Stepping into the mall you are instantly accosted by the sights and sounds that accompany your trip to the church of consumerism. But, today things are a little different! It seems busier than usual and there is different music playing, then you realize the Christmas shopping season is upon you. Now that we’re less than 1 week away, this has become even more amped up, almost to a point of frenzy. Christmas, regardless of if you celebrate it, has become a highly commercial time of year for retailers. First of all, the Christmas holidays are all about gift giving which would normally be enough for the retailers, but there is an added perk for them. Around Black Friday most retail outlets start making a profit for the year. The average is that for the first 10-11 months the money that comes into a retail outlet does nothing more than cover Continue Reading
Santa is not dead! The spirit of the season lives in all of us.
My daughter and I were driving to swim practice a couple weeks ago and I was asked a very simple question: Is Santa real? Before I get to how I answered the question, I should make it clear that my daughter is at the age where she’s essentially figured out that Santa = mommy and daddy and the guy at the mall is just someone dressed up in a red suit. The answer to this question wasn’t really what she was looking for but more for some validation of her understanding of the world. While my daughter isn’t a tween yet she is a bright young lady. So how did I answer? Well being the furry green Grinch that I am, I actually told her the truth. No, I am not a monster! She didn’t react the way I was expecting, she wasn’t worried about the fact that Santa is Continue Reading
The power of perseverance and its impact on your success.
There are a few fundamental elements for success in life that could be considered common sense, but in reality are not that common. Even common sense itself isn’t very common, but that’s a different story. The elements that I speak about are: Action Effort Perseverance … and the list goes on This list can continue for a long time, but the reality is that even this short list is enough for multiple posts (it probably will be in time). All three items can realistically be related to almost any subject or activity, but in our case we’ll look at it through the lens of this site (personal finance with a hint of life). Effort and action are very closely related to each other in that if you are taking action you are in many ways making an effort. Though, the effort that goes into taking action does not Continue Reading