Author: Kristine

My name is Kristine and I blog about my journey towards living a healthier, balanced life.

How to Be the Family CFO Book Review

Posted on by Kristine

Almost ten years ago, I came across this book through one of my financial blogging gurus. I was in an economic renaissance: I had already paid down most of my credit cards, and I was improving my spending habits. The concept of approaching family financial planning like a CFO was something I’d never considered before, but I wasn’t in a “family” per se. I was just me, living my pseudo single life, with no significant family financial obligations other than the usual rent, wher I would be dining out and insurance—for which I always have to head over to DMP Finance to take care of it.

I shelved it and decided I would pick it up at a time when I would need it.

So what better time to learn about family financial planning other than right now when Craig and I are taking some major steps together?

I remembered this book and decided to dig it out of my neverending Amazon wishlist of books. It seems to be out of print, but I was able to find a used copy for a few dollars.

There are a couple of things I like about How to be the Family CFO: It’s a short read–only around 200 pages. So you can finish it in a week (or a weekend, if you’re a fast reader). Also, it’s written by someone who has learned from their mistakes. Not only did she became wealthy overnight, but she also lost it all in the blink of an eye because she knew nothing about money and entrusted other people to manage it for her. So now, she’s taught herself not to make that mistake again. I have so much more respect for someone who has learned from their mistakes than someone who has never made a mistake at all. Learning by experience is valuable.

Important Takeaways on Family Financial Planning with How to Be a Family CFO

There are so many things in this book that I’ve found valuable. I don’t want to give too much away; I’d rather just encourage you to buy it yourself or borrow it from your local library and read it. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s only 200 pages. Furthermore, it’s divided into five main sections:

  • Be the Family CFO
  • Plan Prudently
  • Save Prodigiously
  • Invest Wisely
  • Manage Risk

I’ll cover 3 key things that were significant takeaways for me.

Plan Prudently

As a CFO, you have three major areas: planning, managing assets and liabilities, and managing behavior.

The first thing I learned about the CFO’s planning process is making sure you have a personal financial statement, for this, setting up a Checking account is a must. When I first entered the workforce and began managing my finances, I learned about personal financial statements. At the time I thought it was too complicated for my needs, plus I didn’t have many assets or investments of which I needed to keep track. Once you begin building savings and acquiring retirement accounts, you’ll want to start tracking those assets.

Monthly might be too frequent, but quarterly should be sufficient. It’ll be the reporting mechanism that shows you how you’re doing so you can make adjustments when necessary.

A personal financial statement contains an income statement and a balance sheet. An income statement shows where your money comes from, what it gets spent on, and how well you save. A Balance Sheet compares assets to liabilities to determine your net worth.

As you begin to collect a record of personal financial statements, knowing how you did in the past will help you project your future. Read more about personal financial statements and download an example.

Save Prodigiously

The next section in this book is all about saving. Create a 6-month emergency fund, which isn’t new to me. It’s something I’ve heard over and over again from financial experts. Did I heed their advice? Of course not. But here we are.

Here are some strategy tips behind setting up your emergency fund:

Emergency funds are only used for when something disrupts your income (i.e. permanent or temporary job loss, serious illness). Your budget will cover other “emergency” expenses like broken washing machines, flat tires, etc.

Emergency funds should cover six months of necessary living expenses. Knowing what your necessary living expenses are is where the personal financial statement becomes useful.

Emergency funds should be liquid, earn interest, and not be subject to any fees or losses.

Invest Wisely

Investing has always been this mysterious, voodoo magic that I could never wrap my head around. Am I now an investing wizard after reading this book? Not at all, but there are some concepts that I’ve managed to grasp as a result.

I’ve always had it in my head that investments were something that you set aside to grow, untouched over time. “The measure of wealth is not the size of the portfolio as measured by its net asset value, but its ability to support a sustainable lifestyle indefinitely into the future.” That’s the ideal picture of wealth, right?

However, in this section, she talks about the income portfolio–more specifically the passive income portfolio.

