16 Year Old Skips The Last Two Years Of High School To Play Profesional Baseball

Posted by The Happy Rock on June 18, 2009

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harper-baseball-money-16 16 year old Bryce Harper has chosen to forgo the last two years of high school in order to get his GED and enter the Major League Baseball draft. Harper, sometimes called baseball’s Lebron James, is bigger, stronger, and better than most 20 somethings. The phenom is looking to cash in big with a guaranteed signing bonus when the draft rolls around next June. He is under the guidance of the notorious super-agent Scott Boras who routinely brokers the biggest and craziest contracts in Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball most likely won’t interfere even though he is so young, since they often draft in foreign players at that age.

Parents Gone Wild. Money Fever. Call it what you want, but this just seems crazy.

So much for being a kid, because I can’t help but think of what it took to get to be that good at 16. He is obviously supremely blessed athletically, but one can only assume that his parents groomed him from an early age. Long time scout, Gary Hughes chimes in about how parents are pushing their children at an early ages.

Traveling squads for little kids, parents paying up to a thousand bucks for a weekend. I have a 10-year-old grandson who is a closer. A closer. I know one family where the parents are assessed 45 bucks per kid – they have two kids – for a session with a strength and conditioning coach. They’re 9 years old.

How knows why parents do this sort of thing, we can only guess: vanity, living their dreams through their children, for the money, or maybe for fame. Anyway you slice it, it doesn’t quite seem fair to the children.

I grew up playing baseball at an early age and loved it. I played on multiple teams each year and it took up the majority of my time, but it was because I wanted to. I could have been better if I lifted weights or did more formal training and my parents tried to give me those options if they could, but in reality it was too much. You need time to hang out, play capture the flag, school dances….kid stuff.

I know it takes that sort of dedication now a days, but at what cost? Is this just too much or am I missing the bigger picture? Should he make sure to grab the money before people find out he isn’t that good or before he gets injured? I mean imagine all the records you can break if you are in the major leagues by age 18!

Source : MLB Yahoo

» Filed Under Children and Money

The Choice For Expensive Daycare - This Why I Do This Stuff

Posted by The Happy Rock on June 4, 2009

I just got back from picking up my two boys, age 16 months and 3 1/2 years, from pre-school. It was their first day. After years of in-home single sitter care both boys were ready for something else. The youngest is a social little guy with a shorter attention span. He thrives on social interaction and is quite bored(aka naughty) in our 1000sqft condo. The oldest, The Pebble, is the smart shy engineer type. He would be happy to stay home by himself dissecting his toys and building trains. He would benefit from the social and relationship growth as well as more structured learning time.

The choice to put the boys into daycare was not an easy one, as daycare in general just doesn’t mesh well with our parenting and family philosophy. With that being said it would make some sense that we didn’t opt for daycare, instead we chose an expensive pre-school. You may not think there is a difference, but to us there is. We visited one or two places until we stumbled upon Creme de la Creme. It is the kind of place that once you visit, you want to send your children there. All the other places pale in comparison and look so tainted.

It is structured more like school with a homeroom teacher that travels with the children as the move from classroom to classroom. Plenty of friendly staff, impeccably clean, great diversity in ethnicity, and a broad range of educational opportunities. The only downside…….uber expensive. A 5 day a week program was about $1200-1300 a month. We are looking at $300 a week for two boys for just 3 half days. It still sounds ridiculous to me, but there are other things to consider than just money.

Pluses

We can afford it. By having 1 and half good salaries and haven’t spent five years digging out of $70,000 in debt and building a solid emergency fund, you get to consider these types of decisions. This is what financial freedom is about to some extent. It isn’t something we would have dreamed about 3 years ago, but now our personal finances are in a much different state. I mean this is why we do all this money stuff, right?
It is an amazing school. Parents rave about it. Children seem to love it. The teachers really seem to have a keen interest and desire to improve your children’s lives. We think the boys will love it and don’t feel any regret dropping them off in the morning.
It is an easily reversible decision. If we don’t like it or realize that it is causing financial strain, then 30 days noticed is all that is needed.
Change your family tree. Every parent wants their children to have a better life than themselves. The word ‘better’ is very subjective word so money and stuff becomes an easy measurement, although it is not always the best.

