Sunday, November 25, 2018

Maybe Next Time I’ll Wait For Spring

November is a cold month. At least where I live. It’s snowy with freezing rain and lots of wind. It’s not the time of year I’d typically think of building anything outside. Usually. But this year has been different. We’ve had decent weather; no snow, no wind, and a generous amount of sunshine. And that got me to thinking.

I’ve been wanting to add on to my shed for quite a while now and since I had some free time, and the weather was cooperating, I finally decided to do. At first, I thought maybe I’d just get the foundation poured and wait until Spring to finish the project. But that’s just not me. Once I start something, I’m sort of obsessed with getting it done. Besides, the sun was still shining! So, I kept working. Figured I’d get as far as I could before the snow started flying. Built the walls, the rafters, put a roof on it, added the siding and trim, installed a door, and even painted the whole thing. Later today, I’ll be pouring the concrete step to finish it off.

I’m still sort of surprised I was able to get everything done; it’s now almost December. And still, no snow, no wind. But while the overall weather was great for this time of year, it is getting awfully close to winter. And that means shorter days, which translates to getting up earlier in order to have daylight. And even though temperatures have been in the fifties during the day, mornings are another story. For the first couple of hours each day, I thought I’d freeze. I had to work hard just to stay warm! But I guess I should have expected that. After all, it is late November, and November is a cold month. ~


Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. 

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Respect


So, I went to pick up my five-year-old grandson from Daycare last week. I’d like to say he was happy to see me but the truth is he’d rather Grandma pick him up. But she had the misfortune of having a dental visit. He did seem okay with me being there since Grandma was busy. As he put it, having me pick him up was better than just staying there all night. Nice to know I’m appreciated! But, I’ll take whatever I can get.

My diluted triumph was short lived, however. As soon as he got in, he started giving me the third degree. I probably should note that over the last few weeks I’ve been working, building things—fences, decks, pouring concrete, etc.—and my pickup was showing the signs. I’ve been carrying a lot of tools inside so there was a bit of sawdust, regular dust, and other clutter—in the seats and on the floor.

“Grandpa, you have no respect,” he began.

“Why?” (Never ask a five-year-old a question if you don’t want a long and extended answer).

“You have no respect for your truck,” he said. “You should respect your truck by keeping it clean. If you leave it dirty, it shows you have no respect at all.” He wasn’t done yet. “And if people see that you have no respect for your vehicle, they’ll have no respect for you. So, you really need to clean the inside, and probably wash it too.”

Okay then! I explained that I’d been busy working and hadn’t had a chance to clean the pickup. My excuses fell on deaf ears. When we arrived at the house, as he got out, he gave me quite a displeased look, pointing to the mess. “You know what you need to do,” was all he said.

As you can imagine, I did clean the truck—the next day. When he returned later in the week, I showed him my handiwork. I guess I thought he’d be excited or at least say good job or something. But no. What he did say was, “Now keep it that way!”

I can’t say he’s wrong or that I shouldn’t heed his advice. But I think in a few years, when the kid starts driving, I’m going to show him this blog post. ~


Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million.

 

Monday, November 12, 2018

Borders Bakery

My wife and daughters have a yearly tradition—a day of baking for the upcoming holidays. They’ve been doing this for ten or twelve years, maybe longer. They call it Cookie Day but it’s not limited to just cookies. They make a lot of treats: chocolatey, caramely, gooey goodies.

At least this is what I’ve been told. I’m never home for Cookie Day so I’m not really sure what they do. For all I know they could go to the store and purchase the ready made delectable confections and then sit around and visit. All I know is when I get home there are platefuls of cookies, candy, and other sweets.

As you can imagine, I look forward to Cookie Day. (Not that I really need all the sweets but I’ve never let that stop me before). This year, Cookie Day is today. Yay!

But this year, there is an added bonus—I’ll be home! First time ever; home for Cookie Day. No waiting until they’re all done to get my sugar fix. And though I doubt they’ll want my help in the baking, I might be allowed to taste test a few things. That is, if they actually DO make this stuff themselves. Guess I’ll find out a little later! ~


Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. 


Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Investing Made Easy

Let’s face it, not everyone can be Warren Buffet, investor extraordinaire. First, most people do not have that kind of money. Many Americans live paycheck to paycheck. And most people do not have that kind of time. We’re busy. We work a job, have things to take care of at home, and that leaves very little time to pay attention to things such as investing.

Traditionally, investing required a fairly large sum of cash to get started. Then there were broker fees, and other costs. The average working person could not realistically afford to invest in the stock market. For those who were able, the learning curve was somewhat daunting. And learning, along with its setbacks, is not all that enticing when it’s costing you your own money. Money that could have been spent on necessities like food and rent.




