you every Saturday afternoon. At least there should be. If not, somebody call 9-1-1.

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Insider Notes: An Urgent Savings Recommendation

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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! You can reach out to me at: Len@LenPenzo.com

Michael in SoCal left this comment after reading last week’s article explaining why getting a tax refund may be smarter than you think:

My wife and I have a formula we use for tax refunds: 25% to our travel budget, 25% to savings, 25% to spend how we want, and 25% to pay down debt.

Here’s how my family decides how our tax refund gets spent: 1 vote for me; 1 vote for Nina, 1 vote for Matthew, and 4 votes for the Honeybee.

I’m Len Penzo and I approved this message.

Photo Credit: brendan-c