Income portfolios are impervious to market decline as long as an investor has a long-term horizon. It’s much more flexible than a portfolio aimed at a future date. There’s no need to convert it if you do need it now (i.e. you won’t be crippled by taxes). Examples of passive income are rental properties and royalties. Think about it. If you have a portfolio that’s regularly making you money without you having to do much, that’s easy, right?

How to Be the Family CFO is an introduction to Family Financial Planning 201. It provides an adequate overview of more advanced personal finance topics without overwhelming the reader. For further information, visit this site.

Photo: iStockphoto.

Death and Taxes

Posted on by Kristine

When does a couple become one unit instead of two entities? Is it when they finally decide to cohabitate? No. Is it when two people exchange rings, and both take the vow of marriage? No, not even.

Most people think it’s either one of these, but in my experience so far, it’s when you both decide to see a financial planner together.

When you get married, you can plan on loving and cherishing each other, in sickness and health, till death do you part. But until you’re both sitting in a conference room with a view of the Dallas skyline in the background while a guy in a suit watches you both commit to each other’s financial well-being in both the present and future, you have no idea what it means to be part of a “we.”

Such is the case with Craig and me.

What’s Mine is Yours

Last week Craig and I met with our new financial planner Evan for the first time. After a brief courtship that comprised of a couple of phone calls and some emails, we finally decided to take the leap and go all in. We were ready to take a peek at our financial picture and start planning our future together.

We made it through the first step of the process, which was for Craig and me to come to a consensus about seeing a financial planner. That was the easy part. We both have similar views of what we want our ideal future to look like, and we both have similar opinions on money. The second step was to go through a complete financial analysis. It would help us understand what our current financial picture looks like compared to our goals.

Part of the process was filling out an extensive questionnaire. We answered questions about our fears, our short-term, and mid-term goals, and philosophical questions that post hypothetical situations about money. These questions were thought-provoking. It gave us some discussion points about topics we never really considered talking about before.

As we were filling out the questionnaire, all of the responses I typed out began with “we.” We wish this; we’re afraid of that… suddenly I began to realize my financial decisions were no longer mine; they were ours. It was a startling revelation, one that I mildly resented at first. However, the more I wrote it, the more I began to accept it.

I began to wonder if all other married couples went through this exercise. If not, is that why the divorce rate is so high?

Couples Who Finance Together, Stay Together

Financial incompatibility is frequently named as one of the most common reasons for divorce in the United States. It’s easy to forget that our decisions, no matter how small they are, can ultimately have an impact on our spouse. Explore their homepage and learn how to make this process as quick and painless as possible.

This exercise is proving to be a positive step in the right direction. Planning our future also means planning our inevitable death which, hopefully, will be far into the future. It’s forcing us to evaluate our current record-keeping system, our various insurance policies and coverage, and our estate plans. Some people find this process uncomfortable, but I find it logical and therefore right. To avoid it means to avoid one of life’s only certainties.

And now let me pose this question to you: when did you address the subject of financial compatibility? When did you discuss the subject of death and your legacy? Were any of these discussions before or after marriage?

Photo: iStockphoto.

The Little Rose Bush That Could

Posted on by Kristine

For the first part of the season, I was feeling quite proud of myself. I had identified the Peace hybrid tea rose in our front yard. It had also produced two of the most stunning blooms I’d ever seen it produce.

Two weeks later, the new growth slowed and almost came to a halt. There were 9 new buds forming. The younger 4 of them haven’t formed completely, while the other older 4 are kicking it into high gear. As a result, the younger leaves don’t seem to be growing very well either.

Stunted new growth on Peace.

It wasn’t until after a thorough inspection of the canes and leaves that I discovered rose mildew.

Rose mildew on leaves

But… was the rose mildew there because the new growth was stunted? Or was the new growth stunted by the mildew? It was a case of, “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?”

Either way I had to do some serious research and fast. I’ve heard a lot of bad things about mildew.

I came across one particular article that offered a homemade solution on how to get rid of mildew on roses. I wanted to get a head start on controlling the disease and since I already had all the ingredients available, I decided to whip it up.

