易初：行家教买车砍价
http://bbs.creaders.net/car/bbsviewer.php?trd_id=472520
送交者: 易初 2010年04月29日07:33:53 于 [我爱我车] 发送悄悄话
真正的车价是在invoice价格之下1000-2000块。流程是这样的，kbb上面的invoice价格是砍价的起点，而不是终点。你先要了解一个地区的dealer之间的竞争关系。同样的车型，这家多卖一辆，那家就少卖一辆。所以，你必须至少跑两家，甚至可能是三家。最好是月底。因为每个月每个 dealer有指标，完成指标厂家有奖励，完不成要罚。所以，月底的话，如果dealer还差那么一两个就完成了指标，他会给你非常非常便宜的。流程是网上找到一个最低的车价，有些老美很会买，会比 invoice价格低3000。你打印出来，去找一个dealer要他match。他肯定不肯的。然后，就砍价。看到invoice以下1000就收工，跟他要正式的报价单。拿到第二家去。不要给第二家看报价单，但是在报价单的基础上往下杀个500-1000，要他match。三个dealer跑下来，应该杀到最低价的。不过，往往一个dealer那里要停留4-5个小时，建议大家带好食物，打持久战。另外，你要搞清楚税金，documentation fee，warantee的价格，不要这边杀回来一点，那边被搞回去了。除了税金，其他所有的价格都是可以砍的。不要他说多少就是多少。 documentation fee 要求全免。extra warantee，网上找到最低价，打印出来要他match。这是我的经验，我的车最后比invoice价格低1500左右。我不是一个很耐心的砍价人。
有的dealer可以优惠，但是一定要你做月供。可以做的。我就做了，便宜我５００块。但是dealer要我发誓，会坚持供４个月以上。不要理他，把价格弄下来再说。协议签了以后，最晚第三周，写张支票给厂家，直接把钱付清。哪怕厂家的receipt没邮寄过来，也不管。我本人就是等那个该死的 receipt，导致被迫付了一个月利息，１００块。
我买了车第二周，dealer找我，说可以把我的所有月供的利息３０００块钱转成一个什么warantee。他说的好听，说，你不用多付一分钱，就可以得到一个虾米warantee。幸好，我脑子清楚，我知道他要骗我把利息付光。我当即拒绝了。可惜边上一个黑人大妈兴高采烈的就签了。
任何dealer都会游说你买一个轮胎的warantee。但是，任何新轮胎本身是有５万milewanrantee的。不用再付钱买一个双份的。大家省钱愉快。
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
5 Money Mistakes You Might Be Making (and How to Avoid Them) partner
5 Money Mistakes You Might Be Making (and How to Avoid Them) partner
by Good Housekeeping, on Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:47am
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/financiallyfit/5-money-mistakes-you-might-be-making-and-how-to-avoid-them-1308080/
If you could have more money in your checking account, you'd definitely take it, right? It probably comes as no shocker to you that it's really easy to let your funds slip away. But what you might find surprising is how simple it can be to turn things around for the better. Here are 5 common money mistakes with doable solutions.
Money Mistake #1: My Money Is Disappearing
No one starts the month planning to fritter away a small fortune, but that’s what can happen when minor expenses spiral out of control. It’s not just shopping at Saks that gets you into trouble. Seemingly innocent purchases — $15 jeans at Target, a few things for the kids at a two-for-one sale, the occasional Frappuccino — can do real damage to your bottom line.
What does it take to waste $10,000 a year? Just $27.40 a day. “You can undermine some of your most important goals with purchases you’ll never remember,” says Suzanna de Baca, president of Private Capital Solutions Group, a Des Moines, IA, investment advisory firm.
The fix: Know thyself financially. First step: Take five minutes and read through your latest bank statement. If the transactions seem unrecognizable and you have no idea why you went to the ATM a dozen times, spend a week tracking your spending (longer, if possible).
You can use a notebook, keep receipts in an envelope, try software like Quicken, or check out an online budgeting tool, like these two money sites we tested. Whichever you choose, find a money-tracking method that lets you see your purchasing patterns with fresh eyes.
Tip: Simple Ways to Save on Groceries
Money Mistake #2: I Throw Away Cash
Who would pass up free money? Maybe you, if you make only the minimum contribution to your employer’s 401(k) savings plan — or opt out of the plan on the grounds that money is tight. According to the 2008 Wachovia Retirement Survey, only about a quarter of women with 401(k)s contribute the maximum allowed. Puny 401(k) contributions mean you aren’t taking full advantage of any free matching funds your company offers. Says De Baca: “If your boss offered to add $25 to your weekly paycheck, would you turn it down? Of course not.” Most employers match all or part of the first 3 to 6 percent of pay employees contribute.
That might not sound like much, but take a look at the math: Assume your company will kick in 50 cents for every dollar you put in, up to 5 percent of your salary. If you’re 40 and making $40,000 but decide not to fund your 401(k), you could be giving up almost $230,000 over 25 years.
The fix: If money is so tight you can’t imagine saving two bucks, start small. You don’t have to put in the maximum $15,500 annual contribution ($20,500 if you’re 50 or older). Instead, increase your contribution by 1 percent of pay a year, until you get the full match. One painless way to save: When you get your next raise, use all or part of it to bump up your 401(k) contribution.
If your employer doesn’t offer a match, that doesn’t mean you should skip making contributions. Remember, a 401(k) lets you put away money tax-deferred. This doesn’t just lower your current tax rate; your earnings can really grow, because Uncle Sam isn’t taking a bite out of them.
Tip: Learn How to Protect Your Savings, Stock, 401(k), and Other Assets
Money Mistake #3: My Kid’s Budget Runneth Over
Many parents find themselves wrestling with financial discipline when it comes to their children, says Galia Gichon, creator of “My Money Matters” Kit, a box of financial tips and workbooks. Whether it’s snacks for the little ones at the market or new skate shoes for your tween, “it’s amazing how quickly saying yes can add up,” says Gichon, a New York City financial planner and mother of two.
Tip: How to Get the Best Deal on Absolutely Everything
The fix: Rather than simply saying no to your kids’ endless wish lists — which can lead to wrenching battles — protect your budget and sanity by teaching your children Money Management 101. “Distract and delay” tactics work especially well for children age 6 and under. If your young daughter is jumping up and down for something she wants at the store, says Gichon, “try focusing her attention on something else, or acknowledge what she wants and say that you can talk more about it later when you’re home.” You may have to endure a little complaining, but your child gets an important message about not buying things on a whim.
Tip: Need Help Sticking to a Budget? Try These Tips
Money Mistake #4: I Never Saw a Windfall I Couldn’t Spend
Whether you receive a raise, a tax refund, or a generous birthday check from Aunt Dotty, it’s hard not to view a windfall as an excuse to go shopping. Splurging can be fun, but that’s rarely the best use of your extra cash. “Few Americans are saving enough to cover day-to-day crises, never mind the future,” says Jonathan Pond, author of Grow Your Money!
The fix: To make sure you don’t feel deprived, earmark some of the newfound money for a modest treat (Aunt Dotty would want it that way). Gichon suggests using 5 or 10 percent for something fun: “That way you do something for yourself — while deciding what to do with the rest.”
Put the remainder of the money where you won’t be as tempted to touch it. Consider an FDIC-insured, high-yield online savings account such as the one offered by ING Direct. It has no minimum balance requirement or fees, and this account typically pays higher-than-average interest rates.
Next, consider where the money would do you the most good. Tackle any small, urgent problems first — a sore tooth, the clunking sound your car makes, leaky windows. This will help avert the hardship of paying for a string of bigger expenses later on as little problems snowball into debt.
Set aside some of your windfall for expenses that you can’t predict precisely but you know will be coming sometime. “You may not know when your cell phone will quit or the water heater will break, but they will,” Pond advises.
Tip: Check Out 25 Ways to Save More Money This Year
Money Mistake #5: I Forget What I’m Worth
If you’re a stay-at-home mom or you work part-time, you may not have enough life insurance. Many women are underinsured because they’ve underestimated their income or the value of their contributions to the household. De Baca recalls one client whose wife died in her 30s and had only a $100,000 life insurance policy, which didn’t cover the need for child care for the couple’s young children or the housekeeping chores the client then required.
The fix: A rule of thumb to determine the amount of insurance coverage that you need — multiply your annual expenses by the number of years until your youngest child will turn 18. (Some parents may also want to factor in the future cost of their kids’ college.) Life insurance premiums actually have plummeted in recent years. So if you’re a healthy nonsmoker in your 30s or 40s, you can now buy a $500,000 term insurance policy for about $40 a month.
You and your partner should revisit your insurance coverage annually — or at least after a major event, like the birth of a child. “It takes a lot to run a household, and you want to be covered,” says De Baca.
Tip: Learn How You Can Pay Less for Insurance
What are your biggest hurdles when it comes to savings? Have you discovered any tips for stashing more in the bank?
by Good Housekeeping, on Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:47am
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/financiallyfit/5-money-mistakes-you-might-be-making-and-how-to-avoid-them-1308080/
If you could have more money in your checking account, you'd definitely take it, right? It probably comes as no shocker to you that it's really easy to let your funds slip away. But what you might find surprising is how simple it can be to turn things around for the better. Here are 5 common money mistakes with doable solutions.
Money Mistake #1: My Money Is Disappearing
No one starts the month planning to fritter away a small fortune, but that’s what can happen when minor expenses spiral out of control. It’s not just shopping at Saks that gets you into trouble. Seemingly innocent purchases — $15 jeans at Target, a few things for the kids at a two-for-one sale, the occasional Frappuccino — can do real damage to your bottom line.
What does it take to waste $10,000 a year? Just $27.40 a day. “You can undermine some of your most important goals with purchases you’ll never remember,” says Suzanna de Baca, president of Private Capital Solutions Group, a Des Moines, IA, investment advisory firm.
The fix: Know thyself financially. First step: Take five minutes and read through your latest bank statement. If the transactions seem unrecognizable and you have no idea why you went to the ATM a dozen times, spend a week tracking your spending (longer, if possible).
You can use a notebook, keep receipts in an envelope, try software like Quicken, or check out an online budgeting tool, like these two money sites we tested. Whichever you choose, find a money-tracking method that lets you see your purchasing patterns with fresh eyes.
Tip: Simple Ways to Save on Groceries
Money Mistake #2: I Throw Away Cash
Who would pass up free money? Maybe you, if you make only the minimum contribution to your employer’s 401(k) savings plan — or opt out of the plan on the grounds that money is tight. According to the 2008 Wachovia Retirement Survey, only about a quarter of women with 401(k)s contribute the maximum allowed. Puny 401(k) contributions mean you aren’t taking full advantage of any free matching funds your company offers. Says De Baca: “If your boss offered to add $25 to your weekly paycheck, would you turn it down? Of course not.” Most employers match all or part of the first 3 to 6 percent of pay employees contribute.
That might not sound like much, but take a look at the math: Assume your company will kick in 50 cents for every dollar you put in, up to 5 percent of your salary. If you’re 40 and making $40,000 but decide not to fund your 401(k), you could be giving up almost $230,000 over 25 years.
The fix: If money is so tight you can’t imagine saving two bucks, start small. You don’t have to put in the maximum $15,500 annual contribution ($20,500 if you’re 50 or older). Instead, increase your contribution by 1 percent of pay a year, until you get the full match. One painless way to save: When you get your next raise, use all or part of it to bump up your 401(k) contribution.
If your employer doesn’t offer a match, that doesn’t mean you should skip making contributions. Remember, a 401(k) lets you put away money tax-deferred. This doesn’t just lower your current tax rate; your earnings can really grow, because Uncle Sam isn’t taking a bite out of them.
Tip: Learn How to Protect Your Savings, Stock, 401(k), and Other Assets
Money Mistake #3: My Kid’s Budget Runneth Over
Many parents find themselves wrestling with financial discipline when it comes to their children, says Galia Gichon, creator of “My Money Matters” Kit, a box of financial tips and workbooks. Whether it’s snacks for the little ones at the market or new skate shoes for your tween, “it’s amazing how quickly saying yes can add up,” says Gichon, a New York City financial planner and mother of two.
Tip: How to Get the Best Deal on Absolutely Everything
The fix: Rather than simply saying no to your kids’ endless wish lists — which can lead to wrenching battles — protect your budget and sanity by teaching your children Money Management 101. “Distract and delay” tactics work especially well for children age 6 and under. If your young daughter is jumping up and down for something she wants at the store, says Gichon, “try focusing her attention on something else, or acknowledge what she wants and say that you can talk more about it later when you’re home.” You may have to endure a little complaining, but your child gets an important message about not buying things on a whim.
Tip: Need Help Sticking to a Budget? Try These Tips
Money Mistake #4: I Never Saw a Windfall I Couldn’t Spend
Whether you receive a raise, a tax refund, or a generous birthday check from Aunt Dotty, it’s hard not to view a windfall as an excuse to go shopping. Splurging can be fun, but that’s rarely the best use of your extra cash. “Few Americans are saving enough to cover day-to-day crises, never mind the future,” says Jonathan Pond, author of Grow Your Money!
The fix: To make sure you don’t feel deprived, earmark some of the newfound money for a modest treat (Aunt Dotty would want it that way). Gichon suggests using 5 or 10 percent for something fun: “That way you do something for yourself — while deciding what to do with the rest.”
Put the remainder of the money where you won’t be as tempted to touch it. Consider an FDIC-insured, high-yield online savings account such as the one offered by ING Direct. It has no minimum balance requirement or fees, and this account typically pays higher-than-average interest rates.
Next, consider where the money would do you the most good. Tackle any small, urgent problems first — a sore tooth, the clunking sound your car makes, leaky windows. This will help avert the hardship of paying for a string of bigger expenses later on as little problems snowball into debt.
Set aside some of your windfall for expenses that you can’t predict precisely but you know will be coming sometime. “You may not know when your cell phone will quit or the water heater will break, but they will,” Pond advises.
Tip: Check Out 25 Ways to Save More Money This Year
Money Mistake #5: I Forget What I’m Worth
If you’re a stay-at-home mom or you work part-time, you may not have enough life insurance. Many women are underinsured because they’ve underestimated their income or the value of their contributions to the household. De Baca recalls one client whose wife died in her 30s and had only a $100,000 life insurance policy, which didn’t cover the need for child care for the couple’s young children or the housekeeping chores the client then required.
The fix: A rule of thumb to determine the amount of insurance coverage that you need — multiply your annual expenses by the number of years until your youngest child will turn 18. (Some parents may also want to factor in the future cost of their kids’ college.) Life insurance premiums actually have plummeted in recent years. So if you’re a healthy nonsmoker in your 30s or 40s, you can now buy a $500,000 term insurance policy for about $40 a month.
You and your partner should revisit your insurance coverage annually — or at least after a major event, like the birth of a child. “It takes a lot to run a household, and you want to be covered,” says De Baca.
Tip: Learn How You Can Pay Less for Insurance
What are your biggest hurdles when it comes to savings? Have you discovered any tips for stashing more in the bank?
The Busted Homes Behind a Big Bet
The Busted Homes Behind a Big Bet
by Carrick Mollenkamp, Mark Whitehouse, Anton Troianovski
Friday, April 23, 2010
http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/109380/the-busted-homes-behind-a-big-bet?mod=loans-home
ABERDEEN TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- The government's civil-fraud allegation against Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS, News) Group Inc. centers on a deal the firm crafted so that hedge-fund king John Paulson could bet on a collapse in U.S. housing prices.
It was a dizzyingly complex transaction, involving 90 bonds and a 65-page deal sheet. But it all boiled down to whether people like Stella Onyeukwu, Gheorghe Bledea and Jack Booket could pay their mortgages.
They couldn't, and Mr. Paulson made $1 billion as a result.
More from WSJ.com:
• Video: Foreclosures Made John Paulson a Billion Dollars
• Slideshow: The Abacus Houses
• Interactive Graphic: From New Jersey to Germany
Mr. Booket, a 44-year-old heating and air-conditioning repairman, owed $300,000 on his three-bedroom home in Aberdeen Township. His house was one of thousands that wound up in a pool of mortgages that were referenced in the so-called collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, which Goldman created for Mr. Paulson. The hedge-fund manager invested heavily in a form of insurance that could yield huge gains if the borrowers grew unable to pay.
In 2006, Mr. Booket got hit by a car while riding a motorcycle from a late-night party, was unable to find much work and couldn't pay the bank. In October 2008, he lost the house to foreclosure and plans to move out by next week. He says he bears no grudge against Mr. Paulson and Goldman.
"The man came up with a scheme to get rich, and he did it," says Mr. Booket, who had refinanced his mortgage just months before the accident. "So more power to him."
More than half of the 500,000 mortgages from 48 states contained in the Goldman deal -- known as Abacus 2007-AC1 -- are now in default or foreclosed.
Mr. Paulson didn't have any direct involvement in the mortgages contained in the Goldman deal under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission. And the bets that Mr. Paulson placed on Abacus didn't affect whether or not homeowners defaulted. Rather, he used Wall Street to help structure hugely lucrative side bets that homeowners such as Mr. Booket couldn't make their monthly mortgage payments.
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One loser in the deal, German bank IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, saw most of its $150 million Abacus investment evaporate. It had believed that borrowers broadly could afford the loans. The bank says it is cooperating with the SEC's inquiry.
"There's no question we made money in these transactions," said a Paulson spokesman in a statement. "However, all our dealings were through arms-length transactions with experienced counterparties who had opposing views based on all available information at the time. We were straightforward in our dislike of these securities but the vast majority of people in the market thought we were dead wrong and openly and aggressively purchased the securities we were selling."
Some of the people whose mortgages underpinned Mr. Paulson's wager were themselves taking a gamble -- that U.S. housing prices would continue to march upward, making it possible for them to eventually pay off loans they couldn't afford.
The Wall Street Journal identified homeowners in the Abacus portfolio by taking the 90 bonds listed in a February 2007 Abacus pitchbook and matching them with court records, foreclosure listings, title records and loan servicing reports. The bonds contained nearly 500,000 mortgage loans.
One mortgage in the Abacus pool was held by Ms. Onyeukwu, a 43-year-old nursing-home assistant in Pittsburg, Calif. Ms. Onyeukwu already was under financial strain in 2006, when she applied to Fremont Investment & Loan for a new mortgage on her two-story, six-bedroom house in a subdivision called Highlands Ranch. With pre-tax income of about $9,000 a month from a child-care business, she says she was having a hard time making the $5,000 monthly payments on her existing $688,000 mortgage, which carried an initial interest rate of 9.05%.
Nonetheless, she took out an even bigger loan from Fremont, which lent her $786,250 at an initial interest rate of 7.55% -- but that would begin to float as high as 13.55% two years later. She says the monthly payment on the new loan came to a bit more than $5,000.
She defaulted in early 2008 and was evicted from the house in early 2009.
Fremont didn't respond to requests for comment.
In early 2007, Paulson was identifying different bonds from across the country that it wanted to place bets against. Paolo Pellegrini, Mr. Paulson's right-hand man, began working with Goldman trader Fabrice Tourre to choose bonds for the Abacus portfolio, say people familiar with the deal.
Abacus was a "synthetic" CDO, meaning that it didn't contain any actual bonds. Rather, it allowed Paulson's firm to buy insurance on bonds it didn't own. If the bonds performed well, Paulson would make a steady stream of small payments—much like insurance premiums. If they performed poorly, Paulson would receive potentially large payouts.
According to the SEC complaint, Mr. Paulson especially wanted to find risky subprime adjustable-rate mortgages that had been given to borrowers with low credit scores who lived in California, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada—states with big spikes in home prices that he reckoned would crash.
Mr. Pellegrini and a colleague had purchased an enormous database capable of tracking the characteristics of more than six million mortgages in various parts of the country. They spent long hours scouring it all, according to people familiar with the matter.
The home mortgage of Gheorghe Bledea was among those that wound up in the Abacus portfolio.
In May of 2006, a broker had approached Mr. Bledea, a Romanian immigrant, to pitch him a deal on a loan to refinance the existing mortgage on his Folsom, Calif., home.
Mr. Bledea, who is suing his lender in Superior Court of California in Sacramento on allegations that he was defrauded, wanted a 30-year fixed-rate loan, according to his complaint. His broker told him the only one available was an adjustable-rate mortgage carrying an 8% interest rate, according his court filing.
Mr. Bledea, who says he has limited English-speaking skills, was told that he'd be able to exit the risky loan in six months and refinance into yet another one carrying a lower 1% rate. Mr. Bledea agreed to take out the $531,000 loan on July 21, 2006.
The new loan never materialized. Within months, Mr. Bledea and his family were struggling under the weight of a $5,800 monthly note, says his son, Joe Bledea.
"We were putting ourselves in a lot of debt," Joe Bledea says. By spring of 2009, the loan was in default. The elder Mr. Bledea is now appealing to the court to avoid eviction from his ranch-style house, says family attorney Will Ramey.
The loan, underwritten by Washington Mutual, itself had moved through the U.S. mortgage machine.
It was put into a debt pool, or residential-mortgage backed security, with the arcane name of Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust 2006-8.
A spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which acquired WaMu in September of 2008, said the bank was unable to comment on the loan.
By mid-October of 2007, just seven months after Abacus was formed, 83% of the bonds in its portfolio had been downgraded. By then, sheriff departments across the U.S. were seizing homes and putting them up for sale at public auction as souring Abacus-related loans metastasized.
In Dayton, Ohio, a two-story home that served as collateral for Abacus now stands empty. The house was purchased for $75,000 in 2006 by a borrower who used a subprime loan from a California-based mortgage bank. That $67,500 loan was placed into a pool called Structured Asset Investment Loan Trust 2006-4, which underpinned Abacus.
After the borrower defaulted, the trust acquired the home through foreclosure in October 2007 and resold it to an investor in April 2008 for $7,500, a tenth of the price paid two years before.
Neighbor Lonnie Ross, sitting on the porch Tuesday morning while enjoying a cigarette, says most homes on the block are vacant or occupied by squatters.
Inside the unoccupied house, which is missing its front door knob, hardwood floors are strewn with old bills. A fake Christmas tree is still decorated with candy canes. Instant pudding and other discarded food litters the kitchen. Dirty dishes are soaking in a sink.
A few blocks away, a homemade sign reads: "This community is dead already. We need leadership to rebuild this community. Too many run down houses need to be torn down."
But not all homes have gone south.
In a wealthy Denver neighborhood, neighbors are thrilled that Joel Champagne rescued a house on East Alameda Circle, where a previous mortgage was contained in the Abacus deal via a pool called First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust 2006-FF9.
Mr. Champagne bought the home last year for $370,000. The prior owner, according to title records, had paid $1.2 million, borrowing the entire amount from First Franklin. The owner had started on a renovation and then vanished, says Mr. Champagne and neighbors, leaving the home with no plumbing, wiring or roof shingles.
Today, kids' chalk drawings are scrawled across the drive and hyacinths are starting to peep through the flower beds.
"I'm very fortunate. We capitalized on the market and we were very fortunate to be in a position to do that," says the 45-year- old. "I don't know enough details to say if I'm upset with Goldman Sachs or whoever. The problem's bigger than that. Everyone made a lot of mistakes back then."
-- Stephanie Simon, James R. Hagerty, Serena Ng, Cari Tuna contributed to this article.
Write to Carrick Mollenkamp at carrick.mollenkamp@wsj.com, Mark Whitehouseat mailto:mark.whitehouse@wsj.com and Anton Troianovski at anton.troianovski@wsj.com
by Carrick Mollenkamp, Mark Whitehouse, Anton Troianovski
Friday, April 23, 2010
http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/109380/the-busted-homes-behind-a-big-bet?mod=loans-home
ABERDEEN TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- The government's civil-fraud allegation against Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS, News) Group Inc. centers on a deal the firm crafted so that hedge-fund king John Paulson could bet on a collapse in U.S. housing prices.
It was a dizzyingly complex transaction, involving 90 bonds and a 65-page deal sheet. But it all boiled down to whether people like Stella Onyeukwu, Gheorghe Bledea and Jack Booket could pay their mortgages.
They couldn't, and Mr. Paulson made $1 billion as a result.
More from WSJ.com:
• Video: Foreclosures Made John Paulson a Billion Dollars
• Slideshow: The Abacus Houses
• Interactive Graphic: From New Jersey to Germany
Mr. Booket, a 44-year-old heating and air-conditioning repairman, owed $300,000 on his three-bedroom home in Aberdeen Township. His house was one of thousands that wound up in a pool of mortgages that were referenced in the so-called collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, which Goldman created for Mr. Paulson. The hedge-fund manager invested heavily in a form of insurance that could yield huge gains if the borrowers grew unable to pay.
In 2006, Mr. Booket got hit by a car while riding a motorcycle from a late-night party, was unable to find much work and couldn't pay the bank. In October 2008, he lost the house to foreclosure and plans to move out by next week. He says he bears no grudge against Mr. Paulson and Goldman.
"The man came up with a scheme to get rich, and he did it," says Mr. Booket, who had refinanced his mortgage just months before the accident. "So more power to him."
More than half of the 500,000 mortgages from 48 states contained in the Goldman deal -- known as Abacus 2007-AC1 -- are now in default or foreclosed.
Mr. Paulson didn't have any direct involvement in the mortgages contained in the Goldman deal under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission. And the bets that Mr. Paulson placed on Abacus didn't affect whether or not homeowners defaulted. Rather, he used Wall Street to help structure hugely lucrative side bets that homeowners such as Mr. Booket couldn't make their monthly mortgage payments.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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One loser in the deal, German bank IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, saw most of its $150 million Abacus investment evaporate. It had believed that borrowers broadly could afford the loans. The bank says it is cooperating with the SEC's inquiry.
"There's no question we made money in these transactions," said a Paulson spokesman in a statement. "However, all our dealings were through arms-length transactions with experienced counterparties who had opposing views based on all available information at the time. We were straightforward in our dislike of these securities but the vast majority of people in the market thought we were dead wrong and openly and aggressively purchased the securities we were selling."
Some of the people whose mortgages underpinned Mr. Paulson's wager were themselves taking a gamble -- that U.S. housing prices would continue to march upward, making it possible for them to eventually pay off loans they couldn't afford.
The Wall Street Journal identified homeowners in the Abacus portfolio by taking the 90 bonds listed in a February 2007 Abacus pitchbook and matching them with court records, foreclosure listings, title records and loan servicing reports. The bonds contained nearly 500,000 mortgage loans.
One mortgage in the Abacus pool was held by Ms. Onyeukwu, a 43-year-old nursing-home assistant in Pittsburg, Calif. Ms. Onyeukwu already was under financial strain in 2006, when she applied to Fremont Investment & Loan for a new mortgage on her two-story, six-bedroom house in a subdivision called Highlands Ranch. With pre-tax income of about $9,000 a month from a child-care business, she says she was having a hard time making the $5,000 monthly payments on her existing $688,000 mortgage, which carried an initial interest rate of 9.05%.
Nonetheless, she took out an even bigger loan from Fremont, which lent her $786,250 at an initial interest rate of 7.55% -- but that would begin to float as high as 13.55% two years later. She says the monthly payment on the new loan came to a bit more than $5,000.
She defaulted in early 2008 and was evicted from the house in early 2009.
Fremont didn't respond to requests for comment.
In early 2007, Paulson was identifying different bonds from across the country that it wanted to place bets against. Paolo Pellegrini, Mr. Paulson's right-hand man, began working with Goldman trader Fabrice Tourre to choose bonds for the Abacus portfolio, say people familiar with the deal.