Minuses

Not keeping it real. It may seem a little strange, but I don’t want to be those parents. The parents that spoils their children. The parents that can use money to insulate their children from real life. We aren’t those parents, so I want to continue to make sure that the boys have a diverse life education. I grew up on welfare and government cheese in my early life and watched my mom struggle to move from poverty to a $60,000+ a year job. I lived a broad range of life experiences along the way and I am so grateful for them all.
Using money and good things to replace real parenting. This is the flip side of the last pluses point. A good education is great, but I want to make sure that it isn’t a replacement for life education and experiences. I also know that things like moral and character development are potentially more impact on my son’s lives. A good education shouldn’t replace the everyday opportunities to grow my child’s personalities and develop their character.
Makes ‘real’ school dull. The thought seriously has gone through my mind that this experience could ruin their perspective on what school will be like.

The reason I am sharing is because it wasn’t an easy clear cut decision for me. Of course they could do quite well with less expensive care, but my children are one of my top three priorities in life and my finances among other things should reflect that. This is one gift for the boys I was willing to test out.

What are your thoughts? Do you disagree with some of my reasoning or am I spot on? What would you do?

» Filed Under Children and Money, Spending

Grandma, Please Stop Spoiling Our Children

Posted by Debt Destroyer on March 19, 2009

Grandparents are great aren’t they?

I don’t know about you, but I have very fond memories of my grandparents. There’s the trips to the zoo, baseball games, & museums. I remember having lots of sleepovers with great food and a never ending supply of cookies. But above all I remember lots and lots of treats and toys.

I see that same pattern repeating itself for my children and their grandparents. And that is wonderful, but…

Our house is full of the crap that the grandparents give their “precious little angles”.

For example, at the end of January my son turned two. The previous Christmas, Santa Claus brought him 4 toy dinosaurs. He loved them! The grandparents must have caught wind of this so for his birthday he must have got every dinosaur the store had.

dinos-toys

“What’s the problem DD, that isn’t so bad?”

You’re right, there is nothing wrong with that. But that wasn’t the only gifts he got from them. He also got a train set, remote control cars, a sit & spin, some action figures, and a bunch of other stuff.

Putting aside the problem that most of his presents were not age appropriate (his older sister has decided that they are her toys), our main issue with our parent’s generosity is that it’s starting to feel like our dinning room has turned into a toy storage room.

I remember a couple of years ago my mother-in-law joking with me, telling me that she could help me fill up my basement and garage. I’m starting to think she wasn’t joking (See the cackle throws you off. You think its a laugh, but in reality the cackle is mother-in-law for “sucka”).

Before I totally bemoan the act of grandparents spoiling their grandchildren rotten, let me say that I love the bags of clothes we get from their rummage sales exploits, and the occasional free babysitting. I’m just wondering if any Happy Rock readers out there has dealt with this before?

Is there a tactful way of looking a gifthorse in the mouth and ask it to lighten up ?

Dropping hints doesn’t seem to work. Neither does saying, “Please don’t buy that.”

We’ve resigned to just smile and bear it.

We’ve tried holding a rummage sale before, but our parents ended up coming to it. It was quite obvious that they didn’t like seeing all the stuff they’ve given to us over the years for sale. Of course in true parent form, they don’t say anything, they just laid on the guilt later on.

So what happens is that we try not to open the things that we don’t think the kids will play with, then we regift. That’s right I admit to regifting. It is a wonderful way to get rid of unused or unwanted gifts! Heck, I think we still have a few wedding presents that we looking to unload.

Just last night we discovered that our daughter has 5 sets of “Go Fish” card games, all given to her by grandparents. Luckily two of them haven’t been opened yet. So look out parents of little girls…if you invite us to a B-Day celebration you know what you’ll be getting.

Do you have any 5’s…Go Fish

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me, Children and Money, Serving Others

Libraries Rock! Free Books, Movies, and Entertainement For All

Posted by Debt Destroyer on March 18, 2009

Have you been to a library lately?

For those of you who were scared off by the Dewey Decimal System, it’s time for a visit. You might not recognize the place.

The card catalog is long gone, it’s been replaced with banks of computers. The scary looking reference section has been transformed into the video section. The hard wooden tables and chairs have been replaced with soft comfy furniture.

It’s a whole new world.

I have to admit I missed the transformation. It wasn’t until I had kids that I decided to see what the library had to offer me. And boy am I ever glad I did.

It started one Saturday when my wife was shooting a wedding. She had the van, and I was cooped up with two little kids. It was a nice enough day out so we decided to pile into the stroller and go for a walk. Luckily for us our local library is only 2 blocks away (living “downtown” has some advantages).

We headed straight downstairs to the children’s section and I don’t think we’ve ever left.

My kids went right to the puzzles and toys, but I headed right to the movie section. Movies are big in our house (no cable) and I think we were all starting to go insane from watching the same ones over, and over, and over…Now I’d be able to check out 5 videos for 2 weeks. Hallelujah!

We also get 10 books. Which now made reading stories before bed a little less monotonous as well.

