Goals for now and Goals for the future

I've never been good with goals especially long term goals.   It is important to know what your goals are for your finances, for your job, for your family, for yourself.

I have never been good at really knowing what I want, but I follow my subconscious to make changes.  What I do know is that I don't want to be forced to work until I'm 65.  I want to have my own time and my own projects.  I want my kids to be able to go to college without going into debt.

To help break down long term goals lets start by making small ones.  How can I reach FIRE early.

1. Pay off Car Loan
2. Pay off House Loan
3. Max out both 401Ks
4. Max out HSA
5. Contribute to 529s
6. find out where every dollar is going
7. removed unexpected automated expenses
8. Plan out family trips instead of just going on sort notice
9. Setup a budget that can be met
10. start a side hustle 

What about the Job

1. Build talent stack
2. re-evaluate job every year
3. decide if I have a end job role. I've been taking opportunities that come my way without a goal on where I want to go. 

For my family

1. Save for college
2. term-life insurance
3. a will
4. have life experiences that the everyone will remember
5. increase knowledge through study and exploring 

For myself

1. Stay healthy
2. I don't know....Need to still figure this out, but that is ok.

We need to remember goals are good, but not required.  You can follow your path without really knowing every step or that you are really on the path.  Focus on what you know and what makes you happy.  The most important thing is to take that first step and then another.  Once you are going you may then figure out where you want to go.   

 

Taking December off to clean up and have some family time.  Enjoy.

Expecting the unexpected

Well I knew this was coming.  Thanksgiving week is on us and took the SUV in for oil change and a look over before our long driving trip.  Of course the dealer is telling us we need new tires.  Truth be told I knew we needed new tires not now, but in the next few months.  Now my wife is not a native cold weather person so hearing worn tires and the less optimal performance from them concerned her.

Now I've bough tires online and got price matching on our previous cars, but I never shopped for an SUV before.  The price quote we got back from the dealer through me for a loop.  Usually for my cars in the past they were no more then $1,200 for run-flats, or $600 for non.  Our SUV just uses normal all-season tires just big.  I'm a big fan of using Tire Rack for tire research and comparing prices with a place like Discount Tire.  I have ordered from Tire Rack as well as had Discount Tire match the price in the past.  Anyway did some calling around and found a pair of winter tires that I could get installed that day to make everyone happy.  They will be good with all the heavy snow driving we will do this year.  Some advice for tire shopping do you research and ask around. Call your local sellers and see what they recommend and see if they will price match to make the installation and location convenient for you.

These things happen; sometimes it's tires other times a wash machine.  You never know.  That is why everywhere you read they say save 3 to 6 months of savings to be able to cover these rainy days.

How do we get there?  Start the first week with a dollar a day into your savings account.  Then move on 2 dollars.  You will adjust your life to not miss this money.  It may take sometime, but your savings will grow and you will feel more secure once these rainy days occur.

Good luck.

Gifts for everyone

Well it's a week away from the worst day of the year the so called "Black Friday".  This used to be the day stores would put out their first sales for the Christmas season to help generate sales and get the store back on the black side (positive) of the sales equation.

What it is today is a mad house where stores sell very cheap stuff to the masses for small discounts.  Where they sale 60' TV for $30 for the first 5 lucky people to survive the stampede.

This is the season of giving and trying not to go broke.  When my wife and I first married it was typical to give gifts of everyone in her family and mine.  This got silly we were spending so much on small gifts. Over the next few years we talked about how this was effecting out future and how we can change this family tradition without making everyone mad.  After some trial and error we are now trying Secret Santa.  Basically we put everyone's name in a hat and assign a family member to give a gift too.

I worked at a retail store for 5 years through college and as a 2nd job for awhile.  This time of year was really crazy and the stuff that was sold was always the same stuff every year. The problem with this time of year it gets you to buy stuff you don't really want, but only want in that moment and not something you really need.

We just have to remember there will always be another sale and it will be bigger then the next.  A good rule of thumb is if you see something you want wait 72 hours if you still want it and it provides value get it. Otherwise you are better off not getting it.  Avoid the impulse and keep the path to FIRE. 

Libraries yes they are still around

One of the best things you can do is use your library.  It provides endless enjoyment for your kids through books,  music, and movies.

Another thing is most libraries let you rent the latest tech gadgets. If you want to try VR you can rent it.  If you want to 3d print something you can build it and submit it to be printed.

