Ace Wisdom

My inspiration for “pouring cash” comes from Nana’s 94th birthday dinner at St.Anna with Bob and Mary, Chuck and Shelby and of course, the guest of honor. I hope when I’m 94 that I crave steak and cake. It was very enjoyable.
I’ve talked about filling your cask with cash. The goal is to maximize the amount of cash poured into the cask and manage spending by controlling the spigot at the bottom. There are a lot of ways to pour cash into your cask and you do it every day. Debs manages a Wisconsin Vision Outlet and makes big bucks, Kelly practices chiropractic for a Health Organization and her own business, Chris makes tons of money telling other people what to do and Margaret is highly paid to develop computer solutions. And for Paul the journey is just beginning.
The dream of starting your own business should conjure up visions of sugar plums in you heads. Steven Jobs at Apple, Bill Gates at Microsoft, and Michael Dell of Dell Computers all followed the dream and are rich beyond comprehension. Money pours into their cask. Hell they probably can’t find enough casks. There is probably money all over the floor. I don’t think they worry about spigot expense control.
Mary Steger got me thinking with her comment that “anyone who starts their own business ought to have their head examined”. She is aware of all the difficulties facing a business and how fragile it really is. However there is the other side. For someone who believes in an idea, is willing to take financial risk and will work tirelessly to make a business succeed, there can be a huge payoff. It is the American way.
87% of all businesses employ under 50 people. They are small. George and Lyla started a business that is headed for third generation ownership. My Grampa Chalk and Myrna bought the City Club in 1922 and it remained in the family for over 60 years. Kelly started her own Chiropractic practice. David Steger has started his own computer related business (he didn’t listen to his mom). Actually your mom started her Shaklee Distributorship but money was secondary to the benefits of the products.
“Pouring cash” comes from the multiple ways your own business can pay off. You usually can draw a salary. Assuming you are profitable, you can pull money out at the end of the year as a dividend or partnership distribution. As the business grows, more cash can follow growth and you can drive a company Porsche (there is my dream car again). The ultimate payoff can come from selling your business at middle age for an obscene profit, wiring the proceeds to an account in the Cayman Islands and then sucking Mint Juleps for the rest of your life on a south sea island.
The entrepreneurial mind doesn’t see roadblocks. Only opportunity. They don’t know 9 out 10 new business ventures fail. They don’t see the problem in raising money to start a venture. They will find cash some-place. There is a passion to build something. They usually are not familiar with the word “no”.
So if there is passion within you to build something, call Bob and Mary for fiancial support. My cask doesn’t have venture capital in it to chase some wild ass venture.
Love
Dad (Just Chas.)

First, one of the Grasshoppers turned 41 on Feb.7. Happy Birthday! I know it was a festive occasion. The cake was delicious.
Second, I need to clean up some errors and misconceptions about my last writing on “Paychecks!”. I mis-spelled Porsche. I can’t believe that I could make such a mistake. I left out the “c”. If you are going to have snob appeal, you want to spell Porsche correctly. I also indicated that if you made $1000 per week, the medicare health insurance deduction was 1.65% of the total. Well it is really 1.45%. So instead of a deduction of $16.50 it is only $14.50. A gain of $2.00. I want to be correct. I apparently created some feelings of quiet desperation when I said that the federal tax deduction would be 20% or $200. Because the marginal federal tax bracket up to $58,000 is only 15% and you get to take deductions for those kiddies and mortgages and state tax payments, the deduction from you $1,000 per week would only be around $100 per payday. So Grasshopper No. 5, out of $1,000 you would take home a net of $683.50 instead of the meager $581.50. That should make you feel better.
Now a quick note on taxes. I know most of you do your own federal and state taxes. Most steps are pretty simple. After you calculate the total federal tax for the year, USE THAT NUMBER TO DETERMINE YOUR 2005 DEDUCTION ON YOUR PAYCHECK. For example, if your federal tax obligation this year was $3,000 divide that by 52 weeks and that should be your deduction on your paycheck. That comes to $58.00 per week for those of you with a calculator. Do the same with your state deduction.
