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My Latest & Greatest Investment - JATA

As many of you know, I work in banking.  Not investment banking, I primarily deal with various loan types to individuals and businesses.  But I do have a pretty solid understanding of interest rates, markets, and long and short term costs and returns.  That being said, my expertise in the area of investing consists of checking my quarterly 401k statement to make sure that it has more money now than it did three months ago.  If you want investment advice, I can give you some names of people I trust and are knowledgeable, just not mine.

A month or so ago the cryptocurrency market was going wild.  Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies were all the rage, and there are some people who made tons of money on it...assuming they sold at the right time.  And there are others who will stubbornly ride out this most recent drop off in order to be able to tell all their friends they were "geniuses" for holding on to the crypto investment.

But this post isn't about investing a dime, it's about investing time.  My friends have often given me a fair amount of grief for how frugal (fancy word for tight) I am with money.  In my work, cash is king.  But in my life, God is - followed by my family.  And my wife and I have recently made a major life changing choice to invest in our family.  With changing and uncertain circumstances, we have made the decision that she will become a stay at home mother.

This was not an easy decision to make.  She actually fought this decision tooth and nail several years ago when Thomas was born.  I was scared to death with a child and didn't know how to be a dad.  I asked her then to stay home and raise him while we had a house payment about half what ours is now and with half the number of children, but she refused.  She has work ethic and a determination that is downright scary at times.  And I told her while building this house and planning for a second child that staying home wouldn't be an option this time around, and we agreed.

But things change, life happens, and you roll with the punches.  She was great at her job as I even often had people tell me how sweet that little nurse at Dr. Yanetti's office was.  And I could tell when I asked her to leave her job previously that she loved caring for people.  Though she wasn't the doctor, she had that same sort of compassion for many of her patients that you rarely see in any hourly staff position in business today.  She got it, she understood that it was more than a business, more than a paycheck, it was caring for people.

This is why I knew that she would be perfect for her new "job".  The pay is much less (she basically works for free food and housing), the hours are irregular with constant swing shifts, nights, and weekends; her clients (children) cry and whine a lot; and her business partner (me) has very little fulltime experience in the field.  But she doesn't do it for the money, she does it because she gets to care for people, people that she loves and cares about.

Of course I've done my analysis of our finances and we can make ends meet financially.  And while she plans to work some part-time, giving up her full-time paying profession at this time will mean hanging on to clothes a little longer, fewer vacations, cheaper gifts, more coupons at restaurants, and other sacrifices.  But it will also mean evenings at home with less stress, a fulltime babysitter for bad weather days and sick days with school/daycare, and weekends with no chores where we can spend quality time playing together.  So while we may not be able to swing that spur of the moment weekend getaway to the mountains or a ball game; we will be much more available to have friends and family come over to our clean, welcoming, and loving home to spend time together.  And that is the return I am looking for on this investment.

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