Money vs Happiness

I'm listening to a very fascinating discussion right now on money vs happiness? Would you give up money to get happiness? These are definitely not mutually exclusive by any stretch of the imagination and someone raised an interesting point that I'd love to share with the world. You can only ask this question if you have money to start with. People in the lower or middle class never discuss how much better life would be if they only had less money.
This question is really more a release from obligations and a rebalancing of life. I'm over due for one. Where to from here though?

Walk in the park

Last night, I went out on a photography walk and there was a part where I was completely surrounded by deer. That made me feel so connected to the world. The sunset was also amazing. Trying to decide what sort of lighting I like better, when the sun is high in the sky, the lighting is far more even. Is it more interesting though? Either way, I had fun in the hours leading up to sunset.
I'm now eyeing a digital SLR now that I'm thinking of putting a few large prints on my wall. Also considering a new point and shoot to complement that, but going to put that off for a while. While I wasn't blogging, I actually picked up a film camera, which I'm learning to use now. It's a good camera, with good lenses that can be used on newer digital cameras.
I'm still learning to use my film camera and I've been running under the philosophy that my 50mm prime was one of the only lens I needed. Next time, I'm going with my zoom.

Survived another week

Work has grown incredibly dull. Last weekend, I did a 12 hour overtime shift, the money was good. Other than it isn't mentally taxing, I don't know what I'm doing there any more. The hours are hard on me, and it would be nice to get some temperature control. Dust is also annoying. I feel that I'm over due for a change. My best skills are by far my thinking ones and I've not had a chance to use them in some time. We'll see what happens.
I suppose as general catch up, I've stopped tracking things as closely as I used to and I've also started spending more. Last week, I spent about $11 on a hobby, film and batteries for an old camera. I'm hunting for a digital SLR, though shooting film in the mean time. My cousin is getting married next month, so I'm running a roll or two through this camera to get used to it.
In the short term, my goal is to put up a picture or two in my room.
In the slightly longer term, my goal is to apply to go back to school.
My main worry right now is not being able to get back into engineering.

Back after a year

A lot of things can change over the course of a year and a lot of things have. Rather than ramble on about those though, I figured I'd comment on another blog post I recently read. It was about ING Streetwise funds. http://www.steadyhand.com/industry/2010/09/23/ing_streetwise_crossing_the_line/

She also talks about fees,

“Say you invest $10,000. You can save $170 per year.”

Her math here would imply that investors are paying 2.7% elsewhere for balanced fund management. While I have sympathy with this theme (balanced funds are the most overpriced fund category), the numbers don’t add up. There are few balanced funds that charge that much.

I for some reason am reminded of car insurance advertisements. All the major companies out there advertise how much the average person who switched saved. They can all do that because there is no insurance company out there able to draw in an abundance of new customers who want to pay more for the same coverage. In fact, most people aren't going to switch for a small amount, they'll only switch for a relatively large amount. Since all the ads discuss the average savings of the people who do switch, this is a relatively high figure. They don't actually assert that they have the potential to save everyone hundreds of dollars, they merely want to make it sound like that.

Not everyone can save $170 per year, and ING doesn't assert that everyone will, they merely want to make it sound like that.

Hmm, what sort of stuff do I usually talk about on this blog? A mix of money and philosophy of life? I need a bit of a refresher.

Work Draining...

I know I haven't been posting much lately. One reason is that work has just been so draining lately. I don't know why but it seems to be taking much more out of me than it usually does and these have been fairly light days lately. At first, I thought it was rest related, but after resting up all weekend, the first day left me feeling sore after. Now I'm really drained. My legs ache, my right upper arm burns and when I close my eyes, I feel like I want to just curl up in a ball.

20kT of gold?

http://www.nevadacounty.com/business/mormons-scammed-for-50-million-promising-sale-of-20000-tons-of-gold/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_gold_reserves
I recently found out about this scam where people were ripped off by a con artist claiming to be raising funds to broker a deal involving twenty thousand tons of gold. That's right, twenty thousand tons.
Man, that's a positively staggering amount of gold. As the article says, more than twice the USA's gold reserve. Based off the wikipedia figures, 1/8th of all gold ever mined, roughly the amount of gold held in the combined reserves of the USA, Germany, IMF, France and Italy. I can see why someone wanting to make a transaction this size would have trouble. The serious players in the gold industry probably find it completely absurd that anyone might conceivably have that much gold in their possession. Then there's the problem of trying to amass enough money to pay for that much gold. From the thirty million dollars from wikipedia, this is a six hundred billion dollar transaction. That's three times the GDP of Israel, where the people who amassed the vast fortune of gold are.

Commodity Trading

I've been seeing a few commercials that really make me wonder about public perception of investment markets. The ad I keep seeing portrays one person who is down and concerned about his investments talking to another who exudes confidence because she's in commodities instead of stocks or real-estate. The commodity market has been advertised as being an easier place to invest because apparently p/e ratios are confusing and price speculation is an easy road to profits. Maybe I'm ignorant on the subject but you're either dealing with contracts for delivery at a later date, or the cost of storage. The possibility of losing money is there and I'd be surprised if it's any simpler.
I wonder why I never see bonds pushed as a less confusing and less risky alternative to stocks or real-estate. While there are some questionable bonds out there, there are also plenty of bonds out there that offer a reasonable measure of security. You can also predict your return easier since they have a stated interest rate and maturity. It's also much easier to make guesses as to whether or not a company will still be in business in two years. It doesn't need to grow for you to make money, it just needs to not be distressed between the purchase date and the bond maturity date.