Category Archives: Television Shows and Money

My So-Called Finances

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I took a much needed hiatus for the last few weeks to come to terms with the new world order of life during the COVID-19 lockdown.

I did the usual. Stockpiled water, canned goods, cereal, and toilet paper.

Now I’m back.

If this blog could talk, I am sure it would have asked me this question.

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After making sure I had food, water, and medicine to stay physically healthy, my mind started wondering about my fiscal health.

Then I thought, shouldn’t people also be making sure they are staying not only safe, but also financially solvent during the pandemic.

Much like Angela Chase (Claire Danes) was constantly obsessing about her crush Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) in My So-Called Life (MSCL), I would find myself constantly obsessing over my finances.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, My So-Called Life is an American teen drama television series from the 90’s that aired on ABC and then in reruns on MTV for years after it ended with only one season.

9 very important things Jared Leto taught us in the nineties

The plot surrounded a young 15-year-old girl that spent much of her time trying to figure out life and navigate being on the cusp on adulthood. The cast also just recently did a virtual reunion and reunited back together in 2020.

Now, back to my story.

I needed a fiscal safety net and plan in place that would allow me to weather and fiscal storm, including the coronavirus.

With over 33 million people filing for unemployment, I needed to shore up my resources.

My So-Called Finances needed my full attention. I was up for the undertaking.

START FROM THE FISCAL BEGINNING

Many of my lessons about money started when I was very young. I knew it was very important to have money so that you could take care of yourself and your family.

I got in the habit of saving when I was only three years old. That habit hasn’t changed. I have technically always been a saver.

However, along the way, I got lost. Kind of the same way that Alice did in Wonderland.

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I too found myself in a maze of things I did not understand. I needed those signs like Alice got.

You know the ones. They said things like; Drink me.

Drink Me Bottle | Disney Wiki | Fandom

By high school, I was an angst ridden teen with a penchant for spending. Then it hit me. Maybe I should start reading about this money stuff.

My 401(k) would be my new boyfriend.

As, time went on, I started obsessing about retirement. The hand-to-mouth existence dd not appeal to me.

I thought about what the heroine, Angela, in MSCL would do. She would probably start reading a book and asking a friend for advice.

I knew the same way Amy March did in Little Women that I would not be pauper.

Fun Fact: Claire Danes also starred as Beth in the 1994 adaption of the book.

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Therefore, I had to change some things. They say the first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one. It hurt to see that low bank balance, but it had to be done. To know where you are going, you have to know where you are.

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The first step was to set a goal. If I had something to aim for, then I had a purpose. The goal: A one million-dollar 401(k).

LEARN HOW TO BECOME FI

The Tools to Succeed 1. Learn skills to sell for money You need the skills to become Financially Independent (FI).

I wanted to be fiscally savvy. Therefore, I had to read. Angela started off the show reading the book, The Diary of Anne Frank.

I started my FI journey reading a Kiplinger magazine. Then from there, I started watching the Suze Orman show. I knew I didn’t want to sit at a desk for 12 years only to end up sitting at a desk for another 40. I needed a plan. Being able to escape the rat race sooner rather than later appealed to me.

I started devouring personal finance books and blogs. Some of my personal favorites are The Automatic Millionaire, The Millionaire Next Door and I Will Teach You to be Rich. Then you have to decide on a path. I chose passive investing.

That turned on the light-bulb for me. Wealth building is about action.

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Building wealth would take time, sacrifice, and work.

PASSIVE VS ACTIVE WEALTH STRATEGIES

Some people choose to start a business, become doctors, lawyers, actors, musicians, consultants, chefs or to make their fortune. I would get mine by investing.

I still needed a career to get paid. So, I found an employer to buy time form me and I equally willing to sell time to them. You can work in the public or private sector.

You can get further up the income ladder by gaining skills in the public sector and then selling them at a markup in the private sector to arbitrage your valuable skill assets.

I picked a job in finance. Once I got that job offer, I made the choice to start investing ASAP.

