Chets blog

Does your neighboorhood have a local militia?

2011-08-27T16:33:00.003-06:00

Mine does. I have never felt safer.

Scott and Brenda get hitched!

2011-05-26T15:35:00.006-06:00

Boat + Tux= Classy entrance!
Congrats!

Doubler!

2011-04-24T15:45:00.005-06:00

You know the fishing is great when you and your fishing partner are both reeling em in at the same time. Didn't keep track, but probaby 30-35 bass landed between the two of us on the first evening. Saylor's place, bass in the spawn, Atlanta

Pilot's Tip #55.

2011-04-17T17:20:00.006-06:00

Altitude and airspeed are a pilot's best friend, Trees are not.

Like picking a juicy peach, except instead of sweet peach juice dripping down your chin it's shame.

Father and Son Picnic

2011-03-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

Dad and I have gotten into these RC Foamies. Pretty fun! Plane is his design. Works good!

The Force is Strong With This One

2011-02-16T15:48:00.001-07:00

No pressure My young apprentic

Bad rc idea #4

2011-01-27T08:23:00.003-07:00

In the RC world there is a inverse relationship between how good an idea is and how fun it is to try.

http://www.youtube.com/user/chesterfrantz?feature=mhum

Shannon was not impressed.

Mustache not enogh to conquer the spider.

2011-01-12T15:56:00.007-07:00

The Spider (Above) is a series of shoots I can see from my front yard. Mark, Matt and I tried to get it today

Started in the valley, after 5 hours of bushwhacking ever and only gaining 2500 vertical feet had to turn around.WE got about level with the bottom of the shot. If you listen real close you can hear my mustache crying. Mark's goatee wasn't pleased either. To succeed, you gotta increase your failure rate, either that or lower your expectations.

Today's Kids Not Easy to Scare

2011-01-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

Two local scientist conducted a experiment on how today's kids scare: Conclusion? Not easy.

Parents are getting harder to scare too.

The scientist were armed with the following equipment:
Beer
Pitbull/boxer
Trucker Hat with band name Nashville "kitty" or similar
Boom box.
Spinning props

The above items had no effect on parents decision that we were a "safe bet." Matter of fact we were safer than nobody.

"Mom is leaving to pick up some fast food. She comes out and let her kids know it is fine to stay at park with us, but to come back inside once we. " said one of the scientist. "We were a lawsuit waiting to happen, but to todays parent, with our beer and spinning props and pitbull, we looked like a safe haven, I just don't get it."

Bluie, a candle in the wind, a rough draft.

2011-01-07T10:48:00.003-07:00

Most half inch foam insulation bought at Lowe's ends up on houses, spending their long long lives guarding people from tempurature extreemes.

Not Bluie! Bluie was lovingly made into an airplane by a red headed proud Gappedo type.

Under Gappedo's guidance, Bluie lived a very very short but exciting life. here is bluies story.

to be continued. (spoiler alert, bluie is going to be a candle buring on many, many ends)

Shock and Awe!

2010-12-28T15:41:00.004-07:00

Miles,

The bombardment of poo has weakened our outer defenses. The thirty poo barage in 24 hours was especially effective as was your campaign to poo right after diaper change at 3am last night. and again at 4 am and again at 5. In a word. I surrender.

Not eating the fruit pays big dividends.

2010-12-23T21:07:00.002-07:00

Shannon sure is tough. 36 hours of labor later and here we are. Total anti-cake walk. ladies a tip- next time you are in a forbidden garden and a serpent has a great idea about a delicious menu item, think twice. Welcome Mile$ Boyd Frantz! 7pds 15oz dec 22 6:45 am we are back at home and all is well.

Rule 1 at the RC Field: Never fly in or from the RC Pit area

2010-12-14T07:33:00.003-07:00

Rule Number 2. Rules are meant to be broken.

P-51 Mustang.

2010-12-13T22:56:00.002-07:00

I have always liked mustangs. Toby takes a low pass on a Sunday evening. The real deal, Around 150 P-51's still flying. A full sized one goes for a million dollars, Toby's is appimately one million less so it is approximately free. Fun times.

$500 Dollar Potato Chip.

2010-12-02T10:24:00.004-07:00

When you shake a bag of potato chips the big ones end up on top. For $500, neighbor Mark just made himself one big potato chip.

Fleet get bigger.

2010-11-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

Never thought id own three airplanes. Thought id build one more before kid comes. One on right is latest.

Decade Two Run One

2010-11-19T16:26:00.002-07:00

For my first ride of the season, Under the advisement of Brighton management, Parm takes me to school. So it begins.

Dear dog,

2010-11-05T20:41:00.002-07:00

I do not know if you read this blog, but if you do, quit poohing on my deck. You are embarrassing me and yourself.

Free Packing foam and 2 hours labor = good times

2010-10-22T20:59:00.006-06:00

Shannon got some paking styrofoam in a recent shipment. I decided to put it to bad use. 2 hours of gluing later, time to terrorize the local kids. Not a bad flyer for something you pull out of the garbage.

Warning: Political Rant.

2010-10-18T08:51:00.008-06:00

Politicians are morons.

You know what you should do when there is a huge surplus of houses? In Utah, we decided to encourage people to build more houses. We offered a $6,000 "home run" grant to buy brand new houses. I payed for this bill twice. once in taxes, and again when i went to sell my old house, which had to compete with brand new houses that qualified for the $6,000 off.

Utah supreme court decided it was ok for me to quietly enjoy navigable waterways on private land, so I did!
Then passed House Bill 141. Now I can't.

Gov Herbert signed both ideas.

You probably got your own ideas, here is where to go to see who voted how and be a single issue voter, like me. They don't make it easy, it takes some digging, helps to know the number of the bill before hand and have a date.

http://le.utah.gov/

Anybody wants a copy of vote record for keeping me from touching river bottoms and the "home run grants" votes email me and I'll send it to you. Im printing em up, bringing em to the polls and going to try to fire some people. Others have done a fair job not pissing me off. Early voting starts tommorow.

Fishing partner finally lands fish

2010-10-14T08:54:00.003-06:00

AFter 30 days of fishing, Emma the dog poses for this beaut.

Cribs

2010-10-08T09:23:00.002-06:00

With a kid due on Xmas, I didnt buy this crib at Bead Bath and Beyond. Kids are getting too soft. Splinters and rusty nails should toughten the boy nicely.

The economics of gardening.

2010-10-01T10:37:00.000-06:00

I Pickled some cucumbers from garden which majically turn cucumbers into pickles.
jars 50 cents, time pickling 2 hours for 6 jars. Not sure what the brine costed. $3.00/ jar at store seems like quite a bargin now.

