Entry 23: Reflections

Part A:

1. Marriage
1. When I started to put the budget for the wedding together, it changed my perspective of the matter because before doing this part of Life Stage 3 I thought that all weddings were probably really expensive events. However, this perception was shattered because I realized that while a wedding in general is still very expensive, I found that it is entirely possible to knock down your wedding’s cost. An example I have of this, was the second day I spent looking online for a place to rent to host the wedding reception. On that day I found a few real life couples talking about their wedding on a forums website, while I don’t remember the exact cost they said, I can say with confidence that they said that they spent about $9,000-$12,000 on their wedding. Another paradigm changing experience that I had was when I calculated the total cost of my honeymoon. A reason why that experience changed my perspective on honeymoons was that I found that California has a quite a few neat places to go for honeymoon opposed to my old perspective of honeymoons being spent solely on tropical beaches. In fact, it really surprised me to learn that Ireland is a popular spot for honeymoons, when I came across a few top 10-40 lists online.
2. Family
1. A perspective change that I went through with this part of Life Stage 3 was that I realized for the first time in my life that actually buying a house seemed like a lot better of a choice than renting an apartment. Before doing this part of this life stage, I thought that even if you had a family that getting an apartment would be cheaper over time since I thought rent was supposed to be small. After comparing the figurative house and apartment that I looked into for this part of the component, I now know just how much cheaper a house is over time compared to an apartment if you could keep yourself at a good credit range.
3. Credit and Debt
1. One experience that I gained knowledge from by doing the credit and debit part of Life Stage 3 was when I was researching the student credit card that Discover had. While researching the card, I found that it didn’t have too large of an APR and that it gave me various rewards for using it and that I could actually use the card to help me buy things like college textbooks or perhaps a laptop. Also, I found that using cards like this while I am young to set up a good credit history can eventually help me when I’m older to get low rates when I buy a new car or even a house.

Part B:

Overall, I really thought that Life Stage 3 could’ve been improved on by continuing our budgets from Life Stage 2, because I felt that I didn’t really grasp how to budget too effectively and with Life Stage 3 that I’d make better choices and perhaps learn tips or tidbits about bringing myself out of my graduate school debt. On an individual basis, I would’ve prefered that the marriage part of the Life Stage 3 would’ve given us a random partner with a personality type that complimented ours, that way I could have found a more realistic wedding and honeymoon spot that fit both of our economic means. Also, I would’ve liked to dive more into the family history part of this section perhaps taking the accounts of several parents and synthesizing those conversation into an answer as to what kind of a parent do I plan on being. Despite all of my criticisms, I think that overall Life Stage 3 as is really did teach a whole mess of things that I didn’t know about such as APR and the type of personality that best compliments mine.

Just a few quick side note, I really did think that the credit and debt part of Life Stage 3 was really cool because I actually was given the chance to look into several different credit cards, but I’d like to add that perhaps that our general credit card options should’ve been limited to student credit cards since those are the type credit cards that my fellow peers and I will be running into in the future if we decide to pursue a higher education.