The 401(k) offers a maximum contribution of $19,000 and the IRA (Traditional or Roth) offers a max of $6,000. That is a total of $25,000 annually. I got my start with 6% and a match of 3%. Then, I slowly started working my way up by increasing my contributions by 1% a year.

2. Passive strategies There are two strategies here: A. Live below your means (LBYM); B. work smarter not harder.

Your employer wants to make more off of you than they pay you. Your work will not go unrewarded, but will be under-rewarded. Therefore, it is your job to invest in yourself by saving for your retirement.

CREATE AN INVESTMENT ATM

Woman, Adult, People, Money

You must save enough to start earning large amounts of interest off your principal investment.

3. Accumulation phase Your job here is to start contributing as much as you can to your 401(k).

After, saving a 6-month emergency fund so you are no longer living paycheck-to-paycheck, start putting in every dollar you can into your accounts. Save until it hurts. Even if all you can afford is $50 a month. Save something. This will eventually become your own personal ATM.

It will be like a vending machine. You step up, put in your request, and the machine hands you what you want.

Act of kindness : Offer someone's snack leaving money on the ...

The RMD has now gone from 70.5 to 72. Therefore, you can let your money ride on the interest gravy train for an additional 1.5 years. On a million-dollar portfolio, that would mean an additional $105,000 with a 7% rate of return.

KEEPING IT PASSIVE

Building up your assets. I started with $5 and then went on to my first $100,000 and beyond. It can be done.

4. Passively build a sizable investment pool Find ways to earn income.

This can be with royalties from writing a book, collecting rent on rental properties, or renting out your parking space.

The goal is to trade time up front to build an income stream that with essentially last forever. Then you can kick back and relax.

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If you have to sell 40 hours a week or the sum of 2,080 a year, you should get something out of the deal. Simple math can change your life.

I knew that one-million could spit off $50,000 of income forever with a 5% return. I just had to get there first. When I got to the point where my next money milestone was going to be $300,000, I knew I was on to something.

FREEDOM IS THE ANSWER

Why invest so much money? It’s simple. The answer is freedom.

Free from worry over how to pay bills, over how you spend your time, and quality of life.

Money equals power.

Money lets you be more confident.

Debt consumes as it only takes from you and gives you nothing.

The way to build your confidence is through positive experiences. Paying off debt then saving and investing that money will give you that. This in turn will build your self-esteem.

My favorite scene in MSCL was the one in the episode titled, “self-esteem.”

Confidence is key my friends. It attracts things to you. In Angela’s case, it was Jordan. Oops. I meant to say Jordan Catalano. For some reason on that show, he could never just be Jordan.

So, you see in the end, that you can get what you want. You just have to be patient, ask for it, and work for it. They say ask and you shall receive. Try it. I did.

And the results are amazing.

Here’s Everything Comcast Owns, Apart From Your Soul

Comcast profits up 14 percent despite losing 121,000 cable-TV ...

There was a time when Comcast was known primarily as a cable provider.

Well they can now add media conglomerate to that list, while they skip down the street all the way to the bank to make those deposits.

Disney had better watch out!

Executives at Comcast began courting a merger between itself and NBC Universal, creating a $30 billion dollar behemoth. This was during the 2009 financial crisis.

Remember folks, fortunes are made in recessions. *Cough, cough.* Ahem, like the one we are in now.

By 2011, regulators granted Comcast permission to buy NBC, with a 51% stake in the company and the option of gaining the controlling interest from GE Capital in 2013 in order to sweep the pool.

Disney and Comcast are now playing in the same media juggernaut sandlot. Capitalism at its finest.

Comcast, the No. 1 provider of video and residential Internet service in the United States, already had about 23 million subscribers at the time of the deal.

Comcast now has ownership of tons of cable channels and movies, as well as the rights to those shows; assets that include NBC broadcast stations, cable channels like Bravo, USA and E!, the Universal movie studio as well as theme parks among other assets.

