Boston Gal's Open Wallet

Some front-yard gardeners say that ripping out the sod and putting in vegetables gave the neighbors their first-ever excuse to speak to them.

"It's kind of like having a dog," said Nat Zappia, 32, a graduate student. "No one talked to us until we had a dog."

Zappia turned the front yard of the home he and his wife rent in Santa Monica, California, into a vegetable garden, with his landlord's permission. He estimates it supplies 35 to 40 percent of the food they eat.

Zappia took a master gardening class at the East Los Angeles University of California extension program that was focused on growing food. Other gardeners were inspired by books they've read, such as "Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture" and "The Year I Ate My Yard."

The gardens don't cost much to plant. Zappia estimates he spent about $100 on the garden and says he and his wife save about $200 to $300 a year on their food costs.

Waldrop, in Oklahoma City, said the garden's organic fruit allowed him to eat in a way he could never afford if he bought everything at the grocery store.

"It's like money growing in your yard," he said.

Labels: Cool Gardening

A recently published academic study looked at the retirement preparedness of Americans who were in their 50s in 1992 and concluded that at least 80 percent had more than enough for retirement. Others have argued that Americans may be saving too much.

The Boston College study evaluated the same 51-61 age group, but looked at their finances in 2004, and found 32 percent to be ‘‘at risk’’ for not being able to maintain their preretirement standard of living in retirement.

The difference between the results, the center said, has to do with changes in the environment:

Americans now must wait until they’re older than 65 to collect full Social Security benefits.

Lower interest rates mean they’ll probably collect less on annuities and other investments.

And many of today’s workers do not have pensions, as earlier generations did, but rely on worker-funded 401(k) retirement accounts.

Steve Gutierrez of Houston says he was recently hit by a $29 late payment after he paid online 31 minutes after a 3 p.m. deadline. Because his late payment also caused his account to exceed his credit limit, he was socked with a $29 over-the-limit fee. His 31-minutes-late payment cost him nearly $60.

"I've made mistakes, and I've overlooked the fee," Gutierrez says. "But with the over-the-limit fee, it's getting steep." As a customer since 2001, he expected his bank to waive at least one of the two fees. But it said no. He canceled the card.

Carol Khalikyar of Roswell, Ga., was irritated this year when her card's interest rate jumped from 21% to 27.5%, for no apparent reason. She called her bank, which refused to lower it. "They shouldn't be able to do things simply because they can," Khalikyar says.

"The costs people are concerned about, whether it's higher interest rates or fees for late payments, are within the control of the consumer," says Clayton of the bankers association. "They can avoid these fees and avoid interest rate increases. One of the challenges we have is getting across to people that this is a loan. If you pay it back, it doesn't cost you a cent."

Each of the four calculators we tried is free and sponsored by a well-known nonprofit group or company. (There are many others, of course -- some more elaborate and some that charge a fee.) For our test, we said we were a single, 45-year-old man who earns $50,000 a year, a bit higher than the average U.S. household. His only debt is a mortgage, and he's got $90,000 invested in a 401(k) account and $10,000 in taxable accounts. He's putting $5,000, or 10% of his income, into his 401(k) annually.

He wants to retire at 65 and live on 100% of his preretirement income -- that is, $50,000 a year. He expects to live until 100. (That may sound unlikely, but it's safer to overestimate, given that half of us will outlive the average life expectancy.)

His likely monthly Social Security benefit is $1,408, based on his current income and expected retirement date. Some sites allow you to enter your assumed rate of return and expected inflation -- we put 6% return and 3% inflation -- but other sites make their own assumptions.

Labels: Calculation

The majority of U.S. households have no credit card debt, according to the Federal Reserve's latest Survey of Consumer Finances. About a quarter have no credit cards, and an additional 30% or so pay off their balances every month.

Of the households that do owe money on credit cards, the median balance was $2,200 -- meaning half owe more, half less.

Only 8.3% of households owe $9,000 or more on their cards.

Kelly needn't have been so hard on herself, as she discovered when she sat with Susan H. Brown, a fee-only financial planner with the Back Bay Financial Group in Boston. Earning $37,000 a year as a medical education event planner, Kelly had shown impressive financial discipline.

