My father passed away on September 8, 2018. He was 70 years old. I find it somewhat ironic I'm publishing this post today, September 11. Social media is rightfully flooded with "Never Forget" posts.
This past Sunday marked the one year anniversary of my dad's passing. I was having my morning coffee when it hit me. I felt sad, again. I still vividly remember getting the call from my brother this time last year.
Last week we were on vacation at my in laws house. Close family friends joined us for the trip and a couple of nights were spent around the table competing in the board game called Wits & Wagers. We paired up into teams of two with each team consisting of an adult and a kid. If you know anything about our family, we trend toward the "more competitive" side of the ledger. It was an intense couple of nights. Well, about as intense as a game of Wits & Wagers can get!
On Friday, Jill & I will celebrate 11 years of marriage. Hard to believe it’s been 11 years. Seems like just yesterday I was smashing wedding cake in her face.
We've been through a heckuva lot in those 11 years. Obviously we had our gaggle of kids in a short period of time and, I imagine like many other married couples, we've dealt with our share of challenges, too.
To quote my father-in-law, it's been the best 10.5 years of my life! Haha.
Our youngest son, Sutton, is playing baseball again this season. The team is comprised mostly of 7 year olds. So far, we've had a few practices and two games. And let me tell you…they stink.
Seriously. They're not good. After our last game Jill said to me, "It's like watching The Bad News Bears."
And she's not wrong.
Before you start thinking "Wow that's horrible,” or “How can they say/think such things," hear me out.
Interest rates have gone down again. In fact, last week the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest point in over 13 months. I imagine you’ll be getting calls from your lender, banks, etc. about refinancing. This tends to happen when rates go down.
I have a confession: I think refinancing a mortgage is a bad idea.
If you've been following along with the blog, you've probably figured out a few key themes I like to use when it comes to financial planning. Themes like: Focus on Financial Factors You Can Control, Life Is NOT A Straight Line, Rate of Savings > Rate of Return, Planning > The Plan, etc.
And where your money goes, and why.
That's what we're talking about this week.
On May 10, 2008 my wife Jill & I were married. On that day I became a father to my stepson, Jackson. Later that month I started my career in the financial services industry with a measly salary that I was responsible for building and growing.
On June 17, 2009, Jill & I had our first child together.
Now imagine we met with a financial planner who…
Last week I showed you the financial planning formula. Here it is again
Pop quiz: of the four factors in our formula, how many of them are variable?
If you answered all of them, go ahead and give yourself a round of applause. One of the issues with our formula is…
Today is Wednesday, July 3. And tomorrow, July 4, we'll celebrate our nation's anniversary of independence. We will let freedom ring. We'll proudly wave our American flags. We'll drown our kids (and ourselves) in red white and blue. And then at the end of the day, we'll shoot off some fireworks.
It will be awesome.
Independence for our great nation did not come easy. In fact, the Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 - 1783. It took our country eight long years to achieve independence. And since this blog is (mostly) about money, the irony of The Revolutionary War happening over taxation is not lost on me.
Our daughter AnnaMay is ridiculously impulsive. She flitters from one activity to another, often leaving a trail of unfinished activities in her wake. Some days it's like a human tornado tore through our house.
And she can rarely walk by Jill or me without some form of physical contact. Maybe a touch on the back, a little "love" punch on the arm, or some type of quasi kung fu maneuver. She *has* to touch us. We love her unconditionally and we realize this is who she is, part of her DNA. She's impulsive.
Budget. It's a dirty, dirty word. Go ahead and say it out loud. See how many people around you avoid eye contact with you or give you nasty looks. I'm telling you! It's right up there with the dirtiest of the dirty words. It conjures up feelings of anxiety, fear, and even downright disgust in many people. Why? I'll tell you why.
Budgets can feel constricting, suffocating, and demanding. They ask of you to stay within the confines of the box. They come with defined borders.
And we don't like them! For many reasons.
If you don't know about the Nintendo Switch - well I didn't know much about it, either. All I know is it was one of the hottest items for the holidays. As the kids ramped up for Christmas, all we heard about was the Nintendo Switch. And they put on the full court press. Like Nolan Richardson Arkansas basketball circa 1990’s full court press. Honestly, it was exhausting. Every list for Santa included it. And they must have made like 15 lists each.
Jill and I talked about it and ultimately the kids did not get a Nintendo Switch from Santa.
Before you go yelling “Bah Humbug!” and calling us Scrooges, hear me out.
To get started, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Don't worry, they're simple. Let's go:
when did you graduate from college?
when did you get married?
what's your address?
how many square feet is your condo/apartment/house?
I imagine the answers among all of you reading this are quite varied. I also imagine if you asked the same exact questions to your best friend, neighbor, or co-worker, you're most likely going to get answers totally different than yours.
Let's try a few more questions. Also very simple questions:
