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Cheap Disney World Tickets? That’s Just the Start

January 4, 2012 by Average Joe 10 Comments

As a “Be Our Guest” customer service fan, I’ve read article after article on how to “visit Disney on less money.” I’ve even searched for cheap Disney World tickets (by the way, most are a scam, so unless you know details about the vendor, stay away….especially eBay-sold tickets). I’m not sure any article I’ve read offers the best advice. Although you don’t have to go over-the-top crazy with expenses at the land of the Mouse, there’s no inexpensive trip to Disney: period.

Here’s the truth: there is simply no way to go to Disney on a cut-rate budget and have it not stink. Even if you find cheap Disney World tickets, you’ve still only cracked opened the door.

If you’ve decided to go to Disney without two bags of money, I have a better idea: head to the beach.

At the beach you’ll have tons of free fun with the family and not feel like you’re pinching pennies while everyone around you is enjoying anything with a price tag attached.

If you’ve saved up your hundred dollar bills to visit, here is some better advice: stop searching for cheap Disney World tickets and search instead for value.

By beginning your Disney trip with the knowledge that it’s going to be expensive, your new goal isn’t to save a ton of money, but to get your money’s worth. Sure, you may still opt for the value resort or stay off-site, but now you’re doing it with the knowledge that you’re saving money where it doesn’t count to spend it in places where it’ll add memories.

…speaking of memories, the amounts you’ll spend for each one–even on a budget–is high. However, after several trips to Fantasyland, here are my best five tips to create value on your Disney Trip:

1) Become good friends with the Fast Pass system. This ticketing system allows you to experience your favorite attractions without waiting in long lines. Different than parks at Six Flags or Universal, Disney’s Fast Pass system is at no additional fee.

On two different occasions, I’ve walked past people stuck in a line who’ve asked, “how much more did you have to pay for that.” Both were shocked when I answered, “Nothing.”

Do your homework about the attractions you really want to experience. On most days, Fast Pass tickets sell out early, and you can’t get another line-jumping ticket until the time listed on the one you’re holding.

Want more Fast Passes with a slow group? Send a fleet-footed family member to secure your next Fast Pass tickets the second it’s allowed, while everyone else heads toward the next ride. Remember, the person grabbing the new Fast Passes will need tickets for every person in your group when they reach the Fast Pass machine.

2) Experience Disney World restaurants, but do it at lunch. Okay, maybe there are a few ways to save money. The portions at lunch and dinner are similar in size, but the lunch menu is usually less expensive.

Here’s another scoop: There isn’t a huge difference in price between many of the sit down Disney World restaurants and the counter service options. There is, however, a huge difference in quality. Unless you want your kids chowing on chicken nuggets, hot dogs and fries every meal, schedule a few sit down options.

Once again, you’ll need to plan ahead, because geeks like me schedule all the good times early (like six months early). Reserve your seats at the Disney website as soon as possible. Use TripAdvisor or other restaurant and Disney tip sites for good dining options.

Our favorite Disney World restaurants? We’re not the average family, but here’s our top 5:

1) 50’s Prime Time Café – Hollywood Studios

2) Biergarten (while band is playing) – Epcot

3) Whispering Canyons (breakfast) – Wilderness Lodge

4) Cinderella’s Royal Table – Magic Kingdom

5) Coral Reef – Epcot

There are a ton of great eats at Disney, and the service is nearly always impeccable. Especially if your trip involves Epcot, where there are tons of good restaurants, trying the food at a park or two is a great way to unwind and let the Disney service machine pamper you.

3) Take a nap. I had trouble with this one when a friend first mentioned it. We’re at the Magic Kingdom, and I’m going to spend how long getting my kids out to the hotel, then waste an hour or two away from the park, while my expensive-as-all-get-out ticket is on the clock? No way. Well, maybe…. We tried it.

Now, I highly recommend it. You’ll re-enter the park after your relaxing time away and immediately notice stressed out families frowning and nit-picking each other. Not you. Your family is rested and ready to again brave the crowds.

Of course, my nap advice comes with a caveat. You take naps because the best time to be at Disney (for ride lines) is first thing in the morning. If you plan to open and close the parks each day, naps are mandatory.

4) Give children a daily allowance. Although the experience of Disney parks, in my opinion, towers over the experience at regional parks or even Universal, they still pull tricks to weasel money from your wallet. I’m not overly concerned with the high price tag of the store items at the end of nearly every ride in the every park.

My problem? I don’t want to pay for and then haul home a bunch of junk that my kids will ignore the second we leave the premises.

So, we give each child a daily allowance, coupled with an explanation. Here was our speech when our kids were seven years old:

“We’re going to give you an allowance of ten dollars each day. You have a few choices. First, you could blow it immediately. That’s your option. Second, you could save it for the next day. Even if you don’t spend it, you’ll get to save this money. It’s an allowance for you to decide how to best use. So, if you save it until the end of the trip, you’ll have forty dollars for something nice. Your third option is to spend this money on nothing here, but buy something nice for yourself at home or save it into your savings account at home. It’s your choice.”

My daughter blew the money in the first twenty minutes at the park every day. Remember, parents, it’s their money! I’d rather have my daughter make a small mistake with ten dollars than wait until she’s 19 and in college where the mistakes are much bigger. Hold back the urge to stop them from buying junk.

I waited three days before having an important conversation about value and what she actually received for her money. All of the stuff she’d purchased was no longer interesting to her and she had zero cash (equity) to show for it. She’s become a much better saver since then.

My son? He went home with forty dollars and purchased a video game with twenty, then dumped the other half into his savings account.

5) Don’t try to see everything. You never will. The parks are huge and the photo opportunities plentiful. Relax and enjoy what you can, because you will never ever have any fun rushing your family from ride to ride. If you try to see everything, I’ll be the relaxed guy behind you in line while you’re yelling at your stressed out spouse and children to hurry up.