Here are some of the big brands it owns.

NBC Universal Television

NBC is home and resting place to some of the biggest shows on television.

The most commercially successful television show of all time is also included in their list of favorites; Seinfeld, the show about nothing. However, they lost streaming rights in a $500 million bidding war with Netflix and then again to HBO.

Regardless, the most streamed shows on Netflix were The OfficeFriends, and Parks and Recreation, Netflix will have none of these shows in 2020, but NBC owns control of all except Friends.

The Emmy contender This is Us is also on its rooster along with a catalog that is comprised of a wide range of classic sitcoms, reboots of classic sitcoms, new original shows, and a library of films from Universal Pictures.

Universal Pictures

It is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States.

In March 2013, Comcast bought the remaining 49% of NBC Universal for $16.7 billion.

It’s film library includes Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, and the multi-billion dollar, box-office record breaker The Fast and the Furious Franchise. I can hear the cash register now. Cha-ching.

Universal Parks & Resorts

As they are always trying to give Disney a run for their money, Comcast also owns the Universal theme parks.

With locations spanning across the globe: Orlando, FL, Singapore, Japan, and Hollywood.

In 2017, approximately 49,458,000 guests visited Universal Studios theme parks, making it the third-largest amusement park operator in the world. Its major competitors are only Disney and Six Flags.

To put this in perspective, the country of Canada has a total population of 35,000,000. That means every year, the equivalent of entire the population of Canada descends down to visit their theme parks annually.

In addition, they also own the rights to display characters and images at their parks such as The Transformers, Chucky, and others.

I got up close and personal with them when I went to Universal Studios in Orlando. No doubt about it. Comcast is making a mint.

E! Entertainment Television

Comcast now owns shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and E! News.

As of January 2016, E! is available to 92.4 million households in the United States.

CNBC

The network acquired its main competitor, the Financial News Network, a move which expanded both its distribution and its workforce.

Cablevision subsequently sold its stake to NBC, giving NBC sole ownership.

As of February 2015, CNBC is available to approximately 93,623,000 pay television households (80.4% of households with television) in the United States. 

In 2007, the network was ranked as the 19th most valuable cable channel in the United States, worth roughly $4 billion.

CNBC is the world leader in business news and real-time financial market coverage.

The rest of Comcast

It has even more major brands in its portfolio, but you get the idea. Comcast is making money hand over fist. If you are a cable provider guppy, then watch out, because Comcast is the shark.

You Can’t Do That On Television Or With Your Finances

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Never spend your money before you’ve earned it. – Thomas Jefferson

If I could rub on Aladdin’s lamp, I would wish for world financial literacy. Oh…And world peace.

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However, what I really want is for more people to get involved with the family finances and build generational wealth for their future.

Within the last 72 hours, I have read that college students are unable to afford housing in Sacramento, Forever 21 went bankrupt, WeWork will be letting go of 2,000 employees, Sports Illustrated (SI) sacked half the staff.

In addition, that there is also an aging population and a doctor shortage due to issues with stress, debt loads in the $200,000-$500,000 range, not to mention under funding of residency programs; and that most of the growth in the job market is concentrated in only two areas: health services and education.

What your job is, should you choose to accept it, is to keep as many dollars in your bank account as possible. Unlike Tom Cruise’s message in Mission Impossible, this message will not self-destruct in five seconds.

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If this were a financial hospital, I would want you to form a triage and determine which parts of your finances need most immediate care. Your bank account is the heart of your finances so let us perform a little CPR. Greenbacks Magnet style of course. This post is all about letting you know what you cannot do with your finances in order to grow your nest egg to a fortune. This reminds me of a sketch comedy show called You Can’t Do That on Television. Let me explain.

You Can’t Do That on Television is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that first aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured preteen and teenage actors in a sketch comedy format similar to that of American sketch comedies Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Saturday Night Live.

What I loved most about this show was that they would always say what you could not do followed by some hilarious punishments such as being covered in green slime. And nobody wants that! Who wants to have to wash all that slime out of your hair?

