My coworker and I were discussing our bucket lists, you know, the list of things you want to accomplish or see before you die. He mentioned his dad’s biggest wish was to go to the Super Bowl, and we got on the topic of buying Super Bowl tickets. All we knew about buying Super Bowl tickets was that it is very expensive, and it helps to know someone. So we looked it up for fun.

How to Buy Super Bowl Tickets

The first thing you need to know is how the NFL distributes Super Bowl tickets. The distribution of Super Bowl tickets goes to a mixture of players, coaches and NFL personnel, season ticket holders, corporate sponsors, and the general public. Here is the Super bowl ticket distribution from Super Bowl XLII:

• AFC Champion — 17.5 percent
• NFC Champion — 17.5 percent
• Host Team (Cardinals) — 5.0 percent
• Other 29 Teams — 34.8 percent
• NFL — 25.2 percent

75% of all tickets go to the NFL teams, with each team in the game receiving a total of 35%, the host team receiving 5%, and the rest of the teams receiving just over 1% each. The tickets allotted to the NFL are used for corporate sponsors, the broadcast network, affiliated companies, charities, fans, and more.

NFL Random Drawing for Super Bowl Tickets

The only method the NFL has to distribute tickets to the public is through a random drawing; there is no other way for the general public to purchase tickets from the NFL. The NFL also does not sell tickets to travel or ticket agents. The lottery system is free to enter and those selected have the opportunity to purchase up to two tickets at face value. Unfortunately, there is a very limited number of available tickets, some sources stating only 500 tickets are sold to the general public in any given year.

Entries for the random drawing are accepted between Feb. 1 and June 1 of the year preceding the game and winners are notified by mail in October or November. All ticket requests must be sent via certified or registered mail.

To enter into the random Super Bowl Ticket drawing, send a letter to:

Super Bowl Random Drawing
P.O. Box 49140
Strongsville, OH 44149-0140

Please note that only one request per address is accepted and duplicate requests will be disregarded.

Buying Super Bowl Tickets from players and season ticket holders

Most teams give a set number of Super Bowl tickets to their players and personnel, then hold a random drawing for their season ticket holders to distribute the remaining tickets. This can create a secondary market for the tickets. Many of the tickets that end up in the hands of ticket agencies (see below) were purchased from season ticket holders and team personnel. Players and coaches are not permitted to resell their tickets for more than face value, but it happens under the table.

Super Bowl Ticket Trivia: The NFL’s anti-scalping policy was brought to the nation’s attention in 2005 when Vikings head coach Mike Tice was caught scalping his Super Bowl tickets. He was fined $100,000 by the NFL and let go by the Vikings the following season.

Buy from a ticket agency

Every major ticket agency will have Super Bowl tickets. Check out StubHub, Ticketmaster, RazorGator, and TickCo. These are reputable companies and offer a guarantee, which is something you won’t get if you are buying them over Ebay, Craigslist, or from a ticket scalper. If you are going purchase Super Bowl tickets online, get them from a reputable agency.

How much are Super Bowl Tickets? The rate varies depending on several factors, including seat location, hype for the game, who is playing, venue, etc. They can currently be had for around $1300 each via RazorGator:

• Buy Super Bowl Tickets!.
• (Use couon code FSOVERRG for free shipping over $100).

Buy from a Scalper

Caution, caution, caution! Before going this route, be sure you know the laws of the land. This year’s Super Bowl is in Florida, where scalping is legal. But scalping is not legal everywhere. Next, recognize that you are dealing with people you don’t know and a lot of cash (try finding a scalper who will accept anything other than cash).

Do your research to find out as much as you can about the current street price of the tickets, and be wary of any seats being sold below the current rate. In short, be prepared to shell out some serious cash. You also want to do as much research as you can regarding the actual tickets. Find out what some of the security features are. Ask the scalper to see the tickets. If they don’t have them available at the moment then ask when you can meet up to see the tickets. (This is common because scalpers often work in teams and don’t want to have thousands of dollars worth of tickets on them all the time). You may wish to see several sets of tickets before you are comfortable you are receiving a legitimate ticket. I’ve heard that some venues and teams offer broker zones, so look into this.

