The classic family dinner, where you sit around the table with your family and talk about how your day went. How many of you still have family dinner? Research suggests that children who take part in family meals are less likely to be overweight, eat more healthy foods, have less delinquency, greater academic achievement, improved psychological well-being, and positive family interactions. Wow! Talk about a bag full of tricks to help your kids. Especially when it comes to something that is really easy to do or not to do.
I grew up in a household where we either ate at the table with the family or we went to bed hungry. And as you could imagine, with 7 siblings, it was very difficult to round everyone up to eat. It definitely would've been easier for people to grab some food and head somewhere else to eat. But my mom always made it a point to gather as a family.
What I love about family dinner time is that it was a great time to learn about each other. You get to hear what your brother and sisters were up to, and hear a good story or two. These days, with all my siblings grown up with their own families, we get together as often as time permits to gather and celebrate, typically a b-day. And usually our conversations over the table revert back to what we use to do as a family when we were younger. We laugh, tell jokes, and just enjoy each other's company.
Now that I live back home with my parents, I get to experience the family dinner each Sunday night. We gather with my parents, and sometimes some other siblings come over to participate. I can tell you, by practicing having family dinner's when I was younger, has helped me draw closer to my family members. Probably wasn't just the family dinners, but it did help! And of course, it's something that we try to implement in our own family. With a newborn, it can be difficult since you have to work around his schedule. But I can tell you that as soon as he is on a regular feeding schedule, we'll be having family dinners!
If you are struggling with unifying your family, perhaps try doing an occasional family dinner. Have everyone gather around the table and just talk about each other's days. The evidence is there that it can only help, and I'm walking proof that it worked for my family. This is just another thing that I believe wholeheartedly to bring balance in your life needs to be done. Things are always better together as a family vs trying to do it on your own.
What are your thoughts about family dinners?
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Meeting New People
Our neighborhood will periodically have what they call, "neighborhood dinners". This is where a bunch of people sign up saying they'd like to attend a neighborhood dinner, and one neighbor will host everyone over. You try to divide out everyone equally, and pair up family's that might not know each other. Every family is responsible to bring some sort of dish, be it a dessert, main course, sides, drinks, or whatevers.
My wife and I had the opportunity to attend one of these, "neighborhood dinners" tonight. I'll be upfront and say, that I don't care to go to them and I'll always put up a fight with my wife. But I end up going reluctantly, and of course by the end, I end up having a good time.
As I think about it, this is something to really help expand your network, and really get to know the people around you. All too often, do we go throughout life, not knowing who our "neighbors" are. Yes, you may see them on the street and wave and what not, but how often are we taking the time to really "get to know" them. I think this is a huge missed opportunity if we don't take the time to meet our neighbors. I believe everyone out there, no matter what facet of life they come from, has something they can offer. This life was meant for us to be happy. And I can't think of better ways than to spend it with not only our family, but our neighbors too. You can learn so much from others, just by listening to what they have to say. I love being able to take other people's perspectives, and add it to my life. I know I'm not perfect, but can only get better by learning from those around me.
I think it's imperative to our well being to meet new and exciting people. We have to get out of our comfort zones. Everyone needs a friend or 2 or 3 or a whole lot more. So I exert all of you to get out and meet a new person every week. Nothing but good can come out of it, and it can only help to improve your well being.
Thanks for reading!
PB
What do you do to meet new people?
My wife and I had the opportunity to attend one of these, "neighborhood dinners" tonight. I'll be upfront and say, that I don't care to go to them and I'll always put up a fight with my wife. But I end up going reluctantly, and of course by the end, I end up having a good time.
As I think about it, this is something to really help expand your network, and really get to know the people around you. All too often, do we go throughout life, not knowing who our "neighbors" are. Yes, you may see them on the street and wave and what not, but how often are we taking the time to really "get to know" them. I think this is a huge missed opportunity if we don't take the time to meet our neighbors. I believe everyone out there, no matter what facet of life they come from, has something they can offer. This life was meant for us to be happy. And I can't think of better ways than to spend it with not only our family, but our neighbors too. You can learn so much from others, just by listening to what they have to say. I love being able to take other people's perspectives, and add it to my life. I know I'm not perfect, but can only get better by learning from those around me.
