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Are Robert Kiyosaki’s Books a Stepping Stone To Wealth?
Published on 2012-05-24 11:33:17
I decided to go back and re-read (actually listen to the audio books format) some of the famous “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author, Robert Kiyosaki’s original books. Much to my surprise, they are actually very good! Oh sure, they are lacking in details and the content is not always spot on, but overall they are [...] > read more
Losing Weight Frugally?
Published on 2012-05-21 15:07:00
I’m down over 20 pounds to date. It’s been a hard time losing weight because I’ve been sick with vertigo like symptoms for the past month. Even so, I’ve still manage to lose at least 5 more pounds since my symptoms started. So the question is: “Am I Losing Weight Frugally“? After all this was [...] > read more
Beyond Frugal – Fixing My Son’s Broken Bike
Published on 2012-05-18 19:18:59
An unfortunate thing happened last week… my wife ran over my son’s bike! Actually she was backing up the car and my son left his bike behind the car. As she was backing up, she heard it fall and stopped immediately. Even though she basically just tapped the bike and if fell, it was enough [...] > read more
When Water Is Worth More Than Gold
Published on 2012-05-15 14:31:23
There are many reasons that the price of gold has gone up so much over the past few years. One reason is that the developing countries (especially India) is buying more gold as these countries become more wealthy. Another reason is that it’s a scarce resource so naturally as the population all over the word [...] > read more
Debt Free… Now What? Real Estate
Published on 2012-05-13 01:05:53
I’ve been Debt Free since the beginning of February 2010! I write about the money I became Debt-Free in the article called “I Am Debt Free, My Mortgage Countdown #1 – Equilibrium” . In the article I revealed the technique I used to become Debt Free and how I felt… It was truly an exciting [...] > read more
Fixing The Penny Problem With A New Currency?
Published on 2012-05-09 20:14:55
In my article “Should Pennies Be Made From Recycled Plastic“, I suggested replacing pennies with recycled plastic. The idea being that if we replace a penny with a plastic instead of metal, the benefits would be two-fold. First, the recycled plastic version would be much cheaper to create that the metal version, and secondly we [...] > read more
Is Now The Time To Buy Real Estate?
Published on 2012-05-06 23:28:29
With interest rates are a ridiculously low rate, I have to wonder “Is this the time to buy real estate“? Since interest rates are below 4.0% for both the 15 year and 30 year mortgage loans, I’ve started to unconsciously notice the houses and multi-family apartments for sale. For the multi-family units, I’m mostly looking [...] > read more
Shound Pennies Be Made From Recycled Plastic?
Published on 2012-05-03 19:02:53
In the United States, it cost more to make a penny than it’s work! “It costs almost 1.7 cents to make a penny,” said U.S. Mint director Ed Moy. See original 2008 article here: Penny Problem. Since it cost more to make a penny, why not start to make the pennies out of recycled plastic? [...] > read more
Making a Temporary Illness Work To Your Advantage
Published on 2012-04-29 09:43:18
I’m still sick, but I’m optimistic about my blogging content once I get better… Sometimes getting sick works to your advantage because it breaks an repeating routine and the downtime enables you to think see and think outside of your regular routine. For me, such times enable to to take everything in and readjust my [...] > read more
Blogging While Sick
Published on 2012-04-25 01:38:21
It’s been 6 days since I posted my last blog entry, and I feel compelled to post this article even though I’m sick. You see, for the past few days, I’ve had a dizziness that hasn’t completely gone away yet. Slowly, I’m getting better, but I’m still sick. Health is an interesting area for me, [...] > read more
Everything Goes Trash Night – Bizarro Christmas Year 2
Published on 2012-04-19 07:47:04
Our community has a special trash night were we are allowed to get rid of everything except mattresses. I blogged out it last year as “Everything Goes Trash Night is Like Bizarro Christmas” where this special day is almost like a holiday for my wife and I. It’s a great opportunity to get rid of [...] > read more
Fixing Your Garage Door Opener By DIY
Published on 2012-04-17 10:16:28
Fixing your garage door by DIY via googling the problem My garage door opener stopped moving the door one day. My son pushed the button to open it, and the door made it half way up, but then stopped. The sound of the opener changed from the regular sound to the sound of a vacuum [...] > read more
Learning Versus Watching TV As Entertainment
Published on 2012-04-14 13:12:46
If you are a regular reader here, you know I’m against wasting time watching too much TV (especially reality TV). In the defense of TV though, it’s a quick and easy for of entertainment. In fact, I would go so far as to compare it to going through a Drive-Thru line at a fast food [...] > read more
Is a Vacation To Colonial Williamsburg Worth The Money
Published on 2012-04-12 14:31:51
A vacation is a tricky matter when determining if such a cost is worth it or not, especially since you only know after your vacation is finished. Back when I was younger, I took a trip with my “then” girlfriend to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. My “back then” girlfriend had gone as a child with [...] > read more
Reasons To Get A Tax Refund
Published on 2012-04-09 12:47:48
This is yet another year that I’m filing my income tax return… I know that this year there is a good chance that I’ll have to pay taxes, so the motivation to do my taxes early, no longer exists as was the case just a few years ago. Most financial advisers will recommend against withholding [...] > read more
Avoiding Problems Too Long Is A Subpar Way To Live
Published on 2012-04-06 00:45:17
Sidestepping problems and letting them dwell for way too long instead of confronting them head on is a subpar way to live life. While sometimes you get lucky and the problem works its way out, this is a bad way to handle things, as some problems linger for years and years. Some things are complicated [...] > read more
Are You Trying to Become Financially Independent?
Published on 2012-04-04 09:57:22
Can you honestly say that you are trying to become financially independent? I wasted a lot of the earlier stages in my life watching way too many TV shows, which provided no value whatsoever. I watch a lot of the TV shows at the time so I could relate with my classmates and other so [...] > read more
Knowing When To Try Something New
Published on 2012-04-03 07:23:16
Life is too short to life in a stalled state. These past few month, I’m really starting to examine everything that I do and all the plans that I currently have. I’m finding that I’m unnaturally holding some things that shouldn’t be. This doesn’t bode well for me or those involved and makes for an [...] > read more
Benefits of Blogger Carnivals
Published on 2012-03-31 13:28:44
Blogger Carnivals are a great mechanism to get noticed from both the public and your niche blogging community (Mine is personal finance and anything money or value related). In this article I’m going to identify the various benefits of both “submitting to” and hosting blogger carnivals. Benefits of Hosting a Carnivals This is a great [...] > read more
Accelerating Weight Loss Cheaply With Light Exercise
Published on 2012-03-28 05:50:49
So what exactly do I mean “Accelerating Weight Loss Cheaply With Light Exercise? And why didn’t I start out with such an exercise program to begin with? Over the past few weeks, I’ve been able to loss more than 10 pounds! Considering how out of shape I was, that’s the magical number than means I [...] > read more
Wealth Without Health Is Worthless
Published on 2012-03-26 05:36:32
What is wealth if all you do is sit at home, perhaps watching TV day in and day out? Oh sure, you might have the nicest leather couch, and the biggest TV on the block, but from a functional and productivity standpoint, you are still watching TV like most of us middle class folks. Unfortunately, [...] > read more
Yakezie Carnival – The Early Spring Jump Edition!
Published on 2012-03-24 23:03:14
Welcome to the Yakezie Carnival Early Spring Jump Edition! It’s been a great March where I live, with temperatures going up to the mid-80s. It’s been so nice that I’ve been trying to balance enjoying the unseasonably good weather and work. So far work has won… In fact, I almost called this the Yakezie Carnival [...] > read more
Can A Side Blogging Business Help You At Your Primary Job
Published on 2012-03-22 00:19:10
I didn’t start out wanting to improve my productivity and efficiency at my primary “employed” job by blogging on the side, but it seems to have happened that way. This wasn’t so at first, in fact I felt a bit overwhelmed because its like working two full-time jobs instead of one, but now I’ve learned [...] > read more
Financially Shifting My Investment Strategy To One That Slides
Published on 2012-03-19 06:37:56
I’ve been very busy lately, too busy! Actually, I’ve been so busy that I don’t have the time to focus on the investments and investing in general. This is not the first time this has happened to me, and hopefully it won’t be the last. It’s okay though and I’m going to explain why and [...] > read more
Carnival of Money Pros #3 St. Patty’s After-Day Fun
Published on 2012-03-18 08:05:02
Well it’s the day after St. Patrick’s Day. Isn’t it amazing how far this holiday? has become? It’s more like Christmas for the bars, where everybody dresses in green and goes out drinking (at least the college aged crowd does). The closest I got to a bar and green beer, was when my son and [...] > read more
Your First Investment Should Be Fun And Exciting!
