Media Manipulation

Watch the Republican debate? If you didn't then chances are you aren't going to read much on what happened other than Rand Paul and Chris Christie duking it out about the Constitution and the headliner...Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump going at it over something that is not politically relevant but is personal.

My opinion, the debate was terrible. Aside from the personal attacks and focus on just a couple of the candidates it was a waste of 2 hours of my life. I wanted more talk about immigration, abortion, health care, taxes, budget. There was little to none of that. Some of the candidates were very lackluster. I watch these things, regardless if I have a candidate that I'm leaning to or not, to see how they handle questions. Do they beat around the bush? I hope not. They have a time limit and some of them go for the most in-depth answer so by the time the buzzer goes off they can say, "oh man, my bad". 

Even if I don't agree with a stance someone takes, I gain respect for them if they truly believe what they stand for and aren't afraid to say it. At least give us, the people, something. Who knows, you may just get some people on your side 

My thought about debates in the 21st Century. They should have someone with a timer to give the candidates an allotted amount of time. The network already conducted a poll for questions and the top 10 are asked to the candidates. This prevents personal attacks and actually has what the people want to know about.

As you can tell, the media has an insane amount of power. They have an agenda and do what they can to accomplish it; on the other hand, we become nonethewiser if we don't get our own information.

Whatever you do, don't be a sheep.

My thoughts

     Well, it's been a while - my bad! I've been feeling really political here lately, and I figured I'd share my thoughts on things happening and whatnot. Here are some of things that I can't stand: flip-flopping, communism, and loss of liberty. This country's political state is horrible. We have an election coming up and yet there are maybe 2 people who I'd like to see win. They haven't flip-flopped, but they've done some things I don't like.

     Before you ask, I am a Constitutionalist. I believe the constitution is still the best way to run this country. Therefore, I am an independent. One of history's greatest men once said this,

     “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

     The man, George Washington. He was asked during his second nomination which party he represented and said the above quote. He said that the day our country has 2 power parties will be the day it starts to fall apart. He we are...

**Fun fact - George Washington was asked if he wanted to be president a third term since he was so popular. He declined as he didn't want the government to be viewed as having unjust power and becoming what the settlers had escaped in England.**

     This guy could see the future.

     Fast forward to the 21st century, you have 2 parties with total opposite ideologies, moral standards, and ultimate goals. We are in a cycle of wash, rinse, and repeat. for a few terms things are going great, then someone destroys that foundation and builds it up the opposite. Been going on since the 1800s and it's sad. Our country's citizens are fighting, racists, hateful towards one another. Worse yet? It will probably never come to an end. Alas it's human nature. One day, I hope to see us be a peaceful national union.

Only time will tell.

Changes are afoot

The last 3 weeks I have had family staying with me. First my uncle came down and stayed 2 weeks, we had a blast. Took a weekend trip to San Antonio so we could take my little girl to Sea World. Humidity at the gate was 94% which is nuts. Had to literally wipe the sweat off because it stuck to our foreheads. Besides that, it was a blast! Saw a few shows, daughter played for about 2 hours and we all passed out early that night.

My parents came down memorial day weekend and stayed that following week. Went to North Richland Hills, looked at houses for my parents, they visited a bunch of people while I was at work. Can't wait until they are moved down here; vacations to forthcoming!

All in all, a pretty good month, best one in a long time. Progress is happening all around me. Stay tuned..

Progress

Here is where I stand on my debt:

On my student loans, I'm down to $1,085 remaining. Should take about 3 or 4 months to pay that off. My  car, sitting at $24,000, about 3.5 years. My next purchase is going to be a house. Not really in a hurry so will keep saving and putting money back; let my credit continue to improve and probably start looking in about a year or so.

As far as savings, I told myself when I started saving that I wouldn't stop or use that money unless I absolutely needed it. I'm going on 4 months and I'm ahead of where I figured I'd be. It's nice because parents and uncle have helped me really make progress the last 6 months. I'm getting there, and it's a commitment, but I'm wanting to be debt free and start my little girl with that mindset when she gets older.

Investment beginner

Okay, so I have done a lot of research these past few months. I wanted to do something more than just put money in a savings account. I wanted to get some kind of investment going but knew minimal of what to do. My bank offers investment services but their fees are high. I did some reviews, comparisons, and read articles and found the company to use. They are called Betterment (click to be redirected) and have some of the lowest fees in the industry. The best part? No minimum deposit to set up an account. A few companies offer lower fees but it may take $1,000 just to start.