I got a theory on what you are getting when you garden. you go out and watch the garden and see things grow. when you finnaly harvest you are looking at something that at best cost 2 times as much as you would pay at the grocery store. so what are you buying when you garden?

Anticitation.

Bountiful Harvest

2010-09-29T10:30:00.001-06:00

I'm not setting any peach harvest records this year with my $20 peach tree.

Total crop this year is 2 peaches.

That is $10 a peach. Peach farmers, you have bested me again.

Buying the vote.

2010-09-27T10:20:00.004-06:00

DC residents have been whining for years about not getting to vote.

DC Residents, If you move all your free museums to Salt Lake, Ill give up my vote.
Crystals at the museum of natural science.

BORING

2010-09-01T09:54:00.003-06:00

Been drying apples from the tree in the back yard.

Meet my new favorite kitchen tool, the apple corer

Alaska, The Trout Strick Back episode II

2010-08-28T13:26:00.006-06:00

Had a layover in Anchorage yesterday, got rental car and caught this zombie sockeye.

Banks littered with dead reds. kind of stinky. Think Maggots and empty eye sockets. The circle of life is a lot prettier on disney

Bears that have smaller feet than i don't scare me. ok I might have missed a few fish looking for em. Never did see one, although other fishermen kept telling me around the corner there was a bear.

Nice rainbow in beautiful spawn colors.

Meat on the hook.

2010-08-17T16:28:00.001-06:00

Shannon's folks Boyd and Sandy nice line of Silvers

shannon hooks a steelhead

24" dolley varden, one of my biggest trouts to date. (i know it is actually a char)

Alaska Fish have to face more than the Sun.

2010-08-15T15:56:00.005-06:00

Best fishing ever.

how to turn a $8 job into a $20 job

2010-08-09T16:25:00.000-06:00

When my sliding glass door got progressively harder and harder to open, I thought about fixing it but didn't. As it got worse and worse I pulled harder and harder untill eventually....
the handle broke. I repaired the handle and wheels today. Instead of 50 pounds takes about 5 to close. Next move is to forget that it now takes 5 pounds, slam it, and shatter the door.

A stich in time really does save nine.

Twenty Dollar Airbrush.

2010-08-06T08:23:00.001-06:00

Bought a $20 airbrush and $10 of paint and $10 of foam.

Suppose to be a Russian yak 55, thus the commie theme. I'll try more fades next time.
Will put RC guts in as soon as i total my current RC plane. Did mostly stencils and tape. I especially like my sickle and hammer on tail. Airbrushing is fun. Next move, Shannon willing, is a Huge mural of a white dragon on the hood of our Civic.

Twenty Dollar Tomatoes

2010-08-05T08:10:00.002-06:00

That is not how good they are. $20 is how much they costed me so far.

Built 4 garden boxes, got ripped up trex decking from neighbor for free(first trex batch was junk, Trex refunded money)

Even with free Boards, spent $300 on dirt and irrigation and plants, got about 24 tomatoes or $20 a tomato. Hard to compete with farmers. Got a late start this year. Gardener frient Matt is out of town, maby ill raccoon it up in his garden while he is away, get my cost down.

NYC Water

2010-07-02T17:19:00.001-06:00

Clear as Gin

NYC is suppose to have a good water system, but it always looks funny untill it settles out which doesnt take long. Well oxygenated?

Who are the biggest liars?

2010-06-30T17:13:00.000-06:00

Mt bike tire manufacturers. this tire measured about 2.2

Suppose to be a 2.55" tire. I'm going to wright a letter asking for
$38(cost of tire) times {.25"(tire missing)/2.55" (tire amount ordered) } or around $3.80 back

In a world without lawyers...

2010-06-28T17:09:00.002-06:00

Saw this man sized hole ion a busy sidewalk in the Dominican Republic. It was six feet deep, unmarked, and almost 3 feet across.

Glad it wasnt dark.

Fun with Wood

2010-06-23T07:20:00.003-06:00

Built a pergola.

Little tricky getting it up, I was solo

Sacrafice

2010-06-22T07:55:00.002-06:00

Utah Primaries today. I took this pic from my front door.

I was willing to walk directly across the street to vote, because that is what the founding fathers would want. IF it would have been two houses down, I think the founding fathers would have been ok with me not making that kind of sacrafice.

Fun with Hangars

2010-06-15T16:32:00.003-06:00

Folks came to visit, dad told me about this design for a tv antenna. Works way better than my $50 store bought antenna. We are now recieving pbs. Total cost $7.27

Coming Soon

2010-06-12T10:18:00.000-06:00

Ginger kid arrives Christmas!

IF computers are suppose to increase productivity, why do I waste so much time on them?

2010-06-07T08:11:00.006-06:00

After giving me almost 4 months of semi reliable service, my refurbed Gateway(acer emachines group) hard drive passed away. Good bye sweet prince.

This is my secont Acer family desktop that hass had issues. (motherboard 1.5 years on a emachines= throw it away) Since it was refurbed the warrenty was 90 days. I Bought a new hard drive for $60 bucks, 5 min install using my favorite tool, a kitchen steak knife. Installing software was 6 hours. Back in buisness.

Some interesting but very boring thoughts. I tend to be penny wise and pound foolish. I wanted to get a HP as I have had great luck with em, but A HP would have costed me about twice as much. My sample size of 2 is too small to come to any logical conclusion about acer. A computer is just a big bag of parts. After a review, I learned that the hard drive(western digital) that came with my gateway computer was a well rated one very reilable with good reviews, and was probably same as installed in some HP's. I tried to see what brand of Hard drive apple used, could not find out. THe other big manufacture is seagate, there reviews wern't as good. You get a 3 year warrenty on a hard drive from the manufacture, but no warrent from the manufacture if you buy a whole computer, maby a reason to build a computer from scratch.

Maby acer/gateway/emachines isn't so bad, maby i just had bad luck with a reliable part. Or maby Acer does suck, maby the refurb was because of a bad hard drive due to something else, they replaced the hard drive(symptom) without fixing the cause (say a intermittent power supply) Either way computers are a great way to waste time.

The Rainbow Connection

2010-06-07T08:02:00.003-06:00

A Thunderstorm came thru at sunset yesterday evening. This is the view from the front porch. Best light I have seen from the house yet.

Dog out, suspension bridge in.