Published on 2012-03-13 05:09:38
You’ll read a lot in the personal finance community about the perfect ordering of how you should invest your money in investments. Such investing strategies typically goes like the following: If your employer has a 401(k), invest in that first. Next, put you money in either a Roth or Traditional IRA. Finally, open a regular [...] > read more
Fun on a Sunday
Published on 2012-03-11 13:00:05
Today, the weather is so nice for a March day, that I decided to go out and had a little fun with the family instead of staying boarded up in the house! But not wanting leave nothing here on this fine Sunday, inspired by Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, I decided to share a video [...] > read more
The Good, Being Wealthy Can Do
Published on 2012-03-09 08:49:16
We’ve all seen the classic representation of the wealthy constantly monitoring their wealth and always trying to make a buck. In such depictions of the wealthy, one could believe that the rich are actually a very small-minded, unintelligent group. But I think that real history proves otherwise, and today I’m going to discuss my top [...] > read more
A Small Startup Business Should Pay No Taxes For Two Years!
Published on 2012-03-07 10:49:28
I’ve been think about this for a while, and I think that startup businesses shouldn’t have to pay taxes for at least two years after starting a new business. If you read the statistics on small business startups, you’ll read that at least 80% of small businesses fail during the first five years! Well, no [...] > read more
Eating Out Alone – A Blogging Experiment
Published on 2012-03-05 05:08:21
Last week was a bit of an anomaly for me in that I ate out every day for lunch and sometimes breakfast, ALONE! I even went to a bar that had WiFi access on one of those days. Now regular readers know that I”m frugal if not out and out cheap, so why would I [...] > read more
The Problem with Being Too Frugal or Tight with Money
Published on 2012-03-02 07:32:44
When I was young, I didn’t have any money other than from allowance (which I pretty much was taught to save). In fact, I was so frugal as a child, I hardly spent any money at all because of the belief that I needed to save it all. While my financial picture was always pretty [...] > read more
Realizing the Difference Between Wanting and Doing
Published on 2012-02-29 05:08:47
Last year (2011), I spend a lot of soul-searching and came to a few solid conclusions that I thought were interesting and helpful. So I thought I’d share my thinking on realizing the difference between wanting and doing. 1.) Doing is much Better than Wanting! I’m kind of a paradox, in that I have abilities [...] > read more
Carnival of Retirement, 8th Edition – How We Want To Retire
Published on 2012-02-27 05:00:48
Welcome to the most recent Edition of the Carnival of Retirement. If you want to submit a post for next week’s edition, please use the submission form. Next week’s edition will be hosted by Sense to Save. Many of us PF (Personal Finance) bloggers don’t view retirement the same way as the rest of [...] > read more
How Money Can Increase Happiness Mega – List
Published on 2012-02-26 12:34:44
Last week, I created the article called: How Money Can Improve Your Life and Make You Happier. After writing it I thought, I bet other pf (personal finance) bloggers may have ideas that I didn’t think of or perhaps never would. So the following is a listing of those blogger’s comments and the creative ideas [...] > read more
How Money Can Improve Your Life and Make You Happier
Published on 2012-02-24 11:47:01
There are some studies out there that claim that earning more than $75,000 a year can’t make you more happy in your day-to-day life. If you want to read an article that claims such a reality, check out this article at Businessweek: After $75,000, Money Can’t Buy Day-to-Day Happiness. The article is based on of [...] > read more
Do You Think You Are A Victim Of The Wealthy?
Published on 2012-02-22 10:21:31
What if I told you the people who are complaining about the wealthy are the same people keeping your from becoming wealthy yourself? I think there is misinformation floating around that casts the wealthy as if they were all evil like the old evil stepmother depiction that was oh so popular in the Disney movie [...] > read more
Working Two Jobs At Once – Making Twice As Much
Published on 2012-02-20 10:20:30
I’ve just found out that one of my friends that I use to work with until recently made over $200,000 last year by working two jobs at once in the technology services area. In 2010, since the economy appeared to be on the recovery path, he decided to quit working for the company that I [...] > read more
Mistakes Made When You Are Tired!
Published on 2012-02-19 18:42:40
Today, I’m shot! I’ve been too busy and I’ve been staying up too late at night working on side projects. Well, I cost someone an hour of their life today! Here is my story! Our family drove down to our friend’s house to celebrate their two-year old’s birthday party. It’s like a two-hour drive down [...] > read more
Blaming Your Credit Card Debt On Your Spouse
Published on 2012-02-17 07:37:16
Do you blame your credit card problems on your wife or husband spending habits while ignoring your own? How I View Credit Cards: First, let me say that I personally enjoy and using credit cards, but only when it’s to my financial advantage. I even use my Chase Freedom Credit Card when I buy items [...] > read more
The Very Wealthy Do Not Know How Much Wealth They Have
Published on 2012-02-15 01:02:36
I remember reading an article on Donald Trump many year ago when he claimed that he wasn’t absolutely sure what his net worth was! At the time, I thought “The Donald” was trying to avoid stating his true value because he wasn’t worth as much as he claimed, but now I’ve changed my mind. For [...] > read more
Spending Money On Kids
Published on 2012-02-12 23:48:46
Today my son asked if he could spend $2 to buy special armor for some free online tank game. Since I knew it was a free game, I instantly shot down that idea, actually making him feel a little bad in the process. While I didn’t mean to make him feel bad, sometime the way [...] > read more
Lifestyle Change Update – Moving Past The Setbacks
Published on 2012-02-12 10:38:22
The end of January was tough with two small health setbacks that in the past would have stall my progress on changing my lifestyle. Instead of embracing the setback, I thought of ways to use it to my advantage. Very seldom in life is it an absolute “black or white” scenario, where it’s either one [...] > read more
Quitting When Things Go Wrong
Published on 2012-02-10 06:18:53
Last night was a horrible night for my daughter. For the past few years she has been involved in the yearly talent show at school. Each year she has been able to wow the audience with her skills in various area. Last night, she was doing a gymnastics routine and she forgot her next step [...] > read more
Does Sampling A Vacation Make Financial Sense?
Published on 2012-02-08 00:40:04
Have you ever paid big buck for a vacation, only to get to the location and realize that it was terribly overrated and overpriced? The vacation would end up being a horribly expensive experience because you packed up the entire family and flew them to the location, only to be disappointed and much poorer? Sampling [...] > read more
Credit Card Fraud Examples
Published on 2012-02-05 23:43:41
Credit Card Fraud Credit cards have become more commonly and frequently utilized than paper dollar bills in most places. As you might expect, with the rise of credit cards as the primary medium of exchange has come an enormous increase in the amount and instances of credit card fraud. Five particular cases in particular stand [...] > read more
Best Super Bowl 2012 Commercials And Game Thoughts
Published on 2012-02-05 21:38:08
The Super Bowl XLVI was a close game as expect, and the Giants won again. In fact, in many ways it was very similar to their previous Super Bowl match-up. While it was a fairly entertaining game to watch, I’m still glad I’m at home instead of paying the face value of Super Bowl XLVI [...] > read more
Blogging Tip 1 – Comment Strategies
Published on 2012-02-04 11:37:53
Today I decided to break out of the usually finance related topics and mention a new find that I just realized while trying to post a comment on a site that had the comment box a bit too small. You see, I ended up writing a comment that was almost as long as the original [...] > read more
Wealth Myth – Stay Married to Become Wealthy
Published on 2012-02-02 00:44:08
Like everything in life, the “Stay Married to Become Wealthy” saying really depends on the situation! I have two different friends that have financial inept spouses from Hell. One got a divorce and is doing fine, while the other is living in a continually tortured life with constant battles with debt. Friend #1 (this is [...] > read more
iPod touch As A Birthday Present
Published on 2011-07-06 00:00:05
Up to the current last few days, I’ve resisted buying an Apple product. That was then, but now I’ve changed my mind and I bought the iPod touch as a birthday present for my son. To me, Apple products were just too expensive, especially > read more
Frugal Weight Loss and Body Shaping
Published on 2011-07-04 23:09:44
I just weight myself this morning and after a little over 3 weeks, I’m down 20 pounds! So what’s the big deal about losing 20 pounds? I’m going to exercising to start shaping my body into the athletic look that improved the way I f > read more
Small City 4th of July Fireworks Display
Published on 2011-07-04 04:28:40
Traditionally my small city has had their 4th of July fireworks display on July 3rd, and this year was no exception. The reasons they have it on July 3rd instead of the 4th is because they can hire a crew to set off the fireworks more cheapl > read more
MR Cache: Looking Better While Losing Weight
Published on 2011-07-03 10:04:45
Weekly Thoughts: On the frugal weight loss diet that I’ve started, I’m down 18 pounds in a bit over 3 weeks. Now, you’d think I’d be happy with my weight loss, but surprisingly I’m not. Why? Because while even weight l > read more
Making The Most Of Three Day Weekends
Published on 2011-07-02 09:11:58
Next week, The 4th of July in the US falls on a Monday, and I’m excited because that means we’ll get a three-day weekend! In the past, a three-day weekend was just another day to lounge around the house watching the same old TV shows. I > read more
Are You Overspending Today Because Of A Future Inheritance?