How does it work?

With betterment you link your bank account after signing up. After it's activated - usually after 3 days - you are able to deposit. Deposits. It has advice on what to do in what order. You start an account (IRA, Safety Net, Wealth, Big Purchase, etc) and answer some questions. Afterwards, you will get some suggested allocations which is the ratio of stocks and bonds. It suggested I begin with a Safety Net. Well, I've been transferring money into my savings for the last 3 months or so, but this would be a good way to learn how it works. I didn't change the allocations to test it out. You can change your allocations once a day. It was a 60/40 Bond to stock ratio. It's safe, but takes longer for money to gain. I kept it like that for about 2 weeks with a $100 deposit. After 2 weeks, I had gained 4 cents. Now, this is faster than most savings accounts, but like I said, this is a trial run. Next thing I did was change it to 50/50; which from reading, is the best way to grow your savings. It's diversified so the chance of you taking big losses is slim for extended periods of time. I am currently invested in miniscule parts of hundreds of stocks.

The next step is an IRA. I am going to stop the deposits in my safety net goal for the time being. I still have auto deposits into my savings account, and that account should be high enough to maintain itself and grow or I may withdraw it. My IRA will receive my deposits going into my current account to grow. This will be something that I will not stop once I start. I will also keep money going into my savings account to be backed up for emergencies.

This is, like I said, a beginner strategy that I developed.

The ball is rolling.

Had my finances in order, starting to make progress, being smart with my money. At my job, as I mentioned before, I wasn't going to be able to do a whole lot. Make progress, sure, but it was going to be drug out.

Anyways, I was getting tired of monotony and figured it was time to move on. Started looking for jobs in Oklahoma City and around where I lived. Had a few interviews. One company offered me a job but it was nothing close to what it said on the job board and they offered no benefits. Anyways, I was deciding where to take my next step at. Then it happened...

A company I had been doing training for called and offered me their Safety Director position.Company had everything I was looking for: better pay, benefits (health, vision, and dental insurance - which they pay 70% of, retirement, life insurance) you name it! Best part, it was a little closer than where I was currently working. I thought about it so I wouldn't make a rash decision and consulted with family, the answer was yes. I called them the next day and told them I could start in a couple weeks. I had already given my company a notice and was in the final week of that but was wanting a week to relax for a bit, after all, court was coming up for my divorce and custody.

I started with them and the next week was the mediation date. At mediation it was decided that I would get my girl on every weekend and any time I had off. Thanksgiving and Christmas we'd split the day. Considering I live in a state that a vast majority of custody decisions end up in the usual "father gets child every other weekend and 2 weeks in the summer" I made out great!

Since then, my stress has gone down a lot. My life is going great and I am starting to provide for my little girl a better life than I could've imagined just a year ago. I am down to 2 things in my debt, a student loan, and a car. My uncle wiped out my personal loan just a week ago and my parents have chipped in regularly. Talk about a support system, right? I have started to invest towards my future. Once I get those two things taken care of I'm going to look at houses.

On my own

I moved all  of my stuff out with the help of my brother-in-law. Stayed with her parents for a couple weeks until my place was ready and then I was good to go. Moved out latter part of May and moved into my own place in mid-June. It was weird.

Here I was 25 years old and for the first time in my life I was officially on my own. I had roommates all throughout college and then my ex and I lived together until then. My family helped me get started. Gave me money for food and to get my utilities and everything, which was great! I was finally going to fully delve into getting my financials in order as well.

First thing I did - gathered every bill I had and created a spreadsheet. Put all of the bills in order from date due as well as what their estimated cost was. Next I split them up first to middle of the month, then second half of the month. I did this since I got paid every two weeks. What I've been doing ever since is as soon as I get paid I open up the budget sheet and pay everything due in that period. After around 4 days everything's clear then I control my spending until the next period and rollover everything. Another way to control spending is the envelope method where you put a certain amount in envelopes for "eating out", "play", etc. Once an envelope is empty, you're done in that category until the next payday. 

At my job I was able to pay just a little on everything to make a little progress, but even on my own I was not going to get caught up anytime soon. Was nice that on my next pay period I was able to roll over a little bit. Was ready to start the push and start the next chapter of my life!