"You're saving 7 percent of your after-tax income for retirement, plus another 8 percent toward a contingency fund," Brown told her. "This is in addition to paying $200 per month on student loans. Great job."

The next step was putting those savings to work. Because Kelly has only about $3,000 in retirement savings, Brown suggested using a "target-date" mutual fund for all her accounts: her rollover IRA, her workplace Simple IRA, and a new Roth IRA that Brown is recommending.

Labels: Money Stories

But, to some dealers’ chagrin, cash deals are up in 2007. Some 11.7 percent of buyers paid cash for cars in the first half of this year, versus about 8 percent over the last few years, according to a survey by CNW Marketing Research, which studies car buying habits.

[...]

Because many consumers purchase small vehicles as second and third cars, and have a car loan for their primary vehicle, a number are choosing instead to pay cash rather than take on another loan, Mr. Spinella said. That is particularly true for women buyers, who account for about 42 percent of cash-paying customers.

Cash-paying buyers, who tend to be wealthier than typical consumers, are often reaping investment profits. This year, 34.8 percent paid for their cars by selling stock, the most common source of cash, compared with 31.8 percent who took money out of their savings, Mr. Spinella’s data showed.

Indeed, at brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Audi and BMW, as many as one-third of transactions are cash sales.

“I would look,” Ms. Wegenaar said. “I would print out the info, and then I would start to cry. I would say, ‘This is never going to happen as a single person.’ ”

In 2004, she started to save $400 a month from her paychecks, adding to that amount with raises and bonuses. By late 2005, she had saved nearly $10,000 and found a $160,000 apartment in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. She had discovered Ditmas Park by searching listings in her price range on Craigslist. When she visited the area with her parents, she found out that her father had grown up nearby, and that made the area more appealing. But she still didn’t have enough money.

So she went into savings overdrive: she went grocery shopping only with a list and cut out luxuries like expensive juices. When she went out with friends, she ordered the happy-hour drink specials and often chose Mexican food so they could munch on free chips and split a cheap entree. She shopped the sales racks at Urban Outfitters and sewed dresses from discounted fabric she bought on the Lower East Side.

By October 2006, she had saved $17,000. When she found a $220,000 one-bedroom co-op in Ditmas Park that required only a 10 percent deposit, she wrote a $6,500 credit-card check to cover the shortfall for the down payment and closing costs.

Labels: Money Stories

It's a tricky balance: Having some money can definitely help you get happy, but caring about it too much can backfire.

Wilder, who started his firm because he “loves working with young people,” announces I’ve scored a B-minus. “You talk too much,” he says. “It was hard for me to figure out what the hell you were saying. And your eye contact is funny—you shake hands and then you look at your feet. It’s sort of a geisha introduction.”

“You’re a writer?” asks Hayden. “You’re one of the worst verbal editors I’ve ever heard! The way you sit, the way you slap your thigh—you sound like a bullshitter. But the biggest thing is the verbal diarrhea. If I were actually interviewing you, I would have been exhausted.” She gives me a C.

Ultra-fine particulate matter has been linked with premature death, cardiovascular disease and respiratory illness, according to the California Air Resources Board. Though it takes Americans an average of 25 minutes to drive to work, according to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau figures, the board estimates that over 50% of a person's daily exposure to ultra-fine particles can occur during a commute.

[...]

Long commutes, research has shown, can lead to loss of short-term memory, more days of missed work and such ailments as higher blood pressure, muscle tension and an accelerated heart rate.

[...]

To minimize your exposure to pollution, Conrad Schneider, advocacy director for the Clean Air Task Force, says drivers should try to avoid roads filled with trucks' diesel exhaust. If you can't avoid traveling with trucks, close your windows and set your air to recirculate. Of course, carpooling or taking public transit can cut congestion and travel times. You could also support the Clean Air Task Force and the American Lung Association's campaigns, which urge the EPA to set stricter pollution standards.

The three activists are among thousands nationwide who have raised money for a project that addresses the rape, mutilation, and murder of Darfuri women – now among at least 2 million Sudanese displaced by the conflict. The aim: Supply families with solar cookers and teach women in refugee camps new cooking skills so they don't have to burn wood.

