Brian Hale-Yeah!'s blog

Upgrade... (part 3 of 3)

The third point of the upgrade article is more investing specific. 

Rebalance. 

Imagine you had 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds. Your stocks went down 40% and your bonds went down 15%. A $100,000 portfolio now is worth $70,000, but even more out of wack is that now you are almost 50% stocks and 50% bonds. That's not what you wanted in the beginning, so sell/transfer/exchange some of your bond portfolio into your stocks to make it 60/40 again. You'll be buying stocks and lows and selling an asset class that did better. Buy low, sell high. That's what we're always trying to do. 

I rebalance most portfolio's annually, so you should take a look at your funds/401k/403b and do the same. This market downturn will turn around eventually, but you don't just have to sit on your hands and do nothing. 

Upgrade...(part 2 of 3)

part #2 in the Men's Health magazine was to preview 2009. I know it's cliche, but it's true:

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"

The article talked about how the people who are hurting the most right now were those who "didn't have adequate liquidity last year". That is us to a "T". We bought our house a couple years ago and took the advice of a lot of people and stretched to get into it because like most people said, in a couple years you'll be making more money and you'll be able to handle it. 

No one saw 2008 coming and being 100% commission, we felt it...

But, the article reinforces my beliefs that in times of downturn, you should try to scrimp and save and not liquidate valuable assets if you don't have to. That's why instead of selling our house and locking in the loss, although the experience is very humbling, we are renting it out and "community living". 

I believe money is a huge part of each and every one of our lives. honestly, I'm struggling with how much I should share on my blog. It's a very private thing, but I know that a lot of people could learn from our experience. we'll see...

The Rocker

I watched this movie pretty much by myself because Jacinda was taking a nap right next to me. I hate watching movies by myself. Movies are events to me. They are more fun shared with other people and often more exciting. 

I watched Napolean Dynamite by myself and thought it was stupid. But, the more and more I ran into people and we quoted lines from the movie, it actually got better. In my head anyways. 

All that to say, even though I was by myself when I watched Rainn Wilson's new movie, "The Rocker" I laughed out loud. Several times. That's saying a lot. I'm also a total pushover for a teenie-bopper movie with a love interest. Let the jokes begin.

It was totally funny, and I kind of forgot about the plot, so I didn't completely know how the storyline was going to go. All in all. It was a light, funny, good for rainy days in bed type of movie. I give 3.5 naked drummers.

Upgrade... (part 1 of 3)

I was recently reading Men's Health magazine and they had these "upgrades" for 2009. The one that caught my eye was #3. 

Upgrade Your Wealth - the recovery plan

The subtitle was important and good for everyone. It read, 

"We know-2008 was bad. But it was bad for just about everyone. Pull ahead this year with these simple steps."

#1 Review last year. 

You need a budget. I had a client that I sat down with last year and her account was a mess when I got it. Invested in all kinds of random things, miscellaneous money coming out in differing amounts. I told her that she needed a plan. She said "fine, as long as you don't use the B word" I quickly ran through all of the possibilites in my head and before I thought of one she said, "Budget". I went through the list of things that I wanted to address and she looked at me and asked me, "if I were your mother, what would you tell me". I replied, 

"mom, you need a budget" 

She is no longer my client today...

Little things really add up. The article said that "appetizers and drinks account for 35% of a restaurant bill" and suggested doing wine and cheese at home before going out. I'd say the most important thing you can do is actually lay out all your receipts or go through your account online and see where everything is going. If you've never done this before, it'll blow your mind. Try it for a month. Track every penny and see where your money is really going.

public decency fail

took me a second to see the guy standing in the background...

Expectations...

I want a bigger house. Heck! I just want to live in the one I'm renting out right now! The point is, I always want more than what I have. When we visited the ATL, the houses there were enormous. The house above is in the Newport Beach area of California, but you get my point...

I listen to a podcast on iTunes called "My Money Life" with Chuck Benteley who is the CEO of Crown Ministries. They are little 2 minute segments packed with 1 truth about you and your money everyday. I heard this one a couple days ago and I thought it was interesting enough to write it down.

in 1900, the average number of people living in the "family home" was 4.6. And, they lived in a 700 square foot home. That's an average of 152 sq. ft. per person. (I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this...)

in 1940, the average family was 4 people, living in a 1500 sq ft home. That's 400 sq ft per person.

in 1980 it was 3 people...

and today, it is average 2.5 people living in a 2500 square foot home with 1000 sq ft to each person. That's bigger than my first house! probably because it was built in 1951. 

I wonder if that has anything to do with how the family dynamic is becoming more and more dysfunctional. Now, if you're mad at someone, you just go hang out in the west wing!

I must love my job

I took this picture of my cd player last night when I got in the car to go home. 9:45pm isn't bad right? Not when I got to the office at 6:30am!
Besides a OB spot for my prego wife and a trip to the gym I was at the office. I figure it was at least 13 hours!
What's crazy to me is that I had to force myself to go home last night and here I am again already sitting g in my chair with the tv and computer on at 7am.
It's tough times in the economy and I'm in a 100% commission job. So even though it's hard, I still love what I'm doing.
Have you found or what is your "dream job"?
-from my iphone

furry criminal?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhUHPhjStcs&hl=en&fs=1]Carlos totally beat me to it on this video, but there's like 2 people that probably read my blog that don't read his, so here you go mom and dad!

Emil ' s place

The building I work in has a cafe downstairs that is part of one of the other companies (I think). It has changes owners several times so maybe it's separate. Anyway, it used to be really cheap food but now it's okay but still really convenient. All that to say, I forgot my breakfast this morning, am totally exhausted from last night and waking up early for the gym, so, I caved. I just spent $5 for a cheese omelette and wheat toast. It was nice to get out of the office for a couple minutes though.
-From my iPhone

Apocolypto Movie

I started watching Apocolypto when I was visiting the Whittaker's in ATL. I hadn't had the chance to revisit it but I just finished it and it was pretty awesome. It was almost like watching National Geographic but with a plot. that's it. short post. gotta go watch the super bowl.