In case you were wondering why “stock” was in all caps, it’s an acronym that stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge.

The District of Columbia notched the greatest increase over the 2007-2010 period, with an 8.1% jump in income, in large part because of federal-government employment.

It’s nice to be the government, I guess. I don’t know what else to say to that.

The rest of the country didn’t fare so well…

From 2007 to 2010, median annual household income fell across the country by 3.5% to $51,287. That’s according to an analysis of Census data released Wednesday by former Census Bureau officials Gordon Green and John Coder.

I’m thankful we live in Texas, which has held steady (median household income grew .8% 2007-2010).

Here is a state-by-state look at change in median income for 2007-2010.

A bottle of beer costs $3. The beer is worth $2 more than the bottle. How much is the bottle worth?

Our plan is for him to inherit our nearly 10-year old Buick Rendezvous (I know…every kid’s dream car…). It’s the perfect vehicle for him to drive in that it’s old, still in good shape, but worth almost nothing if we were to try to sell it. So, as soon as I find something else for my wife to drive, my son will get the Rendezvous.

He’s not very excited about it but I told him that he could drive it for free while he saves up money for something else. His mother and I will help him buy something else in a year or so (provided he has saved up some money). Then, we will take the Rendezvous and pass it on to his brother who will be 16 in a little over a year.

Our kids will be responsible for paying a portion of the insurance. I’m thinking $50 per month once they get a job. They will also be responsible for their gas (or at least a portion of it).

Speaking of driving…

You would not believe the cars/trucks some of the kids drive these days. Some of them are even nicer than our Enclave! I just don’t see the wisdom in giving a kid something nice to drive when they are so young. If anything, it’s setting the bar very high and will give them the impression that they can never drive anything less than what they drove in high school.

My First Car Looked Very Similar to This 1979 Buick Skyhawk

Picture source: here

It’s my opinion, but it’s actually kind of fun to look back and remember the 1979 Buick Skyhawk I drove during high school and part of college. It was ugly and had a sagging body, which made the door shut with a loud THUD! The manual transmission messed up once and wouldn’t allow me to put the car in reverse. So, if I had to back up, I had to put it in neutral and PUSH it. Hahaha. Fun times. This was during my college days so I had to be sure to find a parking space that would allow me to pull forward. Otherwise, I had to be on the lookout as I was leaving school to make sure no pretty girls were around to witness me pushing my car out of its parking spot. Fun times indeed.

My second car was an 1988 Buick Skyhawk that I bought in 1992, right before I moved to Texas. It was a nice little car until the A/C went out and I didn’t have the $1,000 to get it fixed so I rode around everywhere with the windows down, which tore up my headliner. Once that happened, I looked like a hillbilly driving around. But…you know what? I bought both of those cars pretty much on my own. My dad helped me with the first one by paying some on it and then financing the rest for me. I remember paying him something like $30 per week until it was paid off. I had a sheet of paper hanging on my bedroom wall and I would cross off a payment each time I handed my dad $30.

The second car I financed through the credit union. I think my monthly payment was $122.

Funny the things you think about when your son gets his license.

Interesting piece on 401(K) plans and the guy who helped create them, Ted Benna. He thinks they have become too complex. What was the cause for the complexity? I’ll let him tell you…

Benna blames the newfound complexity on what he says was the small percentage of employees who wanted it. “What triggered this whole mess is that some of the more sophisticated participants were a pain in the butt,” he says. “You’d have these troublemaker loudmouths push human resources, and say, ‘why don’t we have this ‘flavor of the month.’ fund” These sophisticated employees are also the ones taking advantage of the education and advice being offered, he says.

Nice.

Honestly, I don’t think that’s the problem at all. I think it’s just the nature of the game. You have lots of companies competing for the business and offering more and more choices. I don’t think you can blame that on “troublemake loudmouths.” These same “troublemaker loudmouths” are the ones asking for more index choices and fewer managed funds.

I think the problem is that people just don’t want to save. Either that, or they simply can’t afford (or don’t think they can afford) to save. The other reasons are simply excuses.

I do like his suggestions:

“We need a legislative mandate that when you change jobs, the money needs to be retained in a retirement account – there cannot be an option of ‘here’s a check, you decide,’” Benna says. He also advocates mandating all employees be auto-enrolled in the plans, and that their contributions be automatically increased one percentage point per year to a maximum of 10% to 15%.

Those are all good ideas. Too many people cash out their 401(K) plans when they change jobs.

You can compare it to the original by fast forwarding the following video to 3:30…

Oh, and PLEASE become of a facebook fan of The Music of Christopher Pritchard.

Wow!

I’m sorry but that seems excessive to me. Not only that, the very nature of a tip is to reward for service. Although I understand why restaurants do it (because some lowlifes NEVER tip appropriately), I hate the automatic gratuity that some restaurants add to my bill. It’s insulting to me personally because I’m a generous tipper and if the server goes above and beyond I leave and even bigger tip. I know…I’m not everyone. That said, I still think 25% is excessive. The price of eating out has risen dramatically over the last few years and since servers’ tips are based on the price of the meal, their tips have also grown.

The article even suggests people tip at fast food restaurants since the employees make minimum wage. Yeah, right…

Anyway, here are a couple of pieces you might find interesting:

Larry Winget – Five Things Larry Winget Is Doing Personally In Challenging Times

Brian Tracy – Seven Steps to Developing a New Habit

Read: More restaurants are targeting customers who use food stamps (USA Today).