2010-06-05T09:59:00.000-06:00

Noticed a yellow rope crossing bear creek canyon on the Bonnivale Shoreline trail. baggage tag on rope said do not remove, future bridge. Will be nice, cuts off a 1 block hike a bike section, suspect it will be a suspension bridge, pretty long maby 80 yards.

Squirrel Jam

2010-06-01T16:41:00.000-06:00

D.C.'s most popular inhabitant.

Every corner is Kodacrome corner, when the squirrles are out. 1 squirrel, 3 cameras. Even I couldn't resist firing off a few shots.

Mr. resident, tear out this grass.

2010-05-31T09:37:00.002-06:00

Salt lake needs more clean water. As the protected watershead boundary's expand, a reliable fuzzy bike partner is banned from parts of my favorite trail.

What do brownies look like when you bake them for 1hour 21minutes?

2010-05-29T19:37:00.003-06:00

They look terrible. $1.20 in the trash.

When Robots take over the World.

2010-05-27T14:52:00.002-06:00

Here is what the Robots will be planting

A Shiney metal tree in DC

No leaves to rake, and the bird didn't seem to mind.

may 24th 2010, latest recorded snowfall at the slc airport ever!

2010-05-25T17:33:00.000-06:00

1 week till June. 12" in the mountains, 6" in the yard. A killer tour with neighbor Mark ends the year.

Staying Morally Straight, Boy Scout Memorial, Washington D.C.

2010-05-23T14:44:00.006-06:00

A very confusing memorial. Check your six, scout! Glad they had the presense of mind not to include a bronze van and a lolipop.

Yearly fish trip is a peach.

2010-05-07T08:42:00.001-06:00

I caught some

Scott caught more

Agony of defeat, dollar a fish ends up being an expensive proposition.

Thanks Scott! tons of fun.

Fishing, a Story of the Usual, then Magic then Heartbreak.

2010-05-05T08:22:00.003-06:00

I went down to Atlanta to fish on Scott' lake. We were trolling for bass when he started to reel in this small bass. It was foul hooked a little and we saw it 30 feet behind the boat. 2 seconds later we were very confused. The fish surfaced again and it was HUGE! The 1 pound bass had turned into a 9 pound bass. Its head popped up one more time about 12 feet from the boat and we could just see a tail of the original bass poking out of the monster's mouth. With no hooks in it the 9 pounder had had enough and let go. Scott reeled in the fish and below here it is.
We measured and the bass came in a little under 11 inches. he had crush marks where the 9 pounder had clamped him. I have never seen a bass fishing over 6 pounds and a 9 pounder would have been quite a trophy even for Scott. Neither Scott nor me have ever heard of a bass going after another bass that had been caught. I suspect Scott is going to go after this 9 pound white whale all summer.

Brighton Season Over

2010-04-21T14:29:00.002-06:00

Keith Hits the Mr. T jump one last time.

Good friends and good turns = Real fun year.

Thanks everyone I rode with.

Experts only!

2010-03-22T17:57:00.003-07:00

Apparently there isn't a heigt limit for the Great western lift.
Max and Katlyn first ride.

Baby bird leaves nest

2010-03-18T11:59:00.003-07:00

Family came down for some spring skiing. Here is my niece Katlyn ready to fly.

Shannon doesn't like to snowboard in the sun.

2010-03-03T15:53:00.001-07:00

Spray=a nice shady spot to ride in Pioneer ridge. (mitt visible)

Shannon versus the S-chute

2010-02-28T15:33:00.005-07:00

Top of something I've been calling the s-chute

Shannon's first decent on it. It is fun because it is s-shaped with banked walls. fits turns perfectly. Apron isn't bad either (below pic)

View from the bottom, entry is low pt on ridge, but out of view.

What happens when you run your computer keyboard thru the dishwasher?

2010-02-19T16:26:00.002-07:00

You go to the Thrift store and pick up a new one for $1. Internet, you have betrayed me again.

Cool running

2010-02-17T16:17:00.004-07:00

Guess what I saw parked in the DI parking lot?

Dragons? check
Half naked elf lady? check
Satan with sword? check
Black Elf with baseball hat on backwards? check.

Was it a van? No.
PT Cruiser's were cool for 3 days right when they came out. This car's paint is is extending its run

Predictions

2010-02-09T08:59:00.009-07:00

In the past I predicted that "computers" are a passing fad.

My new vision of the future has to do with something called "the internet". Many information/entertainmnet outlets are going to go the way of the newspaper. Radio stations, tv, phone line will all be thru internet. Companies will be scrambling to figure out how to make money in this new enviornment. Some will adapt and survive, others will not.

here are some cool websites so that you are ready.

tv. http://www.hulu.com/ -hook your tv and get rid of cable.
radio http://www.slacker.com/ -get rid of your ipod, quit listening to dj's
telephone http://www.ooma.com/ -pay for box, get rid of your phone line
personal finance http://www.mint.com/ - a poor mans quicken
office software http://openoffice.pro-2010.com/openoffice/index.php?pflow=icc - same as office but free.

I have just bought a computer that will hook up to my tv. Streaming video will be here shortly. I would get rid of my cable but one can't get rid of what one never had.

No Worries.

2010-02-08T17:26:00.005-07:00

Met up with Dan and Nick. We got to the top of Number 3 shoot (above with tracks coming out) and about 30 seconds later 2 skiers showed up. I was a little concerned that they were going to poach our line, and thought about saying somthing to them.I should not have worried, they let us drop first then they chose this line.

Apparently our number 3 shoot was mere child's play. Please play with volume muted, as public discretion is advised.

"The count part II

2010-02-05T14:45:00.001-07:00

"Eighty, Eighty inches storm total Dah Ha Ha!"

Today it snowed and I didnt ride it, breaking a 16 day streak.

Scott's Back Needs a Scratch

2010-02-04T15:42:00.001-07:00

One Run, One Man, Four backscratchers.

The Last Unicorn

2010-02-03T21:22:00.001-07:00

I am a magical unicorn.

I like sunsets and cotton candy and lolipops.

I am also apparently quite fond of space.

Day 15.

2010-02-03T09:19:00.005-07:00

In a row. Two laps Up Argenta

Billy made it, Dan Didn't. Dan had a new splitboard rig he was going to try. Important tip-when bringing your new splitboard rig, remember to bring along your boots. I offered up my cowboy boots-not interested.

Finished off a Homerun on Pioneer Ridge. Wasn't a Goal to Ride 15 days straight. It just turned out that way. Bidding Reserve and great snow helped. Legs are made of rubber now, have lost 7 pounds. Suppose to snow all week. I may take a day off on a big powder day, dont want to become too predictable.

