there’s us.  The AGRs are in a great state of flux that is hopefully ending soon.  Initially, the AGR MSG’s were going to be held over until after the SGM board results come out in July(How’s that for alphabet soup?).  Thankfully, someone put a bug in the right ear and that has changed.  Hopefully, we’ll have orders this week and hopefully they won’t be for Harlingen.  Wichita isn’t my first choice, but it isn’t Harlingen and that, my friends is something.

But the net effect of all this in-limbo-ness and this “I don’t want to go there”-ness is that everyone is cranky.  Rather than adapting a “Fuck it, let’s have some fun!” we’re all collectively kind of crawling into our shells and waiting for the moving trucks to arrive.  It sucks.  It escalates the suckiness of remedial Army kindergarten to a different level.  All this uncertainty and unhappiness dominates conversation and just makes us crabbier as we absorb our friend’s pissed off, add it to our own and pass it along the line.    Add a crabby-sick-of-school-this-is-a-total-waste husband in the picture and you may as well forget it.  We’re all crawling into our closets  and cleaning out our stuff and just waiting for this to be over with.  Unfortunately, without orders, no one knows when that will be.

Sort of like I should with the blogging

The answer is 2.5 times your household income, but if your debt ratio would rise above 35% including your mortgage, you should pay down debt before buying a house. 28% for the mortgage and no more than 35% for all debt is a good rule. I just read a website that says 20 and 40% but I think a 40% Debt to Income is just too high.

2. What is the “Time Value” of money?

Fundamentally, TVM is just the concept that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future which is why if you’re borrowing that dollar today, you will pay interest to offset the loss off the value of future dollars or if you’re investing, you want to earn interest on that dollar to offset it’s decline in value over time due to inflation, etc.

3. What is the difference between a Roth IRA and a Traditional IRA? 

A Roth IRA’s contributions come from after-tax dollars while Traditional IRA contributions are from pre-tax dollars. The advantage of a Roth for the typical investor is (what Ivhon said) that typically you’ll be at a higher tax bracket when you retire and distributions from a Roth are not taxed as income unlike distributions from your traditional IRA. The other advantage of Roth IRAs is that you can take distributions without penalty for buying a home or paying educational expenses. In my not so useful opinion, everyone between 18 and 45 needs a ROTH IRA that they put money in regularly.

4. If you started saving $100 per month on your 18th birthday and earned 10% return annually, how much would you have saved for retirement on your 60th birthday? 

Here: PV = 0, N = (60-18)*12 = 504, i/y = 10/12= .833, pmt = -100, FV = ?? Or you can use this. The answer is $774,429.65. No, I didn’t use the link.

5. What do they mean by “Total Cost of Ownership” for a home and what is that estimated amount?

Total Cost of Ownership is a self-explanatory term. It includes all of the costs associated with holding an asset including the purchase price, maintenance, etc. TCO for a house is estimated at Principal + Interest + Maintenance = Roughly three times the purchase price.

6. If you want to buy a car that costs $25,000, put 10% down and take out a 5 year loan for the rest, how much will your monthly payment be if the interest rate on the loan is 6%?

Here: PV = 22,500, N = 60, i/y = .05, pmt = ??, FV = 0 Or use this. Your payment, according to my BAII Plus is $434.99.

7. What is the basic difference between stocks and bonds?

In a nutshell, Stocks are equity (ownership) and Bonds are debt. Bonds are lower-risk typically because in a bankruptcy the creditors get paid first. Stockholders get what’s left after all claims are paid. Usually, that’s nothing.

8. What’s the difference between an income statement and a balance sheet?

An income statement shows profits and losses over time (Income and expenses). A balance sheet is a snapshot of the value of Assets, Liabilities and Equity as of the moment it is created. Technically, a balance sheet is only accurate for that moment which is why it will always show the date it was created in the header. Information from the income statement is reflected in the balance sheet.

9.What is the difference between growth stocks and income stocks?

Growth stocks are for companies that reinvest profit to increase the value of the business while income stocks pay dividends to shareholders. Is that clear enough? I guess I have to give this one to Ivhon.

10. What does the Federal Reserve bank do to manage inflation? Stimulate growth? How exactly does that work?

The Fed controls interest rates and money supply. They control money supply in a couple different ways but the inflationary control is that if the dollar is weakening, they will buy US dollars back out of the economy making fewer available and making them worth more. If it is too strong, they increase money supply by selling dollars or printing money. I have been pleased to see that they are increasing the reserve requirement for banks rather than increasing Money supply.Interest rates are intended to stimulate lending and subsequently investment, yes. The fed is involved in two rates: The federal funds rate (the rates banks charge each other to borrow federal funds) and the discount rate (the rate charged by the fed to borrow directly from it).