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Let’s pretend that everywhere you go there is a bucket of green slime waiting to be poured on your head for any financial missteps that you make. You may think twice about maxing out that credit card or renting that posh pad in the SoHo district for $4,000 a month. I’m just saying.

Here is a list of things that you cannot do with your finances:

  • Upgrading to First Class on credit
  • Maxing out credit cards
  • Using Payday Loans
  • Overloading on Student Loan Debt such as paying $100,000 for a Sociology degree
  • Buying a car that costs more than your annual income
  • Paying for a family member’s vacation to Disneyland on your credit card because theirs is maxed out
  • Taking out Personal Loans for more than you can afford to repay
  • Buying a home for more than four times your salary
  • Spending on fancy jewelry
  • Going on shopping sprees at the mall just because its Tuesday

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about what you can do with your finances. The list is short and quite simple:

  • Save until it hurts aiming for 50% of your after-tax income
  • Invest in index funds such as the VTSAX at Vanguard
  • Open up a Roth IRA
  • Max out your Roth IRA

And that’s about it.

I know what you’re thinking. That’s it?! The list for what not to do was more than twice as long.

That is because there are endless ways to spend money, but the road to wealth is quite simple. Spend less than you make and invest the difference. Therefore, if your take-home pay is $75,000 a year and you spend $50,000 on living expenses, then you should invest $25,000 a year. No matter what the numbers are, the goal is the same. The way to get to your destination may change, as life happens, but keep the goal.

I must now bid you farewell. Do not worry. I will not be far away. I am only a tweet away.

This is not goodbye. As they said in the 1987 He-Man film, Masters of the Universe, we Don’t Say Goodbye, we say Good Journey.

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I will be your Yoda on this money journey.

And may the odds be ever in your favor.

I salute you.

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Don’t Trust The Commission-Based Advisor In Wall St Cubicle 23

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If you remember this fun, quirky, and often brutally honest show on ABC called Don’t Trust The B- in Apt 23, then you know exactly where this post gets its title.

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The show aired from April 11, 2012 to May 11, 2013. It only lasted for a short two seasons, but it packed a lot into that one year.

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For those unfamiliar with the show let me bring you up to speed.

June’s (Dreama Walker) plans of moving to Manhattan for her dream job and perfect apartment are ruined when the company that hired her goes bust. Broke and homeless, her luck turns around when she finds a job at a coffee shop and a roommate, Chloe (Krysten Ritter).  The show also starred James Van Der Beek (from Dawson’s Creek fame) as himself.

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In one of the funniest pilot episodes I have ever seen of a television show, it really gives you a sense of how quickly one life can change within less than 24 hours.

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June loses her job and apartment within a few hours once the company she was hired to work for goes down in an FBI raid due to the head of the company embezzling billions from clients in an Enron type take down, which reminds you of the glory days of yesteryear of Wall Street darlings such as the likes of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers; the latter of which was in business for 150 years having started operations in 1850.

Some media outlets such as CNBC did an article on what happened to former Lehman Brothers employees after the collapse and some still had not recovered from the company shutting down in 2008 some 10 years later including those not being able to find full-time employment.

This show and the acquisitions or closures of places like Merrill Lynch, Bearn Stearns, which opened in 1923, and Lehman Brothers are reasons why you should be your own financial advisor.

Unlike how JP Morgan bailed out Bear Stearns in March 2008 or Bank of America did Merrill Lynch, you are on your own like Lehman’s when they filed for bankruptcy as no one came to save them because if you fail to manage your money, then no one is coming to bail you out.

Let’s go back to 2008. Banks were failing. Many were found to be a part of the subprime mortgage crisis, but like the scandal at Wells Fargo nobody went to jail. You think your money is locked up tight like Fort Knox until you realize it isn’t. That is why Roosevelt created the FDIC insurance for banks as without the $250,000 deposit insurance after the 1929 crash many no longer believed in the banking institution.