I know it feels good to get a large tax refund at the end of the year. From a pure money management standpoint, if you are having too much deducted off each paycheck, you are letting the government use your money for free. That is not good management. I always errored on the side of a SLIGHT REFUND but I would cut it pretty close. I wanted more money in my pocket during the year and I didn’t plan on a big refund.
Another key to getting rich, YOU MANAGE YOUR MONEY, DON’T LET THE GOVENMENT DO IT. Dah!
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)

In the musical “The Music Man” there is a scene where gossipy old ladies sing “Pick a little, talk a little, cheep cheep cheep”. It serves as a perfect lead in to an analogy for your paycheck (those of you who have one).
When you are employed by someone you receive a paycheck for your services weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly. It is the financial fulfillment of your employment contract. Of course there are many intangibles such as job fullfillment, goal achievement and comradere. Ha. Ha. Ha.
Let’s assume you get $1,000 per week for your services. Here it is okay to have automatic deposit into your checking account on payday. If you are sick or out of town or on vacation, your money is there for you. I use to get my paycheck and cash it on bus on the way home.
Now for my analogy. The government, the bureaucrats, and the company all have plans to reduce your $1,000. They “pick a little, take a little, and chip chip chip” at your money.
First is social security. It is a 6.2% and goes to pay for my retirement. $62. Thank You. I did it for 37 years.
Then there is 1.65% for medicare insurance. $16.50.
Oh yes, you filled out a W-4 for dependents which determines how much Federal Tax is deducted. You have no idea what you were doing! Lets say you have 20% taken off for Federal Tax or $200.
Because you live in Wisconsin, State Tax is required. Another 5%. Good-bye $50.
One of the benefits of working for a business enterprise is that normally you are allowed to participate in the health plan. It is a good benefit but employees need to pay part of the monthly premium. Let’s say $50 per paycheck. Not an unusual amount.
Then there is the opportunity to set aside money into a 401k plan which is not subject to tax but it comes out of your pay and you get it when you are 59.5 years old or retire. Many companies match. Lets say the company matches you dollar for dollar up to 4%. So $40 more is set aside out of your paycheck.
There are life insurance opportunities, medical savings accounts and other potential deductions to ravage your $1,000.
If I calculated correctly, there would be $418.50 deducted from your $1,000. You get in your hand, $581.50. Jesus! It is like a train wreck. The good news is that some of the money went to your retirement through social security and the 401k is your money if you ever leave the company and it was a good investment. You need the medical coverage so it is fair for participation in a group plan.
Then when you take the $581.50 home, some of the money goes for sales tax on essential products and property tax is part of every mortgage payment. Then you have wife and kids needing care. Then the church wants money. And then you dream of the Porshe Cheyenne that you will never own.
Did you notice how nicely the saga of the paycheck fits “pick a little, take a little, chip chip chip”.
Don’t despair. Gets raises. Earn more. Do the 2 income family bit. Eventually you’ll have lots of discretionary money and you can support your parents in their old age.
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)

First a story from the wilds of Minnesota. Grasshopper No. 5 has been trying to change her billing on cable service from “automatic electronic payment” each month to a regular bill received by mail. She must have anticipated my rant on “never give anyone automatic access to your money”. Well, in November she called to change to manual bill. Guess what? In December they still took electronic payment. I don’t even know the excuse she was given. Then she called again and she was given assurance that it would change. Again in January, it was electronic deduction from her account. She has called again and you have to wait until February to learn that it hasn’t changed. DON’T GIVE PEOPLE AUTOMATIC ACCESS TO YOUR ACCOUNTS. I don’t care how easy it is to do or how many stamps you save.
Now THE HABIT. I’m talking of course about the SAVINGS HABIT. Here is another key to getting rich. Develop a boring, regular, disciplined savings habit. It is a mental determination to steadily set aside money.
Why set aside money? Your refrigerator craps out after 25 years. Car prices have gone up and you need a bigger downpayment. Your insurance rates just increased. You got your December gas bill and you can’t believe how big it is. You need a new furace. You lose your job and you’ve got to eat or make payments on your new Honda. You get the idea.
