YES on California Proposition #8

In November I will vote "Yes" that "Marriage in the state of California shall only be defined as between a man and a woman." Here are a few things to consider, but please spend some time with the links below.

Question: If two gay/lesbian couples want to marry it doesn't affect me so why should I care.

Response: It does matter - maybe not immediately, but in the long term ramifications to society as a whole. Any children in such a marriage will be adversely affected. Although a two women though responsible and loving can raise a child, neither of them can provide a necessary guidance/strength that a full time father can provide.

Question: Why is it any of the state's business what I do in my bedroom?

Response: It's not the states business and frankly the state could care less what you do in your bedroom. The state certainly is not monitoring who is having sex. Marriage has alot less to do with sex and alot more to do with sacrifice, dedication, and raising a family.

Here are some excellent links with more information (Mostly from the LDS church).

htto://www.protectmarriage.com
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institution-of-marriage
http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,161-1-11-1,00.html

PHO (Powershares Global Water)

Special thanks to Tommy. Today I checked my investment account, I made 15% returns over the last quarter in PHO (Powershares Global Water) index fund. I'm happy with 15% in 3 months, but certainly don't expect the growth to sustain itself. Over the last 12 months I am still down about 12% in SPY (S&P 500 indexed fund). So - thanks for the good tip Tommy - It has essentially offset my losses in SPY.

Wal-Mart, Capitalism at its Finest

This page is coming. I am planning on starting with material from pages 36 and 37 of Charles Wheelan’s book “Naked Economics.”

Kudlow Creed

Although I don’t get to watch Larry every night, I am a big fan of his as well as his friends Mark Steyn and Art Laffer. I think that the Kudlow Creed is an overlooked combatant to world poverty: “Free Market Capitalism is the best path to prosperity.”

Investment Basics

Before you get overly excited about investments, here are a few fundamentals to keep in mind:

1 - Diversify: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If you receive an inheritance, don’t buy a single stock, or a single property, or a single CD. Put some of it in stocks, some in bonds, and some in real estate. Even a few lottery tickets wouldn’t hurt. If your portfolio consists entirely of exchange traded investments, diversify within the portfolio (If you are 100% invested in bio-technology, and the bio-technology industry takes a nose dive, so does your wealth).

2 - Go Long Term: Unless you have no transaction costs, know a professional, or have insider information, don’t day trade. I recommend a buy, hold, and forget strategy. The longer the investment horizon, the lesser the statistical probability of a net loss, and the greater your actual returns will be. (Trading on insider information is illegal and the SEC is better than you think at finding you.)

3 - Reduce transaction costs: Most online brokerage houses have pretty nominal fees as long as your transaction size is large enough. Make sure you use a brokerage house with low fees, but more importantly make sure that your transaction size is large enough to warrant the fee. I normally don’t trade unless I can put at a minimum $1,000 into the transaction. That way a $7 fee costs me .7%. That same fee would cost me 7% if I were to put $100 into the transaction. If you have large transaction sizes and use a buy, hold, and forget strategy - you shouldn’t have to worry about transaction costs.

4 - Know your risk tolerance: Are you retiring in 3 years? Is the money you have money you can lose? How much do you care if you lose your money? Is there any chance that you will need the money to finance future educations, a house, or other life events?

Friends of all Faiths

Today in sunday school I was mildly offended by our renegade teacher who made some incorrect but common assumptions about our friends of other faiths. I wish I would have corrected her in class, but will do so privately next week.

In a disrespectful and demeaning manner she publicly assumed that catholics can simply recite a few Hale Mary’s and be forgiven of their sins. I am not an expert on catholicism, but I do have several Catholic friends who would undoubtedly take serious issue with her statement. From wikipedia: “in this Sacrament, the penitent (repentant sinner, known as confessant) accuses himself of his sins to an ordained priest (known as confessor). The priest may then offer advice and imposes a particular penance to be performed. The penitent then prays an Act of Contrition, the priest administers absolution, thus formally forgiving the penitent of his sins, and finally sends him out with words of dismissal. Often, penitential acts consist simply of prayers, fasting, charitable work or giving, or a combination thereof. Such penance is frequently accompanied by a requirement for the penitent to be reconciled with anyone against whom he or she has sinned. The most common penances involve the recitation of standard prayers, such as the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary, meditation on particular scriptural passages, or praying the rosary with special penitential intentions. ” This process seems almost identical in nature to that of the process practiced the the Mormon church. I probably could go to a a Catholic Priest and received almost identical counsel as that I would receive from an LDS Bishiop.

Secondly she spoke poorly of those churches which take receive money for their preaching. Now I am the first to admit that some corrupt organizations/pastors do take advantage of their followers. But I believe that the majority of church’s and organizations take money to sustain themselves and further build up their version of the “Kingdom of God.” I would also point out that many LDS missionaries, mission presidents and leaders who dedicate themselves entirely to their church assignments do receive living expense reimbursements. They certainly are not corrupt because they have not “volunteered” their time. Secretly a part of me wishes the LDS church had paid professional clergy because perhaps we would get better quality discourses and lessons.

My Bio

Most recently I graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a master’s Degree in Accounting. I am working for Ernst & Young out of their Palo Alto office. Previously I have done independent contractor work for Qualtrics, ZoobiePets, as well as spent 8 months as an intern at HealthEquity (all based out of Utah Valley). I served as a volunteer representative for the LDS church in Vina Del Mar, Chile for two years. Check out my resume (to be posted soon) for more details.

Feel free to contact me at: nielsen.ryan@gmail.com