TGIF: Lazy Summer

It’s a Friday in the middle of summer, so it’s clearly time to grab some snippets and lovely links and throw them in a blender for your reading pleasure. Welcome to another eclectic edition of TGIF!

Expect the Unexpected

I’ve chronicled how Snufkin the cat used to kill every small animal in sight like clockwork – he was an important part of my DIY pest control. But one day in his eleventh year, he just stopped cold. Local squirrels and moles and rats rejoiced.

It turns out that despite his retirement and advanced age, ol’ Snufkin wanted one more shot at the title. I felt a surge of love and admiration when, shortly after our return last week from Japan, he unexpectedly deposited the headless body of a mole at our backdoor. He clearly read my post and, like John Henry, was unwilling to be vanquished by a machine. Or maybe it’s just cat law to do the opposite of expectations.

Most of you are just here for my DIY and cat stories, but for the rare finance enthusiast, there’s a lesson here. Just when you think you can bank on something, you’re bound to be surprised.

We’re now at a stage in the stock market where some good folks may well get hurt. It’s time to review your asset allocation and risk tolerance and consider how well you’ll weather a downturn. Just when you think the bull run will go on forever, you may find a supposedly-retired cat chewing on your head.

Amazon Prime – Yeah!

Amazon’s Prime Day happened this week. Self-respecting red-blooded American consumers were supposed to join, and self-respecting finance bloggers were supposed to make fun of it on Twitter.

I did neither, but the missus, in a splurge of epic proportions, DID sign up. This was just some modest arbitrage for one product we did need, and she’ll cancel within a month. But it now leads to a glorious opportunity: what should I do with one month of Prime?

My grand plans include binge-watching The Wire (yep, I’m over a decade behind you guys), and catching my brother’s recommendation King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. I can’t help but think that Bezos, with his dream that Prime is \”such a good value, you\’d be irresponsible not to be a member”, would be really disappointed in me.

So I’ll crowd-source small-group source from you: what should I do with one month of Prime? What wonderful opportunities am I missing?

These Guys Worked Hard So I Don’t Have To

While I’m struggling to eke out a weekly post, these writers have been spinning pure gold all summer. Check ‘em out.

Nelson’s doing some live-action microecon over at Financial Uproar. He has returned to the warm embrace of the Man, but he’s realizing that it’s hard to “stay hungry” when you already have a big pile.

My Money Wizard had one of his articles posted to Yahoo. He didn’t realize that making Yahoo readers happy is like a 9th level spell and far beyond his magical powers.

Mr. Mustard Seed Money counseled a co-worker on going from $0 to millionaire. Tragically, it involved our old nemesis: math.

I’ve been trifling with selling some of our baby / toddler kit on Craigslist. I think Ms. Picky Pincher may have dissuaded me by sharing how to sell there without being murdered. In related news, if you’d like a screamin’ deal on two Stokke chairs, hit me up.

PK from Don’t Quit Your Day Job tells us mortgages are still cheap. The only reasonable conclusion is every one of you should go buy another house, stat.

ESI Money shares some really valuable insights on maximizing an auto accident settlement that he learned the hard way, by having a family member in an accident. It’s the kind of post you’ll want to read before you have an accident yourself.

And finally, Eliza at Money Meet Mind writes that feeling rich is more a state of mind than actual possessions. Asked for comment, Jeff Bezos said, “Until Eliza joins Amazon Prime, she has no authority on what it means to be rich.”

 

That a wrap. Happy Friday everyone!