Hope for your financial life and beyond

My A - Z List of Blog Related Things I’m Thankful For

November 27, 2013 by 37 Comments

ID-100220145Yes, I know. What a strange thing to write about the day before Thanksgiving. But I figured by this point in the week, everyone must be tired of reading about how everyone is thankful for the same things - family, friends, health, faith, prosperity, food, our freedoms, yada…yada…yada. How boring.

(That or you are traveling and won’t read this anyway.)

So, I’m taking a different route today with an A-Z list of blogging related things I’ve come to be most thankful for in the past year.

And yes, if you are wondering…I’m extremely thankful for all those things above as well.

A Blogging Thankfulness List

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Filed Under: Blogging, Random Fun Tagged With: ,

What Good Is Freedom When You’re Told What To Do With It?

November 25, 2013 by 31 Comments

U.S. Constitution - We the PeopleIn the fall of 1620, a group of 102 passengers sailed from the coasts of Western Europe across the Atlantic. Their journey was filled with danger as they traveled in a craft none of us would dare think of sailing today. Much like the courageous astronauts of the 1960s, they faced considerable danger and extreme conditions as they pioneered into an unknown and mysterious world.

Colonies had been established before in the New World but none for such a reason as this. The purpose of those earlier establishments in the Caribbean, and more recently in 1607 at Jamestown, had simply been about wealth creation - find the riches of the new land and return them home for the glory of the mother country.

Simple. Materialistic. Focused.

While some on the Mayflower sought economic prosperity, there was a group aboard interested in something much deeper and profound than the accumulation of wealth. These were known as the Separatists who were fleeing religious persecution inflicted on them by the Church of England. The church in that time controlled religion, dictating to the people how, when and where they were to worship. Choose to worship in a way the church forbid, and you would face severe punishment.

So faced with bigotry and religious intolerance, they fled to a new world with the hopes of fulfilling the one deep desire burning in their hearts…the freedom to choose.

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Filed Under: Current Events, Insurance, Leadership Tagged With: , ,

There’s a Robber Stripping You of Wealth

November 22, 2013 by 18 Comments

Hidden Nuggets #19 - “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.” - Proverbs 24:33-34 ID-10074458

Robbers are all of a sudden a common topic for my 5-yr. old son. Several weeks ago his well-intentioned 7-yr. old sister informed him that there are people who sometimes come and steal little children away. She’s trying to help him be wary of strangers.

Now all the shadows in his room at night have him worried. A little bit of fear has crept into his mind. He is realizing, perhaps for the first time, the world is not altogether safe and he’s worried about being separated from his family.

However, in his unsettled frame of mind, he is forgetting all the elements we have put in place at our house for his protection. Dead bolt locks on the doors. The monitored security system. Two skeptical dogs that bark at ANYTHING! An equalizer locked in the gun safe.

We’ve taken measures at our home to protect ourselves from thieves. We have also taken measures in our personal lives to protect ourselves from ever experiencing poverty. That’s a place we never plan to go, mostly because we are not letting ourselves become vulnerable to it.

How so? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Vices, Work Tagged With: , ,

Beauty and Function From a Beast

November 20, 2013 by 6 Comments
Dining Room Cabinet

A cabinet base and top, bought separately at auctions, molded together into one.

Have you ever experienced an embarrassing moment because you or someone in your family was trying to do something frugal?

Like…I don’t know…your father gets a swing set from the dump that is missing the A-frame support on one side. To support it, he bolts the end with the missing side to a tree in the backyard so you can use it. (That’s a true story…on my wife’s side.)

The base of this beautiful cabinet that sits in our dining room had real ugly beginnings. It was so ugly in fact, that my mother wanted nothing to do with it. You can see how bad it was by clicking “Continue Reading” below.

Then head on over to my guest post today at Frugal Rules to read about how I helped make an auction purchase of my dad into an embarrassing frugal moment.

Do you have an embarrassing frugal story?

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Filed Under: Managing Money, Random Fun Tagged With: ,

When Passion Meets Weakness

November 19, 2013 by 12 Comments

ID-100206697In yesterday’s post, I made the assertion we should focus on areas of personal strengths, not areas of weakness, when we are looking to better ourselves. That goes against our natural tendency. We usually see areas of weakness as a barrier to excellence. I suggested pouring more time and effort into our strengths, so as to push us past a threshold we’ve been bumping up against, into an elite status of functioning.

I’m sure you are thinking of exceptions to this or asking the question “Is there ever a time when it’s OK to focus on improving a skill you simply don’t have?”

I believe so, if this is the case - when you discover a new passion. Then I could see the logic in starting from the ground up and pursuing that passion with full intensity. This would be all the more appropriate if the newfound passion connected in some way with another segment of your life - like what has happened to me with Luke1428.

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Leadership Tagged With: , ,

The Futility of Being Well-Rounded

November 18, 2013 by 19 Comments

cliff_clavin1I used to think the best way to achieve big-time personal success was to be well-rounded, with knowledge and skill spanning many different areas. I’d become the Cliff Clavin know-it-all type, the person who could be plugged into any situation to give advice or help facilitate a positive outcome. By being a jack-of-all-trades I would become indispensable and people would flock to me for advice and counsel.

