Money Blue Book

I am the type of person who likes to maximize everything that I do. Particularly when it comes to hobbies and interests, I always want to think – how can I find a way to monetize or turn the hobby into a beneficial endeavor? Not that I have to profit from everything, but I just have a very entrepreneurial and “see the bigger picture” personality. However, there are some things that I just can’t seem to spin into a financially worthwhile venture – research intensive, but addictive hobbies like fantasy football. For the last few fall and winter seasons, I’ve been embroiled in the fun of online fantasy football. I’ve been the league commissioner for my church league for several years now and this is the first year where Ive made it to the final championship game. I’m so excited!

What Is Online Fantasy Football?

If you don’t know what fantasy football is, allow me to explain. First of all, it’s not some silly “fantasy” thing where people pretend to be in the game like some of my female friends jokingly think it is. I think people who aren’t into fantasy football or other online fantasy sports see it as a childish game, but in fact, most of the online fantasy sports leagues are played by adults.

Football football is generally an online game played by participants (called owners) arranged into online leagues. Usually there is a draft at the beginning of the sports season where owners acquire players on their team comprised of real life NFL football players for preset football team positions based on their league’s setup. Each week, owners are matched up with other owners, usually head to head, where they compete for the most total points, derived from their roster’s actual player statistics for that week. For example, if I own the New England Patriot’s Tom Brady as my quarterback and he scores 300 yards passing with 3 touchdown scores for that weak, I’ll earn points for his on field statistical performance for that week. Owners can trade players with other owners and can pick up unused players from the league’s online waiver pool. Eventually, the owners whose teams have the most points compete in a playoff series to determine the champion at the end of the football season.

Although I Can’t Monetize Fantasy Football, I Still Enjoy It Immensely

But the fact remains that fantasy football is a fun hobby that consumes a lot of time and research energy. I spend a great deal of spare time researching players and following their on the field performance and statistical progression. It’s sort of like the same way I track my financial investments but instead of stocks, bonds, and funds, I’m following the stats of quarterbacks, touchdowns, and interceptions.

Some online public leagues offer cash and reward prizes for the best overall fantasy football teams, but some require buy-ins and upfront fees, while others border on more shady sports betting. Perhaps some things in life are better left as simple as they are. Although I make nothing from all of the time I spend on fantasy football, I still love and enjoy the time and competitive spirit I put into it. Some people like to pass the time by playing videos games or even knitting. I have my fantasy sports!

By the way, if you’re curious, here’s my awesome Yahoo Fantasy Football roster this year. Note: I ultimately placed 2nd overall out of 12 teams.

I’m a frequent credit card user. In fact, I carry only enough cash on my person for emergencies at all times. I charge everything and over the years I must have signed tens of thousands of credit card receipts whenever I made purchases in person. The thing I’ve noticed is that nobody ever checks the signature nowadays. Is there a point in this modern day and age to require signatures on credit card receipts anymore?

Credit Cards Should Use PIN Numbers – Signatures Offer Little Security

Requiring customers to sign every receipt is supposed to make them feel safer and in control. With more and more people buying things online though, signatures are losing the identity assurances that they might have once offered. Most online retailers require customers to enter in their 3 digit verification code (CVV/CVC) found on the back of their credit cards for security purposes. I think requiring some type of PIN number would be more effective than signatures since signatures can be so easily overlooked and forged.

I don’t even sign my full signature anymore. I’ve done everything from scribbling randomly on the signature line, to drawing a smiley face, to asking my friend to sign my name instead – all while under the watchful gaze of the sales clerk, who frankly could care less if I signed it personally or not.

For the sake of speed and convenience, many credit card companies don’t even require signatures anymore for small purchases or at certain places such as fast food restaurants. Although seemingly counter-intuitive, merchants must rely solely on signatures and are not even permitted to request additional identification information from card users. Due to contractual agreements with major credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard, credit card merchants are expressly prohibited from seeking additional identity verification such as a requiring the customer to provide a matching name driver’s license. In fact, when a merchant violates this, you can even report the merchant to your credit card company. They are only allowed to use the signature on the back of the card to authenticate the customer’s identity.

Due to the comprehensive fraud and unauthorized purchase protections provided by credit card companies, I think consumers and merchants have grown very nonchalant about verifying the credit card holder’s identity. Nobody seems to be too concerned about fraudulent activity or incorrect signatures because they know their interests will be fully protected by the card companies regardless.

