Category: Money Page 1 of 3

Virginia house update

On Sunday, February 9, 2025

Our plans to buy a house in Virginia have moved forward. God willing, we will close the sale on March 3. Our stuff is all scheduled to arrive between March 4 and 6. The following things have been accomplished:

Closing date scheduled
Down payment set aside
Loan finalized
Truck scheduled to move our stuff
Home insurance selected
Tickets from Mexico to Texas purchase
Drive from Texas to Virginia planned

We will have a lot to do when we arrive, but the first thing will be to get internet service and get my office set up so I do not miss too much work. Looking forward to the whole deal.

Mexican Peso, Canadian Dollar, U.S. Dollar valuation drama

By Dad

On Sunday, February 2, 2025

In Mexico life, Money

It has been a very interesting day. Lorena and I finished up the book of Numbers in our read through the Reina Valera 1960 Bible this morning in our little Sunday morning meeting, then went to Shake Shack at the Galería mall–what a surprising gift it is to have that available to us just a few minutes away from the apartment. When we got home, Tío Lynn told me to check the value of the Mexican Peso against the US Dollar. Amazing. It dropped an entire peso due to the tariffs Donald Trump is imposing on Mexico to try to stop the fentanyl from entering the US from Mexico.

He did the same thing with the Canadian Dollar. It dropped to its lowest value ever against the US Dollar, also to try to stop the movement of fentanyl from Canada to the US.

Who knows when this will end, but I cannot imagine it will last very long because it is in the best interests of all three countries to work this out. I am especially optimistic about the future of Mexico if this helps them get the cartel problem worked out.

Living trust, wills, and powers of attorney

By Dad

On Tuesday, July 30, 2024

In Family, Friends, House and home, Money

I am very grateful to my brother because he reminded me and reminded me until I got the Living Trust, Last Wills and Testaments, Financial Powers of Attorney, and Medical Powers of Attorney completed, signed, and notarized before we head down to Mexico for a (relatively) short stint. It was just not that hard. We have the hard copy version of all these documents in a safe place along with soft copies for everyone involved. Our good friends, James and Janet Coker were kind to take the time to witness a bazillion signatures and their son, Brad’s, administrator notarized them for us. To top it off, it gave us an excuse to take James and Jan to Baked for lunch. It has been a busy, but amazing couple of days.

Our house in San Pedro

By Dad

On Saturday, January 23, 2021

In House and home, Money

All the paperwork for the house we have been buying in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon is complete and we are now the owners. I have actually never been to the place and I am not sure how long we will own (we have a potential buyer looking at it now and our eyes on the next place), but for now, it feels pretty good!

Lost wallets are no fun

By Dad

On Saturday, December 22, 2018

In House and home, Money

It is great to be back in Centralia for at least three weeks. We read in the newspaper there would be a brilliant full moon (there was) coupled with serious meteor showers (there might have been, but we were in bed. Still the views were spectacular. This picture does not really do it justice. We had made arrangements for our lawn service to get rid of the vegetation and put a layer of gravel on our “RV pad” which is just really another driveway parking area that terminates above the house. More than anything it was just great to be home.

A day after we arrived (today) I found my wallet was missing. What a joy. Fortunately, no one had been using the cards, but unfortunately we had to cancel everything and only found out an hour ago that we have one card that still works until the other stuff is replaced sometime in January. All good, though–with the best “bank” in the world (Sunset Science Park Federal Credit Union–I HIGHLY recommend them), the internet and some nice customer service people, everything is canceled and on its way except the drivers license which I don’t really need so much anyway. Lorena squires me around Washington and I take Uber’s in Boston.

Walmart online vs. Amazon: Round 2 — Hand sander

By Dad

On Monday, July 31, 2017

In Money

With no end in site to Lorena’s new (to us) furniture refurbishing projects and her fervor to do them, we decided to buy her a new hand sander. We looked on line at both Walmart and Amazon and, again, Amazon was not even close. This time we would have had to pay a 30% premium for the privilege of buying the closest equivalent at Avalon to what was offered by Walmart. to buy from Amazon. There was not really a whole lot of difference in the offerings. The specs are below. We had two ways to get the sander in our hands from Walmart: 1) Pick it up at our local Walmart which we drive by several times per week or 2) make a purchase of $35 which we needed to do (sand paper and some other supplies) for the project whichever choice we made. Amazon had a one day shipping for Prime members, which is additional cost, but that we have. We called it a wash on that, too.

