I was nominated AGAIN for a Liebster Award!!

 

 



In July, I was nominated for a Liebster Award by Happy, Healthy and Wealthy Girl.  Just recently, I was nominated again by two other bloggers.  Both All About Interest and My Dividend Pipeline nominated me for the award.  Thank you both for the recognition and support.    

 

In case you are wondering, after doing a quick Google search, I found out exactly what a Liebster Award was all about.

• The Liebster Award was created to recognize and/or discover new bloggers and welcome them to the blogosphere.
• This aware only exists on the internet, and is given to bloggers by other bloggers.
• It is like a helpful hand for new blogger you like and want others to hear about.

Basic Rules:

• In order to accept an award, you are supposed to answer 5 questions from the person who nominated you.
• Then you find your own 5 new blogs to nominate the Liebster Award to and create a list of questions for them.
• Lastly, post your Liebster Award proudly on your blog for all to see.

Thank you All About Interest and My Dividend Pipeline for the recent nomination!!

And thank you again
Happy, Healthy and Wealthy Girl for the original nomination!!

 

Here are my answers to the questions from All About Interest:

 

1. Where did you grow up and do you still live there?
I grew up in Norwalk, California. I lived in Norwalk from 2nd grade to my mid 30s. 

 

2. What are your plans once you reach financial independence?
I plan to spend more time with kids, travel and do volunteer work.  And of course, spend time blogging and staying in tune with the market.

 

3. What was your best/worst financial decision?
My best financial decision was selling my bachelor home at the height of the housing market and living with my in-laws for 9 months to save and watch the market cool down.  My worst financial decision was investing in a small time Ponzi scheme where I lost approx. $15K.  It was a lot of money to me at the time because I was only making about $25K at the time. 

 

4. What is your favorite part about investing? 
The best part of investing is watching it grow.  I do a monthly net worth report and must admit that I look forward to seeing the results each month.

 

5. Who's your biggest idol and why? 

My biggest ideal would have to be Kobe Bryant.  I know many people don't like him but I admire his work ethic and his competitiveness.  Greatness doesn't come easy and it certainly doesn't come overnight!

Here are my answers to the questions from My Dividend Pipeline:

1. If you could retire with ONLY 5 dividend stocks in your portfolio, what would they be? (cannot choose JNJ, KO, CVX, XOM, PG)
I would choose the following half-century dividend growth stocks: CL (51yrs), GPC (57yrs), ITW (51yrs), LOW (52yrs), and MMM (55yrs).

 

2. What is the most important thing you would do in your first month of early retirement that you can't do know because of your job commitments?
I would take morning jogs...with my current work schedule, I only have the opportunity to take a morning jog on weekends.  Unfortunately, that is when I catch up on my sleep.   

 

3. Mentally, how do you prepare for a massive stock market correction/collapse like we experienced in 2007-2009?
I would remind myself to be greedy when others are scared, picking up all the historically consistent and dependable companies at bottom basement prices. It doesn't hurt to be financially prepared for a correction/collapse either.  That is exactly why we always have excess funds laying around in our portfolios.

 

4. What one major sacrifice will you make next year to accelerate your FI plans? 
A sacrifice we have taken and will continue take is living on a budget.  As Dave Ramsey would say, where every dollar has a name. Staying discipline is the fastest way out of debt and so far the fastest way to build wealth. 

 

5. If you decide to open your own business today, what kind of business would it be? 

A dream business would be to own an exotic car rental business. Realistically, I would probably consider owning either a laundromat or mechanical car wash.    

For my nomination I pick:

 1. Dividend Diplomats - Two guys in their Mid-20’s string to exit the rate race before the “normal” retirement age of 59.5. Both are CPAs and both are dividend stock investors.

2. Dividendasaur - Neil grew up in Montana. He has served our County through serving as military intelligence for the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. His blog takes you along his journey toward FI.

3. Wallet Engineers - A Chemical Engineer and Mechanical Engineer, with their non-traditional view of American finances (No debt, spend less and save more mentality). They blog about credit cards, mortgages, budgets, finances, investing, retirement and money savings.

4. Starting From Zero - A 21 year old who started investing in January of 2013 and blogging in February of 2014.  He has an ultimate goal of FI by 40. His blog takes you along his journey toward FI.

 5. A Dividend Dream - A blogger who fell in love with investing at 14-15 years old.  A dividends dream's ultimate goal is to one day live of the dividends from their investments. 

 

My Questions for my nominees:
1. What is your main reason for blogging?
2. Who is the one person you admire the most? Why?
3. How close would you say you are from retirement (percentage)?
4. What would you do with $10,000? 
5. What is your favorite book of all time?