Hunting Happiness

Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary has a very timely and poignant post about living frugally versus, well, living. It is particularly applicable because SomeGal has been pestering me to indulge in one of my vices: automobiles. In a past life (before SomeGal), I had some very expensive and very fast sports cars. Ironically, back then household income was a lot lower than it is now. And last year (2007) was an absolutely record breaking year as far as income.

At SomeGal’s urging we test drove various cars. I have to say it was a lot of fun as we both enjoy sporty driving.  After the initial impulses to spend large amounts of money I determined that I wouldn’t be willing to even entertain the notion of moving up more than $10K in price (versus my current car’s trade-in value).  A couple of cars fit very nicely into that price range (some new, some used) and those are the likely contenders. Most of them have AWD which is something I miss having.

But somehow I’m having a hard time. My current car is only a couple years old, is completely paid off, and works just fine. I remember how much more stressful life was when the difference between what I/we took home and what I had to then immediately pay out wasn’t that big.  That is not a situation I ever want to return to.  I also can’t help but consider the opportunity cost.  We currently have one rental property (posts on this coming soon!) and the time is ideal to snap up more.  That $10K could buy a really nice, fun car now, but it could also be the down payment on a second rental.  In option one the $10K is worth essentially nothing in 5 years, but in option 2 it is worth at least $10K and probably closer to $20K.

So it all boils down to the title of this post and to Flexo’s post: at what point does being frugal interfere with happiness?  After all, I think the whole point of being frugal is that eventually it allows us to live according to our values which leads to happiness.

MyMoneyBlog has a post about real estate valuations by the auditor and their affect on your real estate taxes.  The gist of the post is that with home prices sagging in most areas, now is a good time to determine if your home is over-appraised by the auditor and to challenge it.   Doing so could net you a reduction in real estate taxes owed.

But is there a reason you may NOT want to do this?  There may be — if you are planning to sell your home in the near future.   Most counties now publish real estate records online, and increasingly-savvy home buyers are using this as a way to judge your asking price.  In addition, many real estate valuation tools like Zillow use this data, either as the primary or one of many methods to estimate the value of your home.  Further complicating the situation is the varying methods county auditors use to determine the assessed value.  In almost all cases, it is substantially less than fair market value.  For example, in our area a general rule of thumb is that it’s about 10% low.  This is because the auditor bases the value on the 100% of the improvement (ie the structure itself) but only 25% of the land value.

So if you are planning to sell your home in the near future it may make more sense to leave your assessment high.  Besides the potentially arduous process to contest it, it could cause your asking price to be perceived as high, even if it is fair.  Outside of this circumstance, it definitely is worthwhile to check into the specifics for your county and consider challenging your appraised value.

Has anyone noticed the ever-increasing trend of sensationalism in the media to attract eyeballs?  On the front page of CNN.com the other day a headline proclaimed “One in Three Children Abused in First Week of Life”.  Clicking on and reading the story indicates a stat that while still sad is a little less jaw-dropping and just completely different overall: that 1 in 50 babies are abused or neglected, not 1 in 3 as the headline implies.  Out of the 2% who are abused or neglected, 33% were in the first week of life.

Anyone who follows CNNMoney.com will notice another favorite media trait.  One day an article proclaims the end of the financial world is near and the next, an article about a positive stat and how recovery is on the way.

I am becoming less and less a fan of the vast majority of media out there.  At the end of the day each person has to take responsibility for him or herself, but the media sure doesn’t help matters.

What is the worst case of intentionally misleading headlines or story flip-flopping you’ve seen?  Post it in comments!