Above all, be cautious. Be careful carrying large sums of cash (arrange to meet the ticket scalper at a predetermined time if necessary), and remember that with scalpers, all sales are final.

~$~

Related Articles:

1. The 2007 Colorado Rockies – The Definition of Class in Professional Sports
2. Top 10 2009 Super Bowl Commercials
3. Major League Fun, Minor League Prices

It was a busy weekend for my family and I. On Saturday I installed a new programmable thermostat, changed a light fixture, organized the basement storage, put new the windshield wipers on the car, put air in the tires, wrote some articles, and we cleaned the carpets (if you have children you should consider buying your own carpet cleaner!). I wish every Saturday were that productive!

Contest at MoneyCrashers.com – over $7k in giveaways!

Money crashers is running a contest to ring in the new year – Money Crashers 2010 New Year Giveaway Bash – $7,400+ in Cash and Amazing Prizes. And the cash and prizes list continues to grow (just yesterday it was around $6,200). There are multiple sponsors, multiple prizes, and multiple ways to enter – from twitter, to Facebook, to commenting on articles at MoneyCrashers.com.

Some of the prizes include cash, gift cards, books, an Amazon Kindle, an iPod Touch, iPod Shuffle, and more. Personally, I would love to win a Kindle – I enjoy reading Kindle books on my iPod Touch, and I know I would enjoy the experience on a Kindle as well. If you win it, then be sure to check out how to download free Amazon Kindle books.

The giveaway runs from now until they hold a random draw on February 3rd. Check it out!

Recommended personal finance and career articles

• Looking Out to 2010: Economy and Personal Finance.
• The 21 “Best of” The Best of Money Blogs 2009.
• 2010 Budget, Goals, Entrepreneurial, and Financial Life Worksheets.
• New in 2010: Do you want to earn more money?
• How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market.
• 101 Ways to Cut Your Spending This Year.
• The Best Time to Buy Almost Everything.
• uglify your stuff so it doesn’t get stolen.
• How To Buy A Blog in 3 Easy Steps.
• Do I Need an Accountant or CPA for My Taxes?.

Recent carnivals:

• The Best of the Best in Money and Personal Finance #10.

~$~

Related Articles:

1. Is the Amazon Kindle 2 a Good Value?
2. Download the Kindle Reader App for the PC for FREE
3. YNAB 3 Giveaway

It’s the holiday season, which means most people are probably out there spending money to buy gifts for their friends and loved ones, and maybe the not-so-loved-ones-but-it-might-be-awkward-if-you-didn’t-get-them-anything people in your life. (C’mon, admit it, you have one or two people like that on your gift list… it’s your boss, isn’t it?).

Most of the time, gift giving means spending money, and if you aren’t careful, you can quickly go overboard. That’s where the American Express holiday giveaway promotion comes into play. American Express wants to let people know about the American Express Charge Card, which comes with the Membership Rewards program.

If you aren’t familiar with charge cards, they are similar to credit cards and feature all the same benefits, but they must be paid in full each month, whereas you can carry a balance with a credit card. Charge cards offer more flexibility than debit cards and don’t take money directly from your account, so you don’t have to worry about an overdraft penalty if payday is just a couple days away. Since you pay your bill in full each month, you don’t have to worry about interest eating you alive.

The Membership Rewards program features a points rewards system which you can use to turn around and buy gifts, including some of this season’s hottest items, such as an HP mini, cool video games or a Flip video camera.

Win one of 10 Flip video cameras

American Express was kind enough to offer 10 Flip Mino Video Cameras to lucky readers to promote their new charge card. How do you win one of these cameras? It’s easy – simply answer the following question:

“What is the savviest way you have made your money work harder for you this holiday season?”

I will select the 10 savviest money tips. To enter, leave a comment, or write an article on your blog if you have one, then drop a link to your article in the comments section so others can read about it. The goal is to share ideas to help others become more money savvy – and the best 10 tips will win a Flip video camera!

Entry rules:

• No purchase necessary; void where prohibited
• One entry per person; US residents only
• All prizes are provided by American Express, and shipped directly to winners.
• Contest ends Saturday, December 19, 2009.