Entry 22: Renting vs. Owning

1. For the majority of my career, I would like to reside in Denver, Colorado.
2. This is the website I found my home in.
1. The purchase price is $250,000
2. The down payment, assuming 10% of the price, is $25,000
3. Total estimated closing costs, assuming 3% of the price, is $7,500
4. Total monthly mortgage payment:
1. The Principal and Interest payment is $1,074 according to the home website.
2. The Property Taxes are $1,944 for a year and $162 per month.
3. Homeowners Insurance is $800 for a year and about $66.67 per month.
4. The website tells me that my PMI is $117. My total PITI is $1302.67.
5. Total monthly utility bill = $136.52
3. This is the website for the apartment that I found.
1. The monthly rent is anywhere between $1,795 to $2,265. The average of this range would be $2,030.
2. The security deposit is $300.
3. On the “What Does Colorado Renters Insurance Cost?” section of this website, I found that the average renters insurance is $15 monthly to insure $15,000 in personal property, thus the yearly renters insurance would be $180.
4. According to the apartment website, dogs and cats are allowed (for more details there’s a policy section for pets on this website); however the website doesn’t necessarily detail any other restrictions, but it would be safe to assume that you wouldn’t be able to make alterations to your apartment without prior approval.
4. Advantages and Disadvantages of buying a home and renting
1. For this entry, please assume that I am looking for a place to live with my wife and possibly two children.
2. Some advantages of buying a home is that eventually it will gain value and I can use that money to help my family and I financially, I can make any modification that I want to my house, over time I am actually spending less money than the amount of money I would have spent renting the apartment, and with a house I can get tax breaks. However, some disadvantages would be the fact that I have to spend more money on furnishing and modifying the house to my liking, the upfront costs, and the fact that it would probably be farther away from my workplace.
3. As for renting, the advantages that I found were that I only have to worry about paying for rent and the utility bills and the renters insurance, I also have access to a sense of community with the other renters and the apartment pool, and I am a very short distance away from the center of Denver. Despite the benefits of renting, some disadvantages that are apparent are that eventually you are going to start paying more for rent than the homeowner would for purchasing the house, you are restricted by the apartment management, and the fact that you have people living in rooms next to yours decreases the level of privacy that you have within your apartment.
4. Due to these advantages and disadvantages, I would personally lean toward buying a home over renting an apartment, because if I have a family and have a seemingly stable job, then it’d be very beneficial to have a home especially since it helps keep you safe financially and it allows you to personalize it a lot more than an apartment. Also, the fact that my family and I would have total privacy and the house could provide me with a lot of money if I ever decide to move anywhere outside of Colorado.

Entry 21 - Shopping for Credit

1. Credit card name (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Kohl’s, etc.)
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa
• Discover it chrome for students
• REDcard
2. Type of Account
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - Credit Card
• Discover it chrome for students - Credit Card
• REDcard - Target Visa Credit Card
3. Company name, address, phone
• Visa Inc.; 900 Metro Center Blvd.Foster City, CA 94404; 650-432-3200
• Discover; Salt Lake City, UT 84130-9850; 1-800-347-0213
• Target Corp.; Dallas, TX. 75266-0170; 1.888.755.5856
4. Website
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa
• Discover it chrome for students
• Target REDcard
5. Locations where card is accepted
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - Pretty much any store that is globalized, i.e. Walmart
• Discover it chrome for students credit card can be used at any store that accepts credit cards. According to the link I provided above, about 9.2 million merchants accept this card.
• The REDcard can be used only at Target.
6. Annual fee (if any)
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - $0
• Discover it chrome for students - $0
• REDcard - $0
7. Payment grace period
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - 25 days
• Discover it chrome for students - 25 days, you have until midnight eastern standard time on the due date to pay
• REDcard - 25 days
8. Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - For the first 15 months after you activate your card - 0%, after that - 10.15% - 24.99%
• Discover it chrome for students  -For the first 6 months 0%, after that 12.99% - 21.99%
• REDcard - 22.90%
9. Finance charge calculation method
• All three cards use the "average daily balance (including new purchases)" method, or mention that they use this for the balance
10. Credit limit
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - I couldn’t find it online, but my mom told me that her limit on this card is about $8,000.
• Discover it chrome for students  - at the least it is $500
• REDcard - The website says that it takes a few things about you into account, but it doesn’t necessarily give you a specific amount.
11. Minimum payment
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - The website doesn’t specify how much the minimum payment is for the particular credit card I am researching, but my mom’s personal minimum payment is $35.
• Discover it chrome for students  - The greater of: $35; 2% of the New Balance shown on your billing statement; or any Interest Charges and Late Fee shown on your billing statement, plus $20.
• REDcard - The greater of: $25; or the sum of 1% of your new balance, interest charges, return payment fees, and late payment fees.
12. Other fees: (late payment or others that you find)
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - Balance transfer fee is either $5, or 3% of the amount of each balance transfer, but after those first fifteen months the percentage is 5% or you pay a minimum of $5. Cash advance fees are the greater of either $10 or 5% of the amount of each advance. The Overdraft Protection Advances fee is $12.50 for advances under $50, but anything larger is $20. The foreign currency conversion fee is 3% of each transaction that you converted to US dollars.
• Discover it chrome for students  - The Balance Transfer fee is 3% of the amount of each transfer. The Cash Advance fee is the greater of either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance. Your first late payment is free of charge but after that the late fee can go up to $35. The Returned Payment fee is up to $35.
• REDcard - Late Payment is up to $35, Return Payment is up to $25
13. Other features:
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa - There is a zero liability program, overdraft protection, cell phone protection, rapid alerts for monitoring your account, a credit defense service, chip technology that allows your card to be accepted at even more places worldwide, a unique password for online shopping, an auto rental collision damage waiver, emergency card replacement, roadside dispatch, travel accident insurance, and travel and emergency assistance services.
• Discover it chrome for students  - 2% cash back on Gas Stations and Restaurants on up to $1000 in combined purchases each quarter, 1% cash back or more on all other purchases with no cap, a free FICO credit score on your monthly report, Paying late won’t raise your APR, No overlimit fee, No foreign transaction fee, 100% U.S.-based customer service available any time, and a $0 Fraud Liability Guarantee meaning you're never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your card.
• REDcard - You can donate 1% of all your credit card payment to any one school in a list provided on target’s website, you get free shipping from shopping on target’s website, and you can also have access to many money saving offers specifically for REDcard holders

