From WSJ:
RealtyTrac: Foreclosure Filings Fall 19% In January
The number of U.S. properties with foreclosure filings fell 19% in January from a year earlier, though several states reported increased foreclosure activity for the first time in more than a year, according to market researcher RealtyTrac.
There were 219,941 properties with default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions on U.S. properties in January, a 3% increase from December. One in every 624 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month, RealtyTrac said.
First-time default notices were filed on 58,362 U.S. properties last month, down 22% from a year-ago and unchanged from December. Default notices rose more than 20% from a year earlier in several states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida. Pennsylvania default notices reached a 15-month high in January, more than doubling from a year earlier.
“Although overall foreclosure activity was down from a year ago for the 16th straight month in January, we continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw,” said Chief Executive Brandon Moore. “Foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than 12 months in Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, following a pattern we saw in late 2011 in states such as California, Arizona and Massachusetts.”
Moore said foreclosure activity is expected to increase in the coming months, noting a settlement earlier this month between 49 state attorneys general and five of the nation’s largest lenders sets clear foreclosure guidelines and allows lenders to push through some of the delayed foreclosures from last year.
From the Philly Inquirer:
Pennsylvania foreclosure filings rose 24 percent from January 2011
Pennsylvania experienced a sharp jump in foreclosure filings in January, almost 24 percent higher than the same month in 2011, according to a report to be released Thursday by RealtyTrac, which tracks such data nationwide.
The state is ranked 27th in the country, with one filing for every 1,219 homes. Yet 90-day delinquency notices, which begin the foreclosure process, rose 112 percent year-over-year, a 15-month high, RealtyTrac said.
In New Jersey, filings fell more than 68 percent in January from the year-before levels. It ranks 39th among the 50 states, with one filing for every 2,049 houses.
Nationally, filings increased 3 percent year-over-year. Foreclosure rates in California, Arizona, and Nevada remained the highest, even though those states saw declines in filings over the year.
“We continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw,” said Brandon Moore, chief executive of RealtyTrac. “Foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than 12 months in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.”
Whitney was a babe and had cash….
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerfriedman/2012/02/16/exclusive-whitney-did-leave-a-will-and-she-wasnt-bankrupt/
Good Morning New Jersey
Banking bloodbath in 3….2…..1…..
“Capital markets firms are confronting evolving challenges, such as more fragile funding conditions, wider credit spreads, increased regulatory burdens and more difficult operating conditions,” the ratings agency said in a statement.
It said among 17 banks and securities firms with global capital markets operations, it might cut the long-term credit rating of UBS, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley by as much as three notches following the review. It said the guidance was indicative.
Among the banks that might be downgraded by two notches are Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, and Goldman Sachs.
Bank of America and Nomura were included in those that might be downgraded by one notch.
The U.S. rating agency said in a separate statement its action on 114 financial institutions from 16 European nations reflected the impact of the debt crisis and deteriorating creditworthiness of its governments.
From Bloomberg:
Student Loans Near $1 Trillion Hurting Young Buyers: Mortgages
Roshell Schenck has a PhD in pharmacy and earns $125,000 a year, yet can’t qualify for a mortgage for a house for herself and her 9-year-old daughter. The 2008 graduate of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Erie, Pennsylvania, has more than $110,000 in student debt.
“I’d love to buy and can afford to buy,” said Schenck, 28. Since lenders place closer scrutiny on college loans than in prior years, she says, “it’s almost impossible for me to get a loan. My debt is crushing my chances of purchasing a home.”
As outstanding student debt approaches $1 trillion, it’s one more reason record-low interest rates aren’t doing more to boost housing. The tighter lending standards that have emerged in the wake of the recession weigh particularly on younger, first-time home buyers, according to a Federal Reserve study sent to Congress on Jan. 4. These households tend to be younger, often have relatively new credit profiles, lower-than-average credit scores and fewer economic resources to make a large down payment, the report said.
“Potential first-time homebuyers have been disproportionately affected by the very tight conditions in mortgage markets,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said at a homebuilders conference last week. “First-time homebuyers are typically an important source of incremental housing demand, so their smaller presence in the market affects house prices and construction quite broadly.”
5. 3rd tier school, lot’s of debt, single mom, and a collapsing sector….Looks like CVS is hiring
$125k and a few years out of school (and in the midwest no less?), she should be overjoyed. It took me all of about 20 minutes talked with a handful of post-docs out at UCSD to realize that a PhD was probably a losing proposition (or a labor of love that doesn’t pay the rent).
New American Dream is renting to get rich
(Reuters) – Rich Arzaga owns a luxury home in San Ramon, California, but he’s not betting on it as an investment.
The founder and CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management, who bought the 5,000 sq. ft. property in 2005 for $1.8 million and has spent $500,000 improving it, considers the abode a wonderful place for his family. But ask him to rate his home — or any home, for that matter — as a financial investment, and Arzaga balks.
“It’s the American Dream to own a home, but whoever said that didn’t do the analysis on it,” says Arzaga, knowing he’s taking a contrarian stance to conventional wisdom.
More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/us-housing-americandream-idUSTRE81E1LG20120215
Isn’t it funny how one time events always seem to drive permanent property tax increases?
From the Verona-Cedar Grove Times:
Verona taxes going up; property assessments going down
Following the current trend in New Jersey, Verona’s taxes are going up while its residential property assessments are going down.
The average Verona homeowner will pay an extra $80, or 3 percent more, in municipal taxes for 2012, said Township Tax Assessor George Librizzi at the Township Council workshop on Monday. The average home in Verona is currently assessed at $371,200 – down from $395,300 in 2010, he said.
Without the financial burden caused by Tropical Storm Irene and the October snowstorm, the average homeowner’s taxes would have gone down a few dollars this year, Township Manager Joseph Martin said. The storms hit Verona with a $900,000 price tag – about $500,000 of which is still to be paid.
Interesting snippet from the same piece…
In 1985, Essex County was ranked second in New Jersey in terms of its amount of ratables. Come 2005, it dropped to seventh.
The county benefits greatly from The Mall at Short Hills, though, which is the largest ratable in New Jersey, Martin said. It offsets taxes more than Atlantic City’s casinos do.
Maybe we shouldn’t be making fun of $500 jeans and $1000 strollers anymore.
“When does the tsunami hit?”
Get ready for the next leg down.
Same source Reality Tract completely different tagline, check out both links.
Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/46401756
Foreclosures on the Rise Again
“Bank repossessions, the final stage of the foreclosure process, increased at least 30 percent year-over-year in several states, including Massachusetts, which saw a 75 percent spike. Bank-owned or REO (real estate owned) activity hit a 16-month high in Illinois and a 15-month high in Indiana. Default notices, the first stage of foreclosure, were flat nationally in January, but spiked in judicial states, like Connecticut and Pennsylvania (up 112 percent) and even in non-judicial states like Maryland (up 100 percent).”
