krogias

This past Saturday we lay to rest my neighbor’s father. He was a famer, rancher, cowboy, gentleman, and a friend to all. He died doing what he loved doing best, checking on his cows and spraying fences. He was teaching this 50 something city boy professor how to become a farmer and I kind of think he enjoyed seeing an old dog try to learn some new tricks; a desk jockey work a field and get cow sh*t on him. His untimely death got me thinking about balance and how we live our lives each day. Personal finance is about planning and saving for the future, but it is also about living for today. How do you find balance in your personal finance life? Do you save every penny so you can retire like my roommate from college who just retired after 30 years of teaching? Do you plan on working until you are 70+ and therefore not need so much in retirement to still afford your lifestyle? What do you plan to leave to your heirs? Someone said you lived your life right when the check to the und...

While in Belize with a group of MBA students, I met Vienda, self-proclaimed ‘Modern Day Gypsy’. Her life is the true essence of frugal fun. In the spirit of spring break, we invited her to share a posting on the topic of travel, fun and frugality. Modern Day Gypsy Guide: 7 Tips on How to Make Your Money Last I've been travelling around our pretty globe for 10 years now covering over 30 countries, with a couple of pit stops along the way; 18 months in London and 2 1/2 years in Sydney. People whom I meet along the way often ask me how I do it. I work, naturally, and have several different income streams but that's a post for another day.  How much money you have is generally less important than what you do with that money. Travels can last much longer if you use your money in thoughtful and clever ways, and think outside of the box. Here are seven of the most poignant tips on how to make your money last. 1. Be Flexible. Being flexible is probably the No. 1 tip I can give anyone ...

We are only a few days away until the automatic government budget cuts and Congress and the President can't come to agreement on specific budget cuts and/or increasing revenue. Ramifications will be across-the-board cuts, effecting defense, education, national parks, air traffic controllers and all services provided by our Federal government. Why can't the congress agree? To me it all comes down to self-interest, not willing to step up to hard choices and not agreeing on common values. Roy Disney is quoted as saying "When values are clear, decisions are easy." What does Washington value? “How I am going to get reelected” -not what is best for the country? If a family is in debt, they have to agree on how they are going to reduce that debt. It typically is achieved by a combination of reducing spending and increasing income. If the family agrees to common values, decisions on what to cut and where to increase income become easy. The family looks inward on where to cut ...

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to go to Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa and speak in Mark Ryan’s Personal Finance Class. This was the first class that I visited that is using our Personal Finance book. It was really fun and exciting to be at a different college and in a different classroom and answer the student’s questions. The one question that I thought was most interesting was “What is the one key thing, or most important part of your book?” After a little time, I answered that Chapter 1, ‘Values, Vision, Mission and You’, was the most important part of the book. If you know your values and have a vision for your future, financial decisions become easier. Whenever you make a financial decision, ask yourself if this decision or purchase is a reflection of your values. Is this really how you want to use your resource of money? Framing your decisions around your values allows you to achieve your goals and work towards your vision. Knowing your personal mission helps y...

As classes have started and I’m back to teaching personal finance, I have a challenge for all the students taking this class and using “Personal Finance; Building Your Future” by Walker & Walker. I want to know who can come up with the best frugal fun night. Add your suggestions and ideas by adding it as a comment to this blog. Keep it clean (PG rating), include an estimated cost and how this Frugal Fun Night reflects your values – the values that you worked on in Chapter 1. Remember, being frugal is not being cheap, but it is the wise spending of money in accordance with your values. I look forward to reading your responses and getting ideas of how I can spend a Frugal Fun Night!

I just returned from Punta Gorda, Belize where I met with business owners in preparation for bringing MBA students for a week in January. I didn't know what to expect, for this was my first trip to Central America. We are organizing this trip through ProWorld Belize and the Toledo Association of Businesses in PG. Many thanks for their hospitality, openness, and warm reception. A little geography lesson; Belize is south of Cancun, Mexico and just above Guatemala. I had to find it on the map before I left. Punta Gorda is on the southern coast of Belize with a view of Guatemala across the bay. It takes 1 hour be prop-plane or 5 hours by bus from Belize City. My experience with Belize is the 3 full days I spent in Punta Gorda, Barranco, looking out the window as we drove and the interactions I had with the people I met. PG doesn't have the white sand beaches and the towns are not featured in travel magazines. PG is very rich in Garifuna, East Indian, Creole, Mopan, Q'eqchi, and...

