Lin is giving the Knicks, the NBA, investors, fans, and even the economy a Linjection of excitement and hope.  Heck, even the President of the United States is watching Lin.  Much like Tiger Woods did for golf, Jeremy Lin is attracting large viewing audiences beyond the die hard fan and is a marketing dream.  Searches for Lin online are outdistancing any other NBA player during Linsanity.  This has to be good for the Knicks, for the NBA, fans, the economy, and a sitting President seeking re-election where the focus will be at least partially on the economy and its hopes for a recovery.

Madison Square Garden aka MSG (the owner of the New York Knicks) has seen its stock go up over 6% since Linsanity began in early February  2012–investors are ecstatic.  Tickets are hard to come by now.  Jeremy Lin’s jersey has been the number one selling jersey in the NBA since Linsanity began on February 4, 2012, and more Knicks jerseys are also selling better during Linsanity.  Lin is doing the impossible–getting investors excited and getting people to spend money.  The public outcry to be able to see Lin’s games on cable resulted is a resolution of the cable dispute between the MSG Network and Time Warner Cable.  Knicks games on television are up a whopping 70% during Linsanity.  Lin is so popular, everyone wants a piece of him.  Nike has a campaign coming out soon to cash in on Linsanity.  Lin himself will cash in soon with Nike and endorsements–he even is trying to trademark the term “Linsanity”.  Lin’s appeal is global and his fairytale story translates into many languages.

Lin is the first Taiwanese-American to play in the NBA and he scored more than 20 points in each of his first six games, including a game against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in which he scored 38 points.  Kobe, a future Hall of Famer and an all-time great defender, even guarded him at times with limited success.  Lin’s appeal in Asia is clear, evidenced by television stations in China rushing to add his games to their line-up and many are taking pride in his roots.  Lin is playing great after being counted out as a little more than a bench warmer which supports that old belief that many parents teach their kids around the world: you should never give up; just work hard and you can achieve your dreams; you can achieve anything  you set your mind to.  Jeremy Lin is a living example.

Jeremy Lin is now one of my favorite players.  I don’t watch much basketball, but I find myself watching him, much like I used to have to watch Tiger Woods when he was at his best.  Lin’s impact is estimated at $20 million to over $100 million for the NBA per year, depending on how well he continues to play.  He is already having a huge impact on the larger economy as well, not just in terms of dollars, but in terms of excitement and hope.

In early May 2011, I first noticed that my blog website did not seem to be working.  I would get an error when I tried to view it.  I was alarmed since others would also get this message and it was one of the messages that made you think you had the wrong website address (or worse, you were not supposed to be visiting the website to begin with) instead of letting you know that the website was down.  I contacted my hosting provider, GoDaddy.com.  GoDaddy.com informed me that I was hit with a computer virus and that they were not able to fix it with a simple procedure.  I was told that I would have to basically “re-do” my entire ConsumerMiser.com site by removing all the content and then add it back.  I would lose all my links to other websites and vice versa!!!  At the time, I did not have the time to go through the painstaking process of getting the site back and running —especially since I am not the most computer savvy person in the world (a weakness I need to work on and which would pay off literally and figuratively in the future as everything becomes more high tech).  My brother offered to help me, but he is a busy person too and we never coordinated our busy schedules to work on this together.  Additionally, I was concerned about losing my links.  I fell into a sort of paralysis.  I was also experiencing a lot of change as I was involved in transitioning to a new job over the summer.

Fast forward to the end of October 2011: I happened to be checking an old e-mail account that I rarely check because it is flooded with spam e-mails and chat room type comments, and I noticed literally hundreds of complimentary e-mails (probably mostly spam) about my blog.  I immediately went to ConsumerMiser.com and found that my website was working!!!  From the e-mails, it appeared that it started working sometime in October.

It is now the end of December 2011 and you may wonder why have I not written anything between October and December 2011?  Well, even though I found out at the end of October that my website was working, because I have been settling in to my new job which includes increased responsibilities, I have been too busy to write until now.  This is my first e-mail since my site crashed. . . .

