Fear Not

In the bible, when God tells people to "fear not", many times it's right before he sends them out to do something or giving them courage in their journey.

He's not telling them Fear Not and Shelter in Place.

Why have people become so afraid of dying?

I thought it was common knowledge, but Everyone is going to die.

People today want the government to protect them from everything. It's like people think the government can pass a law outlawing death.

Will the so called cure (social and economic destruction) be worse than the disease?

12,000 people die each year from falling down stairs. 10 years ago my grandmother was one of those. I demand the government outlaw all stairs. All buildings must have 1 floor only. And no basements or attics allowed. All existing buildings must be torn down to one level. Starting with New York city, since they are currently the home of the largest collection of whiners in the world and want the government to do everything for them... starting with the mayor's home and office.

Let's act like adults and be responsible for ourselves. If you are old, fat, diabetic, have cancer or heart disease or high blood pressure or some combination of those, play it safe. 

As for the rest, there is a growing minority that is ready to get on with living. Because the way things currently are is not living.

"No one's getting out of here Alive"

DOA Food Fighters

Covid19 Mask is Good to Go

Washington Post Article on the Fam

WaPo did a story on our family. Here is the link

April Side Gigs

This month's extra $$$ from side jobs.

Tutoring $330
Online Surveys $9
eBay sales $2.10
Lawn mowing $360

Total for the month $701.10

$201.10 added to the emergency fund.
$500 added to retirement accounts.

A Frozen Father ("Let it Go" Dad Parody)

The $90,000 Lunch

March Savings and Net Worth

Normal monthly savings:
401k (includes match) $867

Roth IRA (Hers) $300

Roth IRA (His) $300

HSA account $500

Taxable Mutual Fund $210

Emergency Fund $300

Extra monthly savings:

Extra EF from side-gigs $292
Extra EF from money squeezed out of budget $140.25
Extra saved from Tax Refund (went in various accounts) $5,000

Total saved for the month $7,909.25
An unusually high amount due to tax refund hitting our accounts in March.
Due to a lousy stock-market in March, the net worth didn't go up by much.

Net Worth as of 3/31/14 $569,215
Increase year-to-date $20,544  

I Was Featured on One of my Favorite Financial Sites

Recently I was asked to do a guest post on one of my favorite financial sites, Mad Fientist

At the risk of sounding very self-promoting, check it out Here

Everyone was very kind with their comments and it was a great experience

Staying Balanced

Keeping the balance between saving for tomorrow and enjoying life today is a challenge for me at times. I am much more inclined to save money for the future than to spend it now. I realize that it's better to be a compulsive saver than a compulsive spender. But how does one reach a balance?

Unless you have $10 million in the bank or are deep in debt, this applies to you. If you are incredibly wealthy you can spend today and tomorrow and way into the future and you don't need to worry about balance as much. Likewise if you are in debt than you should be doing everything you can to get out of  debt and start saving like crazy. Actually if you are in debt why are you even reading this? You should be working 2 or 3 jobs to get out of debt. Then you can come back and browse all the time-wasting websites you want.

I have to mentally stop myself from trying to save every dollar I make that doesn't get spent on necessities. I need to remind myself it's OK to let down what little hair I have left and spend a few dollars every now and again. Especially while I am not a geezer and can actually enjoy it.

I could save even more if I wanted to. But since we are on track to retire in 13 years, I feel comfortable with the balance we currently have. Besides we have too much fun going to the beach each year, letting the kids participate in a reasonable amount of sports and other activities, having a summer pool membership (well the wife and kids enjoy that, going in some skanky water with 200 sweaty obese people doesn't hold much appeal to me, the wife and I go out for lunch on the 20th of each month to celebrate our wedding anniversary. 

I have no problem keeping the thermostat on 60 during the winter if it helps pay for beach house during the summer. Or reusing ziplock baggies if that means we can grill some steaks every now and again.

Listen I'm not gonna go nuts with the spending though. You aren't gonna catch me in a Starsux, ever. And I won't be paying to go to a yoga class and have someone teach me how to pose (you people ever heard of YouTube or borrowing DVD's from a library?). And my wardrobe will still consist of hand-me-downs and thrift store bargains.


So let's all lighten up and enjoy life a bit. Go on vacation once in awhile, send your wife to Victoria Secrets, let your kid have peanut-butter and jelly.

PS-don't tell my wife and kids I said it was ok to spend money on occasion.

The Rule of 752

Like Area 51, the Rule of 752 is all about hidden power!!!Take a weekly expense and multiply it by 752. The result is the real cost of that expense over 10 years had you invested the money instead. Can you feel the Power?

Spend $20 on picking up coffee on the way to work each week instead of drinking the free stuff at the office? If invested that would be $15,040.

Eating $25 worth of lard at McFat's for lunch every week? That equals $18,800.

Sucking down $30 worth of suds weekly? $22,560.

Blowing $35 a week on smokes? Well that could buy you a nice car after 10 years. $26,320.

Trim $100 a week from you budget through a combination of things and you will have $75,200 after 10 years. Enough to get all the plastic surgery your heart desires.

You get the idea. Just another way to think of real costs of those little "harmless" purchases.

No I didn't make up the Rule of 752, just passing it on. I believe that Triple M came up with it.