This reduces the need for women to hunt for firewood outside the camps, where the risk of attack and rape is greater.

[...]

Two solar cookers can save a ton of wood per year, according to JWW. They free women from tending fires to do other tasks, and provide income for female refugees because the cookers are manufactured on-site. Envision foil-covered cardboard (about four feet by two feet) folded upward to direct sun's rays on a black pot, placed in the center, and covered in a plastic bag. Millet, rice, eggs, and other ingredients are put in the pot, surrounded by the water-moistened plastic bag that provides softening condensation.

Labels: Smart Spending

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For those with 5 years of continuous participation, it rose 20 percent to $59,000. And among age groups, balances for:

Baby Boomers rose 7 percent to $38,000
Gen Xers rose 10 percent to $15,000
Gen Yers rose 21 percent to $2,100

The increase in balances came both from rising asset values and contributions from workers and company matches.

The average contribution rate for Baby Boomers, was 7.7 percent, just a little above the 7 percent overall average. And even though they are next on deck for retirement, one in three eligible Baby Boomers weren't participating in their 401(k)s at all.

Among participating Gen Xers, the average contribution rate was 6.2 percent. And among Gen Yers, it was 4.6 percent, but two out of three eligible Gen Y workers don't participate at all.

By taking profits from the sale of her house in 2005, she was able to make a 45% down payment on a condo last year, which slashed her housing costs.

Even better, by lowering her overhead she has been able to redouble her savings efforts, maxing out her 401(k) and Roth IRA contributions, and socking away $20,000 in an emergency fund.

Some might argue that she would have been better off making a lower down payment and investing the difference, but sometimes the right thing to do is doing what feels right to you.

Labels: Solutions

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Labels: Smart Spending

Labels: Funny Money

The Unnoppets salt away 16 percent of their combined $90,000 income. They have $76,000 in retirement savings as well as a $30,000 emergency fund.

Unlike their saving skills, their spending habits are haphazard. They don't have a budget when it comes to, say, their annual five-day snowboarding vacation. "We just buy the plane tickets," Sonya admits.

As for their debts, when Nop starts to practice they'll begin repaying $175,000 in medical school loans. They carry two mortgages on their home: They owe $138,000 on a seven-year ARM. And earlier this year Sonya took out a $40,000 second mortgage to buy 90 acres with her father in New Haven, Ky., her hometown.

The couple plan to relocate to that state or to Alabama, where Nop is from, in 2009.

Labels: Money Stories

Netflix will charge $16.99 per month for a plan that allows subscribers to keep up to three DVDs at a time, with no limit on how frequently the discs can be mailed back in return for another movie. The price for a similar plan that lets customers keep one DVD at a time will fall to $8.99 per month.

The price cuts, which take effect tomorrow, match the fees charged by Blockbuster for similar online-only services.

Earlier this year, Netflix knocked $1 off two other plans that had previously cost $14.99 and $5.99 per month.

Labels: Saving Money

For ethically minded investors, the fast proliferation of ETFs in recent years has put powerful new tools in their wealth-building, world-improving toolboxes. Over the past 2-1/2 years, at least a dozen ETFs with a socially responsible angle have appeared in the marketplace. Two just launched in June: PowerShares Global Clean Energy Portfolio and the Claymore/KLD Sudan Free Large Cap Core ETF. The latter shuns companies with ties to Sudan, where the government stands accused of sponsoring terrorism and sanctioning genocide in the Darfur region.

Socially responsible ETFs still represent just a sliver of the total ETF universe, which includes more than 560 unique products, but they are nonetheless shaping in important ways the portfolios of discerning investors.

The most basic appeal of ETFs, for investors with and without social missions, is their relatively low maintenance costs. ETF investors generally give up just 0.5 percent of their asset value per annum for operating expenses, versus an average of 1.2 percent for an actively managed mutual fund. That's largely because ETFs have no manager getting paid to decide whether a particular stock is poised to pop or fizzle. As a result, ETFs cost less than managed funds do to operate.