From CNBC:
Mom and Pop Investors Propping Up Home-Buying Market
Chicagoans Linda and Debra Basili thought about becoming landlords years ago. But even two professional women’s combined salaries were no match for the Windy City’s high housing prices.
Then the biggest real estate crash since the Great Depression hit, driving down Chicago home prices by a third in five years. The 54-year-old twins took the leap.
Last year, they bought not one but two condominiums near downtown. They found renters within weeks, and the rent more than covers their costs.
“Tell Donald Trump to look out,” says Linda Basili, a State Farm insurance manager.
Mom and pop investors like the Basilis are snapping up homes and condominiums to rent out all over the country. They’re capitalizing on a confluence of events: depressed home prices, rising rents and strong rental demand. A typical plan? Buy cheap. Collect rents to cover costs. Cash out — one day — when home prices recover.
“An unprecedented number of investors are looking into this,” says John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
Investor purchases are strengthening demand in a still-weak market for home sales. Through the first nine months of last year, investors bought more than 26 percent of single-family homes and condominiums sold in 167 U.S. markets, indicate data tracked by Burns.
That’s up from 21 percent in 2007.
Mike – You beat me to Olick at CNBC
Oops! typos Reality/ Realty and no” t”, more coffee.
From HousingWire:
FHA defaults up for ninth straight month
Defaults on Federal Housing Administration mortgages increased in December for the ninth-straight month.
More than 711,000 FHA-backed home loans were in default at Dec. 31, nearly 19% higher a year earlier.
As defaults increased, a constricted and delayed foreclosure process is hurting the government’s ability to unload the properties once they are repossessed.
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department held 32,170 REO in December, according to a recent report, the lowest level measured since the same month in 2007. The high was reached in March 2011 at 68,997 properties.
The FHA insures roughly one-third of the mortgage market, as private insurers have been struggling with capital shortfalls since the crisis in 2007.
But the FHA is in trouble as well because of the surging defaults. The capital ratio of the agency’s mutual mortgage insurance fund slipped to 0.24% last year, well below the 2% mandated by Congress.
Analysis from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget released this week showed the fund would actually fall into the red this year and need an unprecedented bailout from the Treasury Department.
Bank of America will send roughly $500 million to the FHA as part of a settlement reached last week over past Countrywide origination problems. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said more settlements would be announced soon, sending between $900 million and $1 billion to the FHA.
The agency will also be raising insurance premiums above the hikes set to take place in 2012 as a result of the payroll tax cut extension reached last year.
Grim same info different slant, go figure. Glass half empty ,glass half full I guess.
Final doom is nigh. No one will be spared.
18. Xanax all around!!
When it hits, it will not be an event like an earthquake, it will be like what we saw in Japan with very-long-lasting after effects, like this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100784/Map-25million-tons-tsunami-debris-hit-California.html?ITO=1490
Re #5 – FYI – a pharmacy degree is a 6 year program and you get what is known as a Pharm D. $125k is what she makes for a 42-44 hour week. She could easily pull overtime and command $60 / hour. I would estimate that housing in Erie is at least 50% less than in NJ although it is likely to be relatively illiquid when compared much of NJ.
DEFAULTS ON “JUMBO’ LOANS SOARING
Across the United States, the largest increase in foreclosures and delinquencies, compared with 2008 levels, is with “jumbo” mortgages – loans too large to be insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government controlled mortgage finance providers. Foreclosures on jumbo loans are up 579 percent since 2008, greater than any other form of loan, according to a report last month by Lender Processing Services, Inc.
Strategic defaults are now more likely among jumbo loan-holders than any other type of borrower, according to a report issued late last year by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Nearly 40 percent of delinquencies among non-governmental mortgages, which are mostly jumbo loans, are strategic defaults, the report said.
Grim #7 that is why I stopped at a masters and still took 5 years to climb out of the student debt crunch
5) ““I’d love to buy and can afford to buy,” said Schenck, 28.”
Wrong. With $110,000 in debt and a 9 year old, you can’t afford to buy.
#5 grim: i have only been sayong the same thing for the last 2 or 3 years. I guess I am always talking to myself.
#6 125k for a 28 year old today is a wonderful salary. Not to mention the fact she did manage to get a PhD in spite of having a child at the age of 19. Seems like a go. Seems like a hard working individual to me.As far as CVS well unless she was working in a hospital pharmacy what are her other choices Walgreen’s. Most of the independent pharmacies are gone.
“5. 3rd tier school, lot’s of debt, single mom, and a collapsing sector….Looks like CVS is hiring”
I’ve been working for large law-firms in NYC for the past 13 years. I still get a chuckle out of all the fresh faced kids who come through with their $150K-200K in student debt. Half of them won’t be working in big law after two or three years so the $165K-200K paydays are over fast. Then its off to 70K-100K land if they are lucky. That’s for kids from top schools; some of these knuckleheads go to expensive private law schools and get some sh*t gubmint job paying $50K; and those are the lucky ones who get jobs.
They should add a math section to the LSAT dealing solely with student loan debt, your target law schools rankings, and your likelihood of employment sufficient to pay such debt post graduation.
JJ,
Time to get short yet? Is it rollover time?
Jobless claims at 348k, 4 year low.. Wow.. Almost seems a bit too quick.
We got our lease renewal for NYC yesterday. It may as well have just been our eviction notice. $200 increase brings this lovely one bedroom to $3695. Funny, we signed our original lease two years ago today in 2010 for $2995. At that time, we were told they were offering leases for market rent + 2 months free because the economy was so bad. Last year when the renewal hit, economy had apparently become fine so they brought the rent back up to market rate and raised it $200. Now this year, another $200 increase so $700 in two years. We absorbed the $500 a month increase last year but now we can’t do another $200 if we want to live some semblance of an enjoyable life. We will be moving but we’ve decided to look for something less extravagant within NYC first before we seriously consider NJ. Our incomes did not go up $700 per month in two years. Clearly we are in the wrong fields.
I have friends and colleagues coming out with $300k+ student debt for undergrad + grad school. $110K for a 2008 pharmacy grad doesn’t sound too bad actually.
[24] hehehe,
In that regard, we were lucky. I had minimal debt so seven years in Biglaw let me bank and paid for my LLM to boot. Wife had no debt to speak of, so that was more bank. We also made money on two house sales but lost on another and are losing on this one, so that is a wash.
Pain,
Seems I owe you a Sam sixer. Email me about collecting.
“Jobless claims at 348k, 4 year low.. Wow.. Almost seems a bit too quick.”
