Monday, October 6, 2008
I have a DATE!!!
Just officially scheduled my first section of the CPA Exam....Jan 17th! I wanted to sit in November, but all of the Saturdays were taken already and December is a No-Sit month. At least that gives me plenty of time to study!!!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Eligible to Sit
Today was a good day! The hubby and I took our daughter to Des Moines to the mall. It was 3 hours in the car for 2 hours at the mall and 1 hour at a restaurant, but ohhhhhhhhh it was so worth it!
One of our favorite things to do is go to the bookstore and each of us spend time pining over all of the books to each find a perfect book to buy. It's so simple, but such enjoyment for us. The hardest thing about moving to a small town is the lack of a bookstore. Sure, there's Wal-Mart, but that's not the same of a building full of books that surround you with the sweet smell of cappaccino wafting through the air. It's MY heaven!!
The second thing that happened today to make it a good day is that I received my Eligibility to Sit for the CPA Exam!!! I'm so happy to finally get it, but at the same time, now means that I have to shell out yet another $220 to take the exam. Ugh. Oh, well...I'm going to bask in the accomplishment of making it this far in the process!
One of our favorite things to do is go to the bookstore and each of us spend time pining over all of the books to each find a perfect book to buy. It's so simple, but such enjoyment for us. The hardest thing about moving to a small town is the lack of a bookstore. Sure, there's Wal-Mart, but that's not the same of a building full of books that surround you with the sweet smell of cappaccino wafting through the air. It's MY heaven!!
The second thing that happened today to make it a good day is that I received my Eligibility to Sit for the CPA Exam!!! I'm so happy to finally get it, but at the same time, now means that I have to shell out yet another $220 to take the exam. Ugh. Oh, well...I'm going to bask in the accomplishment of making it this far in the process!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Economic Crisis - I don't have the answer.
It is consensus that the sub-prime lending fiasco is one cause of where our economy is today. It is hard to wrap our heads around all of the causes of the world economic problems. One explanation is that it's cyclical, and if this is the case, then the market will correct itself. Others blame the greed on Wall Street. I think the answer is even more simple than that. It goes all the way back to the first lesson of Financial responsibility...not to live beyond your means. Plain and simple, if you make $100 then you shouldn't spend $110.
I would guess that we are ALL guilty of breaking this rule. How many of us have credit cards? I do. On a larger scale, our government has been doing the exact same thing. It was only a few years ago that our country had not only a balanced budget, but a surplus. As of July 2008 (the latest statistics I have), our government had a budget deficit of $ 482 BILLION. And from watching the news today, I believe that number is about to be $ 1.182 TRILLION. Is this the solution to the problem? I honestly don't know. My fear is that it is just a sand bag thrown into New Orlean's levee during Katrina. I'm not going to pretend that I know the answer. If this works, then I may not mind the thousands of tax dollars that this will cost me personally. My biggest fear though, is that it will be just a temporary solution, and not only will I then be responsible for still paying the extra thousands of dollars in taxes...but...I will be asked again in 6 months to give another bailout to a different set of company's going under.
We need to get down to the reasons that these banks need bailed out. Is it just greedy Wall Street? No. It began with Americans making too risky of investments themselves, in hopes of huge payouts. When I researched how much of a person's income their house payment should be, the consensus is 1/3 of your salary. I remember Mr. Burton (my high school VOC school Accounting teacher) telling us students the same thing. I disagree with this figure. I believe it should only be 1/4 of your income. Does this make me risk adverse? Absolutely. I have gotten into many arguments with our Financial Advisor that I am TOO risk adverse. My response to him is that having low risk will never make me a part of the super rich, but it will never leave me homeless either.
Sorry for the rambling.
I would guess that we are ALL guilty of breaking this rule. How many of us have credit cards? I do. On a larger scale, our government has been doing the exact same thing. It was only a few years ago that our country had not only a balanced budget, but a surplus. As of July 2008 (the latest statistics I have), our government had a budget deficit of $ 482 BILLION. And from watching the news today, I believe that number is about to be $ 1.182 TRILLION. Is this the solution to the problem? I honestly don't know. My fear is that it is just a sand bag thrown into New Orlean's levee during Katrina. I'm not going to pretend that I know the answer. If this works, then I may not mind the thousands of tax dollars that this will cost me personally. My biggest fear though, is that it will be just a temporary solution, and not only will I then be responsible for still paying the extra thousands of dollars in taxes...but...I will be asked again in 6 months to give another bailout to a different set of company's going under.
We need to get down to the reasons that these banks need bailed out. Is it just greedy Wall Street? No. It began with Americans making too risky of investments themselves, in hopes of huge payouts. When I researched how much of a person's income their house payment should be, the consensus is 1/3 of your salary. I remember Mr. Burton (my high school VOC school Accounting teacher) telling us students the same thing. I disagree with this figure. I believe it should only be 1/4 of your income. Does this make me risk adverse? Absolutely. I have gotten into many arguments with our Financial Advisor that I am TOO risk adverse. My response to him is that having low risk will never make me a part of the super rich, but it will never leave me homeless either.
Sorry for the rambling.
Day One
I recently moved to the middle of nowhereland. No friends, no job (as of yet), and little communication with anyone other than my 3 year old. As with all of us as we become adults, my friends all have their own lives. So, it's hard to keep in touch with anyone on a daily basis. I realize they're busy too.
This is the first time in my life that I haven't been insanely busy. It's driving me nuts!!
Just because I'm in the middle of nowhereland doesn't mean I have completley disconnected with the rest of the world. I watch the news (obsessively today), keep abreast of current affairs, and research what is going on in my chosen career field (in hopes of soon getting a job and still being relevant). The problem with still staying in touch with the rest of the world, is that there's noone to share it with. I feel like shouting out "I'm here, I'm knowledgable! Someone converse with me!!!" And hence...this blogspot is started.
I intend to use this space as a place to post my rants. The rants that I would love to post on MySpace or FaceBook, but because of my fear of every getting too emotionally close to anyone, I rarely feel like I can be open and honest on there. So, here I am. I plan on staying fairly anonymous by name, but 100% open and honest in my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs. I would love to find people who would enjoy to interact (whether they agree or disagree is not important) in an intelligent, open, and engaging manner. The only thing I ask is for all comments to remain respectful. I will always do the same. Thank you, and I look forward to everyone's comments.
This is the first time in my life that I haven't been insanely busy. It's driving me nuts!!
Just because I'm in the middle of nowhereland doesn't mean I have completley disconnected with the rest of the world. I watch the news (obsessively today), keep abreast of current affairs, and research what is going on in my chosen career field (in hopes of soon getting a job and still being relevant). The problem with still staying in touch with the rest of the world, is that there's noone to share it with. I feel like shouting out "I'm here, I'm knowledgable! Someone converse with me!!!" And hence...this blogspot is started.
I intend to use this space as a place to post my rants. The rants that I would love to post on MySpace or FaceBook, but because of my fear of every getting too emotionally close to anyone, I rarely feel like I can be open and honest on there. So, here I am. I plan on staying fairly anonymous by name, but 100% open and honest in my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs. I would love to find people who would enjoy to interact (whether they agree or disagree is not important) in an intelligent, open, and engaging manner. The only thing I ask is for all comments to remain respectful. I will always do the same. Thank you, and I look forward to everyone's comments.
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