Question : What enables you to both eat healthy and be a good steward of your community?  Answer: Buy a share membership to your local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Through a CSA membership, you are buying seasonal food directly from a local farmer. In a CSA, the farmer offers a set number of "shares" to the public. A share consists of a box of farm produce. You purchase a share up front at the beginning of the year and in return, you receive a box of seasonal produce each week throughout the season. Information about CSAs and how to find one in your community can be found at http://www.localharvest.org/ Advantages for the Farmer • Market your produce prior to the growing season • Receive payment early in the season, which provides cash flow • Connect with those who will be consuming your produce Advantages for You • Fresh food, packed with flavor and vitamins as they will be consumed or frozen very soon after they are harvested • Exposure to...

Yes, this is what Warren Sapp, former NFL player and Dancing with the Stars contestant did on March 30, 2012.   Mr. Sapp filed for Chapter 7 in South Florida stating that he owes more than $6.7 million to creditors and back-child support and alimony.   His reported assets are $6.45 million.   What does this mean and how did it happen? It happens because Mr. Sapp was spending more than he could afford, even more than his income of $115,000 a month.   Bankruptcy happened because of poor financial decisions, poor financial planning and thinking of the short-term, immediate gratification--not the long-term gain.   It happened because he was living life beyond his means. C hapter 7 bankruptcy is also known as “straight” bankruptcy or liquidation and allows an individual to keep certain exempt property.      Assets are sold by a bankruptcy trustee to repay creditors and many unsecured debts are discharged.   Florida does not allow the bankruptcy...

How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions?  Did you decide to make a budget?  Having a hard time sticking to it?  Here is a short video that we hope will help.

During the gifting season, it is sometimes difficult to find the ‘perfect’ present. Some of the best are those from the heart. Like the garden stone with our grandchildren’s’ foot prints, framed photos of special moments from the past year, lovely scarves from faraway places we have traveled. Sometimes the best gift can be the offer to undertake a dreaded task, like cleaning out and reorganizing a storage room or offering your services as dishwasher for your parent’s dinner party. The very best gift is the present of presence, being there for one another, either in person or in heart. And to think – it doesn't cost a penny. How grand.

Every year, in place of buying gifts for one another, we take a family vacation for Christmas. This year was an exception. The year got away from us. With no extra funds set aside for travel, we decided to spend time together at home. To compensate for not traveling, we  exchanged gifts with one another. We made many of the gifts, but we still felt like we needed to buy everybody something. This was way more work than we remembered. Spending money in such a short window of time for so many people, and not knowing if it is something they would like, need or want --is stressful. It was joyful being together and has been a very laid-back week. But we all agreed that from now on: 1) each Christmas, we will start planning for the next year's trip. When everyone is together, it is easier to negotiate the dates and destination selection. 2) We will budget a savings plan for the trip that stretches over a 12-month period. The ultimate gift you can give yourself is to pay for a trip out of ...

Higher tuition, more student loans, and greater access to higher education…what do we do? The Occupy Wall Streeters (OWS) say they are not going to repay student loans and are demonstrating on college and university campuses.   In today’s Inside Higher Ed daily updates, there is an article about how their energy might be misplaced.   This article argues that college and university administrator’s hands are tied because states are cutting funding to higher education and students are demanding quality student services and education.   They are feeling that their only or best choice is to raise tuition and fees, which ultimately increases the debt burden for college graduates. According to DiplomaGuide.com there are 10 colleges and university with $0 tuition .  Yes that is right, $0.00 in tuition.  Perhaps we should look at these institutions to see if we can apply some best practices to reduce the cost of higher education.  Many require students to work on c...

80-10-10: That is the budget we strive to achieve in our household. Live on 80%, save 10%, give 10% of our time, talents and treasure. We are not there yet but every year we get closer. Coming to the end of this year and heading into the next, we find that we have had, and will continue to have, more priority family fun than we originally budgeted for. How do we balance our priorities and our income? Want to pay for it in cash and continue to keep our credit card balance at zero each month? -Yes Want to take out of our savings or reduce our savings rate? -No Consider backing down on our giving? -No. Ideally, we should bring our life style within the limits of that 80%. Selling off an asset, such as an extra automobile, is one option we discussed. We have three vehicles (car, truck, van) between two drivers. For the most part, the truck and the van sit in the garage as we typically car pool. Why is it hard to part with assets we seldom use even though they cost us money? Even if a v...