Do they ever give a breakdown of where these jobs are? I have a couple of friends in fianance and IT who haven’t had steady employment in years and everyone I know working in finance is scared sh*tless of losing their job again.
[26] grim,
Election year.
Almost time to buy a 2006/2007 Toll Brothers McMansion in a REO cash deal. Die Jumbo folks Die. Thornburg, American Home Mortgage etc. all went bust. Your 5 year and 7 year loans that are non-fannie/freddie qualifed are sinking and your prop taxes are way up. Those high taxes will be easy for the next guy to pay as he wont have a mortgage when he buys your 1.5 million home for $400K cash on courthouse steps.
Funny and thanks for giving me all the numbers on the bungalow I am trying to buy. You know what it makes no sense to make it an official rental. Once I start depreciating everything when I try to flip it or turn it into a primary I am screwed. I am too old to hold it 27 years to full depreciate it.
Almost makes more sense to just do a 100K home equity on primary house, then get a margin loan for rest of balance. I can write off home equity loan and margin loan and property taxes on house as a vacation home. I only may want to hold house for 2-5 years till market recovers and fix up and sell. I don’t want to have to unwind the whole depreciation thing. Plus as bonds mature or get called just have it pay off balance. That way before rates fly up in 2-5 years I would have paid off the low adjustable rate loans.
Nom,
I am in a support role; niche job I fell @ss backwards into that turned into a decent career- pay is above 100K, hours good, and when I leave for the day my work is done. I’ve been asked by about ten different associates over the year how I got my job or how to get a job like mine:)
Nom wasn’t going to twist the knife we can go double or nothing on next game if you want to make it interesting. Doc seems to think the twins want out this weekend so I am not straying far from home
It’s cheaper to just get a job out of high school working in an office doing whatever work you can and use the company’s tuition reimbursement. There were plenty of teller jobs, customer service, operations, mailroom jobs at the last place I worked. Company would hire you full time with benefits and included tuition reimbursement. You could work full time, go to school at night, and have the company pay your tuition. Kids would learn the value of hard work and stay out of debt. Of course, maybe they can’t possibly suffer the indignity of having a 25k a year job with benefits and go to a (yuk) state school in order to stay out of debt.
Life just wasn’t meant to be easy folks…
5.grim says:
February 16, 2012 at 6:58 am
From Bloomberg:
Student Loans Near $1 Trillion Hurting Young Buyers: Mortgages
SX [6],
There’s no such thing as a 3rd tier school. It’s the individual, not the pretty name on the building.
Hey I wonder what college Steve Jobs graduated from? It’s a good thing he had his college degree or he might not have been successful ;)
6.SX says:
February 16, 2012 at 7:03 am
5. 3rd tier school, lot’s of debt, single mom, and a collapsing sector….Looks like CVS is hiring
Problems of the wealthy Manhattanites with kids.
Client stops by the office yesterday to drop off tax info. He is in his early 40s with a net worth of approx. 15m and dabbles in real estate. His oldest is 5 and he was recounting his absurd experience trying to get her into a Manhattan kindergarten. He said that they applied to 9 schools close to his upper east side neighborhood. Daughter was rejected from all 9 schools. This was after testing, parent interviews, observed free play time, and essays by the parents. All for the priviledge of paying 30k to 40k for kindergarten! He said that some parents actually pay tutors $300/hr to prep the kids for the entrance testing. He is foreign born and I could see that it pained him to subject himself, his kid, and wife to this, but apparently public school is no option. He even said that he would not fit in with the other parents which he thought were all Wall Street. Kid got in last minute to a British private school downtown and will be stuck on a bus for longer than the parents would like, but at least she is in. I told him it was time to move out to the ‘burbs. I seriously can’t imagine going through a scenario like he described. I’m still here trying to break through the 100k/yr, so forget dumping 80k on two kids a year for elementary schooling.
Brian [36],
You mean people like Mary Kay, Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Mark Zuckerberg? Or what about Frank Lloyd Wright, Larry Elison, William Faulkner or Ted Turner? :)
PRT, dont be hard on your self it is only Feb 16th, a lot of people have not earned 100K yet this year.
prtraders2000 says:
February 16, 2012 at 9:38 am
I’m still here trying to break through the 100k/yr, so forget dumping 80k on two kids a year for elementary schooling.
#35 Brian: It is almost impossible today to come out of high school and get a job in any company that has tuition reimbursement, without a college degree. In fact I would say it is impossible. A college degree today is your admittance ticket in the door.
#36 I think it is impressive that at 28 she has her Phd and is making that kind of money, in addition to having a child at a very young age. 3rd tier school and all of that is a bunch of nonsense.
re #37 -prtraders2000 – Life is full of inclusions and exclusion, might as well teach them young. I am paying 26k now for preschool for one. I imagine Kindergarten will be public since I have another one on the way and it will be 52k for two. I can afford it but do I really want too, wife says no way to public school already, and for me to stop imagining about public kindergarten and buying that boat I want and how I should work harder to pay and save even more for school.
Perhaps the burbs where I can save money and pay only a mere 20k in taxes and maybe have my boat too. Of course the perfect storm would be twins, and no boat after all :(
“15m and dabbles in real estate. His oldest is 5 and he was recounting his absurd experience trying to get her into a Manhattan kindergarten. He said that they applied to 9 schools close to his upper east side neighborhood. Daughter was rejected from all 9 schools.”
My bro has friends from college like this. Wife make beaucoup and hubby is stay at home dad; though they still have a nanny and 1/2; he had to pretend to have a job for a couple years as they thought the full-time nanny would bolt if she knew he didn’t work – the problems of money.
Anyway husband figured out from chatting with the moms at the upper east side playgrounds etc who he had to know to get the kids into the right schools; who to go on playdates with; who to make sure got the right presents at holidays/b-days etc.
Money is only about half of the equation when it comes to that UES/UWS lunacy.
This is where I disagree with Gary. CEO suites, law firm partners offices in big law are littered with the connected members of “the club”. They look out for each other; especially those who played the game by sending their kids to the right schools.
I am not saying that brilliant people can’t/don’t succeed in their own right in this country but the wealthy have their way of ensuring that their kids have a leg up on everyone else – its self-propagating.
Juice I resemble this remark
Of course the perfect storm would be twins, and no boat after all :(
That’s horsesh1t. At any given time, there are at least 5 full time teller or customer service jobs open at my last company.
In addition to that, there are part time jobs at the bank that get you in the door. If you’re a go-getter, you can get to know somebody, get a full time job, and take advantage of the tuition reimbursement.
