I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I made a little mistake last week when I ordered the 7 yards of slate stone …. I needed 3 more yards! Mrs MMD and I shoveled and spread rocks for hours and hours on Saturday only to have to make another order and finish the job on Tuesday. So after all of that, was it worth it? I think so! The landscaping looks much better than it ever has! I will have pictures once everything starts to bloom (and I get a chance to mow the lawn). Work was BUSY this week. I unfortunately did not have as much time as I usually do to devote to preparing my articles and making my rounds to my friends’ blogs. And speaking of commitments, at least one evening during the week and our Saturdays have been assigned to our … [Read more...] about Weekend Wind Down 4/21/2012
Don’t Forget About One of Your Biggest Investments – Your Marriage
There have been some HARD TIMES in the MMD neighborhood over the years. As I walk the Beagle or go through the neighborhood with my kids, there is one giant give-away. It’s a distinguishing, symbolic figure that always means bad news: The lock box. Whenever someone has a lock box on their front door, it usually means one of three things: 1) The family is moving. Likely they will be selling their house at a loss. 2) The house is in foreclosure and the bank has taken back procession of the house. 3) The couple has split up in divorce which will ultimately lead back to either #1 or #2. A neighborhood of your peers is a lot like junior high and it doesn’t take long to find out which of these three reasons is the root cause of the change. … [Read more...] about Don’t Forget About One of Your Biggest Investments – Your Marriage
Book Review: “Unfair Advantage” by Robert Kiyosaki
Not too long ago, I wrote a post called “Are We Fools For Saving Our Money?” The inspiration for it came from several themes I read in the book “Unfair Advantage: The Power of Financial Education” by Robert Kiyosaki. Although we explored both sides of Kiyosaki’s opinions, I felt as though there was still quite a bit of the book to review and I wanted to do it justice. So here is my book review. In case you’ve never read anything by Robert Kiyosaki, here’s a brief overview: Take on massive amounts of debt, don’t save your money, and the future of our economy is in deep trouble! Now why in the world would I recommend reading a book like that? Because it reminds me that there is more than one way to become independently wealthy! Robert … [Read more...] about Book Review: “Unfair Advantage” by Robert Kiyosaki
Before Retirement, Eliminate Your Biggest Expense
Frequently when you think of planning for retirement or becoming financially free in general, you think about how much money you’ll need to save in order to generate the kind of income that you’re use to. For example, how can I save $1,250,000 so that I can draw 4% and take out $50,000 each year? In this post, we’ll look at the other side of the coin. Instead, we’ll look for a way to reduce how much income you’ll actually need while on your own. And how will we do this? By focusing in on one of your largest expenses – your mortgage. … [Read more...] about Before Retirement, Eliminate Your Biggest Expense
Weekend Wind Down 4/14/2012
Sorry to make this short, but sometime this morning we’ve got 7 yards of slate stone coming. We’re going to continue our landscaping renovation with Phase 2 by spreading this stone throughout our garden beds. My back and legs just recovered from last week’s labor, so I can hardly wait to get back to it! After this we’ll be installing some electric garden lights. … [Read more...] about Weekend Wind Down 4/14/2012
Why Is It So Hard To Buy Something?
Have you ever gone to buy something and it seems like all the forces of the world are against you? I’m talking about walking into a store with money in hand, and yet the staff seems to do everything in their power NOT to help you? I know that sounds pretty ridiculous, but this is something that I observe all the time. And to make matters worse, I can think of a lot of other people that have brought it up as well! Why is this?? When I’m about to make a relatively huge purchase, shouldn’t there be a little more eagerness to work with me? Or are employees really just that apathetic? Here is an actual example that will illustrate my point. It took place last week when I went to buy some flagstone pavers for my gardens. To set the stage, … [Read more...] about Why Is It So Hard To Buy Something?
What is Happening to the Middle Class?
Is there any coincidence that unemployment rates seem to be improving in the year before the next US presidential election? No matter if you side with the Democrats or Republicans, the issues of job creation and the economy will be hot ones for each of the candidates – in particular to the ears of the middle class voters. But will any of them have any fresh remedies to reverse what has been happening to the middle class for decades prior? The Slow Erosion of the Middle Class: Unfortunately, it seems doubtful. According to a recent article from Fortune Magazine featured on CNN Money, the issue goes much deeper than any policy set forth by the Obama or Bush administration. Consider the following turn of events: … [Read more...] about What is Happening to the Middle Class?
Weekend Wind Down 4/07/2012
Weekend wind down??? Yeah right!! Tell that to the 6 tons of flagstone that the semi-truck dropped off on Friday morning! Phase 1 of our landscape remodeling project was in full effect. For a long time now we’ve wanted to line our gardens with flagstone pavers and fill the beds with slate rock. It took about 8 hours to move it all and get it in place, but in the end it looks great. Fortunately it was exactly the right amount of stone we needed. Unfortunately, my back and hamstrings are killing me! Here are some more pics: … [Read more...] about Weekend Wind Down 4/07/2012
