Money Reasons

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Archive for August, 2010

Staring at the Financial Crossroads

August 14th, 2010

Some days (this one in particular), I feel like I am staring at the financial crossroads in my life.

I’m debt-free (including my mortgage), I have a 401K that is coming along nicely, a Roth that I haven’t contributed to yet this year, and a regular brokerage account. By most measures, I’m doing okay. I’m well past Get Rich Slowly’s First State of Personal Finance, but not even close to the stage where he quit his job, and I don’t know if I ever will be anytime soon, or perhaps not even before retirement age!

While it’s true that I am debt-free, I still have expenses that are like debt, so even though I’m debt-free, I don’t really feel like it. And to make matters worse, lately I’ve been getting the urge to say screw it, and start to spend some money on my kids and on more grande vacations. I would love to get my son a mini-bike, and schedule a trip for us to go to Paris or Hawaii someday soon (not to mention another Disney Trip).

I’ve also been tempted to go to some of the fancier restaurants… the ones that are a bit better than the popular food chains (like Olive Garden) that we typically frequent! I’ve been admiring this little dated steakhouse called Diamond Grille that everybody swears by. Yeah, the meals are over $100.00 for 2, but well worth it from what I’ve heard.

I’m kind of tired of living so frugally, and would like a new fancy car, then perhaps my friends would stop thinking that I am poor in comparison to them?

I could do all of the things above, and still be somewhat ahead of the curve, but I won’t. I know what got me here, and I know that staying the path will get me to the next level.

So, I’ll plod on, being the frugal guy that I am, with specific savings goals per year! If I meet those financial goals successfully, then the excess money will go toward enjoying life a bit more. That said, I’m sure if there is excess money, at least part of it would go towards investments too!

So yes, I’m still on the path to become financially independent, but I choose to do so while enjoying life just a little bit more!

How about you? What is your strategy?

-MR

17 comments »

Posted in Wealth

Tags: becoming wealthy financial crossroads financial goals spending more

Once In A Lifetime Event That Happened During The Driving Portion Of Our Vacation Trip

August 13th, 2010

Okay, I just spent over 10 hours driving in the car on the way down to Hilton Head in South Carolina, and I thought I’d share the most interesting aspect of the trip.

By far that most amazing thing (and the reason I’m blogging about it) was watching the “oversized load” home speed across the single lane bridge (due to construction) smashing and propelling construction barrels. This was fascinating, and reminded me of a comedy skit from National Lampoon’s Vacation or something similar!

It appeared to be one of those pre-fab houses! It as a bit bigger than a mobile home, but not by much. However, on the road, it took up the brim, it’s lane and a quarter of the next lane! So it had some decent girth!

The West Virginia construction crew was working on the bridge (but luckily, not at that time) and had the traffic funneled down to a single lane by using orange barrel’s to channel all the cars and trucks down to an extremely tight lane across the bridge… Well the house sped over the bridge crushing at least 40 barrels down to flatten pancakes. A few of the barrels where hit at the perfect angle and went flying onto the off-ramp (which a few semi’s had to run over them since they were on the off-ramp at the time).

After the incident, I wanted to check to see if damage had occurred on the house so I sped up and passed the semi pulling the house to looked back and check. On the side that hit the barrels, the protective framing was gone! While I didn’t see any direct damage with my quick glance… I’m sure there was at least a little.

If I only had a camcorder at the time (and we did in the far, far back area of our minivan)… Oh well, still it was a fascinating sight to see!

This event really had us laughing (although I did feel a bit sorry for the house owner for the slight bit of damage that happened to the corner of the house)… Have you ever seen anything as outlandish during your traveling to your vacation location?

-MR

9 comments »

Posted in Vacation

Tags: orange barrel crush vacation trip

Vacation Packing Chaos!

August 11th, 2010

I admit, I procrastinated getting ready for our vacation this year! Now It’s a quarter past 11:00pm and I”m still getting ready!

We copied our old pictures off of our digital camera, and I’m converting my audiobook to an MP3 format. Since the ripping process created about 20 files per disc (and there are over 20 discs), I decided to merge all of the files per individual disc into 1 large file. So if I continue this process, I’ll have 20 some mp3s instead of 400 individual files…

Our car isn’t packed, actually our suitcases aren’t done yet either, Auggghhhhh!

Hopefully, I’ll be better (albeit tired) tomorrow and have something to write about other than continually working about getting things ready for our vacation!!!