Going to the library quickly became our favorite part of Saturday (after cartoons of course). But then it got even better when we found out about…

Story Time!

Every Tuesday night the library hosts story time. This is where they read a couple of stories, then make something in craft time, and watch a short video. Each week has it’s own theme. So now we routinely go to the library twice a week. I don’t know how’d we function without it.

But the library is not all about kids.

At ours they have various book clubs and writing groups that meet monthly. I’ve always been tempted to join these but my plate is pretty full now (going back to school and all), but someday…

A couple of summers ago when my tennis game needed a boost, I made a trip to the library and before I knew it I was reading about doubles strategies and having Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith give me private lessons in my living room.

I’ve gone on long enough now professing my love for libraries. How about you share some of your favorite things about them.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Children and Money, Giving, Money Savers

The Happy Rock And The Carnival Ride - Financial Childhood Lessons

Posted by The Happy Rock on March 16, 2009

Below is a post describing a fun frugal experience from my childhood written by The Happy Boulderette(The Happy Rock’s Mom). The story itself is neat, but what makes it even more interesting is the striking similarity it has to a post that I wrote about Teaching The Happy Pebble about the value of a dollar. It is great to see that lessons learned as a child are still bearing fruit almost 30 years later. You can change your family tree.

The Happy Boulderette has 2$ in her pocket and the local carnival is set up in the supermarket parking lot around the corner. She shares this info with The Happy Rock(age 6) - he is super excited and they attend the carnival that evening.

Quality time was spent between mom and son as they walked around and laughed and talked about how to spend their 2$. The process was long and they eventually decided to ride one particular amusement ride prior to heading home. Woohoo!!! It sure was fun!!!

Much later in life, the Happy Boulderette is pondering years back and realizes that many valuable lessons were taught that evening. Many of them were definitely financially related. At the time, she hadn’t even known she was having an impact on her son’s life.

Our children’s watchful eyes are upon us and financial lessons are being learned even when they are not intentional.

» Filed Under Children and Money, Financial Succes

Teaching Toddlers About Money – The Pebble And The Dollar

Posted by The Happy Rock on February 5, 2009

The Happy Pebble(age 3) couldn’t contain his excitement as we pumped up a 3 foot long ‘rocket’ balloon and watched it sputter around the room. For him it was the joyous culmination of a life money lesson that he didn’t even know he participated in.

The story begins with the Pebble and I making a few homemade thank you cards for gifts received at Christmas. It took us a few weeks after the holidays, but gratitude is better late then never. We mailed the cards off and in not too long he received a surprise letter in the mail from his Great Gram. It had a return thank you note saying she loved the card that it was hanging on the fridge. She even reinforced her gratitude by including a single dollar as a surprise!

The Pebble was elated, since he is usually happy to nab the spare change from around the house and throw it in his piggy bank. His very first dollar. His joy grew after I mentioned that we should go to the store and buy a toy.

The next day The Pebble, Pebble Junior, and myself spent a good hour in Target. I had to stay patient because this is where the real magic happened and where he began to understand the power of a dollar. He would point to toys and I would kindly explain that it would be 10 of the dollars he has. He happily kept looking and asking, but wasn’t willing to accept the toys that he could afford. He also wasn’t willing to ’save’ the dollar and wait so that he could get something bigger, even offering to kick in some money for the effort.

Eventually after looking through all 10 aisles more than once he realized that he couldn’t afford something big and happily settled on Rocket Balloons. It included a mini air pump and long balloons that you pump up and let go to see them rocket around the room. Even though it was twice what he had(I didn’t tell him), it was still under $2 and he had learned a lesson in the value of a dollar and had great fun doing it. He shyly gave the money to the cashier and beamed with excitement until we could open the package and start playing. Lesson over.

Any readers have great stories to share on how they are teaching their toddlers about money?

» Filed Under Children and Money, Psychology of Spending

Reader Stories : The Beauty of Frugality and Family

Posted by The Happy Rock on January 26, 2009

A Happy Rock reader shared this story with me and I loved the images so much and thought the readers would too.

————————————

The scene was a ‘girls night out’ were the girls of the family went out to run errands and grab a bite to eat. This exchange took place :

Mom asked her daughter(11 years old) how she and her friends were getting along. The daughter said that everything was fine, but sometimes she wished she had a cell phone as a lot of her friends got one or an updated one for Christmas. Nobody in the family has an expensive cell phone right now, and Mom continued on and asked if it bothered her a lot that she doesn’t have one. Then came this beautiful reply.

