Door-to-Door Salesman

Today I was reading a blog post from Trent over at The Simple Dollar about saying "No". It got me to thinking about all of the annoying door-to-door salesman that have been canvasing our neighborhood recently.

On one particular occasion about six weeks ago, we set out for a Saturday afternoon walk, and upon rounding the corner to our street we noticed a salesman at our next door neighbor's house. Rather than interact with them, we proceeded on past our house at the exact moment he was knocking at our door.

We circled the block and made another return approach, which was quickly foiled. A completely different salesman was about two houses away. We pulled the same maneuver and went around the block....AGAIN. Fortunately on our third approach we were able to swiftly fly in under the radar amidst the army of peddlers.

The worst I have seen was from my previous cable and internet service provider. I had switched providers about 6 months prior, and then one evening one of their representatives knocked at my door. They were "offering previous customers discounts to return". Funny, they didn't even ask why I was canceling six months earlier.

The part that chapped me was that one of this guy's shady maneuvers was to tell me that I had an outstanding balance of one hundred and some odd dollars (completely bogus), but they would gladly waive that if I would sign back up for their service. Not only do I think this is illegal (extortion), but I'm sure that he scared numerous people into switching back. I called the guy out on his BS and told him in one fashion or another to remove his posterior from my property.

These door-to-door salesman have become such a nuisance lately, that now when they knock on the door I don't even answer. They know we're home, but I don't really care. I don't want them to waste my time or their breath. This probably happens about twice per week.

I had thought about purchasing a "No Soliciting" sign, but after reading this post from J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly I learned that these are practically a big red target for salesman who are expecting someone who has trouble resisting a sales pitch.

The whole mission of a salesman is to create a need or want in your mind, and then try to convince you to act on that emotion. If you allow yourself to be inundated by these tactics, sooner or later it will begin to take it's desired effect on you.

Seriously, if I wanted a new vacuum, to switch my internet provider, a magazine subscription, or an overpriced candy bar, I would go out and buy it.

We Canned our Garbage Service Provider

A few weeks ago I received a letter from our current sanitation service provider, and they stated that they were not only increasing the cost of their lawn waste service, they now want you to pay for the additional service completely upfront for the year. They wanted $95 for the service, which runs from April through November. This works out to $11.86 per month, with a pick-up of once per week. This is in addition to the standard $19.90 per month they charge for regular residential service.

I decided to call the other provider for our area to see what their rates are. Their residential service runs $17.50 per month ($2.40 cheaper right off the bat). Then I asked about their lawn waste rates. They charge $10.50 per month, and it's billed with their regular bi-monthly billing schedule. On top of all this, they will give you the first two months of service free, just for switching!

Without hesitation, I signed up. They said they would bring me two of their garbage cans that afternoon and I would have my first pick-up this Friday. I then immediately contacted my current provider and canceled service. Since I had just started a new billing cycle (for which I just received the bill) the cancellation process was no hassle.

In under 15 minutes I managed to save $3.76 per month, as well as two months free service!

Anniversary Gold Coin

My wife and I have decided to institute a new tradition this year that will mark our first wedding anniversary, as well as every anniversary to follow. We came up with the idea to purchase a 1 oz. Gold Coin to commemorate each year of marriage.

We ended up going with the 1 oz. American Buffalo Celebration coin from the US Mint, which runs $1,118. We had actually thought of this idea more than a year ago, when gold was still under $700/ounce, so the cost of this has keepsake has gone up quite dramatically since then.

We think it will be a really neat memento that we will be able to share with our kids and grandkids. We don't currently have any gold or other precious metals in our portfolio, so this will also serve as a nice diversification to our other investments.

RedBox - DVD Rentals for $1

Last night my wife and I visited the new Hy-Vee grocery store that just opened in our area. The store was great, and we were very pleased. As we were checking out I was scanning the usual front-of-the-store setups and noticed this large, red, ATM looking device and it had a big sign on it exclaiming DVD rentals for $1.

Since we recently canceled our NetFlix, I thought this would be worth looking into. The device/service is called RedBox, and DVD rentals are indeed $1, for a 1-day rental. The device reminds me of a jukebox, where you can browse available titles, pick out which one(s) you want, checkout by swiping your debit or credit card, and it spits them out of a loading slot. When you're ready to return the dvd(s) you just insert them in the slot and it scans the barcodes, and that's all there is to it.

According to the gentlemen at the store, you can return your DVD's to any redbox. It also appeared that most of the new releases were available, and still only $1. While selection is somewhat limited, this is still a great and inexpensive way to catch a flick.

Economic Stimulus Calculator

The IRS website has posted an Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator where you can enter in information from your 2007 tax return and it will tell you what your expected payment will be.

I plugged in our information and it looks like we'll be receiving $1,200, which according to the FAQ section will begin shipping out in early May. Here is a nice schedule that shows payment dates by the last two digits of your SSN as well.

I don't necessarily agree with the rationalization behind the Stimulus Package, or how the funding was obtained, but I certainly won't be rejecting our check!

Premium Return Rider on Term Life Insurance Policy

So I've been looking at getting a different term life insurance policy for myself, as well as getting one for my wife. Through this process, I have discovered that our current insurance provider, Farm Bureau, offers a policy with a "Premium Return Rider". Apparently this is something new that they have started in the last six months.

This concept intrigues me, and almost sounds too good to be true. Basically, once you own the policy for six years, there is a pro-rated portion of your paid premiums that would be returned to you if you were to cancel the policy. If you keep the policy for the entire term, all of your premiums will be returned to you.

When I looked at the quote I received, the Premium Return Rider was an additional $180 per year. I thought for sure that this would not be included as part of the pro-rated return, but it actually is. Not to mention, their rates without the rider are very competitive as well.

So for me, right now I'm 26, and I'm looking to go with a 30-year term policy. This means that at 56 (provided I'm still living ), I would get a refund for ALL of my premium payments, INCLUDING the annual premium for the rider.

To me this seems like a no-brainer. I don't plan on dieing before I turn 56, so why wouldn't I pay for the rider, which would effectively give me insurance coverage for thirty years FREE!

It looks like in order for the Premium Return Rider to be worth getting, you would want to hang onto your policy for nearly the entire term. I saw the schedule for what my pro-rated return would be for each year, 6 through 30, and it is set up like a reverse amortization schedule of sorts. Essentially the closer you get to the end of the term, you get a higher percentage of your premiums back.

Does anyone have any experience with these that they could share? I'm going to kick it around a while, but I'll be sure to let you know what I decide.

BTW--sorry for the lack of posts this week, I don't really have a good excuse, just been lazy I guess.

Dave Ramsey's Drive Free, Retire Rich

Dave Ramsey's website has a very intriguing video titled, Drive Free, Retire Rich. If you haven't seen this, I would recommend giving it a look.

The video explains how many Americans view their car payments as being a lifelong expense, and are often times in a perpetual cycle of getting a new vehicle once the payments on their previous one are complete. The video shows how you can break this habit, and in turn save yourself great amounts of money over the course of your life.

The concepts are very basic, but the examples are a good eye-opener for anyone with a car payment. For a behavior that is so common in today's society, it's beneficial to see the negative effect of having a car payment, and how being free of that payment opens up so many options for saving and building wealth.