Hey all--
Just a quick note to let you know the ABR is shaping up quite well this
year. We've recently added Yellowstone Valley Brewing to the list and I
received a message from Big Sky today. The festival is taking on a life
of its own!
If you haven't purchased tickets yet, I'd advise you to do it soon. I'd
hate for anyone that went last year to miss out. Keep an eye on our
website for more breweries---
http://www.mncraftbrew.org
Cheers!
David Berg
President, Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild
Head Brewer, Water Tower Brewing Company
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Please feel free to forward the following news as you see fit. I am
extremely excited about taking an ownership role in Mid America and I am
very much looking forward to continuing and fulfilling my business vision.
Kelly
Mid America Brewing Supply, a Minnesota based wholesale distributor of
brewing ingredients is pleased to announce the appointment of Kelly J. Kuehl
as Director of Products of Brands.
Kuehl recently resigned his position as Sales Manager of Cargill Malt’s
Specialty Malt division where he had that position for the last six years as
an employee of Schreier Malting and later Cargill Malt.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity that has been presented to me,” said
Kuehl. “Mid America’s success has been built on their commitment to customer
service and their ability to deliver everything the brewer needs, all
bundled on one shipment. It’s their ‘big enough to serve you, small enough
to care’ philosophy that really drew me to this position.
Mid America recently signed an exclusive importing agreement with Simpson’s
Malt from the UK. Coupled with their distribution of the malt product lines
from Briess, Cargill, Crisp, Dingemans, Gambrinus, Great Western,
Meussdoerffer, Minnesota Malting, Pauls and Weyermann, Mid America has
become a one-stop malt resource. The company also inventories a full range
of hops from Hop Union and a wide range of brewing and filter aids.
Kuehl may be reached in his Minneapolis office at 952-881-6601 or by e-mail,
kelly(a)midamericabrewing.com.
Mid America Brewing Supply is based in Kasota, MN. Inquiries may be directed
to Tom Hall, Managing Partner,
at 1-800-374-2739.
======================== THE MOTLEY FOOL ========================
PERSONAL FINANCE
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
jellings(a)me.umn.edu
=================================================================
IN THIS ISSUE
- DAILY Q&A: Look Before You Give
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701873
- YOUR MONEY: Take Back Your Finances
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701874
- SPOTLIGHT: Make Your Money Matter
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701875
- COMMUNITY TIPS: Pay Off Student Loan or Buy a House?
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701876
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DAILY Q&A
Q. WHAT ORGANIZATIONS OFFER REPORTS AND INFORMATION ON
CHARITIES? I'D LIKE TO LEARN MORE BEFORE I DONATE MY MONEY.
A. Here are the main industry watchdogs:
The American Institute of Philanthropy: This outfit rates
several hundred charitable organizations, focusing on their
finances. You can order their Charity Rating Guide & Watchdog
Report for $3.
http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=701878
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance: This
organization rates hundreds of charities and can help you learn
which ones may be spending too much of the money they receive on
things like fund-raising or office parties. It offers a free
Wise Giving Guide and will send you a free in-depth report on
any single charity.
http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=701879
GuideStar: This outfit offers you access to tax filings of
hundreds of thousands of charities. Its mission is "to
revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice with
information."
http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=701880
Full Answer:
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701881
-----------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR MONEY
TAKE BACK YOUR FINANCES
If you've noticed a little sweating and fretting on the part of
CEOs and CFOs around the country, it might be because Aug. 14 is
coming. That is the day by which top executives of the 945
biggest companies must begin personally certifying the accuracy
of their companies' financial statements, as mandated by the SEC.
"Rightly so!" we all say. We demand a prudent use of resources,
a tight rein on spending, and a track record of steady growth.
It makes sense to expect such discretion from the stewards of
our investments and, indirectly, our economy.
Shouldn't we expect the same thing from ourselves?
Let's start with how much money you're spending. Two words: cash
flow. In other words, ask yourself "Where does all my money go?"
There are many ways to track the flow of your dough, such as
reviewing your bank statements from the last three to six months
and calculating how much you spent on various categories, like
food, shelter, insurance, and -- perhaps the most telling of all
-- "Junk I bought but never used."
We know that exercise will prove informative, but we also know
it takes a chunk of time. So, try this:
1. Just for a day, record every transaction.
2. Carry a piece of paper in your pocket and make a note of every
time a greenback or a credit card leaves your wallet.
3. At the end of the day, project the annual cost of each
expenditure by multiplying it by 365.
For example, let's say you go out for lunch, which costs you $7.
If you did that every day of the year, you would be spending
$2,555 annually. Keep in mind that this is after-tax money, so
if you're in the 27% tax bracket, you'd have to earn more than
$3,500 to have $2,555 to spend. If you earn $40,000 a year, this
means that almost 9% of your income went to lunch.
We recognize that analyzing just one day's worth of purchases
provides limited information. If you have the inclination, keep
an eye on a week's worth of spending, then multiply by 52 -- or
even a month's.
But we think that even a day's worth of money monitoring will be
enlightening. (If you have your own ideas about how to
scrutinize your spending, let us know on the Fools and Their
Money discussion board.)
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701882
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SPOTLIGHT
MAKE YOUR MONEY MATTER
This is the final week to try out TMF Money Advisor one month for
free. For those of you who don't already know (because you've
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
COMMUNITY TIPS
PAY OFF STUDENT LOAN OR BUY A HOUSE?
It's hard to sort through which debt you can live with and which
debt is a huge NO. A community member recently asked about the
value of student debt:
So -- should I pay off the student loans -- in which case it
would delay us buying a home for about two more years until we
saved enough for a down payment (assuming a 20% down payment).
Or should I use the windfall to get into the investment of a
house as soon as possible?
Fool community member David Jacobs shared his opinion on the
Buying and Selling a Home discussion board:
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701884
You've really asked two questions. The first question is
whether you should retire your student loan debt.
Whether you should retire your loan has two parts. The first
part is whether you can earn more by retiring your loan than
you can by investing that same money someplace else. Since your
student loan is a 7% loan, you can immediately earn a
guaranteed 7% return by retiring that loan.
I haven't been following the story on whether interest on
student loans is tax deductible, but if it ISN'T, then your
guaranteed return is higher because your 7% return is tax-free.
The second part of retiring your loan is the effect on your
credit rating. If your student loan is your only form of credit
(unlikely, but possible), then you may want to keep that loan
so you can pay it down regularly and responsibly, which will
demonstrate to mortgage companies that you have the discipline
to pay down your mortgage regularly and responsibly.
On the other hand, when mortgage creditors look at you, they're
going to want to keep all your credit payments, including
mortgage, credit cards, and student loan, less than about 1/3
of your gross income. If you're paying $200 per month on a
student loan, that's $200 per month less that's available for a
mortgage payment. $200 per month easily could be the difference
between a satisfactory house and a nice house.
The second question is whether you should buy a house.
Statistically, homeowners must own their homes for five to
seven years to break even on closing costs (both buying and
selling) when they eventually sell their homes. Between your
career and your family, your housing requirements PROBABLY will
change dramatically over the next few years. So the bottom line
is unless you find a fantastic deal on the absolutely perfect
house, I recommend you hold off buying a house until your
career and family plans settle.
You mentioned housing prices in your area are increasing at
8-10% per year. Statistically housing price increases match
inflation, which is historically around 4% per year, and for
the last few years has been more like 3% per year. You're
probably seeing the effects of a housing bubble in your area.
That's great if you happen to be lucky enough to ride the
bubble up, but when the bubble bursts you can find yourself
trapped in a house you can't sell.
Read the full post -- and contribute to the discussion -- on the
Buying and Selling a Home discussion board.
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701885
=================================================================
ADVERTISEMENT BY: MBNA
MBNA offers a preferred yield of 3.56% on 24-month CDs for
Fools. Make your savings work for you with the security of
FDIC-Insurance up to $100,000 per depositor. Other terms
available.
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Legal Information: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=701891
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SECOND CALL! JUDGES URGENTLY NEEDED!
THE AUTUMN HOME BREW REVIEW! Minneapolis, Minnesota
(in conjunction with the AUTUMN BREW REVIEW - a craft beer festival)
Judging: Sept 5-6, 2002
Awards Ceremony: Sept 7, 2002 1:30pm - Autumn Brew Review, Mpls
Categories: All BJCP categories, including Cider and Mead
For more information, go to: http://www.mnbrewers.com/events/autumn/
For info on the AUTUMN BREW REVIEW: http://www.mncraftbrew.org/page3.html
NOTE: If you can help us judge, register ONLINE at
http://www.mnbrewers.com/events/autumn/
or contact Al Boyce at alboyce(a)bigfoot.com.
Hi all,
I don't think I sent this link to this list yet, but if I did I apologize.
My wife and I recently spent a few weeks in Europe. We had a great time. I took some notes as I tasted many great Belgian and German beers. I took some pictures as well. When I got home I compiled a beer report that you can view here:
http://www.geocities.com/donaldrobertosborn2/beerreport.htm
Or you can go straight to the general page with lots of pics and stories about the places we visited:
http://www.geocities.com/donaldrobertosborn2/europemain
enjoy,
Don
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9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002
Sally's Saloon, 712 Washington Ave. SE, MPLS
(UMN campus)
Thursday night is the last qualifying round in the
contest to go to Germany for a week with Mark and
Horace from Summit Brewing. The qualifying round
includes a trivia contest, beer identification contest,
coaster tossing contest and best-toast contest.
The contest details and rules (i.e., the legal jargon)
are on Summit's web site under "Events".
Does anyone know of a field or a friendly farmer who is growing some barley that hasn't been harvested yet? I would like to harvest a very small bunch for a future display.
Thanks
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray Taylor" <rtaylor(a)ndsuext.nodak.edu>
To: <phc-club(a)yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 6:36 AM
Subject: [phc-club] Cokato Revisited
A few final thoughts on Cokato...
The annual All Club Campout finished up less than a week ago. I have had the
opportunity to attend every one of these events since our first gathering up
in Duluth over a decade ago. We have been treated to a wide range of
climatic conditions during these camping outings, from oppressive heat to
Minnesota thunderstorms. We even have had some excellent weather some years.
I would have to say that the weather last week was the worst we have ever
experienced at the campout. We have never seen wind and rain like that. On
that note, I'd like to commend Mick Moranz and the rest of the MhBA crew for
hosting the campout and cooking up a fabulous meal under very trying
circumstances. Despite the weather, I think we can all look back in
retrospect and agree that we had a lot of (wet) fun. It was unfortunate
that some of us were forced to leave the site a little earlier than planned
this year but things can only improve in 2003. It doesn't take much to keep
homebrewers happy, a few kegs of fresh beer, a few commercial products and a
lot of good friends. We had those items and enjoyed them all.
I have a slide show of some of the photos I snapped over the weekend in my
public folder on the Internet. If you would like to have a look, you can
access the file at:
http://homepage.mac.com/raytaylor/MacShared/FileSharing7.html
Note: This is a large file (8.7 mb) so it will take a long time to capture
it with a modem hookup. It is in QuickTime format. If you don't have
QuickTime you can download a free copy at:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download
For those of you who choose to operate under the Microsoft banner, there is
a Windows friendly version of the player at that location too.
CHEERS!
Ray
Ps. In case anyone doubts that we actually did have fun last weekend.... I
did see a lot of smiling faces as we struggled to wrestle our tarp roof from
the driving wind and rain!
Hi,
We are having the next meeting at Hops in Eden
Prairie, starting at 7:00 pm (Thursday, 8/22). Last
time, Bob proved to be an outstanding host, so those
showing up should be prepared to be treated very well.
And feel free to bring your homebrew to. Here is a map
to Hops:
"http://www.uswestdex.com/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=singlemappingresults&mq=…
Cheers
WH
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