Author: Mike Holman

Tips For Watching The Christmas Parade With Kids

Post author By Mike Holman
Post date November 25, 2009
10 Comments on Tips For Watching The Christmas Parade With Kids

I recently took my 3 year old son down to watch the annual Christmas parade for the first time. I live in Toronto but I imagine that most large cities have their own equivalent. I was a bit apprehensive since I had never taken him to a large event like that before. We had a reasonably good time and the weather was fantastic. I learned a lot from the experience so I figured a post was in order to share some thoughts I had about how to make next year’s parade better.

Bring Food

This is one of the few things I got right. I brought some snack food along for the little one. Nothing helps pass time better when there is nothing going on with the parade than some food.

Talk to someone who has gone before for tips

I have no idea why I didn’t do this but after seeing all the other parents there with blankets, coolers, chairs etc I realized that maybe asking around before the parade probably would have helped.

Bring chairs, blankets

If you have foldup chairs for both adults and kids then bring them. We ended up sitting on the ground while waiting.

If your child is young then don’t stay for Santa

We tried to time it to get to the parade route and not have to wait long. It didn’t work since the parade was delayed which meant we ended up leaving before the end of the parade. My son doesn’t even know or care about Santa so no big deal.

Don’t arrive too early

Some parents and kids will try to arrive at the parade route well before the parade in order to secure a good spot. If you and your kids can handle waiting 1 hour or more then more power to you. My son is not capable of waiting around that long. We went later on and still had to wait too long. If I could do it again I would have gone much later, stayed for a reasonable amount of time (1 hour max) and then went home.

Don’t drive

In Toronto, the parade is held downtown so driving is not a good idea. If you do drive then I would follow the following suggestions:

Don’t try to cross the parade route.
Consider parking a distance from the route and take public transit the rest of the way. This might be a good approach if you are coming from far away.
Ride a bike. I only mention this one because that’s how we got down there. 20 minutes there, 20 minutes to get home – it was awesome.

Dress appropriately

This rule didn’t matter this year since it was so warm. However some years it can be cold and wet. Bring lots of clothes and rainwear!

For you Santa Claus parade vets – can you provide any more tips or experiences you’ve had with the Santa Claus parade?

Most of the floats were more modern than I remember. I have no idea what this float was supposed to be.

As always – pictures were taken with my Canon 200sx digital camera.

Money

Social Security Stimulus Check 2010 – FAQ

Post author By Mike Holman
Post date November 24, 2009
293 Comments on Social Security Stimulus Check 2010 – FAQ

When will the $250 Social Security stimulus check be mailed?

This is not known at this time but if the bill passes Congress then it is expected that the checks will be mailed sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

Will Social Security Payments Be Paid If United States Defaults On Debt?

Will there be a stimulus check in 2010

Yes, there will be a $250 stimulus check for social security recipients as well as a $250 stimulus check for SSI recipients as well.

How much is the 2010 Social Security raise?

Unfortunately because inflation was so low in 2009 there is no cost of living increase or “raise” in the Social Security payments for 2010. This has however given rise to the $250 Social Security stimulus check which will be payable in 2010.

Will seniors get the $250 stimulus check?

You have to be receiving Social Security, SSI and a few other select criteria in order to receive the check.

What should I do with my $250 check?

There are many options for this money. Admittedly it’s not a huge pile of cash but every little bit counts!

Reduce debt – If you have any outstanding credit card debt or personal debts then $250 would probably help to pay it down.
Buy something – Need some new clothes or want to buy an consumer item? If your finances allow this then the $250 can be used for that.
Donate it – If you don’t need the money then give it to someone who really needs it. A charity, relative or friend would probably really appreciated the cash.

More info

Will the $250 stimulus check for 2010 be enough money?

Will there be a stimulus check in 2010?]

Will there be a $250 stimulus check in 2011 for Social Security Recipients?

Will there be a $250 stimulus check in 2011 for SSI Recipients?