Moon comes very close to earth

2010-02-01T21:02:00.001-07:00

Wolf moon a few days back. Its closer and therefore brighter and bigger than usual. how much closer? about 30,000 miles.

Back to the future. Life gets to easy.

2010-01-29T21:04:00.005-07:00

No-boarding

Sorrel was the first company I know of to make snowboard specific boots.

With no bindings, normal sorrels with there large footprint give you more leverage.

Apperently, for some snowboarding with bindings is too easy. If this trend continues I suspect well see alpiners in leather boots and wool next year. As for me, life is hard enough. I'll keep cranking my binding straps tight.

It's always darkest before the dawn

2010-01-29T20:52:00.002-07:00

Billy waiting for light, top of Circle al Peak in the early AM. 8 other people getting out before work on this popular easy, safe tour. Headlamps made it look like coal miners going to work.

Phone Lines are for rubes. Our new free land phone # is (801) 993-0862

2010-01-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

I payed $200 for this "ooma" box. The box goes downstream of modem and upstream of computer. Allows you to talk on your normal phone via internet. No monthly fees, nationwide calling free, Computer can be off! Went from $85 month phone and internet bill to $30 a month for just internet. Should pay for itself in 5 months. What would my amish bretherin think?

What would Sesame Street's " The Count" say about last week?

2010-01-27T14:24:00.001-07:00

"Six, Six Powder days, Da HA HA!"

Nifty!

2010-01-26T08:49:00.001-07:00

If you need a pair of mitts, check c-zips these out. Just got a pair, I think the zipper is the coolest mitten idea ever. Salty Peaks got em for 61% off (you can mail order em or stop by) They are $100 retail, $39, online, which they will match at the store if you ask em to, i learned that later and had to go back) They are very warm. I got a size larger than normal due to my thick palm

Em's Bday + Tai food + Generous friends=over $200 towards Haiti.

2010-01-25T13:12:00.004-07:00

Thanks Everybody! we raised over $200 which is going to Red Cross haiti fund today!
Maven tip: buy this Belgium Ale: Duchesse DeBurgogne-It is the best thing i have ever drank including shakes.

Congradulations Scott!

2010-01-24T13:48:00.001-07:00

In Celebration of your 100th hit, This unnamed rock is now call Scott's Drop.

Abracadabra

2010-01-23T13:57:00.004-07:00

Alakazam

Shannon dissapears. 28 inch powder day Brighton

Nuclear powered heater arrives.

2010-01-21T16:37:00.007-07:00

Got my Heat exchanger/blower insert for my fireplace. It is pretty simple, a square manifold with a fan, tubes coming out of manifold wrap around the fire in a c shape, air from tubes blown out the front top of fireplace opening. It is one of the the only thing i have bought lately besides food that is made in America.

Puts out about 2 space heaters worth of heat or 20,000 btu's (guess) which is a huge improvement. When I tried the fireplace before without a heat exchanger would guess that it put out 1 BTU

How is this nuclear? Trees grow because of energy from the sun, the sun is nuclear, therefore nuclear power is the source of the heat. Carbon neutral! Particulate emission however is another sadder story.

3 days of Powder and Rising.

2010-01-21T16:34:00.002-07:00

I would have enclosed a photo, but you seem like a motivated crowd.

Good riddance 30 days of smog. Hello snowpack.

Man vs Machine

2010-01-19T18:15:00.004-07:00

Local utah resident celebrates a large victory over the machines. The Microwave went an unexpected 15 rounds. It was a very close bout. Victor credits his win to a strict training regiment, perserverance, his trusty multimeter, and a wallet that just doesn't know when to open. After a good hard fight, the microwave is returning to work.

Star Wars

2010-01-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

Star Destroyer Miami Airport. Still looking for the Death Star.

Things To Avoid When Snowboarding

2010-01-11T07:33:00.002-07:00

A little porcupine slowly crossing a groomer on a Sunday morning

Becoming Omish

2010-01-06T13:29:00.002-07:00

IPod broke, got a new one under warranty, and then sold it as new on Craigslist

Trying to organize ones and zeros is expensive. I have rarely been happy with anything that is purely electronic, as nothing depreciates faster I bought a chord of firewood instead. I doubt I'll have problems with this product.

Ovens and Microwaves, a Cautionary Tale

2010-01-05T09:18:00.007-07:00

What happens when you save $200 by buying a combo microwave and oven instead of buying them seperately?

Your chances of something breaking doubles, and this is what happens

A Christmas Whodoneit?

2009-12-29T11:28:00.005-07:00

On Christmas night I returned to my house to find blood on our sidewalk
Using my wealth of tracker knowledge I saw what I determined to be cougar and deer tracks

Blood trail went for two blocks. No bodies found. Cougar must have bleed a fair bit. Why the deer couldn't finish his cougar kill is a mystery to me.

First tour of season.

2009-12-18T16:23:00.002-07:00

Billy, Dan and I toured Days fork. Didnt get to ride what we wanted. Fun time though.

We Are The Storm We Have Been Waiting For.

2009-12-13T17:43:00.002-07:00

Bout time. 3 Feet snow + nothing steep open=Lots of people getting stuck.

How was my Thanksgiving?

2009-12-01T07:51:00.001-07:00

I worked. Brown bag turkey sanwich at a Denver hotel equals a thanksgiving to be forgottten. (nothing open) Rescheduled thanksgiving was pretty good, got back sat @ 10:00 where a good turkey meal was waiting with Shannon, Sandy and Lina

First lift ride of year captured on film.

2009-11-30T07:57:00.002-07:00

Day after boot fiasco I came back up. Probably didnt miss out no much. Season so far is pretty poor. 30" base looks like less if you get away from snowmakers. Haven't seen snowmaking since 2002ish. Still nice to get out and ride.

Mt Dissapointment

2009-11-30T07:40:00.002-07:00

Brighton reported 11" of snow. I drove up with my new snowboard boots that I had "scored" on line. Put em on in the parking lot, couldnt get em tight. Looked at the tounge and this is what I saw. (I had ordered 8.5's box said same) Turned car around and went home and that was my first powder day. Dissapointing.

Account maintanance, tune ups, and hot rodding,

2009-11-13T22:38:00.000-07:00

The cat paradox.

Why does a cat piss on the carpet? Nobody likes it when the cat does this and the cat knows it but does it anyway. The cat has its reasons and so do I. Investment maintenance.

General tips.

Most investors drastically under perform the S&P 500. Your goal is to get as close as possible to market returns. How do you get market returns?

1. Do not get scared or greedy, if you do do not act on these emotions.
2 Avoid timing the market. The market is random. Embrace this.

