Let's Try This Again...

So after taking 2+ years off from blogging, I decided to try it again. My wife recently gave it a try and so I thought I would also pick it up again. Life has changed quite a bit since then. However, I got a chuckle out of reading through my old posts. It brought back some good memories.

When I finished with my undergrad degree in 2008, I had not clue what the next 2 years would look like. Obviously, no one could have forecasted the single largest economic collapse since the great depression, but lets not make excuses. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I think we have fared well enough. Certainly, Life is Good. Both Amanda and I are excited about our future. We may not know what it has in store but that is part of the excitement!

It is interesting to see how much I have changed in the last 2 years. Specifically, my views and opinions on the politics, economics, and our personal finances. I spent 4 years learning how to best diversify risk, minimize risks and maximize potential revenues, but all of that theory didn't do so well when I applied to my budget. Oddly enough, I took the polar opposite view of personal debt and we are trying to eliminate it from our lives.

At the end of 2008, my disgust for the republican party hit an all time high. The promise of a renewed commitment to education, a responsible end to the Iraq war and a the end of bi-partisanship in Washington sounded so appealing. However, the current Congress has increased the national deficit just as much as the prior one so I think all hopes are lost. I'll say this, the math is quite simple. Decreased tax revenue + increase in gov't spending = unsustainable deficits. Something has to give, somewhere.

After 6 years, I finally have the end in sight. This December, I will be done with my Master's and have pledged to take a break. Partly because my lenders really want me to repay the student loans and the other part is that I am really getting burned out. School has almost become an addiction. At times I feel like I could become a career student. Then finals role around and I swear I will never take another class again. I really do enjoy being in the classroom and I honestly think this is what I want to do with my life. However, I do not have enough gray hairs to start teaching right away. I plan to take a few years off and would like to start a PhD by the time I am 30. I think that is an attainable goal.

Below is a recent picture of Amanda and my Grandma Tourny on Vashon Island, WA.

Tried Playing Sudoku Lately...

Tried Playing Sudoku lately? How does your financial plan look? Does creating and editing your financial plan feel like playing Sudoku? Good…It should. Many people get excited when they start to invest & buy products to help secure their future, but rarely do they look to see if they pieces of their financial puzzle fit together. Are you investments complementary of each other? Maybe… Just maybe, all of those hours you spent struggling over that numerical word puzzle will be worth something after all!

To make sure everyone is on the same page, Sudoku is a logic-based number placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 boxes (also called blocks or regions) contains the digits from 1 to 9, only one time each (that is, exclusively). The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid.

So with any game, there is already something in play. What do you have to work with? What are already going in your financial plan? Maybe you have term life insurance or maybe you threw a couple bucks into a mutual fund. Do you know why you did it? Average rationale is for financial security later on in life or because you got a great tip from your buddy… Either way, have you thought about what you want to do with your money? Do you already have a financial plan? If so, do these current investments work for your plan? Your financial plan is going to be an always evolving and changing Sudoku puzzle. Why? Easy, because your situation is always changing and evolving. Your wants for today will probably change tomorrow.

So maybe we already have a few things working for us but let’s start at the very beginning. Look at your monthly or annual income. Do you spend more than you make? Easy Question. Simple Question. But this is probably the most important question you’ll have to ask. Leverage is an interesting concept. We all leverage ourselves to buy a house or a new car but does it make sense to leverage yourself to be able to invest? If you carry a balance on your credit card(s) while putting money away for investments, your all washed up. The average credit card balance for American’s is over $8,000! With interest rates on unsecured debt averaging 15% to 30%, the idea of investing in stocks to earn 8% to 12% is an oxymoron. Long story short, pay off unsecured debt before investing.

Next piece of solving the puzzle is to read, read, and read! The beauty of the Financial Markets is that they are a combination of politics, social factors, human psychology and more… There are dozens of magazines available for ever topic and they all help you to gain a more rounded picture of the domestic and global economy as a whole. The key is to get educated! Remember, if investing was easy everyone would be a millionaire! There are many financial advisors each with their own specialties that are available to assist you, but my advice is to shop advisors until you find someone that you trust! Find out what products are available and what the prices are. Remember, there’s no such thing as a free lunch! Each product sounds great, but they all cost you something. Ask, does this product, meet my goals in the short run or the long run?
It is important with investments and in life in general to look and see if what you are doing makes sense. It’s easy to get caught up in emotion and rush to make a decision. Take my advice, don’t make any decision the same day. Take your plan and turn it upside down. Does it still make sense? Look at each corner from a different perspective and maybe you can see things a little more clearly.