Published on 2011-06-30 23:24:07
I have a friend at work who seems to have holes in his pockets! He is always broke and deep into credit card debt and doesn’t have any equity in his house after paying into his mortgage for over ten years (he keeps refinancing, taking the > read more
A Look At Hourly versus Salaried Employment
Published on 2011-06-30 05:34:44
Some changes in my employer’s industry has changed my job’s employment type from salary to hourly. While my manager said he would try to get me promoted as quickly as possible to the salary grade level, I don’t know if I want it. > read more
Why Experimental Learning Is Better Than Book Learning
Published on 2011-06-28 23:27:59
Let me say that learning from books is a great thing that we have all benefited from greatly! If fact, it would be a sad, sad world if we didn’t have books to learn from. It’s how we learned the majority of what we know! Without the e > read more
Maximizing Time While Changing Car Oil
Published on 2011-06-27 23:51:15
Well, it’s been 5 months and it’s time to change the oil in my car. I remember as a teenager and later as a cash poor college student changing the oil myself. It’s not really a hard task, but I still hate to waste the time doing i > read more
How To Be Like A Landlord Without Owning Rental Property
Published on 2011-06-27 04:33:40
I have a friend at work that has experience what it’s like being a Landlord, even though he doesn’t own rental property. My friend (let’s call him Phil), has a 4 bedroom house but only 2 kids. So one year my friend and his wife de > read more
MR Cache: Losing Wealth Because Of Insecurities
Published on 2011-06-26 01:15:50
Weekly Thoughts: I was watching a show called Flipping Vegas, when the people who was doing the flipping discovered a hidden wall in the closet. They tore down the fake drywall sheeting, and they discovered a safe behind the wall. Now throughout > read more
Self-Improvement Benefits of Blogging
Published on 2011-06-25 01:43:36
My Blog Beginning Like many others bloggers out there, I started blogging because I wanted to share the techniques that I”ve used to achieve a degree of financial success. I honestly thought that I was going to write so that the average perso > read more
Purging Items That Appear To Have Value But Don’t
Published on 2011-06-24 05:56:17
My basement is full of Items That Appear To Have Value But Don’t! I have over 15 computers in my house, but only 4 are currently being used. While I don’t have any computer that doesn’t have at least a 32 bit CPU inside, some of t > read more
Toro Lawn Mower Woes, Complaining To Get It Fixed For Free
Published on 2011-06-23 05:48:20
Well after writing up a glowing review of my Toro Lawn Mower, it decided to break… Murphy’s Law strikes again! Once of the most important points for me when I bought my lawn mower, was that the product had to have some type of warranty. > read more
Is Clutter Keeping You From Being More Successful?
Published on 2011-06-21 23:24:21
In an earlier articles called “Getting Wealthy By Swimming to Shore“, I compare the process of getting out of debt and becoming rich to swimming to the ocean shore. Becoming “Financial Independent” would be accomplished once > read more
To IPod Touch or Not To IPod Touch, That Is The Question!
Published on 2011-06-21 05:31:05
I’m starting to see more and more of my friends and co-workers with an iPad, iPhone or an iPod Touch. Well actually I don’t see may of my co-workers with an iPod touch, but my son really, really, really want one for his birthday, and he > read more
The Benefits of a High Credit Score
Published on 2011-06-19 23:30:13
Ever since I was young, I was taught the benefits of establishing a high credit score. My parents taught me to purchase things on the credit card since the first day that I got my first credit card, but they also pounded into my brain that I s > read more
MR Cache: Vacations Changes
Published on 2011-06-19 11:06:19
Weekly Thoughts I had planned on going to Hawaii this year, but my family had other plans. My wife said that Hawaii would cost us around $10,000 and that it’s too big of a financial expense for us at this time. Oh we could put the vacation on > read more
Nurturing Young Creativity
Published on 2011-06-18 00:00:30
My 7 year old daughter is always doing things that make me go “Wow, I never thought of that“. In fact, she does things that I’ve never seen anyone do before! Today I’m going to describe some of her more creative accomplish > read more
Memories of Poor Friends In My Distant Past
Published on 2011-06-16 23:40:58
When I was a young kid, I remember being at my neighbor’s house and experiencing a lifestyle that was very different from where I lived. I didn’t realize that they were poor at the time though. I’m going to describ > read more
Summary of My Soccer Coaching Experience
Published on 2011-06-15 23:51:56
Well, after all the makeup games from bad weather, the soccer season has finally ended for my U7 Girls soccer team. After a slow start, the girls came through with flying colors. While we did lose our previous game, it was very close and I believe > read more
Debt Busting Credit Cards
Published on 2011-06-15 05:29:30
Today’s post is provided by Les, who is a writer for moneysupermarket.com. Credit cards come in many guises to entice new borrowers. However, with discipline and a good routine, one type of offer, the balance transfer, can be made to work in th > read more
Stop Living For the Weekend and Just Start Living
Published on 2011-06-13 23:44:38
All too often we hear people saying that they “Live for the Weekend”! To be honest, I use to be of that same mindset too, I also saved myself for the weekend and during the week I would work, watch TV, then go to bed everyday… un > read more
Creating Investment Income Milestones Update
Published on 2011-06-12 23:34:02
Last year, I decided to use milestones as a way of tracking my investment income stream progress. I’ve used milestones as a way to help focus on paying down my mortgage. The advantage of using such milestones is that it provides an extra i > read more
MR Cache: Another Busy Weekend
Published on 2011-06-12 02:45:26
Weekly Thoughts This was another busy weekend! Makeup soccer games, weddings and birthdays. I hate such busy weekends, I have a lot of work to do around the house and I’m not getting it done fast enough! It use to be harder for me because > read more
Losing Weight The Frugal Way Update 1
Published on 2011-06-10 07:17:07
It’s been 1 week and 2 days since I started my frugal weight loss diet, but since half the battle of such programs is the start, it’s time for a quick update! I’ve been able to keep my meal expenses under $10 easily enough, so thi > read more
The Spendthrift Friend Who Thought She Was Frugal
Published on 2011-06-09 05:34:04
Last week, I was talking to a friend on the phone about finances and I decided to pay her a compliment, telling her that I could tell that she really started cutting back on her spending and that she has a finer control over her finances. In her past > read more
Are We Really Using All Of Our Collective Brainpower?
Published on 2011-06-08 07:19:20
Say you have 2 rooms, Room A and Room B . In Room A, you have 1,000 people and the two smartest individuals (based on job, test scores, etc) are chosen to be the problems solvers and inventors (designated by test scores). The rest of the group watc > read more
Enhancing My Local Community, If I Were Rich
Published on 2011-06-07 04:46:48
I wrote about If I Were Rich Today! almost a year ago, and while the post is still true today, my thoughts about the effects of being personally rich would affect my community. If I were rich today, I would try to make a larger impact within my com > read more
Backyard Camping At Home On The Cheap
Published on 2011-06-06 04:52:40
My son loves the idea of camping! That said, we have a packed daily schedule that really won’t enable us to go to a real camp site for quite a while, so instead we decided to have a camping experience at home. While camping in itself isn̵ > read more
MR Cache: Another Soccer Victory, But Also a Sad Day
Published on 2011-06-04 23:00:10
Weekly Thoughts The team I’m coaching had another victory today, but at a cost. The other girls team had one or two girl who kept tripping our girls from behind! My daughter was tripped and even had her hand stepped on. I was fuming as I > read more
Credit Cards Cannot Be Used To Buy Certain Things!
Published on 2011-06-03 01:45:00
In the article on the Smartmoney.com website called: What Your Credit Card Won’t Let You Buy, the article makes the following statement: To the surprise of consumers, major credit card companies are making decisions about what they can and can& > read more
Is Blogging For Me?
