More Advice From (And To) Academics

In the last few days, I've come across a number of very good pieces by academics that either list their own New Year's resolutions or provide information/advice about being an academic.

First, while checking my links on Technorati, I came across a new blog called Vegreville. He says he started the blog in order to be able to comment on Mike Munger's advice on publishing (boy, that post of Munger's has hit home with a lot of people). He posts some pretty good resolutions. Here are the ones I particularly like that should be followed by just about everyone in our pointy-headed tribe:

• Make sure to have at least three manuscripts under review at all times
• Get referee reports done quickly
• Spend more time thinking about topics that you think are important, and that you have comparative advantage with. Stop 'chasing the herd.'
• Spend some more time commenting on other people's papers when they send them to you.
• Enjoy being and academic - it's a pretty fun job
• Remember that output matters, not input.

Click here for the whole piece. Vegreville's got more resolutions, but these are pretty good - particularly the first and last ones. He also says that he plans on reporting his progress on these items on a regular basis. Since I've said I'd do the same, hold him (and me) to it, and harass us if we don't.

In addition, Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution talks about "type B procrastination", which occurs when you piddle away time by working on tasks that really aren't that important. My favorite "type B" activity is making minor tweaks to my Powerpoint slides that really don't add anything when I should be doing research (and let's not forget blogging...). Tyler also recommends an essay by Richard Hamming titled You and Your Research. In it, Hamming suggests three questions we should all be asking ourseles on a regular basis:

1. What are the most important problems in your field?
2. Are you working on one of them?
3. Why not?

Ah well, since I've done my "type B" procrastination for the morning, it's time to do something productive.

Pay no attention to the screams coming from the Unknown Basement (a.k.a. the BatCave). It's just the data being tortured...

This Week's Carnival of Investing

This week's Carnival of Investing is up at Consumerism Commentary. There are quite a few interesting posts, but here are some that particularly caught my eye:

JLP at AllThingsFinancial goes into the basics of the time value of money. Be sure to also read the follow-up post he links to.

Jeffrey Strain from Personal Finance Advice gives us a list of some of the worst possible investments. He includes things like timeshares and jewelry. I'd call this one "how not to make money".

Early Riser shows you how to figure out whether to go with a 401-k or a Roth IRA.

Dan Melson from Searchlight Crusade breaks down state-run 529 plans.

As always, look around, since the things I find interesting might not be the ones that trip your trigger.

Calculating the Cash Conversion Cycle

One of the key concepts in working capital management is the idea of a cash conversion cycle. Simply put, this cycle is the length of time from when you pay for raw materials to when you collect on the accounts receivables resulting from the sale of the resulting finished goods. I teach it in my principles of finance class every semester.

The cash conversion cycle is particularly important for young, fast growing companies, because for them, a lack of cash is one of the (if not the single most) important causes of business failure. So, knowing the length of your cash conversion cycle clues you in to how much cash reserves you'll need toi ride out the cycle.

The Motley Fool has a short explanation as to how to calculate the Cash Conversion Cycle here.

New Subscription Chicklets

In case you're interested, I just added a whole bunch (that's a technical term) of subscription buttons to the sidebar. If I missed any, let me know. It was pretty easy - I used Toprank's Feed Subscription Button Generator.

This Week's Carnival of Personal Finance

The Real Returns is hosting the first Carnival Of Personal Finance of the new year. As usual, there's lots of interesting stuff. Here are the posts that caught my eye:

Free 411 Rocks on Roadtrips: Nickel at Five Cent Nickel give us his recent good experience with 411 calls on his trip to Orlando. FYI - I've been using this for several months (I have it in my cell phone's address book).

Jim at Financial Prosperity tells us what home renovations pay off best in
Best Value Home Renovations Revisited:

A Financial Revolution Compares cash back credit cards. He also has a nice tool for figuring out how much a cash back card might save you based on your spending patterns.

Sitting Pretty discusses maid services and the "Latte Factor" (it's really about fixed vs. variable expenses) in Cleaning House

Do you need to refinance to eliminate PMI? Early Riser looks at how to eliminate PMI expenses.

In What Type of Real Estate Listing Agent to Choose, Dan Melson at Searchlight Crusade examines discount vs. full service real estate listing agents.

Finally, Personal Financeadvice tells us what to keep in our Financial Emergency Kit in case of disaster.

As always, look around. There's always lots of good stuff (and some new faces) at a carnival.

I Need Some Feedback

In academia, at the end of the semester, the students get to fill out evaluations of the professor. It's been almost a year since I started Financial Rounds, and I thought it was time to get some feedback from you. So, tell me what you like (or dislike about the site). Here are a few possible questions to start the ball rolling:

• In general, what are the things you like best about the site?
  
• What would you like to see more of (topics, style, etc,,,)?
  
• What would you like to see less of?
• Are there any particular posts that stand out in your mind as either good or bad?
• Are there sites you'd recommend that I add to the blogroll? If so, tell me a bit about the site and why it might fit.
  

If you have any comments on these (or other matters), please, take a minute and let me know - comments are open, and thanks in advance. If you don't feel like doing it in the comments, drop me a line at unknownprofessor-at-hotmail-dot-com.

It's A New Year, And Time For the Making of Resolutions

Happy New Year to one and all. This is traditionally a time for reflecting on where we want to go, and for the making of resolutions. So, in that spirit, here are my goals for the year:

• FINANCIAL: Finally start keeping track of my expenses. I've known that this is the critical first step to getting better control of my money, but I've simply never gotten around to it. And I should know better.
  
• HEALTH: Lose 12 pounds by Easter. Like most winters, thi time around I've put on a few, and the waistband's getting a bit tight. As subsidiary goals:
• Get at least 30 minutes a day of aerobic activity five times a week. I just took my old bike (the frame of which is almost rotted through due to the extreme amounts of sweat I produce) and put it up on my wind trainer in the cellar. This will have the added benefit of allowing me to quickly get up to speed (no pun intended) on my road bike once the weather warms up.
  
• I'm also joining a local swim club (I used to put in about a mile a day in the pool until my son got sick and we subsequently moved to a new state).
  
• CAREER: Following Mike Munger's excellent advice, I want to get at least 3 papers under review at decent journals by the end of the spring semester. I've got a number of "half-done" projects, and I need to get them out the door. Towards these goals, I also want to:
• Put in a minimum of an hour of research work daily at least 5 times a week. As a number of people have said, it's the "zero productivity days" that kill research productivity. I'll probably do more once I get started, but as long as I get my daily hour in, I'll be happy.
  
• Start getting up again at 6:00 every day. My first class doesn't meet this spring until 11:00, so I can get a good bit of work in before heading out the door.
  

To keep myself honest, I'll be reporting here on my progress every Friday. Accountability's a good thing, eh?