Abacus was a "synthetic" CDO, meaning that it didn't contain any actual bonds. Rather, it allowed Paulson's firm to buy insurance on bonds it didn't own. If the bonds performed well, Paulson would make a steady stream of small payments—much like insurance premiums. If they performed poorly, Paulson would receive potentially large payouts.
According to the SEC complaint, Mr. Paulson especially wanted to find risky subprime adjustable-rate mortgages that had been given to borrowers with low credit scores who lived in California, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada—states with big spikes in home prices that he reckoned would crash.
Mr. Pellegrini and a colleague had purchased an enormous database capable of tracking the characteristics of more than six million mortgages in various parts of the country. They spent long hours scouring it all, according to people familiar with the matter.
The home mortgage of Gheorghe Bledea was among those that wound up in the Abacus portfolio.
In May of 2006, a broker had approached Mr. Bledea, a Romanian immigrant, to pitch him a deal on a loan to refinance the existing mortgage on his Folsom, Calif., home.
Mr. Bledea, who is suing his lender in Superior Court of California in Sacramento on allegations that he was defrauded, wanted a 30-year fixed-rate loan, according to his complaint. His broker told him the only one available was an adjustable-rate mortgage carrying an 8% interest rate, according his court filing.
Mr. Bledea, who says he has limited English-speaking skills, was told that he'd be able to exit the risky loan in six months and refinance into yet another one carrying a lower 1% rate. Mr. Bledea agreed to take out the $531,000 loan on July 21, 2006.
The new loan never materialized. Within months, Mr. Bledea and his family were struggling under the weight of a $5,800 monthly note, says his son, Joe Bledea.
"We were putting ourselves in a lot of debt," Joe Bledea says. By spring of 2009, the loan was in default. The elder Mr. Bledea is now appealing to the court to avoid eviction from his ranch-style house, says family attorney Will Ramey.
The loan, underwritten by Washington Mutual, itself had moved through the U.S. mortgage machine.
It was put into a debt pool, or residential-mortgage backed security, with the arcane name of Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust 2006-8.
A spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which acquired WaMu in September of 2008, said the bank was unable to comment on the loan.
By mid-October of 2007, just seven months after Abacus was formed, 83% of the bonds in its portfolio had been downgraded. By then, sheriff departments across the U.S. were seizing homes and putting them up for sale at public auction as souring Abacus-related loans metastasized.
In Dayton, Ohio, a two-story home that served as collateral for Abacus now stands empty. The house was purchased for $75,000 in 2006 by a borrower who used a subprime loan from a California-based mortgage bank. That $67,500 loan was placed into a pool called Structured Asset Investment Loan Trust 2006-4, which underpinned Abacus.
After the borrower defaulted, the trust acquired the home through foreclosure in October 2007 and resold it to an investor in April 2008 for $7,500, a tenth of the price paid two years before.
Neighbor Lonnie Ross, sitting on the porch Tuesday morning while enjoying a cigarette, says most homes on the block are vacant or occupied by squatters.
Inside the unoccupied house, which is missing its front door knob, hardwood floors are strewn with old bills. A fake Christmas tree is still decorated with candy canes. Instant pudding and other discarded food litters the kitchen. Dirty dishes are soaking in a sink.
A few blocks away, a homemade sign reads: "This community is dead already. We need leadership to rebuild this community. Too many run down houses need to be torn down."
But not all homes have gone south.
In a wealthy Denver neighborhood, neighbors are thrilled that Joel Champagne rescued a house on East Alameda Circle, where a previous mortgage was contained in the Abacus deal via a pool called First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust 2006-FF9.
Mr. Champagne bought the home last year for $370,000. The prior owner, according to title records, had paid $1.2 million, borrowing the entire amount from First Franklin. The owner had started on a renovation and then vanished, says Mr. Champagne and neighbors, leaving the home with no plumbing, wiring or roof shingles.
Today, kids' chalk drawings are scrawled across the drive and hyacinths are starting to peep through the flower beds.
"I'm very fortunate. We capitalized on the market and we were very fortunate to be in a position to do that," says the 45-year- old. "I don't know enough details to say if I'm upset with Goldman Sachs or whoever. The problem's bigger than that. Everyone made a lot of mistakes back then."
-- Stephanie Simon, James R. Hagerty, Serena Ng, Cari Tuna contributed to this article.
Write to Carrick Mollenkamp at carrick.mollenkamp@wsj.com, Mark Whitehouseat mailto:mark.whitehouse@wsj.com and Anton Troianovski at anton.troianovski@wsj.com
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Dating Tips: 9 Things Happy Couples Talk About
What you discuss can reveal the health of your relationship
By dating editor Denise Ngo for YourTango.com
Photo: Corbis
Updated: Apr 14, 2010
http://dating.personals.yahoo.com/singles/relationships/24466/dating-tips-9-things-happy-couples-talk-about
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, great minds talk about ideas; small minds talk about people. What do you and your significant other talk about? If you constantly hit the heavy stuff, you're probably happier than if you spend time gossiping about your neighbors or coworkers.
A recent study published in Psychological Science says that people are happier when they spend more time discussing meaningful topics than engaging in small talk. Seventy-nine college students had their conversations recorded and analyzed by researchers, who distinguished between chit-chat about the food or the weather and discussions about philosophy, education, or religion. Subjects who reported the greatest amount of satisfaction spent only 10 percent of their conversation on small talk, while the unhappiest subjects kept 28.3 percent of their talking time in the shallow end.
Among the scores of substantive topics people discuss, we've come up with nine that we believe couples should relish during heart-to-hearts:
1. Embarrassing moments. If you can't share the awkward, "American Pie"-worthy moments that occurred throughout high school with your partner, who can you tell them to? Don't be afraid to broach the subject, if you haven't already. We wouldn't be surprised if their stories are more horrifying than yours.
2. Political viewpoints. How do you feel about the new healthcare bill? You don't have to agree with each other, but you do need to keep an open mind. A good relationship allows both parties to discuss their own philosophies without taking the opposition personally.
3. Fears and insecurities. By fears, we don't mean your phobia of earthworms. We're talking about things that make you wake up with gray hairs. What worries you? What do you want to improve in yourself? What skeletons are in your closet? In being vulnerable, you risk judgment, but more importantly, you chance being understood.
4. Childhood. Ask your partner what he or she was like as a kid. Did she make friends easily? What kind of games did he like to play? Did he have trouble in school? Childhood memories make for fun conversations, but they can also lend insight into how your main squeeze became the person he or she is today.
5. Past relationships. This is a touchy one because no one wants to hear the person they're with spouting sonnets about an ex. There is, of course, a difference between longing for (or being bitter over) the past and simply acknowledging what happened. With enough practice, seasoned, happy couples learn how to address why past relationships ended without inadvertently comparing their current partner to an old flame.
6. Family life. Knowing a person's upbringing and relationship with his or her parents is paramount to understanding his current attitude toward family. If you're even slightly contemplating a future with this person, it might help to ask how well they get along with their parents. Why does she resent her mother? Why is he closer to his sisters than to his brothers? How does she handle family gatherings?
7. Current events. Thanks to the overflow of information, it's nearly impossible to stay up-to-date on everything going on around us. Here's where teamwork comes into play: Ask your partner about his interests, be they economics or regional politics, and see if you can't learn a thing or two. Who knows, maybe you'll help him develop an interest in international affairs or science news.
8. TV and movies. Compared to politics and personal fears, entertainment might seem pretty shallow, but discussions about movies can fall into the "deep" category if you focus on character motivations and plots rather than on, say, the cute leading actors.
9. The future. Talking about the future can be nerve-wracking. While we're not saying you should pressure your partner into talking about plans for marriage and children, we do believe that you should know their dreams, goals, and aspirations. What is he working toward? What drives her to succeed? Where does he see himself in five years? Someone who desires growth and is not afraid of the unknown is surely dynamic enough to deserve you.
More From YourTango:
•Waiting for a Marriage Proposal? Advice You Need
•7 Phrases Men Love to Hear
•How to Fall in Love With Mr. Good Enough
•10 Things You Should Never Say to Him
•Male Take: Why Romance Matters
•5 Emergency Flirting Tips
What you discuss can reveal the health of your relationship
By dating editor Denise Ngo for YourTango.com
Photo: Corbis
Updated: Apr 14, 2010
http://dating.personals.yahoo.com/singles/relationships/24466/dating-tips-9-things-happy-couples-talk-about
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, great minds talk about ideas; small minds talk about people. What do you and your significant other talk about? If you constantly hit the heavy stuff, you're probably happier than if you spend time gossiping about your neighbors or coworkers.
A recent study published in Psychological Science says that people are happier when they spend more time discussing meaningful topics than engaging in small talk. Seventy-nine college students had their conversations recorded and analyzed by researchers, who distinguished between chit-chat about the food or the weather and discussions about philosophy, education, or religion. Subjects who reported the greatest amount of satisfaction spent only 10 percent of their conversation on small talk, while the unhappiest subjects kept 28.3 percent of their talking time in the shallow end.
Among the scores of substantive topics people discuss, we've come up with nine that we believe couples should relish during heart-to-hearts:
1. Embarrassing moments. If you can't share the awkward, "American Pie"-worthy moments that occurred throughout high school with your partner, who can you tell them to? Don't be afraid to broach the subject, if you haven't already. We wouldn't be surprised if their stories are more horrifying than yours.
2. Political viewpoints. How do you feel about the new healthcare bill? You don't have to agree with each other, but you do need to keep an open mind. A good relationship allows both parties to discuss their own philosophies without taking the opposition personally.
3. Fears and insecurities. By fears, we don't mean your phobia of earthworms. We're talking about things that make you wake up with gray hairs. What worries you? What do you want to improve in yourself? What skeletons are in your closet? In being vulnerable, you risk judgment, but more importantly, you chance being understood.
4. Childhood. Ask your partner what he or she was like as a kid. Did she make friends easily? What kind of games did he like to play? Did he have trouble in school? Childhood memories make for fun conversations, but they can also lend insight into how your main squeeze became the person he or she is today.
5. Past relationships. This is a touchy one because no one wants to hear the person they're with spouting sonnets about an ex. There is, of course, a difference between longing for (or being bitter over) the past and simply acknowledging what happened. With enough practice, seasoned, happy couples learn how to address why past relationships ended without inadvertently comparing their current partner to an old flame.
6. Family life. Knowing a person's upbringing and relationship with his or her parents is paramount to understanding his current attitude toward family. If you're even slightly contemplating a future with this person, it might help to ask how well they get along with their parents. Why does she resent her mother? Why is he closer to his sisters than to his brothers? How does she handle family gatherings?
7. Current events. Thanks to the overflow of information, it's nearly impossible to stay up-to-date on everything going on around us. Here's where teamwork comes into play: Ask your partner about his interests, be they economics or regional politics, and see if you can't learn a thing or two. Who knows, maybe you'll help him develop an interest in international affairs or science news.
8. TV and movies. Compared to politics and personal fears, entertainment might seem pretty shallow, but discussions about movies can fall into the "deep" category if you focus on character motivations and plots rather than on, say, the cute leading actors.
9. The future. Talking about the future can be nerve-wracking. While we're not saying you should pressure your partner into talking about plans for marriage and children, we do believe that you should know their dreams, goals, and aspirations. What is he working toward? What drives her to succeed? Where does he see himself in five years? Someone who desires growth and is not afraid of the unknown is surely dynamic enough to deserve you.
More From YourTango:
•Waiting for a Marriage Proposal? Advice You Need
•7 Phrases Men Love to Hear
•How to Fall in Love With Mr. Good Enough
•10 Things You Should Never Say to Him
•Male Take: Why Romance Matters
•5 Emergency Flirting Tips
In Sour Home Market, Buying Often Beats Renting
by David Leonhardt
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/109359/in-sour-home-market-buying-often-beats-renting?mod=realestate-buy
In much of the country, for much of the last decade, renting a home has usually been a better financial move than buying one. It's been true in Southern California, San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas and large parts of Florida, the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.
Renting required you to suffer the scorn of many real estate agents and the skepticism of friends and relatives who believed that owning a home was almost always superior. But renting also would have typically saved you thousands of dollars a year.
More from NYTimes.com:
• 3 Emotional Questions Every Home Buyer Should Ask
• Economix: Breaking Down the Rent-Buy Equation
• Is Your House Overvalued?
Now, however, the situation is getting more complicated because the housing bust has been playing out unevenly across the country.
In some once bubbly markets, prices have fallen so far that buying a home appears to be a bargain, based on a New York Times analysis of prices and rents in 54 metropolitan areas. In South Florida, Phoenix and Las Vegas, house prices — relative to rents — are as low as in places that never experienced a bubble, like Indianapolis and St. Louis.
But in a handful of other areas, including San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore., house prices remain significantly higher than they were before the bubble began. People who buy a home in these areas will face higher monthly costs than if they rented, even after taking tax deductions into account. As a result, buyers are effectively betting that prices will rise enough in future years to cover the difference.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The country's two biggest metropolitan areas, New York and Los Angeles, are a microcosm of today's more nuanced real estate market. Average house prices across both areas have fallen enough that buying may now be a good deal for many families. Yet there are still significant pockets where renting looks promising — including parts of Manhattan, the New York suburbs and Orange County, Calif.
The buy-versus-rent question is particularly relevant right now. To qualify for an expiring federal tax credit of up to $8,000, home buyers must sign a contract by April 30 and close on the house by June 30. Many economists also expect mortgage rates to rise in coming months.
Camela Witters, a 38-year-old trophy engraver in Las Vegas, plans to close on her first home purchase — a four-bedroom, $164,000 house nearly identical to the one she is now renting — in the next few days. She decided to buy, she said, when she found out she could save money by doing so. "I didn't buy a house when everyone did," said Ms. Witters, who lives with her companion and their children. "So I'm kind of taking advantage of all the foreclosures."
The Times analysis is based on comparing the costs of buying and renting a similar home, using data from Moody's Economy.com, a research firm, and from real estate agents. This kind of comparison can never tell someone for sure what the best financial move will be. But it does show whether a buyer will need a big jump in future prices to cover all the costs of owning — including the down payment, closing costs, property taxes, mortgage interest, repairs and co-op fees.
A simple way to do the comparison is to look at something called the rent ratio: the purchase price of a house divided by the annual cost of renting a similar one. The number 20 provides a useful rule of thumb. When you do the math, you discover that a ratio above 20 means you should at least consider renting, especially if you may move again in the next five years or so. When the ratio is well below 20, the case for buying becomes a lot stronger.
In many large metropolitan areas, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and South Florida, the average ratio is now 16 or lower. It was more than 25 in several of these places at the peak of the bubble, about five years ago. With a ratio as low as 16 and interest rates as low as they are, the costs of owning can be less than the costs of renting — and buyers will end up worse off only if prices fall considerably more.
A two-bedroom Spanish-style condominium in Beverly Hills, Calif., for example, recently went on the market for $1.075 million, notes Don Heller of Prudential California Realty. Including taxes, condo fees and the tax deduction for mortgage interest, a typical buyer making a 20 percent down payment would face an effective monthly payment of about $6,000. Compare that with the monthly rent on a similar two-bedroom condo nearby — $7,600.
The math works out similarly in less costly areas, too, be it once booming cities like Phoenix and Orlando, Fla.; Midwestern cities like Minneapolis and Cleveland; or the outer-ring suburbs of most big cities. Much of New York's outer boroughs appear to fall into this category.
The problem for potential buyers is that many real estate agents argue for buying even in places where the numbers don't add up. In the Bay Area, the rent ratio remains around 30. In Seattle, it's about 28. In parts of Manhattan, it appears to be about 25, according to current listings.
"In most markets, you're better off buying," Thomas Lys, an accounting professor at Northwestern University, says. "But once the ratio gets to 25 or 30, I'd say, 'You know what? There may be a bubble.'"
The rent ratio has long been higher in New York and San Francisco than most places, perhaps because of zoning rules or because the cities are home to large numbers of affluent households willing to pay extra to own. So it's possible that prices will not fall. But they are already high enough that the monthly costs of owning often exceed the cost of renting — even without taking into account the down payment or other one-time costs.
A big reason is that prices still haven't fallen much in some places. In Rye, N.Y., the average per-square-foot sale price was only 9 percent lower early this year than at its 2007 peak, according to MDA DataQuick. Some similarly affluent parts of the Los Angeles, Miami and San Diego areas have experienced declines of 25 to 50 percent.
Obviously, owning a home brings benefits that are not strictly financial. It offers stability and, for many people, comfort. As I have written, I bought a house in 2008 (in part because the rent ratio in my area had fallen to about 16). Even in Manhattan, San Francisco or Seattle, a family confident that it will stay put for a decade or more may well be wise to buy today.
But it's worth remembering that the advantages of homeownership are frequently exaggerated. The mortgage-interest tax deduction doesn't eliminate the cost of borrowing money; it merely reduces it. The freedom to paint your house any color you wish comes with the responsibility of paying for a new roof when the time comes. The $15,000 or $30,000 or $50,000 that real estate agents' fees add to the price of a house can wipe out a lot of other savings.
The most striking part of the current situation may be that despite everything that has happened in the last few years, there are still places where renting does not get enough respect.
Janie Lorber contributed reporting.
E-mail: leonhardt@nytimes.com
Click here to see How to Decide: Ratio Chart
by David Leonhardt
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/109359/in-sour-home-market-buying-often-beats-renting?mod=realestate-buy
In much of the country, for much of the last decade, renting a home has usually been a better financial move than buying one. It's been true in Southern California, San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas and large parts of Florida, the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.
Renting required you to suffer the scorn of many real estate agents and the skepticism of friends and relatives who believed that owning a home was almost always superior. But renting also would have typically saved you thousands of dollars a year.
More from NYTimes.com:
• 3 Emotional Questions Every Home Buyer Should Ask
• Economix: Breaking Down the Rent-Buy Equation
• Is Your House Overvalued?
Now, however, the situation is getting more complicated because the housing bust has been playing out unevenly across the country.
In some once bubbly markets, prices have fallen so far that buying a home appears to be a bargain, based on a New York Times analysis of prices and rents in 54 metropolitan areas. In South Florida, Phoenix and Las Vegas, house prices — relative to rents — are as low as in places that never experienced a bubble, like Indianapolis and St. Louis.
But in a handful of other areas, including San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore., house prices remain significantly higher than they were before the bubble began. People who buy a home in these areas will face higher monthly costs than if they rented, even after taking tax deductions into account. As a result, buyers are effectively betting that prices will rise enough in future years to cover the difference.
Popular Stories on Yahoo!:
•How to Get Over the Bad Boss Blues
• The Work Chore Everyone Loves to Hate
• How to Fight the IRS -- and Win
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More from Yahoo! Finance
The country's two biggest metropolitan areas, New York and Los Angeles, are a microcosm of today's more nuanced real estate market. Average house prices across both areas have fallen enough that buying may now be a good deal for many families. Yet there are still significant pockets where renting looks promising — including parts of Manhattan, the New York suburbs and Orange County, Calif.
The buy-versus-rent question is particularly relevant right now. To qualify for an expiring federal tax credit of up to $8,000, home buyers must sign a contract by April 30 and close on the house by June 30. Many economists also expect mortgage rates to rise in coming months.
Camela Witters, a 38-year-old trophy engraver in Las Vegas, plans to close on her first home purchase — a four-bedroom, $164,000 house nearly identical to the one she is now renting — in the next few days. She decided to buy, she said, when she found out she could save money by doing so. "I didn't buy a house when everyone did," said Ms. Witters, who lives with her companion and their children. "So I'm kind of taking advantage of all the foreclosures."
The Times analysis is based on comparing the costs of buying and renting a similar home, using data from Moody's Economy.com, a research firm, and from real estate agents. This kind of comparison can never tell someone for sure what the best financial move will be. But it does show whether a buyer will need a big jump in future prices to cover all the costs of owning — including the down payment, closing costs, property taxes, mortgage interest, repairs and co-op fees.
A simple way to do the comparison is to look at something called the rent ratio: the purchase price of a house divided by the annual cost of renting a similar one. The number 20 provides a useful rule of thumb. When you do the math, you discover that a ratio above 20 means you should at least consider renting, especially if you may move again in the next five years or so. When the ratio is well below 20, the case for buying becomes a lot stronger.
In many large metropolitan areas, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and South Florida, the average ratio is now 16 or lower. It was more than 25 in several of these places at the peak of the bubble, about five years ago. With a ratio as low as 16 and interest rates as low as they are, the costs of owning can be less than the costs of renting — and buyers will end up worse off only if prices fall considerably more.
A two-bedroom Spanish-style condominium in Beverly Hills, Calif., for example, recently went on the market for $1.075 million, notes Don Heller of Prudential California Realty. Including taxes, condo fees and the tax deduction for mortgage interest, a typical buyer making a 20 percent down payment would face an effective monthly payment of about $6,000. Compare that with the monthly rent on a similar two-bedroom condo nearby — $7,600.
The math works out similarly in less costly areas, too, be it once booming cities like Phoenix and Orlando, Fla.; Midwestern cities like Minneapolis and Cleveland; or the outer-ring suburbs of most big cities. Much of New York's outer boroughs appear to fall into this category.
The problem for potential buyers is that many real estate agents argue for buying even in places where the numbers don't add up. In the Bay Area, the rent ratio remains around 30. In Seattle, it's about 28. In parts of Manhattan, it appears to be about 25, according to current listings.
"In most markets, you're better off buying," Thomas Lys, an accounting professor at Northwestern University, says. "But once the ratio gets to 25 or 30, I'd say, 'You know what? There may be a bubble.'"
The rent ratio has long been higher in New York and San Francisco than most places, perhaps because of zoning rules or because the cities are home to large numbers of affluent households willing to pay extra to own. So it's possible that prices will not fall. But they are already high enough that the monthly costs of owning often exceed the cost of renting — even without taking into account the down payment or other one-time costs.
A big reason is that prices still haven't fallen much in some places. In Rye, N.Y., the average per-square-foot sale price was only 9 percent lower early this year than at its 2007 peak, according to MDA DataQuick. Some similarly affluent parts of the Los Angeles, Miami and San Diego areas have experienced declines of 25 to 50 percent.
Obviously, owning a home brings benefits that are not strictly financial. It offers stability and, for many people, comfort. As I have written, I bought a house in 2008 (in part because the rent ratio in my area had fallen to about 16). Even in Manhattan, San Francisco or Seattle, a family confident that it will stay put for a decade or more may well be wise to buy today.
But it's worth remembering that the advantages of homeownership are frequently exaggerated. The mortgage-interest tax deduction doesn't eliminate the cost of borrowing money; it merely reduces it. The freedom to paint your house any color you wish comes with the responsibility of paying for a new roof when the time comes. The $15,000 or $30,000 or $50,000 that real estate agents' fees add to the price of a house can wipe out a lot of other savings.
The most striking part of the current situation may be that despite everything that has happened in the last few years, there are still places where renting does not get enough respect.
Janie Lorber contributed reporting.
E-mail: leonhardt@nytimes.com
Click here to see How to Decide: Ratio Chart
Monday, April 19, 2010
Review: The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner: A Powerful Plan to Finish Rich in Real Estate or not?
http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Millionaire-Homeowner-Powerful-Finish/dp/0767921208
212 of 228 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Be Extremely Cautious., March 17, 2006
By Mr. Lu. (Denver) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner: A Powerful Plan to Finish Rich in Real Estate (Hardcover)
David Bach came to fame as another of Oprah's protégées. He is another self-appointed financial guru that caters all those millions of Americans that haven't figured out yet that is better to save than to get the balance of your credits cards thru the roof.
He publishes about one book a year with different title and cover but same content, just know that if you have read "The Automatic Millionaire" or others there is no need for you to buy this book, there is nothing new here.
All things being fair he has offered in the past good and common sense financial advice, all that ends here with "The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner". The advice is bias; we know that Bach is now readily accepting endorsements from banks and financial institutions of the likes of Wells Fargo. This is also one book centered on the "glamour" of real state. Just makes it look so easy; but reality is that not everybody is prepared to invest on real state, the risks are tremendous and of course this book does not cover them deep enough.
It also states that owning is cheaper than renting, which it's true in most cases, but then again, check your financial situation before jumping to ownership and make sure you can handle it. By owning your expenses will increase and possibly double, apart from down payment and mortgage payments, you will have to pay insurance, taxes, trash removal, sewer, water, maintenance, utilities (if you move from a condo to a house this bill may be up to ten times higher than it used to be), and the list goes on, so understand what you are getting into and make sure your monthly cash flow can handle it.
The most concerning part of the book is the one devoted to the different types of mortgages. It advocates very risky choices like interest only loans, no down payment options with not enough emphasis on the risks involved. Again educate yourself before being lured into any of these very risky propositions. Remember that the rate of foreclosures is skyrocketing in this country and one of the main reasons is the amount of people that find out that can no longer make their monthly payments because they picked one of those mortgages and suddenly the monthly payment is much higher than it used to be.
Do not allow that to happen to you, for sure you will find somebody to give you a loan regardless of your financial or credit situation; take the time to understand what you are getting into, or there will be no financial guru out there that will save you of the consequences.
Summarizing, skip this one, if you want fair and no bias advise pick any of Bach other books and keep it simple, make a plan, save and one day, sooner than you think you will be able to get a house and call it your own without jeopardizing your future and your family's.
212 of 228 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Be Extremely Cautious., March 17, 2006
By Mr. Lu. (Denver) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner: A Powerful Plan to Finish Rich in Real Estate (Hardcover)
David Bach came to fame as another of Oprah's protégées. He is another self-appointed financial guru that caters all those millions of Americans that haven't figured out yet that is better to save than to get the balance of your credits cards thru the roof.
He publishes about one book a year with different title and cover but same content, just know that if you have read "The Automatic Millionaire" or others there is no need for you to buy this book, there is nothing new here.
All things being fair he has offered in the past good and common sense financial advice, all that ends here with "The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner". The advice is bias; we know that Bach is now readily accepting endorsements from banks and financial institutions of the likes of Wells Fargo. This is also one book centered on the "glamour" of real state. Just makes it look so easy; but reality is that not everybody is prepared to invest on real state, the risks are tremendous and of course this book does not cover them deep enough.
It also states that owning is cheaper than renting, which it's true in most cases, but then again, check your financial situation before jumping to ownership and make sure you can handle it. By owning your expenses will increase and possibly double, apart from down payment and mortgage payments, you will have to pay insurance, taxes, trash removal, sewer, water, maintenance, utilities (if you move from a condo to a house this bill may be up to ten times higher than it used to be), and the list goes on, so understand what you are getting into and make sure your monthly cash flow can handle it.
The most concerning part of the book is the one devoted to the different types of mortgages. It advocates very risky choices like interest only loans, no down payment options with not enough emphasis on the risks involved. Again educate yourself before being lured into any of these very risky propositions. Remember that the rate of foreclosures is skyrocketing in this country and one of the main reasons is the amount of people that find out that can no longer make their monthly payments because they picked one of those mortgages and suddenly the monthly payment is much higher than it used to be.
Do not allow that to happen to you, for sure you will find somebody to give you a loan regardless of your financial or credit situation; take the time to understand what you are getting into, or there will be no financial guru out there that will save you of the consequences.
Summarizing, skip this one, if you want fair and no bias advise pick any of Bach other books and keep it simple, make a plan, save and one day, sooner than you think you will be able to get a house and call it your own without jeopardizing your future and your family's.
Renting: The new American dream?
Renting: The new American dream?
By Paul R. La Monica, editor at large, CNNMoney.com
Apr 15th, 2010
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/renting-the-new-american-dream
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The American dream of home ownership has turned out to be the American nightmare for those who could never really afford a home in the first place.
