Young people don’t take enough financial risk
NY Times, Youth Is Wasted on the Generation Y Investor:
But what’s unsettling is that even though most young workers realize that they’re on their own when it comes to saving for retirement, many of those investing in 401(k)’s haven’t a clue how to allocate their funds. The average Gen Y worker puts about 35 cents of every investment dollar into fixed-income options like bond funds and so-called stable-value funds, which are bond-like vehicles. This means the youngest workers are investing even more conservatively than their parents, who on average keep only 31.4 percent of their 401(k) money in bonds, according to Hewitt.
My 401k contributions are diversified as follows (notice no fixed income):
| % | Type | Fund |
| 10 | Company stock | MSFT |
| 25 | Large Cap | Fidelity Contrafund |
| 20 | Mid Cap | Artisan Mid Cap |
| 25 | Small Cap | Royce Low Price Stock |
| 20 | International | ING International Value |
Spring is here
So it’s time to start thinking about the boat. Wakeside just sent me an email about the new Elevate V-Drive Ballast System. 1500 lbs in 6 minutes. Very tempting.
While I’m dreaming, also on my summer wishlist is a 3 vent heater, new alternator, second amp, dual batteries, new cover and repairs to my exhaust system.
Comments(2)Valet Parking At Work
My building at work now has valet parking. And you don’t have to tip!
Yes, I know, I should be taking the bus more, but as a PM I often have to travel to other buildings that aren’t necessarily on our main campus and unfortunately our company transit system hasn’t evolved to the point where it’s dependable for inter-campus travel, therefore, I need a car at work to get to and from meetings.
(File this post under, you know you’re working for a big company when…)
Hockey night in the suburbs
The last two nights we had hockey games at 11:05pm in Kent some thirty minutes south of Seattle. Of course this means I don’t get home until at least 12:30-1am and then I can’t sleep since I’m all wound up.
Unfortunately tonight, the Red Army, the number one team in our division lost our second playoff game in a row and we are now out. The first game we lost 7-8, tonights game we lost in 2-3 in overtime; after 5 minutes sudden death (which we started with a power play because one of their players got a penalty for punching me (I did not retailiate)) we cycled through 12 players in a shoot out! Grrrrrrr. And we out shot them 40-20.
I’d also like to mention that one piece composite sticks are way better than cheap wood ones. After breaking my $150 CCM Vector stick, I spent three months playing with $25 wood sticks (broke two) and just recently got a RBK 7k Pro Lite to replace the CCM (the CCM warranty process is SLOW). This stick is sweet and a thousand times better than the wood ones. I know I don’t have a 70mph slapshot but these one pieces make for very crisp shots and passes. I will never go back to wood again.
Car rifled through
Saturday night my car got rifled through (in my secure parking garage). Unfortunately I had absentmindly left my new sunglasses in there so now they’re gone along with my iPod charger. Certainly not the end of the world and better than having my window broken like my neighbors car.
Oddly enough they popped off part of the ignition but failed to actually start the car. They must be morons since you just have to put a screw driver in the ignition and turn it.
Passport
I got a new passport today, which is great news since the old one was set to expire at the end of this month.
During the whole renewal process I was disappointed to find out I couldn’t expedite the process (you can only expedite in person), and I was shocked to find out it cost $44 to FedEx my application to Canada.
Wingdome update
I got a long and thoughtful email back from Karen, the Wingdome founder. Look for some improvements soon!
…I never thought I’d get into wings. Initially I thought they were pretty disgusting and too much work for too little meat. But sure enough after weeks and weeks of my friends ordering wings during college (OMG, I just subconciously wrote college instead of university!) at Weavers, and then McMullin’s, they gradually grew on me. To the point where I risk heart disease and spend hours stalking the founder online in order to find her email.
Dear Wingdome
Hi Karen (owner of the Wingdome chain),
Every Monday my flatmate and I place the same order from the Capitol Hill Wing Dome, 15 #4 and 15 #3. We’ve been getting wings pretty much from the day this Wingdome opened.
Our biggest issue with the wings is that there is no consistency from one Monday to the next. Some Mondays the wings are big. Some Mondays the wings are small. Some Mondays when we ask for extra saucy they actually are, but often times they’re not. Some Mondays they mix up our order. We either get all #4 or all #3 (even though the boxes are correctly labeled). Some Monday’s we have to get two pops. Some Monday’s only one. Some Monday’s the wait really is ten minutes, some Monday’s it’s much longer.
What’d we’d love to see is consistency so that every Monday we could be assured of the same great wing quality and we don’t need to worry about whether this is going to be a good week or a bad one.
Thanks,
Matt
PS. You really need to get your websites updated and online.
Real Estate Freakonomics
NY Times, Endangered Species:
Since an agent’s commission is usually based on a fixed percentage of the sale price — typically 5 or 6 percent, of which about half goes to the listing agent and half to the buyer’s agent — agents’ fees have climbed along with home prices, even though they probably don’t have to work any harder to sell an $800,000 house than they do a $200,000 house.