1. Which credit card has the highest annual percentage rate and how much is it?
1. The Wells Fargo Visa at its highest possible annual percentage is the highest out of all the three credit cards that I researched. The annual percentage is 24.99% at its highest.
2. What method is used to calculate the monthly finance charge for the first major credit card?
1. The first major credit card’s method for calculating the monthly finance charge is calculated using the average daily balance (including new purchases) method.
3. When does the finance charge begin to accrue on the credit card from the local department store?
1. Target’s credit card section of the website didn’t specify when the finance charge would begin to increase, it only told me that they use the average daily balance method to determine the finance charge.
4. Do any of the cards have annual fees? If so, which one(s) and how much is the fee?
1. None of the cards I researched had the annual fee.
5. Is there a transaction fee on any card? If so, how much is it?
1. None of the card websites specified a transaction fee.
6. Is there a minimum finance charge on either of the major credit cards? If so, how much is it?
1. None of the cards had a specified minimum finance charge that I could find.
7. Does the first major credit card charge a fee for late payments? If so, how much is it?
1. There is a late payment fee for the Wells Fargo Visa card that goes up to $35.
8. What is the grace period on the credit card from the local department store?
1. The Target REDcard grace period is 25 days from the date you made your purchase.
9. Rafael wants to buy a new CD player that costs $450. According to his budget, he can afford payments up to $62.00 per month. Which of the three credit cards you’ve found would you recommend that Rafael use to purchase the CD player?  Explain why.
1. I would say that the Target REDcard would be the best credit card for him since he only plans on buying the CD player and because of the savings he gets from purchasing the CD Player, he could probably afford to also use the card to buy CDs. Also, the target card has the smallest minimum payment out of all three credit cards, $25 if the other specified value isn’t greater than this value, and because of the fact that the card gives him an option to order the CD player from the comfort of his own home with the free shipping that he gets on Target’s website.
10. In general, reflect on how making responsible financial decisions regarding borrowing and credit (debt) can lead to financial well-being over a lifetime.
1. The great thing about using credit responsibly is that it allows you to pay for certain goods that you wouldn’t normally be able to afford by allowing you to pay for it smaller annual payments. This can lead to financial well-being because the using credit means that a person can then use the money he/she would’ve spent on the product on something else or save it in the bank. Another reason why making responsible financial decisions with credit can lead to economic well being is that it sets up a good reputation for yourself as a consumer (when you make your payments on time) and this can eventually help you get lower interest rates for when you make major life purchases like buying a home. Furthermore, the great thing about owning a home is that it eventually increases in value and it develops a thing called home equity, which is the market value of your home that you can essentially use as an emergency pool of money and that can lead to sustaining your financial well-being especially when you are supporting children, sending them to college, or dealing with and economic situation.

