New from Amazon : Subscribe & Save Subscription

Posted by Tad Johnson - Mar 21st, 2008 at 7:03

Everyone’s favorite book music movie everything store (Amazon) has a pretty great deal on groceries : subscribe to your favorite items and they’ll deliver them automatically on a set schedule and give you 15% off and free shipping. Not bad for a vicenarian on a budget!

amazon subscribe

There’s my first (and only) subscription. I eat a lot of Clif Bars, and they are kind of expensive in the store (usually ~$1.15/each). Between the bulk discount and the 15% subscription discount, I’m getting them for $0.85 a piece! Plus, they’ll magically arrive at my door every two months. Thanks, Jeff Bezos!

The Power of Advertising

Posted by Tad Johnson - Mar 10th, 2008 at 5:03

Since my college days, I’ve been decreasing the amount of regular broadcast television I consume. For my favorite shows that I can’t live without, I view or download online. This system has been a great money saver, since 1) I don’t own a TV and 2) I don’t pay for cable television.

What I’ve discovered is that there’s a third financial benefit : less consumer spending, which I attribute to less advertisements.

The average 30 minute television program has 6 minutes of ads (generally 30 seconds per). Each of those 12 advertisements is created by exceptionally well trained professionals who are paid to do one thing : convince you to spend your money on product X. Regardless of how “immune” you think you are to advertisements, decades of research (and multi-billion dollar ad budgets) would suggest otherwise.

Contrast this with online viewing, where you get between 0 and 90 seconds of advertising per 30 minute segment. Already you’ve cut out at least 75% of your TV ad exposure. Think your consumer spending might drop as well? You bet!

I’m making some tall claims here, and I admittedly lack empirical data to back them up. Even so, conceptually this makes sense. As a vicenarian, you would do yourself a favor by cutting back on regular TV and the ads that come along with it. Services like Hulu, iTunes, or less-than-legal sites like PirateBay are waiting with open arms for your view-share. Give it a try and see if your spending changes as a result.

Mint vs. Yodlee (vs. Quicken)

Posted by Tad Johnson - Mar 3rd, 2008 at 23:03

Online personal finance tools are a hot new internet trend. For a vicenarian with a bunch of accounts to track and not a lot of time to do it, these can be a godsend. You have the convenience of checking all your accounts from one page, from any computer, including historical data.

Here’s a quick look at a few of the more popular options:

mint.jpgMint has been getting some very favorable press recently, including some impressive awards and the venture capital to back them up. Their value proposition is to save you money by suggesting better ways to save and spend your money.

Pros : Slick web2.0 interface. Easy integration with most online accounts. Smart algorithms that make suggestions based on the aggregated data from mint users.

Cons : Not as feature-rich as Yodlee (though it uses Yodlee technology). Even though it learns to improve, category-matching algorithm is hit or miss.

If you’re doing your personal finance on paper or in your head, check this one out. The interface is simply gorgeous and the recommendations can be useful. With so much momentum, keep your eye on this for new features in the future.

yodlee.JPG Yodlee does business by licensing its online personal finance software to bigger banks (like Fidelity and Bank of America) and other personal finance sites (like mint). Although it’s not well advertised, they also offer their service directly to the customer through Yodlee Moneycenter.

Pros : Great features like spending analysis, net worth graphs, budgeting, and portfolio analysis. Easy to set up with most online banks.

Cons : Interface can be finicky. Like Mint, automatic categorization is iffy. For reasons unknown, not actively marketed to the consumer.

If you’re looking for the most features, definitely look to Yodlee. They’re clearly market leaders in this area, though most of their business is in selling their software to other businesses.

quicken_online_logo_90.jpg Quicken has long been the market leader in desktop-based personal finance software. Sadly, they haven’t done much to freshen the design of Quicken over the years, so Quicken 2006 and Quicken 1996 look frighteningly similar. In a response to their online competitors, Intuit released Quicken Online this year. It costs $2.99/month on a subscription basis.

Pros : Intuit knows this market inside and out, and they’re not going anywhere as a company. If you already use Quicken, this might be a useful transition to the convenience of online access.

Cons : $2.99/month?! That’s a hefty price to pay for a service you can get free elsewhere. If you’re going to spend that much money, you might as well buy the full desktop version and enjoy the speed and features of a desktop app.

This one shouldn’t be too hard of a decision for the vicenarian. It’s not worth paying Intuit every month when their competitors do an equally good job for free.

The Vicenarian joins Brazen Careerist

Posted by Tad Johnson - Mar 2nd, 2008 at 21:03

Your (and my) favorite blog about personal-finance-for-the-twenty-something-crowd is joining forces with a bunch of other blogs over at Brazen Careerist.

http://www.brazencareerist.com/

Brazen Careerist via kwout

This blog will continue on as before, but you’ll notice a new logo on the right side (hopefully it’s there right now). I would recommend checking out the Brazen Careerist network–there are some great bloggers there writing on a variety of subjects that will appeal to the vicenarian.

To any of you who found thevicenarian.com through Brazen Careerist, welcome!

Buy more RAM!

Posted by Tad Johnson - Feb 27th, 2008 at 6:02

fix-computer.jpgComputer feeling a little sluggish? Doesn’t have the pep it used to? Don’t buy a new one until you’ve purchased more RAM.

For years, computer manufacturers have been pushing their latest and greatest in terms of processor speeds and capabilities. Intel has some pretty flashy ads out right now pimping their Core 2 Duo chips. Since processor speeds climb every few months, this has been a pretty effective marketing tactic.

There’s only one issue : it’s RAM that has the biggest impact on overall computer “speed”. If you’re running the latest Mac OS (or, sadly, Windows Vista) you need at least 1GB of RAM. 2GB and you’re sitting pretty.

Here’s the best part–RAM is cheap. You can buy 1GB for about $50 online. Next time you’re tempted to drop $1000 on a brand new computer, buy some more RAM first. You just may find that you can get another year or two out of that dusty old computer.

dual-opteron-mb-ram.jpg

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