I think it's imperative to our well being to meet new and exciting people. We have to get out of our comfort zones. Everyone needs a friend or 2 or 3 or a whole lot more. So I exert all of you to get out and meet a new person every week. Nothing but good can come out of it, and it can only help to improve your well being.
Thanks for reading!
PB
What do you do to meet new people?
Friday, June 6, 2014
Staying in Shape is the Only Way to Go
Today I had the opportunity to play in a golf tournament, and first time playing golf this year. It was a gorgeous day on the golf course, 83 degrees, beautiful skies, and it was a lot of fun. Only problem is that I'm out of shape! By the time 3rd hole came around, my hands/forearms were killing me! I think I was probably girpping onto my clubs a little too strongly. Probably a correction I need to make in the future. But playing the simple game of golf helped me realize that I need to get my butt in gear. If I'm getting sore playing golf, that's definitely not a good sign!
Also, we went boating on Memorial Day weekend, and I went wakeboarding for the shortest session I've ever done. My knees were just killing me, and I had no energy to keep going. Signs of an old man! haha
Anyways, as I've been trying to do activities which I did with no problem 10 years ago, has made me realize how important it is to keep up with regular exercise. Since getting married, I haven't been as religious of getting my workouts in. Actually, come to think of it, I haven't done a thing! ugh!
With my focus on the 4 core areas, physicality is definitely on the top of the list. And one of my goals is to workout every morning, Mon-Fri. But one of the reasons why I want to stay in shape is for my boy and other kids in the future. I don't want to be on of those dad's that sits on the sideline watching his kid play. I want to be out playing with him without having to slow down. I think it's critical for father's to spend quality time with their family. And what better time to spend with your kids than running around the park, hiking up trails, playing sports, and running them until you and them collapse. So don't just stay in shape for yourself, do it for your kids!
Thanks for joining me!
PB
What kind of physical activities do you like to do with your kids?
Also, we went boating on Memorial Day weekend, and I went wakeboarding for the shortest session I've ever done. My knees were just killing me, and I had no energy to keep going. Signs of an old man! haha
Anyways, as I've been trying to do activities which I did with no problem 10 years ago, has made me realize how important it is to keep up with regular exercise. Since getting married, I haven't been as religious of getting my workouts in. Actually, come to think of it, I haven't done a thing! ugh!
With my focus on the 4 core areas, physicality is definitely on the top of the list. And one of my goals is to workout every morning, Mon-Fri. But one of the reasons why I want to stay in shape is for my boy and other kids in the future. I don't want to be on of those dad's that sits on the sideline watching his kid play. I want to be out playing with him without having to slow down. I think it's critical for father's to spend quality time with their family. And what better time to spend with your kids than running around the park, hiking up trails, playing sports, and running them until you and them collapse. So don't just stay in shape for yourself, do it for your kids!
Thanks for joining me!
PB
What kind of physical activities do you like to do with your kids?
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Getting Enough Sleep
So I put as my goal to write a post every night for 2 weeks. And tonight has been hard! I fell asleep when I got home because of lack of sleep.... Unfortunately, our little guy hasn't been sleeping too well, which is making it so I'm getting too little sleep.
Are you getting enough sleep? On average 40% of Americans are not getting enough sleep. Getting enough sleep depends on many factors, such as age, health, and some genetic influence. Infants, like my newborn son needs 14-15 hours. Teenagers need about 8.5-9.5 hours, and adults need 6-10 depending on what kind of shape you're in. I for one know I'm not getting enough sleep. How can I tell? Well, I kind of start falling asleep at work, and there's nothing I can do to stop it...
Sleep deprivation can cause memory loss, depression, weakening the immune system so you're more susceptible to getting sick, increased weight gain, increase your reaction time, and a host of many other issues.
With all that said, sleep is a key ingredient to maintaining a perfect balance in life. I know I need at least 8 hours of sleep to feel well rested and ready for a new day. On that note, I'm going to have to make this post shorter, so much more to say, but I have a 4 hour drive tomorrow for work, and I need my sleep!