If you love movies or audio books you can get them from the library.  My local library has a streaming service.  True be told as long as I'm patient my library is like Netflix.  Any movie I want just look it up and order it.  Browse the streaming and watch it.


Endless books digital or physical.  It's all out there.

If you haven't yet; go check your local library out. 

All the small things

Life is full of all the small things.  Some of these are good and some of them not so much. Things like "I love you" from the kids. The Dog wagging his tail when you walk in. Sport team wins. Fixing a whole in the wall.  A stock you picked goes up. Lots of small things that can happen to you in a day, week, or year.  These small things make you happy and enjoy life.

Damage a tire. Get home late. Argument at work. Not enough sleep. Made a purchase you regretted.  These small may not seem to effect you, but each one is like a drop of water enough drops and you feel like your drowning.

All these things can effect your emotional state, but there are small things that effect your finances as well.  I was thinking all about all the small things that add up for me.

All the subscriptions for streaming service (Disney+ & Prime). All the subscribe and saves on Amazon. Toll roads. Dinning out. Fees on investments. Misc. expenses you signed up and never cancelled. 

It feels like there is a whole in the bucket and all the money is slowly dripping out. To help plug this hole I am writing down all my expensive that are paid monthly, quarterly, or yearly.  This way I can catch them to cancel.  Give it a try I think you will be amazed by the things you've been paying for and not knowing it.

To my teenage self

Your teenage years is a time to learn and a time to fail.  Honestly it will be rough in many ways and in others it will be great, but the good thing is as all things do it will end.  This will be a time to learn the value of money and hard work. 

A little about my Middle School and High School years.  From 13-15 my sources of income came from babysitting and mowing lawns.  I did not contribute much to my savings. At 15 I started working at a fast food restaurant making minimum wage $5.15 ~$400 every weeks.  At 15 I could only work a few hours a day and one weekend day.  This brought in good money for someone who had no expenses.  I opened a checking account and had my paychecks direct deposited. I had no saving goals except seeing my account get bigger.  Parents and I bought a car when I was 14 $3500. My dad drove it until I was 16.  I paid for roughly half of the car before I started to drive it.

Here is a good place to tell you a little about myself or more who I was around this age.  I am an engineer and have been interested in computers my entire life.  Grew up middle class in the Mid-West.  I don't spend money unless I can help it, but when I do I like to buy the best I can afford.  I was a big gamer PlayStation and PC Games around this time. Diablo, War Craft II, Diablo  1&2, Star Craft, Lara Croft, Final Fantasy, etc.  I wasn't someone who partied. I choose to build computers and play games. I also played sports outside of school and hung out with friends.  Normal nerdy mid-school/High School stuff.  

At 16 I quit my fast food job and took a warehouse job.  Advice: What I should have done was look for internships sophomore - senior year of high school.  I took the warehouse job because it paid $8.50 plus $0.50 bonus if you came into work on time. Easy money.  I would go almost full time in the summer and earned overtime on the weekends.  I quit this job going into my Senior year mostly because I saw what I didn't want to be in life and second I got hurt playing baseball and they wouldn't let me lift the 200lb boxes with a cast.  Working in Fast Food or in a Warehouse really teaches you what life it like for people who don't graduate high school, don't go to college, or have made some poor life choices along the way. In both cases at my previous jobs I was the best worker they had and at 15/16 my friend and I were running the fast food place.  At the warehouse job I was twice as productive as everyone else.  So much so when I hurt myself my manger wanted me to work without the cast on. When I didn't he just put me on a leave of absent wanting me to comeback.  I did for a couple of months before I quit. 

The smart advice here would be to invest your money, but at this age learning to save in a saving account was great.  During my junior year a friend was investing and I though wow that is cool I should do that, but I had no clue about anything.  My Dad always listened to financial radio stations, but for the most part they talked about the latest hot stocks and these things called Spiders.  Advice: What I should have done; At 18 took the money I saved in my savings account at this time it was 5,000-8,000 and open an account with Vanguard and put it in a low cost Mutual Fund tracking the S&P 500 index.

My senior year and what was next after school was all the buzz around the lockers.  In my family and in my high school; the talk wasn't about are you going to college, but which one.  College was just something you did and the hard part was trying to decide on where and what to study.  I looked at multiple schools and I choose one close to home for two reasons.  One I liked the program a little better then others, and second the job market was much better in the bigger city that wasn't just a college town. 