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Just because someone is wearing a suit does not mean they know what they are doing. Many of the analysts and associates that start work for their prestigious firms such as Goldman Sachs are straight out of college and still wet behind the ears. Even though I once read that the average salary of a Goldman employee was around $622,000, that does not equate to financial smarts or riches. Many of these employees still blow money like you wouldn’t believe. Instead of saving stacks they are blowing them.

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway. – Warren Buffett

I have read enough accounts of high paying professionals and tons of the employees would blow off steam in a place called Scores in New York or buying million dollar homes, private school educations for the kiddies and exotic vacations costing $5,000 a pop.

Look, to each their own. Just understand that you are your best line of defense when it comes to your money. Read every book you can on the subject. Save as much as you can.

I even overheard a 2nd year law associate say that you can make a lot of money in New York, but it costs too much for too little. You have to be a millionaire to afford an apartment or buy a home.

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Part of the reason so many people are bad with money is because they do not learn about how money works. Please do not be one of those people. You must learn how money works. Learn the rules of the money game. Here are a few things you can do to save yourself the commission fee and invest those dollars instead.

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Use a three-part investing strategy.

Part I. Automate your savings and investments. Decide on a number you can live with, set it, and forget it.

Part II. Determine where to invest. Go with anyplace that offer fees that are less than one percent such as Trowe Price, Vanguard, Schwab or Fidelity.

Part III. Invest your money. I prefer to go with several index funds so I can be diversified in case one sector goes crashing down then others are usually going up. You could do a mix of 20 percent real estate or REIT’s, 15 percent in International Funds, 10 percent cash liquid savings in a high yield savings account, 10 percent in a bond fund and the remaining 45 percent in a stock equity fund like the VTSAX at Vanguard. This is similar to the Yale’s investment manager David Swensen’s model. He has been able to get a return on investment of billions into Yale’s coffers making them one of the larhgest college endowments on earth with $29.4 billion USD. Only Harvard has a bigger endowment war chest with $38 billion USD.

Who is David Swensen?

According to the Yale Daily News, “David Swensen of the Yale University endowment is the doyen of endowment investing. Imitation, of course, is the sincerest form of flattery. Today, the Stanford, MIT and the Princeton endowments all boast former Swensen deputies at their helm. Each also has adopted the “Yale model” of investing pioneered by Swensen in the 1980s.”

So what is Yale’s “secret sauce”?

“Until 1985, Yale had invested in mainstream U.S. stocks and bonds with a smidgen of foreign stocks and real estate.”

“Swensen was the first to apply modern portfolio theory to sizeable multi-billion-dollar endowments. He understood that “asset allocation” explains over 90% of a portfolio’s investment returns.”

“The decision whether to invest in specific asset classes matters much more than picking the right stocks. Over the past 30 years, Yale has shifted the bulk of its investments into “alternative assets” like natural resources, venture capital, real estate and foreign stocks.”

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When the market goes down, buy more. That is where the bargains are. That is how Sir Templeton made his millions. Sir John Marks Templeton was an American-born British investor, banker, fund manager, and philanthropist. In 1954, he entered the mutual fund market and created the Templeton Growth Fund. In 1999, Money magazine named him “arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century.” He purchased tons of stocks during the stock market crash when everyone else was getting out.

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So do not let fear take over how you manage and invest your money.

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Fortunes are made in recessions.

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Life Lessons I Learned From A Goofy Movie

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If you grew up in the era of after school cartoons, then prepare to be nostalgic. This time I’m going back to 1995. Let’s get goofy… as in A Goofy Movie that is.

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A Goofy Movie was released theatrically on April 7, 1995, by Walt Disney Pictures, and made $35 million at the box office.

A Goofy Movie is a 1995 animated musical comedy film produced by Disney MovieToons and Walt Disney Television Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is based on The Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop created by Robert Taylor and Michael Peraza Jr. and acts as a follow-up to the show. It features the voices of Jason Marsden, Bill Farmer, Jim Cummings, Kellie Martin, Pauly Shore, Jenna von Oÿ, and Wallace Shawn.

