I made some money today, $1654.00 just for living in Alaska.

It's no get-quick-rich scheme. But it IS true. Every man, woman and child who lived in Alaska for the entire year of 2006 (January 1 - December 31) is about to get a check for $1654.00. They announced the exact amount today. That means my little family of 4 will rake in $6616.00. My children's money will go into their college funds, but many families up here take a full family approach to spending the money with trips to exotic destinations for all. The sale signs will go up all over town at car dealerships, travel agencies, big boy toy stores (ATV's, Skidoo's, and boats), and any other store with big ticket items. There will be many items marked down to exactly $1654.00.

You've heard that there's no such thing as a free lunch, and it's true. There is a price to pay to collect the "PFD" (Permanent Fund Dividend). First of all you have to, um, live here. Not just in the summer, but year round. That means negative temperatures, piles of snow to shovel, and ice on your windshield in the morning. In the end, financially, we almost break even with the PFD in our back pocket. Our heating bills are sky high. Food and goods cost more up here too (think of how much of it is shipped up from elsewhere in the world). Some of that is offset by the fact that we have no sales tax or state income tax… hmmm… and wages tend to be a little higher. The truth is that you have to love it up here, or no amount of money is worth it. But, if you do love it… wildlife, mountains, crazy neighbors and the cold, that PFD check is icing on top of an already "delish" piece of cake.

The Alaska Permanent Fund was set up in 1976 with an amendment to our state constitution that at least "25% of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds, federal mineral revenue sharing payments and bonuses received by the state must be placed in a permanent fund, the principal of which may only be used for income producing investments." Initially, the money made from the investments was used only by our state government, but by 1980 dividends of $50.00 were being paid to residents as well. It became more defined in 1984 when a specific formula was put in place to calculate our earnings taking the average of 1/2 of the applicable fund income over each of the last 5 years and then dividing that amount by every eligible applicant.

That is as close as I can come to explaining it without my head exploding. If you want to find out more, you can check out their website at