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| Author |
Message |
eeyore
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December's BoD
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Dec 12 00:33 UTC 2001 |
Sorry this is son long in going up, but I've been working 11-14 hours a day,
and really haven't fealt like then spending time in front of a modem. But
here goes. :)
Opening Bang: 7:34
No Chair Report
Treasurer We have 99 members, 95 paid. We've decided to stop fighting
Ameriwreck on the collect call that we're being charged for, 'cause $7 just
ain't worth it.
Publicity: Syl's waiting for a price list from Jenn.
Staff: Dan Cross donated a couple of Spark64 machines, one of which has 640
meg of ram. They are both working systems, and are currently living at Jan
& Valerie's house. The 640 meg may become the next Grex. STeve is working
on foisting off Sun3 stuff onto people before the end of the year.
Law Stuff: Marcus hasn't had time to really look into it.
CD's: Savings accounts seem to be a better bet at this time for us, as the
cd's do not seem to give much money, and need some maintenance. We felt that
Mark had quite enough to do with out adding the hassle of cd rollovers to the
job, when the savings accounts seem to give about the same or slightly more
money.
New Business: Mary is putting an ad in the program for her orchestra to
promotre Grex. She's doing this of her own accord and money, to help out her
orchestra. STeve mentioned that our UPS should probably recieve a new battery
sometime soon....there's been no problems, but we've had it a couple of years,
and it was used when we got it. STeve motioned that the board aouthorize
spending up to $200 for batteries for our UPS. Meg seconded, and voting was
unanomous.
Closing Bang: 8:05
Board Attendees: Meg, Greg, Mark, STeve, Anne & Marcus (at the end)
Non Board Attendees: Sylvia, Mary & John, Glenda & Staci, Joesph & Kids, and
somebody who's name I didn't get. (I"m sorry!!!!!)
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| 77 responses total. |
davel
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response 1 of 77:
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Dec 12 02:54 UTC 2001 |
Hmph. It was me, FWIW.
<dave goes off to sulk>
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other
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response 2 of 77:
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Dec 12 07:34 UTC 2001 |
Thanks Meg, for covering for my absence.
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eeyore
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response 3 of 77:
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Dec 12 17:53 UTC 2001 |
I was pretty sure that your name was Dave, but I wasn't sure *which* Dave,
and if my memory was off, then I'd have looked dummer.
My sincerest apologies! :)
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keesan
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response 4 of 77:
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Dec 12 20:18 UTC 2001 |
I am very curious as to which bank is paying more on a savings account than
on a 5-year CD. Bank of Ann Arbor has just raised its 5-year CD rate to 4.50%
and passbook savings is paying 2%. Last time I called around most banks in
town (all but Bank of Ann Arbor and Flagstaff) were paying about 1% on
savings. Many months ago savings accounts were paying 4% but this has gone
down steadily. PAX was, not long ago, paying slightly over 1% on money market
fund.
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gelinas
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response 5 of 77:
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Dec 12 22:07 UTC 2001 |
Sindi, we can't have our money tied up for five years. We simply don't have
enough of it.
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mooncat
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response 6 of 77:
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Dec 12 22:27 UTC 2001 |
re #4- Sindi- what penalties does Bank of Ann Arbor have for early
withdrawals from CDs? And how quickly can you get access to the cash?
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keesan
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response 7 of 77:
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Dec 12 23:51 UTC 2001 |
As I explained (in the item on November finances) the penalty for early
withdrawal of some portion of the money invested in a CD is 3 months interest.
That means, for example, if you take out $1000 at the end of a year, from a
5-year CD paying 4.75% (TCF's 5-year rate last I checked) you get a year's
interested minus three months - about $36 total. If you put it in a savings
account at 2% interest you make $20. I did not ask the procedure for
withdrawing the money but I assume you simply go to the bank and ask for it
(or maybe you can phone and have a check sent?). Same as you would do for
a savings account, most likely.
If you keep $1000 in the bank for 5 years at 2% you make a little over
$100 (due to compounding). If you keep it in a 5-year CD for 5 years at 4.75%
you make $237.50 (plus some for compounding). You can invest $4000 and take
out only as much as you need at any one time and pay the penalty only on that
portion. And the rates are such that you make more money after a year from
a 5-year CD (even after the penalty) than from a 1-year CD (pays about 2.5%).
Most people apparently are afraid to withdraw anything from a CD at any point
before the end of the term because they think 'substantional penalty' is
something larger than a quarter of a year's interest, otherwise I cannot
understand why anyone would invest in a one-year CD paying half as much as
a 5-year CD.