3. Try to pay as little in fees and cut taxes

4. A good investment has high returns and low volatility. Remember this when thinking about investing in something other than a well diversified index fund (either stock or bond market)

Below is high hanging fruit, which means we are close to the end! If none of the ideas in the previous post have been new to you, prepare to be "dazzled" while being put to sleep at the same time. High hanging fruit isn't as easy to get as low hanging fruit, and neither are the below ideas.

There is a difference in tax treatment between interest and capital gains. Interest is taxed same as income. Capital gains is taxed at 15%. If you own corporate bonds these are taxed as normal income which for most of us is higher than capital gains rate of 15%. Consider putting interest generating corporate bonds in a tax advantaged account (traditional pre tax IRA might be optimal if you have one laying around as it will be taxed as income anyway)

If you own a index fund (say s&p) in a individual account and it is doing well, don't touch it to defer capital gains as long as possible. This is a free gov loan at 0% interest. Move your money around as little as possible is a good practice anyway, as it usually cost you fees and taxes.

If you have an asset that you think will grow real fast (either stock index fund or see small cap value below) try to put these in a post tax Roth account as it is not taxes.

If you own a fund in and individual account and you are loosing your shirt (say a 15-20% loss on it), time for tax loss harvesting. Sell the looser to take a capital loss on it, and buy something slightly different(be sure to check the rules on this, selling a vanguard s&p fund and buying a fidelity s&p fund is not slightly different) This was a fun pastime of mine in 2008-2009. This is a great way to later generate a tax free loan on the loss (defer taxes). It also helps lower your taxes. If you don't use all your capital loss it rolls over forever and you can write a certain amount off your income each year ($3000 ish) which is usually a better deal than subtracting the capital loss from your capital gains.

Also if you own bonds, consider this. If on one hand you are loaning money out and getting 5% back (corporate bond individual account) and on the other hand getting a loan on your house for 6%, you can see why this is silly There may be good reasons to do this, you like in an earthquake area, cash flow, etc but you are paying a premium. Treat the amount of cash in your house to be % allocation that you have in a bond.

The opposite scenario is worth thinking about. If I could borrow at 1% I would borrow all I could get. but leverage can kill. On leverage Buffet says" a stupid person should never use it and a smart person doesn't need it" or something similar. If you got cash in your house and can borrow on it at a great rate, and can use that money to max out say a Roth, and your rate of return is good(say s&p500 investment) it may make sense to do this. On a personal note I have proved Buffet right in 2008 by borrowing at 0% for 12 months (put kitchen on Lowe's credit card) turning a $15,000 kitchen into a $20,000 kitchen. On average this cute plan should have worked great but it ended up being a jam toast carpet scenario.

Dollar cost averaging. (401ks make this easy) try to invest a continuous stream of money over time. Also Try to avoid reallocating large chunks of money all at once. Instead do it very slowly. This helps avoid market timing mistakes.

Avoid cash drag (money not invested)

Re balance your allocations to where you want them. (once a year or so) Remember what you decided for stock bond allocation? keep it going, adjust for age and other factors that may effect how much risk you are willing to take (Dow Jones number is not a consideration)

Take another look at HSAs. HSAs as you recall are never taxed if you spend the money on health related expense or health insurance. If you are worried about not being able to spend all the money on health costs don't be. If you pull money out of an HSAs in retirement for non health expenses the money is taxed as income (just like an IRA) If you go to the hospital a lot this may not work for you.

Take another look at Roths. IRAs (401k pretax) are not as great as most people think. Roths (or 401k post tax) are most likely better.

IF you are well payed now, start saving now to pay tax bill in 2010 when you smartly roll over your IRA into a Roth.

Once in retirement, the plan will be to pull money out in roughly the following order, all the while keeping an eye on your tax bracket and adjust accordingly.

Individual accounts (pay capital gains) when doing this sell small gains first, big gains last to defer taxes and keep The free gov loan going.

IRa's (Will be taxed as normal income) Watch out for mandatory withdrawls in your early 70's

and finally Roths (no taxes!)

Hot Rods

The previous entries are pretty solid. Usually hot rods are less reliable than other cars, but if you are willing to take more risk and want to hot rod your portfolio, here are some thoughts. I am getting onto thinner ice here.

1 Best way is to move your portfolio to 100% stock allocation (index total market low cost) do this first.

2. There is historic data that shows small cap value index funds returns are higher but more volatile. You get compensated for taking on risk with historic average returns of a Little over 12 %. IF you are willing to accept more volatility, You could buy this index. Roth is a great place to buy this one, due to the tax free growth.

3. Some books mention adding a international total market fund. There is not a lot of long term data on this. May or may not prove to be a good idea. There have been some studies that show it does create a portfolio with less volatility(1%). no more than 30% is a good number to shoot for if you subscribe to this theory this is one hot rod add on that is OK to think about even if you do have bonds. If you think that international companies in general will grow their earnings the same or faster than U.S. companies, than this may be a good option if you end up being right. The flip side of this diversification move is that if you own US stocks, you already have some international exposure.

5. Emerging markets. Quite a bit of volatility or speculation, but this is a hot rod. use sparingly. small caps perform very similarly with less risk so may not be a good idea.

Back to the cat paradox. Why did I write this? Like the pissing cat, I know people don't like talking about this stuff. I too have my reasons. I hate seeing money wasted (mine or others) Life has changed much since the days of our parents. Most had pensions. They didn't have to worry too much about this stuff. Our generation is one of the first with no pension. We gotta handle our own. This seems like a crisis but could prove to be an opportunity. I hope you save/make some money off this advice and have found some interesting and creative ways to spell words. Like 50 cent says "get rich or die tryin" Good luck!

Cutting Taxes, A Sleeping Pill with no Addictive Qualities and Will Pay You $5000

2009-11-06T10:58:00.001-07:00

No doubt about it, this is gonna be boring. Need a motivator? how about $5,000? No I'm not going to give it to you. If you put $5000 in a Roth as opposed to a traditional IRA you will have about an extra $5,000 when you retire. (assumptions same tax rate current as in retirement, annual return of 9% for 30 years till retire) I could take another look at Roth vs a non individual account and I could also do this for the rest of your working life (adding ($5,000 each year) and come up with a much larger more spectacular number but you seem like a motivated audience so I won't.

