The Sunday Review #30: About Bad Advertisements And Debt

Here are some interesting articles posted over the week.

Before I mention the articles, let me share a few forethoughts on a couple of them ~ to get your thoughtful juices running before you click on those links.

• One of the articles below (by Lazy) is a rant about a violent Toyota advertisement that preceded the latest Harry Potter movie. Would violent advertisements adversely affect your judgment about a product’s quality or reliability? would you stop using a brand because the company’s advertising department left a bad taste in your mouth? … Personally, I wouldn’t care much. What’s reliable is reliable. Good advertisements don’t amuse me and bad ones don’t influence me. My thoughts probably may have something to do with the fact that I didn’t watch TV for about 9 years in the past (more on this in future).

• The second thought I want to share is about the article on debt by Jim. Earlier, a reader (Ted Valentine) made an analogy between credit cards and guns. I think a similar analogy can be applied directly to debt. Debt is like a gun. You can use it for your safety, or you can aim it for your head and kill yourself. Debt is a tool and it comes with it’s own “directions for use”. There are always consequences for not following proper directions for use for any tool.

Now, the links.

Achievement Comes From Goal Clarity by Jeremy @ Generation X Finance.

First, what is goal clarity? In essence it can be defined as your ability to set and reach specific goals. The important part of this definition is the word specific. A very broad or general goal won’t help drive you to success.

How Money Can Change A Life by Ben @ Money Smart Life.

“Dealing drugs makes you lazy”, he told me. He wasn’t used to having to show up every morning and put in a full days work. I told him I didn’t like going to work all day either. I let him know there were legal ways to make money other than going to a job

How To Live Without Television - It Can Be Done! by Stephanie @ Poorer Than You.

We humans do not like to give up luxuries that we’ve become accustomed to. When a personal finance blogger suggests that someone in financial peril cut the cable or satellite, the person in trouble often balks at the idea. Who can live without cable in this day and age?

How Are You Building Your Net Worth? by SVB @ The Digerati Life.

To what do we owe our net worth? What do I see as responsible for building our assets or adding to our liabilities? Is there any one thing that I can thank…or perhaps even blame for the progress we’ve had so far in our wealth accumulation endeavors?

Why I May Never Buy a Toyota by Lazy @ Lazy Man and Money.

It was a black and white cartoon where these “Deviants” murdered “Sheeples” in brutal ways. There were a couple of beheadings. At one point a Deviant skinned a Sheeple and wore his skin like a costume and did a little victory dance. At the end it turned out it was a commercial for a Toyota Scion.

10 Mortgage Lessons From 12 Phone Calls by Henry @ Binary Dollar.

You don’t need to give out all your information (address, social security) to get rates and closing costs. You can get ballpark numbers as long as you provide the purchase price, the down payment amount, and the type of mortgage.

Investment Idea: Exchange Traded Notes by Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary.

ETNs are debt securities, not equities. Thus, like notes and bonds, a ETN has a maturity date.

Debt Isn’t A Bad Thing by Jim @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Ultimately, debt is important because allows you to do the things you want to and should be doing. It allows you to leverage some of your future in order to enjoy something now.

How far would you go to keep perfect eBay feedback? by MBH @ Mighty Bargain Hunter.

However, that buyer can also leave me negative feedback. Even though he’s the one at fault. Even though I would have followed through with the transaction had he paid. These things don’t matter. A negative is a negative, regardless of how it’s earned or not earned.

Phone Books are Dead Weight by Dawn @ Frugal for Life. Dawn suggests some novel uses of phone books:

- Use pages as insulation for holes in the wall or around windows
- Place them in your car for emergencies
- Bundle a bunch together and make a footstool or for step exercises

Historical Net Worth Numbers by Nickel @ Five Cent Nickel.

The main reason for this is that I initially included just the annual change data, and didn’t add the cumulative change column until. But once that was in place, the effects of compounding really jumped out.

50 Tips for New Personal Finance Bloggers @ Clever Dude.

I repeat, focus on your content.

Downgrading Your Cleaning Supplies – Save Money & the Environment by FMF @ Free Money Finance.

All-Purpose Stain Remover – add 1/4 cup borax to 2 cups cold water in a bucket and soak stained clothing. Green Clean says this works well on blood, chocolate, coffee, mildew, mud, and urine. A paste of lemon juice and baking soda is great at lightening stains, especially on white fabrics and sweat stains.