Comparing ETFs with an actively managed mutual fund, "the lone disadvantage [of ETFs] would be if the actively managed fund consistently outperforms the socially responsible ETFs over time," says an e-mail from Tom Lydon,editor of ETF Trends, an industry newsletter. To date, he says, socially responsible ETFs are for the most part too new to have a clear track record.

Labels: Investing Green

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Shivering Kid: Hey mister, I need a fix real bad. You got some Potter?

Shady Guy: Do I got some Potter? I got some serious "Deathly Hallows" right here, my man.

Shivering Kid: "Hallows"? What're you asking?

Shady Guy: For valued customers like your bad self? Fifty dollars.

Shivering Kid: Fifty?! But that's three months of paper route money!

Shady Guy: Perhaps you didn't hear me correctly, punk. This ain't no photocopy abridged action. This baby's uncut and opened zero times. Most Potterheads ain't even gonna see this deal until freakin' midnight — you think I'm in the mood to bargain with your 10-year-old face?

Shivering Kid: OK, OK, be cool. Here's the money.

Labels: Funny Money

Labels: Cool Gardening

Purchase price: $269,000 in October 2005. Mr. Ellis financed 100% of the home's price with two loans -- a bank loan at a 6.9% interest rate for 90% of the purchase and a seller-financed loan at a 7% interest rate for the remaining 10%. The $269,000 amount included his closing costs.

In contrast to their parents, these new consumers have no instinctive aversion to debt or borrowing: increasingly, they realize that a mortgage is the only way they will ever manage the most important consumption decision of all -- the purchase of an apartment. This new attitude has spilled over into a greater acceptance of bank cards, which still represent a measly but rapidly growing 17% of consumer purchases. Construction Bank of China, for instance, has teamed up with Chinese universities to promote credit cards to the young campus population.

Those who study the shifting sands of the Chinese consumer landscape believe that as long as China's one-child-per-family policy remains in force, developing products aimed at relatively affluent young consumers is likely to be a winning strategy.

"This is the 'have' generation, the single children who carry the expectations of their whole family with them and who are going be groomed from an early age to compete and win,"

Mr. Kapapula walked Mr. Chungu through the unfamiliar process of buying and financing Lilayi homes, which range in price from $40,000 for a one-bedroom semidetached to $46,000 for a two-bedroom stand-alone to $69,000 for a three-bedroom home. First, he'd open a savings account with Stanbic Zambia Ltd., the local subsidiary of South Africa's Standard Bank, whose representative has a desk in the Lilayi sales office. When Mr. Chungu had enough saved in the account to fund 20% of the house price, plus closing costs, Stanbic would review his mortgage application. If approved, his down payment would then go for the purchase of the land.

The Lands Ministry also has promised to set up shop inside the Lilayi office, where officials say they will transfer title to the buyer within 48 hours. The old lands minister was sacked -- and eventually arrested -- for alleged corruption. The new minister, lawyer Bradford Machila, sees the Lilayi project as a pilot for how he'd like to decentralize and speed up the ministry's services to home buyers.

Once Mr. Chungu took possession of his new home, he would begin making payments on the mortgage, at a 14% interest rate, for 15 years. "All of the hassle is taken out of it for you," Mr. Kapapula told Mr. Chungu.

Mr. Chungu found the pitch attractive. He now pays $650 a month to rent a two-bedroom apartment outside of town. Monthly payments on a three-bedroom Lilayi house would be $850. He vowed to consult with his wife and return the next week to open his deposit account

Labels: Free Sample

Whatever the current market, it remains that people who intend to be in their homes 10, 15, 20 and 30 years from now will do just fine.

This won't happen because of generous tax breaks. Wild appreciation would make things better, but it isn't necessary. This happens because owning a house is the easiest way to make inflation work for you rather than against you.

[...]

How can this be?

It isn't because of your fantastic tax deductions. They may help the people in Boston and San Diego to buy pricey condos, but they don't do anything for people with average incomes in most of the country.

[...]

The benefit comes from the decline in the real cost of the mortgage. Even modest inflation will cut the effective cost of the mortgage dramatically over 30 years. And then the cost disappears. The renter, meanwhile, faces a lifetime of rising rent bills.