Many borrowers are now in deep trouble as home prices have plummeted and the payments on bubble-era adjustable rate mortgages have shot up. Foreclosures are still continuing at an alarming pace.
If the so-called Great Recession has taught us anything, it's that buying a house is not a divine right. It's a privilege to be earned only after you've saved up a nice chunk of cash for a down payment and are in a healthy enough financial position to keep making those monthly mortgage payments.
MORE AT CNNMONEY.COM
Just when you thought it was safe: Foreclosures bite back
Where are America's most overvalued cities?
6 housing trends in a still-shaky market
So for many consumers, renting is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. That's worth keeping in mind now that some experts think home prices are close to bottoming and fixed mortgage rates are still fairly low.
Sure, we've all been taught that buying real estate is the smartest thing you can do in order to build wealth. That's probably still true for the long haul.
But like with any investment, you should only make a purchase if you can afford the near-term hit that comes from doling out all that money now. Plus, you have to be able to stomach the possibility that the value of the house may actually fall over a short period.
And guess what? It seems many people are in fact coming to the realization that, for now at least, it makes more sense to rent instead of buy.
Jerry Davis, senior vice president of property operations for UDR (UDR), a Denver-based real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and manages apartments, said that before the housing market collapsed, about 25% of the company's renters that moved out of apartments did so because they were buying a home.
Now, only about 12% are moving out to purchase a home, and in some of the harder hit real estate markets, such as California, Davis said that fewer than 10% of movers are buying a house of their own.
"Even though prices have come down, you're not seeing a big exodus of renters to buy homes," Davis said. "Buying a house used to be the way to get rich, but people are afraid to jump back in."
In addition, banks also appear to have learned lessons from the housing crash. Many remain reluctant to give mortgages to even the most credit-worthy consumers.
"It was Shakespeare who wrote that when home prices are declining, neither a borrower nor a lender be," joked Edward Leamer, chief economist for the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index and professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management.
Simply put, many consumers just aren't buying the notion that the economy is getting better. For many, the stock market rally does not make their daily lives any easier. Consumers are more interested in the job market improving than the Dow or S&P 500 hitting highs.
"This is a frugal recovery. People are more reluctant to buy homes as they would in a normal recovery," Leamer said. "If you don't have a job or are worrying about your job, you're not going to buy a home. That's the ultimate statement of optimism about the future."
Add that up and it's reasonable to expect a rental boom that could last for some time. That's not lost on Wall Street. Shares of UDR, for example, are up 20% this year.
Other apartment REITs have also surged this year and an analyst at RBC Capital Markets upgraded UDR, BRE Properties (BRE), Camden Properties Trust (CPT) and Apartment Investment and Management (AIV) last week, citing their growth potential.
Thomas Toomey, CEO of UDR, said that favorable demographics will also probably drive more people to rent than buy. He pointed to the increasing number of retiring Baby Boomers who may look to downgrade from bigger houses to apartments.
He also said that record-high college enrollment levels are a boon for UDR and other apartment owners. Most recent college graduates, particularly those finding work in cities, are not in a position to buy a home.
Toomey added that cities are also interested in building more apartments closer to where people work for environmental reasons.
"So if you look toward the future, it's not just demographics and people making a conscious decision of whether they can afford a home that will lead to more renters. Cities want more apartments for younger and older generations," he said.
Of course, that's exactly what you'd expect the head of a company that owns apartments to say. But I also agree with him. And I'm curious to hear what you think.
Are any of you long-term renters finally looking to buy? Homeowners that want to sell and not deal with a mortgage anymore? E-mail me and if I get enough feedback, I may do a follow-up column about renting versus buying.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica.
By Paul R. La Monica, editor at large, CNNMoney.com
Apr 15th, 2010
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/renting-the-new-american-dream
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The American dream of home ownership has turned out to be the American nightmare for those who could never really afford a home in the first place.
Many borrowers are now in deep trouble as home prices have plummeted and the payments on bubble-era adjustable rate mortgages have shot up. Foreclosures are still continuing at an alarming pace.
If the so-called Great Recession has taught us anything, it's that buying a house is not a divine right. It's a privilege to be earned only after you've saved up a nice chunk of cash for a down payment and are in a healthy enough financial position to keep making those monthly mortgage payments.
MORE AT CNNMONEY.COM
Just when you thought it was safe: Foreclosures bite back
Where are America's most overvalued cities?
6 housing trends in a still-shaky market
So for many consumers, renting is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. That's worth keeping in mind now that some experts think home prices are close to bottoming and fixed mortgage rates are still fairly low.
Sure, we've all been taught that buying real estate is the smartest thing you can do in order to build wealth. That's probably still true for the long haul.
But like with any investment, you should only make a purchase if you can afford the near-term hit that comes from doling out all that money now. Plus, you have to be able to stomach the possibility that the value of the house may actually fall over a short period.
And guess what? It seems many people are in fact coming to the realization that, for now at least, it makes more sense to rent instead of buy.
Jerry Davis, senior vice president of property operations for UDR (UDR), a Denver-based real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and manages apartments, said that before the housing market collapsed, about 25% of the company's renters that moved out of apartments did so because they were buying a home.
Now, only about 12% are moving out to purchase a home, and in some of the harder hit real estate markets, such as California, Davis said that fewer than 10% of movers are buying a house of their own.
"Even though prices have come down, you're not seeing a big exodus of renters to buy homes," Davis said. "Buying a house used to be the way to get rich, but people are afraid to jump back in."
In addition, banks also appear to have learned lessons from the housing crash. Many remain reluctant to give mortgages to even the most credit-worthy consumers.
"It was Shakespeare who wrote that when home prices are declining, neither a borrower nor a lender be," joked Edward Leamer, chief economist for the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index and professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management.
Simply put, many consumers just aren't buying the notion that the economy is getting better. For many, the stock market rally does not make their daily lives any easier. Consumers are more interested in the job market improving than the Dow or S&P 500 hitting highs.
"This is a frugal recovery. People are more reluctant to buy homes as they would in a normal recovery," Leamer said. "If you don't have a job or are worrying about your job, you're not going to buy a home. That's the ultimate statement of optimism about the future."
Add that up and it's reasonable to expect a rental boom that could last for some time. That's not lost on Wall Street. Shares of UDR, for example, are up 20% this year.
Other apartment REITs have also surged this year and an analyst at RBC Capital Markets upgraded UDR, BRE Properties (BRE), Camden Properties Trust (CPT) and Apartment Investment and Management (AIV) last week, citing their growth potential.
Thomas Toomey, CEO of UDR, said that favorable demographics will also probably drive more people to rent than buy. He pointed to the increasing number of retiring Baby Boomers who may look to downgrade from bigger houses to apartments.
He also said that record-high college enrollment levels are a boon for UDR and other apartment owners. Most recent college graduates, particularly those finding work in cities, are not in a position to buy a home.
Toomey added that cities are also interested in building more apartments closer to where people work for environmental reasons.
"So if you look toward the future, it's not just demographics and people making a conscious decision of whether they can afford a home that will lead to more renters. Cities want more apartments for younger and older generations," he said.
Of course, that's exactly what you'd expect the head of a company that owns apartments to say. But I also agree with him. And I'm curious to hear what you think.
Are any of you long-term renters finally looking to buy? Homeowners that want to sell and not deal with a mortgage anymore? E-mail me and if I get enough feedback, I may do a follow-up column about renting versus buying.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica.
The Truth About Resume Lies
Why you shouldn't fudge facts--and how to make the truth sound better
by Charles Purdy, Yahoo! HotJobs
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Buzz up! Print
Desperate times often call for desperate measures--and in a brutal employment market, some job seekers may be tempted to falsify their work or education history in order to make themselves more attractive to potential employers. HireRight.com, a provider of on-demand employment background screening, recently announced its finding that 34 percent of job applicants lie on resumes. And when Yahoo! HotJobs recently asked people whether they'd ever lied in a job interview, 41 percent said yes.
But job seekers who stretch the truth are playing an ever riskier game, according to Dennis Nason, CEO of the recruiting firm Nason & Nason. "Background checks are much easier now," he says. "It's all pretty open on the Internet." And many companies and recruiters now employ background-check providers who specialize in sniffing out untruths.
The gray area between fact and fiction
Almost all career experts advise job seekers to customize their resumes to individual jobs they apply for. So where's the line between self-promotion and falsehood? Some experts say it can be hard to define. Tim McIntyre, president and CEO of The Executive Search Group explains, "The dictionary says that 'embellish' means 'to make beautiful,' which is when a candidate is great at self-promotion. The difference between that and a damaging lie varies by industry and profession."
For instance, financial executives are subject to more-intense scrutiny than many people going into entry-level positions that don't involve money.
But at any point in your career, stretching the truth is risky--especially on official job applications. Brad Karsh, president and founder of JobBound, doesn't see a gray area at all: "Any uncovered fib is liable to severely damage your reputation in the workplace."
Just the facts
According to Forbes.com, some of the most common resume lies are about education, employment dates, job titles, and technical skills. And these are the same resume areas that, if you fudge them, can cause problems--the Internet has made it much easier to verify a person's claims about education, for instance.
And Nason notes that firms like his are sleuthing far beyond a candidate's given references to corroborate his or her claims--for instance, finding and contacting the candidate's former colleagues via LinkedIn.
Career expert Liz Ryan says, "People think that they can make up and embellish details about companies that have been sold or gone out of business. But LinkedIn, Facebook, and our wide-ranging networks will put a quick stop to most efforts to change history in our favor."
Truth or consequences
And even if false credentials get you the job, those untruths may come back to haunt you.
"You're subject to immediate dismissal if it turns out you misrepresented something," says Nason.
If your company is acquired, for instance, the acquirer's HR department may perform an audit of its new employees. Or your background may be checked when you apply for a promotion. Former Notre Dame football coach George O'Leary and celebrity chef Robert Irvine are just two of the people who've made news in recent years when false background information cost them high-profile jobs.
Keeping it real
Career experts have practical advice on how to truthfully deal with some of the problems that may cause people to lie--follow it, and you'll be able to sleep more easily at night.
1. Gaps of unemployment: Just because you weren't getting paid for something doesn't mean you weren't being productive and gaining skills. If you volunteered or worked on your own projects, say, you should speak to those things on your resume, in a cover letter, or in an interview.
2. Misrepresentative titles: "Job seekers need to lay claim to projects and results that may not have been in their formal job descriptions," says Ryan. "Here's an example. An office manager I know took on HR in her company after the HR coordinator left. The office manager's title was never changed, but she took on responsibility for payroll, benefits, and so on. She put all of that on her resume, and changed her title to 'Office Manager (with HR responsibilities).' That's a perfectly good way for her to brand herself, because she hasn't changed the title to something her old employer wouldn't recognize or support."
3. Past salaries: Ryan also has advice on how to deal with discussing a past salary you feel was too low--for more on handling salary-history questions, see her column "Passing the 'Salary History' Test."
4. Skills: If you're tempted to lie about having a technical skill, for instance, the right thing to do is clear: gain that skill by enrolling in a class (or committing to learning it on your own). Then you'll be able to truthfully explain to potential employers that you're working on getting up-to-speed in that area.
Want to read some real-life resume lies--some resume whoppers, in fact? Check out "Outrageous Job-Seeker Lies."
Why you shouldn't fudge facts--and how to make the truth sound better
by Charles Purdy, Yahoo! HotJobs
Send
IM
Buzz up! Print
Desperate times often call for desperate measures--and in a brutal employment market, some job seekers may be tempted to falsify their work or education history in order to make themselves more attractive to potential employers. HireRight.com, a provider of on-demand employment background screening, recently announced its finding that 34 percent of job applicants lie on resumes. And when Yahoo! HotJobs recently asked people whether they'd ever lied in a job interview, 41 percent said yes.
But job seekers who stretch the truth are playing an ever riskier game, according to Dennis Nason, CEO of the recruiting firm Nason & Nason. "Background checks are much easier now," he says. "It's all pretty open on the Internet." And many companies and recruiters now employ background-check providers who specialize in sniffing out untruths.
The gray area between fact and fiction
Almost all career experts advise job seekers to customize their resumes to individual jobs they apply for. So where's the line between self-promotion and falsehood? Some experts say it can be hard to define. Tim McIntyre, president and CEO of The Executive Search Group explains, "The dictionary says that 'embellish' means 'to make beautiful,' which is when a candidate is great at self-promotion. The difference between that and a damaging lie varies by industry and profession."
For instance, financial executives are subject to more-intense scrutiny than many people going into entry-level positions that don't involve money.
But at any point in your career, stretching the truth is risky--especially on official job applications. Brad Karsh, president and founder of JobBound, doesn't see a gray area at all: "Any uncovered fib is liable to severely damage your reputation in the workplace."
Just the facts
According to Forbes.com, some of the most common resume lies are about education, employment dates, job titles, and technical skills. And these are the same resume areas that, if you fudge them, can cause problems--the Internet has made it much easier to verify a person's claims about education, for instance.
And Nason notes that firms like his are sleuthing far beyond a candidate's given references to corroborate his or her claims--for instance, finding and contacting the candidate's former colleagues via LinkedIn.
Career expert Liz Ryan says, "People think that they can make up and embellish details about companies that have been sold or gone out of business. But LinkedIn, Facebook, and our wide-ranging networks will put a quick stop to most efforts to change history in our favor."
Truth or consequences
And even if false credentials get you the job, those untruths may come back to haunt you.
"You're subject to immediate dismissal if it turns out you misrepresented something," says Nason.
If your company is acquired, for instance, the acquirer's HR department may perform an audit of its new employees. Or your background may be checked when you apply for a promotion. Former Notre Dame football coach George O'Leary and celebrity chef Robert Irvine are just two of the people who've made news in recent years when false background information cost them high-profile jobs.
Keeping it real
Career experts have practical advice on how to truthfully deal with some of the problems that may cause people to lie--follow it, and you'll be able to sleep more easily at night.
1. Gaps of unemployment: Just because you weren't getting paid for something doesn't mean you weren't being productive and gaining skills. If you volunteered or worked on your own projects, say, you should speak to those things on your resume, in a cover letter, or in an interview.
2. Misrepresentative titles: "Job seekers need to lay claim to projects and results that may not have been in their formal job descriptions," says Ryan. "Here's an example. An office manager I know took on HR in her company after the HR coordinator left. The office manager's title was never changed, but she took on responsibility for payroll, benefits, and so on. She put all of that on her resume, and changed her title to 'Office Manager (with HR responsibilities).' That's a perfectly good way for her to brand herself, because she hasn't changed the title to something her old employer wouldn't recognize or support."
3. Past salaries: Ryan also has advice on how to deal with discussing a past salary you feel was too low--for more on handling salary-history questions, see her column "Passing the 'Salary History' Test."
4. Skills: If you're tempted to lie about having a technical skill, for instance, the right thing to do is clear: gain that skill by enrolling in a class (or committing to learning it on your own). Then you'll be able to truthfully explain to potential employers that you're working on getting up-to-speed in that area.
Want to read some real-life resume lies--some resume whoppers, in fact? Check out "Outrageous Job-Seeker Lies."
10 Phrases That Can Sink Your Resume
The Savvy Networker
10 Phrases That Can Sink Your Resume
by Liz Ryan
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-10_phrases_that_can_sink_your_resume-115
If you're job-hunting today, you know that employers are looking for sharp, self-motivated people. Paradoxically, just about the worst way to convey your talent and motivation is to say in your resume or cover letter, "I'm self-motivated." Anyone can say that! The phrase falls flat. You can't afford to let done-to-death boilerplate language sink your resume like a boat anchor.
Resume cliches like "self-motivated individual" and "results-oriented professional" are out of date in 2010. You can do a better job of letting hiring managers know how you solve problems on-the-fly or leap over tall buildings in a single bound.
=========================================
Also on Yahoo! HotJobs:
The interview is not about you
The truth about resume lies
Find a new job near you
Get personalized Twitter job alerts from Yahoo! HotJobs
=========================================
Here are ten of the deadliest resume phrases in use ("massive overuse" would be more accurate) and replacements for each one. You'll rewrite the replacement phrases to reflect your own accomplishments--and that's the key! We can't expect a timeworn piece of resume boilerplate to stand in for our own pithy, personal examples.
Kill this: Results-oriented professional
Replace with your own version of this: I love to solve thorny supply-chain problems
Kill this: Excellent team player
Replace with your own version of this: At Acme Dynamite, I partnered with Engineering to cut our product cost in half
Kill this: Bottom-line orientation
Replace with your own version of this: My accounting-process overhaul saved the company $10M in its first year
Kill this: Superior communication skills
Replace with your own version of this: I led a two-day offsite that yielded our 2010 product lineup and a $40K cost savings
Kill this: Possess organizational skills
Replace with your own version of this: Reduced customer-complaint resolution time from three weeks to one by revamping the process
Kill this: Savvy business professional
Replace with your own version of this: I'm a PR manager who's gotten his employers covered by Yahoo! and Time magazine
Kill this: Strong work ethic
Replace with your own version of this: I taught myself HTML over a weekend in order to grab a marketing opportunity
Kill this: Meets or exceeds expectations
Replace with your own version of this: Invited to join our executive staff at a strategy summit during my first year at the company
Kill this: Strong presentation skills
Replace with your own version of this: Was recruited to join Acme Dynamite after my boss heard me speak at a conference
Kill this: Seeking a challenging opportunity
Replace with your own version of this: I'm looking for a midsize manufacturer primed to grow its business in the Pacific Rim
Get the boilerplate lead out of your resume today, and replace it with concrete, visual stories that bring your power to life. Watch employers respond! You can't afford to send out another lifeless, sounds-like-everyone-else resume. Employers want the real you on the page. Try it!
--
Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, a former Fortune 500 VP, and an internationally recognized expert on careers and the new-millennium workplace. Connect with her at www.asklizryan.com.
10 Phrases That Can Sink Your Resume
by Liz Ryan
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-10_phrases_that_can_sink_your_resume-115
If you're job-hunting today, you know that employers are looking for sharp, self-motivated people. Paradoxically, just about the worst way to convey your talent and motivation is to say in your resume or cover letter, "I'm self-motivated." Anyone can say that! The phrase falls flat. You can't afford to let done-to-death boilerplate language sink your resume like a boat anchor.
Resume cliches like "self-motivated individual" and "results-oriented professional" are out of date in 2010. You can do a better job of letting hiring managers know how you solve problems on-the-fly or leap over tall buildings in a single bound.
=========================================
Also on Yahoo! HotJobs:
The interview is not about you
The truth about resume lies
Find a new job near you
Get personalized Twitter job alerts from Yahoo! HotJobs
=========================================
Here are ten of the deadliest resume phrases in use ("massive overuse" would be more accurate) and replacements for each one. You'll rewrite the replacement phrases to reflect your own accomplishments--and that's the key! We can't expect a timeworn piece of resume boilerplate to stand in for our own pithy, personal examples.
Kill this: Results-oriented professional
Replace with your own version of this: I love to solve thorny supply-chain problems
Kill this: Excellent team player
Replace with your own version of this: At Acme Dynamite, I partnered with Engineering to cut our product cost in half
Kill this: Bottom-line orientation
Replace with your own version of this: My accounting-process overhaul saved the company $10M in its first year
Kill this: Superior communication skills
Replace with your own version of this: I led a two-day offsite that yielded our 2010 product lineup and a $40K cost savings
Kill this: Possess organizational skills
Replace with your own version of this: Reduced customer-complaint resolution time from three weeks to one by revamping the process
Kill this: Savvy business professional
Replace with your own version of this: I'm a PR manager who's gotten his employers covered by Yahoo! and Time magazine
Kill this: Strong work ethic
Replace with your own version of this: I taught myself HTML over a weekend in order to grab a marketing opportunity
Kill this: Meets or exceeds expectations
Replace with your own version of this: Invited to join our executive staff at a strategy summit during my first year at the company
Kill this: Strong presentation skills
Replace with your own version of this: Was recruited to join Acme Dynamite after my boss heard me speak at a conference
Kill this: Seeking a challenging opportunity
Replace with your own version of this: I'm looking for a midsize manufacturer primed to grow its business in the Pacific Rim
Get the boilerplate lead out of your resume today, and replace it with concrete, visual stories that bring your power to life. Watch employers respond! You can't afford to send out another lifeless, sounds-like-everyone-else resume. Employers want the real you on the page. Try it!
--
Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, a former Fortune 500 VP, and an internationally recognized expert on careers and the new-millennium workplace. Connect with her at www.asklizryan.com.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
How to Be a Savvy Cheapskate
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/How-to-Be-a-Savvy-usnews-3454225752.html?x=0
Katy Marquardt, On Wednesday April 14, 2010, 11:40 am EDT
Don't judge this penny pincher by his cover. Jeff Yeager may be the author of The Ultimate Cheapskate's Roadmap to True Riches--which one might assume to be filled with coupon-clipping strategies and saving tricks--but his philosophy isn't as much about how to get more for less as it is learning to live with less, period. Sure, he blogs about "12 Surprising Ways to Reuse Aluminum Foil," making cider bisque out of your jack-o-lantern, and using just enough toilet paper, but the bigger goal here is to live green, not just cheap. Ultimately, Yeager says, consumers should direct their frugal efforts toward downsizing their lifestyle--in major areas like housing and transportation--rather than saving a buck here and there. U.S. News recently spoke to Yeager about the most effective ways to economize. Excerpts:
Explain your 'cheapskate' philosophy.
I don't really write about penny-pinching tips. I focus more on quality-of-life and happiness issues ... especially the idea of deciding what "enough" is for you. Most people don't ask themselves that. What would be enough money and enough stuff for you? My wife and I answered that question early in marriage, in our 30s. We were living a comfortable lifestyle--why would we want to spend every last dollar we earned as our salaries increased over the years? We established what I call a "permanent standard of living," a level we still live comfortably at today, even though we could afford to spend more ... we managed, for example, to pay off our house in 15 years and essentially retire in our 40s. It's all about the decisions you make.
[See 21 Things We're Learning to Live Without.]
What sorts of decisions?
Well, for me, it's all about the bigger financial decisions in life. I rail against the latte factor ... for 20 years, pundits have been saying that if you give up your daily Starbucks cup and bank the money, you can attain financial security. That may work on paper, but I don't think it works that way in reality, for most people. One [of the bigger decisions] is housing. I'm a big believer in finishing in your starter home: Buy a modest home when you're first starting out and ignore people who tell you not to pay it off right away. Pay off your mortgage as quickly as you can, settle in and get to know your neighbors, and make your house your home. The conventional wisdom before the housing bubble burst was that if you could afford to pay down your mortgage early, instead take that extra money and invest it because mortgage money is relatively inexpensive to borrow. The financial pundits at the time said that any idiot could make a return on their investment above 5 percent or 4 percent of their mortgage interest. ... Well, it didn't work out that way.
These days with the tight economy, you hear so much in the media about economizing. But that's almost always about "how to get more for less" ... how to clip a coupon or find a bargain. But I think we're missing what could be the golden epiphany of these hard times: We shouldn't be asking ourselves "How can we afford it?" We should instead be asking, "Do we really need it?" There's lots of social science that shows that once you're above poverty level, more money and more stuff doesn't contribute to happiness. I believe that most Americans would be happier, and the quality of their lives would increase, if they would only spend and consume less. If you believe as I do, I think there will be a lot of upsides to the current recession in the long run.
[See 12 Hidden Costs of Homeownership.]
What are those upsides?
For example, when gas was $4, we all complained about it, but two-thirds of people reported that they changed their driving habits as a result. And unless I'm missing all the horror stories, nothing awful happened because of it. Certainly driving less is better for the environment and better for our pocketbooks, so where's the downside? Another example: Since the start of the recession, the size of new homes being built in the U.S. has dropped by about 11 percent ... 300 fewer square feet. Again, that's a change, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Think about the tremendous financial impact that the decision to live in a smaller home will have on your life. Not only it cost more to buy [a larger home] in the first place, but once you have those extra 300 square feet, you have to insure it, decorate it, heat and cool it, maintain it, repair it, and pay taxes on it. That's the kind of fundamental decision that has enslaved so many Americans to the yoke of too much debt. So apparently now were going to be living in slightly smaller houses, but why is that a bad thing?
[How to Gauge Your Middle-Class Status.]
If you read the book The Not So Big House, it says that as humans, we're uncomfortable in big spaces. If we have a chance to move into the mansion on the hill, we're not really comfortable with it. We're learning some lessons in the recession. Personal savings rates are up. Even though things are tighter now, we're somehow magically able to put money in the bank. Go figure.
Aside from driving less and being happy with a smaller house, what other significant things we should cut back on?
Eating lower on the food chain, for one. I try to spend only a dollar a pound on food. It's a myth that it costs more to eat healthy. You can spend a lot, but when you think about the kinds of things we should eat the most of--whole grains, legumes, and produce--they tend to cost less per pound than things that are bad for us like red meat and many processed foods that are high in trans saturated fats. I encourage people to eat more meals at home. Forty-five percent of the average U.S. family food budget is spent on food prepared outside of home. And they cost an average of 80 percent more than preparing the same food at home. There's a lot of waste, too. According to the USDA, about 25 percent of food is thrown away, so arguably you could reduce your spending here by 25 percent simply by being smarter about food storage and portion control.
You write a lot about the relationship between being frugal and environmentally conscious on thedailygreen.com. Any takeaways?
For most Americans, the greenest thing you can do is consume less, which probably means spending less. I think there's some hypocrisy in the current green movement, even though I've been an ardent environmentalist my whole adult life. I fear that the so-called green movement is catching on now because there's a bunch of cool, expensive green stuff we can by. It's become what I call a "cause de stuff." Much of the current environmental movement in the U.S. seems to be built around the very thing it should be seeking to combat ... rampant consumerism. Take green cleaning products. They tend to be more expensive than the toxic products. But you can clean almost everything with baking soda and vinegar, which are safer for the environment than green products and cost less than any other cleaning products, green or toxic. Hybrid vehicles are another example. It's cool now to own a $35,000 Prius, although driving a gas guzzler to work instead is better for the environment IF you carpool with four friends. Sure, the greenest choice would be to carpool in a hybrid, but I don't see Americans being that committed to environmentalism. We're really mostly committed to buying cool, expensive, green stuff. That's the hypocrisy I'm talking about.
You must make big purchases every now and then. What's your strategy?
I'm a big believer in the Consumer Reports approach to shopping. Buyer's remorse is at epidemic proportions. How is spending money on something we'll regret later a good thing? It makes us poorer, and clearly hasn't made us happy. My advice is to have a mandatory waiting period. Wait at least a week after you see something in the store that you want. I guarantee that half the time, you won't go buy it.
Once or twice a year, I look at the things I've spent more money on, and ask myself one simple question: "If I had it to do over again, would I have spent that money?" I call it a 'what heck was I thinking? audit." Maybe you'll see that you spend a lot on restaurant meals that you regret. I noticed that when I had a regular 9-to-5 job, when I was stressed at work, I'd often buy things I regretted later. It's a way of helping you learn from your mistakes and change your spending behavior.
Katy Marquardt, On Wednesday April 14, 2010, 11:40 am EDT
Don't judge this penny pincher by his cover. Jeff Yeager may be the author of The Ultimate Cheapskate's Roadmap to True Riches--which one might assume to be filled with coupon-clipping strategies and saving tricks--but his philosophy isn't as much about how to get more for less as it is learning to live with less, period. Sure, he blogs about "12 Surprising Ways to Reuse Aluminum Foil," making cider bisque out of your jack-o-lantern, and using just enough toilet paper, but the bigger goal here is to live green, not just cheap. Ultimately, Yeager says, consumers should direct their frugal efforts toward downsizing their lifestyle--in major areas like housing and transportation--rather than saving a buck here and there. U.S. News recently spoke to Yeager about the most effective ways to economize. Excerpts:
Explain your 'cheapskate' philosophy.
