Crazy Two Days from MSN

Wow!

Crazy traffic over the last few days via MSN Moneyblog and Karen (again)! She linked my Brett Favre piece and over 4,000 people came in two days.

Thanks to all who came, especially those who have signed up! Good stuff coming this weekend.

Work is crazy now with three major projects being wrapped...Only home long enough for a shower, shave and repack!

Wish all the best and Thanks Again! Especially to Karen who has picked up three of my posts and given my little blog an amazing exposure!

Being a Target - "College the Poor Kids" Way Follow-up

All I can say is wow! Today my traffic exploded to where at 9am this morning I had my biggest day ever all ready!

This is all due to the coverage by msn's MoneyBlog on my piece "College the Poor Kids Way." It obviously stirred up strong emotions as I thought it might.

First off, regardless of your opinion thanks for visiting! I really appreciate anyone who has clicked over to see more about the blog and perhaps read a bit more. If you like what you are reading, or just what to be notified to when I might annoy you again, sign up for my RSS Feed. It is free, and if you signup using your email account you could win FruitfulTime TaskManager software with a MSRP value of $50!

Now for a quick follow-up to the posting:

Some background on me, as some believe this is driven by my background:

• Paid for College 100% by myself, but lived with family (Aunt and Uncle). So no room and board costs
• Parents couldn't afford support other then moral, which was great!
• Worked at minimum wage jobs in LA - Pizza place, Music Stores etc..
• Wife did same
• $150k/yr+ Income - Not a brag, just some said it couldn't be done if you paid your own way
• Just turned 39...so not a late baby boomer that doesn't care
• Don't drive an expensive car
• Nice house, but we can afford it. Bought our first house at 35.
• Support our kids, play with them, at every game, every ballet show. Made decision 6 years ago that wife would stay at home to offer even more support to them
• Kids aren't brats...most of the time :)

I think that answers most of the questions asked.

There was a ton of great input given and great arguments made on both sides of the table on whether or not kids should pay their own way through College or not. There was, for me, great middle ground pitches made on partial pay, tying it to grades, only paying for classes of an appropriate major (ie no Klingon 301!). Regardless of your personal decision, I say, do what's right for you and your kids. Even if you want to pay 100%

One thing to consider for those that were pretty adamant that I was Hitler Jr w/Cheese for not paying 100%: Where does the chain break? College only? I can make your same case for a down payment on a house. And beyond...

Even with this dip in home costs it is very tough to buy a house on a decent starting salary, say $40K in a decent sized city. A $200K house would need a $40k deposit (to be at 20%). Maybe I should do that for the kids? I want them in good housing and living at the level that they did with us. It would be even more if I wanted them to be in a bigger house more like where they live now. Not even taking about furnishing it either.

What about when they are starting subsidizing a bit of their salary? Johnny is only gonna make $40k to start, which is tough. I could supplement another $20k and make it easier on them to not get loaded into debt.

I know this thinking loses people with each step, but at some point kids have to start living their life and not just be an extension of us. Is that point 18, 22, 30?? Not sure, but it probably is different for each kid.

As I said before; Thanks for visiting and come back often!

(picture from fotosearch)

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money Featured on msn's Smart Spending

Last night Karen Datko over at msn's moneyBlog picked up our story, "College the Poor Kids Way." She wrote a great story about the piece and today traffic is amazing! (At least for me!)

Thanks so much Karen!

Sphere picked up our story about the impending Fed Rate cuts from yesterday's Personal Finance QuickTake: Another Rate Cut Coming!

Thank you Sphere!

Last, But definitely not least; Reuters picked up "Tax Carnival #30" that we were involved in

And one P.S to Add...Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money just got PageRank as well! It is just PR2 to start, but hey, gotta start somewhere and it looks like today is going to be a record day!

E*Trade is Up...sort of..and MSN and other updates!

My E*Trade account is now working...sort of.

I had forgotten that six years ago I had an E*Trade account for some stock options that I cashed out when I moved to a new job. This was the only time I used it. But when I signed up for my new Complete savings account, even though it gave me a new log-in et all, it linked the account to my old account and reset the password and log-in! No wonder I couldn't get in to see it!

The phone rep Julie, although I believe she was in India and not her name, was very nice and walked me through the labyrinth to get it fixed. I do have my Wells Fargo Checking tied back to it and all is well...well sort of. The email address locked to the account is my old email account at an ex-job! When I go to change it, it emails the old no-valid email for me to confirm the change...which I can't since it goes to a dead account! This has been draining to say the least. I will call and fix this last piece, but talk about a lot of work for a little bit extra!

The first update is that Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money has been Featured again (second time!) in an article on MSN MoneyBlog's Smartspending! This was a great article by Karen that features a quote from our piece on the people walking away from their homes.

Second update is that the RSS Contest is going well. Lots of entrants, but still not so much to blow Your chance to win. I am really looking forward to awarding the first piece!

Last update involves a meme post I made and took down. While I feel that post had the best of intentions, to promote other blogs, it felt like a gray area in the Big G'g TOS. So I pulled the post on my own. I am not out to game any system and even the appearance felt wrong.

It harkens back to a saying I learned from a great teacher one time: "The More you Know, the more you Know you Don't Know!"

Life and Liberty Mentioned on msn Money...

Wow is all I can say!

I believe big thanks goes to Mrs Micah and Digerati Life and others picking up my blog Article "Personal Finance by Michael Scott of The Office" . Tonight it was a top feature in the MSN Money MoneyBlog in the "Smart Spending" section .

When I started the blog I didn't think it could get noticed. But thanks to many of you it has, so...THANK YOU!

Special thanks to Karen Datko @msn for picking it up!

(I wondered why I was having a record traffic night!)