Published on 2011-06-02 05:31:09
Do you ever ask “Is Blogging for me”, or “What is blogging like”? If you have asked this questions, then you are at the right blog site because I am going to provide my experiences with blogging to date! Let me start by saying > read more
Why I Went With Term Life Insurance
Published on 2011-06-01 02:02:12
I went with term life insurance because it’s all that I could afford. Considering I had goals of paying my mortgage off early, contributing to my 401k, funding my kids 529 plans and investing in my Roth IRA and regular brokerage accounts, I j > read more
Losing Weight the Frugal Way
Published on 2011-05-31 04:27:04
To lose weight the frugal way is to simple eat less and consume food that are cheaper but still hold nutritional value. I’m tired of yo-yo diets, and intense workouts that I eventually get tired of and quit. I knew this at the beginning of th > read more
My Toro Lawn Mower Review and Why I Recommend It
Published on 2011-05-29 23:29:17
Late last year, my old lawn mower (Mean Green) finally broke beyond repair, and so I had to kick it to the curb. Before I bought my new red toro lawn mower, I borrowed mowers in the past including a Honda push mower (very heavy), a John Deere self > read more
MR Cache: Soccer Victory, Lessons Learned From 7 Year Old Girls
Published on 2011-05-29 02:08:22
Weekly Thoughts: My 7-year-old girls soccer team stomped the other team this week. The other team’s coach actually coaches our city high school girl’s soccer team, so I thought we were going to be slaughtered, but I was wrong. Now grant > read more
Is the Draining Process of Social Security to Speed Up?
Published on 2011-05-28 04:00:15
I was reading an article at the Financial Samurai’s site called “An Unemployment Epidemic For College Graduates“ and as I felt bad for recent graduates, I stated to wonder what about Social Security and the effects on it? My ques > read more
Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony and Time
Published on 2011-05-26 23:32:35
We all went to my daughter’s “Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony” last night, but of all the people there, there were only 4 males (including my son and I). We got there are 6:00pm but the actual Bridging Ceremony would begin until 8:00pm > read more
Debt Reduction and the 3 Steps For Creating a Repayment Plan That Is Almost Fun
Published on 2011-05-25 04:55:10
Believe it or not, but “Debt Reduction” can almost be a fun process! During the time that I was repaying my mortgage and two car (all at the same time), hitting certain milestones that I created was almost fun! I thought I would share > read more
Maximizing Your Lifestyle Responsibly
Published on 2011-05-24 03:14:11
The following article was originally post as a guest post at Cashflow Sherpas, to view it in it’s original form, click here. The following article is an updated and slightly improved version of the article, but updated enough to make both sto > read more
Dividend Stocks, Free Lunch Experiment #10
Published on 2011-05-22 23:54:54
I thought my experiment would have a setback with the downturn in the market, but surprisingly, since my last update, it’s still up. It’s been two months since my last update, and I after some passive thinking, I’ve come to the real > read more
MR Cache: Lessons From Coaching
Published on 2011-05-22 10:51:03
Weekly Thoughts: I thought I was going to be different, in that I had it all figured out with an idea on how I was going to rotate the 7-year-old girl’s soccer team that I’m a coach of. Reality didn’t match the logic in my head th > read more
Is Technology A Job Killer?
Published on 2011-05-21 03:45:59
Unemployment remains on the high side, and while offshore has taken its toll, I believe that technology has contributed more than people realize too. We all know friends (and maybe we do this ourselves too), that will go to a walk-in store, evaluate > read more
Hilton Head Island Again?
Published on 2011-05-20 06:49:15
This year my entire family decided to take a trip down to Hilton Head Island again. Hopefully, we’ll most likely stay at the same Hilton Head house as we have in previous years. We like the familiar Hilton Head house because we are comfortabl > read more
The Three Little Financial Pigs: Pig #3 Update
Published on 2011-05-18 23:15:45
I like to think of the third little pig as myself, but I don’t really know if I”m really qualified to make that claim. In my last post I stated that I’m really more of a Pig #2 1/2 or even a Pig #2 3/4 than the full pig 3 type. If > read more
When Is Gas Considered A Luxury?
Published on 2011-05-18 00:29:23
So at what point is gas considered a luxury good, and if not now, then when should we think of it as one? Where I live, gas is at $4.00 a gallon, and I started wondering what would the monthly cost be if the price continues to climb. So below is so > read more
Discoveries By Accident
Published on 2011-05-16 23:13:56
I woke up today to discover that the front tire on my car was flat. I took my tire off and started my grand search for the elusive nail or metal shard that punctured my tire and let the air leak out slowly. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find the h > read more
Missing But Not Worrying Financially About My Family
Published on 2011-05-16 00:04:41
Yesterday, I got back from a business trip for my employer. While most of the time I was gone, my mind was on business events during the day, and mingling socially with peers during the evening, I did have time to realize how much I missed my family. > read more
Steps to Prepare To Fly
Published on 2011-05-14 01:46:47
I’m currently getting ready to fly back home. The following are a few things that I made sure were in place to make my flight less stressful and for emergency situations. First, since I have kids, I made sure that my life insurance is at a resp > read more
A Glimpse Into A Different Life
Published on 2011-05-13 04:59:05
This week I’ve been given the rare opportunity to see what life would be like if I was without a family and lived in a different state. My experience is similar to the movie “The Family Man“, but the opposite way. Instead of gi > read more
Getting Or Making Money On Deals
Published on 2011-05-12 03:39:46
One time in the past, I would pass by deals that might come my way if I didn’t directly want them. Often time, such deals would be at a cost of only 10% or less of their true value. Today, I now understand that skipping such deals is like > read more
Dining Out Alone Experiment
Published on 2011-05-11 03:05:28
After being inspired by the book “The Art Of Nonconformity” by Chris Guillebeau, I decided to venture out and go to a nice restaurant by myself. I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy skipping out on the rest of the guy to go to a restaur > read more
Making Mistakes, Average Versus Brilliant People
Published on 2011-05-10 00:54:24
Today, I discovered something that I think is quite interesting and worth sharing. When smart people make mistakes, the way they handle it is in such a way that it doesn’t seem like it’s a real mistake! It’s almost like it’s > read more
Goodbye Citi Diamond Preferred Credit Card, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Published on 2011-05-09 01:50:34
The Citi Diamond Preferred card and I have been going steady for more than 6 years, and I was very happy with the card, we had a great time together going on vacation and spending time and money on great enjoyable products such as new computers, TVs, > read more
MR Cache: Going Back To Cali
Published on 2011-05-07 23:10:57
Weekly Thoughts: Yep, it’s that time of the year again… Training! This year I’m flying to Cali to learn and review some Microsoft products. I’m actually excited about going, it should be fun since I’ll be in the San > read more
Free Cars in The Future and High Gas Prices
Published on 2011-05-07 03:01:31
The year is 2021, and now cars are free! Well, to be exact, fossil fuel powered cars are free. The still growing electric car segment is still quite pricey. Surprisingly, the Chevy Volt now cost $60,000, a 50% increase over the 2011 price of $40, > read more
Treasure Hunting With Kids
Published on 2011-05-06 02:37:04
Geocaching is searching for hidden prizes using a GPS unit (like Garmin). This is great fun, and my kids and I had a ball doing this in the past. And while I still enjoy geocaching, the prizes in the cache wasn’t exactly a great find, in > read more
Using Wasted Time To Your Advantage
Published on 2011-05-05 06:47:13
Lately, I’ve learned to take greater advantage of dead or wasted time periods! Such “time periods” are when you are driving to work, waiting in a fast food line (or really any line), walking out to your car, waiting for the kid̵ > read more
Paying Expenses From Dividends
Published on 2011-05-03 23:33:00
Paying normal expenses is a lot like renting, you never really get ahead and may even be living paycheck to paycheck for your entire life, just barely getting by. Or perhaps you are hording away money living like a miser until it’s time to reti > read more
Mortgage Free versus Paying For 30 Years
Published on 2011-05-03 05:38:53
Today I’m going to talk about why I believe paying off your home mortgage early makes more sense for us middle folks (and probably the upper folks too) instead of investing all of your extra money into the stock market. From some financial adv > read more
Pros and Cons of Building a House
Published on 2011-05-02 00:11:18
When my wife and I were looking to buy a house, at first we just wanted to buy an existing house. Our theory was that it would be cheaper. After over 6 months of causal searching, we started coming to the realization that building a house was a > read more
MR Cache: Making Time For Kids!
