Hull Financial Planning

“My daddy is a movie actor, and sometimes he plays the good guy, and sometimes he plays the lawyer.”
–Malcolm Ford, son of Harrison Ford

In one of my roles in the Army, I had the opportunity to interact a lot with attorneys. I was responsible for the interactions between the military deployed to Bosnia and the civilian agencies and United Nations, and I worked with the attorneys to ensure that everything I proposed was legal. When we were working out in the base gym, the attorneys played Jedi mind tricks on me.

“You want to be a lawyer…” (hand … Read the article

“The oil men were acting like the peddler who lost money on every sale but tried to make it up on volume.”
-Paul Mallon

When Filene’s Basement closed, the hordes gathered to pick up the remnants of the bankrupt chain. The bankruptcy administrators held a liquidation sale, and people came to buy. One woman tells her story (approximately 8:30 in here) of how she went and bought seven pairs of sunglasses. Her response when asked why? “Because they were 70% off.” I was listening to this NPR Planet Money podcast while walking the dog and let out a primal groan … Read the article

“Do you smell(llllllllllllla) what The Rock is cookin’?”
–Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

When I was a kid, I was a fanatical professional wrestling fan. There was a local television station on VHF that had pro wrestling on from 8 PM to 2 AM on Saturday nights. I would watch it, and then, embarrassed about my fandom, I’d switch the channel to something else if I heard my mother coming in. If there’s an obscure fact about professional wrestling from the early 1980s, chances are that I either know the answer or have at least heard of it.

So, in 2000, … Read the article

“A wage hike is very hard to take away, but bonuses and profit-sharing can disappear very quickly in hard times…More people are realizing that bonuses look like raises, but really aren’t.”
–Al Bauman

The common maxim of pay yourself first is all well and good for your paycheck, but what happens when you get a bonus? Your boss sits down with you for your end of year review, you’ve done well, and you’re going to get a bonus. If you don’t approach that bonus with some intentionality, then you’re going to find out that the bonus is gone and you … Read the article

“The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.”
–Douglas Engelbart

I knew better. When I was a carefree bachelor stationed in Germany, I lived life to the hilt. I traveled a lot. I went out a lot. I charged a lot.

So, when I came back to the States and sold my car, I paid cash for its replacement and used the remainder of the proceeds to pay off my credit card debt. I was debt free.

Just eighteen months later, I was on the phone with my soon to be … Read the article