FiLife

Think you maintain a sustainable lifestyle because you put out the recycling and cruise to work in a hybrid? Maybe not, according to a free, online game called Consumer Consequences.

This short game asks you questions about your lifestyle, calculates your “ecological footprint” and tells you how many earths we’d need if every human lived exactly like you do. Consumer Consequences also lets you compare your results to those of other Americans who played the game, as well as to individual NPR radio show hosts. (Check it out fellow NPR nerds!) It was developed by American Public Media, the folks who created Marketplace and Weekend America.

The lifestyle questions are organized into a few different categories: living situation, energy consumption, trash habits, transportation requirements, diet and shopping preferences. As I clicked through them it became obvious that my lifestyle is not as green as it should be. It also occurred to me that a green lifestyle is actually a financially savvy way to live. (more…)

It’s time for the fightin’ Friday Fi-Ku. Drop in your own personal finance haikus (5-7-5) into the comments below and enjoy some of ours. Yumms!

Speed Racer out
Bummer that oil is high
Best to shop for gas.

Uma Thurman just
Can’t seem to stay out of court
Lawyer makes money!

Cyclone disaster
In Myanmar. Better make
A help donation.

Clinton takes out loan
Obama conservative?
Her house is worth lots.

Almost out of here
School done, blog up, Fi hugz all!
Off to the Journal!

-Mary Pilon

Illustration credit

(This article also ran in Slate today, just so you know.)

It’s not as if the Obamas are some modern-day version of the Clampetts, but compared with the competition, they’re at best nouveau riche. As recently as 2004, the Obamas’ adjusted gross income was $207,647, according to their federal tax returns. That’s much higher than the national median household income of $48,201, but for a family of four living in high-cost Chicago, $200K isn’t exactly rolling in it.

Which makes all the hubbub about Barack Obama’s elitism seem pretty hollow. “The irony is,” Obama said last week, “I think it is fair to say that both Michelle and I grew up in much less privileged circumstances than either of my two potential opponents.” Indeed, if Obama is the nominee and wins in November, he would have one of the most modest backgrounds of any president in recent memory; he has noted, for example, that his mother “had to go on food stamps at one point.”

Both Bushes came from family wealth, and Bill Clinton married Hillary Rodham, who would ultimately rake in more than $200K annually (in 1992 in Arkansas) while she was a partner at the Rose Law Firm. Ronald Reagan made money in movies before becoming president; we’d probably have to go back to submariner/peanut farmer Jimmy Carter or career soldier/college president Dwight Eisenhower to find another elected president whose financial picture was as comparatively humble.

But the increase in the Obamas’ wealth has been swift and strong. Their glory days started in 2005, when the couple earned $1.7 million. In 2006, they earned $983,000. Last year, they pulled down an impressive $4.1 million. And no, Tony Rezko had nothing to do with this: Obama’s newfound wealth comes from the success of his two books: Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope have sold more than 2.25 million copies since publication, according to Bookscan. Obama has not donated the proceeds from his books to charity, as John McCain has, but then Obama did not marry an heiress with $40 million in assets.

How do the Obamas invest their money? Very, very safely—like a couple who wants no risk of ever being middle-class again. There are no hedge funds, trusts, or other fancy alternative investments to speak of—just, for the most part, a collection of run-of-the-mill mutual funds. Unlike the average American, however, Sen. Obama had the wherewithal to save the maximum allowable amount ($45,000) in his retirement plan last year. The Obamas also had two sizable joint checking accounts at JPMorgan Chase ($100,001 to $250,000) and Northern Trust ($50,001 to $100,000) at year-end 2006, according to his Senate financial disclosure report (PDF). Perhaps they wanted to have enough cash readily available while they’re on the campaign trail?

For a couple in their mid-40s, the Obamas’ investment holdings are arguably too conservative. One of the single largest chunks of their money (between $150,000 and $350,000 as of year-end 2006) was invested in the Vanguard Wellington Fund, which has about 65 percent in stocks, 33 percent in bonds, and 2 percent in cash. Obama reportedly sold this fund after learning it was invested in Schlumberger Ltd., a French oil-field-services company that does business in Sudan. He put that $180,000 in proceeds into the Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund, a socially responsible fund that invests in large- and midcap stocks. The Obamas had another $100,000 to $250,000 in Vanguard’s Wellesley Fund, which allocates 60 percent of its money in high-quality bonds. Considering the Obamas have more than 20 years to go before retirement, many financial advisers would tell them to be more aggressive and increase their stock exposure to 80 percent of their portfolio.