First, Andrews rule is to try to save a minimum of 5% of “after tax” income. Suppose you earn $1,500 every two weeks. Most financial people tell you that should set aside 10% of “pre-tax” income. I’ve always disliked 10% of pre-tax because those aren’t dollars I can touch. What I can touch is my “take home pay” or after tax dollars. $1,500 pre-tax translates to $1,150 after tax. 5% of after tax is $57.50 per payday and at 26 times per year, you’ll save the minimum of $1,495.00 per year. You can buy a lot with $1495. If you could save 10% of after tax income you have $2,990 per year.
My personal habit was to open a savings account at a separate bank or credit union and on each payday actually drive to the institution and make a savings deposit. Notice the word habit again. I liked seeing my new balance with each deposit and I earned interest on top of it. By driving to the institution, I was making a conscious statement to myself.
With this habit, you are filling the cask steadily. You aren’t depending on any sign from heaven. We’ll figure out what to do with the money as it builds up to a significant amount later.
Then, don’t touch your savings unless it is an emergency. An emergency is not new DVD’s, an extra Xmas gift or a trip to the mall. An emergency is an expense that your regular paycheck doesn’t cover. To use Paul’s rule, don’t use it for a “want”, only a “need”. And if you are going to withdraw from savings, drive to the savings institution and make a conscious withdrawal. Hopefully, it is painful.
Knowing your cask is steadily filling can be fun and satisfying. It also means you are spending less than you earn. Dah!
Make sure you develop a your annoying HABIT!
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)

No grashoppers, conundrum is not about practicing safe sex. It is a word that describes the confusion that many have discerning the difference between CASH FLOW and NET WORTH.
I described cash and it’s nature last time. Now it is on to NET WORTH. It is the most important concept I will discuss on this blog. As all of you toil to become rich, the measure of that WEALTH is financially described as NET WORTH.
Net Worth is the concept of taking everything that belongs to you and putting it on a pile. Then you reduce the pile by the amount that you owe to other people. Anything that is left is NET WORTH. That is different than cash. For example, you could be making $100,000 per year but have so many debts that the income won’t cover all the payments. Cash flow is very good. Net Worth stinks.
The assets that you put on your pile are money in savings accounts, equity in insurance policies, 401k plans at work and your first born. Just kidding about the first born. The only way a first born would be important to net worth is if they promise to support you in your old age. Even your car. Actually you put your house on the pile at market value. Say it is worth $100,000 and you only owe $50,000, that asset actually contributes $50,000 to you wealth or NET WORTH.
Everybody should sit down and list all your assets. Then you should list everything you owe. Then close your eyes and pray. Do you have a positive NET WORTH? You can see that cash is only one component of net worth and the only cash that really counts is money you don’t need to live on. Do it. Calculate your net worth. If you need help, let me know. This is another key to your getting rich. Always know your net worth.
Some people calculate the net worth annually. Some do it monthly. Some are so sophiscated that the numbers are updated daily for things such as stocks, bonds, and retirement programs. Being anal retentive, I check it weekly.
Your assignment if you should accept the challenge, is to calculate your NET WORTH. It is the most important term in finance. Hopefully you are worth something. Notice the clever play on words.
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)

Before I begin my ramblings on “cash”, I need to share Jane Bryant Quinn’s (she is a financial author) observation on controlling the spigot on your cask. There are only 3 reasons NOT TO CONTROL YOUR SPIGOT:
1. You are so rich you can buy anything you want and you still have plenty of money left over in your cask.
2. She forgot the other two reasons.
Cash has always been a dilemma for me. The only cash that ever seemed real was the dollar bills I carried in my pocket. I could buy a dairy queen, pay for my golf, go out to lunch and even buy a Starbucks coffee whenever I wanted. You get the idea. It is a low level of power in a sense because it was my money and I could do what-ever I wanted with it. I could touch it, feel it, and count it.
Cash is also available from a savings account. Somehow that was never the same as the cash in my pocket but it is cash never the less. I guess in my mind, savings meant is was set aside for future uses. Like down payments on houses, boats and cars. Like tuition for Catholic private school systems. Like weddings and graduations. Like repair of my cars when someone backs into them in my own backyard. Never the less, I could get in my car, go to the local credit union and withdraw savings anytime I wanted. It is cash, but different.
Cash is good. Cash is power. Terry Kohler’s dad had several rules concerning money and one was “never snear at cash” meaning if someone pays you in cash, take it.
