My investments  properties I sold last year and almost doubled in value I bought for about 100,000 and I sold it for about 180,000 and I had no outstanding second mortgages or anything else on it.   My other property has be increasig in values at a staggering rate of about 23% and worth close to a quarter million now.  I have numerous investments my 401k's have basically been a wash but at least I haven't lost. I stay primarily in the janus fnd, contrafunds, bonds and a  few blended funds. My liquidity  have increased to about 30,000. I have a few laddered CD's and then individuals stocks which have been the bane of my stock portfolio these past few years,  however, I want to believe things will get better.  Overall, I feel finacially stable my goal is to be at a million dollars total by 40 I'm closing in fast.

My advice get in real estate stay in it and get into more aggresive funds Contrafunds, Janus funds and riskier sdtocks your lucky that you have more time on your side than I do.  I'm 37 My friends have nothing they don't save and spend everything they got and a lot they don't have. Other have it and spend it anyway, I'm out at 50 I plan to start traveling and living it up well before my retirement years. I'll live on the interst and get a tiny condo somewhere with blue water and great drink special and live off the interest for the rest of my life.     Of course I plan to be mostly liquid at that point so I can cash and carry .

The point of that little rant is to have a goal. My wife and I set clear finacial goals...if oyu have to pinch pennies to meet your goal do it. Nobody looks out for oyu when it comes to oyur own personal finances. My ultimate goal is to create generational wealth for my family so they do not have to work(in the traditional sense) again. I'm very aggressive about my goals in public I call myself cheap My wife get frustrated at me for saying that and then goes shopping at Neiman Marcus . Any way I ranted way  way to long. Just have clear goals and take oyur finances seriously. 
Get rid of your credit cards keep the ones you have opne eliminate the balances and charge small things monthly and take two months to pay them off your credit score will sky rocket.

My wife held many capacities at Neiman Marcus Bill one of which was buyer of woman's  couture. Once in awhile I have the opportunity to go with her to the design houses in Paris and Milan. Your paying for two things  the design  and cut(dying printing what have you) of the   fabric. For a one of a kind piece it cost A LOT of money to manufacture . Yes your are paying for the designer to design it for you as well an no that does not come cheap. THe off the rack stuff you see in macy's etc are cut from a lot of fabric and the more they items they can cut from one lot of fabric the cheaper it cost.

I'm the luckiest man on earth because her first buying job was buying lingerie. I loved going to those runway shows. THey are  not like the victoria secret shows you see on television behind the seens there is a lot more going on and a lot more flesh  involved backstage. No, she's not the jealous type and no, neither am I.  If you watched the rebel billionaire one of the woman (Sarah) on the show, she came in second place, was made famous by my wife. Diane was the buyer who discovered her and launched her career. All other retailers followed suit. Diane now is responsible for the flagship neiman marcus here in the Big D.

Some of you may know that I'm studying for my masters in Deviant behavior/social psychology slash whatever I think will be the quickest route through quantitative and qualitative research . :)Anyway, One of the studies I recently conducted was the effects of fast food on our culture much like the books suggest our american lifestyle consist of throwing our  kids in the minivan after school, rushing right to whatever extracurricular activity parents try to get them into just to get them out of their hair ,and then at about 8:00 at night rush them through the drive through at your local Mc Megaburger.  We wonder why are kids are so fat it's because they don't have time to be kids if they had some time to come home and run around and play and then mom or dad cook a meal guess what the kids might not be fat unhappy kids they might be thin happy kids. Kid sit in front of a computer and play videogames inpart because parents run them all over god creation exhausting them with senseless activities(yes I do understand that's not the whole problem_. but our culture is only the sympotn of the nature of social human behavior it's not the cause. Unfortunatley many parents flaw their thinking by believing that just because the joneses do it means we have to . This is one of the core concerns of social psychology I could get into the whys but I'm sure everyone here including myself would fall asleep  lisitening to my persausions.

I perform sacrolige everytime I grill here in Texas. I use a WEBER Genesis With side burner 45,000 BTU of grilling pleasure. Of course my redneck friends all use smokers and they call me a Faux griller. 

Mikey d
That grand Wega is nice but I just couldn't get passed that scren door effect they have on them(some people see it some don;t I happned to see it) . Overall it was my second choice to the sammy dlp i bought 9 months ago. That is an awesome system you need to immediately go out and buy a dvi cable and give your  tv about 100 hours to break in before you get the true picture this tv is capable of. Congrats on the purchase 

To all the hecklers out there (morgbug). I don't care what anyone says Philly did a great job against NewEngland Donovan panicked a little antd it ultimately cost us the game.....but overall they held New England pretty well. 
It wasn't the blowout people thought it would  be  Don;t count phillyouot for next year. 

Game over New England

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - All-Pro receiver Terrell Owens said Tuesday he will play in the Super Bowl, a day after practicing with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I will play on Sunday," Owens said. "I know the type person I am. I have a lot of faith in my ability. I feel great. I'm proving a lot of people wrong. The sky is the limit for me. There are no limitations."

Brushing aside his doctor's advice and _ some might say _ common sense, Owens returned to the practice field Monday, determined to pull off the most improbable play of his career by making it to the Super Bowl.

He ran the required routes. He made the necessary cuts. And _ is this a sign of what's to come Sunday against the defending champion New England Patriots? _ he caught the passes that were thrown his way.