40.3B says:
February 16, 2012 at 9:57 am
#35 Brian: It is almost impossible today to come out of high school and get a job in any company that has tuition reimbursement, without a college degree. In fact I would say it is impossible. A college degree today is your admittance ticket in the door.
I raised three kids, oldest now being 24. All three spoke minimal English until they went to pre-school. They were all born here as myself and my wife. Oldest one had a heavy Slavic accent until about 5 and all three took remedial training because of their ‘inadequate’ oral skills, really meaning that the school needed the extra money the state would offer for such instruction. My wife and I just laughed it off as we both knew it was BS. They all went to public schools here in Hunterdon county. My brother, on the other hand, sent his two kids to Parochial schools all the way. Guess what? No differences. His oldest and my two oldest wound up in the Ivies.
What am I saying? The very rich wind up that way a lot of times through timing and luck. Not so much through intelligence. A lot of those very rich and not so bright can try their best to get their children in places they don’t belong. It seems, in Manhattan, you have to do it the Japanese way. I’m so happy I don’t have to live near there.
#46 Brian: Perhaps, but it is rare, and I will leave it at that.
And at the college level, Rich and Connected doesn’t mean squat anymore at the big gun schools. The Ivies have wrung the towel dry and are mostly free of ‘connection’ type influences. Unless you are a staunch $$donor$$ or son/daughter of alumni, you’re thrown in the same hat as all others. You’re kid has to show unique traits that will make that class well-rounded . Being well rounded individually is not their concern. The foreign applicants have also upped the ante.
“The Ivies have wrung the towel dry and are mostly free of ‘connection’ type influences. ”
Good one:)
The idea isn’t to make your kid successful through attending these schools. The idea is that you put your kid in a group to make friends with other driven motivated kids who will also be successful.
Your child will choose a mate, choose a career, develop social habits from the friends that they have in these schools. You are selecting an incubation place for your children which will give them the best chance at success.
The problem is that when your child doesn’t get selected for one of these schools you feel personally injured because you are being told that not only is your child imperfect but you are imperfect and by direct consequence they are in-face quarentining themselves against YOU.
I agree with Brian, there are many places that offer college tuition reimbursement. Some only provide for courses relevant to the job you are currently performing but that rule can be stretched pretty far.
My wife works at a daycare and they provide for tuition reimbursement for continuing education classes and the average salary is 13$ an hour. I’m sure you could probably net half of your salary in benefit at those wages.
Buying a home is now more affordable than it has been in the last twenty years.
Thanks to continued declines in home prices and rock-bottom mortgage rates, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index hit a record level of affordability.
According to the index, 75.9% of all new and existing homes sold during the three months ended Dec. 31 could have been comfortably purchased by families earning the national median income of $64,200.
That was the highest percentage recorded in the 20-year history of the index, and a sharp increase from just three months earlier when 72.9% of all homes sold were considered affordable.
Sovergn Bank has 45 part time and full time openings in the NJ area alone. They offer tuition reimbursement to full time employees. High School or equivalent required. Just sayin’
re 53 teller jobs…..
Twins?The X and I had a set of identical twins almost 17 years ago. Certainly has kept life interesting.
Painhrzt, best of luck!
Any data that’s presented regarding home affordibility does not apply to the NJ/NY metro area. The property tax coefficient is not factored into the equation so that information is garbage. When the monthly tax bill is greater than the mortgage, then all previous models are useless. When looking at a house, calculate the current property tax burden first and then the true value of the house will warrant a potential offer.
#54 Away from teller type jobs, it still is very rare. Many place today require secretaries to have 4 year degrees, some require at least an associates.
#50 I will not even touch that one.
357 Which will put the house at around 1997 price levels.
3b [59],
Which will put the house at around 1997 price levels.
It’s a no-brainer.
3B,
Awwwww…Come On not even a bite from my “elitism” is good philosophy? I am from a family of 12 children and I don’t recall having shoes until I was 5 and had to go to school. The post above was pure sarcasm, I don’t believe that elitism BS.
I measure the value of a person based on their actions, not where they came from or who they hung out with.
#51 I do not agree with it either, nor alot of other things that so many people seem to believe. Thats why it gets lonely sometimes, and I fee like I am talking to myself.
#62 3b
#61 gary: I do not disagree with you. We will be doing the bidding thing this Spring. Trying to avoid the whole Realtor thing. Just submit the bid to the listing agent, and see what happens.
My wife can handle the whole closing process with her eyes closed; she has done tons of them.
The issue is most companies limit undergraduate tuition reimbursement to $5,200 a year as the IRS will alow them to deduct that much and that much is tax free to worker. Unless you are going to community college combined with fact that you need 120 credit for a degree and most companies limit you to no more than 15 credits a year on top of only paying $5,200 very very dificult to get a college degree paid fully for and might take you ten years part time. You need to at least finish your community college degree full time first and then just do last 60 credits on company dime. But then again if you are broke college is free anyhow so why not lay on Moms sofa bed and go to school for free. Why bother with this part time nonesense.
3B says:
February 16, 2012 at 9:57 am
#35 Brian: It is almost impossible today to come out of high school and get a job in any company that has tuition reimbursement, without a college degree. In fact I would say it is impossible. A college degree today is your admittance ticket in the door.
Took me 8 years for a BSBA. Worked my way up in the company in the meantime. I found it helpful too because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at 18yrs old. Being inside a business helped me decide what I wanted to major in.
Colleges are also starting to understand that this is how some people are getting their degrees and have adjusted their programs to accomodate them.
http://www.centenarycollege.edu/cms/en/accelerated/
65.JJ says:
February 16, 2012 at 11:35 am
The issue is most companies limit undergraduate tuition reimbursement to $5,200 a year as the IRS will alow them to deduct that much and that much is tax free to worker. Unless you are going to community college combined with fact that you need 120 credit for a degree and most companies limit you to no more than 15 credits a year on top of only paying $5,200 very very dificult to get a college degree paid fully for and might take you ten years part time. You need to at least finish your community college degree full time first and then just do last 60 credits on company dime. But then again if you are broke college is free anyhow so why not lay on Moms sofa bed and go to school for free. Why bother with this part time nonesense.
3B says:
February 16, 2012 at 9:57 am
#35 Brian: It is almost impossible today to come out of high school and get a job in any company that has tuition reimbursement, without a college degree. In fact I would say it is impossible. A college degree today is your admittance ticket in the door.
3b [40] – Not true. At our company we have many, many entry level people with no college degree. We also have 100% paid benefits (cadillac med/dental/vision etc.) and 7% salary match on the 401-K and over $5000 of tuition reimbursement per year. Our entry level people start at only $15/hour but if they have a family and they’re smart with their money, the benefits are easily worth $30K over their base. I used to pay $1700/month out of pocket for health care as a consultant before signing on here and I couldn’t buy a plan for any amount as good as the health plan we get 100% paid here.