Labels: Free Sample

It's 118 degrees in Baghdad, but Peter Hudson is willing to sweat it out there, literally, for 18 more months. Why? So he can save up enough money to buy his first home back in the States — ideally with a swimming pool.

"I'm really, really hoping for a pool," says Hudson, 32, who works for a contractor providing private and corporate security outside Baghdad's Green Zone. By working in Iraq, he can temporarily pull in a six-figure salary that's about double what he'd earn doing similar, if much less dangerous, work in the USA.

[...]

Meanwhile, Hudson, who will complete his contract in Iraq in early 2008, says he won't be able to afford to buy that house with a swimming pool in his hometown of Milford, N.H. He says his $250,000 price target would buy him "a shack or a very nice condo" there.

So on vacation this month, he flew to Houston to look at properties and get a feel for the market. He says he plans to buy a home in December or January, by which time he should have saved up a sizable down payment. "By the time I come back from Iraq," he says, he might not even need a loan. "I plan to have it paid off."

Labels: Money Stories

Account history: The Arredondos started the restaurant when Kim couldn't find a full-time job to put her teaching degree to use. That left them with student loan debt of about $20,000 today. Debts from the restaurant venture, including some payments to the IRS, total about three times that amount.

Besides a car loan and mortgage, they don't carry much other debt and keep their credit card balances low. They have one son paying his way through college and an 11-year-old boy at home. They can cover their expenses, but "it gets kind of tight toward payday," Mario says.

Labels: Money Stories

Labels: Saving Energy, Saving Money

Most economists assume these kinds of auctions are largely immune to the passions and unpredictabilities of ravenous bidders, she says. Simple bargain hunting, they hope, would bring out our inner homo economicus, someone who acts in their self-interest to get the best deal possible.

No such luck, she says.

Ms. Malmendier tracked 166 auctions offering "CashFlow 101," a personal-finance-themed board game. During the seven-month trial, the game's designer sold the box set on his website for $195.

Meanwhile, eBay sellers usually offered an opening price of about $45 and set a one-click, "buy it now" price of about $125. It looked like a great deal for buyers. They could pay less than retail to end the auction immediately or place bids in the hope of fetching an even lower price.

But this is where eBay users fell prey to what Malmendier and her coauthor, Stanford University economist Hanh Lee, call "bidder's curse." Apparently, some bidders grew so enthusiastic about winning the auction that they lost sight of the "buy it now" price, sometimes offering more than $185.

"We found that in 43 percent of the auctions the bidders ended up paying more than the 'buy it now' price," Malmendier says.

But Andrew Cherlin, a professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University who studies marriage and family life, says that changing domestic economics - specifically, the rise of two-income families - is causing a shift in what couples are looking for when they enter a marriage. "Three or four decades ago, you had to be married to make it" both financially and emotionally, he says. Now, the choice is "a matter of personal happiness," Cherlin says. It used to be that a union was judged by how well it fulfilled both parties' economic and social needs, while today, young people judge the success of a marriage by how well it fulfills their emotional needs.

What has also changed in the last 30 or 40 years is that many of the traditional perquisites of marriage - shared household expenses, children, sex - are no longer tied to a marriage license. So when young people, often already living together, decide to get that piece of paper, they expect it to transport them to a higher emotional plane. And when that doesn't happen, they leave - facing little stigma and with few regrets.

The common practice of ending financial obligation after their children graduate from high school or college is gone. Parents are carrying their children longer, pouring in thousands of dollars a year — if not tens of thousands — to their college graduates.

Thirty-four percent of adults 18 to 34 receive financial assistance from their parents, according to a study by the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan and published in “On the Frontier of Adulthood.”

During this time parents can expect to pay on average $38,340 helping their children transition to adulthood. That is roughly $2,200 a year.

“While parents are more able, than in the past, to provide assistance — some are overextending themselves,” said Robert F. Schoeni, an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the study.

Tucker's next step: he called California's unclaimed property office.

TUCKER: So I contacted them and said I, you know, I want my property back. And they said "Well, here's the thing: we've probably sold it."