Those are my best five tips to squeeze value from your Disney trip. These five tips have been invaluable to me over our seven trips to Disney over the years. Although they won’t help you find cheap Disney World tickets, they’ll save you a few dollars inside the park and help you still keep your sanity.

This weekend I’m headed to Orlando to hopefully accomplish something completely crazy. I’m competing in the Goofy Marathon and a Half Challenge Saturday and Sunday. In the contest, I’ll run a half marathon Saturday to win a Donald Duck medal. Then on Sunday, I’ll follow it up by running a full marathon to secure the Mickey Mouse medal. Because I did both, Disney will then award me a Goofy medal.

Now it’s your turn: What Disney tips have best helped your family? Or, do you skip the mouse and do other vacations?

What Did 2011 Teach You About Money?

December 28, 2011 by Average Joe 7 Comments

What’s one of my favorite activities this last week before the New Year? Once I’ve finished watching the Swamp People marathon, I like to turn the mirror on the preceding twelve months and determine what lessons I should remember to avoid future pitfalls. We won’t count lessons like “always check your fly before you walk into the bank” or “some people don’t appreciate grocery store coupons as stocking-stuffers.” Those are lessons we should have learned long ago, but refused.

No, there are bigger lessons that we should have learned in 2011. Not all of them had to do with money.

Here are five of my favorites:

Protect Your Downside

When I was a financial advisor, I was appalled by the sheer number of people who wanted to avoid insurances. 2011 taught us that bad things happen when we least expect it. Whether it’s the awful house fire in Connecticut this weekend, massive tornadoes in Alabama and Missouri, or the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, we were reminded in the media that bad things happen suddenly. Because we don’t know when or where disaster is going to strike, it’s a good idea to put your financial house in order while times are good.

Related Ideas for Next Year:

– Build an Emergency Reserve

– Review Insurances

– Finish the Estate Plan

Know Your Money Managers

If you didn’t believe it when Bernie Madoff ran off with carts of other people’s money, the situation at a money management firm called MF Global should be another wake up call. After over $1.2 Billion (with a B) dollars went missing, the head of the firm professed to Congress that he has no idea what happened to the money. While I’ll admit that it’s impossible to know how a manager is keeping your assets safe, handing all of your money to one person is asking for disaster.

This doesn’t mean you should keep all of your funds in an FDIC insured savings account, but it does mean that you should perform due diligence.

Here are some good questions you should be asking yourself:

How many different funds is my money spread among?

If all of your money is under the umbrella of one mutual fund, one asset manager, or one trader, you’re asking for trouble. This isn’t the same as having a single advisor. Good advisors will recommend you spread your money among many different managers, partly to ensure your safety.

How are your dollars protected against someone running off with your money?

Insurances such as SPIC cover investors, but you should know how it works.

What is the objective of each manager?

This question won’t help your funds from being stolen, but it can help you identify whether your advisor is actually recommending investments with your end goals in mind. If a fund is too aggressive, you may lose

How long have the managers of my funds been around?

Asking these questions won’t guarantee that your money won’t get stolen. Nothing can stand against a crafty criminal who’s working hard to steal your money. But you don’t have to make it easy for him. And, with a little planning, you can minimize your losses.

Related Ideas for Next Year:

– Meet with Your Advisors and Ask Questions

– Go to the FINRA BrokerCheck website to review your advisor’s record

– Diversify Your Financial Managers

Don’t Wait on Legislation to Make Decisions

Wow. Was there ever a more politically contentious year? Although there have always been (and will always be) fights between political parties, Washington has divided into two well-armed camps and compromise is a dirty word. It seems that the only legislation being passed are stop-gap measures to keep the government open. For the most part, these same issues will be voted on again in a matter of months.

When I have discussions with people about financial planning, I’ll frequently hear that someone is “waiting to see who wins the next election/whether the bill passes/how taxes are going to shake out/what the market is going to do.”

These are excuses.

There will always be new legislation, new market conditions, new headlines. An effective financial planner doesn’t wait to see what’ll happen. He adjusts to change.

Related Ideas for Next Year:

– Review Your Financial Plan

– Put a New Savings Plan in Place

Your Diploma Won’t Buy You a Job

Whether you agree with the Occupy movement or not, we’ve learned that there are many, many people out there who paid money they didn’t have for a degree, only to find out that there wasn’t a market for their services. Historically, people follow their dream through college and then beginning thinking about which career to enter. Sadly, it’s been proven to us now that before seeking a degree, we have to consider a cost-benefit analysis before deciding on a degree.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t follow your dream. Certainly, you stand a better chance of being successful in your chosen profession if you love what you do. Following the theory that we only have one life to live, you owe it to yourself to establish yourself in a fulfilling career. But you should do some research about the career and how you plan to enter the market before you take on lots of debt.

An example: If you were to open a Mexican restaurant in a town full of other Mexican restaurants, you’re bound to fail to the leading establishments unless you can quickly identify how you’re different and how the competition is vulnerable. Armed with this knowledge, instead of taking out a loan to build another “me too” restaurant, an entrepreneur may decide that a Tex-Mex offering with live entertainment and only waiters fluent in Spanish is a better idea. You may change the hours or the decorations to stress your strengths. Will these moves guarantee success? Nope. But it’s a far better plan than taking out a loan and hoping to succeed, which is what many college applicants now do.

Related Ideas for Next Year:

– Review cost/benefit when taking on debt

– Build written plans to evaluate major financial decisions

Your Banker Might Not Be Your Buddy

Ah, my favorite topic: Bank of America. Like Darth Vader on steroids, BofA decided (without any thought about their reputation) that a five dollar debit card fee was a good idea. This time, protests by consumers and bloggers helped block the move. But the message is still clear: banks are searching for creative ways to replace income lost in failed mortgages and new credit card oversight rules.

Historically, bigger banks have been able to help you in ways that smaller firms couldn’t. Before I woke up, I used Bank of America for one reason: they had a larger network of ATMs than other banks. Then I discovered a little bank that would pay other bank’s ATM fees (I’d give you the name, but they no longer do this for new customers). Online banks are becoming highly competitive. As we move into the mobile banking age, the need for a ready ATM machine is dwindling. It’s time to review your bank and decide if it’s still competitive.