Homemade Fungicidal Rose Spray

  • 2 quarts of water
  • 2 teaspoons of baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon of liquid soap (I used simple dish soap)

Directions: Mix all ingredients well before pouring into a spray bottle. Apply evenly to leaves and canes in the morning to avoid burn.

Note: This recipe reduces and multiplies really well.

To treat a mildewy rose bush,  start by preparing an anti-bacterial cleansing solution of 1 part bleach to 4 parts water. You’ll need this to clean your pruning shears before and after you trim any diseased leaves and canes from the plant. You’ll also need a plastic bag and your bottle of fungicidal spray.

Next, make sure your hands and arms are protected with thick gloves and layers of clothing. Using your clean shears, remove any leaf clusters and canes that have signs of mildew. Place them in the plastic bag, being careful not to have them come in contact with any other rose bushes or plants in the vicinity.

While you’re in this stage, you may as well trim off as many leaves and unnecessary canes as possible in order to make sure the shrub gets as much airflow to keep the leaves dry and disease free once you’re done.

Once you’re done with your pruning, securely tie off the plastic bag and throw it in the garbage. Do not compost.

Spray the canes and leaves evenly with one layer of the fungicidal spray. Reapply weekly until signs of mildew have reduced or disappeared. Reapply after rain. .

Clean your pruning shears and whatever tools came in contact with the diseased bush in the bleach solution you made earlier. Toss your gardening gloves in the wash.

Peace Rose Prognosis

After the first treatment, I saw an improvement almost overnight. The leaves that were still maroon and weak were beginning to turn green. And two buds opened later that week.

There were still some canes that showed signs of rose mildew, so I repeated the process of trimming the leaves and spraying. Another week passed and almost all major canes showed significant signs of improvement, with the exception of one that’s still struggling.

The latest update on Peace. She’s doing much better. Most of the diseased leaves have been removed and the buds that were struggling are finally opening.

Preventing Rose Mildew

Besides the homemade fungicide and all the other commercial fungicides available at local retailers, there are other steps you can take to reduce the chances of your roses falling victim to this ruthless disease.

Prune well. I think this is probably one area where I failed. There were parts of the bush that were taken over by leaf clusters. Having poor airflow through the plant creates the perfect environment for mildew to grow. And since we had been experiencing some cool, high humidity spring days, that made it even worse.

Gently shower the plant with water first thing in the morning. Showering the plant with water may sound contradictory to keeping the plant dry, but just a bit of water can help wash away any bugs, mites, or spores. It’s important to do this step first thing in the morning (not at night) especially on a forecasted sunny day. As long as your rose gets full sun at least 6 hours a day, most of the water will evaporate off the leaves within an hour or so.

Water the base of the plant in the morning. Last but not least, don’t water too late in the day. Your rose needs all day to be able to absorb the nutrients from the ground before going to “sleep” at night. I mean really, do you like going to sleep with wet socks and shoes? Your rose doesn’t either.

Keeping mildew away from your precious roses can be easy as long as you adopt a few habits that will keep your rose bush in tip top shape.

Photos: Kristine Macabare.

Art of Air Airbrush Makeup System

Posted on by Kristine

Airbrush makeup is one of those luxuries that most people only consider for a special occasion. Recently, however, distributors have made this small luxury easily accessible to the everyday consumer at affordable prices. I recently purchased one of these affordable kits called the Art of Air Airbrush Makeup system. Here are a few thoughts.

Disclosure: I purchased this product with my own money for personal use after researching various airbrush makeup systems. All opinions are my own. Product links within this article are Amazon Affiliate links. These links help support the financial cost of this website.

