All About Interest

One man's journey to financial independence.

Liebster Award Nomination

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liebster2

 

I’m honored to have been nominated by three bloggers for a Liebster award.

What the heck is a Liebster award? I honestly had to look it up.  Basically it’s an award given to an up and coming blogger (200 or less followers) from another blogger.  Each blogger chosen for the award then passes on the Liebster award to new bloggers with 5 questions for those bloggers.  It’s almost like a chain letter.  I never participated in those chain letters but this is something much more fun.  I’ve actually enjoyed reading other bloggers’ answers to questions.

So thanks to Divgro, Asset Grinder, and Scott @ TwoInvesting for their nominations!  I guess this means I have 15 questions to answer!  I appreciate having you as readers.

When starting this blog I never expected to have any readers.  I’m still actually not sure how many followers/readers I do have.  I don’t have very many on Facebook so please, if you enjoy this blog, be sure and like AAI on Facebook!

First I’ll answer the questions from Asset Grinder:

1. What’s your favorite TV show, Movie and why?

 

I think that’s two questions but that’s ok 🙂  This is tough but my favorite tv show/series is Game of Thrones.  I love the acting, the surprises and the fantasy aspect to the show.  It doesn’t hurt that Khaleesi is really hot also!  My favorite movie is Apocalypto directed by Mel Gibson.  I was able to completely immerse myself into another world while watching this.  I’m also intrigued by ancient cultures and loved the action in the movie.

 

2. What sport or physical activity are you guys involved with or what do you guys do for fun?

 

Currently I enjoy riding my bike through the hill country in my area and also swimming for exercise.  The Texas heat also makes swimming a lot more appealing.  I never had any formal swimming training but I’ve been swimming a half mile twice per week using the breaststroke only.  I find it relaxing and also a decent 30-minute cardio workout.
For fun I love trying new craft beers.  Austin has exploded with micro-breweries the last few years and there’s new seasonal beers every week that I enjoy hunting down.

 

3. How has your blog helped you and what have you learned from it?

 

I originally just started this blog to keep track of and hold myself accountable for all of my investment activities.  I never expected to have any followers or much less be recognized for a blogging award.  I’ve learned that there are many other like-minded investors out there that are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.  This has been a great resource.

 

4. Where do u want to be in 5, 10, 20 , 50 years?

 

In 5-6 years I hope to have enough passive income to declare financial independence, FI.  In 10 years I hope to be living in a new place.  In 20 years I hope to have kids that I can teach math/investing to.  I just hope to be alive in 50 years, lol.

 

5. What’s your biggest strength and weakness in your quest for financial independence?

 

My biggest strength is persistence.  I’m successful in my business and also in investing because of this.  I don’t give up.  I started my business at the beginning of the Great Recession.  I was so close to going broke and failing but didn’t give up.  I take rejection as a challenge and just work that much harder to get what I want.

 

My biggest weakness is patience.  I have been getting better at this but initially when I started investing, I would sell stocks with minimal gains.  This turned out to be a big mistake.

 

Now I’ll answer the questions from DivGro:

 

1.) What is your favorite vacation destination?

I still have many places I’d like to go and I try to go to a few new spots each year.  This is a tough one…  I loved the countries I visited in Europe, especially Germany, France and Italy.  However, I think my favorite destination so far has been my recent trip to Hawai’i.  I love the slow pace and laid-back, friendly people that I met.  There’s not a lot of stress there.  How could there be with year-round temperatures at 80 degrees!  Unlike here, most of the Hawaiians I met didn’t place a lot of value on money.  They seem to value most friendships, family and nature.  The nature there sure was beautiful!  I also plan to post a detailed account of my trip once I have time.  Meanwhile, you can catch some pictures from my trip if you follow my Weekly Purchases.

2.) What is your favorite movie and why?

My favorite movie has to be the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  I read the hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books when I was younger.  I loved seeing the action on the big screen.

3.) If you could go back in time, what is the one thing you would tell the 21-year old version of yourself?

Hindsight is 20/20 right? I would have a lot to say but I would encourage my younger self to save and invest.  Like many other 21-year-old’s , I partied and wasted away all the excess money I had.  Who knows how further along I’d been if that money had been compounding in a stock like KO.