Isn’t this philosophy what our school systems promote through the curriculum track? A student with exceptional talent and designs on a career in science must still take general education classes in English and social studies, perhaps even a foreign language. Those classes serve some but not much purpose in relation to the students desired outcome, which is to meet the requirements for graduation.

This post isn’t about the challenges in the educational system. I’ve been involved in education for 15+ years, so I understand the value of having students touch the various fields of study. We would be doing them a disservice if they didn’t have some basic math or grammar skills by the time they finish school. But how much math does the average graduate really need to be functional in society, especially when it comes to managing their financial life?

They basically need to know how to add and subtract so they can balance a checkbook.

What I’m suggesting here is the notion of being well-rounded only serves to generate mediocrity. Being a jack-of-all-trades means I’m a master at none. Who wants that? I’d rather work to become awesome in a few things instead of average at many, wouldn’t you?

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Leadership, Lifestyle Tagged With: , , , ,

Fire Brings Out the Best in You

November 15, 2013 by 6 Comments

Hidden Nuggets #18 - “For you, O God, have tested us; you have refined us as silver is refined.” - Psalm 66:10

Metal Casting That silver or gold ring you are wearing didn’t always shine with such brilliance. When those elements were resting in the earth awaiting excavation, they had company - nasty impurities. These would have to be removed before that precious substance could be formed into something worthy enough to be displayed behind showroom glass.

To purify metal we need heat - so much heat that the metal melts. In that state, the impurities loose themselves from the metal and float to the top. The refiner scoops off this dross, leaving only the precious metal. The more refining steps taken, the purer and more valuable the metal becomes.

Insert “life” for “metal” here.

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series Tagged With: , , ,

5 Common Rental Real Estate Mistakes Landlords Will Make

November 13, 2013 by 25 Comments

oops IISo, you are ready to take the rental real estate plunge and become a landlord. Awesome! I hope that you have come to that decision by desire (you really want to do this) and not by necessity (you were forced into it because your house wouldn’t sell). One of those scenarios (hint: the first one) generally works out better than the other.

My wife and I have been renting properties for some time now and our landlord experience has been positive. I believe our success comes from a desire to run a quality business, as we never considered this to be a whimsical adventure. We spent over a year studying the idea to make sure it was right for us and to prepare ourselves to combat rental real estate’s darker side. I believe we set ourselves up for success as landlords by doing that because we went into it with our whole heart engaged.

Mistakes Landlords Should Avoid

Even with all our preparation we made mistakes. Here are five big ones I want to help you avoid.

Paying too much for a property

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Filed Under: Investing, Real Estate Tagged With: , , ,

Revisiting Why I’m Here at the 200th Post: The Luke1428 Value Proposition

November 11, 2013 by 36 Comments

I didn’t anticipate this journey. Three years ago writing on a blog wasn’t just the last thing on my mind - the thought didn’t even reside in my mind. Blogging was a foreign land I knew nothing about.

Yet, here I am today, almost 18 months and over 143,000 written words into this endeavor, publishing my 200th post. In that time span, there have been many personal finance blogs that have pumped out more content on their sites than I have on mine. I’m not jealous of that fact but rather feel exceptionally pleased with my progress, considering I’ve been doing this part time.

I still have a lengthy road ahead though to become an awesome blogger. That’s my goal. I consider today’s post a valuable step in that direction.

Humble and Clueless Beginnings

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Filed Under: Blogging, Faith Tagged With: , , , ,

Stealing From Your Employer

November 8, 2013 by 14 Comments

Hidden Nuggets #17 - “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” - Ephesians 4:28

ID-10055367

You gonna pay for that?

Your employer needs your hard work to benefit the company.

That’s why they hired you. The company was looking to fill a void so it could make a profit. Something about you stood out. Match made in heaven.

They believed in you…trained you…even facilitated your success by assigning tasks that would maximize your skills.

So why are you repaying them by stealing?

“What? Me? I would never steal money from my employer.”

Most wouldn’t. But before you dismiss the question, have you ever at work:

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Vices Tagged With: , , ,

4 Ways to Punch Through the Scary Questions at the Start

November 6, 2013 by 23 Comments

ID-10083769Do you long to finish what you start?

Finishing is huge for our psyche. It wows and gives us confidence. It releases pressure and tension when we finally reach our goal. Finishing creates momentum and catapults us forward to even greater things.

But we don’t start at the finish…we start at the start; and the start can be a very confusing place to be. Remember what it was like in those moments when the dream was birthed in your mind? Wasn’t it exciting and scary all at the same time…and full of questions?

Can I do this?

Where do I begin?

Do I have adequate knowledge for this?

Who out there can help me?

What if I mess something up?

And the most paralyzing question of all - What will other people think?

Unfortunately, the answers we give stop us dead in our tracks. We don’t move beyond the initial stages of exploration because of fear, uncertainty and doubt. Our dream is brought to a screeching halt before it ever begins.

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Filed Under: Goals, Inspiration, Planning Tagged With: , , ,
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