My tip to make my money work harder this holiday season:

My wife and I had our first child this summer and we opened a CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan for our daughter so we could start saving for her college. The best part was that we got almost $200 in Bonuses for opening Ohio 529 Accounts. Anyone can take advantage of this offer, but it expires on December 18th, so you’d better hurry!

What is your savvy money tip?

~$~

Related Articles:

1. Annoucing the Flip Video Camera Winners!
2. Free Rewards Points for American Express Business Gold Rewards Card
3. American Express Green, Gold, and Platinum Review

If you are looking for an inexpensive form of entertainment this holiday season, the check out the Kindle Reader app for the PC, which was recently released on Amazon.com. The Kindle Reader for the PC enables PC users to read Kindle books on their PC and sync them with their Amazon Kindle, or iPhone/iPod Touch if they have one. The best part is that you don’t need a Kindle Reader or an iPhone/iPod Touch to use the app – anyone can download the app free from Amazon and read books straight from their PC. The Kindle Reader will be available on the Mac in the near future; you can register for an e-mail alert and Amazon will shoot you an e-mail when the Mac Reader is available.

About the Kindle Reader for the PC

Read Kindle Books on Your Computer:

• Get the best reading experience available on your PC. No Kindle required.
• Access your Kindle books even if you don’t have your Kindle with you.
• Automatically synchronizes your last page read and annotations between devices with Whispersync.
• Create bookmarks and view the annotations you created on your Kindle.

The Kindle Reader for PC has a few functions that are not available on the Kindle Reader app for the iPhone/iPod Touch, such as the percentage complete function to see how much of the book you have read. On the flip side, it is also lacking a few features that Amazon will release updates for later.

I love the Kindle Reader App

I haven’t yet purchased an Amazon Kindle, partly because it is an expensive item (currently $259), and partly because I don’t want to be locked into buying books at $10-$20 each. I currently borrow most books from the library or I buy them at used book stores.

Free Kindle Books. The good news is that you can download a wide range of Free Amazon Kindle Books at Amazon, but the titles are mostly limited to books that are out of copyright. I downloaded quite a few classics, which I enjoy reading.

I want a Kindle, but I can wait.

I read more now than I did before I had the iPod Touch. Having multiple books in a more portable medium makes it easy to take books on the road and read whenever/wherever I am. I know I would enjoy the Amazon Kindle more than reading on the iPod Touch because the screen size is larger and the Kindle is more comfortable to hold for reading. But I have a feeling the Amazon Kindle will go through some improvements in the near future and will have more functions and cost less than it currently does, so I can wait. I have a lot of patience and have no problem letting other people pay the early adopters tax.

So for the time being I plan on using the Kindle App on my iPod Touch to read the books I downloaded for free and I will borrow or buy newer books so I have a wider range of reading material.

Recommended personal finance and career articles

• 8 Ways to Reform Health Care Without A Government Takeover. I support health care reform, but I don’t think a government run plan is the best idea at the moment. I think a lot can be done before it comes to a government takeover.
• The Epidemic of Comfort and Convenience. It’s easy to take the path of least resistance, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. This article is applicable to finances, career, and life in general.
• The Top 111 Twitter Lists That You Must Follow. Do you tweet? If so, check out this article.
• Should You Rollover Your TSP Account Into an IRA?. Recommended reading for military members and government employees eligible for the Thrift Savings Plan.
• yo no hablo espanol. Be careful what you put on your resume – you may just get called out on it.
• More thoughts on the Kindle for PC. Here is another fan of the Kindle PC app.
• The Cure For Information Overload. Certainly something I have struggled with in the past.

This week’s carnivals

• Carnival of Money Stories #31! Getting Ready for Christmas Edition @ Ultimate Money Blog.
• Best of Money Carnival @ The Amateur Financier.
• Baby Boomers Blog Carnival Seventeenth Edition @ Baby Boomers US.
• Carnival of Financial Planning @ Dual Income No Kids Finance.

~$~

Related Articles:

1. Free Books for the Amazon Kindle
2. Is the Amazon Kindle 2 a Good Value?
3. Money Crashers 2010 New Year Giveaway Bash – Over $7k in Prizes

Christmas is right around the corner, so I thought it would be fun to look up some novelty gifts for the season. These gifts share a common theme – they are novelties only, and don’t really have any utility. But they are fun!