Just like when you began playing Sudoku, it takes time to learn a new thought process. Hang on, you’ll get it. Clean up unsecured debt and pick up a magazine or turn on a business news channel for a while. Relax, life’s journey, plan for the long run and enjoy the ride! Later Folks!

Why men do not write advice columns

Why men do not write advice columns

Dear Walter:
I hope you can help me here. The other day I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I had not gone more than a mile down the road when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt.

I walked back home to get my husband's help. When I got home, I could not believe my eyes. He was in the bedroom with a neighbor lady making mad passionate love to her. I am 32, my husband is 34 and we have been married for twelve years. When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted that he had been having an affair for the past six months. I told him to stop or I would leave him. He was let go from his job six months ago and he says he ha! s been f eeling increasingly depressed and worthless. I love him very much, but ever since I gave him the ultimatum, he has become increasingly distant. I do not feel I can get through to him anymore.

Can you please help?

Sincerely,
Mrs... Sheila Usk

Dear Sheila:
A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the jubilee clips holding the vacuum pipes onto the inlet manifold. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the carburetor float chamber. I hope this helps.

Lessons For a Life Long Marriage

I recently attended a 50th wedding anniversary for a couple. As we mingled among the crowd I spotted the husband and went to congratulate him. Of course, the only intelligent thing I could think to ask him was the same thing everyone else was asking him. How did you make it 50 years? His answer, "We never argued." I said, "yeah, seriously, how did you do it." He said, "No Seriously." and he proceeded to tell me this story. The day of their wedding he had prepared a horse and buggy to rid them off into the sunset after the wedding ceremony was over. The wedding came and went and they hopped into the buggy to drive off. He grabbed the reigns and they began down the road. After a few feet, the horse stopped. His wife got down from the buggy and walked in front of the horse. She said, "thats one!" She got back up and the horse started forward again but then stopped. Again, his wife got down in front of the horse and said, "thats two!" Again, the horse continued for a short distance and then stopped. This time when the wife got down she said, "thats three!" She pulled out a pistol and shot the horse dead. He said he was mortified! He began yelling and screaming at her. She looked up at him and softly said, "Hunny, thats one..." He said from that day on, they never had another argument.

Workin' Hard and Slupin' Chai...

Today is one of those days that seems to never end. Once I hit 12pm I became a zombie. On the flipside, I am tottally digging my new merino wool sweater. It was worth every dime... Hopefully, it doesn't shrink when I wash it or bleed and dye all of my other clothes maroon.

Everyone should buy a maroon merino wool sweater for christmas.

Later Folks!

Mices, Sugar Faries, and 4 yr olds...

So yesterday a friend told Mandy that she had two extra tickets to Ballet Idaho's production of the Nutcracker. Naturally, being the intelligent, sophisticated people we are, we chose to join them.

We enjoyed the production(at least the first half) of the show very much. The dancer's were very talented and the sets were elaborate enough. We sat in the middle rear of the balcony, but there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. Little did I realize that I was surrounded by little girls sitting on all sides of me. They were mesmerized by the "little mices" as the referred to them and the Rat King. Well if you know the story, you know the "little mices" aren't coming back after the Rat King is dead. Nevertheless, every two minutes this little girl kept asking her mom when the "little mices" were coming back. It was a quiet ask. It was a, I have to talk over the music to hear myself ask. What made it so comical was the mother kept "shushing" her daughter and every time the daughter would whisper in this raspy voice the same question but her whisper was louder than her normal voice! Ah.. the tickets were free, what can I say?

I did have a few observations while I was there. First, either the nutcracker was seriously "endowed" more than anyone on this planet or he forgot that folded up socks either go in a drawer or on the feet, not in the pants... Seriously, it's not natural. Get real man.. But what do you expect from a guy that has butt cheek implants and wears tights for a living. I never want to see another man in tights for as long as I live... So that little girl behind me got me thinking, she was asking her mom what they call male ballerina's and her mom didn't know. Neither do I. What do they call those guys? Ballerino's? Ballerinist's? If it was up to me, I'd just call em' weird.

Later Folks.

A Few Pictures for the birthday party last week.

All's Well That Ends Finals...

I don't think I have ever studied so much and slept so little for finals week before. Actually, I slept more than the average student and easily coasted through finals. If anyone ever wants to argue the morality of wealth and distribution or virtue theory let me know. I liked ethics interestingly enough... I think anyone who cheats in ethics class ultimately fails regardless of the grade they get in the class. I love the irony of that though, it cracks me up. Well I can say that I have taken my final winter final I will ever take in my undergraduate career. Boy, that feels good. My beautiful wife is still going to classes up until the 21st. Don't feel to bad for her, her clinicals are over with until next semester so she only goes to class twice a week. Later Folks.