Missing Money, Multi-level Marketing and More @ The Roundup

by Silicon Valley Blogger on April 20, 2008

Personal Finance Reads

  • Lazy Man and Money: How often have you attended gatherings which turned into an excuse for a multi-level marketing presentation? In my case, once too often. Can I get back those 2 hours of my life please?

  • Money Smart Life: By the time your kids turn 5, it can be time to start teaching them a little about money and simple finances. Here are 10 ways to introduce your children to personal finance!

  • Gen X Finance: And I thought that the idea of treating home equity as cash was passe, especially now that we’re in the midst of the subprime mortgage meltdown. But given these advertisements, perhaps that’s not the case.

  • The Sun’s Financial Diary: Sun compares the Chinese currency (RMB) against the US Dollar and has some insights on the exchange rate.

  • Free Money Finance: I just had to link to a post about Brad Pitt, for obvious AND not-so-obvious reasons. Brad Pitt is apparently a role model for frugality.

  • Five Cent Nickel: If you’re expecting a tax refund this year, here are 10 things you can do with it!

  • Mighty Bargain Hunter: If you perform financial transactions online, you may be interested to hear about someone’s opinions on Paypal and the pay by credit card option they provide.

  • No Credit Needed: For a small departure from financial talk, I wanted to share with you NCN’s happy announcement: he just brought home his new baby! His 3rd child is a girl! What wonderful news — babies are such a blessing! Congratulations man.

  • Million Dollar Journey: Frugal Trader steps us through how to calculate our adjusted cost basis, which in turn leads us to figure out “how to calculate our capital gains when we make multiple stock purchases at different prices over the years.”

  • My Dollar Plan: Could you be missing some money? I know I have some I-bonds tucked away somewhere…. ;) In all seriousness, it’s pretty common for people to “misplace” some financial information and even accounts they’ve opened in the past. Make sure you keep good records to avoid such an expensive loss!

  • Brip Blap: Oh gosh… I feel semi-guilty reading Brip Blap’s advice here (or rant?) against television watching. I am a certified, serious couch potato of the highest order and I cannot be torn away from my programs. Does it affect my productivity? Perhaps to some extent, but I find that it’s the best way for me to unwind and get my brain juices back. Maybe it all depends on the person?

  • Arkansas Business Blog: Thank you to Lance Turner for featuring my post on how to earn more and spend less.

Lots of Additional Readings!

Recent Carnivals

If you enjoyed this post, you can get free regular updates through our RSS Feed, or you can have our latest posts delivered to your email inbox by supplying your address here. Your address will only be used for this purpose, and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Categorized under: Money Articles

Related Posts:

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Margaret April 20, 2008 at 5:53 pm

Hi there,
Thanks for linking to me. :-)
-Margaret

2 Fiscal Musings April 20, 2008 at 6:29 pm

Thanks for the mention. It’s great to be included with all the other great articles.

3 fathersez April 20, 2008 at 7:12 pm

Thanks, Ma’am for the mention.

Best regards

4 ericabiz April 20, 2008 at 9:24 pm

Hi! As a fellow Silicon Valley girl, I’d really appreciate your opinion about my latest post:

http://www.erica.biz/2008/how-can-you-have-that-perfect-flow-state-more-often/

It’s about my journey toward hiring a personal assistant. I would value your opinion on whether you would do something like this, even though it isn’t necessarily the traditional “frugal” choice — especially since you’re now focusing much more on working from home.

Cheers, and good luck!
-Erica

5 MoneyBlogga April 21, 2008 at 7:11 am

Re: the MLM juice drinks …

Personally, I’m not in a position to be able to spend $250 on 2 cases of Xango (made from the mangosteen). But, that’s what I did recently. A fool and his money indeed.

A family member tries every MLM scheme going, including Amway and Quixtar, and Xango is the latest wagon this family member has jumped on. One of my immediate family has a serious health issue and my Xango Family Member implored me to try the mangosteen juice drink. $250 later, I have 2 cases delivered even though inside I am quietly seething.

Less than 10 days later, Xango billed (soaked) me again for another $250. I’ve heard this is a common way for this company to get some big money in the first month – they bill you automatically THREE times: First, when you order. Second, about two weeks later because of the “billing cycle”, and third on the anniversary of the first billing. You get your product but, in my case, I would’ve been out $750. So, I cancelled when I saw that second charge because I realized I was being soaked by a money grubbing “company” for whom the product was not even primary. Xango’s primary concern is to keep the MLM going.

Called my bank to cancel, and was told by the Fraud Dept that the bank receives far too many complaints about Xango MLM. The bank followed procedure regarding Xango and cancelled my card so that Xango cannot charge it again – apparently, Xango has found a way to charge even NEW cards when the old card hasn’t been cancelled properly by the bank’s Fraud Dept.

All I was looking for was a health fix for a family member. I was sold on the juice drink by my family member who shamelessly made some grand claims regarding what the drink had done for her. Thinking about it, though, she lives a very clean and disciplined lifestyle ANYWAY.

Yes,a fool and his money. I am out $250 on the first case and 90% on the second case after returning it plus shipping. I’m still waiting for my refund on the second case from Xango. When all’s said and done, I’ll be out over $300 just for trying to be diplomatic to a family member who will probably stop talking to me now anyway. Can’t win.

6 Brip Blap April 21, 2008 at 8:30 pm

Hey, if TV relaxes you, watch it! I just think that too often people THINK it relaxes them when really they’d be more relaxed taking a shower or reading a book.

But if you get a kick out of a program, watch it. Just make sure it’s a good one, like a Jets game :) or The Colbert Report.

Steve

Leave a Comment