Your goal is to cut taxes. There are many gov programs to reduce/defer tax exposure. There is one that eliminates taxes entirely! This topic is pretty complicated. Make sure you play by the rules (qualify etc) the penalties are steep. Certain people do not qualify for certain plans, there are max limits, withdrawal rules etc to be aware of. It is hard to judge which programs are best, The following is a rough guess for most people. IF you don't want to read any further (this is pretty boring) the take away is that post tax is most likely the best (Roth, Roth 401k) and if you are a real cracker jack and young and taxes go up, 401k pretax contributions could end up being not so hot for you (think tax rate goes way up for everybody) but there is a fix. It is also possibly for some(under $100,000) and soon (year 2010) for all of you to roll over your traditional IRA into a Roth and this is something to look at. You pay the tax bill when you do this, (best to do it with cash) but the pain will probably pay off big time. https://calcsuite.fidelity.com/rothconveval/app/launchPage.htm will spit out a number for you. Terms: I am not going to talk about individual accounts. Pretax is a traditional IRA or 401k, post tax is a Roth 401k or Roth IRA

In order, the way to fill up from best to not best
1. 401k match
2. Roth IRA (post tax $5,000) make sure you dont make too much money for IRAs
3. 401k post tax (if your employer had this I am going to assume your 401k is pretty god (low fee funds available)

For steps 4 and 5 may be a good idea to get em going and then roll em over to a Roth.

4. Traditional IRA (traditional is pretax contribution, do not use if contributed to above Roth.)
5. 401k pretax (young, aggressive, crackerjack savers beware but get going and plan rollover to roth)

there are also other programs which may work well for you such as

6. Health savings account (no taxes period!)
7. 529

Whenever you quit your job or get laid off, rollover your 401k

This is a rough best guess but is probably accurate. Be pretty curious if somebody else is coming up with a better idea or shuffles em around.

Why is 401k match best? Free money rules. you put in a dollar and so does the company. You wouldn't turn down a raise would you? (if they put it in w company stock sell as soon as possible, while avoiding any fees. You do not want to hold company stock )

Post tax (401k or Roth) rules. for more reasons than i am going to mention. these are defiantly #2. It is easier to pull contributions out than most people realize (no fees or penalties) but you don't want to do this anyway because Roth's are so great. they are also a great thing to hand down to kids when you are dead. Very flexible. I love these.

Why is post tax usually better than pretax when it comes to tax advantaged accounts? Even thought paying less taxes now may be very immediately gratifying, I think it is a better idea to contribute whenever possible post tax rather than pretax for a couple of reasons. You can contribute "more", your tax rate now is probably less than it will be in retirement, the more time you have the more a roth makes sence, and finally you reduce your tax risk.

For super savers-you can effectively contribute "more" post tax as the limits are the same for both. Try to max out your contribution and you will see why post tax is "more" than the same figure amount pretax.

Your tax rate in retirement will probably be higher than you are in now. This is one critical piece of the puzzle. You have to guess what tax rate you will be in retirement. If it is higher than the tax bracket you are in now, It makes no sence to defeer your taxes, so Roths can not be beat. It is almost impossible to guess what may happen to your tax bracket. Taxes are pretty low right now. deficit is high. I think the highest rate now is about 32%. rates have been as high as 87% in the past. I personally suspect that taxes in general are going to go up. I am also giving you credit for planning your retirement well (you have read this far). If you are likely to have a pension or other income in retirement, this is even more true. For these reasons I think it is a good assumption that your tax rate will stay the same or be going to go up in retirement. If you are 5 years from retirement and have just started your retirement savings, you are in a very different boat and post tax is not for you.

If you are young you probably aren't getting taxed real heavy right now anyway, why deffer taxes that are already low?

later, when you are at your max tax bracket(say in your 50s or when you are getting a massive one time pay spike say win lotto) and are confident you will be in a lower tax bracket in retirement it may make sense to then go pretax.

The longer your money sits the more obvious the Roth advantage becomes.

Pretax (traditional) disadvantage. You are required to withdraw a certain amount at around age 71. this forced withdrawal could be big enough to bump you into a high tax bracket and wipe out some of the 401k advantage ( tax rate in retirement that is higher than the tax rate you could have payed when you were young) What is worse is since you deffered taxes, now you gotta pay taxes on the forced withdrawal, which could force you to pull more money out of your 401k.

Finally future increases taxes are a big risk to your retirement. paying taxes now eliminate that risk. pay tax now (Roth) and you know what you got. What are taxes gonna be in the future? who knows? Go to this link and see what i mean (how does a 87% tax rate sound? It happened.) http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php it has max tax rates over the last century

Pre tax is risky. If you end up in a significantly higher tax bracket in retirement than you were when you deferred your taxes, you could live to regret the day you deferred your taxes. This can happen if you are good (start young max contributions and have a high rate of return, a crackerjack, or a little cracker jack and a fat pension) The stars would have to line up a little for this to happen (say capital gains stays at 15% future tax rate goes way up). I am not saying that if your only choice is a trad 401k that you shouldn't do it(remember rollover trick to weasel out of this), but that Roths are way better.

want the cold numbers? Here is a calculator that should give you an idea. http://www.ifa.com/401k/calculator/RothConvertCalc.asp

or

https://calcsuite.fidelity.com/rothconveval/app/launchPage.htm

The neat thing about running these is you can make up your own assumptions and come to your own conclusions. If you monkey around with your tax rate in retirement you can make the numbers dance and do what you want with em.

Why are 401ks slightly worse than IRAS? the bad deal is that 401k plans are typically have a limited investment choices that have higher expense ratios. This more true for some 401ks than others. I hear school teachers have terrible 401ks choices. You can fix this sometimes and is not a good excuse to not contribute to one. the work around or fix?

When you change jobs, rollover your 401k. This is a great deal (Get more low cost mutual funds to choose)Make sure they do not cut you a check

Some places have brokerage link accounts.
Letter campaign to your employer tell em you want better options.

Health savings accounts. This is new. If you have a "high deductible health insurance" you may qualify. If you don't use it at the end of the year you still get to keep it. money is never taxed. I say again never. you can invest it. You can use the money immediately on most health related expenses (Dr visit medicine and more importantly down the road health insurance) You can use it for your spouse or child. the bad, the money can only be used for health related things and you got to keep records and the investment options are sometimes not great(low choices high fees) It takes a year to build up enough money to invest. This can be a great deal for people who plan to pay for their own insurance once retired.

529's i don't know much about. other than pay for higher ed, can change name of kid. something to look into at some point. IF somebody would like to comment feel free.

By the way all these retirement accounts have the added advantage of litigation protection. (think OJ going golfing even though he has got a huge settlement against him) which may be a reason in and of itself to do em.
Are you still awake? congradulations! you are the only one who made it through this blog entry.

