I'm Back

Post date: Apr 18, 2012 12:48:19 AM

What percentage of blog posts begin with “I haven’t posted in a while...?” I don’t know, but I hear something like 50% of all statistics are made up on the spot anyway.

A conversation with a Twitter friend @whoschrishughes inspired me to blog again. I didn’t think I ever stopped, but my last post appears to be October, 2010. That qualifies as a stoppage. I have kept a personal journal off and on for some time, but have not “blogged” since before even then because that post was just a copy and paste of a vacation journal.

Maybe I needed time to live and learn about life. I needed time to find ways to live better, spend less money, get my own finances and organization skills in order before I was in any position to give advice to others.

Here’s the thing: I have been advising all along. My corny tagline, “How can I help you?” is the truth though.

I am a go-to guy (to borrow from my DriveTime days) for many of my friends and contacts. How can I get this for free? What are some ways I can cut expenses? How do I file an extension with the IRS? What’s the weather like in San Francisco on a May morning?

These are questions I get asked all the time, and I love being able to help. I think being a source of knowledge is not a product of brain power. It’s from my love of research. I majored in History because I was good at research, not because I could remember names and dates.

As a consumer, research is my best friend. Before spending money on anything, I look for two things:

1. Can I do this for less if not for free?

2. Is there a better, easier, more efficient way?

I learned quite a bit from my family about saving and spending wisely, but most lessons (sadly) were learned the hard way.

I explained some of this in my "Shares the Wealth" blog that I will carry on in spirit here. Here's the link to it:

http://vtaxsharesthewealth.blogspot.com/

VacationTax was a fun experiment, but I'm moving on. I don't prepare taxes any more. We'll call it one of my lessons. It turns out that it was more profitable for me to help other tax professionals market their business than to file taxes on my own.

Hi it's me, Jeff. Don't like seeing ads? You must try AdBlock on Google Chrome!

Continuing these updates here will be more personal since I'm the one who lives my life.


The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Comments

4/17/2012 19:04:42 Chris Welcome back Jeff! It's a great start.