I don't really write about penny-pinching tips. I focus more on quality-of-life and happiness issues ... especially the idea of deciding what "enough" is for you. Most people don't ask themselves that. What would be enough money and enough stuff for you? My wife and I answered that question early in marriage, in our 30s. We were living a comfortable lifestyle--why would we want to spend every last dollar we earned as our salaries increased over the years? We established what I call a "permanent standard of living," a level we still live comfortably at today, even though we could afford to spend more ... we managed, for example, to pay off our house in 15 years and essentially retire in our 40s. It's all about the decisions you make.
[See 21 Things We're Learning to Live Without.]
What sorts of decisions?
Well, for me, it's all about the bigger financial decisions in life. I rail against the latte factor ... for 20 years, pundits have been saying that if you give up your daily Starbucks cup and bank the money, you can attain financial security. That may work on paper, but I don't think it works that way in reality, for most people. One [of the bigger decisions] is housing. I'm a big believer in finishing in your starter home: Buy a modest home when you're first starting out and ignore people who tell you not to pay it off right away. Pay off your mortgage as quickly as you can, settle in and get to know your neighbors, and make your house your home. The conventional wisdom before the housing bubble burst was that if you could afford to pay down your mortgage early, instead take that extra money and invest it because mortgage money is relatively inexpensive to borrow. The financial pundits at the time said that any idiot could make a return on their investment above 5 percent or 4 percent of their mortgage interest. ... Well, it didn't work out that way.
These days with the tight economy, you hear so much in the media about economizing. But that's almost always about "how to get more for less" ... how to clip a coupon or find a bargain. But I think we're missing what could be the golden epiphany of these hard times: We shouldn't be asking ourselves "How can we afford it?" We should instead be asking, "Do we really need it?" There's lots of social science that shows that once you're above poverty level, more money and more stuff doesn't contribute to happiness. I believe that most Americans would be happier, and the quality of their lives would increase, if they would only spend and consume less. If you believe as I do, I think there will be a lot of upsides to the current recession in the long run.
[See 12 Hidden Costs of Homeownership.]
What are those upsides?
For example, when gas was $4, we all complained about it, but two-thirds of people reported that they changed their driving habits as a result. And unless I'm missing all the horror stories, nothing awful happened because of it. Certainly driving less is better for the environment and better for our pocketbooks, so where's the downside? Another example: Since the start of the recession, the size of new homes being built in the U.S. has dropped by about 11 percent ... 300 fewer square feet. Again, that's a change, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Think about the tremendous financial impact that the decision to live in a smaller home will have on your life. Not only it cost more to buy [a larger home] in the first place, but once you have those extra 300 square feet, you have to insure it, decorate it, heat and cool it, maintain it, repair it, and pay taxes on it. That's the kind of fundamental decision that has enslaved so many Americans to the yoke of too much debt. So apparently now were going to be living in slightly smaller houses, but why is that a bad thing?
[How to Gauge Your Middle-Class Status.]
If you read the book The Not So Big House, it says that as humans, we're uncomfortable in big spaces. If we have a chance to move into the mansion on the hill, we're not really comfortable with it. We're learning some lessons in the recession. Personal savings rates are up. Even though things are tighter now, we're somehow magically able to put money in the bank. Go figure.
Aside from driving less and being happy with a smaller house, what other significant things we should cut back on?
Eating lower on the food chain, for one. I try to spend only a dollar a pound on food. It's a myth that it costs more to eat healthy. You can spend a lot, but when you think about the kinds of things we should eat the most of--whole grains, legumes, and produce--they tend to cost less per pound than things that are bad for us like red meat and many processed foods that are high in trans saturated fats. I encourage people to eat more meals at home. Forty-five percent of the average U.S. family food budget is spent on food prepared outside of home. And they cost an average of 80 percent more than preparing the same food at home. There's a lot of waste, too. According to the USDA, about 25 percent of food is thrown away, so arguably you could reduce your spending here by 25 percent simply by being smarter about food storage and portion control.
You write a lot about the relationship between being frugal and environmentally conscious on thedailygreen.com. Any takeaways?
For most Americans, the greenest thing you can do is consume less, which probably means spending less. I think there's some hypocrisy in the current green movement, even though I've been an ardent environmentalist my whole adult life. I fear that the so-called green movement is catching on now because there's a bunch of cool, expensive green stuff we can by. It's become what I call a "cause de stuff." Much of the current environmental movement in the U.S. seems to be built around the very thing it should be seeking to combat ... rampant consumerism. Take green cleaning products. They tend to be more expensive than the toxic products. But you can clean almost everything with baking soda and vinegar, which are safer for the environment than green products and cost less than any other cleaning products, green or toxic. Hybrid vehicles are another example. It's cool now to own a $35,000 Prius, although driving a gas guzzler to work instead is better for the environment IF you carpool with four friends. Sure, the greenest choice would be to carpool in a hybrid, but I don't see Americans being that committed to environmentalism. We're really mostly committed to buying cool, expensive, green stuff. That's the hypocrisy I'm talking about.
You must make big purchases every now and then. What's your strategy?
I'm a big believer in the Consumer Reports approach to shopping. Buyer's remorse is at epidemic proportions. How is spending money on something we'll regret later a good thing? It makes us poorer, and clearly hasn't made us happy. My advice is to have a mandatory waiting period. Wait at least a week after you see something in the store that you want. I guarantee that half the time, you won't go buy it.
Once or twice a year, I look at the things I've spent more money on, and ask myself one simple question: "If I had it to do over again, would I have spent that money?" I call it a 'what heck was I thinking? audit." Maybe you'll see that you spend a lot on restaurant meals that you regret. I noticed that when I had a regular 9-to-5 job, when I was stressed at work, I'd often buy things I regretted later. It's a way of helping you learn from your mistakes and change your spending behavior.
Friday, April 16, 2010
SEC accuses Goldman Sachs of civil fraud
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sec_goldman_sachs_charged_18
WASHINGTON – The government has accused Goldman Sachs & Co. of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was collapsing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint Friday that Goldman failed to reveal that one of its clients helped create — and then bet against — subprime mortgage securities that Goldman sold to other investors.
The SEC said the fraud, a blow to the reputation of Wall Street's most powerful firm, was orchestrated in 2007 by a Goldman vice president then in his late 20's. The employee, Fabrice Tourre, has since been promoted to executive director of Goldman Sachs International in London.
Tourre, the SEC said, boasted to a friend that he was able to put such deals together as the mortgage market was unraveling in early 2007.
In an email to the friend, he described himself as "the fabulous Fab standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!"
A call to a lawyer for Tourre, Pamela Chepiga at Allen & Overy LLP, wasn't returned.
Two European banks that bought the securities lost nearly $1 billion, the SEC said. The agency is seeking to recoup profits reaped on the deal
Goldman Sachs denied the allegations. In a statement, it called the SEC's charges "completely unfounded in law and fact" and said it will contest them.
Goldman, founded more than 140 years ago, built a reputation as a trusted adviser to investment banking clients and for sending top executives into presidential Cabinet posts.
In recent years, it shifted toward taking more risks with its clients' money and its own. Goldman's trading allowed the firm to weather the financial crisis better than most other big banks. It earned a record $4.79 billion in the last quarter of 2009.
Financial analysts said the charges dealt a setback to the firm's standing.
"It undermines their brand," said Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Goldman critic. "It undermines their political clout. I don't think anybody really values being connected to Goldman at this point."
He continued: "There are many people who — until this morning — thought Goldman Sachs was well-run."
The civil lawsuit filed by the SEC in federal court in Manhattan was the government's most significant legal action related to the mortgage meltdown that ignited the financial crisis and helped plunge the country into recession.
The SEC's enforcement chief said the agency is investigating a wide range of practices related to the crisis. The prospect of possible legal jeopardy for other major financial players roiled the stock market.
The Goldman case is unusual because most SEC investigations result in a consent decree in which the investment bank neither admits or denies charges, said John Coffee, a securities law professor at Columbia University, said
"The SEC has changed its style," he said. "They wanted to tell the world what they thought Goldman had done wrong."
Goldman Sachs shares fell more than 12 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average finished down more than 125 points.
The charges come as lawmakers seek to crack down on Wall Street practices that helped cause the financial crisis. Among proposals Congress is weighing are tougher rules for complex investments like those involved in the alleged Goldman fraud.
President Barack Obama vowed Friday to veto a financial overhaul bill that doesn't regulate mortgage-backed securities and other so-called derivatives. Legislation in Congress would for the first time regulate derivatives, whose value depends on an underlying asset, such as mortgages or stocks. Senate Republicans oppose the bill.
The Goldman client implicated in the fraud is one of the world's largest hedge funds, Paulson & Co. The SEC said Paulson paid Goldman roughly $15 million in 2007 to devise an investment tied to mortgage-related securities that the hedge fund viewed as likely to decline in value.
Separately, Paulson took out a form of insurance that allowed it to make a huge profit when those securities became nearly worthless.
ABN Amro, a major Dutch bank, was the biggest loser in the securities, having paid Goldman $841 million, according to the SEC. And IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, a German commercial bank, lost nearly all its $150 million investment, the agency said. Most of the money they lost went to Paulson in a series of transactions between Goldman and the hedge fund, the SEC said.
The SEC is seeking unspecified fines and restitution from Goldman Sachs and Tourre.
Asked why the SEC did not also pursue a case against Paulson, Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said: "It was Goldman that made the representations to investors. Paulson did not."
Paulson & Co. is run by John Paulson, who reaped billions by betting against subprime mortgage securities. He is not related to former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
John Paulson was among the first on Wall Street to bet heavily against subprime mortgages. His firm earned more than $15 billion in 2007, and he pocketed $3.7 billion. He has since earned billions more, largely by betting against bank stocks and then buying them back after their shares plunged.
In a statement, Paulson & Co. said: "As the SEC said at its press conference, Paulson is not the subject of this complaint, made no misrepresentations and is not the subject of any charges."
Goldman told investors that a third party, ACA Management LLC, had selected the pools of subprime mortgages it used to create what are known as synthetic collateralized debt obligations. But, the SEC alleges, Goldman misled investors by failing to disclose that Paulson & Co. also played a role in selecting the mortgage pools and stood to profit from their decline in value.
"Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party," Khuzami said in a statement.
But Goldman said in a statement that it never mischaracterized Paulson's strategy in the transaction. It added that it wasn't obliged to "disclose the identities of a buyer to a seller and vice versa."
IKB was an early casualty of the financial crisis. It issued a profit warning in 2007 saying it had been hurt by U.S. subprime mortgage investments. IKB was sold in 2008 to Dallas-based Lone Star Funds.
Ed Trissel, a spokesman for Lone Star Funds, declined to comment on the case.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is "pleased that the SEC is departing from the lax enforcement of the Bush administration and is returning to the SEC's proper role of protecting investors in the marketplace," spokesman Steven Adamske said.
The SEC charges come after Goldman Sachs denied last week it bet against clients by selling them mortgage-backed securities while reducing its own exposure to them.
In an annual letter to shareholders, Goldman said it began reducing its exposure to the U.S. mortgage market in late 2006.
___
AP Business Writers Alan Zibel in Washington and Stevenson Jacobs in New York contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON – The government has accused Goldman Sachs & Co. of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was collapsing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint Friday that Goldman failed to reveal that one of its clients helped create — and then bet against — subprime mortgage securities that Goldman sold to other investors.
The SEC said the fraud, a blow to the reputation of Wall Street's most powerful firm, was orchestrated in 2007 by a Goldman vice president then in his late 20's. The employee, Fabrice Tourre, has since been promoted to executive director of Goldman Sachs International in London.
Tourre, the SEC said, boasted to a friend that he was able to put such deals together as the mortgage market was unraveling in early 2007.
In an email to the friend, he described himself as "the fabulous Fab standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!"
A call to a lawyer for Tourre, Pamela Chepiga at Allen & Overy LLP, wasn't returned.
Two European banks that bought the securities lost nearly $1 billion, the SEC said. The agency is seeking to recoup profits reaped on the deal
Goldman Sachs denied the allegations. In a statement, it called the SEC's charges "completely unfounded in law and fact" and said it will contest them.
Goldman, founded more than 140 years ago, built a reputation as a trusted adviser to investment banking clients and for sending top executives into presidential Cabinet posts.
In recent years, it shifted toward taking more risks with its clients' money and its own. Goldman's trading allowed the firm to weather the financial crisis better than most other big banks. It earned a record $4.79 billion in the last quarter of 2009.
Financial analysts said the charges dealt a setback to the firm's standing.
"It undermines their brand," said Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Goldman critic. "It undermines their political clout. I don't think anybody really values being connected to Goldman at this point."
He continued: "There are many people who — until this morning — thought Goldman Sachs was well-run."
The civil lawsuit filed by the SEC in federal court in Manhattan was the government's most significant legal action related to the mortgage meltdown that ignited the financial crisis and helped plunge the country into recession.
The SEC's enforcement chief said the agency is investigating a wide range of practices related to the crisis. The prospect of possible legal jeopardy for other major financial players roiled the stock market.
The Goldman case is unusual because most SEC investigations result in a consent decree in which the investment bank neither admits or denies charges, said John Coffee, a securities law professor at Columbia University, said
"The SEC has changed its style," he said. "They wanted to tell the world what they thought Goldman had done wrong."
Goldman Sachs shares fell more than 12 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average finished down more than 125 points.
The charges come as lawmakers seek to crack down on Wall Street practices that helped cause the financial crisis. Among proposals Congress is weighing are tougher rules for complex investments like those involved in the alleged Goldman fraud.
President Barack Obama vowed Friday to veto a financial overhaul bill that doesn't regulate mortgage-backed securities and other so-called derivatives. Legislation in Congress would for the first time regulate derivatives, whose value depends on an underlying asset, such as mortgages or stocks. Senate Republicans oppose the bill.
The Goldman client implicated in the fraud is one of the world's largest hedge funds, Paulson & Co. The SEC said Paulson paid Goldman roughly $15 million in 2007 to devise an investment tied to mortgage-related securities that the hedge fund viewed as likely to decline in value.
Separately, Paulson took out a form of insurance that allowed it to make a huge profit when those securities became nearly worthless.
ABN Amro, a major Dutch bank, was the biggest loser in the securities, having paid Goldman $841 million, according to the SEC. And IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, a German commercial bank, lost nearly all its $150 million investment, the agency said. Most of the money they lost went to Paulson in a series of transactions between Goldman and the hedge fund, the SEC said.
The SEC is seeking unspecified fines and restitution from Goldman Sachs and Tourre.
Asked why the SEC did not also pursue a case against Paulson, Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said: "It was Goldman that made the representations to investors. Paulson did not."
Paulson & Co. is run by John Paulson, who reaped billions by betting against subprime mortgage securities. He is not related to former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
John Paulson was among the first on Wall Street to bet heavily against subprime mortgages. His firm earned more than $15 billion in 2007, and he pocketed $3.7 billion. He has since earned billions more, largely by betting against bank stocks and then buying them back after their shares plunged.
In a statement, Paulson & Co. said: "As the SEC said at its press conference, Paulson is not the subject of this complaint, made no misrepresentations and is not the subject of any charges."
Goldman told investors that a third party, ACA Management LLC, had selected the pools of subprime mortgages it used to create what are known as synthetic collateralized debt obligations. But, the SEC alleges, Goldman misled investors by failing to disclose that Paulson & Co. also played a role in selecting the mortgage pools and stood to profit from their decline in value.
"Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party," Khuzami said in a statement.
But Goldman said in a statement that it never mischaracterized Paulson's strategy in the transaction. It added that it wasn't obliged to "disclose the identities of a buyer to a seller and vice versa."
IKB was an early casualty of the financial crisis. It issued a profit warning in 2007 saying it had been hurt by U.S. subprime mortgage investments. IKB was sold in 2008 to Dallas-based Lone Star Funds.
Ed Trissel, a spokesman for Lone Star Funds, declined to comment on the case.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is "pleased that the SEC is departing from the lax enforcement of the Bush administration and is returning to the SEC's proper role of protecting investors in the marketplace," spokesman Steven Adamske said.
The SEC charges come after Goldman Sachs denied last week it bet against clients by selling them mortgage-backed securities while reducing its own exposure to them.
In an annual letter to shareholders, Goldman said it began reducing its exposure to the U.S. mortgage market in late 2006.
___
AP Business Writers Alan Zibel in Washington and Stevenson Jacobs in New York contributed to this report.
'American Idol's' Crystal Bowersox Almost Quits; Seacrest Saves Her
'American Idol's' Crystal Bowersox Almost Quits; Seacrest Saves Her
Posted Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:03pm PDT by Access Hollywood in Stop The Presses!
American Idol contestant Crystal Bowersox has been a frontrunner on the FOX reality competition from the start, but she reportedly almost quit the show two weeks ago.
According to TMZ, the soulful dreadlocked rocker walked off the show and was ready to call it quits, when host Ryan Seacrest saved the day..
The incident reportedly took place in the parking lot following the taping of the show in front of a group of people..
Crystal reportedly told Ryan, "What's the point?" and said she couldn't handle the competition. The singer said she was planning on leaving and returning to Ohio to be with her family..
Ryan reportedly consoled the singer telling her, "The greatest thing I ever did was make enough money so I could buy my mom a house. You can buy your mom a house.".
Ryan's little pep talk appears to have worked. Crystal remains in the competition and last week sang Elvis Presley's, "Saved," which yet again earned her very high praise from the judges.
Posted Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:03pm PDT by Access Hollywood in Stop The Presses!
American Idol contestant Crystal Bowersox has been a frontrunner on the FOX reality competition from the start, but she reportedly almost quit the show two weeks ago.
According to TMZ, the soulful dreadlocked rocker walked off the show and was ready to call it quits, when host Ryan Seacrest saved the day..
The incident reportedly took place in the parking lot following the taping of the show in front of a group of people..
Crystal reportedly told Ryan, "What's the point?" and said she couldn't handle the competition. The singer said she was planning on leaving and returning to Ohio to be with her family..
Ryan reportedly consoled the singer telling her, "The greatest thing I ever did was make enough money so I could buy my mom a house. You can buy your mom a house.".
Ryan's little pep talk appears to have worked. Crystal remains in the competition and last week sang Elvis Presley's, "Saved," which yet again earned her very high praise from the judges.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
5 Signs You May Be Dating an E-Cheater
5 Signs You May Be Dating an E-Cheater
By dating expert Andrea Syrtash
Updated: Apr 14, 2010
RATING THIS ARTICLE
Average (446 votes)
These days if you are single and NOT dating online, you may be missing out. Over 40 million Americans (that's about half the single population) are looking for love in cyberspace. Gone are the days of having to pretend that "er... Aunt Sally set us up!" At this point, most of us know someone who has found a great long-term relationship as the result of being on an online dating site.
What we don't hear about as much is the number of people dating online who are not single. Some estimate that close to one-third of those dating online are, in fact, otherwise attached.
There are a number of reasons why people who are already in a relationship go online to find love (or more realistically, a fling), but that is for another installment. For now, you need to protect yourself so you don't end up being misled by a person you really like who is e-cheating.
Consider these five questions to determine if you are with someone who is already... with someone.
#1. When do you communicate with each other?
Noticing your date's schedule is the first step in spotting an e-cheater. Are you communicating with your date at odd hours -- very early in the morning or very late at night? Have you ever spoken during peak times, like between 7-10 p.m. during the week? What about the weekends? If your date is only free to see or call you at odd hours and rarely around on the weekends, take note.
Even if this person isn't e-cheating: A person who is never free to speak or meet at peak times, perhaps because he/she is a workaholic, is still unavailable!
#2. Are you confined to emails and texts?
While it's true that some people hate the phone, make sure to have at least a few phone conversations with your date at peak times. And a word of caution: if you have enjoyed intimate online chats for more than a month but have never met in person, that's a warning sign. Typed words are no basis for a relationship! Whenever possible, communicate three to five times before booking a live date, and then go outside and get offline.
Even if this person isn't e-cheating: There's no point in communicating online for months on end. Doing so only increases expectations and decreases your chance for a spark when you finally meet.
#3. Have you met your date's friends, family, or co-workers?
Have you seen your date in his/her world? Of course you likely won't meet your date's network right away. But after a few months of dating, it is a valid concern if you have never met people connected to him/her.
Even if this person isn't e-cheating: If you've dated for months and your partner does not want to introduce you to others, it doesn't matter whether or not he/she is single; you should be concerned that you are not meeting people close to him/her.
#4. Have you been to your date's home?
After a few months of dating, your partner should have shared his/her home with you. I have a client who used to tell me that the guy she was dating was so romantic. He flew into her hometown every month on business and would invite her to hotels all over the city for dates. Turns out this guy -- who she thought was flying into Canada from the U.K. -- lived 30 minutes away from her with his wife and two kids.
#5. Do you trust your intuition?
Bottom line: you have a better sense than anybody does about what feels right. It is true that people who have nothing to worry about in a relationship rarely question their partner's fidelity. If you have an "off" feeling, trust your gut and investigate further. There's likely a good reason why you are questioning where you stand.
By dating expert Andrea Syrtash
Updated: Apr 14, 2010
RATING THIS ARTICLE
Average (446 votes)
These days if you are single and NOT dating online, you may be missing out. Over 40 million Americans (that's about half the single population) are looking for love in cyberspace. Gone are the days of having to pretend that "er... Aunt Sally set us up!" At this point, most of us know someone who has found a great long-term relationship as the result of being on an online dating site.
What we don't hear about as much is the number of people dating online who are not single. Some estimate that close to one-third of those dating online are, in fact, otherwise attached.
There are a number of reasons why people who are already in a relationship go online to find love (or more realistically, a fling), but that is for another installment. For now, you need to protect yourself so you don't end up being misled by a person you really like who is e-cheating.
Consider these five questions to determine if you are with someone who is already... with someone.
#1. When do you communicate with each other?
Noticing your date's schedule is the first step in spotting an e-cheater. Are you communicating with your date at odd hours -- very early in the morning or very late at night? Have you ever spoken during peak times, like between 7-10 p.m. during the week? What about the weekends? If your date is only free to see or call you at odd hours and rarely around on the weekends, take note.
Even if this person isn't e-cheating: A person who is never free to speak or meet at peak times, perhaps because he/she is a workaholic, is still unavailable!
#2. Are you confined to emails and texts?
While it's true that some people hate the phone, make sure to have at least a few phone conversations with your date at peak times. And a word of caution: if you have enjoyed intimate online chats for more than a month but have never met in person, that's a warning sign. Typed words are no basis for a relationship! Whenever possible, communicate three to five times before booking a live date, and then go outside and get offline.
Even if this person isn't e-cheating: There's no point in communicating online for months on end. Doing so only increases expectations and decreases your chance for a spark when you finally meet.
#3. Have you met your date's friends, family, or co-workers?
Have you seen your date in his/her world? Of course you likely won't meet your date's network right away. But after a few months of dating, it is a valid concern if you have never met people connected to him/her.
Even if this person isn't e-cheating: If you've dated for months and your partner does not want to introduce you to others, it doesn't matter whether or not he/she is single; you should be concerned that you are not meeting people close to him/her.
#4. Have you been to your date's home?
After a few months of dating, your partner should have shared his/her home with you. I have a client who used to tell me that the guy she was dating was so romantic. He flew into her hometown every month on business and would invite her to hotels all over the city for dates. Turns out this guy -- who she thought was flying into Canada from the U.K. -- lived 30 minutes away from her with his wife and two kids.
#5. Do you trust your intuition?
Bottom line: you have a better sense than anybody does about what feels right. It is true that people who have nothing to worry about in a relationship rarely question their partner's fidelity. If you have an "off" feeling, trust your gut and investigate further. There's likely a good reason why you are questioning where you stand.