I apologize to all my loyal readers, fans and followers.  I am back now and plan to write at least 4 to 5 articles a month to start—about 1 a week.  I will continue to write about topics such as frugality, reducing your debt, saving money, investing, wealth building, and going green.  I look forward to rebuilding my readership and social network and continuing this journey of learning, sharing, and exchanging information with you all.

In addition to attacking Democratic and Republican politicians running for office in a personal and condescending manner, he has viciously attacked Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Karl Rove, and Robert De Niro for questioning him or disagreeing with his views instead of addressing the issues they raised.  Can’t we all just get along?  Trump should star in the sequel to the movie Ant Bully and call it “Trump Bully – He will squash you if he can“.

What gets Trump this award is not attacking the President about his citizenship or questioning how he got into Columbia University and Harvard Law School despite the President serving as the Editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review and graduating magna cum laude at Harvard Law School, but its the below quote comparing himself to Mitt Romney:

“Well, I’m a much bigger businessman,” Trump said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And I have a much, much bigger net worth. I mean, my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney. And I don’t know Mitt Romney. I really don’t know him. So I’m not saying good or bad.”

I give Trump credit as a businessman and have a few of his books, but his conceit is reaching a new level, even for him.  Talk about bad taste and flaunting your wealth.  If Trump really is such a good businessman, he might want to try being a little more diplomatic and humble, instead of acting so conceited. For a guy whose casinos have been bankrupt 3 times, one would expect more humility.  Source: Amir Korangy, Founder and Publisher, “The Real Deal” from the transcript of the April 18, 2011 CNN show, “In the Arena”.

I want people to become as financially healthy as possible and to accumulate wealth, but I don’t encourage millionaires and billionaires that put down others in order to build themselves up or act overly arrogant.  I don’t see this as a political article, although it has political overtones.  Nor am I advocating for any particular party or candidate for president.  I wrote this article to focus on the conspicuous display and near abuse of wealth by Donald Trump (he has been doing it for years), but lately he has been over the top, even by his standards.  He has now taken to telling us not just about how rich he is, but how much more money he has than Mitt Romney.

What do you think about what Trump’s said in the quote above?

The NFL lockout by team owners against the NFL Players Association began on March 12 and it has been billed as Billionaires (Owners) against Millionaires (Players).  However many of these Millionaires are already feeling the financial pressure as the lockout continues.

If the lockout is not resolved soon, the 2011 NFL season could be canceled and players will not be paid.  The average NFL player salary for the year 2009 was around $770,000 (the average base salary of an NFL player in 2010 was around $990,000).  The average NFL player signing bonus salary for all players in 2009 was approximately US $1.3 million.  The minimum NFL player salary for a new player was $310,000 in 2009 (and  $320,000 in 2010).  Unfortunately, while the average NFL player may be a Millionaire  (the minimum salary is $320,000 per year) and make more money than the average person (roughly $50,000 per year gross), they do not necessarily manage their dollars any better.

Average NFL Career is Short.  By the way, the average NFL career is only 4 years and there are no guaranteed contracts in football, so a player’s income can come to a halt quite abruptly.

Almost A Quarter of NFL Players Live Pay Check to Pay Check.  According to MSNBC which cited financial experts familiar with the NFL as their source, about 380 of the league’s 1,700 players live paycheck to paycheck.

Nearly 80% of NFL Players are Bankrupt 2 Years After Retirement.  Remember the March 23, 2009 Sports Illustrated article entitled “How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke” highlighted that pro athletes from the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball are suffering from a “financial pandemic” despite their increasingly large salaries.  The article stated, among other things, by the time NFL players have been retired for two years, 78% of these former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce.

In 2010, former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Dermontti Dawson joined current New York Jets backup QB Mark Brunell in bankruptcy court.  Mark Brunell earned more than $50 million during his career and his financial trouble may explain why he is still playing after no team wanted to employ him as a starter.  New Orleans Saints all-time leading rusher, Dulymus “Deuce” McAllister made an estimated $70 million during his NFL career, but he was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 – the same year he retired, after a failed Nissan car dealership venture.