For $25,000. At the time, it was worth 10 times that. Not something to laugh about - today, it would be worth more than a million dollars. Tucker's now 55 and says his dream of an early retirement is gone.

TUCKER: Honestly, that's one of the biggest challenges with this situation is I'm not sure what they could have done to have prevented this.

Unclaimed property has provided billions of dollars in revenue to California and other states in the last decade. And states have become much more aggressive about going out and getting it.

Labels: Money Stories

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In China, copyright pirates are racing to get out their version of the latest Harry Potter film before the real one makes it to theatres; and fake books are in the works too with no resemblance of the real thing. Fake Harry Potter movies and books become a cottage industry in China.

Labels: Saving Energy

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REX allows homeowners to convert home equity to cash, much like a home-equity loan. But this is no loan; REX charges no monthly payment, nor any interest. Instead, when the home is sold, REX takes a portion of the home's appreciation.

For a house valued at $500,000, REX might offer a lump sum of $70,000 in exchange for half the home's change in value. If the house eventually sells for $600,000, REX gets $120,000, the original 70K plus half the price gain. If the home sells for only $400,000, REX shares in the loss, getting just $20,000 back.

Real estate analysts say the idea shows promise as a way for homeowners to hedge against real estate volatility. But they also warn that it's a potentially more difficult financial tool for consumers to gauge, especially given its newness on the market.

Tired of paying as much as $340 per month for gas and electricity at the Cape Cod home here where he has lived for 18 months, Michael Mercurio erected a 35-foot windmill in his backyard last fall that helped reduce his bill to about $114 — a year.

“It just makes sense,” said Mr. Mercurio, who is 61 and runs a company selling and installing windmills. “This is a clean, renewable source of energy.”

Some of his neighbors say it is also annoying. They say it is too big. They say it is too noisy. And some residents in this middle-class borough on Long Beach Island have gone to court to try to make him take it down, while the township has stilled it since winter.

Labels: Saving Energy

Many years ago, when I was breaking up with my then-fiancé, I needed to find my own apartment. But I had no idea how I would be able to afford it.

The problem, plain and simple, was that I didn't have a dime in savings. OK, maybe a dime, in a dusty tray on my desk, but that was it. I hadn't even signed up for the 401(k) plan at my job.

Then one day, as if the Money Fairy had heard me crying, a credit card appeared in the mail!

The credit limit was $6,000. I felt as if someone had handed me a bag of gold. Here was my moving-out money! Here was my freedom!

And there went my financial sanity.

According to Johnston, one February night while hanging out with Miller and Miller's boyfriend, Michael Chastang, the three began joking about the idea of Johnston and Miller robbing a bank. The next morning, Johnston says, Chastang called with specific instructions. He knew a bank teller at a Bank of America branch, and said this bank teller could be their "inside man." The idea to rob a bank was hardly a joke anymore; it was a plan.

Labels: Free Sample

Sprint Nextel sent Dear John letters to a thousand customers telling them 'it's over.' Apparently, these people were calling customer service 40 to 50 times a month, asking the same questions over and over and over and over — and Sprint says they were simply draining too many customer service resources. The ex-customers won't have to pay a termination fee or even their final bill. So if you really want out of your cell phone contract and you've got a lot of free time on your hands...

Labels: Funny Money

Planner's advice: "Katie has high credit card debt and can't make ends meet, so she doesn't see how she can save for retirement," said Juli Erhart-Graves, vice president of Worley Financial Group.

"Critical to Katie is implementing a budget and changing her spending habits. I gave her many suggestions on how she can do this. I created a sample budget for Katie that will allow her to pay off her credit card debt in about three years. In her budget, I included her contributing a small percentage for retirement now."

Labels: Money Stories

Proud BU grad that he is, Minsky is immune to the message, thanks to his $40,000 in debt.

"I got a great deal with my financial aid, but I'm still paying tens of thousands of dollars," said the Orlando, Fla., native. "And now they want more money? I think it's just ludicrous."

University fund-raisers are increasingly worried over young graduates like Minsky. They fear that with student debt ballooning today, campus coffers may be suffering tomorrow.

