The most important thing I ask of you is to nominate the Mad Money Machine for best Business podcast at PodcastAwards.com. Type in “Mad Money Machine” in the podcast name box (under Business the 3rd one down on the left), type in “MadMoneyMachine.com” in the Podcast URL box. THEN…. go down to the bottom of the page and enter your name and email address (and a comment if you like) and then press Submit.

To get nominated is my reward for doing the show. Thanks for helping me.

133 People have taken the MMM Survey so far. If you haven’t taken it, please do so now.

But here are results at this point:

So nobody’s interested in soccer? C’mon dudes, it is the one true international sport. Get globalized (before it is too late). Anyway, you guys (and I do mean guys… see next chart) liked talk about money, inflation, index funds, ETFs, lazy portfolios, and Warren Buffet but sadly not Paul Boyer, XBOX, Libertarianism, iPhone, or Ron Paul. I guess this is an investing show after all.

When I say “dude” I really mean DUDE.

Folks generally aren’t interested in DEFINITELY subscribing to another podcast, but a daily, news-oriented one would be most considered.

Again, you listen for investing tips, economic insights (and a little humor thrown in). Mostly nobody is just listening to check out the competition (or will admit to it).

Hey, this isn’t a music show, so Paul please don’t play full songs.

Almost everybody makes over $50K a year.

The average age is 40. Wow, I had no idea you guys were so old. (Hahaha, me too.) But obviously these surveys are what they call “self-selecting” meaning that the results of the survey are skewed toward those who are willing to volunteer to take the survey. Maybe young people aren’t willing to volunteer to take it? Maybe really old folks aren’t willing to volunteer to take it? Maybe women don’t like to volunteer? Yeah, that’s it. And where are all the teenagers? Oh, playing DS.

But I like that Age vs. Index Portfolio chart. It kinda shows the general tendency to take less risk as one gets older, doesn’t it? The chosen Index Portfolio is on the left axis with Portfolio 100 at the top. Age gets higher going from left to right. Nobody will admit to a less than 25 index portfolio.

Well, do it then! And tell them Paul Douglas Boyer from the Mad Money Machine sent you!

I have more results from the survey that aren’t as easily shown on a graph, such as what you are doing while listening and the general comments question. I’ll try to cover some of these on upcoming shows. I do want to thank you for all the kind words and even for the critical words. Doing this show is great fun for me. If you want to see everyone else’s entries, click on the survey link again and they are at the bottom of the page.

Thank you for taking the survey!

The Mad Money Machine podcast is proud to be rated one of  the TOP 10 Investing Podcasts by U.S.News & World Report. Katy Marquardt, an associate editor there and author of the New Money column, says:

Whether your work commute involves driving, riding the bus, biking, or running (like me), it’s a great chance to improve your investing know-how through podcasts. You’re a captive audience, after all. Below are podcasts that cover investing from 10 unique perspectives:

and then goes on to include Mad Money Machine as one of the Top 10. (I think she should have included Sound Investing there also.)

Thanks Katy for recognizing the MMM! And I hope you especially like the Couch to 5K episode while you are running.

I have created a 20-question survey for you the listener and reader to  help me make the Mad Money Machine better. Would you please take a few moments to completely answer each of the 20 questions and let me know what you’re thinking?

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE MMM SURVEY NOW!

Thank you. You can click the link again at any time to view continuous results that other people have posted.

NP (Nick Pardini) interviewed me on his RR (Rational Rants) podcast (Episode 9) asking me about the FED, the gold standard, and active vs. passive investing. Get it at CommonSenseMag.com or thru his feed.

I kinda forgot to finish my answer to his question about “what got me to this revelation about passive investing and don’t I have the urge to do active trading?” I went on about the recent credit crisis and forgot to mention that at that time I did sell some of my ETFs and mutual funds. I’ve kept track of how much those funds have gone up since I sold them and it isn’t pretty. But thanks Nick for the interview.

As you can tell, I have given the web site a new look today. Does it work for you?

I’m not the only one who wants the penny eliminated. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said, "the penny is worth less than any other currency." But he cannot spend any time on it because of the housing crisis and slumping economy.