It is almost impossible today to come out of high school and get a job in any company that has tuition reimbursement, without a college degree. In fact I would say it is impossible. A college degree today is your admittance ticket in the door.
thanks 30 year, wife is a twin her sister has two sets. We know what is coming
To be honest $15 bucks an hour is not worth getting out of bed in the morning if I was young and wanted a degree. If I was 18 and broke easier for me to stay in projects, get a free ride in college, do some summer bartending, caddying type jobs cash only and get the free medical through state or through parents. My friends were making $10 bucks an hour tax free 30 years ago bouncing or bartending.
The Original NJ Expat says:
February 16, 2012 at 11:49 am
3b [40] – Not true. At our company we have many, many entry level people with no college degree. We also have 100% paid benefits (cadillac med/dental/vision etc.) and 7% salary match on the 401-K and over $5000 of tuition reimbursement per year. Our entry level people start at only $15/hour but if they have a family and they’re smart with their money, the benefits are easily worth $30K over their base. I used to pay $1700/month out of pocket for health care as a consultant before signing on here and I couldn’t buy a plan for any amount as good as the health plan we get 100% paid here.
It is almost impossible today to come out of high school and get a job in any company that has tuition reimbursement, without a college degree. In fact I would say it is impossible. A college degree today is your admittance ticket in the door.
#68 I stand corrected, byt again it is my belief your company would be the exception, not the rule.
Truthfully why even bother working these days what with all the free money the government is throwing around. It would be so much easier just to get drunk and give up :)
Let oblivion wash over me and whatnot.
69.JJ says:
February 16, 2012 at 11:55 am
To be honest $15 bucks an hour is not worth getting out of bed in the morning if I was young and wanted a degree. If I was 18 and broke easier for me to stay in projects, get a free ride in college, do some summer bartending, caddying type jobs cash only and get the free medical through state or through parents. My friends were making $10 bucks an hour tax free 30 years ago bouncing or bartending.
[33] pain,
No, that’s okay. I’m an awful gambler.
Besides, you may get upgraded to a 12 pack anyway; you’re gonna need it.
I used to pay $1700/month out of pocket for health care as a consultant before signing on here and I couldn’t buy a plan for any amount as good as the health plan we get 100% paid here.
Read this statement closely, kids. In a few years, your company health benefits will go the way of the dodo bird. And let’s hope your little girl doesn’t get much needed medicine via a used needle after standing on line for 5 hours at your designated Obama clinic on Market Street in Paterson.
[69] JJ,
UI in NJ works out to $15 an hour before taxes. Some folks I know thought about temp gigs in the city that paid $25-30 per hour. I said “what’s the point?” When you factor in the extra tax hit and the cost of commuting, you would be killing yourself, and for your effort, you would be making marginally more than if you sat on your arse eating bon-bons and watching DWTS.
Better to take the UI and if something more lucrative and temporary comes along, such as self-employment, take that as you may still get to work for yourself and collect UI.
Someone I know just got a job at J and J in New Brunswick, NJ and was bragging child care on site, employee gym regular hours amazing benefits, good salary, blah blah blah.
Is that place really that great. I know for New Jersey it is listed as one of the best companies for families and working moms but Goldman and the big four all that same award and they work you like dogs. Plus lots of job openings. I wonder why all the openings if they are great, maybe just picky.
I dont know but if JJ has tons of high paying jobs open in NJ why would unemployment be high.
“As children are getting bigger, their clothing, their furniture and other objects that support their weight must also expand.”
OR we could just insist that kids get exercise, eat properly, and not balloon up due to poor dietary and exercise behaviors.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/15/health/bigger-kids-bigger-sizes/?hpt=he_c1
CNN) — In middle school, Taylor LeBaron struggled to fit into his seat. The desks in class had a ceramic plate attached to the chair.
“I was so large, I couldn’t fit in there,” said LeBaron, now 19. “Every other student could. I couldn’t get my legs to fit underneath the desk or my stomach to fit between the chair without getting the desk stuck with me.
“It was really embarrassing. When class is over, everyone gets up, I would take a few minutes extra, tactfully maneuvering out without looking like a fool.”
But LeBaron, who weighed nearly 300 pounds at age 14, never requested a separate table and chair because he didn’t want to draw more attention to himself.
snip
I prefer Budweisers to bon bons and Kardashian was robbed last year on DWTS.
Also potential employers no likey unexplained gaps in the resume.
74.Comrade Nom Deplume says:
February 16, 2012 at 12:13 pm
[69] JJ,
UI in NJ works out to $15 an hour before taxes. Some folks I know thought about temp gigs in the city that paid $25-30 per hour. I said “what’s the point?” When you factor in the extra tax hit and the cost of commuting, you would be killing yourself, and for your effort, you would be making marginally more than if you sat on your arse eating bon-bons and watching DWTS.
Better to take the UI and if something more lucrative and temporary comes along, such as self-employment, take that as you may still get to work for yourself and collect UI.
I sympathize with kids who have a medical condition that makes them obese, and there are some, but….
snip
To accommodate larger kids, some schools have instructions for teachers to provide separate chairs and desks for students who cannot fit into the pupil chairs. And school furniture makers are increasing the size of chairs and desks to accommodate larger students.
snip
Being set apart from peers by sitting in a different chair means “their peers recognize them as large, different,” said Dr. Phil Wu, a pediatrician who leads Kaiser Permanente’s pediatric obesity prevention and treatment effort.
snip
Buddy of mine recieved a job offer there two years ago. Coincidentally, they offered to pay some of his school debt as part of the offer.
75.JJ says:
February 16, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Someone I know just got a job at J and J in New Brunswick, NJ and was bragging child care on site, employee gym regular hours amazing benefits, good salary, blah blah blah.
Is that place really that great. I know for New Jersey it is listed as one of the best companies for families and working moms but Goldman and the big four all that same award and they work you like dogs. Plus lots of job openings. I wonder why all the openings if they are great, maybe just picky.
I dont know but if JJ has tons of high paying jobs open in NJ why would unemployment be high.
Yup. In this feel-good everyone-gets-a-pony environment, God forbid we should focus on diet and exercise. Nope! Lets just reinforce and expand the furniture.
snip
Newer student desks with adjustable heights can accommodate bigger bodies. The student seats are designed to look just like the other ones, so they don’t make obese students appear different from their peers.
“That is an obesity trend reflected in the furniture,” said Tom Brennan, president of School Outfitters, which sells school furniture. “For perspective, when we look at import product from China, you can tell the difference from the China market and the U.S. market. The buckets are generally not wide enough. They have to be designed specifically for the U.S.”
