I think the time has come for me to disclose where I have been spending most of my efforts lately. I was trying to get into a major entrepreneurial venture with this blog. After a hectic (and pretty stressful) span of time, which included numerous proposals, phone calls, and business meetings, I see some light at the end of the tunnel. Things were looking pretty grim until I met “the man” himself. Mr. Buffet is as thoughtful and serene in real life as the media has always portrayed him to be. He sat through my entire presentation (that lasted for about an hour) and later voiced his opinions in just three or four sentences, asked a few quick questions, offered many words of encouragement, and left immediately after that.
I think it all went pretty well since his team of advisers later put forward a $100K+ offer to buy rights over this blog. I am not at a liberty to disclose all the details here, but in a nutshell, the deal is to the effect that in return for the lump sum payment, I will direct all advertising income towards an agency who will collect it on behalf of Mr. Buffet. The agency will retain ownership rights over this blog for the next 15 years. This probably means that you will read a lot about investing principles, Mr. Buffet, and Berkshire Hathaway on this blog for a long time to come. It’s not really a “leave your day job” kind of deal, but it’s pretty close. I don’t intend to backtrack on this arrangement, but I would welcome all words of caution from my readers.
Now back on track with the reviews.
- The 20 Dumbest Personal Finance Questions of All Time by Nick @ Punny Money. An interesting list of questions and a funny list of answers. Some of the questions are not as dumb as they are silly. But hey, not asking questions at all is probably dumber than asking silly questions (within tolerable limits).
- Pricing Psychology @ Customer’s Revenge. Read this post to find out about the mind games retailers/companies play with the customers in order to ensure that the holes in their (customers’) pockets get bigger. Another complementary post that voices similar concerns is The Art of Retail Pricing by Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary. It’s not just the”art” of retail pricing…it’s the art and the “craft“of retail pricing (click here and read meaning #2 for the word “craft”).
- Are Money Myths Costing You Cash? by Ben @ Money Smart Life. Ben lists 11 financial facts/myth. Most people who read this blog (or other personal finance blogs) will be able to quickly distinguish between the facts and the myths..but there must be a ton of other folks who wouldn’t know the difference.
- How To Kill Your Credit Instantly With Mortgage Fraud And Subprime Borrowing by SVB @ The Digerati Life. SVB highlights one side of a story about subprime lending business. Her thoughts are succinctly summarized in this:
We live in an amazing consumerist society that allows us to buy our dreams even if we are broke.
Earlier, I have expressed my point of view on this issue in The Subprime Mess - All About Ignorance, Dishonesty, and Our Tendency To Look For Loopholes.
- How to screw your mobile service provider by Yan @ ProBargainHunter. In the context of the article, screw = squeeze money out of. Yan summarizes a few things you can do to get more out of your cell phone contracts.
- How To Get Rich Venn Diagram by Henry @ Binary Dollar. The picture says a thousand words. However, I want to add one more circle (set) to it and name it “Think“. Then, we can call the confluence of all three circles as “Big-cha-ching”.
- Is Your Financial Fortress Termite Infested? by ISPF @ Grad Money Matters. Some thoughtful insight about things that can bring us down. You could be smart in earning and saving all you want, but if you are careless about some of the things that ISPF mentions, going downhill won’t take much time.
- 24 Signs That You Could be in Financial Trouble #12: Fighting About Money With Your Spouse or Significant Other by Jeremy @ Generation X Finance. Jeremy highlights some financial issues that may cause couples to fight. I should note here that it’s a vicious cycle…fighting (not just over financial matters) may lead to financial trouble, and increasing financial trouble could lead to more fighting.
- The End of My Credit Card Arbitrage (or Why I Hate Discover) by Lazy @ Lazy Man and Money. Lazy rants about his (unsuccessful) attempt to get a Discover card for arbitrage purposes. I don’t know why Discover handled this in such an idiotic manner. Anyways, with Citibank removing the upper limit on balance transfers fees, (probably most other credit card providers will start doing it now), the future is not looking very bright for credit card arbitrage.
Now, a couple of links to this week’s carnivals.
- Carnival of Personal Finance #93 @ Tired but Happy.
- Festival of Frugality #67 @ Debt Hater.
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Golbguru,
As always, an excellent Sunday Review.
Congratulations on your deal with Warren Buffet. I am surprised he only had a few short comments. In my dealings with Mr. Buffet (day job work), he is much more engaged and loves to tell a couple of stories. I have also worked with his new head of Internet businesses, Lirpa Sloof. What did you think of him?
Golbguru, Nice job! And, Congratulations on the offer!
Super saver, Hush! We are not supposed to talk about the big bosses outside of work! Didn’t you read the employee manual? Look for policy #35167 on page 2231 which explicitly mentions “…employess shall not spoil the image the public relations department has created for the top execs…” and policy #72850 on page 5582 which mentions “…leaking names of top execs on blogs could lead to a federal probe and grounds for dismissal from employment…” (This was a new ammendment, so you might want to get the latest copy of the employee manual)
Congratulations on the offer, what can we say but we are all envious ;). Love the links and about hearing about your amazingly good fortune.
This is not an April Fool’s joke?
April Fools? Haha?
If not, CONGRATULATIONS!!
I am skeptical though, all of these internet jokes, dunno what to think anymore today!
If not an April Fool’s joke, excellent timing and many congratulations
If yes,
Hey, Buffet offered me $25 for my blog, I think he liked the “zen” in the title.
But he said as long as I don’t write about it the deals mine!
Oh, wait…
(And great round-up)
Super Saver: Lirpa Sloof sounds familiar. I think he also heads the agency that’s acting on Mr. Buffet’s behalf.
ISPF: Thanks for pointing out the new amendments. I think I just flipped through the pages after I heard “$100K+”.
TFB, Nku, and Blain:
Zen: I think he liked the “Tao” in my URL. I think he is falling for Japanese words and putting arbitrary prices on them.
I am still confused? Is it joke or real?
If its not a joke then Congratulation Golbguru… If it is then there are a bunch like me…
It is all about the wink! GolbGuru got you good! I was never fooled… ever…
ok… maybe for a second.. but that was it! hehe.
Great story to read. A testament to your success.
Jerry
I believed you!!!!! Mostly because if there was a blog that Mr. Buffet SHOULD buy, it is this one!
Thanks for the laugh!
Finance Guide 101: By now you must have realized it :). If not, then read Blain’s comment below your’s.
Jerry and Maria: thanks for the kind thoughts.
You know, April 1st is a good time to talk about your dreams without making a fool of yourself….that’s what I have realized through this post.
Thanks for playing along guys.
You had me until you said Warren gave you a full hour.
Good one though.
Even with the date in consideration, you’ll be surprised at the opportunities that the blog will open up for you over time. Would not surprise me to see you looking back on this in future years and consider it a prediction…
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