【家有儿女-大儿篇】
网络日志列表 【家有儿女-大儿篇】
http://blog.creaders.net/jpjliu/user_blog_diary_list.php?act=class&cid=7727
儿子回家过年（2） --- 好学校？差学校？ 2010-02-20 13:27:55
时间过得很快。到了高中最后一年，该申请大学了。这时候，转到好学区的坏处都出来了。由于适应调整期太长，儿子没有参加很多社团活动。没有补习和提前选修高学分的AP课程，又造成了GPA排不到前几名。这些在申请大学时当然都不是优势了。四月一号以前，我们接到了一封又一封的拒绝接受和waiting list 的信，饱尝了失望和期待的痛苦。
好在州立大学的通知早早就到了，全奖，学费，吃住全包。天下真有免费午餐？ 真有！那就别客气了。而且从心里我还是很希望儿子上州立学校，主要是舍不得他走得太远。十八岁了，高高大大，可还是个孩子。所以最后一狠心，不再等那些Waiting List了，上州立大学。后来儿子又成为学校仅有的九名National Merit Scholar之一。用 Merit Scholarship的奖金作为零用钱，儿子的四年大学就自己管自己了。
为什么说一狠心呢？这里有个面子问题。 作为一个中国家长，孩子上个州立学校？ 要说一开始就能坦然面对，那是假话。就算是朋友的好心问候， 遗憾的目光，都能让我们感到压力。后来的四年证明这是个正确的选择。 平常缺点什么，我送女儿游泳就可以带去了。每逢 周五他爸下班就能带他回家，看着兄妹俩一起或打打闹闹，或随便聊些闲话，都感到很温馨。儿子等于在身边多呆了四年，虽然看起来有些自私，但我们感到很幸运。
上了大学，学什么专业呢？ 儿子一向平衡发展，连SAT都是文理科分数完全一样，所以决定都试试。谁知计算机编程学了一个月就不干了，觉得简单，不好玩。对哲学，心理学，历史却越来越感兴趣。可是最后定什么专业呢，感觉很为难。幸运的是，儿子碰到了一位好教授，Dr。 Humane， 一位知名学者。一次偶然的机会，儿子去教授的办公室帮忙，两人竟十分投缘。经过几次长谈，教授告诉儿子，不知道学什么专业就选Political Science，不知道想干什么就去当律师。当儿子说要考LSAT，当律师，我还真吓了一跳，这可是儿子从小就不愿意干的事情之一（见：俺家的儿子有花儿戴）。我想: 教授阅人无数，以教授对儿子的了解，他给儿子指点了一条适合他的路， 而如果是家长建议，儿子就未必会听了。
目标一定，一切都好办了。这里要指出的是，州立学校的毕业生在申请研究生院时，并没有受歧视的现象。儿子的好朋友，还有我们朋友的孩子由于LSAT得分较高，分别被很好的法学院录取了。另外就是法学院的录取其实与专业没有关系。曾经见有一位学钢琴的孩子也当了律师。儿子在大学里学得较轻松，GPA也令人满意，高中时期的低迷情绪也一扫而空。四年大学上完了，小翅膀也硬了。飞到南方去读法学院，我们也放心了。
好学区？差学区？ 似乎各有利弊，并且对以后的发展似乎也不那么重要。好学区开课多，竞争激烈，除非愿意提前补课，否则GPA与排名都会受到影响。差学区课程选择较少，但也不影响升学。社团活动机会多，孩子也容易排名在前面。 当然最好避免在高中转学，这是我们的教训。不过看起来也不是那么可怕，年轻就是本钱嘛。
藤校？ 州立学校？也要看孩子的发展方向。准备上研究生院的，可以在本科后申请好的学校， 把钱用在研究生院。孩子走出校门没有还贷款之忧。 当然藤校建立的关系也很重要，特别对于以后进入重要政治，经济领域会有很大的帮助。但是对一般过日子的人来说，好像关系不大， 至少绝大多数的人都要过普通人的日子。当然这只是个人的片面看法。据说上帝关上一扇门，就会在另一个地方开个窗户。我想，只要这窗户不是离地面太远的话，就把它当另一扇门用好了。
虽然儿子后来在找工作时遇到了一些曲折，这些在他的中文习作中有所总结（见：法学院夏季实习的重要性与个人经验）。他也在找工作的过程中学会了积极建立各种关系，主动地掌握前进方向。这次当同伴们都还在等待公司分配工作时，他已经主动联系进了这个大项目组，取得了对一个青年律师非常重要的工作经验。至于这个项目有多大，据说涉及资金两亿多美元。 他们的客户之一，就是那个大名鼎鼎，誉满全球的股神。（另外两方，他不能说，我也不能问，有律师保密条例呢）。
儿子，好样的，我们为你骄傲！
噢，谢谢你回家过年。对了，妹妹也谢谢你给的红包！
（全文完， 谢谢各位耐心阅读！）
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儿子回家过年 (1)--- 好学区？差学区？ 2010-02-17 19:03:30
关于好学区，差学区，网上已有很多精辟论点，我这里只说自己家里的经验教训，以供有兴趣的朋友们参考。
儿子上班六个星期了。上星期四晚上打电话问他，“周末回家过年吗？”回答：“星期六回来。我现在很忙，回家再说吧。” 刚开始上班时，说是不忙，前一，两个星期是新雇员训练。 后来让他爹给带点吃的，又说还在等待分派任务。一连两个多星期没给他打电话，心想一定还是不忙。
星期六去火车站接儿子，开始打听新律师的新生活。原来就在没打电话的两个星期，儿子参与了一个大项目，体验了美国律师的滋味。工作最长的一天是早上九点到第二天早上六点。连着两个星期，一天三顿都在公司吃饭。两个星期工作超过了160小时！ 全组用两个星期完成了平时要两个月才能完成的工作量。所有合同都抢在11：59 PM签好字，就避免了第二天又要几方面重新签字。。。 看着儿子年轻而朝气勃勃的脸，听着儿子神采飞扬地讲着那个大项目（Big Deal），不禁想起儿子的求学和选择职业的艰难历程。
到美国的前十年，我们和大多数留学生一样，是求学，求职，求绿卡，求稳定而更好的工作。。。，是追求美国梦的十年。十年中，我们搬了四个州，儿子转了六次学，每次离开朋友时的那份难舍，让我现在想来还总是心痛。
刚搬到东岸时，我们住进了高中排名全州倒数第二的小镇，儿子上八年级。那里住的几乎都是蓝领的白人，一届学生不到两百人。在中部上学一直不差的儿子，自然就成了不折不扣的领军人物。初中毕业典礼上，儿子作为学生代表讲话，并囊括了八项优秀学生奖项中的七项。这让我们看到了差学区的好处，处处第一也鞭策着孩子对自己不断提高要求，信心十足。后来的事实证明，差学区的学生也能上好大学，儿子那一届的朋友，一个去了MIT，两个进了U-Penn。
后来我们和很多中国家长的想法一样，在好学区买了房子。在儿子上十年级的时候搬进了新家。好学区是个蓝带学区，学生人数很多。儿子那一届毕业生就有八百多人。“宁做鸡头，不做凤尾”，儿子在这里成了凤脖子。这大大地伤害了儿子的自尊心。再加上，这里的孩子们都是从小一起长大的，儿子很难进入早已形成的朋友圈子。这些都给他的造成了极大的困惑，遇到了前所未有的困难。看着与以前判若两人的儿子，我们也深深地怀疑这搬到好学区的决定到底对不对。
可是为什么别的孩子就能都得A+呢？一次去见物理老师，老师说了一句话，我们有点明白了。他说：“要是你儿子能睁开眼睛上我的课，他就能得A+”，啊哈， 原来是闭着眼睛上课的呀。后来一位台湾家长指点迷津，我们更明白了，原来排在前面的那些孩子们，不仅仅是聪明，还都早就在暑假期间上补习班，把重要课程学了。到上课的时候只要交作业就够了。那样他们就可以选高学分的AP课程，课程得分高，GPA也高，正所谓“偷跑”。想来这就是所谓“不要输在起跑线上了”。知道真相以后也曾犹豫，是否送儿子去补习呢？后来一想，人生路漫漫，一个连高中都不能自己读好的人，长大了也未必有用。靠“偷跑”能走得了多远？坚决不补习，一切靠自己！
由于对新环境的不适应，儿子不愿意报名参加学校的社团活动。我们看在眼里，急在心里，却不敢说得太多。直到有一天，儿子说要去参加数学比赛。我一阵惊喜，问到：“你报名了？”“没有。”“那你。。。”“数学老师把我塞到校队去了。”“啊？还有这事？”晚上回来了，问问：“儿子，比赛怎么样？”“我是我们学校第二名。”“WOW，真棒啊。你们数学队去了几个人?”“六个。”“几道题？”“十题。”“第一名对了几题？”“十题。”“WOW，我家的第二名呢？”“五题。”“哈哈哈。。。”一起笑了。后来又去了好多次，每次都是第二或并列第二，做对最多的也没超过六题。对他说练一练，他问：“为什么？”“你就可以多做对几题呀”又问：“为什么？”对呀，“ 为什么呢？”。。。
儿子酷爱读书，也喜欢在图书馆工作，原来在小镇时就在图书馆做了两年义工。这次到了新地方就想申请图书馆的学生员工。由于小镇图书馆馆长的热情推荐，他很快得到了图书馆工作的机会。这工作使他的课外生活更充实， 在帮助别人中得到了欢乐。由于他做事认真负责，毕业时从几十个学生员工中脱颖而出，得到了图书馆当年唯一的优秀学生员工的奖学金---五百美元。
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数字，数字，恼人的数字！（童趣二则） 2009-11-23 17:28:14
（１）
儿子六岁时参加了一次生日Ｐａｒｔｙ，是邻居的孩子满一岁． 回来以后高兴地一边清点着带回来小礼品，一边回味Ｐａｒｔｙ的趣事，说着说着突然愣住了，妈妈急忙问：＂宝贝儿，怎么啦？＂
只见宝贝儿满脸困惑地问：＂妈妈，比一小的是零吗？＂妈妈夸道：＂对呀，宝贝儿真聪明！＂
宝贝儿：＂零就是什么都没有，对吗？＂妈妈解释：＂对呀，宝贝儿，零就是空的，就是什么都没有，就是．．．＂
宝贝儿：＂那个妹妹今天才一岁，昨天就是零岁呀！零岁就应该没有她呀，那昨天她怎么就那么大了呢？＂妈妈：＂？。。。＂
（２）
儿子从小就是个电视迷，到了美国更是如鱼得水，各类卡通看起来不眨眼，就连广告也不放过。最糟糕的是周末早上六点半，上闹钟起来看卡通，还为自己辩护说电视台就是把自己最喜欢的卡通放在周末早上，他也没办法。每到那时爹妈真是恨死电视台了．
第２７届ＳｕｐｅｒＢｏｗｌ的实况转播时，ＣＢＳ的电视节目“60 Minutes”和“48 Hours” （均为一小时）的广告多次出现。那时儿子刚刚在学校学了时间概念。 当“60 Minutes”和“48 Hours”的广告又一次出现时，只见半天没动窝的儿子站起身来，嘴里嘀咕着：“６０分钟还可以，４８小时就太长了。就算是我最喜欢的卡通，我也不愿意连着看４８小时！”
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牙仙儿失业啦！ 2009-11-19 18:20:35
儿子掉第一颗牙时，高高兴兴从枕头下拿到四个QUARTER放进自己的小钱罐儿。
拿了几次钱以后就开始问问题：“妈妈，牙仙子们为什么要收集这些牙齿呢？难道在他们的世界里把这些牙齿当金子用？” ＂这个，宝贝儿，可能吧．＂
一天早上，我突然想起儿子头天晚上掉了一颗牙，急忙冲到楼下，在放零钱的小碗里拿了四个QUARTER，赶在儿子醒来以前放到他的枕头下。下了楼心里还在得意，又当了一次牙仙儿！
谁知，过了一会儿，儿子下楼来，手里拿着一个QUARTER，对我说：“妈妈，我知道了，根本没有什么牙仙子。就是你把钱放在我枕头下的。你看这个脏QUARTER，昨天早上拿午饭钱，我嫌它太脏了，又放回碗里了。”儿子说完把那个脏QUARTER放进小碗，换了一个干净的上楼去了。呵，不信牙仙子还要换干净钱？
得，牙仙儿失业啦!
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该出手时就出手--儿子修车记 2009-11-01 20:42:35
儿子从小就跟着老爸一起组装各式家具。常常是儿子看图纸，老爸负责安装。但是家里的东西坏了，那全是老爸的事儿，没见儿子有过动手的愿望。 所以印象中儿子是属于君子动口不动手的那类人。
三年前的夏天，我和儿子一起开车送他去外州上学。刚到的第二天，因为天气太热，就去SONIC买了冰淇淋。出来没开几步，听见车胎漏气了。下车一看， 一个车胎上扎了个钉子，已经瘪了。我急忙到处找AAA的卡，还就没带在身上。 于是忙着给千里之外的LG打电话， 偏偏又联系不上。儿子转了一圈看了看，说换备用胎吧，就从后面拿出千斤顶，要动手。 我说还是等AAA的人吧， 你又没换过。他说试试吧， 就趴到地上了。大概过了十几分钟的样子，我还在树荫下到处打电话求援呢，就听儿子说，好了。我走过去一看，他果然把备用胎换上去了。嘿！这儿子。
三年后的夏天，儿子自己把车开回来了。 我们把车牌换成本州的以后就去做车检。谁知因为手刹坏了，车检没通过。依照惯例，先给业余的修车师傅一个机会。 LG 去看了看，进来说是要把那个放饮料杂物的箱子取下来，才能看看里面怎么回事。ＬＧ提着工具箱出去了。 过了一会儿又提着工具箱进来了，说是取不下来， 没地儿下手。 既然业余的不行， 就要找专业的，那是个又费钱又费时间的事．依照惯例，能拖一天是一天，于是这事就搁在那了。
上星期三因为家里有事，把儿子召回家来。吃晚饭时聊起此事。儿子吃完晚饭到车库去看了看，进来提着工具箱出去了。我和 LG边吃边笑，儿子修车？别逗啦, 长这么大就没见他修过什么东西呢。 LG吃完了饭，被派 到车库去打探，进来说，儿子把那个箱子取下来了。再探，进来说，儿子找到原因了。 三探，这次没进来，却在车库里大叫：＂快来看，儿子把手刹修好了！＂ 我急忙出去看看，又到车里试一试，手刹果然是修好了。问问怎么修的。儿子说很简单，长期不用，里面堆积了灰尘堵住了连接处。 清除了灰尘自然就好啦。我急忙连声夸道：儿子真行啊，连车都会修了。 儿子听见夸奖，得意地说：＂这算什么？上次这车的遥控坏了，车门开不了。我把车前面的盖子打开，找到那节电线。。。＂， 呵！顺着杆儿他爬上来了，嘿嘿！ 这儿子，原来不是君子动口不动手， 而是该出手时就出手！
结果：车检通过了。
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宝贝 VS 宝贝儿 2009-10-22 21:20:57
儿子从小就没喜欢过长毛绒玩具。 几个月的时候见了长毛绒就打。 所以四岁到美国时，家里留下了整整一箱子各式各样的运输工具和轻重武器， 就是没有一个长毛的。
到了美国后，一位不知情的阿姨送了一个毛茸茸的小熊却从未受过青睐。 有一天，为了培养儿子和小熊的感情，我让儿子抱小熊睡觉。 只见儿子抱着小熊痛苦地扭来扭去睡不着。 慢慢地，小熊到了脚边。慢慢地，小熊到了地上。这时我也松了一口气。谁知过了一会儿， 儿子不放心，翻身爬起来，拾起小熊交到我手上，说：“ 妈妈，小熊挤死我了，别再放在我床上了。”
儿子到了七岁时，我想抱他就有些困难了，要看他的心情，常常是我想他不想。有一次，我想抱抱他，他在看电视不想过来。 我就抱起小熊，摇了摇，说：“宝贝儿，来，妈妈抱抱，妈妈喜欢你。” 谁知儿子一下子跑过来，一把抓住小熊扔在地上。然后指着小熊对我说：“它是你的宝贝。” 又指着自己的鼻子尖儿大声宣称：“我，才是你的宝贝儿！” 宝贝儿说完，扬长而去。
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俺家的儿子有花儿戴!!! 记一次法学院毕业典礼 2009-09-27 16:52:44
儿子最早的理想是给老妈当妈妈。理由嘛， 并不是为了报三春晖。 而是， 嗯。。。(有
点儿说不出口) 那样他就可以打老妈我的PP了。 四岁时要当警察， 可能和别的四
岁男孩儿一样， 他喜欢的是那身衣服和神气劲儿。后来大点儿就种类繁多， 且变
换莫测了。什么厨师， 农场主， 登山运动员， 旅行家，还有毛爷诗里说的: " 敢
上九天揽月(宇航员)， 敢下五洋捉鳖( 海洋生物研究员) " 。。。等等都想过 。
老妈呢，义无反顾地支持了儿子所有的理想， 并积极参与，从来不问为什么。 比如说， 列出农场主可能需要的机械类的清单，提供厨师可能服务的对象和餐馆的选址可能遇到的麻烦等等。。。
可是变归变， 但万变不离其宗: 第一不当律师， 第二不当医生。 所以，当儿子
大学三年纪要考LSAT和 进法学院时， 老妈一反常态， 问他， 为什么?
法学院三年一晃就过去了。 今年五月二十三日， 我们带上女儿参加了儿子的毕业典礼.
毕业典礼定于下午三点半开始。 我们在两点半向会场走去。 只见街上到处都是神
采飞扬的男男女女穿着各式各样的长袍， 还有兴高采烈的父母， 祖父母们。 到
处是照相机， 鲜花。 是啊， 经过了几年苦读苦熬， 今天该他们高兴高兴了。
会场门口，我们拿到了节目单---才知道我们要参加的是向日葵庆典(Sunflower Ceremony)。
嗯? 向日葵庆典? 仔细读了节目单， 才知道了这名字原来还有个故事。
大约一百年前的一个春天，校方决定要求所有的毕业生必须穿长袍，带方帽参加毕
业典礼。 而那些法学院的准律师们却因为校方在作出此决定时没和他们商量而拒绝
执行。 他们给出了很好的理由: 法学院不是一般的学术学院而是职业学院， 他们
要穿白西服参加毕业典礼。校方当然不同意。 校方要求他们跟其他毕业生统一服装
或者佩戴"有特色的标志"。 桀傲不顺的准律师们当然不会选择统一服装。 于是他
们选择了"有特色的标志"---向日葵。 这次他们又给出了很好的理由: 向日葵，
像律师一样遍布全世界。 就像向日葵永远向着太阳，律师们永远向着正义之光!
斗争的结果是，从此以后， 该法学院的毕业典礼就叫"向日葵庆典"。读着这段有趣
的历史，我觉得这些准律师一定是把这次抗争当作了一次实战演习了:
A)上级决定--不服(因为自己没得到尊重)， 但不硬顶。B) 找出理由 (我们跟别人
不一样)， 提出新方案(穿白西服)。C)上级再决定--还是不服(就是不想听你的)，
用自己的方式表达自己的不满同时再找出理由。D) 胜利 (我们从此有花儿戴!)。
进了会场里面， 看见观众席坐了不少的人。 主席台上除了几排人以外，摆放着一
大片金黄金黄的向日葵花。
三点半了，四百多名新一代的准律师们在一片军乐声中，鱼贯而入。一看，呵! 那
可是穿什么的都有。女生们穿的是花花绿绿， 甚至还有少数民族服装。男生也是。爱正式的，穿上了西服。不爱的， 嗨，看哪，那两位就穿着夏威夷的大花褂子走过来了。
我们翘首以待， 望眼欲穿。终于盼来了自己家的那位高高大大，穿着黑色西服的帅
小伙儿。 于是欢呼雀跃，拼命呐喊才换来那回眸一笑，爹妈心里那个甜哪。。。
整个活动进行了大约进行了二个多小时。 其中有院长讲话，学生代表讲话， 嘉宾
讲话。。。
终于要发证了。从远处看，由准律师到律师的具体程序如下:
1) 听到名字，上台，递上一小纸条(验明正身)，握手。
2) 握手，被一女性戴上一朵小小向日葵花。
3) 握手，和一男性(法学院院长) 说一句话。
4) 握手，和另一男性(嘉宾)说一句话。
5) 被一女性指引到台后照相区照相。
6) 回原座位。
这就完了? 证呢? 儿子只身一人到南方的这个美丽的城市苦读三年。一想到毕业典礼， 就会联系到长袍，方帽和毕业证书。 可我们大老远跑来了却什么也没见， 就拿了这朵向日葵. 回头再想想， 也不错，俺家的儿子有花儿戴!
后记: 两个月后， 儿子拿到了毕业证并准备到纽约上班。 他很感谢老爹老妈对他
的支持，使他无还贷款之忧。同时表示上班第一个月开始要报三春晖了! 好儿子，
老爹老妈为你自豪!
看看， 就是这朵花儿!
瞧瞧， 就是这帅哥儿!
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你真的只12岁? 儿子遭遇警察的故事 2009-09-19 13:44:19
儿子从小男孩儿长成一个青涩少年是在和老爸比个儿中完成的。
过程是这样: 每次都是老爸说:"来，跟爸爸比一 比。" 儿子走过来后， 老爸就从
自己的头上向儿子头上划一条线。
刚开始，是一条向下的斜线，老爸会得意地拍拍儿子的头。
渐渐地变成了一条平线， 老爸会努力地拍拍儿子的头。
慢慢地变成了一条向上的斜线， 老爸会尴尬地拍拍自己的头。
等认识到向上的坡度太大，与拿破仑等高的老爸只好摸摸自己的头了。
就这样，比个儿结束时，儿子从一米五蹿到了一米八，那时他刚满12岁。
有一天晚上， 我带着儿子和女儿到华盛顿-巴提莫机场去接老公。儿子坐在我旁边。到机场时女儿在车后面睡着了。
当时既没有手机又没有Google，也不知道老公到了没有。 因为不想吵醒女儿，于是就把车停在非停车区，告诉儿子等着，我进去找一下就出来。
找了一圈没找到，赶紧跑了出来。没想到真是怕什么来什么。只见一辆警车在我的车后面闪烁着光芒。 我当时一阵心慌，马上想到罚单， 法庭。。。
哆嗦着来到车边 (没办法，每次警察在我后面，我就哆嗦)。 在混暗的路灯下，一位高高大大的黑人警察满面笑容地告诉我这里不能停车， 请我把车开走。
那里要请? 我太愿意把车开走啦， 而且越快越好哇! 我停止了哆嗦，飞快地钻进车里，发动了车。正要走， 那警察又过来了。 哆嗦也及时地回到我的身上。 谁知他竟然乐呵呵地说了一句让我终身难忘的话: "你有个很大的十二岁的孩子。( YOU HAVE A BIG TWELVE YEAR OLD!) "，然后扬长而去。
这等好事? ! 在车里， 心有余悸的我向坐在旁边的儿子问发生了什么事， 他告诉我警察来了以后发生了这样的对话:
警察: "先生，我想你得把车开走， 这里不能停车。(Sir, I’m afraid you have to move the car, you can’t park here. )"。(可能是在黑暗中， 他没法看清儿子的脸。)
儿子: "先生，我想你还得等几年，我不能开车。(Sir, I’m afraid you have to wait for a few years, I can’t drive. )
警察:"为什么? (Why?)"
儿子: "我只有十二岁，(I’m only twelve)"
警察: "十二 岁，真的吗? (Only twelve, You sure? )"
儿子: "先生，这个，你可以向我妈妈确证一下。她进去找我爸爸了， 我妹妹睡着了。 (Sir, this, you can confirm with my mom。 She went inside to get my dad. My sister is sleeping 。"
警察， 大笑起来， 儿子，也笑了。
哦， 这是为什么警察又专门回来告诉我那句话。 我想他是觉得这事太有趣了想要告诉我。 他也一定是带着一个好心情去和家人， 同事们分享这故事了。
十二岁，我那十二岁的儿子是怎么会如此勇敢和镇静，这样应对有章地为我解决了一个不大不小的麻烦， 让警察高高兴兴地走了呢?
我不知道， 我只知道直到现在，只要警车在我后面，我还照样哆嗦。
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大儿小女学琴记( 1 ) - 大儿篇 2009-09-16 21:35:00
儿子九岁时，突然吵着要学钢琴。 老妈当然不同意， 多麻烦呀! 又要买琴， 还要找老师，还要贴时间， 还要。。。老妈一口咬定，NO! 以后的三个月就在YES，NO中斗争过去了。直到有一天， 我发现了要学钢琴的根源所在，原来是每个星期天去教会， 儿子的几个朋友都能弹上一把，只有他只会乱敲一气，丢面子了。得，穷什么不能穷教育， 丢什么不能丢面子。咱学！
买琴吧， 于是找了报纸 ( 那年头还没有Google呢。)， 只找最 便宜的看，还真找到一位，350美刀，年纪嘛, 只比姥姥大几岁。 行， 就她了。
琴姥姥给抬回家来，老师呢? 于是又找来报纸， 还是找最 便宜的看。 入门嘛。$15
/小时，(中央音乐学院毕业!)。 行， 就他了。
就这样儿子开始了学琴生涯。
首先，约法三章:
第一，每天需自动练琴半小时。 如需提醒，不让学了。(斩！)
第二，每次上课前，需把老师布置的作业全部完成。如需提醒，不让学了。(斩！)
第三，每次上课时，需把老师所教全部学会。如不用心学会，不让学了。(斩！)
章程倒是齐了，可执行起来却是上有政策， 下有对策。
第一，每天都自动练琴半小时---自动是自动了。半小时也半小时了。 可是喝水，
上厕所却都得在这30分钟之内发生，而且不只一次。半小时一到， 停了! (不能斩！)
第二，每次上课前，需把老师布置的作业全部完成---全部做到了，原因很简单，他
说做了就做了。 老妈到今天也没弄懂那些豆芽菜。(没法斩！)
第三，每次上课时，需把老师所教全部学会---全部做到了，原因还是那一个， 老
妈不懂。(叫我怎么斩?)
只有一次， 还真让老妈给逮个正着。弹的是"红河谷"， 我怎么听怎么别
扭。 心想， 这红河谷怎么这味儿呢? 要说老柴， 老贝们咱不懂，红河谷咱也听了这么多年了。难道。。。
于是在忍耐了半小时后，小心翼翼地问:"宝贝儿， 这红河谷听起来怎么怪 怪的?"
儿子耐心地指着让我头晕眼花的豆芽菜们向我讲解了手法，NOTES，还有KEYS等等，最后加上一句"老师就是这样教的！" 中央音乐学院哪! 不服不行啊。可那红河谷啊， 真不是人听的。
一个星期终于熬过去了，总算盼来了儿子的钢琴课.
课后，回家再弹，怎么味道不一样了? 这次的 "红河谷" 怎么这么顺耳呢? 可如果
他原来弹错了又怎么弹得这么溜呢? 百思不得其解。
半小时下来，向儿子请教:"宝贝儿， 这红河谷怎么和上星期不一样啊?"
"哦，老师说我上次把所有的都弹高了半拍。 现在只要LOWER一个KEY就够了。" 得，又回来了! 从此以后，我一听见红河谷就乐。
就这样拖拖拉拉过了几年，直到有一天儿子这样对我说:" 妈妈，你看妹妹琴弹得这
么好。 你把我的钢琴老师的钱省下来给妹妹找个好老师吧。"
好哥哥呀， 好儿子! 就这样，儿子的弹琴生涯结束了。
哦，对了， 那个350美刀的琴姥姥三年后被老公卖了550美刀。嗨， 咱 赚了!
[mp3 w=350 h=45]http://ba1gys.73club.com/music/UploadFiles_5171/200609/20060902210824744.mp3[/mp3]
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妈妈， 我需要一个律师 2009-09-13 12:16:57
二十一年前，我们来到美国内布纳斯加州时， 儿子四岁。 广阔的大草原成了我们放
风筝的乐园。 有一个星期天， 我们照例带着可爱的燕子风筝到了LINCOLN 附近的
PIONEER PARK。 那一天风特别大，燕子也很争气， 飞得特别高。 正当我们三
个人又蹦又跳， 欢声笑语时， 儿子一个趔趄， 手一松， 风筝飞了。 老公当时
眼疾手快， 飞身上前， 抓住了塑料线把。 我和儿子一起欢呼 起来。 谁料想风
更厉害， 生生把老公手上的线扯断， 活活在我们的眼皮上面把燕子带走了。儿子
伤心地哭了。没有风筝怎么行? 当机立断，我们再买一个。
坐在车上， 儿子显然还惦记着那只小燕子。一阵寂静后， 儿子突然问到: "什么是律师?" 我不知道怎么对一个四岁的孩子解释律师的定义， 只好说: "在你有困难的时候律师可以帮助你。"
就 在 我准备加上法律，犯罪之类的词语以前， 只听见儿子若有所思地说:"
妈妈，我觉得我需要一个律师"
"为什么?"