2011 Social Security No Cost of living adjustment

Money

Illinois Unemployment Benefits Extension – Bill H3548 Gives 20 More Weeks

Post author By Mike Holman
Post date November 24, 2009
40 Comments on Illinois Unemployment Benefits Extension – Bill H3548 Gives 20 More Weeks

Long term unemployment is not something that anyone should have to deal with. Unfortunately in today’s economy there are more and more unemployed people everyday. The economic slowdown has been going on for a couple of years with mounting job losses to show for it. One of the tragic byproducts of an increasing unemployment rate is the large number of people who have been unemployed long enough to run out of the available benefits.

In Illinois the damage to the economy has been significant over the last year or two and this is seen by the unemployment rate which currently sits at 11.0% in October which is up a full half percentage point from 10.5% in September. The increasing unemployment rate is an indicator that there are less and less jobs which makes it harder for people who were laid of quite a while ago. The other problem is that long-term unemployed are competing against other workers who haven’t been off as long and might be more attractive to employers.

The good news is that there have been several unemployment extensions and the latest via Bill H3548 is probably not going to be the last. These extensions are part of the stimulus package for 2009 funded by the federal government. As many as 40,000 Illinois unemployed would have lost their benefits by the end of the year without Bill H3548. This bill adds 14 weeks for all states and 20 weeks for states with an unemployment rate higher than 8.5%.

Currently in Illinois the following benefits are offered:

EUC Tier 1 – 20 weeks (7 weeks plus 13 weeks)
EUC tier 2 – 14 weeks (used to be 13)
EB – 20 weeks
EUC tier 3 (new with bill H3548) 13 weeks or 19 weeks (if > 8.5%)

This adds up to a total of 99 weeks.

For information on how to extend your benefits then please visite your state unemployment website or office. To be eligible you need to exhaust your benefits by the end of the year (2009). Because the latest bill has increased tier 2 by 1 week this could affect your eligibility for the extension. According to NELP (National Employment Law Project) there would have been around 1 million Americans who run out of benefits in January of 2010 and 3 million by March 2010. Current benefits are in Illinois are a maximum of $559 per week for someone who is married with kids. Someone single would be eligible for a maximum of $410 per week.

Rep. Debbie Halvorson (IL-11) who voted to pass bill H3548 otherwise known as the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act had this to say:

”All across our district our friends and neighbors are in danger of losing their unemployment benefits, and our economy is struggling to recover, this bill is a big step in turning that around,” said Halvorson. “By extending these benefits we are helping our communities today so they can be stronger and more prosperous tomorrow.”

Tags Illinois Unemployment Benefits Extension

Money

Kentucky Unemployment Benefits Extension – 20 More Weeks With H3548

Post author By Mike Holman
Post date November 23, 2009
129 Comments on Kentucky Unemployment Benefits Extension – 20 More Weeks With H3548

Like most states, Kentucky has been hit hard by the financial meltdown of 2008 and subsequent economic slowdown and recession. Many jobs have been lost and for some unlucky people – it will be a long road back to employment. The national unemployment rate has been rising steadily over the last few years and has recently broken the 10% barrier and sites at 10.2%.

Kentucky, the “Bluegrass State” hasn’t been spared from the economic damage. The most recent unemployment rate in Kentucky was 11.2% in October which was up 0.3% from 10.9% in September. Among those unemployed are significant numbers of people who have been unemployed long enough to either exhaust their unemployment benefits or come close to exhausting them.

To counter the problem of long-term unemployed running out of benefits the federal government has funded several benefit extensions. These are mainly funded as part of the economic stimulus package for 2009.

Bill H3548 has been passed and put into law – this will allow all states an extra 13 weeks of employment benefits as well as another 6 weeks if the unemployment rate is higher than 8.5%. It also increases the Tier 2 EUC benefits from 13 weeks to 14 weeks. In total – this bill will add 20 weeks of unemployent benefits for long-term unemployed people in Kentucky.

Here is the current benefits available in Kentucky:

EUC Tier 1 – 20 weeks (7 weeks plus 13 weeks)
EUC tier 2 – 14 weeks (used to be 13)
EB – 20 weeks
EUC tier 3 (new with bill H3548) 13 weeks or 19 weeks (if > 8.5%)

This adds up to a total of 99 weeks.

