Never be satisfied with what you achieve today, it pales in comparison with what you are capable of doing tomorrow.
Accomplishments
Posted November 6, 2008 by Regular JoeCategories: Outdoors, Wisdoms
Tags: accomplishments, acumen, astuteness, balance, brains, caution, circumspection, clear thinking, comprehension, dead squirrel, discernment, discrimination, enlightenment, erudition, experience, foresight, generation x, genx, gi joe, good judgment, gumption*, horse sense*, hunting, hunting humor, hunting jokes, information, intelligence, judgment, judiciousness, knowledge, learning, mtv generatiopn, pansophy, penetration, perspicacity, poise, practicality, prudence, reason, sagacity, sageness, sanity, sapience, savoir faire, savvy*, shrewdness, solidity, sophistication, squirrel hunters, squirrel hunting, squirrel trap, stability, understanding, wisdom
Prudence… A Passing Fad?
Posted October 17, 2008 by Regular JoeCategories: Finance
Tags: abuse credit, abusing credit, bad credit, bad debt, control expenses, credit cards, cut credit cards, don't abuse credit, expenses, financial help, getting ahead, help bills, how do i save, how to save, i cant save money, living within means, low funds, need money, over my head, pay bills, personal finance, personal savings, rainy day, Recession, retirement, save, save for retirement, save money, save save save, saving, saving habits, saving money, spending habits, spending money, too many expenses, trimming expenses, unemployment, why is it important to save, why is saving so important, why should i save, your home page
When we look back on previous generations, we often associate them with the fads, fashions and technologies that accompanied them. Take Generation X for example, as adolescents we spent Friday nights at the roller rink, listened to .38 Special and the closest thing we had to reality TV was the News. A few years later while Gen X matured and the roller rinks were closing down… something else was happening. Without warning, like in a science fiction movie, dangerous alien forms of plastic had invaded our culture, taken control of our practicality and systematically began snatching away our financial stability. Fighting for supremacy, living in codependency and feeding off one another for survival, Generation X and the Credit Card Revolution had taken flight.
I often think back to when I was a child and how my father, a blue collared civil servant, would go about making purchases. He had a system. It was a common practice used by the Baby boomers and every generation before them. Now-a-days, to the MTV Generation, this method of obtaining goods and services is just something they touched on in school, primitive backwards thinking and the kind of thing you would only Read the rest of this post »
You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet…
Posted September 28, 2008 by Regular JoeCategories: Economy, Finance
Tags: $700 Billion, 401k, bail out, bailout, bailout approval, bailout passed, bankruptcy, brokerage account, buy gold, capital hill, cnn, credit crisis, credit crunch, dow industrials, dow jones industrials, economic outlook, Economy, election, federal bail out, federal bailout package, Finance, financial bailout, financial distress, financial health, forclosures, freddie mack, gen x, generation x, house passes bailout, housing, how will recession effect me, inflation, IRA, is it too late to sell, jp morgan, market crash, money market, nasdaq, nikkei 225, protecting assets, Recession, savings, sell stocks, so i sell, today's finance, troubled economy, Wall Street, wall street bailout, washington mutual, wells fargo, what do i expect from recession, will bail out plan help, will bailout package help
While politicians on Capital Hill take group photo’s, play electoral games and contemplate their proposed bail out of our plagued financial system, the stock market continues to grind lower. The rescue plan would involve the U.S. government spending $700 billion on questionable assets from the growing number of distressed financial institutions – nationalizing the money losing part of the financial sector. As President Bush try’s to bully Congress into “rising to the occasion” and approving the legislaton, leading lawmakers resume difficult negotiations that will be debated for years to come whether the bail out plan gets approval or not.
Let the reality check record show that neither portfolio managers, economists or government leaders know for certain if the stimulus plan under consideration will help stop the bleeding or even stabilize markets at all.