Taking place a few years after the events of Goof Troop, A Goofy Movie follows Goofy and his son, Max, who is now in high school, and revolves around the father-son relationship between the two as Goofy takes Max on a fishing trip out of fear that Max is drifting away from him, unintentionally interfering with Max’s social life, particularly his relationship with Roxanne, his high school crush and dream girl. This movie also featured 2 songs by R&B singer and superstar Tevin Campbell.

The film was so much fun, uplifting, and family oriented that I had to give it some love her on my website. The movie just melts my heart 💖But first…What is Goof Troop?

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Goof Troop bears similarity to several early-1950s Goofy cartoon shorts which depicted Goofy as a father to a mischievous red-haired son. Goofy, a single father, moves back to his hometown of Spoonerville with his son, Max. Their next door to Goofy’s high school friend: Pete and his family. His son P.J. (Pete Jr.) befriends Max. Max and P.J. become best friends and do practically everything together. A large portion of humor comes from the relatively normal Max’s personality sharply contrasting with his father.

And love the theme song by Phil Perry.

H-h-h-h-hit it!
Like father, like son
You’re always number one
Best buddies, best pals (Yeah!)
You always seem to work things out

Can’t you see you’re two of a kind?
Looking for a real good time(Real good time)
Report to the Goof Troop
And we’ll always stick together
(Yeah!) We’re the Goof Troop
Best of friends forever

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Now let’s talk about A Goofy Movie!

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DREAMS ARE A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES AND ARE MEANT TO BE FULFILLED I love how the movie starts. Max ( Jason Marsden) is dreaming of his high school crush Roxanne ( Kellie Martin).

However, before his dream can come true he wakes up!

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Fun Fact: A dream is a wish your heart makes is a song that’s in another Disney Film: Cinderella, which is from 1955. And I love Cinderella stories! See my post Money And Life Lessons I Learned From CBS Storybreak’s Yeh-Shen (A Chinese Cinderella Story)

I am all too familiar with having a dream.

Most people do not know this, but since I was a little girl I always had a dream to be rich. I just always knew that I did not want to worry more about money than helping people. Therefore, I figured out ways to live on less so that I could find ways to earn and save more.

First, I wrote down a plan. Second, I knew getting a good education was key so I went to an in-state, affordable college to lessen debt. Lastly, I refused to buy expensive or big ticket items i.e. $800,000 home, $70,000 vehicles, and $5,000 annual vacations.

I knew I needed my money to go to work for me. I needed to invest. So what’s it gonna be? 🤔 Real Estate? Stocks? Bonds? Mutual Funds? Art? Since stocks are more bang for my buck , as high-quality, dividend-paying stocks have proven to be the best way to make money over any twenty-year stretch of time or longer, I put my money in stocks.

My mission: To invest $100,000 in the stock market. Challenge accepted! Like Max, I had my work cut out for me.

MAKE A PLAN In the film, Max decides he’s tired of being looked over and makes a plan to change his fate. After today he sangs, things will be different.

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You got that right! Max dons the costume of his favorite popstar, Powerline (Tevin Campbell), and proceeds to perform the song “Stand Out” live in the school auditorium in front of the entire school. Talk about GUTS and going for the GLORY!

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Me and Max are very similar indeed.

Back in 2016, after years of reading other bloggers and dreaming of becoming one myself, I decided to change my fate and destiny forever.

After reading a post by Financial Samuari on how to start a blog, I decide to throw my hat in the ring. And here I am today. After today I thought, my life will never be the same!

Reading so many books and blogs about money, I learned how to save and invest more and spend less. In order to reach my goal of $100,000, I cut back spending. I went from saving 13-15% of my income to about 41% of my income going towards savings and investments! Remember this: NO GUTS, NO GLORY!!!