Pros

Excellent Value

Art of Air Airbrush Makeup SystemThe Art of Air Cosmetic Airbrush System in Medium Tone is only $99.99 from ACM Global via Amazon. For this price this is what’s included:

  • Mini airbrush compressor (12V DC with a 110V AC plug in Adapter) with fully adjustable airflow control settings. The compressor also includes a 6 foot rubber airbrush hose and airbrush holder.
  • Single-action gravity feed airbrush with a 0.4mm tip and 1/16 oz. cup.
  • Fair to Medium Foundation Set that includes 6 bottles (½ oz each): Golden Olive, Sand, Honey, Buff Beige, Suntan Glo, and Moca.
  • Anti-aging Moisturizing Primer (½ oz bottle)
  • Tropical Bronzer (¼ oz bottle)
  • Pink Papaya Blush (¼ oz bottle)
  • Pearl Shimmer Highlighter (¼ oz bottle)
  • Airbrush Cleaner (4 oz)
  • Carrying bag

According to the Art of Air website, this kit was created for the professional in mind, but it’s easy enough for the at-home user as well.

Standard Components Offer Easy Maintenance

The Art of Air Airbrush cosmetic system isn’t very complex, which is not meant to be an insult. Sometimes simple is better. It’s like most standard airbrush systems. It has the compressor, which is lightweight and compact. The 6 foot rubber hose transfers the air from the compressor to the airbrush.

Air compressor hose
The 6 foot rubber hose slips onto the fittings for a snug fit. This component is pretty basic and can probably be replaced easily if yours becomes damaged.

The airbrush hose attachments are not complex either–you just slip them onto the fittings and you’re good. And even if you decide you don’t want to deal with 6 feet of rubber hose, you can probably cut it down and still be ok. The hose itself appears to be standard rubber hosing that you can purchase from most hardware stores if you ever need to replace it, just make sure you ask for the right size.

Ultimately what this boils down to is this: it’s a system that can be maintained easily and last a long time with a little tinkering and some knowledge. There’s nothing too extraordinarily high tech to have to deal with. If the airbrush gun clogs, the Art of Air has provided some helpful documentation on how to troubleshoot it.

Starting Kit Comes With a Variety of Foundation Colors

The airbrush cosmetic system kit that I purchased comes with 6 different 0.5 oz bottles of foundation: Golden Olive, Sand, Honey, Buff Beige, Suntan Glo, and Moca. For the at-home user who is new to airbrush foundation, this is the most valuable part because it allows them to find the perfect match via trial and error. However, for very pale or very dark skin tones, this can still be a challenge because most of the shades included are for medium to light skin tones. Optionally you can purchase additional bottles of Art of Air foundation to expand your color range, each retailing for about $9.99 from ACM Global via Amazon.

Great Documentation

Have you ever purchased an inexpensive product and discovered that the documentation materials were inferior? Sometimes they’re even just instructions printed on cheap copy paper and not even edited for grammatical correctness or accuracy.

The documentation for the Art of Air airbrush makeup kit is quite the opposite. It contains a 6 page, full color user guide that shows you how to setup, use, and clean the airbrush, step-by-step.

In addition to the user guide, it also has:

  • An airbrush spec sheet that has a cross section diagram of the airbrush gun.
  • An ingredient list for the foundation, bronzer, pearl shimmer, blush, primer, and airbrush cleaner so you know exactly what you’re using on your face and in your airbrush system.
  • A packet with a troubleshooting guide and several pages of airbrush makeup application tips.

Cons

Limited Selection of Bronzer, Highlighter, and Blush Colors

The Art of Air airbrush makeup system comes with a wide array of foundation colors for those whose skin tone falls in the light-to-medium range. It also comes with a copper-toned, shimmery bronzer, a pearly white, shimmery highlighter, and a bubblegum-pink blush. One would think that you could purchase additional colors from Art of Air, but those are the only colors they offer. So if you want a different kind of blush, you’ll probably have to purchase from another company’s line.

Small 1/16 oz. Cup

For those who want a versatile airbrush kit that can do both facial makeup and full body (i.e. spray tan) applications, this one might be a challenge. The 1/16 oz. cup is small and will require you to constantly refill for full body makeup. However, if you can find an alternative spray attachment that will handle the capacity and connect to the basic connector hose, then you’re in luck.