How to buy a star and name it after someone

One popular gift for the last couple decades has been naming stars after someone – a significant other, friend, pet, etc. I had heard of this, but didn’t know much about it until I did a little research. It turns out there is an internationally recognized organization responsible for naming stars, the International Astronomical Union. They have an in depth press release on their site regarding buying and naming stars, which you can read here. The short and skinny is this: The IAU names all stars and other celestial objects based on a numerical system designed to make it easy to track and locate objects in the universe.

So what about the companies that claim to sell you a star? Most of them offer a disclaimer on their site stating something to the effect that buying a star is not internationally recognized and it is more of a “symbolic gesture than a scientific gesture.” If they don’t have that disclaimer, the site is probably a scam.

Still want to buy a star? There are several companies you go with, and perhaps the most well known ins the International Star Registry, which has been around for several decades. The International Star Registry offers “Star Naming Kits” starting at $54.

A Star Kit contains:

• A beautiful 16″ X 12″ full color parchment certificate personalized with the star name, date and coordinates.
• A Personalized 16″ X 12″ sky chart containing the star name, star date, the constellation and the location circled in red where the star is in the sky.
• A booklet on astronomy written by a professional astronomer with additional sky charts.
• A letter of congratulations/memorial for the recipient.
• Name a Star at StarRegistry.com

How to buy the moon

I had no idea the moon is for sale, but apparently it is! LunarLand.com claims they are the only authorized company offering lunar real estate for sale to the general public (they also offer land on Mars, Venus, and Jupiter’s Moon Io). Lunarland claims they are the only authorized seller of celestial real estate, due to a claim they made that took advantage of a loophole in the The UN Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which stipulated that no government could own extraterrestrial property. The treaty didn’t state anything about individuals or corporations owning extraterrestrial property, so they made a claim, filed it, and opened their business.

So is it a scam? Depends on who you listen to, but there are several competing companies who claim to be the only authorized seller of lunar land, and I have yet to find an international authority that recognizes lunar land ownership. I won’t judgment wither way, but I will say that it is probably best to treat this as a novelty gift, similar to naming a star.

What you receive with a LunarLand purchase:

• Lunar Deed.
• Lunar Constitution Bill of Rights.
• Lunar Plot Map showing the location of your property.
• Mineral Rights.
• Copy of the Declaration of Ownership filed with the United States, the USSR and the United Nations.
• For more information, visit www.LunarLand.com.

Buy a Star Wars battle tank

Buy a battle tank, heheh, nice. You are joking… right? Nope. You can buy a replica Star Wars JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank from Amazon. From the Amazon description:

The JL421 Badonkadonk is a completely unique, extremely rare land vehicle and battle tank. Designed with versatility in mind, the Donk can transport cargo or a crew of five internally or on the roof, and can be piloted from within the armored shell or from an exposed standing position through the hatch, thanks to special one-way steel mesh armor windows and a control stick that pivots up and down to allow piloting from the standing or seated positions.

The Star Wars battle tank also features interior carpeting, a 400 watt sounds system, a 6hp engine, and a max speed of 40mph. Each Badonkadonk is made to custom specs and you get unlimited consultations with the designer and manufacturer concerning all relevant options. Unfortunately, it is not street legal. List price: $19,999.95.

More over the top gift ideas:

• Spy Ninja’s Working Pen. A pen that features a video recorder, audio recorder, and 8GB storage drive.
• Excessive, Extravagant, and Downright Gaudy. Selections from Skymall.
• 9 extravagant holiday gifts. 9 over the top gifts from the Neiman Marcus catalog.
• Antique Russian Antique Floral Bouquet Plaque Paperweight, circa 1840-1860. One of the most expensive listings I could find at Amazon, coming in at a cool $85,000. Thankfully, shipping is only $4.49.