We know it is better to save our money than to buy a lottery ticket. The odds of winning the Powerball are 1:195,249,054. Yet, when the payout climbs above a $100 million, we start to dream of what we would do with a winning jackpot. Lotteries give us an excuse to dream of what we would do if we had an abundance of funds at our finger tips. What would you do? What would you buy? Where would you travel? These dreams provide motivation to set goals and to work to achieve these goals. It also helps you to get in touch with your values and to ask the question of what your really want out of life. We know that we probably will not win the Lottery jackpot, but we have big dreams and goals to achieve. An entrepreneurship professor once said "if you are going to dream, dream big." and "be careful of what you dream for, it just might come true." So go ahead and dream of winning the lottery and what you would do with all the winnings. Then set goals based on you...

On Monday, our oldest son returned back to Colorado Springs from Afghanistan after being deployed for 13 months. We were able to meet him at the Denver International Airport after his 72 hours of travel from Kuwait. It was so good to get the hugs and see him face to face. We helped him get settled into his apartment, pick up his new Jeep and took him out for non-army food, complete with non-disposable tableware and actual glass goblets. As we sat eating dinner at the Blue Star Restaurant in Colorado Springs, Nate said something that really stuck with me. “Everyone should be required to spend a few days in Afghanistan. They would really appreciate what we have here in the United States a lot more.” Our army captain has been deployed 25 of the last 30 months, first to Iraq and then he volunteered for Afghanistan. He enjoys the little things a lot more; like a shower that he doesn’t have to walk 200 meters to, a bed that fits his 6’5” frame, with more than a 2” mattress, no sand or d...

Feeling cash strapped? Trying to dig out of debt from December? February is the shortest month of the year and is a good time to challenge yourself to simplify. Experiment with cutting out non-necessary expenses for 28 days to see the impact on your cash flow and your happiness. What would happen if you made most your meals at home with your family and friends; If you invited your friends over to make a meal together instead of going out on the town; If you didn’t watch the cable add-ons for the 28 days; If you packed your lunches and not buy anything from a vending machine? Only you can decide what your wants are, what makes you happy and what is worth the cost. Try the 28-day experiment. See how much money you can churn toward reducing your debt, build up your emergency fund or give to a cause like Haiti. The challenge is on… go for it!

We were visiting with a new graduate and his fiancé Friday evening. He had an interview earlier that day and felt it had gone well but didn’t seem excited about the opportunity. They were taking about their honeymoon plans and how they love to travel. We suggested that they give thought to a year or two of volunteerism. With a tight job market, it is a good way to get experience and growth. It is also something you have the freedom to do before you take on the responsibilities of a home mortgage, a car payment and children. The travel and experiences will enrich your life in so many ways. Leading a productive life is rewarding. Giving of yourself to help others is incredibly fulfilling. There are a number of options; Doctors without Borders, Peace Corps, Financial Service Corps, USAID, KIVA, teaching English abroad in underdeveloped communities and a whole host of missionaries just to name a few. For new graduates, it something to consider as you weigh your options against a tight job ...

It is the holiday season. Are you worried about it being a budget breaker? Do you hate fighting the crowds at the shopping malls? Consider going away on a family retreat in place of exchanging gifts. All the stress about the right size, color or spending money on something they won’t like goes away. At our household, we go away as a family each Christmas. It is such a gift to focus on time and having fun with one another. We do a few trinkets in a stocking and sometimes draw names at Thanksgiving for a Secret Santa to carry out over the days on the trip, but the days of gifting have to total less than $25. Spending the holiday on a vacation with family, whether at a pricy ski resort, tent camping on a beach or a long weekend at an indoor water park, you are creating memories, relaxation and fun as well as staying in the spirit of the season.

Imagine your life 10, 20 or 30 years from now. Imagine you never have to worry about money. There are no arguments about money. Imagine being in control of your money, not your money in control of you. Imagine that you are working where you want because you find meaning in the work, not working for the paycheck. Imagine how you are living your life the way you want, in sync with your values. You are able to do what you want, when you want. You are able to give back to your community through giving of your time, talent and financial resources. Imagine your life full of purpose. This blog invites you to look at your personal finances and think about different ways to achieve your goals. What is your definition of financial success? Financial success is unique for each individual. It may be living in a big house, driving fancy cars or traveling the world. It may be working in developing nations to help feed the hungry, inoculate people against preventable disease; or it may be living comf...