Vicepost » Money

The Front Pocket Wallet

Ghostshark — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:00:08 +0000

This is a neat idea. Here's the details from the Hammacher Schlemmer site:

This wallet fits perfectly in a pants' front pocket where it won't tempt pickpockets or cause discomfort as you sit. Cut exactly like the shape of a front pocket, the wallet is curved on one side so that it stores snugly in the contours of the pocket, where it won't create unsightly bulges or wrinkles. The wallet is only 1/4" thin and it's made from soft satin leather that forms gently to the shape of your thigh, so you'll hardly know it's in your pocket. It has three credit card slots, an identification window, and an expansive 10"-long bill compartment that easily accommodates domestic and international currency.

The wallet is a little expensive at $50, but it might be worth it if it's made well. You can get one at the Hammacher Schlemmer site HERE.

Beat The Streak, Win $1 Million

Ghostshark — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:00:38 +0000

The idea for this contest is pretty simple. You sign up, and then each day you pick one player that you think will get a hit. If that play does get a hit, your streak continues, if not, your done.

If you're the first person to reach a 57-game streak, you win the $1 million dollar prize, that will go up $10,000 every day no one hits the streak.

You can sign up for the contest HERE.

The CNBC.com Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge

Ghostshark — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:15:45 +0000

The CNBC.com Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge is back and we're giving away $1,000,000 in cash and amazing prizes! All you need to do is register with a CNBC.com account; then on November 17th you can create five portfolios, each with $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks; $900,000 for trading stocks and ETFs plus $100,000 for trading currencies.

Ten weeks, ten weekly winners. And at the end of 10 weeks, the weekly winners and top 10 portfolio holders are off to the finals for a two-week playoff round.

Trading starts on November 17th, but now you can start training for the main event with our Currency Practice session.

GRAND PRIZES

1st Prize: $500,000 and a Marquis Jet Card
2nd Prize: $200,000
3rd Prize: $100,000

10 AMAZING WEEKLY PRIZES

Nine holes of golf with Annika Sorenstam and a package at her academy

— Two weeks, two chances to win an MLB® All-Star Game® package

– Cruise Scotland to the 2009 British Open aboard PerryGolf's MS Andrea • Caesars Palace® Las Vegas Golf Getaway

– A trip to Grace Bay Club in Turks & Caicos flying privately via the Marquis Jet Card Program

– Sharp AQUOS HD Home Entertainment Package

– Three weeks, three chances to win an NFL Pro Bowl and Four Seasons Resorts package in Hawaii

Win a $250,000 Makeover

Ghostshark — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:30:49 +0000

Esquire magazine is having a makeover contest. The idea is of course to get you to try Esquire magazine, but as with all contests, you can just opt to enter the contest, and not get the couple of free issues if you want.

The grand prize of the contest is $250,000 that you can use toward a personal makeover. Or really, whatever the hell you what to do with the money. The contest runs through January 15, 2009.

If you want the free issue or so of Esquire, you can enter the contest HERE.

If you just want to enter the contest, you can do that HERE.

Watch The Stock Market

Ghostshark — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:30:53 +0000

The Market Maven is a wireless gadget to track the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500. The Maven is good to go right out of the box, only needing batteries. The Maven shows the current time, if the market is open or closed, if the market is trending up or down and the net change, and a live graph of the day's activities. A button on the side will let you switch through the various markets. You can also set up the Maven to display your stocks, although the feed is delayed by at least 20 minutes. At the end of the day, you'll also receive a summary of the day's activity.

The Maven runs about $129, and you can hit their main site HERE for more information.

(via Uncrate)

The Richest 400

Ghostshark — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:02:00 +0000

Forbes just published it's list annual list of the top 400 richest people in the U.S.. As the rich just keep getting richer, $1 billion is now not enough to even make the list. The price of admission to the 25th anniversary edition of the Forbes 400 is $1.3 billion, up $300 million from last year's list. The total net worth of the nation’s wealthiest rose $290 billion to top out at $1.54 trillion dollars. As it has been for a number of years now, Bill Gates tops the list. Over all there are four new people in the top 10, and 45 new names to the top 400. The youngest member of the Forbes 400 list is 33-year-old John Arnold at $1.5 billion, who is a former Enron trader who now runs hedge fund Centaurus Energy. Here's the top 10:

1. Bill Gates, $59 billion

2. Warren Buffett, $52 billion

3. Sheldon Adelson, $28 billion

4. Larry Ellison, $26 billion

5 and 6. Google’s co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, $18.5 billion each

7. Kirk Kerkorian, $18.0 billion

8. Michael Dell, $17.2 billion

9 and 10. Charles Koch and David Koch, $17.0 billion

(via BornRich)

How to Invest in Wine

Ghostshark — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:32:29 +0000

ProductDose has an interesting article about investing in wine. Although I love wine, I've never really looked at it as an investment, and the article really got me thinking. Here's what really caught my eye:

The London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-Ex), an electronic trading platform for fine wine launched in 2000, has an index called the Liv-Ex 100 that tracks the prices of 100 wines. The index rose 18% in 2005, and 34.9% year-over-year as of May 2007, beating the S&P's, Dow's, and NASDAQ's return over the same period of 20.5%, 22%, and 19.5% respectively.

You can read the whole article HERE.

Top 10 Overlooked Tax Havens

Ghostshark — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:50:38 +0000

Another good article from AskMen's Fine Living section, this one talks about how to protect your money, and of course avoid all of those nasty taxes that we all love so much. From the article:

When people think about tax havens and storing away money, they generally think of two places: Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Both are international money centers that pride themselves on their confidentiality and their avoidance of geopolitical situations.In Switzerland, privacy laws within the banks keep the tax authorities from looking into your account. However, the growing influence of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is putting pressure on this nation and many others in the Caribbean (including the Cayman Islands) to be more transparent about earnings and interests.

While these two places stand out as the most recognized places to hide your earnings, they may not be the most suitable for your investments. In this time of enormous pressure from the international community, it may be wise to look to the less obvious places.

In general, a tax haven is defined as a place where taxes are levied at low rates or not at all, with the most popular ways of avoiding taxes being to set up residence there or to establish an offshore company.

For the full list of countries, you can hit the site HERE.