Sunday Night Chat, At Least 200 Chatters Expected

Maybe if Trader Mike pimps the Sunday night chat we can break the 200 chatter barrier (hint, hint). It should be a fun and useful discussion (like the last one), but if you can't make it you can always read the permanent transcript which I'll post on Monday.

Hope to see you Sunday night at 8PM, EST!

But He Didn't Learn How To Value TheStreet.com

Fred Wilson wrote a useful post called The Five Things I Learned In Business School. If you're considering going to biz school, I recommend that you read it and save yourself $60,000 and two years of your life. (I'm exaggerating, but I always try to dissuade people from attending B School, and yes, I have an MBA.)

15 Dumb Things To Do With Your Money

Money Magazine has a feature called The 50 Smartest Things To Do With Your Money, which is probably worth scanning through except the pages are hanging on me forever so I can't read a word. They also have a list of the Fifteen Dumbest Things To Do With Your Money. It's an annoying pop-up thing, so I've excerpted all fifteen below with my comments in brackets.

• Putting all your eggs in company stock
  [good advice; I'd say 5% max. exposure even if you work at GOOG]
• Cashing out your 401(k)
  [only the very desperate would consider doing this]
• Buying an investment you don't understand
  [for most people this unfortunately includes stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.]
• Not checking out your advisor
  [never use an advisor, educate yourself and be your own advisor]
• Retirement plan folly
  [they mean saving for the kids' education instead of retirement]
• Buying last year's top performing mutual fund
  [I love this one... so many people do this again and again (see Dumb #3)]
• Buying tax-free bonds and variable annuities for your IRA
  [duh, that's like wearing two condoms]
• Stretching out loan payments
  [ah, the lure of a "smaller" payment]
• Poor claim management
  [insurance thing, does anyone ever claim anything?]
• Applying for more than two credit cards
  [agreed, we have one personal card and one business card and that's it]
• Buying life insurance on your kids
  [not dumb if you're planning to kill them]
• Getting a tax refund
  [what's a tax refund?]
• Job hunting at work
  [what about making photocopies of your bare ass?]
• Paying retail right off the bat
  [neither Uncle Morty nor I have ever paid retail]
• Filling up the rental car
  [they mean pre-paying for a full tank, very dumb]