Published on 2011-05-01 03:37:37
Weekly Thoughts: This past Saturday, my daughter had too much going on! She went to both a birthday party and the ballet. After the ballet, my wife and daughter went out to eat somewhere relatively fancy too. All in all, it was a memorable experi > read more
5 Cheap Ways To Escape From Stress
Published on 2011-04-30 02:56:04
Today, I’m going to reveal some of my favorite ways to reduce stress while keeping it cheap! Cheap Ways To Escape From Stress At lunch, I go to a small quiet library. The library that I go to is my intraday escape! I’m luck because th > read more
Sometimes It Takes More Than One To Believe
Published on 2011-04-29 01:01:13
I’m watching the movie *Cyrus as I type this post, and there is this scene where the main character is at a party (he’s a bit tipsy), and he starts singing a song that’s on the radio. He jumping and dancing with enthusiasm and vig > read more
The Three Little Financial Pigs: Pig #2 Update
Published on 2011-04-28 00:56:04
A few days ago, I talked about my friend that represents Pig #1. Today I’m going to talk about my other friend that represents Pig #2. If you are new to this storyline, the basis of all three little financial pigs are two of my childhood f > read more
Everything Goes Trash Night is Like Bizarro Christmas
Published on 2011-04-26 23:34:41
Today is almost like a holiday for me! It’s the only day of the year that I do a bizzarro twist in my trash routine and actually look forward to taking the trash out! You see, in my city, once a year the city will pick up anything that doe > read more
The Three Little Financial Pigs Update: Pig #1
Published on 2011-04-25 23:24:10
Pig #1 of The Three Little Financial Pigs In the past, using two childhood friends and myself as examples, I compared the three of us to one of my favorite childhood stories, “The Three Little Pigs“. Of course I put a different spin o > read more
First Look: Individual 401k
Published on 2011-04-24 23:14:51
You may have heard of this investment option by the names “Solo 401k” or “Self Employed 401k“, but I like the name Individual 401k, so that’s what I’m going to use to describe this great retirement option. What Is > read more
MR Cache 2011 April 24: Stock Market Craziness
Published on 2011-04-24 01:24:17
Weekly Thoughts: The stock market when through a crazy drop and then another equally crazy rise. When it dipped, I jumped into my stock, but I didn’t sell it yet although it rose to a new high. Monday, I might change take that leap out of i > read more
How To Get Through Dark Times In Life
Published on 2011-04-23 11:40:27
We all have hard times growing up. Sometimes life really is tough, especially if you’re just going through hard emotional times. As a young man, my first long term girlfriend was trouble, and led me to some dangerous and illogical decisions a > read more
My Take on the Five Worst Pieces of Financial Advice
Published on 2011-04-22 04:00:36
While reading FreeMoneyFinance.com a few days back, He included a MSN Money online article called: five worst pieces of financial advice. It was so interesting that I thought I’d give my personal take on those 5 points. My take on the 5 wors > read more
Treat Money With Respect Even When It’s Small Change!
Published on 2011-04-20 23:46:28
All to often, I see many of my friends and work peers see change on the ground or wherever and ignore it like it’s something disgusting! I’ll When I see silver-colored coins on the ground (yeah, I’m too good for pennies), I pick > read more
Using Ebay to Teach Kids About Business
Published on 2011-04-19 23:49:16
Today I would like to share with you a story about my son, and how I’m using ebay to enhance his desire to make money. My Entrepreneurial Son James (randomly chosen name) started selling lemonade from a lemonade stand for 25 cents when he was > read more
Crushing Aluminum Cans, A Process Improvement
Published on 2011-04-19 05:25:22
Collecting Aluminum Cans, Purpose: For a field trip, the school my son attends incorporated a program that included crushing aluminum cans in an effort to teach kids about recycling, and a quick lesson in entrepreneurship. My son was above to save u > read more
Be Green and Save
Published on 2011-04-18 01:48:30
Be Green and Save Let’s face it, saving money can sometimes be a chore, it can take a lot of effort and some serious willpower. However, if you make some small adjustments to your general lifestyle and some small alterations around the home, you > read more
MR Cache 2011 April 17: Becoming A Soccer Coach
Published on 2011-04-17 03:19:11
Weekly Thoughts: This year coaches were running short for my city girl’s soccer teams for 7-year-old girls (my daughters league). So I volunteered to pitch in and be the coach of a team for a season. So far, my first practice and our team p > read more
My Federal Income Tax Return Was Rejected!
Published on 2011-04-16 02:49:49
Last night I was surprised to find that the tax return that I filed was rejected by the IRS! After a short state of disbelief, I quickly wanted to determine why and fix it before the April 18th! Why April 18th? Because this year April 15th falls > read more
My Blogging History Part 1
Published on 2011-04-15 06:12:36
During college, I had a computer science professor that told his students to go out and purchase domain names (and I think he said to buy a range of IP addresses too) because they were cheap and being bought up quickly (at least the good ones). > read more
Benefits of Coaching A Young Soccer Team
Published on 2011-04-14 01:59:27
This year my local city soccer organization was short on coaches for my daughter’s soccer league, so I took the bait and signed up. I have to admit, it wasn’t an easy decision for me, after all you have to deal with grumpy parent, kid i > read more
Creating Opportunities To Become Rich Using eBay
Published on 2011-04-13 05:07:06
I once worked with a technical contractor (let’s call him Bill) that had the special gift of seeing opportunities that others would consider as garbage. Not only was Bill a technical contractor, Bill was also became an accidental eBay entrepr > read more
Saving Money By Legally Using Your Employer Resources
Published on 2011-04-12 00:18:44
Saving money by using your employer’s resources is both smart and legal. Today I thought I’d challenge myself to think about the ways to save money using employer’s resources. First, it’s possible to save money by using your e > read more
A Frugal And Fun Trip To The Park
Published on 2011-04-11 00:25:05
This past Sunday, my family (wife and 2 kids) decided to go to the nature park. Actually, it was more my wife’s idea, but since the temperature this past Sunday in our neck of the country was almost 80 degree, it sounded like a wonderful idea > read more
MR Cache 2011 April 10: Taxes, Tigers and Ligers Oh My
Published on 2011-04-10 06:10:14
Weekly Thoughts: Augh! Taxes was horrible this year, or at least stressful. The most stressful part was accounting for stock ticker “EVEP”! It’s an energy, limited partnership kind of stock, and it was very confusing to fill o > read more
On Ground Whaler Flip and Host File Check For Identity Theft
Published on 2011-04-09 02:12:37
I’ve seem some pretty cool gymnastic tricks since my daughter started taking gymnastic lessons, especially since the older girls practice in the same gym. But one that I’ve never seen is anyone doing the diving move called a “whaler > read more
Is Buy And Hold Investing Dead?
Published on 2011-04-08 05:15:56
On TV and other channels of financial communications, I keep hearing that the “Buy and Hold” strategy is dead or no longer works, but I beg to differ! The chart above is my 401k balance over the past 8+ years, and as you can tell, > read more
The Mercedes Driving Coupon Clipper
Published on 2011-04-07 00:29:51
Last weekend, I took my family to “Steak & Shake” Restaurant. We had a coupon from one of those ever popular entertainment books. I was proud of myself for remembering to use it, at least until I noticed the “Mercedes Driv > read more
Citicard Diamond Preferred Card Update
Published on 2011-04-06 10:13:37
During “The Great Recession“, one of my favorite credit card the “Citi Diamond Preferred” card seemed to have discontinue the Best Buy $100 gift card for 10,000 points option. In fact, they seemed to discontinue most of the > read more
Top 10 Tax Audit Red Flags & Understand How To Avoid an IRS Audit
Published on 2011-04-04 23:35:10
Top 10 Tax Audit Red Flags & Understand How To Avoid an IRS Audit Did you know that the IRS assigns a numeric tax score to every return they receive? Scores that are higher than a predetermined number are closely reviewed and considered for an au > read more
Save Money With GFI Replacement Tips
Published on 2011-04-04 02:33:11
Today, I’m going to go DIY on everybody and talk about GFI (GFCI) Replacement Tips! This past weekend, our microwave died (or so we believed). It started making funny noises a week ago, and finally Friday, it stopped working all together! So > read more
MR Cache 2011 April 3, Break and Burn
Published on 2011-04-03 12:43:10
Weekly Thoughts: This was a week full of breaking things and things almost catching on fire for our household! My wife’s cell phone fell and split into 2 piece. It was an old phone, so I say good riddens to it. Actually this turned out to b > read more
A Look At Our Lady Grace
Published on 2011-04-02 01:19:32
Some music is an acquired taste, and I believe that such is the case with “Our Lady Grace”! I think that the group is awesome. I thought they were destined for bigger things, but they just grew to an adequate size. My wife use to think > read more
Renaming This Blog To Money Reasons For PaintBall!
