Hi-ho, Silver!

Oh boy — silver blew through $14 an ounce today and almost hit $15 before retreating a little. It hit $10 only six weeks ago! Gold still doesn’t seem to be getting much respect, but it’s above $630/ounce now. Silver’s getting even less, apparently. How high does it have to go before it gets some … Read more

Will we ever see gas below $2 again?

This article was written originally on April 18, 2006. This is my gut feeling. I’ve made this prediction to a few people. I don’t think we’ll see gas below $2 again, let alone $1. Here are a few reasons why: Our dollars are being inflated away. This puts upward pressure on useful commodities, including oil. … Read more

A banquet of pennies

Scott Burns of MSN Money speaks on old-age poverty: Stave off old-age poverty The phrase that is the title of this post comes from 1963: The shopkeeper of a corner store in a slum looked at the kid and said, “Do you want to know what it’s like to be old?” He pulled a 2-pound … Read more

A deep-clean for your finances

Something for everyone in this MSN article from Liz Pulliam Weston: Spring-clean your finances She talks about The benefits of using personal finance software Trimming the number of financial accounts you need to keep track of Using online bill payment Reviewing your bills to see if there are opportunities to save money Checking your credit … Read more

Debt reduction by downsizing

Every Friday, Gary North answers readers’ questions in his free e-newsletter, Reality Check.  His answers are very blunt — so blunt that he suspected it as a reason for only getting about one in 500 of his readers to submit a question in the first place!  He’s a straight shooter.  (I haven’t submitted a question … Read more

After-auction deals

After my “oops!” at the auction a couple of weeks ago, like any good masochist, I thanked them and asked for another. Though I spent most of the evening getting outbid on coins, there was some silk-screening equipment up for auction.  My wife and I are working to get a small business in (mostly) baby … Read more

What’s all the HYIP about?

JLP just sent me an e-mail about a forum that chats about autosurf programs and HYIP programs. HYIP stands for High Yield Investment Plan. Before you get too excited, let me explain what they are. Often HYIPs have as their core website advertising sales called autosurf programs. These are scripts that automatically cycle through websites … Read more

Better than 1%

Those are the odds that you’ll get audited this year by the IRS. It’s not quite as likely as the probability that you filed for bankruptcy last year, but it’s close. Some of the flags that increase the chance that you’ll be audited: Not reporting all of your income, especially income that the financial institution … Read more