If I had to sit myself down during this time I love to tell myself to study harder and apply for scholarship etc..  The thing is I remember exactly who I was at this point and it wouldn't work.   What I would tell myself is to not work during the school year their is going to be plenty of time to work. Continue to play sports and look for an internship with a related company out of state or another interest in the summer.  Use the summers to build your talent stack not just work because you think it is something you should do.  

Good luck.

Careers or life

At some point in your life you will have to make a choice in your career.  Do you changes jobs? Do you move? Do you change projects in the same company?

There can be many reasons to get to this point.  Boss, money, growth, or simply change.  When you hit this crossroad you have to not be scared of change.

Go on the interview. Take that opportunity.  Talk to your Boss.  Change can't happen unless you take it.

Even though you have been at the same company for years doesn't mean it is the same company when you started.  The people have changed the companies goals have changed and you have changed.  Financially these are big decisions and will have an impact on you and your family. On the path to being financially independent you will make turns along your path.  Have faith and stay the your course. 

Choose life and what makes you happy.

DYI life

1. It amazes me how much tasks people pay others to do.
   
   Here is a list of shockingly simple task you should try to do yourself.
   Some of the criteria for these tasks are they take very little previously experience. They can be done in a few hours and will save you money.
   
   Here is a list I've done myself all in the last few years.  These are all fixes that don't require many tools or very long to do, but will save you hundreds of dollars.
   
   
   1. Painting whole room or patch repair
   2. Mowing the lawn - I have a small yard so I use a rotary push mower so 100% free to operate 
   3. House cleaning - it's your mess just pick up after yourself
   4. Installing ceiling fan
   5. Sprinkler repair
   6. Wall hole fix
   7. Hole in cushions 
   8. Hole in clothes 
   9. Minor leaks in the roof
   10. Fix toilet leaks or replace parts
   11. Turning on your sprinklers
   12. Minor repairs with appliances
   1. Washer
   2. Dryer
   3. Oven
   4. Refrigerator
   5. Dishwasher
   Here is a list of basic tool you should own to repair all these things.
   1. screwdrivers multiple sizes of regular and Phillips
   2. Hammer
   3. Socket set
   4. Wrench set
   5. A pair of pliers 
   6. Ladder
   7. Thread and needles
   8. Leaver
   9. Tap measure
   10. oil pan

   Now you can get fancier with power screwdriver, but really you don't need to.  For most of these all you need to do it try.  You can either just open it up and follow the direction or get out the trusty YouTube and follow another DIYr for direction.  You will be amazed how much you can do just by trying and the satisfaction you will feel.  
   
   
   The more small projects you try will lead you doing more and every project you do will save you money and will push you to try more new things.  

Whats a Bond? Whats a stock?

What is a Bond?   Simply it is a loan to a company for a certain time; which they give you a agreed upon amount while they have your money.  Basically like asking your friend to barrow $20 and you will pay them $21 when you pay them back in 3 months.  A 5% return.Where did bonds start?  Well first general government bonds were issues by the Netherlands in 1517 and national government by England in 1694 to fund a war against France.

What is a stock? Simply it is ownership of a company.  Why would you do this? The idea of owning a stock is you believe in the company and as part owner the company shares it's profits with you through dividends.  Companies do this to raise more money to grow, expand, or pay off debt.  

Example:  You start a company and put in $20,000 of your own money and you get 2 friends to put in $10,000 each. You now have 3 share holders of your $40,000 company.Where do stocks come from? Stock have been traced back all they way to the Roman Empire.  Basically the same reason as today, build income for the company to expand.

How are stock and bonds related?   Bonds are considered a safer investment and safer usually brings smaller returns.  Stock are consider riskier investment and can give a bigger return.  So when the market is going well people invest more in stocks and less in bonds.  This can increase inflation (stuff cost more) which eventually causes the government to raise interest rates.   As long as companies are making money stock prices increase, while bonds may continue to fall if rates continue to be lowered.

Eventually the good times stop due to the economy slowing down or the market is worried about it slowing down.  Bond prices usually rise because investors jump from stocks into bonds for a "safer" investment.  This usually leads to interest rates falling and prices of bond raise.  Bond and interest rates are inverse of each other one goes up and the other goes down.Remember this is life and not a contest.  Some risk is good to much will lead to disaster.  Your finances don't fall into the "Go Big or Go Home". If you do it could be "Trade often and retire broke."