Archive for March, 2011

This Is What I Call A Decent Salary!

March 30th, 2011

Let’s take a look at the world of sports
If your son (or daughter) came to you one day and said, “Dad, I’m signing up to become a racing driver,” or perhaps “Dad, I’m signing up to become a basketball player,” you may well be upset and start doing your best to discourage him or her. Read on and you may change your mind.

Nascar
Most people know that the National Football League (NFL) is the most popular sport on TV, but it may surprise you to hear that the second highest-rated sport is NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. No longer just a heartland sport, NASCAR is broadcast in over 150 countries. With all this television coverage come the big money and high annual salaries. Unlike NFL salaries, however, NASCAR drivers’ salaries are closely-guarded secrets.

Drivers’ salaries
There is some information on NASCAR drivers’ salaries, thanks to SportsIllustrated.cnn.com. According to them, the highest-paid driver in 2005 was Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose annual salary and earnings totaled $5,761,830, but that’s not all. His endorsements earned $20,000,000, bringing his sub-total compensation to $25,761,830. That number doesn’t include sales of Dale Earnhardt Jr. merchandise and earnings from the racing company that he owns. SI says his total take in ’05 would approach $50 million! The second $25 million is really for his role as a business owner, not directly for Dale Jr.’s work as a race car driver. While there are substantial risks to racing, the pay is still impressive.

NASCAR jobs
When it comes to NASCAR jobs, where does all that money go? Foxsports crunched the numbers for a mid-level standard two-car team. For big name driving teams, multiply these numbers by one and a half or more:
Besides the drivers’ salaries described above, annual team salaries are $2.5-3.5 million, or an average salary of about $30,000 per year for 100 employees. Travel comes to $1 million per team, tires $1 million per team or $20,000 per race weekend plus testing, the in-house engine program cost $3.5 million and the cars $1-3 million per team. Heaps of big money.

The basketball scene
For the fourth year in a row, a study of salary information related to the NCAA Division I Men’s basketball tournament has been made public. All the invited schools were researched and pitted against each other according to their graduates’ average salaries. Salaries of people who attended the schools and are now 5-15 years into their careers and 30 to 40 years old, were examined.

The winners
The Tigers of Princeton University are the winners with an average post-graduation salary of $102,000 per year. It seems that whether or not the Princeton players get into the NBA, they’ll likely be able to afford a nice car, just not a collection of them.

Salaries
The average salary amongst all of the teams ranged from $69,000 to $68,000 per year. The winner, Princeton ($104,000), is sporting a higher salary than last year’s winner Duke Univeristy ($102,000), the bottom team Alabama State ($37,800) is over $10,000 per year below last year’s bottom place team, East Tennessee State ($49,400).

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Things are really tough; I need to tighten my belt again

March 29th, 2011

I have to cut the household budget yet again
Since the first days of the recession I have been trimming the family budget. I stopped going to the gym, then I stopped my wife as well. I cancelled my membership at the art group and I didn’t renew our subscription to the philharmonic orchestra. The when the price of gas went up I traded in my wife’s SUV for a compact, but I’m losing on this deal. I can’t keep pace with the rise in gas prices. It’s time for another major budget ‘trim’ or perhaps ‘slash’ is more accurate. These are the things I’m thinking about and hesitating to do. They will mean changing our lifestyle.

Credit Cards
Theses are really convenient and helpful on a daily basis, but I’m trying to control spending. I’m going to switch to a debit card. That way, if we don’t have money to spend, we won’t spend it. The credit cards will be locked in the safe at home and we will use them only when there is a true emergency.

The telephone
This one is actually painless. I’m going to give up the landline, an easy way to cut spending. Everyone in the family will be told not to spend too much time talking on the phone and racking up big cellular bills. I’m going to get a Skype Out account and for $30 for the year, we can talk to anyone in the US for free for as long as we like. Adding another $30 and we’ll get an incoming phone number as well.

We pay essentials first
When we have tough months and are trying to control spending, we will decide which bills get paid first and which ones don’t. Food bills, the heating bill and the electric bill come first. Then comes the rent and only after that come the credit card bills. Non essential utilities such as the cable bill and other things like local newspaper delivery have to come last. We’re fighting to stay in the game and we have to get our priorities right.

The bill collectors
When bill collectors inevitably call, we will be polite but firm and explain our situation. We have to remain strong when the inevitable phone calls come from creditors. If we can only afford to pay to keep the lights on this month, then we need to be firm when the credit card company calls and tell them we are in dire straits and we’ll pay them when we can. No more paying off the creditor that shouts the loudest!

Last resort
If things get to ‘critical’, we will need to control spending and preserve as much cash as possible. I will even consider declaring bankruptcy if our debts are large and we don’t have enough for our creditors to take from us. And even though it’s hard, we will keep our spirits up. We know from experience that things turn around, even when it seems like the situation is really bad.

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I Give My Son an Ipad 2 for His Birthday

March 27th, 2011

I take a Payday Loan to raise the money for his birthday gift
My wife says I’m crazy, buy I say, ‘why not’? Money is money and I want to give my son a nice gift. A Payday Loan is a legit way of finding money when I’m flat broke.

My son is thrilled
“Thanks, Mom and Dad! What a great gift. I’m off to the Apple shop downtown right now!” Then we received more messages: Hundreds of customers lined up outside Apple stores in Australia and New Zealand on Friday for the international launch of the iPad 2, which has flown off the shelves in the U.S. leaving the company struggling to meet demand. “But managed to see the iPad 2, a thinner and faster version that features two cameras for video chat,” said my son, after his first visit to the Apple store.

The kick-off
The next message read: “Sales kicked off at 08:00. Apple staff were dressed in the company’s blue branded shirts and handed out trays of sandwiches to those in the queue, some of whom had bedded down on blankets overnight before being awoken by bright sunshine. The retail price in Australia starts at $568, against $499 in the United States.

Huge numbers
The first iPad, which went on sale a year ago, sold 500,000 units in the first week and crossed the 1 million unit mark in 28 days. Nearly 15 million iPads were sold in nine months of 2010, two or three times as many as analysts had predicted. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Tuesday the company was “working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.” Fiona Martin, a spokeswoman for Apple in Australia, declined to comment on whether there was enough stock to meet demand. “We don’t comment on speculation, we’ve got plenty down there for all those folk that are in the queue.”

He got one
After a chaotic morning, my son returned home with his new toy. I will buy one for myself next month using another Payday Loan and we will be able to use them to connect with each other no matter where we are. We will even be able to see each other and the grandchildren.

One small problem
Several key components in the new version of Apple’s popular iPad come from Japan, including the battery and the flash memory used to store music and video on the device, according to IT research house iSuppli. Analysts say it’s too early to gauge the extent of component supply shortages, while the wait time on delivery of online orders has shortened to 3-4 weeks in recent days from as high as 6-7 weeks, suggesting component shortages have not reached critical levels.

I can wait
If there is a supply problem because of the shortage of parts from Japan, that’s okay by me. I’ll wait. A Payday Loan from AdvanceLoan.net is always available and they will be there for me whenever I decide to buy my iPad 2.
Payday Loan, AdvanceLoan.net, iPad 2, Birthday

Tags: ipads
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