John Carlton of The Marketing Rebel Rant blog has posted one of the most profound articles on the subject of money that I have read in a long time.

In fact, there is so much wisdom in this article that I’m having a hard time finding a suitable quote for this post.  I really want to share the whole thing right here.  But, as a matter of courtesy, I will refrain from doing so. 

John’s article has this to say about money:

Happiness is in your head.  It’s a state of mind, which doesn’t require cash… unless the lack of cash moves you off your game.

Which lead to the one big realization that helped me clarify what “success” really meant, for me:

Big Damn Observation #2: Money will only solve those problems that not having money creates.

People usually blink back at me the first time I share this with them.  It seems too obvious to qualify for “wisdom”.

For me, though, it’s freaking profound.  The problems that ate me up during the first half of my life… when I was lost, directionless and kept ending up sleeping on people’s couches (because the business world kept spitting me out) (and my girlfriends kept leaving cuz I was such a loser)…

… were all specifically related to not having enough money to get a toehold in life.

Please do yourself a huge favor and read John’s article in its entirety.  You will be glad you did!

Money, money, money, money…
http://www.john-carlton.com/2010/07/money-money-money-money/

Every Life Has A Story - Chick-fil-A from Dan T. Cathy on Vimeo.

As if we needed another reason to love Chick-fil-A, this video was called to my attention yesterday.  According to Dan T Cathy, President and COO of Chick-fil-A, this video was created to remind us that everyone we interact with is a chance to create a remarkable experience.

This is belated, but Happy 30th Birthday to both Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Pac-Man!  I can’t think of a single day that had more impact on geek culture for my generation than May 21, 1980.

The Budget Geek’s TV Shows of the Week (descriptions courtesy TV Guide):

The Big Bang Theory - Monday, May 24, 9:31pm CBS
“The Lunar Excitation” Season 3, Episode 23
Episode Synopsis:    In the third-season finale, Wolowitz and Koothrappali play matchmaker for Sheldon by setting up an online-dating profile for him. Meanwhile, Penny thinks that her relationship with Leonard has affected her ability to date “normal” men.

The Budget Geek’s Blu-ray of the Week

Trick ‘r Treat (2008)

A creepy, darkly comic celebration of the scariest night of the year from producer BRYAN SINGER (director of X-Men and Superman Returns) and writer-director MICHAEL DOUGHERTY(co-scripter of X2 and Superman Returns). Trick ’R Treat takes the Creepshow/Tales from the Crypt approach to nefarious new depths with four interwoven tales set on Halloween night: a high school principal (DYLAN BAKER) moonlights as a vicious serial killer; the quest of a young virgin (ANNA PAQUIN) for that special someone takes a gruesome turn; a group of teens carries out a cruel prank with disastrous consequences; and a cantankerous old man (BRIAN COX) battles a mischievous trick-or-treating demon.

The Budget Geek’s What’s New in Stores and Online This Week:

Blockade Billy by Stephen King (Hardcover, Unabridged Audio Book)

A quirky baseball player with a past shrouded in secrecy is the tragic hero of this macabre tale from the dark side of the all-American sport. In the voice of George Granny Grantham, retired third-base coach of the New Jersey Titans, King (Under the Dome) recalls the spring of 1957, when Billy Blakely, a catcher called up from the Titans’ Iowa farm system, helped to boost the team out of the basement and add some excitement to the national pastime. Billy hits with such power and guards the plate with such determination (hence his eponymous nickname) that teammates are willing to forgive such eccentricities as his frequently addressing himself in the third person, or bloodying runners who collide with him. Of course, these kinks are clues to a shocking pathology that King coaxes out in a narrative steeped so perfectly in the argot of the game and the behavior of its players and fans that readers will willingly suspend their disbelief. As King’s fiction goes, this suspenseful short is a deftly executed suicide squeeze, with sharp spikes hoisted high and aimed at the jugular on the slide home.

The Budget Geek’s Podcast Pick of the Week:

Imperial Holonet Radio

A podcast revolving around everything Star Wars, from the movies and discussions about them, to comic books, to games, and everything else!

The Budget Geek’s TV Shows of the Week (descriptions courtesy TV Guide):

The Big Bang Theory - Monday, May 17, 9:31pm CBS
“The Staircase Implementation” Season 3, Episode 22
Episode Synopsis:   Leonard tells Penny the story of how he met Sheldon.

The Office - Thursday, May 20, 9:00pm NBC
“Whistleblower” Season 6, Episode 24
Episode Synopsis:  In the Season 6 finale, the heat is on when the media discover that Sabre’s printers catch on fire. When Sabre CEO Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) arrives to unmask the whistle-blower, the staffers point accusatory fingers at Andy, who passionately denies that he’s the leak

The Budget Geek’s Podcast Pick of the Week:

The IndyCast: Indiana Jones News and Commentary

Welcome to the IndyCast, the World’s first weekly Indiana Jones podcast! Each week you can get your Indy fix as host Ed Dolista takes a look at the latest news, interviews, events and opinions from the Indiana Jones fan community. Listen in as we head toward the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and beyond!

I rarely repost an entire blog entry from another site, but I am making an exception here.  Seth Godin is perhaps the most brilliant marketer in the world today and his blog is the most read blog on the Internet.

On May 5th, Seth posted the article below that hits home with my personal philosophy on debt.  In fact, in the article, Seth cites another article by Dave Ramsey, so how could it not line up with my philosophy?

Read the article for yourself and, when you are finished, go ahead and subscribe to Seth’s blog.  You will be glad you did!

Consumer debt is not your friend

Here’s a simple MBA lesson: borrow money to buy things that go up in value. Borrow money if it improves your productivity and makes you more money. Leverage multiplies the power of your business because with leverage, every dollar you make in profit is multiplied.

That’s very different from the consumer version of this lesson: borrow money to buy things that go down in value. This is wrongheaded, short-term and irrational.

A few decades ago, mass marketers had a problem: American consumers had bought all they could buy. It was hard to grow because dispensable income was spoken for. The only way to grow was to steal market share, and that’s difficult. Enter consumer debt.

Why fight for a bigger piece of pie when you can make the whole pie bigger, the marketers think. Charge it, they say. Put it on your card. Pay now, why not, it’s like it’s free, because you don’t have to repay it until later. Why buy a Honda for cash when you can buy a Lexus with credit?

One argument is income shifting: you’re going to make a lot of money later, so borrow now so you can have a nicer car, etc. Then, when money is worth less to you, you can pay it back. This idea is actually reasonably new—fifty years or so—and it’s not borne out by what actually happens. Debt creates stress, stress creates behaviors that don’t lead to happiness…

The other argument is that it’s been around so long, it’s like a trusted friend. Debt seems like fun for a long time, until it’s not. And everyone does it. We’ve been sold very hard on acquisition = happiness, and consumer debt is the engine that permits this. Until it doesn’t.

The thing is, debt has become a marketed product in and of itself. It’s not a free service or a convenience, it’s a massive industry. And that industry works with all the other players in the system to grow, because (at least for now) when they grow, other marketers benefit as well. As soon as you get into serious consumer debt, you work for them, not for you.

It’s simple: when the utility of what you want (however you measure it) is less than the cost of the debt, don’t buy it.

Go read Dave Ramsey’s post: The truth about debt.

Dave has spent his career teaching people a lesson that many marketers are afraid of: debt is expensive, it compounds, it punishes you. Stuff now is rarely better than stuff later, because stuff now costs you forever if you go into debt to purchase it. He’s persistent and persuasive.

It takes discipline to forego pleasure now to avoid a lifetime of pain and fees. Many people, especially when confronted with a blizzard of debt marketing, can’t resist.

Resist. Smart people work at keeping their monthly consumer debt burden to zero. Borrow only for things that go up in value. Easy to say, hard to do. Worth it.

The Budget Geek’s TV Shows of the Week (descriptions courtesy TV Guide):

The Big Bang Theory - Monday, May 10, 9:31pm CBS
“The Plimpton Simulation” Season 3, Episode 21
Episode Synopsis:  The arrival of a famous physicist (Judy Greer), has Sheldon and Leonard competing for her attention.

The Office - Thursday, May 13, 9:00pm NBC
“The Chump” Season 6, Episode 23
Episode Synopsis:  Newbie parents Jim and Pam are sleepless in Scranton, as they learn that it’s awfully hard to stay awake at the office. Meanwhile, Michael displays unforeseen maturity when he discovers something negative about Donna (Amy Pietz). And it’s the wrath of Angela when Dwight reneges on their most unusual contract.

The Budget Geek’s Blu-ray Release of the Week:

The Karate Kid (1984)

A fatherless teenager faces his moment of truth in The Karate Kid. Daniel (Ralph Macchio) arrives in Los Angeles from the east coast and faces the difficult task of making new friends. However, he becomes the object of bullying by the Cobras, a menacing gang of karate students, when he strikes up a relationship with Ali (Elisabeth Shue), the Cobra leader’s ex-girlfriend. Eager to fight back and impress his new girlfriend but afraid to confront the dangerous gang, Daniel asks his handyman Miyagi (Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita), whom he learns is a master of the martial arts, to teach him karate. Miyagi teaches Daniel that karate is a mastery over the self, mind, and body and that fighting is always the last answer to a problem. Under Miyagi’s guidance, Daniel develops not only physical skills but also the faith and self-confidence to compete despite tremendous odds as he encounters the fight of his life in the exciting finale to this entertaining film.

The Budget Geek’s What’s New in Stores and Online This Week:

Five Classic Stephen King Novels Released As Unabridged Audio Books

May 13th sees the release of five classic Stephen King novels in unabridged audio book format.