"帮我找风筝"。
车内不再寂静。。。
二十一年后， 那个需要律师的小男孩自己成了纽约的一家大法律公司的一名律师
http://blog.creaders.net/jpjliu/user_blog_diary_list.php?act=class&cid=7727
儿子回家过年（2） --- 好学校？差学校？ 2010-02-20 13:27:55
时间过得很快。到了高中最后一年，该申请大学了。这时候，转到好学区的坏处都出来了。由于适应调整期太长，儿子没有参加很多社团活动。没有补习和提前选修高学分的AP课程，又造成了GPA排不到前几名。这些在申请大学时当然都不是优势了。四月一号以前，我们接到了一封又一封的拒绝接受和waiting list 的信，饱尝了失望和期待的痛苦。
好在州立大学的通知早早就到了，全奖，学费，吃住全包。天下真有免费午餐？ 真有！那就别客气了。而且从心里我还是很希望儿子上州立学校，主要是舍不得他走得太远。十八岁了，高高大大，可还是个孩子。所以最后一狠心，不再等那些Waiting List了，上州立大学。后来儿子又成为学校仅有的九名National Merit Scholar之一。用 Merit Scholarship的奖金作为零用钱，儿子的四年大学就自己管自己了。
为什么说一狠心呢？这里有个面子问题。 作为一个中国家长，孩子上个州立学校？ 要说一开始就能坦然面对，那是假话。就算是朋友的好心问候， 遗憾的目光，都能让我们感到压力。后来的四年证明这是个正确的选择。 平常缺点什么，我送女儿游泳就可以带去了。每逢 周五他爸下班就能带他回家，看着兄妹俩一起或打打闹闹，或随便聊些闲话，都感到很温馨。儿子等于在身边多呆了四年，虽然看起来有些自私，但我们感到很幸运。
上了大学，学什么专业呢？ 儿子一向平衡发展，连SAT都是文理科分数完全一样，所以决定都试试。谁知计算机编程学了一个月就不干了，觉得简单，不好玩。对哲学，心理学，历史却越来越感兴趣。可是最后定什么专业呢，感觉很为难。幸运的是，儿子碰到了一位好教授，Dr。 Humane， 一位知名学者。一次偶然的机会，儿子去教授的办公室帮忙，两人竟十分投缘。经过几次长谈，教授告诉儿子，不知道学什么专业就选Political Science，不知道想干什么就去当律师。当儿子说要考LSAT，当律师，我还真吓了一跳，这可是儿子从小就不愿意干的事情之一（见：俺家的儿子有花儿戴）。我想: 教授阅人无数，以教授对儿子的了解，他给儿子指点了一条适合他的路， 而如果是家长建议，儿子就未必会听了。
目标一定，一切都好办了。这里要指出的是，州立学校的毕业生在申请研究生院时，并没有受歧视的现象。儿子的好朋友，还有我们朋友的孩子由于LSAT得分较高，分别被很好的法学院录取了。另外就是法学院的录取其实与专业没有关系。曾经见有一位学钢琴的孩子也当了律师。儿子在大学里学得较轻松，GPA也令人满意，高中时期的低迷情绪也一扫而空。四年大学上完了，小翅膀也硬了。飞到南方去读法学院，我们也放心了。
好学区？差学区？ 似乎各有利弊，并且对以后的发展似乎也不那么重要。好学区开课多，竞争激烈，除非愿意提前补课，否则GPA与排名都会受到影响。差学区课程选择较少，但也不影响升学。社团活动机会多，孩子也容易排名在前面。 当然最好避免在高中转学，这是我们的教训。不过看起来也不是那么可怕，年轻就是本钱嘛。
藤校？ 州立学校？也要看孩子的发展方向。准备上研究生院的，可以在本科后申请好的学校， 把钱用在研究生院。孩子走出校门没有还贷款之忧。 当然藤校建立的关系也很重要，特别对于以后进入重要政治，经济领域会有很大的帮助。但是对一般过日子的人来说，好像关系不大， 至少绝大多数的人都要过普通人的日子。当然这只是个人的片面看法。据说上帝关上一扇门，就会在另一个地方开个窗户。我想，只要这窗户不是离地面太远的话，就把它当另一扇门用好了。
虽然儿子后来在找工作时遇到了一些曲折，这些在他的中文习作中有所总结（见：法学院夏季实习的重要性与个人经验）。他也在找工作的过程中学会了积极建立各种关系，主动地掌握前进方向。这次当同伴们都还在等待公司分配工作时，他已经主动联系进了这个大项目组，取得了对一个青年律师非常重要的工作经验。至于这个项目有多大，据说涉及资金两亿多美元。 他们的客户之一，就是那个大名鼎鼎，誉满全球的股神。（另外两方，他不能说，我也不能问，有律师保密条例呢）。
儿子，好样的，我们为你骄傲！
噢，谢谢你回家过年。对了，妹妹也谢谢你给的红包！
（全文完， 谢谢各位耐心阅读！）
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儿子回家过年 (1)--- 好学区？差学区？ 2010-02-17 19:03:30
关于好学区，差学区，网上已有很多精辟论点，我这里只说自己家里的经验教训，以供有兴趣的朋友们参考。
儿子上班六个星期了。上星期四晚上打电话问他，“周末回家过年吗？”回答：“星期六回来。我现在很忙，回家再说吧。” 刚开始上班时，说是不忙，前一，两个星期是新雇员训练。 后来让他爹给带点吃的，又说还在等待分派任务。一连两个多星期没给他打电话，心想一定还是不忙。
星期六去火车站接儿子，开始打听新律师的新生活。原来就在没打电话的两个星期，儿子参与了一个大项目，体验了美国律师的滋味。工作最长的一天是早上九点到第二天早上六点。连着两个星期，一天三顿都在公司吃饭。两个星期工作超过了160小时！ 全组用两个星期完成了平时要两个月才能完成的工作量。所有合同都抢在11：59 PM签好字，就避免了第二天又要几方面重新签字。。。 看着儿子年轻而朝气勃勃的脸，听着儿子神采飞扬地讲着那个大项目（Big Deal），不禁想起儿子的求学和选择职业的艰难历程。
到美国的前十年，我们和大多数留学生一样，是求学，求职，求绿卡，求稳定而更好的工作。。。，是追求美国梦的十年。十年中，我们搬了四个州，儿子转了六次学，每次离开朋友时的那份难舍，让我现在想来还总是心痛。
刚搬到东岸时，我们住进了高中排名全州倒数第二的小镇，儿子上八年级。那里住的几乎都是蓝领的白人，一届学生不到两百人。在中部上学一直不差的儿子，自然就成了不折不扣的领军人物。初中毕业典礼上，儿子作为学生代表讲话，并囊括了八项优秀学生奖项中的七项。这让我们看到了差学区的好处，处处第一也鞭策着孩子对自己不断提高要求，信心十足。后来的事实证明，差学区的学生也能上好大学，儿子那一届的朋友，一个去了MIT，两个进了U-Penn。
后来我们和很多中国家长的想法一样，在好学区买了房子。在儿子上十年级的时候搬进了新家。好学区是个蓝带学区，学生人数很多。儿子那一届毕业生就有八百多人。“宁做鸡头，不做凤尾”，儿子在这里成了凤脖子。这大大地伤害了儿子的自尊心。再加上，这里的孩子们都是从小一起长大的，儿子很难进入早已形成的朋友圈子。这些都给他的造成了极大的困惑，遇到了前所未有的困难。看着与以前判若两人的儿子，我们也深深地怀疑这搬到好学区的决定到底对不对。
可是为什么别的孩子就能都得A+呢？一次去见物理老师，老师说了一句话，我们有点明白了。他说：“要是你儿子能睁开眼睛上我的课，他就能得A+”，啊哈， 原来是闭着眼睛上课的呀。后来一位台湾家长指点迷津，我们更明白了，原来排在前面的那些孩子们，不仅仅是聪明，还都早就在暑假期间上补习班，把重要课程学了。到上课的时候只要交作业就够了。那样他们就可以选高学分的AP课程，课程得分高，GPA也高，正所谓“偷跑”。想来这就是所谓“不要输在起跑线上了”。知道真相以后也曾犹豫，是否送儿子去补习呢？后来一想，人生路漫漫，一个连高中都不能自己读好的人，长大了也未必有用。靠“偷跑”能走得了多远？坚决不补习，一切靠自己！
由于对新环境的不适应，儿子不愿意报名参加学校的社团活动。我们看在眼里，急在心里，却不敢说得太多。直到有一天，儿子说要去参加数学比赛。我一阵惊喜，问到：“你报名了？”“没有。”“那你。。。”“数学老师把我塞到校队去了。”“啊？还有这事？”晚上回来了，问问：“儿子，比赛怎么样？”“我是我们学校第二名。”“WOW，真棒啊。你们数学队去了几个人?”“六个。”“几道题？”“十题。”“第一名对了几题？”“十题。”“WOW，我家的第二名呢？”“五题。”“哈哈哈。。。”一起笑了。后来又去了好多次，每次都是第二或并列第二，做对最多的也没超过六题。对他说练一练，他问：“为什么？”“你就可以多做对几题呀”又问：“为什么？”对呀，“ 为什么呢？”。。。
儿子酷爱读书，也喜欢在图书馆工作，原来在小镇时就在图书馆做了两年义工。这次到了新地方就想申请图书馆的学生员工。由于小镇图书馆馆长的热情推荐，他很快得到了图书馆工作的机会。这工作使他的课外生活更充实， 在帮助别人中得到了欢乐。由于他做事认真负责，毕业时从几十个学生员工中脱颖而出，得到了图书馆当年唯一的优秀学生员工的奖学金---五百美元。
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数字，数字，恼人的数字！（童趣二则） 2009-11-23 17:28:14
（１）
儿子六岁时参加了一次生日Ｐａｒｔｙ，是邻居的孩子满一岁． 回来以后高兴地一边清点着带回来小礼品，一边回味Ｐａｒｔｙ的趣事，说着说着突然愣住了，妈妈急忙问：＂宝贝儿，怎么啦？＂
只见宝贝儿满脸困惑地问：＂妈妈，比一小的是零吗？＂妈妈夸道：＂对呀，宝贝儿真聪明！＂
宝贝儿：＂零就是什么都没有，对吗？＂妈妈解释：＂对呀，宝贝儿，零就是空的，就是什么都没有，就是．．．＂
宝贝儿：＂那个妹妹今天才一岁，昨天就是零岁呀！零岁就应该没有她呀，那昨天她怎么就那么大了呢？＂妈妈：＂？。。。＂
（２）
儿子从小就是个电视迷，到了美国更是如鱼得水，各类卡通看起来不眨眼，就连广告也不放过。最糟糕的是周末早上六点半，上闹钟起来看卡通，还为自己辩护说电视台就是把自己最喜欢的卡通放在周末早上，他也没办法。每到那时爹妈真是恨死电视台了．
第２７届ＳｕｐｅｒＢｏｗｌ的实况转播时，ＣＢＳ的电视节目“60 Minutes”和“48 Hours” （均为一小时）的广告多次出现。那时儿子刚刚在学校学了时间概念。 当“60 Minutes”和“48 Hours”的广告又一次出现时，只见半天没动窝的儿子站起身来，嘴里嘀咕着：“６０分钟还可以，４８小时就太长了。就算是我最喜欢的卡通，我也不愿意连着看４８小时！”
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牙仙儿失业啦！ 2009-11-19 18:20:35
儿子掉第一颗牙时，高高兴兴从枕头下拿到四个QUARTER放进自己的小钱罐儿。
拿了几次钱以后就开始问问题：“妈妈，牙仙子们为什么要收集这些牙齿呢？难道在他们的世界里把这些牙齿当金子用？” ＂这个，宝贝儿，可能吧．＂
一天早上，我突然想起儿子头天晚上掉了一颗牙，急忙冲到楼下，在放零钱的小碗里拿了四个QUARTER，赶在儿子醒来以前放到他的枕头下。下了楼心里还在得意，又当了一次牙仙儿！
谁知，过了一会儿，儿子下楼来，手里拿着一个QUARTER，对我说：“妈妈，我知道了，根本没有什么牙仙子。就是你把钱放在我枕头下的。你看这个脏QUARTER，昨天早上拿午饭钱，我嫌它太脏了，又放回碗里了。”儿子说完把那个脏QUARTER放进小碗，换了一个干净的上楼去了。呵，不信牙仙子还要换干净钱？
得，牙仙儿失业啦!
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该出手时就出手--儿子修车记 2009-11-01 20:42:35
儿子从小就跟着老爸一起组装各式家具。常常是儿子看图纸，老爸负责安装。但是家里的东西坏了，那全是老爸的事儿，没见儿子有过动手的愿望。 所以印象中儿子是属于君子动口不动手的那类人。
三年前的夏天，我和儿子一起开车送他去外州上学。刚到的第二天，因为天气太热，就去SONIC买了冰淇淋。出来没开几步，听见车胎漏气了。下车一看， 一个车胎上扎了个钉子，已经瘪了。我急忙到处找AAA的卡，还就没带在身上。 于是忙着给千里之外的LG打电话， 偏偏又联系不上。儿子转了一圈看了看，说换备用胎吧，就从后面拿出千斤顶，要动手。 我说还是等AAA的人吧， 你又没换过。他说试试吧， 就趴到地上了。大概过了十几分钟的样子，我还在树荫下到处打电话求援呢，就听儿子说，好了。我走过去一看，他果然把备用胎换上去了。嘿！这儿子。
三年后的夏天，儿子自己把车开回来了。 我们把车牌换成本州的以后就去做车检。谁知因为手刹坏了，车检没通过。依照惯例，先给业余的修车师傅一个机会。 LG 去看了看，进来说是要把那个放饮料杂物的箱子取下来，才能看看里面怎么回事。ＬＧ提着工具箱出去了。 过了一会儿又提着工具箱进来了，说是取不下来， 没地儿下手。 既然业余的不行， 就要找专业的，那是个又费钱又费时间的事．依照惯例，能拖一天是一天，于是这事就搁在那了。
上星期三因为家里有事，把儿子召回家来。吃晚饭时聊起此事。儿子吃完晚饭到车库去看了看，进来提着工具箱出去了。我和 LG边吃边笑，儿子修车？别逗啦, 长这么大就没见他修过什么东西呢。 LG吃完了饭，被派 到车库去打探，进来说，儿子把那个箱子取下来了。再探，进来说，儿子找到原因了。 三探，这次没进来，却在车库里大叫：＂快来看，儿子把手刹修好了！＂ 我急忙出去看看，又到车里试一试，手刹果然是修好了。问问怎么修的。儿子说很简单，长期不用，里面堆积了灰尘堵住了连接处。 清除了灰尘自然就好啦。我急忙连声夸道：儿子真行啊，连车都会修了。 儿子听见夸奖，得意地说：＂这算什么？上次这车的遥控坏了，车门开不了。我把车前面的盖子打开，找到那节电线。。。＂， 呵！顺着杆儿他爬上来了，嘿嘿！ 这儿子，原来不是君子动口不动手， 而是该出手时就出手！
结果：车检通过了。
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宝贝 VS 宝贝儿 2009-10-22 21:20:57
儿子从小就没喜欢过长毛绒玩具。 几个月的时候见了长毛绒就打。 所以四岁到美国时，家里留下了整整一箱子各式各样的运输工具和轻重武器， 就是没有一个长毛的。
到了美国后，一位不知情的阿姨送了一个毛茸茸的小熊却从未受过青睐。 有一天，为了培养儿子和小熊的感情，我让儿子抱小熊睡觉。 只见儿子抱着小熊痛苦地扭来扭去睡不着。 慢慢地，小熊到了脚边。慢慢地，小熊到了地上。这时我也松了一口气。谁知过了一会儿， 儿子不放心，翻身爬起来，拾起小熊交到我手上，说：“ 妈妈，小熊挤死我了，别再放在我床上了。”
儿子到了七岁时，我想抱他就有些困难了，要看他的心情，常常是我想他不想。有一次，我想抱抱他，他在看电视不想过来。 我就抱起小熊，摇了摇，说：“宝贝儿，来，妈妈抱抱，妈妈喜欢你。” 谁知儿子一下子跑过来，一把抓住小熊扔在地上。然后指着小熊对我说：“它是你的宝贝。” 又指着自己的鼻子尖儿大声宣称：“我，才是你的宝贝儿！” 宝贝儿说完，扬长而去。
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俺家的儿子有花儿戴!!! 记一次法学院毕业典礼 2009-09-27 16:52:44
儿子最早的理想是给老妈当妈妈。理由嘛， 并不是为了报三春晖。 而是， 嗯。。。(有
点儿说不出口) 那样他就可以打老妈我的PP了。 四岁时要当警察， 可能和别的四
岁男孩儿一样， 他喜欢的是那身衣服和神气劲儿。后来大点儿就种类繁多， 且变
换莫测了。什么厨师， 农场主， 登山运动员， 旅行家，还有毛爷诗里说的: " 敢
上九天揽月(宇航员)， 敢下五洋捉鳖( 海洋生物研究员) " 。。。等等都想过 。
老妈呢，义无反顾地支持了儿子所有的理想， 并积极参与，从来不问为什么。 比如说， 列出农场主可能需要的机械类的清单，提供厨师可能服务的对象和餐馆的选址可能遇到的麻烦等等。。。
可是变归变， 但万变不离其宗: 第一不当律师， 第二不当医生。 所以，当儿子
大学三年纪要考LSAT和 进法学院时， 老妈一反常态， 问他， 为什么?
法学院三年一晃就过去了。 今年五月二十三日， 我们带上女儿参加了儿子的毕业典礼.
毕业典礼定于下午三点半开始。 我们在两点半向会场走去。 只见街上到处都是神
采飞扬的男男女女穿着各式各样的长袍， 还有兴高采烈的父母， 祖父母们。 到
处是照相机， 鲜花。 是啊， 经过了几年苦读苦熬， 今天该他们高兴高兴了。
会场门口，我们拿到了节目单---才知道我们要参加的是向日葵庆典(Sunflower Ceremony)。
嗯? 向日葵庆典? 仔细读了节目单， 才知道了这名字原来还有个故事。
大约一百年前的一个春天，校方决定要求所有的毕业生必须穿长袍，带方帽参加毕
业典礼。 而那些法学院的准律师们却因为校方在作出此决定时没和他们商量而拒绝
执行。 他们给出了很好的理由: 法学院不是一般的学术学院而是职业学院， 他们
要穿白西服参加毕业典礼。校方当然不同意。 校方要求他们跟其他毕业生统一服装
或者佩戴"有特色的标志"。 桀傲不顺的准律师们当然不会选择统一服装。 于是他
们选择了"有特色的标志"---向日葵。 这次他们又给出了很好的理由: 向日葵，
像律师一样遍布全世界。 就像向日葵永远向着太阳，律师们永远向着正义之光!
斗争的结果是，从此以后， 该法学院的毕业典礼就叫"向日葵庆典"。读着这段有趣
的历史，我觉得这些准律师一定是把这次抗争当作了一次实战演习了:
A)上级决定--不服(因为自己没得到尊重)， 但不硬顶。B) 找出理由 (我们跟别人
不一样)， 提出新方案(穿白西服)。C)上级再决定--还是不服(就是不想听你的)，
用自己的方式表达自己的不满同时再找出理由。D) 胜利 (我们从此有花儿戴!)。
进了会场里面， 看见观众席坐了不少的人。 主席台上除了几排人以外，摆放着一
大片金黄金黄的向日葵花。
三点半了，四百多名新一代的准律师们在一片军乐声中，鱼贯而入。一看，呵! 那
可是穿什么的都有。女生们穿的是花花绿绿， 甚至还有少数民族服装。男生也是。爱正式的，穿上了西服。不爱的， 嗨，看哪，那两位就穿着夏威夷的大花褂子走过来了。
我们翘首以待， 望眼欲穿。终于盼来了自己家的那位高高大大，穿着黑色西服的帅
小伙儿。 于是欢呼雀跃，拼命呐喊才换来那回眸一笑，爹妈心里那个甜哪。。。
整个活动进行了大约进行了二个多小时。 其中有院长讲话，学生代表讲话， 嘉宾
讲话。。。
终于要发证了。从远处看，由准律师到律师的具体程序如下:
1) 听到名字，上台，递上一小纸条(验明正身)，握手。
2) 握手，被一女性戴上一朵小小向日葵花。
3) 握手，和一男性(法学院院长) 说一句话。
4) 握手，和另一男性(嘉宾)说一句话。
5) 被一女性指引到台后照相区照相。
6) 回原座位。
这就完了? 证呢? 儿子只身一人到南方的这个美丽的城市苦读三年。一想到毕业典礼， 就会联系到长袍，方帽和毕业证书。 可我们大老远跑来了却什么也没见， 就拿了这朵向日葵. 回头再想想， 也不错，俺家的儿子有花儿戴!
后记: 两个月后， 儿子拿到了毕业证并准备到纽约上班。 他很感谢老爹老妈对他
的支持，使他无还贷款之忧。同时表示上班第一个月开始要报三春晖了! 好儿子，
老爹老妈为你自豪!
看看， 就是这朵花儿!
瞧瞧， 就是这帅哥儿!
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你真的只12岁? 儿子遭遇警察的故事 2009-09-19 13:44:19
儿子从小男孩儿长成一个青涩少年是在和老爸比个儿中完成的。
过程是这样: 每次都是老爸说:"来，跟爸爸比一 比。" 儿子走过来后， 老爸就从
自己的头上向儿子头上划一条线。
刚开始，是一条向下的斜线，老爸会得意地拍拍儿子的头。
渐渐地变成了一条平线， 老爸会努力地拍拍儿子的头。
慢慢地变成了一条向上的斜线， 老爸会尴尬地拍拍自己的头。
等认识到向上的坡度太大，与拿破仑等高的老爸只好摸摸自己的头了。
就这样，比个儿结束时，儿子从一米五蹿到了一米八，那时他刚满12岁。
有一天晚上， 我带着儿子和女儿到华盛顿-巴提莫机场去接老公。儿子坐在我旁边。到机场时女儿在车后面睡着了。
当时既没有手机又没有Google，也不知道老公到了没有。 因为不想吵醒女儿，于是就把车停在非停车区，告诉儿子等着，我进去找一下就出来。
找了一圈没找到，赶紧跑了出来。没想到真是怕什么来什么。只见一辆警车在我的车后面闪烁着光芒。 我当时一阵心慌，马上想到罚单， 法庭。。。
哆嗦着来到车边 (没办法，每次警察在我后面，我就哆嗦)。 在混暗的路灯下，一位高高大大的黑人警察满面笑容地告诉我这里不能停车， 请我把车开走。
那里要请? 我太愿意把车开走啦， 而且越快越好哇! 我停止了哆嗦，飞快地钻进车里，发动了车。正要走， 那警察又过来了。 哆嗦也及时地回到我的身上。 谁知他竟然乐呵呵地说了一句让我终身难忘的话: "你有个很大的十二岁的孩子。( YOU HAVE A BIG TWELVE YEAR OLD!) "，然后扬长而去。
这等好事? ! 在车里， 心有余悸的我向坐在旁边的儿子问发生了什么事， 他告诉我警察来了以后发生了这样的对话:
警察: "先生，我想你得把车开走， 这里不能停车。(Sir, I’m afraid you have to move the car, you can’t park here. )"。(可能是在黑暗中， 他没法看清儿子的脸。)
儿子: "先生，我想你还得等几年，我不能开车。(Sir, I’m afraid you have to wait for a few years, I can’t drive. )
警察:"为什么? (Why?)"
儿子: "我只有十二岁，(I’m only twelve)"
警察: "十二 岁，真的吗? (Only twelve, You sure? )"
儿子: "先生，这个，你可以向我妈妈确证一下。她进去找我爸爸了， 我妹妹睡着了。 (Sir, this, you can confirm with my mom。 She went inside to get my dad. My sister is sleeping 。"
警察， 大笑起来， 儿子，也笑了。
哦， 这是为什么警察又专门回来告诉我那句话。 我想他是觉得这事太有趣了想要告诉我。 他也一定是带着一个好心情去和家人， 同事们分享这故事了。
十二岁，我那十二岁的儿子是怎么会如此勇敢和镇静，这样应对有章地为我解决了一个不大不小的麻烦， 让警察高高兴兴地走了呢?
我不知道， 我只知道直到现在，只要警车在我后面，我还照样哆嗦。
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大儿小女学琴记( 1 ) - 大儿篇 2009-09-16 21:35:00
儿子九岁时，突然吵着要学钢琴。 老妈当然不同意， 多麻烦呀! 又要买琴， 还要找老师，还要贴时间， 还要。。。老妈一口咬定，NO! 以后的三个月就在YES，NO中斗争过去了。直到有一天， 我发现了要学钢琴的根源所在，原来是每个星期天去教会， 儿子的几个朋友都能弹上一把，只有他只会乱敲一气，丢面子了。得，穷什么不能穷教育， 丢什么不能丢面子。咱学！
买琴吧， 于是找了报纸 ( 那年头还没有Google呢。)， 只找最 便宜的看，还真找到一位，350美刀，年纪嘛, 只比姥姥大几岁。 行， 就她了。
琴姥姥给抬回家来，老师呢? 于是又找来报纸， 还是找最 便宜的看。 入门嘛。$15
/小时，(中央音乐学院毕业!)。 行， 就他了。
就这样儿子开始了学琴生涯。
首先，约法三章:
第一，每天需自动练琴半小时。 如需提醒，不让学了。(斩！)
第二，每次上课前，需把老师布置的作业全部完成。如需提醒，不让学了。(斩！)
第三，每次上课时，需把老师所教全部学会。如不用心学会，不让学了。(斩！)
章程倒是齐了，可执行起来却是上有政策， 下有对策。
第一，每天都自动练琴半小时---自动是自动了。半小时也半小时了。 可是喝水，
上厕所却都得在这30分钟之内发生，而且不只一次。半小时一到， 停了! (不能斩！)
第二，每次上课前，需把老师布置的作业全部完成---全部做到了，原因很简单，他
说做了就做了。 老妈到今天也没弄懂那些豆芽菜。(没法斩！)
第三，每次上课时，需把老师所教全部学会---全部做到了，原因还是那一个， 老
妈不懂。(叫我怎么斩?)
只有一次， 还真让老妈给逮个正着。弹的是"红河谷"， 我怎么听怎么别
扭。 心想， 这红河谷怎么这味儿呢? 要说老柴， 老贝们咱不懂，红河谷咱也听了这么多年了。难道。。。
于是在忍耐了半小时后，小心翼翼地问:"宝贝儿， 这红河谷听起来怎么怪 怪的?"
儿子耐心地指着让我头晕眼花的豆芽菜们向我讲解了手法，NOTES，还有KEYS等等，最后加上一句"老师就是这样教的！" 中央音乐学院哪! 不服不行啊。可那红河谷啊， 真不是人听的。
一个星期终于熬过去了，总算盼来了儿子的钢琴课.
课后，回家再弹，怎么味道不一样了? 这次的 "红河谷" 怎么这么顺耳呢? 可如果
他原来弹错了又怎么弹得这么溜呢? 百思不得其解。
半小时下来，向儿子请教:"宝贝儿， 这红河谷怎么和上星期不一样啊?"
"哦，老师说我上次把所有的都弹高了半拍。 现在只要LOWER一个KEY就够了。" 得，又回来了! 从此以后，我一听见红河谷就乐。
就这样拖拖拉拉过了几年，直到有一天儿子这样对我说:" 妈妈，你看妹妹琴弹得这
么好。 你把我的钢琴老师的钱省下来给妹妹找个好老师吧。"
好哥哥呀， 好儿子! 就这样，儿子的弹琴生涯结束了。
哦，对了， 那个350美刀的琴姥姥三年后被老公卖了550美刀。嗨， 咱 赚了!
[mp3 w=350 h=45]http://ba1gys.73club.com/music/UploadFiles_5171/200609/20060902210824744.mp3[/mp3]
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妈妈， 我需要一个律师 2009-09-13 12:16:57
二十一年前，我们来到美国内布纳斯加州时， 儿子四岁。 广阔的大草原成了我们放
风筝的乐园。 有一个星期天， 我们照例带着可爱的燕子风筝到了LINCOLN 附近的
PIONEER PARK。 那一天风特别大，燕子也很争气， 飞得特别高。 正当我们三
个人又蹦又跳， 欢声笑语时， 儿子一个趔趄， 手一松， 风筝飞了。 老公当时
眼疾手快， 飞身上前， 抓住了塑料线把。 我和儿子一起欢呼 起来。 谁料想风
更厉害， 生生把老公手上的线扯断， 活活在我们的眼皮上面把燕子带走了。儿子
伤心地哭了。没有风筝怎么行? 当机立断，我们再买一个。
坐在车上， 儿子显然还惦记着那只小燕子。一阵寂静后， 儿子突然问到: "什么是律师?" 我不知道怎么对一个四岁的孩子解释律师的定义， 只好说: "在你有困难的时候律师可以帮助你。"
就 在 我准备加上法律，犯罪之类的词语以前， 只听见儿子若有所思地说:"
妈妈，我觉得我需要一个律师"
"为什么?"