Kentuckians and Hoosiers who have exhausted all 79 weeks of unemployment benefits or will do so by the end of the year are eligible for up to 20 more weeks.
The extended benefits pay 54 percent of the person’s original unemployment compensation for the first week, 50 percent for the next 13 weeks and 24 percent for the final six weeks.
Unless Congress acts, the federal extensions will phase out at the end of the year. Residents will continue receiving benefits for their current tier in 2010, but will not be able to move the next tier. There are four federal tiers, each lasting from six weeks to 20 weeks.

What to do – Kentucky
Those who may be eligible for the 20-week extension will receive letters from the state Office of Employment and Training with instructions on claiming the benefits. Residents will be able to file a claim in about two weeks, according to state officials, and claiming early will not result in receiving checks sooner.

Tags kentucky unemployment benefits extension

Frugal

Christmas And Thanksgiving Table Decorations With Funny Food Turkeys

Post author By Mike Holman
Post date November 22, 2009
16 Comments on Christmas And Thanksgiving Table Decorations With Funny Food Turkeys

Thanksgiving made me think about fun and inexpensive ways to decorate the table and here are some of the results, a potato turkey, an apple turkey and a nutty turkey. These food animals can be used to decorate the table at Christmas, Thanksgiving or any other time of year that you need a bit of a laugh. I thoroughly enjoyed making them and I hope you enjoy the post. This is a great activity to do with kids of any age.

Potato Turkey

This could be a great Thanksgiving or Christmas dish for the vegetarian at your dinner table. Healthy potato and yummy radish make a pretty good little snack. Or you can just make gobble, gobble noises while you play with the potato turkey.

Ingredients for 1 turkey:

1 Potato
1 Radish
1 Asparagus stalk
3-4 Bok choy leaves
2 Peppercorns

WhatYouNeed-1 — Ingredients for Potato Turkey

You can substitute any of these if your fridge is missing something. Any leafy vegetable can be used in place of bok choy, a sweet potato for the potato, spring onion for the asparagus and so on. Initially, I had rosemary stalks for the tail, but it ended up looking too much like a peacock that way.

1. Bake the potato. This will be the body of the bird.

2. Once it is cool enough to handle, cut a slit in the front and scoop out a little hole. This will be for inserting the asparagus stalk as the neck. Cut slits across the back of the potato for the tail. Cut the asparagus down to about 2-3 inches for the neck.

Step2
3. Prepare the bok choy leaves by cutting the stalks into points. Insert them into the slits at the back of the potato.

Step3
4. Prepare the radish by scooping out a hole for the neck and little holes for the eyes. Push the peppercorns into the eye holes. I found that the hardest part of making this turkey was getting the neck hole just right for the neck.

Step4 — Cut one larger hole for the neck.

5. Insert the asparagus into the neck hole in the potato. Add the radish on top and enjoy your handiwork.

If you find that the peppercorns are stubbornly refusing to stay in place, then a dab of mayonnaise or sour cream will work wonders as glue. I used mayonnaise to put a leaf of rosemary on the beak for the photo. In person, so to speak, you could see the tip of the radish just fine for the turkey’s beak.

Apple Turkey

This design is extremely healthy (since it is just an apple) and it looks very modern so if you have one of those modern-style box houses then this might be the proper table decoration for your holiday party.

1. Choose a nicely shaped apple and wash it.

2. Make a cut straight down from the top starting about 2/3 of the way down. This vertical cut should be about 1 1/2 inches long. Then make a horizontal cut just deep enough to meet the first one and be able to take the piece off.

AppleTurkeyStep1

3. Make another vertical cut 3/8 of an inch or so higher than the first one and a corresponding horizontal cut to take that piece off. Keep doing this until you have 4 or more pieces.

4. On the opposite side, make two shallow cuts to take out a wide pie-shaped slice and repeat that to make 4 or more slices.

AppleTurkeyStep2 5. To finish it, make cuts on both sides of the smallest slice to hint at eyes and a beak. Then slide the slices on both sides upwards, each the same small distance apart. Turn the smallest slice upside down. The moisture from the apple should hold it all together.

The apple turkey is easy to do, but needs to be eaten before it starts to discolor. Some varieties of apples take longer to discolor. This one was a Honeycrisp.

Nutty Turkey

You can get very creative with nuts – this one is fun and funny. All it takes is a walnut, a peanut in the shell, a couple of lentils, 5 pumpkins seeds and some glue.