~$~

Related Articles:

1. Weekly Roundup – Christmas Gifts Edition
2. The State Can Seize Your Assets – What You Need to Know About Unclaimed Property
3. Best of Cash Money Life 2009 Edition

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone – I hope your day was just as nice as the one my family had! In the spirit of giving thanks, I have a gift card giveaway winner to announce, and another giveaway. Congrats to the winner of the giftcard, and best of luck to everyone who enters the You Need a Budget giveaway.

Bonefish Grill Giftcard giveaway

I ran a giveaway over the last week for a $25 gift card to the Bonefish Grill. There were 13 entries, and the winner was randomly selected using a random number generator. The winner was comment #12, PW. I sent the winner an e-mail. Congrats!

You Need a Budget Pro Giveaway

I have another giveaway to announce – this time for a copy of the popular budgeting software program, You Need a Budget (YNAB). YNAB is one of the top budgeting software programs for a reason – it’s easy to use and it works! For more information about YNAB, check out the You Need a Budget Pro Review that I did a few months back. You can also see how YNAB Pro compares to Quicken, another popular money management program.

To enter the YNAB Pro giveaway, leave a comment sharing something you are thankful for this year, and something you look forward to in the coming year. I’ll start off – I’m thankful for my family. My wife and I had our first child this year, and it has been an amazing experience. I love being a father and I look forward to sharing in her growth in the coming year.

YNAB Pro Giveaway closes November 30 at midnight, EST. Entry is available to US residents, no purchase necessary, and is void where prohibited. One entry per person please.

You Need a Budget Coupon Code:

If you miss out on the giveaway you can receive a 10% off coupon by using the Coupon Code: cashmoneylife

~$~

Related Articles:

1. YNAB Pro Giveaway!
2. YNAB 3 Giveaway
3. Announcing the YNAB 3 Winner

I’ve never purchased anything from Swoopo and haven’t seen their financials, but after looking at their site and reading several reviews I’ve decided it is probably one of the most brilliant business models I’ve seen.

What is Swoopo?

Swoopo is an online auction site that sells high end electronics and other goods at ridiculously low prices. I mean silly low. Plasma and LCD TVs regularly go for under $100 – and they aren’t small either. We’re talking over 40 inches. High end laptops and video recorders also regularly sell for under $100. The prices are amazing. But there’s a catch.

How it works: Swoopo’s online auction system differs from the more popular EBay. Instead of allowing bidders to bid any amount, Swoopo only allows bidders to bid in fixed amounts ($0.15) and charges bidders $0.75 per bid. That’s right, Swoopo charges people to make a bid. Here is the bidding process as advertised by Swoopo:

• Bidding on our auctions starts at just 15c, with no reserve prices.
• The price only goes up by 15c with each bid placed.
• If a bid gets placed in the final moments, we extend the auction by up to 20 seconds.
• Each bid placed on an auction costs just $0.75, enabling us to offer such amazing deals.

Watching an auction. If you visit the Swoopo homepage you can see current auctions taking place. As the auction gets down to the final seconds a bid raises the price by $0.15 and adds more time to the clock. Since it only costs a few cents to make a bid, why not take a chance? And that is what people do. Except there are also automated programs that allow bidders to set a limit on how many bids they are willing to make and/or how high they are willing to bid. It can add up quickly! Watching the auctions is almost hypnotizing and I can see how easy it would be to get sucked in.

Is Swoopo a Scam?

I read several online articles stating Swoopo is a scam. But after watching a few auctions and looking at the site, I don’t think it is a scam. I’m pretty sure everything is as advertised. But I also think that some people get upset with the bidding structure or may not understand it.

Bidders have to pay to make a bid, and once the auctions end, the winner gets the item and the losers go home with a lighter wallet and no prize. I can see how this makes for sore losers.

Swoopo is a great deal – for Swoopo!

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, Swoopo’s business model is amazing. People have a tendency to give in to temptation, and what could be more tempting than a 42 inch plasma TV for less than $100? The beautiful thing (for Swoopo) is that it takes 600+ bids to get to that level, and Swoopo makes money on each bid, plus the winning bid. Swoopo also offers penny auctions, which raises the bid price by one cent instead of fifteen cents. These auctions are also big money makers because thousands of bids take place before the final sale.

