Birthday Presents and Dreaming Big



Happy Birthday from Google!!!

So besides Google apparently knowing everything, what happens on your birthday?  Do you throw a party, go out to eat, go to Las Vegas, pretend the day doesn't exsist?

Well I like to keep things simple, I might mention it casually here and there, but a birthday extravaganza is not on the horizon.  I live by what a comic once said, I'm only celebrating every 10 years, so 30, 40, etc., the rest is for the kids.  What I have done in the past is go grab my favorite drink or favorite lunch spot, it's relatively inexpensive and puts a smile on my face:)

So this year at the old age of 31, I will be having a relaxing birthday.  The wife made me breakfast, I'm eating leftovers from last night, and to cap it off I will be hanging out with the wife for a beer and probably some pulled pork nachos from http://www.baronbuena.com/ one of my favorite places for a beer in the city.  Yes life of luxury, gotta love it. 

I think this is being frugal, my guess is I don't pay a dime out of pocket on my birthday(thank you Wife!), but even if I didn't it wouldn't be anything Andrew Jackson couldn't take care of.  Any gifts of money I receive usually get a 50/50 split between let's buy something for me and let's pay off that debt.  I'm a big believer in small gifts to reward yourself and still attack the Evil Debt Monster, which I imagine to look like these guys over there.

Dream Big...........................Time to Reflect

It also brings me to a point to really think about goals and dreams I had growing up and recent as things change from a professional basketball player to owning the Milwaukee Bucks.

Watch out Herb Kohl!!!

It's amazing the things that change your life and your expectations.  Coming out of college, I had dreams of probably golfing every day and driving a Mercedes.  Life and poor decisions gave me black eye, pretty much swollen shut.  Then a beautiful woman comes in to your life and the swelling goes down and you can see great things ahead.  For those people who are exactly where they want to be and have reached or on track to reach life's goals, congratulations!!!  My journey is in progress probably took a detour to Mexico, I'm not sure if climbing a mountain or a hill, but I'm climbing upwards and that's the most important thing for me.

What do you do on your birthday that's special to you?  Where do  you think you would be at this point in your life?

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!

Bachelor Party Spending

Bachelor Party Spending

I am in the middle of my debt sprint and what should happen to come up but a bachelor party. So here's the dilemma do I say no sir I'm saving and paying off debt or do I say lets roll fellas and spend some dollars, well the answer is in the middle.

To start the BP=bachelor party is in Minnesota, I don't own a car and BP costs $! Well I live in Chicago so the path is Chicago to Milwaukee to Minnesota. So there are many paths to get there rent a car, take a bus, taxi, train, heck I could even hitch hike, but safety first kids! So I'm hauling a duffle bag and golf clubs so not the easiest luggage to carry around. I started with the metra which cost me a total of $3 to get to Union Station and then what's right there but Amtrak for a one way trip to Milwaukee for $24, so I haven't surged with a plane trip or take a taxi to the train station I'm at $27 in travel and $5 in breakfast, I will then share a ride and gas up to MN which round trip should cost $100 total or $50 for me, so not so bad a total of about $80 in travel costs.
Now lets not forget the strippers, gambling, drinking, and sleeping in the penthouse, sounds like The Hangover! I actually think most of that is just crazy, I'm trying to save money and be married for 30 years, she would kill me if I did more than 2 of those, so lets be smart. But how do you not spend money on this trip, well besides not going you set a budget and make it all cash:). Cash is king.

So like a friend made me leave all my debit and credit cards on our way to the gentlemens club one night in my younger and stupider days, it saved me a lot of money that night but that's another story for another day. But i will be leaving all debit and credit cards in the hotel im calling it thr DomRicketts aka leave your credit and debits at home. So I'm going up with a budget for hotel, a couple activities, and what's ever left over is my fun money for gambling. So I have $$50 for hotel, $50 for golf, $20 for bowling, and $30 for food, leaving me $50 for gambling, it's a tight budget and now that I wrote it down very important need an extra $50 for drinks! Dang ok regroup and sum this up travel $80, food and drink $80, hotel $50, activities $70, gambling $50, Total $330!!!!!
Is this all worth it? I would usually say no, I don't make enough money or save enough to do this, but I have not seen this friend since I left Wisconsin so at least 3 years, so I would spend that just to visit and see him, so yes it's worth it, it's a 1 time expense to see friends and without people you care about its not worth it to me.

So have a bachelor party or bachelorette party make sure to know your budget, bring all cash, DomRicketts your plastic, and make sure it's for a good friend or family member. Oh yeah have fun!!!!

Are Your Parents Rich-Small Town Life

Good Morning Happy Friday right!?!?  So growing up as many of you know, we lived in a small town, I mean our school had like 6 towns combined and we were still considered very small.  One thing came to my mind the other day when a couple of friends and I happened to stop by in our old hometown to pick up some golf clubs.  What did we ever even do in this town?  No wonder we played sports or watched movies, the only businesses were a grocery store and 2 restaurants.  It's was unbelievable to me, I currently live in Chicago so that might have something to do with it, but I was almost taken back, and then I thought about it who is rich or wealthy in this town and area, it was definitely not my parents despite the subject.

So I started thinking how do any of us know how to be wealthy?  Do we take what are parents have done and mimic what they have done?  I don't see anyone as of yet running a hedge fund, owning a multi million dollar business, so how do we get there, who teaches us what we need to do to become wealthy?

Let me back track this a little, there are many people who have great jobs and professions who make a good or even great salary.  I have friends who are doctors, lawyers, nurses, construction workers, bankers, and I know they will do well, but will they be wealthy?  Do they have student loan debt, mortgage, are they debt free?  Because otherwise they/we are walking with a limp, during the race of being wealthy.  What are they doing to become wealthy?  What did your parents tell you to do?  Did they show you the path? 

