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The offbeat personal finance blog for responsible people.

Black Coffee: Why Every Silver Lining Has a Black Cloud

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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. Let's get right to it today. The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts Of Mine You May Have Missed From August 2010: 22 Signs Your College Degree Might Not Be Worth the Money - This is the time of year when most college kids are heading off to start the new year. Unfortunately, many are pursuing a degree that will never pay off for them. And Here's Some Other Posts You Might Enjoy ... Careful Cents - The Best Health Insurance Options for the Self-Employed The College Investor - 101 Essential Tips and Resources for College Freshmen Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance - What are the Best Ways to Save for My Kid? Snark Finance - Should You Pay Off Debt or Save for Retirement? Wealthy Turtle - 6 Creative Ways to Cap College Costs Credits and Debits Debit: Most people consider kids to be a blessing. Unfortunately, the average cost of raising a child in the US to age 18 is now $241,080; that's up 3% over the past year. No, it doesn't include the cost of college. Credit:  One parent who should have no trouble affording kids is Callie Rogers. In 2003, the British mom, at the tender age of 16, was fortunate enough to win $3 million playing the lottery. Debit: Today Callie has three kids -- but just $3300 of her winnings left. Oops. I know what you're thinking ... The answer is: she squandered $415,000 on cocaine. Go ahead; I'll wait while you read that again. Credit: Instead of snorting cocaine, perhaps Callie would have been better off using her windfall to flip a mansion or two. In the US, high-end homes are once again being bought, upgraded and resold in less than a year for profits as high as 30%. Credit: I suspect the resurgence in house flipping is one reason why US homebuilder confidence is at its highest level since 2005. Debit: Despite the optimism of the housing industry, I wonder if prospective home buyers feel the same way -- especially considering mortgage interest rates are expected to continue rising through the rest of the year. Debit: Speaking of bonds, the 10-year treasury yield -- which affects mortgage rates -- spiked to its highest level in two years. Although the Fed denies it, that's going to make it tougher for them to taper their quantitative easing campaign anytime soon. Debit: Of course, there are some people who will insist that rising interest rates signal a healthy economy. Tell that to the thousands of Chicago residents who stood in line for government subsidized housing this week. Credit: It's not just interest rates that are spiking. Gold and silver -- the US dollar's arch enemies -- had their best week in months. The yellow metal climbed 4.5% -- but silver was the real star, as its price surged 14%. Credit: You can be sure that gold's price increase won't slow China's drive to hoard as much of it as they can in advance of a potential new gold standard. Credit: As for the US dollar, its strength will continue to wane as more and more investors come to realize that the Fed will never be able to quit printing money without tanking the financial markets. That's because the markets have become hopelessly addicted to the Fed's stimulus. Debit: For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial average suffered its biggest drop in two months on Thursday; it fell 225 points. The Dow, which was virtually unstoppable all year long, has now posted losses on 11 of the last 15 trading days. Debit: Let's see ... Despite the Fed's constant juicing, treasury yields and mortgage rates are now rising, and the stock market has lost its momentum. Meanwhile, precious metals are spiking and even oil prices are increasing despite ample supplies. It all signals serious economic trouble on the horizon. Debit: Meanwhile, a recent Hindenburg Omen