I'm new at blogging; I don't know the protocalls so this first posting is expeerimental. I hope I do it right.

My name is John Cragin. I live in Joplin, MO 64801 My address is http://joplineblog.blogspot.com You are welcome to post here. If I understand the common useage, it's up to me to occasionally clear out the blog. Your advice will be happily accepted.

Posting #1. Re mail that makes great offers. I call it "Piggy bank ruse" 04/27/09

To all readers, like me, that receive marvelous offers by mail, the following unsolicited advice may save you a lot of money.

I recently received a marvy offer from a reputable firm saying that all I had to do was make a free phone call to avoid any troubles I might have, in the future, with my plumbing. BUT, "there may be a service call charge." Letters like that irk me. They're almost as bad as any free or cheap insurance, which, of course is what this scheme purports to be.

There is a useful type of insurance related to what I shall say later; it's an annuity. In simple terms it works like this: You pay into an account fixed dollar amounts (Payments), at fixed times (Periods), at some rate of return (Rate e.g. 5% per year) and at some time later (the Term in years) you will have a tidy nest egg (the Future Value). There is a formula, available to anyone with a computer and spread-sheet software, that tells, you under the Payments, Periods per Year, Interest rate (per period) and Term what Future Value (FV) will accrue to YOU.

You do not need to worry about those details -- just the idea of putting away, perhaps in a piggy bank, little amounts at a disciplined time interval that amounts to a tidy sum when you take the hammer to the pig.

Now, back to mail you receive. The Future Value of the periodic payments you make, at fixed intervals, accrue, at some modest rate, to a tidy sum. The catch is, the FV is not yours. The promoters "sell" you on adding to THEIR piggy bank; it's their way of padding their profits, usually "guaranteeing" you some "coverage" for something which has a low probability of happening.

Be on the lookout for: Offers requiring period payments (weekly); monthly, quarterly, annual);
"Call FREE to start …";
"Only pennies a day." (30 x pennies per
day equals dollars per month).

Figure out who gets the piggy bank in the end.