Recent content by Mavourneen

Two loons on one screen...glad I missed it.

I save the $8.00 service charge by keeping at least $1,000.00 in my checking account.

I have more of a "fixed income" allocation than a pure "bond" allocation. My target is to split fixed income roughly evenly between treasury securities, preferred stocks, and "other." "Other includes CDs, GNMAs, the stable principal part of my 401K, etc. I hold some cash in a treasury money...

30% of my stock allocation is international which translates to 18% of my total portfolio (based on 60/40). I hold my international position for two reasons: 1) to capture some growth outside the US, and 2) as somewhat of a hedge against a crappy dollar. Most of my intl allocation is in a...

My return in January was -1.12%. Preferred stocks came back in a big way. My preferred position was down almost 20% in 2007. Also in January, Treasuries and GNMAs had a nice return. Real Estate was about even.

So our govt is going to borrow money from the Chinese and Japanese so us Americans can go buy Chinese and Japanese products. The Chinese and Japanese gotta be laughing their a$$es off.

Ditto on the Ethiopian coffees...the best!

I am experiencing the same thing. I used to regularly drink an entire pot at home in the morning plus several cups during the day right up until bedtime. Nowadays, I only drink three or four cups per day and I need to cut off my caffeine by 3 in the afternoon to avoid the "big eye" at bedtime.

Starbuck's is my Friday-after-work hangout. I drink my coffee black, no sugar for about $2.00 per cup. I usually sit there at least and hour talking to my buddies so I feel I'm getting my money's worth. I have heard people complain about the "burnt" taste of Starbucks. I think they just...

Procter & Gamble (PG) comes to mind.

I have owned BAC for almost 8 years. Quicken says my average annual total return is just over 12% for that time period.

I bought the stock in March of 2003. My annualized total return, according to Quicken, is 8.8% as of yesterday's close.