Published on 2011-04-01 06:33:47
After a lot of soul searching, I decided to change this blog from one about money, to a blog about paintball and it’s benefits. So to start, I’m going to change the name from “Money Reasons” to “Money Reasons for Paintba > read more
I Use To Love Doing Taxes
Published on 2011-03-30 23:51:47
At one time in my past history, I use to love doing taxes! I would get refund back, so I actually was happy to do my taxes very early. Not anymore, this year will be the first year in a long time that I’ll actually own taxes… The Past > read more
Skipping the Inheritance, Creating Income Streams For My Kids
Published on 2011-03-30 03:48:39
Creating An Income Stream Life is complex and we never know what will happen from one day to the next. So I thought a long time ago that instead of saving money for a future inheritance for my kids, I would create them an income stream and educate > read more
5 Reasons To Use A Credit Card
Published on 2011-03-29 00:41:21
The following guest post is from United Kingdom writer (Les Roberts, and so a small italicized section of the following article pertains just to the UK (section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974), the rest of the article applies to all. Many > read more
Coinstar Counts Money For Free?
Published on 2011-03-28 00:14:29
Now you’re probably thinking “What? Coinstar now counts my coins for free? Are they crazy?” And they answer is: Why yes, Coinstar is NUTS! Okay, not really… I just couldn’t resist writing that. Coinstar is the compan > read more
MR Cache 2011 March 27 – Driving Is Now Luxury!
Published on 2011-03-27 00:38:34
Weekly Thoughts: Gas is getting crazy high again, so much so that I’m seriously thinking about carpooling to work with a buddy again. Shoot to drive an hour to my parent’s house and back cost over $20! Stocks keep rallying! Now I know > read more
Would You Want a Big Dog Robot?
Published on 2011-03-26 08:09:14
Okay, I’m going to turn away from my typical posts today to talk about the following videos. I’ve never seen such cool robotics before! A vehicle (I almost call it an animal, lol) like this could be used in so many interesting circumsta > read more
Are We All COGs in the Machine Of Life?
Published on 2011-03-25 07:19:18
Are we GOGS in the machine of life, destine to play the small and trite role that we are instructed to play by others who are willing to treat us as such? Spinning in a continuous circle, never really going anywhere… until we wear out and nee > read more
SAHM versus Daycare
Published on 2011-03-24 01:20:37
I recently posted an article called “Why We Didn’t Buy The Most House We Could Afford ” in which I stated that the real reason we went this route was so that we wouldn’t be house rich and cash poor. As an example, I stated that > read more
Financial Planning Isn’t Really A One Size Fits All Model
Published on 2011-03-23 01:22:55
There isn’t a “One Size Fits All” model for financial planning. Credit Cards I love credit cards, no wait, I love reward credit cards! But this is my one exception where I deviate from the norm with respect to my friends and > read more
Are We Too Proud To Become Rich?
Published on 2011-03-22 01:16:02
Why Aren’t We Wealthier? I think part of the reason is because we are too proud to do work that we consider beneath us or we are trained to believe that we aren’t able t0! This is especially true of kids from the working and middle c > read more
Dividend Stocks, Free Lunch Experiment #9
Published on 2011-03-20 23:12:35
Lunch Experiment Update: I have finally paid off the loan to myself that I borrowed to buy the latest stock that I bought (CIM). This last repayment time to myself went really fast. In fact, it went so fast that I’m done borrowing money fro > read more
MR Cache 2011 March 20 – World Turmoil
Published on 2011-03-20 03:03:58
Weekly Thoughts: On the global level, things still look pretty bad! The Japanese earthquake/tsunami was much worse than I imagined. Whereas I expected casualties of a few thousand, the number is really larger than 10,000. What a terrible loss o > read more
3 Videos On Investing, Including Warren Buffett’s Technique
Published on 2011-03-18 23:08:15
I decided to include these great videos on how the stock market works or how investors trade on the market. I came across this incredible entertaining, but old video on how the stock market works. It’s a cartoon, but has a fun, warm feeling t > read more
How Rich People Think (Book Review)
Published on 2011-03-17 23:07:46
How Rich People Think When I first received this book, I thought it was going to be another “This is Bill, he lives next door and he is rich and here is his story” kind of book (which I eat up, I love that kind of stuff). Boy, was I wro > read more
Uncrushed Aluminum Can Infestation
Published on 2011-03-16 23:20:28
We have an Infestation of Uncrushed Aluminum Cans! It’s true, if you go into my garage, we have 2 full bags of uncrush cans that are practically spilling over! My wife is sick and tired of looking at all of THOSE CANS! I can’t blame > read more
How Many Millions Does It Take to Feel Rich?
Published on 2011-03-16 00:48:11
When I was a teenager, I though that it just took a million dollars to be rich. Perhaps it was back then (barely), but now according to 42% of millionaires, it take a cool 7.5 million to feel rich! I’m bummed! 10 years ago, I thought that i > read more
Why We Didn’t Buy The Most House We Could Afford
Published on 2011-03-15 02:49:45
Today, I decided to give my story on why we decided to build the house that we currently have. My upbringing: I come from a family were both my grandparents and parents either paid off their mortgages early or never had a mortgage. Both never liked > read more
Are Cigarettes Keeping You Poor Both in Wealth and Health!
Published on 2011-03-14 01:26:40
Cigarettes really do keep you poor both in wealth and health! If you live in New York, cigarettes can cost you over $10 a pack! For a carton, that would come to $100 since there are 10 packs of cigarettes to a carton. I think in the rest of the c > read more
MR Cache 2011 March 13 – Sad Disaster Days
Published on 2011-03-13 01:40:08
Weekly Thoughts: The earthquake and the continuous aftershock quakes in Japan are very bad, and has caused both fires in cities and problems with some of the energy nuclear plants. The pounding of the tsunami may have caused thousands of death > read more
Frugal Fun With Bunk Beds
Published on 2011-03-12 03:05:53
Bunk Bed Fun For Kids > read more
Thinking Before Paying To Save Money
Published on 2011-03-11 07:00:56
All to often, we don’t really think before paying for our purchases! I’ve been guilty of this too! I use to get a bill in the mail and just write a check and mail it in. But today, I’m here to tell you that this is not the bes > read more
Neighbors Buying and Sharing
Published on 2011-03-10 00:00:20
Occasionally, I like to through out ideas for saving or making money, and come up with experiments (for an example check out my Lunch Experiment)! So my idea for today (actually I’ve been thinking about this for years), is to have a Neighborhoo > read more
Enjoy Time With Your Kids
Published on 2011-03-09 02:42:04
Do you take advantage of situations to enjoy time with your kids? Every Tuesday, my daughter has gymnastic classes, where my wife picks up my daughter right when school lets out and drives her to a different city for her class. While my wife is goi > read more
Wealth Tip #8: Believe Your Way To Wealth
Published on 2011-03-08 05:40:25
Believe Your Way To Wealth I remember reading “The Millionaire Next Door”, and Stanley (the author) stated that the majority of those that are very rich “Believe”. At the time, I wondered what exactly he meant and if it was on > read more
15 Advantages of Blogging
Published on 2011-03-07 01:43:06
After blogging for almost a year and a half, I’ve come to realize that I’m not the same person I was when I started blogging. It took a while, kind of like the way a blacksmith in a past times would hammer away at a sword blade, continuin > read more
Money Cache 2011 March 06: Reboot Edition
Published on 2011-03-06 04:26:58
Weekly Thoughts: I decided to create a pillar post on my Disney World Experience (from the end of 2009) yesterday. I labored away at the post for hours, typing, tweaking and editing photos, until I created what I believe to be one of my best post t > read more
Disney World Experience
Published on 2011-03-05 05:14:28
Our Trip To Disney World During the first week of November, my family flew down for a vacation at Disney World in Florida. Unfortunately, after the first day down there, it turns out that I had the flu. This dampened my Disney Experience to the u > read more
J Comic #2 Mr Plate Meets a Lion
Published on 2011-03-05 01:15:22
Saturday Fun! My daughter is going to a 3 hour girl scout thing with my wife. So that means my son and I will be hanging out all day, at least until his soccer game tonight… This is my first Audio (podcast) on my site: HelloWorld2 I did it > read more
Money Is Just a Tool
Published on 2011-03-04 06:38:21
Money is just a tool of exchange, nothing more and nothing less. I watch actors and “rock stars”/rappers worship money like it has more meaning than the numbers printed on paper… but it doesn’t. I also see people claiming th > read more
FICO 101
Published on 2011-03-03 06:37:56
Do you know what your FICO credit score is? Are you asking, “What is a credit score”? Well, you had better get with the times if you don’t! Credit scores are used for everything from mortgages, loans, auto insurance, ordering utilities, buying > read more
Paying Off Your Mortgage is Like Working at a Second Job
Published on 2011-03-02 05:11:38
Paying off your mortgage is like working at a second job! By paying off my mortgage early, I get to keep an additional $15,000 a year! Let’s say that you decide that your first job wasn’t enough money, or that you want to dig yourself out > read more
Creating a Spending Budget To Spend More Money
Published on 2011-02-28 23:22:01
The significant percentage of people have problems with spend more money than they have, so they usually overspend. To counter their overspending habit, the more prudent ones typically implement some sort of budget. I’ve never implemented suc > read more
How Independent Are We Really?