The article mentions a group called Citizens for Retiring the Penny but their website doesn’t seem all that active.

I reiterate that I propose not only eliminating the penny but also the nickel and quarter as well and then moving to use only one decimal place in prices. And to those who think that getting 9 dimes back in change is bad, ever heard of the "Leave a Dime, Take a Dime" tray next to the cash register? Oh wait, that was for pennies. But anyway…

Metal prices as of today according to coinflation.com:
1909-1982 Cent: 2.57 cents
1982-2008 Cent: .72 cents
1946-2008 Nickel: 7.02 cents
1965-2008 Quarter: 5.9 cents

I wrote the following email to Americans for Common Cents (info@pennies.org) today:

Americans for Common Cents,

I disagree with your stance to keep the penny, for the following reasons:

1) They are costing us taxpayers too much money to produce.
2) We will not suffer "rounding-up" if we instead simply drop a decimal place in prices from, say, $14.95 to $14.9. Thus we can also eliminate the nickel and quarter.
3) Charities will gain because excess pennies will be donated to charities since it would take ten of them to make any purchase. Also, nickels and quarters would be more likely to be donated as well.
4) We can overcome lost nostalgia for Lincoln and Jefferson and Washington by making new dimes with their images on them.
5) Simplifying to one coin, the dime, would make it much easier to calculate and store change from our purchases.

I hope you will agree and join me in calling for Dimes Only.

Paul Douglas Boyer
Host, MadMoneyMachine.com podcast

Please join me in asking our government to eliminate production of pennies, nickels, and quarters.

Murry Coleman writes at Index Universe about the new Diehards forum run independently that is overtaking the old forum run under Morningstar’s site. He says Morningstar blew it by "not listening to its customers and has thus lost a lot of luster with index investors." He says of Morningstar:

But in this age of MySpace and Facebook hysteria, it’s odd that Morningstar let so many eyeballs go their own way. In the end, it’s turned out to be a blessing in disguise for investors. The revamped Diehards.org is better organized, easier to navigate and much more intelligently moderated than the older version.

And it’s becoming a true social networking site. There are meet-up groups forming and getting together all the time around the country (something that started over at Morningstar). The Diehards even have their own convention each year, something that IU believes has become a truly major event in the indexing community.

I’ve praised the Diehards forum many times on the show and I still go there and learn new things all the time. There is no place better on the net for the do-it-yourself investor.

On show 96, I mentioned how Guru Peter Schiff’s book could have been written by presidential candidate Ron Paul. How prophetic! Today, Ron Paul has appointed Peter Schiff to be his economic advisor!

January 25, 2008 4:44 pm EST

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – Newly appointed Ron Paul economic advisor, Peter Schiff, issued the following statement about Dr. Paul’s proposed comprehensive economic revitalization plan:

“We need a plan that stimulates savings and production not more of the reckless borrowing and consumption that got us into this mess in the first place.  Ron Paul’s plan is the only one that amounts to a step in the right direction.  If you want meaningful change – for the better that is – Ron Paul is the only candidate capable of delivering it.  The others merely promise to continue the failed policies that are at the root of our current economic problems.”

Peter Schiff is president of Euro Pacific Capital Inc, and a frequent guest on CNBC, Fox News, and Bloomberg Television.  He is often quoted in major financial publications and is the author of the book Crash Proof.

In the past Peter Schiff said the following of Dr. Paul: “Ron Paul is the real deal, a true statesmen and citizen politician in the traditions envisioned by the framers of our Republic.”

Mr. Schiff is available for interviews regarding Congressman Paul’s economic policies.

Congressman Paul’s comprehensive economic revitalization plan can be found online at: www.RonPaul2008.com/Prosperity

You’ll definitely want to click on that last link and read Ron Paul’s Four-Point Plan for economic revitalization. Please tell me, dear reader, what’s not to like in this list? Comment below if you find something. Otherwise, please support the man!

Someone wrote a song for Jim Cramer’s Mad Money. Interesting that his picture never appears in this video. Hey guys, I have the rights to a picture of him if you want one to include one in your video.

hat tip to CrossingWallStreet.com