The rest of their money—as much as $75,000—is invested across five other mutual funds. This appears to be part of Michelle Obama’s 403(b) retirement plan from her tenure as an administrator at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she earned around $275,000 over the past two years. Michelle Obama also has three batches of unexercised options to purchase shares of Tree House Foods—a Westchester, Ill.-based food supplier that counts Wal-Mart as a big customer—on whose board she served for two years (a paid position that netted her roughly $50,000 a year). She resigned last May after her husband criticized some of Wal-Mart’s policies. The options’ value is tenuous; currently, shares of Tree House are trading below the options’ strike price of $29.65. Sen. Obama also listed his State of Illinois General Assembly Pension Plan, which is valued somewhere between $50,001 and $100,000.

In 2005 the Obamas did make some seemingly speculative—and ultimately controversial—stock bets (PDF) that made headlines last year. They bought shares of AVI Biopharma and SkyTerra Communications (for a reported total up to $100,000) in February of 2005, before selling later that fall. The sales resulted in a net loss of $13,000. The purchases caused quite a hubbub after the media learned that the two companies were backed by some of Obama’s top donors. Obama has said his UBS broker bought the shares without his knowledge in a quasi-blind trust.

The Obamas have significantly increased their charitable contributions since declaring his candidacy. Last year, they gave $240,370, or about 5 percent of their income, to charity, with their largest contributions going to the United Negro College Fund ($50,000); CARE, the global poverty charity ($35,000); and Trinity United Church of Christ ($26,270), home of the Obamas’ infamous former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. Contrast that amount with the couple’s charitable giving in 2004, when only 1.2 percent of their income went to worthy causes.

Compared with John McCain and his $270,000 in expenditures on household help, the Obamas lead a much more middle-class lifestyle. Between 2000 and 2007, they spent anywhere between $6,000 and $24,000 annually on household expenses, which appears to include child care for their two daughters, Malia, 9, and Natasha, 6, according to their tax returns. That said, their house is pretty plush: The Obamas purchased their $1.65 million Chicago home three years ago and took out a mortgage of $1.32 million through Northern Trust.

It’s unclear whether the Obamas have invested in a 529 college-savings plan for the girls. (Contributions to their home state’s 529 would show up on their Illinois state return, which wasn’t made public) If they haven’t, they probably should: The Illinois Bright Start College Savings Program recently made it onto Morningstar’s list of best college-savings plans. By investing in Illinois’ plan, those funds would grow tax-deferred, and they’d receive a state income-tax deduction.Obama is familiar with the costs of higher education—he paid off his loans only recently (reportedly after his book money came in). The first bill he introduced in the U.S. Senate would have increased the Pell Grant maximum (that’s college money you don’t have to pay back). If elected, he said he would eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan program, in which private lenders provide loans that are guaranteed by the government to borrowers. He said this program is more costly than the federal government’s direct-loan program, in which students borrow from the government through their schools, eliminating private lending middlemen. He would direct the savings toward student aid. You can argue about whether that’s good policy, but it’s a treat to have a presidential candidate discussing student aid with recent, firsthand knowledge of the subject.

– Sam Grobart & Tara Siegel Bernard

“I don’t mind spending money, but I do mind wasting it.”That was the credo in my house as a kid. Still is. I remember thinking how foolish my parents were for buying me barrels of Disney goods, but now I see the method to their money madness. As cool as it would be to have my own Ms. Pacman set up in my new apartment, I should probably buy some basic silverware first.The line between being monetarily modest and miserably miserly can often be hard to draw. Moolanomy has a short quiz to help you gauge where you are on the spendrum. I got a 30, putting me in the “You’re frugal. Good job!” range. Phew.I can put those fears of growing up into a Scrooge McDuck at rest…for now.For more money quizzes on the web, check out FiLife’s roundup.-Mary PilonIllustration Credit

We’re all about making the most of our time at the office and so is Zen Habits! The always-calming blog has a slammin’ list of 16 ways to keep a razor-sharp focus at work. Some highlights:

2. Take more breaks. More breaks = More productivity. It may sound wrong, but it’s true. Breaks allow us to re-group our thoughts and focus for the task at hand. They also keep us fresh so that we don’t end up burning out after only a few hours work.