Related Ideas for Next Year:

– Review Your Bank Fees

– Explore Other Banks to Determine If There’s a Better Fit

There you have it. These were the five big lessons I learned in 2011. I’m sure there were many, many more.

Now it’s your turn: What were your biggest financial lessons from 2011?

I’ve Joined the Yakezie Challenge

December 21, 2011 by Average Joe 10 Comments

(((Readers – today we take a break from our normal routine of aimless rambling and wandering prose to actually discuss something about blogging. I know, we don’t know anything about blogging either, but if you can stay awake through this post, I promise we’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming after this.)))

…hello, hello, is this thing on? ….uh…..hi, everyone, my name is Joe.

Hi, Joe.

….and, uh, well….I just wanted to say that I’m taking the Yakezie Challenge.

I think I’m ready. We’ve been practicing for weeks, getting our form “just right” (or more like right enough). We’re ready to take the plunge.

If I slip and say “we”, like I just did, that’s because I have a partner.

We together are taking the Yakezie Challenge. Yakezie is a group of financial bloggers who selflessly help each other promote the personal finance blogging space and who help promote each other’s blogs. I’ve read so many great posts by Yakezie members and Challengers that it’ll be our pleasure to promote more of these people and their work. In the near term, you’ll begin seeing many of them appear on our blogroll (on our Resources page).

For the Yakezie community, let me introduce the FFA team. We’re kind of like cousin Eddie’s family on Christmas Vacation, only our Winnebago is a little dirtier.

I’m Joe, a 16 year financial planning veteran. Not only did I manage $60M working with around 200 families, I was on television and radio in my hometown dispensing financial advice. If you’ve been one of the three readers of our blog, I want to thank you.

Second, I have a partner, TheOtherGuy. He’s a ~~ten year~~ 13 year veteran of the financial planning industry. Generally, we keep him in the back room with a pile of code and hashtags. From time to time we loosen the chain enough to let him reach the keyboard when we need another article that actually is meaningful. Normally this will be on insurance or investing.

Although I’m declaring that we’re beginning the challenge, I already feel a strange kinship to several people in the Yakezie community already. You’ve made me feel very much at home, even though at times I haven’t deserved it. We had a ton of misconceptions about blogging when we fired up WordPress for the first time. Here are but a couple:

1) We thought “if you write it, they will come.” Here’s our understanding of how this silly “blogging thingy” worked: you threw stuff on a page and people begged you for more.

Instead, we’ve learned that there are two disciplines here (or more). You have to be able to write succinct, edible prose, but you also have to know how to expose your content to other people. I won’t be the first blogger to admit that I had no idea what a “back link” was and I thought affiliate links were connections to other people’s blogs.

2) We believed that financial blogging was a pretty small discipline. Holy $%^@ there are a ton of blogs out there. In the big scheme of things, there aren’t when compared to other fields, but I thought we’d be in a group of about 100 bloggers chasing eyeballs.

This is all the more laughable because we’re the “do your homework” kind of people. I was never the “here, I’ll take your financial plan and do it for you” kind of advisor. I was always the “I’m going to teach you what you need to know to do this yourself” dude. So, we’ve done our homework on financial planning, but ignored the blogging aspects.

Lesson learned.

What is the challenge?

– We promise to blog at least twice per week (we’ll be keeping our regular four posts per week schedule you’ve come to know and endure.)

– We promise to promote other Yakezie blogs. This will be easy. I have fun with our Blog Post of the Week! every Friday, and like making the rounds to other blogs to read what everyone else is thinking about.

– We’re going to work to place our blog in the top 200k as based on Alexa ranking in the next six months. Currently, today, we’re 549,616. We’ve been a long way, crossing the 4 million mark around October 1 and the 2 million mark at the beginning of November. It’s been rewarding to see that people will read posts whether we’re sober or talking Oompa Loompas.

Thank you to those who’ve been very supportive so far. You know who you are (I’m WAY afraid I’ll forget someone to begin mentioning names). There have been so many people helping us when we’ve had questions.

I’d also like to end with this note: if you’re a Yakezie member or challenger, don’t feel compelled to promote our site and work unless there’s something you really like. I promise, we’ll do the same. I love to network, but only when it actually is meaningful. I know that there are products I just couldn’t recommend in a million years.

As you get to know us, I hope you’ll want to send readers here for advice and humor. That’s great. We’d like to prove that this is a home for good, quality content and earn your respect.

For TheOtherGuy and I, it’s been a short, strange trip so far. I’m sure the adventure is only going to get better from here.

Cue the Muppets!

– Joe

Hero of the Week! – You.

December 19, 2011 by Average Joe 3 Comments

I usually reserve Monday for our Boner of the Week! post, in which I discuss an outrageous financial event or statement in the media. But in the spirit of the holiday season, today we’re turning in a different direction: random acts of kindness.

It’s a rare day when I’m happy when reading the news. It’s always politicians fighting, a celebrity has died or they’ve discovered drugs on a professional sports hero. So depressing. Friday, though, I was incredibly heartened when I read that people are randomly and anonymously paying off people’s layaway bill at K Mart and Walmart. Is it true that people, en masse, are taking up the reins and helping complete strangers pay their layaway bill?

It appears that it is. And it seems it’s going viral. Not only is this random generosity being chronicled in the Dayton Daily News above, but it’s appearing in newspapers across the nation

This is how charity should work. It’s exciting to know that people are donning the mask of anonymity and helping out people in need without expecting praise or financial compensation in return. Does this happen much? Are we, as a nation, charitable? Do we often help out complete strangers?

The quick answer? Kind of.

Charitable Giving Around the World

This charitable giving index heat map, created by the Charities Aid Foundation, displays country-by-country ranking in the area of giving. Canada is the third most giving country overall, while the United States ranks fifth.