1. Glue the two lentils to the peanut as eyes and one of the pumpkin seeds on as a beak.

2. Glue the peanut to the walnut. I had to put an elastic around this to make it stay in place while the glue dried.

NuttyTurkeyInProgress

3. Glue two pumpkin seeds together for feet. Once the glue has dried glue the feet to the bottom of the bird.

4. Laugh at the result.

Personal Finance

5 Ways To Make (Or Lose) Money With Investment Properties – Part 5 – Buying at a Discount

Post author By Mike Holman
Post date November 22, 2009
7 Comments on 5 Ways To Make (Or Lose) Money With Investment Properties – Part 5 – Buying at a Discount

I like to think that each of the ways I’ve written about to make money with investment real estate is real, doable and ethical. I feel the same about this way, but its the one you’ll be least interested in talking about in polite company: buying at a discount.

In order to live up to my name, Mr. Cheap, I like to get a good deal. My friend joke that its my one failing (I suspect that the “one” part is the joke of the saying). If there’s a way to get something for less than full price, you’ll be hard pressed to get me to pay full price.

“Market price” occurs in real estate when there’s an equally motivated buyer and seller. In reality, one is usually more motivated then the other and this person gets the short end of the stick. As Violent Acres wrote, you’re in real trouble if a real estate agent can see that you’ve fallen in love with a property.

If, however, you can find a property that you’re willing to buy, but only at a killer price, desperate sellers become your best friend. Suprisingly there aren’t many people in this buying situation. Most people only want to put down big bucks for a property that they really like (how novel!). Surprisingly, for many people if they don’t like a house or condo, they wouldn’t live in it at any price (I find this a very bizarre attitude, but I’ve become convinced this is the perspective of the majority of buyers).

Desperate sellers can be desperate for many reasons: divorce, job relocation, old age (moving out of the house and in with kids), downsizing in retirement, financial problems, property in rough shape etc, etc. It doesn’t really matter. The sellers want money quickly, you want a good deal, and its a match made in heaven.

The “impolite” part of this approach is that some people will say you’re taking advantage of the seller. To my mind, if no one else is making an offer and they accept my offer (without me putting a gun to their head), how could it be considered taking advantage of them? They can always tell me to blow off, and wait for a buyer who’s willing to pay more (who may or may not ever arrive).

John T. Reed feels that the *only* way to make money in real estate is to buy at a discount (I keep wanting to read some of his books on the subject, but he insists they’re only applicable to the US market). I don’t agree with him that its the only way, but I do think its a very powerful way to make money on the day you buy the property. He feels that there are a number of properties available at any time that can be purchased for 20% under market.

I got a killer deal on my property for two reasons. 1) The seller had moved into a retirement home 7 months before and had had the condo sitting on the market (and paying condo fees) for 7 months without an offer & 2) it was in awful shape (he was a smoker and to “fix it up” for sale all he did was pull out all the carpetting so it had grungy bare floors, and damaged chipped walls in a really bad color).

Damaged properties can be great deals as buyers don’t want to have to fix other people’s messes (can you blame them?). Contractors can become troublesome and jobs can require more effort/money then originally estimated. The entire “flipping” idea is based of the premise that there’s value in being willing to fix up a property (i.e. the sum of a property and repairs are worth more then the parts).

One friend chastised me for “taking advantage of an old man”. That’s not how I see it. He was grateful for the offer and the opportunity to get rid of his property when it had been an anchor around his neck for 1/2 a year. He could have said no (in fact he did to my first offer), but in the end he decided it was better to cut his loses and get on with his life. Surprisingly none of the people who feel that these desperate sellers deserve more for their properties are willing to buy the properties themselves.

Had he been willing to put $8K into the property while it was sitting vacant, I’m sure he would have sold sooner and at a much higher price (he probably could have got $20K more for it). He didn’t though. Apparently he told his agent “there’s no way I’m putting money into a property that I’m trying to SELL!”.

That’s his choice and I benefitted from it.

Tags buying investment property

Personal Finance

Temperment Of A Landlord

Mike from Four Pillars and I recently went out for lunch and had a great time munching and chatting about personal finance. At one point during the meal I talked about how my brother wouldn’t do well investing in real estate as he would react quite strongly to tenant complaints. Mike thought this might be an interesting post, so here it is! 🙂

Investing in real estate has elements of investing and elements of running a business (which, in my humble opinion, is what accounts for the greater returns over more passive investments such as index funds). The business element that probably causes the greatest headache is the customers (your tenants).