How much sleep a night do you average?
Are you getting enough sleep? On average 40% of Americans are not getting enough sleep. Getting enough sleep depends on many factors, such as age, health, and some genetic influence. Infants, like my newborn son needs 14-15 hours. Teenagers need about 8.5-9.5 hours, and adults need 6-10 depending on what kind of shape you're in. I for one know I'm not getting enough sleep. How can I tell? Well, I kind of start falling asleep at work, and there's nothing I can do to stop it...
Sleep deprivation can cause memory loss, depression, weakening the immune system so you're more susceptible to getting sick, increased weight gain, increase your reaction time, and a host of many other issues.
With all that said, sleep is a key ingredient to maintaining a perfect balance in life. I know I need at least 8 hours of sleep to feel well rested and ready for a new day. On that note, I'm going to have to make this post shorter, so much more to say, but I have a 4 hour drive tomorrow for work, and I need my sleep!
How much sleep a night do you average?
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Becoming the Ultimate Goal Setter
Why set a goal? Goal setting motivation is sometimes the most difficult component of making change in our lives. And every time we attempt our goal, we fail and never want to try it again. This failure causes to look at goals in a very wrong way.
I love Stephen R Covey's book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." In the book it's divided into 3 sections: Private Victory, Public Victory and Renewal. When we celebrate "Private Victories" it helps us build confidence and allows us to build towards even larger goals. But it's about making sure we commit to goals that we set ourselves. And we always need to be celebrating the small victories which far too often we fail to do. When setting the goal, we must have the end in mind. Find out what you want in life, and then set goals in that context. This helps you set goals that you really want to achieve with a hungering desire. Put first things first. This is where time management comes in handy. That will be for another post.
Celebrate the "Public Victories". A key point Stephen R Covey brings up is to always think win/win. When negotiating, there's either win/lose, lose/lose, lose/win, or win/win. Everyone will gain if we're always seeking after win/win rather than win/lose. One of my favorite quotes from Covey, "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. In any dispute or negotiation, always listen before speaking your mind. Work on synergy, the idea is that two people working together are more powerful than each of us fighting on our own.
Celebrate the "Renewals". Sharpen the Saw, we need to take regular breaks and holidays. We need this time to help recharge our batteries. But his is more than merely resting, but taking the time to boost other areas in our life.
So what does this have to do with setting and achieving goals? We only get the results we want when we do what it takes. We only do what it takes when we see ourselves as the sort of person that does those things. But achieving personal goals depends very much on how we build our inner strength to become the sort of person who achieves the goals we set.
With that said, here are some of my goals for 2014 in regards to the 4 core areas:
Fiscal
-Make $4500 in dividends
-Maintain a savings rate of 60% of net income
-Have 35 positions in my investing portfolio
-Live the most frugal lifestyle my wife will allow me too
Mental
-Listen to a new book a month in my car while driving
-Read a new blog a week and make comments
Physical
-Workout Mon-Fri for 20 min in the morning
-Fit back into my suit I wore on the mission
-Eliminate all high fructose corn syrup
Spiritual
-Finish the BOM as a family
-80% Hometeaching for the year
-Attend the temple once a month
-Give to the needy and less fortunate by doing at least 2 hours of service a month
I'm planning on adding more goals as this is just a start. And I hope through the year, I'll be held accountable to achieve these goals with help from those around me.
Thanks for reading!
PB
What goals have you set for yourself?
I love Stephen R Covey's book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." In the book it's divided into 3 sections: Private Victory, Public Victory and Renewal. When we celebrate "Private Victories" it helps us build confidence and allows us to build towards even larger goals. But it's about making sure we commit to goals that we set ourselves. And we always need to be celebrating the small victories which far too often we fail to do. When setting the goal, we must have the end in mind. Find out what you want in life, and then set goals in that context. This helps you set goals that you really want to achieve with a hungering desire. Put first things first. This is where time management comes in handy. That will be for another post.