Shawn Green, vice president of design and product marketing for KI, a company that designs and manufactures school and hospital furnishings, said the diameter of the metal, the supporting structure and the width, depth and height of school chairs have to be modified to work in the American market.
snip
Ding, ding, ding! Do parents not see a problem here?
snip
A 2005 Pediatrics study found limited child safety seats for the increasing number of obese young children.
“There was a risk of kids not being covered for safety,” said the study author, Lara McKenzie. “If there are bigger kids, maybe there are some safety devices or equipment that wouldn’t fit them properly.”
The study suggested that car seats should maximize “the protection of obese children.” Another study in 2009 suggested that most children in the study were too heavy to be compliant with child safety seat laws.
snip
Time for lunch. Who wants to split a bucket of chicken and a half-dozen mocha lattes?
JJ [75];
Yes.
Pharmaceutical comaapanies in NJ are not filling any so-called open positions with full-time employees. All new jobs are filled by contract workers (who are people laid off from other pharma companies) who are paid less than what they should be paid – and all without benefit of any benefits (sick days, vacations, holidays, health, etc).
Jobs posted at pharma companies are just “wish lists”, for they have impossibly long requirements and so they wait, wait, wait for someone in their 30s or 40s who can do it all. No such person exists, so they just hire contract workers. The new pharma reality. (even for J&J)
Why work for banksters when you can be part of the mob that eventually burns the bank down?
Clot,
When the authorities come remember the drill:
Down on your knees, ankles crossed
arms out to the side like an airplane, then rotate the arms with fingers splayed to show both sides of your hands
lock hands above head
no sudden movements as they approach and no resistance as they move your arms behind you to put on the cuffs.
Oh, and remember, the Sup. Ct. has ruled that you are obliged to tell the authorities your name. After that, one might do well to answer every question with “get me a lawyer.”
Well, I have to see a man with a black helecopter. Happy blogging all.
SIMA, I agree but wife was pulling 60 an hour as temp worker while I had the six fig benefits job both in pharma. Life was good then she decided to stop working for a while because she did not want to do it anymore.
If you have the skills you will get work. Look at it from this perspective with all the layoffs why not wait for the right candidate to come along or fill the job with temp employee and hope they become that person while spending only money. Also that person in their 30’s – 40’s may have a wealth of experience. I have been in the industry 12 years, 7 in my current role. I don’t make six figs because I was lucky, I identified a position in pharma with income potential, started out at the bottom and worked my way up. Who is going to pay high salary to someone of limited skills. My first pharma job paid 17.50 an hour, I busted my butt to get to where I am now.
Does the angry mob work come with tuition reimbursement and medical insurance?
85.There Went Meat says:
February 16, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Why work for banksters when you can be part of the mob that eventually burns the bank down?
Is anybody out looking for houses?? Just asking.
Nom I’ll email you later FYI as you predicted
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bunch-young-lawyers-suing-law-195616601.html
Will the mob require pitchforks and torches or will they be supplied?
RE: #84,
I want you to all read and repeat what Sima said in post #84. It’s happening in EVERY INDUSTRY! I have to laugh, some of you really are hysterical. I’m not sure what world you’re all living in but you’re all about to get the jolt of a life time.
[73] gary – You’ve got that right. Nobody around here is worried about their jobs, but everybody is abuzz about the possibility of losing our plumb health and 401K match. We were acquired for $2 Billion last year by a US company (previously we were Euro owned) and the acquiring company doesn’t have a benefits package as generous as ours. If I have to start paying a four or five hundred bucks a month for family health care instead of $0, that sucks. But for someone making a fraction of my salary that’s devastating. We’re growing at an admirable pace, we manufacture a tangible good, so the company is well positioned for continued growth and jobs are being added all the time, no layoffs in the 5 years I’ve been around. But if our new overlords start trimming benefits I’m not sure what will happen, but it won’t be all good, that’s for sure.
I used to pay $1700/month out of pocket for health care as a consultant before signing on here and I couldn’t buy a plan for any amount as good as the health plan we get 100% paid here.
Read this statement closely, kids. In a few years, your company health benefits will go the way of the dodo bird. And let’s hope your little girl doesn’t get much needed medicine via a used needle after standing on line for 5 hours at your designated Obama clinic on Market Street in Paterson.
I know for a fact that it costs our company over $16K premium per year per family plan. It’s so expensive that we offer employees $5K extra per year if they don’t sign up for health coverage.
Expat [94],
People have no idea what they’re about to face. I’m currently doing this temp gig here at one of the top insurance companies in the world and every 6 weeks or so a new group gets canned and is replaced by contractors (temp workers). It’s f*cking hysterical. People crying with a box in hand as they go out the door. They have no idea they’re about to pay, at a minimum, $1000 per month just to guard against financial catastrophe due to a health crisis.
Gary seriously though just a thought, what about getting into the infosec field? One of the guys I used to work with got his CISSP and recieved multiple job offers. They are in high demand. A lot of people made the transition from IT to Infosec.
Right now, the guy I used to work with, is having trouble finding people. Full time jobs…not contractor stuff. They even hired two guys recently on a trial basis on the promise that they would pass their CISSP because they’re having trouble finding people.
And you are right in most cases. IT work is more contract work nowadays. However, on the flip side, my company just initiated an insourcing campaign. Fewer workers but full time with better pay and benefits, bonuses etc. The caliber of workers they were hiring at el cheapo contractor rates was unsatisfactory. Users were complaining about the contracors like crazy.
93.gary says:
February 16, 2012 at 1:35 pm
RE: #84,
I want you to all read and repeat what Sima said in post #84. It’s happening in EVERY INDUSTRY! I have to laugh, some of you really are hysterical. I’m not sure what world you’re all living in but you’re all about to get the jolt of a life time.
The JJ Person taking job is 29 with an MBA. Most likely taken some 50 year old’s over paid job. Then they will force the new person out in 10 to 15 years.
Funny part the 29 year old will most likely replaced by a cheaper 23 year old so the game of musical chairs will go on.
Brian [97],
Thanks, I’ll look into it. Goodness knows, a lot of that stuff is part of my job tasks anyway. And the kicker? Since I’m not a “permanent” employee, I need to have a “permanent” admin log in to certain systems because I’m not allowed to have my own ID. No bennies, no perks, no rights but I better do the f*cking job. I’m the unwanted, red-headed step child! lol!
[92] pain
Not sure I predicted it, but I did report it.
Truthfully, the plaintiffs should never get hired. Shows a poor research skill set.
[95] expat,
That is why the payors would live to see Obamacare’s opt out provision implemented. Pay a pittance and ut your people on the gov plan.
