Mighty Bargain Hunter

Review of Phil Villarreal’s Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel

I requested a review copy of Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel, and the first time the book was sent out, somehow it got lost in the mail.  The publicist contacted me to ask if I was going to review it, and I said that I never remembered seeing it.

They sent me another copy, and looking back, I really wish that I hadn’t responded to that e-mail.

Many of the tips in this book will quickly and efficiently alienate you from your family, your friends, your colleagues, and the businesses you patronize.  Try these tips once, or at most twice, and they will tell you about it, or they may just not want you around anymore.  Try these tips with the wrong person on watch, and you could get fired, or land in jail.

Mr. Villarreal issues this warning in the front of the book:

Honor.  Integrity.  Honesty.  Dignity.  If you live by any of these values, you may as well drop the book right now, because they’re against everything it professes.

Oh boy, is this ever true.  I should have put the book down right there, but I didn’t.  One word that should have been added to that list of nouns is decorum. It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything, or talked with anybody, with as vulgar and self-indulgent a speech pattern, and with such disregard for polite topics of conversation.  (There are only a few people that have permission to talk to me about my wife’s privates, and Mr. Villarreal isn’t among them.)

There are plenty of ways to save money without lying and stealing, but he wastes far too many pages describing these bad ways:

• Saying it’s your birthday (when it isn’t) in order to get free food at a restaurant
• Manufacturing fake price matches for grocery store items
• Taking the five-finger discount with office supplies from work
• Catching a double feature by sneaking into the second movie on the first ticket
• Taking money off the bar that was clearly left for the bartender
• Complaining about a meal when there’s nothing really wrong, just to get reimbursed
• Faking homelessness

And these aren’t lying or stealing but they will make you a problem child very quickly:

• Being just plain cheap with friends on road trips, gift exchanges, potlucks, and splitting the check
• Taking several of every food service supply that isn’t nailed down in a fast-food restaurant
• Actively avoiding tipping of any kind
• Being a repeat problem customer to get free services
• Abusing trial subscriptions and return policies

There were some good tips in this book, but it isn’t worth slogging through pig manure to find a couple of quarters.

Get Wise Bread’s book instead. 100% scoundrel-free, guaranteed.

Posted in Book Reviews | 14 Comments »

Seniors lose $10,000? Huh?

I got suckered into reading this article on MSN from the title:

A $10,000 Social Security hit

There was a stock photo of two obviously very depressed seniors right next to that headline.  At first I thought, “Man, the other shoe dropped fast!” but the article revealed the context of the $10,000:  no cost-of-living adjustment for 2010.

Here’s the math on how “no adjustment for inflation next year” translates to “$10,000.”  The average monthly Social Security check is $1,161, according to the article.  The 3% cost-of-living adjustment they won’t get means $35 extra per month, from now on, that they won’t get.

Compound this $35 per month deficit at a 2% annual rate (a savings account-ish rate), for twenty years, and you arrive at a little over $10,000.

Yes, the headline “A $10,000 Social Security hit” is a lot more sensational than something that mentions cost of living.  I may have read through the headline had it been like that.  What the headline did do, though, is call to attention that this isn’t jut a loss for next year, but for every year after that.

One of my colleagues said that if given the choice between a raise and a bonus, you should always go for the raise.  Why?  Because the bonus is one-time, and the raise is ongoing.  The same is true in the other direction:  the $250 that President Obama would like to give to seniors in order to make things hurt less is one-time, but the lack of a raise is ongoing.  It’s compounding in reverse.

This lack of COLA increases the disparity between rising prices and benefits, and accentuates that inflation makes us poorer.  Benefits don’t need to be cut directly to reduce the real cost of the program.

The benefits just need to be held where they are to reduce the real cost.

Posted in Commentary | 3 Comments »

Here’s the one thing you can absolutely count on in this economy

This economic downturn hasn’t been kind to a lot of people.  Jobs that haven’t been taken away from people have had their hours cut, their workload increased, or their cost of living allowances taken away.  Jobs that people used to be able to count on are on very fragile ground.

If this US Debt Clock is accurate, we’re getting a new person on the unemployment roster every 17 seconds now.

What can you count on in this economy?  I think the only thing that you can absolutely count on in this economy is that you can’t count on anything in this economy. Retirements have been upended by plummeting 401(k)s and IRAs.  Nest eggs have been cracked by crashing home values.  Many people, all of a sudden, won’t be able to retire.

