More Good Gifts for Graduates

Today's graduates are a curious mix: they love high tech (like Kindles), but they also love low tech. Hence yesterday's recommendation of the Lamy Safari fountain pen, which has been proved time and again a good gift.

Another low tech gift, which is good paired with the pen, is a notebook. Not just any notebook, of course, but one imbued with that je ne sais quoi of the iconic item. I speak, of course, of the moleskine.

I got a Paris moleskine for Frugal Son before his year abroad. He loved the map. These are available for many other cities.

Another very snazzy notebook, which also has the iconic je ne sais quoi, is the Rhodia.

Your graduate can--in fantasy or reality--sit in a cafe somewhere, recording wonderful thoughts.

Any other great notebooks out there?

Graduation Gifts: A DO and a DON'T

Strange that I forgot all about this, since I myself have a graduate in my family. Since Frugal Son is planning a year in France, we don't want to weigh him down. He will be getting a fair amount of cash.

But what about the littler gifts for relatives or friends of family? I am a mediocre to bad gifter, so I stick to my ONE GOOD GIFT, the Lamy Safari fountain pen.

Oh, and my DON'T is also the same as last year. This Dr. Seuss tome is--trust me--already owned by your graduate. Graduates start getting copies of this book at Kindergarten graduation (a ridiculous concept, if you ask me). Then they get more at the various other graduations. I once had a student who received 18 copies at her high school graduation.

If you have to buy it, please don't inscribe it. Put in a separate card. That way, your graduate has the option of exchanging it for a book not already owned!




Any good gift ideas for the graduate?

Tale of Two Twenties

I spent around $40.00 yesterday: $20.00 at Goodwill and $20.00 at LL Bean.

LL Bean: I bought Frugal Son a pair of shorts with a 20% off code. Frugal Son has a few pairs of bedraggled shorts, none of which are even worthy of donation. Shorts for men are almost impossible to find at thrifts. The shorts from LL are about the same price as at Target, so I saved some time and ordered on-line. Frugal Son hates to go shopping in stores. Free shipping.

Goodwill: As often happens after a major donation (I packed up a carload of items for tornado victims in Alabama, where Miss Em goes to school), I find a lot at the thrift store. Including things I might actually need!

--Curtains for my mudroom in the exact colors I wanted. Made by a drapery workroom, properly weighted.
--A merino wool undershirt from New Zealand.
--A large basket with a handle for my mudroom, which, with the curtains mentioned above, is starting to look quite snazzy.
--OK. Here I hang my head in shame. I bought 4 handbags. The best was Jano by Anjo Flint. Mine is black. It seems to be lambskin and has the same feel and smell as the $1500 Givenchy bag one of my students received as a group gift from her relatives. I also got a Biasia bag. The cheapie--so to speak--was this faux leather lace bag by Big Buddha. I am too embarrassed to continue! The last one and maybe the Big Buddha may get swapped at Buffalo Exchange.

Anyway, the Goodwill trip took under an hour, much of which was spent chatting with various employees and customers.

Thank heavens I don't find so much on every trip!

Have you found any wonderful things lately at your best haunts?

Bird by Bird

Between me and my summer break: 240 papers,exams, projects. Quite a daunting number. So much to do in under two weeks. As Annie Lamott says--a propos writing or other projects--just do it "bird by bird."

Procrastination can yield some good results. Since Frugal Son is about to graduate from college, has much travel and work planned for the summer, and then will (fingers crossed once more) head over to France to teach English for a year. He will not spend more than a few days in his room. I have already started turning his room into my work area. I asked him if he minded our dismantling his ugly bed. He said no. His ugly bed is now flooring in the attic.

This decluttering/emptying set off a rush of feng shui type energy. His room looks so good and we were able to put a nice table in there--for stacking and organizing the 240 items mentioned above.

Then, we could use his room as a kind of staging area to organize donations for Tuscaloosa tornado relief (Mr. FS will be driving tomorrow).

While filling my donation bags, I found some nice surprises. To wit: a yard of Geoffrey Bennison linen in an oakleaf pattern. Also several yards of a Chinoiserie cotton by Pierre Frey. It never fails: decluttering inevitably allows nice stuff (and empty space) to surface.

Like grading papers, decluttering happens "bird by bird." The title comes from an event in Annie's childhood. Her brother had to do a project on birds, and had, of course, procrastinated. Their father said, "Do it bird by bird."

My First Investments!

Not really: I've been buying mutual funds for a long time. I decided to let Frugal Son guide me, mostly because he doesn't have very much by way of investible funds.

So my first purchases are

PGH (a utility)
GE (you know, General Electric)

I did this through a Vanguard brokerage account, which Frugal Son helped me set up (actually, it's simple). I only pay $7.00/trade.

After witnessing the performance of financial professionals--with both my in-laws and now my mother--I figure I might as well trust the advice of my guy.

Needless to say, most of my retirement money remains in good ole index funds. I'll keep you posted on my progress--or regress.

Favorite Books of My Financial Adviser...errrrr....Son

I conducted a short interview with my financial adviser (Frugal Son) via chat.

Me: What are your favorite finance books?

Son: So far my favorite has probably been Bogleheads. I'm also reading a book right now called Warren Buffet and the Interpretation of Financial Statements, which is shaping up to be pretty good. And the way I choose my stocks is, so far, very simple, but will hopefully get a little more involved once I'm finished reading this book.

Right now, I look for a P/E ratio that is not too much higher than 15 an consistent, positive EPS. I like dividend paying stocks, so I look for companies that have a history of paying dividends even in down economies. I also like stocks that have a price-to-book ratio of near or below 1 (ideally).

Me: So it's not brain surgery.


Son: Nope. That's about it. This latest book is teaching me how to look at underlying financials to get a better idea of the financial state of the company like about debt ratios etc., but the price-to-book ratio below 1 is nice because theoretically (emphasis on theoretically) that means that even if the company goes bankrupt you won't lose money theoretically.




I am amazed.

Frugal Son has a Net Worth!

So, fingers crossed, Frugal Son is about to graduate from college. He went to State U, incurring costs of zero. I had a lot of ambivalence and conflict about his not going the private route, probably more than he did. As far as I can tell, he is no more or less happy with his choice than other kids he knows, whether they chose private or public school.

Over the years, he has amassed bits and pieces of cash, either from working, or from gifts. This last year, he decided to buy stocks and utilities! He is ahead of me, since I've stuck to mutual funds in my fearful way.

He informs me that his net worth, some of which is in a Roth IRA, is a little over $16,000. And he has no debt.

I think this is a good start. In fact, he's bugging me about letting him choose investments for ME. I think I'm going to buy a few things.

MY SON THE FINANCIAL ADVISER. Any mom would be proud. Of course, I'm his only client and he's doing it pro bono. Credentials: a BA in English. Wow!