Digging Into the Charitable Giving Numbers

When it comes to gifts of money, 64 percent of Canadians and 60 percent of Americans hand over cash to charities. The Netherlands is the leader in this sub-category, with 77 percent of people gifting money to charities.

The numbers are reversed when it comes to giving time. 39 percent of the U.S. population and 35 percent of Canadians volunteer time for an organization. The leader? Turkmenistan, where a whopping 61 percent of citizens gave time.

What if someone is a complete stranger, such as the case in the K Mart an Walmart incidents? There’s some relatively good news in this area. 68 percent of Canadians answer that they have helped someone they don’t know, as compared to 65 percent of those in the United States. The leader is Liberia, at 76 percent.

If you’d like to dig further into charitable giving data, here’s a helpful chart at the Guardian website.

What does this data mean?

To me, it means that in the United States and Canada, we’re doing a fair job of giving, but we could be more charitable. We’re being soundly beaten by other countries in volunteerism, gifts of cash, and gifts to strangers.

Still, we’re among the leaders in most categories. This makes sense because the GDP of both the United States and Canada are high enough that you’d expect a similarly high level of charitable contributions. It’s exciting to see the number of people who donate time and give to strangers. At a time when many people are struggling, we’re still finding ways to go out and help in person, or to give to people who we may never meet again.

This random act of K Mart and Walmart kindness is particularly awesome to me because there is little chance that someone who performs these acts would even answer a survey to create the data above. This is completely anonymous giving, which makes it exciting.

Here’s a few of the reasons I love this story:

No government mandated it, or told us that we’d all be taken care of. We’re actually taking care of each other without threat, payment or promise of acknowledgement.
Although charitable contributions are tax deductible, people are waiving their right to claim this good deed for a tax break “profit.”
The snowball effect is happening. As one person reads it, they get fired up and also give. You don’t need to come up with a new strategy or “neat” giving idea. Here’s a wonderful way to help a family.

The Potential Downside

I hope this random-acts-of-kindness outbreak doesn’t adversely effect donations to large, established charities. These organizations are well-oiled machines, and money you place in their capable hands is distributed only after careful due diligence in most cases.

I also hope that these people who are the random beneficiaries of this kindness use this opportunity to pull themselves up and create a better life. Instead of purchasing gifts they could pay off a credit card, or fix an important automobile that helps them keep their job.

I want this random giving to continue, but I don’t want it to go unrewarded. I’m not hoping some kids have a nice holiday season. I’m hoping their parents are able to use this as an opportunity to experience the true hope of the holiday.

What are you going to do?

First, I’m going to echo the call of many others. I’m going to focus on my giving pattern this holiday season. I’m going to volunteer time over the next few weeks to people and organizations that need my help. In fact, my children are already leaders in this area, helping out a local shelter on a weekly basis. It’s time for me to join them.

As a blogger, I’m hoping to ring the bell on this idea of random acts of charity. I hope we’re all able to help someone who could use a hand. All we need to do is think for a moment about whether it’s money, time or a gift to a stranger that is most important in our world.

Which is it for you? Does this “viral” campaign move you to give differently? What’s your next charitable act? Are you going to be the stranger giving some family a layaway present they didn’t expect?

If you’re going to do a random act, please share with us in the comments below….not for a pat on the back, but to share with other potential “random” gift-givers your ideas. I think we can feed off each others gifts to do better ourselves.

Facebook and Zynga IPOs – Should You Buy?

December 13, 2011 by TheOtherGuy 19 Comments

We’ve all felt the magnetic pull of an IPO. The roaring 90’s come back to us. Why am I a blogger? I could invest in an IPO and be knee-deep in a Carribean island swimming pool holding a margarita the size of my face. Then again, I wouldn’t hold the margarita. I’d hire someone else to hold it.

So…the upcoming Facebook and Zynga IPOs – Should You Get In or Stay Out?

IPOs (initial public offering) seem to have lost a little of their luster over the past decade or so, but nevertheless everyone still turns their heads when a “big name” walks by and announces an IPO. Earlier this year it was the Groupon IPO, last year it was the “new” General Motors.

When a company announces their IPO, many people want “in” – it’s easy to see why: who among us hasn’t asked (at least to themselves, if not aloud) I wonder what would’ve happened if…

• I would’ve bought Microsoft in the 1980s;
• I would’ve bought Apple when Steve Jobs came back on board;
• I would’ve bought Google at $85/share…

As a financial advisor, my goal is to make sure my clients don’t “should” all over themselves.

(OK sidebar: If you didn’t laugh at that last sentence, you really need to read it out loud. Go ahead…get it? “Should” on one’s self? I can’t believe my comedy career never took off…okay….back to our regularly scheduled programming)

It tempts you because it seems like easy money. Who doesn’t like to live in fantasy land for a few minutes each day? My fantasy investment purchase? Greek debt insurance 2 years ago. That’s some serious jenga. But I digress.

So, here’s the deal with IPOs and why they’re not your best option:

1. Unless you have an “in” (think: your brother works for Facebook) you’re not gonna get any IPO shares

This means that if you try to buy into the Facebook IPO the day it opens, you won’t receive the IPO price (which is what everyone will talk about on CNBC). You’ll purchase your shares at a different–and often much higher–cost.

2. They don’t usually make money – at least not right away:

Image representing Zynga as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Like visions of gold, we conveniently remember IPO “winners” like Google or Amazon. We block out the long, tired stack of losers. Remember Pets.com? How about Vonage…they aren’t dead, but that IPO was a mess. eToys? Amazon.com, a mammoth stock by today’s standards, IPO’d in mid-1997…and didn’t make any percentage gains for several months. Google’s IPO occurred in 2004. The stock experienced a big spike, and then lay flat for 6 months. Often, IPOs don’t pay off for years, even when they’re winners like Google or Amazon.

3. The people who make the real money? The CEO, executive team and investment bankers. This is a big cha ching! event for them.

The Blackstone Group, a private equity and asset management firm, announced in 2007 announced they were going public. The issue drew so much attention that no one really paid any attention to the prospectus.