Celebrate the "Public Victories". A key point Stephen R Covey brings up is to always think win/win. When negotiating, there's either win/lose, lose/lose, lose/win, or win/win. Everyone will gain if we're always seeking after win/win rather than win/lose. One of my favorite quotes from Covey, "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. In any dispute or negotiation, always listen before speaking your mind. Work on synergy, the idea is that two people working together are more powerful than each of us fighting on our own.
Celebrate the "Renewals". Sharpen the Saw, we need to take regular breaks and holidays. We need this time to help recharge our batteries. But his is more than merely resting, but taking the time to boost other areas in our life.
So what does this have to do with setting and achieving goals? We only get the results we want when we do what it takes. We only do what it takes when we see ourselves as the sort of person that does those things. But achieving personal goals depends very much on how we build our inner strength to become the sort of person who achieves the goals we set.
With that said, here are some of my goals for 2014 in regards to the 4 core areas:
Fiscal
-Make $4500 in dividends
-Maintain a savings rate of 60% of net income
-Have 35 positions in my investing portfolio
-Live the most frugal lifestyle my wife will allow me too
Mental
-Listen to a new book a month in my car while driving
-Read a new blog a week and make comments
Physical
-Workout Mon-Fri for 20 min in the morning
-Fit back into my suit I wore on the mission
-Eliminate all high fructose corn syrup
Spiritual
-Finish the BOM as a family
-80% Hometeaching for the year
-Attend the temple once a month
-Give to the needy and less fortunate by doing at least 2 hours of service a month
I'm planning on adding more goals as this is just a start. And I hope through the year, I'll be held accountable to achieve these goals with help from those around me.
Thanks for reading!
PB
What goals have you set for yourself?
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
The Green Drink
How many of you start your day with a cup of coffee or a bowl of cereal? Or even worst, how many of you skip breakfast in the mornings? Approximately, 31 million American's or 10% skip breakfast everyday!!! That just astounds me. Did you know people that skip breakfast tend to be more overweight, eat more sweets, are more crankier, higher chance of heart attacks, and the list keeps going on and on. We know that eating breakfast is important. Yet we keep going down the dangerous path of not starting the day off right.
So Why are we skipping this ever important meal??? I'd say the main reason is time. Most of us love our sleep and try to sleep until the very last second before we have to leave for work or school. Or even better, some people keep hitting the snooze button until they realize that they're already late for work or school. Well I'm here to tell you, that needs to stop immediately. Waking up an extra 5-10 minutes will change your day, week, month, and life! That's all I'm asking for, 5-10 minutes to change the outcome of your life. Of course, later on, I'll advocate to wake up even earlier than that to accomplish more before you head out that door. But that's for another post.
Now that we've woken up an extra 5 minutes, what am I suppose to do? This is the time to make the greatest breakfast of all time. No, it's not eggs, bacon, or egg mcmuffins. And no it's not pancakes or waffles. What I'm talking about is a green drink. Say what!?!? WTF is a green drink? This is going to be a drink that will change your life forever. No kidding. Luckily for me, I grew up in a household that had a mother who was REALLY big into health and nutrition. And part of this healthy environment, we were given a green drink almost every morning before going to school. And let me tell you, it was no Kobe Beef. This was a hard up, full of the nastiest greens, hold your nose while trying to guzzle it down. At that time, I didn't appreciate what my mom was trying to do for me. I just thought she was trying to poison me.
Then off to college I went. And the classic American breakfast became my new staple, chocolate milk and hostess mini donettes. Only reason why this became my stable is because it was the best option to buy from the vending machine. And it was delicious! But this was at a great cost of being droggy and falling asleep during classes. And now the green drink I got from home was completely negated by all my donuts and chocolate milk I had. After my freshman year in college, I went on a 2 year mission for my church. I had the opportunity to live in the beautiful country of Japan. My breakfast eating options improved dramatically. Mainly, because I had companions that loved to cook and taught me some good things to cook up. Once I got good enough at cooking, I started cooking up for all my companions. Health and life got a lot better. When I got home from my mission, I vowed to eat healthy and workout diligently. My life took a drastic change and boy did I feel great!