So maybe curling into a fetal position under my desk for an afternoon snooze isn’t so weird after all. Sweet.

10. Turn off extra inputs. These are IM and email for me, but we all have our Achilles heel. Completely turn off any distracting piece of technology that you own. Every one of these inputs tries to steal bits of your focus. And they won’t rest until they do.

Let’s expand this - know what your timesucks are. For me, it’s silly blogs and puppies. More common ones include YouTube, Facebook and SuperArcade. If you’re going to lollygag online, at least alleviate your guilt and switch to the Free Rice Game.

We’re particularly big fans of suggestion #16.

16. Clean yourself up. It’s why my track coach in high school made us dress up for big races: you perform the way you feel. And if you feel polished, groomed and ready, you’ll be more likely to be productive. For me this is just taking a shower, brushing my teeth and putting on casual clothing. I used to work all day without taking a shower in my PJ’s, but I never got much stuff done. Let’s be honest here… if you’re dressed really casually, odds are you’ll be working really casually. Just taking the time to clean up a bit before you buckle down for the day is never a bad idea.

Because the only thing worse than being unproductive is being unproductive and smelly.

Read the whole list here.

-Mary Pilon

Illustration Credit

Behold! Your favorite personal finance news tidbits summarized in 5-7-5 haiku form! Savor and cook up your own in the comment section, if you’re so inclined.

Industrials up
The Neville Brothers return
It’s a come-back week!
-Kristen Sullivan

Sex and the City
PR blitz continues on
Prada still spendy.

-Mary Pilon (more…)

That headline might be Onion-worthy, but according to the Dallas Morning News (via Digg), it’s true.

According to police, Charles Ray Fuller, 21, was arrested on forgery charges for trying to cash a check for $360 billion. Fuller walked into a Chase branch with the check and when the bank called the issuer, she claimed that she didn’t write it, nor did his name appear on the check in the first place. Chase, you may have saved her an overdraft fee! Booya!

Fuller claims that the check came from his girlfriend’s mother to start a record business. And for those of you counting at home, $360 billion could buy you 36 billion copies of Cyndi Lauper’s single “Money Changes Everything” on vinyl. Now there’s a business plan.

-Mary Pilon

PS - Did you know that your computer keyboard is “dirtier than a toilet”?

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A few friends asked me how they should invest their retirement money recently. Maybe it’s that time of year. Graduations inevitably lead to new jobs, which lead to new retirement plans.

Plus, the roiling markets are making a lot of people nervous. One friend confided that she just moved all of her retirement savings into bonds. Yikes. Not a good idea.

So, in the spirit of friendship, I’ve put together some simple guidelines about how to set up a retirement plan, specifically for those who still have more than 30 years left in the work force.* (more…)

Are high gas prices, new spring fashions, and summer wedding commitments draining your bank accounts? Well, help may be on the way in the form of an IRS rebate check.

You’re eligible to receive funds if you have a valid Social Security number, can’t be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax form, and have a tax liability or income of at least $3,000 (you’re also required to file a tax return, which was due earlier this month). The benefits begin to phase out for individuals with adjusted gross incomes over $75,000 and married couples who file a joint return with adjusted gross incomes over $150,000.

Visit the IRS’ rebate calculator to see how much you’ll get, if anything, from the U.S. government this year. Then, check out the payment schedule to find out when the check will arrive. The government will deposit the check right into your bank account if you signed up for direct deposit when you filed your taxes. Otherwise, you’ll be mailed a paper check.

Wondering what you should do with the newfound funds? Well, paying off debt is always a good idea. So is saving and investing. Wall Street Journal columnist, Terri Cullen, recently quipped that her family members probably won’t follow her advice but she still offered a few suggestions on how to use the rebate wisely.

– Kristen Sullivan

Illustration Credit

What’s better than haiku? Fi-ku! For newbies, a Fi-ku is a haiku (5-7-5 syllables) that sums up a personal finance news item of the week. Drop your poetic morsels in the comments below and enjoy some of ours.

Wesley’s in the clink
Always bet on… I.R.S.
Hi, U.S. Marshals!

-Sam Grobart

Suri’s birthday bash,
Cost 100K - oh, my!
College? No problem.

-Mary Pilon (more…)