Labels: Saving Energy

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Their contributions to the College Illinois prepaid tuition plan are now worth $66,000, which covers the first two years for Nicholas, 11; Lauren, 10; and Alexander, 8.

And their 15-year mortgage will be paid off in February 2009.

Meanwhile, they've managed to tuck away $95,800 in retirement accounts at work and in Roth individual retirement accounts, and they have $56,600 in nonretirement accounts.

Will it be enough? Kellams thinks so, provided the couple boost their savings as Dawn, a nurse, goes back to work.

Labels: Money Stories

The concept is computerized and credit card driven. Each station has a large ATM-sized panel that gives instructions in French, German, English, and Chinese. Riders buy in for a day (1 rules), a week (5 rules), or a year (29 euro). The panel issues a card that can be swiped over a small locking pod to release the bike.

It is also a concept designed mainly for commuters, not tourists seeking a languid ride along the Seine. Riders have 30 minutes to get to their destination before any charge is made. After 30 minutes, the cost is 1 euro ($1.36). The bike is 2 rules for 1.5 hours, and 4 euro for 2 hours. "We hope each bike is used 10 to 14 times a day," says Pierson, who notes that the stations are open 24/7.

A rider who arrives to find no locking pods available, checks in, and is given another free 15 minutes and directions to the closest space. Need to stop for a baguette? The bike has a lock.

Labels: Solutions

Hindu widows are shunned from society when their husbands die, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition -- and because they're seen as a financial drain on their families.

They cannot remarry. They must not wear jewelry. They are forced to shave their heads and typically wear white. Even their shadows are considered bad luck.

[...]

Biswas speaks with a strong voice, but her spirit is broken. When her husband of 50 years died, she was instantly ostracized by all those she thought loved her, including her son.

"My son tells me: 'You have grown old. Now who is going to feed you? Go away,' " she says, her eyes filling with tears. "What do I do? My pain had no limit."

[...]

"Generally all widows are ostracized," she says. "An educated woman may have money and independence, but even that is snatched away when she becomes a widow. We live in a patriarchal society. Men say that culturally as a widow you cannot do anything: You cannot grow your hair, you should not look beautiful."

She adds, "It's the mind-set of society we need to change -- not the women."

I'm in my peak accumulation years, financial planners say, and I'm ahead of the curve a bit. Most Americans my age have saved about $100,000. I've done considerably better than that and look forward, now that I'm 50, to "catch up savings" of an additional $5,000 a year in my 401(k) plans to max out at a total $20,500 annually.

Although I have saved prodigiously, it doesn't make me feel too comfortable since I have seen the social safety net unravel in the past 30 years. I'm not sanguine about the future of public retirement and medical programs. That makes me want to fully fund my tax-deferred vehicles.

Labels: Money Stories

He writes, “I volunteered to come to Iraq because of the extra money I earn while here. I’m using that money to get out of debt and get a new start on my financial future.”

“I was in so much debt at home that I could barely keep my head above water. My answer: volunteer for Iraq. Obviously, that is not a course of action that would appeal to most people.

Scott Jagow: Today is a big day for the beer industry. A lot of people rent kegs for their Fourth of July parties. The beer companies just hope they get the kegs back. Some people have been keeping them or stealing them so they can sell the kegs to scrap metal places. The price of metal has made this worth their while. Joining us now is Jeff Becker. He's president of the Beer Institute, an industry trade group. Jeff, how big a problem is this?

Jeff Becker: Well right now we estimate we're losing around 300,000 kegs a year and since kegs cost around $130 on average to buy, it's obviously a very significant problem that reaches into the $40-$50 million range.

Labels: Funny Money

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2. Giving Trees: Got an empty patch of land? You can call the city’s parks department (617-635-4505) and ask for a free tree; if there’s enough space, Mosman’s crew will plant one. Most residents put in for a flowering species, and he tries to accommodate them. Some requests, though, are a little too specific. “Last week a lady asked for an Asian pear tree,” says Mosman, who had to turn her down. “Yeah, that’s not in our repertoire.”

Labels: Boston Bargains