Lisa and Michael

Apparently, Jim Cramer can’t decide whether a ‘$’ or ‘%’ would be more appropriate. Be careful either way…

Now, how to keep him from spamming me…

Yes, the Mac is back, all fixed up and happy again. Funny thing, I haven’t spent much time on it since it came back from the shop!

Too many other things going on, like preparing for Spring from a Winter that never arrived, entertaining Colin and Robin, visiting the zoo and aquarium and wolfing down some corned beef and cabbage, celebrating Shelby’s b-day, enjoying Oscar and freaking out over his seizure (he’s fine!), watching the economy tank further and then start a bit of a rebound, enjoying a new china cabinet courtesy Craigslist, preparing for a business trip to Orlando and watching Lisa get excited because she’s going to come along and hang out at the resort with me, and planning for Alaska in September. I’m sure I’ve missed a thing or two.

It was also our first year filing taxes as a married couple… and I love you Lisa more today than I did yesterday. You worry too much baby! All is well.

Warren Buffett channels my post from exactly one month ago in his New York Times opinion piece today. To put it simply, Buffett says that now is the time to buy American stock, to invest in the market. He goes on to explain his rationale in his usual concise and clear language:

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

So follow the Oracle of Omaha‘s lead, and keep investing, especially now. Lisa and I haven’t slowed down, we are taking advantage of this unique situation as much as we possibly can.

It’s been all doomsday talk in the news for the past few days, what with the market dropping nearly 1000 points on the reality of a Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the AIG bailout by taxpayers. Actually, bad news for more than a year now if you think about it (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Sterns, etc., etc.).

Rather than worry ourselves to death about things we cannot control, we’re looking at all this turmoil as a giant opportunity. Sure, we’re doing our part to save money where we can by clipping coupons, riding the bus, and avoiding using credit cards (unless paid off immediately); but we are also maxing out 401(k) savings — what better time to buy low! — and maintaining a modest emergency fund, and taking advantage of low interest rates. The markets will not always be so bearish, and stocks over the long run are the best bet for maximizing one’s retirement. Things will get better, they always do — but it’s likely to be a bumpy ride for a while at least. Hang in there, and take advantage of the current market chaos.

Edited 09/22/2008 to add: Okay, so maybe the sky IS falling a bit, now that this whole mess is being unwound and estimates are north of $30 trillion had the Fed not stepped in when they did. It is all quite scary stuff. But, hold fast! Things will get better, maybe starting 2010. Lots of bargains out there, take advantage…

Ok, maybe we’ve done too much relaxing.

By the time we left for our wedding, I had dropped about 29 pounds in the previous five months, courtesy of the physics diet – less calories in, more calories out – so damn simple. Lisa didn’t need to lose anything, but did maintain her weight to stay in the size 2 dress we bought in December. We were both quite happy with the results all around.

Fast forward about two months since we left for the Bahamas, and I’ve given back about 7 pounds. Lisa, just a few, maybe. That’s actually not bad considering how bad we’ve eaten (steaks, beer, Golden Pride, etc.) and how lazy we’ve been. Even Junior is getting his gut back.

So, it’s back to our diets. My motivation is simply that I don’t want to be a fat tub of goo again. Plus, I’d like to live for a long time, get lower insurance premiums, and just feel good. Dieting is actually a no brainer. Get a lot of exercise while at the same time quit eating crap. No pills, juices, books, or surgery is required. Only motivation and will-power.

Eating right is also a hell of a lot cheaper, which contributes to the budget diet we’ve also been on for a while. We have been getting rid of old books through Amazon, selling tons of stuff via Craigslist, riding the bus, clipping piles of coupons, and using the library, just to name a few.

I haven’t sat down to calculate our savings yet, but I do know that riding the bus alone saves us over $200 per month in fuel, parking, insurance, and wear-and-tear. Plus, we regularly get 30-50% savings at the grocery store using coupons. Nice!

Now that’s relaxing.

I like the look of that.

Lisa and her crazy idea of redecorating the whole house!  It started out with wanting to have a garage sale so we could park more than one car inside the garage and after posting a few things to Craigs List and making a few dollars to spend on some new furniture–it turned into redecorating the whole entire house in like two weeks!  Now Michael putting up with the constant moving and taking apart stuff and traveling to pick up stuff while he should be resting up for the upcoming cruise—now that is true love!  The house looks great and best yet–the garage is CLEAN!!

I don’t know why I get all uptight visiting car dealers, I guess it’s a gut feeling I get that they’re all out to screw us, Joe consumer. One of the many reasons why I love Lisa is her desire to save money, a quality both of us share. I think a major key to our great relationship is that we’re very open about money, something that tends to get in the way of a lot of other couples. It’s also great that the girls (usually) like to hear advice in that area. For example, I give Shari a lot of credit for deciding to take part in her 401(k) at her job. To think if I had started at 18 like she did. Wow!

It’s open enrollment time at PNM this week, and with all the changes taking place next year, I have some work to do in deciding how to set up my benefits. The contrast between PNM and APS (Lisa’s employer) are astonishing, it’ll be a big source of savings for us in 2008. But that’s another post.

Try screaming sometime. It may save you thousands.

P.S. Added links to Our Wedding Site and the Kitchen Remodel.

The one and only time I have ever witnessed Michael scream in public was when we were purchasing our new Jeep a few months ago. That scream, as surprising as it was, saved us so much money! When Shari requested that Michael come help with the purchase of her first new car this past weekend it was a request that took Michael away from football for one whole day. However, the results were positive for both Shari and Michael. After abruptly leaving one dealership to go to another and a little advice on the side from Michael, Shari got a great deal and actually saved money. We both even got a thank you out of her… Just one more example of how the girls have learned to trust Michael and his money saving advice.