I spent a good five years or so of my youth and unknown sums of my parents’ money collecting cards. Whenever I would go with my mother to Sams Club I would buy a wax box of packs of cards and spend the rest of the evening opening up the packs to see what treasures I could find. Often when I would visit with my dad on alternate weekends he’d take me to a baseball card show. And of course my old friend Ron and I loved it when my mother would drive us to Houston for the huge card show at the AstroArena followed by a baseball game in the AstroDome.

I was really into baseball cards, even to the point my friend Ron and I tried to sell our wares at card shows in Baton Rouge on a couple of occasions. It was a great hobby, and taught me lots of great lessons about money:

1. Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay you for it. I remember opening up packs of baseball cards as a kid and finding the hot rookie card at the time and being giddy at how much the card was worth. “That Craig Biggio rookie card is worth $0.50, and Beckett says all these commons are worth a nickel each,” I would think to myself. What I didn’t realize at the time is that no one would really be willing to give me a nickel for those commons, mainly because they could go and buy the same pack of cards I did and get those commons for a lot less than a nickel each.
2. Today’s hot item is not necessarily a good long-term investment. Think of this as a small baseball card version of the dot-com bust. I remember from my youth that everyone would go nuts over cards for certain first round draft picks, certain they would be a hall of famer before ever stepping on a big league field. Two fun examples: the Phillies’ first round pick of Jeff Jackson, who would never play a major league game but was touted highly enough to be pictured on the box for Score’s 1990 factory set, and #1 overall pick Ben McDonald (LSU alum, and even went to my high school) who played several seasons for the Orioles but for the most part had a very lackluster professional career over 8 seasons. Both players’ cards went for several bucks each back in 1990, and now can probably be had for less than a quarter each.
3. Just because something is cheap doesn’t mean it is a good buy. I thought of this one last night as I found a wax box of 1990 Pro Set football cards. When we were getting ready for our first card show, we saw a vendor selling these wax boxes for about $9 each, so we ordered a couple of boxes thinking we could get $0.50 a pack for them (each box has 36 packs if I remember correctly). Well, there was a reason we could buy them for so cheap: it was because no one else wanted them. I think we only sold a few packs in two shows and opened up the rest of the packs in that one incomplete box. The other box is sitting in my house right now, complete with the handwritten “Good Buy!” sales pitch and the $0.50 price crossed out for a lowered $0.45 price.  
4. Trust your instincts. By 1993 I had pretty much stopped actively collecting cards. Why? Because in the short time I had been a collector I saw where almost all cards went for $0.50 a pack to where the cheapest cards were at least $1 a pack and many of the popular issues were anywhere from $3-5 a pack. Lots of cards weren’t even sold in packs but in fancy packaged sets with price tags well beyond the budget of the average kid. I decided I couldn’t afford card collecting anymore and that there was no way new cards would be worth as much as they were selling for and just stopped buying. Of course not too long after that the sports card market went into the toilet and I could now go buy most of those formally hot sets on eBay for a fraction of what they sold for then. Unfortunately most of the cards I already had also plummetted in value, which brings me to my last point:
5. Hobbies are for your enjoyment, not necessarily for making money. Yes, you can make money with a hobby (writing and photography are two hobbies that come to mind), but the primary motivation should be to do something you enjoy, not to do something that will make you money.

So what is to become of my baseball card collection? For now it will sit in my new office until I have time to sort through it. Eventually I would like to organize and catalog my collection, trading to complete sets of cards with only a few holes and get rid of cards from issues I only have a few off. I might eventually complete my Ryne Sandberg card collection, since the last I checked I can get the rookie cards from Donruss and Fleer I am missing for about $12 each (they were about $40 at their peek). I may eventually put my completed sets in binders for easier viewing with my boys when they get older, but that is a long ways off.

Especially in this economic environment when consumers are looking to cut discretionary spending (yes, in this day and age a home phone is discretionary), service providers want to keep you as a customer and are willing to show a little love to do it. Here are a few tips:

• Try your best to pay on time. If you do the late fee isn’t an issue in the first place. Also, you are less likely to have success in these requests if you are frequently late.
• Be nice. Phone reps have some discretion, meaning it is up to them in a lot of cases whether to grant your request. They won’t want to help you if you are a total jerk to them.
• If at first you don’t succeed, ask for the supervisor. It very well could be the case that the rep doesn’t have the power to waive fees, but their supervisor probably does.

This can work for many different types of bills, and it never hurts to try. This is usually very easy, so no need to stress about it. Quick and easy money back in your pocket.

The initial decision I made was to try to hussle Sprint for various freebies to help bring the cost down to a level comparable with what we’d be paying if I switched to AT&T. I had read on SlickDeals and on Hustler $$$ Blog that many people had been able to successfully get Sprint to throw in free phones, free data plans, and other goodies to get them to renew a contract. Sadly my call to Sprint retentions didn’t go as well. They would offer me no freebies, and the best they could do on a new phone was a Motorola Q for $199.99 after rebate, which is $100.00 more than I could get it for on their website. So I politely declined and mulled it over during the Christmas break.

