Final Post

Well, it's been fun gang, but I've come to the conclusion that this will be my final post for this blog.  Why you ask?  Well, I've achieved what I've wanted from this blog and learned a bunch along the way. Here is a brief list of just some of the things I've taken away from running this blog:

1.) Allowed me to better understand a multitude of financial related topics: you know the old saying that if you really want to better understand something, you should teach it to someone else?  That's what exactly happened here with, and I was able to force myself to learn much more in order to better portray this information to my readers.

2.) This post marks 1 year of post.  If my count is correct, than this post is number 156 which would provide for 3 posts a week for one year.  My 1 year goal was more to see if I could have the discipline to do something of this nature for that long.  I have to admit that some posts were better than others, but the important thing to realize is that I did achieve my initial goal.

3.) Running a blog is hard!  Let no one make you think otherwise that it's easy keeping up with a blog.  It is a very intellectually taxing endeavor.

4.) I'm now distracted.  With the onset of my first born children, I no longer feel as motivated to keep up with this blog, and know for certain I will have no time when they come along.

Overall, it's been a great run, and I thank you for reading!  Good luck with your own Illusions!

Last Wonderful Moment of the Day: Getting the chance to write for you.

Resolutions and Goals 2013

Being that its a New Year, I feel the obligatory need to make some resolutions.  In any event, setting some goals for myself is always a good way to stay motivated and continue with the projects I already had in mind.    With that in mind, here are my resolutions which contain more of a financial angle.

1.) Pay off remaining student loan debt.  I didn't need to take out student loans for my MBA as my company was paying for it.  You can actually see how I did it here.  Instead, I used a little arbitrage to leverage the fact that they were federally subsidized loans.  Essentially, the government pays the interest until I'm ready to start paying them back.  So, I took out the loans, which aren't earning interest, was reimbursed my my company, and used all these funds to pay off my Wife's non-subsidized debt.  So, for this year, I'll be paying off mine in one fell swoop when they are due sometime in June.

2.) Read and review at least 10 financially related books. I enjoy doing book reviews, and also benefit from the knowledge I gain.  I'm hoping to review at least 10 this year.

3.) Max out our IRA contributions.  Current contributions for 2013 are $5,500 per earning member of your family.  I'm hoping to max these out this year.  On a monthly basis, this works out to about $916, or you can do it all at once.  I find that contributing monthly creates a more stable cash flow.

4.) Don't miss a day blogging.  I've been posting stories and my own philosophy 3 days a week since June of this past year.  I'm hoping to keep this up throughout 2013.

5.) Finish my book and self publish.  I'm about 80 pages in and I've been putting it on the back burner.  Time to dust it off and get to work!

5 seem like a pretty good number to me.  I'm keeping it simple for now, and we'll see how I do.

Here's to a wonderful and prosperous New Year for you and your family!

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Neighbors got a new living room set, and asked us if we wanted their old love seat, so new couch!

Day 1 - Reason to be Motivated

The creation of this blog has been a long and lengthy processes of debate within my life.  For a few years now, I thought to myself that writing a blog would be a good idea....but there were always the excuses.  Would anyone read it?  Would I have the determination to write something with some sort of consistent frequency?  Would I have a topic worth reading?  The answer is probably no for all of these but screw it, I'll never know unless I try.

Throughout your life, you've probably seen an interesting piece of art and thought, jeez, "I could do that".  In reality, you probably could, however you didn't.  There could be a plethora of reasons, but it comes down to motivation.  I found myself talking to my wife about all the hair-brain schemes I've concocted, and as a dear and loving spouse she replied with "that's wonderful dear".  And so I continued without ever really pursuing my ideas and schemes. 

The day that changed it all for me involved the first time I've ever tried an energy drink (which I won't name, but rhymes with "stock car") and realized the superhuman energy and focus it provided.  I told my wife after a nice refreshing, and idea generating (I'll get more into this in another post) shower that I am finally doing it and will aggregate my thoughts, ideas, and schemes into a blog.

Further motivation was generated through my discovery of Quirky.com and my subsequent first idea submission for a curved umbrella.  This adventure started me on a path of invention and self-discovery.

http://www.quirky.com/ideations/237723

Changing subjects slightly...I think we are all brought up with the idea that "I am special to this world" and that "I will make a difference", and I truly believe this to be correct no matter how insignificant you might feel.  For that, my own little start to higher significance continues with this blog.

Here are the ground rules and purpose for my writing:

1. Posts will be based around the ideas of grandeur and will reflect interesting and thought provoking topics (examples include inventing, small businesses, idea generation, and life improvements).
2. I will write on this blog at least once per week
3. Through this blog, I will try to help all those who it touches

With that in mind, I will do my best to entertain, educate, and hopefully inspire all of you to go out and achieve your dreams through my own life adventure.

Start your illusions!