Liebster Award!

Both Greg at Thrift Genuity and E.M. at Journey to Saving were recently nice enough to nominate me for the Liebster Award. As far as I can tell (and I could very well be mistaken about some of the details), the Liebster Award is not actually an award, but really a way for new bloggers to recognize other new bloggers whose writing they’ve enjoyed. It’s basically a way to pass on goodwill and hopefully expose readers to some other writers who are putting out good stuff.

Whatever the case, I’m flattered that someone has found my writing worthwhile and am excited to pay it forward.

The rules of the award

1. This award is given to new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.
2. The award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another.
3. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
4. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
5. Choose 5 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
6. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
7. No tag backs.

11 random facts about me

1. I have water with me pretty much all of the time. I hate feeling thirsty. I easily drink over 100 oz. of water per day.
2. I have a pencil tip stuck in my chin that’s been there since 7th grade mishap in the line to sharpen our pencils during study hall. Do people even still sharpen pencils anymore?
3. I have broken both wrists, once from tripping over a basketball while running away from someone with a water gun, and once from falling after whiffing while trying to kick a soccer ball. I’m actually decently athletic though, I swear.
4. During my freshman season on my high school wrestling team, I lost to a girl. My sophomore year I wrestled a different girl and pinned her in about 20 seconds. I’m not sure which one felt worse.
5. Sometimes when I’m singing to my son, I daydream about having a future in the music biz. Nothing could be further from reality.
6. I am the oldest of four brothers. And the shortest.
7. An unhealthy number of the happiest and saddest moments of my life have involved my favorite sports teams.
8. I had my family convinced for a while that I wanted to name our son Brady Ortiz. See #7.
9. My wife makes fun of the fact that I make a spreadsheet for everything. And I’m really not even all that good at excel. But I do love a good spreadsheet.
10. The first CD I ever bought was Green Day’s Dookie.
11. I have never seen the movie Braveheart. Both my wife and my best friend think this is just about the most egregious crime they’ve ever heard.

11 questions from Greg

1. What is the best deal you have ever gotten? When working with an attorney to do our estate planning, we negotiated a 25% price reduction that saved us several hundred dollars.
2. What is the biggest risk you have ever taken? Deciding to have a child felt like a pretty big risk at the time. Something I definitely wanted to do, but scary.
3. What one piece of advice would you tell your high school self? Get a job and open a Roth IRA. Compound interest is magical.
4. What is the worst fashion trend you went along with growing up? Ha! In middle school I frosted my tips (just the front tips of my hair). I don’t even regret it because I just think it’s hilarious.
5. Who is your favorite band or musical group? Outkast. Hands down. Aquemini is my favorite album of all time.
6. What do you like best about blogging? I’ve really enjoyed taking all these thoughts I have and forming them into (hopefully) coherent articles. It forces you to clarify your thinking. The community is pretty awesome as well, as is the constant learning and the pride that comes from building something.
7. What is your favorite hobby? I love playing pick-up basketball. It’s something I used to do a lot more when I lived with my friend and my brother. I’d like to get back into it a little more.
8. If you could make that hobby your full-time job, would you? Haha! Would I want to be in the NBA? Parts of that would be awesome, but I think the constant travel would be tough. I like being around my family too much.
9. What is the best birthday present you ever received? My grandparents gave me a Honda Civic with about 14,000 miles on it for my 17th birthday. Though it’s been giving me trouble recently, it’s lasted me over 11 years. It was an incredibly generous gift and definitely saved me a lot of money over the years.
10. What season is your favorite? Fall, without a doubt. I love the cooler weather, the crisp air, the apple picking. And of course the football. Though my Patriots might be in a little more trouble this year than most. We’ll see…
11. What part of the world have you not yet seen but want to? Tibet. I’ve always had a weird, superficial love of Buddhism and traveling to Tibet would be awesome. I really want to try like a 30-day vow of silence.

11 questions from E.M.

1. Why did you start blogging, what topic do you blog about, and why do you blog about it? I started blogging because I love personal finance and investing and I felt like I had useful knowledge to share with other new parents like me.
2. What is your favorite place to vacation in? Martha’s Vineyard has sentimental value to me because I used to go there as a kid. But I’ll say Costa Rica. My wife and I recently went there for our honeymoon and it’s a beautiful country. I would go back there in a second.
3. Do you have any pets? We have two cats named Baddog and Pish. Pish’s full name is Goldfish, but we call him Pish because that’s how my wife’s niece (well I guess my niece too!) used to pronounce the word “fish”.
4. What is your favorite meal to eat? Care to share a recipe? I’m a terrible cook, but I’ll take a good cheeseburger over anything else. When I make them I like to mix some crushed garlic, roasted red pepper flakes and cheese into the meat before grilling.
5. Do you enjoy doing household tasks like laundry, cleaning the dishes, and vacuuming? I hate doing dishes, but I still do them. I don’t particularly mind vacuuming, but my wife pretty much handles that. I do all of our laundry, though I’m not great at it. I’m learning that a kid’s laundry takes much more stain-removing skill. I need to up my game.
6. What is your favorite scent? (Can be perfume, flowers, food, etc.) Wow, cool question! I’m not sure but I’m going to go with the smell of a campfire.
7. What do you hope to have accomplished in ten years? Another great question! We’re shooting for four kids, so I hope we’re there by then. I would like to have picked a place to settle down and have a home. I also have a side business that I’m considering, and I’d like to have built that into something that could sustain our lifestyle.
8. Are you happy with your job right now? Why or why not? I am happy with my job. I work at a startup software company with a very small number of people, so I get to have my hands in everything. It definitely keeps me interested.
9. If you could be in one profession/industry, what would it be? If I wasn’t in my current position, I’d like to do something in financial planning. I would really like to figure out a way to work with people who yet typically served well by the planning community.
10. How likely would you be to return a wallet with a load of cash in it if you found it randomly on the street with contact info contained inside? With the contact info inside, I can’t imagine doing anything but returning it.
11. What are your plans to market your blog and get more readers? Getting to know other bloggers has been really helpful, as has doing a couple of guest posts. I try to stay active in some online forums around my topic. My hope is that continuing to do those things, in addition to putting out useful information, will draw people in. But I’m always learning new things, so I’m sure there will be more along the way.

My nominations

My guess is that some of these people have already been nominated, but they are great blogs that I’ve really enjoyed and I am happy to pass them on to you.

Cents and Sensibility

Cash Rebel

The Umbrella Treasury

Tie the Money Knot

11 Questions For My Nominees

1. What book, article or other source has most influenced your financial outlook?
2. When you’re not working, either at your job or on your blog, what are you most likely to be doing?
3. As a general rule, would you rather pick a strategy that’s simple or one that’s optimal?
4. When showering, do you do soap or shampoo first? Why?
5. What is your favorite episode of your favorite TV show?
6. If your readers could learn only one thing from you, what would you want it to be?
7. What is your top financial goal these days?
8. What is your top personal goal these days?
9. What is your favorite activity to do with friends or family?
10. What is something about yourself that you’re currently trying to improve?
11. What is something about yourself that you’re really happy with?