brass Blog

While we are hard at work on the November issue of brass, I wanted to share an interesting coincidence I happened to find while checking the news the other morning.

In the same vein of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, the Sacagawea dollar, and the 50 state quarters, the US Mint has started the Presidential $1 Coins program this year. I have yet to see any of these coins, but I imagine they are getting scooped up by collectors, much like I did with the 50 state quarters when they were first introduced. The US Mint has a schedule currently showing production of the coins through President Gerald Ford (year 2016), so these coins should be around for a while. However, only time will tell if they will be as ubiquitous as the Sacagawea dollar or as scarce as a two dollar bill. Either way, they could end up being collectible or valuable, and it’s not expensive to start coin collecting.

The interesting thing is that the coin release dates coincidentally correspond, at least they have this year, with the publishing dates of brass: George Washington bowed in February, John Adams debuted in May, Thomas Jefferson kicked it with Devin Phillips in August, and we’ll see the James Madison coin when the next issue of brass hits the streets in November.

Coincidence? Fate? Maybe they were just inspired….

A new coin and a new issue of brass are all the more reason to get excited in the coming months. Plus we have a cool feature on its way in 2008 about turning your favorite pastime into your cash line–coin collecting anyone? Until next time, keep it brass.

Since studying money and personal finance wasn’t my first pursuit before working at brass, every now and then I come across a word that has me scouring the dictionary. We figure everyone else has the same problem (and pre-brass I know I was a lot less likely to head for the dictionary), so we thought we’d make it easier for you. We’ll share some of the lesser-known money/investment terms, seeing as how we’ve already done the work. About once a month, we will include a term in our blog much like the one I came across while browsing my Google Reader the other day. An article from thestreet.com was covering six investments they recommend adding to your investment portfolio. The six investments included two stocks, two mutual funds, and two ETFs. I was doing okay until I hit the acronym. So what is an ETF?

First off, don’t confuse EFT with ETF. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) involves things like direct deposit or overdraft protection, while Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF), as you might have guessed, is an investing vehicle.

Basically, ETFs are groups of stocks and bonds, which trade like stocks (the value of the shares fluctuate daily), according to Investopedia’s definition and The Motley Fool. Rather than having shares in one single company (like regular stock), ETFs are shares of an entire exchange, so you’ve got built-in diversity of companies within one industry (so if one tanks, you won’t lose everything). If you are interested in investing via ETFs, they must be purchased through a broker, so talk to your investment broker (if you have one) or an investment advisor before you unload your latest lottery winnings into one. I myself am still learning about them, so feel free to leave a note if you’ve already got some in your portfolio or if you learn anything interesting.

That’s about it for this blog, but keep your eyes here for further investment/money terms you might want to know more about.

Happy trading.

Here at brass, we are starting up the local “Lunch Buddies” program again since schools are back in session. Basically, about half the staff goes to a local elementary school and hangs out with students during their lunch break. Cool huh?

Thinking about lunch break got me wondering how much money people who regularly eat out spend on their lunches. After conducting a brief survey of local brass staff, I found that 28 percent mostly buy their lunch, 42 percent mostly go home and make their lunch or bring it with them, and the other 28 percent go out half the time and make lunch the other half.

While the dietary benefits of buying a fast food or otherwise on-the-go meal are somewhat questionable, at least we actually eat lunch. But we aren’t a nutrition quarterly, we’re a money magazine. So here’s the bottom line:

Say I eat out every day for lunch (as a career man), five days a week. If I spend $7 on the average for a meal and drink, that’s $35 I drop a week, which adds up to $140 a month. And that’s at $7, just for lunch during the weekdays. Some people spend even more than that on a regular basis!

“Brown-bagging it,” as making/bringing in your lunch is known, doesn’t always have to be the ubiquitous ham & cheese or PB & J. Before you head out to the local supermarket to load up on Smucker’s Grape Goober, you should know that there is a surprising array of gourmet victuals you can make to bring with you. A past cover story, chef Dave Lieberman, has a lot of budget-friendly recipes out there to make your lunch more enjoyable if you do decide to pack it at home. And you’ll save serious cash if you do, too.

On that note, I’m off to heat up my fettuccine chicken Alfredo.

As much as I love driving, sometimes I am exasperated by how high the cost is to own and operate a vehicle on a regular basis. Car payments, insurance, maintenance, and fuel are just the beginning. There are repair costs, optional modifications (better stereos, spray-in bed liners), and all the accessories that go along with owning a car (boats, trailers, ski/snowboard/bike racks). Before you know it, you’re flat broke by the time you get to the gas station.

We all know how to save money by driving less, carpooling, and keeping a regular maintenance schedule, but what about saving via insurance? I was able to cut the price down on my insurance tab for my multiple vehicles in a variety of ways. (I know it’s weird that a 23-year-old has three cars. I bought one when I was 15 for $100, and my grandparents gave me two of their cars as they upgraded. My daily driver has over 400,000 miles on it, but runs like a dream. Needless to say, I’ve been through the auto insurance maze a few times.)

If you’re in high school, the first thing you should do is check into your state’s requirements for driver’s ed. Your insurance agent may offer a discount if you’ve completed the instructional course if it is not required in your state. In addition to driver’s ed, ask if your agent has a good student discount available (a discount based on good grades, with “good” determined by your insurance agent/company). I’ve been using that since I got my license at 16.

My insurance company offers classic coverage for cars over 25-years-old if you drive them infrequently. I have an old car, so I only pay $10 a month to keep it covered. If you have multiple cars, check into comprehensive coverage on any vehicles you don’t drive. I’ve got that on another car for $9 a month. Finally, the full-coverage on my daily driver rounds out at $81 a month. I also qualify for a multi-car discount because of those three auto policies — a good thing to check out if you’re in the same boat. My agent mentioned I could get a multi-line discount if I signed up for renter’s insurance (another $10/mo), which brings my grand total for three cars (two of which I drive) and renter’s insurance to roughly $110 a month.

Not bad, eh?