Back to Max, he now has gotten the attention of his dream girl. And the attention of the entire school including an older high school girl, that Roxanne’s best friend Stacy ( Jenna von Oÿ) tells her to do what The All American Rejects says to do Move Along. I know that’s right!!!😂

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See this, like me, Disney does fun facts too! 😉👍
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As soon as he finds a way to make his dream a reality, his dad, Goofy (Bill Farmer), decides they are drifting apart and need to go on a fishing trip to bond (and teach his son the perfect cast like his father taught him). After all that work Max just put in, he did what any teenage boy on an adrenaline high would do… he fainted.

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Fun Fact: Walt Disney is known for making animated films or shows as single-parent households in which the mother is missing. Think The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Ducktales, and A Goofy Movie. There was always a close bond between the father and his children. This reminds us how important it is for a father to be involved in his child’s life.

See my posts Money Lessons I Learned From Scrooge McDuck and A Christmas Carol: Lessons in Finance, Business, And Life

SECRETS AND LIES OR LOANS Max decided to lie to his father in order to fulfill yet another lie that he told his friends about going to go see the Powerline concert live. This deeply hurts his father.

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In regards to loans, here’s a tip; do not invest borrowed funds. Invest cash only. Debt creates more debt. Cash creates more cash. It is just that simple.

FORTUNES FAVOR THE BOLD Max eventually comes clean to his dad and they agree together as a family to go to the concert. Father and son rocked it out!!!

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This all happened because Max finally had the guts to tell his father the truth. He also comes clean to Roxanne and she rewards him with a kiss. Max no longer being ashamed or embarrassed by his father introduces him to his dream girl Roxanne. Max took a chance and a huge risk, but it paid off in the end.

So remember this: Don’t do the boring thing, do the exciting thing.

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As for me, after I decided to start investing like crazy, I did hit my goal: $100,000!

Why $100,000 you ask?

Well, it’s like this. I did some research and found out how to build generational wealth over the long term. Investing is a long game. It takes decades to earn significant sums of interest.

Over 30 year time intervals, this is what can happen to money that is invested that earns 8% return.

Basically, invest and then do not add another penny to $10,000.

The First 30 years: $10,000 can turn into $100,000.

The Second 30 years: $100,000 turns into $1 million.

The Third 30 years: $1 million turns into 10 million.

The Fourth 30 years: $10 million turns into $104 million!

Therefore, you can turn small sums into vast fortunes over time.

That $100,000 is the golden ticket to prosperity my friends. Once you hit this milestone, your money starts to accumulate pretty fast.

That $100,00 can move mountains and turn small money pebbles into big money boulders! You just have to be bold enough to make a plan and execute it.

A dream may be a wish your heart makes, but a goal is a carefully crafted plan that is written down. So when in doubt, BE BOLD!

A Financial Nip/Tuck

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Are you looking for a way to change your finances?

Turn your money from small nuggets of gold into large platinum diamonds. Who wouldn’t? Lots of people could do with a financial facelift.

So, “tell me what you don’t like about your finances?”

That last question is a play on the signature line from the show, “Tell me what you don’t like about yourself,” but with a twist…a financial twist of course!

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Nip/Tuck is an American serial medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010.

Opening credits song: “A Perfect Lie”, The Engine Room.

Taglines: Truth is only skin deep. L.A.’s newest implants.

The TV series Nip / Tuck, originally broadcast in 2003 on FX, focuses on McNamara/Troy, a controversial plastic surgery practice, and especially its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy played by Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon respectively. Each episode was named after the incoming patient. The show sold itself as a melodrama with a facelift.

It made me think what if people could have financial facelifts instead of actual ones?

However, it would focus on inner emotional stability instead of outer beauty.

We would build the foundation to allow people to start at building good and long-lasting financial habits.

Let’s begin our consultation.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO BUY FINANCIAL FREEDOM?

In all fairness, you have to work for your freedom. It could be as much as having $500,000 in savings and investments in one place or up to $2 million in another.

For instance, it was recently reported that no two places are equal to retire in around the United States.