Published on 2011-02-27 23:12:36
In my humble opinion, we are very dependent… on both public systems and businesses! When I moved out of my parent’s house back when I was a teenager going to college, I thought that I was independent! I felt like such a grown-up, making > read more
Carnival of the Yakezie #50, The Quickening
Published on 2011-02-27 00:05:07
Wow, I can’t believe we are almost 2 month into the year 2011 already! Time truly is flying! Theme of this Yakezie Carnival is quickness. So with respect to the time and speed, I’ve chosen to put the contributors in my carnival i > read more
Becoming Beautiful, What the Beautiful People Know
Published on 2011-02-26 08:04:30
What Beauty Really Is Beauty is more physical health and confidence than direct looks! Oh sure, there are some women/men with very pretty faces, some even look like models, but if they are 40 pounds overweight and don’t practice good hygiene/ > read more
Using Dividend Stocks For Extra Spending Money
Published on 2011-02-25 06:28:30
I would like to buy some dividend paying stocks so I can use the dividend for Extra Spending Money instead of using money from earned income. First let me say that each month I thought I only spent $250 as my personal Extra Spending Money, but I was > read more
Are Unknown Things Preventing You From Achieving Success?
Published on 2011-02-23 23:04:35
There are many reasons why you aren’t a success! Perhaps you have allergies and in the summer your head is constantly floating like a helium balloon that a child jerking around on a string… I suffered from bad allergies that made my lif > read more
Road Rage, Realize The Enemy Could Be You!
Published on 2011-02-22 23:36:09
Road Rage! now they have a smart phone application out for it… but the problems is that to use the app, you have to type the license of the offending driver into the smart phone (not an easy task even when you are not driving!). So if you t > read more
Keep Your Cool To Save Money
Published on 2011-02-22 04:57:07
While driving in town, I saw a man in a minivan with his wife and 2 children waiting for a spot to park in a spot downtown where someone was leaving. He just sat there patiently waiting, but then the person leaving the spot pulled out oddly, then e > read more
How Much Money Is a Lot of Money?
Published on 2011-02-21 01:31:32
Money has changed meaning to me as I grow older… Of course inflation has had an impact on the worth of money, but I even see my kids valuing money similarly to the way I did as a kid, so I think what I type still applies today! When $20 was a l > read more
Money Cache 2011 Feb 20: Cloud Busting
Published on 2011-02-19 23:33:08
Weekly Thoughts: Another tough week (sickness and work overload), I’ve slipped on both my goals and my blogging activity. One of my favorite hobbies is to read other bloggers practically daily, but this week I barely was able to visit everybo > read more
What You Remember Might Not Be The Original
Published on 2011-02-19 00:51:17
Back in the year 2009, my kids first viewing of “The Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens was “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” by Disney. At the time, I knew that having the their first exposure to such a classic novel was wron > read more
Health Journal Version 1, Keep Moving
Published on 2011-02-18 02:36:28
I’ve decided to go with the same loose format with my health journal that I did last week. I’ll build it out from this point. This has been another crazy week! I was able to pack a tuna sandwich for work on Monday and Tuesday, but after > read more
Why We Should Not Believe Bernie Madoff!
Published on 2011-02-16 23:11:30
According to the Yahoo article “Madoff to NY newspaper: Banks ‘complicit’ in fraud“, Bernie claims that the Banks were complicit to what Bernie was doing. First, why should we believe Bernie? He’s proven himself to be > read more
Frugal Ways to Save on Shower Costs
Published on 2011-02-16 00:48:01
I use to live my life unaware of hidden costs such as those that exists when taking a shower or using other bathroom facilities. I would like to say that I was naive and just considered them fixed costs… but that would be a lie. I really ju > read more
401K Account Balance Recovery
Published on 2011-02-14 23:26:02
Well, it took a long time, but my 401K decline in my portfolio value has finally broken even from my 401K balance highs back in 2008. Today is officially Valentine’s Day as I write this, so it’ll be easy for me to remember! I guess my > read more
Telecommuting Benefits
Published on 2011-02-14 00:20:17
Telecommuting benefits both the employee and the employer, it’s the perfect win-win situation if both parties do it correctly! I decided to write about my experiences with telecommuting and the benefits there within. I’m going to start > read more
MR Cache 2011 Feb 13, Seeing Is Not Believing Anymore
Published on 2011-02-13 00:35:28
The progression of technology should change the old axiom from “Seeing Is Believing“, to “Seeing is Not Believing Anymore“! Another example of where “Seeing Is Not Believing Anymore” is video technology! These > read more
Health Journal Version .01
Published on 2011-02-11 04:27:30
The same problems that plagued my progress on my health journal last week, also slowed me this week. I’m putting in over 12 hours at work trying to fix a problem. Like I said last week, normally such events would make me reverse course, b > read more
Is Our House Too Cold?
Published on 2011-02-10 00:42:05
In the winter, my wife sets the thermostat at 67 to 69 degrees. My wife will wear multiple layers of clothing to keep warm, but even then, often her hands are ice cold. At night, our bedroom is colder than the rest of the house, so my wife will cov > read more
The Importance of an Emergency Fund
Published on 2011-02-08 23:06:30
The Importance of an Emergency Fund I believe in the saying that we should always plan for the worst and hope for the best, and when you relate this to your finances it means having an emergency fund. An emergency fund is exactly what it says on the > read more
Dividend Stocks, Free Lunch Experiment #8
Published on 2011-02-07 23:15:28
Dividend Stocks, Lunch Experiment Update: This month, long with the Stock market overall (the DOW is above 12,000 again… hooray), I gained in both EVEP and CIM! The stock ANH didn’t move staying the same price. If I could, I would l > read more
Superbowl XLV Win, Packers Had An Awesome Game!
Published on 2011-02-06 23:02:56
Part of my family is from the Pittsburg area (although we don’t live in Pennsylvania now), so I’ve been a Pittsburg fan as long as I can remember. But even I was rooting for the Packers (Packers won 31-25)! It’s great to see the > read more
MR Cache 2011 Feb 6, Ice Storm Edition
Published on 2011-02-05 23:51:07
West Winds Blow While I’ve been through some freezing rain storms before, never have I experienced something like this before (at least as an adult). Quite literally, my driveway was (and currently is) a 3 to 4 inch slab of ice! I had to use > read more
Family Time Comes First
Published on 2011-02-05 02:33:26
I’ve downloaded some podcast and audacity software, and while I tinkered with it for a bit, I didn’t get a chance to really run with it. It’s now 11:10pm Friday night and my daughter has already gone to sleep. I work in the room nex > read more
Healthy Life Journal, A Slow Start
Published on 2011-02-04 10:35:43
I had planned on starting my weight loss journal,( now call Healthy Life Journal) on Feb. 1… But the ice storm kept me at home these past few days, with my car frozen shut (this is a first for me, very funny). Luckily I was able to get a fe > read more
Unrest In Egypt, Is It Any Of Our Business?