Christine

A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury. Dubbed Christine by her previous owner, Arnie’s first car is jealous, possessive and deadly.

The Dark Half

For years, Thad Beaumont has been writing books under the pseudonym George Stark. When a journalist threatens to expose Beaumont’s pen name, the author decides to go public first, killing off his pseudonym. Stark isn’t content to be dispatched that easily, though. Beaumont’s alter ego comes to life and begins to stalk those responsible for his demise. The police suspect Beaumont is responsible for these violent crimes.

The Eyes of the Dragon

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Delain, King Roland is murdered and his son and heir, Peter, is framed for the crime. Peter and his loyal friends must battle an evil wizard and Peter’s usurper brother, Thomas, for the throne. Imprisoned in a tower, Peter conceives an escape plan that will take him years to execute before taking on Flagg, the powerful sorcerer who has masterminded this coup.

IT

A promise made twenty-eight years ago calls seven adults to reunite in Derry, Maine, where as teenagers they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Unsure that their Losers Club had vanquished the creature all those years ago, the seven had vowed to return to Derry if IT should ever reappear. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that summer return as they prepare to do battle with the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers once more.

The Tommyknockers

Writer Bobbi Anderson becomes obsessed with digging up something she’s found buried in the woods near her home. With the help of her friend, Jim Gardener, she uncovers an alien spaceship. Though exposure to the Tommyknockers who piloted the alien craft has detrimental effects on residents’ health, the people of Haven develop a talent for creating innovative devices under its increasingly malignant influence.

The Budget Geek’s Podcast Pick of the Week:

HDTV and Home Theater Podcast

The HT Guys, Ara Derderian and Braden Russell, are Engineers who formerly worked for the Advanced Digital Systems Group (ADSG) of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios. Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000. The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages. ADSG was awarded a Technical Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2000 for the development of the DADR-5000. Ara holds three patents for his development work in Digital Cinema and Digital Audio Recording. Every week they put together a podcast about High Definition TV and Home Theater. Each episode brings news from the A/V world, helpful product reviews and insights and help in demystifying and simplifying HDTV and home theater. Our email address is hdtvpodcast@mac.com

In their book The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D. detail their study of over one thousand millionaires and write about the personal, ethical, and business traits that most have in common.  If you have not read The Millionaire Next Door, it is a must-read if you ever intend to become financially independent.

I have spoken with many people about money and budgeting and the one question that I often hear is:  Am I on track to becoming wealthy?  In The Millionaire Next Door, there is a simple formula to use that will help you determine what your net worth should be right now, at this point in time, regardless of your age or income.

The formula is:

(Your Age x Annual Pretax Household Income) / 10

For example, Callie is 30 years old and has an annual pretax income of $65,000.  If Callie hopes to become wealthy one day, her net worth at this moment in her life should be (30 x 65000) / 10, or at least $195,000.

Remember that net worth is calculated as your assets minus your liabilities.  In simple terms, net worth is what you own minus what you owe.

If you add up the current value of all of your assets (cash, investments, home, vehicle, etc.) and then subtract any debt that you have (credit cards, mortgages, home equity loans, car payments, student loans, etc.), the result will be your net worth.  If your net worth is $1,000,000, then you are a millionaire.

Given your age and income, how does your net worth match up?  If it does not match up as well as you had hoped, what are you going to do about it?

The Budget Geek’s TV Shows of the Week (descriptions courtesy TV Guide):

The Big Bang Theory - Monday, May 3, 9:31pm CBS
“The Spaghetti Catalyst” Season 3, Episode 20
Episode Synopsis:  Sheldon tells a lie to appease Penny and Leonard, who aren’t speaking to each other, but then he gets caught.

The Office - Thursday, May 6, 9:00pm NBC
“The Cover-Up” Season 6, Episode 22
Episode Synopsis: When Michael concludes that his girlfriend (Amy Pietz) is cheating on him, he enlists Dwight to snoop. Elsewhere, Andy receives a customer complaint and grows frustrated when none of his fellow staffers seem to care.

Star Wars The Clone Wars Season 3 Trailer

Season 2 of Star Wars The Clone Wars has just ended, but it is never too early to begin speculation about Season 3.  Click the image below to watch an exciting sneak preview!

The Budget Geek’s Podcast Pick of the Week:

Geek Radio Daily

Geek Radio Daily; All the geek without the wait! Billy Flynn, The Vicar, the Flynnstress, and the Bruce bring you a daily 15 minute podcast covering daily TV highlights, comic and DVD releases and geekly news! And don’t forget our sweekly show!

I know what my wife and I are going to be wearing when we attend Star Wars Celebration V in August! 

Another good design sports the logo of the Hoth Blue Milk Brewing Company.

Only 107 days to go…