Living Well for Less?

With all the discussion about the economy and possibly higher taxes, I have been thinking lately about how to save money, so when Glenn ordered the books, Living Well on Practically Nothing: Revised and Updated Edition and Art & Science of Dumpster Diving, I dove right in to see if I could learn some money saving techniques.

What I learned was that the first book was worth the money just for the laughs and nonconventional wisdom alone. I knew I was in for a treat when I saw that the book was published by Paladin Press --the publishing company that put out such books as Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors and Claire Wolfe's 101 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution: Ideas and Resources for Self-Liberation, Monkey Wrenching and Preparedness.

"Living Well," written by author Edward Romney, is a practical take on how to live on $12,000 a year (the updated version was published in 2001). In order to do this, he advises you to become a "country person." This way, you can live cheap, no longer have to dress to impress and can find a cheap house (even if it means building your own shelter such as a tree house or log cabin) for $300.00 a month in rent. Uh, okay, I already live in Tennessee, maybe this is possible, but I doubt it.

In Chapter 2, he describes a day of cheap living. For breakfast, he sticks to frozen orange juice and oatmeal cooked with cheap oats with dry skim milk, which is also used for his one cup of coffee. He then walks to the post office where he looks in the trash for a free magazine or newspaper that someone threw away, then goes home for lunch of a can of tuna from Sam's Wholesale Club with free tomatoes from his garden. He only drinks water and has a two-day-old banana for dessert with the soft parts cut away. Hmm, I have a tomato garden and overripe bananas are okay but not great. So far, so good. Until this....

In a chapter on how to save on health and medical care, I have to say that I realized that this plan was not going to work for me. In order to get free medical care, the author suggests that one volunteer for medical experiments. "The doctor tests a new drug and its placebo and also gives you physical exams and a variety of other medical services." He also suggests if you have ever served that you use the Veterans Administration hospitals: "Patients who are senile, brain-damaged, or chronically ill seem to run the greatest risk of mistreatment. Some VA surgeons have poor records. You take your chances...."

He tells readers to simply try and stay healthy but if you do get sick, one can find free prescription medicine in a dumpster (if you are brave). "It is surprising how much is thrown away. Antibiotics and certain volatile drugs such as insulin and nitroglycerin are perishable, but most drugs are highly stable for several years at least. You have to read drug manuals and know what you are doing. The risk is high and you are on your own if you try this."

Maybe you shouldn't. At this point, wouldn't it be safer and less trouble really just to get a job to pay for extra healthcare or other needs? You can't really live well for less if you are sick, disabled, or dead from giving your body over to medical experiments, questionable surgeons or digging through dumpsters for drugs that may or may not be safe. Call me crazy, but that's my take.

Anyway, the book is hilarious and I must admit to laughing so hard that I nearly fell over, but I doubt most of us could live this way for long. Could you?

Munis for Dummies

I have to say that the "Books for Dummies" are really useful for understanding various topics that one doesn't know much about. I use them often, such as this one on how to garden. I am now reading Bond Investing For Dummies to learn how to buy municipal bonds. I figure that if taxes increase, I'll need to find some way to shelter savings that makes sense. Since muni interest is often tax free, it seems that they might be a better investment than simply putting money in CDs. Anyone have experience with municipal bonds--good or bad--that they can share? If so, let me know in the comments because I would love to hear from people who actually have experience with them as opposed to only reading about them in a book or listening to Suze Orman discuss them on her show.

Is Beachfront Property Really Worth Having?

Well, we came back from Hilton Head, South Carolina the other day where we spent some time looking at how the real estate market was doing there with the housing slump fully underway. I must say that I have always wondered why people buy oceanfront property or even off-beach housing as an investment as it seems so risky and expensive.

What we saw were a lot of rental signs with price tags that still seemed too high (to me anyway). For example, the condo we stayed in at the beach would sell for around 1.65 million -- even though the rent on it was pretty low, nowhere near enough to cover the mortgage even if it rented steadily. Apparently, some investors don't think that prices are too high. According to one real estate paper, Palmetto Previews, baby boomers are looking to buy second homes, vacation properties and retirement venues in the "red-hot South."

In addition to the boomers, big corporations, the paper says, are starting to buy properties in bulk and these corporations include a recent influx of buyers from Canada and Europe, including Eastern Europe. A real estate veteran in Hilton Head, Billy Baldwin, attributes the trend in foreign sales to greater buying power. "The softening US prices combined with favorable exchange rates makes homes here big bargains for many Canadian and European buyers."

But are these properties really going to stay good investments? Potentially not, according to the book Cash-Rich Retirement, that I am reading for an upcoming podcast.

The author, Jim Schlagheck, says that the recent boom in real estate prices are not "business as usual:"

It is the result of an unprecedented surge of people looking for homes and "quick flip" investment opportunities as never before.... Boomers have so far had a resounding impact on consumer spending, investing, and asset prices. They have been a powerful locomotive, contributing to strong economic growth and substantially higher investment valuations.

That, of course, brings us to the million-dollar question: What is going to happen when this same mass of people enters retirement and begins selling off assets to raise cash? How will mass boomer retirements impact asset values?

I sure don't know the answer to that question. But regardless of what happens, I think I'll just stick with renting a beachhouse--it seems cheaper and safer than investing in this market.

Podcast: How to Raise a Future Millionaire

Do you ever wonder if you are teaching your kids the right lessons about money and how to use it wisely? Author Troy Dunn has seven kids and has taught them how to start businesses of their own. He talks with us today about his new book, Young Bucks: How to Raise a Future Millionaire.

He explains what five word phrase parents should never say to their kids when it comes to money, why college is not that important in becoming a millionaire, what businesses are good for kids, and why you should not give your kid an allowance (uh- oh).

You can listen directly -- no downloading needed -- by going right here and clicking on the gray Flash player. Or you can download the file and listen at your leisure by clicking right here. A lo-fi version, suitable for dialup, cellphones, etc. is here. And you can always subscribe via iTunes -- and why wouldn't you, since it's free?

Music is by Mobius Dick. Show archives are at GlennandHelenShow.com.

What to do with spare change

Do you have a bunch of change all over your house and car that you keep thinking you'll roll up and take to the bank, give to charity, or cash in at a grocery store coin machine? I did, so finally this morning I threw it all in a jar and took it over to my local Food City to toss in the Coinstar machine. Those machines take about 11 cents out of every dollar which is a bit steep but better than spending time rolling it up (unless you have an eager kid who likes to do it but the excitement wears thin in no time). Anyway, I was happy to see that I could choose the option of an eCertificate with free coin counting to Amazon.com, Starbucks, iTunes or Circuit City.

I chose an eCertificate to Amazon.com, came home and ordered a pair of earrings (I lost mine on my recent trip to NYC) with some of the money and it was so easy, even those who are computer illiterate could do it. I plugged in the redemption code where it asked for the gift certificate number and voila! my earrings were paid for and it was incredibly simple. So if you have spare change, this is a great way to clean up the mess in your house and also reward yourself with something fun or something you need. The machines also let you donate the money to charity if you are so inclined. And with Christmas shopping coming up around the corner, these eCertificates are a painless way (depending on how big a change jar you have) to pay for gifts and shop online all without the hassle of setting foot in a store.