4.) What is your favorite quote?

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.  Wayne Gretzsky.  I feel like I took a shot by starting my business and it’s finally paying off.

5.) What is the number one resource you use for your investment blog?

My go-to website is Seeking Alpha.  There’s a handful of great author’s there.  It was one of the first sites I started reading religiously before I turned to DG investing.

Finally on to Scotts’ questions:

1.) Favorite investment book? Non-investment book?

This may sound cliche’ but The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.  It’s a must read for any investor.

2.) If you had all the free time in the world, what would you be doing?

I’d be relaxing on a beach somewhere.

3.) Why did you start your investing blog?

I started my blog to keep track of my investment activity and hold myself accountable for my decisions.

4.) What was your best and worst investment?

My worst investment was a penny stock that made software for the waste management business.  Needless to say , I lost everything I put in that one.  I don’t even remember the ticker though.  My best investment was buying Walgreen’s two years ago.  It’s been up over 100% since then.

5.) Favorite job you’ve had so far?

My current job is my favorite.  I own my own technical staffing business and it gives me the freedom to do a lot of the things I want in life.  There’s nothing like the feeling of working for yourself.
Now , I’d like to nominate a few bloggers that have been active on my site and are also looking for their financial freedom.  Here they are:

A Frugal Family’s Journey – AFFJ is a 41-year-old government employee and avid blogger.  AFFJ’s goal is to hit FI within 14 years by living frugally and investing.

DivHut – DivHut is an early 40’s internet entrepreneur who makes his living online.  DivHut believes in living a balanced life, sort of like me.  Somewhere in the middle of extreme frugality and not saving while still enjoying life.

MyDividendPipeline – MDP also lives in Texas and recently started investing in individual stocks.  MDP makes weekly purchases and is just a machine when it comes to plowing fresh capital into great dividend companies.

Bryan @ Income Surfer -Bryan is a 30-something ex-Engineer that likes researching investments and traveling.

Dividend Growth Journey – DGJ is new to DG investing.  I hope you stop by to wish him success.

 

Here are my 5 questions for you:

1.) Where did you grow up and do you still live there?

2.) What are you plans once you reach financial independence? 

3.) What was your best/worst financial decision?

4.) What is your favorite part about investing?

5.) Who’s your biggest idol and why? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

    • Asset-Grinder,

      I’m glad that you enjoyed it. That’s a great question. The thing is, I like my job. However, I am behind a desk for 40 hours per week. At some point when I believe my share of the company would be enough to retire become financially independent, I would definitely consider it. I think that’s at least a few years out though.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

  2. Brent,

    Great answers! Very cool to read more about you, and other bloggers.

    I noticed you answered the favorite movie questions differently. Tough to have just one favorite movie, right? 🙂

    Keep up the great work. And I hope you have time at some point to put a post together about your Hawaii trip.

    Best wishes!
    Dividend Mantra recently posted…Weekend Reading – August 15, 2014My Profile

    Reply

    • Hi Jason,

      Thanks! I’ve enjoyed the answers that other bloggers have been giving also.

      Likewise. I will definitely get a post out about our trip to Hawai’i as I am almost caught up now.

      Take care!

      Reply

    • Thanks Martin.

      No, my business is a technical staffing company. I haven’t mentioned that a whole lot.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

  5. Great answers, Brent. I also started my investing blog so that I could look back and see how far I’ve come. It has been very motivational so far!

    Enjoying a craft beer in the summer is one of my favorite things too. I did some homebrewing in college and it might be something fun to start up again.
    Scott recently posted…August 2014 IncomeMy Profile

    Reply

    • Hi Scott,

      I found that I enjoyed keeping track and interacting with other investors more so than I ever thought I would. I look forward to following your journey as well.

      I’d like to try home brewing sometime but not sure if I have the patience. I’d be really upset if I brewed a bad batch and then would have a lot of bad beer. So far I’ve left that to the experts and have just sampled their beer 🙂 I have a friend coming from out of town this weekend and plan on going to a brewery or two.

      Thanks again for the nomination!

      Reply

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