TOP DRAWER INK NEWSLETTER

 

Here's the latest issue of Top Drawer Ink, the newsletter written by author HL Carpenter that's chock full of humor and common sense information.

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October 4, 2008
Volume 6, Number 19
ISSN 1554-6330

In this issue:

1. Carpenter Country
2. Top Drawer Article
3. Top Drawer Tips
4. Top Drawer Satire

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CARPENTER COUNTRY
What's Happening in Our Neck of the Human Experience

 

In Carpenter Country the office calendar is usually filled with lots of goings on. But as the short one flipped the page from September to October, she saw only pristine whiteness. All the deadlines had been met yesterday before her partner left for a fun vacation.

Good grief, she had the rest of the week with nothing to do! She’d go crazy, be bored to tears!

Get a grip, she told herself. There’s always something to work on. But the only thing that came to mind were home jobs like cook, clean, weed and mow.

Heck, that was hardly fun. She needed something more exciting to tackle. As she tried to come up with an idea that would make her motor race, the phone rang.

“Can you get away today?” a friend asked.

“In a heartbeat,” the short one answered.

“Great. We need an extra for Bunco.”

“Count me in. I’ll be right there!”

She disconnected, and the phone chirped again. “There’s a good movie playing tomorrow and it’s free popcorn day.”

“Meet you at twelve,” the short one replied on a smile.

Before she made it to the door there were two more messages. By the time she reached her car she’d committed to a Friday morning shopping trip and an evening fish fry.

Boy, am I busy or what, she thought. Guess I’ll have to do all those domestic chores on Saturday.

Or maybe I should see if I can get a few more days off.

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TOP DRAWER ARTICLE

The History of Money Market Fund Accounts
by
HL Carpenter

 

You probably heard the recent news about the Reserve Primary Fund. This money market mutual fund ‘broke the buck’ in September, which means its value fell below $1 per share. What you may not know is that the founder of the Reserve Fund was Bob Bent, the same man who created money market mutual funds.

Read the entire article here

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TOP DRAWER TIPS
Topics and Tidbits

 

Tip: The US Treasury Department established a temporary guaranty program in September to insure the holdings of any publicly offered eligible money market mutual fund for the next year. The purpose of the program is to maintain the standard $1 net asset value for money market accounts, and funds must pay a fee to participate. Check with your fund company to find out if they are participating in the program.

Glossary Term: Net asset value (NAV). Net asset value is a fund’s total assets minus its total liabilities. The NAV of a single share is calculated by dividing the fund’s NAV by the total number of outstanding shares. Mutual funds are generally required to calculate NAV at least once every business day, after major US stock exchanges close. That’s why the NAV of regular mutual funds – the price at which you can buy shares - changes daily. Money market mutual funds are managed with the intent of maintaining a stable net asset value of $1 a share.

Financial Horoscope: So the future looks uncertain. What else is new? Take a breath and plan your next step. If there’s one lesson to be learned from the recent economic news it’s that you’re much better off facing problems as they arise instead of procrastinating.

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TOP DRAWER SATIRE

Rescuing The Wall Street
by
HL Carpenter

 

The US Department of Defensive Maneuvering reported today the deployment of the USS Money, a multi-billion dollar navy warship, to aid an enormous luxury yacht off the coast of Stockland.

Read the rest here