Nielsen SoundScan is reporting that CD sales are off a whopping 20% so far this year. You didn’t think it was that bad, did you? CD sales have fallen every single year, save one, since the millennium started.

In this article I go over the problems with the music industry, why the death of the CD isn’t that bad, and how the movie and video game retailers better take note because they’re on the cusp of being marginalized too.

Retirement planning isn’t my strong suit. Neither is writing about retirement planning. However, I gave it a shot, alluding to the 1980s hit by the band The Godfathers, urging readers to consider a way to wedge retirement between the work and casket. And the personal anecdotes are completely true, of course. I did have two great-grandmothers at my wedding and one — Maria Crespo — wound up living until she was 99 1/2.

Yes, it’s funny that way. Only young kids and the elderly work fractions into their age. I’m 39 2/3rds right now? I am, but that just doesn’t sound right. Anyway, here is my retirement article.

The March issue of Hispanic Business is hitting newstands this week. I wrote a personal finance article about four ways to lower your tax bills. The actual column can’t be found online — you need to go out to a bookstore or newsstand and pick up a copy — though Hispanic Business was kind enough to mention me in its pre-release press release.

It’s a real honor to be published there. My father’s frozen food distributorship was part of the original Hispanic Business 500 (back in the late 1980s when a Latino with a business selling $4 million worth of goods was enough to rank you as high as #342).

The release probably says it best:

The market’s had a bit of a mean streak to it. The S&P 500 shed another 2% yesterday — off the titular 28.65 points — and I wanted to delve into the trouble with near-term thinking without dismissing the real fallout of the subprime lending debacle.

So that’s where I come in with this morning’s article. There are a few light moments, like the Six Degrees of Subprime Lending game or comparison lenders like NovaStar and New Century to 1980s metal bands — though in retrospect I’m guessing that band names like NovaStar and New Century might be better fits for Christian metal bands. Oh well, the market slipped. Hold your head up, my friend. 

GEICO’s surprisingly articulate cavemen — the ones who order mango salsa at fine eateries and see therapists to cope with society’s bashings — will be getting their own television show.

Well, at least ABC agreed to a development deal, placing the three scruffy Neanderthals in modern day Atlanta. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) owns GEICO and will get a piece of the action. This morning I mused over the licensing possibilities that may occur if Berkshire Hathaway decides to go Hollywood with other juicy properties.