Welcome Len Penzo Readers!

It's a person and a site. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here.

In the pilot episode of NBC's self-referential 30 Rock, the new boss accurately stereotypes a member of middle management after meeting her just thirty seconds before.
Parody? Undoubtedly. Is it a thing? Yes, it's a thing.

So we've got a nifty new political status indicator to roll out to you next week. It's actually a bit early to know anything with any decent amounts of certainty about the upcoming elections in the old USA, but I want to have this in place soon. Oh, expect more political articles when the race heats up. Make sure to complain loudly in the comments section!

Once again I dropped the ball and neglected to give you folks a post on option contract divined predictions over the next few months (and years). Operating from the school of better late than never, I've gone numbers as of last Friday, 6/29/2012, when the S&P 500 closed at 1362.16. I neglected it right on into July, from the publishing date - but I'll attempt to get July numbers at the proper time (options expiration day is on the 20th).

It's just two more days until our voice comes back over the air (wires?) in the newly re-branded Two Guys & Your Money. So, get your eardrums ready for TG&YM and my "hot voice" - and Joe posting the Fractional Sense archives up in a few days. Stay tuned!

Life insurance isn't really a topic we've touched too often here on Don't Quit Your Day Job, but since the majority of our readership has at least considered the various forms of life insurance on their quest for financial independence (or at least financial sanity?), let's dedicate some digital ink to the topic, shall we?

Remember this post we wrote as a reaction to a prompt on our (at the time) current spending and saving? We wanted to revisit the topic with the whole of year 2011 in the books - and some solid numbers.

Remember how a few months back I promised you folks I would post up a bunch of articles on home renovation and do it yourself sort of projects? Yeah, well - I'm running out of rooms (just two left). I've been documenting my progress, so I'm probably just going to dump a load of articles on you guys all in a short period of time - be ready for it! (And you can see some more interior pictures of our house. Architecturally I would describe it as half Mid Century Modern and half 'California' Contemporary.)

On Personal Finance sites, we tend to get bogged down in the details of the drive for financial independence. We do the boring stuff most people don't bother doing - reading account agreements, pouring through investing prospect, and strategizing the best combination of credit cards needed to get the most cash back on certain purchases. Worthy undertakings all, yet sometimes we overcomplicate a simple matter - there is a very basic equation to success.

Last week, my colleague Cameron gave you this nice primer on the mortgage interest deduction and who it really benefits. Today, we're going to take this topic one step further (on the sell-side) and discuss government intervention in the mortgage market.