MetaFilter posts tagged with finances

online services and tools

nickyskye — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:50:16 -0800

200+ Tools for Surviving the Economic Crisis l Free printable Basic Budgeting Worksheet l Building Your First Budget l How To Create a Budget l How to Make a Budget and Stick to It l Frugal Family Recipes. MetaFilter Wiki: Cooking On a Budget

An Inconvenient Audit

Kadin2048 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:49:58 -0800

The Pentagon's $1 Trillion Problem. Even as the Defense Department prepares to send Congress its $481.4B FY2008 budget request, it also prepares to admit -- for the 18th year in a row -- that its finances are in such poor shape that it is effectively impossible to audit or account for over a trillion dollars in past expenses. "For the first three quarters of 2007, $1.1 trillion in Army accounting entries hadn't been properly reviewed and substantiated, according to the Department of Defense's inspector general. In 2006, $258.2 billion of recorded withdrawals and payments from the Army's main account were unsupported. It's as if the Army had submitted multibillion-dollar expense reports without any receipts." Not that it's a new problem, however: "In 1990, Congress enacted legislation requiring all federal agencies to pass independent audits. Every year, the Defense inspector general dispatched dozens of auditors to the military's financial and accounting centers. Every year, they reported back that the job couldn't be done. Defense Department records were in such disarray and were so lacking in documentation that any attempt would be futile. In 2000, the inspector general told Congress that his auditors stopped counting after finding $2.3 trillion in unsupported entries made to force financial data to agree." Annual audits were suspended indefinitely in 2002. And in an interesting historical note: the 'Mechanization of Contract Administration Services' (MOCAS) system, which "pays invoices and vouchers for hardware supplies and services"*, was originally brought on-line in 1958, making it half a century old this year.

“I can’t afford my wife.”

LadyBonita — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:16:58 -0800

25 Anonymous Money Confessions A photo essay courtesy of the Personal Finance Advice blog.

You think you got it bad? Talk to the kid.

jbickers — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:25:24 -0800

"I have $334,442 in 'bad debt' (I’m not counting even my student loans in that figure). It’s likely that this blog will not last long, because its more likely that I am not going to make it." The journey of the "Debt Kid," who ended up with more than $300,000 of personal debt from playing the stock market. He's 23 years old. "I don’t have a choice to succeed or not. I have to succeed. To have any chance of a 'normal' life (wife, kids, ect), my business has to succeed. I’ve promised to pay my mother back (I owe her over 100K). I have to succeed." Suddenly, paying off a few thousand dollars in debt doesn't seem so impossible.

$78 Million worth of Red Tape

jonson — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:38:17 -0800

$78 Million worth of Red Tape. An amazing (and lengthy) LA Times article that provides an extremely rare glimpse into the finances of a major motion picture, with a line item dissection of the $160 Million disaster Sahara. The items include $230,000+ for bribes to local officials, $2 Million for a 45 second plane crash sequence cut from the final film, and 3.8 Million to a total of 10 different screenwriters for a movie that eventually went on to be one of the largest (in pure dollar terms - not adjusted for inflation) financial disasters in film making history.

Estonian trader hack nets 7.8 million

Muirwylde — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 21:12:03 -0800

Oh, the tangled webs we weave when we practice to deceive... Two traders with Estonias most prestigious financial firm spider the Business Wire website and manage to read headlines of impending news stories effectively enabling them to time the market to the tune of 7.8 million in profit...

Financial sensibility... in America? Wow!

zoogleplex — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 16:16:03 -0800

This is not science fiction. It's really happening. (Links to Slate article) Apparently contrary to expectations, Americans seem to be exercising financial sense and paying down their credit card debt. Well, how about that! :) Anyone else here doing this?

What the Bubble Got Right

tippiedog — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 15:05:41 -0800

What the (Internet) Bubble Got Right Paul Graham has written a thought-provoking essay on the positive lessons we should have taken away from the Internet bubble of the late 90s.

Life and Debt

BlueTrain — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 12:56:13 -0800

An interesting study by The Century Foundation. I found it while perusing the NY Times op-eds...specifically, Bob Herbert. It seems that "Household debt and personal bankruptcies are reaching record highs despite low interest rates and rising real estate values."

Quid Pro.

Blue Stone — Tue, 30 Sep 2003 17:19:44 -0800

Money Saving Expert is a site for UKians, to play the credit card game and win, save tax, understand consumer rights, and generally be more savvy in all things fiscal.

PayPal: Big Brother's Little Helper

substrate — Fri, 14 Mar 2003 04:33:19 -0800

Has PayPal's acceptable use policy become much broader recently? I just received notice of changes to PayPal's acceptable use policy. I was surprised at the number of things that they have restrictions on. One in particular seemed like the kiss of death: No porn for you unless it's from eBay's Mature section. Won't somebody think of the cam girls? With many banks now offering some sort of internet check-writing facility is PayPal really even a valid business model anymore outside of eBay?

The Guardian's Money IQ test

salmacis — Thu, 13 Mar 2003 11:50:16 -0800

Are you paid what you're worth? This little IQ test, asks your salary (in pounds) and calculates whether you are overpaid or underpaid with respect to your intelligence. It's obviously not scientific (the test is not timed), and you can argue about how the ability to do IQ tests correlates with your ability to do a job. I predict that the vast majority here will have a coefficient well over 0. [From the Guardian]

condour75 — Fri, 18 Oct 2002 16:11:29 -0800

Who's destined to be a millionaire? A little Friday night Calvinism from the people at Marketplace.

BGM — Thu, 29 Aug 2002 17:35:12 -0800

This explains everything! Mystified by the recent flurry of corporate meltdowns? Do you find yourself thinking: "Are those CEOs CRAZY?" Well maybe they are!

kliuless — Tue, 12 Feb 2002 07:53:46 -0800

House set to vote on campaign finance reform It would be the biggest overhaul of the nation's campaign finance laws since Watergate. "We should win it," Shays, R-Conn., said Monday. "We've had the votes in the past and, frankly, I think our cause is just." Some people are against it.

hellinskira — Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:20:20 -0800

Why we are stupid with money and will never learn any better. Not even from three-card monte (those bastards). "I'll trade you this two hundred dollars for that banana." "Done and done."

headspace — Fri, 21 Dec 2001 02:26:16 -0800

Wooden Stakes? Deductible! What's the best way to make financial planning an accessible topic to young adults? Get a handful of CPAs together to examine the Vampire Slayer's cash flow problem, of course! (Via The Usual Suspects)

twistedonion — Tue, 09 Oct 2001 08:22:18 -0800

Costly habits. Are you broke again? Don't know where your money is going? Take a look at what you're spending your money on. Chances are, if you're supporting bad habits such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, or using marijuana or other illicit substances, you're spending quite a chunk of change. If you don't believe it, try out this expense calculator and see how much money you could be spending on something else!

tranquileye — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 10:51:33 -0800

The problem isn't too much greed, but too much cowardly greed. "Spineless lenders, weak-kneed investors and meddling regulators intent on reducing risk pose a greater threat to the global economy than the volatile financial markets... 'The critic's image of the global financial markets as a giant casino is wrong," [writes British financial writer Daniel Ben-Ami], 'On the contrary, the modern financial markets are more often characterized by a fear of risk-taking than a reckless disregard for danger.'"

4midori — Wed, 09 May 2001 11:46:15 -0800

Finances can be a sticky issue in relationships
Can you pay my bills?
Can you pay my telephone bills?
Can you pay my automo-bills?
If you did then maybe we could chill
I don't think you do
So, you and me are through

Can I get paid to write stuff like this? And just how would one get started?