What we do know..? The subprime mortgage crisis, credit crunch and weakening dollar have crippled capital markets sending financial giants crashing to their knees and pushing our economy to the brink of collapse. Making matters worse, the housing market continues to plummet, there’s no credit for anyone with anything less than perfect credit history and the consumer is dying. People on fixed incomes, who thought they were on cruise control, are now feeling the inflationary wrath of raging fuel, food and healthcare costs.
Bail Out Plan or no Bail Out Plan – the economy is in horrific shape and about to get worse… a lot worse. As the current economic downturn gains momentum and we drift deeper into recession, it’s time to start thinking defensively about protecting your assets. Americans could soon Read the rest of this post »
Understanding the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Posted September 21, 2008 by Regular JoeCategories: Economy, Finance
Tags: cdo, cnn, depression, economic slowdown, Finance, financial crisis, financial meltdown explained, forclosures, generation x, housing, housing boom, housing bubble, housing bubble burst, housing crisis, income, mbs, mtv generation, Recession, recession explained, recessionary times, stick figure subprime, subprime, subprime market, subprime mortgage crisis, subprime mortgage crisis explained, subprime mortgage stick figure, the great depression, unemployment, united states housing bubble, us housing bubble, wages, what is a credit crunch, what is a recession, what is subprime, why economy
Our economy is in deep shit and like it or not – you’re sitting smack dab in the middle it. Lots of people are asking the same questions: “How the hell did we end up like this?”, “Isn’t this just a Wall Street problem?” and “could this recession really effect me? – If so, how bad could things get?” To fully understand why the U.S. economy is in such bad shape and getting worse, one of the things you need to do, is get a firm grip on understanding the Subprime Mortgage Crisis…
The prudent man’s rule when calculating how much one can afford to pay for a home without getting in over your head is typically no more than 3-4x your annual income.
In 2005 (the peak of the United States housing bubble) the economy was booming, jobs were plentiful, consumers were spending and the real estate market was unstoppable. However, irresponsibly unnoticed the median home price had become six to nine times greater than median income. That was the sign banks chose to ignore. Despite this dislocation, lenders were tripping over themselves to make loans based on the unrealistic misconstrued concept that property values would always continue to soar.
Competition became so fierce among lenders they began seducing the unfortunates, people with bad debt, low paying jobs and sketchy credit histories. Based on their less than adequate financials, this subprime underclass that had no business even buying property, had become mortgagors. Both the lender and the buyer knew they couldn’t really afford that dream home – but what the hell, those Read the rest of this post »
Classic Saturday Morning Cartoons
Posted September 10, 2008 by Regular JoeCategories: Retro Junk, Television
Tags: 1970, 1970 cartoons, 1970's cartoons, 1975, 1975 cartoons, 1980, 1980 cartoon, 1980's cartoons, 1985, 80's cartoons, 80's video games, asteroids, atari 2600, boomarang channel, bugs bunny, commodore 64, commodore vic-20, frogger, gen x, generation x, gilligan's island, heckle and jeckle, land of the lost, marry ann gilligan's, mrs. pac-man, mtv generation, pappa smurf, pitfall, retro cartoons, Retro Junk, retro tv, saturday morning cartoons, scooby doo, shazam, smurfs, smurfs creater, stuart ross, woody woodpecker, yearbook
Was there anything better then rolling out of bed, pouring yourself a bowl of Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries and plopping down in front of the TV in your pajamas to enjoy your favorite Saturday morning line up?
1970– In the early days we were entranced by the slap stick off-the-wall shenanigans of Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylvester, Heckle & Jeckle, and Woody Woodpecker. And who could forget that pathetically mischievous, yet ingenious, Wile E. Coyote and how his dastardly plans to capture the Road Runner were consistently foiled by those faulty ACME rockets or simply out-witted by the Road Runner himself (which usually ended up with an explosion and trademark puff of smoke).
1975– Kung Foo Fighting was at the top of the charts, Saturday Night Live premiered with George Carlin as the host, Bill Gates & Paul Allen were Read the rest of this post »