Feature/Item	Walmart	Amazon
Product	Hyper Tough 2.4Amp Random Orbit Sander	Black & Decker BDERO100 Random Orbit Sander, 5-Inch
Current rating	2.4 Amps	2.0 Amps
Shipping	2 days (w/$35 purchase)	1 day with Prime membership
Price	$18.73	$26.99

Walmart online vs. Amazon: Round 1 — Bed and mattress

By Dad

On Friday, July 28, 2017

In Money

Bed from Walmart beats Amazon badly We have been members of Amazon Prime for a number of years now. Amazon is convenient and has good prices. So, when Lorena returned from IKEA a couple of weeks ago, disappointed by what she believed were low quality offerings at not such great prices, we decided to buy a bed from Amazon. We found something that would just fit the bill: A Tokyo Bronze Queen Size Metal Bed and a Slumber 1 – 8″ Mattress-in-a-Box. I had heard that Walmart was upping there game in online sales to compete with Amazon, so on a whim, I checked out Walmart’s offering. Here is what I found:

Walmart: $296.17 with Free Shipping
Amazon: $339.14 with Free shipping for the mattress and “free” shipping with Amazon Prime membership for the bed

That “free” shipping thing with Amazon Prime membership always seemed like an oxymoron to me. The Amazon Prime membership costs money so the shipping is really not free. We have Amazon prime so the shipping only cost a little more for the Amazon order. Nevertheless, we would have had to pay a 12+ percent premium for the privilege the bed from Amazon. That is a privilege I am not really interested in exercising.

It all arrived today and we were very happy with the quality of the product when we got it put together. This whole turn of events reminded me that I never want to be a single source shopper. I am never going to buy anything from Amazon again without checking Walmart online first. The reality is I will probably check Walmart first going forward.

We are home owners again!

By Dad

On Friday, March 31, 2017

In House and home, Money

We closed on the house today! It is ours (and the credit unions) We closed on the house! We and the our brilliant credit union are now home owners of the house we hope to be our retirement home–at least for awhile and not that I am about to retire any time soon either. Our builder Mark P. will be up there to start work on Tuesday. No buyers remorse yet!

Too many things vying for focus

By Dad

On Thursday, March 30, 2017

In House and home, Money, Work

Mount Rainier from the house in Centralia Sometimes all the stars align to make life more interesting than the long periods of doing the same thing day after day that seems to be normal. When I was younger, those long periods of the mundane seemed boring. Now they just seem restful. Last night, it dawned on me that, with two days before we are supposed to close on your our new (old) house, I have not made all the arrangements for all the utilities to be switched over to us. At the same time, the sickle cell disease project on which I am working is scheduled to deliver its first device for testing in Africa at the end of April which means I need to complete a boat load of finishing touches. All the while, I have to decide whether I want to stay in my current job and travel to Texas once per month or switch jobs and travel to Vancouver, BC fairly frequently with intermittent trips to China and other far away places (currently leaning toward BC).

In the mean time, we have to make a plan to get all our stuff from Texas and North Carolina to Washington state. The Texas part we have handled, but for the North Carolina part we do not know whether to do it ourselves (fly out there and drive back over a week), hire a couple of college kids to fly out there and drive the truck back for us, or just bite the bullet and get a moving company today. All of these items with their fun and interesting cash flow challenges. And none of this mentions that we start a full-blown remodel of the kitchen and a partial reconstruction of the roof on the new (old) house. Whenever I get too stressed, I look at the picture of the view we hope to have out the back of the house when we are now fogged in or clouded over or both. That helps some. What will help more is to have all this behind us with a cup of coffee in my hand sitting on the porch for a few weeks in a row.

The tax man cometh

By Dad

On Monday, March 13, 2017

In Money

Taxes Our annual tax effort started today. This last few years it has been a little more challenging than in the past. I have switched jobs, moved, performed contract work, etc., etc., etc. Even with a good accountant to help out, it is a struggle to get it done in time. In the middle of all this, we are making another move, maybe changing jobs, settling the estate of our parents, buying a new (to us) house, moving across the country and doing a remodel. I know I should be thankful though–I think I have the most unselfish siblings in the history of the world and, of course, Lorena never stops helping. The settling of the estate has been the most amazing thing. My siblings have bent over backwards to do everything they can do to make things come out right. We have all heard horror stories and are thankful to not be part of one. I think if we survive through the month of June we might arrive at some more order in our lives.

Sunset Science Park Federal Credit Union

By Dad

On Friday, February 3, 2017

In Money

There might be a better Credit Union in the world, but I seriously believe the one to which our little family belongs is at the top of the heap. We have been members for just about twenty years now and they unfailingly do virtually everything they can possibly do to help us out. The first time that happened was on a business trip to Czech Republic when unexpected travel/business expenses came up and I need to increase the line of credit on my Mastercard. No problem. One phone call, a happy conversation and we were done. They have helped with college, kids accounts and now our new house (wherever that might be), making unique and special accommodations to make the whole thing possible. It is a joy to be part of their family. Now, I understand the credit union is open, not only to those who work at businesses closes by, but anyone in a fairly extended area around Portland.

