Queercents

Multimillionaire software entrepreneur and philanthropist, Tim Gill is considered the 5th most influential gay person in America, according to Out.com.  He founded the Colorado-based Gill Foundation in 1994 to advance LGBT equality by providing large-scale financial support to like-minded organizations.  He also established Gill Action in 2005 as an issue advocacy organization to secure equal opportunity for all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression.  He is the founder and former chairman of the publishing software company Quark, and he is also the webmaster behind the social networking site Connexion.

Tim was nice enough to take time out of his evening to chat over dinner about finances.  Some of his answers were rather surprising… so read on!

1. How did you turn a $2,000 loan from your parents into a company that made you a multi-millionaire?
That money went to buy a printer to print manuals for our first software product, Word Juggler.  It was a word processor program for the Apple III.  Surprisingly, Apple shipped the computer for 6-9 months without a word processor.  All we had to do was send letters to Apple dealers to let them know about our product, and we immediately had 100% market share.  I paid my parents back in 2 weeks and we eventually made several million dollars from it.  That was just the start.  It was QuarkXPress that became the cash cow for the company. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I got a new toy in the mail: a shiny new 13″ MacBook Pro.  It’s a gorgeous machine!  It’s sturdy, ergonomic, and – of course – very sexy.

It was also expensive.

Compare the price of this laptop to something you could get from Dell or Gateway, and you’ll find what Microsoft loves to call the “Apple Tax”.  I’ve been hearing this for years: anytime I would get excited about an Apple product, there would be countless people telling me that it’s a waste of money.  But is it?

I don’t think so.  If you’re willing to put up the extra cash up front, as well as follow a few guidelines, you can end up ahead of the game with a lower total cost of ownership.  Just keep these tips in mind:

1.  Be patient.
If your current computer is still functioning, wait for the right model at the right price.  The last 13″ MacBook was tempting, but it was a new model with a few quirks, such as the absence of a Firewire port.  My previous laptop was over 6 years old already, so waiting a few more months wasn’t a big deal.  It turns out the wait was worth it: this new model has Firewire, it’s $200 cheaper, it has a backlit keyboard, a 7 hour battery, and I used my student ID to get $100 off and a free iPod Touch.  Not too bad.  If you’re OK with certified refurbished models, those tend to pop up after a few months as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you able to spot a bargain when you see it?  Can you look at a sales flyer or a coupon and know that it’s a good deal?

I can’t.  Or, at least, I couldn’t until fairly recently.  What helped was putting together my own – perfect – price list.

The concept of a price list is old and simple: it’s a list of grocery items (or items purchased regularly from any store) and how much they cost.  The idea is that you take your list with you when you’re shopping and, if you find that the price has gone down, you can stock up.

The old way of doing it is rather tedious and potentially a waste of time.  To get started, there are lists of “standard” items you should track so you print out a list, grab a pen and clipboard, and then head to the store for a fun-filled afternoon of writing down prices.  By the end of your trip, you have a hand-scrawled page of numbers (for items you may never purchase), and you’re supposed to remember to bring it with you every time you go shopping.  Oh yeah, and if you lose that list, you can start over! Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s ruling on California’s Prop 8 was a tough one.  I’m happy to hear that the existing marriages were upheld and I’m thrilled to see our support base continuing to grow.  All the same, it was still a setback.

I started thinking about it and realized that where I am financially – my current debt and my much-gained knowledge on personal finance – is largely due to my involvement with this issue.  When you hear of people going into thousands of dollars of debt (or more), you might think that it was spent on designer clothes or expensive cars.  That’s what gay people spend money on, right?  But that’s just a stereotype.

For me, it was spent on spreading a message of hope.

With the passing of the first state marriage amendments in 2004, I wrote a song called Rise Above that offered a solution: reach out to those who don’t understand us instead of fighting back.  It will open their eyes to what our lives are like as well as doing the same to us.

I teamed up with a very talented filmmaker to produce a music video, complete with protesters, powerful imagery, and a wedding scene at the end.  It hit home and made quite the statement.  Not knowing how to promote it, I then worked with a very effective promotions company and record label that helped produce more remixes, video remixes, and then promote it on a national level to radio stations [Sirius, XM], DJs, dance clubs, fitness centers, and MTV’s Logo channel.  When we performed the song live at Pride festivals, we reenacted the video to keep the message alive. Read the rest of this entry »

I found out something interesting recently.  About a year or two ago, any change to my cell phone plan would require a new contract.  Even something as simple as going from 100 text messages to 250, or adding the capability of sending picture texts, would require another year added to my contract.  Even though I rarely jump from one provider to another, the idea of being locked in for another 12 months just makes me squirm.

Because of this, I avoided talking to customer service to lower the family plan that Jonathan and I share.  We rarely get close to our plan’s 1400 minutes, but there are some months of the year (November-December, for example) when we do make lots of calls and need the larger plan.  I’ve been burned by this in the past – selecting a small plan and then paying $20-50 extra on a busy month.