Why does it matter?

Well, it turns out that The Blackstone Group IPO launch only included “part” of their business (not that part that made money, mind you). After all the shares were gobbled up and the CEO and investment bankers off-loaded their shares (the CEO made $2.6 Billion–lovin’ the capital “B”), any gullible shareholders were stuck with a 42% loss in the first 12 months. Here’s a great book discussing the lengths at which dirty CEO’s will go to cover their fraud.

Here’s our thoughts:

If you want to own a “cool new shiny Zynga IPO”, but don’t want to do the homework involved with reading the prospectus or making friends with an employee to get the “insider” price, buy a mutual fund in that same space. If it’s as awesome as you think, the fund manager will buy some (probably at the actual Zynga IPO price) and you’ll own some by proxy. If it’s a sham, the fund manager, who has a thousand times more resources than you, will probably pass – allowing you the easy way to decide whether to pass as well.

Plus, really, do you think it’s a good idea to put every dollar you own in Zynga shares–even if you could? What’s the best that could happen? Your money could double? Triple?

Sure. But what’s the risk?

We’re curious about your opinion. What do you think about the Facebook or Zynga IPO? Are you buying the hype?

Tennessee Family Expected Insurance For Nothing – Boner of the Week!

December 12, 2011 by Average Joe 8 Comments

The Boner of the Week! is awarded every Monday to the most outrageous event, quote or story I read about this week.

Usually I discuss outlandish or erroneous quotes in the Boner of the Week! segment. This time, let’s tackle an event.

According to this story, a Tennessee family living in a rural area without fire protection didn’t pay a $75 annual fee to a nearby city to receive services. When their home went up in flames, firefighters stood by and watched the couple’s home burn to the ground.

At first glance, this appears to be a fire department and government politics problem. “On further review,” to quote the highbrow program Monday Night Football, I believe the Boner of Week! occurred when the family opted not to pay–what now appears to have been—a pretty important ‘insurance” bill before their house fire occurred.

Here’s my rationale:

1) They don’t live inside the city in question and.

2) Homeowners inside the city boundaries pay taxes for fire protection. Those outside are asked to pay a small fee to receive house fire support.

3) The family opted not to pay the fee, in essence declining the city’s coverage plan.

Don’t think I’m heartless. We’re experiencing a similar situation personally. Nearly ten years ago my in-laws met with me to discuss long term care insurance. My father in law, a smart man who’s always been a good friend, was vehemently opposed to it.

He said, “I’m not paying for that overpriced insurance. It’s a rip-off.”

Yesterday wife returned from Detroit, where she was helping my mother in law decide on options for home health care, because he’s suffered a major stroke. My mother in law is meeting with elder law attorneys, looking for ways to cut down on costs while keeping his quality of life high.

There aren’t many options now, because they made a critical decision back then to decline coverage.

It’s fair to assume that my in-laws will now spend about $70,000 per year (or more) of their own money on his care. Just like this family declined fire protection, had they purchased a long term care policy ten years ago, the break-even point on buying “that overpriced insurance” would have been only several months into the nursing home stay.

They chose to self insure. Now they’re faced with the consequences.

So is the Tennessee family that decided to opt out of fire “insurance.” They had a house fire and no fire protection coverage.

Maybe there are larger societal implications here. Maybe not. Maybe it’s that we live in a time when everyone seems to want someone else to take care of us. I believe this event is simply another wake up call: nobody cares about your situation more than YOU. Take care of yourself. Make your choice and live with the consequences.

What steps should you take to prevent making poor insurance coverage decisions?

1) Examine the probability of an event, such as a long term care situation or house fire.

2) Evaluate the cost to cover the probability

3) Decide whether it should be insured, or if you can handle it yourself.

In this case, seventy-five bucks might have saved a ton of personal property from this house fire. Often people will forego insurance because they don’t have the funds to pay the premium. Insurance is created specifically for times when funds are short. If there’s enough money to cover the unlikely need for fire protection and you follow some fire prevention safety tips, maybe it makes sense to avoid the fee.

Board Games: A Financial Gift Guide

December 7, 2011 by Average Joe 12 Comments

Nothing says the holidays like a good, old fashioned game night around the table with friends or family.

At least, in theory.

Here’s the way it usually goes: someone suggests a board game (such as Monopoly), everyone agrees, excitement ensues.

…and quickly dies.

Three hours later everyone’s poked their eyes out. The damned game is long, boring and ends in a whimper for everyone but the winning player.

What’s fun about that?

Find Fun Games In 10 Minutes!

Research isn’t just for your investments.

If I’m attending a film, I’ll run by RottenTomatoes.com to see how people like it first. I don’t need an award winning critical analysis or a full-fledged review, but I’m not going to waste my hard-earned time on a crappy movie like The Expendables 2 (see how OG feels about THAT movie near the end of this podcast episode). If I’m headed for vacation, a quick flip over to TripAdvisor gives me some great local restaurants to visit. Ask me sometime about the mafia place in Vegas we went to off the strip. I ate well and felt safe in the booth next to Don Corleone.

Similarly, if I’m going to play board games, I’m going to make sure they’re good. Luckily, there’s a site for that: BoardGameGeek.

Since finding this mecca for all things board games in 2001, I’ve had WAY better luck finding stuff that wasn’t a waste of time. As it turns out, many are award winning titles (I’d never known there were tons of awards for quality board games). BGG, as it’s referred to within the rabid board-game community, is a community-driven place, where geeks like me list their favorites. If you’re looking for some good games on financial topics, there are many to choose from.

Consider this your lucky day. I’ve previewed many of them just because I knew someday we’d be making this very list.

Now, as my gift to you, here is AverageJoe’s board game gift guide:

To Teach Kids About Money

Monopoly Jr.

I’m a big fan of this game. My own children learned the difference between different valuations of money and how to make simple change with this one. Kids love it because the game is about building an amusement park. Dad likes it because the game is short and interesting.