Growing up I feel like very few friends or classmates had wealthy parents.  Without saying specific people although small town it will be pretty easy to figure out, here's what I have taken from it.  Insurance agent, Judge, Railroad worker, Restaurant owner, Business owner, these are the names that pop in my head that seemed to be doing above average compared to other families.  What do I see with almost all of these is that they had there own business in some way, these are the people who did well.  Yes there are certainly outliers and many people who work at a solid company and appeared to be doing well, but the outer appearance is small business is the way to wealth, there are other ways, but this sticks out.

Wealthy Farmer?

                                               

My parents have not taught me how to become wealthy, they have taught me many things that I am indebted to them for life, the list would be to long to even mention.  This is my goal, become wealthy.  I do not own my own business, strike 1 for me, I am in debt, strike 2 for me, however one topic that I did not cover, real estate, this is not a strike for me and feel like this maybe the home run of wealth. 

Please comment I love to read them even if it's this is terrible or great or your story, I love them!

Making Money, Making Money, Making Money-Paying off Debt

I would say if you follow simple rules of make more than you spend you win the game of finances, but if everyone did that we would not be here reading or writing in my case.  So I want to point out some of the things I have done and I am working on to Make Money so I can Pay off Debt, not buy new things, Pay off Debt.

Currently the sprint is going to plan, still sprinting, and yesterday over a beer from Half Acre(I love these guys http://halfacrebeer.com/  I'm not an investor but be ready for a future blog about Venture Beer Capitalist!)  I made plans to focus on the next debt and go a little more Dave Ramsey on this one and pay off my smallest debt next, but I'm focused Sprint #1 I wanted to write down all of my future financial goals of paying off debt and saving, I've posted on here before but I want to have every single thing paid for in 7 years, considering there is 2 homes in this equation it's a mountain sized goal!

Back to what I'm doing to make extra money and things you can to.  First I work hard at my job or smart or at least I show up everyday, I applied for a Manager position and while being a Milwaukee Bucks underdog I have learned a lot from this experience.  So don't be afraid to apply for other positions that have higher pay, I mean if you make 20K a year and get that 25K job, congrats you just increased your monthly income by about $400 extra a month.  If your job is hourly and they offer Overtime, soak it all up, I mean up until now it was 32 degrees and cloudy, what did you need more a drink after work or 1.5 times your hourly rate?


I also sell things on eBay, I call it my Man Fund.  Like the good financial blogs and books tell you I sold some of that stuff I just didn't need or wear anymore.  I sold a backpack that I used in Europe, clothes that I didn't wear and a few other things that I can't think of right now.  I also love to shop for bargains and deals so even when I was in college I would buy stuff from Nike Outlet and resell it on eBay, made some extra funds there without a lot of risk.  I also shop at garage sales, thrift stores, anywhere that has name brand stuff for cheap that I can sell(Here's an example http://www.ebay.com/sch/fiudonovan/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 )

So there is ways to make extra money, maybe you fix up cars, take great photos, or have a bunch of junk you don't need, sell it make some money and Pay off that Debt!!!

Lastly I reference financial blogs and things I read that keep me motivated, check these out, they have some great material, whether it's about being frugal, making money, or a little bit of everything.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/

http://affordanything.com/

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/

Sprint #1-Paying off Student Loan Debt

So here is my first sprint, my 40 time is about 4 months, I had it projected that it will take me about 4 months and an estimated total payment of around $800, I'm not including interest because it's pretty small and only adds a few dollars to the overall plan.  I am happy to report, that I was able to pay $1000 off in the first month, so i'm ahead of schedule, hooray for beer and hooray for me.

Just a reminder to everyone and myself the goal is to pay off all of my student debt, but I will be sprinting the entire way, with small walks to catch my breath.  Here's a breakdown of my plan, enjoy. 

Listening to Pandora and this guy came up, thought it looked cool

My Blog is like My Life, Inconsistent and Sprint or Marathon?

Strong statement right?  I have went through life in short term sprints, in college I decided I wanted to bench press 300 lbs, for those that grew up with me know I convinced my football coach to give me the 250 lb bench press shirt because I was so close, thanks Coach Miller.  But I went to the gym with my good friend Strudle for like a whole semester or year and I completed my goal, I think I even got to 315lbs, but then I stopped shortly after going to the gym. 

So I feel like I go in sprints of getting things done and wanting to do things, whether it is paying off debt, losing weight, making more money.  Then I stop sprinting and move on to another sprint or since I reached my short term goal or miss it because the sprint was for 2 or 3 years, I stop!  So as in times past, but this time is different, what makes it different?  I'm creating a habit and I'm changing my thought process, the many books and general knowledge says that you have to do this for about 30 days for it to take place.  I decided to make everything a short sprint, but instead of sprint for 30 seconds and then take off 3 months, It will be sprint with a short term goal, relax, sprint with new short term goal.  I really think that's how I'm programmed and many of us are today that are in that 25-34 range.

Yes, totally normal to sprint in a suit

Immediate satisfaction  I want to pay off my student loan tomorrow, not in 3 years or 10, well then I have to create a 3 month goal to pay off X student loan, relax a little, then set up that new sprint of paying off Y in 4 months.  That's how I'm wired, I'm trying to see 5 years, but why not sprint for 3 months, look up take a breath, then sprint for 3 more months? 

You see a lot of people say or write life is not a sprint it's a marathon, OK but what if you sprint to the top and walk the rest of the way down hill, what's wrong with that????



I'd like to think I'm more of the strong black guy with muscles than the frail guy from Finland!!!