Fast forward a bunch of years to when I got married. When I got married, we talked about how we wanted to be healthy and stay in shape.So we formulated a game plan, and decided that we wanted to start our day off like how I use to as a kid. What this meant was we needed a good blender like my mother had. After lots and lots of research, our decision came down to a Blendtec Blender (Will it Blend) or a Vitamix. Both blenders being fully capable of blending whatever your heart so desires. We ended up deciding on the Blendtec. Reason why we decided on the Blendtec was first, on sale at Costco so we can return it if we ever wanted to, second, has more horsepower, the more power the better. Third, I like all the cool buttons on it. :)
Ok, so we got our blender. What is this green drink you've been talking about? Like what is in it??? Glad you asked! The green drink is whatever you want to put in it. And as long as it turns green in the end, you're in a good shape. It is that simple but let's give you details of what I like to put in my drink. Here are some suggested items:
-Spinach (handful)
-Kale (handful)
-Apple
-Celery (a few sticks)
-Cucumber (1/3 a stick)
-Chia Seed
-Hemp Seed
-Kefir
-Acai
-Coconut water
-Soaked Almonds
-Frozen fruit (use strawberries, berry medley, banana, pretty much any fruit you want to add)
And that's the basic stuff that I like to add. I'll change things up every now and then and add some variety. But I can't start my day without it and either can my wife. Well there you have it, my ultimate green drink! And yes, I do take flak at work bringing it in every morning. I'll follow up with more posts on why I add certain things to the green drink. Let's just say you're starting off your day with every nutrient your body need to sustain you through the day.
Thanks for reading!
What do you have for breakfast?
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Getting the little one ready to drink them too!
So Why are we skipping this ever important meal??? I'd say the main reason is time. Most of us love our sleep and try to sleep until the very last second before we have to leave for work or school. Or even better, some people keep hitting the snooze button until they realize that they're already late for work or school. Well I'm here to tell you, that needs to stop immediately. Waking up an extra 5-10 minutes will change your day, week, month, and life! That's all I'm asking for, 5-10 minutes to change the outcome of your life. Of course, later on, I'll advocate to wake up even earlier than that to accomplish more before you head out that door. But that's for another post.
Now that we've woken up an extra 5 minutes, what am I suppose to do? This is the time to make the greatest breakfast of all time. No, it's not eggs, bacon, or egg mcmuffins. And no it's not pancakes or waffles. What I'm talking about is a green drink. Say what!?!? WTF is a green drink? This is going to be a drink that will change your life forever. No kidding. Luckily for me, I grew up in a household that had a mother who was REALLY big into health and nutrition. And part of this healthy environment, we were given a green drink almost every morning before going to school. And let me tell you, it was no Kobe Beef. This was a hard up, full of the nastiest greens, hold your nose while trying to guzzle it down. At that time, I didn't appreciate what my mom was trying to do for me. I just thought she was trying to poison me.
Then off to college I went. And the classic American breakfast became my new staple, chocolate milk and hostess mini donettes. Only reason why this became my stable is because it was the best option to buy from the vending machine. And it was delicious! But this was at a great cost of being droggy and falling asleep during classes. And now the green drink I got from home was completely negated by all my donuts and chocolate milk I had. After my freshman year in college, I went on a 2 year mission for my church. I had the opportunity to live in the beautiful country of Japan. My breakfast eating options improved dramatically. Mainly, because I had companions that loved to cook and taught me some good things to cook up. Once I got good enough at cooking, I started cooking up for all my companions. Health and life got a lot better. When I got home from my mission, I vowed to eat healthy and workout diligently. My life took a drastic change and boy did I feel great!