Published on 2011-02-03 06:30:44
There are protesters in Egypt, but do we really have any right to voice our opinion? As far as I can tell the protests are about corruption, poverty and other issues? It took me a few days after the protest began to learn the causes, along with man > read more
Staying Home During The Ice Storms
Published on 2011-02-02 06:52:51
I live in a part of the country that gets snow during the winter season, so I’m use to living with ice and snow. But the latest storms is something that I don’t remember seeing in a long time! The amount of freezing rain that we recei > read more
Blending Work And Pleasure
Published on 2011-01-31 23:27:44
Right now I’m blending work and pleasure by writing this article, and at the same time watching a movie that my wife wanted to watch called “Dorian Grey“. The movie “Dorian Gray” is from Oscar Wilde’s only novel > read more
Hidden Value In Owning Dividend Paying Stocks
Published on 2011-01-30 23:34:15
With non-dividend yielding stocks, you have to sole depend on capital appreciation of the stock price to get ahead. Admittedly, you could latch onto a great stock and ride it up to the moon, but more than likely, this will not be the case. So today > read more
MR Review 2011, Jan 30 – Tips On Avoiding Malware
Published on 2011-01-29 23:26:17
This past week, two pop-ups happened while I was browsing on my laptop. Since last year I got some nasty malware, I decided to write about ways we can avoid getting malware in the first place! Avoiding Malware Tip #1: Don’t open up cute littl > read more
Childhood Thoughts About The Universe And Time
Published on 2011-01-28 23:10:46
When I was a pre-teenager (and then later as a teenager), I use to think about things like the universe and time. So now I’m going to write my rambling childhood thoughts about the universe and time below. Time With “Time” we usuall > read more
Getting Paid To Lose Weight
Published on 2011-01-28 01:13:42
Many companies are starting to encourage their employees to improve their health. First they restricted smoking in the office and now many are focusing on the overweight crowd. Where I work, I’m excited to say that I’m going to get > read more
Life After The Joneses Moved
Published on 2011-01-26 23:42:14
The neighbors directly across the street from us moved last year in June (2010) to a much larger house. At first, I thought it was a foolish move and that I was glad I was staying put since I had just paid off my house and I no longer have a house > read more
The Power Of Spousal Teamwork
Published on 2011-01-25 23:09:38
I was reading an article called ”Our Stock Portfolio” over at ”Budgeting in the Fun Stuff“‘s site that she and her husband built. While her husband mainly does the investing, I can tell that she’s proud of him > read more
Which Financial Author Should You Follow?
Published on 2011-01-25 00:26:23
Too often, we read financial advice in books from Dave Ramsey, David Bach, or Robert Kiyosaki and conclude that whatever they write, is the correct way for the reader. But is it? Let’s look at Dave Ramsey. First, let me say that I’m > read more
Sometimes Free Is Better
Published on 2011-01-23 23:33:31
We all heard that saying “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch“, but I beg to differ! While this may have been true during time like “The Great Depression”, it no longer true in a country like American. That said, > read more
MR Review 2011, Jan 23 – Getting Traction
Published on 2011-01-23 02:20:59
Getting Traction: Okay, I’m ready to roll on with some actions and new thoughts. While I had a rocky start these last few weeks, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I’m now ready to start the new year with some vigor! My Fav > read more
Trying Something New
Published on 2011-01-22 09:34:02
Random Thoughts: As a child we are all thrown into opportunities, learning many new things, from talking, walking, swimming, ridding a bike, running, hiking… and the list goes on and on. As we age, those awesome “learning something new > read more
Starting The Year Out Hard
Published on 2011-01-20 23:55:09
So far I’m starting this year out hard! 2010 was a bad year for me, even though I paid off my mortgage and my sister had a baby! I’ve been hoping that 2011 would be a much better year, but so far, the year is starting out hard! Hard Eve > read more
10 Ways To Improve Your Chances To Become Rich
Published on 2011-01-20 06:18:41
Honestly, Are you trying to become rich? I’ll admit there is more that I could do to try to breach the point where my passive income exceeds my expenses, but I choose not to. Although I’m frugal, I’m quite sure that I could run an e > read more
Just A Little Bit More
Published on 2011-01-18 23:08:13
In technical stock market lingo, there is such a concept as a line of resistance. Such a line of resistance keeps a stock bound in a price range that it’s somehow needs to overcome. Unfortunately, in our personal lives I believe that somew > read more
Buying Dividend Stocks For Christmas Expenses
Published on 2011-01-18 00:03:52
Christmas is just around the corner (lol), so I thought I’d prepare now just to get a small jump on my Christmas expenses. Okay, I buying dividends for Christmas expenses but most likely I won’t use it until year 2012 or maybe even 2013&# > read more
Business Opportunities Through Family and Friends
Published on 2011-01-17 01:34:00
When I was younger, I use to work at my grandparent’s furniture store occasionally for a small amount of money. I was just a small boy, so I didn’t work for long periods of time. Most of the task I got paid for was dusting off mercha > read more
MR Review 2011, Jan 16 – Overwhelmed
Published on 2011-01-16 02:44:20
Overwhelmed: It seems like in the process of re-inventing myself, I’m constantly running ragged. Everything is new, both in a good and bad ways. A big accomplishment is I got my haircut! After my barber died, I created a mental block wher > read more
Pride In Your Work
Published on 2011-01-15 05:35:32
There is a certain beauty in having pride in your work, and having the ability to see it through, even when things go badly. My brother-in-lawand his wife recently had a baby, and we were going to go see them, but the hospital had a rule about kids > read more
It’s About More Than the Money (Book Review)
Published on 2011-01-13 23:27:15
The book: “It’s About More Than the Money” is written by a Saly A. Glassman who is a Senior Vice President at a major financial institution in the Wealth Management area. This book is a bit different the standard run of the mill > read more
Paying Allowances From Dividend Stocks
Published on 2011-01-13 05:09:36
Paying Allowances From Dividend Stocks: First let me start by saying that I wish I had thought of this 10+ years ago! The following is an idea that I would have liked to pursue for my kids, and while it’s still possible, the upfront investmen > read more
Dividend Stocks, Free Lunch Experiment #7
Published on 2011-01-12 04:25:06
Dividend Stocks, Lunch Experiment Update: This month, capital appreciation in the value of the stocks in the experiment has overall risen because of EV Energy (EVEP). Ironically, EVEP is also the stock that I bought the least amount of. Surprisin > read more
Is The Roth IRA In Danger?
Published on 2011-01-11 04:49:37
The Roth IRA is a great tool for the Middle class to ascend to a higher wealth level, if used over a long number of years. So this leads me to ask “Is the Roth IRA in Danger?” I ask this question because from the government’s pers > read more
5 Ways To Lessen The Duration Of Undesirable Events
Published on 2011-01-09 23:11:21
Undesirable Events: As a child, I would dwell on undesirable events such as major tests in college, dentist visits, certain family functions, and so forth. I use to dread the events the very moment I would wake up in the morning, and think negati > read more
MR Review 2011, Jan 9 – A Busy Time
Published on 2011-01-09 03:01:45
A Busy Time The start of the new year has been busier that I expected. So to focus on the direction that I’m trying to accomplish, I’ve decided to miss posting a few days per week for a temporary time period. Today I decided to list my > read more
My Stealth Emergency Fund?
Published on 2011-01-06 23:14:03
Do I have a Stealth Emergency Fund? I use to believe that I didn’t have an emergency fund, and I’ve commented on other blog sites stating that I don’t. But really I do, but it’s not formally called such a thing in my portfol > read more
Relief From Holiday Credit Card Expenses
Published on 2011-01-04 23:14:18
Our credit card for this past December was $3,400! The amount $3,400 isn’t the largest credit card bill we’ve ever received, but it is still a lot for me! In fact, if I received this last January, I’d be sweating until I got > read more
Lessons Learned From a Funeral
Published on 2011-01-03 23:46:23
I had this entire week mapped out in exact details as to what I was going to do! Then it happened, I get a phone call telling me that an old friend’s dad had pasted away, and the calling hours was tonight! Event though I haven’t seen > read more
Draining My Hot Water Tank To Save Money
Published on 2011-01-02 21:38:56
Draining Hot Water Tanks To Save Money Okay I confess, I’ve never drained my hot water tank at all. I’ve lived in my house over 11 years, but I just didn’t pay attention to such details. The problem is that sediment settles at > read more
MR Cache 2011, Jan 2 – A New Start
Published on 2011-01-02 02:53:49
A New Start This year (2011) will be a bit different that previous years! In previous years I’ve always drunk the listing the ”New Year’s Resolutions” koolaid, but I’m not going to do that this particular year. I th > read more
Happy New Year 2011
Published on 2010-12-31 23:05:43
Happy New Year!!! As some of you may know, I was not particularly fond of 2010. It wasn’t a horrible year (after all, I did pay off my home mortgage), but I wasn’t particularly fond of it either! That’s why I decided that I̵ > read more
Starting the New Year Right!
Published on 2010-12-31 06:55:45
Starting the New Year Right Often we start the new year slowly, sleeping in for the first day. But a few days later, it’s time to get into the full swing of things and get to work on life! Enjoy each new year as much as possible, because yo > read more