Well, in comes my brother-in-law JoeMoney to make the decision for me. He found some deal where he could get iPhones without a contract for about $150. He bought several to resell, and generously offered to sell me one at his cost. This sealed the deal for me – I decided to switch to AT&T, and here’s why:

1. I was actually offended that Sprint wouldn’t do more to keep me as a customer. No freebies, no phone, nothing. If your service sucks as badly as Sprint’s does, you need to show at least a little bit of love at renewal time.  Since I couldn’t get any concessions from Sprint, my cost with separate accounts for me and my wife would have been about $20 more per month than an AT&T family share.
2. The iPhone is just a really cool device, and I’ve been wanting to replace my iPod shuffle (it’s one of the old 512MB ones that looks like a USB thumb drive). This will be a far cry from my Treo 700p, which has to be one of the crappiest phones ever made.
3. Because I’m getting the phone without a contract, there is no requirement to sign up for the AT&T data plan to use the phone. My brother-in-law is unlocking the phone for me so I can just use WiFi and save the $20 or so a month.
4. Since I’m not buying the phone under contract, I can purchase another phone at a discount from AT&T. I bought an LG Shine for free after rebate, which appears to be going for around $150-$175 on eBay. That along with selling my old Treo should come close to covering my cost for the iPhone.
5. I realized almost everyone else in my family and my wife’s family is on AT&T, so a lot of the minutes I was burning calling them will now be free mobile to mobile minutes. That makes the shared pool of minutes go a lot farther.
6. I decided I don’t really want to port my Houston number. From my days as a consultant a lot of people had my number, and since I’m now working in a corporate accounting department I don’t really need or want those people to be able to contact me. My cell phone is now purely for my convenience and no one else’s, especially since I’m no longer reimbursed for any of the bill. Plus my new number will be a Baton Rouge number, which will be great since a lot of the people who call me are calling from Baton Rouge anyway. They can call me from a landline without long distance charges.

So there you have it. As soon as I receive the package with the new phone and SIM card, I will no longer be a Sprint customer. A better phone, better service, and a lower cost. Oh happy day!

Oops, there is a wrinkle in the story. Our cell numbers are in two different area codes in different states, and AT&T cannot combine the two lines with numbers based in different markets under the same share plan. If I wanted to do this through AT&T, one of us would have to get a new number. I don’t want to give up my number since I’ve been using it for about 7.5 years now, and my wife doesn’t want to give up her number because she’s used that one even longer and her family can call her cell from a landline without incurring long distance charges.

I was reading on Hustler $$$ Blog some hustling that is possible with Sprint to get freebies, so there is the possibility that I could convince them to give me free unlimited data (among other things) which would bring my bill down to $30.79 a month, meaning we would only be paying $5.39 more a month than having a share plan. The other difference is that we would each have our own separate pools of 450 minutes each (we’d only get 700 total on a share plan through AT&T) and I’d get to keep my data plan which wouldn’t be included in the share plan price. We don’t normally use that many minutes a month so that isn’t a big deal, but I do like the data plan.

So here’s the question: is keeping my old number, plus the convenience of the extra but seldomly used minutes and the data plan, worth the additional $5.39 a month (or put another way, $64.68 a year)?

Looking at their website, I saw they were now offering an all-HD package that includes most of the channels we watch for $24.99 a month, with the local channels being $5.00 more. Seeing this would be $18.00 a month less than what I’m currently paying, I called to change my programming package only to be told that the all HD package was available to new, first-time customers only. In disbelief I asked to speak to a supervisor who indicated the same, and after checking the website more closely I see that is indeed in the terms of the offer. Although I’m still under contract until February, I told him that I was looking to cut costs which is why I wanted the all-HD package to lead him into a discussion on how we could bring the bill down. He of course at first tried to explore the idea of downgrading service which died quickly when I told him the main channels we watch are ESPN and ESPN2. I then asked the question that since my current package was the minimum that met my needs was there any way to reduce the price on that package. After a couple of minutes he came back offering to apply a discount of $5 per month for 10 months to my bill with no contract extension or change in programming. Seeing that I couldn’t really go anywhere until February anyway, I happily said yes and was on my way. Total time to save $50 was 14 minutes including hold time, plus about half an hour to review the all-HD package that I ended up not being eligible to get anyway.

One interesting thing the supervisor noted was that they were planning to have all of their channels available in HD by February 2009, at which time they plan to begin offering HD-only packages to existing customers. He couldn’t say whether they will have the same price points on the all-HD packages they are currently offering, but it may be a possibility to switch packages at that point.

If anyone is interested in signing up for Dish Network just send me an email and I can provide you with a referral offer for free activation, a $30 bill credit, and HBO and Starz free for 3 months. The only catch is it requires a programming commitment of 2 years and a qualifying programming purchase of $37.99 a month.

• Orange Savings Referral 
• Orange Savings Referral
• Orange Savings Referral
• Orange Savings Referral
• Orange Savings Referral

• Electric Orange Checking Referral
• Electric Orange Checking Referral
• Electric Orange Checking Referral
• Electric Orange Checking Referral
• Electric Orange Checking Referral

Please note that these links expire on 11/6/2008. If you see a message at the top of the ING signup page saying the link is invalid or expired, it means it has probably already been used. Just use one of the other links to complete the signup. Thanks!