cluster has some people more convinced than ever that financial markets will crash in September or October. In fact, Thursday saw the dreaded indicator make an unprecedented sixth appearance in eight trading sessions. Uh oh. Debit: Here's another disturbing sign: The US government ran a $98 billion deficit in July. However, the Treasury reported that the National debt remained unchanged for the month at exactly $16,699,396,000,000; just $25 million under the legal federal debt limit. Huh? Debit: Believe it or not, the Treasury has been reporting no change to the National Debt for 90 consecutive days now -- despite running deficits in May, June and July. How can anyone have faith in the US dollar when the government is blatantly cooking the books? Anyone? Credit: One would expect that kind of behavior from a banana republic -- not the holder of the world's reserve currency. It's also one more reason why the US dollar is destined to eventually lose its exorbitant privilege -- the only question is when. Credit: Finally ... A man who committed suicide caused a minor frenzy after he left GPS coordinates on a website that supposedly lead to a cache of gold and silver coins worth $200,000. Psst. The coordinates are in Kansas (38.800542, -94.687884). You're welcome. Debit: Before you get too excited, keep in mind that the local police -- who've been busy turning away gold diggers armed with picks and shovels -- say there is no buried treasure. They claim they used metal detectors to search the area, but found nothing. Sure. Whatever you say, officers. By the Numbers With the Hindenburg Omen showing up more frequently, I thought I'd share a few facts about its more infamous namesake: 1937 Year that the German airship burst into flames while trying to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey. 400 Weight, in pounds, of the Hindenburg's specially-designed lightweight baby grand piano. The piano was made of aluminum and covered in yellow pigskin. 97 Passengers and crew on board during the Hindenburg's fateful cross-Atlantic voyage from Germany to the United States. Sixty-two survived. 1 Atomic number of hydrogen, the extremely combustible gas used in the Hindenburg. When it exploded, the doomed dirigible was filled with 7 million cubic feet of the nasty stuff. 2 Atomic number of helium; a far-less flammable alternative. Unfortunately for Germany, the US had a monopoly on helium production at the time and refused to export it. 1 Smoking lounges on board the Hindenburg. I know. But the room was pressurized to prevent hydrogen from entering. It also had a double airlock for extra protection. 17,000 Pieces of correspondence that were carried across the Atlantic on the Hindenburg's fateful flight. Incredibly, 176 pieces survived the conflagration. Source: History The Question of the Week Last Week's Poll Result Are you ready for summer to end yet? No (64%) Yes (30%) I'm not sure. (6%) Other Useless News Here are the top -- and bottom -- five Canadian provinces and territories in terms of the average number of pages viewed per visit here at Len Penzo dot Com over the past 30 days: 1.  New Brunswick (3.14 pages/visit) 2. Prince Edward Island (2.81) 3. Alberta (2.06) 4. Newfoundland (2.01) 5. Manitoba (1.88) 9. Ontario (1.74) 10. British Columbia (1.69) 11. Nova Scotia (1.52) 12. Northwest Territories & Nunavut (1.50) 13.  Yukon Territory (1.00) Whether you happen to enjoy what you're reading (like the crazy canucks in New Brunswick, eh) -- or not (you hosers living in the Yukon) -- 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. :-) 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 me at: Len@LenPenzo.com The other day I found this invitation from Jamie sitting in my inbox: (I'm) hosting a Google On Air Hangout to discuss buying a car! The event will take place on Thursday, August 153th [sic] at 12pm. Sorry to be a pedant, Jamie, but I think you meant to say "August 153rd" -- and I'm going to be out of town that day. I'm Len Penzo and I approved this message. ...

