Watch your step

RetirementQuest

The state of today’s economy is insecure, causing concern in many people and fear in many others. It used to be that we relied on our retirement income to see us through our golden years, but we now have to face the reality that we must take action to ensure our well-being in the future. How do we go about this? What steps do we take, where do we go, how do we know we’re doing it right?



Financial advisor John Hauserman, CFP®, has created a no-cost website as a tool for you to use on your financial journey. This site features the amazing Planning Map, designed to help you think like a financial planner. You can begin by setting up an account at no charge, complete with your zip code which will enable you to save your progress, but your information will never be sold or given away to any outside party. Or, if you prefer, simply skip registration with a single click. As you chart out your financial situation, you will never be asked for account numbers or personal information.



As you go through and create your personal profile, you’ll feel in control of your future—a sense of freedom and independence that perhaps has been missing since the economy went downhill. You will get the tools you need to help:

1. View the financial planning process from the eyes of a CFP® professional in a user-friendly format that most find easy to understand

2. Get the whole story on various investment products, not just “the good stuff” that financial (snake oil?) sales folks talk about

3. Find useful links to government and other helpful websites

4. Identify if a financial advisor has been thorough in their duties

5. Identify and avoid fraudulent advisors

6. Make better financial decisions

You’re invited to stop by the RetirementQuest® website and see for yourself if this is a tool you can use. Again, it’s no cost, and all you have to lose is your financial stress. Those who take action now will find themselves in a much better place later—why delay your future security? Plan ahead and be prepared.





Securities and advisory services are offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, member FINRA/SIPC. A Registered Investment Advisor.

Star Scout Rising--First Trail Volume One

From the last frontier, Space. A must-have, out of this world adventure! Star Scout Rising, First Trail by Gary Darby is a thoughtful, awe-inspiring, and spine-tingling Sci-Fi mystery that follows a young man named Del Baldura during his quest for knowledge, truth, and discovery in the distant future of human and alien kind. This story has it all superb background, surprises, mystery, love, futuristic technological possibilities, bizarre life forms, and a hero trying to make sense of his duty and loyalty, his current leadership responsibilities, and his search for truth about part of his and his family's history. Volume One of a three-volume set, Darby hits a grand-slam with this first novel. Smart and thought provoking. Volume Two due out in 2011.

I thoroughly enjoyed Star Scout Rising, First Trail Volume One. Sci-Fi fans will thoroughly enjoy the “technical” descriptions that explain deep space exploration so believably. I really liked the writing. Each character of a story should have his or her own unique voice. Since typically a story is told by one person—the author, that can be a challenge.

I’m always pleased and very impressed when I can read dialogue and know exactly who is speaking even if the author didn’t spell it out. Of course, writers do spell out who’s talking, but if the character really has their own voice, the reader will come to recognize it. My favorite character in the story is Sami. He is not the main character, that would be Del Baldura. However, he is Del’s close friend and fellow Star Scout Cadet. He’s quirky, fun, and when he was in a scene a smile automatically came to my face.

The content of the story is clean and appropriate for all ages. The plot is compelling and will have you turning pages until you reach the final one. There are several story lines that don’t have closure. This is the first book of a trilogy and so you’ll have to read the next two books to get everything. I for one am eagerly awaiting volume two which should hit the shelves in 2011.

You can purchase the book by going here. If Kindle is your thing, try this link.

Legal disclaimer: I did receive a free copy of this book to review. My opinions of the book are in no way influenced by receiving a free copy.

The Christian case for Mormon values

I read an interesting article today from the Washington Post. The author is a professor of philosophy for Biola. He is not LDS, but sees a lot of good things about LDS people and their values.

Mormonism is old enough by American standards to feel "ancient," but young enough to make the founding stories easy for Americans to understand. Joseph Smith received his revelations closer than four score years after the American founding. Any literate English speaker can read founding Mormon documents without the need for much translation or scholarly explanation, but knowledge of American history is vital. Most Americans look abroad for "holy land," but Mormons look here.

A Priesthood Duty

New Year's Eve Message

Trip to New York

I had to go to New York yesterday to present the annual budget to the ownership group for the hotel I work at. Developing the budget is always a highly stressful time of year. You prepare the budget. The corporate offices review the budget and then tell you to do it over again. You repeat this process (not unlike lather, rinse, repeat) several times. Once corporate gives you their blessing you're ready to go have a little face time with the owners to see if they will accept the budget.

Four of us from my hotel flew out of SLC International airport on Monday morning at o'dark thirty. Actually, we tried to but the plane sat on the tarmac for an hour as they performed a complete de-icing. We then flew to Denver, and then on to La Guardia airport in NY. It was pretty much a full day affair. Once we got to our hotel, we went and ate at a nice little diner across the street. We came back and brain stormed for about an hour to prep for Tuesday morning's meeting.

Our meeting with the owners' representative lasted all of about 90 minutes. I spoke for about 5 minutes. Mostly they were interested in top line revenue, so our Director of Sales did most of the talking. It was undoubtedly the most painless budget presentation that I've ever done. We finished by 10:00 a.m. and our flight didn't leave until 5:30 p.m. That's when the boondoggle started. Our hotel spent several thousand dollars to get us there, and it seemed a waste to spend all that money for a 90 minute meeting that easily could've taken place via e-mail and perhaps a phone call. So here's my pictures of the boondoggle. If they're going to be that short and painless in the future, I'm hoping that next year's presentation is in Jamaica.

Here we are walking somewhere near Broadway.

Our first stop was the Empire State Building.
This is just inside the Empire State Building. The woman sitting at the desk gave me directions to find Ray's Pizza. I heard a lot about the many incarnations of Ray's Pizza on the Food Network. She's sitting at the Information Desk, so when she said that Ray's had the "best pizza in New York," I knew she had to be telling the truth. You can't lie if you're working at the information desk. Anyway, I have much love for that woman.


Here's a picture looking at Lower Manhattan from the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building. There is a bit of a gap in the center right of the buildings. I think that is where the World Trade Center used to be. If someone could confirm or deny that suspicion, that would be cool. There are a few islands in the middle of the Hudson river. Though you can't really see it in this picture, on the center island is the Statue of Liberty. If I had known I was going on a boondoggle I would've taken a better camera. These pictures where simply taken with my phone.

The next two pictures are also from the 86th floor looking in different directions.



And finally, a picture looking up at the top of the Empire State Building.

For the record, I am extremely afraid of heights, but when you get the chance to go up the Empire State Building, you've got to take it right?


We did find Ray's Pizza, thanks to the nice lady at the information desk. There are several different Ray's Pizza in New York all claiming that they were the first. This one said that it was the "Original Famous Ray's Pizza" but I'm not sure if it really was or not. Regardless, the pizza (bought by the slice) was amazing.

This is near Times Square. I saw the ball that will drop on New Year's Eve.

Just by chance we drove around Broadway and the Rockefeller Center. They lit the Christmas tree last night, so we saw it just hours before it was lit. There were barricades and police everywhere. It's a very big deal there. We were lucky to get past it before the streets shut down.

Anyway, I went there on a business trip and basically had a one day vacation.