Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Are you having any fun?

The television is full of negatives these days. Greece, Spain and the rest of Europe are struggling to figure out how they can calm their markets. The US markets seems to have a knee jerk reaction to every bit of news out of Europe. Sometimes you have to step back and take a different view of things.

Can you or I really control what is going on in Europe? Can we control what is going on in the US markets? No, so why worry about it? Jesus taught us how foolish it is to worry. He said look at the birds in the sky. God takes care of them and he will take care of you also. There is no need to worry.

Can we control what we watch on television? Yes we can. Think about this. If the Dow Jones goes up 100 points or down a 100 points should that really make you happy or sad? Where are your priorities if your happiness, (or sadness for that matter) is dictated by what happens to the Dow Jones Industrial Average?

If this sounds like you, then you need to step out and have some fun. What is it that you really like to do? Is it walking, volunteering, teaching or mentoring others, spending time with your kids or grand kids? Whatever it is, then go do it and that is an order!

In my case, my stress release is baseball. As crazy as it seems, I am turning 56 this year and I play baseball. For me, it is a great outlet to have some fun. This Memorial Day Weekend, I drove 6 hours to Atlanta to play baseball with some baseball buddies from Savannah, GA. Who do you know that drives 6 hours to play baseball?

The Savannah guys were kind enough to allow me to play with them, when I have not done so in the past on this particular team. One of my friends, threw me right into the frying pan by telling the coach that I was a lead off hitter and left fielder. When the line up card came out, I was playing left field and batting lead off. In case you do not know, batting lead off is a very key position in baseball. You are the one that has to start the game off with a bang. Your teammates are depending on you to get a hit, lay down a bunt or do whatever it takes to get on base. In my case, I had the added pressure of performing for my friends sake. I could not let him down, so I didn't.

In the four games that we played, I had a triple, three doubles and three singles, plus I got on base two other times. I hit .467 with a .600 on base percentage, scored several runs and had a few RBI's. Two of my hits were close to going out of the park. (I need more muscles!) I had seven hits in four games which ended up being one of the most hits on the team. Not bad for an old guy. Now that is how you have some fun!

Life is short. Go have some fun and quit living your life watching television.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Visual Financial Planning?

Wouldn't it be nice to visualize all the important financial aspects of your life? With our firm, that is entirely possible.

Let's face the facts. No one wants to look at 73 pages of financial jargon that is hard to get your arms around. Instead, it makes a lot more sense if you could truly visualize your financial plan.

Here is a quick snapshot video (4:53) of the Visual Financial Planning offered by yours truly.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/19m0Q_CsuWs

Thanks for watching.