NFL Players Association Finance Handbook.  In an attempt to help its players weather the lockout, the NFL Players Association provided its members with a personal finance handbook in advance of the lockout which includes some sound financial advice:

• Save 25 percent of your annual salary
• Refinance your mortgage
• Fly coach instead of first class
• Raise money through public speaking engagements and autograph sessions

These are things these players should be doing anyway since their careers are short.

High Interest Rate Loans Show Desperation.  Unfortunately, we are hearing reports from ThePostGame that players are obtaining high interest rate loans of 18-24% from lenders which indicates desperation.  It may also indicate that these players are huge financial risks for lenders or that lenders are acting unfairly.  I tend to think its more of the former as NFL players are huge financial risks as borrowers with high overhead and a lot of creditors to satisfy.

Conclusion.  This is a sad state of affairs, but hopefully it is a wake-up call.  What happens when your career is over fellas?  How will you make ends meet then?  Get your finances in order.  Start by reading the advice I gave Allen Iverson, formerly of the NBA, who is now out of the league, but playing in China to make ends meet.  In addition to this advice, create a budget, don’t use credit cards, keep your debt low,  act like a consumermiser, act frugally, forget the fancy life style, eat at home, no vacations, and spend less–much less.  In short, act like you need to survive the lockout as if it was going to last all of 2011.

Returns must be postmarked or filed electronically on or before midnight tonight, April 18 or else they are considered late.

Taxpayers that owe money to the Federal (IRS) or State Government, face penalties if they do not file by the deadline.  However, taxpayers have the option to file for an extension by the deadline if they need more time to complete the filing.  If you want an extension for both the Federal and State filings, a separate extension is required for each.  Nevertheless, an extension only extends the time to submit the filling, and does not extend your time to pay if you owe.  For taxpayers who owe and file an extension, they will have to incur a monthly late-payment penalty and an annual interest charge.  For those filing an extension who are getting money back (a tax refund), no penalties or interest apply.

For tips on what to do with your tax refund, click here.  If you owe taxes, click here for tips on what to do.

1.  Blogging is not as easy as it seems. I thought that I would be able to write 1 blog post a day for 365 posts a year in my spare time.  Instead I wrote about 115 which is not bad, but I trailed off quite a bit the last 3 months.  I hope to get back into the grove of things, but other competing priorities sometimes demand my attention.  It also takes a while to write a post.  Some posts are more opinion oriented and easier to write and others require much more research.

2.  Time is a Challenge. Where does all the time go?  Again, I have to balance competing priorities and my personal finance hobby may be one of the first things to take a back seat when I am crunched for time.

3.  It is Fun.  Blogging is fun.  I love to share my thoughts, opinions, and knowledge with others.  I have fun doing it and I hope it helps to inform others.

4.  Quoted by Forbes in Article.  My work has been cited by several other bloggers including by in an article originally appearing in Forbes.com.  I also had an article included among a list of blog posts by DigeratiLife which I take as a huge compliment since DigeratiLife is one of the best personal finance blogs on the planet.

5.  Learn by Sharing; Becoming the ConsumerMiser.  While writing by blog posts, I have learned a lot more about personal finance and related issues in the news.  Writing to inform and educate others serves to both educate and reinforce concepts in my own mind.  I find that blogging about personal finance has caused me to think about it in a more methodical manner which is helpful to my own personal financial situation.  While I originally intended on becoming ConsumerCrusader (but this was already taken), selecting ConsumerMiser has taken me down a path of frugality and financial discipline far beyond what I originally anticipated.  Its funny how the name has defined the focus of my blog.  With the name ConsumerMiser, I am constantly reminded of the frugality part of my mission and less about consumer issues in general.

6.  An Outlet to be Creative or to Vent.  Sometimes I will write an article just to vent or because I want a way to communicate about a topic about which I feel particularly passionate.  Its a great outlet.

7.  Creating a Large Following will Take Longer than I Anticipated.  I thought all had to do to gain a large following was write interesting and informative articles and people would just flock to my blog in record numbers.  Well, this has not happened yet.  I have a nice following, but gaining a large following takes much more than cool content–you really have to utilize various internet marketing tools effectively to gain a large following, including search engine optimization, use of social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Diggit, etc.  It also takes an investment of time to understand who your visitors are and how to create more.