To be honest $15 bucks an hour is not worth getting out of bed in the morning if I was young and wanted a degree.
$31,200 base ($15/hour *40*52)
$9,000 overtime ($22.50/hour, 10 hours per week, 40 weeks/year)
$2,744 401K 7% match
$5,250 tuition reimbursement
$2,496 (8% bonus)
___________________
$50,690 total
Actual Benefit premiums, 100% paid by co. :
$17,428 Family health (it went up)
$1,472 Dental
$145 Vision
$140 Life (1.5 x Salary)
$25 AD&D ($137,000 benefit)
$165 LTD (60% of Salary)
________________
$19,375
Salary + Benefits = $70,065
Time off:
3 weeks vacation
2 floating holidays
8 sick days
9 scheduled holidays
_____________
34 paid days off
I think there are a couple people who would get out of bed for that, but I guess it all hinges on what you have going on in bed to begin with;-)
$70,065 sounds good. But working a full year for 70K is so 1990’s. Just kidding. But in realtity under 100K I can’t even get an english speaking healthy candidate.
gary (96)-
If I could find insurance at only $1,000/month, I’d sign up right now. Cheapest policy that I can find as a self-employed person is an HMO that starts at around $1,250 and has stupid high deductibles and lots of other crap they won’t cover/reimburse.
I doubt any carrier would do as much as bleed you with leeches every 90 days for $1,000 a month.
[103] For those level jobs, most of our workers aren’t great at English either, but it’s still a solid step on the first rung of the ladder. I know one guy who actually did speak English well, is in his early 50’s, previous life as a cook. He had one of those hourly jobs for 5 years here and took all kinds of IT training using his full tuition reimbursement and just last year left for a better perm job. To show how stupid our company can be, we paid for all his training but nobody would give him a shot at an IT salary job here because his boss wanted to keep him in the department where he was working hourly. So he left. Five years of detailed knowledge about our business and $25K or so of training that we paid for and he left because nobody here would let him apply his knowledge.
I advertised a job for three years experience with
$90,000 base $9,000 overtime ($22.50/hour, 10 hours per week, 40 weeks/year)
$10,000 tuition reimbursement
$30,000 (8% bonus)
___________________
$140,000 total
The applicants were horrific. 200K is where I start seeing quality people.
I will work for ammunition and liquor. Next to gold, they are the only things I value.
I can’t use the tuition reimbursement if I’m working overtime now can I? JJ your 140k compensation job looks more like smoke and mirrors to me.
I have a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and I’m a pretty smart guy and I make just a little over 100k in base compensation. What did you want from this guy with three years experience? Was that three years of experience on top of a bachelors degree (seven years experience)?
Seems to me your a looking more for a rain maker instead of an employee.
[104] Meat, [96] gary – gary is right at the $1000 figure perhaps, and Meat you are right that you can’t touch a good plan for $1000. When you leave a company you generally get the option to keep the plan you had at the price the company paid for their group health plan (plus a couple percent management fee tacked on the top, usually). Our BC/BS plan costs our company $1428/month per family and we are owned by a multi-billion dollar company with all of their volume purchasing power and leverage. The most expensive plan I could buy from BC/BS as an individual is around $2500/month and it’s nowhere near as good as the one our company buys from BC/BS for $1428. If I lost my job here I would definitely buy the COBRa for that price.
Nicholas,
If we were really that smart, we would have gone to harvard and gone for jobs in the finance industry. Here, during good years, the money management types get six figure bonuses. They blow their nose with 100k.
108.Nicholas says:
February 16, 2012 at 3:17 pm
I can’t use the tuition reimbursement if I’m working overtime now can I? JJ your 140k compensation job looks more like smoke and mirrors to me.
I have a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and I’m a pretty smart guy and I make just a little over 100k in base compensation. What did you want from this guy with three years experience? Was that three years of experience on top of a bachelors degree (seven years experience)?
Seems to me your a looking more for a rain maker instead of an employee.
#11 Brian: Take JJ with a grain of salt; he exaggerates about the glory days,and salaries on Wall St and all of that.
Brian,
The reason why I don’t make more money is because my parents didn’t put me in a 40k per year private kindergarden school.
/sarcasm off
I’m certain that JJ and his 100k job with no good applicants was just to rile people up.
Nom [100];
Truthfully, the plaintiffs should never get hired. Shows a poor research skill set.
Legal research as pertains to their cause of action, or due diligence research before they made the $150,000 commitment?
They’ve got the class action thing all wrong. The best part about class action liltigation is that the only real “client” works for the lawyer, not the other way around. (A href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lerach”>Linky)
#12 Actually a shaker of salt.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation may soon be forced to shut down a number of key Domain Name System (DNS) servers, which would cut Internet access for millions of Web users around the world, reports BetaBeat. The DNS servers were installed by the FBI last year, in an effort to stop the spread of a piece of malware known as DNSCharger Trojan. But the court order that allowed the set up of the replacement servers expires on March 8.
In November of last year, authorities arrested six men in Estonia for the creation and spread of DNSCharger, which reconfigures infected computers’ Internet settings, and re-routes users to websites that contain malware, or other illegal sites. DNSCharger also blocks access to websites that might offer solutions for how to rid the computer of its worm, and often comes bundled with other types of malicious software.
By the time the FBI stepped in, DNSCharger had taken over computers in more than 100 countries, including half-a-million computers in the US alone. To help eradicate the widespread malware, the FBI replaced infected servers with new, clean servers, which gave companies and individuals with infected computers time to clean DNSCharger off their machines.
Unfortunately, DNSCharger is still running on computers “at half of the Fortune 500 companies,” and at “27 out of 55 major government entities,” reports cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs. These computers rely on the FBI-installed DNS servers to access the Web. But if the court order is not extended, the FBI will be legally required to remove the clean servers, which would cut off the Internet for users still infected with DNSCharger.
Companies or other agencies that are unsure whether their systems are infected with DNSCharger can get free assistance here. And private users can find out if they are infected using instructions provided here.
Your are overqualified for job. Since when is a bachelors degree experience, is making a bud can into a bong experience?
I tell you my dream 140K guy. College degree, lunch bucket type. Local decent school, worked during college. Prior job fresh out of school was in a nut breaking place, long hours hard work so he knows what real work is like. First generation is a plus. Blue collar parents is a plus, first kid in family to go to college a plus, plus if he paid for his own school. Good personality, looks professional, someone I am proud to say works for me. Likes sports, drinks beer, eats meats, has outside interests. Someone well rounded. But not to fancy pants. Also someone who does not have too long a commute. No people who drive to park and ride, take bus to port take two downtown who are late and call in sick every day. Added plus if they still live at home in Queens/Brooklyn with mom and dad and single. So they can work late, travel and not hit me up constantly for big bucks to cover their lifestyle. Basically someone who will give me 5-7 years of hard work. Also someone with street smarts.