She responded with “sometimes, but not really. I don’t see why they pay to “text” their friends when it’s pretty much the same as e-mailing. I can e-mail for free. So why pay for it? And why do they need one right now. You are always there when I need you, so I don’t have to call and find out where you are or when you are picking me up, we always have that worked out. I think they are just wasting money.”

Mom didn’t quite know what to say and just smiled as they ate their Arby’s 4 for $5 dinner.

————————————

So much great stuff in there :

Mom was intentional about the time she spent with her children. It would have been easier to run errands with out the children around, but they need that type of interaction and learning. Opportunities to parent happen much more frequently when you intentionally create opportunities were the relationship can move deeper.
They didn’t need to do something fancy, the relationship was the most important part of the equation.
Mom took an interest in her daughter’s life and was willing to go past the surface. She could have just stopped at the cell phone complaint, but she didn’t. Even if the daughter gave a different answer it would have been a great time to help guide her.
Mom had already set a good financial example. The daughter knew were the family stood on money issues and what was really important to them.
Mom lived her values. The daughter trusted that Mom would always be there and that only comes from years trust creating experiences.
The daughter isn’t defined by what she has or by what her friends do, but she defines herself at least partially by her family and can be her own person.

Money and frugality is there to free ourselves for these types of moments in life. Money can’t create this type of beauty!

» Filed Under Children and Money, Materialism, Serving Others

Student Debt…How Much is Too Much?

Posted by Debt Destroyer on December 10, 2008

According to the local public radio station, South Dakota students carry the highest debt load in the nation. I was shocked to hear this for a couple of reasons:

South Dakota Universities (public ones) are very affordable. For example, I’m currently enrolled in 17 credits (6 graduate, 11 undergrad) and tuition & books totaled slightly less than $4000.
South Dakota incomes aren’t that high. So if these students are going deep in debt only to get a low paying job, they are setting themselves up for disappointment.

Perhaps because of #2 above, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that students are needing help to afford school. Most people here don’t make much money, so of course they’d need help to pay for school. Heck I just took out a $7750 loan to help me go back to school (and me & my wife still owe around $6,000 from our first go around with school).

So I probably shouldn’t be shocked at all.

According to the Quick Fact Section at The Project on Student Loan Debt, borrowing is becoming more prevalent.

By the time they graduate, nearly two-thirds of students at four-year colleges and universities have student loan debt (66.4% in 2004). In 1993, less than one-half of four-year graduates had student loans.

In addition to the number of students needing help increasing, the amount they need to borrow is also increasing.

Over the past decade, debt levels for graduating seniors with student loans more than doubled from $9,250 to $19,200 – a 108% increase (58% after accounting for inflation).

But at the same time the news is talking about South Dakota having the highest student debt burden, I also remember hearing stories about how this fall’s enrollment in South Dakota schools was the highest ever. So clearly people are OK with borrowing for school.

But are those days near an end?

During Thanksgiving, my wife’s cousin was telling us about her experience at college, she’s a freshman going into social work. This girl’s Mother joked that she should be on the lookout for a rich husband since social work is not a very lucrative field. But in all seriousness, I can see this being a concern for those low-paying fields that require a college degree.

I know that I hope to not have to borrow any more money just to land a teaching job.

But I guess it probably wouldn’t be so bad except when you add on credit card debt and a car payment, fresh college graduates can find themselves behind the financial 8-ball in no time.

So Happy Rock readers, what do you think about all of this? If you went to college, did you need a student loan? If so, was it worth it? And to what level do you think we’ll keep borrowing to go to school?

I look forward to your insightful comments.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Children and Money, Debt Elimination, Financial Succes

A New Twist to Selling the Van - A Bailout Plan

Posted by Debt Destroyer on October 9, 2008

Another page has been added to our selling the van story. You long time readers can skip ahead, but if you want to catch up here is the first part, and here is the second part.

Now for the third installment of “Will They or Won’t They?”

I was having dinner at my parents house a couple of weeks ago and my Mom asked how we were doing financially. I gave her my pat answer that I always give her,

“Just fine.”

But then I made the mistake of offering a little more.

“But we’ll be in much better shape after we sell the van.”

That set off her maternal alarms:

“What’s wrong?”
“But I thought you liked your van?”
“Is the business not doing good?”

After I calmed her down, I did my best to explain to her what our plan was:

Sell the van ($15,500).
Pay off the $11,000 grand we still owed, which would eliminate the $330 monthly payment.
Buy a $4500 vehicle and save up for a nicer vehicle.

She thought I had lost my mind.

