Banking is a strange term. How much money do you have in the bank? What do you expect from the bank? Do you have a mortgage? Savings account? Checking account? ATM card? debit card? credit card? investment account? personal banker? automatic deposits? automatic transfers to another bank? bill pay account? Bank wherever...more

Speaking to my son over dinner last week was an eye opener about the job market. His firm is in the seventy to eighty million dollar range. They have hired some of the best head hunters to fill over fifty positions in the company. Every position pays over a hundred thousand a year. The few that have been hired are from...more

A famous quote by David Copperfield. Wrench42 you remember your high school reading material!!!

Washed cars, pumped gas and did small repairs at a service station, delivered groceries, delivered newspapers seven days a week. graduated high school, worked in a factory, joined the Marine Corp, back to the factory, Took night classes and took an entry level quality assurance position, got married at twenty seven, to...more

Excellent information. Sadly, we put kids in the 'hall of fame' way before their career even begins.  Ted Williams was always asked "how good do you think the kid will be". Williams always said "when his career is over, I'll tell you how good he was".

Hopefully, your wife has a job to pay the bills. Great decision to toss a trade. My best friends are HVAC, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and painters. They are so backed up with work because they can not even hire trainees. Sadly, they hear "I have a degree, it would be degrading". I don't get it.

Sooner or later a new or newer vehicle will be purchased. Any will give you better mileage and more trouble free miles if properly maintained. I drive a 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis paid for since 2007. Gets an average of 21.5 MPG. My wife drives a 2010 Lincoln MKZ. Two more payments. Gets an average 26.5 MPG. When purch...more

In 2008 we took a building loan to finance the construction of our new home at 6.5%. In mid 2009 we financed our first permanent mortgage at 5.15%. in late 2010 we refinanced at 4.25%. In early 2012 we again refinanced at 3.125%. Our payments went from $3120 building loan to $2630 to $2225 to an unbelievable $1730 toda...more

I think you did with class.