What made me do a double take this morning was this completely ridiculous line in one of their articles:

Late last month, Millsteen urged Fools to throw the book at Barnes & Noble: “Analog business in a digital age. The way CDs went to ipod, books will go to ipad or any other digital reading device. There’s very little customer traffic [in those] high rent enormous superstores that was once a weekend destination.”

I don’t know who Millsteen is or where this person comes from, but they absolutely must be among the quasi-uber-elite urbanites. I’m sorry, but I’m in the local Barnes & Noble two to three times each month and my local store is constantly packed with people. I don’t live in an urban area nor do I live in a rural area, but rather I’m in your typical suburban location and I always see people buying stuff from the store when I’m in there. Plus, there is a gigantic “nook” display directly within the entrance footpath and I’ve seen people buying those things on the spot.

However, this type of really, really bad information coming out of the Motley Fool website is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the out-of-touch elitists at that crappy website. They have no idea what’s happening on the ground at these retail locations and they are consistently off when it comes to predicting consumer trends. Let’s not forget that this is the same website that told everyone to sell out of Sirius XM stock back when it was trading below 0.20. Meanwhile, as of this writing the stock is trading at a buck. Another blown call by the urbanites at Motley Fool.

As an investor and a consumer, I recommend staying in Barnes & Noble and buying it NOW! I stress buying it now because the stock is sorely undervalued and is, I think, ready to pop at any moment. Plus, the stock gives off a quarter-per-share dividend each quarter. That ain’t bad in this market! Whatever you do, though, don’t listen to those losers at the Motley Fool – lest you make an unintelligent investment.

First, like everyone I hope for health, happiness, safety, etc. Blah blah blah – we all get this resolution. So everyone out there be careful and safe and so on and so on…

Financially, I’m in a good spot. A few years ago I tightened my financial belt and it paid off. I’m close to breaking beneath $100,000 in total student loan debt, I have no credit card debt, I have a sufficient safety reserve, and I have a diversified investment portfolio including an ING savings account, CDs, stocks, and my 401k. For someone my age, that’s pretty good. This year, though, I’d like to double my safety reserve since the economy doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better any time soon. I’m also staying in the market.

Honestly, that’s about it for the resolutions. I’m going to go to the doctor this year and get a full physical and I really need to get my eyes checked again because I think I need a new set of lenses. Other than that, I think I’m doing well!

Good luck to all of you in meeting your New Year’s Resolutions!