Fast forward a bunch of years to when I got married. When I got married, we talked about how we wanted to be healthy and stay in shape.So we formulated a game plan, and decided that we wanted to start our day off like how I use to as a kid. What this meant was we needed a good blender like my mother had. After lots and lots of research, our decision came down to a Blendtec Blender (Will it Blend) or a Vitamix. Both blenders being fully capable of blending whatever your heart so desires. We ended up deciding on the Blendtec. Reason why we decided on the Blendtec was first, on sale at Costco so we can return it if we ever wanted to, second, has more horsepower, the more power the better. Third, I like all the cool buttons on it. :)
Ok, so we got our blender. What is this green drink you've been talking about? Like what is in it??? Glad you asked! The green drink is whatever you want to put in it. And as long as it turns green in the end, you're in a good shape. It is that simple but let's give you details of what I like to put in my drink. Here are some suggested items:
-Spinach (handful)
-Kale (handful)
-Apple
-Celery (a few sticks)
-Cucumber (1/3 a stick)
-Chia Seed
-Hemp Seed
-Kefir
-Acai
-Coconut water
-Soaked Almonds
-Frozen fruit (use strawberries, berry medley, banana, pretty much any fruit you want to add)
And that's the basic stuff that I like to add. I'll change things up every now and then and add some variety. But I can't start my day without it and either can my wife. Well there you have it, my ultimate green drink! And yes, I do take flak at work bringing it in every morning. I'll follow up with more posts on why I add certain things to the green drink. Let's just say you're starting off your day with every nutrient your body need to sustain you through the day.
Thanks for reading!
What do you have for breakfast?
Getting the little one ready to drink them too!
Monday, June 2, 2014
The 4 core areas
Since I'm just starting out on this blog, my goal is to publish a post a day for 2 weeks. I just have so much to write about, and so many different things on my mind that I need to get it out there as quickly as possible! I may need to up that goal! Sadly, working 50+ hours and then when I get home needing to help out with cleaning, and tending to a sick child eats slowly away at my time.
Now those of you who will be joining me on this journey, probably are wondering, does this guy actually have it figured out on balancing his life? I'll tell you honestly, I currently don't. But that's the end goal I want. And I'll do whatever it takes to figure it out.
A couple of things I do enjoy doing is learning and reading. Now this isn't your typical reading of fiction, mystery, romance, twilight type novels. But I love to read about things I'm passionate about. So what am I passionate about? Well, that is definitely a flavor of the month. Sometimes, you'll find me reading about investing and stocks, and other times you'll see me reading recipes for green drinks. I love to fill my life with knowledge, and you can never get enough of it!
But getting back to the focus of this blog--finding the perfect balance in life. I believe in order to achieve that balance, there are 4 core areas. These areas are physical (body), mental (mind/emotional), fiscal (money), and spiritual (soul). If you can figure out these 4 areas in your life, I can promise you that you'll live the happiest life that one can live. Typically, when you meet someone that isn't happy in life, you can always pin point it to one of the core areas. You can even find people that think they're happy, but if they're missing one of the areas, they're missing out making their life even better.
The area I'll probably be writing on more frequently than the other areas is fiscal. The reason why I'll be writing more on fiscal than anything else is because I've spent countless years of my life figuring this out. Also, on the more recent side I've been having a fascination of other people's journeys and views of life. This is one reason why I wanted to start my own blog. After reading all these other blogs, it inspired me to start one of my own.
With that said, one of my goals in life is to become financially independent more quickly than the average american. What's the average age that american's retire? 67! That's right 67! And 62 is considered early retirement! WTF! That means the best years of your life will be in the "rat race". Like most American's, you'll be working for someone else, living paycheck to paycheck, praying that social security will be there or hopefully have enough in savings. With your job sucking away at your life and more importantly, your time! The one thing you can never get back! I for one don't want to be stuck in the rat race until I'm 67! Now you may say, but I love my job and love what I do and wouldn't mind doing it until I'm 67. Do you really want to be stuck at work doing the 8-5 job, rather than spend that time with loved ones or friends? Do you ever hear people on their death beds saying, "I wish I worked more"? I definitely don't want to be the person who spent all their time at work, and not building healthy relationships with the ones I love most.
