Author Archives: Money Reasons

About Money Reasons

A offbeat personal finance blogger that comes from the tech world.

Social Freedom, I Am No Longer Bound By Social Norms

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Thanks to Blogging, I’ve changed the way I handle myself in public places!

In the past I would never be caught dead at a public restaurant alone, and on those few occasions while traveling for business, I dreaded going to a decent restaurant, opting instead for the quick drive thru option instead.  But this is no longer the case!

Since I’ve been pushing myself by blogging in local coffee shops, I’ve found that not only do I endure going to restaurants alone, but that I’m much more effective at the work that I’m trying to accomplish!  This is in great contrast to when I first started going to restaurant to do blogging work!

Now when I find that I’m stumped or just not motivated enough at home, I pack up my laptop and head to the local coffee shop!  Once there, I’m in an entirely different mode and anything is possible!

I’m writing this because how would have guessed?  Certainly not me, in fact I would probably tell you that it is a suboptimal idea, at best!  But though my own experimentation (I love to do that stuff), I’ve change my mind and I now believe that such an environment is a much more conducive place to do work.  Perhaps it’s because you feel like someone is watching you, or that you can’t doze off while relaxing at home on the couch… whatever it the reason is, it’s a very strong one!

Just thought I’d share,

Don

 

First Time Golfing With My Daughter

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This past few weeks, we (my son and I) have been taking my daughter to the golfing range.  At first, she was hitting it 5 to 10 feet, but on the first day at the driving range, I taught her that it’s her form that matters most, and after about a 20 minutes of practicing swinging, she started to hit the ball 50 to 100 yards!

For an eight year old girl, hitting the ball 100 yards is quite exciting, and it really showed in her face!  She was smiling ear to ear after she started nailing the ball!  It helped that both my son and I really made over how well she was hitting!  My son is a great guy and looks out for his little sister!

In fact, the entire golfing session was my son’s idea!  He asked me if I thought my daughter was ready, and I agreed!  Next he asked if Grandpa could go too, and of course I thought that was be a great idea too.

And then Tuesday rolled around and I totally forgot! lol…

Luckily he didn’t and ended up calling Grandpa and got the ball rolling again (pun totally intended…)!

Golf Cart

Golfing With My Daughter

My daughter and I rode in the same cart and honestly had a ball.  She actually played much better than I expected, and actually beat my son and tied me on 1 hole in particular (obviously we beat her overall, but for that one hole, it was hers!).  Although she doesn’t hit it 200+ yards, she definitely got it past 100 years a few times!  And you could see the confidence that she gained from playing well.  The funny thing was on the first hole, she even missed the water hazard (unlike my son and father).  I had a rare day where it seemed like everything I hit went super far (on the last two holes that were over 300 years, I landed on the green both time… this is very rare for me).

So all in all we all had a great time, and I was so impressed with my daughter and son that I took them for ice cream and pie.  Both of my kids like chocolate & peanut-butter pie, and so it was a great conclusion to a fun day golfing.

All in all it was a great memory…  I’m looking forward to taking them out again,

Don

My Personal Finance Pyramid Update

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My Personal Finance Pyramid

A few years ago I decided to create a road map while I slowly climb my way up a financial pyramid, trying to acquire more wealth!  I see such a climb as a struggle towards building wealth!  A pyramid (based on Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs) seemed to be a great representation of such a wealth pursuing journey.  In many ways, it helps me visualize the various levels and created milestones for me to watch for since I love feedback!  So without further ado, here is my update on my progress climbing my “Personal Finance Pyramid“!

Financial Pyramid

Asset Accumulation Phase

Yes!  After spending too much time stuck at the “Action Plans For Wealth Development” phase, I can finally state that I’ve crossed the threshold and that I’m firmly in the “Asset Accumulation” level on my Financial Pyramid!

Why was I stuck at the “Action Plans For Wealth Development” for so long?

Originally, I expected to only spend a short time in the “Action Plans For Wealth Development” phase, but the “The Great Recession” took its toll on my planning and caused me to spin for a while, trying to decide what to do.  Fortunately, my money was still swelling from the fact that we paid off the mortgage on our house early, and so I had a small pool of cash available for investing and purchasing other assets.

Upper Middle Class still at a Distance!

I had hoped to be closer to this level by now, but the economy and work haven’t worked out according to my plans.  I could also make the excuse that my wife is a SAHM and even point out this article “Income Loss From My Wife Being a Stay at Home Mom” that makes a great case that we should have been millionaires by now, but really if I wanted it bad enough, I could have worked harder all along.

How Things Are Different on my climb up my “Personal Finance Pyramid”

Having a personal finance pyramid for the goals in combination with personal finance spreadsheets (homegrown), really helps me keep my eye on the ball.  Another big thing that has changed is that I want to start having bigger and better experiences by traveling more often, especially overseas!  And finally, a huge change is that I totally believe that it’s possible for me to get to some of those higher levels on my personal finance pyramid. You see, most people don’t even try, so just believing and continuing to work harder and smarter puts me at a huge advantage!

I’m hoping for the best!  What are your thoughts?

MR

Frugal Weight Loss Update 215

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Since my last update on my weight loss update on June 29th, I’m down another 5 pounds to 215.

I wanted to be down more, but summer got in the way a bit and I’ve been relaxing on the diet restrictions (but just a little).

By the end of this month, I’m going through a quickening process where I’m in a desperate attempt to lose and additional 5 pounds, which would bring my weight to 210!  I think once I get into the range of 205 to 210, I’m going to start lifting weight to tone my muscles all while still sticking to my frugal weight loss plan!

So I’m down 35 pounds, while that’s nice, technically I’m still considered obese.  I think if you would meet me person to person, I don’t think you’d think I was obese.  Shoot this past weekend, I was doing both front and back flips off of a low diving board that doesn’t have a lot of spring to it.  I doubt that a person who is really obese could do such a feat (especially the back flips).  But an average is an average, so my goal is to get into the plain old “fat” range.  My hope is once I get into the fat range, I’ll looks as thin in the waistline as someone who hasn’t worked out with weights in the past.

What I especially like about this diet is that even though I’m eating more expensive foods, I’m eating less of them and they are much healthier.

Once I get to either 210 or 200 pounds, I’m going to do an analysis of my diet and reexamine my weight loss plans from that point on.  Most likely I’m make adjustments to my frugal weight loss plan, but in a health oriented beneficial way.  I might even create a website so that other can follow such a plan.  This is definitely a life plan for me from this point out.

Bests,

Don