Added to which, the money is currently invested at TCF, which, last I checked
was only paying about 1% on savings, not 2% (which Bank of Ann Arbor and
probably Flagstaff pay) and seems to think it would be easier to keep money
in only one bank instead of two. And TCF was paying 4.75% last I checked and
Bank of Ann Arbor slightly less, 4.50%.
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aruba
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response 8 of 77:
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Dec 13 03:19 UTC 2001 |
Sindi, I'm not comfortable with putting money in a 5-year CD knowing that we
will likely take it out in less than 5 years. I thought a savings account
was your suggestion?
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gull
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response 9 of 77:
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Dec 13 04:20 UTC 2001 |
As soon as I saw #0 I knew Keesan would be turning this into the CD
Item.
I agree that it's probably not worth the effort. Interest rates are
ridiculously low right now, so the payoff just isn't there. And I'm
not comfortable with the dishonesty of buying a 5-year CD while fully
expecting to cash it out early. It'd also be a good way to get stuck
if they change their policies on early withdrawls.
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jp2
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response 10 of 77:
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Dec 13 14:41 UTC 2001 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 11 of 77:
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Dec 13 18:39 UTC 2001 |
When I suggested a savings account it was paying 4% and now it is paying 2%.
It is not dishonest to put money in a 5-year CD with the intention of taking
out part of it early since you are following the written rules (3 mo penalty
for early withdrawal) and I strongly doubt that a bank can change the written
policy on early withdrawal after you sign up for a CD. Both parties sign a
legal contract. 4.75% interest per year on a CD is not ridiculously low, it
is a lot higher than 0% which grex's money is currently earning. $4000
invested at that rate for five years would earn about $1000. If you took out
$1000 at the end of a year to buy computer and paid the penalty on that but
left the rest in for four more years you would earn about $36 on the $1000
that was there for a year, and about $783 on the other $3000 for five years,
or about $819, which could pay for the next grex computer. This sounds like
a lot less work to me (opening a CD, taking money out of it once, probably
letting it roll over after 5 years) than running one grex auction. Admittedly
the auction has more entertainment value but it takes up a lot of the
treasurer's time.
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cmcgee
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response 12 of 77:
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Dec 13 23:20 UTC 2001 |
Yep it's the Sindi CD Item
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aruba
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response 13 of 77:
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Dec 14 00:51 UTC 2001 |
<sigh>
Sindi, I feel like whatever we do, you're going to want to change it, if not
immediately, then soon. I'm just not up for that. Maybe we can appoint
someone else to be Grex's financial guru, but I'm not really interested. I
just want to leave the money somewhere and forget about it, until we need
it.
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mary
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response 14 of 77:
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Dec 14 02:50 UTC 2001 |
I think we're all starting to feel a little bullied here, Sindi.
You've made your case and lots of just don't want to implement your
plan, for various reasons we don't want to keep stating over and
over and over, despite the fact you don't seem to mind doing so.
So, carry on, but don't be surprised if you don't get a lot of
encouragement. At least not on this issue for a while.
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jp2
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response 15 of 77:
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Dec 14 02:52 UTC 2001 |
This response has been erased.
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teapot
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response 16 of 77:
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Dec 14 06:22 UTC 2001 |
http://biz.yahoo.com/fo/011113/1113topnews_1.html
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carson
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response 17 of 77:
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Dec 14 11:29 UTC 2001 |
Although I find the above link largely irrelevant to the topic at hand,
I find it terribly fascinating that teapot does not appear in the wtmp
file.
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jp2
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response 18 of 77:
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Dec 14 14:22 UTC 2001 |
This response has been erased.
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remmers
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response 19 of 77:
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Dec 14 15:16 UTC 2001 |
My perspective on this is that it's worth more money to Grex
to keep the treasurer's job manageable than any fancy
investment finagling would be.
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gull
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response 20 of 77:
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Dec 14 16:23 UTC 2001 |
Maybe keesan should run for treasurer, instead of trying to order the
treasurer we have around all the time.
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jp2
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response 21 of 77:
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Dec 14 16:27 UTC 2001 |
This response has been erased.
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remmers
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response 22 of 77:
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Dec 14 16:30 UTC 2001 |
The treasurer has to be a board member, and is chosen by the board.
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jp2
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response 23 of 77:
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Dec 14 16:46 UTC 2001 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 24 of 77:
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Dec 14 20:23 UTC 2001 |
Re 13. Mark, if you want to invest the money in a 5-year CD at TCF, which
I thought was what you would find easiest since you already have experience
with this, I would promise not to mention it again for 5 years unless the CD
rates went up at least 50% during that period (at which point it would be
worth about $100/year to switch to a new CD). Since these things
automatically renew, presumably at the current rate, you could then forget
about it except if money had to be withdrawn.
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