So what is financial independence? Is the state of your assets generating income greater than you expenses. For example, my total living expenses on a month to month basis is $4,000. But I receive passive income from my dividends in the form of $4,000/month. So in essence, you're generating income for yourself by not having to work. Now how great would that be to achieve at say age 40??? I will tell you that it's definitely possible and achievable. Is that my goal to retire at age 40? Well, it once was, but I moved that time frame due to other circumstances that have come in my life. And when I told people that I wanted to retire by 40, I was laughed and scoffed at. Told me that it wasn't possible. Well, I'm the kind of person that has to prove you wrong. Now, I've since moved that date to age 45. You're probably thinking to yourself, well yeah I could do that if I was single and saved a lot, but I have a family, and that's definitely not doable. Well, hopefully through this blog, you'll be able to see another light, and maybe you too will want to change your life and way of thinking.
Thanks for reading!
PB aka (Perfect Balance)
What age do you currently want to retire at?
Picture of my happy boy Landon!
Now those of you who will be joining me on this journey, probably are wondering, does this guy actually have it figured out on balancing his life? I'll tell you honestly, I currently don't. But that's the end goal I want. And I'll do whatever it takes to figure it out.
A couple of things I do enjoy doing is learning and reading. Now this isn't your typical reading of fiction, mystery, romance, twilight type novels. But I love to read about things I'm passionate about. So what am I passionate about? Well, that is definitely a flavor of the month. Sometimes, you'll find me reading about investing and stocks, and other times you'll see me reading recipes for green drinks. I love to fill my life with knowledge, and you can never get enough of it!
But getting back to the focus of this blog--finding the perfect balance in life. I believe in order to achieve that balance, there are 4 core areas. These areas are physical (body), mental (mind/emotional), fiscal (money), and spiritual (soul). If you can figure out these 4 areas in your life, I can promise you that you'll live the happiest life that one can live. Typically, when you meet someone that isn't happy in life, you can always pin point it to one of the core areas. You can even find people that think they're happy, but if they're missing one of the areas, they're missing out making their life even better.
The area I'll probably be writing on more frequently than the other areas is fiscal. The reason why I'll be writing more on fiscal than anything else is because I've spent countless years of my life figuring this out. Also, on the more recent side I've been having a fascination of other people's journeys and views of life. This is one reason why I wanted to start my own blog. After reading all these other blogs, it inspired me to start one of my own.
With that said, one of my goals in life is to become financially independent more quickly than the average american. What's the average age that american's retire? 67! That's right 67! And 62 is considered early retirement! WTF! That means the best years of your life will be in the "rat race". Like most American's, you'll be working for someone else, living paycheck to paycheck, praying that social security will be there or hopefully have enough in savings. With your job sucking away at your life and more importantly, your time! The one thing you can never get back! I for one don't want to be stuck in the rat race until I'm 67! Now you may say, but I love my job and love what I do and wouldn't mind doing it until I'm 67. Do you really want to be stuck at work doing the 8-5 job, rather than spend that time with loved ones or friends? Do you ever hear people on their death beds saying, "I wish I worked more"? I definitely don't want to be the person who spent all their time at work, and not building healthy relationships with the ones I love most.
So what is financial independence? Is the state of your assets generating income greater than you expenses. For example, my total living expenses on a month to month basis is $4,000. But I receive passive income from my dividends in the form of $4,000/month. So in essence, you're generating income for yourself by not having to work. Now how great would that be to achieve at say age 40??? I will tell you that it's definitely possible and achievable. Is that my goal to retire at age 40? Well, it once was, but I moved that time frame due to other circumstances that have come in my life. And when I told people that I wanted to retire by 40, I was laughed and scoffed at. Told me that it wasn't possible. Well, I'm the kind of person that has to prove you wrong. Now, I've since moved that date to age 45. You're probably thinking to yourself, well yeah I could do that if I was single and saved a lot, but I have a family, and that's definitely not doable. Well, hopefully through this blog, you'll be able to see another light, and maybe you too will want to change your life and way of thinking.
Thanks for reading!
PB aka (Perfect Balance)
What age do you currently want to retire at?
Sunday, June 1, 2014
About my Family
Hi, my name is Trevor, and I'll be your host for inspiration in finding the perfect balance in life.