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Black Coffee: Celebrating Part Time Jobs and the Return of the Twinkie

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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. I hope everybody is enjoying their 4th of July weekend. Let's get right to it ... The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts Of Mine You May Have Missed From September 2009: The 10 Most Overpaid Jobs - This politically incorrect piece is always good for a few nasty emails in my inbox. And Here's Some Other Posts You Might Enjoy ... Control Your Cash - iTunes is a Ripoff Wisebread - 5 Frugal Celebrities Who Live Large on a Small Budget Your Finances Simplified - How to Sell Your Home in a Rush The Finance Buff - Don't Be Afraid to Switch The Chicago Financial Planner - 5 Investing Lessons Learned So Far in 2013 Credits and Debits Credit: Last month a 10-year-old boy found $10,000 in a Kansas City hotel room where he was staying with his Dad. I'm glad to see they turned the money into the police, but I can't help but wonder if a hotel housekeeper isn't kicking herself right now. Hey, I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'. Credit: I'd offer the kid a couple of Twinkies for his good deed, but they aren't scheduled to return to store shelves until July 15. The good news is the new Twinkies will have an even longer shelf life than the old ones. Yessss! Credit: I'll bet a lot of newly-hired Twinkie bakers were at least party responsible for June's better-than-expected employment report; 188,000 new jobs were created last month. That's the job market's best performance since February. Debit: Unfortunately, all of those new jobs weren't enough to change the unemployment rate -- that remained at 7.6%. Credit: Even so, the June employment data pushed US Treasury yields sharply higher by traders who feared the news would hasten the Fed's timeline for tapering their latest quantitative easing campaign. On Friday the 10-year note saw its biggest move since December 2010. Debit: The markets seemed to gloss over the fact that there were 240,000 fewer full-time jobs in June than there were in May. In fact, the only job growth in June came from part-time jobs -- which is one reason why the U-6 under-employment rate rose sharply from 13.8% to 14.3%. Debit: Since January, 557,000 part-time jobs have been generated by the US economy. Compare that to just 130,000 new full-time non-farm positions created during the same time frame; barely 21,000 per month for a nation of 300 million people. That's not the sign of a healthy economy. Debit: How anemic are the current job numbers? At the current rate of job growth, the US wouldn't return to pre-recession employment levels until 2021. Credit: It's a good thing our politicians are smart enough to dig into the dirty details behind all of this economic data, separate the wheat from the chaff, and understand what's really happening with the economy. Oh wait. Debit: OK, strike that thought; the number of new jobs created in June drew bipartisan praise from Washington politicians as additional signs of the continuing economic recovery. Debit: When the majority of our own politicians fail to recognize that the US economy is in deep trouble, where do we go from here? We're clearly barreling down the tracks on a runaway train -- and there's a bridge out ahead of us. Prepare accordingly. Debit: Many people are blaming the economy's shift from a full-time to a part-time workforce on ... Obamacare. And it's not just private sector jobs. Believe it or not, even local governments are now transitioning workers to part-time status to avoid or minimize costs. Yes, you read that correctly. Credit: As Obamacare continues to implode under the weight of its own regulations, the Obama administration has now decided to delay enforcing the employer mandate until after the 2014 elections are over. Hmm. I wonder why they did that. Debit: Dr. Charles Krauthammer recently noted that Obamacare is a massive transfer of wealth from the young to the old -- and it is young adults who will soon be forced to pay double or triple what they would have if the government weren't involved. That is, assuming they even wanted health insurance. Credit: More Krauthammer on Obamacare: "The free lunch part of this affair is now over." No kidding. Just wait until the 43% of uninsured Americans who still don't know they have to buy (overpriced) health insurance finally figure that out. By the Numbers Here are a few tidbits on the upcoming return of the Twinkie: 150 Calories in a single Twinkie. 1930 Year the Twinkie was invented. 2012 Year that the Twinkie disappeared from store shelves, after Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Hostess claims they couldn't compete against non-unionized bakeries. 15,000 Number of unionized workers who lost their jobs after they refused to accept lower compensation. $410 million Price paid by Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo for the rights to produce Twinkies and other Hostess cakes. 10 Number of Twinkies in a box. Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo say the price will remain $3.99 per box. 45 Days that the original Twinkie stayed fresh. The new baker may extend the new Twinkie's shelf life by freezing them prior to putting them on store shelves. Source: Huffington Post; Cleveland.com; New York Post The Question of the Week Last Week's Poll Results What is your favorite summertime beverage? Iced tea (29%) Water (24%) Lemonade (14%) Cold beer (14%) Iced coffee (7%) A carbonated soft drink (6%) Something else (5%) Fruit juice (1%) 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. 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 June 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. Kiplinger 3. Wisebread 4. The Simple Dollar 5. Business Insider 6. Deseret News 7. Monevator 8. Budgets Are Sexy 9. Money Talks News 10. Save Outside the Box 11. Clark Howard 12. LifeHacker 13. Budgeting in the Fun Stuff 14. The Free Financial Advisor 15. New York Times 16. Wealth Pilgrim 17. Smart Asset 18. Money Crashers 19. Control Your Cash 20. Afford Anything 21. DQYDJ 22. Time 23. The Consumerist 24. Money Help for Christians 25. Cash Cow Couple 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! You can reach out to me at: Len@LenPenzo.com For the second week in a row, I managed to tick off another proud waterbed owner. This time, it was Defcon Two who let me have it: Even after all these years it never fails to amaze me how many people out there are as stupid as (you), yet somehow manage to dress themselves and get to work in the morning. No kidding. And we owe it all to the good night's sleep we can only get from a traditional mattress. I'm Len Penzo and I approved this message. ...

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