Archive for the 'Goals' Category

No Pre-order For Mr. Dowler

Friday, October 13th, 2006

I did some digging around and found out that there wouldn’t be very many pre-orders accepted. Then I found out that a pre-order doesn’t guarantee anything. All it does is give you a place in line on the day the Wii is released. That would have been pretty good, but the Wii is being released on a Sunday. I don’t shop on Sundays because I don’t think it’s right to make people work on Sundays. That means that a pre-order would be useless because they won’t hold a Wii system for me until Monday morning. I drove over to the local EB Games since I was right near it anyway and at 9:30am there were about 20 people in line outside the store. I thought about taking pictures, but the scene wasn’t as interesting as I was hoping for so I just left. I figure that it’s not that important to get one as soon as it comes out. I think there will be enough to go around that I should be able to get one on Monday, November 20th. Let’s cross our fingers.

GameStop and EB Games to take Wii Pre-Orders Tomorrow

Thursday, October 12th, 2006

From their website:

GameStop and EB Games stores will begin accepting limited pre-orders for the Nintendo Wii console on Friday, October 13, on a first come, first served basis. Due to extremely limited supply, we expect to reach our limit very quickly, most likely in minutes.

Incidentally, I have been asking about when this would happen since the beginning of this week. Last night I popped into EB Games in the mall and they said it wouldn’t happen until next week, but they then quickly added “but check back every day between now and then.” I casually asked how many systems they thought they would be getting and all the workers there got defensive and said it was against their policy to answer such questions. I’m interested to see how many people go for this pre-order. I’ll be at the local EB Games tomorrow at around 9:15 tomorrow morning. We’ll see if there are any other freaks there like me who are going to take the bait. I wonder if they will open early. They don’t normally open until 10am, I believe. I’ll bring a list of 12 local stores and their phone numbers so I can call around if the one closest to me is already out when I get there.

All Hail the Nintendo Wii

Saturday, October 7th, 2006

I’ve finally made the decision that I’m going to sell my Gamecube. The sooner the better, I figure, as far as getting money for it goes. I am saving up to buy the Wii as soon as it comes out. I will try to have enough money by then for at least one extra controller and nunchaku and at least one extra game. The way I see it that’s about $325. I am already up to $110 allocated for the Wii. Nintendo appears to have the upper hand with their next console release. The anticipation of the Wii is incredible. I’ve been evangelizing it like crazy and everyone I talk to about it seems really excited. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo can push this one into the mainstream and shake off their kiddie image.

Plans for Financial Success

Sunday, August 6th, 2006

Money for the taking.The following are notes from Young, Fabulous, and Broke by Suze Orman.

Don’t cancel credit cards after you pay them off. Part of the credit score is the debt to credit ratio. If you pay off a credit card then cancel it you are lowering the amount of credit you have. If you have 4 credit cards that are paid off and one that is maxed out and you keep them all you have a pretty good debt to credit ratio. If you close all the cards that are paid off then you have a 100% debt to credit ratio. You can also have too many credit cards. Try not to exceed 5 credit cards open at once. If you need to close accounts try to keep the ones you’ve had the longest unless there is something really bad about them (ie. a really high interest rate). When you close an account you are deleting part of your credit history.

When you are starting out don’t take just any job even if it pays well. Keep fighting for a job in the industry that you want to work in. Even if you can’t get a job in that industry that also pays well, take it anyway. Once you get the job work as hard as you can at it. The point of this job is not to make money, but to get noticed. Come in early and leave late. Come in on weekends. When your work is done look for extra projects and do them. Don’t ask for a raise. The money will come in time, and they will notice you aren’t there just for the money. This is the time for credit cards.

Credit cards can be used for groceries and gasoline for the first year or so. Don’t use the credit card for frivolous luxuries. Use the credit card for necessities. Once you get successful you will be able to pay off the credit cards easily.

Don’t pass up free money. Contribute to 401k as long as employer matches. Stop when they do. If they don’t match, don’t contribute. Once they no longer contribute, use that money to pay down credit cards. Once credit cards are paid off save for a down payment on a home. Homes appreciate ~4%/year on average. For primary residence jointly owned the first $500,000 appreciation is tax-free. If you put a 10% down payment on a $100,000 home that’s $10,000. In the first year 4% of $100,000 is $4,000. That’s a 40% ROI in one year! Buy a house as soon as it is feasible.

Research a Roth IRA. You can remove the principle at any time without incurring penalties and investment opportunities are wide open.


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