The textbook definition of cash is that it is money in coin or bills. My defintion of cash is anything you can get you hands on in several days. My list for cash:
1. Cash in bills or coin
2. Checking account – can be converted to cash immediately
3. ATM – Withdraw anytime
4. Money Market Funds – always get check writing privleges and these
funds pay interest.
5. Debit Cards – Immediate deduct from your checking account.
6. Credit Cards – They buy things now like cash, but you don’t have
to pay until later. Dangerous cash!
7. Savings Accounts. Go ahead. Drive down to the bank, credit union
or Savings and loan and make a withdrawal. Or transfer to
checking electronically.
8. Instruments that are the same as cash. Stocks for example can be
sold with a telephone call and deposited in your checking
account in 3 days. To me that is the same as cash but there is a
time delay.
Your mother defined cash as green paper that you can touch and crinkle and has power. And you thought she didn’t understand cash.
Don’t confuse cash with wealth. Wealth or Net Worth is the subject of another musing. For example, you could have $1,000 in you pocket and think you were flush. At the same time you are past due on your mortgage payment of $1,000 so in essense you are worth nothing but can touch and feel the $1,000. There is no power in that! Paul would say that is an unrealistic example because who could ever get $1000 in their pocket? Ha.
Your paychecks are new cash into your “cask system”. The money already lying around in your cask is “old cash”.
Cash is good. It creates good feelings. It gives you the power to buy things. Get as much of it as you can. Here is another key to getting rich. FILL YOUR CASKS WITH CASH.
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)

There is no “stupid” question. In fact that is the purpose of this forum: to share information and ask questions that you might not be able to ask elsewhere. Grasshopper No.4 (there are 5 Grasshoppers) asked “what is the definition of enough cash in the cask as it relates to retirement”. The little green guy wants a number. Well, here it is. You have some idea of how much money you need TODAY to live comfortably. Let’s say that number you know today is $50,000 per year. How much money would you have to have invested generating 5% return that would give you $50,000 per year. I know all the algebraic minds are already dividing $50,000 by .05 to get an even 1 million in today’s dollars. You are correct! But wait, most of the Grasshoppers have 20-30 years until they retire so they will need to take the $1 million and increase by the 3% average yearly inflation times the number or years until retirement. Probably close to $2 million dollars in FUTURE dollars. Don’t dismay, the money you put aside each year should gain an average of 11.3% each year over the long pull. Those are proven statistical numbers. The numbers you could achieve boggle the mind. Now lets get real, if you fall short of your goal and social security still exists, it will pay you and your spouse $20,000 to $25,000 per year(today’s dollars) so you only have to save half what you thought. Then in retirment, you should be able to live on 80% of your current annual expenses. And then, if you work part time, you’d need to save less. You get the idea. Calculate your own number Grasshoppers.
The last posting “Fill’er Up” just discussed the many ways to generate income. Since you’ve all got a 3 month budget broken into timely monthly buckets or something else that makes sense to you, we have to line up actually cash coming in from jobs to match the money we know is going out. IT IS A TIMING THING. Expenses are neat and clean because they mostly occur monthly, quarterly, or annually. Income usually comes in two week increments. That means the paycheck can arrive at awkward times and some months you’ll get 3 paychecks rather than 2 (26 checks over 12 months). If you can live on two paychecks per month, that extra paycheck twice per year could be surplus and stay in the cask. Here is a key. IF POSSIBLE, SAVE THE EXTRA PAYCHECKS. My simple answer for aligning uneven money coming into the cask with the flow out through the spigot is to have the equivalent of one extra paycheck always sitting in the cask. Then you don’t have to get real clever with your expense payments. Of course you can also plan using exact days for inflows, exact days for outflows and spend hours trying to balance everything. There is the risk that the time required for this last “finite” balancing might jeopardize potential romance. You decide!
You should now have a budget for 3 months showing all flows from the cask and your own clever way of pouring new cash into the cask over that same period of time. You’ve got to achieve BALANCE OF INFLOW AND OUTFLOW ON A MONTHLY BASIS.
I think Debs gets paid every two weeks as does Chris and Margaret. Kelly has a varying income stream and I think Jenny’s is every two weeks. I don’t know of any monthly salaries. Monthly salaries are easy.