Business take a range of responses to their customers. Growing up in a smallish town, the local merchants took the attitude that they were doing us a favour by selling to us (and I delight in watching them go out of business as the Walmarts and Home Depots have moved in). Some large chains take the perspective, against all evidence, that “the customer is always right”. The best perspective is right between these two.

People all have their own perspective and will get upset about and demand all sorts of crazy things. As a landlord, you have to be willing to look another upset, grown adult in the eye listen to their angry demands and be able to say “no”. If you can’t do this, the real estate business is going to get very expensive, you’ll pour money into your properties until you go bust and you’ll be miserable.

The alternative, to rule your tenants like a petty tyrant, is no better. If you’ve ever talked to a family who are trying to rent out a room in their house, it will quickly be apparent that they want the rent, but not the tenant. In Western society paying money to live in a property gives a person certain rights. Landlords who expect a feudal relationship are going to be sorely disappointed when they lose their first court case.

My brother isn’t cut out for landlording, simply because he doesn’t like fighting, and will quickly stop the discussion and walk away if the argument escalates. If he gets into a disagreement at a job, he’ll just quit and find another job (assuming its a fairly large disagreement). Landlording you just can’t do this unless you’re going to always give in to the tenants (bad) or refuse to even listen to their complaints (also bad).

I always think a “on call” type of job is pretty sweet. You sit around near the phone and watch a movie. If you get a call, you deal with the situation, if you don’t you get paid for just being available. Owning an investment property is like this for me. I feel like I’m getting paid $10 a day, and haven’t heard a peep out of my tenants for the last 2 months. Of course, when the emergency hits you’ll feel like you really earned your $10 that day, but on the whole I feel like I’ve been well compensated for the amount of effort my property has taken.

Grumpy landlords (those who don’t have the temperment for it) are a perfect example of a desperate seller. So if you’ve got into real estate and found its not for you (and are now eager to sell), give me a call and I’ll take the problem off of your hands! 🙂

Personal Finance

Write For Four Pillars

I get a lot of requests to do guest posts for Four Pillars so I thought I would publicize some guidelines for these. As well, I’m also interested in paid writers as well.

Benefits of writing for Four Pillars

Writing for Four Pillars is a great opportunity to share your experience and knowledge with a large readership and gain experience and feedback about your writing. If you are a blogger or writer, this is a great way to build your professional portfolio and/or drive traffic to your website.

Writing opportunities

I am interested in publishing articles by guest authors as well as adding a paid writing position or two for selected topics. The paid articles would be on a freelance basis. Please contact me for more information including article requirements and payment details. My email is qffpillars at gmail dot com.

Guest post guidelines for Four Pillars

Guest Posts do not receive payment but are a great way to gain experience and exposure for your website, or to build your portfolio. Please use these guidelines:

Articles should be well-written, must be original, and should not have been previously published elsewhere.
Articles should be related to personal finance in some way. Please e-mail me with proposed topics if in doubt.
Please include a short author bio with a link back to your website and RSS feed if applicable.
Feel free to add a reasonable number of links back to your own web site within the content, but please do not use this as an opportunity to stuff the article full of keywords.
I retain full editorial and approval rights, including removing and/or substituting links.
No affiliate links.
Feel free to send image recommendations with the article. Please only include images that allow for derivatives unless you own the image (Flicker is a great source of images that allow for derivatives under the Creative Commons License).
Guest posts can be republished on your site after a minimum of 3 months have passed.
Please send articles in html or in a Word document (html preferred).

If you are a writer and would like to submit an article for consideration, please send me a message via my contact form or email to qffpillars at gmail dot com. I look forward to working with you!

The differences between the paid articles and guest articles:

Ownership – Paid submissions become the property of this website; guest articles may be republished by the author after a minimum of 3 months has passed. Anyone can apply for either position at any time.
Links – Guest posters will be allowed more leeway in terms of links back to their own sites.

Thanks to Cash Money Life, Moolanomy and Good Financial Cents for their inspiration for this post (ie I copied them).