But times have changed. In 2014, Walter and Jeff Cruttenden launched Acorns, an investment app for mobile devices, making investing accessible to everyone. The following year, the web-based version was introduced. Acorns makes investing painless because you are only investing a few cents at a time and they’ve taken all the guesswork out of the equation. From their website: “Acorns simplified the often tedious and complex process of investing. But that doesn’t mean the investment strategy is any less sophisticated.”

“Our mission is to look after the financial best interests of the up-and-coming, beginning with the empowering step of micro-investing.”
 So, what exactly is Acorns?

Acorns is a legitimate and reputable financial service that makes investing simple and affordable for anyone. Acorns is the only micro-investing account that allows you to invest spare change. Set up in under 5 minutes and automatically add money to your diversified portfolio. Acorns offers a user-friendly platform and is rated the number one investment app for new investors.


How does Acorns work?

There are many methods of investing with Acorns but the easiest is their one-of-a-kind Round-ups. When you link a credit or debit card to your Acorns Core account, they track your transactions, round up the purchase to the next dollar, and invest that amount. For example: If you spend $9.56 on breakfast, Acorns would deduct .44 from your bank account and add that to your Acorns Investment account. You choose from one of five pre-built “smart portfolios,” ranging from conservative to aggressive. If you’d like to invest more you can easily do so by taking advantage of the multiplier selection. Simply set your desired multiplier and automatically invest the round-up amount multiplied by 2, 3, or 10.


So, how much does Acorns cost?

After the first month, which is free, Acorns charges $1.00 per month until your account value reaches $1 million. Since we’re talking spare change, the first few months, with an account of less than $100, that fee may seem a little high but keep in mind that as your investments grow, the fee does not. So, years from now when your spare change has turned into a few thousand, the monthly fee will remain just $1.00 for the basic plan, known as Acorns Core. They also offer $2 and 3$ monthly plans.


Acorns Core at the $1/month level is free for college students.

If you’re in college Acorns just got better! The basic plan, Acorns Core, is FREE for college students. You pay nothing as long as you’re enrolled in college. In other words, there’s nothing to lose.




 Before writing this blog post, I wanted to give Acorns a try. I signed up in less than five minutes and after answering a few questions to set up my profile had a couple of debit cards linked. Within a week, my account was growing. That was four months ago and my investment is now worth over $150. Big deal, right? What good is $150? Well, for starters, that’s from only round-ups—money I didn’t even miss. In a year, if I continue on the same pace, that will be $450. And that doesn’t account for gains on the investment. Currently I’m getting a return of 11%. That’s an outstanding percent. I have other investments that do not perform nearly as well.

When setting up my account, I chose a conservative investment portfolio with very little risk. I like Acorns system of “Smart Portfolios” because it means I do not have to pick which companies I invest in, Acorns does all the work. That means I do not have to do hours of research to find a stock. I simply linked my debit cards and that was it.

And if I should ever find myself in a financial jam, and need my money, it is available for instant withdraw to my bank account with no penalty. This alone makes it a far better option than CD’s or many investment firms.

Acorns offers a unique solution to overcoming the mental barrier: ‘I just don’t have enough money to be investing.’
Acorns really is investing made simple. Invest as little or as much as you want. Click on the link below to get started.



Questions? Visit Acorns.com

Monday, November 5, 2018

Speed Reading


For the last couple of months, I’ve been teaching my grandson to read. I’d promised him I’d teach him but was stalling until he was interested enough to pay attention. But when he grew tired of waiting and started trying to teach himself, I figured he was ready. So, we started the lessons.

It was a little slow going at first, introducing him to all the letters and sounds but he has a very good memory so things started falling into place. He was doing well and every few days I’d add another letter—or two.

After a month or so, we were progressing well. Or, so I thought. Then I overheard him tell his Grandma that “Grandpa is a good teacher; he’s just really slow.”

“What do you mean I’m slow?” I asked, pretending I was offended.

Unfazed, and with a roll of his eyes, he said, “We’ve had a LOT of lessons and I still can’t read.”

Somehow, he’d gotten the idea that I was supposed to just tell him all the rules and he’d instantly be able to read.

I tried explaining that it would take a while; that there were a lot of letters and a lot of rules.

“And it’s too hard for you to remember all of them at once?” he asked.

Sure, that’s it.

The child has since had a birthday and as he tells me at almost every lesson, he’s now five. The significance of that is, as he makes sure I know, I’ve been teaching him since he was four and in his mind, that’s a whole year. And still, he can’t read.

Except he can—a little. Of course, that’s not good enough. He wants to be able to read books and everything else. I’ve assured he’ll get there—eventually. Although, eventually would come much sooner if Grandpa wasn’t so slow! ~


Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million.