It’s week three of the new schedule at our house. Things have been going well, but I’ve been expecting that sooner or later I’d need to take a sick day to stay home with our daughter. Today was the day. It just doesn’t make sense for my wife to stay home with her at this point. She is only “temping” and doesn’t get any paid
I May Have Been a Peeping Tom in Another Life
I have to confess. I really enjoy reading about other people’s finances and day to day dealings with money. I wish that Oprah would have a weekly Debt Diet episode so that I can see more families who are either struggling with their finances, or are doing exceptionally well with them. Honestly, I think I’d rather see a reality show about families that are doing
Signed Papers Today – Second Home Purchase Complete
I’m now the proud owner of a partially completed second home. Okay, we are going to call it a cabin but it’s a 30X32 building. The first floor is all one large garage. The second floor is a two bedroom 1 bath apartment, I guess you’d call it. When it’s done it will have hardwood floors and granite in the kitchen. I’ve been looking around
Making Financial Decisions to End or Extend Your Life
Here’s an interesting article on the costs of keeping someone alive, and when it might not be worth it. My personal opinion on this is that I would not sacrifice the rest of my family’s life and money to try to stay alive a little longer. http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/08/15 What would you do if the doctor said, “You’ve got 3 months to live. We might be able
Doomsday Ahead for Many With Adjustable Rate Mortgages?
I keep reading about all the people that are one step from doomsday. Most of these people are dealing with adjustable rate mortgage increases. Why did they get an adjustable rate mortgage in the last couple years? From a purely financial perspective, it seemed like a riskier approach because interest rates were some of the lowest in 40 years. I can appreciate that the low
Can A Country Boy Survive?
Awhile back I watched a series called “Country Boys” on PBS. The series was about two young men who were dealing with life in Kentucky. One guy, “Chris” lived in what I would call utter poverty. His family lived in a single wide mobile. His dad was a lifelong alcoholic that ultimately died of liver disease. His mother was an uneducated woman who drifted from
Cars and Homes are a Huge Part of the Problem
There is no question that my weakness in life has been automobiles. I just love them. There is also no question that nothing has had a higher impact on my net worth. Due to the crazy housing market, there is no question that my house has helped me increase my net worth significantly. Sure, there have been expenses to deal with, but I’ve still seen
Starting to Consider Two Incomes
When my wife and I got married, we talked about having kids and what we would do. I would always say, “I think you should go back to work after we have a child” and she would always say, “Maybe I should be a stay at home mom”. We would talk about it every now and then but we pretty much kept the same points
Latest Millionaire in the Making
I have to admit I wasn’t as impressed with the latest “Millionaire in the Making” series on CNNMoney. I do think I need to cut these folks some slack because they are doing better than a lot of people. I think that changing careers in their 40’s and not coming to the realization that saving/investing was so critical when they were young probably plays in to
Keep Clam
If you haven’t noticed, over the last few months I’ve pretty much kept clam about my financial state. I took down all of my financial details because a few of my friends found my blog. Me, being the rocket scientist that I am, didn’t do a very good job of creating an anonymous name. Had I made up a completely new name for myself when