To make matters even worse, these last few days I’ve come down with a summer cold. Needless to say, tomorrow’s drive down will be an interesting one! Luckily, my wife went out and bought me some sinus medicine, so at least I won’t be in pain like I have been for the past few days

Usually we have things packed and are ready to go days in advance! But this summer has been busier than other ones for us…

With all that I have left to do, you may be wondering why am I blogging… Well, what can I say… I’m addicted!

Have you ever had to scramble at the last minute to get ready for vacation? I have not, at least not to this degree! I kind of feel like I’m cramming for a college test…

-MR

12 comments »

Posted in Vacation

Tags: frustrating packing packing madness vacation packing

Frugal Steps To Take For Our Vacation

August 11th, 2010

I’m going to Hilton Head Island in less than 48 hours (we leave Thursday morning), so I thought I’d discuss some of the frugal techniques we use to make the trip as economical as possible!

Frugal Techniques that are out of the ordinary.

Copy audiobook from CD format to MP3 format! This enables me to listen to more adult or scare novels (like Stephen King’s “Insomnia”) on the way down to S.C. without having to worry about the kids hearing something that they shouldn’t be listening to!
Send me Dog to family to be watch instead of a kennel. We use to put our dog up at a kennel or have a neighbor kid watch her. But, this time we are going to send the dog to stay with my wife’s parents. This will save us over $150! And in addition, it will make the process more enjoyable for our dog too.
Traveling at night instead of in the morning! Yes we are traveling down on vacation in the morning, but when we are driving back, we are going to travel at night. Yes it’s a bit more dangerous (especially because of deer), but it’s not as bad as you’d think (I’ve done it two times before). With the audiobooks that I listen too, I’m surprisingly awake during the drive. The beauty is it’s easier on my car because it’s not so hot, much less traffic, shorter waits for traffic lights and my family sleeps thorough the entire process, so they have a more enjoyable trip.
Pack the cooler with snacks and drinks! This helps keep the food price premium down, and enables me to stay on the road longer!
Use www.TripAdvisor.com to determine which restaurant will provide the best bang for the buck! There are also other online resources that I will discover while I’m down there too.
For the first couple of night we are staying at a friend’s house nearby. This is a win-win! We leave a little earlier than when our time in the Hilton Head Island house is available so that we can stay with friends in S.C.! Then after our house is ready, we say our goodbyes and go out to the island! This way we get to see old friends for at least a few days!

These are a few of my “getting ready for the trip” tips!

We’re all excited to get rolling! Only one more workday to pump out!!!

What are some of your favorite frugal tips or tips to enjoy the trip a little better?

-mr

13 comments »

Posted in Vacation

Tags: HHI vacation Hilton Head Island vacation frugal tips

I Didn't Quite Grow Up The Way I Thought

August 10th, 2010

I remember staying at my Uncle and Aunt’s place during a few weeks every summer when I was eight.

Mostly, I hung by myself, then sometimes followed by my Uncle, then finally my Aunt. My Uncle was a Judge, so he was pretty busy during the day. Unfortunately, my Aunt was an alcoholic (and actually died of liver problems later in life), so she never felt like playing much.

My Aunt and Uncle lived in a cottage directly beside the Delaware river (salt water not fresh). I enjoyed waves, watching ships and the occasional submarine float up and down the river. On the river (and beach), there were constantly excellent sea life to watch (blue fiddler crabs, eels, snapper turtles, fish, etc).

My uncle would walk his dog ever evening down a deserted road to an old lighthouse that was now owned by a hunting club. Sometimes on the way, he would pick blackberries for the elderly woman at the end of the street.

Occasionally, when he would come home from court, he would pour himself a glass of Scotch (Glenlivet), and light his pipe, then go out on his enclose porch. Next he would read the paper, or just look outside towards the river.

I thought, wow, what a great lifestyle. I wanted to have a cottage on the Delaware river too, and do as my Uncle did, except the smoking of the pipe.

That was a long time ago, and now that I’m grown up… I’m nothing like that. I do have sitting chair that’s pretty close to what my Uncle had, but that’s where the similarities end. My Uncle lived well but overall had a pretty frugal existence. After he passed (my Aunt passed years earlier than he did), he had ended up with over a millionaire dollars in net worth. But nobody was really surprised in my family.

How did you imagine your adult life being like when you are pre-teen? Mine is different, but still good!

-MR

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Posted in lifestyle

Tags: Growing up Lifestyle less