My father passed away on September 8, 2018. He was 70 years old. I find it somewhat ironic I'm publishing this post today, September 11. Social media is rightfully flooded with "Never Forget" posts.
This past Sunday marked the one year anniversary of my dad's passing. I was having my morning coffee when it hit me. I felt sad, again. I still vividly remember getting the call from my brother this time last year.
Last week we were on vacation at my in laws house. Close family friends joined us for the trip and a couple of nights were spent around the table competing in the board game called Wits & Wagers. We paired up into teams of two with each team consisting of an adult and a kid. If you know anything about our family, we trend toward the "more competitive" side of the ledger. It was an intense couple of nights. Well, about as intense as a game of Wits & Wagers can get!
On Friday, Jill & I will celebrate 11 years of marriage. Hard to believe it’s been 11 years. Seems like just yesterday I was smashing wedding cake in her face.
We've been through a heckuva lot in those 11 years. Obviously we had our gaggle of kids in a short period of time and, I imagine like many other married couples, we've dealt with our share of challenges, too.
To quote my father-in-law, it's been the best 10.5 years of my life! Haha.
Our youngest son, Sutton, is playing baseball again this season. The team is comprised mostly of 7 year olds. So far, we've had a few practices and two games. And let me tell you…they stink.
Seriously. They're not good. After our last game Jill said to me, "It's like watching The Bad News Bears."
And she's not wrong.
Before you start thinking "Wow that's horrible,” or “How can they say/think such things," hear me out.
Interest rates have gone down again. In fact, last week the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest point in over 13 months. I imagine you’ll be getting calls from your lender, banks, etc. about refinancing. This tends to happen when rates go down.
I have a confession: I think refinancing a mortgage is a bad idea.
Yesterday I volunteered at Junior Achievement’s Finance Park (Montgomery County Campus). I wrote about my experience here and after some reflection, I decided it warranted an extra blog post. So if you're a parent and looking to bring financial literacy and open conversations into your family, keep reading below to learn 15 Financial Literacy Tips for kids of all ages. And be sure to read all the way to the end for a bonus tip.
Yesterday I spent four hours with a group of 7th graders from Takoma Park Middle School as part of Montgomery County's Public School's Financial Literacy program. I volunteered for the first time at Junior Achievement's Finance Park (Montgomery County campus) and let me tell you, it was REALLY cool.
Our daughter AnnaMay is ridiculously impulsive. She flitters from one activity to another, often leaving a trail of unfinished activities in her wake. Some days it's like a human tornado tore through our house.
And she can rarely walk by Jill or me without some form of physical contact. Maybe a touch on the back, a little "love" punch on the arm, or some type of quasi kung fu maneuver. She *has* to touch us. We love her unconditionally and we realize this is who she is, part of her DNA. She's impulsive.
If you don't know about the Nintendo Switch - well I didn't know much about it, either. All I know is it was one of the hottest items for the holidays. As the kids ramped up for Christmas, all we heard about was the Nintendo Switch. And they put on the full court press. Like Nolan Richardson Arkansas basketball circa 1990’s full court press. Honestly, it was exhausting. Every list for Santa included it. And they must have made like 15 lists each.
Jill and I talked about it and ultimately the kids did not get a Nintendo Switch from Santa.
Before you go yelling “Bah Humbug!” and calling us Scrooges, hear me out.
To get started, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Don't worry, they're simple. Let's go:
when did you graduate from college?
when did you get married?
what's your address?
how many square feet is your condo/apartment/house?
I imagine the answers among all of you reading this are quite varied. I also imagine if you asked the same exact questions to your best friend, neighbor, or co-worker, you're most likely going to get answers totally different than yours.
Let's try a few more questions. Also very simple questions:
