BCAFA Blog

I’m a big fan of the Internet because you can find information on pretty much any topic that you are interested in.  For example, when it came to finding out about my financial planning options, I came across a site called: Your Money Matters.

It’s not often that you find a website that has everything you’re looking for and is not full of a bunch of fluff and junk.  I would almost argue that is the first site I have found that is not trying to sell you something on each and every page.

I saw that offered a new daily article each day dealing with some aspect of your finances.  I think I will come back each day and read it just like I would read the newspaper.

I should give a big thanks to the site’s author, Michael Dinich, for putting together such a great resource for financial planning.

As my parents have aged, it has been harder and harder for us kids to get them an anniversary present.  The problem lies with the fact that they have the finances that they could buy whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it - for them, money wasn’t really an issue.

On the other hand, they tended not to purchase anything that wasn’t practical - if it wasn’t practical, they just wouldn’t buy it.  I have often wondered if they even take the opportunity to enjoy the money that they have made, but that could be the subject of another post.

My siblings and I decided that if we pooled our money together, we could get them a Banksy Flower Thrower print to put in their living room.  It would not only create a new, bolder statement for their living room, but it is also something that they have talked about for awhile now, but it has never made it on their list of "practical" purchases.

So, I hope that they will be surprised with their gift and love it.  I guess we will just have to wait and see.

My husband would really like to start his own business in our little town and was wondering what kind of business that I thought would do really well. I instantly thought that he should open a store that sells pet supplies. We do not have anything in town like it and yet nearly everyone in town owns a pet.

Every time we travel to the city I come home with a variety of dog toys for our two dogs, Kaiser and Pepper. There is absolutely no where in town to find these things and my rough dogs go through them fairly quickly. I decided that to help him out, I would talk to neighbors and friends to see if they thought it was a good idea.

I got nothing but positive responses. One neighbor even admitted that she had asked Henry, who owns the local grocery store, if he could start stocking dog toys. He said he would, but never did. This made my husbands decision really easy and he spends all of his spare time now trying to find suppliers and fixing up the store he just purchased.

It seems that whenever a major sporting event is in my hometown, I just don’t have the money available to buy a ticket and attend the event.  It has been like this for many years, and with each game that I miss, a little piece of me dies.

In the past, I’ve considered making a sacrifice such as eating macaroni and cheese for weeks just so I can go to the game.  But so far, I have not had the courage, nor the discipline to actually go through with.

What I found out that my favorite hockey team would be in town in a couple weeks I knew this would be my chance to actually go to game.  I knew if I didn’t do this, I would regret it for the rest of my life and I just couldn’t live with that.

So I went online, and purchased the sports tickets.  At that moment, the thought of eating macaroni and cheese for two weeks to pay for those tickets really didn’t seem that bad.  I know by making this sacrifice, it will be painful, but it will also be a chance for me to realize a dream that I’ve had for many years - and that alone is worth it.

Though the reported numbers are low, people die each year trying to swallow their multivitamins. Sadly, people in these instances die making a healthy choice.  Thankfully, someone came up with a solution to this problem.

I was unaware that there was such a thing as liquid vitamins available until a friend of mine introduced them to me.  You see, he sold GBG products through his MLM company that sold health products not available in stores.  He suggested that I try them fully knowing that I would be hooked after the first week.

And he was right.

Now, I tell all my friends about the marvelous vitamins and they take each and every day and how they have reduced my chances of dying should I choke compared to someone who takes a regular multivitamin pill.  From my experience, it seems like they work quicker and are better than what I used to take.

I can remember back to my last few days in high school being faced with one potentially life changing question: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Now, for a lot of my peers, that decision was easy.  Some of them wanted to be teachers, artists, social workers, and engineers.  But for me, I had a couple of areas that I was interested in, but I had no real, concrete idea of what I wanted to be.

I went to talk to the guidance councilor at school to see if she could help me decide on which of the many careers I was looking at.  We sat down for a couple of sessions, discussed my interests, and made an effort to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

It turns out that I was destined to be a Marine Biologist - which I am today.  It was definitely the right choice for me - it is not really a job, it is my passion.

While I was browsing through some old books at a used bookstore I came across something that I found very interesting. It was a Will Barrow and learn master piano course. I knew that this was a very expensive course and this was only a few dollars, so I decided to buy it and try it out.

It was absolutely amazing. I can actually play some piano and I am not a good student at anything. This really got to my level and I knew just what I needed to do to learn. The funny thing is that I inherited my grandmother’s piano and it has been in my sitting room collecting dust since I got it because I can’t play.

I am glad that I am at least attempting the course and that the old piano is being used. It is a beautiful piano and who knows, maybe if I keep up with the course, some day I will be a beautiful piano player. Don’t hold your breath though.

I have never been a very organized person, but I decided that I was going to do some spring cleaning this year. I am also going to get rid of a lot of junk that I have had packed in boxes for years. I used to be a packrat. I’m not anymore, but I am still working on getting rid of the things I collected years ago.

Going through the boxes, I was amazed at all the junk I had saved. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why I wanted these things. I have a whole box of wedding favors from my brothers first wedding and he has been married two more times since then. What was I thinking?

I also finally got rid of all the boxes of schoolwork that I had saved since kindergarten. I must have had a worse problem than I thought. I am slowly noticing the basement starting to open up, as I get rid of box after box and it is starting to really look like it has potential. I better get back at it while I still have the energy.

I am studying OLED lighting at my university engineering class. I can honestly say that I have never been as passionate about learning as I am right now. I wouldn’t really say that I am a geek, but I have always been into technology and that is one of the reasons I decided to become an electrical engineer.

I am actually doing a big project on active matrix OLED for a big technology trade show that the University puts on every year. I have put a lot of effort and research into this, in hopes that I can grab the minds and attention of the people attending the show. It is my way of getting this technology known to consumers.

The hardest part for me was trying to fit all of my research onto one foldable display. But I had to, as this was all of the space that was allotted to me. I decided to take the most interesting and important aspects of my research and work from there. It is coming together very nicely and I hope to be able to teach the world about this thing that has become such a big part of mine.

March is an exciting month for me. I am an avid basketball fan and I love to watch March Madness. In fact, I am so into it, that I can barely be dragged away from the television set for the entire month. I was faced with a really tough decision last year, when I won NBA tickets to a game that would be playing at the exact same time as my favorite college basketball team.

It was such a dilemma and I had no idea what to do. After all, March Madness comes but once a year and I really wanted to watch the game, but I never win anything and was excited about the cheap NBA tickets that I had won. I decided to flip a coin and leave my decision up to the fates. In the end, I stayed home and watched the game and gave the tickets to my parents.

I am glad that is what I did. The game was an excellent one and my favorite team won. I figured I could buy NBA tickets any time, but I could only watch that game on that night. The coin made the right decision and I am gearing up for March Madness once again. Go basketball!