Baby Step Two, DONE!

Success has been achieved!  A mountain has been scaled and a once inconceivable objective is now marked done and DONE! Debt is largely accepted as normal and we’re so easily swept into that mentality.  Often we’re so numbed to debt as normal that thoughts of getting out of it don’t surface until it’s too late.  Getting out of debt then becomes an impossible task.  It is overwhelming. ...

Views on Money – Part 2: Net Worth, Balanced Perspectives, and Opportunity Cost

Welcome back to our study on the Views of Money.  After resetting the contextual baseline, we’ll jump into Part 2 Net Worth, Balanced Perspectives and Opportunity Cost Money is important.  It is the lifeblood of our society.  It is our economy.  In the context of our modern culture it is a requirement for our day to day living.  If you doubt this notion, imagine yourself penniless for the next...

Dollars Spent

The other day I was about to grab lunch at work.  Lunch at work for me is a boring affair.  On Sunday evenings I run a sandwich making assembly line which churns out 5 identical turkey sandwiches for my daily noon time feedings. On this particular day I thought about the pattern I was weaving and I realized that it has been several weeks since I’ve spent money on lunch.  My guess was that it...

2009 – A Year In Thanks

About this time a year ago my wife and I talked about how good 2008 had been to our household.  It was a fun moment of connection, and reflection, and celebration, and optimism.  In a demonstration of faith we agreed that 2009 would be an even better year for us.  And so it has been. Of course 2009, for our house, began with tremendous questions in the air.  Walking away from a long term employer...

You Owe What You Owe

Our society is given more and more to laziness and victim mentality, or so it seems.  I’ve conducted no scientific research but the prevailing winds of conversation, and print stories, and news ‘events’ seem to prevent as much.  Perhaps this is just the vocal minority – I so hope – or perhaps we’re on a horrible downward trend. A pair of illustrations resonated, or more accurately collided,...

The Government, Your Newest Auto Industry Expert

Several weeks ago I debated the notion of writing an article on the Cash for Clunkers program.  With a flair for the dramatic, I was going to title the piece “Subsidized Death Spiral”.  I trust, given the prospective titling, my position relative to the program is clear even sans a 750 word exposition.  But alas the program came and went and no article materialized.  That’s mostly ok, as...

Happy Recession Anniversary

A couple weeks ago I read an interesting article in Smart Money entitled Lessons from the Crash.  While the specifics of the story were geared towards those given to single stock investing, it was more the premise that caught my imagination. The set up was the top 5 lessons investors have learned over the past 12 months, the spiritual if not literal anniversary of the downturn. So that got me to...