1 day, 100 fish.

2009-11-05T21:47:00.003-07:00

It use to be considered trespassing to walk on the river bottom on private property in Utah. A little over a year ago they changed it. Pretty good fishing on these newly opened streams. Thank you State Supreme court.

Avoiding Fees. Pay less get more Borring chapter 2.

2009-11-03T15:50:00.006-07:00

Can I just hire somebody real smart to manage my money and beat average returns?

Yes/No. What you described is called an active mutual fund. Here is the problem. your smart mutual fund manager needs to get paid. And they get paid well to produce nothing. expense fees for actively managed mutual funds are commonly over 1 percent compared to an index fund with an easy to find expense ratio of .3%. So in order to profit from these smart managers they have to beat indexes buy .7% to break even. They don't. Everybody has a "smart" money manager and they all play against each other, looking for the best deal in the market, and getting rid of the worst deals. A easy way to picture this is a game of tug o war with a bunch of strong (smart) men on one side and a bunch of strong men on the other. on average No real work gets done. On average the average mutual fund should produce average market returns minus their inflated costs. Pay less get more.

Another way to do the same thing just more so is hire a broker to manage your money. He/she takes 1% or so off the top and typically selects a bunch of"hot" actively(read high expense ratio) managed mutual funds. The financial sector is by far and away the biggest sector of our economy(think gas + health care), guess who feeds em? Pay less get more.

For those who are more impressed by numbers, it is far bleaker for active funds.

for the past 25 years a s&p 500 index fund 12.3% return
for the past 25 years actively manage funds returned 10.0%

subtract taxes and inflation for the same period (active mutual funds with higher turnover generate more taxes) and you get

s&p index fund real returns 8.2%
active fund real return 4.9%

Pay less get more.

Anyway enough explaining. If you want a return on your investment that is better than 95% of investors, and want to avoid fees, think about the following or something similar.

First come up with what percentage stocks and bonds you want. IF you are aggressive and can sleep through anything and are young 100% stocks may be OK (some good books I have read have said nobody should be 100% stocks, but historically 100% stocks have never been beat over long term)

other popular theories are take your age and buy that % of bonds
This is a hard personal choice and one that once made should be stuck with no matter how scared or greedy you feel as speculation kills. (only adjust for say age or amount of risk you can take not how the stock market is doing) www.ifa.com is a great website and has a good risk evaluator to find out what kind of person you are and can give you an idea of how to allocate, although in a more complex way. Remember that every 1% lost is a massive hit to your retirement, that it is a long time till you actually pull the money out, and historically you should allocate as much stock as you are comfortable.

Know thy self. If the market drops 50%-65% and you are in stocks at 100% can you sleep or would you sell? how about 70%? IF you would freak out and sell do not go 100% stocks. better to figure this out now and stick with your plan. It should never drop 100%, as that would mean the top 5000 businesses in the country simultaneously went broke, and we would have bigger problems (think a huge comet takes out earth everybody dead so doesn't matter) . What is good for me isnt good for you. bonds have historically been trumped by stocks as far as performance. you do get compensated for taking risk and due to the majic of compound interest, It makes a huge difference in retirement.

how do i know what indexes to buy?

buy a total market representing either the Dow Jones (wilshir 5000) index with the lowest fees you can find.

or buy S&P 500 index with the lowest fees you can find

here are two I found

vanguard VTSMX expense ratio .18%

Fidelity fstmx

expense ratio .10%(min investment $10,000 though)

the lowest cost fund I have found is a fidelity fund similar to above at .07% but you need $100,000 min good luck!

If you want bonds buy look at a total bond index

here are two i found
vanguard VBMFX
expense ratio .22
fidelity FBIDX
expense ratio .38%

There are also blended funds that may work well for you. (fidelity 4in 1, etc)

as long as you are indexed (the broader the less risk) and lowest cost possible you are good.

by buying total market the only risk you have is "market risk" which is plenty for most people. The more specific you get the more risk you take on, the less diversified you are. more on that later.

now just buy and hold (watch out for 90 day short term trading fees) and you have done you best to avoid FEES.

The above is a good plan. It may not be a perfect plan but a good plan is good, simple and you will beat the pants off most people over the long haul (95% of people for similar stock bond allocation apple to apple comparison).

If youy are looking at ETF's be careful, the expense ratio excludes certain costs(not an apple to apple comparison with mutual funds). the bid ask spread is one example and sometimes there is a market premium aka the amout you pay is more that the etf is worth (book value/per share type deal. you gotta pay $10 to buy it. These all end up being a hidden 2 time loaded fee (one to buy and later to sell) Most of my reading recomends against etfs to avoid fees/keep it simple. also it is hard to get 100% of your cash into an etf which creates cash drag.(cash sitting and doing nothing) I have screwed this up myself.

life gets booring and so does blog

2009-11-02T17:58:00.006-07:00

Ive been reading alot of books on investing lately. Buffet, Bogle, Solin, etc. This is gonna the first of a 12 part installment on retirement planning and investing (actual may vary) Most people get uptight when talking about money and what they are doing with it. Feel free to comment. I am pretty boned up on this stuff and would humbly guess that i know more about this stuff than most, but am still prone to error and wanna know what others thoughts are especially if you got a better idea/ if my thinking is flawed. None of these thoughts are original, most are recycled, retreded. My uncle gave a talk on this at a family reunion in 2003.

Part 1. Foundation.

What determines how much stocks go up or down?(feel free to skip this q)

Answer: According to John Bogle (founder vanguard) The annual total return on stocks =earnings growth minus Dividends plus"speculative return"

the annual growth rate of earnings+ dividends from 1900 to 2005 is 9.5% the total market return for the same period is 9.6%

Earnings growth is the real driver on stock market returns over a long period of time. as long as on average earnings are grown, the stock market over the long haul will go up.

Speculation is driven by marketplaces "educated" guesses on what will happen to the earnings growth rate in the future but it is also driven by fear and greed

Why is Compounding interest Magic?

% are slippery little devils. unless you put a calculator to it, normal people are often surprised/amazed at the results compounding interest has. take $10,000. 30 years at 9 percent interest= 132,676 is a very different number than 30 years at 8% ($100,626) so just a 1% diff is $32,050 diff after 30 years. spoiler alert-this is the main reason it is so important to save, allocate investments correctly, and control cost, and do all of this now. failures and successes now are magnified later (think exponentially) small victories now will be huge successes 30 years from now.

How much do I get to keep from my investments?

