Money Matters

I finally rolled over my old 401k that has been sitting doing nothing into a Fidelity IRA recently. It's alot of work to try and get into the investment aspect of money. For years, I just had the money coming out of my paycheck into the 401k and never really paid any attention to it.

Until now...

In the economic downturn that everybody is feeling, it was my turn to try and figure out what I should do. So I have been researching different mutual funds, individual stocks, and even commodities to invest in. It's not an easy task (again its that language I can't understand).

I still have yet to decide on where to put the bulk of my money, which isn't much, but today I bought my first individual stocks to get "into the game". I didn't spend alot of money and really have no idea what I'm doing but I thought "what the hell?".

I decided to go a non traditional route and invested in emerging markets and clean energy alternatives to start. I may lose my shirt on this but I might not.

The stock market to me is just legalized gambling...and that could lead to trouble. :-)

www.toothpastefordinner.com

Is Legalese even a Language??!!

So I know that the election is near and I know who I want to vote for President. However, I have no idea about anything else that is on the ballot this year, so I asked (thanks Michelle). I went to check out my local election options here. Very interesting stuff. Not being as politically savvy as my girlfriend and others, I had to read the information several times just to understand what was written (and can't they use lay terms, honestly, how many people read legalese anyway?!).

But I digress...

I love to gamble and know that if I lived closer to A.C. or L.V., I would be in trouble. So I was all for putting slot machines in Maryland until I read this:

Cons: In order to generate enough revenue to reach the projected increases to state funding, gamblers in Maryland would have to lose over $1 billion per year. To generate this level of revenue, the state will have to urge its citizens to frequent slots parlors. Gambling, like other addictions, frequently leads to social (and government) costs associated with lost productivity, increased crime, broken families and even suicide. Disposable income that currently generates sales tax revenue could be spent on gambling resulting in a loss to the General Fund. The referendum would put a specific revenue source, gambling, in the state Constitution. A constitution should be clear, concise and confined to fundamentals of the structure of government.

Now, I don't know how much of this is true but it got me thinking and now I'm not so sure about it anymore...I must learn more!

More on that another day...

Quote for today: "I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians." - Charles De Gaulle

So what IS Chooglin'?

I'll make my first blog short...I was asked today what "Chooglin" means...so what better way to start off my blogging days than to answer said question. Let me first say that I absolutely stole my blog name from Creedence Clearwater Revival...mea culpa.

To me, its just an idea...an idea to loosen up in life and enjoy it, to ramble along on adventures, going elsewhere and nowhere...to adhere to your own personal philosophy and not someone else's. There's a great article I found that will give you a little history on the word "chooglin" while I was researching the word.

Stay tuned in the future for my ramblings on everything from sports, politics, life, love, family, and whatever else crosses my strange yet wonderful mind.

And for those of you wondering, the dog in the picture with me is Maxamillion, my 12 year old lab who now lives with my grandmother in NY.

- Ciao -