I didn’t have a lot of takers on this quiz either place I posted it.  That’s too bad.  These are pretty basic things that I think every single person should know.   It would save a lot of headaches on both a personal and a national level. 

Continuing the bitchy part, I’d like to give a hearty “fuck you” to the dog owners gone before me that have ruined it for the rest of us.  You can’t take them anywhere – not even national parks these days – thanks to fuckheads irresponsible dog owners that don’t make their mutts behave or clean up after them.  That means no hiking in the badlands, no trip to Mt. Rushmore – well I guess one of the adults could have taken the boys but that kind of contradicts the whole “family” concept, doesn’t it?  It was too hot and I’m too responsible to just leave the dogs in the camper unattended.  So scratch 90% of the sightseeing.  We did take 20 minutes to see the Corn Palace.  What a hoot!  And the drive through the Badlands was beautiful even if it did cost us $30!

I actually have no complaints about the scenery anywhere along the way.  New Mexico is particularly breathtaking but even Wyoming isn’t bad.   Wide open spaces are prettier than I’d ever thought they’d be.  You’ll be hearing more about New Mexico over the next three years, I’ll expect.  With lots of pictures.  Not much of the drive though because I can’t take photos and drive at the same time and Sarge would have been really pissed if I’d kept stopping for camera breaks.

Here’s your bullet points:

Prettiest part? New Mexico.  All of it.

Ugliest part? Dumbass drivers in Colorado and the abysmal directionals to and within Kirtland AFB.  Give me some kind of clue which lane to be in – just in case it’s rush hour (yes, it was) to turn onto the base and then at least try to point me toward the campground.  And teach your god damn civilians the phonetic alphabet the rest of the military uses?  It is G-O-L-F, Golf is “G” – not Gibson.  If you tell me “Gibson” I look for Gibson (later found to be a different street a few blocks away but I’m smart enough that when you tell me to turn on Gibson and then turn on F and both are one-way streets then I can conclude that you mean G and are just an idiot).  If you tell me “Golf” I know that “G” Street is at least a definite possibility.  Or just use directional signs extensively – like the rest of the military.  USAFA is huge and I still found everything.  On Kirtland – by the time we found their crappy campground I didn’t want to stay there any more.

Dumbest part? Believing the staff at Kirtland’s FAMCAMP when they said they’d have a space for us  “Don’t worry!”  is apparently akin to “Of course I’ll respect you in the morning” in Air Force Civ. speak.  After six hours of driving (everything takes longer with dogs and children), horrible turn-by-turn directions on the phone with an outdoor rec employee and a general case of pissed off because you’ve been driving and cooped up in a camper with two dogs, three kids and a hubby in the same boat for five days, finally arriving at said campground to find no employee on duty and no space for you is a sure way to peg the pissed off meter.

Our solution?  Drive to Soccorro and stay in a Rodeway in that fulfills every stereotype you ever had about motels (yes, motels – exterior entrance rooms) in touristy towns in the Southwest.  Red carpets, ugly wall paper, a pool and a continental breakfast.  By this point, however, the pool was exactly what the fellas needed (whaling regulations prevent me from entering swimming pools – I know there are laws, but I know people break them and I’m taking no chances) and pizza delivery with a glass of cabernet was what I needed.  That and, uh, wireless internet   I’m not disparaging the motel.  It was fine.  I think it’s under new management and I think it will improve over time.

Best part? Arriving in El Paso and making the smart choice to check into a hotel with a pool for the remaining two days before our house was available.  We found a great Guest House International – a pet-friendly, new hotel with a suite concept, a pool and a continental breakfast- five minutes from the base.  We will be recommending them highly in the unlikely event we get visitors.  The 2-room suite featured a mini-bar (you know, microwave, fridge, sink) and a separate room with the king-sized bed for the boys.  It was heavenly!

Things that sound dirty but aren’t: Kum & Go.  Some entrepreneur in Western Minnesota needs to work on either his language comprehension or his branding, right?  These are convenience stores / gas stations and there are several of them along I-90.    I started thinking “outside the box” (BINGO!) about developing a partner chain of “adult toy store”/ hotel combinations called “Kame & Went”.  What do you think?

On the plus side, however, things in El Paso are going reasonably well.  We are here.  Our stuff is here.  We’ve even managed to locate and unpack most of it.  The house is nice.  The neighbors are nice (the ones we’ve met so far).  And Fort Bliss is clearly a professionally run military base.  The civilian employees we’ve encountered – even the contractors(!) – are professional and the services are quite acceptable. The PX and commissary are huge and the shopette for gas is two blocks away.  Nothing, so far, to complain about except how shitty the movers were.  I think that’s another post.

I do have some pictures to post, but that’s another day.  Get back to work!