Update

Greetings!  I've missed blogging and have thought about coming back but just haven't done so.  It's been a very busy rough few months.  My brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly this past month at 33.  Dealing with funeral arrangements and everything else has been very hard.  We still don't know if he had life insurance with his work so we might be paying for part or all of the funeral.

Financially we are doing well.  I might do a separate post about that.  We are heading to the lake this weekend with my in-laws.  I'm usually annoyed that we are spending our Fourth of July with them in a small camper but this year I'm much more thankful for family and just for being with my loved ones.

Have a wonderful Independence Day weekend.

March Stock buys

I didn't buy any others to know than the regular $500 we have going into mutual funds.  For this month, I've made a couple stock purchases.  I bought 100 shares of Target in three separate transactions.  I happened to buy Target shares last fall.  When my stock was up $1000 in two months, I sold around Thanksgiving.  I'm thankful that I was able to time it and sold high.  I'm now buying at what I feel is a low but time will tell.

I also bought 14 shares of BP.  I own just under 180 shares of BP and I would like to buy more.

My retail stock accounts are over $80,000 so only about $20,000 more to go this year 😃

Anybody else buying in this funky market?  If so, what are you buying?

Gender Wage Gap

Since it is International Women's Day today, there are quite a few articles about the gender wage gap.  There is no doubt that there is still very much a wage gap but I do think there are areas that women can fight back.

I'm lucky in that I work for an organization that values women.  Our CEO is a woman.  My boss is a senior vice president and is a woman.  There are many women in management.

I am in sales so I am on a commission comp plan.  It is the same plan as my male coworkers.  How do I know that?  Because I ask them of course.  When our comp plans are changed, I usually end up discussing it with at least three or four coworkers.  I want to know that I'm being paid equally with the only variance being what we produce.  Our employer has never told us not to discuss our pay so I'm not being insubordinate by doing so.  In general, I find that most people don't discuss it because they are unsure how others will react.  However, unless you are in an HR position, there is no way to know unless you ask so I ask.

If I wasn't paid the same, I would either wait for a review or email my boss right away and ask for a change to my compensation.  Yes, it's bold but nobody else really cares about what I make more than me.

I do think that women could fight the gender gap by asking for more and being assertive about it.  It is worth noting that some companies are never going to comply.  They are a good old boys club with no room for women.  My last company was like that and I looked to leave when I had a reasonable amount of experience there.

How about you?  Are you paid the same as your male counterparts?  This subject fascinates me so I would love to hear your input.

Taxes Filed

I just filed our taxes on Friday.  I received the last capital gains statement on Friday from Capital One Investing.  I used FreeTaxUsa.com for the free federal filing and $12.95 for the state filing.  We are getting back $3069 for federal and $14 for state.  I'm happy that we are getting money back.  My commissioned income is all over the place so it is impossible to accurately withhold correctly.   I would rather get back money at tax time than pay in.

We made the most money that we ever have in 2016.  The money actually feels a bit bittersweet.  I was the most stressed that I've ever been at work the last half of the year.  My sales activity is now back to normal and I'm way less stressed.  I actually leave work everyday now to work out during lunch versus scarfing down lunch at my desk.

Have you filed taxes yet?  Anybody else receiving a refund?

Big Fat Goal

I never did post my goals for 2017.  The reason is that I've had trouble finding motivation and inspiration.  However, I have one major goal that is exciting to me.  I want to have $100,000 in our joint stock accounts.  We started the year with $75,785.73.  I track this monthly so I will update at the end of this month.  At the end of January, we had $75,447.99.  The loss was mainly due to our investments.  I purchased Under Armour and it's taken a beating this year.  But I also purchased Unilever toward the end of 2016 and I've made over $1000 on that in the last few business days.

The other goals I have for 2016 involve maxing out my 401k, both Roth IRS's, paying down the mortgage a bit, increasing Y's 457 contributions and increasing 529 contributions for both kiddos.  For my person goals, I want to continue working out at the gym, run 3 5k's, finish basement, plant an apple tree, plant two other berry trees/shrubs and an vacation for 2018.  And have a more relaxing year.  So far, so good on the last one!!

Giving to Needy?

We were at a Walmart in Phoenix tonight when we were approached by a lady.  She said her baby needed diapers and food.  I asked her what size diapers.  She said size six.  I gave her some pullups and asked her what kind of food she wanted for her baby.  She said cooked chicken, bread and avocadoes.  I told her I would buy her food.  I went in and bought her a cooked chicken, bread and bananas.  I brought them back out to her.  She said thank you and stayed where she was with an older guy whom she introduced as her dad.

I think that I was likely lied to and she just wanted money for drugs or whatever.  However, I cannot walk away from somebody who says they have a hungry baby/child.

What would you do?  Walk away?  Give her money?  Or buy food for her?

I'm not looking for affirmation either way.  I'm just curious.  We don't really have homeless people where we live because it is bitterly cold and a really low unemployment rate.

Pics from the Weekend

This was our little cabin in the woods.