It’s also one of the few games on this list widely available. If you’re looking for the perfect gift to give your children to start them on the road of financial management, this is it.

For Wall Street Fans

Acquire

I’ve played so many good games of Acquire that I can’t count them all. Players add tiles to a board to grow corporations and increase the share price. When two tiles are placed next to each other a merger happens. The smaller company is swallowed by the larger one. Shareholders of the swallowed company get to trade in shares for the new company (often as in real life), cash out (as in real life) or wait for the company to re-emerge elsewhere on the board (I wish this happened, but hey, two out of three ain’t bad!).

Although there’s some serious strategy here the rules are simple enough that I’ve played with a large variety of people. My mother likes the game as much as my financial planner buddies. While I can hold my own against the planners, mom is quite the cutthroat merger and acquisitions expert. We refer to her as “Mrs. Geeko.”

On Entrepreneurship

Powergrid

You say that you actually love Monopoly? A friend of mine called this “Monopoly for Smart People.” That’s not a knock on Monopoly. In this game each player owns a power company. You attempt to create monopolies in regions while upgrading your plants. Wind, garbage, oil, coal and nuclear power plants are all represented.

I love the fights for resources. If everyone owns a coal plant, the price skyrockets. You have to bend your strategy around everyone else to win this treasure of a game.

Be sure and set aside plenty of time. This one usually clocks in at over two hours, while nearly other game on this list is completed and put away in under 90 minutes. The good news? It doesn’t feel like two hours and nearly everyone feels involved until the end. I’ve come from last place to win in the last two turns without feeling like the game was just trying to “keep it close.”

On Negotiation

I’m the Boss

First of all, don’t play this with people who become angry during negotiation, because this game will drive them to it. Players work to complete “deals.” The “Boss” (active player) is told by the game how many other players they need to involve to complete “the deal.” Everyone negotiates for a slice of the pie.

Cards in the game change “who’s the boss” and swap player control over in-game characters in the game.

Not surprisingly, the loudest player isn’t often the winner. At our game nights, the person who is open to compromise will usually come out ahead. If you want to learn about negotiation and get some practice without any of the real-world stress, this is a good primer.

On Elections

1960 – The Making of the President

Is someone in your family fascinated with politics? This is a great peek into the first campaign that was as much about the press and television as it was about which state the candidate was stationed in at the moment. Decide whether to be Nixon or JFK. Formulate your message. Keep up with current events. Attack the other candidate’s position. Build your ground team in each state.

The finale of this game always is a nail-biter. Did you do enough in California? Should you have given the other candidate Florida to wrap up Pennsylvania? Should you have spent more time in smaller electoral states? With an election around the corner this is a good way to get back on top of the process, even if this particular battle was fought over 50 years ago. Because this is a two-player game, it won’t make appearances at game night, but you and a friend will have a great time battling over issues and swing states.

On Buying and Selling Collectibles

Modern Art

Players in this game are art collectors. Your goal is to amass the most money buying and selling art. The key? Sell works that are high in value while buying those that will later become popular.

We go one extra step to make this game even more fun: I bought a little easel (the type used to prop up plates). As players present artwork for sale, we place the portrait on the easel and say something like “I know you’re all excited that I’m making available the newest Karl Gitter piece, ((made-up name here)). Some of the names we created were unbelievable.

Forget the business and finance aspects, Joe! I just want a good game!

Okay, here are five good choices:

Playing Against Each Other?

Ticket to Ride

If your friends have never played anything but “traditional” games like Monopoly and Life, this will bowl them over. Easy to learn, fun to play, and with just a little strategy, Ticket to Ride has brought more people into the “wow, there are some cool new games out there!” world.

Each player attempts to complete a handful of “tickets” between cities by connecting track between them. Watch out because once a section of track is claimed another player can’t use that spot!

This game has been so successful that there have been countless spin-offs. Both the original Ticket to Ride (featuring a map of the USA) and Ticket to Ride Europe offer challenging but easy game play. Ticket to Ride Marklin adds passengers, Switzerland is a tighter map made for smaller groups, and Nordic Countries is full of choke points so you’ll be angry at all of your friends for stealing your routes in no time flat.

Quietly Over Coffee

Qwirkle

The current “Spiel de Jahre” award winning game in in Germany (where designer board game sales are high), this was called “Scrabble for Neanderthals” by the designer.

Not only is the game pretty and engaging, but it’s good for your friends who live on spell-check or who refuse to play anything which will improve their vocabulary beyond “dude” and “where’s the Rice Chex?” This is our favorite quiet game on a lazy Sunday afternoon when we’ve finished reading the paper.

Your goal? Create lines of shapes (think words in Scrabble) made up of all the same color but different shapes or all the same shape but different color. Make a line of six and you’ll score bonus points for forming a “Qwirkle!”

Point scoring is simple. Add one point for each tile in a line. If a newly-laid tile improves a second line, score it again along with the entire second line. Then add six points for any Qwirkle.

As a Team

Flashpoint Fire Rescue

One of the newest ideas in board games is to pit the players against the game. If your game night crowd doesn’t like confrontation or is just up for a good challenge, this is a good alternative.

Players take on the role of fire fighters battling a roaring blaze inside a home. Each member of the team has a different role as the group tries to rescue a family and their pets. My kids wanted to rescue the pets first. Remind me not to be caught in a blaze with Cooper, our cat. I’m second choice, apparently.

This game is also a business story on it’s own. The tiny company Indie Games used the website Kickstarter to raise enough funds to put this game out. Increasingly, small companies are turning to alternative means to find funding for product innovations.

This game isn’t yet widely distributed, but you can find it easily at many hobby shops or directly from Indie Boards and Cards.

With a Large Group

Wits & Wagers

Having lots of relatives or friends over for the holidays? Looking for a good party game? Organize your game night attendees into teams and play the trivia game where nearly nobody will know the answers! A question is asked, such as “how many miles between the earth and the moon?” Every team makes a wild guess on a small dry erase board. All of the answers are lined up from smallest to largest, then each team guesses who’s the closest without going over.

