A 5k Vacation

October 28, 2014

One of my favorite commercials is from Mastercard with all the kids begging their parents to “take one more day” of their unused vacation and they present Mom and Dad some pretty compelling reasons why taking at least one more day is priceless.  For those that do decide to take a family vacation, there IS a price, and it’s usually not cheap.  In fact, a recent Forbes article puts the average cost for a family of four at almost $5k after tallying up the cost of airfare, hotel, food, and taxes.  Continue reading “A 5k Vacation”

Sometimes It’s Okay to Punt

October 06, 2014

Football season is an exciting time of year as fall has officially arrived and even the hot and humid southern states get some relief. Personally speaking, I am a college football person. Although I may be an unbiased financial educator, there is admittedly a great deal of bias when it comes to my allegiance to certain colleges and universities on the football field. You will likely hear screams of “Roll Tide,” “Go Tigers” (the orange ones from Clemson in the Palmetto State), and occasionally “Go Wildcats” (K-State- I have to support my grad school) if you are in my neighborhood on a typical college football weekend. (Yes, similar to my investment portfolio, I like to maintain a diversified portfolio of schools to support but also have the documents to prove that I am not a fair-weather fan of the first two programs on my list.) Continue reading “Sometimes It’s Okay to Punt”

Not All Sports Are Created Equal

September 26, 2012

From about the time my kids could walk, they have been involved in sports. Sports is a great way to give your kids exercise while teaching them valuable life lessons, but as Susan and I have found out over the years, when it comes to the cost of playing sports, not all sports are created equal. Here is a list of the sports our kids have played, along with the associated costs: Continue reading “Not All Sports Are Created Equal”

What Are You Hiding From?

February 03, 2012

So……this Sunday is the Super Bowl!!!  The game will be watched by more people than ever before.  Madonna is performing at the halftime show.  (I have so much to say about that but because this is a work-related blog I’ll decline to comment…for now).  The whole sports world (and many people who don’t like football but are invited to parties or want to simply watch the commercials) will stop for 3-4 hours on Sunday as the NFL crowns a new champion.  Continue reading “What Are You Hiding From?”

With Football and Financial Advisors: Loyalty is Everything

February 18, 2011

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with my girlfriend about the concept of loyalty.  To products and services.  And football teams.  I guess I should add some background information here.  I have been a lifelong football fan and she is just learning about the game over the last few years and frequently asks awfully insightful questions.  One of her recent questions was about what happens when a player from another team that you don’t like comes to play for the team you do like.  For full disclosure, I grew up in the Baltimore area and I’m a Baltimore Ravens fan (and I really don’t like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts).  My answer was that most fans root for their team regardless of the players on it.  We essentially root for laundry.

[YouTube video: Seinfeld] Continue reading “With Football and Financial Advisors: Loyalty is Everything”