I can’t vouch for all carriers, but I did finally call Verizon about this and found out that their policy has changed.  No more 1-year contract extensions, whether you’re increasing your minutes or decreasing them.  So if you know ahead of time that you will need more minutes, bump up your plan.  If you don’t think you’ll need as many, drop it down. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m writing this post on my way to work. With 25 miles between my bed and my office, I don’t have the frugal options of walking to work or riding a bike. If I drive and the highway conditions are good, my commute is roughly an hour per day, which is twice as long as the average American’s time on the road. Many days the highway conditions aren’t that great: accidents happen, the weather changes, and of course sporting events and concerts bring a mob of drivers to slow down traffic.

Since I love where I live and I’m happy where I work, my commute is just a part of life. Instead of spending that time behind the wheel, though, I’ve been spending the past three years riding the bus and taking light rail. There are so many perks to using public transportation, though it isn’t for everyone. Where you live, whether you have a car, how flexible your schedule is, and your region’s fare structure will ultimately determine whether it is a viable option for you.

To help decide whether it’s worth your time, money, and effort, I’ve put together a list of Pros and Cons that I’ve noticed while riding with the crowds:

The Pros

• No stress from road rage. No more worries about people tailgating you to speed up, people cutting you off, or dealing with angry drivers who are running late. It wasn’t until I had been taking the bus for a few weeks and then drove to work again that I realized how tense I am while driving in traffic. Stress makes us sick and being sick costs us money. I can’t put a dollar amount on this, but I’m sure being relaxed on my commute has saved me money in medical bills. Read the rest of this entry »

Part 2: The Key Ingredient
Every time I mention to people that we started an indoor composting bin, their first reaction is always: “Really? Doesn’t it smell?”. I guess if your idea of composting is to let your trash bags sit around, then of course it would! But this is different: vermicomposting using red wiggler worms is a much faster process, you only compost certain materials (no meat or dairy), and you bury your food scraps under a layer of paper bedding that filters out any smells.

If you followed the last post and already started your bin, then you’re almost good to go! It’s best if you let the bin sit for a week, or at least a few days. Worms don’t eat fresh food (have you ever heard of someone’s garden being attacked by earthworms?), so the scraps need to start breaking down before they’ll be eaten.

Whether you ordered them online or picked them up in person, grab your pound of worms and bury them near the food scraps. Worms like to stick to what is familiar to them, so they might either huddle around the food and soil they were transported in, or they might feel out of place in the new bin and try to look for their old home. In the rare case that they might try to climb out, Sandi [wirfarm@yahoo.com] instructed us to put our bin near a nightlight for the first 2-3 days while they’re adjusting. Worms hate light, so they’ll stay in the bin. We put ours below the microwave since that has a nightlight, and we had no issues. Also, burying them near the food scraps will make it easier for them to find the food when they’re still adjusting to their new home.

We’ve had our worms for a few weeks now and we’re starting to get a feel for the right amount of food, air, and moisture that’s needed. We set the lid askew in order to have some air circulation, but that caused the bedding to dry out quickly and after a few days, the worms were hanging around the bottom to stay moist. We added two cups of water to the bin and we’ll be drilling holes in the container this weekend so that it doesn’t lose moisture as quickly. Read the rest of this entry »

Part 1: Getting Started
If you caught my last post, you would know that it’s time to start planting seeds for your favorite fruits and vegetables, even if you live in the city, and that the right soil is a huge factor in determining whether your garden is successful or not.

We were told by an experienced gardener that purchasing the EKO brand potting soil “WITH COMPOST!” (as she repeated several times) was necessary for a successful container garden.  We did buy that soil and our garden last year was amazing!  A neighbor even asked us once what that “tree” was doing on our balcony, when it was really a happy mound of tomato and cucumber plants climbing up a trellis.

This year, we’re watching our expenses and creatively trying to cut our costs.  We looked at bags of EKO potting soil (with compost) and they’re just under $7 a bag for 1.5 cubic feet.  One bag really doesn’t go very far when you’re filling multiple containers, so we started searching for information on composting indoors.

It turns out that, in addition to helping the environment, making your own compost indoors is actually quite easy and it’s cheap to get started (and NO, it won’t smell if you do it correctly).  All you need is a suitable container, shredded paper, water, food scraps, and the key ingredient: red wiggler worms. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that it’s February, it’s time to start thinking about how mother nature can help bring your food costs down… by growing your own! And if you thought that a yard in the suburbs is a requirement, think again. We live in a tiny one bedroom condo with a South-facing window and a balcony that faces East. Last year we grew cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeños, arugula, chives, and parsley. The plants grew so tall that one of our neighbors asked us about the “tree” we had on our balcony. It was huge! We learned a lot, and we’re definitely doing it again.

Last year we didn’t know anything about starting a container garden, so we got up early on a Saturday morning and went to our local farmer’s market to ask for advice. We found the perfect mentor – a lady who worked with urban gardens and also started container gardens with seniors at retirement homes. Thanks to her help, we avoided making many common – and costly – mistakes.

First of all, if you want to grow large plants [tomatoes and cucumbers fit in this category], you’ll need a large pot. She recommended a 27″ diameter plastic pot from Home Depot, though I’ve read that anything that gives plants 12″ or more in depth will suffice. The reason for a plastic pot is the weight – try picking up a clay pot of that size and you’ll understand! Since I wasn’t all that frugal yet, I didn’t take the time to shop around for pots. We paid about $35 for it and it was our single largest expense. At least the plastic is thick enough that it should last for many years. Read the rest of this entry »