When you were a kid, there were a number of stories and fairy tales about coming to a fork in the road and having to choose the right path to take. Of course, you can only choose one. And once you choose it, there’s no turning back. Some of the roads will lead you to safety, and other will lead you to danger! Unfortunately for the teachers of Michigan and my wife, this isn’t just a child’s story – it’s SB1040. SB1040 (short for Senate Bill 1040) is a piece of legislation that was passed here in Michigan which changes the pension plan options for all state school employees. Basically, each employee has to choose from one of four proposed options before October 26, 2012 that will significantly alter the structure of their pension … [Read more...] about SB1040 Pension Plan Options – Introduction
Weekend Wind Down 9/29/2012 – Angry with SB1040!
MMD is very mad right now. There are two things you don’t mess with when it comes to MMD: 1) My family, 2) My money. Right now, the state of Michigan is messing with both! According to a new law that was passed in our state called Senate Bill 1040 or SB1040, all public school employees are going to have their pension plans altered (aka reduced). The best part is that they let you decide how – by choosing from one of four somewhat convoluted choices. Isn’t that nice – would you like to cut off your thumb, ear, or toe? … [Read more...] about Weekend Wind Down 9/29/2012 – Angry with SB1040!
Book Review: The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read by Daniel R. Solin
Sometimes when it comes to financial advice, you don’t want a lot of fluff. You just want someone to tell you like it is – straight and to the point. Not a whole bunch of “maybe this, maybe that”. That aspect is what I loved about the Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read by Daniel R. Solin - definitive and conscience advice! So far I’ve already written two separate posts highlighting pieces of advice in this book. But there’s actually a lot more to it. Solin has JAMMED PACKED this book full of useful knowledge. The information it contains could be appreciated by both newbies as well as intermediate/advanced investors. Here’s some of the more important tidbits you can take away from The Smartest Retirement Book: … [Read more...] about Book Review: The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read by Daniel R. Solin
My Cash Flow Plan – September 2012 Update
The end of Summer and back to school time are a period of change for our household finances. This is generally when my wife and I get our raises, her contract gets negotiated, and a lot of other expenses or credits get mixed into our budget. So for us, this is a great time to take another look at our cash flow plan and see if any revisions are necessary. … [Read more...] about My Cash Flow Plan – September 2012 Update
Weekend Wind Down 9/22/2012 – Terrible Scary Movies
I absolutely love scary movies! Especially around Halloween time. And I wish I had some good recommendations of recent movies for you to rent, but I don’t. Redbox has really been letting me down lately. Here’s a few terrible scary movies for you to avoid: • I remembered Silent House from the previews when it first came out, and I was looking forward to this one. At first when the movie started, it had a lot of potential. But then it just got kind of weird, a little boring, and worst of all – not very scary. • Next I tried to sort the Redbox movies by reviews and go with the highest rated one. A B-movie by some independent company called the The Haunting of Whaley House was up there, so I decided to give it that one a shot. I should have … [Read more...] about Weekend Wind Down 9/22/2012 – Terrible Scary Movies
My Dividend Payment Income Report – September 2012
As many of you know, 2012 is the first year that I have really overhauled my stock investment strategy and changed my focus to simply collecting high-quality dividend paying stocks. Just like any dividend investor can tell you, dividend payment income is a pretty remarkable source of “truly” passive income. I prefix passive income with “truly” because the income they generate literally requires no effort on my part. I simply collect the payments each quarter! As of this month, I am happy to report the second installment of my quarterly dividend payments received. Please see the image on the left for the total. … [Read more...] about My Dividend Payment Income Report – September 2012
To Be Young Entrepreneurs or Employees? My Kids Try Entrepreneurism
No, that’s not my retirement savings in the photo on the left. You’re looking at the proud earnings of my children after a day’s worth of being young entrepreneurs. That’s right – my kids got the bright idea that they would accelerate their earnings by trying to make their own money. It doesn’t matter if you’re if you’re a child or an adult. There will be times you want to say goodbye to your job because it seems like it would so much easier to make money on your own. But like my kids found out, the grass is not always greener on the other side. Nonetheless, I was really happy that they gave it a shot and got a little bit of a laugh out of the experience. Here’s how things went … … [Read more...] about To Be Young Entrepreneurs or Employees? My Kids Try Entrepreneurism
Weekend Wind Down 9/15/2012 – MMD vs Phone Service
It was only a month ago that Mrs MMD finally decided after all this time to get a smart phone with a data plan and the whole nine yards. So we signed up for a new plan from Sprint and things were going good. Then out of nowhere this week, she’s no longer able to make or receive calls anymore. So twice I had to call, do the whole pull the battery out and put it back in, and waste a few hours talking with tech support. The end result: The phone still doesn’t work! As if one phone problem wasn’t enough, then our Vonage router started giving us problems. So I devoted yet another hour on the phone with the Vonage tech support going through their motions as well - pushing the reset button, unhooking cables, etc. Why does it always seem like … [Read more...] about Weekend Wind Down 9/15/2012 – MMD vs Phone Service