Entry 20 - The Stories that Bind Us

Part 1:

In the article “The Stories that Bind Us,” the author, Bruce Feiler, details carried out by two psychologists, who found after their experiment that knowing your family’s story gives children better self confidence and the ability to get through tragedy more quickly. I personally can agree with this premise because I remember how knowing about the struggles that my older family members overcame helped me get over my own struggles, and also because knowing my family’s narrative made me feel like a piece of a very huge puzzle, which helped me feel like I had value as a person during times when I felt worthless. For example, sophomore year at iPoly was a pretty tough time for me due to the immense workloads that I would have, but knowing about how my great grandparents used to live as field workers, I knew that the work I was doing was far better than doing that and that one day it would, like my great grandparents’ work, pay off and it eventually did in the form of a GPA that  was nearly a 4.0. Another example would be how in middle school I was pushed into feeling worthless so many times that the sentiment carried on with me into my freshman year of high school where I started to connect with my old family members a lot more and I eventually ended up finding that I’m a piece of a puzzle known as my family’s history and that I wasn’t in the struggle alone and in a way that helped me emotionally with my inner struggles. Overall, I do agree with the views presented in “The Stories that Bind Us” article because knowing my family’s history has helped me get through both external and internal hurdles.

Part 2:

1. What was going on in your family, and your community at the time of your birth?
2. What characteristics do you remember most about your grandparents?
3. How would you describe your parents?
4. What are some of the best and worst things about them?
5. What was the most important historical event you participated in?
6. What has been the most important learning experience in your life?
7. What did it teach you?
8. What did you do for a living?
9. What were my siblings like?
10. Where did you grow up?

During my interview with my great grandpa, Tiburcio Reyes, I learned some pretty interesting things about him that I really didn’t know. One example came from his response to question four, which also connected to question one, where he told me that at the time of his birth the place he was born in - Santa Elena, El Salvador - was in extreme poverty and he distinctly recalled that when he got just 6 or 7 years older that he knew that people didn’t have much to eat. He later went on to tell me that during this same period the farm that my great great grandfather owned was being ravaged by swarms of locusts so large that they’d cast a shadow over him. My great grandfather also recalled that this infestation of locusts wasn’t just happening in the town he lived in, because there were many accounts of it happening in various parts of El Salvador. But to get over this  tragedy he remembered that his dad and older brothers Jose, Luis, and Cesario would get huge piles of dirt and lay thick layer of it over the locusts while they were eating the plants. Eventually, he told me that there were so many dead things in the soil that it was super fertile and when the swarms did stop coming they had a huge harvest of corn with cobs so large he couldn’t believe it. From this story I derived that my great great grandfather was a very sly man and that with persistence he eventually got a great result, but he also had his faults. My great grandfather followed up the story by saying that his dad would also womanize constantly and that eventually he and his other twelve brothers were eventually left fatherless when his dad died. Now during still continuing food shortage, losing his dad meant that my grandpa’s home was lost since his mom didn’t have rights to the land. Overall, my great grandpa had it really rough and his home life wasn’t very fun either as he’d get his salary taken away by his older brothers and he’d get beaten by them and in one account he got beaten by his mom.

From these accounts and a few more off topic ones that I had with my great grandfather, I learned that the worst of times tend to bring out both the worst and the best of people. Following this realization, my grandpa answered question six by telling me about the time when he only barely immigrated here to the US where he had to work at a cemetery to help support my great grandma, my grandma, and mom. He told me that he made a friend at the cemetery and he thought he was a pretty swell guy, but one day when he was on top of a platform, which was being held up by a counter balance that was controlled by some sort of machine, so that he could fix some light in the ceiling. All of the sudden, he remembers catching a glimpse of his so called “friend” touching the button on the machine that released the counterweight and before he knew it my great grandpa was holding on for dear life onto the lighting fixture that he was fixing and when his manager eventually got him down, he told his manager about what happened and got the man fired. At the end of this conversation, my great grandpa looked directly at me and told me, “be very careful about who you call a friend,” and this also taught me that people can be deceitful, but my grandpa also added that there are great people on this Earth and that he has had quite a few, an example being the guy who taught him the ropes of the cemetery. My great grandpa has had so many experiences from almost dying just to get a very plump guava from a tree, to locust induced famine, and to attempted murder from someone he called a friend and this conversation has taught me that the worst of times brings out both the good and the bad in people, that I should be very weary as to who I make friends with, and that one has to take responsibility for his/her actions.