"帮我找风筝"。
车内不再寂静。。。
二十一年后， 那个需要律师的小男孩自己成了纽约的一家大法律公司的一名律师
家有儿女-小女篇】
游泳比赛之后---和女儿谈心 2010-03-23 21:19:51
http://blog.creaders.net/jpjliu/user_blog_diary_list.php?act=class&cid=7728
上个星期五到星期天，是我们州里的少年奥林匹克 (JO) 游泳短池比赛。 女儿因为下个月要去OHIO比赛，教练只报了四项。虽说 JO 对女儿这个年龄段的孩子们已经不重要了，但是能取得更好的成绩也算没白练了几个月。
最近气候变化太大，到了星期三就听出女儿的鼻音有些不对。 到了星期四感冒症状全部出现了。周末三天，四项成绩都不好。星期天最后一项1650码游完了。到停车场时，那张还带着稚气的脸上乌云密布，眼见得就要大雨倾盆。
坐进车里，女儿开车，我问道：“宝宝，还记得那个最大最漂亮的Minnie吗？”“嗯。”女儿不想说话。
“给你Minnie的阿姨的女儿，十几年前得了白血病。两年里，好几次都是两，三个星期昏迷不醒. 当时所有的人都放弃了，只有阿姨一个人坚持守在她身边，一步也不离开。我们去医院给阿姨送饭，还记得吗？”“不记得。” 女儿心不在焉地答应着。
“对，那时候你只有三岁。后来，在阿姨的坚持下，北卡的一家医院重新检验了所有的骨髓捐献者的骨髓，终于找到了一个perfect match. 那个姐姐现在已经上医学院了，她要当个儿科医生，为生病的孩子们治病。”“噢。是吗？ ”
“你知道那时候妈妈怎么想的吗？”“不知道。”“妈妈那时候就发誓，‘我只要你和哥哥都健康地，快乐地活着，别的什么我都不要。’我现在还是这样想”。女儿没吭声，但是脸上的乌云已经慢慢散了。
“你是什么时候开始怀疑Dan brown的‘The Lost Symbol’里的那个坏蛋是索罗门先生的儿子的？”“我一直都没怀疑。”女儿答道。
“我看到他从监狱里逃出来就有点怀疑了，因为外人不太可能把那么多钱一下子转移得那么快，还对他们家的事情了解得那么清楚。后来索罗门先生说这坏蛋杀了他的全家，那坏蛋说：还不是全部，我就明白了。”“我一直到最后才知道。”女儿脸上多云转晴。
“那你看到Langdon教授被淹死了的时候，你怎么想的呢？”“我就不想看了。我后来过了一个月才去看完了。”女儿回答。
“你知道我干什么啦？我明明知道一个正常的作家，是不会让主要人物在故事还剩三分之一的时候就死的,但是我还是翻到最后几页去偷看了结果。”
“妈！那是Cheating！”女儿大叫。“我知道，可是我没办法呀，我忍不住呀, 宝宝。”“我是不会干那样事的。”“嘿嘿。”我笑了，女儿也笑了。
看见形势大好，我又接着讲下去:“有一个关于科学家或者是医生的笑话，说的是:一个牢房里来了一个新犯人。第一天就向那个呆了八年的老犯人建议一起挖洞逃跑。老犯人笑了笑没吱声。八年以后，当这个新犯人决定放弃的时候，老犯人说，我早就知道挖不通的。新犯人问他为什么，老犯人说，你来以前，我已经挖了八年了。新犯人很生气，问他为什么不早点告诉他，你猜老犯人怎么说？”“不知道。”
“老犯人说，谁会发表不成功的结果呢？”这时候女儿脸上已经阳光灿烂，像一朵盛开的鲜花了。
二十分钟后到了家，看见女儿一把抱起了小狗，嘴里哼着歌，我悄悄地，长长地吁了一口气。一个健康的，快乐的孩子，这就是我最想要的。上帝已经给了我太多了。我，真的很满足了。
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女儿终于达标了（附图） 2009-10-30 09:18:43
女儿从小就怕水，一点水沾在脸上就吱吱哇哇乱叫。九岁去考游泳队时动作基本是不会，教练让她跟着八岁以下的孩子们一起学动作。一年以后， 转到了现在的俱乐部。（这个俱乐部是去年奥运会200米蛙泳冠军， 世界纪录保持者REBECCA SONI上大学以前所在的俱乐部）。女儿十岁时 是州里500米自由泳年纪组亚军。到了十二岁已经是州里二百米仰泳年纪组冠军了。 那时候距离地区标准（Sectional ）只差三秒。谁知就这三秒让女儿整整奋斗了四年。本来今年春天已经达到了，可是地区标准又降低了一秒，女儿还得接着奋斗。
今年七月底的州里少年奥林匹克上，女儿又是一百米和两百米仰泳各差一秒不能达标。那次对女儿的打击真是很大。因为队里整个高年级组的队员都达到一，两项地区标准， 都可以去外州比赛，只有女儿一个人不能去。少年奥林匹克完了以后，女儿哭了好久。
游泳是一项很好的运动。对孩子们的四肢平衡发展很有好处。 但是作为一项运动就比其它运动困难且费时间。首先动作要协调，劲还要用的是地方，不然劲再大也就在原地打转。 又因为只能在游泳池里练，所以路上来回和换衣服都要占时间。 一次练习两个半小时，就要差不多四个小时。每星期要练习八次。 对于时间紧，任务重的高中的孩子们来说，真是很辛苦。我几次劝她说别游了，十一年级太忙了。她却坚持要游，说是不能当逃兵（quitter）。哎， 都说当琴妈难，其实当什么妈都不容易。
今年一开始女儿就大不一样，她练习的时候非常认真， 训练时一直保持游在最前面。 上星期六（10/24/09）的一次比赛中，教练给她报了一英里自由泳(1650 英尺)的项目。由于是今年的第一场比赛，大家的期望并不高，能游出去年的最好成绩就不错了。这组八个人里有七个是女儿的俱乐部的队友，女儿报名时的成绩排在第六。开始的时候，女儿落在第五，我一看又没戏了。就在观众席坐着没动。到了八百英尺时，别人都慢下来了，女儿却还是以同样的速度向前游，一点也不像以前那样随便就放弃。到了1200英尺的时候，她已经领先了。 她的教练也在又蹦又跳地拼命叫喊。 我走下观众席，到了游泳池边。 她的队友对我说，一般教练这样时就是她可能要达到地区标准了。我一听，急了， 这一项也有地区标准？她说，对。这下好了，我也跟着教练又蹦又跳起来。每次女儿游到了池边， 我就赶紧对着女儿喊加油。眼看到了1500英尺，其他人开始加速了，女儿还是不紧不慢地游着。 我跟着教练一起跳得更高了。 到了最后50英尺时，她和另一个队友几乎是同时转身， 而到了最后25英尺时，她明显地加快了速度。最后以一秒之差取得了本组的第一名。 我一看成绩，17分50秒32。 连忙跑去问教练，这个达标了吗？ 教练肯定地点点头并兴奋地说：17分54秒（是地区标准）。这下可把我给乐坏了。 因为我知道女儿多么需要这个成绩来重振信心。果然，女儿自己也高兴得不得了，说，我觉得我就像是个不同的人一样。 于是眼睛又瞄上了下一个目标---全国少年标准。
女儿，你既然选择了这条艰辛的道路，就坚持走下去吧。无论结果如何，在爸爸妈妈眼里，你都是最好的。
女儿与奥运冠军Rebecca Soni 合影
Rebecca Soni 的奥运金，银牌
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大儿小女学琴记( 2 ) --小女篇 2009-09-18 00:59:36
原以为给儿子当琴妈的经历足以对付女儿了， 谁知事情到了女儿这全变了。 女儿
到了四岁就提出要学琴。老妈当然不同意。太小啦。 这时家里已经鸟枪换了步枪，
买了YAMAMA电子钢琴。 老妈不同意也没关系。小人人儿自己找出了Alfred's Basic
Piano1A， 郑重地放在琴上， 翻到手法那一页， 就比划开了。 老妈心想: 你就
折腾吧，不出三天准忘了。 结果是，不出三天，小人人儿 折腾出了一只小羊羔，
玛丽的小羊羔(Mary has little lamb)， 慢是慢点， 可有调了。老妈这回为难了。 让学吧，不甘心。 不让吧，万一耽误了一个伟大的音乐天才呢? 哎。。。 难哪。要不先比划着吧。
就这样自己比划了几个月。正好赶上儿子需要换钢琴老师。 女儿就顺理成章地正
式拜师学艺， 反正一个是赶，一群也是个放。 每次俩孩子往老师那一放，老妈就
直奔菜场而去。 等羊放好了， 菜也买齐了。两不耽误。
几个月以后，迎来了女儿的第一个RECITAL。五岁小姑娘， 打扮得漂漂亮亮的往台
上一站， 朝台下鞠一躬， 坐下弹了两只曲子。 虽然不到三分钟，可顺顺溜溜的。没出错儿. 老妈这台下那个激动啊， 女儿成才了! 这好心情一直持续到另一五岁小姑
娘上台来。 只见那双小手小蝴蝶似地上下翻飞。 看了看表， 啊? 四分钟了，还
在飞，飞呀飞。。。再低头 看看节目单， 哎哟妈呀，人孩子弹的是老柴呀! 老妈顿时心里一阵轻松， 从此不再担心耽误伟大的音乐天才了。
要说这妹妹和哥哥还真不一样。
就拿约法三章来说吧， 这第一章，女儿就不一样。 30分钟， 那就是1800秒， 一
秒也不少。 女儿每次弹琴以前，都要郑重其事地先放一个记时表(带秒的)， 30分
钟放好了，一按就开始弹琴。 30分钟之内如要找她说话是不会理的， 除非是走到
她面前。 这时， 她会按下表，让时间停下，等你把话说完，再按下表继续弹下去。
当然有时候会忘了按表就开始弹了， 这时候，就会听见她无限懊恼地喊道:"妈咪，
I FORGOT TO START WATCH! (我忘了按表了)"。每到这时， 妈咪就会十分慷慨地
喊道:"就算弹了十分钟吧!" 这第二呢， 也不一样。 因为用的大都是哥哥用过的书
(琴妈们知道那些书有多贵!)， 那些答案都在呢。 不用做了， 问哥哥吧。第三
呢， 嗨， 没第三啦。
还有不一样的就是，哥哥除了RECITAL就没参加过任何比赛。 而妹妹却大大小小奖
状抱回来一堆，正经考了英国皇家的级。 哥哥除了在教会以外没在别的地方弹过琴，
妹妹却在世界级别的纽约林肯中心和卡内基音乐厅都试过牛刀。
最重要的是学琴一年后， 女儿也来到了红河谷， 竟没让老妈受一丝罪，就跨过去
了。 小棉袄哇， 真好!
记得毛爷有句话:"时代不同了， 男女都一样。" 看看我家这大宝小贝的， 这能叫
一样吗? 下次再说这话， 咱跟他急!
这一路弹来, 就到了初中，练习时间加到了3600 秒。家里的步枪呢， 也换了大炮了。
三年前又挨了一万五千美刀抬回了一架崭新的YAMAHA-BABY GRAND。还有就是老师要$60/小时了。 老妈也将自己升级到了琴妈。 虽然还是那么惧怕豆芽菜， 却能
准确地指出" 这个你哥弹过"。 也就是这时候琴妈从琴声中听出了一丝倦怠。 于
是， 一个3600秒后， 轻轻问到:"宝宝呀(别笑， 我现在还这么叫)， 是不是不太
想弹琴啦?"。 这一问不打紧， 问出一泡眼泪来了。 原来是初中以后功课紧了，
游泳队教练---那法西斯! 不但增加了训练时间还增加了强度(女儿正经是2008奥运
冠军，世界记录保持者-----的队友!)， 女儿有些受不了了。
虽然心痛那一万五千美刀， 琴妈还是提出再给三个月时间，好好想想 (豁出去这琴
妈不当，咱也不勉强 孩子干她不愿干的事)。 一个月以后， 女儿自己提出不学了，
但还要练琴。琴妈处于半退休状态。 又过了一个月， 琴妈正式办理退休手续。
三年来， YAMAHA-BABY GRAND 默默无语，无所事事地站立在琴房。 不久前，
儿子在上面试了试， 说:"妈妈， 这琴需要调音了。" 啊?! 这一天什么事都不
干还得好吃好喝伺候着， 这不成了琴奶奶啦?
[mp3 w=350 h=45]http://web.gxmu.edu.cn/hlxy/new/sd/8.mp3[/mp3]
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女儿的三篇中文日记 2009-09-15 13:56:46
女儿六岁开始上中文学校， 一转眼也有三年了。 看她读起课文溜溜的 (当然是带拼音的)， 老妈自然心里乐不可支。 于是突发奇想， 想试试女儿的写作能力。
正好赶上放暑假， 就和女儿商量: "宝宝呀， 看你中文读得这么好，能不能试着写一下?就加在英文日记前面。"
"写几句呀?" 女儿的警惕度明显增强。
"一句， 宝宝，就 一句"
"OKAY， 妈咪。"
以下是女儿三天的中文日记和老妈评语:
第一天，"今天， 我和KATIE一起在小区走路，看见了一只死小鸟"
老妈评语: "宝宝真棒， 看看， 时间，地点，人物， 事件，全齐了，真棒。"
第二天，" 今天， 我和KATIE一起在小区走路，又看见了那只死小鸟"
老妈评语: "宝宝， 嗯， 这个又字用得不错。就该这样用"
第三天，" 今天， 我和KATIE一起在小区走路，还是看见了那只死小鸟"
老妈哑口无言。 心想， 小祖宗哎， 没事你老拉人KATIE看什么死小鸟哇?
于是再次和女儿商量，"宝宝，这个‘还是’用得也挺好的。嗯，嗯... 要不咱们别写中文日记了?"
"好吧。" 女儿回答很痛快。可能觉得这好事来得太突然，又问到:"为什么呀?"
"因为， 因为，妈咪不想让你和KATIE一个暑假都去看那只死小鸟。"
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咱拿美元来喂猪!!! 2009-09-14 19:03:55
小女三岁时， 得到一个粉红色的小猪存钱罐。 常常在家里找些零钱塞进去， 美其名悦: 喂猪猪。 并声称那是上大学的钱， 谁也不能动。
有一个星期六， 我去银行取出10张20 美元以作为 一周零用。 回到家里，把钱包放在桌子上就进里屋上了网。
过了一会儿，只听到女儿在外边问:"妈咪， 我能用你的零钱喂猪猪吗?"
"宝宝， 可以， 你拿吧。" 我为可以得到几分钟的自由偷偷乐着。COINS， 咱有。
"妈咪， 我能把一块的也喂猪猪吗?"， 几分钟后， 女儿又问到。
"当然可以， 宝宝。 慢慢喂吧。" 我更高兴了。一块的， 行， 咱也喂得起。 知道有几张一美元的票子在钱包里， 心想，这下可以看完这篇小说了。
这次猪猪吃饭时间真长。 我读完了两篇小说。
当天下午，我们去麦当劳。 ORDER 完了以后， 我才发现钱包里竟然没有一个大子儿。我满脸尴尬地看着CASHIER直说 SORRY。 心说， 我也没到哪儿去呀， 钱呢?
突然想起喂猪的事， 就轻轻问女儿: "宝宝， 你看见妈咪钱包里的二十块的钱了吗?"
"没有呀。"
"那你喂猪猪是。。。"
"妈咪， 我喂猪猪都是用的一块的。 没看见二十的。" 女儿信誓旦旦。
女儿用一双天真无邪的眼睛直瞪瞪地看着我。 我突然意识到: 天哪， 可不是没看见吗? 那些绿纸对她来说都一样啊， 都是一块的!
想到这儿，我又高兴起来，哈! 幸亏都是二十的，要是取了20张百元大钞。。。
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我长了!!! 2009-09-13 17:51:35
女儿四岁开始上幼儿园， 在班上个子最小。 有一段时间 特别盼望体重增长。每天
晚上洗澡后都要站在体重磅上检查一下，然后特别失望地叹到: "哎， 还是34 磅。
"
有一个星期天早上，我们都还赖在床上。 女儿自己起来上厕所。 忽然，女儿大叫
起来: "我长了! 我长了!"
由于 感觉到 "长了" 对女儿的重要性， 我急忙翻身下床，问到: "你多少磅了?"
只听见女儿兴奋地大声宣布" 我32磅了!!!"
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$5.95 减去 $3.75 等于几本书? 2009-09-13 17:38:01
女儿四岁以前都在说中文的环境里，所以上完Kindergarten以后， 还不会自己读英
文书。那年暑假刚开始， 老妈眉头一皱， 计上心来，于是对5岁的小人人儿宣布:"每读一本书可得一个quarter。" 别说, 物质刺激这办法，真灵。不到两个星期，女儿就存下了$3.75。
那天， 我带她去Shopping。 在玩具区，女儿看见5只毛绒绒的小猫挤在一只小篮子
里，煞是可爱， 就问能不能买。 我一看价钱，$5.95，有点犹豫。 女儿看出我的
心思， 就说要用自己的钱买。
于是我问她: " 你有多少钱?"
"三块七毛五"
"可是这要五块多呀。"
"妈咪，三块七毛五就差不多四块了， 四不是可以进到五吗? 那就是五块呀。" 女
儿振振有辞。
四入五入? 要不是老妈数学基础不错，还真被小不点儿蒙住了。
我只好耐心地告诉$5.95和$3.75的区别是9本书。
女儿那天没能得到那五只小猫。 于是回家发愤读书。 到暑假结束时， 女儿已
经能流利地读英文读物并挣到了那一篮子小猫和别的玩具。
一个quarter一本书制度一直持续到三年纪。 当她认识到读一本七百多页的"Harry
Potter" 才值一个quarter时，被剥削多年的她 终于提出了长工资的要求。
http://blog.creaders.net/jpjliu/user_blog_diary_list.php?act=class&cid=7728
上个星期五到星期天，是我们州里的少年奥林匹克 (JO) 游泳短池比赛。 女儿因为下个月要去OHIO比赛，教练只报了四项。虽说 JO 对女儿这个年龄段的孩子们已经不重要了，但是能取得更好的成绩也算没白练了几个月。
最近气候变化太大，到了星期三就听出女儿的鼻音有些不对。 到了星期四感冒症状全部出现了。周末三天，四项成绩都不好。星期天最后一项1650码游完了。到停车场时，那张还带着稚气的脸上乌云密布，眼见得就要大雨倾盆。
坐进车里，女儿开车，我问道：“宝宝，还记得那个最大最漂亮的Minnie吗？”“嗯。”女儿不想说话。
“给你Minnie的阿姨的女儿，十几年前得了白血病。两年里，好几次都是两，三个星期昏迷不醒. 当时所有的人都放弃了，只有阿姨一个人坚持守在她身边，一步也不离开。我们去医院给阿姨送饭，还记得吗？”“不记得。” 女儿心不在焉地答应着。
“对，那时候你只有三岁。后来，在阿姨的坚持下，北卡的一家医院重新检验了所有的骨髓捐献者的骨髓，终于找到了一个perfect match. 那个姐姐现在已经上医学院了，她要当个儿科医生，为生病的孩子们治病。”“噢。是吗？ ”
“你知道那时候妈妈怎么想的吗？”“不知道。”“妈妈那时候就发誓，‘我只要你和哥哥都健康地，快乐地活着，别的什么我都不要。’我现在还是这样想”。女儿没吭声，但是脸上的乌云已经慢慢散了。
“你是什么时候开始怀疑Dan brown的‘The Lost Symbol’里的那个坏蛋是索罗门先生的儿子的？”“我一直都没怀疑。”女儿答道。
“我看到他从监狱里逃出来就有点怀疑了，因为外人不太可能把那么多钱一下子转移得那么快，还对他们家的事情了解得那么清楚。后来索罗门先生说这坏蛋杀了他的全家，那坏蛋说：还不是全部，我就明白了。”“我一直到最后才知道。”女儿脸上多云转晴。
“那你看到Langdon教授被淹死了的时候，你怎么想的呢？”“我就不想看了。我后来过了一个月才去看完了。”女儿回答。
“你知道我干什么啦？我明明知道一个正常的作家，是不会让主要人物在故事还剩三分之一的时候就死的,但是我还是翻到最后几页去偷看了结果。”
“妈！那是Cheating！”女儿大叫。“我知道，可是我没办法呀，我忍不住呀, 宝宝。”“我是不会干那样事的。”“嘿嘿。”我笑了，女儿也笑了。
看见形势大好，我又接着讲下去:“有一个关于科学家或者是医生的笑话，说的是:一个牢房里来了一个新犯人。第一天就向那个呆了八年的老犯人建议一起挖洞逃跑。老犯人笑了笑没吱声。八年以后，当这个新犯人决定放弃的时候，老犯人说，我早就知道挖不通的。新犯人问他为什么，老犯人说，你来以前，我已经挖了八年了。新犯人很生气，问他为什么不早点告诉他，你猜老犯人怎么说？”“不知道。”
“老犯人说，谁会发表不成功的结果呢？”这时候女儿脸上已经阳光灿烂，像一朵盛开的鲜花了。
二十分钟后到了家，看见女儿一把抱起了小狗，嘴里哼着歌，我悄悄地，长长地吁了一口气。一个健康的，快乐的孩子，这就是我最想要的。上帝已经给了我太多了。我，真的很满足了。
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女儿终于达标了（附图） 2009-10-30 09:18:43
女儿从小就怕水，一点水沾在脸上就吱吱哇哇乱叫。九岁去考游泳队时动作基本是不会，教练让她跟着八岁以下的孩子们一起学动作。一年以后， 转到了现在的俱乐部。（这个俱乐部是去年奥运会200米蛙泳冠军， 世界纪录保持者REBECCA SONI上大学以前所在的俱乐部）。女儿十岁时 是州里500米自由泳年纪组亚军。到了十二岁已经是州里二百米仰泳年纪组冠军了。 那时候距离地区标准（Sectional ）只差三秒。谁知就这三秒让女儿整整奋斗了四年。本来今年春天已经达到了，可是地区标准又降低了一秒，女儿还得接着奋斗。
今年七月底的州里少年奥林匹克上，女儿又是一百米和两百米仰泳各差一秒不能达标。那次对女儿的打击真是很大。因为队里整个高年级组的队员都达到一，两项地区标准， 都可以去外州比赛，只有女儿一个人不能去。少年奥林匹克完了以后，女儿哭了好久。
游泳是一项很好的运动。对孩子们的四肢平衡发展很有好处。 但是作为一项运动就比其它运动困难且费时间。首先动作要协调，劲还要用的是地方，不然劲再大也就在原地打转。 又因为只能在游泳池里练，所以路上来回和换衣服都要占时间。 一次练习两个半小时，就要差不多四个小时。每星期要练习八次。 对于时间紧，任务重的高中的孩子们来说，真是很辛苦。我几次劝她说别游了，十一年级太忙了。她却坚持要游，说是不能当逃兵（quitter）。哎， 都说当琴妈难，其实当什么妈都不容易。
今年一开始女儿就大不一样，她练习的时候非常认真， 训练时一直保持游在最前面。 上星期六（10/24/09）的一次比赛中，教练给她报了一英里自由泳(1650 英尺)的项目。由于是今年的第一场比赛，大家的期望并不高，能游出去年的最好成绩就不错了。这组八个人里有七个是女儿的俱乐部的队友，女儿报名时的成绩排在第六。开始的时候，女儿落在第五，我一看又没戏了。就在观众席坐着没动。到了八百英尺时，别人都慢下来了，女儿却还是以同样的速度向前游，一点也不像以前那样随便就放弃。到了1200英尺的时候，她已经领先了。 她的教练也在又蹦又跳地拼命叫喊。 我走下观众席，到了游泳池边。 她的队友对我说，一般教练这样时就是她可能要达到地区标准了。我一听，急了， 这一项也有地区标准？她说，对。这下好了，我也跟着教练又蹦又跳起来。每次女儿游到了池边， 我就赶紧对着女儿喊加油。眼看到了1500英尺，其他人开始加速了，女儿还是不紧不慢地游着。 我跟着教练一起跳得更高了。 到了最后50英尺时，她和另一个队友几乎是同时转身， 而到了最后25英尺时，她明显地加快了速度。最后以一秒之差取得了本组的第一名。 我一看成绩，17分50秒32。 连忙跑去问教练，这个达标了吗？ 教练肯定地点点头并兴奋地说：17分54秒（是地区标准）。这下可把我给乐坏了。 因为我知道女儿多么需要这个成绩来重振信心。果然，女儿自己也高兴得不得了，说，我觉得我就像是个不同的人一样。 于是眼睛又瞄上了下一个目标---全国少年标准。
女儿，你既然选择了这条艰辛的道路，就坚持走下去吧。无论结果如何，在爸爸妈妈眼里，你都是最好的。
女儿与奥运冠军Rebecca Soni 合影
Rebecca Soni 的奥运金，银牌
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大儿小女学琴记( 2 ) --小女篇 2009-09-18 00:59:36
原以为给儿子当琴妈的经历足以对付女儿了， 谁知事情到了女儿这全变了。 女儿
到了四岁就提出要学琴。老妈当然不同意。太小啦。 这时家里已经鸟枪换了步枪，
买了YAMAMA电子钢琴。 老妈不同意也没关系。小人人儿自己找出了Alfred's Basic
Piano1A， 郑重地放在琴上， 翻到手法那一页， 就比划开了。 老妈心想: 你就
折腾吧，不出三天准忘了。 结果是，不出三天，小人人儿 折腾出了一只小羊羔，
玛丽的小羊羔(Mary has little lamb)， 慢是慢点， 可有调了。老妈这回为难了。 让学吧，不甘心。 不让吧，万一耽误了一个伟大的音乐天才呢? 哎。。。 难哪。要不先比划着吧。
就这样自己比划了几个月。正好赶上儿子需要换钢琴老师。 女儿就顺理成章地正
式拜师学艺， 反正一个是赶，一群也是个放。 每次俩孩子往老师那一放，老妈就
直奔菜场而去。 等羊放好了， 菜也买齐了。两不耽误。
几个月以后，迎来了女儿的第一个RECITAL。五岁小姑娘， 打扮得漂漂亮亮的往台
上一站， 朝台下鞠一躬， 坐下弹了两只曲子。 虽然不到三分钟，可顺顺溜溜的。没出错儿. 老妈这台下那个激动啊， 女儿成才了! 这好心情一直持续到另一五岁小姑
娘上台来。 只见那双小手小蝴蝶似地上下翻飞。 看了看表， 啊? 四分钟了，还
在飞，飞呀飞。。。再低头 看看节目单， 哎哟妈呀，人孩子弹的是老柴呀! 老妈顿时心里一阵轻松， 从此不再担心耽误伟大的音乐天才了。
要说这妹妹和哥哥还真不一样。
就拿约法三章来说吧， 这第一章，女儿就不一样。 30分钟， 那就是1800秒， 一
秒也不少。 女儿每次弹琴以前，都要郑重其事地先放一个记时表(带秒的)， 30分
钟放好了，一按就开始弹琴。 30分钟之内如要找她说话是不会理的， 除非是走到
她面前。 这时， 她会按下表，让时间停下，等你把话说完，再按下表继续弹下去。
当然有时候会忘了按表就开始弹了， 这时候，就会听见她无限懊恼地喊道:"妈咪，
I FORGOT TO START WATCH! (我忘了按表了)"。每到这时， 妈咪就会十分慷慨地
喊道:"就算弹了十分钟吧!" 这第二呢， 也不一样。 因为用的大都是哥哥用过的书
(琴妈们知道那些书有多贵!)， 那些答案都在呢。 不用做了， 问哥哥吧。第三
呢， 嗨， 没第三啦。
还有不一样的就是，哥哥除了RECITAL就没参加过任何比赛。 而妹妹却大大小小奖
状抱回来一堆，正经考了英国皇家的级。 哥哥除了在教会以外没在别的地方弹过琴，
妹妹却在世界级别的纽约林肯中心和卡内基音乐厅都试过牛刀。
最重要的是学琴一年后， 女儿也来到了红河谷， 竟没让老妈受一丝罪，就跨过去
了。 小棉袄哇， 真好!