It’s foolish to take anything for granted.  There’s far less within our control than we probably realize, and proposed solutions that aim to make things better will almost certainly just make them worse.

When you think about “preparing for the future,” think instead of “hedging against the future.”  How?

• Cushions, cushions. Bolster that emergency fund to buy time in the face of job loss.  Bolster your food supply in case price controls cause shortages.  (Price controls are another solution that will backfire.  Think gas station lines in the 1970s.)
• Diversify your investments. If you’re heavy in anything (or only have a couple of asset classes) look around some more.  And don’t forget to invest in yourself.
• Diversify your income streams. Only have one income stream?  Start working on another!  And then another.  Your one income stream can go bye-bye at any time.
• Retire into something rather than just retire. It would be great if one of your new income streams involves something you really enjoy, and can do well into the traditional retirement age.
• Take care of your health. I’ve recommitted to this. The less you need health care, the better, because it will be more expensive, and you’ll wait longer to get it.
• Pray.

Posted in Economy, Making Money, Personal Finance, Retirement, Saving | 3 Comments »

More discussion on charging your tithe

On last week’s post on whether you should be able to put your tithe on a credit card, I received a well thought-out response from commenter Brian.  I’ll reprint it here, and discuss it.

I work with more than 800 mainline protestant churches in Ohio. I say the credit card issue reflects larger issues in the church: The world is not the same that it was in the 50’s. Churches that do not recognize this will die.

This is seen in changes in music styles, less formal relationships with clergy, more short-term committee assignments and the way organizations of church women operate.

If we are to be relevant in our world and reach out to people, we have to be willing to do so on their terms and this includes finances. By allowing our “customers” to pay their pledges the same way they pay many other expenses, we are saying to them that we recognize we’re not in the 50’s anymore.

What is the good of churches allowing nontraditional giving methods?

1. Fewer people carry cash or check books with them at all times.
2. Regular on-line transfers help even out giving over the year. We know that if you don’t plop it in the pew you won’t put it in the plate, so giving traditionally dips in the summer time, during bad weather and on holiday weekends.
3. Electronic transfer allows greater privacy in giving. If I write a check and put it in the plate, volunteer counters and others may see what I give. But a concise electronic statement would only be seen by the Financial Secretary who would actually record my pledge.
4. Cash and checks have to be handled. They have to be counted, counted again, prepared for deposit and driven to the bank. In an era where volunteer time is harder to come by, let’s let our volunteers focus on doing the work of the kingdom and not tie them up counting money.
5. Cash is also a safety liability. Although this is quite rare, a pile of cash can be misappropriated, and with no cash register receipt to balance against, such a theft would go unnoticed.

I believe there are many positives to churches accepting credit cards, electronic funds transfers and other “modern” ways of conducting business.

Like I said, very well-thought-out comments.  Thank you!

My original post discussed the downside of tithing with a credit card, focusing mainly on the possibility of leading congregants into financial temptation and retarding spiritual growth, while not really discussing directly the advantages that such transactions can bring to churches.  Brian lists out some of these advantages, and I agree that many congregants would appreciate the fact that giving in this way was an option.

Like anything a church does to make itself more relevant, it should do so while holding true to biblical principles. And if I would be in a church that was considering this change, and if the leadership of the church made the decision to accept credit cards after faithful prayer and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I really wouldn’t argue.  For example, if the church made training available from Financial Peace University, Crown Ministries, or some other Christian financial ministry, then that would give the opportunity to soften congregants’ hearts in order to examine their giving in the context of this new technology.

If a church doesn’t seek guidance from the Holy Spirit with regard to this, and does it for, perhaps, worldly reasons (”We need more regular giving” or “We need to encourage more giving”) then that’s where problems are more likely to crop up.  That was the context of my original post.

I do disagree on one point within item #4.  I have helped with counting the offering for quite some time, and this is the work of the kingdom just as much as taking a missions trip to Africa.  I’ve learned a lot doing this, and I have no doubt that performing this task has helped me to grow spiritually.  Besides, even if credit cards come to the offering plate, checks and cash won’t go away, and counting up the offering will still need to be done.  From my experience, counting up 50 checks doesn’t take that much more time than counting up 15 checks, because of all the other set-up and tear-down work that’s needed.

Anyway, any more thoughts on this? I’ll be happy to write about it again next week.

Posted in Biblical Finance, Personal Finance | No Comments »