Every year at Thanksgiving my in-laws split up into the four smaller family units and go at it. This game has become our “last game before we say goodbye.” We have lots of laughs and plenty of groans….and we all stink at trivia.

If you’ve ever dreamed of being a board game designer and thought it was the key to wealth and riches, read this story by Northstar Games co-founder Dominic Crapuchettes. His company has become undeniably successful even though he and his partner Satish Pillalamarri have had to persevere through the most trying circumstances.

For a Laugh

Telestrations

This may be the funniest game I’ve ever played. Take the game “telephone” and commit it to paper. Each player has a secret word or phrase and draws it. The next player guesses what it is. The following player draws a picture of the guesser’s guess. Before you know it, a tiger has become a jaguar, has become a car, and has become a four-wheeler.

Points are awarded, but this is actually more of an activity than a game. Don’t worry about being a good artist. The worse you are the funnier the comedy that ensues.

P.S. – You can purchase these games anywhere, but if you’d like to support the blog, we’ve added each of these games to our Amazon store, here. If you’d like to support a great site that supports the board game community, here’s a link to the BoardGameGeek marketplace.

I hope you try a few of these out during your next game night! What are your favorite board games about money…or just for fun?

Boner of the Week! – Can Money Buy Happiness?

December 5, 2011 by Average Joe 5 Comments

I like good, solid financial advice as much as the next guy, but when it goes over-the-top, well….we award the Boner of the Week! to the most outrageous item I found in the media during the last seven days.

…and we’re back to financial bloggers.

Don’t get me wrong: I love reading money-oriented blogs. Sometimes I love them because their advice for financial success is spot-on. Other times it’s because the blogger’s sharing juicy personal stories. It’s like reading their diary—you feel a little dirty but also thrilled that you know some secrets about their life and what gives them inner happiness.

I love some others because I get to wonder how come the blogger didn’t invest in a spell-check button. Maybe saving money includes backing down on English lessons or spell-check tools.

Last week, one of the top financial bloggers on the “internets” shared a nice diary-type tale of a trip abroad. He allowed us to follow the travelogue with some crisp photos and helpful insights into the financial aspects of the trip. Trying to tie in some meaning, he discussed ways financial success can help your life.

Kind of.

Specifically, he wrote this: “Having money buys you freedom and happiness.”

Oops.

How many things are wrong with this statement? Let me count the ways….one, two….three.

1) First, can money buy happiness? I hope you aren’t that gullible. While it can be proven that financial success buys freedom– and a ton of doughnuts–there’s no fact backing up that money can buy happiness. In fact, sadly, the opposite appears to be true. According to a story in Scientific American in August of 2010, money can impair the ability to enjoy purchased items. Researchers in Belgium have discovered that while wealth allows people to purchase more things, thoughts of how that lifestyle was acquired lowers the amount of happiness people experience. In this case, money detracts from inner happiness.

I will agree that I’d rather be rich and miserable than poor and miserable. After all, I think it was former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley Brown, who said, “Money, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort.”

2) Experts insinuating that money buys happiness is a reason I feel many have a spending problem. When I was a financial advisor, I met tons of unhappy rich people. They’d head to a store or expensive restaurant to buy away their ennui. I think they were buying into a house of cards. Do you want that for yourself? I don’t think so. Make a list of goals…not just financial goals or things to buy. What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? Explore your world.

3) I think the goal of many bloggers is to help others. By presenting to a large audience that money = happiness, we propagate a stereotype that many are actively fighting to eliminate. I like a pocket full of cash as much as the next guy, but let’s focus on building inner happiness. While it’s true that having money—or rather a source of income—quells fears at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s still only a fuel for life’s goals. Let’s not prey on consumer psychology by creating an illusion. Chasing the next buck is not going to increase the amount of happiness we feel.

It might give you a warm, fuzzy feeling to go back and watch A Christmas Carol if you’d like a quick holiday reminder about the meaning of happiness.

My point: I love the fact that you read this blog and others like it. It’s exciting for me, too, to share better methods to manage cash, increase savings and prepare for a rainy day. Following the advice in my blog won’t make you happy, although it is completely true that my incredible wit will charm you to tears. Will money buy happiness? Nope. But there is good news: financial blogs can help you achieve the flexibility to do what you wish, when you want, with whomever you choose. Sometimes those of us in the financial world get so enamored with financial success that we forget that money can’t buy inner happiness. ….or maybe he just wanted to be the boner of the week.

Disclosure: Purchasing A Christmas Carol from Amazon.com through the above link pays us a commission. Although that money won’t make us happy, it will continue to allow the website to operate, which should totally fill you with joy.

It’s A Bad Day When A Munchkin Dies

November 16, 2011 by Average Joe 9 Comments

I had to tear myself away from the petition to kick the Kardashians off the air long enough to write about a horrible event I just came across online.

This morning I read with much sorrow that Karl Slover, one of the last living munchkins from the The Wizard of Oz, has died at age 93. It says in the article that Mr. Slover enjoyed late-life acclaim at events celebrating the classic film. It’s inspiring that he was nearly as famous at 93 as he’d been when the film was made. He played three different roles and was one of the shortest munchkins at 4-foot 5 inches short. I’m sorry to say that my knowledge of all things “munchkin” is also short. I’ve only been an expert on the awesome round variety down at Dunkin’ Doughnuts (where’s my endorsement, DD…I plug you nearly every $#!@ post).

I DO know a little about their cousins, Oompa Loompas, from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (NOT that awful Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake, thank you). Like Mr. Slover changed Dorothy’s life as he and his friends led the girl and her dog down the yellow brick road, Oompa Loompas helped change my world view. I’m not sure I wanted to get close to those creepy monkeys in the Wizard of Oz, but a golden ticket tour of a bad-ass chocolate factory? Sign me up, brother! That’s a world I would have loved to experience,

and some say that I still live in.

