Back to School

The Open House is over, the supplies are purchased, the backpacks filled. 

New soccer cleats
New school clothes
New shoes
New backpacks
Son requesting "Heelys"
Daughter wants piano lessons and horseback riding lessons
Mom's taking 2 Graduate classes = Books = $$$
Dad's attending "professional development course" for 4 months.

It's that time again...

Back_to_school

Creating Moments

I believe life is all about creating special moments and the funny thing is most of the time they just pop up at unexpected times.  When I think back of my childhood, I remember the most obscure special moments. It didn't take thousands of dollars or a huge production, it just took spending quality time with someone special. 

Take a look at this Great Father and Son Moment from Chris Cobbett posted by Steve over at Inside Fatherhood.  These moments can be created by simply spending time with your children and the more of these moments you can create, the more memories they will have. 

First40onseaborn

Back to Basics

My worldly possessions are still on a slow boat from Europe but the broadband is again flowing through the household.  Which means its time to get this show on the road. 

I'm heading back to basics, back to the meat of what this blog is about.  Cold Hard Fatherhood. Let us move into the next chapter and see the old man working behind the curtain. 

Dad_the_magnificent

Through the looking glass

I just wanted to give everyone a look into my investing world, we are half way through 2007 and my stocks are looking great so far.   My investing style includes 90% Index Mutual Funds mostly in Mid-cap, Small-cap, International and some Large and Micro Cap Funds.  My funds come from my 401k provider (Barclays), Vanguard and Bridgeway Funds.

However, 10% of my overall portfolio goes to individual stocks and options.   This is my small area to "pick winners" and to increase my overall portfolio average.  For more information on how I pick stocks, mutual funds and how I constructed my overall portfolio, see the financial books in my bookstore on the bottom right of the blog.   

These are the stocks I bought in the 4th Quarter of 2006.  Most have a 2-4% dividend yield except EGLE as noted.  You can see by the 100% average gain so far how this can greatly increase your overall portfolio average.

Note: Investing is risky if you are not properly educated; there are no risky investments, only risky investors who invest in areas they are not familiar with.  So in order to have success as an investor, get educated in investing before making financial decisions.

AHL    -                  3.52 %

AXS     -                  6.29 %

BSY    -                   33.87 %

DRYS  -                   314.22 %

DSX    -                   83.89 %

DVN   -                   15.22 %

EGLE  -                   49.10 %   + 8%  Dividend Yield

IPCR   -                   13.58 %

SCG    -                   8.47 %

SUP    -                   9.36 %

TLK    -                   27.26 %

NM (Warrants)       692.87 %

Average Gain         100.54 %

Tim breaks it down even further

For those of you that know me you know I have subscribed to Grace Based Parenting and believe it is the best biblical model I have found.  Grace Based Parenting is a cornerstone of the Legacy Dad road map and truly helps raise kids who turn out right.   

I found this article in which Tim Kimmel further breaks down many of the "popular" Christian parenting styles and further illustrates their limitations and why God's true path for parents is really through grace.  Read the article and I'm sure you'll agree.

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