I wanted to start this blog in the hopes of keeping both myself and family accountable in trying to achieve a more happier life. But before we get to the nuts and bolts of my journey, let me give you a background of my family and me.
I'm in my early thirties and was married a little over 3 years ago, Dec 30, 2010. My wife and I recently just had our first child, Landon, Dec 31 2013. And boy has our life changed!
I was born and raised in Hawaii for 9 years. And then when I was 9 years old, my dad got transferred in his work, and we moved to SLC, UT. I come from a big family, 8 kids with me being number 7. My dad had a good job, and he provided adequately for our family. My mom stayed home with the kids and as you could imagine that was a feat in itself! And to this day I don't know how she raised all of us kids!
My dad is literally my idol. The way he was able to balance work, family, and church always impressed me. On top of it, he manages to stay really fit! We were just literally talking over dinner tonight about being able to fit into clothes from back in the day. And of course he was bragging on how slim he's been able to maitain himself all these years. I could always count on my dad to show up to my games, and support me in all my endeavors. Pretty much most things I've learned on how to balance life came from him. And I hope to instill the same traits to my own posterity!
I grew up receiving all my needs and occasionally wants. I was taught from a young age about frugality and saving. All the money I would receive from jobs and gifts I would save and invest. I don't think a lot of kids my age knew what an investment account was or even understood the true value of money. This money I saved as a kid, I was able to invest it and use this money to help pay for a mission, college, and a decent car. And the cherry on top was being able to graduate college with 0 debt. I was able to accomplish this not working while attending college. Yes, I did work during summer time, and I worked my tail off in order to help supplement a good college lifestyle.
I've had quite the journey to get where I'm at today. I've learned quite a lot and have experienced things to shape me into the person I am today. I want this blog to help inspire those around me, and most importantly, my posterity. I want my kids to look at how I approached life, and hopefully, they can take my suggestions and experience to help them through their journey.
Since I'm new to this whole blogging thing. Bare with me as I try to get all my thoughts down on paper. I'm sure I'll be making lots of corrections along the way!! And with that, I bid thee adieu.
I wanted to start this blog in the hopes of keeping both myself and family accountable in trying to achieve a more happier life. But before we get to the nuts and bolts of my journey, let me give you a background of my family and me.
I'm in my early thirties and was married a little over 3 years ago, Dec 30, 2010. My wife and I recently just had our first child, Landon, Dec 31 2013. And boy has our life changed!
I was born and raised in Hawaii for 9 years. And then when I was 9 years old, my dad got transferred in his work, and we moved to SLC, UT. I come from a big family, 8 kids with me being number 7. My dad had a good job, and he provided adequately for our family. My mom stayed home with the kids and as you could imagine that was a feat in itself! And to this day I don't know how she raised all of us kids!
My dad is literally my idol. The way he was able to balance work, family, and church always impressed me. On top of it, he manages to stay really fit! We were just literally talking over dinner tonight about being able to fit into clothes from back in the day. And of course he was bragging on how slim he's been able to maitain himself all these years. I could always count on my dad to show up to my games, and support me in all my endeavors. Pretty much most things I've learned on how to balance life came from him. And I hope to instill the same traits to my own posterity!
I grew up receiving all my needs and occasionally wants. I was taught from a young age about frugality and saving. All the money I would receive from jobs and gifts I would save and invest. I don't think a lot of kids my age knew what an investment account was or even understood the true value of money. This money I saved as a kid, I was able to invest it and use this money to help pay for a mission, college, and a decent car. And the cherry on top was being able to graduate college with 0 debt. I was able to accomplish this not working while attending college. Yes, I did work during summer time, and I worked my tail off in order to help supplement a good college lifestyle.
I've had quite the journey to get where I'm at today. I've learned quite a lot and have experienced things to shape me into the person I am today. I want this blog to help inspire those around me, and most importantly, my posterity. I want my kids to look at how I approached life, and hopefully, they can take my suggestions and experience to help them through their journey.
Since I'm new to this whole blogging thing. Bare with me as I try to get all my thoughts down on paper. I'm sure I'll be making lots of corrections along the way!! And with that, I bid thee adieu.
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