Entry 19: DYK and The Big Fish

DYK Quiz:

In my opinion, I do think that a quiz such as the one we took in class is sufficient enough to determine someone’s self esteem, family functioning, levels of anxiety, behavioral issues, and his/her possible positive or negative outcomes when faced with obstacles, because the psychologists who came up with this test have found a repeating correlation between this tests results and these individuals’ overall family narratives. My main reasons for this view come from a study conducted by the psychologists in this article. In this study, Drs. Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush asked children from about four dozen families a series of questions pertaining to their family’s overall story, as well as videotaping several dinner table conversations. After doing so, they compared their results to the results of the various psychological tests that the children took and found an overwhelming correlation between the mental healths of the children and how strong they felt their families were. This then led Duke and Fivush to conclude that children who know more about their families are given a sense of community, a multitude of people that they could fall back on, and a feeling of belonging to something bigger than themselves, which then in turn helps them to more effectively with environmental stresses.

If this research could validated and quantified, then I think that higher scores in different people may mean that they are at the very least more adept with environmental stress. This ultimately leads me to state that I do think that this test, as an indicator, is an important measurement, because regardless of the fact that no indicator is 100% accurate, I think it is important for people to strive create a better family bond. My reasons for this are that it is true that having a successful family is a very great thing emotionally especially during tough times. One personal example that I have was the day my great grandmother died and granted it was my first experience with death as a fifth grader and it was quite devastating, because for as far as I could remember, my great grandmother has always taken care of my little sister and I, while my parents had no choice but to leave us at home so that they could go to their jobs. Eventually I got over the tragedy, but it really helped me that the thirty plus family members that I had standing alongside me were there to hold my hand and tell me that life will go on. In addition, having a unified family meant that after I came to iPoly and started to deal with the educational challenges that it presented me with, my whole family would constantly urge me to keep at it and that I’d eventually achieve my goals; furthermore, my knowledge of my grandparents’ struggles when they were my age also gave me hope that just like them I’d get through my constant struggles at iPoly.

The Big Fish:

I think that Edward Bloom wasn’t a neglectful or unloving father because he essentially always had a life lesson to teach his son with everyone of his stories. While Edward Bloom’s stories all seemed like tall tales, they all had a very important underlying lesson to teach William. An example would be Edward Bloom’s story of his giant friend who was eating all the animals at his hometown. To resolve this issue Edward Bloom bravely when up to the giant man and rather than irrationally harming him, he tried reasoning with him, which eventually did solve the problem. The moral that story was that one mustn’t view those who are different with violence, but rather to deal with them with reason. Also, Edward Bloom’s quote “I’m a big fish in a small pond,” also tells another life lesson which was that you can’t be afraid of pushing yourself out of your comfortable zone and this quotes meaning was personified in the film as Edward Bloom moving into the unknown of the big city which was later described as “the ocean,” by the circus manager. Overall, William Bloom’s dad wasn’t being unloving, rather he was just trying to put a creative twist to the cliched life lessons that everyone else is taught. Thus, I think that the film’s most important message is “A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal,” meaning that the ideals that you constantly uphold throughout life become an essential part of who you are and these ideals are what people remember you by, thus immortalizing you. The reason I think this message stands out to me is that it reminds me of all the stories my dad tells about when he was my age. Overall, my dad is pretty much the living essence of reemerging from your mistakes with hard-work and tenaciousness.

I remember my days of middle school as a time where my imagination greatly affected my life because it was the perfect get-away from my ill treatment at school. I remember how I would always imagine myself in different careers and that eventually all of my studies in school would eventually pay off and get me on a path that would eventually set me in career that I loved. And for the most part these imaginative process gave me hope for my future and it also allowed me to simulate different types of career paths that I liked or disliked. Also, I loved using my imagination to build things and at first this only happened with the leftover lego set that I had from my elementary school days, but during eighth grade I was eventually introduced to unit origami and while at first I never did follow along I used to make imaginative alien space ships and tanks using pieces of paper and then imagining battles of great carnage and destruction, which was a great way for me to relieve my stress at the time. Then I finally did learn some unit origami and so I started to flood my house with the shapes that my math teacher taught me and I really loved origami as a pastime since it prompted me to imagine the kind of uses it would have in making buildings and technology. In those ways, my imagination played a huge role in my life.