I don’t feel I explained the timing of inflows very well so if you need more, let me know.
Fill up your casks.
Love
Dad (Just Chas.)

I blew up my blog with one click of a mouse this date. Thanks to the designer of my often read blog, I am now back in business. Sometimes financial plans blowup like that.
We talked about controlling the flow of money out of your cask last time (managing expenses). I promised to talk about filling the cask.
Filling the cask takes HARD WORK. Kiplingers magazine wrote an article profiling people that had become rich, in essence they had filled their cask. I looked for ways to transform their experiences into something that might be meaningful for you. It was not useful unless:
1. One guy had written the song “Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer” and made millions. He borrowed $40,000 to get promo copies made.
2. One guy beat out 9000 contestants to get on the Amazing Race TV show and won a million dollars. What are the odds?
3. One gal liked to cook and was always upset she couldn’t buy unique cooking instruments so she designed her own. She sold her company called the Pampered Chef for $700 million dollars. Yeah, right.
I guess the message is THERE ARE A LOT OF WAYS TO FILL THE CASK. Each of you needs to find your own way. I know hard work, continuing education, and pursuing goals are part of it. You can marry it like I did (ha-ha). You can win the lottery. You can inherit it (Kelly says big deal, one fifth of nothing is nothing). Or you can get it the old fashion way, YOU CAN EARN IT.
Filling up the cask should not be all consuming. It needs to be balanced with all the other things in life like family, friends, and hobbies.
Another key to getting rich is to HAVE MORE COMING IN THAN IS GOING OUT. Dah!
I was fortunate to have jobs that paid pretty well but I maintianed restraint. Our first cottage was a “fixer upper”. Our first boat had a broken transome. Our houses were always older with character! Instead of BMW’s, we had camaro’s and station wagons. But somehow everybody seemed to grow up okay, each with their own pschological hang-ups (which is normal).
Paul keeps wanting to know what my financial goals were. I did have an exact dollar number (which I exceeded) but my ultimate goals was to be able to live in retirement without changing my lifestyle. So far that has come true but if medical costs keep rising, all bets are off.
Key concepts to filling the cask are:
Hard Work,
Continuing education,
Believing in yourself,
Doing something you enjoy,
Having financial goals,
Perseverence.
GO FORTH AND DO YOUR THING!
Love
Dad (Just Chas.)

Today we talk about spigot control. For those of you that don’t know, a spigot is a small wooden peg usually at the bottom of a cask (a name for barrel). We are going to use the analogy of the barrel to describe where your vast financial cash income resources are poured into regularly. We are going to open the bottom spigot carefully to pay the bills. Remember I said I would get to filling the barrel later. I elected to start with letting money out through the spigot first.
I also pick the cask as the holder of your money. I figure a cask was originally used to hold alcoholic beverages and if everything turns to shit, we could use it for the original purpose and get drunk.
PLAN YOUR EXPENDITURES OUT 3 MONTHS. The majority of your expenditures are on a monthly basis and you can predict very close, the total of most expenditures. I am not going to tell you how to develop a format because Paul will put it on the computer (he doesn’t know how to use a pencil), Chris will probably go to an evelope system and who the hell knows how Margaret will do it. I will tell you how I do it, then you can design your own system.
I actually plan out each month with two parts. I did it that way because I got paid with two pay checks each month and I could match up my paychecks with expenses. Each month is divided into expenses paid from the 1st to the 15th and then from the 16th to the 31st. No wise ass remarks about what if the month is only 28 or 30 days long. YOUR NEED TO KNOW EXACTLY WHEN EACH BILL COMES DUE EACH MONTH. If it comes due in the first half of the month, that is where I log it, and the same with the second half obligations. ALWAYS PAY YOUR BILLS 5 DAYS BEFORE DUE. Don’t play the “postmark game” or wait until the last minute. Examples of monthly expenses are phone bills, cable bills, natural gas bills, electric bills, and yes credit card bills. Some bills vary monthly such as electricity (unless you budget even payments) so you should plan based on what you know. I actually BUDGET AN AMOUNT OF DISCRETIONARY MONEY that your mother and I put in our wallet in each one-half monthly period. It is ours individually. No questions asked. If it isn’t spent it belongs to us. I can tell you it is never enough but it is yours. Piss it away if you want.