0.4 mm Airbrush Needle

So within a week of purchasing my cosmetic airbrush kit, I was tooling around with the spray attachment when I accidentally bent the tip of the needle. Accidents happen so I went on a hunt to try and find a replacement. The Art of Air didn’t have any listed on their website, so I searched Amazon and even online art retailers for 0.4 mm replacement needles. I discovered these were pretty difficult to come by. I found 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm, and even 0.5 mm needles, but I couldn’t find any 0.4 mm needles.

I’ve reached out to the Art of Air via email, but because it was late on a Friday, I don’t expect to get a response until the following week. Hopefully they’ll be able to tell me some more information about replacing this particular component. I’ll update this section as soon as I hear back.

In the meantime, I’ve managed to tinker with it enough to where the trigger doesn’t stick and application works smoothly. Still I’d like to get this part replaced ASAP (and possible have another spare on hand for the future).

05.07.17 Update: I received a response from the manufacturer and they offered to send me a replacement needle free of charge. They didn’t even pepper me with questions about when I purchased the product or where I purchased it. They just said they can send me a replacement and asked for my address information. I was impressed! On Friday, my package was waiting for me. The needle was contained within a secure plastic container and wrapped in several layers of protective bubble wrap. Now my airbrush performs perfectly!

Results

I’m impressed with the Art of Air system. It’s compact and comes with a carrying case and a complete set of products to try. For the price, this particular kit packs a lot of value.

The quality of the machine is about average, maybe marginally better. The spray attachment produces a fine mist of foundation that seemingly floats on top of the skin for a feather-light application.

The quality of the foundation is nice as well. In fact, I would probably repurchase foundation from them when I run out. Unfortunately, their bronzer, highlighter and blush leave more to be desired. Below are some snapshots of how the foundation looked throughout the day.

Airbrush foundation
Snapshots of airbrush makeup throughout the day. You can see my skin does get a tiny bit oily as the day goes on, but that’s typical. The staying power is comparable to traditional foundation, with some fading around the chin and mouth (probably from lunch). And this is without finishing spray.
Stila Stay All Day Foundation - Honey
The following day, I did traditional makeup, which I applied with a brush, just to compare. Here I used Stila’s Stay All Day Foundation in Honey. Again, oiliness and fading areas were similar. However, because this was a creamier makeup, it felt heavy on my skin. I preferred the airbrush foundation over this one.

I’ve Got a Secret

Posted on by Kristine

Psst. Hey, you. Yeah, you. C’mere. I have a secret to tell.

When Craig and I first met, I admitted to him that I’ve never tried marajuana before. He was floored. “Not even second hand smoke?” he asked. No not really, I said. It’s not that I’ve never had the opportunity, it’s just that I was never curious enough to want to try it.

Suddenly he had a mission in life: he was was going to get me stoned.

Almost 2 years later, after ticking off everything on our relationship checklist of things to accomplish (e.g. move in together, buy a car together, get engaged, get married), he texted me with, “I have something very special on the way for you. Something I promised you a long time ago.”

“Really?” I replied. “I usually remember those things but now I can’t remember what it was.”

“I will be getting some very special candy…”

Candy?! I instantly started thinking about all the different exotic candies I’ve been dying to try:  Violetas from Spain, Meiji chocolate from Japan, Turkish delight from, well, Turkey… and yes, I have memorized an unusually long list of exotic candy I’ve been wanting to try.

“…it has a very special leaf in it…”

“Leaf?! It better not be a salad!”

Turns out they were cannabis gummies. An acquaintance of his offered them when he told her I’d never gotten high before. Craig was so proud of his score, he had the entire evening planned out. He said I would ingest them before leaving for dinner Friday night since they’ll take a while to kick in. Then after dinner, we’ll do a Ben & Jerry’s run, then spend the rest of the evening being couch vegetables and listening to Bob Marley. It was the quintessential stoner experience. The only things missing were the black lights, velvet posters, and lava lamps.