Entry 18 - Kersey and Parenthood

According to Kiersey, ENFJs tend make great parents due to the fact that their strong ideals pass down to their children and because they are also great for emotional support. In addition, the Kiersey website adds that ENFJs are the type of parents that present their children with choices and advise them to go with what their heart tells them and that show great pride in their children. Also, personalitypage.com goes on to state that ENFJ parents while being strict, are very warm, supportive, and well intention-ed parents. This leads to one of the ENFJs weaknesses as parents which is the fact that because it is possible that they may use their manipulative skills to force their values, their children may see past this during adolescence and end up resenting their ENFJ parent. Another problem that arises with the start of their children’s puberty is that ENFJs, being the type of people who like to check up on how things are going, may forget that children going through puberty need to be given more room for growth, which can also lead to resentment. This shows another weakness of ENFJ parents, which is that they can sometimes be so consumed passing on their values and ideas to their children that they don’t allow their children in adolescence to develop their own ideals and ideas. Overall, I agree with all of the strengths and weaknesses except for the part about me being too overprotective, because it is in my belief that while it is important for my children to heed my warnings about repeating any and all mistakes that I’ve made in my lifetime, I think that it's part of the human experience to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes and to grow into a much better person. In other words, I’d be worried about my adolescents’ safeties, but I would rather teach them not to be blatant idiots rather than keep them cooped up.

This then leads me to theorize that in my childrens’ lives I plan to be that parent that always seeks to teach them a lesson that they would never forget and one that’ll help them make lemonade whenever life gives them lemons. I’ll also probably be the good cop parent, because the 16personalities website does state that discipline comes very hard to my personality type and so I may end having to rely on my partner to do that part. Overall, I think I’m going to be the parent that teaches the children to let their hearts be their lantern in the pitch black darkness known as life.

Entry 15 – Keirsey Temperament revisited.

My keirsey temperament is ENFJ. According to the keirsey website, ENFJs tend to look for partners who want a long relationship, are very supportive of their partner’s goals in life, and take great pleasure in making their partner happy. In addition, the website goes on to caution that ENFJs must learn to deal with problems in the relationship despite their instincts to avoid trouble and that sometimes ENFJs are too eager to please in the relationship, thus resulting in either resentment or even its failure. In my opinion, I think that I would be supportive of my partner’s own goals in life and that I would take pleasure in helping them reach those goals in whatever way I could. However, I don’t think that I would look only for partners minded for the long-term relationship, because to be honest I value the fact that I am single and that I have the freedom to sleep around (responsibly of course) if I could and/or wanted to. Also, I could see how I would have a problem with resolving conflict within the relationship and that I’d be very eager to continually make my mate happy, thus possibly causing her to think that I am needy.

The keirsey website didn’t really offer much advice as to whom ENFJs tend to pair up with, but it did say that ENFJs look for a partner that wants a long-term relationship and that can also appreciate their eagerness to please. However after finding a website that details the personality types that typically form a great relationship with ENFJs, I found that some of the best personality types that pair with mine are INTP, ENTP, INTJ, and ENTJ. I agree with this fact because I like to think that my future partner will be as imaginative as I am and that they’d be as loyal and attentive to the relationship. Some other reasons for my agreement are that these four types have a hard time exploring feelings, which is something that my personality type does very well, and all four are known for tackling problems, which is something my personality struggles with, and so in these ways my personality type would compliment either of the four very well. Similarly, I personally would like my partner to be appreciative or at least touched by my persistence to put a smile on their face, intelligent, open-minded to new and imaginative ideas, and that supports me in my own personal endeavours.

Entry 16 – Major Expenses: Getting Married!

Click here to view my wedding expenses.

Entry 17: Major Expenses: Honeymoon/Vacation!

Click here to see my honeymoon expense calculations.