LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS & PASSIVE INCOME

Archive for February, 2007

BHP Billington Share Buy Back

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 Posted in Commodities, Investing, Stocks | 2 Comments »

BHP bought 1.5 million shares today. They report this on their website. Pretty amazing how much stock they've bought back. The stock buy backs along with their regular dividends and ... Read more..

Biggest Market Drop Since 9/11

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 Posted in Options, Stocks, WCI | 2 Comments »

The stock market suffered the biggest loss today since the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001.They were allegedly caused by profit taking in China caused by the governments comments on ... Read more..

Strip-Club Stocks Go To Wall Street

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

There's a very interesting article today about how strip clubs are over-looked and under-valued. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that point of view but there are some interesting ... Read more..

COSTCO CHANGES RETURN POLICY ON CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

Monday, February 26th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Costco will no longer enforce its "satisfaction guarantee" on consumer electronics. You now have only 90 days to return a product.According to BusinessWeek,In general, Costco allows its customers an unlimited ... Read more..

SAVING MONEY FOR KIDS EDUCATION

Monday, February 26th, 2007 Posted in Planning, Taxes | 1 Comment »

For many parents, savings for their kids education is a big concern. Many opt to put them in a tax-deferred savings vehicle like the 529 plan.Not only is this a ... Read more..

NO OUT-OF-POCKET LIFE INSURANCE PROGRAMS

Sunday, February 25th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

I've been looking for cheap insurance for the past few months. But FREE insurance is even better! Unfortunately, I don't qualify, but for those that do, there are some great ... Read more..

How To Buy New Houses At A Discount

Friday, February 23rd, 2007 Posted in Deals, Real Estate | No Comments »

The past week has been terrible for stockholders of sub-prime lenders. Today a major home builder, Toll Brothers reported that its net profit fell nearly 70% in the 1st quarter. ... Read more..

What A Day!

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 Posted in Economy | 1 Comment »

Today was a great day in the markets. Well actually the Dow, Transports, Industrials and Russell sank on inflation worries. Gold spiked up $23 and Oil closed above $60. Novastar ... Read more..

Old 401k Does Well

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

I left my previous company last March and therefore stopped contributing to the 401k. I was planning to roll it over into a rollover-IRA but didn't get around to it. ... Read more..

Why You Need A Good Attorney

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 Posted in Planning | 1 Comment »

Even though Anna Nicole Smith's husband (did they marry? I don't really follow this sort of thing) Howard Stern was an attorney, her will was supposedly taken straight out of ... Read more..

Getting Insurance

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 Posted in Planning | No Comments »

After playing phone tag for nearly 4 months I finally met with an insurance agent today. I've been meaning to get disability and life insurance for myself and the wife ... Read more..

GDX Called Away

Monday, February 19th, 2007 Posted in ETFs, Gold/Silver | No Comments »

I've been selling covered calls on GDX - yes I know selling puts is the same risk-reward ratio but I usually do pretty well in selling far out options. I ... Read more..

Shorting the S&P 500 index

Saturday, February 17th, 2007 Posted in Stocks | 2 Comments »

Looking at the unbelievable Valentine's Day rally in the stock market, I decided the market might be heading for a correction. I read somewhere that smart money had the highest ... Read more..

The Poor Middle-Class

Friday, February 16th, 2007 Posted in personal finance | 4 Comments »

Rich at Queercents has a good post on what it takes to be middle class and makes a great case on why being middle class (at a $75k annual income) ... Read more..

Book Review - Guns, Germs & Steel

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 Posted in Book Review | 4 Comments »

I'm currently half way through a great book by Jared Diamond called Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. It delves into 30,000 years of human history and ... Read more..

BoA To Give Credit Cards to Illegal Immigrants

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Bank Of America is going to start giving out credit cards to illegal immigrants who don't have social security numbers.Apparently there will be some checks in place to make sure ... Read more..

Sub-prime Lenders In Trouble

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

According to the Mortgage Lender Implode-o-Meter Website, 21 of the top 25 sub-prime lenders have closed their doors or gone out of business since december 2006.According to various sources, 25% ... Read more..

Land Trusts Offer Great Tax Breaks

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 Posted in Real Estate, Taxes | No Comments »

According to the WSJ, Landowners Rush to Take Advantage of New Law That Boosts Deductions for Blocking Development.Here's how it works: A landowner typically donates a conservation easement to a ... Read more..

Friday Rant

Friday, February 9th, 2007 Posted in Commodities, Currency, Economy, Foreign Stocks, Global Economy, Gold/Silver, Investing, Oil and Gas, Real Estate, Stocks, housing bubble | 1 Comment »

I came across this article last night, 32 Reasons Why The Stock Market Will Jump This Year. While its written as a serious prediction, I personally feel its more like a ... Read more..

Deals On Electronics?

Friday, February 9th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Circuit City, the No. 2 electronics retailer behind Best Buy, is closing 69 stores in the U.S. and Canada. The company quoted gross margin pressure from lower prices on flat-panel ... Read more..