This lax verification contributes to humorous activities. There’s this guy on the web who did an experiment to see if anybody really cared what he signed on his credit card receipts when he made purchases. His funny doodles on the signature line included:

• A drawing of a stick figure on a bed of grass with a flower
• Hieroglyphics
• “Mariah Carey”
• “Beethoven”
• “Zeus”
• “Mickey Mouse”
• The phrase “I stole this card”
• “Porky Pig”

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I enjoy reading and following the personal financial journeys of individuals. It’s the individual that puts the “personal” in personal finance and makes the subjects of money and investing so human and genuine. There is no denying that money is a very essential and pervasive element of our lives. Some people just don’t have enough. For others, money is sufficient but the difficulty comes when deciding how to best protect and manage it. Lack of money can cause people to fall into debt, while at the same time it can be the liberating savior to some of life’s problems.

CNN’s Family Profiles

One of my favorite reads is CNN’s Millionaires in the Making series. Every few weeks they provide the profile of a new family or couple, complete with all pertinent and interesting demographic information such as their individual ages, occupations, salaries, and a complete listing of their financial assets and liabilities. The articles even provide a picture of the family or couple being profiled that also frequently includes them with their children.

Maybe I have a natural voyeuristic fascination, but I like to read their profiles and see how I match up. I must commend the couples and families for being so willing to provide their photos and reveal so much personal information about their finances that most people, including myself would normally be sort of reluctant to provide in its complete entirety. Although most personal finance bloggers like to include profile snapshots of their financial situation, many are reluctant to provide photos of themselves or their family, preferring to maintain a semblance of privacy.

A Good Diverse Sample

At the end of each profile story, CNN’s blog provides an analysis called “Our Expert’s Take” in which they break down the family’s progress towards millionaire status. While some are clearly on their way, others have more work to do before they can get back on the right financial track. I think CNN has tried to provide a good sample and diverse selection of profiles. At first they were only providing profiles of comparatively rich families. After some readers complained about the frequent affluence of the families being profiled, CNN began to include stories of more middle-American families and couples on its blog.

Reading these profiles and stories helps to remind me that we are not alone. We are all trying to make it financially in this world, to pursue our dreams and plans for ourselves and our loved ones. But for the non-personal finance bloggers out there, how comfortable would you be to share your own complete personal financial profile? What about for the personal finance bloggers?

Whenever two Goliaths want to duke it out for supremacy, I’m the first to grab some popcorn and a front row seat. I can’t help but watch and be entertained. Like watching a cafeteria brawl back in high school, it’s just too fascinating to pass up.

Fox News’ Not-So-Secret Secret

Yesterday, Fox News confirmed that it will be releasing its long overdue 24 hour cable business news channel Fox Business Network by the end of the 4th quarter of this year. In doing so, Fox News will be launching itself into a head on battle between the current dominant business news channel, CNBC (one of my favs).

Back in February 2007, Rupert Murdoch raised my eyebrows when he indicated that his new Fox Business Network channel would be more business friendly than CNBC” which he complained was quick to leap on every scandal”. Fox News president Roger Ailes also indicated in a separate interview, that “Many times I’ve seen things on CNBC where they are not as friendly to corporations and profits as they should be,” and adding that “We don’t get up every morning thinking business is bad.”

I certainly hope this doesn’t mean Murdoch plans on creating a business news network that will operate with a particular preconceived and slanted agenda, an allegation some have levied against his current news network.

To Succceed Fox Business Network Will Have To Find Its Niche

The advertising market and demographics for Fox News compared to the other cable news channels such as CNN and CNBC are quite different. To be competitive, Fox’s new business channel will not only need to galvanize its current audience, but it will also have to find a way to go after CNBC’s predominantly wealthier, highly educated viewers. Unlike Fox News, CNBC’s market is generally understood to be comprised of more high net worth viewers, a segment that is highly coveted by advertisers. Because of this, I doubt Fox News will be able to rehash the same recipe for success that worked for the current Fox News channel by focusing primarily on right wing conservative viewpoints alone. Murdoch might find it difficult to create an interested audience of investor types from his current network’s demographic base.

As one online commentator comparing Fox News to another network noted:

Fox viewers are more Chevy buyers than BMWs. Hence, lower ad rates for Fox..

Is There Room For Another Cable Business News Channel?

Not only will Fox Business News face an uphill battle for favorable demographics and marketshare, it will have to find a way to distinguish itself and prove to skeptics that there is room for another cable business news network. Others networks such as CNNfn have tried in the past but failed.

Fox has indicated that it wants to appeal more to a “main street” audience rather than a “wall street” audience. Whether this particular demographic segment will be enough to build up a sustainable viewership remains to be seen.

I am not a Murdoch fan but I think competition will be great for the viewing market. If they want to focus on business and financial issues that affect more the ordinary lay person, more power to them. I will definitely tune in to the channel to get a different viewpoint. But if the channel starts to smack of propaganda and peculiar agendas, I might just tune back to CNBC exclusively. But I’ll give Murdoch a chance.