Mortgage Mess

I read a letter to the editor in the March 2009 issue of Consumer Reports (a great magazine, BTW) discussing a previous article in the magazine about the mortgage crisis. I've struggled for the last few months trying to determine a clever way to express what I see as a large part of the problem. The letter writer, John Leonard of Seattle, expressed it nicely.

He said that the most important reform that was needed because of the mortgage crisis was to "Reform the consumer." We should start with these steps:

1. "Thou shalt not covet more house than thou canst afford"
2. "Thou shalt not use thy credit card for long-term debt"
2. "Thou shalt not bear false witness on thy mortgage application"

This is not to say that the consumers of debt are totally at fault for the meltdown but I would opine that consumers are more to blame when it comes to not being able to pay their debt. Lending organizations (banks, savings and loans, etc.) are in the business of lending money and NOT in the business of managing individuals personal budgets.

If an individual or family borrows money to buy a bigger house than they can affordand then they can't make their monthly payment - who's fault is that? In most cases it's not the mortgage company - it's the unrealistic expectations of the home buyer.

2009 Goals

Here are my New Years Resolutions or, more aptly said, my goals for the year.

1. Read 4 non fiction books - I read a lot of fiction and want to challenge myself to broaden my reading

2. Run a half marathon in under 2 hours - My best time is 2 hours and 5 minutes. I think this is doable

3. Do a triathlon - I've threatened for years to do one. Now I have to!

4. Take 2 major backpacking trips - I love backpacking so this one will be no problem

5. Improve my photo taking skills - My wife has an awesome SLR camera and I want to get better

6. Improve my web site abilities - My website is pretty lame right now. Not sure how I'm going to improve my abilities.

7. Build CDF Financial revenues - I kind of have to do this to do the other things I want to do.

8. Ride my bike more than 300 miles.

Future Vacations

My daughter and me at Fan Fest in Frankfurt Germany in 2006.

Places that I want to visit.

2010 - Africa
2011 - China
2012 - Russia
2013 - Vietnam
2014 - Ireland
2015 - Swiss Alps
2016 - Australia

Australia was supposed to be in 2009 but other events in 2009 will prevent taking the 3 weeks necessary to fully explore the place.

2008 New Years Resolutions/Goals

A lot of people think that New Years Resolutions are lame and studies show that most people don't keep them. I think of them as goals, write them down, set measurable standards, and then review them at the end of each year. I've found over the years that I accomplish about 75% of the goals and some of the goals have become habits. Here are my 2008 goals and the results.

1. Read "Intelligent Asset Allocation". I'm about 100 pages into the book so I didn't complete the goal but having it on my goal list got me to reading it.

2. Find a way to help others with financial planning. I started a financial planning company, started the Certified Financial Planning certificate program, and began working working with 8 different people.

3. Exercise at least 20 minutes 3-4 times per week. Last year I exercised 245 days. This year it was 255 days and I've changed my lifestyle such that I don't need to have this goal to motivate me. This has been a goal of mine since 2001 and I've attained it for the last 3 years.

4. Lose weight to 160 pounds. I got down there for 3 months but I'm back up to 167 . I've been unsuccessful at this goal for seven years. Bummer.

5. Ride bike outside more than 300 miles. I only rode 225 miles. Oh well.

6. Run a half marathon. This one took some work. I trained for a half marathon that was in May and two weeks before the race I was diagnosed with a stress fracture in each leg which kept me from running the race. After not running for 7 weeks I started training for the Fox Cities Half Marathon in September. I completed the race in 2 hours 5 minutes.

7. Take two major backpacking trips. Hiked in Death Valley in March and the Northern Cascades in September.

8. Read 24 books (4 non-fiction). Read 36 books but only 3 non-fiction.

9. Vacation in Hawaii. Yeah-two weeks in July with my wife and Ed and Sue Tucker.



Beautiful sunset in Hawaii taken by Lori Fisher