As I noted in What I've Been Reading, the Leadership Team at work has been reading Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0). It's a basic management book in many ways (and yet most companies don't implement the basics) but also a very good one if you're interested in business. A quote from the book stood out to me and I … [Read more...]
Dealing with Car Crashes and Insurance Companies
This is the story of two car crashes (unfortunately) and how we dealt with them. I'm hoping this is the last one and that none of you have any issues like these, but if you do, perhaps this post can help. It should also provide for some interesting discussion. :) Oklahoma Crash In May of 2014, my wife was stopped at a stop light when a teenage driver ran into her from … [Read more...]
My Millionaire Habits
A couple months ago I posted on Millionaire Habits, a list of 13 things Business Insider considered to be traits of millionaires. In this piece I thought I'd share what I consider to be my personal millionaire habits. I think it will also be fun for you to share yours in the comments on this post. Here's what I consider to be the habits that have helped me become a … [Read more...]
My Jobs, Graduate School
The other day I listed all the jobs I held in college and detailed what I learned from them. Today I want to continue this series by sharing the jobs I held while in graduate school. While I was getting my MBA, I had two jobs. Graduate Assistant The first was during the school year (both years). It was an assistantship where I ran the university movie theater as well as … [Read more...]
2016 Financial Resolutions at Half Way Point
Happy 4th of July!!! I hope you are enjoying the holiday celebrating with family and friends. Since we are just past half of 2016 (can you believe that?)I thought that today would be a good day to give you an update on my 2016 Financial Resolutions. Here's where we stand: Meet net worth goal -- So far, I'm making progress. 2015 was a stinky year for my net worth … [Read more...]
My Jobs, College
The other day I listed all the jobs I held in high school and detailed what I learned from them. Today I want to continue this series by sharing the jobs I held while in college. As a freshman, I worked in the library as part of a work-study program. It was a simple job and for only eight hours a week. I didn't get any lasting impressions/benefits from it, though it … [Read more...]
My Jobs, Pre-College
I've talked a lot about managing your career, so I thought it would be interesting (maybe, maybe not, you decide) for me to detail the jobs I've held in my lifetime, what I gained from each of them, what I learned, how I grew my income, etc. I'll be doing this over a series of posts that will last a several months (I'll space them out). We'll see how it goes. Today I … [Read more...]
How to Buy a House and Pay Off the Mortgage in Less Than 10 Years
Buying a home is the biggest purchase most Americans will ever make, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in one chunk. In addition, there are a whole host of associated costs -- insurance, maintenance, taxes, furnishings, and on and on that make this a gigantic financial issue for all but the wealthiest of us. The impact buying a home can have on a family's finances is … [Read more...]
What to Include in a Disaster File
When I listed my 2016 financial resolutions I noted that one of my resolutions as follows: Complete death file -- I know, it's a morbid name. But it's basically a file that lists where all our finances, records, etc. are located. It's for my wife in case something would happen to me. One reader responded: A better term of death file that I like would be disaster file. If you … [Read more...]
The Day My Most Valuable Asset Took a Hit
Many ESI readers are friends of mine and know about a career move I made a couple years ago from Michigan to Oklahoma. Several have asked me to give an update on that move and how I ended up in my new state of Colorado. It's a story full of twists and turns (and some good learnings), so I thought the rest of you might want to hear it as well. Backstory Just to get … [Read more...]