Your (inflation adjusted) annual return=your investment returns minus expenses (financial sector fees+taxes) minus inflation. Basically there are three things that eat your return.

The financial sector through fees and expenses and commissions (spoiler alert go for low fees, stay away from brokers)

The government thru taxes and inflation (spoiler alert Roths and 401ks)

2 of these you can control (you can't control inflation)

What makes a good investment? The Ideal investment is one that has High annual returns and low volatility or risk. You have got to decide how much risk you can accept(can i sleep at night knowing that my money could go down by?) and balance it out with what rate of return you need/want. this may vary for some people. So a good investment for one person is not necessarily a good investment for everyone. It is very important to sleep well.

Is investing in stock risky? Yes. The average stock can go up or down "wildly" If you picked 1 stock from a big (top 100) company 1920 and held onto it to today the chances are extremely high that that stock would be worth nothing. I am taking about a single stock.

the return: 9.6% historic average 1900-2005

Are bonds risky? Yes. Companies, and governments can and do default on bonds. bonds are less risky than stocks because if a company goes broke, bond holders get dibs on the bones. Also bonds are loans with contractual rate of returns. again single bond.

the returns long term gov bonds 5.4% historic average

Are Cd's risky? Yes. Cd's will not beat inflation (at least by much). If your CD is going up 2% and inflation is going up 2% you are really not investing your money, you are saving it. To save for a 30 year retirement think about saving 50% of your take home income 30 years before retirement. I don't know too many people who can save this well. This is risk in a sneaky way. If an investment can not possibly get you to where you are going, it may be the riskiest of all. Think of riding a turtle is safer than riding in a car. but if you are going to go to new york, the turtle will never get you there. so Id say if your goal is to make it to new york, a turtle is infinitely more risky than a car. average 3.7%
rate of return

How can I make stocks less risky? Diversification. It is the only free lunch out there in investing. by buying the whole stock market you get average market returns with way less volatility/risk than any individual stock. Bonds same story.

Average returns seems so average. I am above average. Shouldn't I gun for above average returns by picking things i think are above average?

No. you might get lucky for a year, ma by 2, but over say 30 years plan on being average. trying to beat average returns for 30 years is like flipping a coin 30 times and trying to beat 50% heads. what is worse is the whole time you are doing this your volatility goes way up. basically way more risk for same average return. If you get average market returns you are getting returns that are higher than 95% of all investors. This is counter intuitive but is due to investors getting greedy and fearful (market timing) and getting fleeces by the financial sector (fees and expenses, etc)

How do I max out my diversification?

By buying the whole stock market or if you are buying bonds by buying the whole bond market.

Should i just listen to a friend on how to invest for my retirement. no.

This is gonna take a while, you may wanna read some books on it "The smartest retirement book you'll ever read by Danial Solin is good (he has got a couple of the smartest books all are similar) "the little book of common sense investing" by John Bogle is good.

Next up, how to buy the whole market, how to allocate funds, how to save money by lowering fees and finnaly how to fix taxes Im gonna try to go for low hanging fruit (the things that will help the most ) first.

RC Nerd

2009-10-31T10:56:00.003-07:00

Got another month before my neck is full strength. Thought that RC airplanes would keep me out of trouble. As long as I don't stick a finger into 100 watt plastic prop i should be alright. This trick took me a few tries. Saw a 6 year old do it on u-tube. Embarrassingly, the 6 year old is still way better than me.

Tested

2009-10-27T07:35:00.003-07:00

The following was tested on this weekend's 90 mile white Rim trail:

8 mountain biker's butts

1 arch

1 Jeep and 2 people's nerves (both were made of steel) (Scott's Parents Jim and Carol)

Good times.

A SLC rule of thumb

2009-10-23T15:18:00.000-06:00

above old mower i got from parkstrip for free. Below mower goes from which it came.

Q: How many minutes will an item on the park strip take to get picked up?

A: Here is a good rule of thumb. Take 400 minutes and divide by the square of the net worth of the item on the curb.

since my lawn mower got picked up from the park strip in 1 minute I would estimate its worth to be $20

Who killed the electric mower?

2009-10-22T15:10:00.002-06:00

Nobody killed it as it is still alive and well. Picked this little jesse up at Lowes. on sale $190 gotta say i am pretty happy with it, cord reaches everywhere and not as annoying as i thought. Way quieter and way less pollution. Pretty light so it pushes easy. we will see how she does later with a dull blade. The task force weed eater on the other hand is a complete turd. (no line feed=no good)

Giddie Up

2009-10-16T08:34:00.002-06:00

Shannon finds a way to decrease CO2 emmisions.

Downside? Increase in poommision.
Shannon and Summer at Tracy and Chands place, Scottsdale

8 hours build + $100 = ?

2009-10-02T11:00:00.003-06:00

On line I saw a 5 year old kid flying the piss out of one similar to this. How hard could it be? After flying this very acrobatic styrofoam cup for a minute I think i may have once again overestimated my skills. How long will it last? How much will it end up costing per hour? good questions. So far 1 minute = $6,000/hr

Mikey Finds Innovative Way to Reduce Cost on Life Cereal

2009-09-27T16:15:00.004-06:00

Go to store, run over item with cart, put item back on shelf, come back a few days later, and buy damaged item at a substantial discount.

Phoenix Rising

2009-09-20T14:18:00.005-06:00

I'm back! (mostly)

Corrner canyon ride with Shannon and Emma. My favorite ride ever.

Tom and Amy come to Dinner

2009-09-02T12:10:00.006-06:00

The miniramp enjoyed the company and so did we! Tom has spent a few days skating miniramps. maydays and blunts abound. My camera skills were pretty weak last night, Toms riding was not. real good rider.

Above Tom frontside layback.

Below nosestall to backside revert

The Average American is Screwed. A Boring Tale part 1

2009-08-31T17:58:00.013-06:00

The Average American is saving 1% of their income a year
How much should you be saving? goto

http://finance.yahoo.com/calculator/retirement/ret02

Link is a simple retirement calculator. Calculator tells you how much you will need to save every year for retirement. 10 inputs takes 2 minutes.

semi educated assumptions or guesses:
inflation 3%
gov Cd's plan on 4% (current rates lower, not sure this is a good historic number)
stocks pay 10% (historic average going back 1900's)
spent 100% of your current income.

Very eye opening. Biggest effect on savings rate required is rate of return (compound interest is a magical magmatic beast) I found it very hard to retire at a reasonable age using Cd's rate of return (5%) but it is certainly possible to do. Second biggest effect is age of retirement.

At 1% savings rate the Average American is going to be working long past 60.

Love,

the Maven