Pretty much headhunters will tell you these are the hardest people to get, young hard working, loyal no baggage and moldable. I don’t want rejects. I want someone excited to work. When I leave my house everyday I feel like I am headed through tunnel out to Yankee Stadium on a sunny day to play ball. Game on!!! Cranky old tired depressed people depress me. I want someone Lin-tastic, Lin-sane, Lin-deralla story etc. Someone who excites me. Makes me want to come to work even more!!! I would say I had ten people like that my whole career!! The other as sad as this sounds few hundred people who worked for me are like Jets players from the 90s, can’t remember them unless you really get my memory going.
Funny part is once the magic is gone the magic is gone. I treated my best paid employee like a mushroom once, leave him in the dark and forget he is there. A big mistake. Money it turns out does not make you happy. He liked his house, he liked his used car, he like his crappy vacations and crappy food the extra 150K I paid him each year ment nothing. I should have patted him on the back. But other folks if paid enough will be motivated. Trouble with staff is they lie and are not honest. Tell me what you want. Or don’t complain.
Nicholas says:
February 16, 2012 at 3:17 pm
I can’t use the tuition reimbursement if I’m working overtime now can I? JJ your 140k compensation job looks more like smoke and mirrors to me.
I have a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and I’m a pretty smart guy and I make just a little over 100k in base compensation. What did you want from this guy with three years experience? Was that three years of experience on top of a bachelors degree (seven years experience)?
Seems to me your a looking more for a rain maker instead of an employee.
Consumer Confidence at a high!! True I booked Atlantis and getting flights and room were super hard, Disney world, Beaches, Jamaica and every good resort sold out or at super high prices for all of spring. Lots of new Caddies and BMWs at station. Housing may not be back price wise but homes are selling, our stock and bond funds are through the roof. My 401K balance is up almost 8% year to date. Ben forced everyone out of cds, money markets and treasuries by the fall of 2011. Just in time for a 27% rally. Even better 2-15 was bonus day on most of wall street and 2-16 stocks are up. Also 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 stock grants, defered comp, 401K matches are way up in value and are vesting. Only problem left is stocks and all types of bonds are way overvalued, but you can’t sell as no other game in town. Where do you put your new money. Don’t laugh but 2009-2001 people went straight to blue chip div payers, treasuries, pref stock, investment grade bonds, junk bonds, muni bonds all stuff that provide an income stream. Unlike 1999/2000 everything into non div paying tech. People have cash flowing in they need to invest. Every 1st and 15th there are hundreds of million to be reinvested. Scary. Where does that new money go? There are no bargains left.
jj (117)-
Er, isn’t that the definition of a bubble?
“Where does that new money go? There are no bargains left.”
Gotta love your excitement at booking a vacay in a resort that’s gone BK.
re: #117 – JJ How many on Wall St went from 250k bonuses to 20k?
Stock markets will do well for a couple more months, I think. This may end up being a “Sell in May and go away” year. I’m looking to start selling into the FB IPO rally.
Shore (80),
The school meals conform to the nutritional standards set by government health experts. Lots of bread, bread, and potatoes, coupled with sweetened milk and juice. But it’s low-fat, so presumed very healthy.
They feed kids grains and they fatten up like pigs and cows do.
It’s amazing how often government expert’s views are diametrically opposed to reality.
Is for me, I nickeled and dime’d them into $208 a night a room. Beaches T&C was much nicer, but economy is better and trip I booked there went up 10K for one week!! I booked at 7k same room same week now 17K.
still working out details on my REO. Coup de grace is next offer is a face value swap of their Trups for the house. I wanna free TARP house. I got an almost free RTC house.
There Went Meat says:
February 16, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Gotta love your excitement at booking a vacay in a resort that’s gone BK.
JJ – $208 a night and you won’t get two rooms? You really do squeak when you walk.
FYI if you are planning on playing cards, I don’t think they will let you split Aces more than once, the dealer stands on soft 17, and no surrender might do better with the dice.
FYI there will be an electricity surcharge, housekeeping fees, high tourist taxes + other hidden fees on checkout.
The only thing more depressing than a vacay in Atlantis would be going to some banana republic and getting killed in a coup.
Restaurants at Atlantis have mastered the ability to turn a piece of white-fleshed fish into a festering scab that has the texture of the bottom of my shoe.
JJ/ChiFi/anyone – I know it’s been brushed on here in the past…what is the consensus best spot for investing/holding down payment money while one is shopping, if any?
Did any of you tech guys send resumes to Jeff? I may see him in early April and just curious in case it comes up in conversation.
Gary Carter dead. Abe Vigoda alive.
bears (127)-
Pork belly and orange juice futures.
JJ you crack me up. Your multitasking skills must be epic…or your work day is spent surfing while your ideal manly men do the heavy lifting. My lord.
I think we’ve all concluded that jj is an unemployed glue sniffer, living in his parents’ basement.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
JJ…You just described my upbringing and college experience to a T. When I get canned, I’m gonna come a knockin’. Atlantis??? Really? Sure the color of the water is nice but everything else is overcrowded and mediocre. BTW, there’s a free beach directly next door where the locals picnic. I go there every Caribbean cruise. I walk over from the cruise channel. The casino blows in every way possible so stay out of it.
BearsFan, don’t F around. Amex or Ally high yielding savings account. Take the 1% and leave it at that.
26K for kindergarten??? What kind of values are you instilling as a parent? I used to be a camp counselor at Kutsher’s. I wouldn’t hire one of those 26K kindergartners to mow my lawn.
Equities? I lowered my 401k balance from 75 equity/25 bonds to 50/50 today. Too many headwinds right now and the market has really been going crazy.
Mad Loot Investment Club is still on fire. AAP, went up 8% today. It’s our 3rd largest holding. Mad Loot Investment Club 132.6% IRR for 2012
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) 79.8% IRR for 2012
S&P500 66.7%.
“what is the consensus best spot for investing/holding down payment money while one is shopping, if any?”
Beanie Babies?
yup
Libtard at home says:
February 16, 2012 at 9:11 pm
BearsFan, don’t F around. Amex or Ally high yielding savings account. Take the 1% and leave it at that.
chifi-Lib – thanks, i know it seems like common sense, but it’s still nice to hear it from u guys whose opinions matter to me. also, it’s tough reading from JJ everyday how I’ve blown a big opp the last 12 months guarding my DP in a MM. hat tip to u all.
Meat – I thoroughly appreciate any/all references to Trading Places and Airplane… if u could work one or two a day into your posts, i’d be much obliged :)
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