I knew a lot of people wouldn’t like our plan (especially her), so I didn’t really give her protest much thought, until…

Later that night she called me up and asked if we were seriously going to sell our van? I assured her we were, right after Native American Day (in South Dakota, Columbus Day = Native American Day). She then proceeds to tell me how much I will regret that decision because I’ll end up with a junker that I’ll have to throw money at and this will money saving idea will backfire in my face.

She then made the offer…to pay off our van.

“What’s the catch?” I asked. She said there wasn’t one. $5000 would be from my money my Dad left me that I gave her to hold onto. And the other $6,000 would be from money my Grandma left my Mom to spend however she wanted.

I was a little fishy right away because where was this offer two years ago when we started my wife’s business and needed almost exactly this amount of money. Plus I could’ve swore I used up all the money my Dad left me for a down payment on our house. I mentioned this to her, and she said she’d check into it. Then I said how about she give just my Dad’s money to me so then I’d have enough for a $9500 vehicle after selling the van. She didn’t like the sound of that.

I knew it was fishy.

Another problem was that I had really wanted to do the responsible thing and sell the vehicle, learn from our mistake, and sacrifice for the next few years until we could afford another used van. But now a personal bailout plan is offered and I’m rather confused.

I know Frugal Dad recently wrote a post saying that you shouldn’t lend relatives money, but what about the flip-side of that coin? and what if it’s not a loan?

Even though it’s fishy, I’m thinking of taking her up on it. We don’t really want to sell our van, the whole point was to get rid of the payment, and this would accomplish that. So Happy Rock Readers I turn to you once again…

What would you do? Are there any pros & cons that I’m missing? Have any of you accepted a “bailout” before? If so, how did it turn out?

I thank you in advance for any responses and please stay tuned for the next episode of “Will They or Won’t They?”

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me, Cars, Children and Money, Debt Elimination, Serving Others

Rich Dad, Poor Dad…Owning Your Family History

Posted by Debt Destroyer on August 18, 2008

I bet lots of you have read Robert Kiyosaki’s, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” where he talks about the different ways his father and a friend’s father taught him about money. When looking back at my own life I see that I too had different perspectives shown to me.

My parents split up when I was 4, and went in very different paths upon their separation.

My Dad who was a plumber when he was married to my Mom, moved back in with his parents in the Twin Cities so he could go back to school and be close to better health-care (he was a multiple cancer & heart attack survivor). He was very outgoing and ended up being elected class president at the community college he went to. He studied business and became a real estate agent after graduating.

I remember him being a realtor for a while but it wasn’t his passion so when the market turned bad, he went back to being a part-time plumber. But his main source of income was disability payments.

My Mom was a rather shy and conservative bookkeeper. Due to my Dad’s poor health she was often the only one working while they were together, so she knew how to stretch a dollar. A few years after the divorce she married her boss. The business grew from 3 employees to 30. They partnered up with another couple and bought several rental properties. They’d work 60 hours a week and then work on their rentals on the weekend. They are the epitome of “hard work = success”.

On paper it seems like a clear case of whose financial advice I should follow:

My Dad declared bankruptcy two times.
My Mom saved almost everything she ever made and should have no financial worries.

But real life isn’t lived on paper.

My Dad was an optimist. Even though he struggled his whole life, he always thought things were going to turn around. Which probably explains why he tried so many pyramid schemes, excuse me, I mean multi-level marketing systems. While his situation did cause him stress, he was generally a positive person who was always smiling.

Where as my Mom is a walking ball of stress with a permanent scowl on her face. She is afraid of almost everything and believes that Murphy’s law is written in stone. Don’t get me wrong, she too is a very pleasant and caring person, but only those close to her know that.

My Dad always told me to find something that I loved doing and I would be a success. My Mom always stressed security.

I didn’t realize this until just now, but this duality has been messing with me my whole life. Like in college I majored in Radio TV & Film, but shortly before graduating I abandoned this due to it paying peanuts straight out of school. I instead took a marketing job and have been in a corporate mindset since. It also explains why I can go in long stretches of great financial discipline, but then blow it all away just like that.

Interesting…I think I just saved myself thousands in therapy

**You’ll note that I’m referring to my Dad in the past tense. He passed away in 1996. If he were alive today he’d probably be working for my uncle’s plumbing & heating business, be a fantastic grandfather, and he’d be trying to get us to become Monavie distributors. **

But enough about me, what about you?

Where did your financial philosophies come from? Are you following in someone’s footsteps or did you carve out your own path?

Until next time,

-DD

P.S. For those of you who were hoping for a review of the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book, here is a one liner:

I found it to be an easy read which opened my eyes to the benefits of passive streams of income, and not to think of my house as an asset.

» Filed Under Children and Money, Psychology of Debt, Psychology of Spending

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