If you want to retire in Mississippi, then it would cost you $950,000 versus retiring in California, in which you would need $2.1 million.

Why the variance? Things cost more on The Coast.

Housing is a premium. Dilapidated shacks in San Francisco are going for 50% above asking price.

For example, this home at 479 Silver Ave. listed on 2/8 of 2018 for $649K and was sold by 3/22/2018 for $1.125M, a 73.34% over-bid.

Homes in the Bay Area are going for a median 1.61 million!

You should plan your escape from the rat race keeping in mind where you want to live. If we use the financial freedom formula of saving 25 times your income, then you can look up what it will cost to live in certain places in America, Canada or other countries and determine if you are financially prepared.

See my post How Do You Play With FIRE?

WHAT DOES IT COST TO BE BEAUTIFUL WITH A LITTLE NIP AND TUCK?

The show was definitely like nothing I had ever seen.

One of the biggest shocks were the graphic plastic surgery procedures that were shown. I had to turn my head and look away. But when it comes to your finances, you cannot afford to be that squeamish.

You have to face the facts head on. And one of those facts is that plastic or any type of cosmetic surgery is expensive.

Lifting the face. The average cost of a facelift is $7,448, according to 2017 statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Facelift costs can widely vary. The average fee referenced above is only part of the total cost – it does not include anesthesia, operating room facilities or other related expenses.

That’s a lot of Benjamins. If you take that same $7,448 and invest it instead, after 40 years with a 10% return you could be closing in on $350,000!

I am all for people doing what makes them happy including what makes them look and feel good and confident. But at what price?

In another post, I discuss saving up money and using flexible spending to pay for braces and Lasik.

Lasik eye surgery, while life changing, is expensive. It can cost anywhere from $2500 to $10,000.

I prefer for people to pay cash if they do decide to have any cosmetic procedures performed. Who wants to pay interest on a $500 teeth whitening or $7,000 nose job?

In this case, I urge you to think of the opportunity cost.

Do you need clean, healthy teeth? Yes.

Do you need teeth so white that it blinds you every time you look in the mirror? No.

Think practically.

I have to agree with Dave Ramsey on this one: Learn to age gracefully.

MONEY IS A MOTIVATOR

A common theme on the show Nip/Tuck was money. Those guys lived in excess.

First, working in Miami Florida and then moving on to Los Angeles.

These guys knew where the money was and what type of clientele could afford their services.

They were not all about the money though. They performed tons of pro bono work.

I decided to pursue financial freedom because I did not want the lack of money to cause me to make bad financial decisions.

Lips, Taboo, Secret, Silence, Mouth
Confessions of a Teenage Waitress
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Shhh! These are my lipstick confessions but I’ll tell you. xoxo 💋

See my post Confessions Of A Teenage Waitress

Pick a target number. Make a goal. Then aim for it. That is the secret sauce to financial independence.

However, the secret ingredient is patience.

It takes time to get wealthy.

It is not easy to get rich.

It is not easy to get thin.

All good things take time.

It took me a year to save up my first $10,000. It took me 6 years to start saving 40% of my income. It took me years to save up my first $100,000.

It usually takes 10 years to save the first $100,000. Then it takes about 4 years to make the next $100,000.

Knowledge and money accumulate and compound over time. YOU HAVE TO PUT THE WORK IN! And then be willing to wait. You get back out of anything what you put in.

The problem is that no one wants to GET RICH SLOW.

Dave Ramsey has said he worked his tail off for 25 years, but today people call him an overnight success.

The thing of it is, when you are not trying to get rich quick you will GET RICH SLOW. Or as I like to say, GET RICH LEISURELY.

Through automation of savings and investments over time. Those are the words and advice of The Automatic Millionaire author David Bach.

Let those words be a reminder and motivator for you to build lasting wealth with patience, time, and persistence.

That is why I have been blogging for 3 years.

The reason I write is because I want to inspire the uninspired to act.

So, “tell me has this post inspired you to pursue wealth?”