April 2009 US Government Receipts – Free Falling

May 12th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Economy, Stock Market, Wealth Preservation

Last October I pulled some retirement funds out of the market and moved them into a money market fund.  I couldn’t bear to watch the shrinking balance, especially when the economic news seemed so dire.  I decided I would rather preserve the reduced balance rather than take a chance that there was more pain to follow (there was).  Since then I decided to spend more time reading about the economy, both optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints.  My opinion, based on this reading, continues towards believing that there is more bad news looming for the economy – even in the presence of the ongoing stock market rally.  It is difficult to think differently based on the new release of the US Treasury Monthly Statement (see document here ).  Receipts for April 2009 – the month that typically results in the largest inflow of the year – was 34% less than April 2008 (see Table below).  Receipts for what should be the best income month of the year for the US government were less than government outlays (as has every month since September 2008).  This number suggests that the deficit estimates are probably optimistic (even after the upward revision this week), that the dollar will weaken and that the threat of inflation will start to play an even more prominent role in investor psyche. (credit to The Automatic Earth / Alea)

Wealth Itself Progress Update (April 2009)

May 5th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Blogging, Site Update

April 2009 Site Update

Last month I posted the first monthly Wealth Itself progress update. Today I am posting the second update. I intend to continue to report the key site stats as I think that there are a few people who will be interested and it forces me to review the goals and objectives of the site.

Expenses = $0

• No new expenses incurred.

Income = $47.75

• I have sold a six month ad for $50.00, yielding $47.75 after PayPal fees.

Blogging

• I participated in another blogging carnival at Ask Mr Credit Card.
• My post on saving money through selecting alternative energy suppliers was linked to by two blogs, including an MSM Money blog which sent 32 visitors in April.
• Google has ranked my posts on eyeglasses highly and has sent many visitors to the site.
• Visitors:
  • 244 first time visitors, up from 174 for March
    • 18 visitors on the peak day
  • 25 returning visitors, a significant increase from the 4 returning visitors recorded in March
  • 371 pageloads, up from 234 pageloads in March
• Comments – none
• RSS subscribers (Feedburner) = 5, an increase from 4 in March