Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News and Opinions #5

By Len Penzo

It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe...

Blogs I’ve Been Following This Week

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Here’s what caught my attention over the past week…

Punny Money – Nick has slowed down the frequency of his posts quite a bit over the past few years, but he is still a riot. This week he had a humorous piece on why you shouldn’t write “See ID” on the back of your credit cards. After you finish here, check it out if you’ve got a few minutes.

MoneyEnergy – Last week ME had a nice overview explaining reserve currencies. This week, ME is back with a very thorough treatment on how to save money when traveling to the UK, which is really important unless you’re the type that doesn’t mind paying $15 for something like a simple cheeseburger – the fries and drink are extra, of course.

Plonkee Money – Yes, again – and quit your complaining. If you were smart enough to title your blog “Plonkee (anything)” you’d be getting extra link love here too. Anyway, Plonkee’s back from her hiatus with a couple of fresh posts on items you should and should not buy when traveling. Good posts, Plonkee! I just wish you had written them before I stood in line for 15 minutes last month at the airport gift shop to buy that stupid inflatable pillow.

Credits and Debits

Debit: Dateline San Diego. A man has been accused of killing his wife on a cruise ship as it returned from Cabo San Lucas. He is currently being held on a complaint of premeditated murder. If this guy had truly intended to kill his wife all along why did he decide to go to the extra expense of doing it on a cruise ship? Talk about bone-headed financial decisions – that money could have been used to hire a really good lawyer instead.

Debit: At his recent health care plan news conference, when asked if he and Congress would abide by the same proposed benefits package as the rest of us, President Obama gave a rambling, obfuscating 750-word response. Why he didn’t save everybody three minutes of their lives by simply saying “no” is beyond me.

Debit: A recent audit has found that the US Department of Energy is wasting enough electricity to power more than 9,800 homes a year by failing to turn down the heat or air conditioning when its workers leave for the day. The wasted electricity is estimated to be costing the US taxpayers $11.5 million per year. Feel free to insert your own joke here.

Credit: The Dow cracked the 9000 mark on Thursday, the first time it has been above that level in six months. It’s time to reallocate the funds in my 401(k) retirement plan…

Debit: A New Hampshire man who used his Visa debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of smokes later found out he was charged $23,148,855,308,184,500. That’s $23 quadrillion and change. When asked about this at his national health care news conference, President Obama reluctantly admitted that he wasn’t aware the government had already implemented his plan to take over the cigarette industry too.

The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts You May Have Missed

From February 2009: (Alright. Kinda-way-back.)

A Layman’s Guide to Mortgage Application Junk Fees - What the heck is a “Warehouse Fee” doing on your mortgage refinance good faith estimate? What is that anyway? This article explains most every possible junk fee you might find on your lender’s good faith estimate so that you can be in a prime position to negotiate to reduce their costs, if not eliminate them completely. This is a must read if you are planning on refinancing or buying a new home – at least it is for those who don’t like paying unscrupulous fees.

Update: My Shameless RSS Experiment — Week 6

It is the sixth week of My Shameless RSS Experiment. I got five more new subscribers this week! Thank you all for your support!

As always, if you like what you’re reading, please take a moment to subscribe. I’d really appreciate it! And, as always, thanks to all of you who have already chosen to follow me here at Len Penzo dot Com!