记得毛爷有句话:"时代不同了， 男女都一样。" 看看我家这大宝小贝的， 这能叫
一样吗? 下次再说这话， 咱跟他急!
这一路弹来, 就到了初中，练习时间加到了3600 秒。家里的步枪呢， 也换了大炮了。
三年前又挨了一万五千美刀抬回了一架崭新的YAMAHA-BABY GRAND。还有就是老师要$60/小时了。 老妈也将自己升级到了琴妈。 虽然还是那么惧怕豆芽菜， 却能
准确地指出" 这个你哥弹过"。 也就是这时候琴妈从琴声中听出了一丝倦怠。 于
是， 一个3600秒后， 轻轻问到:"宝宝呀(别笑， 我现在还这么叫)， 是不是不太
想弹琴啦?"。 这一问不打紧， 问出一泡眼泪来了。 原来是初中以后功课紧了，
游泳队教练---那法西斯! 不但增加了训练时间还增加了强度(女儿正经是2008奥运
冠军，世界记录保持者-----的队友!)， 女儿有些受不了了。
虽然心痛那一万五千美刀， 琴妈还是提出再给三个月时间，好好想想 (豁出去这琴
妈不当，咱也不勉强 孩子干她不愿干的事)。 一个月以后， 女儿自己提出不学了，
但还要练琴。琴妈处于半退休状态。 又过了一个月， 琴妈正式办理退休手续。
三年来， YAMAHA-BABY GRAND 默默无语，无所事事地站立在琴房。 不久前，
儿子在上面试了试， 说:"妈妈， 这琴需要调音了。" 啊?! 这一天什么事都不
干还得好吃好喝伺候着， 这不成了琴奶奶啦?
[mp3 w=350 h=45]http://web.gxmu.edu.cn/hlxy/new/sd/8.mp3[/mp3]
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女儿的三篇中文日记 2009-09-15 13:56:46
女儿六岁开始上中文学校， 一转眼也有三年了。 看她读起课文溜溜的 (当然是带拼音的)， 老妈自然心里乐不可支。 于是突发奇想， 想试试女儿的写作能力。
正好赶上放暑假， 就和女儿商量: "宝宝呀， 看你中文读得这么好，能不能试着写一下?就加在英文日记前面。"
"写几句呀?" 女儿的警惕度明显增强。
"一句， 宝宝，就 一句"
"OKAY， 妈咪。"
以下是女儿三天的中文日记和老妈评语:
第一天，"今天， 我和KATIE一起在小区走路，看见了一只死小鸟"
老妈评语: "宝宝真棒， 看看， 时间，地点，人物， 事件，全齐了，真棒。"
第二天，" 今天， 我和KATIE一起在小区走路，又看见了那只死小鸟"
老妈评语: "宝宝， 嗯， 这个又字用得不错。就该这样用"
第三天，" 今天， 我和KATIE一起在小区走路，还是看见了那只死小鸟"
老妈哑口无言。 心想， 小祖宗哎， 没事你老拉人KATIE看什么死小鸟哇?
于是再次和女儿商量，"宝宝，这个‘还是’用得也挺好的。嗯，嗯... 要不咱们别写中文日记了?"
"好吧。" 女儿回答很痛快。可能觉得这好事来得太突然，又问到:"为什么呀?"
"因为， 因为，妈咪不想让你和KATIE一个暑假都去看那只死小鸟。"
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咱拿美元来喂猪!!! 2009-09-14 19:03:55
小女三岁时， 得到一个粉红色的小猪存钱罐。 常常在家里找些零钱塞进去， 美其名悦: 喂猪猪。 并声称那是上大学的钱， 谁也不能动。
有一个星期六， 我去银行取出10张20 美元以作为 一周零用。 回到家里，把钱包放在桌子上就进里屋上了网。
过了一会儿，只听到女儿在外边问:"妈咪， 我能用你的零钱喂猪猪吗?"
"宝宝， 可以， 你拿吧。" 我为可以得到几分钟的自由偷偷乐着。COINS， 咱有。
"妈咪， 我能把一块的也喂猪猪吗?"， 几分钟后， 女儿又问到。
"当然可以， 宝宝。 慢慢喂吧。" 我更高兴了。一块的， 行， 咱也喂得起。 知道有几张一美元的票子在钱包里， 心想，这下可以看完这篇小说了。
这次猪猪吃饭时间真长。 我读完了两篇小说。
当天下午，我们去麦当劳。 ORDER 完了以后， 我才发现钱包里竟然没有一个大子儿。我满脸尴尬地看着CASHIER直说 SORRY。 心说， 我也没到哪儿去呀， 钱呢?
突然想起喂猪的事， 就轻轻问女儿: "宝宝， 你看见妈咪钱包里的二十块的钱了吗?"
"没有呀。"
"那你喂猪猪是。。。"
"妈咪， 我喂猪猪都是用的一块的。 没看见二十的。" 女儿信誓旦旦。
女儿用一双天真无邪的眼睛直瞪瞪地看着我。 我突然意识到: 天哪， 可不是没看见吗? 那些绿纸对她来说都一样啊， 都是一块的!
想到这儿，我又高兴起来，哈! 幸亏都是二十的，要是取了20张百元大钞。。。
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我长了!!! 2009-09-13 17:51:35
女儿四岁开始上幼儿园， 在班上个子最小。 有一段时间 特别盼望体重增长。每天
晚上洗澡后都要站在体重磅上检查一下，然后特别失望地叹到: "哎， 还是34 磅。
"
有一个星期天早上，我们都还赖在床上。 女儿自己起来上厕所。 忽然，女儿大叫
起来: "我长了! 我长了!"
由于 感觉到 "长了" 对女儿的重要性， 我急忙翻身下床，问到: "你多少磅了?"
只听见女儿兴奋地大声宣布" 我32磅了!!!"
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$5.95 减去 $3.75 等于几本书? 2009-09-13 17:38:01
女儿四岁以前都在说中文的环境里，所以上完Kindergarten以后， 还不会自己读英
文书。那年暑假刚开始， 老妈眉头一皱， 计上心来，于是对5岁的小人人儿宣布:"每读一本书可得一个quarter。" 别说, 物质刺激这办法，真灵。不到两个星期，女儿就存下了$3.75。
那天， 我带她去Shopping。 在玩具区，女儿看见5只毛绒绒的小猫挤在一只小篮子
里，煞是可爱， 就问能不能买。 我一看价钱，$5.95，有点犹豫。 女儿看出我的
心思， 就说要用自己的钱买。
于是我问她: " 你有多少钱?"
"三块七毛五"
"可是这要五块多呀。"
"妈咪，三块七毛五就差不多四块了， 四不是可以进到五吗? 那就是五块呀。" 女
儿振振有辞。
四入五入? 要不是老妈数学基础不错，还真被小不点儿蒙住了。
我只好耐心地告诉$5.95和$3.75的区别是9本书。
女儿那天没能得到那五只小猫。 于是回家发愤读书。 到暑假结束时， 女儿已
经能流利地读英文读物并挣到了那一篮子小猫和别的玩具。
一个quarter一本书制度一直持续到三年纪。 当她认识到读一本七百多页的"Harry
Potter" 才值一个quarter时，被剥削多年的她 终于提出了长工资的要求。
法学院夏季实习的重要性与个人经验
法学院夏季实习的重要性与个人经验(1) 2009-11-07 16:46:18
http://blog.creaders.net/jpjliu/user_blog_diary.php?did=50336
习作 by 刚刚通过ＢＡＲ的小店大少爷
上法学院的时候，夏天放假的时间跟上课的时间一样重要。这是因为大部分学生resume上没有与法律有关的工作经历。大家都想乘这个机会增加经验。几乎所有的法律公司也都期望学生有夏季实习的经验。
我上法学院后第一年的夏天到了两个地方当实习生。第一个地方是华盛顿DC的美国索赔法院。美国索赔法院有一个很特别的管辖范围，在全美国里也就有一个索赔法院。 按最简单的说法解释，任何找美国政府要钱的人，不管是什么原因，也不管是美国政府哪个区域，都可以到这个法院起诉。 但是大部分的时候，原告也可以到就近更方便的法院起诉，所以美国索赔法院比别的法院忙不了多少。
要是原告不满意美国索赔法院的裁判，他可以到美国联邦巡回上诉法院（US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit）上诉。要是美国联邦巡回上诉法院也解决不了，还可以上诉一次到美国最高法院。说起来，美国索赔法院很象一个地方法院，但是这法院的管辖范围是按题材(subject-matter)决定的。
我在美国索赔法院的时候是在法官Braden的办公室实习。法官Braden那年一共有七个实习生。我们开始只有六个人，都塞在一个很小的屋子里。挤是有一点挤，但是我们坐的那么近也就很快就成朋友了，没事就互相聊天（有时候有事也会互相聊天）。我们实习期间有两个主要任务：第一是要从头到尾写一个司法决议，第二是要仔细地观察所有法官Braden带我们参加的活动。
我在法官Braden的议事室只做了一个半月，但是法官Braden给了我们很多机会参加各种各样的活动。比如，我们观察了很多法庭审理，到了美国最高法院去听讲话和吃晚饭，还去了一个宇航工业公司访问。下班后每个星期还跟别的法庭或政府机关打棒球。虽然我在法官Braden的议事室不是很长，那是我最重要的一个半月。法官Braden在法律界里有很多关系，她也很愿意用她的关系帮她的实习生建立关系和找工作。要是我没有到她的办公室去实习，我很可能找不到我现在的法律公司这份工作。
我离开华盛顿DC以后，夏天剩下的时间就去了一个很小的知识产权法律公司.我每个星期去三次。因为公司很小，他们大部分的工作都是从网上来的，所以基本上没有客户会来到办公室里。在那里，我主要做的事都与申请商标有关。事情和活动没有在法院那边那么多，但是我对知识产权法很感兴趣，所以觉得挺有意思的。
法学院第一年夏天的实习生活的最重要的方面不光是让学生体会以后工作的时候会是什么样，而且能帮他们找第二年夏天的实习机会。所以第一年实习时建立的关系和积累的经验对于第二年实习和毕业后找工作都是十分重要的。
法学院夏季实习的重要性与个人经验(2) 2009-11-07 17:03:00
习作 by 刚刚通过BAR的小店大少爷
法学院第二年夏天的实习时期是上法学院的最重要的几个月。 这是因为大部分法律公司只会从他们每年的实习生里招收员工。 不经过实习的员工需要很特别的关系或是运气（或两者都有）。
找第二年夏天的实习工作最常见的方法是参加法学院的OCIs(校园面试)。每年十月
份，法学院会请大批的法律公司，政府机构，和其他的大公司，到学校跟学生面试。 每个公司派的面试者会有两天的时间选一些候选人，送到公司的本部，经过第二轮面试。校园面试时，每个人只有15分钟跟面试者谈话。 这是你唯一的机会让面试者道你的能力和个性。要是你觉得这情况太不公平了，试想一下这个面试者一共要跑多少学校，跟多少学生面试，才能选几个候选人。
第二轮面试的时候，公司或用人单位会请你到他们的本部去，用半天时间跟4-6个律师面。面试完了，平常会有两个下级的律师带你出去吃饭（其实，这也是面试的
一方面，是看你在日常的环境表现如何）。 这第二论面试主要是看你的个性跟公司是不是兼容。
校园面试的时候只有两个法律公司叫了我去第二轮面试，这两个公司最后也没有要
我去当实习生。回头看来，我在校园面试和第二轮面试的时候，主要有以下两个问
题：
1）没有突出自己的长处。 首先我是很不愿意吹嘘自己的人。 总是想做事不可能做到十全十美，也总是有别人比你做得更好，那叫天外有天（这想法可能是父母训练出来的！），所以到了面试的时候，没有给自己说什么长处。 在面试时，这是个很大的错误。因为 面试时没有人会替你说好话的，要是不在你resume上的事，面试者不可能知道的 （有时候在你resume上，面试者也可能没提前看，所以也得靠自己说）。在学校很多辅导员会说你应该尽量让面试者说话，但是从我自己的经历来看，这是很糟糕的忠告。
2）太放松了。 面试最基本的忠告是不要紧张，可是我很少有这个问题。 其实我觉得我那几次面试太放松了，让别人觉得象我没有什么兴趣一样。 也只是我自己的印象，但是我觉得有一个二轮面试是因为这个原因搞坏了。 最好的忠告应该是不要太紧张，但是有一点儿紧张是应该的！
面试时期过了以后，因为我没有找到下个夏天的实习工作，自己有一点儿失望。 过了一段时间，我认为面试失败是一个信号，也许我不应该到一个大法律公司去工作。那时候，我正在跟一位电信企业家上一门电信规章与创新课，发现我对电信和做生意有兴趣。那学期课完了以后，我问那位老师他需不需要学生帮他做些事。没有想到，从这个询问会问出来一个非营利电信公司，和我的第一个公司主管位置。
我们那时从头开始建设了一个非营利电信公司（迄今为止，我没有听说过美国还有
第二家这样的非营利的电信公司），整个过程用了差不多一年时间。
到第二年的二月，我收到了法官Braden的电邮，问我当时情况怎么样。我告诉了她我那时在做什么，也告诉了她我夏天准备继续在我们的公司工作。然后她问我想不想跟她到纽约知识产权法律协会年会，这样她可以介绍我认识一些人。我当然答应了，因为我想这不光是个好机会跟一些知识产权律师搞好关系，也是一个好机会传播关于我们公司的使命。
到了三月份， 我来到了纽约。那天晚上法官Braden帮我介绍了很多人，从晚上
八点一直跑到十二点。每见到一个人我就介绍我们公司的事，等到我和XXX公司的那位先生见面的时候，我已经练好了我的演说，肯定给了他很好的印象。
回到学校以后，没过多久，那位XXX公司的先生给我打来电话，问我愿不愿意
在电话上面试，因为他们纽约夏天的实习生班还有空位子。我那时候有一点儿为难，因为我们的新公司正在发展中，但是我还是答应了跟他面试。因为我问了我的父母，朋友，和一起开公司的老师的观点，他们都认为我应该去纽约去实习。因为公司的事办不完，回来以后还可以做，而且还有其他的人可以接管我的事。
根据我以前面试的经验，这次面试我作好了充分的准备。我对这第二次面试结果有
些信心，但还是有一点儿担心。到了五月二号，XXX给我打了电话，告诉我他
们要我到纽约加入他们的实习班。
夏季实习结束时，我拿到了这个美国 TOP 50 的大法律公司的OFFER。我这个经历证明了成功的路线会有很多弯弯曲曲的。有时候失败，也会给你提供一个机会。
http://blog.creaders.net/jpjliu/user_blog_diary.php?did=50336
习作 by 刚刚通过ＢＡＲ的小店大少爷
上法学院的时候，夏天放假的时间跟上课的时间一样重要。这是因为大部分学生resume上没有与法律有关的工作经历。大家都想乘这个机会增加经验。几乎所有的法律公司也都期望学生有夏季实习的经验。
我上法学院后第一年的夏天到了两个地方当实习生。第一个地方是华盛顿DC的美国索赔法院。美国索赔法院有一个很特别的管辖范围，在全美国里也就有一个索赔法院。 按最简单的说法解释，任何找美国政府要钱的人，不管是什么原因，也不管是美国政府哪个区域，都可以到这个法院起诉。 但是大部分的时候，原告也可以到就近更方便的法院起诉，所以美国索赔法院比别的法院忙不了多少。
要是原告不满意美国索赔法院的裁判，他可以到美国联邦巡回上诉法院（US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit）上诉。要是美国联邦巡回上诉法院也解决不了，还可以上诉一次到美国最高法院。说起来，美国索赔法院很象一个地方法院，但是这法院的管辖范围是按题材(subject-matter)决定的。
我在美国索赔法院的时候是在法官Braden的办公室实习。法官Braden那年一共有七个实习生。我们开始只有六个人，都塞在一个很小的屋子里。挤是有一点挤，但是我们坐的那么近也就很快就成朋友了，没事就互相聊天（有时候有事也会互相聊天）。我们实习期间有两个主要任务：第一是要从头到尾写一个司法决议，第二是要仔细地观察所有法官Braden带我们参加的活动。
我在法官Braden的议事室只做了一个半月，但是法官Braden给了我们很多机会参加各种各样的活动。比如，我们观察了很多法庭审理，到了美国最高法院去听讲话和吃晚饭，还去了一个宇航工业公司访问。下班后每个星期还跟别的法庭或政府机关打棒球。虽然我在法官Braden的议事室不是很长，那是我最重要的一个半月。法官Braden在法律界里有很多关系，她也很愿意用她的关系帮她的实习生建立关系和找工作。要是我没有到她的办公室去实习，我很可能找不到我现在的法律公司这份工作。
我离开华盛顿DC以后，夏天剩下的时间就去了一个很小的知识产权法律公司.我每个星期去三次。因为公司很小，他们大部分的工作都是从网上来的，所以基本上没有客户会来到办公室里。在那里，我主要做的事都与申请商标有关。事情和活动没有在法院那边那么多，但是我对知识产权法很感兴趣，所以觉得挺有意思的。
法学院第一年夏天的实习生活的最重要的方面不光是让学生体会以后工作的时候会是什么样，而且能帮他们找第二年夏天的实习机会。所以第一年实习时建立的关系和积累的经验对于第二年实习和毕业后找工作都是十分重要的。
法学院夏季实习的重要性与个人经验(2) 2009-11-07 17:03:00
习作 by 刚刚通过BAR的小店大少爷
法学院第二年夏天的实习时期是上法学院的最重要的几个月。 这是因为大部分法律公司只会从他们每年的实习生里招收员工。 不经过实习的员工需要很特别的关系或是运气（或两者都有）。
找第二年夏天的实习工作最常见的方法是参加法学院的OCIs(校园面试)。每年十月
份，法学院会请大批的法律公司，政府机构，和其他的大公司，到学校跟学生面试。 每个公司派的面试者会有两天的时间选一些候选人，送到公司的本部，经过第二轮面试。校园面试时，每个人只有15分钟跟面试者谈话。 这是你唯一的机会让面试者道你的能力和个性。要是你觉得这情况太不公平了，试想一下这个面试者一共要跑多少学校，跟多少学生面试，才能选几个候选人。
第二轮面试的时候，公司或用人单位会请你到他们的本部去，用半天时间跟4-6个律师面。面试完了，平常会有两个下级的律师带你出去吃饭（其实，这也是面试的
一方面，是看你在日常的环境表现如何）。 这第二论面试主要是看你的个性跟公司是不是兼容。
校园面试的时候只有两个法律公司叫了我去第二轮面试，这两个公司最后也没有要
我去当实习生。回头看来，我在校园面试和第二轮面试的时候，主要有以下两个问
题：
1）没有突出自己的长处。 首先我是很不愿意吹嘘自己的人。 总是想做事不可能做到十全十美，也总是有别人比你做得更好，那叫天外有天（这想法可能是父母训练出来的！），所以到了面试的时候，没有给自己说什么长处。 在面试时，这是个很大的错误。因为 面试时没有人会替你说好话的，要是不在你resume上的事，面试者不可能知道的 （有时候在你resume上，面试者也可能没提前看，所以也得靠自己说）。在学校很多辅导员会说你应该尽量让面试者说话，但是从我自己的经历来看，这是很糟糕的忠告。
2）太放松了。 面试最基本的忠告是不要紧张，可是我很少有这个问题。 其实我觉得我那几次面试太放松了，让别人觉得象我没有什么兴趣一样。 也只是我自己的印象，但是我觉得有一个二轮面试是因为这个原因搞坏了。 最好的忠告应该是不要太紧张，但是有一点儿紧张是应该的！
面试时期过了以后，因为我没有找到下个夏天的实习工作，自己有一点儿失望。 过了一段时间，我认为面试失败是一个信号，也许我不应该到一个大法律公司去工作。那时候，我正在跟一位电信企业家上一门电信规章与创新课，发现我对电信和做生意有兴趣。那学期课完了以后，我问那位老师他需不需要学生帮他做些事。没有想到，从这个询问会问出来一个非营利电信公司，和我的第一个公司主管位置。
我们那时从头开始建设了一个非营利电信公司（迄今为止，我没有听说过美国还有
第二家这样的非营利的电信公司），整个过程用了差不多一年时间。
到第二年的二月，我收到了法官Braden的电邮，问我当时情况怎么样。我告诉了她我那时在做什么，也告诉了她我夏天准备继续在我们的公司工作。然后她问我想不想跟她到纽约知识产权法律协会年会，这样她可以介绍我认识一些人。我当然答应了，因为我想这不光是个好机会跟一些知识产权律师搞好关系，也是一个好机会传播关于我们公司的使命。
到了三月份， 我来到了纽约。那天晚上法官Braden帮我介绍了很多人，从晚上
八点一直跑到十二点。每见到一个人我就介绍我们公司的事，等到我和XXX公司的那位先生见面的时候，我已经练好了我的演说，肯定给了他很好的印象。
回到学校以后，没过多久，那位XXX公司的先生给我打来电话，问我愿不愿意
在电话上面试，因为他们纽约夏天的实习生班还有空位子。我那时候有一点儿为难，因为我们的新公司正在发展中，但是我还是答应了跟他面试。因为我问了我的父母，朋友，和一起开公司的老师的观点，他们都认为我应该去纽约去实习。因为公司的事办不完，回来以后还可以做，而且还有其他的人可以接管我的事。
根据我以前面试的经验，这次面试我作好了充分的准备。我对这第二次面试结果有
些信心，但还是有一点儿担心。到了五月二号，XXX给我打了电话，告诉我他
们要我到纽约加入他们的实习班。
夏季实习结束时，我拿到了这个美国 TOP 50 的大法律公司的OFFER。我这个经历证明了成功的路线会有很多弯弯曲曲的。有时候失败，也会给你提供一个机会。
Paper Records: What to Toss, What to Keep
Paper Records: What to Toss, What to Keep
Laura Cohn, Associate Editor
http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-108613-3892-3-paper-records-what-to-toss-what-to-keep?ywaad=ad0035
You can deep-six most of your documents and go digital with the rest.
Worried about pitching documents that they may need at some point, many people decorate a spare bedroom with boxes or large file cabinets stuffed with old bank statements, tax returns and pay stubs. (Okay, if the stash isn't in a spare bedroom, perhaps it resides in the attic, basement or garage.) After you finish up your tax return this year, take the opportunity to clean house. With a few key exceptions -- mainly tax-related documents -- you don't need to keep all those papers. And if you're willing to use online banking and create a digital archive of crucial records, you may even be able to go paper-free.
Before you dig into those piles of records and statements, invest in a shredder to guard against identity theft. And don't skimp on the shredder, or you'll defeat the purpose of having one. Ribbon-cut models produce bands that can be taped back together. So shell out the money for a cross-cut or confetti model. We like the Fellowes Powershred DS-2 (about $100 online) for its sharp look and munching capability.
What to Keep
The most important documents to hang on to are your annual tax returns. You should keep the actual returns forever, but you can get rid of the supporting documents after three years. That's how long the IRS has to initiate an audit. Once the time elapses, toss the records -- and shred any that reveal your Social Security number or other personal information.
Other papers to save for at least three years include thank-you letters from charities and year-end investment statements. You don't need to save your monthly mutual fund reports forever. But before you toss them, wait for the year-end statements and make sure they match up. Also be sure to keep records that show the initial purchase price for stocks and mutual funds so you can calculate your basis when you sell them. After that, you can shred the documents once the three- or six-year IRS window draws to a close.
You also need to save records pertaining to your house as long as you live in it. Records showing your purchase price, and what you spent on improvements, may come in handy when you're trying to prove the value of your home to potential buyers. Another reason to keep these papers: If you sell your house at a hefty profit (more than $500,000 for couples filing a joint return or $250,000 for single filers), certain expenses can be used to lower your tax bill. After you sell the house, keep the documents for three years.
Finally, hold on to records showing how much money went into and came out of IRAs and 401(k)s -- especially if you've made any nondeductible contributions -- so you don't overpay taxes when you withdraw the money. Keep any 8606 forms on which you reported nondeductible contributions to traditional IRAs.
What to Toss
So what can you unload? ATM receipts, bank withdrawal and deposit slips, and credit-card receipts can go through the shredder after you've checked them against your monthly statements. Rebecca Eddy, founder of Eddy & Schein In-Home Administrators for Seniors, says one client kept every single pay stub she had ever received. That's overkill. Just keep them until you get your Form W-2. You can also get rid of paper copies of most monthly bills -- for credit cards, utilities and cable TV -- unless you need them for tax purposes.
If you need help sorting through the clutter, consider hiring a daily money manager. Daily money managers tend to have a background in accounting, finance or law, and they make house calls. You can find one in your area by checking with the American Association of Daily Money Managers. Typical cost: up to $150 an hour.
Laura Cohn, Associate Editor
http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-108613-3892-3-paper-records-what-to-toss-what-to-keep?ywaad=ad0035
You can deep-six most of your documents and go digital with the rest.
Worried about pitching documents that they may need at some point, many people decorate a spare bedroom with boxes or large file cabinets stuffed with old bank statements, tax returns and pay stubs. (Okay, if the stash isn't in a spare bedroom, perhaps it resides in the attic, basement or garage.) After you finish up your tax return this year, take the opportunity to clean house. With a few key exceptions -- mainly tax-related documents -- you don't need to keep all those papers. And if you're willing to use online banking and create a digital archive of crucial records, you may even be able to go paper-free.
Before you dig into those piles of records and statements, invest in a shredder to guard against identity theft. And don't skimp on the shredder, or you'll defeat the purpose of having one. Ribbon-cut models produce bands that can be taped back together. So shell out the money for a cross-cut or confetti model. We like the Fellowes Powershred DS-2 (about $100 online) for its sharp look and munching capability.
What to Keep
The most important documents to hang on to are your annual tax returns. You should keep the actual returns forever, but you can get rid of the supporting documents after three years. That's how long the IRS has to initiate an audit. Once the time elapses, toss the records -- and shred any that reveal your Social Security number or other personal information.
Other papers to save for at least three years include thank-you letters from charities and year-end investment statements. You don't need to save your monthly mutual fund reports forever. But before you toss them, wait for the year-end statements and make sure they match up. Also be sure to keep records that show the initial purchase price for stocks and mutual funds so you can calculate your basis when you sell them. After that, you can shred the documents once the three- or six-year IRS window draws to a close.
You also need to save records pertaining to your house as long as you live in it. Records showing your purchase price, and what you spent on improvements, may come in handy when you're trying to prove the value of your home to potential buyers. Another reason to keep these papers: If you sell your house at a hefty profit (more than $500,000 for couples filing a joint return or $250,000 for single filers), certain expenses can be used to lower your tax bill. After you sell the house, keep the documents for three years.
Finally, hold on to records showing how much money went into and came out of IRAs and 401(k)s -- especially if you've made any nondeductible contributions -- so you don't overpay taxes when you withdraw the money. Keep any 8606 forms on which you reported nondeductible contributions to traditional IRAs.
What to Toss
So what can you unload? ATM receipts, bank withdrawal and deposit slips, and credit-card receipts can go through the shredder after you've checked them against your monthly statements. Rebecca Eddy, founder of Eddy & Schein In-Home Administrators for Seniors, says one client kept every single pay stub she had ever received. That's overkill. Just keep them until you get your Form W-2. You can also get rid of paper copies of most monthly bills -- for credit cards, utilities and cable TV -- unless you need them for tax purposes.
If you need help sorting through the clutter, consider hiring a daily money manager. Daily money managers tend to have a background in accounting, finance or law, and they make house calls. You can find one in your area by checking with the American Association of Daily Money Managers. Typical cost: up to $150 an hour.
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