money

Think you’re broke? You probably aren’t.

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Recently I linked to Laura Rowley’s excellent column, “Why the rich don’t feel rich,” in which she wrote about University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson’s struggle to survive on a combined family income of more than $250,000. The column was a stark contrast to something that happened while I was in New Jersey last month.

I frequently stopped by to see my Aunt Dot, who’s 87 and very frail due to several medical issues. She and her son live on Social Security and disability plus her small pension. One evening I discovered that they had exactly one dollar in the house. Her check was due the next day and she planned to walk to the bank to cash it.

The bank is at least a mile from where Dot lives. And did I mention that she’s on oxygen?

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Why you need renter’s insurance.

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Water is an incredibly destructive force. I saw this three times during my five-year stint as an apartment building manager.

  • An ice dam on the roof, which hardly ever happens in Seattle, caused water to leak into a couple of  units.
  • A flash flood caused by days of heavy rain and a sewer-system failure dumped five feet of muddy water into the underground parking garage.
  • A backed-up toilet overflowed for about three hours, leaking into several apartments and the basement laundry room.

None of these situations could reasonably be anticipated. Then again, most of us don’t get hit by uninsured drivers or diagnosed with rare illnesses — but most of us consider car and health coverage to be necessary evils.

You also need renter’s insurance, to cover that which comes out of the blue — or from the apartment upstairs.

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Blog roundup: Poor little rich prof edition.

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The blogosphere sizzled, both pro and con, over a post in which University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson claimed he and his physician wife are not rich.

Sure, they have a 4,700-square-foot home, two cars, a gardener, several kids in private school, a full-time nanny for their new baby and someone who comes in to clean a few times a month.

Wonder what that particular brand of poverty feels like? (Also, why two cars if he lives within walking distance of the university?)

Laura Rowley did a swell blog post called Why the rich don’t feel rich at Yahoo! Finance. You need to read it. You should also follow this link within her piece and enjoy economist J. Bradford DeLong as he scores points off Henderson, whom he designates an “unreliable narrator.”

Ain’t no schadenfreude like scholarly schadenfreude.

But do find time also to look at:

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If life is the currency, I’m already rich.

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J. Money has started a “Million Dollar Club” at his site, Budgets Are Sexy. Nicoleandmaggie from Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured isn’t rushing to join.

(I’m not really sure which of the two bloggers wrote this, so I’m going to guess that it was Nicole. I have a 50% chance of being right.)

Nicole and her spouse are making some smart choices, such as paying the mortgage off early, being canny about retirement funds and living on less than one salary. In this post she noted that throwing every extra dime and spare minute toward millionaire-hood would get them there faster.

But.

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Who would Jesus strafe?

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A relative has told me that the only way to secure our border is to allow the Border Patrol to shoot to kill. He honestly believes this is OK. He also honestly believes he is a Christian.

I’ve heard of prosperity gospel. Perhaps his church teaches hostility gospel. My church doesn’t.

Talk about immigration generally ceases to be talk and quickly descends into rhetoric. Porous borders! Welfare cheats! Low riders! Constantly pregnant Latinas! It’s easy to whip up hysteria and to present a convenient scapegoat: the Mexican drywaller who took away an “American” job, rather than the millionaire developer who hired him – and who even now is lobbying your congressman not to pass stricter immigration standards.

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To budget or not to budget?

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My monthly health insurance payment has risen by $40, starting now. The increase was anticipated, or at least announced. I’d managed to block the amount, though, so I was still surprised.

My bimonthly electric bill was $22 higher than the previous one, thanks to a Seattle City Light rate increase. An extra $11 per month won’t kill me. But it got my attention.

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