In these first twelve months, I wrote115 blog posts.  This is not a very impressive number compared to the output of some of the bloggers who are featured on my blogroll, but for me, this is a great number!

Next Steps.  What I have done? And what’s next? What I will do after one year of blogging?  Stay tuned.  Have any suggestions?

In the case of Tiki, his divorce appears to have been caused by infidelity.  Tiki allegedly had an affair at work with an intern leading to his dismissal from his employer, NBC.

With his post football career severely damaged by his own conduct, on March 8, 2011, Tiki signaled his intention to return to football by filing paperwork to come out of retirement.  Everyone wondered why he was returning, but now we know it’s not for the love of the game—Tiki sabotaged his high paying broadcasting career, was fired for an extra-marital affair at work, and now needs the money.

During Tiki’s career with the Giants before he retired, he ruffled quite a few feathers, including announcing his plans to retire after the season during the season in October 2006.  The Giants by the way won the Super Bowl the very next season without Tiki.  The New York Giants still retain Tiki’s rights, but in March of this year they announced plans to release him once the NFL and the NFL Players Association reach a collective bargaining agreement.

After looking at Tiki’s situation a little closer it should come as no surprise that he is looking for a source of income.  This is all it is for Tiki.  When he retired after the 2006 season, he dreamed of becoming the next big thing at NBC—kind of like a Matt Lauer.  He wanted to do more than sports and he was a hot property and did just that initially.  He was a Today Show and Sunday Night Football correspondent.  He also hosted the 66^th Golden Globe Awards.  He contributed to Yahoo Sports and he even wrote a couple of books.

I found Tiki to be pretty good at what he did although he was a little smug about it.  I did wonder how he would cope financially after retiring at the early age of 31.  He had a long way to go until the normal retirement age of 60 plus.  As a New York Giant he was making $4.65 million per year when he retired.  At NBC, he worked for NBC Sports and NBC News and reportedly made a salary between $2.5 and $3 million according to AOL News.  Not too shabby.  Throw in his book deals and the fact that his broadcasting career could have lasted another 20 years and a thousand less hits versus about 10 more years max for his football career, his move into broadcasting appeared to be a shrewd move.  The kind of move you might expect from Tiki.  Unfortunately, in Tiger-like fashion, Tiki caused the demise of this own career.

Reports surfaced that Barber had left his then 8 month pregnant wife of 11 years for a much younger woman– 23-year-old former NBC intern Traci Lynn Johnson.  As a result of Tiki’s indiscretion, sources say NBC secretly ended their deal with Barber in May 2010 due to a "morality clause" which specified that stars must not be involved in public scandals.  Hmmm, I wonder how Matt Lauer and David Letterman avoided getting canned after their public scandals?  I guess Tiki is more like Matt Lauer than we all thought except Matt did not get canned by NBC!?!?

His wife filed for divorce and evidently Tiki does not appear to have shown any remorse or taken any responsibility for his actions (reportedly Tiki claimed he only receives $300,000 per year from NBC and cannot pay the divorce settlement).   Even Tiger Woods took responsibility for his actions.

Can Tiki make a successful comeback? During his final season he was one of the best running backs in the league when he rushed for 1,662 yards with an impressive 5.1 yard per carry average.  I am not sure that I am pulling for him so much to make a successful comeback into the NFL.  If he does, I hope he is much more humble about it this time and is a better teammate.  It should be interesting to watch his comeback considering he was critical of NFL players when he was a commentator and now he goes back to work side by side with them.

The New York Post reports that Barber will get the veteran’s minimum salary of $865,000 in 2011 if he makes a team. If he makes a team he’ll probably earn between $1.5 and $2 million when bonuses are included.  Not bad for someone with Tiki’s baggage.

My advice to Tiki:  Tiki, save all your money and start living a frugal life style.  You should have millions saved by now unless you have lived above your means.  This money needs to be managed so that it lasts you well into retirement.  Be a solid citizen and teammate in the NFL for a few years; show remorse and maturity.  Then in addition to doing well in the NFL again and earning close to a million per year, you may get another chance in broadcasting.  And don’t forget to take care of your kids and ex-wife financially. The Barbers now have 4 children (including two twin girls that were born after the affair became public).