Found this on the sidewalk today

By Dad

On Wednesday, November 2, 2016

In Money

But Lorena did not let me keep it even though it was pretty much out in the middle of the street and we could not find the owner. She said, “I know what needs to be done with that!” I am sure she does.
So much for that $100

Narcissism and TED talks

By Dad

On Monday, July 25, 2016

In culture, Money

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. —1 Timothy 6:10

I watched a TED talk last night that reinforced my resolve to never watch a TED talk unless someone I trust recommends it highly. I have no idea what inspired me watch the thing–the title was a dead giveaway, “How to Become a Millionaire in 3 Years.” I would argue that the narcissism advocated in this video accounts for much of what is wrong with our society. The presenter makes three points, the first of which is that the reading of books is important to success.

Then he goes on to say, “All the books in the world can help us to solve all the problems in the world.”

Just wow. Next he says we only need to read the books that help us solve our own problems. The example he gives is that if we want to know about money we should read books about money. And it gets worse. The next he makes is that you should befriend those people who can help you reach your goals. The idea that the point of friendship and the selection of people with whom I want to associate should be centered on whether or not they can help me reach my goals–in this case, the emphasis was on financial goals–is repugnant.

The final point was that it is important to have goals is to write them down. That is not such a bad thing if the goals are not so narcissistic. But the way this it was expressed gave me that same creepy feeling I get when I am around someone who has bought into the whole “name it and claim it” theology thing.

My immediate thought after watching this was that this was not how the most successful people led their lives. People like Jesus, Paul and even the likes of Michaelangelo, Bach, Beethoven, Abraham Lincoln, Tesla and Einstein were successful because of their singular vision of something bigger than themselves. People whose whole goal in life is aggrandizement of themselves and the accumulation of goods and power are almost never remembered with fondness and admiration. No one remembers the sports stars and actors for more than a generation or two. Those who work on something bigger than themselves for the glory of God, to do the right thing and to help others without regard to money, fame or power are the ones who are truly successful, not the narcissistic visualizers.

These are just my opinions on the topic, but I have decided to make the best of the fifteen minutes the video cost me and visualize myself avoiding self-help TED videos, books and people. Maybe I should read a book about it, too.

Scandinavian Unexceptionalism

By Dad

On Wednesday, July 6, 2016

In culture, Money, Politics

Maybe the Scandinavian countries are not so hot after all. There are a couple of articles that came onto my radar six or seven months ago that made credible something that I have wondered about for a long time. I am just getting around to writing them up. For years, we have heard about the wonders of living in Scandinavia and that the quality of life there is better than in the United States by just about every measure. It turns out that is just not true. Articles have trickled out saying there is trouble in paradise (see here and here), but the idea that the emperor has no clothes at all is a subject that has only started to receive traction in the last year or so.

An article titled Debunking the Myth of Socialist “Success” in Scandinavia reviews a book on the subject. It is a great article and definitely worth a read. Amazingly, the book it reviews, Scandinavian Unexceptionalism: Culture, Markets and the Failure of Third-Way Socialism, is available online for free at the time of the writing of this article. I had followed this subject some because of my interest in Sweden’s horrible record with respect to persecution of homeschoolers and their failed attempt to catch up with Finland in public education. In addition to all the schooling problems, it turns out that socialism continues to fail everywhere it is tried, too, Scandinavia included.

Buying a house

By Dad

On Wednesday, June 22, 2016

In House and home, Money

I am no longer a spring chicken. In four or five years I actually hope to quit my day job and go to contracting. To that end, Lorena and I have started to look for a house we can buy in an area we want to live. We have a good idea about the area of the country where we would like to settle, but no idea at all about specific neighborhoods. So, what we think might work as a start is to buy a small, older house on a normal sized lot in a neighborhood somewhere in that area. The idea is to fix the house up enough so it is livable, but not so much we will not be able to sell it easily, then live in it for two to three years so we can get to know the neighborhoods in the area. If we find a neighborhood we like, we can take our time to find a house to remodel or a lot on which to build without a whole lot of pressure. It really fits in to our “no debt” mindset, too. I have actually started looking at houses and talking to contractors. I do not know when or even if we will buy something, but it certainly does not hurt to get started.

The debt thing

By Dad

On Friday, May 20, 2016

In House and home, Money

I regularly read the Bayou Renaissance Man blog by a science fiction (and now western) novel writer who is especially interesting when he writes about debt. I read an article to which he pointed about a guy who got into serious debt while getting a Bachelors degree in English (bad idea), then went to Alaska to work as a laborer to pay it off (good, but unnecessary if he would have gotten a decent degree). He wanted to double down on his first bad degree choice by going to Duke for a Masters degree in liberal studies, but chose to live in a van in the parking lot and work menial jobs so he would be debt free when he finished. All of that would have been completely unnecessary if he had gotten a degree that would allow him to get a job in the first place.

The reality is that what he did was pretty cool. He was a whole lot smarter than me with respect to how he thought about debt when he was in his twenties. I in am one of those guys who, while I funded my 401K over my entire career and am in OK shape when it comes to that, I did not pay much attention to any of this at all until the blood started going to my brain sometime after my 40th birthday. So when I woke up in the early 2000’s, I had to scramble to do a bunch of things others had already accomplished. I discovered Dave Ramsey and got out of debt. That was good, but I had a finite amount of time to prepare for things like paying for the kids’ college and getting my house paid off. It was compounded by the fact that the kids both skipped high school, so my college payments started way early than I had initially planned.

I am going to try to write about the debt problem a little here. The focus is not going to be on global or national economics, but on what I did to shore up my own situation and what I expect to be another economic meltdown within the next few years. It is especially interesting to me right now because we are in the Dallas, Texas area in the middle of a house buying frenzy–houses in our town stay on the market for around three days and are selling well above appraisal value. All the signs indicate that the house of cards will come tumbling down soon. I am not sure what I should do, but I know I do not want to participate in the frenzy.

Another rite of passage

By Dad

On Tuesday, July 28, 2015

In Family, Money, Technology

The Ford Fiesta now belongs to Kelly Kelly bought her own car insurance yesterday and will register the Ford Fiesta in her own name later this week. Christian is doing the same this week with the Honda Accord. Lorena and I are now a one car family. The only remaining thing like this that connects to the kids is our family cell phone plan. Some might think it would be best for me to turn that over to the kids themselves, but they would be wrong. I told them that as a condition for their cell phone plan, they have to provide Lorena with tech support for her phone and tutoring for her community college. In my book that is an absolute steal. It would be a steal at twice the price!

Betty Blonde #381 – 12/31/2009

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Tuition is getting crazy

By Dad

On Friday, April 10, 2015

In Education, Money

I found an interesting article on the tuition costs for degrees at the different public colleges and universities in Michigan. I was amazed. The cheapest were around $62K while the two most expensive were $85K and 108K with the rest ranging pretty evenly between $62K and $84K. It that is true, we got a screaming good deal. We paid around $2.5K per year per kid for tuition and fees at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh and around $7.5K per year per kid for them to finish up at NCSU. That means, we paid about $10K for community college and $30K for university for a total of $40K. So our kids graduated from what we would argue is the best school in North Carolina (including UNC, Duke, Davidson and Wake Forest, but we are biased) for $20K per kid.

The two lessons I got from that are:

Community college is an amazingly great bargain
North Carolina is a great place to go to college

Oregon is 45th out of 50 in latest measure of economic outlook

By Dad

On Wednesday, April 8, 2015

In culture, Money

The 2015 Alec-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, Rich States, Poor States report just came out and Oregon is now 45th out of 50. After a seven year absence the state has a feel to us that is rough around the edges prosperity-wise. There is a fairly stark contrast between what it felt like for us to live in Oregon and the upbeat feel of North Carolina and, especially, Arizona.

Betty Blonde #294 – 09/02/2009

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Our ten year plan is coming to a conclusion

By Dad

On Sunday, May 18, 2014

In Family, House and home, Money

Day 997 of 1000

Ten years ago, when we restarted our homeschool, we made a plan to get Kelly through college by 2014 followed by Christian in 2016. We did it two year early because Christian finished two years early than our plan. I only thought about it about once per year when I made the yearly plan for the next year’s homeschool and bought the books from Sonlight. The plan was completely forgotten while we did the work of homeschooling. Now that we are at the end, it has dawned on me that we have not given much thought to what comes next. Of course, I have my work, mortgage, and retirement to consider, but those are continuing things that require thought and readjustment on a regular basis when I change jobs, move, run into an unexpected expense, etc. We have goals in all that, but they are just going to be part of life until I die, so I planning for that kind of thing is just part of the landscape.

Now though, Lorena and I have to figure out what we want to do next. Does Lorena want to finish her degree or start a business or do both? Do we want to live in Portland or Phoenix or Prescott or stay where we are? There are competing interests in all this. The kids are both going off to graduate school on the west coast. We would like to be near them so we could see them on a very regular basis, but they are at the age to start making their own way without too much interference from us. Are we thinking of moving just so we can be by them? Maybe. But is that bad? Maybe, maybe not. I thought life was going to get less complicated at this point, but it looks like I am wrong.

Betty Blonde #115 – 12/24/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.