I'll leggo my Eggo...for a price

The ways people try to make money never cease to amaze me.

Recently, the Kellogg Co. announced there will be a nationwide shortage of Eggo frozen waffles until next summer because of production issues. According to a report by the Associated Press, the public is already noticing near-empty Eggo shelves on the freezer aisle at many grocery stores.

And you know what that means, folks? The opportunists are already trying to cash in. There's talk on Twitter and Facebook that people are trying to sell their boxes of Eggos on eBay. Sure enough they're a few people trying to profit from the shortage. One person is auctioning off a box of waffles for $49.99, another for $65. If you are a bargain shopper, you can grab a box of blueberry Eggo waffles from one seller for 99 cents. Last I checked, there were no bids for any of the sellers.

¿Se Habla Dinero?

Ready to talk money today?

Please join me at noon for a discussion about my latest pick for the Color of Money Book Club, "¿Se Habla Dinero? The Everyday Guide to Financial Success." This book provides side-by-side Spanish and English translations of advice on basic money management. Here's the review, if you missed it.

My guests for the chat today will be Lynn Jimenez, author of "Se Habla Dinero?" and Randy Grindley, a certified financial planner who consulted on the book.

Even if you haven't read the book, join us. We'll be available to take your personal finance questions. If you can't join me live, you can submit a question early or read the transcript later.

Colombia Sells Y45B In 10-Year Samurai Bonds -Finance Minister

The Colombian government sold 45 billion yen ($500 million) worth of 10-year bonds in Tokyo to finance its 2009 budget, Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga said Wednesday.

The new bonds, which were sold at par, will yield 2.42%, Zuluaga said in a press conference in Bogota. The sale is part of a plan to diversify financing sources, he added.

The government will swap the proceeds of the bond sale into dollars, but won't change the dollars into pesos, he said.

"We don't want to take the currency risk," Zuluaga said. The government needs dollars to pay its dollar-denominated expenditures such as interest payments and weapons, he added.

Last month, Zuluaga had said the government was halting peso purchases to limit the currency appreciation.

Yen-denominated bonds issued in Japan by foreign borrowers are called Samurai bonds.

The bonds are guaranteed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and were lead managed by Mitsubishi UFJ Securities and Daiwa Securities SMBC.

The sale is the first bond offering by Colombia in Japan since 2005, when the country also issued bonds in a similar JBIC-backed private placement.

The new bonds will replace borrowing from multilateral lenders that was scheduled this year.

Zuluaga said the government doesn't plan to carry out this year any more borrowing for its 2010 needs.