With the ninety day budget, you can lay into the correct time period, quarterly and annual costs. For me, quarterly includes auto insurance, Appleton water and sewer, and newspapers. Annual expenses are usually few but a magazine subscription or a donation because you tithe to the church (ha-ha, I can’t stop laughing) or property taxes are examples.
NEVER LET A PAYMENT BE TAKEN AUTOMATICALLY FROM YOUR CASK. Because you don’t always know the amounts to be taken such as from a phone company, don’t give anyone automatic access to your cask. Never, never, never. If you want to pay electronically, okay. It is your wooden cask and nobody touches it without your permission.
IF YOU MUST USE YOUR CREDIT CARD, immediately log the receipt amount into the time period when you know it must be paid. That way you always know your status on the card and you also can match the period ending statement. I know it is a pain in the ass. You want to get rich. HERE IS ANOTHER KEY. Always know what your expense obligation is and control it.
Your assignment (only if you don’t already have a budget) is to put together you 3 month projection of expenses. This almost sounds like Mission Impossible, your assignment if you chose, is to do a budget. Item by Item. Month by month. Do it! Ask me questions. This is one important exercise.
I know this is boring stuff. Making money is boring.
Also inspect you barrel. Make sure that it doesn’t have any leaks. YOU DON’T WANT YOUR BARREL TO HAVE A HOLE IN IT.
Love,
Dad (Just Chas.)

Here we go again. I wrote the epistole for this date and it locked up my web site and disappeared in to the writers abyss. So I am going to do it again. Margaret pulled me to safety.
I have a mental agenda that I have been following and I hate to deviate but what the hell, a one time rant won’t hurt.
I previously idenitfied car salesmen as bottom dwelling scum suckers. They were in the company of real estate and insurance sales people and graphic designers. Just kidding about graphic designers. I wanted to see if you were reading carefully. The worst bottom dwelling scum suckers are the FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS THAT OFFER CREDIT CARDS.
Every household gets offered 50 credit cards per year. It seems like more. 73% of all households hold credit cards. 65% of all credit cards are on a revolving balance (they don’t pay them off monthly). AND the average household has 7-8 different cards. That last statistic just blows my mind.
Okay, okay, okay, here is how it works. Some smiling BANK or FINANCIAL INSTITUTION lets you know that you are elgible for $3000 credit, no questions asked. You respond and say ME? Sure enough in the mail, you get a personalized card and 10 pages of terms and conditions. They care about YOU.
And then you use it. Amazingly the balance is beyond what you can pay. So you pay the minimum. You also pay up to 28% interest charges. You pay late fees and penalties and if you read the fine print, they can take you first born. The real bottom dwelling scum sucking people have showed up. Wait a minute. That almost sounds like a car salesman.
ANDREWS RULES (the first one will surprise you):
1. NEVER CARRY MORE THAN 2 CREDIT CARDS. Notice I did not say
destroy all cards. They are convenient and if paid on time,
they let you use your money for up to 50 days.
2. DON’T USE CARDS IF YOU CAN’T PAY IN FULL when due.
3. The corollary to paying in full is NEVER, EVER PAY INTEREST ON
A CREDIT CARD. Charging up to 28% interest to use the card
along with penalities and other hidden fees is insane.
You are all looking for the magic key to getting rich. I just gave you a key. Paying charges on any credit card is not the way to do it. You can’t earn 28% on your money so why should you pay the bank that much. The Bank pays you 1-2% on your savings account. Why can they earn 28% and you earn 2%? So the next time you are offered a credit card by a nice loving company (they live on the bottom sucking scum), say no thanks just like you did to the car salesman.
There I feel better. I finished my rant. I use credit cards. Your mother uses credit cards. WE DON’T PAY INTEREST CHARGES.
So for those of you out there that think I don’t know what it is like to live moment to moment, you are wrong. How often have you heard “I don’t know how I would have survived with my cards”. You didn’t survive. You were being pulled into a financial quagmire.
I’m waiting for someone to argue with me. This is open forum!
Dad (Just Chas.)