So fast forward to our Friday evening, we were halfway through dinner and it had been 45 minutes since I ate the candy. So far all I felt was really sleepy. “Wouldn’t it be funny if the only effect it had on me was drowsiness?” I’d said.

“With you? That’s possible,” Craig said.

Not long after that I began to feel a little strange. I looked around at the dining room and all the fellow diners around us at their tables. It’s almost as if things began to move in slow motion, like we were under water.

“Are you starting to feel really mellow?” Craig asked.

I nodded slowly, continuing to look around. “Yeah… things are starting to look a little different. Like everything’s under water.”

He giggled like a schoolgirl.

Once we paid for dinner, we decided to head over to Kroger on Spring Valley. Now this is where it got a little scary. My trip slightly intensified while I was driving, so it probably wasn’t a good idea for me to be behind the wheel at the time. But it’s like as I was driving, it’s almost as if the fabric of time was gradually beginning to stretch out. Every second that passed seemed like ages ago. My inner voice became much more prominent, reminding myself of where I was, who I was, and what I was doing.

“Yeah, you’re going to have to drive home from here I think,” I told Craig.

As we walked through the grocery store, Craig said I looked mesmerized. “You look like a little girl,” he said, laughing. In a way he was right, I felt like I had put on a different pair of glasses and I was seeing things for the first time.

Standing in the ice cream aisle, I perused the assortment of Ben & Jerry’s. “I think I want this one,” I said, utterly pleased at my decision.

“‘Chunky Monkey,’” Craig recited off the label. He smiled at me. “My little stoner chick wants ‘Chunky Monkey.’ Ok, then. ‘Chunky Monkey’ it is.”

Since Craig drove the rest of the evening, that allowed me to fully immerse myself in the experience. Every sensation was magnified. I could feel every inch of my skin, from the top of my scalp to the tips of my toes. At any point I could zoom in on a part of my body and enhance what it was experiencing as if it was a separate part of me. Like my feet, for example, and how my flats just loosely hugged them and wrapped around them. Or how the car seat cupped the back of my thighs. I was suddenly hyper-aware of how my body was interacting with the space around me.

When we arrived home, Craig told me to get comfortable and relax and that he would prepare the ice cream. So I did. I changed into some comfortable lounge clothes and collapsed on the couch. I found myself staring most of the time. Staring and thinking. I know most of my experience was happening in my head because like I said, my inner voice had become more vocal.

As we were sitting there eating our ice cream, Craig would ask me questions about what I was experiencing. “It’s weird,” I said. “I don’t want to move because I feel like if I do, then I’ll forget the previous moment.” Every second, it was like I was waking up from a dream and I was trying to remember if the previous five minutes had been real or not. The entire day felt like it was far into the past. Time was already completely stretched out as far as it would go. And every once in a while, I would look at the clock and realize only 2 minutes had passed when it felt like it had been an eternity.

“I remember one time when I was high, everything I did felt like I was doing it for the first time,” Craig said. “Like I would be in the middle of something, like eating with a fork, and I would think, ‘Wow, I’m eating with a fork… And I’m doing this well.'”

I laughed, that’s exactly what it felt like. They were like mini bouts of amnesia. I would be sitting there, then I would realize, “Oh wait, where am I? Oh yeah I live here.” Then I’d see Craig sitting in the chair. “Whoa, who’s that?” I thought. “Oh, yeah, that’s Craig. We got married recently. He’s my husband.” And then Izzie would jump on the couch next to me. “Yikes, what’s that?! Oh that’s a dog. Yeah, that’s Izzie. I have a dog named Izzie.” I was reliving my life moment-to-moment. Some people might think that was scary, but in hindsight, I think that’s beautiful. In a way, it forced me to slow down and just experience my environment for once rather than blindly exist in it.

Craig, who was sober the entire evening, loved observing me. “We have to do this again,” he said. “Maybe not every weekend, but every couple months or so.”

Yeah, I thought. Just like wine connoisseurs love to indulge in an expensive bottle of wine at the end of a busy week, this might be our “occasional expensive bottle of wine.”