Regardless, as I said before: with apologies to Mr. Slover, I’m not an expert on munchkins, but I think Oompa Loompas have a lot to teach us about living.

Let me count the ways:

1) They’re original. Oompa Loompas don’t worry about acting like “ordinary” people. They wear goofy outfits and have horrible hair. Most important: you’ve never seen an Oompa Loompa trying to keep up with the Jones’.

2) They sing all day. How awesome would it be to spend your day singing? Wouldn’t that wipe away your @#$! horrible mood? In my case, people around me would absolutely hate me, but crooning always makes me feel great, even though my vocal cords don’t know a note from a full-on letter. I don’t sing enough. I don’t celebrate enough. It’s time to start singing.

3) They work in an awesome job. We’ve all read the statistics. Most people who are lucky enough to still have a job dislike their work. Baby, if I was making chocolate all day I know two things: I’d weigh seven-hundred and fifty six pounds AND I’d be giggling every moment I wasn’t singing.

4) They stick close to the visionary. Willie Wonka wouldn’t be the easiest boss to work for, but I’m fairly certain his brain wasn’t focused on charging thirty cents more so they can meet Q2 earnings. He didn’t have time for cover sheets on TPS reports. Nope. Willie was designing a flippin’ elevator into the sky and was intent on finding the right person to carry out his legacy. That’s a guy to have as a friend.

What does this have to do with you? With money?

Money is a fuel for your life. The passing of a munchkin should remind us that we’re only here for a finite amount of time before we’re all off to see the wizard. Forget the dead end job and your next four percent raise. Chuck social climbing and start mountain climbing. See the world. Celebrate. Set goals and use good money habits to claim your own chocolate-fueled adventure.

….and most of all: remember to sing.

-Facts in story: Us Weekly story, 16 Nov. 2011

-YouTube video: Warner Brothers pictures

-Willy Wonka pic: Warner Brothers pictures

Here’s a sales pitch, but it’s for awesome stuff:

Don’t have any of these three classic films? Why not make holiday shopping easy AND support your favorite blog at the same time?

There’s Something Wrong With The Car

November 10, 2011 by Average Joe 19 Comments

There are good days and then there are bad days. Neither of those descriptions fit last Saturday morning.

I woke up to my son running in the door.

Nick: Dad, there’s something wrong with the car. You have to come outside.

me: Where did Kim Kardashian run off to?

Nick: Dad, wake up. Come outside.

me: What time is it?

Nick: 7 o’clock. Come outside. There’s something wrong with the car.

me: (suddenly realizing Kim isn’t coming back, I’m not drunk in a Beverly Hills swimming pool and I’m a happily married parent of twin 16 year olds) What’s wrong with the car?

Nick: Just come outside

Cheryl: Go, Joe

me: (I’m thinking to myself: why don’t you go?) I’m saying out loud: Okay

(18 years! Why do you ask?)

Cheryl (to Nick): What’s wrong with the car, honey.

Nick: I hit a mailbox.

me: Okay. (out of bed, throw on jeans and a tee-shirt, follow Nick outside)

I shouldn’t interrupt the story here, but it’s time for a little op/ed piece.

Who the F$%# decided that mailboxes should go in brick structures? My mailbox looks like this:

Awesome dent in the side, huh? I was going to actually change this mailbox until some kids late at night kept driving down our street with a kid out the car window slamming a baseball bat into everyone’s property. Where before, I saw a rotten looking mailbox, now I saw less cost when it’s finally destroyed.

So, back to our story…..

I’m following Nick through the house, expecting to see my mailbox on its side, with maybe a little dent in the car fender. My son has been driving for six weeks. We’ll have a talk about it and he’ll go to his swim meet. We’ll laugh about it when he’s 35 years old.

Heading up the stairs, I realize that many of my neighbor’s mailboxes look like this:

Holy brick-house, Batman! The front end of the car might be crumpled around that thing. Now I’m worried. By the time we hit the front door my pace is almost as fast as a cop headed for Dunkin’ Donuts.

me: Whose mailbox did you hit?

Nick: Huh? (he’s 16. I omitted most of the 16-isms for brevity, but had to leave one “huh?” in here.)

me: Whose mailbox?

Nick: Bill’s

me: Oh sh$#.

Bill lives across the street and has a mailbox similar to the one above. The front of our Saturn Aura is probably crushed in. Being a Saturn, it’s a collector’s item (that’s a joke, by the way. Some are apparent, others I’ll point out as we go.).

me: How did it happen?

Nick: I was trying to change a CD.

me: Nick! Don’t try to change a CD while driving. Keep your hands on the wheel. (I think I’m giving good parenting advice here, but I’m not. It turns out that my daughter–remember I said I had two driving? My insurance company remembers….and giggles out loud.–My daughter had a GLEE CD playing LOUD. I know because, when I turned on the car, it was still playing. My poor son. A Glee CD. The Horror. Forget the mailbox, I would have hit Bill’s house hard enough to end it all.)

Here’s what I see. Remember that as a recovering advisor for 200 families, it’s difficult to amaze me. I’ve pretty much seen it all.

Except this:

We call it “Wheelie!” or “Full-Sized Car Statue on an attractive brick base.”

My car is on two wheels (the left two if we want to be technical about it), and is TETTERING ON THE TOP OF my neighbor’s brick mailbox).

me: How the hell did you get the car all the way on top of it?

Nick: I don’t know.

Me: What did you tell me inside? Something’s wrong with the car?

Nick: Yeah.

Me: Understated. In social circles, that’s classy.

It took TWO wreckers to get the mailbox out from under the car. One to pick up the front end and another to drag out the mailbox.

Do you know that whole thing about people getting their 15 minutes of fame? The wrecker drivers all took pictures with their cameras “for the record.” I’m sure my car claimed its 15 minutes and more that night. You may have already seen this picture on Facebook.

So, in closing: please read my blog. Click on every advertising link. Next week I’ll have advice on how to deal with your car insurance company, and how to write big $%#!ing checks without shaking (much).