This month’s referral links are brought to you by my beautiful baby girl, who we have dubbed “Happy Sunshine Angel Baby”. Each time someone uses one of these links to open an account at ING as a new customer with at least $250, ING will deposit a $10 bonus to her account. Here is a little message from her, translated from baby talk of course:

Hi! I’m the one they call Happy Sunshine Angel Baby! That isn’t my real name (we aren’t hippies are anything like that), but my daddy says there are too many crazy people out there to be giving out my real name. I am now almost 5 months old and I want to be a financial power when I grow up, or at least have enough money to buy a pony. Daddy started my savings account with money I got from my great-grandmother and great aunts, and Daddy kicked in some more since I’m so cute, but I want more! So open an account with my links this month so I can get my pony!

According to the thread over at Fatwallet Finance, as of today (Feb 4 2008), the prize goes to OneUnited Bank’s Unity Gold E-Savings Account at 5.15% APY, although it requires a minimum balance 0f $1000 to earn interest. Of the big names, here are the current interest rates as of this post:

• FNBO Direct: 4.30% APY
• ING Direct: 3.40% APY ($25 bonus for new customers with $250 opening deposit with referral link here)
• Emigrant Direct: 4.05% APY
• E-Loan Savings: 3.75% APY ($5000 min)
• HSBC Direct: 3.55% APY
• ETrade Complete Savings: 4.40% APY
• Presidential Premier Savings: 3.50% APY
• WTDirect: 4.10% APY (min $10,000) – updated 2/6/08

I’ve already discussed how all of rate cuts are killing the app-o-rama game, and with savings rates so low it is making less sense to keep extra cash in savings. We will likely start paying down our mortgage with our excess cash, although we will keep some in savings for emergencies. I may also apply for a HELOC in the unlikely event we need access to the cash we apply towards the mortgage later on.

One advanced cheap bastard technique this hurts is what is referred to in many circles as the “App-O-Rama”. This is the practice of investing money from promotional balance transfer offers on credit card borrowed at a low interest rate in high-yield savings accounts at a higher rate. It works great when you can take a 0% APR offer and invest it in an insured account at 6% APY as was possible this time last year.

However, now that most accounts have dropped below the 5% APY threshold and many below 4% APY, the app-o-rama is becoming less and less worthwhile. Couple that with many credit card companies removing maximum caps on balance transfer fees and the technique becomes minimally profitable, if at all. It is an even less appealing proposition when you consider the hit your credit score would likely hit from conducting an app-o-rama.

So what is a saver to do in an environment where interest rates are headed south? It isn’t really profitable to play the app-o-rama game anymore. I’ll probably pay off my outstanding balance transfers as they become due and get out of the game. As for my excess cash that isn’t from balance transfers, I’ll probably start aggressively paying down the mortgage on the house. Hoarding cash earning 4% APY or less isn’t really worthwhile when you are paying 5.375% on a mortgage. Since I won’t be spending as much time managing the app-o-rama game, maybe I’ll have more time to tackle my financial to-do list.

I don’t do resolutions in the traditional sense because I don’t want to waste my time. However, I do like to define specific tasks to complete in the short term to drive my actions. So here is my financial do-to list for 2008:

1. I will get my tax records organized and have my return ready to file as soon as all my source documents arrive. I should be looking at a decent refund this year, so I will put together a checklist of all of the tax documents we are expecting (W-2s, interest statements, etc.) and get my charitable donation support totaled and ready.

2. I will open 529 plans for each of my kids. We live in a state with no state income tax, so there is no incentive for investing in our resident state plan. Therefore, I’ll have to evaluate the plans available and pick one that best meets or needs.

3. Evaluate options for our old 401k plans. Both my wife and I have 401k plans with our previous employers that we have left in those plans. The reasoning has been because we both work for the same firm and the options in our plan, well, suck, leaving the balances in the old plan would allow us to achieve asset diversification that would not be possible in our current employer’s plan alone. Both we each have enough in the other plans would could probably do a rollover IRA and meet the minimum balances for whatever number of plans we would want to invest in.  

4. Organize and scan our financial documents. We have paper everywhere, and I am always afraid of losing something important. I plan to scan in all of our statements and other financial documents, shred the originals where appropriate, and make a couple of backup copies for safe keeping.

5. Catalog all of our financial accounts. We have so many credit and bank accounts, keeping up with it is a rather difficult task. I want to evaluate the accounts we have, close and consolidate where appropriate, and then use the financial records organizer I got from T Rowe Price to create a guide to what accounts we still have should anything ever happen to us.

6. Take and pass the Certified Fraud Examiner exam. As FMF over at Free Money Finance has said many times, perhaps your most powerful financial asset is your earning potential. For me, I can increase that potential through relevant certifications. Not only would passing the exam earn me a nice $1000 bonus from my employer, it would also make me that much more valuable in the job market.

I’m sure there will be others I will add to the list, but these are my initial tasks for 2008. What are your to do tasks for 2008?