What Do You Want to Hear? Dumb Decisions

Good Morning, 

I can honestly say I love writing about money and personal finance, it might be my new passion right up there with sports, I think, read, and listen to this stuff every day.  I usually write about many things that involve my every day life for personal finance, but maybe there is something more.  I guess the better question is "What do you want to read about"?   

My personal adventure includes credit cards, student loans, investing, starting my own side business, corporate America, and everything in between.  For many of us we are hard working, who came from a small town.   Some have chosen to stay, some move into a bigger city, and others get as far away as possible.  While I don't know how each and every person is doing that I grew up with, I do know many of you have stable jobs and make a good living.  I know there are outliers on both sides that don't make 30K a year and others that make well over 100K.  Either way whether you make a small amount or a large amount the numbers are the same with personal finance.  Because I think that relating to some of the "Dumb Decisions" I've made over the years, this might get the ball rolling  for "What do you want to read about" and these are just a few of mine: 

1. I took out Student Loans to pay for every cent of college.  
2. I paid for my first spring break with a credit card, once again every cent.
3. My first car that I bought with my own money was a Mercedes Benz.
4. Moved to Florida without a job and minimal savings.
5. Pursue my passion of coaching by taking an unpaid position 80 miles away
6. Pay for my time in Florida with credit cards after my savings ran out

So these are just a few "Dumb Decisions" that I have made over time, I have learned from them which is the most important.  They are also correctable in a short period of time, of course I am paying for many of them today and that's what happens if you notice almost every decision that was made had to deal with debt or was one step away from doing so.  Student Loans, Credit Card, Car Loan,  No job and minimal savings lead to more Credit Card debt.  I cannot blame anyone but myself, I mean what am I going to do, blame my parents for not paying for my college or not buying me a new car for college graduation, come on that's not the way things work.

It's great if you are currently standing debt free it makes many of your decisions much easier, but so many of us have made these not so bright decisions.  The key is stop making these "dumb decisions"  this blog is to point out some of the things that you and I are doing and at the very least think twice before doing them.  I have an example and it can really show the difference in choices and decisions in your life. 

This person does not have a full-time job and when this person does it is often considered low income.  Here are some of the things that I hear that make me believe this person is not going to change or become wealthy or be very far above the poverty level. 

• I need a new car, I saw this vehicle and it's only 10K, I just need someone to loan me the money
• I need a new phone, mine is crap, I saw this new one and it looks amazing, I'll just have to wait till I get paid next
• I'm so glad I don't have to dress up at my job, I'm so glad I get to wear jeans and a t-shirt

This is another list that could go on and on, but when I hear these things I know this person is not going to dig themselves out of this hole, if anything they are going to go further into that hole.  Here's a couple things I wish I heard instead. 

• I want this new vehicle, but the only way I'm getting it is if I pay cash, otherwise I'm just going to drive my car until it dies of old age.
• New phone, no thanks, I was considering cancelling my service or just getting one of those pre-paid phones, because I'm trying to get ahead
• I prefer not to dress up at my job, but I'm working towards a higher position with higher pay so I can have that choice

Do you catch yourself saying things that sound like what a poor person would say?  Or do you find yourself saying some things that the wealthy or this guy  might say? 

Warren Buffett

 I hear it in myself but for me it often relates to food and eating.  Yesterday I heard myself say I'm having a bad week eating, while I ate an Italian Beef sandwich and a soda.  I think the same thing can be said about fat and skinny people, a better word choice of people might be healthy and unhealthy.  These are things that can be controlled, its our decisions.  I make a decision every day to walk up either an escalator or stairs on my way to and from work, I also make that same decision to walk from the train station home.  It was 10 degrees yesterday, but I knew that if I didn't walk home I wouldn't be doing any exercise and that's the decision we have to make to get healthy or wealthy.  People sacrifice for there money, we are not children of the Hilton Family or Kardashian's and were handed money from family.  We need to make sacrifices and better decisions and that's what I'm doing here. 

Please leave comments on decisions you make or made that were good or bad(bad are more fun today), whether it's for health or wealth, It's great to hear them.  Also side note in the upcoming year I'm contemplating taking my blog to Wordpress and getting a little cleaner and more professional looking so be on the look out for that. 

Sprint and Relax, Sprint and Relax

RELAX!!!

So sometimes I forget the relax part and instead of sprinting and then relaxing, it goes Sprint, Frustration, Sprint, Frustration.  I think I get alot of this from my Dad(not that I'm blaming him, but the apple does not fall far from the tree right).  Sometimes I have to check my self before I riggiddity reck myself, insert 90's rap song quote!

So here's some updates on life and what I'm doing from previous blogs.  So the sprint is going great for paying off student loans. I am on pace to pay it off by July, I did however take out money from a Roth IRA, from what I read this is allowed as long as it's paying off student loan debt and is your principal balance.  It was a small amount and I'm willing to risk any penalties or taxes, which I think will be small even if it happens.

In the game of life, I missed out on a manager position, but was promoted, I learned alot about myself and really have to pay attention more of the person that I am at work.  But they gave me more money, which will go towards debt, maybe a vacation!  I'm only so frugal.

Bachelor Party weekend worked out almost perfectly, ALMOST.  So after I did all of my calculations on the blog I realized I would need an extra $50, so I bought golf with my debit card and the only card I left in my wallet, well I wanted to play a little more blackjack and took out another $100!!!  Idiot move that actually paid off, I ended up winning all my money back and leaving the place on the positive side.  So the DomRicketts is tough and can work, just like paying off debt.

Last but not least over the next couple weeks and weekends I will busy with a wedding, memorial weekend, and a vacation.  Apparently I like to just hand out money, haha as I cry a little.  But after those occur I am ramping up my Man Fund and business and going as hard as I can for 60 days(do what you can do in 60 days what would take someone else 2 years), let's see how much I can make, I will be giving much more details on my plans and where I am selling and buying etc.

Until then, thanks for reading and let's all be Wealthy, your definition of course!