What about the items they sell for pennies on the dollar? The folks at Swoopo LOVE selling high end items for pennies on the dollar. It is the best advertising they can get. Swoopo has stated they lose money on many of the items they sell, but my guess is that they make a boatload on the other items. Trust me, they wouldn’t use this business model if it weren’t profitiable.

Should you use Swoopo?

I’m all about saving money. But I wouldn’t rely on Swoopo as a way to purchase electronics at a steep discount. In my opinion, Swoopo equates to little more than gambling. You could win big, but the odds are stacked against you.

Here are a couple more articles about Swoopo:

• Is Swoopo Nothing More Than a Well-Designed Gimmick?
• Swoopo Looks to Set the Record Straight.
• Swoopo – great auction deals or great scam?

Have you used Swoopo? What do you think about it?

~$~

Related Articles:

1. MLB to Auction off Pink Mother’s Day Bats to Benefit Breast Cancer Research
2. Bonds Record Home Run Ball Sale Exceeds Estimates
3. Bonds HR Ball #756 to be Auctioned; Taxes Are Too High to Keep the Ball

Note: This article was originally published as an April Fool’s Day Joke. I hope you enjoy it in the spirit in which it was intended!

The US Mint announced this morning that they will phase out the production of new pennies beginning in late 2010, and mint the last batch of pennies on April 1, 2011. The final batch of pennies will be released in a set of proofs which will be auctioned off to coin collectors with the proceeds going toward our national debt. The last run will be limited to 50,000 proof sets, and opening bidding is expected to start at $179.99, which is affordable considering you will own a piece of US numismatic history.

High cost of making new pennies to blame. The announcement follows years of speculation regarding when the US would stop minting pennies, as it actually costs more than 1 cent to produce a penny. On average, pennies cost 1.4 cents to make, making penny production a losing proposition, especially when the US Mint produces billions of pennies annually. Add the fact that “a penny just doesn’t buy what it used to,” and it’s clear the US Government is making the right decision by eliminating the penny.

What will happen to all the pennies? Pennies will remain legal tender, but you will be hard pressed to find stores willing to accept them after April, 2011, because the US Mint will impose additional handling fees for purchasing rolls of pennies and they will institute a penny buy back incentive.

Starting in late 2010, the US Government will begin “Pennies for Freedom,” a penny reclamation campaign designed to collect the estimated 23 trillion unused pennies sitting in people’s homes and coin jars. The pennies will then be melted and the copper will be used for green energy projects throughout the US. This is part of the Obama Adminstration’s plans for reducing US dependence on foreign energy.

How will stores handle transactions without pennies? We are moving toward a cashless society and most transactions are handled electronically with credit cards and ATM cards, or with a check. So eliminating the penny won’t actually affect most people. For people who insist on paying cash, the US Mint recommends that stores round up or down to the nearest nickel. Note: As a side effect, expect state and local sales taxes to increase to round up to the nearest nickel as well to make accounting easier for stores and cashiers.

Eliminating the penny benefits everyone! No more pennies means we all win! It is estimated the average person loses $38.92 in pennies throughout their lifetime. Change will be easier to count and manage, and purses will be lighter. No more looking under car seats, under couch cushions, sifting through the coin jar, etc. I’m looking forward to it already!

Penny Fun Facts:

• It costs more than 1 cent to make a penny – Snopes.
• It is illegal to melt US coins to sell for scrap metal – US Mint.
• Composition of the US Penny – US Mint.
• US Penny – Wikipedia.
• Efforts to eliminate the US Penny – Wikipedia.
• How Much Is a Penny Really Worth? Not Enough to Keep Carrying It That’s For Sure – Own the Dollar.
• A Penny Saved is Worth More Than a Penny Earned – Cash Money Life.

$$$ And if you haven’t figured it out by now – Happy April Fools Day!

Disclaimer: No pennies were harmed in the writing of this blog article. All facts, figures, and other information were made up on the spot or carefully edited for effect, except for the Penny Fun Facts, which lead to legitimate sources of information.

penny photo credit: Nbauer.

~$~

Related Articles:

1. Paying Debts with Legal Tender
2. A Penny Saved is Worth More Than a Penny Earned
3. April Fool’s Day Recap